site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1166 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 9, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Anyone play Blue Prince? Maybe I'm just in a Backroomsy mood, but I heard good things and it looks intriguing.

I love it, solidly in my games pantheon. Zealous recommendation to all.

Reposting some things I've said about it before:

It's the pinnacle of most of the genres it's attached to, a masterpiece in almost the traditional sense (one very competent guy polished it for 8 years, it's a completely realized coherent vision), and very fun.

Probably 15-20 hours to beat the part of the game that most people will stop at (having greatly enjoyed their time with it), and 100+ hours to optionally go beyond that if you still don't want to put it down.

WARNING unhidden spoilers in the subthread to this comment

Probably 15-20 hours to beat the part of the game that most people will stop at (having greatly enjoyed their time with it)

Absolutely. It's a great game until you're trying to get the sledgehammer, metal detector, garden key, workshop, AND a bit of luck on room placement (IIRC that was a real challenge I beat once...then my computer crashed and lost it and I couldn't repeat it).

I maintain that the supposed RNG problem is a skill issue. As a general thing you should be keeping like a priority queue of theories and start each run flexibly. If you start trying for one particular thing every time too early in the game yeah that'll probably get frustrating. Later on there are RNG mitigations that should let you get just about whatever you want on most runs.

(note to Testing123: the supposed RNG problem is not something that usually overfrustrates even casual players in the "main" part of the game most people enjoy; it's a later-game thing)

Crashes are brutal though. I never had one in Blue Prince, but a bad one killed Subnautica for me.

As a general thing you should be keeping a priority queue of theories and start each run flexibly, but also there are RNG mitigations that should eventually let you get just about whatever you want on most runs.

I was running about half a dozen theories by the time I quit, and had only managed to check (not progress or confirm) a couple of them in my last few runs. The problem with the coat check (and other mitigations, IIRC) is that they help you with one theory, and not always all that well. Using the above example, I could either save the garden key (a rare item), or combine and save the power hammer. That reduces the requirements to garden key/coat check/room placement, or to sledgehammer/metal detector/work shop/coat check/room placement, which still isn't that easy.

Having watched bits of a few streamers' playthroughs, skillful/optimizing drafting is rare, but the biggest key to managing the RNG.

At the stage of the game where the thing you're talking about was relevant to me, I was getting the garden key probably every 2nd or 3rd run, and then when I incidentally got the other stuff I went for it. I rarely used the coat check since as a dead end it was almost always bad drafting (one of the main principles of good drafting is that openings are a resource, and probably the most important one).

(again to Testing123, just to emphasize: most people play fully through the part of the game most people natually and satisfiedly stop at, without having had an unfun problem about this)

I was getting the garden key probably every 2nd or 3rd run...

That's a bit higher than I remember, but not too far off.

, and then when I incidentally got the other stuff I went for it.

Let's call it a 1/3 chance for the key and 1/3 for the rest, for a 1/9 chance of it being available in a given run. Running six theories at once (of the same difficulty and assuming independence) gives you (1 - 1/9) ^ 6 = 49.3% chance of a wasted run assuming sufficiently-good play, which feels about right. Add in a few missed opportunities and a run of bad luck, and I dropped the game.

(again to Testing123, just to emphasize: most people play fully through the part of the game most people natually and satisfiedly stop at, without had having an unfun problem about this)

Yeah, it's good up to Room 46.

49.3%

You know what, that might even be right. I just really liked the drafting game. And even on the wrong side of that, you can always move at least something forward, even if it's "just" a meta-resource like stars or allowance or a Conservatory appearance, which snowball and make the mechanical side of the game much easier later.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats