Disclaimer I want to thank everyone for the gilds, replies and suggestions. I just do not have time to reply to everyone, but I am reading everything. I am not sure how much bigger the thread can be, I already typed this but it vanished so I think I'm at the limit. I will try to keep updating, but I don't expect the thread to be up top for much longer and will likely vanish soon, so if you need anything save it.
Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it.
Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions:
For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month!
For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k.
I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device.
Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers

• Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
  
• Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
  
• Now TV (I believe it's 7 days)
  
• Disney+
  
• Britbox
  
• Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder
  

If you have not subscribed to the any of the above, you can get a few months of free TV by signing up and cancelling instantly. I suggest waiting at least 5 minutes just to let it go through the system.
Some tips for Now TV. IF you already have a subscription, I've noticed you can get it cheaper by cancelling. When you cancel they will beg you to stay. Select "I can not afford it this month" and they should beg again, telling you what shows they have. If you say you still want to cancel, they'll beg one last time and offer you the subscription for cheaper. This won't work every month, but I've noticed they'll always offer it the first time, then again after a couple months. If you're subscribed to both films and entertainment do the most expensive one as it may not work both times (but it might!). You can also pick up passes from storefronts a lot cheaper sometimes, before I could pick one up on Amazon for £3 but, they seem to have cracked down on it. If you shop around (or if anyone knows of a legitimate store please let me know) you might be able to pick it up cheaper. Lastly, check their website and under your account they should have an "offers for you" section.
Completely free TV

• Pluto TV
  
• Viki
  
• Roku
  

If you do have a smart TV and/or device, there are some good free streaming apps. One I really love is called PlutoTV. I know this is on both Roku and the fire stick, as well as Ps4/Ps5 and xbox.
Pluto offers a bunch of live channels and now an on demand section, all for free. It has adverts but they are actually short (shorter than regular TV and fewer of them). Some of the channels are just streaming certain shows like Mythbusters 24/7 or Dog the bounty hunter, but it has a lot of old movie channels as well as 24/7 kickboxing and MMA. It also has a 24/7 poker channel I quite like.
Another one I like is Rakuten Viki however, I haven't watched it for a while as my fire stick is only 1080p and I have too many other devices attached. I believe it is on Roku but you have to jump through some hoops and have an account. The last I checked on the fire stick you did not. Viki offers a metric ton of Asian shows, mainly from Japan and South Korea but it does have chinese, Malaysian etc. It has subtitles. Some Japanese shows are hysterical, albeit weird.
Roku also do their own channels with free shows if you own a device.
For those who don't have a smart TV or a Streaming device, you can set up your own computer as a dedicated streaming device with Plex. It's been a while since I used it but I believe it now also offers free movies and TV.
Anime
If you are into Anime there is

• Crunchyroll
  
• Funimation
  
• HiDive
  

The first 2 are free to watch, or offer premium without ads which you can have a trial with. Crunchyroll is the better of the two with more original choice for Japanese voice and subs, while Funimation has more Dubs. I don't believe HiDive is free to watch but you do get a 2 week trial. These are more exclusives than the previous two.
PC Centric software
If you are a gamer or like Audiobooks or anything that uses computers for things like music making, programming or graphic design

• Humble Bundle
  
• Fanatical
  
• IndieGala
  

Humble Bundle offers, as per the name, bundles. A long running site that got bought out by IGN. It offers both single items and bundles you can buy individually/as a pack while also offering a separate monthly subscription for around £8-9. The subscription gives you 12 games on average per month. That's the simplest explanation but it changes somewhat as sometimes you get to pick 10 out of 14 games, or get all 12.
Humble bundle offers more than just games though. Every Tuesday they bring a new bundle of games, while Thursday (I "think) a new bundle of books. They very often have books from the Black Library giving you a ton of Warhammer books. Sometimes it's standard E-books, other times it's audiobooks. A few times a year they do bundles for graphic design, a typical bundle would include programs like Paintshop Pro Corel Painter etc, They usually go for £0.76 for tier 1 up to around £18 for tier 3, which would include 4-6 full titles with 10+ addons. They also often have Music making bundles or video editing software as well as Programming or video game development.
The bundles change often, they usually have around 11 bundles at a time that last for 20 days. Sometimes it's trash but they do often have some very good deals.
Fanatical offers the same as humble bundle except usually not as high quality, but sometimes they do have some incredible deals, and they are very very cheap.
Both humble and fanatical are safe, trusted and been around a long time, and they are NOT grey market key sites. They work with the publishers and developers. You can buy games both old and new for a lot cheaper than you would most other places. Unless it states otherwise, keys are usually for steam.
**BOTH HB and Fanatical (HB much more common) offer free games fairly often. The catch is linking your steam account to them (at least HB). It is safe however.
IndieGala is another site like above. Except, these are much much lower quality. However, they offer a metric ton of free games. Quality is low but it is legitimate, and a lot of free stuff.
Game Store Fronts

• Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
  
• Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
  
• GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
  
• Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
  
• Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
  
• Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
  
• Games with Gold Bleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.
  

Gaming Subscriptions
Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months

• Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
  
• Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
  
• EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
  
• PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.
  

There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that.
Audiobooks & Ebooks

• Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
  
• Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
  
• Marvel Unlimited No experience with this. ItFuckingWont wanted me to add it. A subscription service for Marvel.
  

Education

• Sign Language BSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
  
• BBC's Bitesize here is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.
  

If you need some spare change
Okay, I don't generally bother with it, but maybe some of this could be useful to you. These are NOT a quick way to make a fortune. These are small things you can do over time for a bit of pocket change

• If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the details According to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
  
• Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
  
• Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
  
• There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
  
• Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
  
• Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."
  

That's it for now. I will try to update as I go along. A long post but I hope that it can help some of you with finding something good to do that's free, cheap or a bargain. I do suggest getting prime, especially since you get free music, free delivery, free TV and music and free video games each month. In fact, there's a ton of perks and I feel I've gotten way over the cost investment.
Hope it helps someone at least
PartTimeCrazy said if you bought an Apple product you get 3 free months of Apple Arcade and Apple TV free for a year
fakehunted is upset I didn't mention wanking. Tesco have 225 sheets of Tissue for £0.75!
tale_lost suggested Project Gutenberg for a collection of free E-Books
Learning Language
Unfortunately, I don't have time to check every link listed so I will link the comments:
Togtogtog Gives a lot of links for Spanish

• Duolingo Numerous people have suggested this So I haven't used myself. Thanks to OhHiGCHQ StephanieMecredy & Allorie_95

Board & Tabletop games
Corporal_Anaesthetic has made a list of Board games
ilyemco suggested these
HEALTH
I'm not a doctor! But if you're a smoker, something I strongly suggest is to quit. I struggled for years but in the first lockdown I quit, technically. I haven't had a cigarette since, however, I do that silly thing millennials do. I vape, but, it made quitting extremely easy. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for 88Vape They sell extremely cheap liquids at £1 each. You can find these in B&M but you can pick up 25 for £20 or buy your own mix.
Vitamin D deficiency has been said to be a big problem for the virus. I'd suggest (again, not a doctor!) that you pick some up. Tesco do a 3 for 2 deal. So you can pick up 270 tablets for £7.
If you are vulnerable you MIGHT be able to phone tesco and get put on their delivery saver list (currently it's paused but phoning may help. At the very least they might give you a priority slot. I did this for my mum, we didn't shop at Tesco but I phoned for her, and they put her on with no hassle, so she can always get a delivery.
HELP & ADVICE
The lockdown Rules.
Reasons to leave home include:

• Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
  
• Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
  
• Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
  
• Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
  
• Communal religious worship
  
• Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house
  

I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)

• To flee the threat of harm or violence.*
  
• CoronaVirus Symptoms
  
• CoronaVirus government site You can check your location and how many cases here.
  
• Worldometers Shows cases around the world.
  
• Interactive UK Map Another easy to read map with cases in counties and local area's.
  
• World Health Organisation
  

Support

• Samaritans
  
• Mental Health UK forum on reddit
  
• Link to above's stick post for support outlets
  
• Mindful
  
• Mind.org
  

FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THE ROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though)
_riotingpacifist wanted these links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:

• https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/
  
• https://www.goodsamapp.org/
  
• https://vaccinationvolunteers.sja.org.uk/roles/volunteer-vaccinator.html
  
• https://nhsvolunteerresponders.org.uk/getting-you-started-guide-steward-volunteer
  
• https://peoplesmomentum.com/evictionresistance/
  
• https://londonrentersunion.org/
  

Update:
Digital Art
These are Free

• Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
  
• Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
  
• Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.
  

You can pick up a drawing tablet on Amazon quite cheap these days! Small ones that are just a black slate such as the wacom ones are good but takes some practice to get use to, but very worth it if you can't afford a dedicated drawing tablet with a screen.
Office suit software
A couple of free applications for word processing, spreadsheets etc.

• LibreOffice This has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
  
• Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.
  

Music Making
I'm going to direct to matthewharris806 for some links as all the programs I've used like Reason are expensive, or cheaper stuff in bundles such as Magix software.
Games development
D_Dad_Default gives some links for that here

Introduction:

It's basically trite at this point to say this year has been challenging, but one positive out of everything is that I've been fortunate enough to have the time and funds to play a huge number of games that I've heard so much about, yet never was able to before now. I grew up on almost exclusively Nintendo games and then branched out to indie games in college I could play on my laptop, so I was more than excited when I bought the base PS4 that came bundled with God of War, Last of Us, and Horizon Zero Dawn for $200 (and I snagged Bloodborne for $15 while I was at it).
What ensued was a year of frenzied gaming-- never in any year of my life have I played games as much as I did this year. I enjoyed it, but there were also some surprising drawbacks to placing such an emphasis on gaming as a primary hobby, and I'll discuss those towards the conclusion. But man, there were some absolutely fantastic games that I played this year and I want to share my thoughts on them! Not every game I played this year was PS4, but most were.
Since literally every game I played this year was a good game, I have stratified my rankings into three overarching tiers: Best, Great, and Good. I was lucky enough to not even need a Meh tier this year. Lots of games within the same tier could probably have their orders switched, but I did my best. And all but two of these games I was patient™ on, which is a fun side note.
Disclaimer*:* These rankings reflect my personal opinions on the experience I had after finishing the game, rather than my thoughts on its overall quality as a product for everyone. There are a few rankings that are sure to ruffle some feathers-- I know that God of War, RDR2, Journey, Undertale, and Nier: Automata for example are great games, but they didn't resonate with me nearly as much as some others. So know that I appreciate them and those who hold these games so dear.
Without further ado, let's get going!

The BEST:

1. Bloodborne (PS4): Quite simply, I'm still chasing the feeling I had after playing this game for the first time. So much so you could say, that I played it 7 times this year. Never has a game enraptured me with its shocking world, brutal combat, and the best DLC I've ever played. I want to talk about Bloodborne (and all the souls games, really) constantly, learn everything about them, and play them forever.

1. Last of Us Part II (PS4): One of two games I broke being patient™ on, I waited a couple months before diving in just to stop working to avoid spoilers. I enjoyed the first game but this absolutely blew me out of the water. On a gameplay level I couldn't believe how fluid and visceral the combat was, how immense the encounters were with countless approaches to every situation, and how fun it was to play. The narrative was challenging and forced me to grapple with the same emotions as the protagonist initially, then brilliantly the player and character on divergent emotional tracks as you become more shocked and uncomfortable with what happens. I encourage anyone who hasn't yet to play with an open mind and avoid trying to reduce the story to a single theme or message. It may not be your cup of tea, but it was mine.

3. Outer Wilds (PS4): This game feels like it was made just for me. I love space and rocket physics, I love discovery, and I love it when a game makes me feel clever. The level of wonder and curiosity I felt while playing can only be compared to what I experienced with Breath of the Wild. This game is difficult to talk about without spoilers, but if discovery and outer space get you excited, there is nothing like Outer Wilds.

1. Dark Souls III (PS4): Yeah, I like souls games. While certainly less groundbreaking than DS1 and perhaps less atmospheric than Bloodborne, DS3 is a grand experience with, in my opinion, the best bosses in all the souls games. It's also the best souls game for experimenting with different playstyles without needing to watch 6 hours of VaatiVidya to figure out how to be a pyromancer.
   
2. Control (PS4): Objectively speaking, this game might not have the same merits as the others in the "Best" category. But it sucked me in with it's completely unique visual style. It felt like a strange acid trip and I was always excited to see what was next. The powers and combat were fun even if not terribly original (and even though the gunplay wasn't too strong) but I was completely enthralled by the nonchalance of the cast amid mind blowing supernatural activity. Far from a perfect game, but give it a chance if the style seems intriguing to you!
   

The Great:

1. The Last of Us Remastered (PS4): One of my most anticipated games when I picked up a PS4, having watched my friends play some of it. Though it didn't blow me away as much in 2020 as it might have in 2013, I thought it had decent gameplay, a great story, and a stunning world. The cities and post-apocalyptic environments were a pleasure to soak in, packed with detail, and well paced. Definitely a deserved classic.
   
2. Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4): In a lot of ways, this game isn't good as an open world game. It doesn't do a great job of compelling you to explore and engage with all the cool stuff it has. The sidequests are kind of bad, many characters forgettable and oddly animated. But this game is this high on the list because it's just so much fun taking down machine dinosaurs. They nailed gameplay in a technically beautiful world, and actually surprised me with the quality of the main story line. Not groundbreaking, but solid and a joy to play.
   
3. Death Stranding (PS4): For being one of the best games I have ever played, Death Stranding kinda sucks. I absolutely adored the premise and the world Kojima crafted, and delivering packages was really enjoyable. I loved figuring out traversal and just soaking in the graphics. I'm not one that normally cares about technical graphical showcases, but this game has made me reconsider how important graphics can be to an experience. Unfortunately, the dreadful gun mechanics, broken driving, constant NPC interjections, and the game's refusal to just end already kinda bogged it down. There's a lot here though that won me over and is an experience unlike anything I've ever played.
   
4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo Switch): The other game on this list I was not patient™ for, since I bought it for my wife... and then got sucked in. Truth is, as a non-creative type, I just loved this game as an outlet for my creativity and expression. I loved having projects like my zen garden, my Domino's Pizza restaurant, and then getting to share them with my friends. I've heard it said something along the lines of "It wasn't the best game of 2020, but it was the game for 2020".
   
5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4): Once I adjusted my expectations of what this game was and was not, it was great. While it doesn't reward open exploration as much as BoTW and Skyrim did, it simply has the best quests of any open world game I've played. Very rich environments and stories, and I even thought the gameplay was more than serviceable. It did kind of drag on by the end though. Also, disclaimer, I haven't played the DLC (sorry).
   
6. Return of the Obra Dinn (Nintendo Switch): I had hoped it would blow me away in a way similar to Outer Wilds, and while it didn't quite reach the same heights for me it was great nonetheless. I loved the nautical setting, the critical thinking and deduction required, and the way it was balanced perfectly between leaving you totally on your own and confirming bits at a time. My only real complaint is that I felt the true ending didn't really reveal anything about the story I didn't already know, I guess I expected some grand reveal.
   
7. Doom Eternal (PS4): White-knuckle, heart pounding, insane. The game forces you to engage with every mechanic it throws at you and is brutally challenging, but all in the best way. Though the gameplay was better than DOOM 2016, I actually preferred the latter since Eternal's levels felt more like a silly mario level than a tense demon-infested place. I get what they were going for and they executed well, I just prefer the more serious tone.
   
8. Hades (Nintendo Switch): Biggest surprise of the year for me, I didn't actually expect to like it. Hades is perfectly polished and a big step forward for integrating its excellent narrative with its roguelike structure. It's very easy to play without investing too much, making it great for unwinding. It deserves all the praise it's getting.
   
9. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Remastered) (PS4): All the mainline Uncharted games are on this list but I enjoyed 2 the most. The set pieces were the most memorable, and I enjoyed almost every second. These games aren't as high on the list because, no matter how you dress it up, it's a pretty simple affair ultimately in terms of gameplay but it nails the style of game that it is.
   
10. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4): An amazing game in its own right, but was ultimately disappointing for me as a From Software fan. I found that what I appreciated most about Souls games was the tension of not knowing if you could make it to the next checkpoint, the terror of encountering something surprising and having to deal with it. Sekiro litters checkpoints left and right, which is of course great for its more boss-focused design, but left me far less immersed in the environments personally. I also wished I had more options for playing aggressively rather than just memorizing the parry patterns. In any case, these gripes are my personal preferences coming through and any hardcore gamer owes it to themselves to conquer this behemoth of a challenge.
    
11. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (PS4): Pure, unadulterated fun. I was absolutely addicted to the core gameplay and the levels, especially in the first game, were so cool to explore. For me the core loop started to get stale by the time I finished all the challenges on the levels, but for those that wanted more there is almost an endless amount of bonus challenges to tackle.
    
12. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4): There's definitely a strong argument that this is the ultimate uncharted game to play-- best gunplay and options in encounters, by far the best puzzles, and the delivery of the story is leagues above the rest of the series. I simply think that Uncharted 2 had the highest highs, so 4 is a tad lower. That, and the beautiful story set up was not brought together in a satisfying way; it in no way felt like Drake had earned Elena's forgiveness, but they kind just glossed over it. Still, a must play and Naughty Dog games at their best.
    
13. Subnautica (PS4): I wanted to love it more than I did. I was hooked on exploring and discovering the mysteries of the alien underwater, but I think I do better with games with less of a survival focus. I got really far into the game, but didn't actually finish since eventually the slow drip of clues started to get a bit too slow for my tastes, and the survival and basebuilding began to get tedious. Minor PS4 technical issues aside though, This is a dang good survival game, and immense in a terrifying and wonderful way.
    
14. Monster Train (PC): Slay the Spire is one of my all-time favorites, so I was pretty excited to be gifted this. It's a blast as a deckbuilder, and I think it was smartly designed in how it throws significant and strong rewards at you at every phase of a run, whereas StS often forces you to make the best of an iffy situation. Had a great time, but I lost interest after 15 or so hours since most runs tend to feel fairly similar. Still would absolutely recommend for StS and deckbuilding fans.
    
15. Spelunky (PC): Not the hardest game I've ever played, but definitely the most unforgiving. The controls took a while to get used to but once I was engaged, the game is a tight, slick, and enthralling adventure and test of skills. Full of secrets (I've only scratched the surface) and deeply satisfying to conquer. But boy, is it unforgiving.
    
16. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Remastered) (PS4): Another strong entry in the Uncharted series, just a tad weaker than 2 I think. I will credit it though with having the most memorable environments and locales in any Uncharted though!
    

The Good:

1. Read Dead Redemption II (PS4): *Full disclosure, I'm still playing through act 5 at the time of this post.* This one is really tough for me to fully form an opinion on. On the one hand, I think this is the most stunning and immersive open world I've ever seen. Deeply authentic towns, regions, unparalleled attention to detail, and great characters and a decent story. But the way the missions force you to do things explicitly one way with terrible hand-holding just isn't fun to me, and makes Uncharted games feel like open-world sandboxes by comparison. There's a lot of quality here and I've enjoyed many elements, but have been disillusioned by others. NakeyJakey explains what I felt far better than I can (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvJPKOLDSos&t=392s). Still a good time though.
   
2. God of War (PS4): Like RDR2, an incredible technical achievement, for me hands down the best looking PS4 game, best voice acting, and for most people this should be towards the top of your must-play list. At its best, the characters are great, the combat is crunchy and satisfying, and the world beautiful. I just felt that for far too often the game was far from its best-- too many combat encounters didn't feel like I was a God of War but rather smacking a giant meat sack of health, so many secrets and puzzles that I just stopped caring about because finding treasure chests isn't fun when the rpg/loot elements feel so tacked on and pointless, endlessly recycled bosses... for me it was just pretty good, nothing like the game of the generation in my eyes. That said, most people don't seem too bothered by the things I found mediocre, so the sheer spectacle (looking at you world serpent!) and great moments make this well worth the price of admission!
   
3. Undertale (PC): I did not play this game the way it was meant to be played, let's say that up front. It was a gift, and I played about a half an hour every month for a year and just finally finished it. I loved the music, it was charming, and I see why people love this game so much. I think it just didn't hit those highs for me and I was left with a fairly silly little 8-bit game. Which was good. I'm glad I experienced what it had to offer but didn't leave a huge mark on me.
   
4. Superhot (Google Stadia): I had wanted to play this game forever but couldn't justify spending $20 on it, so I was pleased when I got a free Google Stadia kit and got to play it free! Really neat blend of stylized retro computer flavor and a fabulous central time-stop mechanic. A great 2 hour experience but tough to recommend as more than a novelty.
   
5. NieR: Automata (PS4): I have made it through 1.5 playthroughs so I know I haven't gotten the full experience, but I wasn't enjoying it enough to continue. I think every game developer though should learn from the brilliance of this game-- constantly keeping the player on its toes by not confining itself by a genre and by focusing on what's fun and cool, rather than convention. Excellent music. I get the hype, and the healthy dose of existential musings was interesting... it just didn't ultimately click for me. I can't unequivocally recommend this game to everyone, but if the premise and style stand out to you, this could be your next all-time favorite game.
   
6. Star Wars Battlefront II (PS4): Picked this up for free with PS Plus, and while there's not a lot here that's that special it was honestly super nice comfort food gaming. I just enjoyed shooting stuff in really cool Star Wars settings, a franchise I love. For what it was, I had a blast, minus the fact that I personally feel Jedi/heroes really kinda ruin the game for me. Unfortunately, it also is nothing more than a basic mass multiplayer battlefield game, so don't expect anything crazy.
   
7. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Remastered) (PS4): Definitely weaker than its successors, but still a really fun romp with trope-y but effective narrative and characters, and totally serviceable gunplay. This would be much higher on the list, and I honestly had a great time with it, but man the final third of the game was really painful to play. The switch to zombies was bad, and just wasn't fun to play through.
   
8. Until Dawn (PS4): I did not think I would like this game at all, I don't care for cheesy horror and definitely am not interested in interactive movies. But if you have a significant other or group of friends to play this with, it can be a great time! I played with my wife and we were honestly pretty engaged with the characters and the story was well told and had plenty of nice jump scares. There's not much game here, but for what it is it was a neat experience.
   
9. Shadow of the Colossus (Remake) (PS4): There were some incredible highlights to this game like the flying colossus and the sand worm, and the scale of the encounters with the epic music has earned this game a place as a masterpiece and classic to so many gamers. The remake looks stunning and it was exciting to see what type of colossus was up next. Unfortunately, every great moment I had was accompanied by an equally frustrating moment with mediocre controls and a couple of colossus that were so bad (looking at you, little bull/lion Celosia) that made me have to put down the game for a few days. A great game let down by some dated and poor elements.
   
10. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4): Souls games are my favorites, so it pains me to put this game so low. The best areas in the game (Heide's tower, Drangleic Castle, etc) are up there with the best in the series and most of the excellent combat found in the other games is more or less present here. But I think 2/3 of the game is bogged down by drab areas that feel more like a mario level designed to kill the player more than an area that could really exist. The Iron keep was the worst offender, the area was absolutely nonsensical and like so many other areas, enemies were placed in a way designed to frustrate the player with difficulty rather than engage them with challenge. Bosses were also mostly forgettable, but I did love the Looking Glass knight and the Pursuer!
    
11. Journey (PS4): Look, I'm as surprised as you that this game is on the bottom of the list. I honestly expected to love it. An artistic, beautiful marriage of environmental storytelling and unforgettable online interaction? A smooth and cathartic movement system? It has all these things, and no doubt deserves the acclaim and love it has from so many gamers. It just didn't resonate with me. Especially the ending, I felt for sure that there would be some great climax that contrasted with the struggle of the icy segment, but instead it fell a bit flat. Maybe I'll give it another try someday.
    

Conclusion, Gaming Patiently, and a Warning:

There you have it! I'd love to hear what surprised you in my rankings, where I'm horribly wrong, and what games you recommend I play next! Personally, I'm considering Persona 5 (though I'm not super into JRPGs), Dishonored 2 (am curious about immersive sims), and Jedi Fallen Order.
Gaming patiently is a strategy I absolutely endorse. Not only has it allowed me to form my own opinions of games independent of hype, but has allowed me to play a huge quantity of incredible games for honestly pennies. The average cost per game of everything I played this year was under $20. Now, more than ever, is an amazing time to get a PS4 and be a patient gamer, due to both the relative inexpensiveness and the sheer volume of outstanding games. I still will probably buy the big nintendo titles at launch and occasionally buy into hype, but most of the time it just isn't worth it anymore.
Finally, a friendly warning as a personal story for those of us who deeply love games and devote a lot of time to them. Like many kids, I was pretty limited by my parents growing up on what and how much I was allowed to play. I loved gaming but it was somewhat of a forbidden fruit. In college, I loved gaming and definitely played more, but still was very busy with social activities, studies, and other hobbies. Now, as a working adult with a comfortable job, I suddenly have more time and money than I have ever had in my life, and thus this giant list of games I played was created. For the first few months it was enthralling; all I wanted to do was play. Over the course of the year, however, it has become clear to me that requiring so much of my happiness and fun coming from having a game to be excited about can have some drawbacks. In the middle of a pandemic, if I'm sitting on the couch waiting for video games to make me happy and they just aren't giving me the same enjoyment that Bloodborne did when I played it for the first time, I'm just gonna be stuck there on the couch, slowly getting a bit depressed when my main source of fun isn't cutting it. So what's the point? Well, enjoy your games! Don't let anyone stop you from loving what you love. But if you start to burn out, please take care of yourself and engage in other hobbies, get outside, and keep things balanced. For me, doing so has made gaming all the sweeter.
Thanks for reading and indulging this long post!

Disclaimer I am posting this here because I got a message from the mods asking me to. I'm not from London so links aren't London centric (but hopefully still of help) and the main post is here so any updates will likely be there (I will try here but it's hard to keep up with the amount of suggestions)
Thanks.
Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it.
Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions:
For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month!
For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k.
I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device.
Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers

• Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
  
• Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
  
• Now TV (I believe it's 7 days)
  
• Disney+
  
• Britbox
  
• Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder
  

If you have not subscribed to the any of the above, you can get a few months of free TV by signing up and cancelling instantly. I suggest waiting at least 5 minutes just to let it go through the system.
Some tips for Now TV. IF you already have a subscription, I've noticed you can get it cheaper by cancelling. When you cancel they will beg you to stay. Select "I can not afford it this month" and they should beg again, telling you what shows they have. If you say you still want to cancel, they'll beg one last time and offer you the subscription for cheaper. This won't work every month, but I've noticed they'll always offer it the first time, then again after a couple months. If you're subscribed to both films and entertainment do the most expensive one as it may not work both times (but it might!). You can also pick up passes from storefronts a lot cheaper sometimes, before I could pick one up on Amazon for £3 but, they seem to have cracked down on it. If you shop around (or if anyone knows of a legitimate store please let me know) you might be able to pick it up cheaper. Lastly, check their website and under your account they should have an "offers for you" section.
Completely free TV

• Pluto TV
  
• Viki
  
• Roku
  

If you do have a smart TV and/or device, there are some good free streaming apps. One I really love is called PlutoTV. I know this is on both Roku and the fire stick, as well as Ps4/Ps5 and xbox.
Pluto offers a bunch of live channels and now an on demand section, all for free. It has adverts but they are actually short (shorter than regular TV and fewer of them). Some of the channels are just streaming certain shows like Mythbusters 24/7 or Dog the bounty hunter, but it has a lot of old movie channels as well as 24/7 kickboxing and MMA. It also has a 24/7 poker channel I quite like.
Another one I like is Rakuten Viki however, I haven't watched it for a while as my fire stick is only 1080p and I have too many other devices attached. I believe it is on Roku but you have to jump through some hoops and have an account. The last I checked on the fire stick you did not. Viki offers a metric ton of Asian shows, mainly from Japan and South Korea but it does have chinese, Malaysian etc. It has subtitles. Some Japanese shows are hysterical, albeit weird.
Roku also do their own channels with free shows if you own a device.
For those who don't have a smart TV or a Streaming device, you can set up your own computer as a dedicated streaming device with Plex. It's been a while since I used it but I believe it now also offers free movies and TV.
Anime
If you are into Anime there is

• Crunchyroll
  
• Funimation
  
• HiDive
  

The first 2 are free to watch, or offer premium without ads which you can have a trial with. Crunchyroll is the better of the two with more original choice for Japanese voice and subs, while Funimation has more Dubs. I don't believe HiDive is free to watch but you do get a 2 week trial. These are more exclusives than the previous two.
PC Centric software
If you are a gamer or like Audiobooks or anything that uses computers for things like music making, programming or graphic design

• Humble Bundle
  
• Fanatical
  
• IndieGala
  

Humble Bundle offers, as per the name, bundles. A long running site that got bought out by IGN. It offers both single items and bundles you can buy individually/as a pack while also offering a separate monthly subscription for around £8-9. The subscription gives you 12 games on average per month. That's the simplest explanation but it changes somewhat as sometimes you get to pick 10 out of 14 games, or get all 12.
Humble bundle offers more than just games though. Every Tuesday they bring a new bundle of games, while Thursday (I "think) a new bundle of books. They very often have books from the Black Library giving you a ton of Warhammer books. Sometimes it's standard E-books, other times it's audiobooks. A few times a year they do bundles for graphic design, a typical bundle would include programs like Paintshop Pro Corel Painter etc, They usually go for £0.76 for tier 1 up to around £18 for tier 3, which would include 4-6 full titles with 10+ addons. They also often have Music making bundles or video editing software as well as Programming or video game development.
The bundles change often, they usually have around 11 bundles at a time that last for 20 days. Sometimes it's trash but they do often have some very good deals.
Fanatical offers the same as humble bundle except usually not as high quality, but sometimes they do have some incredible deals, and they are very very cheap.
Both humble and fanatical are safe, trusted and been around a long time, and they are NOT grey market key sites. They work with the publishers and developers. You can buy games both old and new for a lot cheaper than you would most other places. Unless it states otherwise, keys are usually for steam.
**BOTH HB and Fanatical (HB much more common) offer free games fairly often. The catch is linking your steam account to them (at least HB). It is safe however.
IndieGala is another site like above. Except, these are much much lower quality. However, they offer a metric ton of free games. Quality is low but it is legitimate, and a lot of free stuff.
Game Store Fronts

• Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
  
• Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
  
• GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
  
• Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
  
• Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
  
• Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
  
• Games with Gold Bleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.
  

Gaming Subscriptions
Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months

• Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
  
• Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
  
• EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
  
• PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.
  

There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that.
Audiobooks & Ebooks

• Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
  
• Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
  
• Marvel Unlimited No experience with this. ItFuckingWont wanted me to add it. A subscription service for Marvel.
  

Education

• Sign Language BSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
  
• BBC's Bitesize here is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.
  

If you need some spare change
Okay, I don't generally bother with it, but maybe some of this could be useful to you. These are NOT a quick way to make a fortune. These are small things you can do over time for a bit of pocket change

• If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the details According to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
  
• Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
  
• Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
  
• There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
  
• Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
  
• Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."
  

That's it for now. I will try to update as I go along. A long post but I hope that it can help some of you with finding something good to do that's free, cheap or a bargain. I do suggest getting prime, especially since you get free music, free delivery, free TV and music and free video games each month. In fact, there's a ton of perks and I feel I've gotten way over the cost investment.
Hope it helps someone at least
PartTimeCrazy said if you bought an Apple product you get 3 free months of Apple Arcade and Apple TV free for a year
fakehunted is upset I didn't mention wanking. Tesco have 225 sheets of Tissue for £0.75!
tale_lost suggested Project Gutenberg for a collection of free E-Books
Learning Language
Unfortunately, I don't have time to check every link listed so I will link the comments:
Togtogtog Gives a lot of links for Spanish

• Duolingo Numerous people have suggested this So I haven't used myself. Thanks to OhHiGCHQ StephanieMecredy & Allorie_95

Board & Tabletop games
Corporal_Anaesthetic has made a list of Board games
ilyemco suggested these
HEALTH
I'm not a doctor! But if you're a smoker, something I strongly suggest is to quit. I struggled for years but in the first lockdown I quit, technically. I haven't had a cigarette since, however, I do that silly thing millennials do. I vape, but, it made quitting extremely easy. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for 88Vape They sell extremely cheap liquids at £1 each. You can find these in B&M but you can pick up 25 for £20 or buy your own mix.
Vitamin D deficiency has been said to be a big problem for the virus. I'd suggest (again, not a doctor!) that you pick some up. Tesco do a 3 for 2 deal. So you can pick up 270 tablets for £7.
If you are vulnerable you MIGHT be able to phone tesco and get put on their delivery saver list (currently it's paused but phoning may help. At the very least they might give you a priority slot. I did this for my mum, we didn't shop at Tesco but I phoned for her, and they put her on with no hassle, so she can always get a delivery.
HELP & ADVICE
The lockdown Rules.
Reasons to leave home include:

• Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
  
• Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
  
• Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
  
• Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
  
• Communal religious worship
  
• Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house
  

I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)

• To flee the threat of harm or violence.*
  
• CoronaVirus Symptoms
  
• CoronaVirus government site You can check your location and how many cases here.
  
• Worldometers Shows cases around the world.
  
• Interactive UK Map Another easy to read map with cases in counties and local area's.
  
• World Health Organisation
  

Support

• Samaritans
  
• Mental Health UK forum on reddit
  
• Link to above's stick post for support outlets
  
• Mindful
  
• Mind.org
  

FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THE ROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though)
_riotingpacifist wanted this links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:

• https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/
  
• https://www.goodsamapp.org/
  
• https://vaccinationvolunteers.sja.org.uk/roles/volunteer-vaccinator.html
  
• https://nhsvolunteerresponders.org.uk/getting-you-started-guide-steward-volunteer
  
• https://peoplesmomentum.com/evictionresistance/
  
• https://londonrentersunion.org/
  

Update:
Digital Art
These are Free

• Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
  
• Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
  
• Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.
  

You can pick up a drawing tablet on Amazon quite cheap these days! Small ones that are just a black slate such as the wacom ones are good but takes some practice to get use to, but very worth it if you can't afford a dedicated drawing tablet with a screen.
Office suit software
A couple of free applications for word processing, spreadsheets etc.

• LibreOffice This has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
  
• Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.
  

Music Making
I'm going to direct to matthewharris806 for some links as all the programs I've used like Reason are expensive, or cheaper stuff in bundles such as Magix software.
Games development
D_Dad_Default gives some links for that here

[XBOX][PS][PC] The Flermerngers: What We Stand For
Are you tired of toxic online gaming communities? Tired of the anonymity, competition, stress, and lack of face-to-face connection/empathy bringing out the worst in people? Do you find yourself wishing that you had a group of friendly people you could ping to have fun and chill with? Want to help out, and be helped out by, people who like to have silly fun but also ready to get down to get things done?
If your answer to these questions are a "yes, yes, yes, big yes", then the Flermerngers might be the clan to help you earn your feathers!
Clan Info

• Clan Name: Ermahgerd Flermerngers
• System: All platforms -- Xbox, PC, and PS4, all one big happy family in our Discord server (PC is currently at capacity and not accepting new members ATM)
• Location: Every US timezone -- plus several outside North America
• Play Times: Daily, usually 4pm-9pm Pacific (7pm-12am Eastern) -- but we've been known to get groups together at other random times.

We are an 18+ clan.
We are:

• 🤪 here to have silly fun
• 👥 a team-based group and actively seek out clanmates when we play
• 🤝 respectful to our teammates and opponents
• 🌈 proud to be part of a community that supports diversity in gaming, and we stand together against harassment, intolerance, and hate
• 👋 welcoming and inclusive of all friendly folks who join our community
• ❤️ happy to lend fellow Flerms our help and support when we can

Clan Rules

1. 💖 Wear Pink in Game -- We love the image of us rolling into an Iron Banner match as a six-stack, united in a goofy love of the game and our community.
2. 🙊 Don't Be a Dick -- We take this seriously and have a thoughtful conduct policy outlining what we consider problematic.
3. 💬 Participate Frequently -- We’re an all welcoming and inclusive group and the best way to foster that is an active, respectful community. Even if you can’t participate in-game, chat with us in our Discord!

If you would have difficulty meeting our standards, please look elsewhere! There are lots of clans out there that set a much lower bar. But if you think this sounds awesome, and that it would be super easy because you already live this daily without even trying -- then come on in!
Clan Events

• Find The Spot: Each week, a random (some times obscure) spot accessible through solo play Destiny is posted. The weekly winner gets to name a Discord voice channel, and seasonal winners can win some handmade Destiny themed crafts.
• And much more, as we are always looking to support member-led activity initiatives!

How Do I Join?
If we seem like a good fit for you, check out our website flerm.me for more details -- you can fill out a brief form there to join our Discord server. An official clan invite can be requested once your participation in the clan reaches a certain level (which is tracked by a bot, and you can check).
Once you’ve joined the Discord, you’ll need to take two more steps:
Step 1. Send the command %register in the register-here channel to start the registration process with our bot Charlemagne.
Step 2. Send the command !join-platform and replace platform with PC, Xbox, or PS4.

Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: $6215 between a 403b & a 401a. I work for a university, and with this employer was the first time I was financially able to contribute to a retirement account of any kind. I just hit vestment in 2020 and plan to bump up my contribution % slowly throughout 2021 until I hit the maximum I can afford to contribute.
Savings account balance: $3201. Up until 2020, I never had any extra money to put into savings, so I'm not at all upset about this amount! Building up my savings account is my biggest financial priority currently.
Checking account balance: $1706. I keep between $1-2k in checking.
Acorns investment account balance: $74 (just started this in December, only throw in a little bit monthly, not too sure what I'm doing but I'm eager to learn, lol)
FSA account balance: $55. I contribute $5 per paycheck (biweekly), but I will be increasing this when I can make changes to my benefits, at the beginning of the new fiscal year in July.
Credit card debt: $0, but see below regarding a personal loan. I pay off my balance every month.
Student loan debt: $32,417 for a BS. Most of my schooling was covered by scholarships & grants, but I had to take out loans for whatever was left. My parents cosigned my loans, but I am fully responsible for paying them. In 2020, I finished paying off approx $11k in private loans; the remaining amount is all in federal loans.
Personal loan debt: $5532. This had been money owed on my credit card - a few very expensive car repairs years ago, and then compounding interest because I could only make minimum payments for a long time. In 2020, I was able to get a low-interest personal loan through my credit union and plan to pay this off by 10/2022.
​
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: I have had quite a few jobs, most of them making slightly above minimum wage until just the last few years. In high school & college, I worked at a bowling alley and in retail, making from $7.25/hour to $8/hour, anywhere from 4 hours weekly (high school) to full-time (college during summer break).
After graduating college, I continued to work the 2 part-time retail jobs I'd been working for most of my college career: one position as a sales associate for $7.50/hour and one position as a front-end manager for $10/hour. I worked around 50 hours total each week in order to make ends meet.
After 2 years of this, I went to grad school. I was fully funded by my PhD advisor's grant and did not need to take out any loans. I worked as a research assistant on campus making $1850 per month.
Grad school wasn't for me, so I dropped out after one semester. I returned to one of my previous retail employers, this time as a full-time assistant store manager, making $11/hour.
After about 1 year at this position, I took a job working part-time for a local science museum - I had experience in college volunteering and interning in science education, and at the time I thought it was the direction I wanted to go for a "real" career. This job paid $10/hour. I dropped down to part-time at the retail job but was able to keep my hourly pay.
Then, about 1 year later, I finally fell into the job I have now, and love: I got a job in 2017 working as an assistant lab tech in medical research at a local university. Starting out, my title was Technician 1, and I made $25k. I was promoted to Tech 2 in 2019, making $28k, and then to Senior Tech in 2020 with a salary of $38,493. The large raise between Tech 2 and Senior is partially due to me obtaining some professional certifications in my field; without them, I expect my salary would be closer to $35k. I still work in retail, too: 1 day per week at $11.10/hour. I don't NEED that job now, but the extra money is nice - I make around $4600 yearly from the retail job.
Main Job Monthly Take Home:
$2200 minimum. This is highly variable as I am eligible for OT pay and I do work OT most weeks.
Side Gig Monthly Take Home
About $300 monthly from the retail job. Variable depending on how many hours I work in the month.
​
Section Three: Expenses
All expenses below are monthly unless otherwise specified.
Rent: $630
Renters insurance: $10
Investment contribution: $20 plus spare change to the Acorns app. I just started using it last month.
Personal loan payment: $273
Student loan payment: $84, but I need to renew my income-based repayment plan and I expect this to increase
Electric: approx $50
Gas: approx $70 during winter; in summer it's around $20
Water: $17
Trash collection: $195 annually
Sewage: $42 quarterly
Wifi: $68
Cellphone: I'm on a family plan with my parents and brother, and my contribution is $25.
Subscriptions: $10 for Spotify & Hulu; $14 for Netflix; $15 for a coffee subscription
Pet expenses: Approx $100 monthly. I have two cats that eat prescription diets ($75 every 6 weeks), plus one axolotl that thankfully just eats worms. The rest of the pet budget is for litter, toys, etc, and I'm including birdseed here for the feeder I have on my balcony for wild birds.
Car payment / insurance: My car is fully paid off, and my parents pay for my insurance which is honestly wild at my age, but I think they like to help out in this way since I'm otherwise pretty independent.
Medications: $68
Other: I budget $200 for groceries monthly, though I'm not upset if I go over that amount.
​
Diary
Disclaimer: I am an essential employee at both jobs; masks and other appropriate PPE were worn at all times outside of my home.
Saturday 1/2: I wake up at 4:15am to go to my retail job. I don't mind being up so early since it means I don't have to interact with customers for most of my shift. My car has been making some odd noises lately, and they start up again on my drive in to work. I need to get the car inspected this month, so I decide to try to make an appointment for next weekend...the noises are making me nervous. I work an 8 hour shift and buy a few snacks and two sodas from the vending machine ($6.70). After work, I play some video games. A close friend got the new PS5 recently and gave me her old PS4, which is awesome - I've only had an old Xbox until now. I decide to buy Skyrim for the PS since it keeps crashing when I try to play it on the Xbox ($16.95 on a gift card I'd gotten for Christmas). Later this evening, my pharmacy calls to tell me that the manufacturer of one of my medications is no longer offering a discount I'd been using for the last year: my cost will be increasing by $30 per month supply. I check online for any other discounts/coupons/goodRX offers.. no dice. I'm asleep by 10pm.
Total: $6.70 (not counting the gift card purchase, since that was already paid for by someone else)
Sunday 1/3: My day off! I wake at 6:15 and make some coffee. I place an Amazon order for a new shower curtain, rubber beads to tighten face masks, and a supplement ($25.57). Later in the day, I head out to pick up my prescription. I buy 3 months' worth of this particular medication at once, so it's $120; I also buy some coffee creamer and milk ($4.28). I stop for gas on my way home ($25.04). I spend the rest of my day alternately relaxing and getting some things done at home: I do some laundry ($2.25), renew my drivers license online (no need to go to the DMV because of the pandemic, so yay! $30.50 and they'll mail my new card), and I create a group on Goodreads because my friends and I were wanting to start our own book club this year. I make a big pot of pasta with Beyond crumbles and spinach for dinner and a few lunches for the week.
Total: $207.64
Monday 1/4: Wake at 5. Car is still making scary noises, so I drive to work slowly. $5 for parking, but it will be reimbursed by my employer at the end of the month. Drink breakroom coffee since it's free. On lunch, I make the appointment for my car for the weekend: inspection, oil change, tire rotation, and please make sure my car isn't trying to kill me/fix the mystery noise. Yesterday's pasta and a yogurt for lunch. Work is uneventful; at home I eat some soup for dinner and read some of my book for book club until it's time for bed.
Total: $5
Tuesday 1/5: It's my birthday! I'm up at 5. $5 for parking, and free work coffee again. My supervisors and coworkers printed & signed a giant birthday poster for me - it's hanging in our breakroom - and it makes my week! I really, really love my job and the people I work with. At home, I consider buying some perfume for myself - indie fragrances are a hobby of mine - but I get overwhelmed and decision fatigued, and don't end up buying anything. I decide to take another look over the weekend. Make rice & daal for dinner, plus a giant bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Watch some tv (Bones on Hulu) until bed.
Total: $5
Wednesday 1/6: You know the drill: wake up at 5, $5 parking, and free work coffee. Leftover rice & daal for lunch. Received a birthday present from a coworker that I'm good friends with, which is incredibly kind of her. Again, I love, love, love my job and the people I spend time with there. Unfortunately, after work I spend most of my evening doom-scrolling thanks to the attempted coup at the Capitol.
Total: $5
Thursday 1/7: Up at 5; $5 parking; free coffee at work. Today's a super busy day and I spend most of it just running around, feeling like I'm not getting any actual work done. While at work I start listening to a new audiobook from the library (I highly recommend the Libby app, btw). The last of Sunday's pasta for lunch. Soup and crackers for dinner, and then my older cat cuddles up on my lap while I play some Skyrim.
Total: $5
Friday 1/8: I took today as a vacation day for my birthday - had too much to do at work on my actual birthday, so I gave myself a long weekend instead (I also took Saturday 1/9 off from my retail job). I sleep in until 7... super late for me! Make coffee for breakfast, and while it's brewing, I fill up the birdfeeder on my balcony. Perform a feat of gymnastics to keep my cats from running out while I do so. I received my $600 stimulus payment a week ago, and I take the morning to deal with that: $120 is split among 3 charities that are important to me, and the remaining $480 goes to my savings account. After this, I'd love to get up to get my book club book to read, but I've got a cat sleeping on my legs, so obviously I'm stuck sitting. I browse Reddit on my phone for a while. Order food for lunch with contactless dropoff ($17.44 with tip). In the evening, I drop off my car at the auto shop - my appointment is early tomorrow morning, so I just leave the car and keys with them overnight - and I walk home since the shop is in my neighborhood. I've been wanting to try punch needle crafting, so I buy a very basic starter kit on Amazon ($13.99).
Total: $151.43
Week Total = $385.77
Food + Drink $28.42
Fun / Entertainment $13.99
Home + Health $147.82
Transport $45.04
Other Donations: $120; $30.50 for the driver's license renewal
So, this was not a typical week for me: the $120 prescription is a purchase I make once every 90 days, the driver's license renewal is only once every 4 years (lol), and I'm not a regular charitable donor - I donate sporadically throughout the year whenever I have some extra money. However, I'm pretty happy with my spending otherwise! The $20 in parking fees will be reimbursed by my employer at the end of the month, and though I made more Amazon purchases in this week than I would in a normal week, I think I was reasonable with my spending. Pre-covid, my coworkers from my main job and I would go out for drinks on Fridays, so I guess I've been saving an extra $20-30/week since the pandemic started. Also, in case anyone was wondering - the mechanic found nothing wrong with my car, but it's still making a weird noise. They told me that I basically have to wait until it gets worse, and maybe then they can determine what the issue is. Yay.

Hello all,
​
I have compiled some resources here for those who may have questions or who may be in need of an in-depth guide. This thread was made as the [last "FYI' thread], byInquisitionImplied had become locked due to reddit's 6 month time limit before a thread becomes archived. I volunteered to make this thread as I had some free time, and I am grateful to have been able to build on the work of the previous megathread.
​
If there are suggestions for further content please do not hesitate to let me know in the comments below and I will add those suggestions to the main post.
​
It is expected that you read this pinned post before posting. Any post asking for or about material included here will be deleted and the poster will be issued a warning
​
[MOST IMPORTANT INFO]
​
• vita.hacks.guide is a good website to help you with hacking your vita
• Nopaystation has been moved to the sidebar
• Those on the discord guide can help you if you want to mod a game and wonder where to begin.
• Every PSVita mod created (also include translation patch) is listed here
• I made a troubleshooting guide which should helps with most of the problems you could encounter as well as some tutorials here
​
​
[NEWS]\*
• [June 22] Thread optimizer by graphene is released
• [June 25] HENlo is announced
• [July 16] A legal shader compiler is released. Useful for emulation and port/homebrew games
• [October 27] re3 port of GTA3 released by Rinnegatamante, TheFlow and the re3 team
[EMULATORS]
• mGBA - GB/GBC/GBA emulator
• RetroArch- Multi-system emulator (CSP2/Saturn/MegaDrive/PS1/NES/etc), individually installed by core
• SNES9x - Standalone SNES emulator
• DaedalusX64 – a N64 emulator for vita
• Flycast – a Dreamcast emulator
• pfba – an arcade emulator
[HOMEBREW]
• AccountSwitcher - Switch between multiple psn account
• AdBlocker - Delete the ads in the multi-tasking menu
• Anti-Blacklist - Enable all games for play on the PSTV
• Lua Player Plus+ - First Lua Interpreter for the Vita
• Moonlight - Stream from your PC to your Vita (Nvidia GPU required)
• PSVita DB Theme Installer - Install custom and official themes
• RegistryEditorMod - Edit adhoc username, disable sleep mode, etc.
• Savemgr - Backup and share your saves
• VHBB/Easyvpk - Download homebrew from your Vita
• NOBORU – Manga reader for PSVita
• ThreadOptimizer – Use the 4th cpu of the vita for more performance.
• VITAlbum – A Photo Gallery app so you can view any image format
• IMCunlock – Create an internal partition for fat psvita
• ITLS-ENSO – Add TLS 1.2 support for the PSVita to browse more websites
• VitaIdent– Show useful info about your vita
• Yamt - Storage manager plugin customizable and loaded by the bootconfig
• Enso EX - Customizable enso with script support, intended for advanced users
• PSP2BatteryFixer - Fix errors about wrong battery % or weird shutdown
• mincg - Change the factory version
• Modoru - Downgrader for PSVita
• Cex2Rex - Testkit Installer for PSVita
[HOMEBREW GAMES]
• Zombiebound - Inspired by Call of Duty Zombies
• Tropical Zone - Shooter game on a island
• VitaFighters - Street fighter like game
• Pingo - A puzzle game, paint the whole level with as little step as possible
• Super Drone Racer Ultra - Retrowave style race game
• Speed Run Vita - Parkour game
More can be found in vitadb under original game section
[PLUGINS]
• Revita - Remap buttons for individual games and trigger actions
• DownloadEnabler - Download any file extension to your Vita
• RePatch - Patch your encrypted games (cartridge, digital download, NoNpDRM/pkgj)
• VitaCheat - Cheating tool for the PSVita
• Screenie - Take uncompressed screenshots (.bmp format)
• Shellbat - Display your battery percentage on the Livearea
• PSVshell - Change your Vita's clock speeds/overclock the CPU to 500mhz (saves profiles on a per game basis), display framerate/ battery percentage, cpu usage.
• VitaGrafix - Change the resolution and framerate of many Vita games
• UDCD-UVC – Allow streaming your vita screen to a PC (or a TV)
• MiniVitaTV – Allow you to use a DS3/4 controller with your vita
[TOOLS]
• AdrenalineBubbleManager - Create Livearea bubbles to launch your PSP content from
• FAGDec - Decrypt eboots/modules for modding and prepare games for lower firmwares than they require. Tutorial on how to mod here under eboot modding
• VitaGameUpdateChecker - See the latest update version for a game
• UMDGen v4.00 - Trim/Cut unnecessary files from your PSP ISOs.
• NPS Browser - Download Vita/PSM/PSX/PS3 games+DLC and much, much more!
• pkgj- freeshop for the Vita. Download games on to your Vita
[MISC]
• "Premium" Crunchyroll - Watch anime without ads! (the dramas are still not accessible with this)
​
I have also included an FAQ in this guide for those who may find it useful;
​
[FAQs:]
Q: Can I pirate Vita games?
• A. You certainly can, and it's possible on a 3.60-3.73 Vita
Q: Can I downgrade my Vita?
• A. Yes, with modoru.
Q: What's the best firmware to use?
• A. The only differences are that 3.60 and 3.65 are Enso compatible, 3.68-3.73 is not. And that 3.60 has a much easier method to exploit it over 3.65 and 3.68 but also the webkit makes it easier to save you from troubles that can arise as we don’t need a memorycard, psn access or a qcma. I highly recommend people to choose that one. Note that if you have a fat (OLED) Vita, you will need an official Sony memory card in order to use the 3.65 and 3.73 exploits as they require internal storage. If you’re in 3.60 you can use mlthaku
Q: Can I play games with a firmware requirement higher than what my current firmware is?
• A. Yes, you can, thanks to 0syscall6.
Q: What games can I pirate?
• A. Any game out there.
Q: What's the fastest way to play pirated games?
• A. Upon getting your Vita, install the NoNpDRM plugin to the ux0:tai/config.txt or ur0:tai/config.txt (depending on if you are using SD2Vita or not), then install pkgj.
Q: What about PS1 and PSP games? Do those come in .vpk/.pkg files?
• A. PS1 games can be converted into an eboot to be used with Adrenaline or can be left as .bin/.cue for use with Retroarch. PSP games need to be in .iso/.cso format to be used with Adrenaline. You can also see if they're available in pkgj
Q: I require assistance, can you help me?
• A. Yes sure, but first read the faq, if your question is about a generic issue (plugins not working, hack installation, downgrade) check first the troubleshooting guide and ask help in the VitaPiracy discord where people are available to personally help you. If you feel that your issue is not generic or complex, make a post about it. For exemple, "nonpdrm is not working help" shouldn't need a post. "I haven't touched my Vita since 2009 what updates do I need" are ok
Q: How do I install Adrenaline to play PSP/PS1/PSP homebrew?
• A. Here's the github for Adrenaline
Q: Can I still play games I downloaded from PSN or use my cartridges?
• A. Yes.
Q: How do I update my game?
• A. With NoNpDRM dumps, you can use the Livearea to update your game. If you're using the anti-blacklist hack on your PSTV, you can download game updates with pkgj without having to disable the blacklist
Q: My PSTV isn't installing a Livearea update. How do I fix it?
• A. If you have a antiblacklist hack installed, it may prevent installing for some games, but certainly does for games originally not allowed. Disable the antiblacklist hack to install the update.
Q: How do I know if a game update requires a certain firmware?
• A. Use VitaGameUpdateChecker
Q: What is NoNpDRM?
• A. It's a plugin by TheFloW that lets you play encrypted, untampered Vita games. Read more about it here
Q: What differences are there between Vitamin, NoNpDRM, and Maidump?
• A. See this chart
Q: What differences are there between 3.60 Enso, 3.65 Enso, and h-encore
• A. See this chart
Q: Can I transfer my saves if I'm still on Vitamin/Maidump dumps to be used with the NoNpDRM plugin?
• A. Yes. savemgr is a useful tool to easily backup/restore your saves. Alternatively, you can backup your savedata folder in ux0:use00/savedata.
Q: My dumps are currently Maidumps. Should I swap them out to play with the NoNpDRM plugin? How do I do that?
• A. You'll be fine with sticking to Maidumps if you're updated to the latest version possible and used the method to prevent your saves being wiped after you resume your Vita from sleep (detailed in "Q: I lost my savedata after I started my Vita up from suspend mode!..."). To swap the dumps, you can either use savemgr or manually copy/paste the game's savefolder (ux0:use00/savedata) to backup your saves before deleting the game in question to restore it after downloading and installing the NoNpDRM rip
Q: How do I rip/play games with NoNpDRM?
• A. Use this guide
Q: Where's NoPayStation and how do I use it?
• A. You can find a bunch of links to games, the tool and a tutorial here
Q: How do I use pkgj (freeshop for the Vita) to download games right on to my Vita?
• A. Making sure you have NoNpDRM working prior to this, get pkgj from here and install it.
Open the app, and refresh (triangle to open the menu, then select refresh) and you will be able to select which game you want to install.
Note: You can press L when a game is highlighted if you want to download its compatibility pack (0.31 pkgj or higher). You don’t need that if you use ref00d/0syscall6
Q: I've installed pkgj, but it does not work. It says "install failed" when trying to download the game.
• A1: Your NoNPDRM plugin might cause this issue. Check your config.txt and make sure the plugin is listed there correctly.
• A2: Try changing the plugin's path in ur0/ux0:tai to "ur0:/tai/nonpdrm.skprx" or "ux0:/tai/nonpdrm.skprx", wherever it's placed (It's best to keep all plugins in ur0: and keep a backup in ux0:).
• A3: There is an issue with size (you need to check it out on pkgj's github, I'm not sure) some people are experiencing.
• A4: If everything fails, it may be that the zrif is invalid. Use NPS browser on your PC instead (as a bonus you get access to PSP/PSX/PS3 titles and DLCs (including Vita DLCs)
Q: Can I delete my game, but backup my saves?
• A. Yes, use savemgr.
Q: How do I mod NoNpDRM games?
• A. To mod games, install RePatch and treat ux0:repatch as ux0:app, then put your decrypted, modded files in the correct file path. Follow these github instructions for savemgr. For mods that require a modified eboot, follow the tutorial for modified eboots
Q: NPS browser is giving me "PKG Decrypt Err!" on everything
• A: You are probably using pkg2zip parameters with pkg_dec. You should download pkg2zip and use it instead in order to use all of NPS browser's features.
Q: What else can I do with my Vita?
• A. Some other things you can do are transfer files using a FTP client or direct transfer using Vitashell 1.60+, configure controls past the game's options, modifying game files (undubs, translations, graphical hacks, etc.), playing PSP/PS1 games with native emulation, use microSDcards as storage, or whitelisting your PSTV to play all games.
Q: Where do you find the "refresh livearea", "mount uma0:", and "refresh license database" options in Vitashell?
• A: While viewing all partitions (ux0:, ur0:,...), press triangle.
Q: Can I play online, download, and update my games?
• A: You can update your legitimate games regardless of your firmware. As far as online is concerned, PSN spoofing still works, so you can use the PSN store, sync trophies, play online, etc.
Q: I'm not going to bother with Playstation network services. Can I use a Vita without having an account?
• A: Yes, you can set up a trial account when you set up your system.
Q: Can I use a USB as storage with my PSTV?
• A. Yes. It needs to be formatted to FAT32 and you need to be using Vitashell 1.60 or later. For your first time using it, when viewing all partitions in Vitashell (ur0:, uma0:, etc), press triangle, mount the USB as uma0:, disconnect and connect the USB again if it asks you to, press triangle again, and mount it as ux0:. Making sure you have Enso installed, use usbmc_installer so that the USB will be mounted on boot every time.You can also either use storagemanager using the UMA option in the config (for exemple set UMA=ux0 in storagemgr_config.txt) in order to mount the USB storage as the memorycard at boot
Q: "MicroSD cards as storage? How do I do it?"
• A: To use a microSD card on your Vita, You will an adapter that will need to take up your cartridge slot or one that will replace your 3G modem (only for the 3G Fat model). I am only aware of Yifanlu selling those type of adapters, but here is a thread for one of the latest SD2Vita designs. They've yet to ship, but there's a place to look. Check the other pinned message for other adapters. Use this guide from cfw.guide to use it.
Q: "How do I upgrade from my memory card/internal storage to a SD2Vita?"
• A: Make sure you can view hidden folders and unhide protected operating system files in your Windows' folder options (picture), then back up all the files from your memory card and ur0:shell/db/app.db (which you can access by opening up a FTP server with Vitashell if your Vita's not in safe mode) so that your bubbles are in the same place. You can copy the entire memory card to your PC using Vitashell. After that, copy everything onto your microSD card (provided that you formatted your microSD card correctly as pointed out in the Wololo tutorial.
Q: How do I move to a bigger microSD card, say 128GB to 256GB?
• A: It's the same deal as upgrading from an official memory card to your SD2Vita card, except you obviously don't need Vitashell to move files across the memory cards. Another thing to take into consideration is that you need to manually set the cluster size to 64kb since the size of the microsd is bigger we need to adjust it.
Q: Where do I put PSP/PS1 games?
• A: PSP games go in ux0, ur0, or uma0:pspemu/iso/[isoname].iso. PS1 eboots go in ux0, ur0, or uma0:pspemu/PSP/GAME/[GAMEID]/EBOOT.PBP If you have put it on uma0: ur0: you need to change the memory stick path in adrenaline settings to ur0/uma0 (long press PS button to open the quick menu, then press settings button for adrenaline)
Q: "Where can I get normal PSP ISOs and special modified ISOs (translations, etc.)?
• A. You can use Emuparadise with a workaround script for normal ISOs and NextGenRoms for modified ISOs. There's also a spreadsheet that has some links still active (backup to that spreadsheet)
Q: How do I launch my PSP games from the Livearea just like a PS Vita game?
• A. Use AdrenalineBubbleManager
Q: How do I install .vpks without needing double the space of it?
• A. .vpks are basically renamed .zip files. Either rename them to a .zip for extraction or use an extraction program (I use 7-Zip) to extract the .vpk as-is. You can then install it as a folder in Vitashell
Q: I lost my savedata after I started my Vita up from suspend mode! What happened?
• A: Vitamin and Maidumps required a work around for games to work, so their metadata gets messed up. Savedata can as a result disappear from these dumps. You can check ux0:use00/savedata_backup and see if your save is there. To stop this from happening, create a folder in ux0:use00/savedata and rename it to "list.dat".
Q: Will I get banned for playing online with pirated games, syncing trophies with pirated games, or using any PSN service with spoofing?
• A: No, you won't. There haven't been any reports of bans as a result of any of these activities, but there have been unconfirmed ban reports of syncing trophies with a pre-release vpk of the US Criminal Girls and a developer build of Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom back in November-ish and September, respectively. Another case of temporary IP bans came as a result of the near app excessively pinging Sony's servers. At this point, there's no chance of you getting banned.
Q: I've been told that the Vita has no games. Is this true?
• A: If all you care about are exclusives, certain Vita publishers (Spike Chunsoft, Koei Tecmo, XSEED and NISA) have been porting their Vita titles to the PC, with the most recent being Valkyrie Drive and Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls. Some Vita ports (Virtua Tennis 4, Rayman Legends, and Dead or Alive 5+) have content exclusive to the system, which make them worthwhile to visit. Gematsu has a very accurate list of the status of the exclusives. Otherwise, the system has quite a few strong ports. It's weak in some genres, like racing games or first-person shooters, but is very strong in role-playing games and anime tie-ins, so your mileage will vary.
Q: Will oclockvita/VSHMenu damage my system?
• A: No. Sony kept the system underclocked from it's maximum clock speeds. Oclockvita and VSHMenu only take the Vita's clock speeds to the maximum allowed by the Vita's SoC.
Q: Do I use Lolicon or PSVshell?
• A: PSVshell should be what you need. It’s a better lolicon version
Q: I have heard about or have experienced a savedata error which made me lose my savedata! What can I do to keep this from happening?
• A: If you're using only NoNpDRM dumps, you will not have this issue. If you're using a Maidump, use this method to keep it from happening again.
Q: I want to request a dump, translation, or save file. Do I just make a thread on that?
• A: No, you need to use the correct thread underneath the subreddit info. Making a thread will result in the post being deleted and a warning.
Q: I need help with an emulator. Can I ask about my problem here?
• A. Emulator discussion is better suited over at vitahacks.
Q: Can I post anything I create on Vita here?
• A: We'll make an exemption to the rule here (yes, even with uncensored mods). If you think it'll better suit this subreddit instead of vitahacks or just want to cross post, go ahead. This subreddit has several thousand people subscribed to it and we don't want to deny community created creations that exposure. 99% of things will be allowed. You'd have to make something like a bricker vpk for it to be denied from this subreddit. If too much stuff gets posted, however, we'll dial this back and remove more lesser quality or less relevant creations. Lastly, try to post it when it's as finished as possible. ;)
Q: Can I post a thread asking for help with my creation?
• A: Translation and mod threads are 100% acceptable here, but you need to know what you're doing and/or have at least some part of it done. You can also ask in vitahacks.
Q: What letters in the game's ID (ex. PCSA) go with what regions?
• A: Here's a guide for that

Hi, I dont have a ps plus subscription, but today, somehow, I could play all of my games online, without the ps plus. My account don't shows that I have ps plus, and I can't redeem the monthly free games, but I can play online, what happened? Can sum1 test it?

PS Now is great. Good service with acceptable price BUT lately things weren't going well for most of us.
I've been using PS Now since 2018 when they added the ability to download ps4 games, the games weren't that great. A year later they reduced the price to 60$ and started adding awesome games. (God of war,GTA, Shadow of war, Wolfenstien 2,Spiderman and much more. That was the GOLDEN AGE of PS Now.
Unfortunately for PS Plus subscribers, most of their monthly free games are already available on PS Now. Which isn't a good move from Sony.
Why should i pay for 2 services that'll give me the exact same game? Most of us have already asked themselves that question. Some of us have already decided to cancel PS Now subscription for that reason. Since we can't play online without PS Plus.
Sony need to rethink their strategy. Make the customer happy so the customer will happily give you his money.
What if PS Now subscribers get an extra free game for ps plus if the monthly free game is already available on PS now.

Artist: Meghan Trainor
Album: Treat Myself (Deluxe)
Label: Epic Records
Released: Standard edition January 31st, Deluxe edition July 17th
Listen: Apple Music / Spotify

Intro:

Meghan Trainor fans are called Megatronz (with a "z") and I'm proud to call myself one. I've developed a reputation around this sub for being the #1 Meghan Trainor stan and while I may amp it up a bit at times for comedic effect, my love for her is completely genuine. I love her voice and her music, she was one of the artists who helped me really get into pop music and I'll always have a special place in my heart for her because of that.
Unfortunately, not everybody else is as warm and fuzzy towards her. I've spoken at length before about just why exactly I think that people dislike Meghan with such a passion so I won't repeat myself but suffice to say, watching following the release of this album was certainly interesting because people were constantly jumping out of the woodworks to say she was a flop and her music was bad.
Those bitches were wrong. Okay maybe not about the flop thing because this album did (unfortunately) have very poor numbers, but they were wrong about it being bad because Treat Myself is actually a fantastic pop album with a lot of great songs that I think was unfairly ignored by the pop community. I was hoping that in the age of poptimism Meghan and her music would be embraced but that didn't seem to happen, so I guess that means I'm going to have to be the one to offer her the critical reevaluation...
Buckle in kids, I'm going to take you on a guided tour through the past three years of being a Megatron and the genesis/revelations of Treat Myself (Deluxe), one of the most under appreciated pop albums of 2020.

No Excuses:

In March of 2018, after two years without an album, the Megatronz were finally blessed with the lead single of Meghan’s third studio album: “No Excuses”
A bright burst of pop energy with a colorful music video showing off Meghan’s newly slimmed down figure, “No Excuses” (on paper at least) seemed like a smart idea for a lead single because it’s everything people liked about her biggest hits cranked up to 11: the entire song is just a sassy hook and chorus, nonstop catchiness and quotable lines.
It’s actually the shortest original song Meghan has ever released (barring the intro track to Title), there are barely even verses or a bridge because the song has absolutely no time of anything that isn’t an annoyingly catchy melody line. While it’s easy to write this off as her showing a lack of evolution there’s actually something kind of bold about watching an artist release a song that’s just their sound boiled down to its absolute essence; she knew what people were expecting from her and she threw her whole body into it.
On a musical level, the gambit paid off: “No Excuses” is ear candy that’s super fun to listen to and it was decently well received. From a business perspective though it was a bit of a letdown, despite a lot of promotion the song peaked outside of the Top 40 on the BB100 and only hovered around for 12 weeks; the song did decent on streaming and would end up being certified Platinum, but it wasn’t the grand comeback many were hoping for.

Let You Be Right/Can't Dance:

A few months later Meghan follow up with a double single release (remember this being a huge thing four years ago?), the more promoted of the two being a smooth disco song called “Let You Be Right.” Meghan was always known for using throwback sounds but she’d never actually touched disco before, and it was a great fit for her! The bassline groove on this song is really good but I think what really sells it is the vocal arrangement, these harmonies are so pretty and do a lot to elevate the song. The lyrics for the song are nice as well, they show unexpected maturity in how she depicts a couple communicating to peacefully work out conflict in their relationship.

Despite being all around well received the song underperformed even worse than “No Excuses,” failing to chart on the BB100 at all, though it did find some success on the radio.

The other half of this double single release was the intriguing ‘80s number “Can’t Dance,” which in my opinion was done very dirty. First of all, I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this but the cover art is literally just her in one of the outfits from the “No Excuses” video, and second of all they shot a music video for this that Meghan apparently loved that wasn’t released for some reason.
But the song itself is an absolute banger! Meghan has never sounded this coy or sexy before, and the arrangement of the song is really cool. The trade off between the bassline and the drums is so satisfying and the music responds to her vocals perfectly, it’s almost as if you can hear her showing the music how to dance.
These are two of my favorite Meghan Trainor songs and probably some of her best but they were, to quote Xtina, perhaps a bit too ahead of their time for some people. For perspective this was the Billboard Hot 100 the week these songs were released… you’ll notice that basically none of them sound anything like either of these.
“Let You Be Right” was a nu-disco hit that came out just a bit too early for the “disco revival” and “Can’t Dance,” with its ear-catching unusual vocal delivery and constant references to dancing, feels like it was trying to be a Tik Tok hit before Tik Tok hits had become a “thing;” perhaps if these songs had come out a year later they would have had legs, but back in 2018 they both tragically flopped and neither are present on the album’s final tracklist.

All The Ways/Treat Myself:

“All The Ways” was the next Meghan song we’d get and it’s a frothy pop song with a huge chorus. The unapologetically lovestruck energy of the song is just infectious and I love the lyrics of it, which are apparently based off of a real conversation Meghan had with her husband. Although just a promotional single it got some attention because it was used in a Target commercial, so it probably made Meghan some decent money! Fittingly enough the song would end up being one of the final album’s Target Exclusive tracks, though it would also get some time to shine on The Love Train EP (which we’ll discuss more in just a minute).
The final song we’d hear from this “phase” of Treat Myself was, ironically enough, the title track. A self-care anthem, the song seems to combine everything we’d heard from the album so far: another song with a huge chorus and bright themes, with another funky nu-disco bassline. This one also ended up in a Target commercial and would then also be relegated to Target Exclusive track status, meaning that standard and deluxe editions of the album are hilariously enough missing the title song.
After the release of “Treat Myself” the song, it was announced that Treat Myself the album would be delayed indefinitely, and the version of the album that we’d been building up to was effectively dead.

Features:

Though the official reasoning given for the push back was because Meghan was in such a good, happy place in her life that she couldn’t stop writing songs (and I’m sure this was true to some extent), all of the writing on the wall pointed to her label being unsatisfied with the reception to the project. Both of Meghan’s previous albums had been propped up by a big hit that generated interest in their releases but that didn’t seem to be happening for Treat Myself, leaving the project in a bit of a limbo. The album was quietly pulled from online retailers without any explanation, the January release date approached with no more news, and eventually even Meghan herself expressed frustration with the album’s confusing rollout.
Outside of her solo music though Meghan’s life was going fine. She was preparing for her wedding with her fiancé (more on that in a minute), she had a gig hosting Fox’s singing reality competition The Four (a somewhat messy show that gave us this bizarre moment), and her songs were still getting placements for commercial use. She was also making rounds in the industry doing a number of collaborations, presumably to get her name back out there and build buzz for more solo music, and just as a quick recap of this era I’ll list them out now:

• “More Than Friends” with Jason Mraz (a cute little acoustic duet)
  
• “Hey DJ” with CNCO and Sean Paul (a foray into the Latin market that works surprisingly well, her vocals on this song are great)
  
• “Just Got Paid” with Sigala, Ella Eyre, and French Montana (this one was a genuine hit in the UK)
  
• “Sugar Baby” with Macy Gray (this one is just a songwriting credit but you pretty clearly hear her backing vocals)
  

And while this was fun and all, the Megatronz were still waiting for the album. We wouldn't get it for a while, but we would get a nice little treat to tide us over: The Love Train

The Love Train:

To understand the next step that Meghan would take we need to look to the past: Back in December of 2017 it was announced that after a year of dating Meghan Trainor had become engaged to her then-boyfriend Daryl Sabara, an actor mainly known for playing Juni Cortez in the popular Spy Kids films. Their fairytale romance became the inspiration for The Love Train, an EP released on Valentine's Day of 2019.

If you somehow haven't seen it, check out the now infamous "bizarre, super horny" press release that accompanied it.

While I won’t discuss The Love Train in depth here it’s important to the narrative because Meghan herself described the EP as a “teaser” for what Treat Myself would become. It’s the transitional project that forms the bridge between the “spunky, independent young woman” persona that she had on her first two albums and the more wholesome, family focused branding that she would project going forwards. Her husband and family were heavily involved in the creation of the album, doing some co-writing and backup vocals on all the tracks (which would become standard for Meghan's projects in the future) and even editing some of the music videos together.
The Love Train is a very strong EP, I actually consider it as Meghan's strongest body of work (albeit her shortest). A low-key visual album (every single song got a music video) it has one of Meghan's best songs and perfectly captures the lovestruck euphoria Meghan was swept up in while she was writing it.
However speaking of being swept up...

Wave:

Releasing a few months after The Love Train in the autumn of 2019, “Wave” felt like the true lead single of Treat Myself. After over a year of postponements and loose singles, “Wave” was the song that I heard that made me go “oh so the album is coming out now” because there was no going back after Meghan dropped one of the best songs of her entire career.
Moody and ethereal, built around sparse chords and glitchy strings, “Wave” almost feels like it comes from another planet from the rest of Meghan’s discography. True to its name there’s a rhythm to “Wave,” a push back and forth between Meghan and the choral background singers that creates an almost madrigal feeling to the song (which is intentional, as the song was inspired by visits to Kanye West’s Sunday Service Choir) that’s at once epic and strangely gentle.
Mike Sabath, the co-writeproducer, surfaces in the second verse and his frenetic performance would feel out of place on a lot of tracks but fits perfectly into the dreamy atmosphere of “Wave.” The music video, which features Meghan as flesh toned goddess emerging from a roiling sea of bodies, is one of the most unusual and visually striking things that she’s released as well.

It’s tempting to think of “Wave” as something put out by a bold new Meghan but the opposite is actually true: the song was written back in 2016 during the Thank You era (note the red hair) and she’s had it sitting in her back pocket since then, waiting for the perfect moment.

So why did she choose to finally drop it in 2019? Well, while “Wave” is clearly a triumph it’s also (in some ways) a white flag. In interviews Meghan described radio stations as being baffled by the song because it was (once again) so different from everything that was successful at the moment, and the failure of this song was another painful reminder that the whims of the industry are often more important in finding success than having good music. After over a year of rewrites and promotion, her and her team decided that it was time to just get the album out.
This would become the ethos of Treat Myself going forwards: Meghan was going to literally treat herself and just release the songs that she wanted to. A release date was set, a new album cover was unveiled (which I like better than the old one but still don’t love), and a slew of promo singles followed. Each of these songs seemed to show a different side of Meghan, showcased a different aspect of her personality and musical identity, and were absolute bops on top of that!
Then finally, in January of 2020, over a year after the album was initially supposed to be released. Treat Myself finally dropped. Yes I walked seven miles to Target to buy it the day it came out and I listened to the album on Spotify the whole way there.

Nice To Meet Ya/Babygirl/Workin' On It:

Shortly before the release of the album Meghan teased the tracklist on her Instagram with emojis that represented each song and so while we knew the album began with “Wave,” the title of the second track (“🤝”) was kept a secret until the release of the album: “Nice To Meet Ya (feat. Nicki Minaj)”

Dedicated Meghan fans weren’t particularly surprised by his revelation as Meghan had mentioned the song and the Nicki feature in several interviews, but expected or not the song was still a bop and a great way to get eyes on the album on its release. While it’s a running gag that Nicki Minaj features are a dime a dozen in the industry, the collaboration actually came about because Meghan and Nicki became signed to the same management team. For all of her questionable character Nicki is still a delight to listen to on a track and of course her verse steals the show, plus she actually deigned to show up in person for the colorful “executive realness” flavored music video for once.

Nicki has actually been a subtle influence on Meghan’s music career (those of you who haven’t listened to Meghan’s albums might be surprised to learn that she does a decent amount of rapping) so it’s cool to see them on a track together; Meghan literally treated herself with this one. It’s still Meghan’s song though and she doesn’t slack off, the rest of the track is pretty good too. The production is very sparse and electronic but that works for the vibe she’s going for, which is quiet confidence. The whispered post-chorus hook is a bit played out in 2020 but I’ll be damned if I don’t get my life when she sings that pre-chorus!
“Nice To Meet Ya” introduces us to the theme of self-empowerment, something forever associated with Meghan that we’ll be revisiting several times throughout this album. “Babygirl,” which follows shortly after, is one such track. Shifting focus from empowering herself to empowering others, “Babygirl” is her advising someone to push through their doubts and learn to love themselves. The song is… honestly not one of my favorites but it has its fans and I understand why because it definitely sounds interesting. The production has this cavernous feel to it, it’s very like “Wave” in how it leans into glitchy production and choral background vocals, and it’s certainly a track with an air of gravity.
It makes a good companion piece with the following track, “Workin’ On It,” which tackles the same thematic ground from a slightly different angle. Featuring/co-written by fellow singer-songwriters Sasha Sloan and Lennon Stella, the gentle guitar driven song sees the three of them opening up about their insecurities and how hard it actually is to be empowered.
Meghan is a successful, happily married woman working in her dream job, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have internal doubts that she needs to overcome. Self-love is hard for a lot of people, and this moment of honesty is important to the conceptual continuity of the album because it provides some necessary context for her other songs, and to Meghan’s approach to music as a whole.

Evil Twin/Genetics/Another Opinion:

Let’s talk for a moment about camp. I’m not even gonna BEGIN to try to explain what it is because (as we learned during that infamous Met Gala) when you see it, you just know, and I know that Meghan is one of the best pop stars in the game at embodying camp in her music. She’s the perfect storm of camp: she has slightly ostentatious taste, a good sense of humor, and she’s a big sweetheart who’s 100% sincere in everything she does. This is important because camp needs sincerity to thrive. There has to be something real underneath all the cheesiness or else it’s just empty fluff, and Meghan always provides a ton of heart that works well to this end.

The most obvious example of camp on the album is “Evil Twin,” which sees Meghan blaming bad behavior during a night of partying on a Jekyll and Hyde-esque evil twin situation. The idea is wonderfully stupid but it’s not dumb just for dumb’s sake, the concept actually does make sense and she does use it to touch on some genuine insecurities (note that she describes being a little bit jealous of the evil twin for being evil, but freer); how she says it might be a little over the top, but what she’s trying to say is very clear and kind of makes sense. Because her intent shines through it’s fun rather than embarrassing.
Keeping this in mind, let’s examine “Genetics (feat. The Pussycat Dolls),” which I think is camp incarnate. Like, it says “(feat. The Pussycat Dolls)” but it’s literally just Nicole… that’s camp baby. (PS: The reason the song only has Nicole’s vocals is because it was recorded before the group’s reunion was finalized, not because they were trying to be shady) It’s an over-the-top song all about beautiful Meghan and Nicole are and how their bodies are snatched and it’s all 100% natural from their genetics, and they’ll literally spell it out for you.
It’s incredibly vapid and shallow but we also know it’s completely tongue in cheek because Meghan herself told us a few songs back that she’s not really like this. Even the production of the song underscores this: the hyper-polished club sound hearkens back to the trashy pop bops of the ‘10s, which were anything but serious. They take the “empowerment” message to the absolute extreme and in the process makes it nonthreatening, because when you can’t take something seriously then you’re not scared of indulging in it.

I’m not trying to posit that the song is actually Meghan’s way of coping with her deep seated insecurities or anything like that, more just that the song is meant to be, well… fun? Like many of Meghan’s more aggressively boastful tracks you’re meant to be singing along with her, bragging about your superior genetics like you’re one of the fictional members of The Pussycat Dolls singing Nicole’s backup, treating yourself to a moment where you’re the biggest badass in the world.

This is made more clear with “Another Opinion,” one of my favorite songs on the album. To bring up Nicki Minaj again this is her “Stupid Hoe” moment, an intentionally silly song where she fires back at the haters, and it has extra bite coming from an artist who people have had a LOT of opinions on throughout her career. With the singalong moments and built in hand-claps it’s clear that she intended for this to be a song the audience can participate in, inviting her fans to join in and cast off some haters of their own.

Blink/Funk/After You/Ashes/Lie To Me:

“Blink” touches on a similar topic from a more charitable perspective, offering an olive branch to her detractors rather than just the hand; it’s not just her bragging, it’s her extending an invitation to join in with her and who she is. Musically the song is one of my favorites on the album, it’s a tight bubblegum track that’s just galloping energy from start to finish. I’ve heard people describe the lyrics of this song as generic but I think there’s something nice about their simplicity and her confidence is infectious, I love that she owns what a cool experience she is. There’s so much power in just saying “don’t blink, you don’t want to miss even a SECOND of the person that I am!”

This sentiment is interesting when paired with the rest of the album because upon closer inspection there’s actually an undercurrent of this fear of being “missed” running throughout the album. Part of the reason that Meghan released The Love Train is because in her post-marital bliss she was pumping out love songs and didn’t want them to dominate the album, but in the end product the opposite is actually true and we end up with an album preoccupied with broken/dying relationships.

It’s interesting that the one song carried over from the EP (other than “All The Ways,” which got Target Exclusive status) was “After You,” a beautiful, dramatic piano ballad about anticipating the death of a lover. The song is updated to include a feature from up and comer AJ Mitchell (who sounds lovely) and it fits perfectly into the tracklist, more so than any of the cheerier tracks would have.
We should have anticipated this because the moody “Wave” was very clearly concerned with losing a relationship but surprisingly enough the next song on the album to touch on the topic is “Funk.” A super bright, upbeat party song that’s ostensibly a tribute to the bygone era of funk music, funk is more or less a not-so-subtle placeholder for a certain other four letter f-word that she uses while attempting to rekindle a dead flame.
It’s very much the kind of fun throwback song we expect from Meghan with some really great bass work (she is, after all, all about that bass) and a catchy melody. She sounds bold and like she’s having a ton of fun with this guy, even throwing in a campy spoken word section for good measure, and the result is one of the immediate “bops” on the album.
“Ashes” is more straightforwardly a breakup song. You can hear the sorrow and disappointment in her voice as she describes how this guy burned down their relationship, to the point where she has to be the one who ends it for both of them. It’s something of a fan favorite from the album, such a smooth pop song that’s very easy to listen to.
“Lie To Me” is sort of the lynchpin that brings together the album’s themes of relationships and empowerment by describing a situation where Meghan’s insecurities are directly related to the problems in her relationship. In the song she begs her partner to lie and pretend that they love her because even though she feels unworthy of them she can’t imagine life without them… this is like textbook fanfiction shit and I’m completely here for it. The production of the song is very colorful as well, there’s a lot of energy that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a song of this nature but it works well.

Here To Stay/Have You Now:

Nestled snugly in the middle of the album though we have “Here To Stay,” a tender acoustic moment which functions as a necessary counterpoint to the rest of the album. Unlike most of the other songs on the album which are all more or less targeted at abstract individuals, “Here To Stay” is very transparently written about her husband and how happy she is in their relationship.

Although she’s never commented on it the song seems to be the conclusion of a sort of “trilogy” of acoustic songs on her past three releases that have documented their relationship. On Thank You she had a song called “Hopeless Romantic” where she sung about holding out hope for love, and by pure serendipity the lyrics ended up describing how her and her husband would meet. “Marry Me” from The Love Train was a sweet little ukulele song about wanting to get married, which was written in a hotel room with Daryl after one of their first dates and would end up sung at their wedding.

“Here To Stay” is a portrait of her being happy in the relationship that she wanted, with a man who accepts her flaws and all. The insecurities about her relationship and herself are discussed, but she’s not afraid of them anymore because even if she doesn’t always have confidence in herself she knows that she can always have confidence in her husband. The song is very simple musically but that just puts focus on the message and the lyrics, and to that end “we can call a long time forever” is one of my favorite lyrics on the whole project. What a nice idea!
However if “Here To Stay” is cute, then “Have You Now” is gorgeous. The closer to the standard edition of the album, this was my favorite song of 2020 and it has become my favorite Meghan Trainor song in general. I think this song is absolutely perfect. A titanic pop song, it acts as the perfect finale for the album because it sees her both finally finding the love she longs for, and finally overcoming the turmoil of her past. The lyrics of the song are absolutely shameless in a strange sort of way, it takes guts to say that every love other than this one was worthless, that to be without this other person is to be weak, and then to just melt fully into pleas for forever… these are huge emotions, and fortunately the music is able to channel them as well.
Meghan Trainor is a master of making a song build. “Have You Now” starts off gentle and almost pastoral (there’s literally birds chirping in the background), but then that prechorus hits and the clapping starts and the drums begin drumming in a slow build of anticipation that crests in a brief moment of complete a cappella, after which she slams into a stuttering trap drop that lasts just as long as it needs to before giving way to the next verse so we can do it all again.
There’s a darker note of yearning in her voice at times that gives the song some stakes which comes to a head during the bridge, which features an eerie breakdown that adds a note of tension to the song at a critical point, but she persevere through and explodes into the final chorus with a full free voice that’s a joy to listen to. As the background singers begin chanting triumphantly she lets her phrasing become looser as she untethers from the melody slightly and just sings her heart out.

Deluxe Tracks:

The plaintive little “glad I have you now” that the song ends on is a fitting button to close the album on, but the deluxe edition contains a few extra tracks that function well as “end credits.” The three new tracks that the rerelease has are more overtly dance focused than the songs on the standard edition and feel much more in line with what people probably expected from the project after “Wave” dropped. I’ll rapid fire them because I don’t have much to say about them beyond that they sound good:

• “Make You Dance” was an obvious ploy for attention from Tik Tok but with its heavy bassline and Meghan’s simmering vocals it’s a fine song in its own right.
  
• “Underwater,” a collaboration with the producer Dillon Francis, is a thumping electropop song with slight tropical influences and a super fun drop.
  
• “You Don’t Know Me” is another empowerment anthem. Cute but a little forgettable.
  
• Not a song but I wanted to point out that the deluxe edition has my favorite of the three covers for the album
  

And then after acoustic flips on "Ashes" and "Workin' On It," the album is done!

Outro

The original lead single of the project “No Excuses” appears towards the end of the album and despite the album containing a solid diversity of sounds it still feels somewhat out of place in the track list. Treat Myself was reportedly rewritten four times before its release and the disconnect between the short, punchy ambitions of “No Excuses” and the comparatively more mature/ambitious vibe of the rest of the album is very noticeable.
In the years that this album was in development Meghan went from a girl to a woman, and you can hear the growth and maturity in the final project to the final project. For all of the problems that plagued the development of this album, Meghan did end up with a strong collection of songs that she should feel proud of and that her fans loved. Treat Myself is the perfect encapsulation of Meghan’s brand: an explosion of wholesome pop energy that’s a little bit messy, but with charm and catchiness in spades.
The fantastic Christmas album she dropped in the latter half of the year felt like a victory lap, another chance for her to flex the unique artistic voice that she's developed over the years; for all that she's so often decried as "generic" when you listen to her 2020 output, no other artist in the game right now would release some of the things that she did. She might not go down in history as one of the greats of pop music, but she's a treasure nonetheless and I hope we can all treat ourselves to more of her music for years to come. I'll definitely be revisiting this album at least!

Questions:

• What are your favorite songs that Meghan has dropped since Thank You (on this album or otherwise)?
  
• Treat Myself was apparently rewritten four times... do you think that the rewrites paid off, or that she should have stuck with the original version that she was building towards?
  
• What do you think Meghan and her team could have done to make the album more successful?
  
• Did this album change your opinions on Meghan at all?
  

Hello /PS4,
Here's a post for all new owners of a PlayStation console. This post is of course focused on the PS4 but some of the tips also apply to the PS5 as well. They can also be useful to existing owners that might not now these tips and tricks!

Tip #1: Enable 2-factor authentication

To avoid any problems of hacking, not only use a unique password for your PSN profile, but also enable 2-factor authentication. Every time you will log in on a new device, a 6-digit code will be sent to you via SMS or an Authenticator app (like Google Authenticator, for example).
So in case someone gets your password, he won't be able to use your account. Receiving a lot of codes via SMS is also a sign someone tries to access your account and you should change your password ASAP.
Follow this link to enable 2FA!

Tip #2: Enable password at checkout

You have to know that some games propose microtransactions, mostly for cosmetic items. As a way to avoid an underage person to empty your bank account by accident, or to prevent you of making some impulsive purchases, enabling password on checkout is a pretty good option.
To do so on PS4, please follow these instructions:

• Go to Settings > Account Management > Account Information > Wallet > Purchase Settings and enter your sign-in information.
• Select ‘Require Password at Checkout?’ and select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and then Confirm.

Tip #3: Grab PlayStation Plus monthly games

As PlayStation Plus is required to play online on paid games (it's not a requirement on Free to play games!), you get "free" games every month. These games are available on your account as long as your Plus subscription is active, and if your subscription runs out, don't worry, if you renew your subscription, you regain access to your games.
Anyway, the PlayStation Plus games are renewed every first Tuesday of the month. So as long as this date isn't passed, you can grab the games of the previous month. All you have to do is to add them to your library, and voilà!
Another tip is to claim the games every first tuesday of the month, so you don't forget about them, and they'll wait in your library. And to conclude, these games are backwards compatible on PS5, and you can even claim the PS5 games even if you don't own a PS5!
For December, you can claim Just Cause 4, Rocket Arena and Worms Rumble. The link to claim these games is here!

Tip #4: Rest Mode

Rest Mode is a pretty nifty feature for the PS4: not only you can resume a game where you left it off, but it also allows you to charge your controllers and download updates while your PS4 isn't used. Some people prefer to not use it as their PS4 can be noisy, or because they want to save as much energy as they can. But the consumption is not that high (10 watts).
If you want to check by yourself, go to Settings > Power Save Settings and navigate through the menus to suit your needs.

Tip #5: For PS4 Pro: enable boost mode!

You might have got a PS4 Pro, which is a more powerful version of the PS4 released in 2016. The PS4 Pro allows 4K support and improved detail and performance for many games. However, for games released before 2016, if you want to benefit from a slight performance boost, the boost mode might be handy.
To do so, go to Settings > System > Boost Mode and tick the box.

Tip #6: A few useful shortcuts

Here's a few shortcuts that you could use to make your PS4 experience better:

• Double tap the PS button to switch between the last two games or apps you've used.
• Hold the PS button to open the quick menu.
• Hold the PS button for 8 seconds to turn off your controller. Very handy to save battery when you watch stuff on Netflix for example.
• Hold the Power button on your PS4 until you hear a second beep to launch the PS4 in Recovery mode, that allows you to do some maintenance stuff.
• Hold the Share button to make a screenshot.
• Press PS and Square together to have a magnifying glass feature.
• If you want to know what a hidden trophy is, select it in the list, then press Square to reveal it.

Tip #7: Create folders

At some point you might have a lot of games installed on your console. To keep things tidy, you can create folders to group similar games, or by support (physical or digital). The choice is up to you.
To make folders, highlight a game, then press Options, then Add to folder. Then create folders or add your games to existing ones!

Tip #8: Get some extra storage space

After installing some games (mostly Call of Duty...), you might quickly run out of storage space, especially if you only have a 500GB! internal hard drive. But you can add storage space with an external hard drive, up to 8TB! Also, external hard drives can benefit from slightly better loading times.
And for more improvement, you can change the internal hard drive for a bigger one (2.5-inch only). you can access it very easily with a screwdriver, and without voiding the warranty. But you'll need to reinstall the firmware on the new hard drive.

Tip #9: Download the PS App

The PlayStation App allows you to check your messages, join Party Chats, download games to your PS4 remotely, access the PlayStation Store, show your trophies, and much more. The PS App is free to download on iOS and Android.

Tip #10: Clean your console regularly

Finally, to ensure your console runs well, you will have to keep it clean. Put it in a well-ventilated area and not directly on the ground where it could gather dust very quickly (and especially not on a carpet). But even when putting it in a safe area, it will gather dust.
You can access the fan easily without voiding the warranty, and use a can of compressed air to blow off the dust. There are also tutorials on YouTube to clean your PS4 at a deeper level and possibly change the thermal paste, but refrain from doing that if you're not perfectly sure of what you're doing.
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If you have any more useful tips, feel free to post them here!
Enjoy your play and Merry Christmas!