Comments 578

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Silent Hill 2?

IntrepidWombat

@Flaming_Kaiser Who gets to decide what's opinion and what's utter nonsense? I think Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is an unplayable disaster with unbelievably poor combat mechanics and an identity crisis. Is that nonsense because it's an unpopular opinion? Different people have different perspectives. If you have a different opinion, power to you. You don't get to be the arbiter of whether or not my opinion or anyone else's is valid though.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Silent Hill 2?

IntrepidWombat

@MikeOrator I am enjoying the game, but your comment doesn't make sense to me. "Only the people that have the same opinions as I do are allowed to comment, because their opinions are wrong!" That's how echo chambers are made. Just because it's the popular opinion doesn't mean it's the only valid one.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Silent Hill 2?

IntrepidWombat

This gets a solid 8 from me.

Silent Hill is not new to me - been playing them since 1999, and this one is definitely in the same tier as the original 2 and 3.

Definitely a few missed opportunities here. Weapons could have been a little more diverse. Same with enemies. There is some camera jitter when moving it around and James' back is to a wall. I have several nitpicks around their firearm/ammo selections, but those are relatively minor details in the grand scheme of things. Bloober absolutely nailed the sound and art design. I really enjoyed the puzzles. The combat was just ok for me - a little repetitive with the lack of variance in weapons and enemies.

Overall, a solid game - definitely up there with the remake of RE2.

Re: Sony Goes the Extra Mile for Siren on PS Plus Premium

IntrepidWombat

It'd be cool if I could buy the emulator ($24.99, who says no? I'll pay for the work they put in to develop it), put my discs in the PS5 and play them - granted, with many features absent, but still playable. Come on Sony, you could have the best BC in the console space right here.

Re: Video: Top 10 Best PS5 Games of 2024 (So Far)

IntrepidWombat

It still surprises me how much praise I continue to see for FF7 Rebirth. The demo was an unplayable mess on multiple attempts. I feel like we're playing completely different games.

Didn't play many new games this year. Here's my list though:

1. Stellar Blade
2. Persona 3 Reload
3. Silent Hill 2
4. Vampire Survivors

Trails through Daybreak is still in plastic, and Conscript is on its way. Don't know if I will get to either of those.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 550

IntrepidWombat

More Silent Hill 2. Bloober has far exceeded my expectations. This is a Resident Evil quality remake - the GameCube one. It's 6:30 am on a Saturday, and I've already played more this morning (about an hour) than I have in an entire weekend lately. I'll give myself another hour or so before I get my day started.

Re: Poll: Are You Playing Metaphor: ReFantazio?

IntrepidWombat

I'm burnt out on RPGs for now. I have such a heavy backlog of them that I want to get in to and enjoy, but they're not holding my interest right now. I'm craving some new Resident Evil - Silent Hill 2 remake is excellent (despite a couple small technical issues). I'm looking forward to getting my copy of Conscript, then I may finally try Evil Within 1/2 again.

This one will probably wait for a couple years, but it looks and plays fantastic.

Re: Poll: Are You Playing Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero?

IntrepidWombat

I don't know if I played any of the Budokai Tenkaichi, but I still have a couple of the older Budokai games for PS2. I really enjoyed these, but goodness, how many times can you possibly retread the same story beats? This game does look cool, but it'll be one I watch on Twitch.

Re: Original Director 'Very Happy' with Bloober Team's Work Remaking Silent Hill 2 on PS5, PC

IntrepidWombat

My disc has shipped and will arrive today. I decided to play a bit of the first Silent Hill last night, and man does it hold up in a lot of ways. The lighting and fog effects, the camera angles, the sound design, the puzzles, the environments - it's incredible what they accomplished 25 years ago on that platform. I knew the game like the back of my hand when it first came out and could clear it in a sitting. I've forgotten most of it (that game is 25 years old OMG), but it's just such a fun play.

If the reviews are to be believed and it has that RE2R energy, I'm looking forward to experiencing a new classic.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 549

IntrepidWombat

I might have enough time to finish the Metaphor demo this weekend. The good news is that it's getting colder outside, so unless I find a place to go hunting this year, I should be able to get some more gaming out of the way. I was cautiously optimistic about the Silent Hill 2 remake, but after the reviews dropped, I went ahead and preordered it. I should have it in hand by the 11th.

Today I really need to finish the work I had planned for last week. My brother's wedding turned in to a day of work from 8:30am to 12:45am with a few hour party in between - lots to do today. My riding mower is struggling hard, so today it finally gets some TLC.

Re: Silent Hill 2 Remake Breaks Street Date, PS5 Discs Loose in the Wild

IntrepidWombat

My very first paycheck ever was about $128. I cashed it, went to Wal-Mart, and bought a brand new copy of Silent Hill 2 as well as a Greatest Hits copy of Final Fantasy Tactics since I had only ever borrowed it up to that point. I had enough left over to get some gas, buy a couple Jr Bacon Cheeseburgers, and put a few dollars away. I was 16 at the time, so balancing school with a job was new. What wasn't new was playing a game every chance I got, and Silent Hill 2 had my full attention for weeks (to the detriment of my grades...though I did read Death of a Salesman and write an essay on it in a single night - got a B too). It's one of my favorite games ever made - but I'm not in a hurry to buy Bloober's rendition. The enhanced PC edition has been my go-to for years. The remake will stay on the market for a long time and see some pretty drastic price cuts (and suspect some improvements as well). The game that has my attention for day 1 is the physical release of Conscript that releases the day after. I suspect that one will be much more limited like Signalis. I'll play that in the mean time.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 548

IntrepidWombat

My PlayStation feels a little neglected. I don't think it's been turned on in 10 days or so.

About to head up to the venue where my brother is getting married to help set up. After that, I'll run my son home and try to knock out a trip to the grocery and auto parts stores. My lawn mower needs a full on carb rebuild and valve adjustment, so I'll knock that out if I have some time before the wedding tonight.

Maybe tomorrow evening after the football game, I'll spin up the Metaphor demo. We'll see.

Re: Stellar Blade's NieR: Automata Collab Only Happening Because Yoko Taro Loves Money

IntrepidWombat

@clvr The themes have similarities, but no, it's not a copy/paste affair. If you go in with the assumption that it is, then yeah, bias is going to get in the way and you're going to make that assumption. It tells its own story with its own theme. If you haven't played it though, you really don't have a leg to stand on. At least play the demo - then maybe you can speak to it? The characters are fine, but it's not winning awards for its story. The combat is where this game really shines. I am extraordinarily picky - this is one of two new games that I finished this year. It plays nothing like either of the Nier games.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 546

IntrepidWombat

Not a lot of time to game this weekend. My son and I are playing a lot of Vampire Survivors. A little Clash Royale with my wife (FTP crew for life). I did get a used copy of Triangle Strategy off of eBay. It's not quite the spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics that it was billed to be, but it's good so far.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Astro Bot?

IntrepidWombat

Thirty seconds of the character's cutsie yips and yahs were all I could take - they're like nails on a chalkboard. I couldn't even watch the entirety of the gameplay demo. I'm glad there's a game out there with broad appeal, but it's just not for me. I didn't vote in the poll as I didn't play it.

Re: Poll: Are You Sold on PS5 Pro?

IntrepidWombat

@ButterySmooth30FPS Playing newer games at higher fidelity. Gaming the market - a sale on Steam might be cheaper than a sale on PSN. Modding games that you want to mod. Playing older games in higher fidelity. There are plenty of reasons to have both. If you want to match PS5 Pro, you don't need to spend that much.

Re: Poll: Are You Sold on PS5 Pro?

IntrepidWombat

@ButterySmooth30FPS Not necessarily - your existing console isn't going away if you already have games. I have my PS5 and PC right next to each other. Easy as switching an input between the two.

Re: 25 Years Ago, Square Released the Best Final Fantasy Game

IntrepidWombat

I replayed this one recently and really loved it all over again. I received this one as a Christmas gift the year it came out and spent the rest of the winter break glued to it. Final Fantasy Tactics will (probably) always be my favorite, but this one scores a lot. Draw and Junction are still novel - there's a lot of depth to the game as a result. Really underrated systems.

Re: Sony Increases PS5 Controller Prices in US, Europe, and More

IntrepidWombat

My first DualSense is still going strong after 18 months and a few hundred hours, so no issues there. The battery life is atrocious, but it is what it is. I always turn off the haptic feedback anyway - it'd be nice if I could just use a DualShock 4 - in my opinion, the best console controller ever devised. All of the features that I want are still there. It doesn't make any technical sense that we can't use them on PS5 games.

I'll pick up a spare maybe on Black Friday and order some hall sensors for standby in case one of them goes out.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 545

IntrepidWombat

NFL is back, baby. Looking forward to tomorrow's slate of games. The Diofield Chronicle will be my primary game, though I may play around more with Final Fantasy XVI NG+. I'm winning an auction for Triangle Strategy, so maybe I'll be playing that next weekend. I've had a Switch sitting in my desk for 6 years and have never bought a game for it, so it'll be interesting to get it up and running after only really taking it out to top off the charge on the battery every few months.