Julius

And it is done: Man, the game is so much easier to deal with when you have elemental attacks Spent some time between my last session and this one wrapping my head around the Level and Job Rank grind strategy, making sure I had everything in place, and figuring out what exactly I was building towards, and well, I've come to an interesting conclusion that goes against many of the grinding guides: the Kiwami Drink is a scam for the post-game grind to tackle the final endgame dungeon, at least. Bit of a bold statement, so I'll get into my reasoning and the maths behind it and why it's not the most time efficient way to grind. Hopefully this will help someone who arrives at this grind in the future! I'll go through the whole process because why not, I can't sleep Another useful tip that I didn't really get until returning to the game a few days ago: running away from an encounter is dependent on the running animation being completed and you not running into an environmental obstacle (like a wall, or a car) before the animation completes, and not necessarily your level/any other stats. Could be something to keep in mind if the system works the same way in Infinite Wealth! So if you're grinding it out and a character has their back against the wall, rather than try (and fail) to run away, you should just Guard to snap over to someone else in the party better positioned to run away. Anyways, with the grind out of the way, it was onto the Final Millennium Tower - a total cakewalk after the grind. But after that, the True Final Millennium Tower? Man, that was a whole other long and tedious story. It wasn't necessarily challenging, but it really called on keen item/HP/MP management in a way you simply aren't expected to manage at any other point in the game, skip by battles where possible, and that final battle...woo, despite being epic, it was very much on the sillier side of praying to the gaming gods that the AI and RNG worked in your favour. What really didn't help this entire thing, either, was needing to suddenly depend on the Perfect Guard (or the parry), again, in a way you just didn't need to in the game previously. I got through the tower on my first attempt but wiped at the final boss after getting him down to ¼ health, bracing for impact, having half my party go down and then, unfortunately, having the next turn go to my most attacking character because of his sheer speed - and he isn't positioned to multi-heal in the way my other surviving character was first true wipe in the game, not counting that first session back spent getting back to grips with everything again after a year out, but thankfully the game gave us some relief in just offering the opportunity to start the battle over, and we kicked ass the second time around. After that it was back to Survive for one final karaoke session, capping off the journey with one last take on The Future I Dreamed Of by Ichiban To cap off my thoughts on LAD, this game walks the fine line of managing to take from and reference so many of the greatest JRPGs - be it Dragon Quest, Persona, Final Fantasy, or many others - in what should end up being a messy and confused Frankenstein of conflicting styles and aims, but the love and attention given to the game and the clear understanding of what makes a JRPG great means that you do end up with a game much greater than the sum of its parts. It can be rough around the edges here and there - there are simply far too many street battles; the combat is pretty boring for the first two thirds of the game; the battle menus need some serious tuning up, especially the items; and Part-Time Hero is a bit of a lazy excuse to include fetch quests and have a stupid amount of collectables and craftables in the game - but for a first attempt at a turn-based JRPG by a studio known for casual beat 'em ups? I'm floored. The game beats out pretty much every other game available today for fun side content; the best way I can describe it is that it's the fun and addicting rewards of the early days of mobile gaming, without all of the gross baggage that comes with modern mobile gaming. The substories remain stellar beacons of hope that a side quest doesn't need to be longer than 5 minutes to make you feel something, and that you can have a side quest have both payoff now and a further 15 hours from now, but that a long string of quests should not be the norm to get to the heart of its message. If you take their not-so-subtle hints and grind when they want you to (when introducing new locations for the first time with a very obvious grind attached to the invite), it's really well paced and a decent enough challenge just at or a bit below the level they want you at. The story, while structurally not too far out from what we've come to expect from RGG, is arguably their most refined since 0, with twists and turns constantly bonking (honk-honking?) you on the head, knowing just when to pull you up for air before throwing you back into its deep end. The characters and all of the ways you can interact with them make you feel like you're actually on a modern day adventure, and they're all so perfectly captured in their voice and motion capture performances. The bow on top of all of this is that it's all stitched together with the soul of a hearty bowl of ramen. This game - and this series - is something special; they continue to cheer me up whenever I'm down, and, for me, I can't think of any greater testament to what this game and RGG continue to achieve and the message they seemingly strive to get across than the way they always make me feel: that there is no price to be put on a lasting smile. Like A Dragon has seriously challenged Dragon Quest XI as my favourite modern JRPG, and I think might just be the best this series has had to offer to date. See you next year, Ichiban & co.

Yeah, that would make sense to me, and ties into what I was thinking about Sony just wanting to keep their costs low. While they've already got A-listers like Dakota Johnson, Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, etc., in their films, due to them fitting in really as the centrepiece, any of the Spider-Men would rightly be in a position to negotiate much higher pay, higher than the other A-listers already in these films – and if Disney aren't splitting the bill or the fee is extravagant, yeah, I can't see Sony wanting to put up. The Sony films as they are, love them or hate them, are more than profitable enough for Sony as things stand. Why add the expense of a Spider-Man to that? He's currently taking a year-long break from acting following his work on The Crowded Room for mental health reasons following his work on that film, and has also earlier this year touched on some troubles he's had with alcoholism, which I imagine may have played a part in his decision. But also, yeah, as well as the strike!

How dare you suggest this, H-o-T. For shame!

Been talking to some friends about this very thing after the trailer dropped today and I'm still shocked that Sony haven't given the go-ahead on either a Spider-Man 4 or TASM3 following the success of No Way Home and the love for those returning Spider-Men, and then potentially using those versions of Spidey in their Sony-Verse films. Especially with the focus being on multiverse stuff and considering the current titles of the next Avengers films – why wouldn't they be cashing in? With the Spider-Verse films presumably wrapping up after Beyond, though, it wouldn't shock me if they end up utilising Miles in their films instead. It's all very bizarre, and makes me wonder if there's some weirdness to their contract with Marvel that while they can have their Spider-Man in the MCU, he can't be used to prop up the Sony-Verse. Because they seem keen to include everyone and their mother except Pete in their live-action films. The give and take we've seen with the Spidey films coming to Disney+ definitely compounds how confusing the whole situation is. I think the sad truth is that Sony doesn't really seem to care about these projects and are focused on profits. I mean, some of these films actually perform really well at the box office without Spider-Man, and it really could be as simple as the cost of having a Spider-Man show up being too expensive for the money they'd stand to gain vs without, at least using one of the existing Spideys. Because I totally agree, it's why I tend to skip what they're doing with those films, because it just doesn't seem like it's leading anywhere despite acting like it is?

Man, the first Chicken Run is one of those films I watched a lot and loved when I was little, but had something about it which creeped me out...was it the image of a chicken emerging from a pie? Probably think it's time for a re-watch! Probably not as bad as the nightmare the photo of Darla gave me after watching Finding Nemo for the first time, though

While I agree that recency bias is a hell of a thing (I'm still surprised that both Alan Wake II and Super Mario Bros. Wonder managed to sneak in at the death), and the stretch from PC to console release for BG3 definitely shut down any conversation to be had around Starfield before it even started, I don't think Starfield ever stood a snowball's chance in hell of getting nominated this year. It released in a middling technical state - it was no Cyberpunk 2077, by any means, but certainly the broken mess at launch we've come to expect from Bethesda - and seemingly didn't do much besides be exactly what you'd expect from a Bethesda game set in space. It just never had GOTY buzz around it besides it marketing campaign, and I think many other games would've come ahead of it in the GOTY conversation. Yeah, I agree with this. I mean, the contrast between the two certainly didn't help Starfield's case, but I'd argue that it wouldn't have helped any game's case: Baldur's Gate 3 singlehandedly revived the conversation around CRPGs, bringing a lot of new people into the genre; is a worthy adaptation of one of the most popular variations of one of the most popular tabletop games of all time (which in the last decade has seen a resurgence of interest and newcomers); and that stretch of four or five weeks from PC to console release with no other major game releasing in-between that could hold the conversation. Also, I don't like to lean on review scores for these either, but if we were to lean on those a little and the relative GOTY buzz at the time of release around other games released this year, I think there's a long list of games that make it to that list before Starfield: Street Fighter 6, Diablo IV, Armored Core VI, Final Fantasy XVI, and potentially even Jedi Survivor, which I think scored lower than Starfield but certainly had waaaaaaaay more buzz around it at launch. I will say, even though I loved both AC VI and FF XVI, I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't make it in as GOTY nominees, because I almost felt like it was inevitable due to the good relationship both studios clearly have with Geoff considering the marketing they've thrown out at his events. I was worried that they'd be thrown a bone for those reasons, as they always seemed on the fringes. I actually think Xbox's biggest misstep this year is not pushing a For Your Consideration-type campaign for Hi-Fi Rush, as that game was better received than Starfield, is very unique, didn't release in a messy state, and although developed by Tango and published by Bethesda, certainly has the look and feel of an indie darling that would probably have worked in its favour the problem for Xbox I guess is, in lieu of a DLC drop, I think the way you go about that is a wider launch on Switch (if that's technically possible) and potentially even PlayStation, because a game released at the start of the year on the console platform with the smallest audience of the current consoles simply isn't capable of generating and maintaining the conversation in the way I think you need it to

Finished off what was left of Dragon Kart, and after a few more races, completed the last few substories I had remaining (all of the ones requiring maxed out stats and a load of flowers). The culmination to those final few substories had me bawling, and totally didn't remind me of a certain scene from another SEGA JRPG Also, for sure one of my favourite Yakuza karaoke songs: Gets me every time

Finally got around to watching Demon Slayer S3: Swordsmith Village Arc, and I really enjoyed it. Quality music, quality animation, same old hitting the familiar beats of a shonen but it's hard to complain when it looks and sounds as good as it does. I do think it's a step down from S1 and S2, purely because while it's only 11 episodes long (well, more like 13, with the season opener and finale both being long enough to be a bit over 2 episodes each), it feels like it's combat for like 75%+ of the season? And while it's all great, after S2 was also overwhelmingly fights and at a stupid level of quality that goes beyond the movie, this season never really hit those heights with its fights, nor did it really serve as much of a breather. It felt like Entertainment District Arc 2.0, but lesser. So, a solid 8/10 from me. Still really enjoyed it but after S2 was all killer and no filler, I was a bit let down by S3 not carrying the story forward a bit more. Also making an appearance: Fan Service, The Character™ (aka Mitsuri Kanroji). I'm not a huge fan service guy, but I don't think I've laughed as hard as I have watching this show as when a demon basically said "damn, this girl's too thicc for my attacks to do anything"

Just flicked through the trailers put up after the end of the Showcase; been a while since I've decided to sit through one, as they've been really hit and miss in the past. Love Blade Chimera's (Spring 2024) cyberpunk-vania aesthetic and in-game art style, but man, not a fan of the art in the thumbnail. I almost didn't click on it because it looks so generic! Moonstone Island (Spring 2024) (that Nausicäa inspiration!) and A Highland Song (5th December) looked cosy as all heck. Also got half an eye on Howl (shadow drop and a demo!), will see how it's received but I love it's art style. Still patiently waiting for Braid (30th April 2024) having never played it before. And that Outer Wilds trailer...yikes. Looked real, real rough.

Credits have rolled, and what a game Yep, this is right up there with 0 and Kiwami 2 for me at the tippity-top of the Yakuza pile (I'll take some time having only just seen credits roll to deliberate on where it actually stands). I think it really helps that it's the first time since Kiwami 2 (in a Yakuza game - Judgment also did a good job at this), maybe, that the story kept itself in check and while still absurdly over the top at times, didn't go to the same places that some games - AHEM, 4! - end up going, which is meandering around its points, pulling twists kind of for the sake of it (some of which cheapen the overall story), and just losing all sense of direction by the end. It has the benefits of 4 and 5 which spent time with different playable characters, but the emphasis remains on Ichiban and the exploration of the rest of the party is often a worthy detour from the main narrative, rather than creating small empty spaces to experience each character in, and so on. There's a reason that 3 to 5, while great escapes all in their own rights, blur together so much...and I mean, c'mon, 4, what were you playing at Anyways, yeah, I'm not putting this down just yet. Let's go sing some karaoke and finish off Dragon Kart

I feel like it's become synonymous with the inclusion of DLC/season passes these days, sure, but I don't think it's necessary seeing as it's just a re-package and a way to sell more units? Either way, I meant more in the 'Winner of ___ Game of the Year Awards!' sticker sort of way (like TLOU is very well known for ) rather than the DLC-including edition Though, I mean, I imagine it'll include a few of the updates that weren't available at launch, so maybe there's your DLC I was reading about this, and digging around it looks like Swen shared some nice graphs which show quite a difference! Really curious if the Series S situation has changed at all or if they've just given up on it (which I wouldn't blame them for, seems like a lot of hassle to deal with). Me and my group took a few weeks off due to things going on, but think we'll be back to it this Friday or next. We'd just come to the door of no return (I don't trust that we can't actually return) to, I would assume, complete Act I, everyone's up to Lv 6, we're having a fairly grand old time...but man, there's just so much going on in co-op that it's really hard to talk meaningfully about the playthrough because it feels so disjointed, so when the game is eventually completed with updates and all then I do look forward to a separate solo playthrough. But, I mean, my Bard has Fireball, so that's pretty dope

Acknowledging their TGAs nominations for various categories, including GOTY, Larian have teased an Xbox and physical release announcement for later this week: Can't help but laugh at the separation of Xbox fans and fans of physical Having already picked the game up digitally at launch a couple of months ago, I'll probably wait a while until the prices are slashed to a low amount before picking it up for my physical collection, but glad to see it's getting a physical release outside of Japan either way a GOTY Edition, perhaps?

The nominees for next month's The Game Awards were announced earlier today. This year's GOTY nominees are: Alan Wake 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder both sneaking in towards the end of October has surprised me a little bit (I expected one to get in, but both?), just given the wealth of other games released this year which could also have been nominated. Recency bias? Maybe a little. Street Fighter 6 and Diablo IV both garnered a lot of love at release and could have easily been on the list from what I'd read and heard, and both Armored Core VI and Final Fantasy XVI were well-received generally, but perhaps a bit more middling in some ways for From Soft and Final Fantasy fans, respectively, and enough to get in the way of a GOTY nod. Interesting fact (but not all that surprising): since the TGAs started in their current format - excluding Deracine because it's not considered a full release on the same scale and was VR-only - this is the first time that a From Software game has released and not been nominated for Game of the Year. Anyways, other four GOTY nominees were totally expected, though. I think it's between Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur's Gate 3 for GOTY, and honestly, having not completed either but having put a chunk of time into both? They would both be very deserving in my opinion, TOTK fixing a lot of the issues people had with BOTW (still coming up short in a couple of places, mind you) and just being a whole ass lot of video game to digest; and well, BG3 is also a whole ass lot of video game, but has also forced a resurgence in CRPG interest and got many casual fans (myself included) onboard. It's a bit rough around the edges as a multiplayer experience (which is how I'm currently experiencing it), but honestly, I'd love to see it win over Tears if only because of the impact it's had. I don't really have a serious horse in this race as my personal GOTY so far was excluded (ah well, not like they haven't won it before!), but I'm curious to see how the show shakes out. Not sure if I'll stay up for it, but the potential of a Shadow of the Erdtree update seems real, never mind all the other potential announcements, so here's hoping for a decent one!

Tomorrow! Been thinking it's about time for another one of these! 20 minutes ain't shabby at all

Chapter 12: Felt damn good to hear this again too. Chapter 13: Unless they somehow drop the ball in these final few chapters, this is comfortably one of the very best stories in the series, and depending on how it all wraps up, could give 0 a run for it's money, in my opinion. Mechanically, combat finally clicked the last few sessions in a way it didn't for me last year, I think just down to having more options, whether that be in terms of number of jobs available, number of party members, or just having more varied move options. The first half of the game's combat is sorely lacking compared to the latter half imo, because the options you have make fights faster but also much more dynamic and enjoyable, which isn't exactly a unique problem as a JRPG to this series...but having pretty dull combat for the first stretch of the game in what could be an introductory JRPG for many just makes it seems like an area where it could've been refined further. Other than that, some minor nitpicks like a couple of translation or grammar errors (which I've never really picked up on previously in a Yakuza game, so that was interesting to spot a few times); really wish I could just stock up as much as I want on items (or just automatically send anything over the item-specific cap (urgh) straight to the Item Box); and for certain moments where the game wants me to do certain things during combat in certain places, man, I really wish that was just shown on the battle screen. Also, after recognising a name but questioning it for a split second - because there are tens if not hundreds of unique names of Yakuza dudes in the series - and then just confirming I had the right guy on my mind with a quick Google search, MAN does this series need to straight up steal Active Time Lore from Final Fantasy XVI, like, yesterday, if not half a decade ago. Anyways: bangin' game

The game: Me:

Finally booted this back up this last night after dropping it last year around the time Ragnarök came out and a short break from gaming. Watched the first half of a recap video to get me back up to speed on the story, turns out I got as far as completing Chapter 8, which is way further in than I thought I was! I'd completed the Business Management side content and most of the Dragon Kart stuff, honestly I remembered much more about the quality of the side content than I did the main story – but to be fair, it doesn't help that a lot of these stories definitely start to blend together in my head after a while spent some time in the Underground to try to get myself back up to speed with the combat, and boy am I a bit rusty, but by the end of my session last night I thought I'd found myself in a comfortable spot with it. @Hero-of-Time @drahkon, appreciate it's been a while since you guys have played it, but wondering if you can remember anything tips-wise for going for the Plat in this one? I've looked up the Platinum guide but I think my main question is around the jobs, as I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've played a JRPG with a jobs system (yeah, I know...bite me ) – is it worth just mostly sticking with one job, or changing it up? Similarly, besides some particular grinding points (like the Underground becoming available and I think something that becomes available a bit later on), am I best off saving most of the grinding for late-game/Premium Adventure, or doing it as I go along? There's SO MUCH to this game that coming back to it after a long time out is definitely making it look a bit overwhelming and hard to wrap my head around how I want to tackle it. This isn't me totally committing to the Plat, though, just curious. I think I've got the most Plats I've ever got in a year this year already, and while I think I'm ready for a break from that (because I think I'd rather play more games than Plat/100% at this stage, definitely been burning myself out on games more this year I feel by doing that with more games than usual), a Yakuza game which is a JRPG offers up the opportunity for a bit of a mindless grind I'd imagine, which I wouldn't mind too much with the right podcast or playlist on in the background

Me and my friends weren't in the mood for BG3 tonight, so all ended up doing our own things. One of my friends ended up on AC VI and the next mission he had to do ended in Balteus, so him not knowing this, I asked if I could watch him via Share Screen. He hasn't played a From game before this, and while very different from their other offerings, I think the customisation and mechs is exactly why he was willing to pick it up after my recommendation. Took him a while, long enough for me to redownload the game and beat it with my NG+/NG++-clearing build, and then again with the build I used the first time around, both on my first attempt. As he was having trouble and another friend was watching I had them watch me beat the fight - no pressure, right? - and I beat it first time again, and shared a bunch of tips with them, and showcased how aggressive and in-your-face fighting just seemed to work out better. He then did it on his next attempt, so I'm pretty proud of him So, just bumping this to give the game some more love. I ended up getting the Plat a few months back after around 54 hours with the game, and while I think there are better quality games which have released this year, I think it's my personal GOTY. The fact that I'm thinking of going through it again after just seeing and replaying the same missions a few times tonight is testament to that, I loved it!

Favourite song for me on Dead Club City (though by no means the only great song on there). It's really got that Strokes feel down pat between it's tempo and guitar, love it So I'll be hoping they play it for you too

Not playing, but I read somewhere that between skipping cutscenes and completing the mandatory fights it probably takes 30 - 40 minutes to get to the arcade. Considering just how cutscene-heavy Yakuza games are from the outset in setting things up story-wise before opening up for you to explore, which can take up to an hour or two in many of the other games, that sounds about right to me!

Yep, those are the ones: THE FINAL CHAPTERS Special 1 (60 minutes) and THE FINAL CHAPTERS Special 2 (90 minutes)

Finally got around to watching the Attack on Titan finale. Make sure you watch the credits. I think the first half of the finale released earlier this year was stronger and much more focused, but generally I think this was a great way to end the series; even if I don't think it quite got to the highs of S3 Pt2 or S4 Pt2 (also think the soundtrack didn't live up to the hype for the first time ever? And in the latter part of the finale, no less), that they managed to stick the landing in any sense of the word deserves props here. Between this and Pluto, we've been eating damn good this season, that's for sure!

That's the big question I guess, and I think cases are easy to make for it turning up or skipping the show. TGAs are taking place December 7th, for anyone wondering. If it's turning up at an event? Sure, I mean TGAs have been growing year-on-year and it'd have a massive live audience, and it's the only big live event scheduled for December, so yeah, TGAs would make sense. But then it's Rockstar, they don't need TGAs in the exact same way they didn't need to turn up at E3, and it would almost certainly overshadow just about every announcement made at TGAs. If I'm remembering right, I don't even think Red Dead Redemption II turned up to a single event for any of its trailers or gameplay to be shown? The game could shadow drop tomorrow with no marketing and crush records, so if it does turn up at TGAs, I'd see it as somehow being a token of supporting Geoff and the TGAs more than any considered marketing practice, because it doesn't need it. If anything, I think the kinder thing for them to do would be to release the trailer a few days ahead of TGAs, because the pressure the show would suddenly find itself under would be immense - not only potentially overshadowing everything else, but what if it's not there? It'd be one hell of a "one more thing", but I'd be surprised if that's GTA VI instead of Shadow of the Erdtree. If it is part of the show/that day, it might be the case that it's released hours ahead of time and then included as one of the opening trailers to the show – it's out of the way then, while getting more eyes on TGAs, counterproductive as that may seem to have it first it's the much smarter option imo. Hell, if it's not going to be there, I'd be shocked if Geoff doesn't come out and say so before the show

It's official: trailer to come early December, marking the 25th anniversary of Rockstar Games. Really curious to see how this shapes up, and what their plans are for launch with the balance between story and online. As someone who has put hundreds of hours into GTA Online with my friends since COVID hit, I really just hope the character creator is insane. Baldur's Gate III didn't even knock it out of the park, I feel, but felt like a big step up from most customisation opportunities found in games these days. I haven't completed the story in a single GTA game but I did grow up playing a few GTA-likes and of course have spent time with Online, and can totally see where you're coming from. I love driving up from the airport to the peak of Mount Chiliad every session Everything around how they've talked about GTA VI to me suggests that it might be reined in a bit in terms of scaling things up when it comes to map size, which I'd much prefer to see coupled with more interior locations. Red Dead Redemption II really hit that sweet spot for me of a massive open world with enough going on and interior detail to boot.

Schreier with the scoop: Rockstar plans to announce GTA VI as early as this week (I assume he means a logo reveal considering the statement which kicked off this thread) and will release the first trailer for the game in December. This comes following Take Two reports earlier in the year having them buckle up for a release of seismic proportions which could only ever possibly have been GTA VI, due to an expected bump in revenue so stupid it'd make your eyes bleed. Probably. Anyways, anyone else and I'd say grain of salt, but it's Schreier: the only way I don't see this happening now is if Rockstar just want to spite him.