RedShell

Has it really been 10 years already!? Damn, time flies! Well, despite its issues and overall lack of software, I still enjoyed my time playing on Wii U. Nintendo created some amazing titles for it, including the best Mario Kart game in the series (SMK is still my personal fave but there’s no denying MK8 is the pinnacle) and new experiences like Splatoon and Mario Maker, proving that they could still deliver fresh ideas as well, something that I feel has been somewhat lacking on Switch. Speaking of fresh ideas, then of course there is Miiverse, which was simply magnificent. I still struggle to accept how Nintendo just abandoned it. It was such a great way to connect with the community for sharing and discovering content. I think one of the most disappointing things about the Wii U for me, remains the fact that they didn’t really push the creative capabilities of the system anywhere near as much as I was hoping for. Sure, there were elements here and there, and obviously stuff like Mario Maker, which was awesome. But I feel they could and should’ve done much more to encourage user generated content and from a much earlier point in the Wii U’s lifespan. Anyway, even though the Wii U wasn’t a mainstream success it still provided a lot of good times and obviously helped pave the way for Switch, which really perfected the concept of a hybrid game console. I’m glad to have owned one, and actually still have mine set-up for occasional local multiplayer sessions.

I don’t think it needs a break, I think they just need to scale things back to a point where they can at least ensure the quality remains at an acceptable level. So instead of pushing the open world thing (which is clearly way beyond their reach) smaller scale and simpler environments would be the way to go. Hell, I’d actually quite like it if they went 2D again! Imagine a modern Pokémon game on Switch but in a 16/32-bit pixel art style, or something similar to Octopath Traveler’s HD-2D visuals. I wish Game Freak would’ve experimented with options like that before pushing 3D so much. But yeah, it’s a real shame what has happened to the Pokémon series. I very much enjoyed Pokémon Shield (despite its now relatively minor technical issues compared to the latest games) and I was initially looking forward to Pokémon Scarlet, but I absolutely refuse to support such a shoddy product. Hopefully Game Freak can find a way to improve going forward, but unless they either massively increase their staff numbers, or scale back projects, then things will no doubt get even worse than they are at the moment.

Looks absolutely incredible!! Hopefully they got the balance between original and new stuff just right. Based on what was shown though I’m more confident than ever that they have. Just wish they would pick a face for Ada and stick with it though! She looks completely different in every game.

I’ve got Resident Evil coming out of my ears at the moment but what the hell, I’ll check that out.

The Ivy one is particularly unique as it also modifies the knife, changing it to a full size version of Ivy’s sword! Kiryu mod totally made it feel like I was playing a PC version of Yakuza Dead Souls! Especially during the hospital section. But yeah, I love that it’s still possible to do this kind of stuff. Seeing as developers don’t tend to include silly unlockable/post-game costumes like they used to, and the boring ones they do make now are generally paid DLC. Well to be honest I don’t know for sure, but if they did make any changes then it certainly wasn’t removing that combo which is basically guaranteed to kill you, as I got stuck in it multiple times.

Mission complete! Damn that 1 death on Nightmare! Well, not quite actually. Looks like I'm still missing 1 file and a few Charlie dolls. Not sure how, seeing as I've done so many playthroughs, but yeah, they must be very well hidden indeed! Anyway, great game. Resi 2 is admittedly the better of the two remakes, but as I mentioned in the diary thread I still seem to enjoy 3 more, I think because it's less complicated to memorise/replay, meaning I was able to truly master the game, something which I've not done for many years now. These days I usually play stuff once and then move on to the next, but playing a single game so obsessively again took me right back to my teenage years. It was a super nostalgic experience. Also, this was the first time I'd properly messed about with modding since getting back into PC gaming, and some of the mods for this game are just superb: Definitely tempted to check out what can be done in other games now too. Hell, I'm actually pretty tempted to try and learn the process of creating mods myself! However unlikely that may be at this point. Hahaha! Yeah, the infinite rocket launcher is nuts. So much fun. I don't think it did. The bastard had me ripping my hair out!

Not yet, no. It’s still on the wish list. While I have no doubt whatsoever that I’ll really enjoy all the cat stuff, based on what I’ve seen of the game and read about it online, I’m also pretty sure it won’t be as good as I was hoping it’d be. So yeah, I’m happy to wait for it to drop further in price (more than the current 20% off on Steam ) before picking it up. At the moment it’s all about the Resident Evil series for me. I picked up that Humble Bundle earlier in the year and have been having something of a Resi marathon! Was planning to replay the series in order, but the urge to check out the games that I’d never played before was too much to resist, so I pretty much jumped straight into RE 2, 3 & 6. Of that lot, it’s definitely 3 which I’ve enjoyed/played the most. Looks like that game gets quite a bit of flak from fans, but I absolutely love it. It’s just so damn replayable! Have got S Ranks on Assisted, Standard and Hardcore difficulties so far, and am now attempting Nightmare. Such a fun game to speed run too! I think another thing that has made me enjoy this game so much, is that after my initial playthrough, I started messing around with some mods. Not something I usually do, but it turns out that modding the RE games on PC is super easy! Only been using outfit/character swap mods, rather than anything which messes with actual gameplay, but there’s some hilarious stuff available. My favourites are the ones which change Carlos. Have played through with him as both Rambo and Kiryu! It looks so weird, yet at the same time it’s very well done. Definitely makes multiple playthroughs more entertaining that’s for sure. Anyway, just a couple more RE games for me to play before I’m all caught up with the series, Revelations 2 and Village. But for the time being… *launches Resi 3 again*

So this came out recently and the trailer caught my eye (understatement ) it looks absolutely insane! Photosensitive seizure warning The visuals are seriously intense!: It appears to be an FPS on acid. Very positive feedback on Steam at the moment though. I'm certainly interested in checking it out, although it definitely looks like the kind of game I would've enjoyed more 20 years ago, back when I had a slight chance of actually being able to keep up with... whatever the hell it is that's going on in this.

Eww. No it wouldn't.

Battle Mode is coming to Tour next week: Guess this game is still doing pretty well for Nintendo then?

I never tried Stadia, but having recently spent a few months with Xcloud on Game Pass Ultimate I can say that it was definitely a smooth experience. Not perfect, but it only really messed up badly on a handful of occasions. 99.9% of the time it was absolutely spot-on. Was surprised to discover that the main issue with cloud gaming (for me at least) isn't latency but actually picture quality, and that's something which is only going to improve over time with better compression methods and increased internet speeds. Anyway, even though Google dropped the ball with Stadia, I'm still convinced that cloud gaming will become the primary distribution method for the industry in the not too distant future in exactly the same way streaming became so dominant in the music and film industries.

Wow! That looks amazing. Unfortunately I’m currently stuck with LABO VR and an Oculus Go as my only VR options, but otherwise I would totally be checking that out.

4th area is my record so far. Got a feeling I might struggle to finish this game… Think I’m just too old for this genre now, you know, the “literally everything can kill you” genre. @Glen-i, how goes your progress? Based on your previous post I assume you’ve completed it already.

Nice! I still can't even get to the third area.

For anyone that’s playing this, are the news broadcasts now skippable even when first starting up the game? Or is that ticker tape feature they showed in the Direct only available when your already playing?

Man, this game is pretty tough! It’s a struggle to even get passed the first area. I can’t wait to discover more locations though, mainly to hear what the music will be like. This one is probably my fave at the moment: Also, it’s been ages since I played the original game, but did Shovel Knight always move so slowly? He’s definitely on the sluggish side in this game anyway, especially compared to enemies. Looks as if you can upgrade his speed though, which is probably why the base speed is so bad. It’s cool whenever you get some more open sections of a map and can just drop down, bouncing off enemies as you go. Major Downwell vibes during those moments.

Yeah. It did seem like Nintendo were starting to get a bit more lax with their IP in recent years, but I guess the reality is they’re still way too overprotective.

I’ve got back into this game quite a bit since its relaunch. There are some crazy costumes available in the current season… Spock, Hatsune Miku and a Xenomorph! It’s really great how many different IP they manage to get hold of. Still nothing from Nintendo yet though I see. I’m guessing if they were going to get anything from them it would’ve coincided with the launch of the Switch version though, so probably not going to happen now, which is a shame.

The Steam Deck has gyro? Damn, moving that thing around must be quite the workout! I think this game might be mouse/keyboard controls only on PC at the moment, in which case I’ll probably wait until controller support is added.

Hilarious. Playing other stuff at the mo, but definitely tempted to just ditch everything else and get this immediately.

Started this today (Apple Arcade version) I’m digging it so far. Didn't realise it was developed in collaboration with Nitrome! Great choice though, as they’re top-notch when it comes to pixel art, and have previously made some great stuff. Soundtrack is very much on point too, with Jake Kaufman returning. Anyone else playing?

Do you use many mods in general? I occasionally look into them, but always end up getting put off by the potential faff and then never bother. The only thing I persevered with was the Resi 4 HD Fan Project, as that was just too good to miss out on. It was relatively straightforward to install too. Most of the Yakuza mods I’ve seen are model swaps, like switching Kiryu with Haruka. I’m pretty sure someone fixed the Ono Michio costume in Yakuza 6 too, so you can always wear the proper one with a gigantic head.

Indeed. I’d pretty much given up on them ever being released for PC, so I’m glad they finally got it sorted out.

I see the Judgement games have finally arrived on PC. Man, Ryu Ga Gotoku/Sega are on a roll today!

Oh yeah, forgot about that little detail.