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/
Thinking of Mart at the Bus Stop being an absolute chad by whipping that out after everyone else
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?
Nope. There's a bunch of games you can play with the touch screen, though that's pretty much what you'd expect. Still, the fact that even exists is impressive in and of itself.
Also: https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/cloud-gaming/cloud-gaming-tested-controllers
I love the way you can use a Dual Shock 4. Microsoft just straight up trolling Sony at this point.
I suppose they are thinking of Sony console owners potentially using xcloud as an in road?
Fan of that phone too, although I also want a bigger Switch screen, not one of these lunatics that gets a Lite… Although I do love the blue version of them!
I wouldn't play my Switch half as much if I didn't have a Lite. Work loyalty aside, it's perfect for my needs.
Additional Play: Maneater - in which you play a shark that does side quests. Tonally this is all over the place, one moment it's giving you chin-stroking anecdotes about marine life and the next moment you're upgrading your shark with electric teeth and attacking a nuclear power plant. I was looking for a palate cleanser between all the 100-hour games I seem to be playing lately and this, in all its slightly janky glory, is absolutely perfect, a few hours of swimming around ticking things off a list and eating people is just what I needed. It's a surprising looker too, one of the few games that uses HDR to display ALL THE COLOURS rather than just additional brightness so it's quite eye-popping in places. Perfect Game Pass material for a couple of evenings' uncomplicated fun. If only I could get that bloody Hall & Oates song out of my head.
YOU'RE AS COLD AS ICE
no wait
BIG ASS MEGA HYPE PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >_<
HAJIMARI NO KISEKI
I finally cracked, so I bought the as of yet unlocalized 10th game in the series of the JP PSN store and then downloaded an overlay program some absolute madmen made where you stream the game to your Monitor from the PS4 (Remote Play and Ethernet is an option but I kept disconnecting so I got a Capture Card and am streaming it to myself I guess) then the text advance syncs up with the one from the game so you can understand what people are saying.
….
It's not perfect, they've got drop down menus for items and stuff but it can still take a while, they've even wrote in directions for if you wanna' speak to NPC as uou will often do in this series. I've had no trouble making my way through, following the story or approaching combat so far though, it really is quite a thing.
As for the game itself, it's technically not 'Cold Steel 5' it's route based and you can jump between character routes (though I won't be deviating unless I have to) which is a structure not seen in any other game of the series, I started with Lloyd (the protagonist of the 4th and 5th games) and just saved and took a break upon reaching Rean's (protagonist of the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th games) route, I can't see what other routes I have in store but there might be a Liberlian or two in there later…
More Plays
Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Well this is brilliant. This might be sacrilege to admit, but I never really liked Kiryu, and the new protagonist is a breath of fresh air. Kiryu's deadpan approach was funny for a bit, but it got a little tiring; I'm fully on-board with a crazy-haired nutter who knows he's in a Dragon Quest homage. And why oh why hasn't this series always been a turn-based RPG. It makes SO much sense once you start playing.
Ys: Memories of Someone, 7, 8 or 9. Can't remember which. I'm on an island, and there's a ginger woman in a thong that the men are constantly talking down to / spying on / laughing at. The minute-to-minute gameplay is fun, but fuck me Japan needs to join the 21st century.
Elder Scrolls Online. I reinstalled this to check out the next-gen patch (which is very pretty), but it's going to have to sit unplayed until I finish one of my other enormous RPGs.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Wonderful. Joyous. Incredible. Other adjectives.
Want
Mario Golf.
To be 17 again so I have time to play the frankly ludicrous number of quality games being pumped out.
Bin
Scanning forum posts quickly and seeing MPH claiming he was pumping ludicrous amounts of stuff out when he was 17.
I was averaging two a day.
(Gameboy games, of course.)
And why oh why hasn't this series always been a turn-based RPG. It makes SO much sense once you start playing.
It does. I particularly love the way it's all tied into Kasuga's vision of himself as an RPG protagonist - so you're actually fighting normal thugs and street gangs for the most part, and can even recognise them as such as they approach you, but as soon as you get into combat they turn into these crazy Dragon Quest pastiches. It makes the combat so much more varied than the other games.
The party system also allows for great banter between the characters, pretty much all the way through the game. There need to be more games featuring a core cast of down-on-their-luck 40-somethings.
Ys: Memories of Someone, 7, 8 or 9. Can't remember which. I'm on an island, and there's a ginger woman in a thong that the men are constantly talking down to / spying on / laughing at. The minute-to-minute gameplay is fun, but fuck me Japan needs to join the 21st century.
Sounds like Ys VIII:Lacrimosa of Dana (but the title you're trying to remember is 'Memories of Celceta', which is another game in the series). If it is I'd try to press on past the first Chapter or so and a certain plot point. I know you didn't say anything about it but that for me was almost off-putting but I enjoyed it after that.
Additional Bin - It's an oldy but a goody, but console exclusivity can do one. I've only just found out about Starfield not coming to Playstation - appreciate it may have been announced ages ago, but I'm only sporadically in touch with gaming news these days… Anyway, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth after such a hypey E3 showing. Boo to mega-level M&A arseholiness.
And an additional Bin to my happy-little-consumer brain for actively considering buying an Xbox Series whatever instead of a PS5 (when such things are available to non-scalpers again) as a result of this news and hence encouraging more of said arseholery in the future. Boo to me.
That's why Microsoft buying Bethesda kicked up such a fuss. Presumably from this point on (barring 2 already-announced exceptions) every single Bethesda game will be Xbox exclusive.
Starfield, The Elder Scrolls, Doom, Wolfenstein, Fallout, Dishonored, Prey, any new IP…
It was an insane buyout.
In case it's of interest, Ninchilla, Amazon has the Razer Raiju mobile controller for just $50 right now (down from $150).
The postgame stuff in Dragon Quest XI is starting to grate, now. A whole bunch of unconnected bosses of wildly varying difficulty, scattered all across the map, with no clear line of progression. Looking up advice online leads me mostly to Reddit threads where seemingly professional grinders recommend obtuse strategies with bewildering names and no further explanation.
I would quite like to finish it off, but based on my experience with DQVIII, if I put this on the back burner it'll start there until I drop it completely.
Yeah, honestly, I wish I'd not gone to act 3 and just had act 2 as the end point.
Not played much this month. Still got my normal ongoings of FFXIV, FFIV and Soul Reaver but barely even touched them due to Charlys ill health and being in and out of hospital.
This time she's been in since last Tuesday.
.
Sorry to hear that, Wev. Are you all ok?
Edit: just read the other thread. Fingers crossed for you all.
Tunic's a bit good, innit. Lovely demo. Tough too.
Fuck sake, Al, what did you do.
Yep, came completely out of nowhere! I'm pretty happy because Zero and Azure are great games in their own right, and great follow ups to the Sky trilogy. Those dates are kinda oof though, glad I'm playing Haji…'Reverie' with the English overlay.
UPDATE: Console versions announced, still baffled on the release dates though, since…this all started with them acquiring the fan translation that was just recently completed.
Additional PLAY:
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 - On Switch, I should point out. I got it on Xbox but since I barely play on TV, the itch for having it in my hand was there. It's good! Not quite as pretty, obviously, but the framerate is smooth in-game (not so much in menus, but hey) and that's really all that matters in a game like this. Really glad I picked it up, I'll actually play it now.
Xbox SSD arrived today too, so that's getting installed. Have played A Pirate's Life, but not enough to report full opinions… that'll be later.
Play:
Operation Tango. This is a really interesting and well made game. Basically it's two player, two screens. One plays a "hacker" the other an "agent". You have to do James Bond style stuff with both of you trying to solve problems simultaneously, each of you having a different view on the problem or able to do different things. It has a charming cartoon graphics style and the puzzles aren't tough, so much as requiring coordination or a bit of lateral thinking. It has moments of frantic shouting back and forth (a bit like Nobody Explodes) but more often than not is very generous in time limits (and fake time limits) to create a little drama without spoiling things. If you fail the checkpoints are very generous too, allowing you to simply retry the bit you were stuck on, rather than go back 5 minutes. It's also well paced and broken into fun 20 minute missions. Only one person needs to own the game and the other can get a guest pass. We've really enjoyed it and it's a good one to play with an older kid - recommended.
Sounds good. I'll grab it when it hits Xbox (which, despite everywhere saying it already is, appears to be later in the summer).
Pleased to hear the Tony Hawk Mart Mini Review, taken by the idea of playing that on the go, in bed or when also watching TV. Going to wait on a little dip as would like the physical edition I think.
Hope they do 3 at some stage.
The old dilemma, is Tony Hawk or Mart better on the go or in bed?
The kicker is that I don't need wheels.
Additional play: Cheap expresso maker.
It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and we went to the island I'm from to see family. On the way out the door my partner pointed to a big box she'd taken delivery of a few days earlier (with the words 'it's a lot bigger than I thought it would be') and said "this is a present, do you want to take it?"
The car was bursting at the seams so I asked 'will I get any use out of it while we were away?'
No, she said, probably not until we come back.
It was still in the oversized mail bag it had arrived in but there was a tear showing a light blue and white box inside. Could it possibly be a console? It was a big birthday, the 4-0 one so that tracks, right?
While we were away I spend idle moments reading PS5 game reviews and looking at recommended 4K tvs. Then on my birthday as gifts piled on fun experiences I was thinking 'all this and a PS5? this is crazy.'
We got home, I played it cool until she spotted the box and said 'Oh, your last present!'
I unwrapped it and, you know where this is going, BOOM! A cheap expresso maker!
We went out out for my daughters birthday last month and had coffee in the restaurant as they waded through the buckets of free ice cream that little girls seem to get given when they go out into the world these days. It was about then that I said "you know, I didn't think I missed coffee like this, I thought the stuff we were doing at home was pretty good but this is a real treat" and then "you know it might be enough for me to think about getting a coffee machine".
Early in lockdown a mate had splurged £250 on a coffee machine and another £100 on a grinder to almost universal ridicule but then he'd pointed to James Hoffman's youtube channel and we all started making better brews with our french presses. £250 in that restaurant on the day of my daughters birthday seemed almost reasonable for years of reliably good coffee.
What I should have said though is "PS5's are great, have you heard how good they are?"
I don't understand any of that.
Coffee is whatever was cheapest in Tesco, poured from the jar straight into a damp cracked cup fresh from the draining board, water boiled multiple times and Spar semi-skimmed on top.
I guess I worked in bars about the time when smoking was on the way out and coffee machines were on the way in. So, while you would get booze reps doing wine tasting for staff you'd also get coffee guys waxing lyrical about the fruitiness of the bean.
Much like a ps5 though I'd pretty much written off owning a coffee machine. For a while at least. For one thing my partner hates it when I buy kitchen gadgets that take up work top space.
It's probably comparable to a normal person hoping for a PS3 and getting an Ouya.
Or an N-Gage. If you need a more universal example, an N-Gage.
From only question is what Island are you from?
I got a coffee machine earlier this year and have disappeared down a rabbit hole of wanky artisan coffee companies who roast beans to order and send them to you together with extensive tasting notes. Mostly they just taste like coffee.
I don't have a coffee maker, but I do have a coffee grinder that gets regular use (big bags of beans), plus I have a large glass carafe with a filtered top. Weekend mornings are spent making fresh stuff. Not quite so wanky but, yes, it does all just taste like coffee. But I do take my coffee with cream, not milk, so there's that.
From only question is what Island are you from?
I'm really hoping it's somewhere exotic and not the Isle of Wight.
Could be River Island
From only question is what Island are you from?
Orkney. The Orkney. Not The Orkney's.
First person to go 'OH BUT BRITAIN IS AN ISLAND' gets a slap.