PWB November It's nearly over

Have you played Zero? It’s the best one, and will act as the perfect prequel to Kiwami if you’re coming off the back of that.

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.

Wait till you play Like a Dragon, its like Final Fantasy with Yakuza characters (actually its probably closer to Persona)

Probably going to pick up Zero or 3 depending on price.

Play
Destiny 2 - When the new expansion dropped I was a little bit concerned that it seemed a bit content light. A few weeks have passed and Bungie have dropped more of it and continue to do so with each weekly reset. New quests, new tasks, zone modifiers and items give the impression of a world that's progressing in a way that I haven't seen before in an online game. I came in on the back half of Shadowkeep and missed Forsaken so missed the living world stuff from that but this time it seems really interesting.

There's a quest-chain called Born from Darkness that's 7 (because of course it is) steps long; the first three steps were completable when the expansion dropped and step 4 was unlocked last night. The new raid became playable and is challenging, but not overwhelmingly so, and is pretty accessible. It also has some of the most cinematic stuff that Bungie have ever done in it, including a sequence where you crash a space station into Europa. This has resulted in a new 'eclipse zone' mechanic, where debris rains from the sky over parts of the Europa zone, giving access to new items, collectables, enemies and events.

Really impressive stuff, but basically impossible to write a review of.

Tetris Effect - It's lovely and I wish I could play the multiplayer with people that knew what to do. The number of people that just kind of glaze over when it's their turn to attack, move a piece around and then wonder why it's not falling is crushing.

Want
A new graphics card is probably the most practical and physical of my wants right now. Everything else is a bit more existential.

Bin
Roguelikes and Metroidvanias - I don't really think I have the patience for them. Dead Cells, Streets of Rage, Hollow Knight. I don't really have a huge amount of brainspace for 'I should remember to come back here in nine hours time once I have the jumpglide' at the moment.

You meant Streets of Rogue… right? Otherwise, I've been playing SoR wrong all this time.

Yeah, that's the one. Sorry. It leant on its gimmick too hard.

Connoisseurs of quality patch notes will enjoy today's patch for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, which includes such nuggets as "Crows will no longer fall randomly from the sky", "Fish will now spawn in bad weather", and "Addressed an issue where dogs would start levitating when the player pets them".

Why on Earth would that need to be addressed?

It does appear that almost all of the problems in 9th century England were caused by small wildlife and domestic pets. Crows on the ground, dogs in the sky, it must have been madness.

For the first time in a few years I want to play a game, but of course I don't know what I want to play. I can't be arsed sitting through five hours of tutorials and I don't want to play anything difficult. I just want to have fun exploring somewhere.

I might just replay something old. Mirror's Edge, Half-life 2, Uncharted? Something like that. I wonder if Viking still holds up, something with snow would be nice.

Maybe Xenoblade Chronicles? Although it's massive isn't it? And I still haven't finished Okami.

I could pick up Horizon or AC Odessy pretty cheap but I doubt they would be instant fun.

Horizon Zero Dawn isn't a bad shout. I think you'd be having fun with it pretty quickly. And it's not quite as sprawling as an AC or Xenoblade….

Complete edition is 7 quid in Currys at the moment too. The Society's new favourite shop.

Well that's a possibility then.

I guess I could jump on the Yakuza bandwagon. What's the best entry point?

I haven’t played one in a while (something I intend to rectify at some point soonish), but I’d think at this point you’re best off with 0 (fairly recent, and as a prequel it’s chronologically the first game now) or Kiwami, which is the remake of the actual first game in the series.

7 is a new protagonist in a new location, with a new battle system (JRPG rather than realtime brawler), though I'm getting the impression that there are a few more references to previous entries than I'm able to make sense of.

Hasn't impacted my enjoyment so far, though, and Y0 (which I finished on PS4), Kiwami and Kiwami 2 are on Game Pass so I may hop back to those later.

Hold on, do you have a Switch?

Hades is the answer here. Play Hades. Fall in love with gaming all over again.

Considering how much I love Bastion you'd think I'd have bought Hades by now wouldn't you. Isn't it kinda, you know, difficult though?

Not especially. It's a Roguelike so the difficulty is to an extent built in to the gameplay loop, and you slowly overwhelm it with progress and buffs. How skilled you are just determines the length of time before your advantages become noticeable.

I haven’t played one in a while (something I intend to rectify at some point soonish), but I’d think at this point you’re best off with 0 (fairly recent, and as a prequel it’s chronologically the first game now) or Kiwami, which is the remake of the actual first game in the series.

Kiwami 1 isn’t a great starting point, because a lot of what it does is lifted wholesale from the PS2 original. Better to start with 0, then treat Kiwami as a kind of slightly odd DLC.

7 is also apparently a great jumping on point. Although all Yakuza games start with hours of story and tutorials, so probably not what you’re looking for right now.

Ok thanks Gar.

Maybe I do need to grab Hades. It could be exactly what I'm looking for.

You don't want to play Yakuza. Trust me.

Is Garwoofoo about to come and tell me I shouldn't play Hades?

Luscan will tell you it was made by baby murderers and Garwoofoo almost certainly hates it.

Hades is good. Supergiant seem like good dudes.

Nestlé make games now. Fuck sake.

Kiwami turned me off the rest of the franchise…but against all reason, maybe because it's a standalone and an RPG with a bunch of middle aged adults(The combat in Kiwami was awful imo) I am starting to consider LAD….

After how much I shit on Kiwami it feels kind of awkward admitting that. >_>

So I bought Horizon from Curry's. Mrs Bloodaxe saw the transaction go through and said, "What are you buying from Curry's?"
"Just a game." I replied.
"Great!" She said with unusual enthusiasm. "You can wrap it up and one of the kids can give it to you for Christmas. You shouldn't be buying stuff this close to Christmas anyway."

Christmas is the worst.

There is at least new Ninjago on Netflix, so balance is restored.

Haha!

I've had to do some serious linguistic gymnastics to justify a a PS5 this close to Christmas, especially with a baby on the way.

I think my wife is expecting it to basically cure cancer.

Based on its size and appearance, you could probably claim you’d bought an MRI machine.

So I bought Horizon from Curry's. Mrs Bloodaxe saw the transaction go through and said, "What are you buying from Curry's?"
"Just a game." I replied.
"Great!" She said with unusual enthusiasm. "You can wrap it up and one of the kids can give it to you for Christmas. You shouldn't be buying stuff this close to Christmas anyway."

Christmas is the worst.

And this is why digital purchases are best. :)

I checked, it was £16 digital.

'this close to christmas' are we meant to have done our shopping by now

I have, but that because shipping cutoffs from Europe are soon and I don't want to leave my kids hanging.

Ah!