Julius

Oh gosh that Pokémon TCG - Classic set looks unreal must...resist...

PV for the first half of Attack on Titan: Final Season - Part 3, which airs this Friday (3rd March) at 15:25 GMT: The main theme will be Under The Tree by SiM. Not long to go now! Friday's going to be a fun one

Started The Old Hunters DLC a couple of hours ago. (that second screenshot might be my favourite that I've taken in the game so far, looks so badass!) Really takes a while to get to that first lamp, huh? yeah, bunch of Hunters around which are plenty of fun to deal with, all sorts of ugliness to encounter in the river of blood and with those squid-faced hulk guys...but man is this some really fun DLC (so far). I'm early and to be honest so far it's a surprising amount of reused assets in terms of environments/structures, but the way they've shifted things around and changed up the colour palette makes areas kind of dragged and dropped from the early main game feel so fresh. It feels like such an efficiently designed piece of DLC at this stage. Anyways, I made it to the first boss and beat him on my second attempt, and it wasn't too long so I've uploaded my failed first attempt and my successful second attempt (albeit split into two halves!). @drahkon, this is for you Man, this boss fight! I kind of wish I got to spend longer with it. The music (oh my word THE MUSIC!!), that introduction cutscene, the transition to the second phase, the boss design, the way it speaks to the core of the tale of Bloodborne and the balance between man and beast, the way it contextualises the river of blood you've just spent so long walking through...just, hot damn, bravo From, that boss hit EVERYTHING I want from a boss fight and that's the first one in this DLC?! I just...there are simultaneously no words and so, so many words that come to mind. That's honestly and genuinely an immediate favourite boss fight – hell, in the second half, it feels more like a dance than it does a fight. I also just need to highlight how efficiently impactful From's cutscenes are in general, but especially here in Bloodborne, and especially with this boss. I can't remember any of their cutscenes running longer than 30 seconds to a minute in length, and yet time after time, it delivers on raising the stakes of a boss fight or bringing attention to a change in the scenery. This game is a freaking masterpiece. And there's still more for me to see!

Vaati with a wonderful vid to commemorate this game's first anniversary (spoilers for those who haven't played Elden Ring!): How the hell has it already been a year?!

It's official: Nintendo will be skipping E3 2023. This follows rumours a few weeks ago that stated The Big Three would all be skipping the ESA's E3 this year. Per VentureBeat: RIP E3 for like the 47th time in the last 4 years. Can't help but also wonder at the back of my mind if this has to do with not having anything they want to show yet, as the silhouette of the Switch's successor begins to form on the horizon. Kind of like how PlayStation skipped E3 2019 (which admittedly wasn't just about clearing mindspace for the PS5, but I'm sure that was one of many of reasons).

Right, seeing as I've seen one of the endings and credits roll as of Tuesday (and have been putting off the game to savour it a little bit ), this is going to be a pretty meaty update! I'm going to try to avoid posting too many clips in this update if I can help it (we'll see how that ages I guess!), but @drahkon I'll try to get some boss clips prepped and dump them all when I'm finished with the game in here for you So, that's been Bloodborne! Nah, who am I kidding, I know there's DLC to head off and complete, as well at these Chalice Dungeons I read so much about in the loading screens I've then got to look up how I'm going to hunt for that Platinum and how to obtain the other endings (I'm guessing one is from refusing?). Here's my final death tally vs bosses in the main game: And my stats and playtime at this point (sub-20 hours, which I'm super happy with!): I'll be back with plenty more to say about the DLC, the Chalice Dungeons, and the Platinum as I get through the rest of what this game has to offer, but to just summarise my final thoughts on my experience with the main game of Bloodborne: this is my favourite From Software game that I've played to date (again, sorry Elden Ring), and I think immediately enters my Top 5 games of all-time. I'll take some time to think about where exactly it lands, but it's in great company for me with Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest XI and The Last of Us! So that's my mega update for now... ...but the hunt goes on!

Seeing as this one's earned the rank of Captain and not freeloading off some 10 year old kid, I'd imagine it's a different one Unless that's what they want us to think...

Feels at this point like we might need a dedicated general Pokémon thread, but anyways...some info on the new animated series is starting to trickle out! I think Pokémon's objective is clear: make it easier to empathise with Pikachu by giving him the role of the working man, following on from his work as a detective Can't wait for Pikatouille, The Electric Mouse of Wall Street, Mad Mice, et al

Well, outside of Tchia getting announced for launch next month straight into the PS+ Game Catalog and still looking like a beautiful melting pot of game mechanics from great games, Goodbye Volcano High and Humanity catching my eye, Street Fighter 6 getting it's release date confirmed as 2nd June and another solid RE4 trailer... That was a total nothingburger of a State of Play. my score: 4/10. Yes, you can skip this one, or just go into the PlayStation YouTube channel and see which trailers catch your eye and watch those. And no, I don't want to talk about it any more than that Oh and the Suicide Squad showing felt even worse than you'd think it would. They showed a trailer and announced the release date in around 5 minutes, giving you moment of hope that you were being released from the pain of it's showing, before they started talking over more footage. Boooooooooo. Oh also where the hell is Little Devil Inside? It's been nearly a year and a half since we last saw it...

Continues to look incredible: That lighting though! Oh, and The Mercenaries is coming, and a Special Demo is on its way soon too

2nd June 2023 it is: The date showed up at the end of its part in the SoP so casually I had to question if it was revealed before

Essentials monthly titles and part of the Game Catalog for next month were revealed in today's State of Play: Tchia is coming to the Game Catalog on Day 1 of its release (March 21st), which is a great get, as are Ghostwire and the Legacy of Thieves Collection (& from what others have said around here, Immortals could be a fun time too?)

Bury the Light (DMCV) x A Beautiful Song (NieR: Automata) works so well it's unreal Think Bury the Light's chorus might've just singlehandedly bumped DMC up my list of games to play...

Yeah, think that's totally fair, the cost and just having more than enough games elsewhere was enough to keep me away from the VR2 and Edge controller...for now. (Okay well maybe not the Edge controller because the battery life not being any better kind of makes it a non-starter for me!) But yeah, excited to hear your thoughts on it! Also I had no idea that Call to the Wild was digital-only, that kind of sucks to hear as someone who likes to fill their shelves with games! Sounds like a really solid collection to dive into at launch. Love the little I've played of Tetris Effect (since dropped for Tetris GB on NSO because...well it's a classic ); Horizon seems like a great way to set the bar for fidelity expectations when it comes to VR2 (I'm curious to hear how long that game is, and if it's more of a game or an experience, if that makes sense?); Tales from the Galaxy's Edge looks AWESOME, as does No Man's Sky in VR. And I won't lie, I'm shocked that Rescue Mission hasn't been worked on for VR2's launch with some sort of deluxe version, especially after it's critical acclaim and that of Playroom. Just hope that means they're busy at work on a fully fledged title... My problem is that if it's at the end I'll need to stick around in case there's a "oh, and one more thing" which I'll pray is something I actually want but turn out to just be something like a reminder of Forbidden West coming to PS+

Another preview for Survivor, Mitch killed it: This is going to be the fastest long two months in a while Yeah, I think I totally agree with you, I guess it's just the general pacing being pretty clunky and the wider areas which make the moment-to-moment gameplay not necessarily feel repetitive or like it's outlived it's welcome, but maybe just like it's all a bit much in general. Which is exactly my issue with TLOU2 (well, that and other stuff), a game I also hold in very high regard but I just feel loses sight a bit of the pristinely right pacing of the first game. Still nearly knocked Elden Ring off its perch as GOTY for me last year though, so the fact I have issues with it and still think it's that good really speaks to how great a job SMS managed. Would love to hear your thoughts when you get around to it

Looking forward to hearing some thoughts! I've just seen a tweet reminding me about No Man's Sky being playable on VR2 after today's update, pretty crazy to see just how many games are getting updated with VR2 compatibility! I think you can absolutely have segments on one game which are 15+ minutes long and work incredibly well in amongst a wider presentation - Final Fantasy VII Remake's demo during S-E's showing at E3 2019 comes to mind - but a game that's rumoured to be GaaS and so likely to just be a match or two with some edits, a la EA's Battlefield/Battlefront showings over the years? Total snooze fest. I'm really hoping that's what the show ends with so I can check out too, but it'll probably be first up, or maybe the middle section of the show following the VR2 news. Which...urgh

And to think we thought Pokémon were announcing next week's Presents too early! I can't remember the last time a company announced a trailer date dropping a full two weeks out! And fair play to them for just straight up saying there won't be games here, bit weird for me to use the Direct branding and such for this, but hey, I guess it's a recognisable brand and should do a great job of getting people to pay attention to the trailer dropping on a specific date! Now let's just hold onto our overalls and hope the movie's good

It was announced pretty hush-hush yesterday that after this year's Celebration, there won't be another until 2025. Per the link in this tweet: Bit of a shame, I think Star Wars can easily get away with having an annual Celebration (especially if things are going to be kept exclusive moving forwards), but it isn't totally unexpected, seeing as Disney had been positioning D23 and SWC to take place in alternating years, but COVID happening meant both got delayed and then they returned together last year. Probably a return to Orlando next in 2025 at a guess? I'm kind of shocked they haven't had one in/around Paris, or anywhere else they have a theme park presence, just considering that's how they seem to plan their show locations in the States (Anaheim/Orlando).

I mean judging from the length of the SoP being 45 minutes, 15 minutes being dedicated to Suicide Squad (booooooooo), and only mentioning five new VR2 titles before going on to mention indie and third-party surprises, I'll be surprised if it gets more than 10 minutes to be honest. The headset releases...today? (I had to check that but yes it does ) so while I do think it'll get a bit of a spotlight, I think it'd be a confusing move to have it be the primary focus on its day of release rather than, say, a month or so ago to try to pump up pre-orders. I think I read something RE4 (Remake, I'd guess?) VR being in the works the other day, so maybe that'll be announced formally here? If it hasn't been already, we've had so much RE4 stuff it's hard to keep track! EDIT: never mind, just seen that it's been made official! ~~~ So that's got to be turning up, even just a quick "oh yeah, RE8 VR is on the way, but we also have RE4R in the works too!", right? It's crazy how all-in Capcom are with VR when it comes to one of their tentpole franchises, I respect the hell out of it. Street Fighter VR when? ~~~ Then again, sometimes all it takes is one game to change the tide, and there's only one truly third-party killer app that I think could help drive sales a bit more aggressively, and that's an announcement about Half-Life: Alyx coming to the platform by the end of the year. That would be an absolutely huge get to announce here and a solid promise to those with VR2s already on the way to their homes. Speaking of indies, I wonder if we'll get an update on The Little Devil Inside here, maybe even a shadow-drop if it's ready to go? I can't remember hearing anything about it last year, and I find it really bizarre that that game still isn't out yet considering it was announced way back in one of the pre-launch showings PlayStation had. Really hope it's just a case of the devs being anal about their project rather than a deeper cause for concern like scope creep/issues behind-the-scenes/etc.

The game has sailed by the figure of 20 million units sold: Per Gematsu: Crazy figures, and very much deserved ones. Still patiently waiting on that DLC...

Lies of P is coming to PlayStation in August 2023, available to wishlist now: I mean, it's always looked very Bloodborne, but it looks even more Bloodborne in this trailer. So...guess I'll wait to see how it reviews

Random Tuesday it is huh Here I am feeling like expectations are set going in, and then PlayStation JP's Blog drops this: 45 minutes is definitely on the longer end (maybe the longest?) of State of Plays from what I can remember, so maybe there will be a surprise or two in store? But 15 minutes on Suicide Squad...ouch...but also, talk about make-or-break for this game. Conversation around it is about as dead as it gets I feel.

I mean it wasn't a perfect analogy to begin with, but nothing ever is basically: great game, similar vibes (tonally, musically, thematically), completely disrespected by their publishers with no release on modern consoles Ah, so we should continue? Quick @Glen-i get in here for the ol' alley-oop

It's the most critically acclaimed game in the series. Despite being the most critically acclaimed game in the series, it's not available on modern platforms. In general I think they just call that "pulling a Square Enix". It has the best soundtrack in the series, and one that's honestly up there for me with some of the best. There are tracks in the game which straight up sound like they belong in Chrono Trigger. It has brilliantly realised characters, writing, and clear and distinct themes, which it tackles pretty much flawlessly against a very similar story backdrop. And when I compare it to Chrono Trigger, it's largely because of how close it comes to its vibe (and story) at times, whether it be the extremely animated sprites to, well, all the time travel stuff. It's not surprising at all when you consider the lineage of the Mystery Dungeon series tracing back to Koichi Nakamura working on and directing multiple projects spearheaded by Yuji Horii. But yeah, you got me, I've got absolutely zero idea what I'm talking about when it comes to not one but two of my favourite games

I get where you're coming from...but also Explorers is basically the Chrono Trigger of this spinoff series. It's pretty undeniably the best one, so it'd be a very Square Enix-esque move to remake a lesser received game in the series, skip remaking/re-releasing the best one, and then jump to making a new one. I mean I'll take a new one, but remaking the best one and having it be on modern platforms is the move I'm pulling for. And yes, I'm still salty we don't have Chrono Trigger on the Switch You'll get a Magikarp Jump port and nothing more But seriously, I think if we're actually going to see the legacy core series titles come to NSO, now really is the time to start making those announcements, what with GB/GBA being announced in the recent Direct and the 3DS and Wii U eShops going down at the end of next month. I'm still half of the mind that they won't end up on NSO if they do come, because again, there's just too much money being left on the table otherwise. And if they come in any form, NSO or piecemeal, I expect a trickle at best after potentially shadow-dropping the Gen I (and maybe Gen II?) titles which are VC on 3DS on Pokémon Day. I'll be shocked if we get them all at once, especially the GBA games. See the above GIF