PWB: March

[cavalcade cups his hand to his ear on the patio]

[cavalcade cups his hand to his ear on the patio]

You can't hear them once they're buried under there, cav. Trust me, I've checked.

[cavalcade hears a distant sound like a cat being stretched on a medieval rack]

One for the bin pile is Torchlight 3. It's an ARPG where the act of picking up gold is slow and random. Number goes up very slowly, loot is boring and I dunked an hour into it and have zero desire to look at it again. Maybe it'll become good further down the line but holy gamoley is it just flat bad right now.

One for the bin pile is Torchlight 3. It's an ARPG where the act of picking up gold is slow and random. Number goes up very slowly, loot is boring and I dunked an hour into it and have zero desire to look at it again. Maybe it'll become good further down the line but holy gamoley is it just flat bad right now.

I played it today because it's on the weekly challenge list for Xbox and is in Game Pass. The reward popped just for starting the game, I never even got past the title screen before I uninstalled it.

I finished Ace Combat 7 and to the end it was basically MGS with planes, it did a pretty good job of making missions not feel like you're just bombing a base and dogfighting…you do those things but also flying through an increasingly narrow canyon dodging searchlights, fly through a thunderstorm or dip and dive through clouds, only emerging for a few seconds above to missile snipe a SAM launcher like a scary shark jet before going back under.

There was a little too much drone combat for my liking, which is basically what the game is about so not exactly avoidable. The DLC missions on the other hand, have very little of this and are a far better end to the game then the end of the base game, culminating in a hard ass boss fight against a dude on a Submarine trying to nuke millions of people to force people to stop fighting war through sheer disgust of his intended atrocity (told you it was MGS).

I recommend it if you want a 'simple' game where you blow things up, but it can be pretty frustrating at times, drones out maneuvering you, absolutely constant MISSILE ALERTS and sometimes it's just actually pretty hard (there's easier difficulty modes at least) but considering this game was basically dead on consoles for over a decade and half according to wikipedia (barring Assault Horizon, which everyone basically disowned) this is one hell of a comeback.

I moved on to a new game almost immediately after, got to say lately I feel like I've just felt all my free time slipping through my fingertips and I just want to make the most of it. I almost bought Yakuza but looking through the PSN sales I saw a game I've been interested in for a while, the visual novel type detective anime game: AI: The Somnium Files which is pretty good so far, you can examine stuff, talk to people and then you have to solve puzzles, you know how these games go.

Finshed Ys II which means that's the Ys Chronicles done, two really good little games only hampered by some obtuse 80s game design, but then again…I've used guides for some parts of Ys Origin too, not to the same degree but I don't want to hold it against these two games too hard is all.

Feels really good to have beaten these games actually, I like this series a lot but it felt wrong somehow not playing the games that gave it it's name. Also I can now finally resume Ys Origin's last two playthroughs and get this context I've heard so much about, so that's my next Ys game, then it's going to be Ys: The Oath in Felghana, a game I've heard much about and have really high expectations for.

All games I mentioned are on the PSP/Vita too. :^)

Update: Ys Origin is still so fucking good and playing as the second character is a totally different experience from my first character I beat the game with ages ago, he can use magic whereas she can't so he literally destroys everything and it's glorious.

Additional PLAY:

Retromania Wrestling - Been waiting for this for ages, grabbed it on Xbox and am very happy with the results. Takes a few matches to work out how to play, but there's a lot of depth under the retro stylings. Awesome job, finally a wrestling game on a modern console that isn't shit.

Just remembered we're getting Disco Elysium in a few days on console, been really wanting to play this for ages so that's a day 1 buy, even with Monster Hunter Rise invading my life.

Additional PLAY:

Narita Boy - Added to Game Pass as of today. Played it a bit this morning before work. Seems okay, if quite try-hard in how it's aiming to be cool and hip.

Just remembered we're getting Disco Elysium in a few days on console, been really wanting to play this for ages so that's a day 1 buy, even with Monster Hunter Rise invading my life.

I don't think you're going to think Disco Elysium is as good as Disco Elysium itself thinks it is.

I'm sure a lot of it will go over my head.

Really enjoyed what I've played of Disco Elysium so far, I didn't get far but in this game that still means a fuck ton of words were read. So far I've nearly died getting dressed and getting my tie off the ceiling fan, told a racist to go fuck himself, had my entire police department mock me for losing my badge then argued with the voices in my head about whether to steal the hanging corpse's shoes or not before finally 'talking' to the dead body itself who told me that I'm going to be joining him in a few weeks….

Actually the voices in your head are clearly the real stars of this game, feels like you can play this as someone who uses his fractured mind but clear genius to solve the murder central to this game's plot so far (talking to a dead body reminds me of some Twin Peaks shit) or a deeply troubled, violent and rude bastard cop who is constantly wrestling with self doubt/hate…and more besides. I'm being a bit boring but I'm levelling 'Empathy' at the moment but I might put points into 'logic' and keep things interesting with 'Inland Empire'. I wanna' be the best, nice guy detective I can be but I can already see multiple routes to go on replays.

Seems obvious but the last time I felt like this with a game was Planescape Torment, same energy of course. On that note I guess I should point out that the way you target interactables is a bit…awkward? If you can, you probably should play it on PC instead but I don't think it's a big issue. The loading times are quite long and the voice acting can be a bit questionable (sorry but I laughed at the scouse kid).

You've already finished it, haven't you.

Nah, it took me forever to just reach the part with the dead body! Also, somewhat started Suikoden, playing Tales of Eternia and playing Monster Hunter Rise, I don't know how to divide all this time, but ToE will be 'until the PSP battery runs out', Disco Elysium will probably be 'the night game', MH will be everything else and Suikdoen whenever. @_@

OK, should have it done by tomorrow then.