IntrepidWombat

@D6rkLordS6t6n I don't think you're missing anything, it's just a matter of preference.

I like chocolate a lot. I don't like it to be too sweet though - standard Hershey's bars are not my ja.. I appreciate a soft chew but not fudgy. If I find chocolate that I like, I'm going to keep going back. Sometimes it's cool if it has something neat like peppermint or citrus flavoring, but I just really like a good dark chocolate.

It's the same with turn based combat. I enjoy a system that's well-implemented. For me, this was one of them with some active defense sprinkled in and some neat mechanics that changed with each character.

I agree that some of the level design was pretty straightforward. I didn't care for the Ancient Sanctuary for example (the combat music there is a banger thougb), but there were some other levels that made some really neat use of verticality. The overworld + dungeon + turn based combat is not something we really even get with realistic character models and this kind of tone. Lovers of turn based combat typically have to settle on anime-like art styles, which isn't a problem for many, but can be a turn-off for others.

It's something that a lot of people have wanted for a long time. Lost Odyssey was really the last time we had something that approached this game type, and that was released nearly 18 years ago.

Sorry for the rambling essay. You're not obligated to like a game that the majority of people love. I have zero interest in Yōtei, and I strongly dislike FF7: Rebirth after sinking 36 hours into it. It sucks to think you're missing out on something, but hey, we like what we like.

@Shokwave2 Awesome! Ys VIII was a lot of fun, but like you, I didn't 100% it.

@Shokwave2 Have you played any Ys games? I wonder if they'd be up your alley.

Happy New Year, PS. I am fully prepared to be a Capcom shill this year. RE: Requiem, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and Pragmata will all be day one purchases for me. Falcom will have a few too, but I'm still stacking Trails games in wrappers until I get back to playing JRPGs again.

The last thing I need to buy is more games, but I'm going to be eating great this year for new releases. How exciting!

@Fluberuper That's a great point. If anything, it should help everybody see eye-to-eye.

I liked this game a lot. I do think it's in the right spot, but for my tastes, it wasn't an amazing year or anything. E33, Sky FC (only a few hours in), Dispatch, and Tormented Souls 2 were the only ones to land with me. It certainly wasn't the best game that I played in 2025, but it may be the most impressive.

I like the Clair soundtrack a lot. It was my third favorite soundtrack of the games I played this year, with Unicorn Overlord and Soul Hackers II on top (if you played the latter, don't act like you didn't linger in the COMP Smith shop just to jam).

Nihon Falcom getting flowers? That's amazing! I'm on a Trails break, but they're so darn good.

I just grabbed Dispatch last night. These games aren't usually my jam, but I'm really enjoying it. I'm definitely going to have to set aside a few hours to see what Wuthering Waves is all about.

@clvr Stylistically, he's not wrong. Instead of being condescending and talking down to people when you don't understand the point they're trying to make, try asking questions and having a discussion. It doesn't make you look smart or funny, it only makes me think you got lost on the way to Reddit.

@Max_the_German I think there's enough for Clair to be distinct.

Mario RPG had a timing input during attack to do bonus damage (or to continue certain attacks) - I can't think of another turn-based game in which attacks have button prompts in addition to active parries and dodges. Each character has a different combat mechanic as if he or she is from a completely different game. There aren't a lot of other turn based games that allow for the depth of character build customization. The only ones that I can think of that come close are the Trails games (which itself looks to be inspired by FFVII), but the picto/lumina system is still more complex than the quartz setup.

Just like Souls wasn't the first to do difficult third person character action, Clair obviously wasn't the first to do a lot of the things that it did, but it was the way Sandfall implemented those things together that stands out. If there's such thing is a Clair-like, then you're talking about a turn-based RPG with tight parry/dodge timings, incredibly deep character customization, and maybe some flashy menus in combat.

The series is anything but back. SH: Short Message, SH: Ascension, and SH: f were all pretty poor showings. I feel like I can trust Bloober now, but the releases that continue to fall below expectations will only dilute the brand. I'm usually a wait and see kind of guy, but this strategy of throwing out as many games as they can from different devs to see what sticks didn't work in the 7th gen, and it hasn't been working the last few years either.

This past week, I started and finished Tormented Souls. Kicking myself for not playing it sooner. The second one is on the way. This was the kind of game I needed. RE9 can't come soon enough.

Right now, I'm playing Control on PS5. This is by far Remedy's best game.

I may punctuate it with whatever half-finished RPG tickles my fancy. The stack of those keeps growing. Romancing Saga 2, Trails into Reverie, Trails in the Sky FC, Metaphor ReFantazio, Octopath Traveler, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Xenoblade Chronicles.... one of those should stick for at least a few hours.

We'll round it out with some Monopoly on PS4 with my wife and son - I may even join them for a game or two of Fortnite, though they have to carry me any time I play with them.

Have an amazing last weekend of 2025, everybody.

It's 4:30 AM on a Saturday. I have no reason to be awake besides a needy cat. Ugggh.

Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven has been fun - I will likely continue through that. I am off work for the rest of the year, so I may take some time to finish a game or two that I've left unfinished for the year.

Edit: I played the Pragmata demo - it's actually a whole lot of fun. And it even ran beautifully on my dumpy little PC, so that's a win in two ways. I'll be getting it on PS5 for sure.

Have a great weekend.

I'm so behind on Trails.... I'll have to binge like I did in 2022 when I did the four Cold Steel games back to back. I'll buy this day one like I do all Trails games now, but it's going to be in the wrapper for a while.

I grabbed the deluxe edition for $12 last week. I've barely started the game, but it seems like it's going to be very hand-holdy. I hate having a yellow marker floating in the middle of the screen telling me where to go all the time. Let me explore, darn it! I'll have to dive into the settings and see if it can be disabled.

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.