Play
I have just arrived for three weeks in France at the in-laws, I took my Retroid with me with the intent to play through either FF Tactics or Tactics Ogre.
Want
People to leave me alone so that I can drink cidre and play the Retroid
Bin
Boomers who still don't know how to set up a TV.
Of all things, Mini Metro has entered the rotation. It's not quite relaxing, but it's low-stakes and doesn't require quick reactions. Plus I can play it on my phone.
I'd like to get back to stuff I've got in progress more than I want to start anything new – 13 Sentinels lies incomplete on my Switch, and I'd definitely like to get to the end of that before P4G arrives on the platform. I'm coming around to the new movement stuff in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope too, so that's probably going to ramp up the list sooner rather than later.
Not much at the moment, in fact – though summer holidays are about to start, so I'm sure that'll throw a spanner in the works somewhere.
Legend of Bum-Bo - Came out on Switch last week, so I grabbed it. Good solid puzzle game, nothing like Isaac but still related. Bum-Bo want coin indeed.
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Plugging away when I have time, I'm up to the second Scarecrow section.
Fall Guys - On and off when I have some spare time. It's Fall Guys so it's fine, though the monetisation model brought in since it went F2P is bullshit.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - Owned it for ages, never played it. Started it because I was working on the Direct with Sparks of Hope in it, and wanted to see what all the fuss you folks were making was about. It's good, though I'm very much not a strategy game person. Will keep on with it.
Neon White - Too expensive for an insta-buy, but it got rave reviews so I want it when it's in a sale.
ElecHead - Another surprise title that's had good write-ups and seems right up my alley. It's only £7, but I don't have time to play it now so it's on the wishlist.
Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course - As above, on the wishlist. That said, I never finished the main game so maybe I should do that first.
Nowt here, bar the Geman summer heat/humidity. Barely dropping below 28° here currently, and I can't deal with it. It's only just July. Ugh. Bring on autumn.
Play
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak - majestic new expansion for MHR which actually fixes most of my issues with the base game. I always felt Rise was quite a slight Monster Hunter game, a bit too arcadey for my tastes, but it turns out that (a) adding a load of content helps, obviously and (b) so does hugely increasing the difficulty level. Now I'm forced to actually make the most of my weapon's skills, and learn the environments, and carefully manage my armour sets, it all makes so much more sense. It's a genuinely brilliant game that I'm having real trouble dragging myself away from.
Kentucky Route Zero - haunting, elegiac visual novel that tries very hard to channel the spirit of David Lynch and comes closer than I expected to actually managing it. It's surreal and disjointed and extremely text-heavy but I've genuinely never played anything quite like it and it's kind of lurking at the back of my brain even when I'm not playing it. Absolutely not for everyone but I kind of like it.
Want
I was all set to dive into Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes until Sunbreak dropped, now it's just sitting there installed on my Switch waiting for me. I absolutely will get around to it soon; at least with Switch games holding their value, I don't feel I've lost out by buying it at launch.
I really want to play AI: The Somnium Files - NirvanA Initiative, having recently played through and loved the first one, but common sense tells me it'll probably be on Game Pass by the time I get around to it.
Stuff to look forward to: Slime Rancher 2, Mario & Rabbids 2, Return to Monkey Island, the release of Persona 5 Royal on Game Pass, Splatoon 3, A Plague Tale: Requiem and further out I guess Star Wars - Jedi Survivor, Hellblade 2 and The Plucky Squire. Lots of good stuff on the way. Feels like maybe we are finally moving out of the Covid slump and back to a more normal release schedule.
Bin
Speaking of Covid, here comes another wave with the regularity of the train service… no, wait, the Tories have fucked that too. Anyway, two and a bit years in and I've still managed to dodge this but frankly no-one in the country seems to give a shit any more and my wife's woken up with a sore throat this morning so it feels like my luck might be about to run out. Stay safe out there people.
General governmental bollocks - temped to put "violent, bloody revolution" in the Want category now - it is surely only a matter of time.
Play: I'm still on the last boss in Elden Ring. Still. I'm getting better at it and reliably get through to the Elden Beast part of the fight but hells teeth that boss is one of the most frustrating parts of any of these bastard games. I'm getting to somewhere around 170 hours of playtime and would estimate that somewhere around 10-15 hours has been on that boss. Not all playing – have a go, put it down, make some tea, another go, do the ironing, another go…
Picked up God of War again for a play through because I fully expect to go for Ragnarok when it comes. Also have Disco Elysium on the go and occasionally playing a bit of Spiderman. The PS5 is good for my terrible attention span because everything loads in so quickly. I've got Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on disc, it came with the console but that owuld mean taking the Elden Ring disc out and admitting defeat.
Want: Nothing really. The PS5 collection feature is my personal folder of shame for all the games bought but hardly played. I'm going to work through that. But I'm tempted to get the new PS+ so that I can play Returnal and Demon's Souls for less than half the cost of one of them…
Bin: Shadow of War? Middle Earth: Shadow of War? Shadow of Mordor 2? This was first off the shame pile. I LOVED THE FIRST GAME so it was that memory that had me keeping an eye on this for a long old time before buying it.
I don't know what it is about this one, the nemesis system is not as involving, the locations should be more interesting but for some reason feel both more packed with stuff and also less inviting to play around with. I sort of realised I'd had my fill when I switched skin to the female character and it made bugger all difference to what the game did in it's VO, cutscenes or… any part of the game.
Play
Monster Hunter Rise
I know some people think Rise streamlined the experience of the series a bit with 'aggressive' QoL, to the point that the feel of The Hunt and The Preperation has been lost a bit but I spent a good few hours last night farming and hunting Monsters to make Decorations and new Greatswords and it was such a full on Monster Hunter experience I needed to take a break afterwards. Like it was a lot of fun but moreso the satisfaction of working towards a goal is still here, I still think the spirit of the series is intact even if I do miss the feeling of having to track a Monster and then marking it…
Also, the new Monsters are actually great so far, the 'Three Lords' in particular are all brilliant, Lunagaron was one of the ones I farmed last night and at first I thought it was just 'An Odagaron but with Ice, pretty cool but nothing spectacular'
Spoiler - click to showThen it started to stand on it's hind legs, howling, grew about one and half times bigger and enveloped it's body with a layer of Frost, including a set of Wolverine style Ice claws it uses to eviscerate you…lads, it's a fucking Werewolf. :o
I think it's my favourite fight in Rise so far :o
Also, if you want to practice weapons you haven't built yet and want an actuial Arcade like MH experience, the Arena challenges are great and ask you to fight in an arena with a choice of preset gear and weapons.
AI: The Somnium Files
I was a few days in last year then stopped, I blame the Ota character or something I dunno, but a few days ago I played it and went to the end of one route in no time at all, completely hooked the entire time. In some ways this feels really close to Phoenix Wright…but I think this does some things better? Like the Crime Investigation bits are just snappier and I like how it does interacting with characters a bit more.
The thing about these Visual Novel type games is that the writing is important of course, and this game isn't as good as Ace Attorney Chronicles imo so there's that, the game seems to be written by someone in sore need of a wank or something because this game is littered with out of nowhere porn jokes and references. I don't really give a shit other than the few at Iris' expense but the shooutout sections were really disappointing to me because they robbed two potentially tense moments for a really unfunny joke where you shoot women's lingerie off a clothing rack to distract armed guards trying to kill you. At another point your boss starts firing random innuendos at you that make her look like she has the brain of a 16 year old, I hear the sequel doubled down on this, it's whatever though, maybe they'll be actually funny this time.
Not to rag on the game too much, I think the characters in this game, and the central mystery of the murders the game is about, are excellent. The exchanges between Date and and his cybernetic, robotic A.I eyeball called Aiba are good, as is pretty much everything about Mizuki, the 12 year old who can bench press over 200lb and will fight for for her friends with a steel pipe.
I haven't even finished yet so it might not stick the landing but if it does I might end up going straight into the sequel asap.
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Back on my AW bullshit, it's just the perfect commute game really.
Want
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Bin
I thought Somnium Files absolutely stuck the landing, I hugely enjoyed the game overall. I agree it is relentlessly horny but after a while that just becomes ridiculous and I did very much enjoy Mizuki and Aiba constantly calling out the protagonist on his bullshit.
Not gonna lie, I'm very tempted to get the sequel but £50 is a lot for a Visual Novel, I might wait for at least the first price drop if not the inevitable Game Pass release.
Additional WANT:
Lollipop Chainsaw - Remake confirmed, give it to me. Original was ridiculous and great, so I'm in.
Play
Fire Emblem: Three Houses - revisiting after the conversations in here, but it's still not quite clicking yet. Will give it another couple of hours and see. Maybe it's just not for me.
Cozy Grove - good, light fun this one, picked it up cheap on Switch a while ago. You play a scout trying to solve problems for ghost bears on a deserted island by collecting the right items, etc. It's very light, non-taxing, rpg-light fun, but definitely Cozy and good for a tired evening, and I like Spry Fox's sense of humour/obsession with bears (I spent far too long playing Triple Town and Alphabear on Android).
AI: Somnium Files - started this on hols last week, and it seems good. Controls are a bit clunky, but it's intriguing so far. I loved 999 etc, so looking forward to this.
Want
Xenoblade 3, and time to play it.
Bin
Work. And, you know, all the other stuff. The news feels like a slow motion version of the end of Cabin in the Woods at the moment.
I thought Somnium Files absolutely stuck the landing, I hugely enjoyed the game overall. I agree it is relentlessly horny but after a while that just becomes ridiculous and I did very much enjoy Mizuki and Aiba constantly calling out the protagonist on his bullshit.
Not gonna lie, I'm very tempted to get the sequel but £50 is a lot for a Visual Novel, I might wait for at least the first price drop if not the inevitable Game Pass release.
His older work, The Nonary Games and I think maybe Zero Time Dilemma are on game pass now so I am definitely getting in on that at least
The Nonary Games (especially Virtue's Last Reward) are ace. Zero Time Dilemma… eh, not so much.
Yeah, I see that one has the most mixed reactions online from fans of the series, seems like he's somewhat bounced back with the Somnium Files though even if the first bombed pretty hard.
Additional Play: I saw someone on a stream playing a 2D Theme Park-style business sim called Let's Build a Zoo (currently 30% off on Steam, for another 26 hours), and despite my standard misgivings about chunky pixel art the combination of readability and Theme Park nostalgia won me over and I grabbed it.
It's pretty good! The learning curve is less aggressive than other games I've played in the genre, so it's a nice relaxing time, and you get to genetically splice pigs and geese into a new abomination to attract visitors. (It's also got a whole morality track that ties into zoo upgrades – you can buy an abattoir to dispose of unneeded animals, for instance, but only if you've got a certain level of evil karma.)
I'm not sure how long it'll keep my interest, but that's a me problem. I've been playing a bunch of Mini Metro and Slay the Spire lately, and I really appreciate the lack of context required when I come back to them - no half-finished long-term plans to remember when you're basically starting from scratch every time.
Play
I have just arrived for three weeks in France at the in-laws, I took my Retroid with me with the intent to play through either FF Tactics or Tactics Ogre.
Turns out that the Retroid is slightly too small to comfortably play FF Tactics, it has a lot of text and menus. Isn't it coming to Switch soon? Anyway I am instead blitzing through the first GBA Fire Emblem and loving it.
Dead Space 2- 7/10
A good amount I really liked about this sequel. First giving the main character a voice works out for the best. The story between you and your girlfriend was definitely the highlight and had a satisfying end. I loved for a few chapters you go back to the ship in the first game. A cheap nostalgia pop I admit, but I enjoyed it. As for enemies, not a lot of new ones unfortunately. Although one of the few new ones they did add were amazing called the stalkers. Hiding behind walls or objects like a game of hide and seek in the dark was my favorite part of the gameplay. Really needed more of that because having the same enemies and guns as the first game isn't enough. Doesn't help that this is no longer a horror game and way, way more action now. The combat is decent in Dead Space but isn't what makes it great in my opinion. A good game overall, but not great like the first one was.
Play
At work we've moved onto Tekken 7, never really played much of any Tekken but now we've picked this up I am really enjoying it. Still plugging away at both Knights of the Old Republic, Cyberpunk and Jedi Knight 2 when I get the chance.
Want
The 25th of July. We finally completed for our house at the end of June and the last few weekends have been a tiring slog of painting, decorating and getting quotes for things all around care of a 5 year old. On the 25th we have the movers booked though so all the furniture, beds etc will be at OUR house, and we can get on with not having to move between where we rent and home everytime we need to do something, get something delivered.
Bin
This heat.
The amount of cables I seem to own for each console, not sure why I own 7 different types of scart cable for the PS2 but apparently I do.
The amount of cables I seem to own for each console, not sure why I own 7 different types of scart cable for the PS2 but apparently I do.
I own two Dreamcast HDMI cables, even though neither of them will work with the one game I'm actually wanting to play on the machine (Skies of Arcadia doesn't support VGA in the PAL version, an apparently necessity for these cables). I don't know why I bought a second one.
I have a whole Kallax drawer of random cables – including more HDMI leads than I could reaosnably ever need – that I desperately need to clear out at some point.
Playing Sonic Origins and having a blast. The widescreen is perfect for the classic Sonic games, and the drop dash from Sonic Mania is a nice addition too. All the cartoon animations are gorgeous. Kinda makes me want a whole TV show in this style. I have no idea why they already have paid DLC for stuff that should already be in game like "classic soundtracks". Just seems a bit greedy.
Fall Guys - On and off when I have some spare time. It's Fall Guys so it's fine, though the monetisation model brought in since it went F2P is bullshit.
This has been a huge hit with my son and his group of friends. He/we played it a fair bit a couple of years ago when it first came out, but now it's gone free to play it seems to have attracted a huge audience. The cross-platform multiplayer and voice chat is seamless and it all works really well. (The Switch version is a bit ropey but it's still playable; every other version is fine).
Probably helps that (a) it's the summer holidays and (b) Fortnite is having a bit of a duff season but this is definitely the game of choice for the kids at the moment. I've dabbled a bit too and it's got so many more rounds in than it used to have, it's genuinely fun to drop in and out of.
All those complaining that the monetisation model is bad and progress is slow need to consider just HOW MUCH kids play these things, too. Some of his mates have already completed the battle pass with six weeks left to run in the season. The individual costumes are too expensive at the moment but it has the benefit of making costumes rare and desirable and everyone went nuts when they released an unlockable skin based on completing daily/weekly challenges. I still think it's got potential, though it'll be interesting to see how many people actually stump up for the battle pass next season; I don't think the cosmetics are quite good enough or plentiful enough yet to justify the outlay.
Have you ever won a "show" on Fall Guys, Gar? I played it for weeks and never won one. :(
I won a few back when the game was new and everyone was as incompetent as me, but not since it went free to play. Solo games now have skill-based matchmaking, rather than the random selections of players it used to have, which makes things much harder.
My son is much better than me at the game though and he's carried me to a couple of Duos wins over the last few days.
According to the achievements that carried over from PS4, I've won seven episodes overall. Fuck knows how. Highly unlikely I'll ever hit the 20 needed for the top achievement.
Caved the other night and paid the £20 offer to upgrade PS+ to access the catalogue but not the streaming options. I've downloaded and dipped into John Wick Hex, R-Type Final 2, Velocibox (a perfect argument for the service – if I'd have bought this it would get played but it's just too difficult to feel any satisfaction) and The Artful Escape. I've got to admit that it scratches the right itch for me: loads of things I've quite fancied and would probably buy on a whim after a lot of umm-ing and aah-ing without feeling bad for picking up a dud I'll hardly play. There's stuff I've seen on sale countless times that I will have read up on and dismissed but now that they're available to try, given the time I spent reading up on them, there's no reason not to give them a spin.
The Main draw was the Demon's Souls/Returnal double header. Downloaded both of them and had a quick look at Returnal which needs more attention. Demon's Souls – bear in mind I spent a lot of time with this game during the PS3 years – was very close to being deleted after a few goes. It looks lovely, I thought and (from what I remember) they've done quite a bit in terms of accessibility around the stats and even the cut scenes, but a lot of the actual game feels dated off the back of Elden Ring. I think this comes down to the pace of the combat which is much slower and more deliberate making repetition through the levels more of a chore. But… After playing 1-1 with a few builds I'd not typically used something clicked with the Thief. I ended up staying up quite late doing some of the early game just to see what things were like. Hard to say if I've got the stomach for a full run through but I'm confident I'll get my money's worth.
Play
Evil Within 2- I'm around 5 hours in at the moment. I was worried started this one up, because so many people say the second isn't as good as the first Evil Within. I can definitely see why. The first one was very linear which helped create some intense horror moments. As someone who really liked the first one. I can honestly say Evil Within 2 is a massive improvement! I wouldn't go as far to say it's a open world, more open hubs to explore. Adding great side quest that can feel like main missions up to now. Like you would expect with this type of game, ammo is limited. Which is a great incentive to investigate house's, alleyways or whatnot. I don't think I've seen a open world/horror game before (let me know if you know some good ones), but man. It's really works so far.
Driving further than Tesco. I've covered about a thousand miles in the last two weeks and would very much like one day where I'm not behind the wheel of a car for even one minute.
Bin
Driving further than Tesco. I've covered about a thousand miles in the last two weeks and would very much like one day where I'm not behind the wheel of a car for even one minute.
Feeling this. I drove a thousand miles on Thursday and Friday. Do not feel keen to drive any more. I did get a lot of my audiobooks listened to though.
I gave up my car when I moved and I can't lie… best thing I ever did. Public transport in Frankfurt (and Germany as a whole) is cheap and highly efficient, and the city is covered by options to get from A to B. I'll never drive again and I couldn't be happier.
Additional PLAY:
Cuphead - Guess I'm doing this now. Never had much success with it, but then I watched a video offering some advice on how not to be shit at it and now things are starting to click. Reassigning the buttons is definitely the biggest help, didn't think of doing that. Let's see how this goes then.
WANT:
Cult of the Lamb - Did I mention this before? Can't remember. It's out August 11th though, so I'll be all over it as soon as it arrives.
BIN:
Garden Story - Thought I'd like this, but it lasted literally five minutes before I was bored. Deleted. Thanks Game Pass!
Play/Bin - MultiVersus, a piss-poor free-to-play Smash Bros clone that exists primarily as a way of monetising corporate IP and as a vehicle for a ton of really pricey microtransactions.
There are a few seconds' entertainment to be had from seeing Batman punch Shaggy in the face, but it's such a brazen clone I'm surprised Nintendo isn't suing, and it's just so lacking in comparison to its inspiration. The 17 characters, taken from thrilling corporate properties including Scooby Doo, Steven Universe, Game of Thrones and the DC roster, are fine, but you'll only have access to four of them to start with and it's a long old grind (or hands in wallets time) to get access to the rest. There are a tiny handful of stages and none of the crazy items or customisation that Smash offers.
Maybe over time, as it gains more characters and features, it'll be worth revisiting, but we played it for about half an hour then went straight back to Smash Bros and had a great time.
Interesting. Outside of the IAP nonsense, I've heard it's actually quite solid on the gameplay front. Will give it a go but, to be fair, I don't like Smash so I doubt I'll like this either.
It's quite solid because Smash is a great design and they've ripped it off wholesale.
I'm probably being cynical because I have access to a much, much better version of this that I can play any time. As a F2P game on platforms that don't have Smash then I guess it's fine. Apparently the netcode is good so maybe I need to jump online and see how that goes.
I was discussing this at work the other day and for me, the fundamental difference is synergy for the characters. In Smash, the fighters come from all over the place but they're chosen for what they can bring to the table in combat firstly, with the IP being secondary (but still important). For MultiVersus though, it's backwards: WB is literally going 'Right, who do we own?' and throwing them into the mix, then working out the combat afterwards.
That's fine if it works, but it's definitely cynical in terms of game design. I remember how badly Sony fucked it with their attempt, but then all that did was highlight just how few Sony-exclusive characters there are. At least here, there's some depth… though what it looks like when Arya Stark stabs Jerry Mouse through the face, I hate to think.
I think you're right, and it's a bit depressing that with 17 starter characters, I still have literally no idea who half of them are. That's me being an old git though I guess.
It's got potential though. Chuck in a few Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings characters and I'm likely to find it more appealing.
See, now I need to know who you're drawing a blank on, given that I'm older than you and know all of them. 
From left to right:
Shaggy
Batman
Tasmanian Devil
No idea
Dogbert?
No idea
Apparently Arya Stark but I'd never have guessed
Harley Quinn
Wonder Woman
Superman
Some sort of robot
No idea
No idea
Velma
Bugs Bunny
Tom and Jerry
And they've since added some sort of generic basketball man who isn't shown in this picture.
I don't know some of those, but you really need to watch Iron Giant.
The others are Adventure Time and Steven Universe. Neither of which I have actually watched but both are very popular in RPG circles.
Apparently both Rick and Morty are going to be added very shortly so they are obviously continuing apace with new characters.
Various other characters leaked during development too including The Joker, Fred Flintstone, Gandalf, Legolas, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Marvin the Martian and a bunch of others I've never heard of.
I think I'm talking myself into going back and giving this another go.
From left to right:
Shaggy
Batman
Tasmanian Devil
No idea
Dogbert?
No idea
Apparently Arya Stark but I'd never have guessed
Harley Quinn
Wonder Woman
Superman
Some sort of robot
No idea
No idea
Velma
Bugs Bunny
Tom and JerryAnd they've since added some sort of generic basketball man who isn't shown in this picture.
I can't say I'm surprised if you've never seen Steven Universe (Garnet and Steven) or Adventure Time (Finn and Jake). Both shows are awesome though for their own reasons.
The green dog thing is a character bespoke to MultiVersus, so meh. The 'generic' basketball man is LeBron James from Space Jam 2 (he's no Michael Jordan, but hey).
But to say you don't know the Iron Giant… well. Dunno what kind of childhood you had, you're not THAT much younger than me.
Ah, I see the Iron Giant was some kind of cartoon adaptation of the book The Iron Man, which I definitely did read as a kid. So I do kind of know who that is. It's been a long long time but I thought the whole point of the character was that he looked scary but was actually really peaceful? Seems like an odd choice to have in a fighting game.
Edit: oh god, I've just looked up the plot summary for the movie and it's as bad as I feared.
Spoiler - click to showHogarth is knocked unconscious, but the Giant, thinking that Hogarth is dead, ultimately gives in to his defensive system in a fit of rage and grief and attacks the military in retaliation, transforming into a war machine and making its way back to Rockwell. Mansley convinces Rogard to prepare a nuclear missile launch from the USS Nautilus, as conventional weapons prove to be ineffective. Hogarth awakens and returns in time to calm the Giant while Dean clarifies the situation to Rogard. The General is ready to stand down and order the Nautilus to deactivate its primed nuke, but Mansley impulsively orders the missile launch in a fit of paranoia, causing the missile to head towards Rockwell, where it will destroy the town and its population upon impact in the resulting nuclear detonation. Mansley attempts to escape after being given a furious scolding by Rogard, but the Giant stops him, and Rogard has Mansley arrested. To save the town, the Giant bids farewell to Hogarth and flies off to intercept the missile. As he soars directly into the missile's path, the Giant remembers Hogarth's words, "You are who you choose to be," smiles contentedly, and says "Superman" as he collides with the weapon. The missile explodes in the atmosphere, saving Rockwell, its population, and the military forces nearby, while the Giant is presumably destroyed, leaving Hogarth, Dean, Annie, and Rogard devastated.
Fucking Americans, man.
This game is absolutely killing it in terms of fighting game numbers, at least on Steam. I haven't played it and don't know if I want to but they've done something right here, F2P and quick to get into a game must really help.
It's been a long long time but I thought the whole point of the character was that he looked scary but was actually really peaceful? Seems like an odd choice to have in a fighting game.
Congratulations, you've just unwittingly summarised the outcry (well, in internet terms, at least) that happened from some fans of the book/film when he was announced as a character. 
I've put a fair bit of time into this now and I've got to say I'm massively disappointed. The idea of a free to play fighting game has been something I've always wanted to see on this scale. With it being a smash type of game I think it's a good fit. I actually think the monetization seems decent (so far). I've got two new characters and I've not really gone out of my way. The overall presentation feels high budget too. Every character is voiced and the online play is very smooth. It's the gameplay for me that's the issues. It's so slow, simple and clunky. Ever special has so much start up and ending lag. Which means the animations are incredible to look at (just look up Tom & Jerry move set, OMG) but slows the gameplay down for me. That could be the characters I'm using though, so I'll have to go more into that myself. No block, no grab, less attacks and focusing on blasting the enemies into the kill zone for a kill. I liked in Smash the off the platform battles for cheap low percentage kills but unless you get knocked out the stage into the blast zones completely you'll always make it back. Every character can use two jumps plus two specials plus two air dodges and can stick to the walls on the side of the stage to recover all that again. Noway your not making it back. I was having more fun this morning so maybe all this will grow on me.
This game is absolutely killing it in terms of fighting game numbers, at least on Steam. I haven't played it and don't know if I want to but they've done something right here, F2P and quick to get into a game must really help.
Insane numbers. You should give it a go and invite me if you see me online.
Every character can use two jumps plus two specials plus two air dodges and can stick to the walls on the side of the stage to recover all that again. Noway your not making it back.
You're thinking like someone who's clearly good at games. Now imagine you're a young child because a) it's F2P and b) it's got fun cartoon characters in it. It's designed like that to be accessible, and even then what you're talking about takes skill. I can see why they've done it like that.
Yeah, I think you're absolutely spot on with that. I went back to it this evening with fresh eyes and actually had quite a lot of fun with it. It's definitely different to Smash - battles are longer, characters feel like they have more survivability, and the special moves need a bit of thought as you can't just spam them due to start-up times and cooldown timers.
Picking one character, levelling up a bit and unlocking a few perks definitely seems like the way to go. And the emphasis on 2v2 battles (and the support moves many characters have) makes it different again.
The monetisation is OK too, as Beany says you can get a couple of characters quite quickly although the requirements do ramp up after that. Just need to get out of the mentality that you need to unlock everything, and just unlock the characters you actually want. You can play with them all in the training mode and in local multiplayer so it's easy to try before you buy.
I've misjudged this, I think: it's no Smash, but I'm starting to think it's not necessarily trying to be. I think it has the potential to be huge.
Every character can use two jumps plus two specials plus two air dodges and can stick to the walls on the side of the stage to recover all that again. Noway your not making it back.
You're thinking like someone who's clearly good at games. Now imagine you're a young child because a) it's F2P and b) it's got fun cartoon characters in it. It's designed like that to be accessible, and even then what you're talking about takes skill. I can see why they've done it like that.
I agree with what your saying and this is definitely a me problem. I'm coming from a competitive point of view. I just hope they find a good sweet spot for competitive and casual play like smash.
Like Gar says, I'm coming round to this. I was having a blast last night. Superman seems strong in this. His normals have one hit armor when charging and pack a punch at the same time. His up air special is way too good and need patching I think. I was getting kills around 90 percent. I even got my first rage quit last night. Wonder Woman is fun too. She's a bit harder to use but I think she'll be good in teams. I hope ranked comes soon, I think I saw something on it coming out next month with Rick and Morty.
Play
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Finally, it's here! So far it's definitely a Xenogears game, British voice acting(A character exclaims 'bollocks!' at one point and I was caught so off guard by it I laughed), Faux-MMO gameplay, beautiful vistas (as much as the Switch hardware is clearly holding it back now) and a very Anime plot, needless to say I love it. You can't beat those opening post tutorial hours of a Xenogears game where you can just run around the first big area farming mobs and finding a huge lv100 Monkey towering above you…although I haven't found him in this yet.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was a good game, but it was let down by that awful gacha system and the RNG skills and loss of control in battle so all this needs to do to be better so far is just not have those…and I don't think it does. Combat is the same so far, but better and I've not even unlocked the elements that make this game unique in the series besides the fact that party members in specific roles can drop an aoe field around them that can boost defense/offense or slowly regenerate health over time. Given this has MMO style combat it's nice to see positionals and movement being still somewhat important.
Story hasn't really kicked off yet but man it's pretty grim as a premise, there's two nations locked in war and they fight it by creating human soldiers who have a ten year lifespan, the only life they seem to have for those ten years is war. Anyone who dies on the battlefield becomes fuel for a big mech protecting their particular colony, from what I can see it is literally their deaths fuelling their big war machine, as if they were walking sacrifices. :o
If they somehow survive their ten 'Terms' as the game calls it they get a 'Homecoming Ceremony' where a dude with a flute sings them off to the afterlife as they scatter to particles in the sky, the game has an early scene where one of the main characters as a child witnesses this ceremony and happily boasts 'That's going to be me one day! ' as if dying is something to look forward to.
It's apparently long as fuck which suits me fine because I want to play this forever tbh, not been this hype since Kuro no Kiseki.
Al in 'Still paying full price for Nintendo games despite the options available to him' shocker, more news at 11.
It's apparently long as fuck which suits me fine because I want to play this forever
Sunday: Guys, I completed Xenoblade Chronicles 3!
Twice.