PWB May 2024

Play

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. In many ways this sets the gold standard for remasters. It's more than just a graphical glow-up, they've gone back and updated a lot of the gameplay mechanisms in ME1 in particular to bring it more in line with the rest of the trilogy. The menus are better, the combat is better, the Mako is better. Everything looks spectacular (the HDR treatment in particular is one of the best I've seen) and it definitely does the source material justice.

It's a shame then that they had to break something and in this case I'm fairly sure they've fucked up the lighting a bit. I assume it's now using "proper" lighting rather than the very hand-picked light sources from the originals, but it doesn't do the game any favours. Characters' faces are overlit and it all really shows up the limitation of the 360-era facial modelling. The moody atmosphere is sometimes lost a bit. I mean it's a small price to pay given the excellence of, well, everything else, but what a pity. I'm guessing a full overhaul of the game's faces was outside the constraints of this remake's budget. Maybe the later games fare better?

Anyway! I'm halfway through ME1 and loving it. It's been long enough since I played it that I've forgotten everything other than a handful of story moments, and the game absolutely holds up. My Shepard is a Renegade who is absolutely Done With Everybody's Shit and it's refreshing to be able to call everyone out on their nonsense. I haven't played ME3 or any of the crazy amounts of DLC in this trilogy so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all develops.

The Lamplighters League

I spoke about this in the other thread so I won't repeat myself here, but this is excellent, if slightly janky, turn-based fare with a superb 1930s atmosphere that's been criminally overlooked. Get on it if you can.

Want

I'm looking forward to Hellblade II: Senua's Whatever It Is later this month, just on the basis that I enjoyed the first one a lot.

It'd be nice if they announced a PC version of FF7 Rebirth sometime soon, and even nicer if it runs as well on the Steam Deck as its predecessor does.

Bin

Job-hunting is a bit disheartening. I've applied for many, many jobs and/or contracts in the last month, all of which I would be well-suited for, and I've heard back from less than 20% of them, with only one even going to an initial conversation about the role. I'd hoped to be able to have a bit of a change of direction, use my skills in a slightly different way, but it seems that any job where I haven't done exactly the same thing for years previously is just not going to even bother replying to me. It's all very depressing and I'm not sure I even want to be doing this anyway, if I had even the slightest inkling of anything else I could do I would probably just chuck it all in at this point.

Also: local elections tomorrow. Oh joy. Can't the Tories just fuck off already? Commiserations to Scotland who were obviously feeling left out and have decided to have their own political implosion too to keep us all company.

Play
Helldivers 2, most evenings. Missions are (at my current difficulty level) sub-30 minutes for the most part, so I can hop on whatever planet's contributing to the current Major Order, and splatter some bugs or automatons. In not sure this quite manages to sell the tongue-in-cheek democracy-as-fascism bit as the first game, but it's a lot of fun.

Still plugging away at Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, mostly just ticking off open-world boxes since getting time to make Actual Progress is not easy. I'm at Gold Saucer now, but getting slightly weary of NPC dudes with ridiculous outfits and even more ridiculous penchants for posing, dancing, or otherwise being gimmicky as fuck in every cutscene. Mogstools can get in the bin, too.

Also a bit of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, coincidentally! I installed it on a whim a few days ago and basically just did character creation so far, but I have My Femshep back, and I'm ready to kick Reaper butt. I just wish the whole trilogy had kept the seriously synthy vibes of the first game, instead of turning more generic as time went on.

Want
Sea of Thieves season 12 just started, so I'm looking forward to getting back onto that soonish. Hoping we can persuade my sister-in-law to grab it now it's out on PS5, and then we can galleon it up.

Bin
Hoping the Tories get absolutely battered on Thursday, try and fail to oust Sunak, then descend into full, fractured self-destruction mode, making themselves look as shit as possible before the general. A poll came out the other day showing that Labour has an 11-point lead among GB News viewers, and even if that's because they're too racist to vote for a party with a brown guy in charge, at this point I'll take the result.

I really wish I could get excited about a Labour government.

Play
I just started paying for Xbox Live Shiny Gold Max again so I am looking forward to playing… something? I don’t know I feel very out of touch.

I really wish I could get excited about a Labour government.

I wouldn't say excited… Very cautiously, very slightly hopeful? There's a limit to what anyone could do with the disaster the Tories are leaving on their wake, and as someone once said, democracy is a bus, not a taxi - if you can't get one exactly where you want to go, you at least take the one going in the right direction. Lack of actual malice is still an improvement, even if it's not much of one.

There's plenty of malice in the red tie wearing Tories we have as an alternative. At least the Tories wear their malice and prejudice on their sleeve as a badge of honour.

About the only thing going for Starmer and his cronies are the fact they can hardly be much worse.

The concern I have is that they think they're better, and might have some blinkers on (consciously or otherwise) to the moral compromises they've made and will make in the future, for the sake of a grasp of power.

I wouldn't trust Starmer as far as I can spit, though. He's always struck me as an opportunist who'll say whatever he thinks will get him another rung up the ladder.

How many times has Starmer said, "Unlike the Tories we are actually going to get [horrendous thing] done!" Whether it's making Brexit work or stopping the boats or combatting "benefit fraud" or saving Scotland from the SNP, or cutting taxes for the rich; Labour's only nod to opposition of the Tories is saying that they will be more competently awful.

Play.

Finally giving Fallout New Vegas a go after all these years. After installing 144 mods to improve stability (that's not a typo - one hundred and forty four) I've finally got something playable. You have to wonder how this ever got released. Anyway, once it's running it actually is everything people say. It's a proper, in-depth RPG that makes Fallout 4 look incredibly bare-bones.

Mario Rabbids 2. The switch to free movement is initially disappointing, but it does lead to some very fun, mobile battles. It's just as enjoyable as the first game, and it's a shame this didn't sell anywhere near as much. Although considering the first game is regularly on sale for a few quid, I'm not surprised people didn't take the plunge at launch.

Lord of the Rings Online, still. Just about to get my warhorse, then it's off to gallop around Rohan like that bloke off The Boys.

Play
Not a lot, as my new life in Carrickfergus has come with the usual, protracted, minigame of getting a working broadband connection installed. I am my own worst enemy, as rather than just going with a big provider, I thought I'd try and save 6 quid a month by going with Now. And their router is hot garbage of the highest order. After a lot of trial and error and fiddling with WiFi adapter settings I finally have something approximating an ADSL connection.

So, as it's the ALGS this weekend, I've been doing a bit of Apex. And also Valorant. But it's fair to say, a mix of being nearly 50 and a stroke victim with diminished eyesight is slowly becoming an issue. But enjoyable all the same.

As mentioned elsewhere I have become quite into Boomer Shooters. Prodeus, in particular, is great, but I'm starting to warm a lot to Turbo Overkill. If only for the ludicrous leg slide move you can do, which is endlessly enjoyable. Still doesn't match Prodeus for gun feel though. I've not found anything yet that quite gives me the same adrenalin rush. I remain tolerant of Boltgun, but whoever did the level design is not my friend (it continues to be horrendous).

Balatro is still getting played occasionally, but I still don't think it's a Slay or Monster Train rival in any sense. The theme is just so bland. And why the fuck does everything have to wobble all the time on the screen. You can tone it down in the settings, but holy fuck.

Like everyone else, I went back to Fallouts for a look. Fallout 4 looks great, but why is it so dull? And settlement building? Fuck off. New Vegas remains fun, but I need to mod it ala MPH and I can't be arsed at the moment. But it's certainly the one I want to put time into.

I also found a local boardgame club. And without wanting to expand too much I found an absolutely hilarious connection to The Society. A total "what a small fucking world" moment. We're in a simulation. Anyway, it's a good club. 50% women (which is always a good sign) and nobody has hit anyone else with a pool cue yet (and yes, this did happen in the Aberystwyth boardgame club, shortly before we shuttered it).

Want
I'm not really sure. To get existential, I'm quite enjoying where I am at the moment. An hour cycle in to work 3 days a week. A nice new gym nearby, and a functional boardgame club. A calm, privileged life for about another year or two till our funding runs out. But there is a question about the last 10-15 years to retirement and what to do there. Not really decided, but I think I might be done with biology, finance, the deregulated energy industry and farming. I think I'll do stand up.

Bin
Takeaways in my area. While I absolutely approve the Fife-esque option to remove all vegetables from anything I order, the general quality is catastrophic.

So I picked up Cyberpunk 2077 a couple of days ago on the PS4 (yep still not working!).
I'd read how all the problems had been patched now, and it was now a stunning game. I have to say the first hour or so really impressed, loved the matrix/blade runner setting, combat felt satisfying (though i kept getting my arse kicked on the side missions, guess I need to stick with the main campaign first).
But then my car, going at the speed of the traffic, was thrown 200 foot in the air for no reason. Then I was hurtling down a road and smashed in to a barrier, which only appeared when the graphics caught up about 2 minutes later. Ditto when I was at a mission point and had to linger for the the NPC to pop up.
Worse, the game autosaved my to spawn right next to an enemy who was extremely overpowered compared to me, and I have to try like 15 restarts just to get my arse out of there. WIth those long load times.
And then a complete blue screen of death.
Am I Doing It Wrong? Or have I been fooled by the claims the game is now fixed?
Oh and Hi again I guess.

Didn't the PS4 version fork off the next gen versions and is largely static now? The PS5 version and PC version I played recently seemed pretty robust. Still the occasional bits of jank here and there, but I could quite imagine the PS4 version being a bit of a challenge.

Late here this month.

Update - got too much things to post, still finding and trying new things and old things for the Amiga. And still on my football playthroughs.

Also been back at the North West Computer Museum this weekend as at my father in laws. He goes every Saturday now and the staff and crew there are so lovely to him, even found a C64 to sell him as they know he doesn't do online. They have gotten a Microsoft Surface Coffee table in since we last went, I won't go on too long about it but it's from 2008 and it was frankly incredibly ahead of it's time. Imagine what we all use our smart phones for now whilst watching TV/gaming etc, this was a coffee table/screen device that was going to do that.

Main Plays -

Fortnite - the Star Wars stuff I have only tried on the Switch but enjoying it. Had a bit of a break but back on it now, I can't explain why I like it so much, I get it's not great but it's just nice to play a round or two when I can. It sort of reminds me how much I used to be into the original TFC in the 90s.

FC24 - unbelievably I have been at my "new" school nearly 3 years now, and my Y11 form are due to start GCSEs on the 10th so have effectively already stopped being my form. To celebrate we held a FIFA league where you played each other 4 times during the last two weeks during form time. Mostly enjoyable, there are some issues with this game but it's mostly okay, it is criminal they have been allowed to get so comfortable and lazy due to zero competition. (EA - not my form, although I did win by like 12 PTS!)

Starship Troopers - finally started the RTS and really enjoying it, feels perfect for a video game and made me want to rewatch the film as not seen it in years.

Handhelds - re-arranged my Kallaxs in the living room and have now put all the GBA, DS and other handhelds we have in there and it's great just grabbing a random one and a cart out when you have 15 mins.

Want

Weirdly I am considering getting a 2nd Series X. I have mine in the living room but the little one uses it mostly. I thought of the obvious choice of going PS5 but then I am trying to catch up on what I want to play, which is my Gamepass and disc backlog.

The Evercade new model that comes.out next month, the actual console one I think.

Bin

Exams and coursework deadlines.

(This post will be full of errors so will return to it tomorrow to a mulligan)

I really want to know what the connection between your boardgame club and the Soc is, cav.

Me too.

It's great… I'll debate whether a PM is appropriate.

PLAY
-Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door again, because I'm a fucking glutton for punishment (and I want to complete it 100%). That said, I'm in a holding pattern until Animal Well comes out on Thursday, so it's better than staring into the abyss wishing for the end of days.
-Sea of Thieves Season 12 is lovely, and I am absolutely here for throwing knives and harpoon boarding.
-AFK Journey has its hooks in me, though thankfully I've forgotten my Google Play password so I can't spend money on IAPs (and the effort to reset it exceeds my desire to buy them). It looks lovely, is fairly mindless in terms of the effort required to make progress and has enough going on to last the tram ride to work and back.

WANT
-Still looking forward to Lorelei and the Laser Eyes on the 16th.
-Yearly reviews are coming up at work and I'd very much like a promotion to Senior Editor which I've been working towards for two years, please and thank you. Just passed my five year tenure and I've done pretty well this year, so hopefully it's time. If not, it's not the end of the world but it'll be nice if it happens.

BIN
-My new obsession with buying original retro toys, which went from zero to 100 in a ridiculously short space of time and has resulted in me owning an entire collection of late 80s M.A.S.K. toys. That was fun. They look lovely on my shelf and since the series has a finite number of items, I don't even have to think about it going on forever (unlike the robot collection, which this flurry has apparently weaned me off). Time to find a new hobby.

M.A.S.K. is awesome. I used to have loads.

@feltmonkey I've been thinking about it and I'll bet a shit Switch game that Cav met Koffdrop's ex-wife.

Koffdrop, holy shit, there's a name I've not heard in a while.

No. Not that.

Play

Blue Reflection - Magical Girl RPG and the closest thing I'll get to a 3D Sailor Moon RPG (I played a bit of the SNES one, like it a lot). It's also so low budget it makes Cold Steel look like a Triple A blockbuster, this isn't a terrible thing or anything but damn. I'm not expecting much but so far I like the combat and I like the premise which is very Magical Girl 101 so far. (where the fuck is the next gen Sailor Moon RPG though)

Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd - I am, as the kids are saying these days, LOCKED IN on these games, three games, three sets of dailies and weeklies. When it comes to these gacha games I don't think anyone is on the level of Mihoyo and I think these are fun games on PC but on a phone it's kind of mindblowing.

Want

Bin

More Plays.

The latest Destiny 2 expansion just got added to PS Plus, so I've jumped back in. This game still has a huge readability problem. The plot has never made sense (barring the times luscan drops by to explain everything), but coming back after a couple of years away it's basically impossible to tell where you left things. It relentlessly funnels you into the New Content (ugh) and if, like me, you've missed a couple of expansions, you have to spend a long time googling to work out how to start a previous one.

Anyway, finally figured it out and the meat of the game is still brilliant. But lord it makes you work for it.

Also playing Torchlight 2, because Diablo 4 was a bit dark and sad for me. Click things, things go boom. Excellent.

Play - Mass Effect 2, inevitably.

Even in its Legendary Edition form, this is one hell of a technical step up from the first game. I don't remember it being such a leap but I probably didn't play them back to back on the 360. The lighting which bothered me so much in the last game is completely fine in this so I guess it's an ME1 thing rather than a Legendary Edition problem. Characters look great, the framing and presentation of cut-scenes is vastly improved and combat is actually FUN! I was a Vanguard in ME1 which was basically a bit of a shit Biotic but in this I've suddenly gained the ability to pinball around the battlefield blasting people in the face with shotguns. It's night and day really in terms of how it feels and it's all suitably robust and chunky. It feels vastly more modern than the first game, it's hard to believe there was only a couple of years between them really.

Plot-wise… hmmm. Maybe not so great. The urgency of the Reaper threat immediately takes a back seat and instead we're fighting someone new on the orders of someone we've never heard of before. The whole game feels like a side-quest, made up of dozens of other side quests. Thankfully this allows Bioware to focus on what they're best at - characters - and there are some magnificent moments even in the first few hours, but it's all decidedly less epic than the first. It'll be interesting to see how ME3 ties it all together - as I've never played that one. For now though I am having a really great time with this and on a moment-by-moment basis it's definitely a step up.

I think general consensus is that Mass Effect 1 has the best plot, but 2 has the best squad. 3 has maybe the best tone (or the most consistent, at least) , and there are some incredible payoff momemts - albeit some depending on what happens throughout the first two games.

Interested to see what you make of 3, now that we're quite far removed from the actual event of its release.

Additional Play:

Titanfall 2. I love Titanfall 2. It's been almost impossible to get a game at all for years, but I managed to convince a couple of folks to hop into Frontier Defence tonight and had a blast - even if we didn't win a single round.

Binned off Cyberpunk 2077 . It's still completely broken on the PS4. Kept having to hang around waiting for the graphics to catch up, or reload from an earlier game as I was being spawned at an instant death spot.
Went for RE4 and was shocked to realise I had confused this one with 5, which I played to death. So the story feels fresh and enough has already been said about the quality of the update.
Also on Mass Effect Lengendary . I've started with 1, which I didnt play all the way through first time round as I didn't really get the combat and my god travesing the Citadel with all of the elevators masking loading times.
I'm enjoying it but it still feels very much like a game from 2 gens ago. I'll stick with it so I can carry my character over to ME2. Its going to be a bit of a slog but the chance to play ME2 for I think the fifth time through keeps me going. Loved that game so much it was the first ink I ever got. Going with my typical RPG character (search through the web for someones character set that looks like Scarlett Johansson and nick that) but this time going down the renegade route.

Additional Play
Braid Anniversary Edition is out today!!!!!

I think I'm binning AI: The Somnium Files - NirvanA Initiative which is the sequel to the bizarre and slightly pervy visual novel thing that released a few years back.

I really enjoyed the first game but this one is a chore - they've ramped the weirdness up to 10 right from the start, the somnium dream sequences are frustratingly difficult now (leading to many restarts) and it's mostly ditched the first game's flowchart system in favour of a much more linear narrative. It's just not holding my interest, I've got better stuff to play.

New add for me in Skate (the original).

I played this at the time and hated it as couldn't get my head around it. I had it at work last year as the students wanted it (we actually had Skate 3) but recently I spotted it was on GamePass via EA so gave it a go, and now totally addicted to it. It's great on the Series X as and quick resume as can be up and messing around into about 30 seconds.

It's crazy seeing the main skaters T mobile flip phone that powers the main hub menu of the game, 2007 feels so long ago already.

Additional PLAY:
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes - A shitload of cunning puzzles of all kinds, wrapped up in a creepy, slightly janky bow. I'm very much enjoying it (Debs and I are playing together on the TV, talking puzzles through with me on controller, her on pen and paper). Just got to a bit where it looks like it's about to get a bit more… fraught, I'd say, so no more playing late at night with the lights off.

A couple of additional Plays:

Little Kitty, Big City - fun little 3D sandbox adventure that feels a bit like a lost N64 game, involving a cat trying to get back home. The puzzles aren't very taxing and the whole thing is very gentle but it's quite absorbing and a very nice distraction from heavier fare.

Inkbound - the latest roguelike from the team that did Monster Train. From what I've played so far this is excellent. If Monster Train was their take on Slay the Spire, this is more like Hades, albeit with turn-based battles and a range of passive and active abilities to upgrade as you go. It has an overwhelming amount of stuff in it and I'm only just starting to get to grips with its complexities but I'm sure this is going to be great.

Didn't know about Inkbound at all (and neither did my son who is a big Monster Train fan too). Looks great, good catch. Slung in the basket to buy as it was on discount. Got home. Discount finished. No keys anywhere. Doh.

Added to the wishlist.

Anyone played the original Hellblade? I’m a fan of rogue likes and mythology so I tempted after hearing about the new one.

Yes, I really liked it. It’s a bit of a walking simulator, definitely not a roguelike, but it’s incredibly atmospheric. You have to play it with headphones, just trust me on this one.

I’ve played a little bit of the new one and it is absolute graphics porn, I mean it is just fucking ridiculous.

Or are you thinking of Hades? That’s great too.

I played the very beginning of Hellblade on PS4, but actually stopped because I didn't have a set of headphones. I now have the fancy 3D headset for the PS5, but haven't ever gone back to it because the sequel is Xbox-exclusive, so my brain's gone, "what would be the point?"

I've seen footage of Senua's Saga, though, and even through YouTube mangle-compression it does look absolutely incredible.

Additional actual current Play:

Gotham Knights
It was one of the PS+ games this month, and I've sort of had half an eye on it since it launched. Is it a slightly shonky Arkham game with a bunch of shoehorned-in live service guff? Yes. Are the cast and writing universally about 40% worse than their Arkham counterparts? Absolutely. But it's also very easy - and surprisingly fun - to just drop in, kick some generic, interchangeable criminal butt, have a little chat with Alfred, and make some numbers go up. To be honest, the only truly terrible decision the developers seem to have made was to have a roster of four playable characters, then restrict co-op to 2 players.

That and the 30fps.

And I'm also in the "is Jimbob talking about Hades or Hellblade" camp.

I didn't even notice the framerate…

Didn't know about Inkbound at all (and neither did my son who is a big Monster Train fan too). Looks great, good catch. Slung in the basket to buy as it was on discount. Got home. Discount finished. No keys anywhere. Doh.

OK, I've played this quite a lot now and as a Monster Train fan this is really excellent. It's a bit overwhelming at first because it deliberately doesn't explain much and there is quite a lot to take in. It's more complex than MT with lots more moving parts but once you start to get your head around the mechanics it does all start to fall into place. After many failures, something clicked today and I completed my first "run" - which of course in the manner of these things just unlocks a series of ranks to work my way through so I am still very early in my Inkbound journey. I was very chuffed with myself though which shows the extent to which the game has got its hooks into me already.

Two minor caveats: the plot is very "in your face" to start with and it's also not very good (it ain't no Hades) but it does settle down and I'm starting to get a vague idea of what it's chuntering on about. Mostly it can just be ignored though. Also it's clearly been designed as a mouse & keyboard game first and foremost, controller support has only been added quite recently and I think it needs a bit of refinement still, it works well enough but getting some of the "hover over" tool tips to show can be a bit challenging sometime. That said I've been playing it on the Steam Deck and it's fine once you get used to it, it's just something I expect will improve over the course of the next couple of patches.

While it's perfectly fine solo, it has a big emphasis on online co-op play too so might be a good one for you and your son to play together maybe.

Hellblade - where the hell i got roguelike from i dont know.

Oh and great now I want two games. Somehow I googled Hellblade and ended up reading about Hades.

Google AI delivering in spades again then, I see.

Been blasting the very first NES Castlevania on my commutes and breaks and god this game is amazing, enemy placement, the sub-weapons, the simplicity of it all, not to mention the amazing soundtrack.

I used to think this was way too hard but it's really not, although you may die a lot. It just has very rewarding gameplay.

Yeah with you on that. Played it loads as a kid and never seemed to get anywhere, I played it for the first time a few years back and got further than I ever had on the first go.

One of the rare childhood games thats actually better than I even thought at the time.

omg the game looks amazing on the Steam Deck OLED!!! I heard this is quite a universal thing about NES games, so that's something I'll keep in mind!

On that note, I finally played more than one game on the Castlevania Anniversary collection I have, so Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania 3 etc. All I'll say is, Super Castlevania IV felt pretty horrible after the NES original, put me in the 'not that great a game' camp please (beating a dead horse with this game but I hardly used my sub weapons because I had 8 way whip! Come on!). Also I tried Bloodlines, and hey it's the dad of the dude from the Portrait of Ruin DS game, that's pretty cool. I dunno what to make of the game itself but it felt better to play than SCIV.

Why isn't Rondo of Blood on this collection then? I already own that game as part of that Requiem of Blood or whatever double pack there was for Symphony of the Night, but I'd rather play it on Steam….

I still don't think Aria of Sorrow is better than Symphony of the Night.

Hades turned up today.
My quick fifteen minute go turned in to 2 hours.
This is a game and a half.