TheMightyEthan

I agree with that, but it doesn't even change how people react to you. Like there may be one line of dialog that's slightly different depending on whatever the last thing you said was, but beyond that everything just plays out exactly the same. *Edit - To clarify, what I was trying to say originally isn't that every game needs a morality system, it's that a lot of the aspects of this game make it seem like they were going to have one, but it's just missing, and I would include "characters reacting differently" within the category of morality systems for this purpose. It feels like the world and characters should react to your actions, and they just don't.

Hogwarts Legacy This game was pretty great, though I think your mileage will highly vary based on how much you like the Harry Potter world. They do a great job recreating the feel of that universe, so if you're a fan it'll feel absolutely wonderful. However, underneath that IP is a fairly serviceable, but by no means mindblowing, open world game, so for anyone who's not a particular fan of Harry Potter it will probably seem like just an OK game. It does feel like there are some parts missing (like it feels like there should be some kind of morality system, but there just isn't), but what is there is very well polished and feels good. It also doesn't overwhelm you with side content like lots of modern open world games do, and as a result I actually did all the side quests (though not all the collectathon stuff) and didn't feel like it was dragging or overstaying its welcome. The main story revolves around a goblin rebellion, and honestly I wasn't too interested in it, but it was serviceable enough to keep me moving through the game. I did really enjoy the major friend questlines, of which there are basically three, all of which were well-done, and I was much more invested in those than the main quest, to the point where often the only reason I did the next main quest step was to trigger the next steps in the side quests becoming available. Also, to my great surprise, the combat actually feels really good. I wouldn't have thought it would be possible, but they managed to make it fast, fluid, and fun. It feels great to bust into a room full of enemies and just start blasting and dodging and perfect parrying, until you're the only one left standing, like frickin Neo in the lobby scene. So basically, if you are at all a fan of Harry Potter then I would recommend it, you'll likely love it. If not, though, then it's going to feel like a competent but otherwise unspecial open world game. Grade: B+

This thread:

Wow, that's awful. Sucks to be excited for new stuff and then it not work.

This is the only argument against it that I really find convincing. As for the rest of it, I mean, video games have been $60 for like 20 years now, they were going to have to go up eventually, it's just how prices work. You're right that wages haven't kept up with inflation, but they have gone up some in that amount of time, and really it's not a very big increase. If games had kept up with inflation over that time then a $60 from the start of the 360 generation (2005) would be like $90 now, so really they have gotten cheaper in real terms, even with the price increase. Hell, my 64 games cost $70 in the mid 90's, which I know is because cartridges were expensive, but that doesn't really matter to the end consumer. So it's perfectly fair to say it's not worth it to you, but $70 now is the same real value as $60 was in 2018, which means even at $70 the games are still cheaper in real terms than they ever were before then.

Is he a political enemy of the current government? Because otherwise I'm surprised he was actually convicted. *Edit - Oh wait, I didn't realize the trial was in US court.

After finishing Hi-Fi Rush nothing on my backlog was really jumping out at me, so I decided to go ahead and get this.

Hi-Fi Rush Holy shit, this game is just as good as everyone says it is. It's basically Jet Set Bayonetta Hero. I'm usually not one for this sort of character action game, but this one being intrinsically linked to music I think got me over the hurdle of learning the timing on everything. Everything happens on beat, your own attacks, enemy attacks, environmental movement, etc, which makes timing dodges and parries and everything a lot more manageable, and it feels so good to play. That would be enough on its own, but on top of that the art style is gorgeous to look at, the writing is legitimately funny, and the characters are distinct and likeable. This is seriously a GOTY contender. Grade: A+

I'm also playing Hi-Fi Rush, and I liked it from the get go, but about halfway through it really got its teeth into me and now I'm completely obsessed. This game is so good.

Wow, that's really good.

Deliver Us Mars This game took everything that was fun and cool about the original, which I loved, and ditched it in favor of making a generic 3rd person action game that's okay at best. The story is dumb, the main character is annoying throughout most of the game, and you spend too much time doing stupid laser puzzles instead of fixing satisfyingly clunky broken space things. It clearly has a lot higher production value than the original (other than the weird decision to ditch the ray traced reflections on anything but perfect mirror surfaces), and they felt like they needed to make it more of an action game to go along with that, but it was the wrong choice. If you liked the original then go play that again, it's better. If you didn't like the original then you're probably not interested in this one anyway. Grade: C (if I'm trying to be fair, but in my heart it's a D-) And this is what I spent my day off work for my birthday doing...

I don't remember either, it's been over almost a year since I played it. That would make sense though, since that's similar to how they did it in The Witcher 3.

Maybe they shouldn't have made it look like any other random side job then. I'm half kidding. In general I think big open world games are too full of busywork, and I don't have the patience to do it anymore, so I think hiding major content behind apparent busywork is a good way to get it missed and that's on the dev. But, with Cyberpunk specifically I intend to replay the game when the DLC comes out, and now I understand it's a permeating design throughout the world that stuff is just deeper than I've come to expect based on other games, so I do intend to dive into a lot more of that stuff when I replay it.

Okay Mr. Fun Police.

I did not, because it didn't involve a major side character I was interested in. *Edit - From googling around it looks like that one's easy to miss in general, because it just presents like any other random side job, it doesn't get interesting until you're a decent way into it.

Hey! I did all the side stuff for all the major characters! Like Panem, and Jacky, etc... Even the AI chauffeur guy.

So I'm already noticing a pattern emerging for this year... Though Xbox vs. PC is a weird distinction, since most of the PC games I've played have been through Game Pass and are Play Anywhere games so I can seamlessly switch back and forth. The 1 game I actually played on Xbox was Signalis, because its retro graphics didn't really benefit from being on PC and my Xbox uses less power.

Plague Tale: Requiem This game is so good, it's the perfect example of what a sequel should be, feeling very much like the original, just improved and expanded. If you liked Innocence at all I would definitely recommend you play this. I was slightly worried through the first third or so, where there were several sections of getting past enemies that I felt were too long and drawn out and finnicky, but luckily that dramatically improved later in the game, probably due to the additional tools for getting past/dealing with them. And the ending is *so* strong. Spoilers for the post-credits scene: Grade: A with a

Yeah, that used to be the way I played RPGs, but I just don't have the time any more. As I said, I did the side quests that caught me interest, which was a fair few of them in the base game (I think I did every "secondary quest" there), but only like one in Blood and Wine. Basically a side quest has to be interesting enough from the outset that I'm more interested in doing that than I am in whatever the next step of the main quest is, and that's pretty hard to accomplish. The safest way to do it is to have a character I'm already invested in say something like, "come talk to me before you leave town, I have a thing I need help with." I did all of those type of quests. That actually brings up one thing I really liked about this game though, the division of quests into primary, secondary, and contracts. It made it easy to immediately see how substantial any new quest might be.

I beat the base game in 50 hours, Hearts of Stone in about 4.5, and Blood and Wine in 7. I played both of them the same way I played the base game: mostly focusing on the main quest, and doing side quests that caught my interest. *Edit - How Long to Beat puts Blood and Wine at 15.5 hours for most players, 40 hours if you 100% it, so I was fast but you were very much on the long side.

The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone This was basically just a big side quest chain. I liked parts of it (the heist, the last quest) and really really didn't like others (the wedding, the house). So, very mixed, but I liked the way it ended, which is the most important part. Grade: C The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine This was good, but I think it was overhyped. Everyone made it sound like it was this amazing epilogue to the main game, when it pretty much has nothing to do with it whatsoever. But, that aside, it was well done, and I found it interesting throughout, none of the lows of Hearts of Stone. And Touissant was very pretty, I didn't realize how drab and grey the Witcher main game was until I got there. Overall, it's up there with some of the better DLC I've played, it just wasn't some amazing capstone on the game like people made it sound. Grade: B+ As an aside, playing Blood and Wine made me really really want to go back to Cyberpunk, I wish we knew when that expansion was coming.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt I don't know if any of you have heard this before, but this game is actually pretty good. It took a while to hook me, which I thought was a bad sign after I bounced off the first two, but after about 10 hours it got its claws in me, and once it did I was on straight through to the end. The combat is a little clunky by modern standards, but the characters, world, and story are very well done. I see why everyone was so hyped for Cyberpunk. I made the decision to go in blind and not look up what endings were available or how to get them, and I think I made the right choice. I also managed to get an ending I'm satisfied with, even without looking. So yeah, if you like RPGs I would recommend checking this one out. I now definitely have my eye on the Witcher 1 remake, when before I had no interest. Grade: A Now on to Hearts of Stone, and then Blood and Wine.

Am I probably going to buy Returnal to 100% again, even though I already have too many things to play? Yes, mostly likely I am.

For me there's no "correct" version of Persona 3 to port, but P3P is the best of bad options. The inability to control your teammates in FES is a dealbreaker for me. That said, I wish they'd made some kind of ultimate edition that includes all the upgrades from both P3P and FES.

Whaddya know? That's where I quit!