Messages

1

General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: Today at 07:35:09 am »

I've been selling stuff on eBay since 2006 and I've dealt with some real pieces of work over the years. My worst experience was actually as a buyer. I bought a game from someone, can't even remember which game it was, that was shipped in a Pop Tart box and surprise, it arrived damaged. I left negative feedback (I probably should have reached out to them first, but whatever), and they sent me a message threatening me with physical violence if I didn't change or remove the feedback. Of course I reported them and their 1000+ feedback account got banned. They then proceeded to make new accounts just so they could continue to harass me and even began buying items I would post and then never paying for them. This went on for several months. Ebay was incredibly unhelpful in all this and just did wack a mole with banning their new accounts. I essentially had to take a long break from ebay and began just ignoring their messages. Several months later I went to post some items to sell and they had finally cooled off.


Not nearly that bad, but most recently I had a guy give me Neutral feedback (at least it wasn't negative) because the item he bought wasn't as "New" as he wanted it to be even though the item was...brand new. I wish I were kidding. I guarantee it was because he planned on sending it off to be graded and was mad he couldn't get like a 90+ condition rating or whatever. Modern Pokemon card people are insane.

Are people still game grading? Isn't that supposed to be just one giant farce?

Anyways - interesting stories you've got. Really, nothing surprises me anymore. Threatening with violence is probably the most extreme thing I've heard (and I know that there are some lunatics out there) but he was just being a poor sport.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: December 08, 2025, 05:43:40 pm »

79. Grandia HD - platinum'd

I went through the HD version of Grandia on the PlayStation 5. The voice acting was worse than I remember. (Keep in mind that in 1999 when I first played this I was blown away by the concept of voice-acting in an RPG). It wasn't phoned in, but sounded more like it came from a puppet show thrown by some troubadours doing a side-hustle. Also, the game outstayed its welcome a bit near the end, especially as Justin and Feena became really powerful. Otherwise? Great, great times with this replay. I appreciate RPGs that do linearity the right way, and this is one of them. The entire game really brought me back to not only a simpler (and dare I say golden) age of RPGs, but also gaming in general. Going one step further, it reminded of when I was heavily into anime. Grandia's story and characters really reminded of all that joy. From a trophy perspective, doing everything would have been nigh impossible without guidance. One could argue that you just to be thorough and talk to everyone around town twice, but that would still lead to some missing events. Also, there was a lot of missable content like side-dungeons and Mana Eggs. But, a good guide helped ensure the ground was properly covered.

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General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: December 08, 2025, 10:55:39 am »

I think there comes a time when everyone that dabbles in the world of selling stuff online deals with a less than desirable interaction. And really, the one I just experienced wasn't bad. Their item arrived and I got paid. Still. It wormed itself enough in me to head to this topic to post about it.

I had a listing for a CIB game. Someone reached out and asked if I would just sell them the box. I told them no. They asked how low I'd be willing to go to sell the item complete. I told them to send an offer so I could see how much I'd get after all the fees/taxes. The offer they sent was too low, so I declined. They asked AGAIN if I'd be willing to sell just the box. Their words: "Are you sure just don't want to sell the box?" I reiterated the same answer: no, the game will be sold complete and as is.

I sent an offer that would work for me and didn't hear back until about a week or so ago. They sent an offer that was less than the one I suggested. I declined. Their words: "Darn. I thought you were happy with [insert dollar amount here] before" (sic)

I responded that I was, but the number that they submitted was not that one I originally suggested. I sent the offer. They accepted! I packed up the item, shipped it, and it arrived. And then, I waited for them to rate me so I could get paid. For those that don't use Mercari, buyers have 72 hours to rate their experience/provide feedback/let the seller know of any issues. After 72 hours, buyers automatically get paid.

After 48 hours, I messaged them asking if things went okay with the delivery. Silence. It was on the final day just before the 72 hours that they rated me. I rated and reviewed them in return in order to get the funds. Now, y'all know ya boy loves to write reviews and can get wordy. This time was no different. As far as I could tell, I was firm but fair when I delineated the experience. The tl;dr version (more on that later) is that the buyer was on the difficult side and took long to rate.

Quick aside: why was it worth pointing out that the buyer took long to rate, you may ask? Well, we all know that we live in a society where we're glued to our phones. This person was normally responsive and quick with replying. So, to get radio silence when the package arrived, and to get radio silence when I asked if things went smoothly went against the MO.

Obviously, this person didn't care for the honesty and messaged me about it being rude. I replied that I didn't intend for it come across as rude (because goodness knows I could be) but I did want to point out that the entire interaction was odd. They also mentioned that they were traveling for work - hence their not rating me until the eleventh hour. Well, if they responded to my message about allegedly traveling for work, then I would have been like "cool". Again, people are glued to their phones. This person had ample time to respond.

They asked if I could delete the review. I told them no, and reminded them that 4/5 stars is still good. Somehow, they managed to get the review deleted - thus the reason why I can't copy and paste it on here. Their final message to me was "Reviews deleted [peace sign emoji]". I left one review, so I'm not sure if "reviews" was another typo or if he just want hog-wild and decided to delete other reviews that were less than 5 stars.

Anyways. I got paid. I never responded to their last message. I had a few steering wheel conversations about what I could/should say but you know what? I'll leave it. What's the term floating around nowadays? "Let them?" That's what I did. So, that's the story. Obviously, there won't be any more interactions with them.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: December 07, 2025, 01:35:49 pm »

Silver lining: at least it's before Christmas Eve and Day?

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: December 06, 2025, 09:58:53 pm »

Has anyone opened their gift yet? Are folks waiting for 12/10? Some maybe waiting until Christmas Eve or Day?

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: December 01, 2025, 08:20:25 am »

That works for me. How are we connecting this time?

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 27, 2025, 10:15:07 am »

18. Kirby Air Riders

The recently released Kirby Air Riders, is beaten! I've beaten the story mode's New Game+ campaign, which unlocks the true ending, and I've also unlocked all characters and vehicles. I never played the original Kirby Air Ride, but when this game was announced I was immediately intrigued. And when it was announced Masahiro Sakurai was once again directing, it was an instant pickup for me. Yes, he's a developer I have that much faith in, I'm just that big a fan of his work.

And it lived up to my expectations. Kirby Air Riders is a blast! Right from the start this game clearly has the Sakurai-action style to it. When you first pick it up, the wild action and effects are so overwhelming you can sometimes barely tell what you're doing, but that doesn't take away from the fun. And then once you get the hang of it and the game clicks in your mind, the gameplay becomes enthralling. I'm still not that great at the game, online I usually get my butt kicked, but every match I play, no matter what mode, I find myself focused in a zen-like state I otherwise only really get from, well, Smash Bros. (which is one of my favourite games ever btw). It's a blast.

The single player content admittedly isn't spectacular. The story mode is just a long series of challenges with little to tie them together. Now that on its own isn't a problem if you enjoy the gameplay enough, which I definitely do, but it's still primarily a long challenge run. But that's fine: Kirby Air Riders is fun solo, but is also clearly about the multiplayer. And I gotta say: I had an absolute blast with it on that front. A day after release, I took it with me to a weekly gamer hangout I go to, where we played it with a group. And it was insanely fun! Nobody had a clue what was going on, but we had a blast with it! I hope we can do more races in the future.

I can whole-heartedly recommend this game. If you're looking for a wild Smash Bros.-vibe-like multiplayer game, or if you've just seen the trailers and this looks interesting to you, give it a shot. I already feel like I want to hop back in, and I can definitely see myself coming back to this repeatedly for a good long while.

Thanks for this write-up. I'm a huge Kirby fan, but that mostly applies to traditional Kirby titles. Reading this, this sounds like just a good time despite it not being what I typically enjoy with my favorite Nintendo mascot.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: November 26, 2025, 06:57:30 pm »

I got my gift! I had my BF open it to ensure things were wrapped, and they were. Otherwise, I have no idea what to expect. I'll have it hidden until we hang out for an unwrapping party.

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General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: November 26, 2025, 12:28:06 pm »

The US needs Black Friday deals on groceries instead of games and big TVs.

Sadly, even if they made groceries super cheap for one weekend, it still wouldn't fix the underlying issue of your money being worth jack now due to unchecked inflation. I don't want to make this political, but inflation benefits people at the top, while hurting practically everyone else. Unless something is done about that, which there won't be, inflation is just going to get worse and worse. Our politicians, nearly all of them, will never bite the hand that feeds them.

Oh, of course. I was just being a bit silly. Black Friday is usually associated with overconsumption of stuff that isn't necessary.

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General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: November 26, 2025, 09:23:25 am »

The US needs Black Friday deals on groceries instead of games and big TVs.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: November 25, 2025, 10:04:28 am »

12/10 is great. Lock it in?

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 25, 2025, 08:04:21 am »

I got to play some of the new Jack Box games over the weekend with some friends on Switch 2. They were all really fun.

76. Trivia Quest

General trivia meets an RPG. It sounds silly, but it's quite clever. There are items, experience points, etc. And the trivia questions ranged from basic to challenging.

77. Hear Say

You use prompts to make sound effects and/or phrases. Afterwards, your avatar will animate to your voice. It's probably the funniest thing I played in a long time. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard.

78. Cookie Haus

Think of the TKO, but with designing cookies. Again, you're given various prompts and have to create a cookie to match said prompt. Or, make a cookie however you see fit. Either way, they looked delicious.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: November 21, 2025, 08:02:11 am »

We can certainly try for that again!

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 18, 2025, 08:05:07 am »

75. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound - Venom

Another great 2D action platformer (and platinum) in the books. As the credits rolled the second time, I found myself comparing the experience to Shinobi, which I finished a bit ago. Between the two, I think I like Shinobi more. That's not to say Ragebound is a slouch. In fact, Ragebound has the better story, animation, and soundtrack. But, there aren't as many options in Ragebound to do what ninja do best: dispose of their enemies. Kenji/Kuromi don't have as much to them where is Joe slowly unlocked a plethora of tools, magics, and items. At any rate, I recommend Ragebound to everyone. A review will be posted soon.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: November 17, 2025, 09:03:10 am »

How's things been going? Anything else shipped/delivered??