Bloodborne Revisited 2023

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Bloodborne, Games on September 17, 2023 by slateman

While I bailed on Bloodborne in 2015, when I revisited in 2018, I became infatuated. Over the course of several months, I dissected the game, devouring the lore, defeating every boss, chalice dungeon and completing the DLC. After platinuming the title, I did a NG+ run before moving on to other games.

Though I’d revisited several times in the years since, I never completed a run, eventually bailing at the Rom and Forbidden Woods segmets, not altogether surprising. This past week, I dove back in, not having much else to play.

Now, rewind 18 months or so to another From Software game: Elden Ring. After that magnificent experience ended, I found myself strugglig to find a follow-up that inspired me as much. Barring God Of War and Resident Evil 4, few games have really drawn me in as much. In fact, despite decades of gaming, I just haven’t been as drawn to games since Elden Ring.

So, as I returned to Bloodborne mid-game, I found myself struggling. I couldn’t dodge as easily. I died repeatedly (quelle surprise!) But then…IT happened. Again. I defeated Micolash. My son wanted to see Darkbeast Paarl – and I defeated him on the first try. I started reading about the lore and the items. Do I have three umbilical cords? This music is so haunting and spectacular! With my PS5, I can capture in 4K, can I get a good snap of the Gehrman fight? Should I clean up some of those optional bosses?

And it hit me. This is still my favorite game of all time. I debated this fact over the past few years. I mean, Super Mario Bros. 3 was my #1 for decades. But as I explored through this nightmarish world, I paused to absorb the views, I observed the grotesque enemies, I turned up the music. This game is simply fantastic and though it’s far less accessible than SMB3, it remains the greatest game ever made.

Unicorn Cube Tutorial

Posted in Algorithms, Blog, Cubing on September 9, 2023 by slateman

For the first half, I’m using Super Antonio Vivaldi’s tutorial as my basis. If I get stuck in my descriptions, just go watch the video. The later steps were guided by Bearded cubing 101’s guide.

Step 1: Align All Corners
This is the obvious first step. You can easily set up two or so, but as it goes on, it can get tricky. Once you have an edge piece flipped, hold the cube face on to yourself. Do a F2 turn to move the top edge piece down, swap it left or right to a piece that works (now on the bottom), do another F2 spin and your top layer should be complete.

I place the good side on the bottom now. To do middle layer edges, you can use a 3×3 algorithm to bring a piece from the top down. Or, you could just swap a front-right edge with a top-layer edge by bringing it up, swapping out and bringing the new piece down.

For the last layer, see how many incorrectly-placed pieces you have. If it’s all, do a standard 3×3 suni alg (r, u, r’, u, r, u2, r’). Now ideally you’ll have two in places/lined up and two not. Place those incorrectly-aligned edges on F and R and use a 3x3x2 edge-swap algorithm (R2, U, R2, U, R2, U2, R2, U2, R2, U, R2, U’, R2)

Sometimes I’ll get a bar of lined-up pieces instead of adjacent. In this situation, I do a l, u’, r’, u, l’, u to make them adjacent. Then I do the edge-swap alg above.

Step 2: Reduce Center
Find one center that you want to match up. Then flip the puzzle making this your bottom. Then we do the middle layers. You’ll use the top layer here as your free face to move around the pieces as you need. I think this is mostly intuitive, just don’t destroy your other middle-layer, correctly-placed pieces. If you get stuck, don’t forget: I can take my left (or right) center corner into my front face, then take a piece from the top and swing it down to the front, thus returning that newly-misplaced center corner back. There’s another method of doing this, but I think my solution will work fine.

Step 3: Reduce Edges
This will work something like 4×4 edge reduction. We are going to maintain one corner angular integrity and not worry about the rest of the puzzle. I usually choose the front-right corner. Your goal here is to slot an opposite piece (same colors – but a small/big to a big/small), do the angle turn, then restore. Ideally, when restoring, you’ll move another, properly-colored piece into place.

The trick here is maneuvering these other pieces into position while retaining the angular cut in the front-right spot. In addition, you’ve got to make sure the piece is slotted properly – i.e. with the big chunk on the left and the small to the right.

Step 4: Solve as a 3×3
The final step is intuitive. You may have to rotate centers, you may get adjacent edges flipped, but it should work out fine unless you get the dreaded one-corner-twisted parity. I haven’t even looked into that solution.

Abandoned WIP Projects

Posted in Blog, Bloodborne, Games, Street Fighter with tags on September 1, 2023 by slateman

Some links of abandoned/unfinished projects.

Resident Evil 4 Remake Results

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, High Scores/Accomplishments, Resident Evil on April 30, 2023 by slateman

After the high-quality renditions of Resident Evil 2 and RE3, the inevitable question posed was whether or not RE4 needed the facelift. Any doubts have been banished after Capcom knocked it out of the park…again! This new from-the-ground-up remake modernized what needed it, kept what worked and slathered it all in polish. The game is fantastic, and while I don’t post on this blog much, I wanted to share my remake results.

Run #1 was my fun, check everywhere, explore and enjoy playthrough.
My second game was the ‘get the infinite rocket launcher and collect everything’ run.
Finally, my easy-mode, rocket launcher speed-run trimmed my time from almost 20 hours to 3:20.

Capcom knows what they’re doing. Will Street Fighter 6 launch with such quality? All signs point to yes!!!

Oh, with this, I’ve updated my game-completion lists and my RE Rankings.

The Best Of 2022: My Lists

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Lists, Music, Personal on January 1, 2023 by slateman

Following tradition, my list of albums of the year have been posted, with Denmark scoring the highest honors for the first time in several decades. For this blog, however, I’m just going to post some lists.

Best Songs:
1) Svartsot: Rottefængeren
2) Andy Gillion: Game Over
3) Soilwork: Övergivenheten
4) The Halo Effect: Shadowminds
5) White Ward: Leviathan

Best Albums:
12) Ghost: Impera
11) Amorphis: Halo
10) Megadeth: The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!
9) Hällas: Isle Of Wisdom
8) Amon Amarth: The Great Heathen Army
7) White Ward: False Light
6) Arch Enemy: Deceivers
5) Saor: Origins
4) The Halo Effect: Days Of The Lost
3) Soilwork: Övergivenheten
2) Andy Gillion: Arcade Metal
1) Svartsot: Kumbl

Best Videogames:
#3: God Of War: Ragnarök
#2: Vampire Survivors
#1: Elden Ring

Best TV Shows:
#9: The Bear (S1)
#8: Murderville (S1)
#7: The Patient (S1)
#6: Dead To Me (S3*)
#5: Bridgerton (S2)
#4: Ozark (S4*)
#3: Stranger Things (S4)
#2: The White Lotus (S2)
#1: Severance (S1)

My Accomplishments:
3×3 Record: 26.46
6×6 Record: 11:11.38
Megaminx Record: 4:16.92
Regular Astrominx: Solved!

2023 In Music

Posted in Blog, Lists, Music on November 12, 2022 by slateman

I think 2022 turned out to be a pretty kick-ass year for music, with a particularly-tremendous August (Amon Amarth, Einherjer, Arch Enemy, The Halo Effect and Soilwork all within 14 days!!!) Can 2023 compare? Who knows, it’s still just November. Here’s my upcoming list, with the usual help from Metalstorm’s upcoming release list.

13 Jan – Obituary: Dying Of Everything (*shrug*)
20 Jan – Katatonia: Sky Void Of Stars
10 Feb – In Flames: Foregone
24 Feb – Insomnium: Anno 1696
03 Mar – Enslaved: Heimdal
09 Mar – Wintersun: Warning
14 Apr – Metallica: 72 Seasons
14 Apr – Overkill: Scorched
17 Apr – Rodrigo Y Gabriela: In Between Thoughts…A New World
18 May – Ghost: Phantomime
25 May – Immortal: War Against All
25 May – Kalmah: Kalmah
02 Jun – Omnium Gatherum: Slasher
09 Jun – Godflesh: Purge
29 Sep – KK’s Priest: The Sinner Rides Again
06 Oct – October Tide: The Cancer Pledge
13 Oct – Sulphur Aeon: Seven Crowns And Seven Seals
13 Oct – Amorphis: Queen Of Time – Live At Tavastia 2021

Gaming In 2022

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Lists on October 1, 2022 by slateman

For me, 2022 has been a strange year for gaming. The shining highlight, Elden Ring, was a perfect 10 in my eyes and after dumping 100+ hours into it, I walked away, looking forward to my next gaming experience. Unfortunately, nothing since has lived up and very few things have really even caught my fascination. I grabbed Horizon: Forbidden West but after a half-dozen hours, I simply didn’t care and had no real desire to play more. Far Cry 6 was meh. I beat Deathloop and Death’s Door – both pretty cool titles and I signed up for the new Playstation Plus which gave me access to scores of games, though I’ve hardly spent much time on any. Through the service I did get platinum trophies in Intelligent Qube and later Minit – the latter of which was honestly a fantastic experience.

I finally installed The Last Of Us Part II and its obnoxious 200Gb SSD requirement and the game was tremendous. It looks fantastic and the gameplay improved on the first entry in almost every way. However, it was another game to which, upon completing, I knew I’d never return. I purchased Modern Warfare for cheap and after the same hard-drive space demands, I swiftly deleted the game, likely never to revisit.

While I was utterly fascinated with Kingdom: Two Crowns for a week, I fell off and Shovel Knight Dig, while great, didn’t lure me to return after completing it. The one other title in 2022 which is worth mentioning is Vampire Survivors – another 10/10 game. Its bare-bones visuals aside, I was captivated throughout the summer, learning weapon combos, slaying tens of thousands of enemies inn the game that made me feel more OP than almost any before it. I could’ve sworn I posted pics/review of this game – I guess not!

For the remainder of the year, my big game is the obvious: God Of War: Ragnarök. The last was my Game Of The Year 2018. That vs. Elden Ring. Gonna be hard to beat, honestly.

Beaten

  • Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare
  • Elden Ring
  • Intelligent Qube (PS1)
  • Minit
  • Shovel Knight Dig
  • Vampire Survivors

Played a lot of

  • Horizon Forbidden West
  • KeyWe
  • Kingdom: Two Crowns
  • PGA Tour 2K21
  • Returnal

2023 looks promising with Capcom’s Street Fighter VI and Resident Evil 4 leading my must-have list alongside PSVR2. All will likely land around the same time, unfortunately. Diablo IV is on the list too.

Another New Megaminx Record! WOW!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on July 2, 2022 by slateman

As stated previously, I’m loving my new magnetic Megaminx and this morning, a quiet Saturday with a sleeping puppy by my feet, I figured I’d do a quick speedrun. It was about 1:10 before I got my first two layers done – mostly par for the course – but my middle edges/corner matching was pretty solid. This puzzle’s bright faces make it easy to identify and so for the first time, I’ve been looking ahead. A quick slip-up on my penultimate layer and some fidgeting permuting centers (my weakest step) made things a bit slow, but I’ve become much more adept at orienting corners and placing them. The end result? A staggering one-minute improvement and a mind-boggling 4:16 solve! I was blown away!

New Megaminx Record!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on July 1, 2022 by slateman

I was really impressed with my latest Megaminx record – getting my time down to 7:21 and then an even 6:00. In light of having this kick-ass new Gan 3×3, I realized just how good a magnetic speed cube can be. Next up really should be a 2×2 or a Pyraminx, but neither are really FUN puzzles. The Megaminx, however, it an entertaining solve and with that, my order was set: YJ YuHu V2M. I lubed it up and immediately noticed just how fast and precise it was. One sub-seven-minute solve (would’ve been my record just a few months ago) was followed by a slamming sub-5:30! I was impressed by just how good this puzzle was! One more sub-6 and then I got a 5:18! FORTY seconds faster than my old record!

That evening, I revisited the puzzle, getting several close times (in the 5:20 – 5:30 range). Whether a sub-five-minute solve is possible, I’m not sure, but this puzzle is simply wonderful and it’s still just so much fun revisiting things like this and breaking records. Of course, I’m probably getting close to my limits on them all, but at 46 years old, I’m still enjoying it! So psyched!

THREE New Cubing Records: May 2022!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on June 24, 2022 by slateman


The end of the school year, covid, surgeries and home renovations delayed this post, but it’s an exciting one, if I might say so myself. Moving backwards, in late April a student in my Spanish 2 class (one with a PB of around 17 seconds) brought in her Gan 3×3. Over the past 11 years of cubing, I’ve regularly updated my main – maybe once every other year or so, but my record has stood since barely dropping a half a second from it in May of 2018. This new puzzle was unlike any other I’d tried before. The magnets were snappy, turns felt super responsive and it glided like butter. I was on a mission.

Upon purchasing a Gan 356M, their middle-of-the-line budget model, I realized it was just way too loose. I should’ve opted for the model with extra GES nuts to help with tension, but I already felt badly spending $30 on another 3×3!!! When I got the cube finally tensioned how I wanted it, I couldn’t believe just how wonderfully it turned. This is the best puzzle I’ve ever owned. To put things in perspective, I had accomplished three sub-30 second times in my prior decade of cubing. I accomplished the feat six times in a week with my Gan 356. My first, an astonishing 28.6 seconds shaved almost half a second off my time. I was elated. I saw it coming. My record broken – for the fourth time in a row in the month of May!

However, that wasn’t all. Two days later, I utterly shattered my record, trimming two full seconds off! The solve was magical. Three of the four cross whites already done so I could start planning my corners ahead, something I NEVER can do. Three middle layers were super fast and I could see ahead as I placed those pieces swiftly. On the top layer, I had an L and then had to swap two corners. This left me with a fully-solved yellow face. A quick three-cycle solved the puzzle in the fastest time EVER! 26.46 seconds! While I was at it, I broke all my average records: Averages of 3/5/12/50/100 all were decimated, with my average-of-3 being sub-30!

Unfortunately, future solves revealed that without a very lucky skip, I will never match or best that time. If I can’t get the second layer done by 15-17 seconds, it’s not even worth finishing. Once you hit that stage, a lot of the fun is sucked out of speedsolving. I’ve dabbled in F2L, but without memorizing all new algorithms, I don’t see it ever happening. With my 4×4 and 5×5 records at incredible times and with good cubes alongside of them, I genuinely wonder if my days of timing myself are over.

But then I wondered if I could give the Megaminx another swing. Upon getting a new puzzle for Christmas (which itself resulted in breaking a decade-old record), I figured why not try again? Solve #1 was close to the 7:21 record from January and solve #2 was…just remarkable! 6:00.77! I trimmed my record by 80 seconds!!! I got a lucky last layer and just missed a sub-6 by three-quarters of a second!

I’m happy these old bones still have some speed in them. Three records in one month – not bad for a 46-year-old!!!