IntrepidWombat

Resident Evil
Onimusha
Trails Beyond the Horizon
Trails in the Sky SC
Tomb Raider

I grabbed Hogwarts Legacy on PS5 for $11.99 a day before it was free on Epic. My cope is that it will probably run better on my PS5, and it's only $12. Any gaming time I have will be split between that and the Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven remake. I see that being touted as a "hidden gem" in a few years.

Today is my wife's birthday - she's a self employed salon owner, sets her own work schedule, and is somehow still putting in 11 hours today. Not because we need the money, but because she was originally going to be off at 1, but decided to take care of nieces and nephews since she's booked until July and couldn't get them in otherwise. She has the best heart.

Lots to do prepping for our combined birthday get together tomorrow. I'm making carnitas in the slow cooker. Have a great weekend, everybody.

@havoc33 If only I was as responsible as you are! In five years, I'd be like, "Hey guys, has anyone tried that new Ghostwire Tokyo game?"

Expedition 33
Final Fantasy Tactics
Trails in the Sky FC

That's all I played off this list.

With basically perfect backwards compatibility, there's no reason not to release less-demanding games like this on PS4. They still get access to the considerable number of people who still haven't upgraded in addition to everyone with a PS5. It's a no-lose situation. I hope that developers continue to release games like this and even remasters of older games (like the recent Lunar remaster for example) for PS4.

I liked it quite a lot.

One thing that stuck with me was the duality of Tomb Raider. The remake of the first one looks incredible - I love the vibrant colors and how it looks to capture the feel of the first game. Lara looks and sounds fantastic. What puzzled me was Catalyst. Lara is a plucky adventurer who explores ruins and carries guns to defend against tigers and freaking dinosaurs. Now she's dropping into a room of people and playing Rambo? Not a big fan of that.

I don't know if this game will be for me or not, but that's one of the best reveal trailers I've ever seen.

I guess I should buckle down and finish the first one. This looks great.

Loved this trailer. Looks great.

So stoked. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with Raccoon City.

I'll for sure try the demo. Might be fun to see how the PC version performs on a less than optimal hardware configuration.

Cool teaser. I need to see more.

@Titntin Brother, I feel the same way about FF7R. That game to me is one dumpster fire that I couldn't finish. While I loved E33, I get that different games do it for different people. No shame in that.

@RoomWithaMoose I didn't get hooked in until about 5 hours in. From a purely gameplay standpoint, it's a love letter to RPGs as all types. You can see enemies on the map and ambush them. There is an absurd number of ways that you can build an individual character, let alone a party. Healing items replenish at flags, but so do enemies. Battles require complete engagement so that it's not just menu surfing. Each character has his or her own combat mechanic as if belonging to a different class (or even a different game). There's an overworld with different modes of exploration. I could go on and on, but you get the point - this is a studio that loves RPGs of all kinds and wanted to bring the best aspects into one title, some of which have largely been missing from more mainstream titles. I think that's really what makes it special. Anyone who's an RPG fan and has played a number of them is going to find a mechanic reminiscent of an RPG sub-genre and just smile.

Screenshots look great. Please, please, please don't mess this up!

I played a huge number of games (for me) this year - 54. Top 5:

Unicorn Overlord: 77 Hours
Fantasian: Neo Dimension: 53 Hours
Expedition 33: 48 Hours
Soul Hackers 2: 48 Hours
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: 36 Hours (yes, I gave it an honest try, and no, I still don't like it)

78% of my time was spent in RPGs. No surprise there.

The server is overloaded at the moment, so I'm not able to get more than that. How exciting.

@Exerion76 My thoughts exactly!

Not sure what I'll get into this weekend. I haven't been able to stick with anything lately. Might end up working a bit - need to play some catch up. Whatever I end up playing, I'm sure it will feature either some sort of zombie shooting or turn-based fantasy.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Looks like DDR4 on the secondary market has gone up as well, though not quite as much. Guess I should buy that ECC DDR3 on my eBay watchlist before they decide to jack that up too.

RE9 and Onimusha - Capcom fans are going to be eating well next year. I love that Requiem releases on a Friday. I can take the day off work, grab it from the store around lunch time, and lock in for the weekend.

An HD 2D treatment a-la Star Ocean 2 would be amazing.

When a Japanese studio leans into Western influence, you get FF7R - for better or worse. I hope that Japanese franchises stay Japanese.

I am in awe at how incredible this game still looks to this day on original hardware. That team was locked in.

Alan Wake II is one that I can't get into. The whole mind-mapping thing is disruptive. I wasn't a big fan of Saga either.

A personal 10/10 for me is Unicorn Overlord. It and RE4 Remake are my only two this gen so far, unless we're counting ports of games that launched originally on PS4, then the number goes up.

@Casco Got it, no question about it because that's what you decided. Glad we cleared that up.

@Nepp67 No, I haven't forgotten that Final Fantasy exists. Final Fantasy VIII is not a sequel to Final Fantasy VII. Now, Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy X have the same characters, setting, and X-2 resumes the narrative of X. That's a sequel.

Is Yōtei even a sequel? Different setting, different characters, different time period - it seems more like a spinoff.

@ElkinFencer10 Lol yeah, still shocking that the PS3 still holds that distinction, especially for how failure prone those things were!

@ElkinFencer10 When adjusted for inflation, the 60GB PS3 is still the most expensive base console Sony has released. It was $599 at launch in 2006. That's $780 in 2020 or $960 today (amortization.org).

Most of the games I've played this gen have also been on PS4. The extra controller features are annoying, and the battery life is abysmal. I very much prefer the DS4. They could have had more generations worth of physical backwards compatibility without breaking a sweat, at least PS1 and PS2. The design is still hideous. With that being said, the hardware is solid. Easily-expandable storage is fantastic. I do like how the games take advantage of the fast storage. It offers a great gaming experience, especially on an OLED TV.

The first party offerings have been abysmal for my tastes. I appreciate the third party support.

Overall, I said 'just okay.' Some good, some bad. I am glad to have one. Whether or not I even buy PS6 will have everything to do with physical media support going forward. If the console is digital only, then PS5 will be my last, and I'll go to PC moving forward.

I'll be on vacation for the next week, so I may not have much gaming time this weekend. My son's desk is falling apart, so we'll hit the hardware store for some all thread, nuts, and washers. It's one of those cheap metal and glass jobs from Amazon, so it should be an easy fix. With thread locker this time.

I haven't played RE2 Remake in long enough that a casual run should be fun. If I get some gaming time, I'll mess around with that (I can't believe this game is nearly 7 years old). Trails into Reverie is good, but I'm not a fan of the perspective switching mechanic because of how it impacts pacing.

I grabbed TLOU Part 1 from Amazon for cheap. I haven't played TLOU in years, and I'm interested in comparing the PS5 re-work to the original.

Lastly, my father-in-law will be over this weekend to watch Steelers at Bears. He's a Chicago native, so some polite trash talk over some pizza will be a blast.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Hoo boy. I'm glad I'm not crazy for seeing the Final Fantasy XVI similarities. I liked it well enough, but the combat was a whole lot of style over substance. I'm going to need a gameplay demo of this one. The premise seems cool, and Jennifer English being on board is definitely favorable.

@Balaam_ That's interesting, I've not really heard that take on the visual style. What do you dislike about it?

I still have my original PS5 controller. I may go ahead and buy a second just to have a spare.

@UltimateOtaku91 Beat everyone to it. Expedition 33 will probably win anyway, but two Obsidian trainwrecks got in over Sky FC in Best RPG? What a joke!

They have the bones of a game that's mechanically sound. They have assets, animations, character abilities, server software for match making, etc. Ditch the cringy hero schtick, bring in some character designs that aren't ass, come up with a way to monetize the game with skins, give it a better name, and relaunch it FTP. Surely they could recoup something.

Starting back up into the Trails series - I'm about 20 hours into Trails into Reverie. The game is hitting its stride, finally. I'll probably finish the Sky FC Remake after that before diving into Daybreak I & II. Horizon will be out by then, which I'll grab day one, but I'll likely be gearing up for RE9 at that point.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

I hope to see big wins for E33 and Trails in the Sky. Those are my favorite releases this year along with Ivalice Chronicles, but I don't see that being nominated for anything.

Ananta is going to be huge.

@PuppetMaster Your approach is backwards. You didn't account for what she did while she was at ND, which is more important to my point than what she did when she left. Uncharted 4 and TLOU2 (didn't play Lost Legacy) definitely missed her. Both were narratively weaker than their predecessors. They were drawn out, technically sound but meandering messes. Druckmann couldn't write a well-paced story to save his life. ND is fine from a financial standpoint, but Druckmann likes smell of his own farts too much to write a solid narrative.

The responses to this comment thread remind me of the "leave the multi-million dollar company alone!" meme. I think Hennig is a better writer than Druckmann and has done more and superior work than he has over the course of their respective careers. I didn't think that was a controversial take.

@StitchJones Nothing worth mentioning! What a waste.

30 years of incredible games, 10 years of whatever it is they've been doing since Amy Hennig left.

It's months like this that I'm grateful for my backlog. Woof.

I don't buy it. GTA would work great in a lot of other places. The guns aren't necessary, but it's not like they don't exist in other places. The Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Russia - I think all of these places have rich cultures worth exploring and satirizing and could easily include firearms. The explanation is lazy.

Used to play with my wife and son. We had our fun with it. The crossovers are what killed it. Star Wars, Marvel, whatever flavor of the week - we just wanted to play the game. Haven't touched it in a few years.

@Nyne11Tyme Oh yes, absolutely. I think Tyler Warren is going to have himself a day. Tomlin has never been able to field a defense capable of covering elite tight ends over the middle. Yinz have fun, stay warm, and sing Renegade extra loud!

@Nyne11Tyme Steelers/Colts? I'm not feeling good about that game at all as a Steelers fan.

Not really tied to any particular game at the moment. I decided to get the Switch out and play a bit. I honestly forget it's there. I picked up Xenoblade Chronicles at a local shop, and I have Fire Emblem Three Houses on the way. Also finally started Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and have Trails in the Sky FC on deck.

Echoes of the Living released in early access on Steam yesterday - if he gets the map and saving issues fixed, $20 is a bargain for how excellent the demo was.

We're celebrating my son's 15th birthday this weekend - I think lots of Madden and Smash Bros will be happening when his buddies get here.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

@somnambulance My favorite is when I hit enemies with a giant sword, and not only does it do next to no damage, they just shrug it off like it's nothing - no animation interruption or anything! But if a little rat tail hits the main character, expect him to go flying, lose half his health, and fly half way across the screen! Peak game design, IMO. Oh, and the enemy AI! It's so smart. It always knows which character you're controlling, so forget about swapping into a supporting role with a caster (that's for losers, right??) - you get all that aggro! Probably best, wouldn't want anyone to get complacent or anything. Not only that - once you swap, the AI hasn't done anything to fill ATB gauges. It doesn't steal that gameplay opportunity from you- brilliant, tbh. And all that is just the combat! Best RPGs ever!!

I just finished up Alone in the Dark. It had a lot of potential, it just lacked polish - and it was very short. For something scary this year, I may do a second play of Signalis or boot up Conscript. Parasite Eve II is another one - I remember years ago having a save at the final boss, but being soft locked because I had zero healing items. I should boot that game up, knuckle down, and finish it.