Kena main pantat

My younger SIL (lets call her B) just gave birth last year and I helped out a lot sebab dia ni takde suami. When she couldnt calm her newborn baby, i took over and said to her, “i understand how challenging this is, dont worry im here to help you. Dulu i pun ‘koyak’ juga lah masa jaga newborn sbb penat sgt and first time mom kan”. Then B with a straight face replied, “oh i takdelah koyak sebab anak kan. Kenapa i nak koyak dgn anak sendiri”. Well u should’ve said that to your face B bcs i always saw you lose it when your baby is cranky. How dare you guilt tripping me for not coming over to see u n your baby when i actually only went back to my parents house. Mcm aku ni tkde keje lain je nak mengadap kau.
I wont be like this if you were grateful enough for your family for accepting and helping and supporting you through your journey even though what you did was really really bad. You gave birth at a private hosp, your baby gets her monthly checkup at that same private hosp, your mom tanggung both of you 100% from your car loan to your baby’s diapers and milk. Your brother (my husband) took one for all by saying to our relatives that the baby is our adopted child even though its ridiculous bcs the baby looks exactly like you.
But you are still like your old self. Arrogant, entitled, spoiled and tak reti jaga mulut. You scolded me for breastfeeding your baby even though ive asked permission and its for the baby’s own good. You shamelessly go out and about bringing your baby everywhere. I said this bcs it invites question from people around us and my husband has to lie. Sometimes, when my husband’s friends came over and B happens to be there with her baby, she would suddenly come near to my husband while holding her baby over to my husb and said, “hi daddy”. Of course member husb aku pelik and tanya eh ni anak siapa? You even had the audacity to marah everyone including me sebab lambat uruskan your placenta. My BIL snapped and scolded you and then you went ahead and cried to your mom. So what did your mom do? Of course she called all of your siblings and gave them a scolding for making you cry. Except my husband sbb aku awal2 dah message dkt MIL explaining that we genuinely forgot about the placenta and we kept it safe, and you B dont need to marah2 everyone bcs we also have our plates full. FYI, the siblings tak kesian dkt B’s situation sbb ni bukan first time dia buat benda tu. Cumanya this time terpregnant.
B lives with my MIL. She dont have a job and her income is from my MIL. I dont give a damn about all those special treatment and privilege that she has. But when it comes to my baby, i would give a whole lot of damn ye. My 2yo baby dah tak rapat dgn my MIL ever since B gave birth. Im sad to see they no longer have the bond that they used to have but i decided to distance myself from B for the sake of my mental peace. Distancing from B means distancing from my MIL as well.
But B has crossed the line so so many times that i have to do this. One time, my husb asked B to watch our baby while we both were working. All of us were outside at the time. MIL was holding B’s baby so B was free to watch over my baby. About 10mins or so we suddenly couldnt hear our baby’s voice. Rupanya B tak jaga pun anak aku and she lost my baby. My mind went blank at the time. I just followed where my feet goes and thank god i immediately found my baby. Not a single apology came out of her mouth. Aku jaga anak kau mcm anak sendiri ye tapi kau buat anak aku mcm ni. My baby fell ill later that night sbb i think she was traumatised when she got lost. The next day B accidentally spilled my husb’s drink and she politely said, sorry sebab tertumpahkan air abg. Wah kau hilangkan ank aku tak pandai pulak nk mintak maaf.
There was one time B was so proud of her 5months baby at the time sebab kaki baby dia kuat, boleh tegakkan kaki. She said, “kaki my baby kuat betul lah kuat sgt utk umur dia. Tak macam your baby kan masa 5 bulan your baby lembik2 lagi kan?” Ughh aku lah kan masa tu rasa nak tumbuk je muka kau. Then i said, eh takdelah. Anak i 5 bulan dah pandai lompat2 dah dlm jumper tu”. Then later that evening i posted a story from my archive from when my baby was 5months old and she was jumping cheerfully in the jumperoo. Hahah puas hati aku. Aku tak pernah kisah kau nak bangga2 kan anak kau tapi tak perlu lah nak downkan or comparekan dgn anak org lain. Byk lagi lah kejadian2 compare ni berlaku. Mcm makcik bawang dah perangai kau.
Recently, we stayed at a hotel in a family room. Anak aku tak suka sgt dkt baby si B ni. If the baby cry, my daughter will cry too. If the baby scream, my daughter will scream too. Shes just uncomfortable around the baby. Imagine lah the chaos when both of them are in the same room. Tapi last2 anak aku jugak yg kena marah sbb tantrum padahal ank dia yg punca. My baby, husband and MIL went out first so B and i and her baby checked out later. I jokingly said haa senang sikit nak kemas kalau tak ada dua2 baby serentak. Then B said, “oh my baby takde masalah, senang je nak jaga, tak kuat nangis, baik and dengar kata”. Eh ank kau tu baru 10bulan mana pandai nk tantrum lagi tapi susah jugak nk buat kerja sbb nak kena pegang je. Well, lets see when your daughter turns 2 agak2 anak kau ok ke tak. Later that day when my baby was napping in her stroller, B suddenly said, “anak u tido baru nampak dia baik”, then she laughed. Erghh kau nk mengata anak aku pulak.
She used to bodyshame my baby saying my baby is kurus sangat lah and my MIL pun ckp ank aku kurus lah kesian lah tak makan lah. EXCUSE ME, anak aku ni tinggi mcm bapak dia and kurus mcm mak dia. Her weight is normal, tak pernah turun pun berat dia since lahir. And she didnt seem kurus to me and everyone else pun. Aku dah tak tahan aku post an angry stroy dkt ig abt ppl yg suka mengata badan ank org. Since then dia slow down psal badan ank aku. Last2 MIL bgtahu aku yg berat badan anak B turun 400gram. Thats a lot ye for an infant. Puncanya easy je, B didnt cook real food for her baby. Her main meal is cerelac and biscuits. Sometimes i prepare food for her baby and B mcm tak suka bila MIL puji baby suka makanan aku bagi tu. B rasa mcm tercabar. She was like, “sempat eh u masak. Oh lupa u kan mmg duduk rumah tak kerja”. Like i care? Dah anak kau lapar pstu kau pulak kata busy lah tak sempat lah.
Actually byk je lagi benda menyakitkan hati jadi but cukup lah ni je. My MIL got so upset that my daughter taknak dekat dia lagi dah. Im not responsible for that. Kalau dulu u always come over to my house to see your grandchild why now tak boleh dah? Im not gonna put myself through the emotional torture by being around B a lot. It comes with a price but thats what best for me.

Hai, komodos! gue rencana mau upgrade pc, tapi udah kudet masalah part2 pc. jadi mohon sarannya para suhu sekalian.
Parts yg udh ada:

• GPU: MSI Suprim X RTX 3080 12GB
• HSF: Noctua NH-D15 CH.BK
• SSD & HDD: Macem2
• Case: ASUS TUF Gaming GT501
• Fan: Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM

Budget: 20jt
Parts yg mau dibeli:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900 Box - 6.600k
• MB: MSI X670E GAMING PLUS WIFI - 5.100k
• RAM: G.SKILL RIPJAWS S5 DDR5 96GB (2X48GB) 6400Mhz - 5.700k
• PSU: Super Flower Leadex VII Platinum PRO 850W - SF-850F14XP(BK) - 2.500k

Total: 19.900k
CPU gue pilih 7900 non-X karena dia Ryzen 9 7000 series yg sangat efisien dibanding 7900X (source: Gamers Nexus) dan gue perlu yg 12C/24T buat main VM.
Mobo gue pake MSI X670E GAMING PLUS WIFI karena B650 harganya 4 jutaan nanggung bgt jd gue mikirnya sekalian X670 aja. tapi MSI X670E GAMING PLUS WIFI ini gue cari benchmarknya ga nemu sama sekali. jd gimana para suhu sekalian apakah mobo satu ini worth it atau ada saran mobo lain yg kalo bisa ga usah pake wifi dan kalo ada yg ethernetnya 1x1GbE + 1x2.5GbE.
Untuk RAMnya gue masih bingung. gue baca2 ada yang bilang sweet spotnya di 6000MHz, ada yang bilang 6400MHz juga oke. mohon pencerahannya.
PSU sebenernya mau milih Super Flower Leadex VII XG 850W (Gold) berdasarkan rekomendasi Hardware Busters, tapi keknya goib. jadi gue ganti pake Super Flower Leadex VII Platinum PRO 850W. barangkali ada saran PSU lain yang lebih baik.
Sekian, mohon masukannya.

Side quest:
PC yang lama rencananya mau gue pindah di case Indocase IC4008 4U (casenya udah ada) tapi belum nemu HSF yang pas. CPUnya Ryzen 9 5900X. rencana mau beli Scythe Fuma 3 kalo ga THERMALRIGHT Phantom Spirit 120 EVO tapi masih ragu bakalan muat apa engga dan gtw apa kuat utk 5900X. jadi sekalian minta rekomendasi HSF utk R9 5900X yang sekiranya muat di case 4U. pengalaman sih pake HSF Scythe Mugen 5 Rev.B (tinggi 154.5 mm) itu muat tapi hampir kena tutup casenya.
TIA!
Edit: formatting.

Context : “My man” is no longer my man now
This whole chaotic event started last November. I met a guy through tiktok. December, we went to a concert together and that was our first meet. It was all nice and fun at first but things are getting a little bit… weird.
After new year, (early january) he confessed. Saying “I wanna take care of you. Don’t find another man, bla bla…” and some more and I… fell for it so we we’re officially dating on early january
February, I felt something was off. I stayed at his place for a week and at night, he kept on going to the toilet for like… every 10minutes? Yes I did asked him if his somebody’s bf or not and he said no. Few days after, he told me he deactivated his main instagram account and he followed my account using his private account instead. And the followers list got two person, which is me and another girl.
The other girl was.. his ex. Then his ex dmed me on instagram, asking who am i. And claims that she is still his gf. They are not in a good term before and they broke up last year, got back together end of january this year. Obv i got sad and mad but I trusted him to get things settled with his ex soon. I gave him space, be there for him whenever he wants me. Basically I’m just doing whatever to make him realize that I am the better one (LOL YES IM STUPID)
And things are getting a lot more complicated.
1) He told his ex that he has ended things with me and he created a fake text of him sending me a break up message. He send a screenshot to her and his ex show it to me asking if it’s true. It’s not. He did not say a word to me. All he said was “i need some time for myself” left me hanging for weeks.
2) remember when I said earlier he deactivated his instagram ? No he didn’t. He blocked me on his ig and tiktok as well. Why? Idk. But one day he followed me again. And i assume things are already ended with his ex. But no, he block me again afterwards. And i called him to ask if everything is okay. He declined my call immediately. Few minutes after, his ex call me and she keeps on yelling and calling me a bitch and asked me to rot in hell. For still contacting him. But after she ended the call, she said sorry through text and she shouldn’t have called me a bitch.
3) after few days, this guy told me that he has ended things with her. Which is weird because it’s too fast? You could’ve done it earlier but you didn’t? And he told me that he ended things with her through call. But when i got back home after going out on a date with him, his ex again texted me saying they are still together and they never broke up at the first place. She sent me a screen recording of their text messages and it was true. And yet I was still there… waiting… for him… (but not as gf anymore bcs i told him u need to settle your shit first)
4) His ex is mentally unstable, she would send him pictures of her cuts on her forearms, wrists, and stuffs. And threatened him if he didn’t do this didn’t do that, she would kill herself. And that made him cut himself as well and show it to me and said “why nobody believes me anymore because of one stupid mistake that i did” gurl i dont think you did one mistake only at this point 😭
5) found out he was back on dating apps during this whole chaos happened. And he has a new girl in the picture while he’s struggling with his ex, and keeping me on hold. New girl? Not a girl anymore old lady, around 40-50 something. Found a love letter at his place from that lady and at the end of it says “from your energy bar, (her name)”.
6) would always ask me to help him with money, randomly ask me if he can borrow 200rm, 100rm, and everytime he asked me always say oh bank got problem cannot transfer or qr. need to use different bank account. But then pay me late after gaji baru pay me back.mau jadi sundal but got no money
7) always go missing (MIA). He would promise me to go out on a date with me and I ended up kena sidai. I would wait for hours and even the longest was a day, he didn’t show up. Didn’t call, didn’t text. Nothing. All he said after was “im sorry i tertidur”
And one day, his ex ended things with him for good. She went to see him at his place, campak his phone and 100% damaged cannot use anymore. Got slap and punched by her. So he went to me and say, “i want you to be my woman now” but at this point i hv no energy left and i told him if you want me then show me efforts. And… he didn’t. He still lied to me, went MIA as usual. I confronted him about this and he decided to let me go as his gf but wanted to try it all over again with me. Start again as friends. But no, I learned my lesson. Never going back to that shit again
So to all of the girls out there, if you ever meet an indo-malay guy in his 20’s, has a motor bike obsession, Be prepared mentally.
I have more stories to tell, but I’ll come back again soon.

Hari ni me and my future fiance pergi balakong nk jumpe ngn tokei supplier kain .. mainly cause my future fiance nak bukak bisnes jual jubah, niqab etc based on her design in hand. So kami pergi kat Balakong and then pergi la kat tempat supplier ni, kinda horrid to be honest. Pekerja bangla kerja mcm slaves je .. ade several people tido atas lantai , and the rest tgh menjahit with tons of fabric next to them .. kalau sialp sikit abis dieorg leh kena tanam hidup2 ngn fabric ats lantai. I dunno la , tgk tempat tu kesian kat depa tapi kami kept a straight face la sementara tokei tu dok melayan kami. The place is clean enough but the enviroment , like a fancy slave pen with each room/building ade overseer masing2. Ade yg kena tengking and kena makin of which kami leh dengar dari bilik sebelah .. really uncomfortable
The supplier also supply for well known brand for jubah etc
So kami balik dari tempat tu and I told my future fiance .. kite cari tempat yg humane la .. tak selera nk support tempat camtu.
So yeah tu jela benda yg menarik yg terjadi pada hari ini.

Since I was unsatisfied with my input lag, I was asking here for advice. I experimented a bit with my setup and would like to share my learnings here.
I am not a competitive gamer and not playing First Person Shooters. However the input lag was bothering me anyway a lot (and it still does).
When people talk about "input lag" it is very subjective. What some players might feel as unbearable lag is for others maybe not even noticeable. So I wanted to make it a bit scientific and measured it.
How I measured it So basically I want to measure the time between a button-press and the action on the screen. There is some hardware to do exactly this very precisely. Too much hassle for me. So I recorded some slow-motion videos with my Google Pixel and the Open Camera App. With this you can record videos with 120 Frames/s. Then I used TrackTimer to count the frames (I am sure that there are better ways to count). One frame is 8.3ms long. That resolution is more than enough to compare different input lags.
Then I recorded a bunch of videos of my finger pressing a button while also recording the screen, counted the frames and noted the results in a google sheet.
Also I want to note here that my experiments are by no means meant to be bullet-proof precise. I did the experiments to get a feeling of what I could improve. I noted that sometimes the results fluctuate quite a lot. Most of the time, I just took one sample instead of taking many and then averaging it. I invite reddit folks to mimic my experiments and extend and correct my findings.
My original setup One thing that I learned is that the input lag is dependent on the entire setup from ISP to Controller. So here is my initial setup

• A fiber connection in a small German town
• A FritzBox
• A 5GHz WiFi connection (Ethernet is not an option for me)
• A Chromecast with Google TV
• A Canton Smart SoundBar 10
• A ViewSonic M2 Projector
• A Switch Pro Controller (with 3m between me and the Chromecast)
• Geforce Now Priority subscription with Balanced Graphic settings
• Trine 5. I used the opening menu to measure the lag.

Measuring this gave me a input lag of 283ms.
This is a good moment to highlight that the ping that Geforce Now is showing in their stats is showing only a small fraction of the entire lag. In fact, for me the ping was always between 16ms and 18ms during all of my experiments.
Also this is a good moment to note that 283ms is not too bad. My partner is not even noticing it. For me, it feels notable and gives me a certain handicap when gaming. Personally, I would consider everything below ~150ms as good enough and everything below ~50 ms as not notable (50ms are about 3 frames on 60fps). Competitive Gamers might have higher standards.
The casting device Originally, I thought that the Chromecast was the main-issue here. So I replaced it with a Nvidia Shield Pro. That gave me 33ms less lag. That's at least something. I've also tested it on a MacBook Air M2, which gives similar results as the Shield Pro - but interestingly only when I was using a Bluetooth controller. Using the MacBooks Keyboard seems to add 42ms to the lag.
The best results I achieved with my Windows Laptop and keyboard (again 42ms faster than MacBook). But since I don't want to connect my Windows Laptop with the projector, I didn't do many experiments with it.
The controller I used a Switch Pro Controller. Although they are really nice, unfortunately they can be a bit laggy. I compared it with a XBox One controller and a 8bitdo Ultimate C controller (with the 2,4 GHz dongle).
Compared to the Switch Pro Controller, both the XBoxOne Controller and the 8bitdo controller gave 50ms smaller lag. In general, the XBox controller is quite decent on all devices that I tested. On the Shield pro it performs very similarly to the 8bitdo. However, the 8bitdo gives a more stable results. WIth bluetooth the lag increases when I hide the controller a bit behind my lag for example. The 8bitdo is also the controller I will be staying with.
The soundbar The HDMI signal goes from the shield first into my soundbar and then into the projector. Connecting directly to my projector does not seem to make any difference.
The projector / monitor This is where most of the optimization potential is. I am using a ViewSonic M2 LED projector. When connecting it to a (really cheap) monitor instead, I am getting a 91ms speedup. Also, I measured the same monitor later on my Laptop where it was 58ms slower then my Laptops build-in monitor. So I am suspecting that the ViewSonic M2 adds ~150ms to the total lag for me. That's a bummer, especially because I like that projector and didn't plan to replace it.
It seems that many monitoring devices (TV, Projector, Monitor) have a gaming mode that is supposed to minimize the lag. But not the ViewSonic M2 unfortunately.
The Geforce Now Subscription and settings I switched from GeForce Priority Subscription to an Ultimate Subscription and can tell that lag-wise it does not make a difference. It might make a difference for games which support Reflex. But I didn't test any of those games.
Also, there is a “Competitive” Graphic setting, (which is not available on the Shield Pro). Basically it deactivates V-Sync and keeps the Framerate up. Using “Competitive” made the lag 17ms less - but it comes with the cost of movement-stuttering. I couldn't play like this.
Also I tried to switch from 60FPS to 30FPS. Also I tried to use a smaller resolution. Interestingly, both made things worse. The best results I get with the "Balanced" default setting.
WiFi / Ethernet A general advice seems to be to use Ethernet instead of WIFI. Using ethernet is not an option for me and I didn't test it. But I would expect that WiFi 5Ghz is actually quite fast. I assume that the WIFI lag IS included in the ping that Geforce Now is showing in the stats (right?). For me this was always 16-18ms, so I don't see the need of improving that.
The game I measured the lag in some games main-menus and can tell that the lag varies a lot between games. As you see above, I avoid sharing absolute numbers and share relative numbers instead - because I think I haven't found a good benchmark-game.
The best lag I have meassured was 67ms on my Windows Laptop with Keyboard, Compatative Settings and the Game Kena (Main Menu).
My takeaways My journey ends with 200ms. I've got a 33ms improvement from switching from Chromecast to Shield Pro and a 50ms improvement from switching from Switch Pro controller to 8bitdo ultimate C.The next time I am searching for a projector I'll make sure that it is good for gaming.
Some general advice for people trying to improve their lag

1. A good and stable ping is important. <20ms is very good. If it's worse for you, either use better WiFi, ethernet or switch your ISP. Despite a good ping, you can still have input lags.
2. Check if your output device has Gaming mode.
3. If you are about to buy a output device, make sure it is good for gaming. Especially projectors are tricky as they often seem to come with quite some lag.
4. Don't use the Switch Pro Controller.
5. On a MacBook, interestingly, bluethoth controllers are faster then the build-in Keyboard
6. The XBox (One) Controller is very good. The 8bitdo Ultimate 2,4GHz controller is even a bit more stable it seems.
7. No need to subscribe to Ultimate. Balanced settings are good enough.
8. Some lag will never go away.

Obviously this question is mainly for the Chinese people lah. If you're Malay or Indian and kena your own version do let us know. . . . .ps, I have an Indian friend who can speak Mandarin but not Tamil and his grandmother scold him for it 🤣
For context, I was buying groceries and there was no staff around so this ahma approached me. She spoke in Mandarin and I couldn't understand the item she was looking for. I can speak and understand very basic Mandarin as I grew up watching English shows more. I can also watch Ch8 drama without subs but it seems now their Mandarin getting more atas. . . . . .Anyway, I told her I did not understand her and she suddenly said "You are Chinese leh, why you can't speak Mandarin?!" Obviously I was damn pissed because she decided to scold a random dude who's trying to help her. I told het to find a staff and quickly walked away before I got more pissed.
I feel this is a very boomer thing to say. I hardly hear any youngsters say these sort of things. I should intro her to my colleague who's Chinese too but don't even understand a single word. You can bitch about him and he won't know what you're saying 🤣

Peniaga tempah kuih muih set pagi2, untuk letak dekat kedai or restaurant so diorang ada side dish/dessert after main meal.
After closing, once they see the goods unsold, they returned it back to the pakcik/makcik yang buat kuih and they had to refund the money back to peniaga
Why is this?
Actually what literal jamban behavior is this?
Those makciks only get couple of ringgit selling it, penat2 masak, jual, dah dapat duit, tiber2 kena refund unsold sold products. The food already a day old, no longer fresh and wont survive another day in the freezer. They sold these kuih back as if its in the same condition as it was first bought. Scummy practices at its best. These makciks also dunno how economics work, they need to reject these refunds and strong together from letting peniaga scam them

PS Plus subscription:

• If you are new to PlayStation world, then checkout PS Plus Extra subscription which gives digital access to hundreds of games (including some great AAA and Indie titles) and is worth the value particularly for new PS users.
• Some notable games to check out:
  • AAA titles like Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon series, God of War 2018, Returnal, Demon's Souls, Control, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Uncharted series, Resident Evil 2 & 3; Indie titles like Hollow Knight, Kena, Celeste, and more.
• PS Plus doesn't include latest first party titles unlike Xbox Gamepass and the game catalog gets updated regularly and keeps changing over time. However, every month, 3 games are given out to keep in your library forever, which can be accessed anytime by having an active PS subscription. For monthly games given out in the past, check https://metagame.guide/games?subscription=psplus
• PS Plus has another tier above "Extra" tier called "Premium" tier, which gives access to "Classics Catalogue" having classic PS titles if you are interested into those. All tiers include online multiplayer access and cloud storage for game saves.
• For best deal to purchase PS Plus, Extra tier comes at ₹4k per year in frequent sales, while Premium tier comes at ₹4.5k per year. Next sale is likely in early June (Summer sale)
• For more details and full list of included games - https://www.playstation.com/en-in/ps-plus/games/

Multiplayer games:

• Additional controllers: To play local multiplayer games (co-op) with yours friends and loved ones, you need additional controllers. Each controller usually costs ~5k, but sometimes goes below 4k in sales (after card discounts). At max, 4 controllers can be connected to a PS5
• PS Plus is required for online multiplayer access for most online games.
• Some notable online/local multiplayer games to check out:
  • It Takes Two, A Way Out, Helldivers II, FIFA (if you are into it)

For games not in PS Plus subscription:

• Trading discs
  • New PlayStation games are not cheap in India (particularly new AAA titles which cost 5k each). This is where disc trading shines - Buy and trade discs in your friends circle and discord/local community groups.
  • Most of the times, you can buy preowned discs and after completing it, sell it off at around same price you brought it for. This works best if you don't intend to keep those games after playing them.
  • It's highly recommended to trade discs via Discord/local groups as that will benefit both the buyer and seller to minimise the cost, and only trade discs in online websites as last resort.
  • If you intend to keep the games (for collection or replaying etc), then you could go with whichever you find cheaper - disc or digital.
  • Discord groups: PlayStation India - https://discord.gg/gx5qUR9epy , Indian Console Gamers - https://discord.com/invite/indian-console-gamers-863768044622053396 (They allow trading discs if you are active in the community)
  • Trusted websites for buying/selling discs: Gameloot, Gamenation, Console garage, CeX, Mx2games, e2zgames, Gamestheshop, Hitechgamez. Amazon (Electronics Bazar, Appario Retail, Cocoblu), Flipkart (RetailNet, MPDSLERetail)
• Digital sales: PlayStation store has frequent sales on digital purchase of games, which could be best for games you intend to keep in your account library.
• Sometimes, games which might be playing might get removed from PS Plus subscription, in which case you need to buy such games (either disc or digital) if you want to continue playing them.
• PS5 Recommended Games (from ICG Discord) - https://monogr.ph/661b97c4f7c12142bd383f9d/

Avoid Account sharing based sellers:

• Don't fall for account sharing sellers/dealers as that could get your account/console banned from Sony and it's not worth the risk involved for cheaper games with temporary access - https://droid.news/sony-bans-over-7000-psn-accounts-in-india-puts-used-account-sellers-out-of-business/
  • How this works is: For cheap prices, these sellers will give you a shared account you need to login in your console and download the required games and then may also ask you to go offline. The license for the downloaded games will last a few weeks atmost, post which you need to connect back to the internet to login back to shared account to refresh the license or lose the access to those games. But main point which many would miss is, your PS5 will be registered in that shared account when you first logged into it and removing that shared account from your console won't deregister your console from that account. So when that shared account gets banned by Sony, all consoles registered in that account could also get permanently banned from PlayStation network.
  • The ban is not due to "you download the game from the shared account, go offline and play". It's about logging into a shared account which could be having dozens of console login registrations in the past (if not hundreds). Account sharing between family or close friends is acceptable as that would barely have few console login registrations on the shared account, but shared account from account sellers would have a lot of console registrations. To add to this, those shared accounts could potentially be stolen/hacked accounts and might have stolen credit cards in use.
  • Check this discussion for more info - https://www.reddit.com/IndiaPS5/comments/1c5f336/comment/kzv4pca/

Tracking Deals and managing wishlist/backlog :

• Tracking Deals: Websites - psprices.com , psdeals.net , Android - PS Store Tracker
• Managing wishlist/backlog: Websites - Playstation store wishlist, Backloggd.com, Android/iOS - Stash, GameTrack

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Let me know if you have any other tips/suggestions that I might have missed. Cheers!
Edit: More more tips from others:

• I’d like to mention the hack for Spiderman Remastered. Once you get Miles Morales in PS Plus, you can buy the Spiderman Remastered for ₹1000. (Credits: raddiwallah)
• Some games have free PS5 upgrade on having PS4 disc, so it would be cheaper to buy PS4 disc instead to PS5 disc directly.

PS Plus subscription:

• If you are new to PlayStation world, then checkout PS Plus Extra subscription which gives digital access to hundreds of games (including some great AAA and Indie titles) and is worth the value particularly for new PS users.
• Some notable games to check out:
  • AAA titles like Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon series, God of War 2018, Returnal, Demon's Souls, Control, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Uncharted series, Resident Evil 2 & 3; Indie titles like Hollow Knight, Kena, Celeste, and more.
• PS Plus doesn't include latest first party titles unlike Xbox Gamepass and the game catalog gets updated regularly and keeps changing over time. However, every month, 3 games are given out to keep in your library forever, which can be accessed anytime by having an active PS subscription. For monthly games given out in the past, check https://metagame.guide/games?subscription=psplus
• PS Plus has another tier above "Extra" tier called "Premium" tier, which gives access to "Classics Catalogue" having classic PS titles if you are interested into those. All tiers include online multiplayer access and cloud storage for game saves.
• For best deal to purchase PS Plus, Extra tier comes at ₹4k per year in frequent sales, while Premium tier comes at ₹4.5k per year. Next sale is likely in early June (Summer sale)
• For more details and full list of included games - https://www.playstation.com/en-in/ps-plus/games/

Multiplayer games:

• Additional controllers: To play local multiplayer games (co-op) with yours friends and loved ones, you need additional controllers. Each controller usually costs ~5k, but sometimes goes below 4k in sales (after card discounts). At max, 4 controllers can be connected to a PS5
• PS Plus is required for online multiplayer access for most online games.
• Some notable online/local multiplayer games to check out:
  • It Takes Two, A Way Out, Helldivers II, FIFA (if you are into it)

For games not in PS Plus subscription:

• Trading discs
  • New PlayStation games are not cheap in India (particularly new AAA titles which cost 5k each). This is where disc trading shines - Buy and trade discs in your friends circle and discord/local community groups.
  • Most of the times, you can buy preowned discs and after completing it, sell it off at around same price you brought it for. This works best if you don't intend to keep those games after playing them.
  • It's highly recommended to trade discs via Discord/local groups as that will benefit both the buyer and seller to minimise the cost, and only trade discs in online websites as last resort.
  • If you intend to keep the games (for collection or replaying etc), then you could go with whichever you find cheaper - disc or digital.
  • Discord groups: PlayStation India - https://discord.gg/gx5qUR9epy , Indian Console Gamers - https://discord.com/invite/indianconsolegamers (They allow trading discs if you are active in the community)
  • Trusted websites for buying/selling discs: Gameloot, Gamenation, Console garage, CeX, Mx2games, e2zgames, Gamestheshop, Hitechgamez. Amazon (Electronics Bazar, Appario Retail, Cocoblu), Flipkart (RetailNet, MPDSLERetail)
• Digital sales: PlayStation store has frequent sales on digital purchase of games, which could be best for games you intend to keep in your account library.
• Sometimes, games which might be playing might get removed from PS Plus subscription, in which case you need to buy such games (either disc or digital) if you want to continue playing them.
• PS5 Recommended Games (from ICG Discord) - https://monogr.ph/661b97c4f7c12142bd383f9d/

Avoid Account sharing based sellers:

• Don't fall for account sharing sellers/dealers as that could get your account/console banned from Sony and it's not worth the risk involved for cheaper games with temporary access - https://droid.news/sony-bans-over-7000-psn-accounts-in-india-puts-used-account-sellers-out-of-business/
  • How this works is: For cheap prices, these sellers will give you a shared account you need to login in your console and download the required games and then go offline. The license for the downloaded games will last a few weeks, post which you need to connect back to the internet to login back to shared account to refresh the license or lose the access to those games. But main point which many would miss is, your PS5 will be registered in that shared account when you first logged into it and removing that shared account from your console won't deregister your console from that account. So when that shared account gets banned by Sony, all consoles registered in that account could also get permanently banned from PlayStation network.

Tracking Deals and managing wishlist/backlog :

• Tracking Deals: Websites - psprices.com , psdeals.net , Android - PS Store Tracker
• Managing wishlist/backlog: Websites - Playstation store wishlist, Backloggd.com, Android/iOS - Stash, GameTrack

​
Let me know if you have any other tips/suggestions that I might have missed. Cheers!
Edit: More more tips from others:

• I’d like to mention the hack for Spiderman Remastered. Once you get Miles Morales in PS Plus, you can buy the Spiderman Remastered for ₹1000. (Credits: raddiwallah)
• Some games have free PS5 upgrade on having PS4 disc, so it would be cheaper to buy PS4 disc instead to PS5 disc directly.

Jadi sore ini tadi setir pulang dari puncak ke arah jakarta. Seperti biasa macet parah. Pas sampai di pertigaan taman safari dihadang oleh pak ogah supaya satu mobil bisa masuk ke depan mobil saya. Saya kasi lewat. Kemudian saya mulai inching lagi. Tetapi belum juga satu meter, samping kiri mobil saya di tabrak oleh mobil lain yang ternyata mobil militer. Karena anak sudah kecapean rewel dan saya punya insurance jadi saya abaikan. Di benak saya saya pasti benar karena statusnya ditabrak samping.
Ternyata supir mobil tersebut turun mendatangi mobil dan mulai ngomel ke saya. Intinya saya ke puncak hanya main sementara si oknum ini mengejar waktu. Tentu saja saya membela diri loh bapak yg nabrak saya, apakah kl kejar waktu diperbolehkan menabrak mobil lain? Dari mana saya tau Bapak kejar waktu? Waktu kejadian tidak ada sirine dan lampu kedip. Walau bapak bisa masuk ke depan saya juga tetap saja kena macet. Hanya selisih satu mobil. Intinya saya berani larena merasa benar ya.
Kemudian karena diklakson dari belakang maka oknum tersebut kembali ke mobilnya. Kemudian menyalip dari kanan saya melanggar arus dan memepet mobil saya tetapi untungnya saya sempat mengerem sehingga tidak mengenai mobilnya. Setelah itu berjalan beberapa meter dia memarkir mobilnya dan meminta saya saya turun atau ke kantor polisi saja. Of course saya pilih ke kantor polisi. Maka dia kembali naik ke mobilnya. Baru beberapa meter kemudian dia parkir lagi pinggir jalan, turun dan kembali meyuruh saya turun, ketika saya tidak mau karena saya pikir harus ke kantor polisi, oknum tersebut mulai menggedor kap mobil saya supaya saya turun.
Akhirnya saya juga menepi dan turun karena cemas kap mobil saya ikut penyok. Terjadilah percekcokan. Kali ini saya lihat lampu biru berkedip di bemper mobilnya yang tadinya tidak menyala. Oknum tersebut masih mengatakan intinya bahwa saya tidak mengutamakan kepentingan negara dan bahwa dia sedang konvoi dengan kendaraan di depan yang saya beri lewat sebelumnya. Catatan: tidak ada lampu hazzard, tidak ada lampu biru, tidak ada sirine bagaimana saya tahu mereka convoi? Di benak saya kondisi macet saya beri satu mobil lewat kemudian giliran saya lewat. Saya juga tetap pada pendirian bahwa tidak ada sign bahwa mereka convoi, kemudian apakah jika tidak saya beri lewat mobil saya boleh ditabrak? Saya tunjukkan jelas bahwa mobil saya baret panjang di samping sementara mobil militer ini penyok di ujung bemper depan kanan.
Untungnya sebelum lebih lanjut ada polisi datang entah dari mana. Langsung saya ceritakan kejadiannya. Dan tunjukkan bahwa saya ditabrak samping. Seketika oknum tersebut berubah 180 derajad. Mengatakan bahwa tujuannya meminta saya berhenti adalah klarifikasi, sebagai umat Islam dia mengikuti pelajaran x (dalam bahasa arab saya tidak paham dan juga lupa tepanya apa yg disebut karena saya bukan Muslim) jika dia yg salah akan minta maaf dsb. Jangan sampai saya mengatakan bahwa aparat negara semena-mena…
Kemudian polisi menyela supaya selesai perkaranya bagaimana. Langsung saya katakan bahwa dari awal saya tidak berniat memperkarakan, saya ada asuransi dan memang ada niat untuk claim karena ada penyok juga di tempat lain hasil istri menyerempet island di pompa bensin. Justru si oknum ini yang mencari perkara. Kemudian si polisi mengatakan kl seperti itu sudah clear. Si oknum tiba-tiba minta maaf dan saya dipersilakan pergi.
Menurut pendapat redditor apa yang sebenarnya diinginkan si oknum? Saya ada sempat terpikir negatif thinking bahwa ujungnya pemerasan, bisa jadi saya sengaja ditabrak. Apakah betul sampai menggebrak kap mobil saya karena agar aparat negara tidak disebut semena-mena? Menurut kalian apakah posisi saya salah? How would you handle this situation? I clearly didn’t do well but it is best I can do under the circumstances.
Thanks!

Posting this because Ramadan is time for charity and reflection on how to be a better person.
I remember when celebrating O Level results (top in cohort in lousy neighbourhood secondary school) with friends some joked that I will look down on them. I promised I won't because when I wear different uniform I'm still same Magikarp. Hardworking but cheerful joker and nice/helpful to everyone even the gangsters in my secondary school.
Two years later I can say I kept my promise and don't look down on them but I changed for worse in other ways. I developed a lot more anxiety over my future and less nice/helpful to people I don't know well. How come? Maybe this is maturity after introduction to harsh world with lots of elitism/racism:

1. Choosing/starting JC

I realised got four IP JCs for SAP schools (HCI/DHS/RVHS/EJC) so top scoring minority race students got limited options (mainly RI/VJC/NJC). First few weeks in VJC were huge culture shock especially IP dogs + VS guys making racist jokes which make me feel not welcome (even consider appeal to NJC but missed deadline LOL).
For GP my English standard + knowledge need to catch up a lot (in secondary school we know little + don't care about issues like politics/LGBT). During GP discussions two Chinese classmates are the most vocally liberal and pro-LGBT. One is king of racist jokes (even by VS guy standards) and doesn't really mix with minority races (other VS guys who make racist jokes still mix with other races). Another is stuck up rich girl who likes to mock (with sarcastic replies) my English mistakes especially after she realised I morally disagree + uncomfortable with LGBT.
Even my H1 Malay class got this well off guy who likes to put down his own community/culture (similar to [Rant] Experience with “elite” malays : SGExams). Thank God most VJC people are not like that and after a few months I managed to make some good friends (all races).

1. Building portfolio

Although my family can't afford tuition I can still get good grades with a lot of self-study + consult teachers. JC increase emphasis on building portfolio (secondary school only got LEAPS) which is more difficult. I joined two CCAs then ran for exco + signed up for many relevant competitions/Olympiads. Selected for a few competitions but never win anything (which is fine).
Missed some opportunities because too expensive + limited time (family commitments + self-studying takes much longer compared to tuition). From competitions + online + classmate gossip I heard a lot about super stacked portfolios of brilliant privileged RI/HCI/ACSI students (some use connections to get opportunities). This make me more worried about how I'm going to compete with them for uni places (aiming for CS due to real interest + ticket out of poverty).

1. Employment discrimination

During pandemic older siblings kena retrench + parents earn less so we rely on gahmen support + older siblings did temp jobs like Grab/SDA. As pandemic improves they look for new jobs but some companies reject kakak because she wears tudung. Cousin with special needs become first in family to complete uni but can't get any job relevant to his degree.
As inflation got worse I consider giving tuition to help with family finances but so many tuition lobangs openly put for female Chinese only.

1. Social media

Pandemic made many disadvantaged families (including mine) reliant on Malay language social media. Abang's most active in group for Grab riders while I'm in another group giving IT help/advice. As inflation got worse the strong gotong royong spirit there slowly replaced by many feeling frustrated/angehelpless over poverty/elitism/racism.
I also join English language social media (mainly Reddit) to find answers/advice which I can't get from family/friends or Malay language social media. Joined some discussions about social issues (to improve my GP) but turns out liberal Chinese on singapore are even more elitist/racist like frequently insulting boomers (even cursing to die) + Grab riders + various customs (like Chinese burning or halal needs) + anyone who disagrees with LGBT (even calling them retarded/ISIS).

1. The turning point incident

Two weeks before turning point incident I'm walking from VJC (ECP side) towards bridge to bus stop then heard voice in Mandarin so turned around. Saw this Chinese lady walking her big dog just behind me and got huge shock.
Turning point incident involves a close friend (also Malay) from secondary school (went poly). Let's call him Poliwrath. He's from broken family and kena some racist bullying in P5/P6. So in Sec 1 he mixed with gangsters in our school for protection but with support from me + others he managed to stop mixing with gangsters. In poly he kena racism from groupmates.
What happened is Poliwrath heard rumour that in NS need to stay in with gays. He asked on Malay language social media but could not get answers/advice only violent jokes/suggestions (which I disapprove of). Then he asked me and I said I don't know but can try to help ask on NationalServiceSG which I did. We met for dinner then checked the replies which all not helpful only insults + some threats.
Poliwrath was like "Why must we serve this ketuanan cina country? If they want to beat us up I better get my old gang to protect us. Like that Chinese girls who only want tuition from other Chinese girls deserve to kena rape?" First time I see Poliwrath so angry/upset in our 5 years as good friends. Next day during GP lesson I mentioned the female Chinese only tuition lobangs and that stuck up rich liberal Chinese girl said "is common sense for girls safety".
Then after CCA finish I walk towards bridge near bus stop (near where I kena the dog owner). Saw a female Chinese (a bit older + not from VJC) coming down last few steps of bridge then fell down + barang drop. Instead of helping her I froze up (feel like legs cannot move) for one minute then walk the other away to different bus stop.

1. Changed for the worse

Now I'm shy/afraid to approach/help people I don't know well (even when I want to approach/help them). I start to be a bit resentful towards rich people. Feeling high anxiety over my future (coping with social environment in NS/uni + risk employment discrimination).
Maybe is not just me who changed. Abang used to be really chill but his temper got worse after kena so many elitist customers (Grab + new job). After turning point incident Poliwrath gone back to his old gang. Another close friend (traditional Chinese) from secondary school confided he kena occasional thoughts about harming others.
TBH I'm grateful for supportive family/friends + great A Level results. Maybe all this elitism/racism is a test of my faith and my desire to help others. Hence I'm asking for advice to reverse my changing for worse.

I finished writing a BL novel set in the K-Pop world (the culmination of eleven years of research ;_;) and was wondering if anybody fancied reading it. The title is ‘Dynamic’, it’s by me, Kena B., and it’s been published on Amazon Kindle. The romance between two of the main characters is a focus of the book (it’s not very explicit - I didn’t feel it was appropriate for the message I was trying to convey), but it also talks about the inner workings and behind-the-scenes of the industry, so if anyone is interested, please give it a shot!

GB YG TERTIB BANG SALING BACK ,, HATI HATI KENA GETOK AKUN NYA MAIN SANTAI.

Hello again everyone, bit of a late post this time. Wrote this in the comments of the last month's post but I was going through an exam week so I couldn't write it. Last time, we did very poorly actually but that is not a bad thing in our series. It's actually a good thing. Kena is not leaving, Doom is not leaving and if you have played them because they might, hope you had a great time! Now let's start with the highlights for this month.
Humanity(Added May 2023)
If there is one game to bet on for this month, it's Humanity. A Day 1 Release for PS Plus, it's a very weird puzzle game that supports both normal and VR play on both VR1 and VR2. I have not played it myself but everyone who did loved it so it might be worth a look. It's a 15 hour game so most of you can finish it easily. The reason I'm very confident it's leaving is that the previous Day 1 games also left the service exactly 1 year after they launched. Stray and the latest being Tchia. Humanity might follow the same path.
Tomb Raider Trilogy(Added May 2023)
All 3 of the Reboot Tomb Raider trilogy got added back in May 2023 so we might see them leaving this month. These were Square Enix games but then I think Embracer Group got the rights and now Amazon is doing another game and a movie I think so they might own the rights these days so it's complicated. That's why they might leave so start the journey if you haven't right now. They are pretty similar to Uncharted games and I especially really enjoyed the first one but all are great and if you focus on story, you can finish all 3.
Thymesia/Rain World/Lake(Added May 2023)
This time in our indie games that might leave block, we have 3 titles. Thymesia is a souls-like that some people really enjoyed, story completion takes 7 hours. Rain World is a tough survival platforming game that just announced a new DLC. Main story takes 20+ hours while a completionist run is listed as 50+ hours so get on this quickly if you want to try it out. I'm sure it's very skill dependent as well because the game is tough.
And Lake is a relaxing, story driven adventure game that takes 6-8 hours to complete. It's very hard to predict which indie games will leave due to every studio thinking differently about their game and their sales so I like to highlight all the indies that I find interesting. You might want to take a look at these games.
Grand Theft Auto V(Added December 2023)
Let's give our quick reminder about GTA V, it will be the 5th month after it's addition to the service. A 6 month deal makes much more sense but who knows? It's Rockstar. If you haven't played GTA V and want to check it out or in the more likely situation, you want to check out the PS5 version, start it NOW!
Final Notes
I added no games from 6 months before and 18 months before just because I don't think anything will leave from those lists. However I will still add the games that got added as well. Older Bethesda titles seem to not be leaving the service so I think Skyrim, Wolfenstein, Dishonored are safe. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart got added in May 2023 but I don't see that leaving. Exclusive titles doesn't leave.
And as usual, nothing from the Premium games left the service yet. None of the classics at least. Next post is going to be very important because it will be the 2nd anniversary of this new system launching. We will see if the Classics titles have a 2 year deal, I hope not. That catalog is pretty empty as it is now, it wouldn't be good seeing some games leave. But that's it for this post. Thank you for checking it out, sorry again for it being late and see you next month! Don't forget to tell us what you are playing in the comments.
May 2023(12 Months Ago)

• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart PS5
• Watch Dogs Legion PS4 + PS5
• Humanity PS4 + PS5
• Dishonored 2 PS4
• Dishonored: Death of the Outsider PS4
• Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin PS4
• Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition PS4
• Rise of the Tomb Raider PS4
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider PS4
• Bus Simulator 21: Next Stop PS4 + PS5
• The Evil Within 2 PS4
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood PS4
• Thymesia PS5
• Rain World PS4
• Lake PS4 + PS5
• Conan Exiles PS4
• Rune Factory 4 Special PS4
• Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town PS4
• Soundfall PS4 + PS5(Asia and Japan Only)
• Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow PS4 + PS5(Premium)
• Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light PS4 + PS5(Premium)
• Pursuit Force PS4 + PS5(Premium)
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered PS4(Premium - Leaving In April!)

November 2023(6 Months Ago):

• Teardown (PS5)
• Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen (PS4)
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme vs. Maxi Boost On (PS4)
• Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition (PS4)
• Superliminal (PS4, PS5)
• Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (PS4, PS5)
• Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi (PS4)
• Alternate Jake Hunter: Daedalus The Awakening of Golden Jazz (PS4)
• River City Melee Mach!! (PS4)
• Grandia (PS4, PS5)(Premium)
• Jet Moto (PS4, PS5)(Premium)
• Up (PS4, PS5)(Premium)
• Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (PS4/PS5)(Premium)
• PaRappa the Rapper 2 (PS4)(Premium)

November 2022(18 Months Ago):

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition PS4, PS5
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege PS4, PS5
• Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX PS4
• Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue PS4
• Kingdom Hearts III PS4
• Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory PS4
• Oddworld: Soulstorm – Enhanced Edition PS4, PS5
• Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 PS4
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint PS4
• Chorus PS4, PS5
• What Remains of Edith Finch PS4
• The Gardens Between PS4, PS5
• Earth Defense Force: World Brothers PS4
• Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain PS4
• Onee Chanbara Origin PS4
• Ratchet & Clank PS3(Premium)
• Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando PS3(Premium)
• Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal PS3(Premium)
• Ratchet & Clank: Deadlocked PS3(Premium)
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction PS3(Premium)

Played on PS5 in “Performance Mode” in graphics settings.
TL;DR
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a beautiful culmination of many 3rd person action games to come before it. It doesn’t add much in terms of innovation to the genre but it is polished, fun and can occasionally be moving. The cinematics in particular were very well animated. Pro/Con list with score at bottom.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits, developed by Ember Lab, is an action-adventure game where the player steps into the shoes of Kena, a young spirit guide tasked with pacifying the dying regrets of wayward spirits and delivering them to the spirit realm. The player starts with Kena wielding a crystal adorned staff that she can use to whack her enemies in melee range. Eventually you get access to a bow, sticky bomb and a staggering dash ability. Within the first hour of gameplay Kena will also get access to little Rot creatures. These little fellas allow Kena to clear corruption, deal additional damage in combat and move objects for puzzles. These are all the ways the player can interact with the world.
Bridge of Spirits begins in a dark cave with blue crystals big and small adorning the walls. The game shows you immediately how to “spirit pulse” (L1) which makes the crystals glow and creates a small chain reaction of light along the wall. This introduction subtly lets the player know “if you see blue crystals that look like they could be activated, you’re likely to find something you can interact with there.” I found this a clever reminder of what to look for if I didn’t know what to do next. The initial section of the story, focusing on reuniting a corrupted elder brother with his younger siblings, particularly struck a chord with me. I genuinely choked up during certain sequences. The other two sections of the game didn’t touch me as much, but I enjoyed playing them. It’s possible my emotional resonance with the beginning is because I have two small children, which may just pull my heartstrings whenever a story finds young children who are counting on someone.
Another reason the first section of the game may have hit me hard emotionally is that the voice acting of the children is done by real children who are quite believable. They perfectly capture how a young person actually talks, but they are still in character and putting on a performance. It’s impressive. That being said, the aesthetics and mechanics of the second section's final boss and the three bosses that make up the last section (before the Final boss battles) more than made up for average story beats.
Beyond the kids, the voice acting throughout Bridge of Spirits was simple but effective. I believe this strategy worked for Ember Lab because the cinematics contain a lot of physical acting, and they are wonderfully charming. Dialogue is basic but impactful. The calm demeanor of most characters really fits the atmosphere of the game and helps make the cutscenes captivating. Kena’s serious but gentle tone throughout the game greatly colored my feelings about her, especially because most of her backstory is told more than halfway through.
The game often transitions between moods, enhancing the player's engagement without being jarring. As drab corruption transforms into a lush, vibrant world, the contrast highlights the visual storytelling present in Bridge of Spirits. Another way it keeps the mood alive and the experience immersive is by having very few loading screens, as you go from area to area it almost never makes you wait or change the screen at all, the new area will just open up to you.
During a portion of the final boss battle, you lose your rot abilities. At that point you are not only unable to heal yourself, but also cannot use them to inflict additional damage, restrict enemies, or expose weak spots. You eventually regain all of these abilities, but only a bit at a time. I like this approach where you aren’t without your main abilities for long. In other games, I often feel like this type of skill deprivation is a “waste of my progress” or has me feeling “so what was the point of leveling up my skills?” But Bridge of Spirits avoided this by allowing you to keep core abilities including your earned staff moves, your bow, bombs and dash skill. This left enough of Kena’s kit that I didn't feel “naked.”
The temporary loss of rot abilities during this endgame sequence felt like a microcosm of the entire game experience. While such a mechanic is familiar from many other games, Bridge of Spirits’ approach makes the experience feel more player-friendly, with a polish and thoughtfulness that many other games lack. In a similar vein, many games have featured the mechanic of hitting an obstacle with an ability to clear a path, but Bridge of Spirits introduces platforming sections that require strategic use of your bomb cooldown and precise platform activation, which stands out from well-worn platforming approaches in other games. Sometimes, you'll need to throw a bomb, enter slow motion mid-air with your bow, and then skillfully maneuver to latch onto a distant blue flower. This creates a satisfying and fluid experience. The platforming only starts to pick up after you get the bomb ability, which comes a third of the way through. Before this platforming was fairly bland but inoffensive.
Bridge of Spirits is short and sweet, not sweet but short. The game’s brevity is purposeful, and left me mostly satisfied even though the game ended before I hit the 13 hour mark. It didn’t show me anything that I haven’t seen before, but I also haven’t seen anything with this combination of mechanics all done so well. I think some of the criticism of this game for not being longer is because it has the polish, combat, and cinematics of a triple A game. But the story just truly isn’t that long. I believe there was room to add in one or two more areas, and I would have enjoyed a little bit of fluff with some more bosses and village characters/spirits. This is a minor criticism, the biggest detractor for Bridge of Spirits is its lack of innovation. It's not that I think a game has to be innovative to be great, because only so many can hit that mark, but to be truly transcendent, at least a glimmer of innovation needs to be present.
Here are my Pros and Cons for Kena: Bridge of Spirits:
Pros:

• Fun but challenging combat +2
• Vibrant graphics +2 Good boss and general enemy variety +1.5
• Strong purposeful tonal shifts +1
• Compelling cinematics +1
• Voice acting that fit the vibe of the game well +1
• Lack of loading screens +1
• Interesting platforming in spurts +0.5

​

Potential Score: 10/10 

Cons:

• Not much innovation, if any -1
• Could have been a little bit longer -0.5

​

Final Score: 8.5/10 

Extra Categories:
Accessibility
What kind of player would find Kena: Bridge of Spirits accessible? I think children and completely new players would enjoy the story telling (although despite the bright colors and cute Rot creatures, Bridge of Spirits also features heavy themes of death and grief), the actual gameplay is fairly difficult and doesn’t particularly hold your hand. There is a story mode, and I would recommend that to anyone who has some gaming experience but has not specifically played third person action games. But I believe even the story mode would still be too difficult for small children or someone who has never picked up a controller. Bridge of Spirits would not be a great first game for anyone.
If you are a seasoned player, the difficulty differences provide fun opportunities for replay, and not just by changing damage and health numbers. In hard mode you do not gain rot courage (the energy/mana source in the game) from getting damaged, only by doing damage. In normal mode, you gain rot courage both from doing damage and taking damage, and on easy you do all of these things and also passively generate rot courage. On all difficulty levels enemy aggressiveness and damage also changes. These changes, especially to the way you get rot courage, will make you play differently. I personally played on hard mode. While about half of the bosses took many tries, it never really felt unfair - just a fun challenge.
Another design based aid for players is that the pulse ability uses the button for shield and parry (L1). Because the story requires that button’s usage, players are reminded that the shield and parry exist. The story requires L1 button usage again in the last third of the game in the form of the dash ability.
The spirit mailboxes, which provide clues on where to find the spirit letters, are a good addition. Many players wouldn’t notice its absence, but for the completionists out there that don’t like to just look things up, these are very helpful.
Tattoo
Artists who do anime/cartoon tattoos would do a good Bridge of Spirits tattoo. Many types of artists could do something Kena-inspired in their own style, but if the goal was to get a depiction of how it appears in the game, someone who specializes in animated characters would be best.
Personally, I would get a small tattoo of one of the Rot creatures looking cute and inquisitive. I would take a reference picture from the first Beni + Saiya cutscenes where you also meet the Rot for the first time.

I usually engage in some story-building in my posts but none of that here. I am omitting quotations to make it brief but I am ready to provide them upon request. Here I want to offer my strongest objections about both Traditional and Modern Vedanta. Naturally, the purpose is only to throw my opinion open for thorough criticism by you all.
Valli 1: Sankhya vs Vedanta
Vedanta as a Darshana was born in the Gita. The Brahmasutras came atleast a millienium after it. No matter what tradition would argue, it seems clear that the authors of the two are not the same person.
The philosophy of India at the time of Mahabharata was Sankhya, almost exclusively. The Mahabharata says, "there is no Philosophy like Sankhya and no Practise like Yoga". Before you go wild, understand that this 'Sankhya' was not the Classical Sankhya that evolved based on Ishvara Krishna's Karika that came much later. A work that is now lost called Shashti Tantra is the original foundation of Old Sankhya. This Old Sankhya was what was followed by Patanjali in his Sutras and Charaka in his Samhita.
The only excerpts of Shashti Tantra now available are through Vyasa's Yoga Bhashya. Interestingly, there are positions taken by Charaka in his Samhita that might seem like Purusha and Prakriti were not treated as two different things in Old Sankhya. Anything more I say on this would be speculation but I will leave you with this: perhaps it is because Old Sankhya did not see Purusha and Prakriti as different that Patanjali's Yoga Sutras seem to fit so well into Advaita Vedanta.
When Classical Sankhya came, making perhaps the first claim that Purusha is different from Prakriti. Especially with the background of the position that Sankhya is in adherence to the Vedic ideas :- The School of Badarayana found it necessary to reestablish the idea of the Upanishads and to take a Nyaya Prasthana towards them. Here the timeline might seem murky. Ishvara Krishna's Karika definitely came after Brahmasutras but other works or general ideas of Classical Sankhya may have been prevalent in the Vedic circles at the time of Badarayana to trigger him.
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Section 1
This can be seen most evidently in the very origin of the name ADVAITA. Shankara's pradhana malla was Ishvara Krishna, not Old Sankhya. He points out emphatically that Purusha and Prakriti are both advaita. They are Brahman. Kapila, the founder of Old Sankhya is never attacked by the Vedanta School but infact elevated to the status of a God. There are some arguments made by Madhvacharya's School that the name Advaita was used to oppose a 'Dvaita Vedanta' that supposedly existed. But all these claims are evidently unfounded and illinformed.
I am going to leave out many details for the sake of brevity but much more needs to be discussed about this.
The Mother of Vedanta is the Gita. The originator of the script of Gita is Rishi Parashariya. He seemed to have a very profound goal. He intended to express: - The 4 Verse Upanishads - Old Sankhya - Yogic Practises - Dharma as Abhyudaya + Nihshreyasa - A General Philosophy for a Good Life (Samanvaya)
All in one Package. Now I will dissect these.
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Section 2
The Gita draws much from the 4 principal verse Upanishads - Isha, Kena, Katha, Mundaka. But almost nothing from the main ideas of the Prose Upanishads. This could mean one of two things:
1) The Prose Upanishads came later. This is obviously contrary to western opinions that Chandogya is the oldest. But some traditional scholars believe that Isha came first and Brihadaranyaka last. (Owing to Isha's place in the Samhita). This maybe evidenced in the story that claims that Yajnavalkya was a grand disciple of the Gitakara. However, tradition will never accept that the Gita came before a Shruti anyway.
The other possiblity is:
2) The Gitakara (Parashariya) belonged to a school different from the Prose traditions and may have been unaware of their development. Having said this will obviously send me to hell for I have insulted the panditya of the Great Maha Vishnu Vedvyasa.
Then perhaps we should just shut up accept that it was a completely arbitrary decision on the part of the founder of Hinduism, Vyasa, to not include Panchakosha (almost the entire Taittiriya), Avasthatraya (almost the entire Mandukya) and in general Adhyaropa-Apavada in his 'optimum opus' The Shrimad Bhagavad Gita.
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Section 3
Elements of Old Sankhya are scattered all over the Gita. Krishna categorically says that he is teaching 'Sankhya'. He also says 'Sankhyans' pursue Jnana. Then there are the references to the Three Gunas. All this is washed and tucked away by the Vedantins saying that this Sankhya and that Sankhya are different. This is exactly my opinion also. 'This Sankhya' that is in the Gita is the Old Sankhya of Kapila. Krishna says that HE IS Kapila. And he said that Kapila is the first of the Jivanmuktas. 'That Sankhya' is Ishvara Krishna's Sankhya, the Classical Dvaita Sankhya. Both are different.
The evidence for this everywhere in the Mahabharata. Numerous references to Kapila, literally calling him the Greatest Sage. And also to his lineage. Panchashika the author of Shashti Tantra - foundational work of Old Sankhya is praised caplessly in the Mahabharata. It is both my experience and opinion that when seen in this light. The words of the Gita fall into perfect place. Shrimad Bhagavatam (which is definitely a later work, so not so much of an authoritative a source) - categorically says: "the Dharma propounded by Kapila Rishi, who is Krishna himself is now lost." And then it goes on to give its own reconstruction of Kapila's Sankhya and this screams Vedanta.
It mightly be interesting to note that Kapil Math of Hariharananda Aranya, the survivor of Sankhya Tradition, does not uphold Ishvara Krishna as authentic. The founder of the math himself has written a commentary on Yoga Bhashya that has some lines from Shashti Tantra but not on Ishvara Krishna's Karika. Their opinion is also that there are not many crores of Purushas like Ishvara Krishna says. But one.

This is a good time for some rest. In the next part, I will continue to read into the Yoga and Dharma portions of the Gita.
Part 2 Part 3 Part 4