I guess all things considered, they're not that bad--I've yet to have any problems with things not arriving or being totally mangled. I think what is irritating is the way that most shipments take several days to start updating the tracking info; the version of the DHL site that SLG confirmations link to likes to claim my tracking number isn't even a valid shipment for about four or five days before it starts providing updates. It all feels a bit janky at times, and I've had sketchy orders drop-shipped via no-name Chinese carriers that had better end-to-end tracking. At least they don't play the stupid "you must be home to sign for delivery during working hours!" game that FedEx loves.Sengoku Strider wrote:It's funny you say that about DHL though, they've been the best option for me by far. It's FedEx who are a nightmare to deal with every time.
I went a little isolation-crazy last year and ordered a number of games from different limited print companies that are finally starting to trickle in (which is like a fun present from past-me), and Limited Run Games recently switched all their shipping to DHL because it helped make some aspect of international orders much smoother/cheaper or something. Which seems like a nice change for international customers, given how frustrating the customs/tax situation seems to be, but for orders within the US, it means that a 4-7 day shipment via USPS now turns into two weeks. For the first week the package doesn't actually leave North Carolina at all, and then there's an extra day or two added onto the end for the awkward DHL→USPS handoff. At one point, I had an order ship from a Singapore retailer and one from LRG on the same day--in the height of COVID shipping delays--and the Singapore package showed up nearly a week before the LRG one.
That's good to know my memories are still somewhat accurate. It's too bad--as I said, I think the aesthetic was a lot of fun, in that sort of chaotic way that showed up a lot on the Dreamcast.m.sniffles.esq wrote:You didn't. It's not very fun. To quote myself:m.sniffles.esq wrote:It's biggest problem it's that it's just kind of a janky mess. Very thrown together feeling, and not very fun to play.
m.sniffles.esq wrote:And yeah, most Dreamcast games a VGA compatible (Gunbird 2 being a noted exception) with an adapter.
I keep forgetting about VGA--probably because my TV doesn't have a VGA input. I never think to hook a console up to my computer monitor, but it would give me a reason to clear off my desk. There was a period when good VGA adapters seemed really hard to find and the market was flooded with cheap dodgy ones, but it looks like more high-quality ones are popping up now. It's been too long since I've had my Dreamcast out and running; I hope it still works. I've been a bit tempted to really go all out and replace the GD-ROM with an ODE, but it sounds like there's an annoying amount of additional work that needs to happen (some sort of tinkering with/replacing the power supply so it doesn't fry the card reader, plastic bits to fix airflow issues without the GD-ROM)...Sengoku Strider wrote:Fortunately Dreamcast is dead easy because of its VGA capabilities; it still plays nice with 99% of computer monitors.
Anyway, looks like my copy of Cotton has landed here in the States so I should have it in hand within the week!