Steam Deck pathief • 1 month ago • 100%

Hi friends. Ever since God of War was released on the PS4, I wanted to play it. Loved the original trilogy, wanted to give this one a go. Since God of War has a "Verified" badge I ended up buying it. Unfortunately the experience has been really really bad. The game crashes every 10-20 minutes. The steam deck (OLED) completely freezes and I have to hard reboot the device. I've googled about this issue, everyone seems to point [at these graphical settings](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=god+of+war+ps4&ia=web) and some others but none seem to work. I've tried several Proton versions, with and without GE but also no luck. The game crashes a lot. It's disappointing that the game has the "Verified" badge but is basically unplayable. No other game has ever given me any trouble. Anyone had this problem and managed to get it to work? Thanks.

Linux pathief • 2 months ago • 96%

I work with a client that migrated their infrastructure to Microsoft. In order to connect to their Linux Server, I now have to Remote Desktop to their Azure Virtual Desktop thing. I'm not pleased but it's out of my control. I tried `remmina freerdp` but doesn't seem to support that Azure thing, there doesn't seem to be an option to add the workspace. Any recommendations or do I have to setup a virtual machine just for this? :/ Cheers

MTG pathief • 3 months ago • 100%

Sorry for the weird question, felt like someone in this community would know how to deal with this. I bought 5 packs of Dragon Shield Dual sleeves on CardMarket. They arrived fast and all packs were perfectly sealed. When I open the packs, 3 of the packs are defective. There's a black stripe on the top/bottom of the sleeves, which effectively mark them. These sleeves simply cannot be used. The other 2 packs seem decent, albeit with small defects on the side of the sleeves. Not big enough for me to complain, I think. They all come from the same batch. I feel bad asking the seller for a refund, I don't think they had a way of knowing the sleeves were defective. The packs were sealed and the batch number is only visible after you open the packs. But maybe they have some sort of way to get the money back from their distributor or something? I have contacted them to see how to go from here but no reply so far. I saw that Dragon Shield also has a contact form for defects but they warn me that since I didn't buy the sleeves from their store there is a very low chance they'll actually do anything. I submitted the form anyway to let them know that this batch is likely defective. Who should provide compensation for defective sleeves? The seller or dragon shield? EDIT: seller replied refusing any compensation, Dragon Shield has not yet replied. Lesson learned: I'll order from Amazon next time instead of throwing money away. EDIT2: today, July 8th, Dragon Shield replied and offered me a full refund as a voucher for a purchase on their website, free shipping included. They stated that the manufacturing process of the Dual Mattes line makes this problem hard to avoid, though it was particularly bad in my case. I recommend avoid the "Dual Matte" line altogether. Cheers!

Privacy pathief • 4 months ago • 90%

www.youtube.com

Not affiliated with the author, I just really like their videos.

No Stupid Questions pathief • 4 months ago • 100%

Searching for product recommendations has become harder and harder over the years. I used to google or browse reddit for reviews, used them to create a shortlist of products and then actually dig deeper and compare them. Lets say I'm in the market for a mechanical keyboard, but I don't know much about them. I use whatever search engine to look for "best mechanical keyboard 2024". The results are really bad, and I mean really bad. It's more of a list of keyboards to avoid, to be honest. The problem is not just google. Bing, duckduckgo, Kagi, Startpage... all results suck. The results are filled with AI generated pages or outlets farming affiliate links. There are a couple of good suggestions in the middle of the garbage but if 9/10 websites recommend a random razer keyboard, I'm inclined to believe it's an option worth considering. Some of my friends say they resort to Youtube. I can agree that Youtube has amazing content creators that give amazing reviews and produce great quality content. But if you don't know anything about the subject, how do you know which content creator is good and which content creator is just farming affiliate links? One of the things I loved about Reddit was that I could just go to /r/whateversubject and talk to what I felt was real people discussing products they loved. I no longer use Reddit ,and Lemmy, unfortunately, doesn't have a big enough userbase to have a good community for each type of product. So, what's your strategy to find out good products on subjects you know nothing about?

boardgames pathief • 4 months ago • 97%

As soon as this game launched on Kickstarter, I backed it. I had discussed before with my friends that I would love for a good way to play Slay the Spire cooperatively. Yes, there are mods for the videogame which introduce co-op, but you're playing a multiplayer solitaire game. You aren't really interacting that much. The boardgame implements co-op in a really nice, interactive and meaningful way. #### Context and bias I think it's important to put a big disclaimer that I am heavily biased towards this game. I love the Slay the Spire videogame, I beat A20 with every character and have more than 500 hours playtime. I was extremely hyped to play the boardgame. These initial thoughts were gathered from a ~~single play~~ two plays in Ascension 0 (no heart), all players were experienced StS gamers (A20 with at least 1 character) and each act took around 2 hours). Yeah, we played the game for more than 6h :P # TL;DR **First impressions score**: 9/10 **Positives**: - It really feels like Slay the Spire - Basically zero downtime - Upkeep is very low - Randomness is VERY WELL implemented - Really fun - The box is very nice, included insert is just ok but gets the job done **Negatives**: - It takes like 2 hours for experienced players to play a single act, I can't imagine how long it would take for first timers - Sleeving/Unsleeving cards to upgrade them is not great - Sleeves are included, but they're very low quality - The character miniatures are very low quality # The game loop Slay the Spire is a deck builder game. You start with a very basic and weak deck of cards. Throughout the game you will acquire new cards, upgrade them, get relics, potions and hopefully remove a few of your basic cards. The goal of the game is to move through map and eventually defeat the final boss. You start the game at the base of the map, where you'll fight some basic monsters. After beating the encounter you can navigate to one the 3 randomly generated map paths, whatever one you feel better suits your team needs. Each player has a designated row and a monster (and possibly its minions) will be spawned in from of each player. At the start of your turn you draw 5 cards and set your mana to 3. Each of your initial cards have a mana cost from 0 to 2 and you can play them however you like. There is no turn order, players can play or coordinate their actions as they please. Your attack cards can attack any monster, regardless of their row. Your defense cards usually target yourself, though some allow you to support your friends. After every player has player their cards, every remaining card is discarded and now the monsters will have their turn. The monster turn is usually very simple, they just attack the player in front of them and it's done. The players can draw 5 cards and play again. If a player dies, it's game over. Otherwise, the game continues until all monsters are defeated. Each monster awards a set of rewards to the player in front of them. Typically you get some coins and a new card. You reveal 3 new cards and you can add one of them to your deck. The new cards are generally better than your starter ones but you can choose to skip it altogether. You can also get potions (a 1 time effect) and relics (passive effects throughout the entire run). After beating the initial encounter, you select one the map branches and move up. There are several types of encounters: shop, random events, regular monsters, elite monsters... It's cool to decide how to move up thoughout the map considering your current status. Low on health? Lets try to target a resting spot. Doing great? Lets kick some elite ass. Eventually you'll reach the boss and hopefully your deck is now strong enough to beat it. ##### Differences from the videogame - Most stuff works exactly like the videogame - Damage has been heavily re-scaled so the math is very easy. Each attack deals 1 damage, for instance. It was never hard to figure out how much damage you were going to deal or take. - Several cards, potions and relics have been changed to reduce complexity and upkeep. - Nothing ticks down at end of turn. Poison never ticks down, for instance. You don't lose focus at end of turn. Upkeep is minimal. - Vulnerable works a bit differently. Your next attack deals double damage against a vulnerable foe, then you remove one vulnerable "token". If you applied 2x vulnerable, then your next 2 attacks deal double damage. - Weak means you deal 1 less damage on your next attack. - Defect (3rd character) orb order doesn't matter, you can evoke any orb you want. You can also target anything you want, it's not random. - Dark orbs deal 3 damage + 1 damage for each power in play, to avoid upkeep ##### Randomness Every randomness in the game is performed with a die roll. At the start of the turn you roll a die and every random effect for that round (your turn + monster turn) uses that die roll. You don't roll the die for every single effect. You roll once and apply it to everything. Things that interact with the die: - Some relics perform automatically on a die roll (eg: deal 4 damage when 4 is rolled) - Some monster attack depends on the die roll (eg: monster might attack on roll 1-3 and buff up on roll 4-6) - Some cards do different things depending on the die roll The thing I like about this is that it's very low maintenance, you just roll the die once per round and you know exactly what is going to happen for the entire round. This is not something like "I'm going to attack, roll the die aaaaaand... I missed". At the start of the turn you know exactly how everything is going to pan out. I love that. # First impressions Boardgames based on videogames are usually awful. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a boardgame adaptation. They're usually very fiddle, with tremendous amount of book keeping and upkeep effects. I was very hyped with Slay the Spire but also very concerned that this would be the case. The videogame takes care of a ton of stuff for you. I don't want to keep track of my dark orbs or to apply double damage after 10 attacks. That's just not fun to track. I'm happy to say that Slay the Spire, the boardgame is amazing. I think the designer paid a tremendous amount of respect to videogame, it really does feel like Slay the Spire. All the monsters, their attacks, the relics, everything works like videogame. It does a really good job at making you feel at home. However, the designer also spent a tremendous amount of effort to reduce how much stuff you need to keep track off. Upkeep was usually just dealing poison damage and orb damage, that's it. No tickdowns, no doubling, no keeping track of attacks, claws or cards used. The cooperative aspect of the game is very nice. You can really cooperate and complement your friend's turns. It's fun to coordinate which monster to kill first and managing everyone's defense. The game makes a good job at creating tension, especially in the act 2. You have that feeling you have no chance but then actually pull it off with minimal losses. And most importantly: it really does feel like a team effort. It doesn't feel solitaire. Each act took us 2 hours but it didn't feel like 2 hours. The game felt fast paced. Since turns are simultaneous, the downtime between turns was basically non-existent. The monster's turns are VERY fast so you're back to the action really quickly. So why is this game not instantly a 10/10? My biggest issue with the game is actually its length. 2+ hours per act is a lot. The game tells you that you can play a single act and also provides a way to start immediately from the second or third act, which is great. However, a full run is going to take you 6+ hours. Personally I don't really like to start/finish a run in the middle of the game, I'll have to get used to it. # Final thoughts If you love the Slay the Spire videogame and are looking for a similar co-operative experience, this is an absolute no-brainer. Get this game. You need it in your life. I'm really glad I backed it and plan to continue enjoying it with friends. I'm not big on playing boardgames solo and I honestly see no point on getting this game if you're just going to play solo. The videogame is probably 10x cheaper and you can play an entire run under 1 hour. I would just play the videogame, to be honest. What if you've never played Slay the Spire? Honestly that's a tough one. I think a big part of the experience is that this feels pretty much like the videogame. While there are some progression aspects in the form of card unlocks and increased difficulties, there isn't much to look forward to. Maybe a game like Aeon's End, which has a campaign like feeling and a story would be something you'll enjoy more. I don't know. Your millage may vary and I'd love to hear the thoughts from someone who had no idea what Slay the Spire was!

Steam Deck pathief • 6 months ago • 100%

Hi friends. I own a couple of games that are pretty much played exclusively with the Steam Deck's touch screen. There are some community layouts that do work but they honestly suck. The best example for this is Magic Arena or Football Manager 2024. Holding the Steam Deck with one hand is a bit uncomfortable, the ergonomics aren't good. I'm sure there must be some kind I'm accessory I'm not aware of that improves this. I tend to play on the couch, a kickstand wouldn't be great here. Thanks in advance!

Programming pathief • 8 months ago • 92%

I've been working with a Javascript (+ TypeScript) + Java + SQL stack for the last 10 years. For 2024 I'd like to learn a new programming language, just for fun. I don't have any particular goals in mind, I just want to learn something new. If I can use it later professionally that'd be cool, but if not that's okay too. Requirements: - Runs on linux - Not interested in languages created by Google or Apple - No "joke languages", please Thank you very much! EDIT: I ended up ordering the [paperback version of the Rust book](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/book/). Maybe one day I'll contribute to the Lemmy code base or something :P Thank you all for the replies!!!

Linux Questions pathief • 8 months ago • 100%

EDIT: Solved! Check [this](https://lemmy.world/comment/6777440) comment! I use a keyboard with an american layout. I find it much better for coding and actually love this keyboard to pieces. However, I still need to write in portuguese. The dead keys in Microsoft Windows worked perfectly for me but the Linux ones do not. Some characters are not available and are replaced by characters that don't exist in the portuguese language. In X11 I fixed this by using an `.XCompose` file with the keybinds just like in Windows. [Source here](https://github.com/cedricroijakkers/linux-windows-deadkeys), it works perfectly. In Wayland, the `.XCompose` file works for pretty much all apps. Firefox is fine, kitty is fine, Vivaldi is fine. Unfortunately electron apps with the `--ozone-platform-hint=wayland` ignores the `.XCompose` file and I get the default keybinds. Since I own an nvidia card I really need these flags, otherwise the electron apps will aggressively flicker and/or eat letters while I'm typing. I've searched far and wide, there are several open bugs in chromium, electron and wayland repositories. Everyone seems to be pointing fingers at each other for years and no workaround to make `.XCompose` work seems to be available. I'm wondering if there is an alternative way to customize the dead keys under Wayland. Thanks in advance.

Linux pathief • 8 months ago • 97%

EDIT: Solved! Check [this](https://lemmy.world/comment/6777373) comment! I use a keyboard with an american layout. I find it much better for coding and actually love this keyboard to pieces. However, I still need to write in portuguese. The dead keys in Microsoft Windows worked perfectly for me but the Linux ones do not. Some characters are not available and are replaced by characters that don't exist in the portuguese language. In X11 I fixed this by using an `.XCompose` file with the keybinds just like in Windows. [Source here](https://github.com/cedricroijakkers/linux-windows-deadkeys), it works perfectly. In Wayland, the `.XCompose` file works for pretty much all apps. Firefox is fine, kitty is fine, Vivaldi is fine. Unfortunately electron apps with the `--ozone-platform-hint=wayland` ignores the `.XCompose` file and I get the default keybinds. Since I own an nvidia card I really need these flags, otherwise the electron apps will aggressively flicker and/or eat letters while I'm typing. I've searched far and wide, there are several open bugs in chromium, electron and wayland repositories. Everyone seems to be pointing fingers at each other for years and no workaround to make `.XCompose` work seems to be available. I'm wondering if there is an alternative way to customize the dead keys under Wayland. Thanks in advance.

Selfhosted pathief • 9 months ago • 97%

Hi friends. I'm a newbie in self-hosting, though I've been managing (virtual) linux servers at work for a couple of years. I'm completely ignorant on the hardware choices out there, hopefully you can point me to the right direction. Here are my requisites: - Low power consumption, I plan to have it connected 24/7 and I'm kinda concerned on how much it will impact the electricity bill - Ethernet port, preferably gigabit but whatever - Graphical performance is not important as I don't plan to connect it to any display. As long as I can ssh into it, I'm good. Services I plan on installing, for starters: - casaOS - pi-hole, or equivalent - Home Assistant - Kitchen Owl (nice to have) - Paperless-ngx (nice to have) I live in europe and my budget is around 80 euros or so. Thanks in advance!

boardgames pathief • 9 months ago • 97%

I've played 4 of the 12 games so far and I've been having a blast. I'm excited to play the next session, which is something I could never really say about ticket to ride. We've been playing with 3 players and each session probably takes around 30 minutes. After each game, however, new stuff is introduced and sometimes it takes a bit to unpack and learn everything. The new stuff has been really easy to introduce and adds depth to the game. Most importantly, it adds fun. Have you tried it? Is it on your radar?

Android pathief • 9 months ago • 92%

This year I've been removing Google from my life. Today I installed LineageOS without Google Apps, taking yet another step to a degoogled life. Due to clearly some poor planning I forgot to lookup some alternative apps for the basic stuff I never think about... I'd rather install FOSS apps that are available on F-Droid or at the very least, an app that is available on Aurora Store. Would rather not be installing random APKs. - Dialer app: I installed "Koler", which seems decent enough - Contacts: Doesn't need to be super fancy, just something that allows me import my contacts from a VCF file. - SMS: Currently using QKSMS, not sure if anything else is recommended... - Camera: I barely use my camera app, just need something to take the occasional photo. - Gallery: The default is probably good enough, let me know your thoughts - Launcher: I used Niagara launcher but I never got used to it, to be honest. I guess I'm looking to something more traditional. Shoot me any other FOSS apps you think are great! Thank you so much.

Mechanical Keyboards pathief • 10 months ago • 100%

For the past 5 years or so I've been using an HHKB and I've grown to love its layout. The (smaller) `Delete`, `~` and `\` key placements is something I enjoy. The `~` key is used a lot in my native language and this placement is much more ergonomic for me. I've been out of the keyboard scene ever since I got the HHKB and I've been considering building a new board to try whatever new switches have come out since then. Not looking to create a PCB myself, would rather use something that already exists and preferably doesn't require any soldering. 65%-ish with arrow keys would be my preferred form factor. Anything like that in the market? Thanks!

Linux Gaming pathief • 11 months ago • 100%

Hey friends. I have been using Linux exclusively for about 3 weeks. I've been amazed at how well gaming works out of the box with Steam and proton. I only have this minor issue, I'm sure someone can point me to the right direction. I use 2 monitors, I game on the primary monitor and do whatever else on the second. Whenever I go back to the gaming monitor, the game shows the window decorations for just a second and then goes back to full screen. It flickers. Obviously not a major problem, but it's annoying. If I go to the game settings, set it as windowed and then back to full-screen it occasionally fixes the problem but only until I start the game again. I currently use EndeavourOS w/ KDE but the problem also happened on Manjaro! EDIT: As always, the [Arch Wiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam/Troubleshooting) had the answer, I just didn't see because it seems to describe a different issue. `SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS=0` environment variable seems to do the trick.

Linux pathief • 11 months ago • 92%

I use a keyboard with an american layout because I find it much much better for programming. However, since I'm portuguese, I want to use some characters that don't exist in the american layout, such as `á`, `é` or `ç`. In windows I selected the US international layout with with dead keys and I could do everything. - `'` + `a` = `á` - `'` + `c` = `ç` The US International with dead keys on linux mostly works but has some weird problems, or different behavior: - `'` + `s` = `ś`, I expected it to be `'s`. Ś doesn't exist in my regional dictionary. It is a problem when typing `It's`, which is transformed into `itś`. I could perform a space after pressing `'` and it works, but I'm just not accustomed to do that. - `'` + `m` = `ḿ`, same problem as before. - `'` + `c` = `ć`, I expected it to be `ç` - `'` + `t` = `´t`, I expected it to be `'t` I found [a workaround](https://superuser.com/a/1235405) for the cedilla, that works on most apps but not on all. Is there a way to change this behavior system-wide? Maybe I can create my own "custom layout"? EDIT: of course right after I post this I [finally find a solution](https://github.com/raelgc/win_us_intl/blob/master/README.md#try-with-ibus). I love that it's just a dot file I can bring with me anywhere. Gonna leave the post up anyway, in case anyone ever has the same problem.

Linux pathief • 11 months ago • 60%

Hey ~~fellas~~ friends. Sorry to create yet another post on this topic (maybe we should have a sticky for this?). About 2 weeks ago I decided it was time to move on from Windows and installed Manjaro. I would consider myself a newbie-intermediate level linux user. Though I've used Windows most my life, we use Linux servers (no GUI) at work, managing them is part of job description. I also own a late 2011 Macbook Pro with vanilla Arch Linux. I barely ever use it but boy, Arch really brought it back to life! I've been reasonably happy with Manjaro so far, feels easy and intuitive to use but the community has made me aware that Manjaro is maybe a questionable choice. Since I don´t plan on distro-hopping a lot I want to get it right sooner rather than later. Here's what I'm looking for: - Rolling distribution, preferably. Though this machine is also used for work, our environment depends mostly on remote servers anyway. I'd rather have a distribution that provides the most recent packages for whatever I want - I don´t mind running a distribution that forces me learn new things or do things in a different way, I kinda embrace it. I just don´t enjoy complexity for complexity's sake. - KDE is my preferred Desktop Environment so far, though I guess that's not very relevant. I'd love to run Hyprland, but you know.. Nvidia :( - I play games on Steam but from my understanding this doesn´t matter either. Everything I tried worked great, I don´t think I want a ¨gaming focused" distro or anything like that - No Ubuntu, please. My hardware, in case you feel is relevant! ``` OS: Manjaro Linux x86_64 Kernel: 6.5.5-1-MANJARO Shell: bash 5.1.16 Resolution: 2560x1440, 2560x1440 WM: KWin Terminal: konsole Terminal Font: MesloLGS NF 10 CPU: 12th Gen Intel i7-12700K (20) @ 4.900GHz GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate Memory: 23313MiB / 64087MiB ```

MTG pathief • 11 months ago • 100%

Hi friends. Any news on when the next explorer anthology is coming? Is it this year? Cheers!

I'm looking for a budget (< 100 euros) USB sound card. I was told several times that I should look for a DAC instead but I honestly don´t know the difference. All I want is to plugin my existing headset (headphones + microphone), listen to music and chat on Discord. Not sure if it matters but I have the `Beyerdynamic Custom Studio` headphones and the `Beyerdynamic Custom headset Gear` microphone (it plugs directly into the headphones, making them an headset). The headset has 1x 3.5mm jack with a splitter into 2x 3.5mm jack. I was recommended the Focusrite Scarlett Solo but I don´t think it has a "normal" microphone input? I don´t mind getting 1/4 inch adapters but doesn´t seem like it would work. I don´t play any instrument so it really doesn´t feel like the right tool for the job. Thanks!

Android pathief • 12 months ago • 95%

Hi friends. My quest to remove Google products from my life continues. I've always been very fearful of swapping keyboard apps. I can think of no better way to track someone than to bug their keyboard. How can I trust any keyboard software, really? My wishlist: - Something that addresses my privacy concerns - Supports both english and portuguese dictionaries at the same time - Has a dark theme - Is available on some sort of store, so I don't have to download APKs for every single update Thanks!

Android pathief • 12 months ago • 100%

Hi friends. I'm looking to replace as many Google services as I can from my life and I am currently looking for a Google Keep alternative. I want something extremely basic, like Google Keep, that just allows me to collaboratively create to-do lists. Me and my SO have a bunch of to-do lists such as shopping, house chores or work related tasks. I want to be able to share lists with her. I've tried a bunch of apps suggested by some friends but honestly they're more geared to creating documents or elaborate notes. That's not what I want. I just want to create to-do lists and an interface that allows me to do that as simply as possible. Thanks!

MTG pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

Hi all! I pretty much only play constructed formats, mostly Explorer. I never create my own deck because I suck at it. I play lists made by other people that look fun and engaging. For context, I rank at least Diamond every season. I tend to play a couple of drafts per set, mostly to get gems for the mastery pass. I also play all free phantom drafts. I find the drafts fun but I'm atrocious at it. I usually go 2-3 and perform pretty terribly. I don't think I've ever gone above the silver rank, but I guess I don't play that much either. I'd like to educate myself on how to become a better drafter. I like drafting but as a F2P player, my win-rate is unsustainable. I tend to prioritize removal and "bombs" but my decks always feels like a pile of stuff that don't interact very well with eachover. I use the free Untapped extension that ranks the cards but I think it just aggravates my problem of getting a pile of nice cards that don't mesh together that well. Any resource for a total newbie would be very appreciated. Cheers!

Gaming pathief • 1 year ago • 90%

TL;DR: Which game you like better, Monster Train or Inscryption? When I first bought Slay The Spire, I thought I was going to hate it. Never been much into deckbuilding games, roguelites even less. I ended up absolutely loving the game. Building unique fun decks, adapting to the RNG, planning a way to beat the heart. I loved every second of it. I spent 500 hours on the game so far. I beat A20 with every character, completed every achievement. Recently I bought Wildfrost. At first I found it super hard, but devs seem to be very active and developed some QoL improvements that made the game amazing for me. Managing all the keywords and unit placement was hard but very rewarding. I loved the game and would totally recommend giving the new patch a go, it's much more forgiving. I spent 70 hours on the game so far, beat all difficulties and completed every achievement. Looking to move on to the next deckbuilding roguelite game. Narrowed it down to Inscryption or Monster Train, both seem really nice. If you own Monster Train would you recommend getting the DLC (it's at sale now) or just the base game and check the DLC later? Thanks!

boardgames pathief • 1 year ago • 97%

For the longest time I've been using [ScorePal](https://scorepalapp.com/). This app is amazing. The best functionality is that it has "score sheet templates". These templates that are created by community and can then be used by everyone freely. All you had to do was select the game and fill the score sheet, the app calculates score and winners automatically. Here's a pic from their website  The app also has other goodies such as: - (Paid) BGG synchronization - Tons of stats and graphs with metrics such as win-rate - Nice interface Unfortunately this app is no longer mantained by the original creator, last update is from 2018. BGG synchronization seems broken, I never find community score sheet templates anymore. I can still create my own scoring templates, it works fine, but the community aspect is gone. I was wondering what everyone else is using. I've tried a bunch of apps, but I never found an app that is so good at creating custom scoring templates as ScorePal. I'd like to support an active developer but haven't found a good alternative.

boardgames pathief • 1 year ago • 96%

Hi folks! Currently on vacation with my family and we're getting tired of the party games I own. Looking for a couple of suggestions! Some caveats: - No word based games, we already have and love Just One, Codenames, etc - No social deduction games, they hate them - Preferably language independent or with few text dependence. We have Portuguese and german people in the group and not everyone understands English! - Low weight/rules - Supports 7 players! Thanks a lot friends!

boardgames pathief • 1 year ago • 97%

www.spiel-des-jahres.de

# Game of the year 2023 **Winner**: [Dorfromantik: The Board Game](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/370591/dorfromantik-board-game) Other nominees: - [Fun Facts](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/370164/fun-facts) - [Next Station London](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/353545/next-station-london) Recomendations: - [Akropolis](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/357563/akropolis) - [Hitster](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/318243/hitster) - [Kuzooka](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/356742/kuzooka) - [Mantis](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeksearch.php?action=search&objecttype=boardgame&q=Mantis) - [QE](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266830/qe) - [Sea Salt & Paper](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/367220/sea-salt-paper) - [That's Not a Hat](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/375651/s-not-hat) # Kenner game of the year 2023 **Winner**: [Challengers!](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/359970/challengers) Other nominees: - [Iki](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/177478/iki) - [Planet Unknown](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/258779/planet-unknown) Recommendations: - [Council of Shadows](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/368954/council-shadows) - [Mindbug](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/345584/mindbug-first-contact) # Children's game of the year 2023 **Winner**: [Mysterium Kids](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/367206/mysterium-kids-captain-echos-treasure) Other nominees: - [Carla Caramel](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/351937/carla-caramel) - [Gigamon](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/170969/gigamons) Recomendations: - [Douzanimo](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/375737/douzanimo) - [My First Adventure](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/249768/my-first-adventure-finding-dragon) - [Turtle Splash!](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/343833/turtle-splash)

Coffee pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

Hi all. I've purchased a Delonghi Dinamica super automatic but so far I haven't had much luck in getting good coffee. I didn't expect mind blowing coffee just something as good as my old Nespresso. I dialed it the best I could, the best setting I found was grinder on 4-5, intensity on 4 (out of 5) and max temperature. Flavor still feels a bit dull but increasing intensity or finer grind leads to a burnt or very bitter taste. I tried a couple of beans: Lavazza Oro, Delta Platinum, Buondi (Nestlé brand), nothing felt amazing. Looking to try some alternative beans, preferably something under 30 euros per kilo shipped to Portugal. Thanks!!

No Stupid Questions pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

I think the idea of assigning a language to a post is great. However, I always use the english language. I'd like to know if there's a way to automatically tag all my posts as english, instead of manually selecting it. Some communities seem to default to english even I don't set anything but unfortunately others do not.

boardgames pathief • 1 year ago • 97%

Medium Euro games are by far my favorite boardgame genre. Picking a winner was extremely hard for me, I've been postponing this review forever now... Today's game is... this is so hard... I guess it's [Concordia](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124361/concordia) # TL;DR **Score:** 9/10 **Positives**: - Other players actions can benefit you - Very strategic - Networking is fun - Plays in 1.5 hours, which is a sweet spot for me - Rulebook is like 3 pages **Negatives**: - Artwork and components are VERY dated - Scoring can be confusing at first - Game-end can be triggered by any player, and then everyone else plays an extra turn. Unfortunately this can mean that not everyone played the same number of turns, which is a pet peeve of mine. # The Review Concordia has the most original theme you have ever heard. You're a striving merchant in the Mediterranean! You'll want to expand your influence around the map, collect goods and please the gods!  *Image credit to Klara & Marcel Petermeier on bgg, [source here](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6647418/concordia)* In Concordia your turn is quite simple: you either play a card from your hard or retrieve all the played cards back to your hand. You start the game with 7 cards, all with different intesting actions. You can move your colonists in the map and build some houses, acquire new colonists, trade goods or acquire new cards. Without getting too much detail, you'll want to expand your buildings into the map because they'll generate resources for you. Each building is associated with a map region and a specific good type that you can later collect. The region of the building is important because at any time a player can "activate" a region, and everyone in the region receives the goods from their buildings. I always love when other players' actions can benefit you. Do I want to be alone and collect all the goods for myself or do I want to move to the same region as other players and collect their free region activations? Acquiring new cards is also an interesting action. New cards are added to your hand and contain a new action for you to perform. The cards are displayed in a row and the last cards are more expensive. When a card is purchased, the row moves forward and a new card is available in the most expensive spot. You want to grab that nice card now at a premium cost or gamble that no one is going to take it? The new cards net new an interesting actions but, equaly importantly, they contain scoring oportunities. Each card is associated with a god, which is used for end-game scoring. Cards can be interesting for their action but also for their scoring opportunities and it's important to balance it out. I think this game is amazing. It's really tense, especially in the beginning where everyone is starting to move out of rome and create their own buildings. Love the player interaction on this one. You can collect goods from other players action, you can play their someone else's last played card. It feels me with a lot of positive vibes. Playing around not only your game but what you think your opponents are going to do feels really great. I love games where you build a large network, it always feels very rewarding. If I had to say something negative about the game that would be the artwork and components... They feel really dated, dull and dry. It's hard to convince people to play Concordia for the first time, they look at the cover and feel like playing something else. A "new version" came out recently-ish with a new generic boring cover but the game is the same. This game deserves a deluxified version, something pretty and engaging. Scoring was also a bit confusing to me in the first game. Each god scores differently, each card has an associated god. It's easy to be caught up in the fun of expanding your empire but then completely missing the scoring conditions for a couple of gods. I tried the expansion, not really a fan of having a wild resource. I heard some of the new maps make it for a more interesting 2 player experienced but I never played it. Unfortunately someone else in my group owns the game, not me. I'm waiting for that deluxe version! I know this game looks boring, I know the theme is the least appealing theme on the planet but trust me... It's an amazing game with simple rules and a short-ish play time. The rulebook is like 3 pages long, you can learn it super fast. When was the last time you played an medium euro game with a 3-page rulebook? Personally, I'm a huge fan of games with a large depth but a low rules overhead. If you're like me, this game is for you! You need to try this! # Context Information **Number of plays:** 7 **Suggested player count:** 4 players is best, 3 is okay, 5 players is nice if everyone knows how to play and no one suffers from Analysis Paralysis **Win-rate**: 28.57% **Average playtime:** 1.5 hours # Honorable Mentions Consider these games as winners, which they could very well have been! - [Viticulture: Essential Edition](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183394/viticulture-essential-edition) with expansion [Viticulture: Tuscany Essential Edition](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/202174/viticulture-tuscany-essential-edition) - I almost chose this one as the winner but the game is only fantastic with the expansion. In my personal opinion, this game NEEDS the expansion. I wouldn't play without it. - [Lost Ruins of Arnak](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/312484/lost-ruins-arnak) - My SO loves this game so we've played it a ton. It's really good, plays nicely at 2 players. It's very min-max oriented, which can lead to some analysis paralysis. I really like discovering and killing the monsters and ultimately I wish the game was more about that. The expansions add variable powers to each character, which is something I really enjoy. - [Everdell](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199792/everdell) - Artwork is amazing, which is what lead me to buy the game. The game is fun, haven't tried any of the expansions (I own Spirecrest). The big tree is pretty but honestly pretty non-functional. - [Sol: Last Days of a Star](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/174837/sol-last-days-star) - This game is different than anything you've ever played. It's so quirky, so different, so unique. Definitely check it out if you're looking for something new. You need at least 4 players to play it, don't bother to play with with any less players. - [Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/328871/terraforming-mars-ares-expedition) - This Terraforming Mars meets Race for the Galaxy. It still feels like Terraforming Mars but it was streamlined a lot. Do I like it better than the original? Well... That's hard to answer. I miss putting forest and oceans on the map, I really do. However, Terraforming Mars often feels like it drags for too long, often took over 3 hours. Ares Expedition is fast, it plays under an hour. You lose some things but at the end of the day it's still very good. The "card play" feels the same and it's definitely something I would recommend. The new expansion adds milestones & awards, which is fine.

boardgames pathief • 1 year ago • 96%

I haven't been able to post review in the last fiew days, life got in the way. Hopefully this week goes better! Today's game is [Lovecraft Letter](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/198740/lovecraft-letter). # TL;DR **Score:** 9/10 **Positives:** - Very easy to teach - Very fast - Light-hearted - Very nice components **Negatives:** - Some folks really dislike "accusing", they won't like this game # The Review Lovecraft Letter combines the classic **Love Letter** game with an H.P. Lovecraft theme. This isn't just one of those simple Batman re-themes, if feels more like an expansion to Love Letter.  *Image credit to Petra on bgg, [source here](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3813410/lovecraft-letter)* The goal of the game is to be the last surviving person. In your turn you will draw a card and play one of the 2 cards in your hand. Each card has a number and an associated action that you can perform. For instance, the card number 1 lets you attempt to guess someone else's card and if you succeed they are out of the game. The number 8 card cannot be played and if you are ever forced to discard it you lose the game. Though the game has player elimination, the rounds are very quick and it won't take long before you play again. If there were no cards left to be drawn, the person with the highest numbered card wins. In the base Love Letter game, this was the entire game and boy did we enjoy playing it. It felt really great to play after a longer and heavier game. It's just such a chill and light-hearted fun game. You don't have to think too much, we mostly didn't even care too much about odds or anything. Folks just like to accuse me of being a Princess and that was fun. Sometimes we ended playing Love Letter for the entire evening. It was great but eventually we burned out a bit. That's when **Lovecraft Letter** was released. The game is essentially the same but it adds a push your luck mechanic. Now there is an additional 8 *alternative*, green cards (1 for each number). Playing or discarding one of these alternative cards will leave you insane. The green cards will now have VERY strong abilities at your disposal, however you will need to do a sanity check before each of your turns. For each green card you have played/discarded you have to flip a card from the deck... if it's a green or 8 card you just lose. It was such a simple and subtle twist in the game but it REALLY refreshed the game for us. If I have a green card in hand do I want to risk using its amazing power? It will certainly pay off.... If you survive long enough to use it! The components are great for the price. The game comes with a really neat box, a nice organizer, sleeves and poker chips. You're set. If, for some reason, you don't like the push your luck component added in Lovecraft Letter, you can still play base Love Letter just by removing the green cards. I have really great memories playing this game for so many evenings with my friends. I still don't get how such a simple game hooked us so hard, but it really did. You can teach this game to anyone, it's so easy and plays in like 5 minutes. Can't recommend it enough! # Context Information **Number of plays:** Certainly 100+ **Suggested player count:** 4+ **Average playtime:** A single game is like 5 minutes and if you win 2 games as insane or 3 games as sane you are the ultimate winner. Sometimes it takes a while to find the winner, depending on the number of players, but each individual game is super fast. # Honorable mentions: - [Fantasy Realms](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223040/fantasy-realms) - Trying to build combos is super fun - [Arboretum](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140934/arboretum) - I tend not to like "mean" games, but I don't think one is as mean as people make it out to be. I love building my Arboretum!

Technology pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

If this isn't the best place to post this just point me to the right direction and I'll delete it. Looking for a vertical mouse: - Good for work, don't care about gaming - Ergonomic - Wireless - Rechargeable, if possible - < 200 euros - Available in EU Thanks in advance!

No Stupid Questions pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

Basically I want to follow https://kbin.social/m/chess without the assle of browsing a different website. Is it possible to follow and comment a kbin magazine ou lemmy? UPDATE: I was able to subscribe to /m/chess on lemmy.world, but I still don't see any of their posts. Maybe I'll only receive the new ones? I tried to create a post there and it does show on kbin! However, comments don't seem to show up on kbin yet, trying to wait it out. > Go to communities and paste the url https://kbin.social/m/chess in the search box. It won’t find anything, but if you change the selection box from communties to all, you should see !chess@kbin.social in the result. Click on the and subscribe. UPDATE2: - I only see new posts, older posts don't show up. That's fine - I can create a new post, it shows on kbin. However, comments made on lemmy don't show up in kbin. Comments on kbin show up in lemmy - Made a second posts, everything worked fine. Comments show up on kbin just fine. Weird... - New posts made on kbin show up on lemmy. Comments made on lemmy on a post created via kbin work fine. They also show up on lemmy. No idea why but I'm happy. Thanks, everyone!!!!

boardgames pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

In order to promote discussion on Lemmy, I'm doing micro-reviews for my favorite boardgames by genre. Please join in, provide your reviews, flame me for my terrible taste or to suggest a category for tomorrow! Today's game is [Azul](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230802/azul). I won't be doing a best abstract game list because Azul is also my favorite abstract strategy game. # TL;DR **Score:** 9/10 **Positives** - Easy to teach - Very nice tactile experience - Interesting gameplay for both casual and heavier gamers - Fast turns, low-ish downtime - Drafting tiles is fun **Negatives** - You have to fill the factories with new tiles every round - Some people like to "hate draft" (ie: take a piece that is useless to you but very useful to your opponent) and not everyone enjoys that interaction - I wish the board was double-layered, especially the scoring part of the board. It's very easy to misplace your scoring cube by accident. # The review Family games are very important to me. They are not the type of game I enjoy the most, but it's pretty much the only type of games my family would enjoy. I find that fantastic family weight games are hard to come by. They need to be easy to teach, simple enough my family members would enjoy and complex enough that I don't get bored to death. I think **Azul** nails it perfectly. In Azul, you are a tile-laying artist and you are decorating the walls Royal Palace of Evora, in Portugal. I'm portuguese myself so naturally I imediately felt compelled to try it. You have your own personal wall that you will be decorating with differently colored wall tiles. The premise of the game is rather simple but I don't want to go into in a great detail. Lets face it, if you're here you probably already know exactly what Azul is and how to play it. There are several "factories" placed at the center of the table, each containing 4 wall tiles. There are 5 different wall tile color/patterns. During your turn you select a color/pattern of a specific factory and take ALL the tiles of the chosen color/pattern. The rest if tiles are placed at the center of the table, which now acts as an additional factory. The tiles you chose are placed on your personal board. The order in which you fill your personal board is of critical importance because you get extra points by placing a tile adjacent to other tiles you placed before. Sometimes it's tempting to just pick that factory with 3 yellow tiles, but maybe you wouldn't get any adjacency bonus so it's not a great decision. This is were Azul completely nails it. The more casual folks will not give it much thought and just grab the yellow tiles and they've have a blast filling their personal board. The more experienced players will try to put the pieces in the best order in the board and have a fun min-maxing experience as well. I feel like in Azul you have just the right amount of the randomness expected in a family-weight game and a brilliantly achieved balance on decisions vs complexity. The pieces are very nice, it feels great to shuffle the pieces in the bag, and handling them feels great. The quality of the pieces is an important part on the enjoyment of the game. The player boards, however, could be better. Scoring is marked with a standard cube and it's very easy to accidently misplace it. In case you are wondering, I also tried Azul: Glass of Sintra and Azul: Summer Pavilion. While the games are similar, they fail at nailing that crazy simple yet captivating gameplay original Azul has. Azul: Glass of Sintra is fine but I wouldn't recommend Summer Pavilion. Also, the "Joker tiles" mini-expansion is quite meh. # Context Information - **Number of plays**: 26+, stopped logging in 2018 - **Suggested player count:** 2-4 players - **Average playtime**: 20 mins - **Win-rate**: 35%.. in 2018 # Honorable mentions - [Century: Spice Road](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209685/century-spice-road) - I can't believe this game is only rank 308. Engine building at family weight? Count me iiin. - [Ticket to Ride - Europe](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/14996/ticket-ride-europe) - Can't argue with the classics. I like the Europe version in particular because it's more forgiving and you know.. I'm from europe...

Magic: The Gathering pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

I'm wondering if anyone actually finds this format enjoyable. Seems like an RNG fest to me with very little interesting decisions :/

boardgames pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

Generally, I'm more of a lurker, but Lemmy is still young and I think we should all contribute a but more. In order to encourage discussion, I'll be writing micro-reviews for my favorite games by genre in the next couple of days. You're welcome to join in and review yours or flame me for my terrible taste! I think it's appropriate to start with my favorite game of all time - [Brass: Birmingham](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224517/brass-birmingham). # TL;DR **Score**: 10/10 **Positives**: - Very strategic - Other players actions can be very positive for you - Networking is very fun - The random setup really makes games feel completely different from each other - At the end of the game, you always have a sense of accomplishment, regardless of your score **Negatives**: - Rules are fiddly, every good has a different rule for transportation - Because the player order changes by amount of money spent, sometimes you go first in one round and last in the next round. This leads to very large downtime - Takes 2-3 hours - Scoring is a pain in the ass # The review I have never played Brass: Lancashire or the original Brass. I tend not to enjoy games where money is also victory points, which is the case for Brass: Lancashire. I like to spend it all! I ended up buying my copy after their kickstarter. I found a deluxe copy in my LGS and after reading a bunch of reviews I decided to give it a go. I didn't follow the Kickstarter campaign and my opinion was not influenced by it. In Brass: Birmingham you are playing as an entrepreneur during the UK's industrial revolution. You'll be trying to develop several industries and selling them for profit. The game takes place in 2 eras: the canal era and the train era. In the first era you pretty much work on developing your income and a strong canal network. At the end of the era, all your canals and level 1 buildings are removed from the game. The train era will begin and you'll have to spread tracks along the land. The thing I love most about this game is how your actions deeply affect your opponent's in a "positive" way. If you realize your opponent is going to need a lot of coal, you can create a coal mine and connect it to their network. They will be forced to consume coal from the nearest source, which is yours. When all coal is consumed, you get a lot of income. Everybody is happy! I mean, your opponent probably wanted to flip its own coal mine for income... But on the other hand no setup turn was required. Beer is an incredibly important resource, you need to sell your industries and other important actions. You definitely want to produce beer but if it's connected to the network, everyone can use it! Do you want to become a beer producer or place it somewhere obscure so only you can use it? I find these decisions to be incredibly fun. The one thing that is a turnoff about the game is how fiddly it can be. Scoring is a pain in the ass, each build scores by adjacent canal/rail roads and you score at the end of each era. Rules can also be a bit fiddly, every resource (coal, iron and beer) is transported with different rules, which can be a bit intimidating. If you can get past that and enjoy the nature of economic games I'm sure this game will be a hit. One of the things I think make a masterclass game is the feeling you have when you are heavily beaten. I would consider myself to be very weak at this game, I tend not to do great scorewise. However, at the end of the game, I feel fantastic. The decisions I made may not have been the correct ones, but they were fun. To see all my connected industries and all the things I produced always leaves me with a great sense of accomplishment. I can't recommend it enough. # Context Information This information is probably not very interesting, but I'll share it anyway. - **Number of plays**: 13 - **Suggested player count**: 3 players - **Average playtime**: 2.5h - **Win-rate**: 23% # Honorable mentions - [Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/126163/tzolk-mayan-calendar) - I suck so hard at this game... But I ALWAYS have a ton of fun. The gears are fantastic, very clever, very satisfying, very different from everything I've played. Definitely something you should try if you enjoy this genre. - [Scythe](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169786/scythe) --- What game genre/type would you like to review next?

Books pathief • 1 year ago • 100%

I, 35M, have never been much into reading. I just never found that one book that I thought was fantastic. Everything felt OK at best. How can I ask you for advice when I don't even know what I like myself? I don't know. I think a fantasy or mythological theme would work best. Something fast paced and with a non sad ending. I'm open to pretty much everything, though. Maybe by listing what books I have read and what I found displeasing about them you can suggest me a book or two to try? Give me some feedback! Books I remember reading: - Circe - I like the mythological theme, I think this was the book I enjoyed the most. I found it a bit bland, like the story pretty much lead to nothing of interest. - The Hobbit - I love the lord of the rings movies (never tried the books), I thought maybe I'd enjoy this book. I didn't enjoy the plot, don't really wanna spoil why. - Da Vinci Code - I thought it was fine, I guess I enjoy plots with some mystery. - Angels and Demons - honestly felt like the same book, I don't know if I even finished it - Digital Fortress - as a software developer, i thought the theme would pull me in but it didn't. It actually felt like the same book again and I have tried reading it three times without success. - 100 years of solitude - I read this a long time ago so I don't really remember why I didn't enjoy it. I remember it being a slog with long and very detailed descriptions of situations that didn't feel to matter at all. Thanks!