PWB November It's nearly over

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I tried playing some Animal Crossing, but the flowers. There were so many flowers…

D&D Tomb of Annihilation is still going well. Since the group entered some dungeons and we got to play with Roll 20's dynamic lighting everything has been so much more fun. Just the fact that each player has a different view of the battlefield makes such a big difference.

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2000AD! I'm having a great time reading through old favourites. Halo Jones is even better than I remember, and it's the best example I've ever seen of a B&W strip with colour added later. I'm also enjoying reading stories I missed since I stopped buying the weekly. Defoe has been great. I think I'm going to subscribe the the comic again at the end of the year assuming the world hasn't succumbed to it's ever growing set of apocalypses by then.

Want
A break.

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Left intentionally blank.

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I blitzed the first chapter of Grim Fandango on Halloween, which only took about 20 minutes. I'm not as familiar with the puzzles of Year 2 and beyond though, so I imagine it'll take a while longer to get past Rubacava.

My Expanse RPG game has gotten off to a pretty good start, with last session ending on a doozy of a cliffhanger that I've been puzzling over a resolution for since. Tomorrow night, I'll see if I've adequately covered my bases.

On the other hand, I feel like my 13th Age game is flagging a little, though I don't know if the players are also getting that. We've just started a new arc that I'm hoping to use to raise the stakes with, but we'll see how well I can crowbar in the Big Bad.

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I really enjoyed Maria Dahvana Headley's translation of Beowulf, which is somewhat (in)famous for translating the opening Hwæt as "Bro!". There's quite a lot of concessions to modernity in it (including one use of "hashtag: blessed") that I imagine would be pretty scandalous to the kind of old, greying white men who usually seem to deign themselves worthy of Beowulf, but I really liked the energy and swagger that Headley brought into it. Not that I've read any other translations, mind.

In preparation for the final book next year, I'm mking my way back through The Expanse novels - currently on the third, Abaddon's Gate which is honestly feeling like a bit of a slog. I'll make it through eventually, though; I remember the fourth book being really good despite the general consensus that its limited locations render it boring.

I've also picked up some manga: the first three volumes of Made in Abyss, which covers almost all 13 episodes of the TV series, and Utena: After the Revolution, a sequel of sorts to the TV series. MiA was pretty good but there's some kinda-icky fixations in here that the anime didn't dwell on quite as long as the mangaka does. Utena was… Utena. It made little sense, didn't touch much on any of the characters I actually wanted to see more of, and was over pretty quickly.

Want
I'm near-obsessively checking my email in case there's any updates about my Series X preorder, but so far nothing – I'm hoping that's a good sign.

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I'm terrified about the upcoming US election.

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Final Fantasy VII Remake - a snapshot of where we are as an industry. It's the most extraordinary-looking and polished thing really, especially if you're old enough to remember when the original was considered pretty remarkable in its own right. In just over 20 years the presentation of games has been completely revolutionised. It must have cost an absolute fortune to develop too, you can practically see the money dripping off the screen as you whizz through incredibly detailed scenes in seconds. And yet all that money, all that time, all that artistry has just been put into retelling (one-third of) a story that everyone already knows. I'm certainly enjoying it and it's a spectacle like no other but I'd be enjoying it a lot more if it was something genuinely new. Are we that devoid of ideas?

Cook! Serve! Delicious! 2!! - best use of exclamation marks in gaming. Leaves me with hands like claws.

Want

All about the Xbox Series X this month. Really hoping the new Assassin's Creed game is good - I have no doubts whatsoever about Yakuza.

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Disgaea 5 - it's undoubtedly good but it's designed for people with infinite time on their hands really. The story mode is a bit repetitive (with no form of permadeath, there's no real risk, and the same strategy with the same characters solves pretty much every map) and unless you're prepared to commit to the infinite grind then there are better SRPGs out there, even if none of them are quite as mad as this. I picked up the XCOM 2 collection on Switch in the recent sale, I'm going to swap this out for that one as I think it may be more to my tastes.

The US Election, oh god, where to start. My best guess with 24 hours to go is that Trump will "lose" but end up stealing it anyway through some combination of legal/political fuckery. Violence on both sides seems practically guaranteed.

Also, looking at the news this morning…

My pre-order payment for Yakuza 7 on Series X has gone out, so I'm officially HYPED

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Trails of Cold Steel IV - Act 1 finished, it took 40 hours. :) (I dunno' how many acts there are but I think the least any LoH game has had is 5). Most games in the series have a disproportionately long opening but this is something else….not that I'm complaining.

The end to Act 1 was FUCKING NUTS too. I know why people who have a problem with this game have a problem with this game but so far I'm having the time of my life. It's so far, LoH-ing harder than any game has LoH'ed since Trails in the Sky 3. Also, not only is the card minigame back from CS3 (the cool little Hearthstone rip off) but the Puyo Pop minigame from Ao no Kiseki is back!!!!

I tried the Kingom Hearts: Melody of Memories demo, it's a rhythm based game set to songs from KH. I dunno' what to think yet. I didn't like it at first because it felt too 'busy' gameplay wise compared to other games in this genre, you can:

single tap for when an enemy reaches Sora/Donald/Goofy or simultaneously double and triple tap if you run into enemies in row.
Sora has to also dodge some attacks by jumping at the appropiate 'note' and also jump to attack some flying enemies
Separate button to activate a magical crystal
Jump and hold to glide through a trail of notes

It's a bit much for me to get used to when a song gets super fast and starts overlapping this stuff. And I feel like I'm consciously thinking of wht to do instead of subconsciously doing it to the beat, like say Final Fantasy:Theatrythm which was just 'tap or swipe'. Which is another thing, I think Kingdom Hearts OST are good but not a lot comes to mind when I think 'If we did a Kingdom Hearts musical based game what song would you want in?' as opposed to the aforementioned Final Fantasy game which obviously had tons and tons of absolute bangers. The song choice in the demo is pretty underwhelming too and on easier difficulties it didn't even feel like I was playing to any sort of beat but just playing some weird KH minigame from the mainline series. I dunno, I'll try it a bit more see how it goes, I'd rather just restart Theathrythm from scratch though.

Want

Nioh 2 - I asked for it for Xmas so I guess this. I hope I can make time for this because Nioh 1 was an excellent game.

I ordered the PS4 version of Zero no Kiseki because why not? It's in japanese…but I've already beat the game on PC, what can go wrong?

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The next gen for me atm, I pre-ordered a PS5 and regretted it ever since when I realised I should have got the Xbox instead, which I can't now. Anyway, due to the Lockdown I got a text from Game saying if you want the console you pre-ordered you need to come in tody to pay in full…and I didn't bother, so no PS5 for me. I think I will get all the enjoyment I need watching streamers play Demon's Souls instead.

Had some stuff about covid and the second lockdown written but I think I'm just going to leave it out. Maybe it's for the best that I just stick to ricocheting off the walls at 1000mph over Cold Steel games. :/

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Outlast - I'd only ever watched Marit play the start before (she noped out before seeing an actual enemy), but thought I'd try it myself for Halloween. It's not bad, sort of 70% walking simulator and 30% shonky stealth game (where much of the tension evaporates once you realise the "rules", and the AI's level of intelligence). I'd guess I'm between half and two-thirds of the way through, and hoping it doesn't wear out it's welcome, as I actually quite like it.

Ghost of Tsushima - or I will be again soon, once I finish Outlast, as I seem to focus on one game on the PS4 whereas I bounce between them on the Switch.

Carrion - I like this, but probably just because I'm the kind of person who likes the idea of playing games as a bad guy, but then just plays them as a good guy anyway (at least first) even when the opportunity prevents itself. In this you're basically a cross between The Thing and the xenomorph from Alien, so it's not even a case of being the bad guy, more being the remorseless apex predator. It's just a fairly solid, standard metroidvania, but the apex predator in question is such a novelty/blast to play as that I'm still really enjoying it.

I'm also still playing (back) through, with varying of levels of commitment and frequency, Hades, Dead Cells, Golf Story, the Ace Attorney Trilogy, Luigi's Mansion, and a few others.

Want

Someone to tell me what console to get, and then to have the inclination to then do it. I'm still leaning PS5, just to play all the games I already have (in a better, quieter state) on, but I suspect the XSX is the better prospect this generation. On that basis I might as well just carry on playing the backlog on the (perfectly fine) consoles I already own, I suppose.

Or I could "accidentally" spill water on the PS4, so I need a PS5 to play my backlog on…

Bin

The usual.

Oh, and tooth issues…

I noticed a new "edge" in my mouth the other week, so went to the dentist (not my idea of fun even when there's not a global pandemic), at which point she seemed to suggest I'd made the whole thing up. There followed a short pause as she continued to look for the problem, a slight exclamation that suggested that maybe I hadn't actually made it all up, and then her breaking off what she described later as 'about a quarter' of my tooth. (It turned out an old metal filling has been doing what metal does, and expanding/contracting inside it, weakening and then fracturing it.)

She did some temporary fixes, and I arranged to go back on the 22nd of October to have the old filling removed and a new one put in, and to be measured for a cap which would then be fitted on the 5th of November. Because I've had to go private on all this, it has already (but will hopefully "only") cost me around £700.

On the 21st of October, after a morning of telling people I was really glad I'm going back the following day, I get a call to tell me my appointment is cancelled, because my dentist is ill…

My first appointment is now the 10th of November, and thankfully it seems dentists are staying open in the same "emergencies-only" capacity they were open in before the second lockdown was announced, because I'm thoroughly sick of being paranoid the temporary (I think it's) "cement" is going to come out, especially when eating or brushing, and watching the old filling slowly wear away (I can see the tooth through it again in one place now), but I'm still not counting my chickens just yet. (My dentist is also apparently going on maternity leave at some point in the none-too-distant future, but I'm hoping that doesn't become a factor as far as I'm concerned.)

Basically, I'd like to go back to just worrying about the usual 2020 shit, and at least actually be able to properly enjoy food again, please.

Play/Bin: I finished Mortal Shell last night. On reflection I'd give it a thumbs down. It's sort of okay but in streamlining the souls experience it misses out a lot of what makes those games fun to play. I liked the preset characters because I find that aspect of the From games difficult to fully get to grips with but the short supply of weapons is really limiting and I didn't deviate from the starting sword at all. By the time I started finding new weapons the sword was on its way to being fully upgraded. Also, the bosses are nothing to write home about although one of them, a two headed giant, did elicit an surprising emotional response in me when he reached the end of his first phase.
One nice touch it has is after you beat a dungeon there's a 'curated experience' as you exit. The layout is (mostly) the same but it drops in new enemies as you fight your way out. It's a nice idea but two of the three dungeons have scope for the player to leg it past everyone back outside. When you catch on to this it sort of makes the extra effort they went to moot.
I mean… I played it to the end so it wasn't terrible but it lacked a lot of the imagination of the source and I'm left wishing that I'd spent a bit more on Sekiro and played that.

Want: A PS5 I think… but I'm going to hit the backlog for the time being. It's possible that the Witcher is up next, Red Dead at some point. I could probably do with a new telly before a new console to be honest.

Keeping this short as typing on my phone is gradually become less of something I want to do at length…

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Sea of Thieves - My current go-to, since it's something I greatly enjoy playing with my partner (her on the Xbox, me on the laptop next to her). Roughly 70GH/63OoS/60MA, but Athena voyages suck so I'm just doing regular stuff to get my levels up. No longer being afraid of meg/skeleton ship battles is quite refreshing.
Binding of Isaac - Back into this on Switch, as I've barely scratched the surface of the unlocks.
Figure painting - Less a Play, more a Do… I bought a new set of Citadel paints and plan to get back into trying to paint board game figures. I'm going to use my old Hero Quest figures to practice on and some pretty decent and comprehensive YouTube videos have convinced me I can get a relatively decent result out of my limited skills (washes are king, it seems). Guess we'll see.

WANT
Xbox Series X - Because.

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Playing on my PS4 - No chance of getting rid of it any time soon, but I realised recently that I only ever turn on the PS4 to use the WWE Network app on it. So, there's that I guess.
Doctor things - Bored of bouncing back and forth from specialist to specialist just so someone can confirm I have what my UK doctor records confirm I have. Just someone fill in the damn disability forms and let me apply for benefits already.

Grim Fandango Remastered popped up on GamePass so I thought I'd give it a go. It's perhaps my third attempt to get into the game, going all the way back to its original release on PC. Each time I'm hugely impressed by the script, acting and style of it all, and completely thrown off balance by the incredibly obtuse puzzles.

I think the problem is you never really know what it is you're trying to solve. So you can look back on something once it's done, and see how you got from point A to point B, but you often only get there in the first place by trial and error. Early puzzle example:

Spoiler - click to showYou need to "get yourself a better client". Somehow you have to work out that the way to do this is to steal a canister from the message tube system in the basement, which involves loading two different chemicals (in filled balloons) into the system to create expanding foam, then adjusting the lock on the door while the mechanic is repairing it, THEN using a playing card with holes punched in it to block the message tube and receive the canister. All this is about 30 minutes into the game. The actual chemicals stuff is hinted at reasonably well (in that it opens up a new room at this point, at least, and you know it's used for something), but there's no indication whatsoever that the door lock is an interactive hotspot and I have no idea even having done the puzzle why you needed a punched card and why a regular card couldn't have worked.

The furthest I ever got was Year 2, and that was in 1998, so I'm determined to try and make it through this time, but I'm really surprised that the Remastered version (which is excellent) didn't include some sort of hints system. I don't want to resort to walkthroughs, but it's a game that badly needs to nudge the player from time to time.

Spoiler - click to showI have no idea even having done the puzzle why you needed a punched card and why a regular card couldn't have worked.

Spoiler - click to showIf you try it with an unpunched card, the air pressure in the tube yanks it out of Manny's hand.

I felt that about Escape From Monkey Island

The thing about hints is a fair point, though – at least with a cursor you can trawl the screen, but Grim's interface is watching Manny's head point to stuff. Even knowing where things are, it's sometimes difficult to get the specific hotpoint you're after.

Ah, fair enough on the card, I'd punched it using the tried-and-tested method of "use everything on everything else", clearly solved the puzzle without even realising it was there.

At least they provided an alternative to tank controls though. Much as I like them in certain games (I wouldn't play Resi Remake without them), they're tortuous here.

Difficulty in these games must be tricky to get right though. I remember Monkey Island 1 and Day of the Tentacle being reasonably straightforward, Full Throttle actually rather easy, but Monkey Island 2 and this one being absolute fuckers. And Sam and Max was just impenetrable.

There's a puzzle in Year Four of Grim Fandango whose solution relies on you remembering a single, nearly-throwaway line of dialogue from a minor character in Year One.

And yeah, while the tank controls are pretty horrible, it can actually make finding interactables easier, as you can turn Manny on the spot to target a specific item.

Tank controls 4 lyfe.

Interestingly I found out this morning that not only does the PC version have full cross-save compatibility with the Xbox version (despite not being listed as such), it has an optional point-and-click interface for mouse users. It's a bit clunky - clearly added in for the remaster - but it DOES allow for scanning of hotspots if you get completely stuck.

It's not helping me get past these fire beavers, but I will prevail.

I swear there was a button that, when held, highlighted all of the hotspots. Have I made that up?

But yeah it's an obtuse, clunky thing. I used an old paper guide for more puzzles than I care to admit.

Having said that, I went back to it recently and, despite only remembering the card-in-tube puzzle, managed to get to Year 3 without any help.

The flaming beavers are a pain, not least because there's a timing element.

The flaming beavers are a pain, not least because there's a timing element.

A true life lesson if ever there was one.

Ninchilla accidentally posted his Tinder bio again.

-_-

No timing needed with the beavers - just fire the extinguisher when they roar.

Want
Mass Effect Trilogy - It's been years since I last played these and I never did play the ME3 DLC.

No timing needed with the beavers - just fire the extinguisher when they roar.

You've met my ex-wife then?

Want
Mass Effect Trilogy - It's been years since I last played these and I never did play the ME3 DLC.

I hope they keep the endless turbo lifts as they were. Just to piss off the nerds.

The lifts are essential, that's where you get the news headlines!

Mass Effect is a day one buy.

Additional maybe-Want: Reviews have started to come in for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and they're making a lot of tempting noises. "Less bloated than Odyssey" has caught my eye in particular, though comparisons to Origins – which I found interminably boring – are less reassuring.

Want: Yes to Mass Effect. Only got about half way through ME2 (switched platforms, lost my Shep was less into it).
Play: Picked up Outer Wilds on Friday, classically bounced off it after 30-odd minutes (before getting to the central mechanic or the damn spaceship) and wearily figured I might not ever be back to it. Cut to Saturday afternoon, rain pouring, child #2 asleep and child #1 was looking for something to do. So, we sat down and started a new game. Spent markedly less time on the first world than I had when I packed it in mostly because "let's go there" and "let's go there" and "can we go to space now?"
The lack of VO maybe took something away from the game but she quite liked tootling around and playing with the model ship. We made it through take off and up to the 20-odd minute mark when 'the thing' happens and that was enough.
Later that day… when she was in bed I went back and am now properly hooked on it.
There's something about the scale of the game that's got me. Everything's accessible, you largely set your own goals based on clues but you can also just head off and explore or sit and watch. This kind of thing is more in line with what I was after from No Man's Sky. I'm not great at just exploring games, poking the edges etc. I kind of need some direction which is what this game gives.
So… Glad to have given it a proper go which I don't think it would have had were it not for that paternal optimism that 'this will be a great experience' alongside her optimism that 'this thing on the TV will be great because it's on the TV.'

Watched a stream earlier for a bit of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and it looked like every Ghosts of Tsushima stream I've ever watched.

Yeah, I saw part of a stream yesterday, and it just looked peak videogames.

Looks like I'm getting into the silly part of Yakuza 7.

I know nobody here plays it, but Apex Legends Season 7 is great. There are three key reasons:

A new map, based on something originally lined up for Titanfall 3. It's a floating city thing (think Bioshock Infinite, but more futuristic) and it looks gorgeous. Plays well too. The recent Halloween event was also astonishingly good - with a fully featured game mode which switched up the formula incredibly well (e.g. players coming back to life as wall-running feral zombies)

Its been added to Steam. This has caused a new influx of players, and along with the new map this means an immediate humping from experienced players is not assured. Indeed, since the Steam release it's among the top 5 games worldwide again. And justifiably so as it's the best BR game by a mile.

A new character has been added: a female Scottish scientist. If you've ever wanted to hear the words "bampot", "numpty" and "fandabidozi" uttered in a thick Scottish accent in a game as you kill people in a floating city, then there really are no other options. Unlike the Scottish characters in other games ReSpawn clearly didn't just hire a voice actress, but put the hours in to absolutely nail a Scottish script. I had to explain to my kids who the Krankies were. It's that good.

I've been playing a bit of Sea of Thieves off and on again recently - just a single Tall Tale or Voyage here and there. They've added a ton since I last played, including the ability to firebomb ships. So of course, I tested it.

I don't think a bit of wood's gonna do it, game.

Setting fire to your boat once you're done for the night, dropping the sails and then standing on the prow playing Becalmed while it burns is a goddamn tradition.

Yep, we always blow the boat before we log off.

A maxim for life.

Is there anyone else here who plays Rocket League? Valorant and Apex often tip me over the edge, I can go from 3 or 4 games of smashing it to getting utterly smashed and come dangerously close to losing my shit (I have the reaction times of a 44 year old and this is always going to be a disadvantage in these sorts of games).

So we've been playing RL quite a lot as a cooldown game and it's really great fun. Unranked Casual play is fun, chaotic and probably involves skill at higher levels but is fairly random at the level I play. I always thought it was a game for sweaty tryhards, but it's actually one of the slickest, lowest stress online implementations of any game I've played recently.

Yeah Rocket League is a staple of our Thursday night online sessions. It definitely involves crazy skill the higher up you go - check out some of the pro-league goals on YouTube.

But we're crap, and it's always a fun knock-around. Just turn the chat window off. A lot of the player base are dicks.

How do I turn the chat window off?

Oh yes, I've seen pro play with juggling and stuff, so I accept the skill ceiling is immense. But for those of us with no skill it's just chaotic fun. Common team comp reminds me of an office 5-a-side league. Most people fairly shit. Nobody wants to go in goal. Usually a couple who fancy themselves as the next Ronaldo who insist on trying ridiculous moves and end up getting demo'ed over and over….

How do I turn the chat window off?

It's just a checkbox in the options somewhere. Sorry can't remember more specifically!

I was very addicted to Apex but not played in ages so will check that update out.

Mainly playing Madden still, we started a league during lockdown and its still in full swing. I also grabbed the little Mario 35 Game and Watch thing yesterday and been on that a lot. I also got a Evercade for birthday back in August and it's all still all sealed out so want to get that out before the end of this month and actually have a go.

Definitely into the weirder side of Yakuza on this one.

I'm only an hour into Yakuza: Like a Dragon (touched for the very first time), but Ichiban seems to be a likeable idiot, though his inability to actually behave like a Yakuza soldier is definitely going to get him into some trouble

I'm only an hour into Yakuza: Like a Dragon (touched for the very first time), but Ichiban seems to be a likeable idiot, though his inability to actually behave like a Yakuza soldier is definitely going to get him into some trouble

We've all been there.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla has a sense of humour and I'm not sure I like it much. Maybe I'm the only person left who plays these things for historical tourism, but the presence of an American football player called Otto Slugasson, a side quest where an old woman wants more and more eggs so she can do the smelliest fart possible, and a Prodigy tribute band singing "Smack my Bishop" (OK, I did snigger a bit at this last one) do detract from all the serious Viking shenanigans a bit. A lot of the side quests are now sub-Monty Python and the Holy Grail style skits and the voice acting seems to have reverted to the days when the devs would just wander round the office and see who fancied doing some voices. Given that the main plot is Extremely Earnest at all times, the overall impression is of a game that doesn't know what the hell it wants to be.

Sounds to me like they're taking a page out of the Yakuza playbook. All of that sounds 100% like the kind of side-activities you'd find in Like A Dragon.

You're absolutely right, and I hadn't made that connection. Maybe because it doesn't really work here - the acting and animations aren't good enough to sell the abrupt lurch in tone, and without Kiryu's deadpan reactions it loses a lot of what makes it funny in the first place (haven't played Like a Dragon yet but assume Ichiban is a similar kind of straight guy). Interesting to see the big franchises feeding into each other like this though.

150 hours later, I've beat Trails of Cold Steel 4. :(

Unlike last month when I beat Cold Steel 3, there's no close sequel on the horizon, it's going to be like 2 years-ish if past games being localized and released are anything to go by. :(

I think it was way better than Cold Steel 3 but I think Cold Steel 1 and 2 duology is too strong overall. Has some of the lowest lows but also highest highs in the series, I'm talking real biblical shit like almost the entire main cast of heroes and villains (not joking) in the same room, and the opening theme from Cold Steel 3 playing as you attempt a daring rescue…or how about the mission where you control all 4 original members of the SSS from the Crossbell games in one team? Or how Act 3 is basically Highlander but with mechs!!!!

This is billed as 'The End of a Saga' (Is it though? The next game has all or most of the cast returning even if not as main protags) and that's definitely reflected here, anything and everything happens to any and everyone. You gotta' fear how they'd end the Kiseki universe with their last game if this is how they end one ARC.

So I guess NOW I'm actually free to play 'Tales of..' games again, I fear I've become too trails-Brained but I remember Tales of Graces F having really good combat and Tales of the Abyss having fun combat and a good story, so I'm sure I'll be alright. I DO want to go back to Cold Steel 1 to try and get a Platinum train going at some point…can't imagine how that's going to feel when missing every upgrade and QOL change the series added with every game….

I'm going to buy Cold Steel 1 again on Vita!!!!!

Well I've fell hook, line and sinker for Yakuza Kiwami.
Why didn't anyone tell me its basically final fantasy with streets of rage battles? I'm platinuming this game if it kills me, which I suspect it will.
So tempted to buy the second one which is currently on sale, but that will break my no games until PS5 pledge.