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Weeknotes 26-11

Big week for me, I got my new phone………. crazy!!!! I’m still getting used to the size, it’s just barely large enough where I can’t really one-hand stuff as easily. Like with my mini I never had to re-adjust my hand to reach anything, but I constantly have to do that with the 17 which makes it feel so much more precarious (like checking directions while i’m biking). I actually bought a case (shocking!) not for the protection or anything, just so I could have a place to put charms and to protect the stickers i’ll inevitably put on the back. Ultimately having ridiculously good battery life (and good camera updates!) is making it all worth it. I’ll probably relegate my 12 mini as a work testing device or something, we can always use more of those.

On thursday I did the first casual pinball tournament of the season and got last place which, lmao. The goals on each game were shockingly difficult, like even some really good players I talked to couldn’t do some of them, so it’s not super surprising that I couldn’t do a single one. Oh well, still fun! Saturday my favorite ice cream place re-opened, now with cafe and food (using teas from my favorite tea shop). Sooooooo yummy, the owner is really nice, we talked for a bit about tea and biking. Can’t wait for the weather to warm up a bit more so they can have outdoor seating, gonna be such a vibe. Sunday was a coworker’s Oscars watch party, everyone had to dress as a character from a movie they liked that came out in 2025 so I dressed as Rui from The Colors Within because he just looks/dresses like me anyway lmao

Also mariah and I got our tickets and booked a hotel for copenhagen and have figured out a pretty good itinerary for boston!!!!! yay can’t wait!

Death Stranding 2: People love to talk about how confusing and weird Kojima games are, which like sure sometimes they’re weird and complicated but usually the themes and messaging is incredibly clear and often spelled out for you by the characters themselves. Metal Gear Solid 2 has the whole speech at the end about memes and genes, MGS4 war is bad, etc, etc. Death Stranding 1 is interesting in that so much of it is about these isolationist people who connect via the internet and how powerful the internet can be in connecting people, and DS2 has a clear followup to that in the post-covid era, that connecting in person and making bonds in real life is even more important.

After Sam’s baby is stolen from him in the intro of the game, he goes on this journey of healing and along the way meets a wide array of people, many of whom join him in his crew and help him in different ways. Ultimately a really nice story, it feels like such a good followup to the first one.

Gameplay-wise it kinda feels like MGSV again in the best way possible, immediately giving you a wide array of tools. Ironically I ended up using the truck like 75% of the time because it’s just that good!!!! Car propaganda tbh. However!! it has one major failing, which is that it has the Sony First-party Syndrome, a companion character that talks at you about 90% too much about things that any player would already know. The amount of time that Dollman spends reiterating what the player already knows, or explaining what is right in front of them, is truly infuriating. Like honestly what are we doing here!!! If there’s any definitive proof that video games are Bad it’s this!!!! It’s like that meme of Scarface with the little emoji in the corner telling you what emotions to feel, except applied to pretty much every major first-party AAA game in the last decade.

Oh also the soundtrack is really good. I know this is from the first one but I keep listening to this Chvrches song

Things I’ve been into this week!!!