TheMightyEthan

Resident Evil 2 Remake I really liked this game, though I do think Claire's story is a lot better than Leon's, so I'm glad I played hers first, or I might not have cared to play the second one. I do think Mr. X is a big detractor from the game, he's too omnipresent, and takes too long to go away when you reach a safe room, so you end up spending a stupid amount of time just waiting for him to leave, which is neither engaging nor scary, just tedious. Luckily I was on PC and could install a mod to remove him. If I had been on console there's a good chance I might have just quit the game. Without him though it was excellent, really top notch survival horror, especially as Claire. However, because of that, I don't feel like I can really rate it given that I only liked it because of a mod that changed a core aspect of the game, so I guess no score from me.

Thought it was time to move this to multi-platform games.

It was bizarrely perfect timing, I'd been looking at 3DS's to buy only a couple hours earlier.

So I ordered myself an AYN Thor, grip, and pouch. Looking forward to emulating some DS/3DS games, as well as having an easy portable way to play ZZZ with a controller.

Yeah having a Steam Deck has reinforced to me that I would prefer not to use Linux if at all possible. It's crazy what they've accomplished with that thing but it's still more headache than I would like to deal with to do a lot of stuff. Still love my Deck though.

People have been saying Linux is as easy as Windows for decades at this point, it's never true. I don't love Windows, but it's a hell of a lot closer to the "it just works" ideal than Linux is.

Ooh, I've heard good things about that and would like to play it. I only haven't because I have too many other games.

Resident Evil HD I complained about the second half of this game a little in What Are You Currently Playing, but by the end I came around on it. I think I still would have preferred it stay more straight scary horror, but I can appreciate what it actually is even if it's not what I would have wanted from it. The fact that I can still play and enjoy it almost 25 years after it came out, having never played it before (in fact I bounced off the Gamecube version ~2005) so having no nostalgia really speaks well of how good the core of the game really is. I'm not going to grade this one because I would be unfairly dinging it for modern game quality of life stuff that nobody was doing yet when it came out, so instead I'll just say that I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in checking it out.

Resident Evil HD Okay, I see why this game is a classic, but goddamn it's dragging in the second half. It's not scary anymore, it's gotten away from the zombies and now it's all sharks and frogmen, and every night I start playing I think I'm gonna finish it, but then it turns out there's more. I still feel generally positive about the game, and I recognize that at its core it's over 20 years old so I'm trying to cut it a bit of slack, but goddamn, end already!

I really doubt Ghost of Yotei will be making my GOTY list (since I only do top 3), but that's more a testament to how many banger games we've had this year than it is a comment on Yotei, which I'm really enjoying. I did the same thing with Listen, and am also confused why it's not there from the start.

I briefly considered it, but Linux doesn't have good RT performance, especially on Nvidia cards (not an issue on Steam Deck), and there are a few games I like to play that don't work on it, like ZZZ. If not for those two things though I'd seriously think about switching.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance This game is great. It's a beautiful side-scrolling action game that's not a metroidvania or a roguelike! Huzzah! I like both those genres but I get a little tired of every side-scrolling game having to be one or the other. I definitely recommend this game. The art is gorgeous, the combat is fun, every boss except the last one is great, it's a reasonable length, it has everything! There's even a demo so you can check it out for yourself. Grade: A (was going to be A+ except the last boss was bullshit)

That was exactly my thought too...

you missed the best one! March 20

I'm so tempted but I have Ghost of Yotei on the 2nd...

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.

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.

Clair Obscur, you can read my gushing in the games you beat thread. I'll be shocked if anything tops it for the rest of the year.

For me it's rarely a conscious decision to give up on a game, normally I just realize I haven't played it in a few days or a week or whatever and have no desire to go back to it, so I don't.

Dead Take This is a cook indie horror game that the creator describes as a reverse escape room. Basically you're exploring/unlocking this creepy mansion belonging to a Hollywood producer using escape room style puzzles, while learning the sinister things that happened/are happening there. It's really fuckin weird, and uses a lot of FMV. It's almost like Alan Wake x Immortality. It's cool though, I recommend it. Grade: B+ And Roger This is a cool short indie game about a girl with some kind of mental health problems. I can't really say more without spoiling it. It's only like an hour long, but super moving. Grade: A

This is a cool looking FMV indie horror game. Looks kinda similar to Immortality. It's only $15 and is getting good reviews (and the HLTB is only 4 hours!) so I decided to check it out.

This game has a lot of really cool ideas that it executes really well on, but unfortunately also has some aspects that drag it down. The premise is you're trapped on an alien planet with a movable base that requires more than one person to operate, so you have to essentially clone copies of yourself who made different life choices, so they have different personalities and skills. The core concept works really well, and the interactions between the Alters are shockingly smooth, up there with like Mass Effect companion interactions. All that works great, as does the base management aspect. Where it doesn't work so great is the third person exploration of the world. You have to run around finding resources, putting down mining rigs, destroying anomalies, etc etc. It's not bad, it's fine, but it always just seems like it's a barrier to what I really want to be doing, which is the management side. It doesn't ruin the game by any stretch, but it does prevent it from reaching the heights it otherwise might. Still, I recommend the game to anyone who thinks it sounds interesting. Grade: B+