IntrepidWombat

STILL working through the end game in Expedition 33. Having fun right now just finding game-breaking builds. Played my first game of Madden in about 20 years - I bought a copy of 26 for my son that should be arriving today, so I played a game in 25 to pick up the controls. I am terrible, but Rookie mode is quite forgiving.

Grabbing dinner with my dad this evening - haven't hung out with him one on one in years, so that'll be fun.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

I can't see Bubsy 3D without thinking about Ulillillia. The man loves that game and knows every inch of it.

See Capcom? Survival horror and dinos works. Remember that time you did that? REMEMBER?

Gave the demo a go - it's ROUGH. I'm having trouble articulating exactly what's turning me off. I knew after a few minutes of getting the exposition dump, the weird dialogue with NPCs, the movement - this one is not for me at all.

@crudfish Oh shoot, sorry. I misunderstood your comment.

@crudfish You can totally play it after Cold Steel III and actually pick up a bunch of context for some other things that will be happening in Cold Steel IV. Daybreak and Beyond the Horizon are much later chronologically - Sky takes place before Cold Steel I.

@Exerion76 Falcom is a small studio with only ~60ish employees. The have multiple franchises and fight to keep production times relatively short and coats relatively low. That's just who they are as a studio.

Should be a packed weekend. I'll take care of mom's weekly grocery run, grab lunch with a buddy to celebrate his 40th, run out a few towns over to grab my son from his cousin's house, and settle in for some NFL preseason. Doing some back to school shopping for him on Sunday - we've turned that into an annual family outing. Fun stuff.

When i have some gaming time, I will be doing some exploration in Expedition 33 before heading to what I presume to be the last area. Eve online is a possibility too - we'll see. Sitting at my desk is not appealing at all after the week I had at work.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

I'm not feeling it. It's reminiscent of Alan Wake (strip an enemy's armor in order to damage it) with extra steps. I can see the mini game getting old fast - like an RPG with random turn based battles and an annoyingly high encounter rate. Fun at first, but it doesn't take long to become grating.

Taking a break from FF7: Rebirth. I lost a few hours of progress due to an ill-timed startup of another game, and I have no desire to replay any of the open world stuff I already did.

I was really enjoying Octopath Traveler, but I'm to a point where enemies are all pretty beefy and the encounter rate is high. As a result, battles take a long time and it just doesn't feel like progress.

I decided to pick Expedition 33 back up - the retry battle feature has been a game changer for me so far. I'll spend a bit of time on Eve online as well. I'd like to find a quiet C3 Wormhole with a HS static to park an alt. Maybe I'll focus on that today in my time with the game.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Neat. September already has Trails in the Sky and FFT. I'm looking forward to reviews.

The headcount is relatively unchanged because they let go 9,000 workers and applied for 6,000 H1B visas. Why employ 9k Americans when 6k from somewhere else will do the job for 80% of the salary?

@Jammer If they're smart, Shep won't even be in it.

I hope they don't just plan to retread the events of the game trilogy. The discovery of the Prothean ruins, the First Contact War, the discovery of element zero and the first human biotics - all very interesting stories that could advance the lore of the universe rather than retread it.

It'd be cool for them to take a step back with this one and bring in some of the planning elements that made Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear so excellent. Imagine a planning stage for a hostage rescue where you could go through a floor plan and use a mic to talk through an infiltration plan with your AI team and plot it out accordingly. Half puzzle game, half FPS. It'd be one instance where I could actually see the integration of a LLM being beneficial to a game.

But ah, who am I kidding? It's gonna be a Call of Duty clone with season passes and and $10 skins to make your rifles look like bananas or some such.

Still chugging away at Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. It's fine. The minigames are a chore, and I can see how they used this to pad out the runtime. I don't love the combat, but it is what it is.

A buddy dragged me kicking and screaming back into Eve Online. We took a Needlejack into null and roamed around in cheap ships (even nabbed a cyno Nemesis asleep on a gate). I won't stick around long. My main turned 18 years old this summer - wild to think about how much has changed since I started playing this game (and stopped...and started...and stopped...and you get the idea).

Have a great weekend, everybody.

If I get a hankering for an open-world Samurai game, this one will always scratch that itch for me. Like others have said, the box ticking was cumbersome, and I never really engaged with any of the DLC. I have zero interest at all in Yotei - Tsushima was very good, but I'm not in a hurry to do it again.

Just getting started on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I've been a big detractor of the game due to my dislike of the battle system that I experienced in the demo. I figured that I'd grab it for $40. It's a little better than I anticipated, but I still have a ton of gripes with it, namely the Ubislop nature of the overworld and some things I still don't like about the combat. Still, nostalgia yanked hard on me, so I'm going to give it my all.

Some plumbing work and a bit of garage clean out to take care of. It's only going to climb as high as 89°F today, so not the worst time to tale care of some outdoor activities.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

If there's a physical release of the triple pack, Ryza will be on my radar. I haven't gone into it at all, but it seems interesting. I haven't played one since Atelier Iris on the PS2.

I got open world fatigue after Tsushima. All of the bamboo slices and haikus and fox shrines...sheesh. As much as I liked the first game, I can't generate any excitement for Yotei whatsoever.

Such an underutilized IP in both gaming and film.

It's so crazy - Resident Evil 2 Remake is over 6 years old, continues to look incredible, and will run great on most graphics cards released in the last 10 years. RE7 is older than that. With so much experience with this engine, how is optimization still an issue for them? It doesn't make sense to me.

For the US, the Final Fantasy I-VI collection and Warhammer Space Marine 2 are also both on sale.

@SuperSilverback Unicorn Overlord is my personal GOTY and an all time top 10 for me - what an incredible game!

I grabbed Axiom Verge last week with the intent of mixing it in with other games, and it has turned into my sole focus when I'm playing a game. I'm on the lead up to the final boss and getting my face kicked in, but it's such a fun game. Thomas Happ is a legend.

Trying to stick to a single game has had me in a funk lately, so I've been floating around. Put some time into Resident Evil Village last weekend and had a lot of fun - picked up a few more trophies including Dashing Dad. I don't think a platinum is in the cards for this one though.

I gave the demo of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth one more shot. There are still things I do not like about it, but I was able to get a hang of
the combat this time around. Found a new copy on eBay for $40, so I bought it.

On deck for this weekend will be Axiom Verge, Judgment, Octopath Traveler, and one of the other RPGs I've been dipping in and out of - Soul Hackers 2, Metaphor, or Expedition 33. It's amazing to have choices.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

If it's a remake, let it be like the original Resident Evil remake. At its core, it should stay the same with visual improvements and maybe minor new mechanics.

@Oram77 I didn't even care about losing to the... I guess third to last boss (the one that tests your ability to parry)? Not dropping a name to avoid spoiling it, but that track is a certified banger.

@nessisonett Let's not forget about Skyrim and GTA V - with all new AI upscaled textures!

@Hylian-Likely I have both of the Daybreak games but haven't opened either of them - is Daybreak 2 worse than Reverie? I've been dipping in and out of it since it came out, and I just can't stay interested in it as much as I loved Cold Steel and the Crossbell duology.

This weekend, Resident Evil Village and Octopath Traveler.

Last weekend, my son gave me a hard time about only having two platinums to my name (Cars 2 and Persona 5 Royal), to which I responded that I could have a bunch more pretty quick but don't really care about trophies. My competitive nature took over, so I spent a couple hours in Unicorn Overlord, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 getting a few trophies to get my total platinum count to 5. He got a good laugh out of it.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

Ah well. I'm out on this game now. I understand trying to change things up a bit, but this ain't it.

Zero risk in checking it out - just downloaded it and finished the intro. Haven't really experienced any of the game's mechanics yet, but it looks fantastic.

@Johnnycide Thanks - I think that's probably what I'll do. I had thought about spinning up Stellar Blade just to get into an action game mindset. I still need to finish the hard mode boss rush. If that doesn't do it, I'll take your advice for sure.

Expedition 33 is the only one I've cared about, and for me, it's been 'meh' so far. I struggle with the dodge mechanic. The windows seem wonky and the erratic enemy movement makes timing more difficult.

Other than that, an abysmal year for my tastes. I will pick up Suikoden 1 & 2 when it goes back on sale. Looking forward to Gears and Trails in the Sky. Resident Evil 9 is the next game I'm very much looking forward to.

Good luck getting into Mass Effect, Issy. Some people just don't jive with the first game, and that's OK. If you want to jump straight into Mass Effect 2, there's a Darkhorse Comics intro called Mass Effect: Genesis that allows you to make some major decisions from the first game. Narratively, it's not as impactful, but it's better than not ever experiencing Mass Effect 2 at all.

I am not sure what I'm playing this weekend. I'm going to wing it. I decided to give Metaphor another chance this week. Also randomly popped in Ghostwire: Tokyo that I haven't touched in a couple years and had some fun. I may mess around with that some more, Soul Hackers 2, Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, Resident Evil of some flavor, or maybe Octopath Traveler which is currently on sale on the PS Store.

On another random note, there was a reprint of Trails of Cold Steel I & 2 ESRB versions back in January. I grabbed them both off of eBay last night for $45 each. Really glad to have physical copies of them. The PEGI versions are out there for cheaper, but the saves I have with the digital versions would only be compatible with the ESRB versions. Let's hope a reprint of Zero and Azure is also in the future.

Have a great weekend, everybody!!

I bought a Quest 2 for my son a few years back. Tried it once or twice, and it was neat. I like how it's a standalone box but can also be a VR display for PC. I don't think I could play for more than 20 minutes or so at a time. I don't like having a thing on my head or being too disconnected from everything around me. Neat technology, but not for me.

From a technical standpoint, it was brilliant. Great gunplay, good exploration and crafting mechanics. Graphically, it was also well-done. Everything looked fantastic. Sound and enemy design were on point.

The narrative was trying too hard. It has an edgy, pretentious, fan-fiction-quality design masquerading as an avantgarde art house flick. I like games with progression. Halting my progression to play a section that I just played as a different character is frustrating. The pacing could have benefited greatly from taking a page out of the Resident Evil 2 manual of excellence - play one perspective through one campaign, then play through the other one as a "B" scenario. Oh man, what that could have done for the narrative.

The first game built toward a sequel and formed a promise. The sequel failed miserably in the payoff. I'm glad I played it and enjoyed the gameplay aspect, but I gave it to a friend right after and have no desire to play it again.

Expedition 33 is the only one I've played so far on this list. I'm not as enthused with it as many others are. The real time dodge mechanics kick my ass.

My favorite that I've played this year is Unicorn Overlord. What an excellent game - Vanillaware improves as a studio with each title, and it's been really neat to see their progression .

The story was fine. For a game like this, gameplay is king. They delivered on the most important aspects (performance and fun factor). If they can make improvements with the sequel without sacrificing gameplay at the altar of good story telling (looking at you, FFXVI and GOW:R), it should be incredible.

@Medic_alert Same! I got bored. Beautiful game, just not for me.

1. Trails
2. In
3. The
4. Sky
5. Also maybe FFT and Gears

Jeez, all I want are remasters and a remake?

At some point, I've received Borderlands, the sequel, and the prequel with the silly name for free through some giveaway or another. So I guess the combined 30 minutes or so of enjoyment wasn't really a waste.

I randomly found Borderlands 3 for PS4 brand new at a Best Buy for $10. I was so excited that the plastic is still on it years later and my attempts to give it away have all failed.

I predict that we'll see Borderlands 4 on Amazon for $30 by the end of the year.

@rusty82 Much appreciated.

Same - I wonder if it's time to start using easy mode.

It's too hot and humid to get anything done outside today. I started Clair Obscure, and while it's gorgeous, it's in the "git gud" category of games I don't care for. After getting wiped by the same enemy four times in a row (not even a boss, just a normal enemy), I decided to go back to Soul Hackers 2. Either games are getting tougher or I'm getting too old for this.

Father's Day tomorrow. For the 7th year, I'll go to the cemetery first thing to visit my daughter and plant a day lily next to her head stone. After that, I'll get my son up before it's too hot and finish getting the front flower beds in shape.

Stay cool and have a great weekend everybody!

Run, roll, shotty!

Looking forward to playing this again.

@somnambulance I certainly could, but nobody would listen! Haha.

This is the game they choose to do it with? Sheesh. Another aggressively mediocre game from an aggressively mediocre studio, and this is the one that's going to be $80? Lol.

My son just beat Persona 3 Reload, so he's looking forward to seeing whether or not they'll announce a Persona 4 remake of some kind.

I don't really need to see more of Gears of War - I have so many hours into the original, and I'll buy a month of PS Plus when it comes out to play online a bit with my brother - which is wild to think about. Last time we played the game together on coop, his oldest was a toddler and I was a bachelor. Now he has grandchildren, and my son is about to start high school. What a mad, mad world.

@Jrs1 Hah, it's a good one, isn't it?

I bought a new TV this week. Sam's had a nutty deal on a 65" OLED - $650 (or $710ish after tax). It's the nicest display I've ever had. I'm thinking about buying a second one for the other room.

I'm just dipping in and out of games to see how they look, and it's been wild. I may continue Soul Hackers 2 or I may just go ahead and jump into Clair Obscure after today's work is done. Last night, I took a spin through some boss rush battles in Stellar Blade and a stroll through Silent Hill. Yes, I died in both. It's been a while, okay?

It's storming outside today, so my plans to clear up some rogue foliage around my property is sunk. I'll work in the garage a bit and clean the house. The master bath toilet has a broken flange, and it's been on my 'to do' list to take it off, repair it, and remount it - I just hate dealing with the old wax.

Have a great weekend everybody.