toxicitizen

I have returned! Ok, so this didn't turn out quite how I had expected. I now have a better grasp of what was going on, what the different character's motivations were, their relationships to each other, etc. All the endings put together really paint an overall picture that explains all of that very clearly. The thing is the endings don't quite work together in a "this is what happened" kinda way. Without getting into spoilers, the first NG+ cycle immediately drops a bomb that was deliberately omitted from the initial playthrough. So basically every conversation in the entire game is recontextualized. It feels kind of artificial but it makes the first playthrough pretty mysterious and mindfucky so I don't really have a problem with it, I guess. But after that, the other endings mostly serve to flesh out everyone's motivations and feelings with ending 4 providing the last pieces that tie everything together. It's hard to talk about this without dropping a huge spoiler so I'll just say that the game never quite explained the parts that I was the most curious about because, ultimately, that wasn't the point of the game. Or maybe there's some stuff I just didn't pick up on... I'll probably watch some youtube videos to see what others have come up with. I'm sure there's a ton left to unpack since the endings have some contradictory elements and even some hints that But yeah, overall I really enjoyed the game. I'm not enough of a Silent Hill superfan to say whether or not it's a valid entry into the series but I loved both the SH2 Remake and this and I'm looking forward to Townfall, whatever that turn out to be.

Yeah I'm guessing it was more of a hard lock-up after dodging because I played for a few hours last night and she still does the little pause. It's annoying because if you dodge while running away from something she just comes to a complete stop for like a solid second, which is often enough for whatever is chasing you to get a good hit in.

I've been waiting for a new Steam Controller ever since my old one broke and the only reason I haven't bought an Index yet was because of all these Deckard leaks over the last couple years. I'm definitely ordering a Steam Frame and Steam Controller once pre-orders are live. The GabeCube is neat and I hope it takes off this time but I personally don't really have a need for it.

Lol I only got that on my first playthrough and I assumed it was a bug caused by the mod I used to remove the 30fps cap and blackbars in cutscenes. For that dodge bug, I'm assuming it's about how you stop for a second or so immediately after a dodge. It's annoying as hell but I assumed that was just how it worked. I guess I'll find out tonight.

Well shit, now i can brag that I finished Silent Hill f on hard before it got nerfed. New patch just came out and : It also adds a new casual difficulty and an option to skip some sections in NG+. Sounds like those might be the more tedious combat sections near the end. But, more importantly... That was a bug?!?!?

Silent Hill f I bought this to play as a spooky October game and ended up dropping it for most of October... Not because of any fault of the game, I just wasn't really in a gaming mood. Spent most of October watching movies, even started buying them physically again, which I had been meaning to do for a while. But I digress. Silent Hill f is pretty good! It's hard not to compare it to the SH2 remake. Overall, I'd say it wasn't quite as good but not too far behind either. It's also nowhere near as scary but, to be fair, in SH2 I was dreading running into Pyramid Head around every corner and there's simply nothing like that in this game. The atmosphere is incredible, though, and the art direction is fantastic. So yeah, that's ending 1 done. I realize the game is meant to be replayed to get the full picture but by itself the ending felt a bit tacked on. Some stuff I had already put together by that point but the very last section reveals something that I couldn't have possibly guessed or predicted based on everything that happened in the game. I'm assuming I'll start to see the bigger picture as I go through the other endings. I've seen people commenting that as early as the beginning of the first NG+ cycle the game is already dropping little things that start recontextualizing things a lot. So I've got that to look forward to. I've seen a lot of people complaining about the combat and I didn't really have any issues with it for most of the game. You can set the difficulty for combat and puzzles independently and I did my playthrough with both on hard. Combat felt really punishing early on but once I had a good grasp on it the balance felt just right. I had a full inventory for most of the game but when things started ramping up I would burn through my resources pretty quickly. The game kinda goes insane with it in the last few chapters, though, and it started being a bit much. It felt like way too much combat all at once and I was ready for the game to end at that point. So yeah, I'll have to do NG+ soon because I need to know more. Which means

Just a couple days ago I was wondering if I should buy this now or wait. And then today a pre-order key from GMG showed up in my inbox. I legitimately forgot I had already bought it...

I... don't think that's allowed? Seriously, though, that's not something I've heard often lol. Especially since you seem to like the games the other games. I don't know what it was about the original that you didn't like but it might still be worth giving the remake a shot at some point. It's really good.

Did you not even consider going from RE3R to RE4R? I know you said you don't like how it's getting more action-y but still, that's one of the best games of all time right there. And it's the first REmake since, well, the first REmake that feels like it actually makes the original obsolete.

Yep, RE3R was alright but very disappointing as a remake. It's really dumb how they upgraded Mr. X into more of a stalker that roams around dynamically but then went on to reduce Nemesis to scripted encounters and boss fights in the very next game. I'm sure that in reality Nemesis was more scripted than he appeared to be in the original but he was still the original stalker that felt like he could show up at any time. That remake was such wasted potential. It could've been something truly special but instead they treated it like a box to check so they could move on to remaking RE4.

Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater I've been working my way through this one slowly since launch, playing a little bit here and there. Mostly because the Master Collection came out recently enough that I wasn't actually itching to replay the game just yet. So, is it good? Well, it's a fairly 1-to-1 remake, so it's kinda hard to screw that up too badly. At the end of the day, you still end up with Metal Gear Solid 3. So it's hard to complain because that's one of the best games ever made. Personally, I would've preferred something of a re-imagining like Capcom did with the Resident Evil remake. Don't turn it into an open-world or anything dumb like that but at least make it so the maps seamlessly connect to each other, maybe bring over some of the gameplay from MGSV, things like that. The original MGS3 is finally available on modern platforms, so I could've always just replayed it if I felt like having the classic experience. Something a bit new would've been more interesting. Then again, I did notice some slight changes. This may be because I did my first playthrough on hard but I feel like they tweaked how the game works under the hood just enough to throw me off and make me suck at the game in the first few areas. Small things like enemy line-of-sight, how much camouflage actually hides you, how much sound your foosteps make, etc. Also, for the first few hours I just couldn't sneak up on anyone. It was actually starting to drive me fucking nuts. I'd slowly inch up behind a guard to grab them and they'd always notice me at the last second and raise the alarm. Well, turns out this version of the game has a sneak button. So you gotta use that to sneak up on people otherwise they'll spot you. Good to know! IIRC you could walk very slowly with the d-pad in the original but I don't think it was required to be able to grab someone without causing an alarm. You could walk slowly enough with just the analog stick. Another thing I struggled with was lining up headshots with the tranq gun. I would hit nearby enemies fine but would always seem to miss my headshots on enemies further away. Turns out the darts start to drop after a certain distance so you need to account for that when aiming. I don't think it was that way in the original. Also early on I was crouch-walking a lot. That addition alone seemed like a massive QoL upgrade. But by the end of the game, I was barely using it anymore and went back to crawling like in the original. If you want to move faster, you get spotted so easily when crouch-walking that you might as well just stand up and run. I'm sure there's a slight difference but it ultimately wasn't as big of a change as I thought it would be. By the end of the game, I got used to the small changes and I felt like I was playing a shinier version of MGS3 but not necessarily a better one. I don't know if Delta replaces the original entirely for me. The original MGS3 was so ahead of its time visually that it still looks fine to me. You can tell it's an older game but it doesn't really feel dated visually because of its strong art direction. I'll probably still replay it here and there out of nostalgia. But it's nice to have a more modern-looking option now, I suppose. I don't mean this to sound overly negative. In the second half of the game when I started to get a feel for it, I was actually having a ton of fun with Delta and I definitely want to bump up the difficulty and do another run soon. It just sticked too close to the original to really leave a mark of its own, I guess. It's just MGS3 but marginally better. It's probably the best way to play the game for a new player but the original will always feel special to an old fuck like me. fake edit: So a few days passed since I wrote this and I started a new game on Extreme and oh boy, yeah there's definitely been some changes here. I made it all the way to The Pain boss fight and I just... couldn't do it. I looked up strategies online and I feel like I got it down pretty well but I just could never actually fucking get him. I would get to a point where I would only have a shot or two left but then I'd run out of ammo and would need to dive into the water to grab some grenades or some mk22 ammo. And I would just get stuck in a loop of dodging his attacks and never get an opening again. This motherfucker is seriously overtuned. It's legitimately insane. You'll get his shield off with a grenade and he'll immediately bring it back or just go right into one of his attack and you'll have no choice but to dive into the water to avoid it. So I started over in Legacy Mode to see if it was easier. Making it all the back way to the fight was actually kind of challenging because in Legacy Mode you only have access to the fixed camera angles, you can't switch to third-person on the fly like in the original. I'm assuming because the two modes are balanced differently. Anyway, I guess I got used to playing this game in third-person over the years because I kinda hated how limiting the fixed camera angles were. Oh and I wasn't crazy, sneaking up on enemies is definitely easier in Legacy Mode. They still notice you but there's a longer pause between them spotting you and the alert going off, which leaves you just enough time to body slam them into the ground. Also, in Legacy Mode you can easily headshot enemies with the tranq gun no matter the distance. I'm assuming this is part of the balancing to account for the perspective change between the two modes. Anyway, I persisted and finally made it back to the Pain and... yeah, fuck this. I don't know if he's actually easier in Legacy than in New Style but the classic controls are so counter-intuitive that I just didn't have the patience to try more than a few times. It's a bummer because after my initial playthrough I was actually looking forward to replaying the game with more of a challenge (and I was loving everything up to this point) but this is just a roadblock I don't have the patience for. I play these games for the stealth gameplay, not for the gimmicky boss fights. I don't have the patience for this bullshit anymore. If you play this, stick to normal/hard difficulty. Maybe I'll give the original a replay just to see if I end up having the same problem... So yeah, overall it's a fun game but I don't think it quite manages to replace the original. If they do another remake, they should probably do MGS1 cause that one felt dated as hell when I replayed it through the Master Collection.

Ha, I was just thinking it was a shame they didn't get it out for October. I've been waiting for this before touching my copies of 2 and 3. I know what I'll be doing on the 30th!

Also

It's looking very promising and I need something to play for spooky season, so I decided to take a chance on it. I already skipped Cronos: The New Dawn because of Silksong and I was really looking forward to that too. Maybe I'll loop back to it if I finish Silent Hill f quickly.

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.

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.

I'm not as hyped for it as I would've expected to be (mostly because it seems to be a very faithful/1:1 remake and I replayed the original somewhat recently through the Master Collection) but it would definitely feel weird to not be playing it day one since it's one of my favorite games of all time.

Donkey Kong Bananza Holy crap, this game is fantastic! Just rolled credits on the campaign, and while I still have to see what's going on in the post-game, the campaign was meaty enough that I feel like I've played enough to post my thoughts now. This isn't just the best Donkey Kong game yet, I actually enjoyed it more than Mario Odyssey. Punching your way through everything in sight is just insanely fun. Nintendo were really onto something with this one. I really hope they'll keep this formula going and make follow-ups that don't completely reinvent the wheel because I definitely want more of this. The bananza transformations are all fun to use and give you some variety in how you can approach things. Near the end of the game, there were some sections that made you use them all together and I really hope there's more of that in the post-game because that was great and the main campaign could've used more of that. The campaign overall is a ton of fun but the last section in particular had me grinning from ear to ear the entire time. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave it at that. The soundtrack is also great. The bananza themes in particular are so freaking catchy that I keep wanting to listen to them outside of the game. The only real issue I can come up with is how easy the game is throughout but the gameplay loop is so much fun that I never got bored by the lack of challenge. Besides, I'm sure that's what the post-game is for like with the last few Mario games. So yeah, whenever you guys get around to buying a Switch 2 make sure to get this one. It's a must-play.

Got the new Zachtronics Coincidence game because of course I did. I'm a little bummed out that they didn't do a physical edition with all kinds of goodies like they used to but at this point I'm just grateful that this team got back together and is making games again. Also, SF6 is entering its third year, so naturally I've already gotten more value out of this game than any other game I've ever bought so I'm happy to keep throwing money at it until the heat death of the universe. I do need to get back into it, though. Sagat is coming out in just a few weeks and I still haven't tried Elena...

Super Mario RPG Remake Finished it a couple nights ago. This is another one that does an excellent job of looking and playing exactly how I remember the original. It was really fun to revisit it but it's very much baby's first JRPG, so it didn't blow me away or anything. It was just a fun little game to unwind with for an hour or two before bed. The soundtrack is an all-timer. Not much else to say about it beyond that.

Yeah, I've been wanting to play it for a while since it seems like something I'd really enjoy. It's one of those games that I fully expect I'll be kicking myself for not playing sooner.

Super Mario Odyssey At least, I consider it beaten. I rolled credits about a week ago and then I kept playing until the Odyssey stopped telling me it needed more moons to unlock new destinations. I did the final gauntlet on Darker Side and everything. I'll probably keep playing here and there to get all the moons but I think I'm done playing it as my main game for now. The game didn't make a great first impression, especially coming right from 3D World which is more of a pure platformer. The first few worlds in Odyssey were way too easy and boring. But as I kept playing I saw what the game was going for and started appreciating it for what it was. Especially as the difficulty ramped up to at least a level that wasn't completely braindead. I was shocked by how short the story mode is, though. My profile said I had played "10 hours or more" at that point but it honestly felt more like 6 hours to me. It's been over 20 years but I feel like 64 and Sunshine took me way longer to beat back in the day. As an aside, the playtime log on the Switch kinda sucks, uh? What happened to the super detailed activity log from the 3DS?! Anyway, yeah this game was a ton of fun. I think I enjoyed 3D World more overall but Odyssey was just different enough that playing it back-to-back with 3D World wasn't an issue. Metroid: Zero Mission Holy crap, why did I wait so long to play this game?! I guess it being a remake of the original NES Metroid made me lowkey expect a frustrating experience but this was anything but. It was like playing a mini-version of Super Metroid and it ruled. I especially loved how the game gives you a vague destination to reach without telling you outright how to get there. It doesn't ruin the feeling of exploring an alien world but it also keeps you from needlessly wasting your time looking in all the wrong places. Also, I was surprised by the last section of the game. Somehow in all these years, I had never been spoiled on the fact that this version added an extra zone. At first I thought it was pretty cool but this zone can be kinda frustrating. At one point near the very end I actually thought I got soft-locked because no matter where I went, I kept running into a roadblock but I eventually found a hidden room with the power bombs I was missing and was able to finish the game. Also, not exactly platform-accurate but playing it on the SNES controller was neat. I'm definitely looking forward to playing more classics with the retro controllers.

I'm still very much in the honeymoon phase with my Switch 2, so idk why I spent so much in the Steam sale nor when I'll get around to playing any of these but here's what I got: Best part is I just know I'll blink a couple times and the Atelier series will have somehow released another half dozen games before I manage to play a single one of these.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Holy shit, I figured this one would be solid but I wasn't prepared for how much I was going to love it. I've always enjoyed Mario games but the DKC trilogy is the one that I played the shit out of as a kid. So when I first started this game and that familiar music started playing, the nostalgia hit me pretty hard. This game does a fantastic job of feeling and playing exactly how I remember the DKC games. Except for one thing. Maybe this is just another sign that I'm becoming an old man but I found this game challenging as fuck. It was always fun and rarely got frustrating but I don't remember the SNES trilogy being this hard. A part of me really wants to keep playing and go for 101% completion or however much it is this time but I've got way too many games to play lol. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point. I'm also really looking forward to trying out Tropical Freeze as that seems to be the one everyone is constantly giving high praise to. I'm not sure what to expect as DKCR already made such a strong impression (and I kinda want to say is now in my top favorite games of all-time), so I don't want to set my expectations too high for the sequel. Anyway, the last couple weeks have been pretty great. Being able to binge 3D World and this (and put close to 50 hours into Breath of the Wild) was a real treat. I was already planning to take some time off from work in the early summer but timing it with the Switch 2 release was the best move I could've made. Getting back to work on Monday, though, so I won't be able to keep going through these games as quickly anymore.