Fall guys got an update yesterday. Not played it yet but have been told it's minor tweaks and additions to the levels. Some of the things that were fixed (like the direction the fans turn, which doors are fake) are now randomised.
This game is the only justification for a PS plus account now.
I really liked Sunshine. It does force you to collect the first 7 shines in each world, so it isn't really as open-world as most of these games, but most of them are good fun. It's worth it just of the wooden block obstacle courses and to enjoy the sun in Delfino Island.
Other Plays, I've started Paradise Killer, which, after 6 hours, I still don't know what to make of it. Its like one big Danganronpa "School Days" section, complete with a cast of characters that are, er, eccentric, but I'm not exactly doing a lot and the island the game is set on is an absolute bastard to navigate.
The other is art of rally which I've got for review, I've also put 6 hours into this and its bloody good fun. You have to adjust to its handling model, and maybe tweak the assists a little for personal preference but:
Can't wait to play Mario 64 again and marvel at how hard they fucking nailed it, it being the jump to 3D and just being a good game/platformer in general. If you ever watch a speedrun of M64 it's something else, especially for a N64 game. It really sells how Mario is a vastly more precise character than most platformer characters today. [/off the top of my head]
It's really cool that you can play Mario 64 (I think this extends to almost every Mario platformer too) just making your way through or you can do his triple jump spinny backflip bs.
I really liked Sunshine. It does force you to collect the first 7 shines in each world, so it isn't really as open-world as most of these games, but most of them are good fun. It's worth it just of the wooden block obstacle courses and to enjoy the sun in Delfino Island.
It's got the strongest, most consistent atmosphere of all the Mario games and it remains probably my favourite for that reason. Sadly it was chucked out the door before it was properly finished, hence the severely wonky camera, inconsistent difficulty levels and horrendous blue coin padding at the end - I'd always hoped that any re-release would try and address these and maybe restore the half-completed levels that were cut late in development. But nope, it's Nintendo, so you get a ROM dump and you can be grateful. But it's still great. If you could buy these games separately then I would have got this.
Beat the first Bowser fight on M64, game still the 
I think I like Hades. I'd be interested to hear how the Switch port is.
I think I like Hades. I'd be interested to hear how the Switch port is.
Based on the (first) three runs I’ve (ever) had this afternoon, the port is great, and the game is excellent
-Trails in the Sky FC
-Trails in the Sky SC
-Trails the 3rd
Zero no Kiseki
-Ao no Kiseki
-Trails of Cold Steel 1
-Trails of Cold Steel 2
and now
Trails of Cold Steel 3
That is IT. It's done, I'm up to date! I did it with a month to spare, Cold Steel 4 has been out for years in Japan, the sequel to Cold Steel 4 has been out for a weeks in Japan too, but as it stands I'm as up to date with every other fan!
Wouldn't trade this experience for anything, what a blast! I'm gonna' wake up tomorrow and not have a Trails game to play, I'm free! :p
-
Trails in the Sky FC
-Trails in the Sky SC
-Trails the 3rd
Zero no Kiseki
-Ao no Kiseki
-Trails of Cold Steel 1
-Trails of Cold Steel 2and now
Trails of Cold Steel 3That is IT. It's done, I'm up to date! I did it with a month to spare, Cold Steel 4 has been out for years in Japan, the sequel to Cold Steel 4 has been out for a weeks in Japan too, but as it stands I'm as up to date with every other fan!
Wouldn't trade this experience for anything, what a blast! I'm gonna' wake up tomorrow and not have a Trails game to play, I'm free! :p
You're a machine Alastor!
Got 33 or so Stars on Mario 64. Had a lot of fun for the most part but I'd be lying if I said some of the Stars didn't make me pull my hair out, nothing serious so far yet. the bigger problem so far is any time you need to swim everything slows down to a crawl, but oh well. I really like Cool Cool Mountain.
0 issues with the port for me too, other the black borders I guess.
Disgaea 4 - With Disgaea 6 finally moving the series a step forward in terms of visuals, I got the itch to play this again rather than buy Disgaea 5 Complete. It's super fun, but still really grindy.
Additional PLAY: I bought Ori 2 and Hades on Switch yesterday, so will be playing both of those soon.
Oh man, Hades. Maybe it's my love of roguelikes, maybe it's the gorgeous visual style, maybe it's the writing and clever way it's constantly layering things upon things each and every time you die. But this has got its hooks in me deep and I love it to bits. All other games have gone on hold for now, because this is glorious.
Also: I played Among Us for the first time last night with a group of friends (online via mobile, with Discord chat running). That's some messed up Werewolf fun right there. Will definitely be playing that again in the future.
Considering how much I love Bastion, and how everybody seems to love Hades, I should probably get Hades.
I’d echo Mart in praising it, and would wholeheartedly recommend it if you’re interested. I haven’t played enough yet to know if the story elements and the like continue on as they’ve begun (and give a better feel of progression than most roguelites even attempt), but I do know that I’ve loved what I’ve played so far.
It’s obviously got some similarities with Dead Cells, and a hint of Disgaea (not so obvious, but the isometric viewpoint, the hellish setting, and themes of “teenage” rebellion are reminiscent of it), but it still feels pretty unique to me, and my only issue with it currently is that I won’t get a chance to play again now until next week…
Climbing Tall Tall Mountain in Mario 64 is my favourite Star yet! Did a few more new worlds and went back to old ones after getting power ups like the sick Metal Mario cap. Lethal Lava Land was great fun because touching the Lava actually lets you skip most of the level…you just gotta' be reckless .
Additional Play: I'm gradually making my way through 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and it's almost exactly what I expected/hoped for. It looks gorgeous, the battle system is (so far) interesting and flexible and not too difficult (though I have set it to Easy), and the story is pretty incomprehensible sci-fi anime bullshit a.k.a. Totally My Jam.
Some of the point-and-clickier bits of the story scenes can be frustrating, but there are branching paths that get you different scenes and unlocks within each story; fortunately you don't need to replay a character's entire plotline to see what you've missed, as there are pretty regular checkpoints you can hop back to for choices you missed.
Have you played Mario 64 before, Al?
A very long time ago, I have forgotten most of these worlds even existed.
EDIT - Wouldn't mind getting Sentinels eventually, I am STILL in a MASSIVE Mech mood and I wanna' play all the mech games, we really went a whole console gen without Armored Core eh???
Daemon X Machina? That's alright.
Ah yeah, is that cheap-ish now? I can even make my own anime character right! It's not quite Armored Core but it might be okay? I should just buy 13 Sentinels.
Also, I reached Tiny-Huge Island in Mario 64, what a fucking cool gimmick. That world is on some shit.
FUCK Tick Tock Clock.
We published DxM so if you'd prefer the Switch version over the Steam one, I can likely get it cheaper (though it'd be a discount on full price, which wouldn't beat any sales going on). Once our staff shop reopens, anyway.
Thanks Mart, I'm going to wait a bit though, at least till' after Cold Steel 4 next month. (Which also will have very satisfying mech action, in Cold Steel 3 there's a girl who uses Tonfas…so of course her mech does too ^-^)
It’s not got a lot of press at the Soc, but Ghost if Tsushima is one of the best games I’ve played this generation.
Yes it’s nothing new, it’s a mix of AC and Red Dead. But it’s damn beautiful, playable and acted.
A lot of the coverage I've seen seemed to suggest it was good, but derivative; I'd still be interested in playing it, but I'm waiting for a bit of a discount first.
Tsushima: I've started it but it hasn't grabbed me. I got a loan of the disc in between lockdowns and since my Last of Us II play through has stalled I installed and started the Tsushima. There's a lot to admire but I've not found it a huge amount of fun so far. Combat seems more simplistic than I'd hoped for but it's still early days in my game so I'm guessing there are skills to unlock. I can't pin point why I'm not enthusiastic about it, there wasn't a huge desire from me to play it at any point and when I was offered a look at The Last of Us II and this was bundled in with it who could complain?
So far I've not found the thing that makes it compelling. It's really nice to ride around an look at the world.
Control: I've gone back to this and can't remember why I put it down. I find this game really compelling which is ironic given that it's set in an office building rather than some far flung locale. Like Japan.
Got a sense that I dropped it a little bit too prematurely as when I got back to playing I unlocked a couple of new abilities in quick succession and Jesse became a lot less vulnerable. This coupled with a proper investigation into the upgrades available has made the game less unnerving. The gunplay is really fun and the movement & ability's really add a lot to this aspect of the game. I've got an original PS4 and it does seem to struggle a bit when things get busy or you go into the pause screen at… Any time. It runs though and it looks great most of the time.
Everybody's Golf: This was in a PS+ discount sale recently. It's fine, the last time I played Everybody is Golf was on the PSP and it hasn't changed that much. Have to say that the various PS3 iterations of Tiger Woods games got a lot of play in the last flatshare I was in and I don't think I've played a more satisfying golf game in terms of the control mechanics. Going back to the three click system from that analogue stick swing they put into Tiger Woods feels surprisingly primitive.
Lots of chat about Hades. Is it worth a go for someone (me) who doesn't like roguelikes?
Lots of chat about Hades. Is it worth a go for someone (me) who doesn't like roguelikes?
Probably not? It's visually lovely, the story is ace and the combat is fun. But it's still a roguelike, so the chances are you won't like it. Bit like someone offering me a wonderful plate of food with an ingredient I don't enjoy… it can look fabulous, but it's still cauliflower. 
Yeah, fair enough! I don't like dying and respawning constantly; I get there's a sense of progress but I get frustrated instead.
Happy for this to be a great game, that's not for me. 👍
Additional PLAY: Has anyone else tried Genshin Impact? I downloaded it onto my PS4 yesterday, but gave the mobile version a five minute blast this morning. I just… I dunno, how the hell is something this polished and gorgeous looking free-to-play? What am I missing? It's Breath of the Wild, but anime and free?! What's the catch (and yes, I'm aware it has IAPs though I'm yet to experience how closely they're tied into progress)? And how does it look so fantastic on PS4 and yet look IDENTICAL on mobile?!
I'm giving the PS4 one my full attention tonight.
I've downloaded it on PS4 but Charlys playing KH3 so I've not got on it, launched the downloader for PC and its trickling down slower than someone who needs to get their prostate examined. Not sure I'd get on with an ARPG using phone controls…
Downloading also, should be finished tonight. It looks amazing, keep forgetting its actually a gacha.
I played about 45 minutes of it last night. The gameplay seems fine, VERY BotW (I've just unlocked the glider), but the UI is fucking atrocious. Tiny text, inconsistent button mapping, and just menus in menus in menus.
The squeaky fairy who follows you around speaking in the third person and feeding you reams of exposition (which appears to be a legal requirement of any game with an anime art style) is somehow less irritating than I expected.
The fuck is a gacha?
The fuck is a gacha?
I think it's those awards Noel Edmunds used to give out.
The fuck is a gacha?
"Gacha" is short for "Gachapon", those little capsule toys that Ryo can spend dozens of hours and millions of yen collecting in Shenmue.
It's a term applied to mostly free-to-play games with a microtransaction-heavy, random-draw element – it's kind of a proto-loot box. You'll have seen elements of this if you played Fire Emblem Heroes or Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Granblue Fantasy, Arknights or any big-name Japanese, Chinese or Korean mobile game of the last five years.
Are they as obviously monetised as Western 'free-to-play' mobile games?
Also, despite not knowing what gacha was, after reading that description it turns out I bought one in Japan. I got Kirby dressed as a cowboy, in a little plastic ball. He's excellent.
Are they as obviously monetised as Western 'free-to-play' mobile games?
They're pretty up-front about it, yeah.
Aniki is so good at explaining stuff.
Isn't it also that the Gacha element is more cosmetic than your average f2p fair where your locked into timers and stuff that prevent you progressing unless you buy in game currency?
Does this mean the fanned going to end up with hundreds of characters in the "party"..?
Isn't it also that the Gacha element is more cosmetic than your average f2p fair where your locked into timers and stuff that prevent you progressing unless you buy in game currency?
This is the bit I don't get, at least in terms of how it works in Genshin Impact. What I've played so far (granted, barely anything) doesn't exhibit anything like this? It's just very BotW in its style and even the combat is real-time.
I'm quite impressed. Granted, there's plenty of time for it to reveal itself as something awful, but it's fine for now.
Does Genshin Impact have cross-save? Is it all tied to my account so I could theoretically play on PS4, pc or android?
If it's anything like other gachas the early to did will be easy enough to do a lot with whatever rarity character you have then at endgame you'd just need to work harder than the guy blazing through it. I will say IMO there's nothing like Gacha envy, the Granblue crew I'm in had to make a separate room on our crew discord for pulls because being the only guy to not get the shiny toys sucks ass.
I know some of those words, but they are in new and frightening contexts.
My keyboard seems to have ate my entire input of 'gacha envy' almost as if it thought no one needed to know. >:(
Sorry, I buggered that up lol I'm just saying it sucks to not get the cool characters on pulls when everyone is.
Also, my quick 15 min impressions = damn this is pretty, plays kinda well and production values are up there. Feel like I've robbed the devs getting this free…but we'll see when I go full whale mode later. /
I'm really looking forward to the point where I've finished 13 Sentinels and realise I still have no fucking clue what the hell's going on in the story.
Three hours vanished tonight into Genshin Impact, which is a hell of a thing for a game whose name I have to look up every time I want to refer to it. What on Earth does it even mean? What's a Genshin? Autocorrect keeps trying to change it to Ghandi.
I've blasted way too much XP into my first couple of characters, I think; I suspect I'll come to regret that, but at least it means I'm carving through stuff like nobody's business at the moment. No idea what the story is. There's a dragon, and temples, and something about wind?
I've hit an enforced grind just now - I have to reach Adventure Level 10 (because why would you have only one leveling system when you can have three?) before I can get any more story quests - so I guess it's just a matter of exploring the world and seeing what I can find.
Al: it has a photo mode, you know - not a great one, but at least you can switch off the UI.
Does Genshin Impact have cross-save? Is it all tied to my account so I could theoretically play on PS4, pc or android?
It's cross-save for everything except PS4. Because of course.
I’d definitely play Gandhi Impact.
Three hours vanished tonight into Genshin Impact, which is a hell of a thing for a game whose name I have to look up every time I want to refer to it. What on Earth does it even mean? What's a Genshin? Autocorrect keeps trying to change it to Ghandi.
I've blasted way too much XP into my first couple of characters, I think; I suspect I'll come to regret that, but at least it means I'm carving through stuff like nobody's business at the moment. No idea what the story is. There's a dragon, and temples, and something about wind?
I've hit an enforced grind just now - I have to reach Adventure Level 10 (because why would you have only one leveling system when you can have three?) before I can get any more story quests - so I guess it's just a matter of exploring the world and seeing what I can find.
Al: it has a photo mode, you know - not a great one, but at least you can switch off the UI.
Oh my sweet summer child, you've never experienced Phantasy Star Online 2 with its skill trees that can make a character utterly useless, where everything can be levelled up but there's no clear explanation on how to do these things, where you have around a hundred different currencies that can only be used for specific things and where quests are handed out by around 20 different NPC's but require you to have expert knowledge on all the games mechanics.
