8bit4Life

@Stickleman I had every bit of personal information stolen in a huge data breach last year, and almost just as much stolen in the T-Mobile breach before that. Honestly, I will be offended if nothing was stolen this time, too.

I was forced to turn on my Xbox Series X and download the Monster Hunter Wilds beta there.

It went live at 10:00 PM for me, so I had time to make a character and complete the initial intro scenes. Great first impression and I can’t wait to play more this weekend.

Microsoft could potentially have success if they make a portable that tops Steam Deck and other handheld PCs in price, performance, and ease of use. The home console market is dominated by Sony, but Sony seems reluctant to make a true handheld right now. If Microsoft makes its own version of the Switch that can run game pass and other PC games, I could see it becoming a hit. It might even force Sony to respond.

I don’t mind PS5 games being on PC. As a former member of the PC master race, now exclusively a console guy (Mac for computer stuff) I am happy as long as my PS5 Pro and Nintendo Switch have games I want to play. To the point about complaints about game performance on PC, I see that as a testament to how well a console can perform, given the limits compared to a pricy PC with that awful Windows OS.

This is the sort of convention I would have loved attending in the late 90s as a teenager, though I would have been too scared to get a photo with the girls.

I loved this game when it released on PS1. Back then I would immediately buy any JRPG that popped up, and Legend of Dragoon filled the need at the time. It isn’t a game that has held up over the years if you compare it to Suikoden 1 or 2 from the same era.

I started a fresh play through of Final Fantasy 15 Royal Edition. This game has held up pretty well for its age.

FF15 could definitely use a current gen patch, but it still looks better than a lot of PS4 games and runs smoothly on Lite mode.

Those bits aside, FF15 is a weird entry in the series, yet it remains one of my favorites due to the characters and the journey.

I will own both systems. Nintendo has always been for first party games and console exclusives. The Switch always felt anemic, but I loved Zelda and Xenoblade games. PlayStation is for multi platform games and everything that can’t be played on Switch.

I haven’t completed this game, but recently I’ve played it on my PS5 Pro and was pleased with how good it still looks and feels to play. The storytelling is still very weird, but nobody plays this series for the story.

Companies need to know their customers / audiences, and cater to what those people want. I have owned PlayStation consoles from the beginning, and the reason I stick with them is because of the great single player experience. Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, Tekken, the first Horizon game. Sure, these aren’t all PlayStation exclusives, but it’s where they thrive and always have. Live service games feel cheap like mobile games. I guess we should feel lucky that PlayStation bosses didn’t jump onto the NFT bandwagon too.

Maybe it’s just me, but when I download a game from Game Pass or PlayStation Plus, it feels less urgent for me to play it. It’s like the quality is lessened. Not always, because I played Jedi: Survivor on Game Pass recently and loved it, but I think that’s the first time for me.

If I were a fan of this genre of game, this would probably be the one I would play. The characters look good to me, seeming to steer towards the comic book style. Overwatch has what I would describe as a Pixar / Disney CG animation kind of style. Now that I think of it, World of Warcraft is increasingly going in that direction too. Maybe that's what I didn't like about it on a recent re-sub.

I am eager to play this game and hear all of the spoken lines. Also, I don't want to get trapped in a garrison like I currently am in the first game. How do I get past that guard? Everyone is telling me to find armor. Oh well, maybe I'll come back after I finish KCD2.

I like the overall design of the SF6 characters over SF5. Male and female characters are still exaggerated, but not as much as in SF5. Have you seen how big their feet were in the last game?

I came to Jedi: Survivor late when it arrived on Game Pass. It's a very good game, one of the few I've ever played start-to-finish on Game Pass. Zero interest in a Star Wars game without light sabers.

I still have not bought BG3. Last night I tried to play Divinity Original Sin 2 again, which is very similar and another game from Larian. The concept and storytelling seem interesting, but the execution just can't hold my interest. Top-down or isometric styles and turn-based, point and click mechanics has forever been something I can't get myself to enjoy, though I have tried many times.

I played a some of a new game on Rebirth yesterday to see how it feels on the Pro. Felt good to look at. Very crisp visuals and smooth. My middle-age eyes, even at 3 feet away on a desk, wouldn't be able to appreciate 2x the frame rate. Especially for many times the cost.

@CamPatUK Really? I have found that the colors and sound are less muted on the XBOX. Maybe it's a setting in PS5 that I need to adjust. Both systems are using high speed HDMI inputs and the cables that they came with.

@Kingy I pre-ordered KCD2 because it looks great, and now am trying to play the first one. Currently stuck in a town and the guard won't let me out until I find some armor.

It was a weekend of Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise for me. Just getting the reflexes back and landing on a new weapon to take into Monster Hunter Wilds next month.

Previously I was a huge fan of Switch Axe and Charge Blade. Still am, but now I'm enjoying the versatility of Sword and Shield. The worst part of the weapon is the short range, but being able to hit with both blunt and severing attacks is quite useful. I find myself hitting the poor creatures in the face with my shield more than the sword.

@glennthefrog After reading up on it, I think you are correct in how you stated it. This letter from Square Enix reflects what's happening in Japan more than a direct reaction to YouTube or X accounts that may oppose DEI or such.

I have an XBOX Series X with about 9 months of Game Pass Ultimate remaining. It's hooked up to the same TV as my PS5 Pro.

The weird thing is that I still barely touch my XBOX, and if a few of these games like Indiana Jones or Starfield were on my PS5, I would play them more, even if I had to buy them.

Interestingly, the XBOX seems to play Ultra HD 4K Blu Ray discs better than my PS5 and PS5 Pro. I tested Lord of the Rings 4K Blu Ray movies and Batman: Dark Knight Trilogy discs. I don't know why this is the case, but I'm keeping my XBOX as a Blu Ray player.

Although I reached the top rank in Stars when I was new, it’s still very weird to use, so I don’t bother much.

A much better rewards system would simply to give points automatically to people who login to PSN on their consoles and play games or make purchases.

I’m definitely jumping in to the beta.

Last week I purchased Monster Hunter Rise during the sale and have been having a great time, so my hunting skills should be slightly up to speed.

I almost never fully shut my PS5 down, but I do fully close games when I’m done.

I have never played a single match of COD multiplayer in my life. There was some version of the game on PS3 that I owned and got a few hours into the single player campaign, then never played COD again.

Battlefield 2142 was pretty fun multiplayer back in the early 2000s.

As a former member of the PC Master Race with a decent Steam library, I am not too worried about PC taking away from PlayStation. Until about 2018 I was pretty much a PC-only player, and then I got a PS4 Pro. At that point I realized that the ease of gaming on console, and the good enough experience made a Windows PC unnecessary in my life, especially as a Mac guy. When I realized that PlayStation store sales usually match the deals on Steam, I began building a big PlayStation library, so it is my gaming home now on PS5 Pro.

I bought the disc drive when I pre-ordered the PS5 Pro. So far I haven’t used it much, and oddly it had some initial troubles reading my Cyberpunk 2077 disc, but nothing else, even though there were no physical defects on it.

Hopefully my drive isn’t defective.

I decided to finally pick up Monster Hunter Rise during the sale. Got it with the expansion for $15. It’s been a lot of fun. The goal was to get my MH skills ready for Wilds, so Rise is a 2 month training exercise.

@TheArt I may give it another shot. Right now I picked up Monster Hunter Rise and its expansion for $15 on the Capcom sale. I will use this game as practice for the main event coming at the end of February.

@Majin_Deicide Precisely. I have been a gamer since the mid-80s and never cared about male or female characters, or what ethnicity they were. The game just needs to be fun and interesting.

I finally bought Elden Ring after procrastinating all this time. It was on sale for $30.

After about 3 hours, I realized that the souls-like genre is probably not for me. Glad I didn’t pay full price.

Seems like a quality game, but the controls feel awkward and you die after just a couple hits. Frustration was my most keenly felt emotion while playing this game.

Sony, if you’re listening, just make a couple quality gotcha games with cute anime girls.

Then start printing money.

I won’t play it, but I see the numbers from Genshin and everything else they have been pumping out.

My day 1 launch Nintendo Switch is still going strong, somehow surviving my son who was quite the abusive gamer towards my hardware in his early years. That system always felt cheap and slow, so any improvement with the Switch 2 will be welcome.

I’m a 90% of the time docked player, and I really hope that it upscales nicely on my 4K LG OLED. The other big improvement I would like to see is a more responsive UI and online store.

I came to DD2 late, getting it with my PS5 Pro, so much of the performance bugs were already gone when I played. This game is my favorite of 2024.

In 1997 I liked Aerith much more than Tifa. Not sure if Tifa even made it into my roster back then. So I definitely chose Aerith for the date, and I was absolutely destroyed as a teenager when Sephiroth came down with that sword.

I’m not a fan of subscriptions, with no streaming or music subs. However, if there’s something that I really want to watch, I will rarely sub for a month to binge a series. The same could happen with a gaming subscription if it has content I’m interested in binging and then being done with.

The developers could have gone the 2B route and given out achievements for discovering their Agent’s secret.

Tekken is my favorite fighting series, and Clive is my favorite Final Fantasy protagonist. In a less busy world I would be all over this. Currently it’s on my list of games to play eventually.

The initial impression is pretty good. Will be watching developments on this one.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds are the only 2 currently on my radar. I would buy a Dragon’s Dogma 2 expansion DLC immediately. Other than that, Switch 2 is coming, and so is Xenoblade Chronicles X.

I’m not playing this game, but my son has been playing it. He’s also an Overwatch player. He says Rivals is pretty decent.

My only take away is that the art style reminds me of the comics, which is a good thing. The game doesn’t appear to stray into the common cartoony / Pixar look that I have been noticing in a lot of games lately.

I would guess that recent laws passed in American states requiring age verification for porn sites has caused many who once used their consoles for such things to stop or switch to something with easier access to VPNs. This adult site in particular has chosen to stop operating in many states rather than set up the more rigorous age verification.

@x3King84 I don’t know if the saves are cross-platform. My enjoyment of Cyberpunk 2077 came from multiple play throughs as both male and female V. There’s so much to see and the style of play with being a hulking brute or a stealthy netrunner keeps it interesting.

My cyberpunk 2077 hours played are so far 100+ on PC, 35 on PS4 Pro, and almost 400 on PS5. Time to add to the count on PS5 Pro after it’s done patching.

I have an Xbox Series X with about 10 months of Game Pass Ultimate left, but I haven’t even turned it on in months. Still trying to get the bad taste of buying it for Starfield out of my mouth. Hey, we all must live and learn. As such, I like the voice acting in the Indy game, but just can’t bring myself to download it.

This game looks better and better as I see more of it. The first game is quite difficult to get into, as I am working to get my armor to sneak out of an early castle.

If KCD2 does well, I would love to see the first one remastered on the new engine, as it looks much more fine-tuned.

One style of gaming that I have never been able to enjoy is the isometric view. Don’t know why, but I just don’t enjoy them, even after trying to force myself to with 70 hours of Diablo IV. It’s the main reason I still haven’t played BG3.