I know of the Genesis game but never played it (though I do own the newer titles in the series), but did some digging to see what I could find to answer your questions:

Am I imagining this games difficulty? I feel like I am making little progress and I’m always getting ganged up on. / Does this game require a lot of grinding or repeating tasks before moving on?

Everything I’m finding is saying yes to both, with the grinding resulting in the increased money, stats, contacts, equipment and practicing/refining your own strategy for completing runs. Luckily, there are multiple strategies for “quick” grinding, and certain equipment and stats that really help whether it be just straight up powerful stuff or specifically helps to deal with pesky foes like ghouls. Because there are different sections to the grinding with different strategies to doing it efficiently, I’ll leave the specifics out since they get a little spoiler-y in case you want to figure it out on your own. But, do let me know if you’d like me to reply with specific strategies that may be seen as too much of a walkthrough or too spoilery for some (they don’t seem like gigantic story spoilers or anything so if the grinding gets too tedious and you stop having fun, they might be worth knowing about).

Should I be killing these innocents I see on the street? I try to get shadow runs but they seemingly always involve killing ghouls, which bend me over and spank my samurai butt. I’ve put my morals on hold and have been tediously murdering the population for the little nuyen and items they have.

Luckily the Karma explanation section on the Shadowrun strategywiki actually explains this pretty well. I went through it and it looks like a straight up explanation without story spoilers so I feel comfortable just linking it here for you: https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Shadowrun_(Sega_Genesis)/Karma#Karma

-is the samurai class the all-rounder character or should I just restart as a shaman or netrunner?

I found a really good explanation on the Shadowrun wiki: https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Shadowrun_(Sega)/Archetype. Thankfully this also gives a much needed explanation of the differences between classes without spoilers. It seems like this info is very important to know upfront depending on what your playstyle is like.

As far as the game itself, I did not play the genesis version but definitely looked into it after I got the Shadowrun trilogy that GOG games gave out for free a few years back. From what I found, the Sega Genesis version is superior to the SNES version in a few ways but a lot of people enjoyed both. I really like the style and concepts presented in the series and the newer Shadowrun trilogy seems to have taken all of that and improved on it, with each game getting better and better at giving the experience intended. I’d say it’s worth taking a look at if you enjoy the Genesis game, or if you really like the elements of the Genesis game but aren’t enjoying it so much, the newer series might be what you’re looking for.

Edit: Spelling, grammar and formatting.

Edit 2: Also, here is a link to a PDF of the original game manual for the Sega Genesis version, which helps navigate the UI and buttons, etc., just in case you need it since manuals were kind of a big deal back in the day!

The person reacting to your comment calling them a pigeon:

Any recommendations for reliable storage? I need new drives but I’ve put off buying any for years with all the bad reviews and counterfeit products making me weary of any deal that seems too reasonable or model with known issues.

They’re definitely talking about the Mannequin movies though only the first one came out in the 80s, with Mannequin 2: On the Move being released in 1991 (though I think it was actually more 80s than the one that released in the 80s, if that makes sense). I think the sequel is the one with the hot air balloon sequence at the end, though maybe they both had hot air balloons?

The podcast How Did This Get Made did an episode about it.

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Disco Elysium is a fantastic one. There are an insane amount of choices that shape how you go about the investigation of the hanged man and ultimately what happens beyond that investigation. Choices of who to side with, how to side (openly or playing multiple sides, etc.), choices that ultimately define what kind of detective you are (by-the-book boring, superstar douchebag, violent tough guy, Sherlock Holmes-esque genius, etc., including my favorite: Twin Peaks Lynchian detective that bases their decisions off of dreams, intuition and imaginary conversations with the dead body), and even how failing or succeeding at something can lead to progress in very different ways. If you fail to hit that person you tried to punch, or miss that shot with your gun, or utterly fail to convince someone to help you, you progress through in very different ways so that failing your way to the truth is just as satisfying and entertaining as succeeding your checks to get there.

And of course Fallout: New Vegas. Whether you choose to support the New California Republic, Caesar’s Legion, Mr. House, or a truly independent New Vegas, none of them are perfect. Each succeeds in an ideal society in some ways but completely fails at others, leaving you to decide which imperfect system you feel is the right one for the world instead of shoving an obvious answer in your face.

It’s never explicitly explained, with the most being the other characters saying that they don’t think he’s ever seen the movie Gattaca and doesn’t know what it’s about, and Rafi later confirming he had no idea it was a movie.

Since Rafi’s character is defined by being as uninformed, devoid of all decency, and chaotic as possible, I think that it completely fits though. Especially since most of his lines are improvised by Mantzoukas, who would be clever enough to use a similar-sounding movie title in place of an actual event for Rafi’s character. Adding to that, there is another scene in later seasons where Rafi is getting kicked out of a store and he says that they’ll have to call in the police and the FBI to get him out of there, again shouting “Gattaca” which definitely plays into your theory.

If anyone gets the chance to ask Jason Mantzoukas a question, this is the one to ask about! Until then, I think this just became my headcanon. GATTACA!

I don’t use it very often but I misuse the word “Gattaca” on purpose sometimes. In reality it’s the title of the 1997 film that’s named from the letters G,A,T, and C, referring to guanine, adenin, thymine and cytosine, the four nucleobases of DNA.

But on the TV show The League, the character Rafi (Jason Mantzoukas) screams it as his battle cry during paintball, completely oblivious to what it actually means or that it’s the title of a movie. I urge you all to misuse this word at some point as well – if you ever need to hype yourself up, try screaming “GATTACA!” as your battle cry!

When it sunk it that reversing time was more than just a clever puzzle mechanic, I did a lot of self reflecting.

If you haven’t checked it out, I highly suggest the game Disco Elysium. It’s similar in that the more beautifully-written context you learn about, the more it transcends the plot and explores the themes. You can check out a playthrough of the first parts of gameplay to get a taste of its writing style but it continues to evolve as you level up the voices of your own conscience to the point of genuine wisdom or sheer madness (or leave them oblivious which is also fun).

Holy freakin moley I never knew this, that means I might be able to give it a shot on my mac sometime even without this new port. For anyone else as unfortunate as me that’s gaming on an old mac, I found the tutorial for how to set this up by Eggyhead.

Perfect Dark with dual analog controls is something I’ve wanted to exist and now it does! No Mac support though, gonna have to maybe take another look at clearing things out to make room for boot camp.

Apparently they’re called “butt babies” according to James Gunn’s Peacemaker.

Luci?

Good use of natural framing, combined with rule of thirds and selective focus. It’s a good photo!

Not to detract from the discussion but does anyone know what’s handwritten at the top of the ‘paper’ above the word Daily? It looks like it says “Hi Hi Farm” or “4141 Farm” and it’s becoming that mystery that’s going to periodically pop in my head at night when I’m trying to sleep.

It’s a good time – in terms of character dynamics it’s very similar to other Loren Bouchard shows (Bob’s Burgers, The Great North). It’s a surprisingly good musical most of the time too with a great cast. You’ll hear some hints of homages but the music is made up of original songs and performed very well by the actors.

If you liked Hamilton then it’s definitely worth at least checking out since the lead character is played by Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr in Hamilton) and Daveed Diggs is a main character (Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton).

Basically if you enjoy Bob’s Burgers, Hamilton or musicals in general, then it’s worth taking a look at. Fair warning, most agree that it starts out incredibly rough and only starts getting good about halfway through the first episode. I’d been warned about it but still wasn’t prepared for how much of a slog it was to get through the first 12 minutes or so. But, as soon as the song Own It kicks in about halfway through, everything else starts to follow and it’s a good time from there. A nice show to have in your watchlist for times when you need something less than 30 minutes, a fun thing to zone out to or have had too long of a day to pay attention to that complex thriller drama you’re watching.