Glen-i

Wasn't Monster Hunter Rise shown at a Partner Showcase? I wouldn't say this Direct is a wash so quickly. At least I can watch it without being worried about Xenoblade spoilers.

This is a really weird thing to get hung up on. You mention Hollywood tropes, like it's a bad thing. Well, first things first, tropes are not inherently bad. There's certainly bad use of tropes, but they're tools to convey a plot, or even gameplay elements. Pretty much any game with cutscenes is going to employ the same kind of tropes you'd see in movies. And to suggest Resi 4 was the start of that in the series is just factually wrong. Wesker revealing that he's the villain near the end of the first game? That's a trope. Claire and Leon being forced to separate by that runaway truck in 2? Trope. Raccoon City getting nuked? Yep, that's a trope as well. Anyway, back to your gripes about ammo being readily available being "unrealistic". You're complaining about something known as "Gameplay and Story Segregation". It's a video game exclusive trope that describes the very common occurrence where the stuff that happens in gameplay differs to how things work in cutscenes. This is almost entirely done to make the gameplay more fun and less frustrating. Picking this kind of stuff apart can be fun in a jokey sense (Hell, I made 8 threads poking fun at some of these inconsistencies), but it's when you start using it to criticise a game that it becomes apparent that your criticism might be misguided. Anyone can point out things that don't make sense in a game. Exactly why does the Spencer Mansion have around 20 typewriters strewn about randomly? It's the 90's and there's a bloody secret laboratory in the basement! Wesker also needs to take off his stupid sunglasses! It's the middle of the night. No real person would wear them! And shouldn't it be Game Over the moment Jill gets bitten by a zombie? You're telling me all these people in the mansion were basically screwed the moment they get chomped, but ol' Jill Sandwich here needs more then one bite for some reason? Nah, mate. That makes no sense. But no-one uses that against the game, because it would be annoying if those things weren't present. They're acceptable breaks from reality for the sake of making the game more fun to play. And that's the thing. Games should, first and foremost, be fun to play. Unless you're a visual novel, the plot should be secondary to the gameplay! I also find it funny that you think Umbrella's downfall getting expositioned at the start of 4 to be pointless. I find it surprisingly realistic that the thing that took that company down wasn't some hero busting in there and being generally awesome. It was it's stock prices crashing through the floor afterwards. Anyway, all this griping is kinda unnecessary anyway. You're getting a more realistic RE4 with the remake. Leon isn't going to casually make jokes to the people trying to kill him as he barrels through windows on the second floor of a house with no downsides. Because heaven forbid an enemy provides me with ammo refills in a game where ammo maintenance is important! Gotta keep up that realism, eh? Now excuse me, I have to go back to my game about Tokyo literally folding in on itself while I play as a dude with glow-in-the-dark tattoos who goes around punching demons in the face.

I don't know the exact details, but I saw something about Namco blocking the purchase of some of their games on this service. Tekken 2 seems to be one of them.

Then why couldn't I finish Resi 5? Something about 4's balance of survival horror and action sequences just hit a sweet spot for me. There's an uneasy tension to the whole thing that really lends it an atmosphere that 5 lacks. BTW, this is one of the reasons why I think Revelations is the only other good Resi game. 5 is too much action for my liking. But apart from that, it's also a miserable time if you're a single player, because of Sheva. On paper, she should be easier to keep alive then Ashley, due to her having the same combat abilities that Chris has, but this falls apart because of the AI controlling her. A quote from Zero Punctuation: Sheva is somehow more annoying then Ashley, because Sheva is always present, can't be told to make herself scarce in a nearby bin, and uses up your resources. If you get grabbed by an enemy, the AI won't actually help you unless you press the talk button, even if she's right next to you. She insists on using Handgun ammo first, even if you're on a boss. Co-op is decent enough, but single players are handicapped with an AI that isn't quite up to snuff. Ashley may be helpless, but at least she does her best to stay out of your way. And most enemies try to carry her off instead of attack her, so she won't need as much healing. And she's only around for half of the game. Hell, she even gives you a heads up if enemies are sneaking up behind you (She looks over her shoulder). And then we move on to 6. Strange comparison, considering the first game takes place in a spooky mansion in the middle of a forest. I'd argue 4 was closer to that with it's spooky castle section. The bolded here is an odd point. Because any game can be better if it was made better, couldn't it? But that's purely hypothetical. Resi 6 has poor pacing, and poor gameplay. The combat isn't fun at all, it might as well just be a straight third person shooter at this point, and I hate those kinds of games. And by god, the amount of QTE's is far too high! The frantic camera can easily make people get motion sick, as well. You imply that 4 was a success purely because of the controls? I've mentioned this before, but I don't like the original GameCube release (and current HD editions) because of the controls. I think it's still too stiff. It wasn't until the Wii edition that I started to like it. Revelations? That has gyro controls, and lookee here, I enjoyed that one too! To me, it seems like you want Resi to be a deathly serious survival horror game, and abhor it whenever it gets a little bit silly. Which is a perfectly fine viewpoint, you do you. But don't act like the plots only got silly from 4 onwards. Up until 6, the plots have always been campy B-movie schlock. I think these remakes have lost that sense of fun, which is why I won't give 4 remake a look in. Because I know everything that made 4 fun will be gutted to compete with the likes of The Last of Us. I mean, bloody hell! Why can't I see a damn thing in 4 Remake's screenshots!?

I would be absolutely astonished if there wasn't a way to redo all missions. Especially since this uses a ranking system, with rewards tied to S ones, at that. As for the difficulty, well. I can only speak from experience with the first game, so while it may be relatively easy to clear missions, getting the S ranks is what will provide the difficulty as you progress. There were plenty of times I went in with a strategy, only for some sudden event to change things. I would then use that foreknowledge to tweak my plan if I didn't quite S it the first time. It's not just button mashing, it's where you button mash, and how efficiently you do so, while also telling the AI controlled characters where to go through the pause menu, and maintaining a balanced army, so you're ready for any formation you might see in the future. I would buy this next week, but MH Rise is getting that DLC then, and that's gotta take priority, unfortunately. Will have to wait until I get more money after that.

Getting Little Mac there was basically a death sentence. Despite that, it was defo your night tonight. Lots of wins. A tip though, when you nail Bayonetta's Final Smash and the cutscene starts, you can mash A to fill up that circle guage and do more damage.

I want to say that this isn't a revelation in the slightest.

Stamina matches tonight at 8pm.

OK, yeah. I never would've guessed that was him! That dude has amazing range, and between Monster Hunter Rise and now, this. It's great that he's getting some proper gigs!

It could be borked more...

Damnit! I was hoping you'd ask and then I'd just reply with "Haven't played it" My terrible plan has failed!

Oh, if you want a different opinion from H-o-T, you should ask me instead.

Here comes another competitive Pokémon. This time, it's a Gastrodon used by the European Champion. The code is ER1CSGASTR0D0N This is only available until Monday, so get it now.

It was also smack bang in the middle of the SNES Vs Mega Drive console war. Anything to do with Sonic was hyped up to the extreme because, well, it was the Mario competition. I keep having to remind myself that Sonic 3 & Knuckles came out after CD. The first time I was aware of it was when I saw the animated intro on Sonic Mega Collection, and you're right, there was a certain mystique about this hard to find Sonic entry that developed. But then when I finally got a chance to play it? Bleurgh! The level design looks like someone just threw things in there with no rhyme or reason. And trying to get a good ending is far too difficult with the whole past and future gates being frustrating to use. Which becomes a kick in the face, because making a good future is pointless when collecting all the Time Stones is what you need to do to get the best ending. The good future nonsense is a waste of time. It's just a big mess.

Nah, got other games to play. Shin Megami Tensei III is similar enough to Snap, right? Pokémon Puzzle League is the better N64 Pokémon game anyway.