xianc78 @xianc78@gameliberty.club

Zelda TOTK review

tl;dr - 6.5/10

This game has gotten an unprecedented level of 10/10 scores from wojak critics. If it hadn't, I wouldn't feel compelled to write this.

I believe the critics are simply hyped about a new Zelda game with lots of content to fill the empty void of loneliness they feel. It's a good game, but it doesn't meet the Zelda standard I expect.

This game feels like a fangame mod of Breath of the Wild. If you had told me open source developers created this game in their free time over the course of 6 years, I'd believe it. Now don't get me wrong - I played it and beat it, and it was somewhat enjoyable. But the entire time something felt wrong.

I'm very much of the mindset that "developers rule". And in a way, the epic record-breaking sales of this game prove that I'm correct. But it feels like no product person was involved in this game whatsoever. I assume that during the pandemic, the product/design/management people struggled the most while developers thrived. It's like the development of this game was entirely based around voluntary pull requests that people just merged, instead of a visionary leading their team towards a cohesive vision.

BOTW was a cohesive vision about redefining Zelda. It's based on the very first Zelda game on NES. It has themes of past and future. Everything about the game is in harmony. By contrast, TOTK is about "progress". But progress towards what, exactly? The developers' fantasies about what Link could do in this sandbox world? I did not feel like there was any real purpose of this game except to kill time. I expect more from a Zelda game.

The reused assets feel lazy, and the extra "content" they added doesn't make up for it. People hoped this game would be like Majora's Mask, but Majora's Mask was based on Aonuma's nightmares. That level of vision simply isn't present for TOTK.

The game feels like a Zelda + Fortnite mashup. It mainly rewards dorks who want to build ridiculous machines, something that feels very wrong for Zelda. If it wasn't a Zelda game, maybe I'd feel differently.

They didn't even explain what happened to Guardians and shrines from BOTW. Every time a cutscene came on it was agony. 😩 They'd give 10 minutes of "story" without telling any of the things you actually need to know. The "story" of this game is complete and utter bullshit, and further exemplifies how disjointed this game is. Gannondorf hardly belongs.

If you have time to kill; if you're looking for a game that keeps drawing you back, and giving you a just little bit while taking from you more, I highly recommend giving TOTK a try.

@matty Not a bad guide but here's some important shit I've learned online.
The most important rule of Opsec IMO is to always have some sort of fear. Don't get too cocky like the idiot on Poast who made the post with all his alts. In fact if you want to really be paranoid here's a good trick: make every post as if it'd have your real name and photo attached to it even though you're not in this case. If you have a career that could be on the line from posting, think twice about posting or posting anything like real life experiences.
To add to this, if you think "oh there's no way XYZ will come for me what do I have to hide", you're exactly the kind of low hanging fruit that would use your email to ask for help running a darkweb market or showing up at a political protest without a mask AND carrying your cell phone or something.
It should be added in that Encrypted messaging apps won't save you from two different scenarios. The first is you're sloppy with opsec and talking to someone who is baiting you into saying dumb shit or ratting you out behind the scenes (this is how Vertias was good at getting results). The second is the thing the XKCD comic on encryption that techbros keep posting satirized. Recently the FBI got a court order to unlock the phone of a pedophile using Wickr using his face. Or maybe they'll do the same with the other guy's phone.
Doxing is game of putting together a puzzle and they will use anything to dox you. People bring up photos all the time in this thread but I'll add another, one very common thing that feds and amateurs have used online are timestamps, such as using it to identify if the writer of malware is Russian, Chinese, American, or Israeli. The theory that 4chan is flooded by Israeli shills is fueled by the timestamps of when the people post or how when Israel was getting shelled posting slowed down. This is also what federal agents do as well to unmask people online, they take advantage of every single slip up. For example:
Don't just strip one piece of EXIF data but all pieces of it. I know the UK caught one notorious pedophile as well by using Flickr to see what photos were taken with a specific model of an Olympus camera in a country. Maybe also use a different camera for posting online to avoid being traced back with say, dead sensor pixels/dust spots in the sensor.
Big tech will dox you, and the same goes with your cell phone. See the guy who sent Kurt Eichenwald the famous gif. But I can go one better.
NEVER TRUST GOOGLE! Aside from numerous leaks, a Wired article talked about how Google has helped create political prisoners out of boomers. In 2018 it was revealed Google monitors location data when it's set to "off". Even Google Employees don't get their own settings or trust Google, and think Chrome's private mode is a joke. That's not even getting into the political stance of the company which is that they hate you and think it's funny.

I think that kind of goes without saying though. You probably should not post pictures of your guns period, but if you do it should be on a neutral background.

@matty ALRIGHT. I wanted to mention two things: videos and .step/.stp files.

First up: .step/.stp files. It's a popular format for sharing 3d models, especially if you're into 3d printing stuff. The problem is that when you export a .step from a cad program they frequently add information that could identify you, such as timezone, username you are currently logged in with and the complete file path the file was originally exported to.

This is visible when you open the .step/.stp with a text editor such as notepad or notepad++. The good news is you can simply remove this information and resave the file. I've included a screenshot from my own machine of what this looks like.

I personally know of two people in the 3d printed weapon community who were doxed because of this.

Media blames ‘climate change’ for Canadian wildfires despite arrest of multiple arsonists
" multiple people have been arrested in connection with dozens of intentionally set fires in the country."
Global warming is fake and gay.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/media-blames-climate-change-for-canadian-wildfires-despite-arrest-of-multiple-arsonists/

@shedinja @ItsSkyDragonz @Jim namely shitcoins (not so much btc and xmr). I told my coworkers to hold in xmr instead of gambling on shitcoins and they didn't listen I bet they're crying now

YouTube's legal team has demanded that privacy-focused frontend alternative to YouTube, #Invidious, cease offering their client within seven days.
https://alternativeto.net/news/2023/6/youtube-legal-team-asked-invidious-developers-to-take-down-the-service-within-7-days/

@TomLarrow
blob

No random open source application, I do not want to join your Discord channel for support.

There's this really cool technology called hypertext markup language, and if you use it for your documentation another piece of amazing technology called a search engine can help me find the answer I'm looking for

And the real magic is you only have to answer it once and the answer helps anyone. You don't have to answer the same question every day. This frees you up for more fun development

@fsf
> Protect developer freedom. Abolish software patents

NZ did it. You can too.

https://www.nzedge.com/news/new-zealand-abolishes-software-patents/

#SoftwarePatents #SoftwareFreedom

[Announcement]

As a matter of transparency, please be aware that Youtube's legal team contacted us.

See https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/issues/3872 for more details.

Also, in the event where the main repository was taken down, be aware that our code is backed up at https://gitea.invidious.io/iv-org

-SamantazFox