I realised I haven't written a formal introduction until now, so here it is.

Like a lot of people here I have first been exposed to the chapo sphere on reddit-logo, although I had already been somewhat radicalised by that time so the chapo subreddit that I remember somewhat fondly was moretankiechapo, though I didn't really post there. I don't remember why exactly I created my hexbear account all the way back in 2020 chomsky-yes-honey, especially since until a few months ago I was mostly active on lemmygrad, and before that I had stayed on reddit-logo (mostly on GenZedong following the great chapo purge (and I actually posted there instead of just lurking)). Regardless I've actually started posting using this account this year, to the detriment of my older lemmygrad account.

I'm one of the few france-cool posters here, though thankfully I actually have no French blood in my veins (my ancestors hail from the Balkans and from Burgerland… so I guess part of that is actually a bit worse than being from france-cool). My family is definitely not ML, ranging from libs to monarchists, so I'm a bit of an anomaly in the family (although I know some of my ancestors were comrades at least).

I'm an aspie and an enby (though I'd say that the term "cassgender" applies to me), I use they/them in English and any pronouns in French (I don't like being referred to using neopronouns so I just find "iel" to be weird). I'm particularly interested in history, music (I'm a bassist and a drummer) and linguistics/languages. Special interests include Portal (2007), prog rock (and more specifically, since my childhood: Pink Floyd), and seemingly anything heralding from the PRC. 我从2021年学习汉语，会说得一点儿（我几天前参加了 HSK3 考试）。下个学期，我要去台湾省学习，所以我一定会提高我的汉语水平！

translation

I've started learning Chinese in 2021, I speak it a bit (I attended a HSK3 test a few days ago). Next semester I'll go study in Taiwan Province, so I'll undoubtedly improve my Chinese!

Anyways hello!

    • ComradeSpahija [they/them]
      ·
      12 days ago

      To be fair I haven't played many mods for Portal or Portal 2, since I mostly enjoy practising speedrunning the first game (inbounds no SLA, usually; which is weird because I didn't get speedrunning before seeing Portal speedruns) or just learning about the game (its development, its bugs, the theories people have made about the plot); plus most mods are for Portal 2 which I find a bit less comfortable to play than Portal (is that a weird way to describe it?). However among the mods that I have played for Portal 2 I have enjoyed Portal Stories: Mel as well as Portal Reloaded (though I am yet to finish this one since it kinda breaks my brain lol). Portal: Still Alive is interesting to play in the sense that it was actually initially released by Valve so it is kind of part of the story of the Portal series' development, though the game/mod itself isn't too groundbreaking (I say game/mod since the original is a game but the unofficial PC port is a mod), and it's rather short (even shorter the first game). And while I obviously can't say it's a good mod for obvious reasons, I find the existence of Portal: Epic Edition to be really funny.

      • Ildsaye [they/them]
        ·
        12 days ago

        Thank you, I hadn't thought to look for speedruns and now I will

        • ComradeSpahija [they/them]
          ·
          11 days ago

          Portal speedruns are truly something else, especially with save-load abuse and going out-of-bounds allowed

          • Ildsaye [they/them]
            ·
            11 days ago

            The glitchy ones were impossible to follow for me, and the non-glitch ones were close to it. I've only played through the games a couple of times, since I need a few years to forget in order to enjoy the puzzles again, but the experience leaves a deep impression. Portal 2 had a tough act to follow, and a certain degree of focus and elegance was lost in expanding upon the concept, though it is still great

            • ComradeSpahija [they/them]
              ·
              11 days ago

              SLA (save-load abuse) runs especially are very hard to follow, and I'd say the main SLA exploit is rather hard to execute. Runs without SLA but with other glitches allowed are easier to follow since the player stays inbounds and the exploits are less confusing, and they are also easier to perform. I recommend this video if you want to learn the easier techniques for a full inbounds no SLA run of the first Portal game.

              I agree with you that Portal 2 is perhaps less focused than the original Portal game. It's still a great game of course, but it seemed to introduce a bit too much stuff for its own good, which makes most puzzles somewhat trivial since the player is constantly being taught about a new game mechanic. And while Portal 2 is pretty funny, I prefer Portal's more understated ambiance to Portal 2's bombastic nature.