IntrepidWombat

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.

I'm not sure I understand the point of preordering a digital game. But hey, that's cool - I'm looking forward to the game a lot. As soon as the physical edition is available, I'll certainly grab it.

The real insult is that I've already purchased these games, and rather then let me put the PlayStation disc into the PlayStation machine (let's be real, the PS5 could emulate these games upscaled to 4K without breaking a sweat), they want me to rebuy them.

LAN multiplayer would have been an awesome throwback feature. I'll grab it when the price falls. The state of the physical release will determine how long I'm waiting. If it's like the rest of Microsoft's stuff, it'll be a couple years, and I'll grab it on sale when it hits the $15 range. If the game is complete on disc, I'd be fine paying $50ish.

Killzone wasn't that good. None of them were when stacked up against the third party offerings at the time. Call of Duty: Finest Hour and Black were both much better PS2 shooters. On PS3, Resistance: Fall of Man is still one of the best PlayStation exclusives ever, really. I didn't like the second one as much, but the first one caught lightning in a bottle. Their creativity was off the charts.

@LogicStrikesAgain I'm not arguing with your point, but want to point out that studios "making the most out of the hardware" was much more relevant in earlier generations when architectures were custom. The EE and Cell were unlike anything else, and from that standpoint, you're absolutely right. It took a lot of talent and institutional knowledge to make the games perform well. These days, everything is x86, except for the Switch, which is ARM (also ubiquitous since that's what our phones are). I don't think that aspect of your argument is as important now as it was 15 years ago.

I've been playing Alone in the Dark on PS5. The puzzles are neat - I like that you can set it not to hold your hand. The pacing is tight and formulaic (but in a good way). The writing lacks any kind of punch - it really doesn't take long for David Harbor to get comfortable with what's going on and just go with the flow. There's never really that, "OMG, what the hell is that?" moment. I know the character's name isn't David Harbor, but that's another issue. I don't particularly like when games use both the voice and likeness of a well-known actor. The facial animation isn't nearly good enough to let the actor become the character, and his script isn't convincing - he's just that dude from Stranger Things. The combat reminds me of the first Silent Hill in some ways. Melee combat doesn't always work as expected, but it's functional. The gunplay is discount Resident Evil 2 Remake.

For $25, this was a great pick-up. It's shaping up to be a solid 6/10 horror game.

This one and Tekken 5 were peaks for the series. I liked how they experimented with mini games in this one too - my buddies and I had a blast with bowling.

@Lavishturtle Maybe they used to be (I can't remember if this is the case), but Remedy's catalog is on GOG now. Looks like it's all sale right now too (Control Ultimate is $3.99!)

@Mikey_205 We'll have to agree to disagree.

@Mikey_205 It is a diet version of itself. There's a stark difference between exploring an area to find a cool, hidden story beat (as in the original FF7) and activating dozens of the same radio towers, dozens of the same caves with the same timing puzzle, etc, etc. The side quests in this game are busy work.

Even at my age, I take days off work for Resident Evil releases. I don't think any of the games have really needed a remake - but they were sure welcome and a lot of fun to play. Capcom regained my trust with RE2 Remake, so I'll buy, play, and likely enjoy whatever they have the Resident Evil name on until they lose it again.

"Just ignore the side content if you don't like it!" There's so much "side" content with so many rewards that the player who ignores it all is at a distinct disadvantage. The game is balanced towards completing the side content and earning those rewards. I'm not terribly good at the game, so I need every advantage that I can get. Ignoring the side quests in order to progress is not a great option because you miss on the experience gain and the items the game expects for you to have while doing them.

Wrapped up the story on Ivalice Chronicles. I love it every time. I could go right back to Trails in the Sky as I'm only a few hours in. I am in the mood for some horror - Alone in the Dark was down to $25 on Amazon, so it'll be here later today. I also still have Callisto Protocol that I picked up for $5 last year as well as Conscript still in plastic. Lastly - I have Dead Space 2 and 3 that I've never actually played. It wouldn't be hard to break out the PS3 get some of that deep backlog out of the way. In any case, it should be a good one.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Origins on PSP was a guilty pleasure of mine. I think it got too much hate.

I liked the SH2 remake a lot. It certainly had its flaws, but they did a great job with it. I'm looking forward to see what they do with the original and especially SH3. The new one is a hard pass for me.

I realized something in going through the comments and on reflecting on my time with it - Rebirth is a Japanese-made caricature of western RPGs. I don't tend to like western RPGs very much beyond the 15 hour mark - I find them boring and repetitive (radio towers...enough with the radio towers...). I cooled off on Assassin's Creed Odyssey in the same way. I have a feeling that a lot of people that are down on this game share the same sentiment.

I agree with an earlier comment in that Rebirth was a train wreck. Critics loved it, and it did well commercially - fine. It's all perspective. It's like watching a match between two teams. A resounding victory for Team A inside of Team A's stadium will receive near universal praise from those in attendance. For fans of Team B though, it's an awful collapse - and I'm Team B here.

The only thing that would compel me to buy a PS6 day one would be if I could play every generation of PlayStation game on it. PS2 disc one day, PS3 digital version the next - whatever. The compute power is already available on PS5.

That sounds far too consumer-friendly though, so I'm not holding my breath.

Beyond that? This may be my last PlayStation hurrah.

Definitely a future buy for me. I don't mind a short campaign at all - Titanfall 2 is one the best FPSs that I've ever played, and its campaign was insanely short. It was only $12 on Amazon though, so it was well worth it. For a similarly low price, this will be a good get.

This one and games like it are kind of a weird physical/digital hybrid - from a preservation standpoint, it's digital. They can yank it, change it, and make it so that you only play the version that they want you to play. On the other hand, you still have a physical manifestation of the license that you can sell, gift, exchange, etc. I guess it just depends on why you like physical copies in the first place.

It's dark and early here at the moment - heading out for some trout fishing in about an hour with my son and pops.

Probably try to catch some of the Ohio State vs Illinois game today. The back yard needs my attention, but summer is definitely giving way to autumn, so it should be nice outside.

I'm going to continue my trek in Final Fantasy Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles. Need to get some grinding out of the way to get builds in order before going too much further in the main story. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to get the platinum - I'm leaning towards no given the grind required to do it.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

I used to love military shooters. Spec Ops: The Line is one that I go back to all the time. All of the new ones are just noise.

@DragonSlayer1759 This type of update was made for people who have finished the game - just fire up your save and go.

@8thDoctor Either that or something off the wall. Something like a concert or a crossover with a mobile game that nobody in the western hemisphere has ever heard of.

I forgot about Tales of Xillia remastered. Definitely one to consider.

Playing some more shade tree mechanic today - my pickup is in dire need of new spark plugs, so I'm going to finally knock that out (Nissan doesn't make it easy unfortunately). My truck turned 10 years old last month. It's basic as heck, but I do love it.

Gaming is going to be a return to Ivalice. I have noticed a few things about Ivalice Chronicles that I don't particularly care for over the original. I don't like how they implemented the steeper difficulty for starters. The new Formation screen UI feels like change for the sake of change - still getting used to it. I love the voice acting - it's very well-done. I'll play a few battles to grind Thief JP for the whole crew so we can start getting into those jobs that require Level 4/5.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

I haven't enjoyed anything that PS Studios has put out in years - but the easy response to this is, "Ok, then play something else." It's kind of like saying, "Man, I wish Falcom would cut it out and make something other than gregarious, trope-filled anime games." That's their identity. It's what they're good at. If you want those types of games, you buy Falcom. If you don't, you buy something else. I don't really understand the basis for the criticism based on that principle alone.

GoT is an all-timer. Great game. Zero interest in this one. Y'all have fun, though.

I listened to a streamer play Cronos while working. It seemed like it was a bit long and wore out its welcome with him - I plan on giving it a go when it's discounted a good amount.

I've spent untold hours in this game - the OST is the soundtrack of my early teenage years. It's in my personal top 5 ever - looking forward to revisiting with the facelift. My copy should be here by the time I'm off work.

@Andee Most of the talent that made Mass Effect and Dragon Age great have been gone for several years. A group of ex-Bioware devs are working on a game called Exodus that looks very Mass Effect-like.

I love this move - it was one of my favorite features of the XBox 360 controller, though the proprietary charger was the poison pill to that whole setup. It'd be neat if the redesign also had hall sensors, but I'm not holding my breath.

I've got three years of mileage on my DS5 that came with my console with no signs of issues. Even if it did have battery problems, I couldn't fathom spending $75 + tax on a whole new controller when $15, a screwdriver, and 15 minutes could take care of the issue just the same.

How weird are times now that we get excited for knockoffs of nearly 30-year-old games that we loved back then? I'm all for this.

Just a heads up, the text of your link says "Project Renegade" instead of "Project Retrograde."

Another busy weekend. If I get some time to play, it'll be circling back to Stellar Blade's NG+. I've bounced completely off of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth after about 35 hours. I'm unable to properly articulate my disappointment with that game. It's severe.

For my next RPG, Trails in the Sky First Chapter may get my full attention, but if I need a break from that particular aesthetic, I may instead finally play through Yakuza: Like a Dragon. We'll see.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Oh man, these dubs give me vibes from the first game - that has to be on purpose. They remind me of the old Kurosawa dubs. Can't wait!

I really wanted to like the first one, but the pacing starts to drag. When a normal battle has 3 - 5 enemies - all of which require multiple turns to bring down - it just makes the experience drag.

Meh. Dynasty Warriors 3 is a game I spent dozens and dozens of hours playing in my youth. That's a big maybe for me.