gbanas92

gbanas92

It's not a lake, it's an ocean.

Comments 1,489

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - A Wonderful Treasure from Star Wars' Glory Days

gbanas92

@RogerRoger Oh oh! And I forgot one!!!! All the Bond talk we did over the months got me antsy to watch them, and it so happens I have a buddy who has NEVER WATCHED ANY OF THEM. He had seen part of Casino Royale and that was it! So now we're watching the entire franchise. Started with Brosnan, finished all those (Tomorrow Never Dies and Goldeneye are still brilliant! World is Not Enough isn't nearly as awful as I remember. Die Another Day is exactly as awful as I remember). Then we went on to Craig after that! I hadn't seen a bunch of these in ages, but man Casino Royale is great. Quantum of Solace big no on that one haha. But somehow, Skyfall was BETTER than I remember? Haha, might be cuz we watched that and Quantum the same day though. Skyfall is absolutely perfect haha. Literally everything they coulda gotten right, they did. I'm kinda dreading Spectre though haha.

Oh god, and the Republic Commando port has come out since too! I need to stay more on top of actually responding haha. So much stuff!

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - A Wonderful Treasure from Star Wars' Glory Days

gbanas92

@RogerRoger Although turning Shepard into basically Navi from Zelda would be hilarious lmao. Agreed on not revisiting some of the old romance possibilities though. Granted 3 huge games and all DLC in one package isn't exactly easy so they just might not have had time, especially with all the work they did do. Yeah so much of that DLC is fantastic! I really loved Kasumi's DLC. And Shadow Broker of course haha.

Adapting quiz shows rather than bringing them over whole-hog definitely makes sense. That seems to happen just about everywhere haha. Hey, at least Frasier made it over haha! I love Frasier! That and Everybody Loves Raymond were always my favorite sitcoms. And Golden Girls. Although a lot of it I'm really glad there are no attempts to adapt it. I don't wanna see an American version of the Big Fat Quiz Shows. I just wanna watch the Big Fat Quiz Shows that already exist! Or god forbid someone tried to remake Garth Marneghi's Darkplace. That would probably kill me so I could then turn over in my grave!

Yeah hockey's got plenty of international power luckily. It's been doing really well these past years ratings wise too, so it might finally get recognition as one of the "big sports" that it deserves! Plus you got The Mighty Ducks continuation on Disney+ too! Ironically it's doing all the same kinda stuff I was sad to see Star Wars do, but I like it there haha. Not sure if you ever watched those old movies growing up or anything, but much as I love them, they're not good movies. So the show being quaint and predictable is kinda comforting in a way.

True, that idealized version of something you see somewhere else that looks so unique and interesting to "out of towners" but ultimately those are just regular things in those areas. So treating them with the reverance they sometimes are in foreign countries just isn't the right tone. Ahhahaha yeah an American Diner! Hell, a lot of the ones here are kinda facsimiles of them now, let alone across the pond!

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - A Wonderful Treasure from Star Wars' Glory Days

gbanas92

@RogerRoger For real! I guess technically that weird Force "Beckon-Call" summoning Luke made more sense, Ezra woulda been more interesting. The spin-off for Ahsoka I'm definitely interested in though. Especially if that leaked synopsis, about Thrawn being the central narrative point of the series is true! I do think that's their plan with Luke, hopefully anyways. It totally reaffirmed my biggest concerns, but all that being said, it was still really awesome to see. Luke's been my fav from Star Wars basically from day 1, so seeing him again (like the Luke people actually care about, not the Rian Johnson version) was pretty awesome. Oh I have a thought about that. And go with me. A Jedi Academy series! Keep Grogu around, do more Luke stuff. My biggest problem is all the big stuff is being shoved into Mando, not that they're doing it in the first place, so I'd be super super down with a Jedi Academy series! Bo Katan would def make sense to keep around though. Her being involved feels less like shoe-horning and just a natural inclusion to the series!

Both in fact! I swapped majors multiple times through college, started with game design, pivoted to film-making, and hated both haha. Just took a writing course as a requirement, but it was journalism, and I found I veryyyyyy greatly enjoyed the reviewing and op-ed end of it all! It's work, but in an enjoyable way. Always like having opinions about media, but never really got into making it myself haha.

Yeah, Peaks is honestly something I just don't try and sell people on haha. THat's a show people either already know they want to watch, and if they don't know that, they probably won't like it haha. Honestly similar to Kentucky Route Zero in that sense! That's not a game you can sell many people on, but the ones you can? They'll probably love it. I completely forgot he showed up in Agents of SHIELD!!! The early seasons of that show were so great. The stuff with Bill Paxton?! Ahhh it was great! More of absolutely anything Peaks I'm in! Well, peaks from Lynch and Frost. Not from someone else haha.

Ooooo I got it! Brendan Fraser could play Dash Rendar!!! Then he could pop up in Rangers and Mando! Both sides of the law type thing! Even if Dash is just Han Solo lite. It's worth it for Brendan Fraser haha.

Was a PS5 patch for Mass Effect confirmed? I don't remember now. A tonnn of PS4 games have been doing it though, so it sure seems likely. As it's gotten closer I have been more and more compelled to dive back in. All of it one package is compelling, especially having them be touched up. Plus it's been so long since I was enveloped in the series, that even knowing I hate the endpoint, I think I could enjoy the earlier stuff to a comparable level to when I first played it finally. I think enough time has passed haha. Now I'm not bitter, just sad it turned out that way. The reworks look excellent though. ME1 especially, obviously haha. The whole game not being in soft focus is crazy to see. ME1 looked great, but all the textures were very soft as a compromise haha. Sneaking a scene or two in there to set up the next one would make a lotta sense to me. I hope they do that!

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - A Wonderful Treasure from Star Wars' Glory Days

gbanas92

@RogerRoger Man, I keep getting worse with responding to these lmao. Every time I remember I need to (basically every day mind you) I think "Nah I'll do it tomorrow when I can give it the time it deserves, and then I just...don't haha. (not opposed to conversing via Facebook or Twitter or some such place should that be faster, I'll leave that up to you!)

Given what I've heard about Absolution (the stuff past "It's bad and should feel bad" mind you) I'm inclined to agree. I think that formula'd work better with Hitman!

Writing!?!?!? If you want someone to do some reading or editing for you, lemme know! I do some o' that on the side from time to time, and I'd love to lend a hand

It actually still hasn't been patched believe it or not! I gave up and just turned the settings down. So one of the games I got with the hopes of it showcasing the PS5, I had to play below its peak performance. Couldn't use the Ray Tracing mode, and I think I ended up playing 30 fps? Idr now haha. It was excellent though! Minus the insane problem! For real CDPR hasn't really gained any of it back yet either! Did you see the thing about the Bonuses the higher ups got compared to the baseline employees??!?! They're very visibly looking like all the other publishers in the scene these days...

Haha, guilty! Alan Wake is one of my favorites of all time! Kentucky Route Zero is like the only game I'd place above it haha. I adore that game!

I did in fact return to Squadrons though! And honestly I uh....I didn't like it very much? It was gorgeous, the story was solid, and I reallllly like the soundtrack, but the gameplay overstayed it's welcome for me. The biggest issue though, couple missions from the end of the game, I got in a hard crash loop where I couldn't progress, and since I was only having an okay time to begin with, I just put it down, and don't really intend to go back. The VR stuff was awesome, but I think overall I'd give the game a big ol' shrug.

Alright so this is gonna be funny, but that High Republic Book I was talking about not having started several months ago, I finished last week haha. It was...not great. Even Claudia Gray wasn't enough! There were like 18 main characters, and they were ALL new (to me at least). Hard to keep track of everyone. Not a great first impression. I basically forced myself to finish so it didn't get in the way of the new Thrawn book haha. At present I think I'm stand by my not being super interested in the High Republic thing yeah haha. Gray is the only author that's worked in the space I alreayd like, and even she wasn't able to do a ton with it. That makes me...very weary. Plus like we've said before, the proximity to the "current" timeline is just awkwardly close. Just go wayyyyy back if you wanted to do your own thing. I swear it was only a couple hundred years back so they could namedrop Yoda once in a while...

Re: Best PlayStation Music of March 2021

gbanas92

@Jayofmaya Balan Underworld can be the sequel! That game's totally gonna get a sequel right?

@Amnesiac So fun fact for you (and anyone else reading this) i 100% wrote "Balan Wonderland" every single time I mentioned the game by name on the first draft of this piece. Then I had to go back and change them all!

@Jimmer-jammer I still have to listen to that one! I was totally thinking of it as an April game! oop haha

Re: Mini Review: DOOM 3: VR Edition (PS4) – An Improved Version of a Solid Game

gbanas92

@Cambrius Huh, you know that's not actually something I really encountered! Even while sticking with the game after finishing up the reivew. That sounds super weird haha. Agreed, it could really do with a resolution boost (I guess most PSVR games could though haha)

@Jaz007 That's what I do hahaha. This is one of the only games where I had to actually go turn some things back on that I can think of

@Burntbreadman If you're interested enough it might still be worth your time (this is where demos being a popular thing again would be super helpful haha). It was really bad with no comfort settings no, but once I turned a few (the vignette helped a lot, I was able to leave smooth turning on with that instead of turning in increments)
everything was fine after that!

@RubyCarbuncle I vastly prefer this to Doom VFR if that helps! haha. I was underwhelmed by VFR, but this one's pretty fun!

@zupertramp I found it a littttttle too cumbersome to play seated, but I'm extremely impressed with the AIM on this one. Almost reminded me of how well it was implemented with Farpoint at times!

@GoodGame It's definitely a disappointing obstacle in a lot of instances. I'm glad I don't normally have to worry, but it's a shame it exists at all!

@naruball It was quite manageable with comfort settings on, but the fact I needed them at all was a first for me!

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Republic Commando - One of Star Wars’ All-Time Classics Has Still Got It

gbanas92

@tameshiyaku I'm sure it's not literally only that, but the fact that they can name drop Yoda every once in a while must make them so happy haha. Quite fun sounds about right. Since Disney took over, most of the EU stuff is more or less just "pretty good" there's a lot less that's outright terrible in the old canon, but there's a lot less that's incredible too. Which is good in a way, but a part of me likes the peaks and valleys

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Republic Commando - One of Star Wars’ All-Time Classics Has Still Got It

gbanas92

@tameshiyaku I miss my boy Kyle too Jedi Outcast is one of my favs of all time! I'm skeptical of The High Republic stuff so far. I'm kinda weirded out by them wanting to have it be so close to the modern era though. Was that exclusively so they could trot Yoda out a few times? Why not just go way way way back like the Old Republic and you could still basically do the same thing. Republic could still be at its height then and everything! I am reading Into the Dark right now though. Claudia Gray is far and away the best new voice Disney added to the Star Wars pantheon!

@PhantomMenace84 There are very few books I'd recommend from the old canon more! Both those MedStar books are amazing!!!! Not all of the books by Reaves (who worked on both MedStars) are great, but he's one of the only authors that was ever willing to get crazy with his ideas. The premise behind "Shadow Games" is kinda insane compared to most of the Star Wars books out there haha

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Republic Commando - One of Star Wars’ All-Time Classics Has Still Got It

gbanas92

@PhantomMenace84 Yeah more or less what I meant! A lightsaber not being central to the plot helps draw attention to other things in the Star Wars universe that would otherwise go unnoticed or completely ignored because "LOOK LIGHTSABER". Like the soldier/grunt world which is usually at best a supporting element to Jedi/lightsaber stuff. Or take familiar elements and go absolutely nuts with them. My favorite example's probably the "Medstar" books from the pre-Disney canon. It's related to Jedi, kind of. But it's basically MASH but Star Wars! And it's fantastic!

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Republic Commando - One of Star Wars’ All-Time Classics Has Still Got It

gbanas92

@tameshiyaku A bit part of that is definitely just how "deep" into the whole Star Wars thing I am at this point. Particularly the expanded universe stuff. Books, games, comics, etc. It's just incredibly tiring to see the same stories over and over in Star Wars, especially because of how great many of the "different" stories are. I don't need to see a story about a Jedi finding their confidence and saving the day or how a handful of Imperial's see a bad thing and decide they're rebels now (the only stories EA have taken the time to do with their Star Wars games under Disney no less). I'm sick to death of those. So seeing this game that came out over a decade ago that absolutely nailed not feeling the need to be Jedi-centric or lightsaber heavy is just a gigantic breath of fresh air. Especially when the game is as good as this one was!

Re: Mini Review: Root Film (PS4) - An Enjoyable, If Standard, Visual Novel

gbanas92

@Ralizah Yeah lack of interactivity isn't the worst thing in the world. Just woulda been nice if there was a little bit more than we actually got. Definitely still a good time though!

@Turbodream I'd say I like visual novels, obviously given it's a VN I didn't expect there to be a ton of gameplay, but even by VN standards, I just wish there was a little more for me to do haha

Re: Mini Review: Hunting Simulator 2 (PS5) – An Unexpectedly Tranquil Excursion

gbanas92

@NoCode23 Yeah, I found the "do hunting properly angle" to be especially interesting. It was a good way to bypass kinda lackluster gameplay. It made it a more interesting experience than it might otherwise be!

@Digit2021 Full price too! I absolutely think if they wanted to do that, the best approach would have been to include the story DLC out of the box for the PS5 version. At the very least!

Re: Interview: How Astro's Playroom Composer Kenny Young Built a Soundtrack on PlayStation's Legacy

gbanas92

@XanderTigerclaw <3 Thank you! This is one of my very favorites so far I think!

@Mostik I could definitely see that having a hand. VR stuff, especially when it's exceptionally well done (like Astrobot) just has that extra level to it!

@Alstil I wasn't thinking much of it and I was absolutely blown away by how much I ended up loving it at launch! Music caught me way off guard in how incredible it was too!

Re: Control: Ultimate Edition (PS5) - A Great Example of What a PS5 Upgrade Can Offer

gbanas92

@danlk1ng Yeah all the surrounding stuff with the PS5 upgrade was...well, let's call it messy haha. You're so close to the platinum now!!!

I'd recommend snagging those 100 point and board countermeasure trophies first! That Tomassi fight is by far the hardest in the game! Finished that one up get the platinum the other day actually! Platinumed it and got 100% of the DLC trophies twice now haha. PS4 and PS5!

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - A Wonderful Treasure from Star Wars' Glory Days

gbanas92

@RogerRoger I can't wait to start seeing the games taking better advantage of the new hardware going forward. Like that Control PS5 port! Honestly, the game looks and plays like Remedy made it for the PS5 first, but the fact it was still a PS4 game also kinda shows just how much closer the line is than ever for console generations! But those load times though. The SSD, even if it is that teeny tiny one, is sooooo much faster for loading!

Yeah Jeopardy's one I figured might not have carried too far outside North America. Basically, everyone knows the show and Trebeck around here, but it makes sense that that doesn't carry outside the area all that much.

Hell soccer works in that same way in the states. America basically just doesn't care! I always loved playing it growing up, but I don't watch it very much either. So I'm a fairly typical American in that respect. And nah, hockey's huge overseas too! Russia & Scandinavia though, not nearly as much the rest of Europe. Never played, unfortunately. By the time I realized I was absolutely obsessed with it, it was too late to be worth trying to play. When I'm a settled old grump, might try 'n pick up a rec league to play in or something though haha. Agreed though, it's crazy how much overlap differing cultures have, but more interesting is often the stuff that DOESN'T overlap!

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - A Wonderful Treasure from Star Wars' Glory Days

gbanas92

@RogerRoger Agreed, I never really got that. It's pretty easy to see something that's good as a quality product even if it doesn't cater to what you specifically want. Just because you don't want it, doesn't suddenly invalidate it as a work of art. And yep yep some film courses, some game courses, little bit o' everything, very helpful for being able to articulate why I think certain elements of a project work or not, not too helpful past that though haha. What kinda writing you trying to pursue? Or do you mean you did do that, and now are doing something else?

Oh yeah, I felt the same way! The further from the Return it gets, the less I feel like I need another season. I'd absolutely watch one, but I don't feel as though I need it anymore. Completely agreed though. For everything that worked, there was something that didn't really land. Which almost became part of the appeal. But the stuff that did work? Hoo boy, it realllllllly worked!

Yeah, it's a pretty damn cool statue! I basically only have statues that were included in collector's editions of games, and by those standards, it's probably the nicest looking one I've got! You'll be able to re-create the entirety of Attack of the Clones soon! Or as, we call it here, the best Star Wars movie.

Oh, I totally forgot about Agents of Shield haha. I watched the first few seasons, I remember liking it early before I kinda just stopped caring haha. I remember I liked season 1 and 2 a lot.
I do miss seeing Brendan Fraser in movies. I always liked him. Bring him into Star Wars, hell with it! Get that man on screen again! Oooo that's true, Tython coulda been placed there because it'll be important for something in the High Republic. I haven't seen it explicitly brought up, but I haven't exactly dug very far into the High Republic yet either.

Oh yeah, I saw that Liara easter egg! All the little references to things happening over in the galaxy I cared about were nice to see haha. Well, luckily you don't have to hurry up and get a PS5 to play the remasters, since they're just...PS4 games? Bit of an odd choice honestly, but eh whatever. The remasters look pretty good from what we've seen so far.

I'm very curious to see what their solution winds up being? I don't see how they can win with doing it either. No matter what ending they pick, a huge number of people are gonna be upset? And if they're so determined to bring back faces from the old ones, then they basically have to pick on no? And I definitely don't have trust in Bioware haha. They lost it after ME3, and continued to not gain any trust back afterwards too. Especially since they said it's gonna take place after the first trilogy. ME1 is my favorite by far too! Not too worried about Pinnacle Station not being in the remaster either lol. The source code was gone so they'd need to remake it, and frankly, it's not worth it. Pinnacle Station was awful!

Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - A Wonderful Treasure from Star Wars' Glory Days

gbanas92

@RogerRoger A true believer of super...bom...bad...dery? I guess? Right back atcha on the holiday wishes, even though it's now February lol.

Success seems to vary wildly. I recall one of them (Absolution?) being very poorly received because it was basically just a linear action game and everyone seemed to kinda hate it haha. Having never really spent time with 'em, I find it super weird just how much I've paid attention to them!

Yeah, it's pretty exhausting! But immensely fulfilling. What did you do in the past that called for leading a team like that? What'd you switch to when you stopped?

I keep needing to actually go back to Squadrons. I played mission 1, thought it was alright, and then just...kinda never went back to it haha. I need to finish it! Every time I think I'm ready to go back, I decide it's time for another game. Been playing through all of Control again now cuz of the PS5 one! Yeah, Cyberpunk's a big ol' yikes. I just haven't bothered to start. I'll wait till it's actually in the shape they shoulda waited to ship it in. Probably gonna be a few more months lol. You know I'd have expected Spidey to be fixed as well, but it's not been patched in months, and I still can't play it. Kinda messed up that such a widespread problem is just kinda...okay? Especially given how much attention the game gets.

See I would think so too, but they already knew the familiarity sold well because of stuff like Rogue One. I'm worried that they're gonna overcorrect now. They need Favreau and Filoni to stand firm on their instincts because for better or worse they know their fan-service. It's all still fan-service, but it's hard to argue it's not all done pretty damn well.

Especially with the High Republic stuff, I've looked up some synopses and narrative ideas, and bought the Claudia Gray book (haven't started ut yet) but so far everything I've seen in the era just seems kinda...dull? It all feels like uninspired retreads of stuff that's come before, they're just taking from more sources at once than usual, so it's a bizarre mishmash. And all the stories so far just sound kinda tame. They basically took Outbound Flight and put a bunch of "retro" republic stuff around it haha.

I thought the one to answer Grogu's call would have been Ezra! Or, when I was really worried about the show, I was worried it was gonna be answered by the ghost of Yoda. I got especialllllllly nervous about that when they said they were going to Tython! But I'm not sure I'm more satisfied with it being Luke lol. That final episode was basically exactly what I was worried the show was gonna turn into all along. Although it seems like Grogu might just not be around for season or 3 or something? I'd be very okay with that, but I don't see how Disney could possibly financially justify doing that? But I'd rather have this safe show that connects a lot of things together than someone who actually despises the property? It won't get me excited in the way I'd necessarily want, but at least it won't actively destroy the fictional world? I guess that's a win haha.

Re: Control: Ultimate Edition (PS5) - A Great Example of What a PS5 Upgrade Can Offer

gbanas92

@Papasears You sure can! While aiming it's down on the D-Pad

@Hurblyburbly Given how choppy it was on the PS4 I couldn't bring myself to stay on graphics mode for too long haha. Although the ray tracing is also rock solid and stable!

@Kieren1234 Unfortunately no. Gotta start fresh. I've seen that asked a bunch. Your PS4 saves would carry over to the PS4 version on a PS5, but not the PS5 version.

Re: Control: Ultimate Edition (PS5) - A Great Example of What a PS5 Upgrade Can Offer

gbanas92

@RaZieLDaNtE How'd Borderlands handle the DualSense? That's a series I don't really play, haven't heard about it though!

@vapidwolf touche lol. They've been doing a pretty good job of it so far. The success of Control's probably gonna help them in that respect too!

@PossibLeigh Well of course it's not gonna be able to hang with a rig like that. But looking at only the PS4 version for comparison this outpaces by soooo much!