All Activity

I just realized I forgot to post this. Got it day one, naturally. It's the reason why I still haven't finished MGS3 or even started Kirby and the Forgotten Lands. 20 hours in and I'm just about at the end of Act 1. It's really good but goddamn, this game can be a motherfucker at times. I considered dropping it a few times already but so far I've been able to push through each time. It helps that bosses rarely bottleneck you, there's usually something else you can go explore instead of banging your head against the wall. Usually. I think I've done just about everything I can at this point, so tonight that fucking boss is basically my only option. At least it's a "fair" boss. The only thing I've encountered so far that I feel is truly bullshit are bosses that can summon regular enemies. As far as I can tell, the actual summons are random so it can really fuck up an attempt that was otherwise going well. Made it to phase 2? Sucks to be you, asshole. This boss just summoned a couple of flying enemies. So now you have that extra bullshit to deal with! I stopped counting how many times I died solely because of the fucking chaos that ensued when a boss summoned a couple enemies that started going apeshit. Only to succeed on the very next attempt because he somehow didn't summon anything (or summoned something more manageable). It adds an element of randomness that really fucking sucks when you're trying to learn a boss' pattern. That's my only real complaint so far. The game is really good once you get used to its difficulty.

Got two RPGs under my belt recently! Metaphor: ReFantazio This one is like a combination of Persona and SMT with difficulty somewhere in between the two in my opinion. Like Persona, I cared about the characters and the story and got really invested in this fantasy world, though it takes some crazy turns near the climax. Like SMT it uses the press turn system rather than Persona's One More system, emphasizing the importance of not only exploiting weaknesses but manipulating agility since missing attacks takes away two turns and having attacks blocked or reflected takes away all of them. It sounds bad, but this works for both you and your enemies so you can exploit it if you know what you're doing. There's also a job system which I really like, though the requirements for some of the advanced jobs are pretty difficult to meet and require grinding. Really solid game overall, though there is a massive difficulty spike right near the end and the final boss is FOUR phases that take a VERY long time to get through. If they ever re-release this one like they do with the Persona games I imagine some of these issues are likely to be addressed. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 I have mixed albeit mostly positive feelings about this game. I like the combat system and the characters and world, though at the same time it feels like there are some really obvious QoL features missing here that would have made it much better. There's no restart battle option so if you screw up really bad at the beginning of a fight then too bad, you just have to limp along until the enemy finishes you off before you can start over. You also can't swap out party members in battle so if you happen to have the wrong element in your lineup for a particular enemy then too bad, you can't fix it. You also have to memorize enemy weaknesses and I've been spoiled by Persona (and Metaphor right before this game) keeping track of that for you once you discover them once. There's a lot of trial and error with battles too. Enemies hit so hard that you're likely to just eat shit on every first time enemy and boss encounter while you learn how their attacks work so you can parry them. I guessed about 2/3 of the plot before it was fully revealed but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just means they foreshadowed it properly. Still, that did also mean that the revelation didn't blow my mind like it probably did for most people. Oh well. Still a pretty solid story. There's more wheeee than whooooo in here. Real ones know what I mean.

Just ordered the second lego set I've ever paid for with my own money... (the first was the Tallneck)

Age of Imprisonment so far is the game that most makes me want a Switch 2, but I'm trying to hold out for an OLED revision...

That game hit me hard, not cause it was deep, but just because I guess the mental space I was in at the time had me going "you're right, game, what even is the point of anything?"

My wife found these two CRT TV's at an estate sale, snagged them both for me for $20. Sadly, after testing, only the one on the right works as of now, the one on the left will turn on but just as the picture is coming on it shuts back off. That one only has composite input though, and the working one has S-Video, so I'm not too upset since that'll give a better picture anyway and $20 is still a great deal considering TVs like this can go for hundreds online. Anyway, to facilitate retro gaming on these, I also snagged: An Extron VSC 500 downscaler. It'll take an RGB signal from a VGA cable and convert it to 480i over composite, component, and S-Video outputs, just what my new TV needs. And to top it off: Displayport-to-VGA cable, so I can output from my PC to the VSC, for optimal retro gaming. No more janky CRT filters, just the real thing bay-bee.

I got two endings for The Talos Principle (no chance of getting all the stars for the third ending). I thought it was OK, a bit "I'm 14 and this is deep" and there were a few too many puzzles with too little variation so I got a bit bored by the end. I do also have the DLC but played the first level and it was so convoluted rather than just challenging i turned it off with no intention of going back.

Don't worry, there is no chance on Nintendo missing out on a opportunity to re-sell their customers something.

Pre-ordered a few things following this morning's Nintendo Direct. I'm particularly happy about the Galaxy collection since I don't feel like hunting down and overpaying for a copy of the previous anniversary collection. And really, Galaxy 1 and 2 are all I need because they're the only two 3D Mario games I still haven't played. If I ever feel like replaying 64 or Sunshine, I can just do it through NSO. I'm a little annoyed that we now have a release date for Prime 4 and still no sign of remasters for 2 and 3, though. I really hope they'll still be coming at some point down the line.

Ahem. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers I decided to take another look and started the game totally fresh. I'm now 10 hours deep and having a really good time with it. Being in the right mental space apparently has a lot to do with my enjoyment of a game I guess.

Of the 5 Final Fantasy games I've finished, 4 have been some variation or spinoff of 7, and the other was 15, so out of those FF7 Remake Intergrade is probably my favorite. Possibly FF7 Rebirth depending on the day.

VII and X remain my favourites. Probably driven as much by nostalgia for my school years as actual technical brilliance.

Still going through Wuchang, and was looking at either this or Lies of P, this one was cheaper lol.

Final Fantasy IX No but seriously. As I said in the discord, this game is fantastic. Maybe the best in the franchise? Great characters, great story, great combat... just the perfect Final Fantasy. Give me that remake, now! Is there an equivalent of the Moguri Mod for FFVIII?

That sounds really cool and nightmarish at the same time.

Lies of P is Bloodborne with Italian Sekiro. Parries aren't everything but they're not optional.

I was hoping Lies of P would be somewhat unga bunga friendly lol, like how Bloodborne had Ludwig's, Pizza Cutter, Kirkhammer, and other stuff like that.

Man, if you don't like Parrying Lies of P is going to be a rough time. As for Wuchang, it's still tempting me to play it. Maybe it'll finally get it's mitts into me on the third run. Which is what happened with Dark Souls.

For me it's been the opposite lol, the fact that parry isn't a core mechanic in Wuchang made it feel like a breath of fresh air. I don't like parrying, I'm not good at it, so not having it is alright by me. Though it's kinda there, in the Long Sword skill tree, you get the deflect skill, not 100% the same though. My main issue is how everything is part of a skill tree, stamina feels too low for me, but if I want to put some points into it, I need to look for the endurance nodes and put points into other nodes until I unlock the endurance one, then finally put some points into that one. I'm also playing Ghost Recon Wildlands, went back to it on PS4, playing it while on the exercise bike, but found that some of the trophies I was going for were bugged (mostly collectible stuff), after learning the only way to fix this was to delete my save and start again, I decided to instead try it on PS5 lol, don't know if it's some setting with the console, the game's compatibility or what, but on PS5 there's some brightness issues, normal gameplay is way too dark, using night vision is way too bright, so mostly just playing during in-game daytime, thankfully it's easy to change the time lol. Hopefully trophies aren't bugged here, otherwise, I think I might try Nioh, or Lies of P, or Lords of the Fallen.

How many times is Sekiro gonna die in the anime? Cos if it is anything like my playthrough there's gonna be whole episodes of him running back to fight father owl over and over again.

HELL YEAH!! Thought this looked cool, but apparently it's going to be some kind of PvPvE thing(?). First person Soulslike, Cowboy has a 48 minute video of pre-alpha gameplay, looks cool.