kyleforrester87

Now we’re talking!

@Swandivetotheasphalt anything it takes to get Pillars of Eternity 3!!!

@Swandivetotheasphalt I reckon you’ve managed to write the longest comment 😉

I got it at launch, and it was not what I expected! Didn’t enjoy it as a result, and I guess I promptly traded it in.

I’d like to give it another go one day though.

I played through Resident Evil this week, for the first time since I was much younger. The section up to the courtyard is burnt into my brain but I had forgotten areas after that, and I definitely didn’t know the optimal route.

It was quite weird going “back to the mansion” later in the game in that sense, since although only a short period of in-game time had passed, for me it was a bit like returning home after 20 years to find everything I knew a little off. It was a treat visiting the library and the adjoining “secret room”, which I had completely forgotten about. The latter appears to exist only to provide a lovely pre-rendered view (lens flair and all) of the helipad that you visit later, and a couple of items that you don’t really need.

The lab was a treat, with everything being a bit grungier than I remembered, skinless zombies and some cool music and sound effects.

Notorious for its crazy bad (good!) dialogue, I had forgotten how bad some of the later game stuff was. Jill’s reunion with Chris when she finds him stuck in prison, and Jill merrily asking Chris “Will you wait here?” being some of my favourite…hardly fu**ing going anywhere is he? But it’s all gold, really.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the good ending, as Barry died. How did that happen, as I knew I made no special effort to save him the first time I finished this game back in the late 90s? It turns out I forgot that if I wait for him after he drops the rope, he does actually return with a new one… apparently I have become a lot more cynical over the years and just assumed he wasn’t going to return! Anyway, I carried on and his fate was sealed. It did mean I didn’t get to fight the Tyrant and blow him up with a rocket launcher, which was a major bummer. I settled for watched that ending on YouTube instead.

What a mansion!

I’ve been playing Final Fantasy 12 this week. I really didn’t like it at all in 2007, liked it quite a lot in 2017 but didn’t finish it and enjoying what I have played of it now. It doesn’t get everything right but the gameplay is much more involving than, say, FFX these days.

Maybe in 20 years I’ll say the same thing about FF16 because the first few hours of that bored me to death…!

It’s a good game but I struggle going back to it. It has some pretty boring sections.

If anyone can do it, A24 and Garland probably can. I am interested to see how they play it. Not wildly confident… but it could be a positively surprising treat.

Dog sh*t Sony, sort it out

It's wild that you need a state of the art PC to run Twisted Metal at sub 60fps, but still. Great progress!

That catchy Traverse Town soundtrack on a 30 second loop though 😖😖😖

Yeah it's a great game. I put a lot of time into the Bikes DLC, setting some nice records and I think it's one of my three (?) platinum trophies. My experience going back to play it is that it's kinda rough, it's not that pretty sometimes and you do really feel the 30fps, at least initially. I guess you would get used to that, though.

Skimmed through some of the video, looks serious. Good job!

Still my cheapest hobby 😂

I’ve been playing Possessor(s), which so far is quite good. The graphics, ambience and soundtrack are wonderful. I really hope the developers are not finished after the problems they had with Hyper Light Breaker.

It’s not really changed price, since £450 in 2019 gets you what £560 does today. Like with rent or anything, more gradual price rises can be easier to actually stomach, rather than a big hit at once, even if they actually leave consumers worse off over the same period.

But for sure, wages are not keeping up, and it feels very alien for tech like this to be keeping pace with inflation and not getting cheaper.

@Shokwave2 that’s good to hear. Still, I would prefer to play a less compromised version and since it sounds like there are likely to be quite a few improvements in the pipeline it probably does pay to wait a few years for the best experience. Looking forward to playing it eventually though, for sure.

I’m pretty sure I would gel with this game but I’m not going to bother trying on my regular PS5. Maybe once the PS6 rolls around.

“The reaction to rumours of the PS6 being delayed were met with enthusiasm earlier this year, yet there seems to be genuine excitement for Project Helix arriving as soon as possible.
It’s a bizarre contradiction as far as we’re concerned, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how this all shakes out once we have more concrete information on both machines.”

—

You say that, but I think you’re going out of your way to be obtuse.

I think people recognise that the PS5 is a great console, and that it simply hasn’t reached its potential.

Conversely, Xbox has done quite awfully this generation and there are both loyalists and reasonable people who recognise the competition they offer is valuable that want to see them move on and create a successful product. There is some optimism in the fact they are turning a page.

Yikes 🫣 I mean, I guess it’s as good as it was going to look really 😂

Can’t believe it’s nearly 10 years old… might reinstall it.

I thought I’d read the product description in full and to be fair everything about it suggests to me that you could fully expect to play co-op from the start.

https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/god-of-war-sons-of-sparta/

Probably not for most the readers here - it’s crazy how well youngsters can control games on touch screen devices and I expect some of them are probably more at home on them than a physical controller. This also serves a purpose for folks with disabilities.

I hope it’s more an optional extra, and not a replacement for traditional controllers, though, since I do generally hate touch controls.. although I can learn to get on with them (evidence being the phone I am typing this on. I am also going through a learning period on a new car that has a touch screen replacing 90% of the usual buttons and knobs.. getting there!!)

3 day weekend for me. Big bike ride tomorrow and looking at a new car on Monday.

As for gaming, still playing the brilliant Cronos New Dawn.

Also, Cast & Chill on Steam Deck… once I pick it up it is quite tough to put down. Lovely graphics and soundtrack.

I am also feeling some FFX, so may install that and see how it goes.

Ah nice one. A real staple franchise for me back in the day, even if they drove me to literal tears with the difficulty. The soundtracks are awesome. Legit, if you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I was older from the age six-nine, the answer would have been a dolphin.

It’s a weird one, I would be lying if I said my initial response wasn’t a turn off. Sequels are going to change things up, but I tend to expect, for example Dead Space 2, not something else entirely.

That said, this looks great in its own way. I’ll just be a bit less excited going in, knowing my initial expectations are not likely to be met.

@clvr nice. hopefully we get a POE3

I’m interested in anything Pillars related, looking forward to playing this eventually!

Cronos: The New Dawn. Don’t sleep on this game, it’s exceeded my expectations. Very, very good.

@J2theEzzo My feeling is it is here to stay and it can be very useful for personal development (dare I say it, even enlightening).

However, it's still in it's infancy and I do think it needs to be aggressively challenged. With that in mind, I think it's actually useful that there are people who hate it with such a passion that they are willing to be hyperbolic. With so much negative noise, it seems to me more likely that we'll land at a reasonable middle-ground with it all, even if I don't completely agree with the protesters. To that extent, I feel some guilt that I am not more vocal since I do recognise that the haters are probably going to be doing me a favour in the long run, but it's just not in me.

@J2theEzzo With the statement that most people are letting it do all the thinking for them, my feeling is you're being overly presumptuous.

Although I don't doubt it has the potential to lead to diminished quality and intelligence in some (and if I am honest, I believe I have witnessed that) through my own use I have found it has the potential to open new pathways and opportunities to explore and gain experience. In that sense, I can agree with Satya.

That said, I can also see why particular individuals and industries feel very threatened by Gen AI.

Unfortunately, this is a difficult topic to discuss rationally and without hyperbole.

@J2theEzzo I use Chat as a physiotherapist, therapist and more recently to help with some photography and, along with my own input and efforts, my life has been noticeably better as a result.

On paper it should be right up my street but I’ve tried to play it a couple of times (15 hours+ the first time) and I struggle to gel with it, the vibe just doesn’t work for me. Gets a lot of love though, so fair play. Hopefully it leads to more bigger budget games with turn based combat!

Merry Christmas all

@PerpetualBoredom Fortunately I’ve yet to be a disgruntled worker.. I have worked with a few over the years though, despite the same conditions.

Nonsense tbh, they should just ignore this and carry on. Not really interested in what a few disgruntled workers might have to say either.

@TimeDelayedGamer optic camouflage 😉

I’m playing Octopath 0 and Halo 2. Both are a lot of fun - how good is the music in Halo 2?

@TheArt OS2 has a lot of unpredictable consequences when using abilities since so many have area of effect damage and it doesn’t take much to set off an unintended chain reaction, it can be pretty annoying when you have planned an attack and it all goes wrong because of some annoying interaction. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed OS1 combat quite a bit more, as it still has those environmental interactions but it’s significantly less messy and feels more rewarding when your planning pays off.

@themightyant

👀

I do feel ChatGPT has enhanced my life this year though, although I have only used it a few times to help with anything work related. If I use it to clarify any legal questions or anything like that, I always ask it to go further and reference its source (i.e on the Gov website) and read up on it there too. It’s a useful tool!

@DennisReynolds I disagree with that somewhat, Pillars combat is great on console, in particular PoE2. I admit some classes are harder to handle than others, and it can be tough dealing with multiple party members, but with the pause function+slowing down/speeding up combat on the fly+automating party members it can be a lot of fun. There is actually a turn based option for PoE2 but it is not as good as pause/play (although, admittedly, the game was not designed around that battle system and it’s been shoe horned in afterwards!)

With a mouse and keyboard it’s also a lot easier.

It’ll be ready when it’s ready, which will be about 10 or 12 years after it first releases.

@MFTWrecks ah. Funny that - I see it from both perspectives now. I must be getting older….

@MFTWrecks where is he saying otherwise? 🤔

Looks pretty good, tbf. And people can count on the moment to moment gameplay being fun, knowing Bungie. Really could go either way, I hope it is a success for them though. Not for me though I don’t think.

OS2 starts strong but the cracks are showing by the end IMO, still a great game though, I think I’ll download this soon.

@IronCrow86 you can walk around both OS games with the control stick, from day 1 on each.

My ideal modern Tomb Raider would be something like Bloodborne/Dark Souls, I.e. minimal exposition, no map, large interlinked levels. The difference, obviously, being the inclusion of puzzles and significantly less focus on combat. I don’t really care what Lara looks or sounds like, but she looks fine in this I reckon.

Switching between characters tends to put me off. I can see why they are doing it but it is not a positive for me. I struggle to enjoy Revelations for that very reason (and others, to be fair! Although, I have stuck with it and I am on the final chapters.)

@ItsAlwaysSunnyyy BG:EE is pretty troublesome with a controller. Basically you need to make use of the pause/play feature constantly. It was designed for PC really but they have done a good job of getting it working on a controller but certain classes are harder to use than others. I have cleared it on console but I wouldn't say I got the most out of the combat system by any stretch, I just sort of made it work and cheesed my way through some encounters. Pillars of Eternity is easier to play on console IMO, and I personally love PoE 2 - they also both have pause/play combat.

BG3 combat is turn based so it's a lot more manageable on console - the same as Divinity OS1 and 2.

You're not stupid but at the same time these games are not that complicated either, there is a bit of a hump to get over with either system, I'd encourage you to try out OS1/2 or BGS3 and stick with it for a bit as they are super rewarding once it clicks. BG:EE on console is a rough intro to the genre in 2025...

I mean.. come on. I’d have played it. Better than the current option (which is effectively nothing!)

Not super hyped for a TR1 remake tbh. Between Anniversary, which was also released in HD on 360/PS3 and the recent HD remasters I have played it enough.