The Witcher 3. Still a hell of a thing. I've never played a game as dense as this before: yes it's big in terms of sheer size but it's also crammed full of stuff, quests leading into strings of other quests and stuff you'll spend hours doing for no material gain just because the writing is amazing. It's still a bit clunky in places (there's a lot of time spent in menus, and the process of buying/selling/crafting stuff is particularly painful) but overall it's easy to see why it's gained the reputation it has. Also, I've been playing it for nearly a month and I suspect I'm not even halfway through yet.
Slay the Spire. Gone back to this for a bit of light relief, waiting for the fourth character to drop (it's only out on the Steam version at the moment) but reminding myself how amazing this game is. It's just phenomenally well balanced, I'm continuing to find new synergies between cards and totally different ways of approaching the game with all three of the original characters. Genuinely one of the best games I've ever played.
Star Trek: Timelines. Yes, it's a mobile game, full of timers, cooldowns, premium currencies and "special offers" for only £99.99. You click buttons and watch numbers go up and that's ultimately all there is to it. But it's strangely compulsive: if the definition of a good game is something that makes you want to play it, this certainly ticks all the boxes. I've been going through a bit of a Trek phase lately, catching up on old episodes as part of the run-up to Picard, and this certainly scratches an itch.
Want
As above, I'm waiting for the new Slay the Spire character to arrive on the GamePass versions of the game.
Cyberpunk 2077 has placed itself firmly on my radar, not previously something I'd had any interest in but if it's anything like as good as Witcher 3 it'll be quite something.
I'm quite looking forward to Doom Eternal.
Bin
We'll all be dead of the coronavirus within a month so what's the point? I guess it's a better way to go than death by Brexit.
Although the little shits that are bullying my kid about the coronavirus at school because he's half-Chinese, they can get in the bin.
That's horrible Gar ☹️ are the school doing anything about it?
Yeah, they're taking it seriously but the kids have been bullying him for months, they're sly little bastards so the school is only aware of some of what's been going on. It's his final year in primary school at least so he'll be free of them in a few months, moving onto better things hopefully.
I swear, Brexit's let the worst of society loose. See also: as reported on the Guardian website, the Norwich tower block where some prick on Friday put up signs saying the residents of the block no longer tolerated people speaking anything other than English. Fuck sake.
PLAY Binding Of Isaac: Afterbirth+ - back into this in a big way, though I couldn't tell you why. Well, I could, it's because I finally unboxed/played the card game based on it that I backed on Kickstarter, and it's a glorious experience. Went back to the game and now I'm sucked back in. Apparently, I got really far in this on PS4, though I honestly don't remember doing so much or actually being that good at it. Huh.
WANT Animal Crossing: New Horizons - in the worst way, because I can't wait for it. My partner to come visit again - because we're so close to her finally moving here for good. Five months to go.
BIN Mario Kart Tour - fell out of love with this in only the space of a week, now I've not played it in nearly a month. Oh well.
Play: Surprisingly I’ve taken up with Horizon: Zero Dawn. I’m enjoying it a lot more than I thought but I’m also not desperate to play it. It’s still early doors, I’ve just fought the first Sawtooth but I’ve also spent more time than you’re probably supposed to hunting in the very first area. It’s a) quite satisfying and b) clear to me that I can’t remember what the buttons are so this seems like a good exercise in familiarisation. It reminds me a bit of Shadow of Mordor but a bit prettier despite the terrible facial animations. Want: I’d like to play Kentucky Route Zero but also I’m not great at engaging with those narrative heavy titles. Will wait for a sale. Bin: I think I’m done with God of War for the moment. Not playing anything over Christmas has sort of killed my momentum with the game. I’m not ruling out a NG+ but I never rule out a NG+ and very rarely manage to get back around to it.
After getting into Mario Kart Switch I went back through all the other MK games I had lying around. MK SNES is not great. MK GBA is great, and is the most advanced Mario Kart which doesn't have a blue shell, so it might be the best in the whole series. MK DS is rubbish.
Those were all games I had lying around but as I was getting annoyed by the MK Switch circuits which insist on turning you into a hover car or a plane or a sub all the time, I remembered that I used to enjoy MK Wii and lot and it my mind it was more sensible. So I tracked down a copy and played that too. Some of it is great, some of it is a bit dull. It is also the worst for the fact that your position at the end of lap 1 is completely irrelevant but you can't make a mistake at all in lap three or you will get shot by every other car and the best you can hope for is 11th. So yeah, MK Switch is better.
I've also been playing through Mario Galaxy 2. Some of it is great, some of it is just annoying. I just did a beach level which is some of the most phoned-in filler I have ever seen in a Nintendo game.
Oh, and I put Skies of Arcadia on my phone. So far so JRPG but I'm going to spend less time on Twitter and more time playing this.
Both D&D games are still rolling along.
Want
Animal Crossing Switch
An Independence referendum
Bin
Turning 40
Being ill
Having kids
Having a dog
Uni
Brexit
Twitter
After getting into Mario Kart Switch I went back through all the other MK games I had lying around. MK SNES is not great. MK GBA is great, and is the most advanced Mario Kart which doesn't have a blue shell, so it might be the best in the whole series.
I once read a very convincing argument about why the blue shell is good. It's not there for the benefit of the person in last who fired it, or even the person in 2nd who'll overtake. It's there so that first place will have more fun.
When you're out front in Mario Kart, with no-one to bother you and nothing to focus on except your drifting, the game becomes a little dull. So those blue shells are actually little hugs from the game, which just wants you to enjoy yourself.
In the absence of an accessible SCART socket on our wall-mounted TV (we just don't have the clearance between the port and the wall), I've installed the Redream Dreamcast emulator on every device I can (PC, tablet and phone) so that I can play Skies of Arcadia. It's everything I remember, and the emulator features are taking the sting out of some of its more frustrating idiosyncracies – random battles are less frustrating when you can turn on fast-forward, and have a state save that frees you up from relying on sparse save points.
On the tabletop, my 13th Age campaign continues apace, and I'm really enjoying it. The terrain-building thing I'd been doing has taken a bit of a back seat as I've already got everything I need for encounters in the near future, but I would like to finish off the flagstone dungeon tiles at some stage just to have 'em.
Want
Since we finally got our own TV up on the wall (replacing one left behind by the previous owners of our house) with sufficient HDMI ports for multiple consoles, I've been testing out the PS3, PS4 and Xbox 360 - and I'm sorely tempted to raid CEX for cheap 360 games - starting with Blur, Viva Piñata and at least one Gears of War. Maybe some Mass Effects and Fable 2. And Fallout 3 or New Vegas. Prince of Persia 2008. Borderlands? And I'll need a second pad for some of these. (Sorely tempted by a One X too, since most of 'em are back compatible.)
I can haz #indyref2 plz
Bin
The endless raft of mindless, time-consuming meetings that I've been dragged into today. I've said about six words altogether between them.
@MPH That might be the intent, but the games often require perfect runs to get stars and unlocks. Also if there steps are supposed to add fun, why do they got just before the last corner?
@aniki I could post you some 360 games. I have Blur, Gears 1, Mass Effect 1-3, Fallout 3 and maybe Borderlands. We are all hoarding all this shit, it might as well get some use sometime.
Granblue Fantasy Versus - this is out in Asia now, not due for the US until mid-March and no date for EU. Thankfully, the version up on the Singapore and Hong Kong PSN stores is in English (and Chinese/Korean), so I grabbed it now. Because I'm an impatient idiot.
As mentioned before, it's a beat-em-up by Arc System Works, so it looks as gorgeous as Guilty Gear, Blazblue and Dragon Ball FighterZ. However, having watched videos, it appears to be a lot more grounded and methodically paced than those games, which suits me down to the ground. I'm much more of a guy that likes more strategic fighters as opposed to all-out mayhem like, say, Smash, so this one's right up my alley.
Plus! I mentioned it before, but the single player is an RPG lite more akin to Dragon's Crown or Odin's Sphere than a regular fighter where you just plough though single one-on-one fights. That gets me very excited. Here's a video of that in action:
Yup, got it too. It's amazing. Take the most gorgeous graphics of any current fighting and combine it with a roster design taken from the mobile game (the worst design is still like at least an 8/10) and give it to the guys who made Guilty Gear and BlazBlue you practically have the perfect fighting game.
The RPG mode is cool, its like Mart says, very Dragon Crown but also they translated a lot of the gacha game to it, the weapon grid is straight from the gacha. I hear you even get to roll on stuff later on and then cry because you didn't get Charlotta…or was that just me. ahem
Best thing is there are fucking loads of awesome characters in the gacha so they have so much to choose from, as long as they choose Sandalphon. :)
Play
Thanks in no small part (read: entirely) to aniki, I've been playing Skies of Arcadia, both in Legends flavour on the newly-reconnected Gamecube, and original Dreamcast flavour on my phone. I've never gotten very far in it, so we'll see how I manage this time.
Also still putting the time in for a couple of round of Titanfall 2 most evenings, if only for the bonus Happy Hour merits. I've finally unlocked the Scorch skin I've had my eye on forever (the reward for 100 killing sprees), nor I just need to keep ranking up for the weapon skin.
Want
Nothing new, just the time to finish all the stuff I've started; my pile of shame includes DOOM, God of War, and Dishonored 2, plus a ton of older/less prestigious entries that I nevertheless like enough to want to finish.
I'm torn. I wanted to go down the Ladiva (Vesdiva?) route, but I'm not sure it's my play style… even though Zangief is absolutely my bag. Currently deciding between Metera, Ferry and Zeta. I think it'll end up being Zeta. Maybe.
Side question for Al: you said you were playing the mobile game? How? It's not on the EU Google Play store. Do I need to get a hooky .apk and go from there? Is it in English?
EDIT: Ignore me, I've done it and it's broken/shit. Doesn't want to scale to my phone screen at all, the touch points and the buttons don't line up and it's almost impossible to play. Oh well.
Additional play: I've finally started through the PS4 release of Shenmue. I'm taking my time with it, in stark contrast to my usual "get to disc 2 ASAP" approach on Dreamcast, and I've already encountered a handful of scenes that I've either not seen before, or had just completely forgotten.
The combat is, as usual, the weakest link by a considerable distance, with none of the modern concessions to usability like limiting enemy attacks or staggering them on hit; the first main story fight - against a bunch of sailors in a car park - left me on a single hit point as I got surrounded and battered by six guys at once. Not looking forward to the 70-Man Free Battle at the end of the game, to be honest.
the first main story fight - against a bunch of sailors in a car park - left me on a single hit point as I got surrounded and battered by six guys at once.
That's more of a Port Talbot thing. Although something sort of similar apparently happened to a woman in a car park in Neath, my mate was telling me. They weren't fighting, and I'm not sure if any of them were sailors, but apart from that it sounds much the same.
Mart, did you try the Phone App version? I dunno' if it was just a bad case of incompatibilty with your specific phone or the app or not but the app isn't recommended. It's not so much a phone game, it's a browser game and you can play it on your PC if you wanted and also your Phone browser (which is what I'm doing).
I forgot what I did but I'll look up how I made the account to play it later, if you fancy another go.
I have the account already, so just having access to the browser client would work. If you have the link, I'll give it another crack.
The app ran, but the buttons didn't match up to where you actually had to touch the screen. Broken as hell. But then, it's a really old app, so no surprise it's not totally compatible with new phones. Sigh.
EDIT: Found the link, that works much better. Shame I did the tutorial, connected my Mobage account and then got thrown back to the start of the tutorial. Gah.
Yeah, the app is sadly knwn to be pretty poop. I hope you get out of this hell if you ever stick with it, it can be a very fun game at times. (albeit it's more fun if you draw a good character but still).
The Legend of Bum-bo - This came out on PC last November, though a Switch version is rumoured to be on the cards. It's a match-4 puzzle battler much like Puzzle & Dragons, but set in the world of Binding of Isaac… so obviously, it's right up my street. Visual style is totally Isaac but in a cardboard diaorama setting, which I like a lot. Voice acting makes me laugh too. I've been watching videos of it on YouTube and I'm totally sold, but I really don't want it on PC as I'd never play it. Guess I'll just have to wait. If it ends up in a Steam sale though, I'd likely bite since it's only £11 full price and I've had £4 sitting in my Steam wallet forever.
As an Isaac absolute fanatic, I've been following this for ages. Isaac fans are obsessive so the comments I have seen I take with a pinch of salt.
Can't see this coming to the PS4 though, so maybe its time to pick up a Switch.
Play
Prey, still. It's excellent. Essentially an updated, but much less scary, System Shock 2. There's no Shodan equivalent, which is a shame, but it captures the magic of the Shock games regardless.
Football Manager 2020. I buy FM games when I get frustrated with real football, so these days they don't get released often enough for me. They should be released one a week. My Manchester United team is outperforming the real one by a mile, which would lead me to believe that I should be the United manager, except for the fact that it's painfully obvious that the current manager prepared for the job by playing Football Manager and it doesn't seem to have done him much good. I get asked about VAR controversies after every match, so the realism there is spot on.
Want
I have too much in my stack at the moment to consider adding to it.
Bin
The cycle of illness that has been swilling round my system since before Christmas. I had a cold/flu in December that was bad enough to require a few days off work. I probably went back too early, and while I was still getting over that I got another virus. That one kept Ilweran off work for two weeks, I kept going in because I knew work would slyly punish me otherwise. I've coughed so much I've actually cracked a rib. I had been finally feeling better, apart from the pain from that, and now today the cough has noticeably gone back up several notches. This us the first day of a week off for me, so I'm hoping that it's just that thing where as soon as you allow yourself to relax the illness catches up with you and shits on you for a couple of days. The doctor told me a cracked rib can lead to a chest infection (no idea how that works) so I'm hoping it's not that. Anyway, bin the lot of it.
The DLC for Fire Emblem: Three Houses came out a few days ago an I bought it on a whim, unsure if I was in the mood to go back to the realm of Fodlan after all this time.
….
I was in the mood to go back. This game was and still is, absolutely brilliant. The DLC is kinda' mixed but ultimately worth the money. It introduces a 4th house (so…do we call it Fire Emblem: Four Houses now? lol) in, and I don't want to go in super hard because lore for this game is actually quite thick, a pretty contrived way but maybe I'm wrong and I'll replayt he main game and the gaps were there.
ANYWAY, the new members of the 4th House are are all distinct designs, personalities and classes and I found them all likable to watch and fun to play. The map objectives for the short DLC story are all really varied and fresh, the maps themselves as well as the 4th houses base is a bit too bland and brown for my liking I'd say it balances out.
Now I've beaten it, I can go back to the main game and recruit them again in one of the three other houses…as well as all the other goodies I got from the season pass (including, but not limited to 2 new characters). All I can say is, this is one of the best games on the Switch IMO. I know we've got some fans of strategy games here, I think you'll like it. (my copy is always available)
Valkyria Chronicles 4
I jumped straight into NG+ for FE3H (FE4H??????) and then remembered this and felt guilty. My Switch was plugged in, which is what version of the game I have so I popped it on, going from one strategy game to another. It's basically an easier version of Xcom, It's not as tightly designed as that game but I think it feels unique enough in that it's still a good game. Map design and everything seems a big improvement over VC1 (yes, 2-3 don't count) but I still think if you haven't played either and can get VC1 for cheap, just get that
New patch today for Final Fantasy XIV that brings, almost other things, a fight against Rube WEAPON from FF7…but I'm not here to talk about 5.2, at least until I've played it through.
What I will say is I have been trailblazing through Heavensward on my alt(shhhh) this week and bruh, I am obviously skipping the majority of this stuff except some scenes, but holy shit there are characters in this that have plots that span two expansions, villains hinted at literal years in advance. I'm pretty sure this is an MMO only thing and its cool as shit to see the long game they've played laid out so bare for all to see.
I've skipped a lot of cutscenes and optional content and only just beat the launch patch of expansion 1 out 3. Over 2 days worth according to the game wich means this side project has taken longer than most of my actual games….
Another Play I've picked up again this week is the guitar game Rocksmith. This is the one that is Guitar Hero/Rock Band only with an actual guitar. I'm not convinced it's a brilliant way to learn guitar, but it remains great fun, and a way of learning a song and playing guitar karaoke. I've been playing Motorcycle Emptiness, Hallelujah, and Bohemian Rhapsody. The latter because it my kid's favorite song. He sings along to it in a hybrid of the original lyrics, his misheard versions of lines, and the footballers names from the Footballing Rhapsody video from a couple of years ago. "Barry Horne, Barry Horne." It's hugely entertaining to hear.
New FFXIV patch was cool! We got a cool new goth girl as the new raids main character, fought Ruby Weapon from FF7, new raid fights and more story (which droppedsome juicy lore).
Alexander is so fucking good in this game. His fight blew my mind at the time.
And don't worry about me overtaking you, I'm skipping everything and in some cases don't have a large majority of dungeons unlocked (and doesn't seem like I have to for the levelling roulette, lol) or flying, which I will definitely get since it's too useful.
I unlocked the new beast tribe last night so I'm going to chop trees and pull weeds all day since the tribe quests are for gatherers only and I'm levelling my Botanist. Once again I will say that I am not meming, I like Gathering and Crafting in this game, it's extremely simple but chill and making your own cash is rewarding imo.
Ah, not long to go then. Also raids will get easier as you go now, the first four Heavensward raids on release were so hard it decimated the raiding scene for years so they added a normal mode and made them easier so more people can enjoy the raid story. (although nothing comes close to the ARR raid, Binding Coil of Bahamut, certainly not Goblins and cheese)
Funny you should mention Fishing as I just capped Botanist now so I'm off to level Fishing myself, I just tried Ocean Fishing which had me and a party on a boat catching rare figh and the EXP seemed amazing for me and it's probably the most chill activity in the game so I'll do that for a while I think!
I've not done Ocean fishing in a party yet, someone else mentioned it the other day and I didn't even know it existed, will have to look into that as it may help me catch what I need
Wasn’t sure where else to post this, but if anyone has a Bone X, and also appreciates that Nuts and Bolts is the best Banjo game (don’t @ me), the game got an impressive One X patch a few months ago. Screenshot below.
Nuts & Bolts is genuinely awesome.* I spent so long making stuff in that, ultimately leading to an all-in-one vehicle which could transform from car to boat to plane and was the best in all races. I dunno if I've got the energy to do it all over again…
(* It's not really a Banjo game though, the title doesn't count. )
Nuts and Bolts was crippled by coming out just before YouTube and other streaming platforms took off. It remains a brilliant game and predicted the rise of user created content and sandbox gameplay in an incredibly prescient way. Hopefully one day its importance to gaming will be more widely recognised.
I've been playing Switcher 3. With the new 3.6 patch. Holy shit. It's fucking Witcher 3 on a switch with PC save file syncing?!? Amazeballs.
Bought Mega Man Zero: Legacy Collection which contains six games and was pretty cheap (£24).
…
MMZ1 is hella' rough in places, there's a generic hub base you can explore with no map and it all looks identical, there's an upgrade system that runs completely counter to the design of the whole game and can be totally ignored and if you fail a mission you need to reload or it's gone forever and the game makes you carry on without it an…it's one of the best games I've ever played, where has this series been all my life? :o
Why is it so good? Well, it's hard as fuck but so tightly designed as far as combat goes, first boss alone felt more satisfying to down than any Dark Souls boss for me. It's basically a Metroid game crossed with Castlevania…but isn't a Metroidvania (:o). Game has an easier mode and checkpoint system added from the GBA/3DS originals and I dunno' how it works but I imagine you have more health and do more damage etc. I dunno' if the game would still be good if it's that easy though but that's just me, without the requirement of pixel perfect precision the magic is gone somewhat I imagine.
Off the back of this one fucking game I've bought the Mega Man Legacy Collection bundle and the Mega Man X Legacy Collection bundle, those combined with this Zero collection means I suddenly have 24 Megaman games over the span of 3 days, bring it on! :)
