Play
My Series X. The lack of 4K was making me sad, so I swapped the S for an X. Palpable sense of 'ahhhh, that's better' as soon as I turned it on. This is now the fourth console I've bought in 6 months – two of which I sort of already owned. I may have a problem.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I remember this being slagged off a bit at launch for its technical issues, but whatever the problems were, they're gone now. It's a proper HDR showcase, and one of the prettiest games I've ever played. It's also tremendous fun zipping around the world. I just wish it'd let you change difficulty mid-game; some of those bosses are bastard hard. I hate games that lock the difficulty. How am I supposed to know which setting I'll want before I've played the bloody game?
AC: Unity. I've gone from someone who never really played AC games, to someone who likes the worst one. Perhaps it's an underdog thing with Unity. The FPS boost is magic, Paris is beautiful (it's clear the devs thought the last-gen consoles were going to be more powerful than they ended up being), and it's just a lot of stabby fun.
Knockout City. This is brilliant. I promise. Play it with friends.
More multiplayer staples. Namely Hotshot Racing, Golf With Your Friends, Battlefield 5.
Want
Ratchet PS5. If one thing can convince me to spend 70 quid on a new game, it's Ratchet and Clank.
My air-con to arrive. Seeing as the planet is now just a roiling lava-pool of smog and worry, and London is frequently hotter than [insert tropical place], I've bought air-con. Might as well add to the warming with my emissions, right. I will get my baby to sleep at the correct temperature, dammit.
Play: I was playing Lonely Mountains: Downhill for a bit and really enjoying that – the exploration and challenge is really enjoyable and it's nice to have a game that lets you listen to podcasts without losing anything; which isn't to say the sound design isn't great, it just lends itself to doing this and I've not felt that about a game for a long time.
Last Friday I was in the mood for something dumb and fun and ended up reading about Huntdown. Immediately hit 'buy' and had a great time with it. It's a Contra/Metal Slug-style 2D run and gunner that projects my 12 year old imagination onto the screen. It looks, plays and sounds great and it has a fair amount of replayability, largely I think, because the levels are quite short before you hit a boss fight.
Want: Think Disco Elysium is still the thing I'm most keen to play just now. I've also got a facination with Risk of Rain 2 after reading s piece about Returnal which mentioned that game but waiting on both going on sale in the future. I'd like to spend a bit more time on some things that fell by the wayside: Darkest Dungeon, For the King and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Aiming to make 2021 the year of clearing the backlog.
Bin: Staying in the postcode. Glasgow's finally getting some easing this week which will be good. Though I'm sure the reasoning is sound we did spot the announcement for the Euro Fan Zone on Glasgow Green for 6000 people when we were there to visit the play park a few weeks ago. Had a sense then that there was no way they'd keep the city at level 3 and let that event take place. So thanks, I guess, Football.
Play
Not a lot, at the moment. I've gone back to God of War on the PS4, with no real idea how far through the thing I even am. I've just found my first Valkyrie, but she's kicking my ass, so I might come back to her later when I have better gear and can remember the controls.
Want
Nothing, really, at least not on the gaming front. I don't have a 4k TV, and not being a massive Ratchet & Clank fan, PS5 doesn't have any "must have" stuff on the list yet. I keep collecting games through PS+, though, so I'm sure it'll reach a tipping point eventually.
Bin
Not for good, but Colorado challenges have put the kibosh on Hitman III for now. It's just such a dreary, hostile map to play, and there are specific looks for each of the four targets… it's just too much. I'm sure I'll be back later.
Play
A little Breath of Fire IV, thinking of finishing off Pikmin 3 but I never actually get round to picking up the Switch.
I'll be starting a short Cthulhu game on Monday and 13th Age should kick off this month.
Want
I think I'll play a Strategy RPG next on my Retroid. Tactics Ogre PSP maybe? Fire Emblem?
Bin
Probably two more sessions of epilogue and then I'm binning D&D 5e, for all the reasons mentioned previously. I jokingly asked my group if they would like a New Game+ of Tomb of Annihilation. They were very rude.
Play
At the moment, it's all Mass Effect 'round here, via the Legendary Edition – it's basically Mass Effect how it existed in my memory, jank and all. I'm blazing through ME2 at the moment – still have less than half the crew together – but it's just a nice, comfortable, familiar experience.
Want
Sleep. An end to this one task at work that's been dragging on since before Christmas, with no end in sight. A way to pull myself out of the stall my RPG planning has caught itself in.
Bin
Nothing right now, but recent history strongly suggests I'll have something to rage against in short order.
Play
Virtua Fighter 5 - A fighting game I've always looked up to but always been intimidated by. No excuse not to give this another go, this is one PS+ game for June and they've really done some nice stuff here, it's a PS3 era launch game now running on the Yakuza engine, the main menu shows Ranked match replays happening around the world, it's pretty cool.
Still not sure who to pick from Aoi 'I can parry literally everything' Umenokoji, Pai '2fast4me' Chan or Sarah 'I will kick you all damn day and you will feel like you're blocking a barrage of 7 foot battering rams forever' Bryant.
Mega Man Legends - this really could control a lot better, but it's a fun game. You'd expect the fans to hate this, 'free roaming' Mega Man 3D with shonky controls but it's quite the opposite in fact. I can see why, it's a pretty charming game at least.
Dragon Quest 11 - This is one of the most beautiful JRPGs I've ever played, can only guess that's the price we pay for the fucking horrid music. seems a bit easier than I remember Dragon Quest 8 being, but I don't really care that much. These monster designs are some god tier shit though.
Want
Nothing, I have my RPGs PEACE
Bin
Dragon Quest 11 - This is one of the most beautiful JRPGs I've ever played, can only guess that's the price we pay for the fucking horrid music
If you're playing the Definitive Edition, you can swap out some of the music for the DQVIII versions.
I am and I think I will, is it not generally accepted that other than the classic opening theme the music in this series is quite dire though?
It's the national anthem of the only good nation on earth :V
Play
Yakuza 5 - almost at the end of this behemoth of a game and it is every bit the epic everyone says it is. Five characters, five cities, a driving simulator, a hunting game, a baseball game, a rhythm-action spin-off, dozens of different minigames and a plot that manages to be pleasingly convoluted without ever hitting the depths of ridiculousness that 4's storyline sank to. Easily one of my favourite entries in the series, probably just behind Zero and Like A Dragon if only because it really requires you to have played all the other ones first just to get the most out of it. You'd have to be a complete maniac to try and 100% this one.
The Lord of the Rings Online - every time I've played this before, I've drifted away from the game somewhere between levels 30 and 35. The momentum of the game seems to sag at that point: after a very strong opening you start to move away from the book plot a bit (before rejoining later around Moria) so it's very much LOTR fanfiction for a while. I'm currently level 32 and determined to push on through - have found a completely new area I haven't seen before so I'm working through that and it's still holding my interest for now.
Want
Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - next month I think.
Star Wars Squadrons - this has been on Game Pass for a little while and I've been meaning to get around to it once I finish Yakuza 5 (which has taken a fair old while, for obvious reasons) but now Sony have given it away on PS+ which makes me think it might be time to dust off the PSVR and give it a go on that.
I'm kind of tempted by Resident Evil Village but it'll be half price in six months so I can wait.
Bin
Monster Hunter Rise - considered going back for the actual ending now they've released it but then concluded I couldn't be arsed.
COVID-19 - sick of this shit now. Just fucking stay at home, you idiots, and we might get through this.
Additional play:
I started Fable II last night. Still early days - just hit adulthood (again) after regretting my character choice and restarting. It holds up okay, overall; it looks better than I expected it to (though the motion blur is aggressive), and controls much, much worse; while combat is hacky, it's still fairly responsive, but movement generally is very twitchy, and the camera feels like it's actively fighting against me. But I fancied a simple, hack & slash RPG, and couldn't justify Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning to myself, so it'll fill the hole for now.
Forgot to add, as a Play:
Overboard! - stealth dropped onto PC, iOS and Switch a day or two ago, this is from the fantastic Inkle team who did Sorcery, 80 Days and Heaven's Vault. It's an experimental little choose-your-own-adventure game where you play a woman who's murdered her husband onboard a ship travelling to New York, and you have to cover it up / pin it on someone else. It's got a tiny handful of locations, a tiny handful of characters, each game lasts about 15 minutes and it has a seemingly infinite array of ways things can play out: every playthrough I've had has been wildly different. It's a really clever, intricate little thing and I kind of love it.
Still Isaac, where I've actually made progress and unlocked all of the secret characters (fuck you, Greed Machine and your indecisive thirst for coins), so that's good. Still Sea of Thieves, though slightly less so since we don't have much to do there right now (just grinding out commendations). And then…
PLAY
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - One of my work projects, so I'm already playing it. It's better than I remember, and I wasn't one of those who disliked it before anyway. Looks good on Switch.
The Legend of Bum-bo - I only found out this was on mobile a little while ago. Finally! A platform where I'll play it, rather than PC where it'll sit in my Steam library forever ignored. Price is a little steep for a mobile game, but I don't mind as I'd have paid the same for it on Switch anyway.
WANT
Binding of Isaac: Repentance - The expansion has been out on PC for over a month now, but won't arrive on console for a while. GAH.
Mario Golf - Slightly less so than last month, but that's more just my lack of interest in buying anything new that will then go on the pile rather than me losing interest in this directly.
Board game night - I miss nights with my friends playing board games. I've got a bunch of new ones that lie untouched, so getting people round again would be appreciated.
BIN
Holidays - Not Bin exactly, but my two weeks off work ends tomorrow and then it's back to the social media / marketing content grindstone. I've spent most of the time at home, since it's still not really the time to be going out, but my partner was off with me so at least we've had the time together. It's been nice.
Play - Hitman 2 - only got that in one of the recentish sales and started it about 2 weeks ago, also now about 45% through Yokus Island express and really enamoured with it. Also just got my PCEngine mini so will dig that out for some play. Lastly I have Borderlands 3 too unopened that I got at Xmas so want to start on that too this month.
Want - The summer hols! The last year in education has been brutal and our chain has effectively worked everyone into the ground, I am moving schools in September so just want to get to the summer and start to move on and have time to play games, it's just been half term but that was swallowed by house hunting, visits and time with the missus as she was also off.
Bin - house price rises. I hate moaning about having thousands saved up as it's obviously a very selfish whine, but it's been a brutal slog to get there but everything keeps rising, the houses where we first started looking are roughly about 25k more expensive now than in 2019 right before my missus mum died and we had to shelf buying a home. Its madness.
Play
Fez. I thought I finished this when it first came out years ago, but clearly I didn't as I keep finding areas I don't remember. It's such a good game with so many levels (in a philsophical sense and in an actual-number-of-areas-to-explore sense) to it. I cracked the letter code myself this time around, which was very satisfying, and almost got the numbers before I got annoyed and looked it up. Am now in NG+, so extra options have opened up, and I'm enjoying turning everything gold. Plan to 100% it if I can.
Rise of the Tomb Raider I had a random craving to play this the other day. I got a fair way into it a couple of years ago and hope I get a couple of hours at some point to dive back in and see if it scratches an itch. Haven't had the PS4 on for about 6 months though, so chances are it won't happen, but still - a man can dream.
Want
Overboard! sounds great, and just the right sort of pick up and play for life at the moment. I'm a big fan of Inkle, and loved Heaven's Vault and 80 Days. Their writing is so much more subtle and intelligent than most games.
Mass Effect Trilogy although I have no time for it at the moment, really I want to revist this. I hope they've done a good job with ME1, I'd love to see a prettified Virmire. Might even finish ME3 next time round.
Bin
Stress - life is hard work and I need better coping strategies. More exercise, less worrying is the key, but time and circumstance are unwilling to play ball.
Played the Disgaea 6 demo on Switch just now….not really impressed. :(
Almost immediately, as soon as you enter battle you see just how kinda…bad it looks, the 3D models are such a step back from HD sprites in D5, maybe they can get them right next time but here they look pretty janky to me. Secondly, the main character, who is a Zombie (and you'll know he's a Zombie because he will say 'I'm a Zombie/My rotten brain' pretty much every other line) doesn't really interest me so far, nor does his Dog. Most Disgaea protags start off as assholes so we'll see if he grows on me over the course of a full game, I will say his weird 'every time I die, I come back stronger' thing sounds pretty cool at least.
Not a fan of reading up on it to hear it's apparently got the best QoL in the series yet and also cut a lot of stuff (like most classes). This feels like 'wait for Disgaea 6 complete' to me.
I'm thoroughly burned out on the series now, every instalment is pretty much the same and none of them are remotely as funny as they think they are. There's never any challenge either, it's so determined to let you "break" the game in the hunt for big numbers that the main story is just a dull plod through levels you really can't lose. I'll be skipping this one I think.
Disgaea 4 is the sweet spot for me, though I'd be lying if I said I didn't almost buy Disgaea 1 when I thought the Vita store would close. They're clearly trying something new with D6 and I hope they work it out in time for D7 or the eventual D6 Complete edition. (or just go back to sprites at least…)
Wait for the double pack of Soul Nomad/Phantom Brave or pray we get blessed with a Makai Kingdom re-release, if they're doing doubles then they can go right ahead and pair it with La Pucelle Tactics!!!
Play
Returnal - Well, this is brilliant. Mysterious, gorgeous sci-fi roguelike/shooter from Housemarque. Sometimes feels a bit like a AAA, Lovecraftian remake of Risk of Rain 2. I knew very little about it going in, and was a bit blown away, even if I feel like I still know very little about it now.
Borderlands 3 - Managed to port over my PS4 save, but it didn't move over the trophies, so I'm using that as an excuse to go back and intermittently play through TVHM (after another abortive attempt at a new character - it's so boring playing a low-level character after you've made a decent one), and maybe finally play the DLC.
Monster Hunter Rise - It's amazing how a game I've spent 50 hours in, and haven't even done, feels sort of unfinished, presumably just because of World/Iceborne. I've only even just finished unlocking all the Switch skills (I think), and I'm not sure the village quests I have left are HR.
Maybe that's the problem - it all feels a little disjointed, and like it's somehow doing a worse job of explaining some things than even MHW. People keep on calling this the most easy to get into MH yet, but other than the gameplay I'm not sure I agree. If I didn't already know what of it all was I'd be oblivious, I think.
Want
Nothing springs to mind, but then Ratchet & Clank and Guilty Gear: Strive are both out this week, so I think I'm good for new stuff, and just happily going through the backlog.
Bin
I'm depressingly used to all of the shit (waves vaguely) going on now, I think, but I'd still quite like it to all stop, please?
I now have a Want
Elden Ring, please. That looks goooood.
Additional PLAY:
Game Builder Garage - We all got a code for this at work, so I'm going to be tinkering with it going forward. But Gar, based on initial impressions, I think your boy might like this a lot.
Yeah, I’m definitely keeping an eye on that one. Depends how much you can do with it really. I’m sure previews will be out in due course.
Reviews are already out there, it came out last Friday.
Did it?! Blimey that was a low-key release. I thought it was months off. I'll do some reading around, cheers.
Now's not really the time to push a release hard. It'll be a long, slow burn title.
Additional Play: I've finished off the main story in Dragon Quest XI, and am making my way through the post game stuff – which is giving me a whole other world-ending villain to defeat, but hits reset on a significant plot point from the main story. Additional thoughts will show up elsewhere.
Additional WANT:
A bunch of games from the Xbox showcase - That was a strong presentation. Only two games in there that I thought looked a bit shit, but most of the ones I didn't care about still made me go 'Oooooh, shiny'.
Put me down for Psychonauts 2, Replaced, Contraband, Party Animals (finally, someone made Gang Beasts look fun), possibly Redfall. Already downloaded Yakuza: Like A Dragon. Glad I didn't download/play Doom Eternal, I'll hold for the X/S upgrade.
Oh, and of course Sea of Thieves: A Pirate Life made me squeal like a schoolgirl. ONE WEEK TO WAIT.
Also, the SSD upgrade for Series X/S is on sale in our local equivalent of Dixons. It's 'only' €209, and I have a €100 gift card from my work Christmas bonus burning a hole. I'll take it for just over €100, thanks. I'll need the room.
Oh, and of course Sea of Thieves: A Pirate Life made me squeal like a schoolgirl. ONE WEEK TO WAIT.
The first movie is fun, and all, but that seems a bit… dated(?) as a reference.
Also, the SSD upgrade for Series X/S is on sale in our local equivalent of Dixons. It's 'only' €209, and I have a €100 gift card from my work Christmas bonus burning a hole. I'll take it for just over €100, thanks. I'll need the room.
That's not how… That's still money you… Never mind.
Also yes strong conference. Horizon 5 looks almost photo-realistic, can't wait to stare at some cactuses. (Cacti?) I finally managed to wait for a game to hit Game Pass too, with Like a Dragon. I played a couple hours last night, seems fun so far.
Oh, and of course Sea of Thieves: A Pirate Life made me squeal like a schoolgirl. ONE WEEK TO WAIT.
The first movie is fun, and all, but that seems a bit… dated(?) as a reference.
It's less about PotC and more about there being a whopping chunk of new content to enjoy. My partner and I have been Pirate Legend for ages now, and outside of grinding for commendations, there's not much to do. We maxed out the season pass content in just over three weeks and have been waiting for the next update ever since. On Sunday, we spent three hours delivering crates of rum and silk. That's about as exciting as it gets right now. So yes, five new and well produced tall tales (plus content from that like new enemies bleeding over into the main game) gets me very excited.
Also, the SSD upgrade for Series X/S is on sale in our local equivalent of Dixons. It's 'only' €209, and I have a €100 gift card from my work Christmas bonus burning a hole. I'll take it for just over €100, thanks. I'll need the room.
That's not how… That's still money you… Never mind.
Sadly, it is. Electronics over here are ridiculously priced, and I have to spend this gift card in Saturn (the shop). So it's not like I can take it elsewhere. Considering they sell Blu-ray movies for €30 and I don't need a washing machine, this seems like a good use of it.
I need to watch some of the Microsoft stuff properly but there was a lot of good stuff in there at first glance.
If you've got a Game Pass subscription (frankly we are now at the point where you'd be nuts to own an Xbox without one) then this is basically Gamer Christmas. Every other conference is "here are a bunch of games we are going to be releasing over the next few years". Microsoft is "here is a load of stuff we are going to give you for free, starting almost immediately".
I finally managed to wait for a game to hit Game Pass too, with Like a Dragon. I played a couple hours last night, seems fun so far.
I've had it since release and still haven't finished it; I fully expect you to see the credits long before I do. Though with Dragon Quest XI nearing the end, I might have to get back to it to keep up with the JRPG itch…
I've got all my Xbox One games on an external 2TB SSD which works really well - load times are far faster than my old HDD.
It's becoming a bit problematic though as more and more games get Series X upgrades and demand to be run from the internal drive. I'm sure I'll end up getting that expansion eventually but it's surely got to come down in price at some point.
My internet is reasonably-fast enough that I don't feel bad about uninstalling things I'm not actually playing – though so far I'm nowhere near the limit on either the internal or external drives.
I'm terrible for that, I like to have all the things installed. I need to exercise some self-restraint, probably.
I've got all my Xbox One games on an external 2TB SSD which works really well - load times are far faster than my old HDD.
I have an external drive full of games and was using this initially. However, because my Series X is 'always on' for quick boot, it got to be that the drive was spinning itself up every ten minutes even when the console wasn't in use. Outside of checking for updates, I have no idea why. That's both noisy (a bit) and not exactly good for its health, so I unplugged it and haven't used it since.
It's becoming a bit problematic though as more and more games get Series X upgrades and demand to be run from the internal drive. I'm sure I'll end up getting that expansion eventually but it's surely got to come down in price at some point.
/looks at Vita proprietary storage cards
wait what
After that Microsoft show, I'm increasingly of the opinion that I'm going to have to get a Series Something at some point.
That's the third console made entirely from used cereal boxes.
Seriously though: have you considered XCloud? It runs on Android devices really well (you can use Xbox One controllers, I think). You could get a trial of Game Pass Ultimate for a quid and give it a whirl?
I know we laugh at the likes of Stadia et al but honestly, Microsoft's recently revealed 'Oh, we're gonna put an Xbox in your TV' strategy isn't that crazy. The tech works.
I've had a reasonable experience with streaming stuff to my phone from Xbox – played the first hour or so of Mass Effect Andromeda (which I must get back to once I've finished the Legendary Edition), though the small screen wasn't especially helpful. I think I got an email about the PC/browser beta, but haven't gotten around to trying it out yet.
My phone's screen is the same size as the Switch (the screen that is, not the case surround and other bits that make the Switch bigger). Playing XCloud on it is pretty good. I did invest in one of those clip-on Razer Kishi controllers, because why not, and it's great. Like portable Xbox, albeit only when I'm near a good wireless connection.
Seriously though: have you considered XCloud? It runs on Android devices really well (you can use Xbox One controllers, I think). You could get a trial of Game Pass Ultimate for a quid and give it a whirl?
Just had a look into this, but xCloud is "taking a break", apparently. 
I have no idea what that means… I used it this morning.
Download the Xbox Game Pass app, log into your gamertag, get Game Pass, off you go.
Completely missed that there was conferences happening as focuses on the Euros.
My phone's screen is the same size as the Switch (the screen that is, not the case..)
Holy fuck.
It's not that impressive, the Switch screen is only 6.2 inches big.
This is my phone: https://mobile.mi.com/de/mi-10-lite/
I have no idea what that means… I used it this morning.
Download the Xbox Game Pass app, log into your gamertag, get Game Pass, off you go.
Oh, okay - think I was in the wrong app. Do I need an Xbox One controller?
