Pandalulz

@pyrrhic_victory My brain couldn't discern the difference between the "announcements and reveals" answer and the "ads" one honestly. What's the difference?

@UltimateOtaku91 The cynic in me says they can't announce Persona 6 until they've announced Refantazio: the better version and a bunch of spin-off games first.

I don't really watch videos or streams at all, but I probably spend more time casually browsing websites like this one while doing other things than I actually have downtime to spend playing games, so there's that.

I did what I said I was going to do and pre-ordered one and passed the original fat down to my kid to replace her PS4. The only thing I have played on it, because it's what I was already in the middle of playing, is the PS5 version of Trails of Cold Steel IV. I suppose it's because the game has a generally unlocked frame rate, but it does anecdotally and unscientifically seem to run a little better. There were a lot of spots on the fat where the game would stutter during cutscene transitions and lots of models on the screen that SEEM, best I can tell, to have smoothed out. It was certainly perfectly playable before, but hey, improvements are improvements. I will take what I can get.

Hmmm... I guess at some point I will check this out, because I eventually try everything Airship Syndicate puts out, to varying degrees of enjoyment (I just love the way they look). The problem is that I really can't quite get the gameplay loop now that it's offline. I was under the impression it was kind of Monster Hunter-ish maybe in its original incarnation. So is it just a bossrush or are there actual levels, what's happening here?

Edit: So I watched the trailer a couple of more times, and saw the Randomized Dungeon tag, so I guess more third-person Diablo?

I will let you know in two years when the inevitable better version comes out.

I'm not sure what using it consists of really. I picked the single player preset and it shows me my trophy list, controller battery level and storage when my PS5 turns on. I also changed the background to something with a darker theme. It's still better than the pile of streamer garbage it replaced even if I don't really use it.

I mean, tangentially, the site gave a 90 to what will inevitably turn out to be a $70 two year early access game before the final version actually releases (Metaphor) and you have to pay for it again. If there's a company that's trained me to wait at least three years (final version + sale) before buying one of their games, it's definitely Atlus.

I might pick one up and pass my base unit to the kid who is currently using my old PS4. I can afford it. But $700 without the disc drive and base just feels dirty.

I never finished the first one. I got sidetracked. Those jump pack zones were some of the most fun shooter combat I have ever played. I need to go back and finish the first one. I look forward to playing this in the future.

@Iamcardboard I can't speak to the SteamDeck specifically, but all three run fine on Linux Mint through Steam's Proton layer. A quick Reddit search seems to confirm they are fine on SteamDeck as well.

@dardel To be honest, I am of two minds about this. The 3D looks fantastic but the 2D sprites are so iconic for me. I adore them so much. Go ahead and play them.

I need something between the top two options. I don't care about the Power Rangers. I was too old when the show came out. But that sprite animation does look really good.

@Intr1n5ic It even has a Gruncle Stan narrator.

Neat, the first one was a very silly Metroid Prime like. I didn't finish it though because the shooting was kind of terrible on controller. Meant to try it on PC with KB+M but never got around to it. The exploration was top notch though. I am glad the terrifying FMV commercials are back. I feel divided on the switch to third-person. I much prefer it and I think it will make the platforming much less janky, but on the other hand, it doesn't quite fill that Metroid Prime hole in my heart anymore.

My biggest takeaway is "why do they still let Molyneux talk about things everyone knows he'll abandon next week?"

Did a see a Vanquish slide and a Max Payne slow-mo roll in the same video? I am kind of enamored with its "always walking very slowly forward" trailer vibe.

I really enjoyed Trials despite the incredibly simplistic combat. This looks like a nice upgrade to that so I am looking forward to it.

Ender Lillies has been sitting on my wishlist for a long while for a day when I needed a new Metroidvania. So one out of three games is better than most months.

I work AV IT at a university so Summer is our busy time while we get as much maintenance, upgrades, and construction done while the least number of students and faculty are on campus. Once the new semester kicks in, it's busy for about two weeks and then everything for us mostly goes into autopilot until the next break. Right now I am slowly working on the new FFXIV expansion while I am not exhausted, but then it will be backlog time.

It looks interesting, but is interesting enough when I am drowning in other games I want to play is the question?

@doctommaso Agreed. I would rather see what my friend list is up to than what some random streamer uploaded.

@CrispyMango92 It gave me the points from when my PS Plus renewed on the 3rd so hopefully game purchases are being recorded as well.

It did require a force-quit to refresh the app, but it is up in Atlanta now.

@ShogunRok On one hand, excellent, but on the other, darn, now I need to reshuffle my backlog.

@ShogunRok I haven't caught up to the end of the series yet. Just finished Cold Steel 2 so I have a ways to go. But, assuming I do manage to catch up this year, does the game have a satisfying conclusion, or should I assume, like many of the arcs, that I should wait and play it back to back with the next one?

EDIT: I will forever be scarred by the wait from playing Trails in the Sky FC at PSP launch to them finally releasing the localization of SC, for example.

Oh good, Discord update just in time for the FFXIV expansion since I currently voice chat on my phone with my friends who play on PC. Maybe now I can do it more natively.

Heh, this is what we get from the Bungie acquisition I guess. twitches from Destiny 1 lore card memories

I don't hate the idea. It's funny because the majority of games being released are still targeting the PS4 hardware, yet the stuff that targets the PS5 hardware seems to already be hitting a performance wall. If they do actually announce it, and if enough developers state that they will be supporting it with stronger graphics modes, then I will probably buy one eventually.

I can't wait to turn this on, so people can think to themselves, "Why is this guy so bad at this? Sure, he did the thing, but in the most roundabout and clueless way possible."

This honestly has me curious if there will be some kind of curation to pick the best capture to show to other people. Every week or so, a new clip replaces it, until only the most efficient speedrun version is left, like some kind of twisted leaderboard.

I got rid of my PlayStation credit card years ago. It started out as a CapitalOne card and then they sold my business and info to some other company I had never heard of so I just noped back out of it.

I am catching up on a few smaller games while I wait for Rebirth to drop so have been bouncing between Darksiders: Genesis and F.I.S.T. I am enjoying both pretty well.

I stopped the FFVII OG play through from last week. I just wasn't enjoying it. I loved the game 25 years ago or whatever, but now, there are too many old-school design choices that I can't get past.

That being said, I randomly picked up Darksiders 3 and beat it in a day and a half. And now I am working on Darksiders Genesis. The weekend took a turn I did not expect.

Pre-ordered, against my normal judgement, so I am just going to wait until the game launches and play it then.

@Kraven Remake was the final straw where I had to figure out how to repaste the processor on my PS4 Pro. The fan went from jet-engine to space-shuttle and kept popping up a "Your PS4 is overheating and will shut down!" message.

In preparation for the FFVII Rebirth release, I did Remake and Crisis Core, and am now just working through the FFVII OG PS4 glowup. It's funny playing through the Midgar section now, it feels so abridged. But also, it's really convoluted how they dump you into the world, and then next thing, you are piled on with the exposition dump in Kalm, the weird Chocobo catching thing, and then Ft Condor in like the next 30 minutes. The original game really is wild. I haven't replayed it in something like twenty years.

I am at about the 75% mark on digital to physical in games. Mostly if I buy physical, it's about sales, because I am cheap. I Marie Kondoed all of my movies and music into oblivion years ago. Once in a while though, I play a game so good, that I start evangelizing it to my friends. It's a hard sell if they have to buy it, but if I can just hand them the disc, the barrier to entry goes down so much. I miss that when I realize it's a game I bought digitally.

Like last month, three games I don't own, probably wasn't going to play, but might be motivated to try now, so sounds good enough to me.

FFXIV, always FFXIV, but I think I put more time into the Legend of Heroes series than FFXIV, so that's a thing. Finished both the Liberl and Crossbell arcs this year. Plan on starting the Erebonian arc sometime next year after I get caught up on the FFVII remake stuff.

@Shepherd_Tallon I love my Linkbuds Sssss... They do ANC on a budget price, are still small enough to be comfortable, and since they do the dual-pairing thing now, they are super easy to bounce between a couple of devices.

Honestly, I think this is one of the better months for me. They are all games I don't own, wouldn't have bought otherwise, but look interesting enough to mess around.

It's fine. I think I have played less PS5 exclusives on it than I can count on one hand, but the loading seems faster even on PS4 games so that can't be discounted.

I booted up my PS4 the other day, and you know what I saw: I saw an activity list that showed me what my friends were up to, what new games they were playing, the achievements that they had gotten. I felt a little more connected to my friends list, even though we were all in our own lanes, playing single-player games. And then I logged back into my PS5 and saw a bunch of garbage content that streamers I didn't care about had posted. And that sort of sums up how I feel about the PS5's UI three years on.

Hmmm... It is very pretty, but that weird fish-eye FOV on the fixed outdoor camera also made me motion sick after 10-15 minutes, so I guess I am skipping this one.

@MrMagic https://twitter.com/charlieINTEL/status/1716958629184622762/photo/3
I am so confused, people keep talking about this being for the digital console, but if you guys bother to follow the Twitter source, this asterisked line is directly under the line that says, "Disc Drive (attached to console)* *Internet connection required to pair Disc Drive and PS5 console upon setup" and is written on the combo box that comes with the disc edition Slim. Even if it comes with the drive already attached, you will need to connect it to the internet at least once.

@The_Pixel_King The other day I installed both Genshin and Honkai just to boot up for some Stars rewards and while they have vastly different library artwork, both install with exactly the same icon that says Hoyoverse at the bottom. It's so dumb.

I bought the PS4 Slim because it fit comfortably in my backpack and I could take it on business travel. It's a very solid piece of tech.

The PS5 Slim is still too big and, more importantly, awkwardly shaped to do that with. More than anything, I wanted the Slim to be a normal functional shape that fits in standard size locations and doesn't look like it's going to just fall over no matter which orientation it is in. But here we are. No reason to buy one beyond the big guy I already have.

I bought the game when it went on a dirt cheap sale and then just dumped it in my backlog, assumed I would play it eventually one way or the other, so I am glad it is now much better. But I still don't have time for it and it will continue to idle in my backlog for a bit longer.

@Czar_Khastik I played the first one on PSP when it came out and then waited and waited and waited for the second. I don't really like playing on handhelds though, I find it terribly uncomfortable. So when I decided to finally decided to play through the trilogy now, I bought them all on Steam, my PC is plugged into my living room TV, Bluetoothed a Dualsense and played them with my butt on my couch. The first game is pretty slow for about the first half and then barrels towards the end. Then the second resets and it takes a bit to start up again. The third is a different thing as it's a straight dungeon crawler. It's hard to not recommend it because it's effectively an epilogue to the other games and has probably the best combat and soundtrack, but I just didn't enjoy it as much.

A business card case?
insert obligatory American Psycho Christian Bale meme

I do need to get caught up on this series. I plowed through all of the Trails in the Sky over the last month or two and am taking a break with Sea of Stars before I jump back into Crossbell.

There's a very miniscule chance that I play any of them in June or any time soon (working on backlog), but of the three, FFXVI is the one going on my wishlist for a later sale. I'm not a fighting game person, and I've never been able to get into the neverending looter cycle of Diablo and similar types of games. Plus, I know people are praising D4 for having a "dark and gritty" aesthetic but it just reminds me of the PS3 era of endless grey and brown (now with splashes of red!)