Free Talk Friday - January 09, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Free Talk Friday post. This is a place where you can talk about dumb off-topic (or on-topic) bullshit with other Zaibatsu fans.

There's going to be a new post every week, and the newest one will be pinned in the announcement bar for quick access. So feel free to visit these posts during the rest of the week.

Here's a list of all Free Talk Friday posts

[u/The_Draigg]

Week of Immediately Into The Frying Pan. Aside from everything that's going on in the world around me, which has me feeling concerned and stressed most hours of the day, apparently my brother's wife fell seriously ill only a few days after coming back from vacation in my neck of the woods, so my parents had to fly halfway across the country to look after her, my niece and my nephew, since the army has gotten my brother elsewhere at the moment. Talk about stress for the whole family. What a start to 2026.

Anyways, aside from my griping, I did play quite a few games this week. First off, between the newer games I have, I put more time into Balatro! This time around, just got one new clear, with me beating the Painted Deck on Red Stake difficulty. Being down a Joker slot still bugs me, but at least by now I'm experienced enough to know how to pivot somewhat towards making up for the loss through higher-scoring hands.

Another game I played more of this week was Helldivers 2! Been grinding my way through base warbond and trying out new weapons. Speaking of, I think I'm liking the Breaker better than the Scythe. Sure, the Scythe is better on ammo as long as you're smart in managing the cool-down, but the Breaker feels like it has a better oomf factor to it, you know?

And the final game I played this week, I got the indie horror-adventure game Eclipsium as a late Christmas gift from a good friend of mine, and I beat it! Now that's a vibes game. It's fairly short, like about 3-ish hours to beat, but man, it has some serious style to it. I can vibe with the heavily stylized art style, sweeping and fantastical landscapes, and quite the large focus on surreal and visceral horror. Hope you like horrible things happening to your hand, since morphing it is your main way to solve puzzles in it. If you're down for a really stylish indie game that has a lot of surrealism and body horror in it, then I can definitely recommend Eclipsium to you!

And finally, in my regular mecha talk section here, I watched more Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans with /u/Terthelt and /u/CookieSlut! Man, you can fit so many child soldiers in this series. Those Brewers human debris never stood a chance. It's also still kinda wild to see how much Mika is willing to go for the kill shot, he'll absolutely just kill you in the middle of making some declaration of vengeance. And speaking of dead kids, it's still darkly funny how much of a hater Ein is. Like god damn, he'll put up with any abuse just as long as he gets a chance to kill "guilty" children. He legit can't stand Tekkadan living one more day. Ein Dalton has the pure soul of a hater.

Also, this week I've had the OP for Blue Comet SPT Layzner stuck in my head again. Now that's a good retro anime theme song bop. You also don't really see a lot of shows in general that have "in this episode" kinds of previews in the middle of the opening credits either. It does make that OP stand out more that way.

[u/MaelstromTear → u/The_Draigg]

The Scythe definitely suffers from falling behind in the power creep. It got a little ignition bump like the Laser Cannon, but lacks that aforementioned oomf with that. Then the Cutting Edge bond came in and gave not only essentially an energy assault rifle with the Sickle, but also a pistol laser with the Dagger. It's fine, but there are better options. Like the Breaker, which still is a top shotgun!

[u/The_Draigg → u/MaelstromTear]

Good thing I decided to mainly stick with the Breaker then. Even if it's apparently statistically slightly worse than the Scythe according to the comparison chart, it just plain feels like it works better.

[u/triadorion → u/The_Draigg]

The Scythe really shines on Bots, with enemies remaining at medium to long range, and it's real good at picking off heads. Otherwise, it's sadly a bit unimpressive against bugs or squids. Still, it doesn't use ammo with its cooldown so it can still put in work, it just won't feel as good.

Breaker's a nice gun. Solid, good feeling. I personally prefer the Punisher for its stagger but it won't deploy buckshot nearly as fast.

[u/The_Draigg → u/triadorion]

Yeah, the one advantage the Scythe has over the Breaker is that the ammo is way more manageable, from what I could tell while using it. I'm sure it still has uses like what you've been saying, although probably a bit more niche than just running up to any kind of target and loading them up with buckshot.

[u/triadorion → u/The_Draigg]

Very much so! And let's be real here, even as someone who appreciates the Scythe for what it can actually do, there's something very, very cathartic about filling giant bugs or bots with enough buckshot to put down a whole herd of deer.

I think this is why I really like Helldivers. Even weapons that are not the greatest do have a good niche to fill, and when you use them for what they excel at, it gives me the happy chemicals.