Julius

Not to add to the pile-on, but yeah, I've also been noticing some slowdown (on desktop and mobile) between loading pages, submitting posts, opening up emoticons, etc. Like H-o-T mentioned, there was a good bit of slowdown over the holidays, it seemed to go away for a couple of days and then returned.

Opening movie (linking the Japanese version to avoid the age restriction): Yep, that's a Persona opening alright visually looks fantastic, but, well, could anything ever compare to 5's opening with Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There? The answer is a resounding "no", by the way

World trailer: Reminder that this is out in just two weeks!

So, this trailer/ad (I mean, I guess they're all ads?) for the games coming up on PlayStation in 2024 is interesting...because the Snake Eater remake and Silent Hill 2 remake are both included. Obviously a huge asterisk that plans can change, and a caveat on the official editorial page for this trailer/ad that: But, I mean, damn? I thought these games were shaking up to be 2025 at the earliest, and it's really curious that they've just been announced to be coming this year, well, here of all places. Even wilder when you consider just last week PlayStation Access dropped that video @Hero-of-Time shared. We've also had a State of Play in Feb or March each year for a while more, so maybe we aren't far off finding out more? So, anyways, Konami, if you could just drop a Silent Hill collection (that works) to drive some hype for the 2 remake, you know..? So I don't need to spend ungodly amounts on picking those up on the retro market? K thx

With E3 officially dead I have a feeling Corporate Keighley is about to truly be unleashed. Going to be really interesting to see how SGF and the TGAs shake out this year. Same! Though I do hope that they get around to dropping news on their new console sooner rather than later - sometime between March and May, to launch roughly 6 months later in that September to November window. Because it's been so long and because we didn't get a Pro, I'm already starting to get fairly sick and tired of the clickbait news articles popping up Very excited for the final round of games, too (while Switch is their main platform, anyways), and I'm curious to see if it sees third parties just start dumping what they can onto the system, especially games from their own legacy catalogues (AHEM, Chrono Trigger, S-E, come onnnnnnnn). Any particular hopes for the final wave of Switch games? I know other games from the series are in line to be remade first, but given the attention they've started giving some of their GameCube titles in the latter half of the Switch's life (Sunshine in 3D All-Stars, Metroid Prime Remastered, the upcoming Paper Mario TTYD remake, and the neverending reports we've been hearing for years on Wind Waker/Twilight Princess re-releases) I'd love to see Path of Radiance be remade PURELY because the retro market is dumb and I've wanted to play it ever since I started maining Ike in Smash Bros. Brawl While I'm sure I'll be excited when a new State of Play or PlayStation Showcase gets announced, I'm kind of there with you? The recent Insomniac leaks kind of killed some of my PlayStation hype going into this year, to be honest – obviously it's not their fault, but just things like Insomniac looking to size down despite their stupid levels of success, and seeing how many attempts at making GaaS games internally (and publicly) have flopped for them and then still being keen to do so...and no hint of info on the next Astro game in the leaks?! They've been leaning on third-party pretty hard this gen up to this point, and it feels like more of the same approach is on the way I genuinely don't think there's anything Xbox can do to make me pick up their console this gen, besides a huge price slash to the Series X so that I can play some of their legacy titles and have a system dedicated to their past, like the older Forza titles and finally playing through the Halo games. I'm sure there would be some hype for announcements like a new Banjo-Kazooie, Evil Within 3, or the next Halo, but Starfield only being a moderate success commercially and critically really felt like the toll of the death knell for them this generation – it felt like their one chance to really turn around the general perspective on their first party content, and I think they absolutely blew it.

Finally got down to the local-ish retro shop I'd mentioned before, which is Vintage Gamer in Halesowen. Today's pick-ups: 3 A-Spec (childhood platinum edition) and Arkham City (steelbook) are replacements for games I already have; Batman: Vengeance and Justice League Heroes I picked up for a mate who's a big DC fan; Lair and Mini Ninjas were purely curiosity picks, I know very little to nothing about those games really nice spot, they were sitting through some boxes for their boss to look through before putting games off for sale and I spied some rarities like Suikoden I and Suikoden II, Legend of Dragoon, and Silent Hill. Anyways, not that I'm collecting, some general rules I've set myself for picking up retro stuff are: • if I've played it before, I'll only pick it up if it's an absolute favourite - and in absolutely great condition. • focus above all else on games I haven't played and don't have access to elsewhere; Onimusha Warlords, for example, was available, but I already have it on PS4 through the remaster released a few years ago. • no need to break the bank - while I'm sure there will be games I want to break the bank for to experience because they're currently locked to old platforms (ahem, Silent Hill 2) • given the chance, do I see myself playing this in the next 6 to 12 months? There may be exceptions if I'm going through a series and see a super rare copy of a game from later in the series, but this is more of a "can I just dive in?" vibe as I want to play more shorter games. I feel like this also stops me from just picking up 50+ hour JRPGs, as much as I might love them. I've also got some other pick-ups from the same place from a pile which was only just dropped off today, so those are being priced for me to potentially pick up at some point, and I also ordered a couple of retro games from eBay. So...please be excited?

I think I've watched some of their update videos over the years but didn't realise it had come out! Thanks for making me aware, just finished watching it through a first time, and it's already time to watch it a second time me thinks The fan TCW animators are getting into such a great space so quickly, I really hope it pushes LucasFilm to animate some of the cut arcs from latter seasons of the show like Son of Dathomir before fans inevitably attempt to do it themselves!

No, which is exactly what I'm saying Is the discussion how to pronounce "GameFAQs" or "FAQs"? The first one's made up, a website name which combined a word and an initialism into a single entity. If it read "Game FAQs", I would read it as "Game F-A-Qs" and agree that that's the correct pronunciation because the words are separate entities, but the decision to make it a single word - for branding and website name purposes - leaves it open to more discussion. There isn't a "right answer", really, because again if we start going the route of "it's an initialism and should be read as such" doesn't really apply when we're throwing the English language out of the window anyways to discuss how to pronounce a made-up singular word The second I'd pronounce "F-A-Qs". There's an actual precedent for it's pronunciation and it's not exactly uncommon to hear it said out loud. Right, agreed, and it's the exact same with FAQs in the context of how some of us are pronouncing "GameFAQs" with "facks"; if it were "GameFQs" we were discussing, I guarantee every soul here saying "facks" would be saying "Game F-Qs" and nothing else; the vowel is what pieces it together. I think you're focusing too much on the Q rather than the greater picture of the vowel next to it. Why would it need a 'U' after it if it's part of an initialism or acronym? Q can have a 'k' sound, and even though we can argue that it's not found at the end of any conventional English word I can think of, well, conventions aren't really being applied here. The 's' is pluralising "Frequently Asked Question", not just "Question". Also, just because ROM has become an acronym - it wouldn't be incorrect to also pronounce it as it's initialism, R-O-M. ASAP, LOL...sure, it's more popular these days probably to pronounce those as acronyms, but you also wouldn't be wrong to pronounce them as initialisms. I think the argument here is more about whether the initialism ("FAQs") stays an initialism ("F-A-Qs") in the context of no longer being an initialism ("GameFAQs") by being merged with another word. My point with bringing "CD-ROM" into the conversation was to make the point that (while technically hyphenated) you can combine two initialisms yet only read one as an initialism and the other as an acronym - so why not the same with the word and an initialism allowing you to say that as an acronym? Personally, I don't really think there's a wrong way to say it, either way; again, I don't think normal conventions of the English language really apply. But the first time I read it, have since read it, and would even say it now, is as "GameFacks". I wouldn't correct someone or question it if I heard them say "Game F-A-Qs", though, because I can still understand what they're talking about – and I'm sure people would still understand us "GameFacks" lot. Anyways, turns we've all been saying GameFAQs wrong; per The Great GameFAQs Q&A of 18 years ago (!): Turns out reading FAQs as "facks"/"faks"/"fax" is "official"? ... But we all forgot about the possibility that this guy couldn't pronounce "game" to save his life.

Hey all, hope everyone had a nice Christmas and, of course, Happy New Year! With 2024 upon us and time finally being called on 2023, one of the greatest years for playing from the tippity-top of AAA gaming to the über niche and sleeper-hitting indies, the constant remains clear: N-E's love of video games and, more importantly perhaps, talking about them! Discussing the games we love - and those we don't - with nothing but respect! So, heading into this year, of course the question on my mind is: are there any gaming-related New Year's Resolutions you'd like to declare at the top of this thread? A particular game or series or developer you'd like to scream out your intentions for playing or digging into? A particular console you want to dig out of the No Man's Land that is your storage space of choice? Or a new approach to how you play? Whatever it is: I can't wait to hear it, and I look forward to discussing games aplenty in this thread this year ...after I catch up on the 2023 threads, ahem

Welcome one, welcome all, Happy New Year and welcome to the official The 2024 Eve– –oh, sorry, I'm being told I need to wrap it up Ah well, you know the drill by now! Here's the general events thread for the year of 2024! And announcements season is starting up nice and early this year on New Year's Day, with the first event to be announced this year: Summer Game Fest returns in June! Because Keighley ain't wasting a darn-tootin' second of 2024 without you knowing he's cooking a show scheduled around 5½ months from now

I personally read it (and would say it - though I don't think I've ever actually said it out loud?) as GameFACKS - rolling that FAQs into the word as an acronym instead of an initialism. I think it rolls off the tongue better and sounds more natural to me as "GameFACKS". It also just sounds similar enough to "Game-Facts" that it seems apt to say it that way. Sure, F-A-Qs by itself is technically correct, but if we're trying to be pedantic about it, since when in the English language do we combine a word with an initialism in that way? The routes are in it being a 90s website name, so it's baloney to begin with Bonus point: I'd also love to hear how you guys saying it's Game-F-A-Qs pronounce CD-ROM – what, you say C-D–R-O-M, instead of C-D–Rom (̶,t̶h̶e̶ V̶a̶c̶u̶o̶u̶s̶ S̶p̶i̶d̶e̶r̶)̶? I think I might need to start blocking some people on here if so When it comes to an *actual* initialism like a console name, such as the S-N-E-S or N-E-S, well, I read and say it as an initialism. "Snez" and "Nez" just both sound so wrong to me...and now that I think about it, pretty much every gaming podcast I've stopped listening to has pronounced it that way at some point. Huh. Ain't that a thing.

Just a day after his last appearance on the EZA podcast was uploaded (recorded a few weeks ago), but he did change his Twitter bio, start plugging his Twitch, etc., the last few days, so like you say, not at all unexpected given he's got friends there. Will definitely be checking it out purely to see what Brad's getting up to, sounds like a spiritual successor to Frame Trap (albeit hosted elsewhere), so naturally I'm in excellent name too! Anyways, really, really hope they have some guests, and naturally, I'm praying that Huber gets to turn up at some point if they do Absolutely. He was a huge part of EZA just continuing on with reviews, etc., at a somewhat typical cadence this past year, and really stepped up to the plate after Ben left last summer with hosting Frame Trap. I've been revisiting the Hall of Greats stuff the past few weeks and the difference between Brad during some of these sessions and now, or comparing past Frame Trap appearances as a guest to his role as a host, is pretty much night and day. Not even going to bother checking what the reactions are like elsewhere to him making the move, because I can already guess what it's like – I'm just happy he got a chance to make a quick move to maintain some stability for himself. EDIT: HOLY SMOKES 4+ HOURS FOR THE DEBUT EPISODE?! Already longer than any episode of Frame Trap from what I can remember off the dome. Weekly too. We eating gooooooood

RPG lovers looking at early 2024 like:

Back in October VGC reported that the game had been rated in Brazil and Korea, and the game has now been rated by the ESRB: This seems like it's shaking up to potentially be a H1 2024 release, it doesn't sound that far off at all going by the dates of these ratings. The first half of next year is STACKED with RPGs already, so sure, I guess we might as well add another to the list

Game has gone gold! See you sometime next year, Granblue

Yikes. I know we've seen some of the Sujimon stuff in trailers, but reading through that it just sounds so much more involved, complex, and I imagine much longer than I thought it was going to be. So I think... ...I'm going to take this back. I'll get to this game next year, for sure - maybe in the summer? It has those vibes - and I can't wait to play it after loving LAD, but VII Rebirth takes priority, and the more we hear, the more I think I'm at risk of stressing myself out over finishing Infinite Wealth before Rebirth, which is stress I'll easily pass on. Means I get to pick it up a bit cheaper whenever I do, hopefully, and just play some other games in the meantime. I don't think I could do this and Rebirth back-to-back with how much I know I'll want to get out of both games going in without burning myself out, let alone the thought of Persona 3 Reload, Granblue, etc. - I might just try to do one of those a quarter to stay on top of the JRPG goodness next year, but no rush So pleaseeeeeeee can no-one else announce another massive, 70+ hour JRPG I'll want to play for the second half of 2024 (or I'll cut you); S-E, show us DQ XII already! But save it for 2025...pretty please?

It just hurts to read stuff like this

If I'm remembering right from the random Konami news drops, they're included in the Master Collection or bundled with MGS if you pick that up individually & I think I remember seeing H-o-T mentioning that he picked up the Collection somewhere

Considering I spent the entirety of NG with the first ones you end up with by default, I feel like this is (unfortunately) an understatement

Oh yeah, I've heard of them, just having not played them I didn't know if it was brought up because I sound insane, because of their plots being insane or...other things being insane That PMD link does make me more interested though, I'll be honest

Looks back at how Remake ended and me audibly going "Nomura wtf dude we left the rails in our dust about three hours ago, this isn't KH, chill tf out" Oh, I have full faith that we're going there just how wild it gets really depends on what Nojima has decided to do with the story, I remember reading somewhere that Nomura wanted a generally faithful remake and it was Nojima who just went off the rails – and looking at Nojima's work as a writer outside of the Remake project, while he's worked on titles revered like VIII and X back in the day, he's also been one of the main writers on: Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2, Chain of Memories, X-2, Crisis Core, The First Soldier, Stranger of Paradise (and Subspace Emissary with So, I'm pretty confident it's getting weird (and also sorry Nomura for assuming it was just down to you; as it turns out, your main writer is the main writer from KH, how did we not figure it'd get weird?!). I remember when Remake came out watching Maximillian Dood's reactions/theories and he seemed super unhinged when he went off the rails about the story back then, but I think in retrospect, he pretty much nailed it. As time has passed I think I've just generally settled on it getting weird. And I dig it I think it's a difficult one, because I don't even especially think it's a case of people looking at the original VII and older games and thinking they're unplayable – more than, well, look at everything else around today. Returning to a game that's 25+ years old now that was on the cutting edge of 3D at the time, and considering just how far games have come since then with how mechanics and QoL features have evolved...while I won't say that it's unfair to expect people to return to older games, I do think it's very difficult to do when your frame of reference before going back is the state of modern gaming. It's very different to something like returning to an old film, for example, because of the feedback and interactivity involved in games – VII makes sense being the way it is when you consider that it's an evolution of I - VI and a mostly successful transition to 3D, but is so, so different to what is out there today, that going back to early 3D games can feel genuinely jarring when it comes to their controls and perspectives. Again, I don't want to oversell going back to a PS1 game as being some massive woe-is-me undertaking, but it's like comparing the state of competitive sprinting and all of the strides it's made technologically and through our advanced understanding of biology and biomechanics to similar competitive events at the very first Olympics, thousands of years ago – and then perhaps like asking a modern day sprinter to drop all the specially designed gear, tracks, training, diet, etc., and race against the giants of that early sporting age. This isn't me at all disagreeing with you, by the way, because I hear your point on devs pivoting to what is popular – in fact, I think it's cyclical in that when I think of, say, a Metal Gear Solid remake, what comes to mind but a third-person, over-the-shoulder, mostly cover-based shooter? AAA studios and the general gaming audience are kind of just blindly feeding off the expectations of one another, it feels, and the popular options is often the same as the one as the safe option, unfortunately. I think the problem then becomes a case of S-E taking steps forward and back, leaning on what is popular or trying to align themselves with that several times over in the 25+ years (which is a looooooooong time in terms of video game history) since VII to bounce back from poor decisions or to please shareholders, etc. How many playing VII at launch on 1997 would've thought XVI would come out as late as 2023 and basically throw so much of what it means to be a JRPG out of the window? It's a weird one, and I don't think there's a right or wrong way to go about it – as someone who enjoyed Remake, I guess the natural thing for me want to do is to share that enjoyment and experience with friends, and that's where I think a more typical remake at some point down the line is going to make sense, because As someone who has gone back to a few games from that era for the first time, for me it comes from wanting to seek out new games and experiences to enjoy to form my own opinions on them and just gain a better understanding of what I enjoy, and I go in having opened myself up to the mindset of "this game is fairly old as far as video games go, let's get some context on games from the time and do away with my preconceived notions of what a game is now or what I thought a game was then, and take it as what it is – and then assess it through the lens of someone playing it today after the fact". But I don't think everyone can or wants to view games that way, or is open to going back to older games (which is okay, btw: play what you want to play) – and I can't blame them, to be honest, with just how many great games we're swamped with today, let alone everything else You'll need to explain this one for me as someone who hasn't played those games but also: yes, almost definitely

Yeah, speaking to my own personal experience lately of going from very little interest in retro game collecting when it comes to PS1/PS2 to "oh, actually, this would be neat and companies are stupidly not re-releasing everything they reasonably can, even just digitally?", it's absolutely that combination of nostalgia and supply/demand driving things up. There are some of the most critically acclaimed games of all-time stuck on older systems still – heck, despite the MGS Collection releasing this year (finally, Konami - get a grip you guys!) it still has managed to release in a pretty poor state as far as re-release packages go. More and more people can also get into retro collecting through more accessible means because there are lists upon lists of "must haves" and "hidden gems" on each system, but because of lists like those shining a light on virtually every game, there are definitely going to be those pumping prices up accordingly – even if it's not a fair reflection of the actual value of the game these days. This is one of many series I've dived into in my retro research recently, and while it makes sense somewhat for 2 from what I've read (the poor HD Collection on PS3 virtually making the original PS2 release the best way to play outside of emulation on PlayStation), what's even crazier is that the original Silent Hill is available digitally as a PS1 CLASSIC on Vita and PS3, and it has no bearing whatsoever on the resale price of the PS1 version of the game. Maybe it's a Konami mark-up because of uncertainty that all of their games for re-released on modern platforms, and because so many of their games from that era are so beloved – heck, Symphony of the Night goes for an even prettier penny, and that game is available as a PS1 Classic on Vita and PS3, and has the digital re-release on PS4 still available! It's just nuts. The unfortunate truth is that I think places like CeX also have a large part to play in this, with their truly ridiculous buy-in/sell-for % mark-ups almost becoming the bar for the price of a retro game – there's simply no strict valuing process before people post these games for sale, and so places like that become a reference point. On places like eBay there are certainly some reasonable people selling retro games open to negotiating (more often than not, I find these are the people more interested in the games than the potential of making money in the retro market), but I think we're getting to the point where - as you mention, with more people holding onto them and less copies of games really getting into resale circulation - we're so far removed that oftentimes these games going up now can be a case of someone digging out their old collection, realising the apparent worth of the games by looking at something like CeX, and pricing their games for resale at a similar value.

No idea what your % story completion is at now, but trust me...it almost definitely gets better. Sucks to read that you're at that stage with the game, though Is it going to be enough to change your overall opinion on the game? No idea, though I'd guess probably not based on your last few posts. But I think you've still probably got a really solid beat or two in the story to get to yet When this game flies it absolutely soars, and when it doesn't...yeah, it really does feel like wading through mud definite lessons to be learned going into whatever CBU III does next from this, but I'm confident they'll learn the right lessons based on how well they manage to consistently take and act on feedback with XIV