toxicitizen

More Microsoft titles coming to Steam! This time they announced Gears 5 and those Age of Empires I-III remasters. I imagine it's mostly that they couldn't justify leaving so much money on the table by being exclusive to the dumpster fire WinStore but a part of me kinda hopes they're also doing this to spite Epic as a grudge for back when Tim Sweeney was crying about them building a walled garden lol. Gears 5 going to Steam and not the Epic Store (at least for now) is certainly some delicious irony. I have to say, they might not have any exclusives I'm crazy about but it's good to see MS going all-in on Steam, at least for now. I'm certainly more willing to give them a chance this way. Although I hope they'll at least release Gears 4 first because that seems like the most logical (and realistic) jumping on point without porting the entire original trilogy.

I feel like people focus too much on his obsession with movie-like direction when they say things like this. A movie would remove the best aspect of his games: the gameplay. So that's a terrible idea. His weird stories are fun as hell but even when they're not his games are still 10/10. I've yet to play anything that came even remotely close to playing as well as MGSV. I'm honestly still a little pissed by how much of a shit show that game's story was but I'm tempted to reinstall it literally every single time I think about that gameplay.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 Man, I love this series! This is the third one I play in less than a year and if they released the next one tomorrow I'd be ready to just jump right in. It helps that this one was a massive improvement over Kiwami 1, though. The new engine goes a long way towards making Kiwami 2 feel like a current-gen game, not just because of the improved lighting and physics but also small things like being able to physically walk through the door of almost every single building without having to go through loading. It really helps make Kamurocho feel more cohesive and lived in. I also found the story (and main antagonist) much more interesting than in Kiwami 1. That was probably partially due to it being completely new to me but it also felt less meandering and unfocused. I really got the sense that this is where the series truly found its voice. The only disappointing aspect for me was early on when the game said I'd be going to a different region. I got excited but it turned out to just be Sotenbori again. I realize that this was its original introduction but I've already visited it in Yakuza 0, so it wasn't new to me. It was a bit different, though, so there was at least that. At first I was disappointed to see the different fighting styles had been removed but I quickly realized that everything I needed was still there, so it ultimately didn't really matter. Having access to Tiger Drop without having to switch to Dragon of Dojima style was actually pretty damn convenient and Beast style's ability to just grab weapons on the fly is now part of Extreme Heat mode. So, it's not like they just removed them for the hell of it, there was some thought put into it. Another good change is that the completion list is mercifully shorter this time. There's nowhere near as many pointless tasks like collecting 100+ fucking weapons. I ended up getting most of it done before finishing the main story. I still need to go back and finish mahjong and the bouncer missions, though. Mahjong will likely be a huge time sink but I kinda love it. It's those fucking bouncer missions that are tedious as fuck. There's just way too many of them. Oh and speaking of mini-games, the karaoke one is finally good! Maybe it was just me but I had trouble parsing some of the harder songs before and they ended up requiring a little bit of memorization. But it's much more readable now, to the point where I got the required score on most of them on my first try. When I finished the last one, I said I wanted Kiwami 2 ASAP but I have to admit I never expected to be playing it just two months later. I'm honestly not sure what to expect next at this point. The remasters of Yakuza 3-5 still haven't been announced for the west (although with Y5 coming out next month in Japan, I have a feeling that might change soon) and a PC release of Yakuza 6 was once again mentioned in those SEGA shareholders documents but jumping ahead to 6 seems like a terrible idea. If they release it next, I'm definitely gonna skip it until the others come. I think the most likely one to come next might actually be Judgment. A PC release was mentioned in some interview as something they were considering and I think this is one they'll want to get ported quickly because it's a brand new release they could charge full price for. And it being a new IP means it has the potential to reach a new audience. Now watch them announce the Fist of the North Star game at E3 just to prove me wrong lol.

Saw John Wick 3 last night. Not much to say, really. It's one of those movies where you pretty much know whether you're gonna love it or not. I think the second one is still my favorite but I thought the first act of this one had some of the best fight scenes of the entire series. I knew they had already confirmed chapter 4, so about halfway through the movie I could tell where it was going and what the fourth one would likely be and I can't wait! The only thing I'm really hoping for is that they get Carrie-Ann Moss to be in it to complete the Matrix reunion.

I assume they would go down with the mothership but I have no actual knowledge of how they operate. Another company swooping in and acquiring the branch is also a possibility. Would be easier than setting up and staffing a completely new studio, I imagine. But either way I doubt it would mean much for us since NIS would no longer exist and the Falcom deal happened through NIS.

Hey @Mal Remember when the future was bright for Falcom/Trails localizations? I might get some schadenfreude out of this new development if there was still a part of me that was capable of caring. If NIS goes under then fuck knows where this rollercoaster is headed next. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if XSEED no longer wants anything to do with Falcom games. Spike Chunsoft could get them, I guess? Or maybe just no one lol...

Me: The story in this one is actually pretty good! Not as tempted to waste my time on mini-games. Yakuza 2: The Cabaret Club management sim from Yakuza 0 is back! Me: Anyway, at least it doesn't seem as grindy and time consuming this time. I got through the first two leagues pretty quickly and I'm already almost done with the third.

Yeah, I had played one of them a while before the game came out (the demo I think?) but when I played the main game they hadn't yet remade the prologue in the final game's engine. I should probably find the time the go back and redo a full playthrough now that they've both been patched into the main game. IIRC, you don't really miss out on a lot though. Also, if you end up wanting more of that world, you should check out 2064: Read Only Memories. It's by a different dev and more of a Snatchers-inspired VN/Adventure game hybrid but I enjoyed it a lot, too.

Yes. Yes, it is.

I'm hopeful that, if they haven't given up on PC, they'll at least have the good sense to hire Durante's new studio for the port. They did reach out to him on Ys VIII, he was just too busy working on CSII at the time to contribute anything more than quick feedback. I think at this point I'm over the whole XSEED thing, especially since everyone I knew by name has left the company by now, so I'm able to be cautiously optimistic again. NISA still has an uphill battle to fully win me over but not fucking up CSIII would certainly go a long way. Localizing Crossbell would also help. Like, a lot.

While we're changing things, maybe take another look at the story? I kinda want this version of the movie to be real.

Nioh: Complete Edition By which I mean I finished the last DLC last night. I'm glad I made separate posts because it kinda deserves to be talked about on its own. Overall, it's pretty damn good. I generally tend to ignore story DLC that takes place outside the main story because it's often not that great and by the time it comes out I'm well past giving a shit about it. But since I had the whole package here, I figured I might as well keep going and in this case it actually acts as a kind of continuation of the main story. Maybe it's because it was shorter and mostly focused on a single location but I enjoyed the story a lot more here than in the main game. The level design also felt like an improvement over the main game, which seems like a good sign for the sequel. My only real issue was the difficulty curve, which ended up being completely backwards due to how the DLCs were seemingly balanced for players that had already spent some time in NG+. So, the first one started kinda rough and ended up being pretty frustrating at times, especially on the very first boss. At some point I went to grind a little into NG+ but what ended up making the biggest difference was getting Divine-tier gear and upgrading its +value past the level cap. So by the time I got to the second DLC, the difficulty already felt a lot more sane and the third one was even more manageable. Oh but the first mission of the second DLC is some trash-tier fucking bullshit. Literally the worst mission of the entire game when you're going through it for the first time and looking for collectibles. It's a battlefield constantly being showered by flaming arrows, only the arrows are aimed at your fucking ass in particular and don't operate on any kind of timing you can learn to exploit. You hear the gong when you step into the open and the arrows come. Step back into cover right after the gong? No arrows until you step back out. It is absolutely fucking maddening. You can permanently stop the arrows by firing some cannons but these cannons are the only ones in the entire game where you need to have cannonballs to load them. You're given two near the start of the mission and the third one is on a corpse fuck knows where. Oh and when you reach that third area where you need to look for the cannonball, suddenly those wooden shields you've been relying on as cover all this time break if even a single arrow touches them. I feel like calling it infuriating is underselling just how fucking bullshit it all feels. Luckily, it's much less annoying on replays or sub-missions that reuse the map because then you don't have to explore and can just run through the entire level. Oh and one thing I forgot to mention in my previous post that I really like is the balance of leveling up. At some point in most Souls games, usually around NG++, I'll just give up on leveling up any more. The amount of souls required for the next level gets to a point where I can't realistically expect to accumulate that much without losing it at some point. I got to what felt like that point before the end of the main campaign in Nioh but the game is actually pretty good at balancing how much amrita you get. And when you factor in the difficulty spike in the DLC on top of that, I'm basically leveling up as frequently now as I did in the early game which as it turns out is a pretty good motivator to keep playing. Stats also don't seem to suffer from diminishing return as much as in Souls either (still getting decent damage boosts from strength at ~65), so I'm getting close to (or past?) level 200 now and my damage is scaling up very nicely along with it. At this point I think I've done all I can realistically hope to do before Kiwami 2 next week. I only have 9 achievements left to get but they all require either excessive grinding or unlocking the game's equivalent of NG++ difficulty, so it's not gonna happen anytime soon. But I think I'll keep the game installed and keep plugging away at it for a while. I'd really like to fully wrap it up before the sequel comes out.

Yeah, I'm assuming they were going for a more "realistic" design (more animal-like, less cartoony) so that it wouldn't clash with the live-action stuff too much. Those fan-made designs look better in screenshots but I feel like they might look weird in the actual movie next to human actors.

What? No! Don't change the design, it's a glorious masterpiece! Then again, they were apparently trying when they came up with it. So, hopefully by trying to improve it they can somehow make it even worse?

It somehow looks even more amazing than I could've ever expected it to. A true spiritual successor to the Mario Bros. movie!!!

@TheMightyEthan Yeah, I expect secondary characters like Black Panther, Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel to start taking the spotlight going forward. I'm just curious what big thing other than Galactus they could start building towards. I mean, it'll take years to get back to this level but I imagine it has to happen eventually.

Saw Endgame last night. Such a massive movie is gonna need at least one rewatch to fully sink in but overall I was really happy with it. I think Infinity War was the better movie but Endgame was the best payoff imaginable for the past 10 years worth of build up. So many great little moments throughout and then the climax was just fucking bonkers in the best way. Especially that one moment that everyone pretty much knew was gonna happen but it was still insanely satisfying and fun to see. All I can think now is where the fuck do they go from here? The next Avengers is gonna feel weirdly small because I can't imagine they're gonna top Thanos right away, they have to build up to something else. I'm admittedly not super well-versed in the comics but the one villain I can think of is Galactus and apparently the 5 years plan for phase 4 doesn't include anything from the Fox deal, so I guess he's out. They've shown they can quickly adapt and change plans to great result, though, so I wouldn't necessarily rule it out entirely.

Nioh Killed the bad guy and credits rolled, so I'm assuming that's the main campaign done. Now it's time for the DLC regions and achievement hunting. Not sure if I'll have enough time to get it all done before Kiwami 2, though. Anyway, this was pretty damn good. Not perfect by any means but I was completely hooked the entire time. It was nowhere near as hard as I expected, though. Once I switched to the Odachi as my main weapon (which I later found out was a weapon type added in one of the DLC), I started just fucking everything up with ease. And then I found out about the Sloth spell, which completely trivializes almost every single boss. Combined with a defense debuff, the one aspect of the game that was still pretty hard turned into a complete joke. In the second half of the game, most bosses were basically debuff -> living weapon -> over in seconds lol. I'm not complaining, though. After Sekiro, it felt pretty damn good to just steamroll my way through the game. I'd say the overall package isn't as high quality across the board as a From game but it's definitely the best Soulslike I've played and it's not even close. Hell, I consider Sekiro the better game but Nioh had me hooked in a way Sekiro didn't. I would play it for hours at a time and when I'd stop I'd be thinking about it again within minutes. I think the mission-based structure just made it easier to commit to doing "just one more". Some things I didn't like: the story's kinda shit. For most of it I had no idea who was who or what the fuck was supposed to be happening. Hell, calling it a story is probably being generous. It's really more of an excuse to keep going forward. Stuff starts ramping up near the end but by that point I seriously didn't give a shit about any of it. Also, having a randomized loot system in an action game remains an objectively terrible idea. I mean, this is arguably an action-RPG but it's not exactly Diablo. Skill plays a big part of combat and constantly sifting through garbage on the off-chance I'll find something slightly better than what I currently have really isn't my idea of fun. Eventually I just started ignoring it and only looked if I had anything better when I either hit a difficulty spike or needed to clear out my inventory. Things I was mostly indifferent about: enemy variety. I swear there's like 6 mini-bosses in the entire game and you just keep fighting stronger reskins until the end. At some point some early bosses start showing up as mini-bosses, which is something I guess? It didn't really bother me all that much (especially compared to how much I've seen people complain about it) but it's definitely the area where there's the most room for improvement in the sequel. People also seem to complain about the level design a lot but it didn't strike me as egregiously bad or anything. There's a few levels I didn't really enjoy exploring but I thought it was mostly serviceable. Again, there's room for improvement but I was okay with it. And for the good: well, the combat is what kept me going through the entire game, so I'd say this is one aspect they knocked well out of the park. I especially loved the Ki Pulse mechanic. Stamina management is a huge part of these games and if you master the timing here you can basically stay on the offensive as long as you like. From's games don't exactly have the most amazing combat ever, so it's not like the bar was super high here but still. This is like halfway between Souls and a character action game. There's just enough variety to your move set to almost scratch that itch and that's not even factoring the fact that most of the weapons play completely differently. I also really dug the mission-based structure. It's not as good as the interconnected world of Dark Souls but for me it went a long way towards giving Nioh its own identity instead of just being another imitator. Another plus is that you don't have to commit to this game's version of NG+. It's a difficulty setting on mission select, so you can go farm and level up and come back to finish bullshit NG sub-missions with overpowered gear. I've seen people say they hope the sequel goes interconnected world but this is one thing I really hope stays the same. So yeah, really glad I came back to this one. I don't remember what made me stop the first time but this definitely would've been a GOTY contender back then if I'd stuck with it. Here's hoping the sequel will be day and date on PC because it's gonna suck waiting out a timed exclusivity period again now that I know I'm a fan.

I know what you mean. Like I said above, I'm finding Nioh much easier than before. I almost never die to trash mobs, only on bosses. I'm further than I was the first time now, and today I ran into the first boss that was actually as difficult as I remembered the game to be. I was starting to get frustrated but then I remembered that the game has coop, so I summoned someone and the fight turned into a joke lol.

Wait, really? Not Sakura, the first one? It's like one of the easiest minibosses in the entire game lol.

Now that I'm done with Sekiro, I reinstalled Nioh and hopefully will manage to finish it by the time Kiwami 2 comes out on PC. It's been so long (almost 2 years somehow???), that I just deleted my save and started over because I figured I'd have forgotten everything about the combat. Turns out it all came back to me very quickly, to the point where I feel like I absorbed it all much better after redoing the tutorials. Pretty sure there's a few mechanics I didn't quite get the first time. I don't know if I approached it too much like a Souls game or if my still-fresh Sekiro skills (and DMC5, now that I think about it) are just more directly transferable but I feel like I'm having a much easier (and fun) time with it now. I remember getting stuck on the very first boss for a while and then again on Hino-Enma but I got past both of them after very few attempts this time. I also started using the Odachi as my primary weapon and instantly went "Yep, that's my playstyle" once I realized how much it just fucks shit up. Especially when you've got multiple enemies coming at you. edit: Ok now I've also beaten that one sub-mission boss that's supposed to be one of the hardest in the entire game really quickly. Either I somehow got much better without playing or I was doing something seriously wrong last time lol.

Like once or twice really early on, back when I was still struggling with the game. Then I got better at it and just kinda forgot about it (and the ceramic shards, too).

Oh what the shit. I wasn't even anticipating the game but now I kinda want it pretty bad. What a genius fucking move to use that in a trailer lol.

NG++, and roughly an hour, yeah. I didn't really pay attention, it might have been a bit more. I only needed 20 more skill points for the last tree (the one that unlocks when you max out all the other ones). At that point, each skill point was around 50-70k exp and at ~20k per run it didn't take very long to get one. Although I'm only talking about my grinding at the very end. I did short grinding sessions throughout the game. Whenever I was close to getting a skill point, I'd go grind a little to make sure I wouldn't lose my progress to a boss.