Glen-i

Dear god... It can't possibly be harder then what was there originally... Right!? Feeling very vindicated that I've got BT gear on everyone and grinded them up to level 99 now. EDIT: It's worse, dear god, it's worse.

Wow, this is a really cool solution to the "You can just grind lives" problem, shame no-one else copied it. I should state that I am well aware that there are poor implementations of lives in many games. Banjo-Kazooie is a fine example of a pointless implementation, so much so, that Rare realised this, and ditched them for Banjo-Tooie (For the better, in that case, in my opinion) This was almost the example I went for, but I just knew you would use it. But it's an excellent example, because the original Super Monkey Ball is a game that's built around the life system, and getting rid of it completely destroys the challenge of the game. There's definitely truth to this, but I think you underestimate the younger generation. They can be just as tenatious as us lot if they're having fun. Failure doesn't have to be unfun if it feels fair and it feels like you're still improving, despite the setback.

Thank you random guy on Era, for reinforcing the point I made about the insane effort with voice acting Eiyuden Chronicle shows.

I was catching up on some videos from Matthewmatosis, an excellent games critic on YouTube, when he made a point that I kinda fully agree with. Combined with a certain change in the recent Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door remake I don't like (Being able to immediately retry any fight you happen to get a "Game Over" on), and it's got me thinking about it again. But first, a bit of context for why I even bring this up. When Super Mario Odyssey released way back in 2017, one of the consistent praises I saw around the internet is that it ditched the traditional lives that the series has used throughout pretty much every game beforehand. Instead, when Mario croaks, you lose a few coins, and you're plonked right back at the last checkpoint. That always happens, by the way, even if you run out of coins. There's no "Game Over" as such. This might not come as a surprise to most of you, but I don't agree with this, and fast forward a few years to Mario Wonder, and people weren't thrilled that lives returned. Now I know to someone like me who plays way too many games, there was no actual risk of me losing all of my lives in Mario Wonder, because I've had years of experience before hand, but I do feel that lives create a sort of safety net for failure, while also looming the chance of punishment for playing poorly by setting you back to an earlier point in the game, should you see the dreaded Game Over screen.. But I can't help but feel I'm alone in that mindset. These days, people don't want games to "Waste their time" by making them repeat content they already beat. (I kind of find the concept of games somehow wasting your time silly, because they're designed to be time wasters, but whatever) Am I alone? Am I just out of touch with this like I am with open-world games, or is there someone out there who has that same viewpoint? Are there alternatives other then just getting rid of them that you prefer? EDIT: I've been trying to get the timestamp for the video I mention here, but it's not working, and it's a 3 hour video, so it's not exactly easy to just say "Go to this point". Not sure what's happening there. I guess a link will have to do.

Stock matches tonight from 7:30pm.

It's no biggie, it was a bit last minute once Dcubed mentioned it was the 10th anniversary.

Honestly, I kinda think Scarlet/Violet's soundtrack is a bit middling. The Gym Leader theme was a noticable step down for me. Although, that might be because they definitely tried to replicate the whole crowd chanting thing Sword/Shield does. It works in Sword/Shield because those take place in a football stadium. Doesn't quite sell it in Sca/Vi. That's not to say there isn't music I liked, mind. Basically anything Toby Fox did for it was a highlight. Ironically, I kinda hate the Raid battles in this game, but at least the song is a bop!

Needs to match the M-Rated original vision of the game. "Ow! I walked right into that f****** edge, Sonic!"

No effort required on your part. I am all in when that comes out!

Big lol at the PS5 making a more convincing looking spaceship then an actual console. But yeah, this looks great. After my disappointment with Mario Odyssey, seeing a game that takes a similar approach to level design as Mario Galaxy is the kind of game I really need these days.

Seems the most appropriate thread here. Jason Griffith, the voice actor for Shadow back when they made the game "Shadow the Hedgehog" has gone on record saying that the game meant to be far more "Ow The Edge" then it eventually was. Source Quite frankly, the sole redeeming feature of that game was how absurd and misguided the tone of it was, so this would make it far better in my eyes.

Eh, Majora's Mask is better.

Uhh, yeah. Caught up.

Congrats! But yeah, it is a lesser of two evils thing going on here, unfortunately. But if that's the price we have to pay get these Jeremy Hunts out of power, then so be it. It would be utterly delicious if a repeat of the local elections were to occur and Lib Dems would get in second place, but I'm not risking that with my vote.

So, I'm talking about two games today. Two very special games that are special for very different reasons. 1000xRESIST is an adventure game developed by Sunset Visitor that released for the Switch and PC quite recently. The developers are relatively new to the gaming scene, which includes some people who worked in Performance Art. The game takes place some time after almost all of humanity has gone extinct due to the "Occupants", some kind of alien that visited and brought a disease along for the ride. The human race now consists of one girl who was immune to the disease and the many, many clones of her that followed. These clones hold the original girl in high regard, akin to a God, and call her the "Allmother" The game focuses on "Watcher", one of said clones, whose duty consists of observation (shocker). The game opens with her stabbing someone in the back, and quickly flashbacks to a few days before that event. What made her do this? Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? The plot is the main focus, so I won't be going into much detail on it, but it's truly excellent. Thought-provoking and hard hitting. The developer's experience in performance art really shows, with surreal and striking moments in abundance, with some plot points being open to interpretation. I saw someone say that this is the kind of game that people will write essays about, and I believe that. Quite frankly, it's excellent proof that video games are art. What a coincidence! I like pizza too! The general tone is unsettling, which is helped by the great voice acting and stylistic choices (Characters generally don't have mouth animations when they talk) serve to emphasise that. It's not a game you'll play to feel good, but that only makes it more memorable. Gameplay mostly consists of moving Watcher around simulations of the past. You have to use the ability to jump around points of time to solve puzzles and find the information you're looking for. It helps to break up the constant barrage of conversations. There are also sections where you slingshot her through abstract landscapes to navigate towards a destination. It's all very weird, but that's the point. But like I said before, the plot is the focus here, and I can't stress it enough. It's excellent. I wish I could go into more detail, but that would ruin things. If you're remotely interested, go in as blind as possible. So here's a screenshot that makes no sense with no context So that's 1000xRESIST, a game that's special because of what it brings to the medium of video games as an artform, the next game I'm talking about is special because of the sheer scope of it. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a Turn-Based RPG developed by Rabbit and Bear Studio that released on all modern platforms this year. I played the PC version, due to numerous issues with the Switch version. The development was spearheaded by Yoshitaka Murayama, the creator of the Suikoden series, and for all intents and purposes, this game is very much a spirtual successor to the Suikoden games he worked on. Murayama would sadly pass away before the game released, so this would be his final project. The game mainly follows Nowa, a new recruit in the mercenary group known as "The League". They're tasked with assisting a group from the empire of Galdea led by Seign in excavating some ruins in an attempt to ease tensions between the two nations that are close to all out war breaking out. Spoiler alert, war were declared. Nowa quickly finds himself thrust into leading a resistance group to fight against the Galdean Empire, and to do so, he's gonna have to find like minded individuals to help build an army. Political intrigue is abound here, and I enjoyed the plot on offer. It's somewhat carried by the great characters, they might be many, but they're all fun and interesting, and some of them have some great backstory to them. Much like the Suikoden games, the main gimmick here is that there are over 100 characters to recruit throughout the game. Some help run shops and services, but the majority of them are full fledged party members that you can bring into fights. Each one tends to have specific skills and using certain combination of characters lets you use "Hero Combos", they're kinda like Dual Techs from Chrono Trigger. Of course, me being me, I just went with mostly funny animal people The variety of characters here is staggering. I've said it before, but I always appreciate an RPG with a fantasy setting that actually leans into it. Don't just give me a bunch of humans. Give me weird! Give me wonderful! Give me a Kangaroo with a sword as massive as his Aussie accent! Give me a shark that lives in the desert somehow, and doesn't have a clue what an "Ocean" is! But what really impresses me is that cutscenes don't just treat who you bring along as onlookers, they comment on what's going on with surprising frequency, and everything there is fully voiced. No seriously, everything. More on that in a bit. Battle formations are split into the front row and the back row. Characters in the back row are less likely to get punched in the face, but need ranged options of attack. Those in the front row are more in danger, but can get right in the enemies face. You need a decent balance so you're not blindsided by the genuinely tough boss battles this game has. The game makes no apologies with it's old-school roots, so save often. The visuals are possibly some of the most beautiful I've ever seen in a game. Taking clear inspiration from the HD-2D games Square Enix have been publishing lately, but with somehow even more elaborate spritework. It's hard to show in screenshots, but the animation here is exemplary. Add on some great looking backdrops, and it makes Eiyuden Chronicle one of the best looking games in recent times. But the most impressive thing about this game is the side content. Because who cares about the very real war looming when you can play Beyblade? No seriously, there's an extensive 5 hour side quest where Nowa tries to become the greatest Beigoma player of all time, and gets far too into it. Not your cup of tea? How about a card game that pits Nowa against every character he's recruited? Or Fantasy Horse racing? Or maybe helping the chef fight the local crime syndicate with cook-offs. And it's all voice acted, all of it. And none of them were even my favourite minigame. No, that honour goes to the Theater. OK, so get this. This theater needs actors for the five plays you can perform there. Who are the actors available? How about all of them? Every character you recruit can be cast in every role! But Glen, I hear you cry, "They can't be all good actors". Yeah, about half of them are awful, and it's beautiful. Because like everything else, it's all voice acted! Every voice actor had to read Romeo and Juliet's lines as their character as well as around 20 other parts. I may have wasted 30 hours faffing about with that alone... Shakespeare would be utterly proud! So yeah, I loved this game, it does have a bit of jank to it at times, and I would never recommend playing the Switch version due to the long loading times alone. But this is a truly excellent game. Mad to think I already have some real contenders for my Game of the Year.

Oh, actually. Funny thing about the "Chestnut King". The joke with this character is kinda lost in the translation, but in the Japanese version, the Chestnut King is this dude. Yes, Luigi is on an epic quest to defeat the first boss in Paper Mario 64!

Oh? A Goomba? Then who cares? No-one has any interest in the artistic sense of a Goomba!

OK, this has been bugging me for the past week! Look on the right hand side What the hell is that!? Bowser? A relative? A Koopa Troopa's attempt at rebellious vandalism!? No-one acknowledges it!

OK, here we go! I like it when my themes are easy to think up! So, seeing as we've been playing Mario Kart 8 for 10 years, let's take it back to the tracks that were introduced in the base WiiU version. If we have time to do a fourth GP, I'd like us to do Special Cup as well. Might as well go the full hog, you know?

Eh, Majora's Mask is better.

Huh. Guess I should probably bring forward the theme night to tonight then. Image will be up in a couple of hours.

No, you're free to leave whenever you like. Of course, you'll have to trek back out of the dungeon, and then back again, but there's no point of no return. EDIT: That's what I get for not refreshing the page... Anyway, credits actually rolled for me last night. Beat the final boss in five turns because a certain partner is stupid OP!

I wouldn't go that far, but the final boss is kind of an infamous difficulty spike for newcomers. @Dcubed already answered, but I'll add that every fight in this game does give you 1 star point at the least. So it's not like Paper Mario 1 there. But anyway, enemies generally don't respawn unless you go into an entirely new area. If you really want to grind, the Pit of 100 Trials is a constant source of quick battles. The remake makes it an excellent source of coins as well. Or once you get to Chapter 5, you can just endlessly fight Bullet Bills. Might drive yourself mad doing that for too long. Yeah, in the original, Mario kept going at about half speed if you walked off an edge, here, he just stops dead. It's not too bad if you get in the habit of jumping off of every ledge. But the Chapter 3 partner can't do that, which means running down stairs with him is constant stop, start. Still, in the grand scheme of things, the remake is still a quicker game. Loading times are shorter, and battles start in about half the time, which is very much appreciated! Also, more shortcut pipes! Very helpful with the Trouble Center.

I'm loving this remake, but if there's one I change I unequivocally hate, is that you now lose all momentum if you walk off a ledge. Makes using the partner you get in Chapter 3 move a lot slower then the original. And getting across gaps with him? Absolute nightmare.