Julius

Jet Force Gemini is being added to the service on 30th November; just the JP video to confirm for now (they still haven't had GoldenEye release over there): Well, that came out of the blue

As I mentioned it in my Gaming Diary update I feel like I should do the game a favour and mention it again here, as Storyteller is currently on sale on the eShop for £8.69 (down from £12.49).

First post here in a while and it's not quite the post that's going to bring me up-to-date on my Gaming Diary entries for the year, but with GOTY nominees recently released for TGAs and with me having played what I want to of most of this year's AAA offerings for now, I've gone ahead and am set to dive into indies between bigger games - some which were TGA nominees, but a good number of which I've gone out and researched to try and seek out any hidden gems that might have flown under the radar this year. I definitely think that the two I want to spend this post highlighting might grab the attention of some of the folks here, so let's dive in! Storyteller | 2023 Storyteller is an indie game developed by Daniel Benmergui and published by Annapurna Interactive in which players piece together characters, settings and panels to form a narrative laid out in the page title, and how these scenes are arranged and order impacts later scenes in the same scenario, which creates an easy to pick-up and charming little puzzle game. The game is highly stylised with the look of a simple storybook, and some pages come with sub-objectives, such as completing the puzzle without having any characters die, having a character perform a certain action, and so on, which adds welcome depth to the game, and while the game is mostly an easygoing time with its puzzles, some of which feel incredibly satisfying to complete, there were one or two where I certainly found myself a little bit stumped, and felt that page was a bit at odds with the simplicity and craftsmanship of other solutions in the game, but I think those instances were simply down to not having to try out those particular types of solutions up to that point. I did really appreciate that there were multiple ways in which to complete a fair few of the puzzles here - I'm not really a fan of when a puzzle only has one solution, as you can often find yourself banging your head against the wall, but for the most part I thought thse were pretty breezy, and again, very satisfying to solve on some of the more complex pages. I had good fun with Storyteller, its chilled out vibe and charming art style, and it definitely felt like the type of game you could just pick up for a page or two and come back to; what's more, it's a very tight experience, only taking me a couple of hours to complete every page and sub-objective. There are stamps made available to earn, too, which can be collected by going back through the game if you don't want to let the experience end, but I skipped out on this as I thought its length was just perfect for what it was. I also really enjoyed the occasional use of well-known classical music, too For those curious about where you can play it, right now Storyteller is currently available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Android and iOS. SANABI | 2023 The first game developed by Korea-based studio Wonder Potion and published by Neowiz Games (who recently published Lies of P), SANABI is a story-driven action-platformer set in a dystopian future. Following the re-emergence of the titular terrorist SANABI the entire population of Mago City disappeared in the span of 30 minutes without leaving a trace, and so you fill the pixel-art shoes of a retired veteran soldier pulled back into the mix of things for one last job; with SANABI providing you with a clear motive for seeking vengeance, and your trusty grapple hook chain arm in tow, you'll find yourself blazing towards the centre of an industrial conspiracy. I thought this game had some great gameplay ideas, the grapple hook obviously has a long and storied history in gaming, but it being the centre of attention here in momentum-driven swings, zipping around from platform to ceiling to wall, and some short but snappy combat encounters felt awesome. What mixes this up as the game goes on is new platform types, new ways to interact with them, and unlocking new abilities, which leads to moments where you are just zipping through areas, and when this game is flying in these moments where everything is coming together, it feels absolutely incredible. Unfortunately, there are a few moments where I think the game spikes in difficulty which get in the way of this, and these are typically coupled with less generous checkpoints than the game has been leading you to expect by the time that you get to them - a few times this would be down to wall-/ceiling-zips just not working at the right time for me - and there were a few times where I found myself being buffered along inside of a deadly laser field' you know, the type where you're kind of just stuck bopping around as your health chips away because you're too deep into that terrain to escape. Some of the gameplay elements introduced later on I also feel could have been introduced quite a bit earlier, as you don't really get a good chance to make full use of them other than the final stretch of the game. One thing that I think this game absolutely nails, though, is its boss fights. There are one or two of these which I really just love, and though I don't want to get into them too much, I'm just so happy that they come with such a heavy emphasis on actual platforming during a boss fight in an action-platformer, rather than what I find some other games in the genre do, which is suddenly become an action-lite game. I mentioned before that this game was story-driven, and I want to emphasise this fact: this game has more story than any other 2D platformer that I've played. Period. It's not got stages to access from a world map, nor is it a Metroidvania with backtracking, meaning that it is a very linear experience; there are straight-up multiple cutscenes in the game, which are highly effective and very easy on the eye; and there is an overarching narrative and one or two subplots to pay attention to throughout. I think there are a few instances in the game where these cutscenes go on a beat too long, and coupled with a general heightening in difficulty, the middle 20% of this game and probably the penultimate 15% too are really poorly paced, meaning I was definitely ready tp see credits roll by the time they come around. It's a shame, too, because this game pulls no punches and I think has an extremely well-delivered story and some very interesting characters, it just needed some tightening up in spots for me which I feel would have really allowed the story to shine through even more effectively than it did. There are beats towards the end of this game that, for me, made the moments of struggle worth it, because it was so satisfying to see the attention the folks over at Wonder Potion were paying to so many of their lines of dialogue, and I think the story payoff alone is enough of a reason to pick this game up and see it through to the end. I was left with chills when I realised what a certain object truly represented. Would this be a diary entry from me if I didn't mention a game's music? Of course not! And SANABI has one hell of an OST, ranging from cuter and upbeat, innocent pieces to punchy electronic and punding drums which really rubber stamps the oftentimes frenetic nature of this game. Some of my favourite tracks that I could find are the title screen theme, the first boss fight (11/10 and probably my joint favourite - listen to this one!), one of the many Mago City themes, and one of the later boss fights (another 11/10 and my other joint favourite - please listen to this one too!). Wonderful OST that'll definitely have you bobbing your head along to most of its songs. The other thing to highlight - which hopefully I've been doing a decent job at in this post - is the game's atmosphere and style. Every pixel is perfectly placed when it comes to this game's look, and whether it be the bright neon lights of Mago City or the powdery orange hue of a single bulb, this game has some excellent framing and cinematography which really heightens its appeal for me. There are also several times throughout the game where the developer toys with colour-graded looks, and I found that they worked really effectively for the scenes that they were used for. The world feels surprisingly fleshed out, as do its characters, and so when you throw some really solid sound design into the mix, too, this game just finds itself dripping neon and grunge in all the best ways. Despite some worrying pacing for a few stretches of its story and a handful of frustrating gameplay moments littered throughout the game, SANABI lives up to its style and narrative with some excellent ideas shown off in its mechanics, fun level design, great bosses, interesting characters, and awesome music. There is room for improvement, though, and so I seriously hope that this game gets a sequel/successor, because its base mechanics, story, world and characters all more than deserve it. If you're wondering where you can play this, SANABI is currently available on Nintendo Switch and PC.

IGN have put out a great investigative piece on the sexism problems over at Game Science: How Black Myth: Wukong Developer’s History of Sexism Is Complicating its Journey to the West. Some choice quotes: Yikes. Just...yikes. Very much a recommended read, I'm not surprised to once again see Rebekah Valentine attached to this story, as she's been hard-carrying IGN's journalistic efforts ever since she returned.

It was supposed to arrive last Thursday after ordering it close to the end of my time with LAD, but got lost in the shuffle somewhere (thanks FedEx), so I'll also be joining you guys back in Kamurocho shortly Yeah, I was never going to go without a physical edition of this. Still think it was a super weird decision to not have a physical English version released, but whatever think physical is the one spot RGG have kind of started to drop the ball (what, between this and the PS4 version of LAD remaining steelbook-only). Got another game I'll be wrapping up today and some other things to get to in the meantime, but hoping to dive into this tonight

Yeah, Judgment is yet another one of the RGG games where they want you to do a second playthrough to get the Plat, and I'm pretty sure the same goes for Lost Judgment, too. I find it really funny how they seem to flip-flop on that from game to game: Yakuza 6 needed just one playthrough (well, +reload difficulty change antics), Judgment needed two (after they got rid of the reload antics), Like A Dragon needed one, Lost Judgment needed two, from what I gather from how quickly people have got the Plat in Gaiden I'd assume that's just one... ...they'd never do it (right?), but following the pattern, Infinite Wealth would need two. But it's a JRPG and probably going to be a 60+ hour investment, so surely not...right?! RIGHT?! Play how you want to play but also

Yeah, so far I think the lowest I've seen it at so far is £40 for the PS4 version, and that's how it was before the sales started to kick off fingers crossed it drops somewhere in the coming week for you! Would be super interested to hear your thoughts on it The Black Friday sales stretching out to more than a week before the actual day really makes it hard to get a read on the best deals this time of year, guess the corpos know what they're doing there though Man, the reviews and pre-launch impressions for Lies of P have me really curious, but I'm trying to resist by burying the thought of playing Lies of P behind wanting to play Bloodborne again and forcing myself to play anything else to get my mind off doing just that. That being said, I did re-install Bloodborne on Friday, so I'm not sure how well that's working out for me

Vaati has uploaded his first video on the lore of AC VI, and it's a doozy! Man, I love this game Must...resist...the urge...to play again...

Sucks, but the writing has been on the wall for a while, so not a total surprise. Can't blame PlayStation for wanting to bury the lead on this one, it looks like Embracer and everyone under them is in complete self-destruct mode after their hopes for a Saudi deal fell through, but with that in mind, it makes me even more surprised that PlayStation had a deal put in place for the game in the first place. I guess that's just how the business works, but it reminds me of the Like A Dragon business management mini-game, when you'd occasionally get an investment offer which sounds super sketchy – and, uh, I guess PlayStation decided they wanted in? I'd (naively) hoped that this would be the first time I experienced KOTOR for myself (I know the general beats from just growing up with it being a thing), so I guess I'll just need to get to work on the existing version of the game (which still hasn't been ported over to PlayStation, argh!). I'm really curious to see what the plan is now for KOTOR and just that era in general in the wider Star Wars scene, as nothing in the current slate has an Old Republic backdrop and so this was the only project being lined up in that timeframe. It's an ever bigger shame because when the Old Republic symbol turned up on the new timeline shown at Celebration this year, everyone rightly went wild – I can imagine a lot of those guys and girls are now pretty disappointed that we have no idea when we'll see another project related to the Old Republic again

Feels like a huge missed opportunity to me that they didn't at least make the Roguelike Survival Mode co-op/multiplayer; considering the mess Factions is (was? It seems all but dead), I think it would've been a nice hold over. Jordan Middler (VGC) has shared that he heard this was more a project for new hires and isn't the main focus over at ND: Makes sense to get them on something like this to bring them up to speed with the workflow/expectations/etc., but at the same time, can you imagine getting your dream job at a studio like Naughty Dog after catching wind of their next project...to find yourself working on an updated version of a game released just a couple of years ago, which has already had a little next-gen bump and didn't really need much else besides that? I mean, ain't that the question though they've sized up, at this rate it's looking like we're going to be lucky to get one game from them this gen, and after Part I, the HBO show, Part II Remastered...I'll be shocked if it's not Part III. There's been small murmurs in the background for years now of a new IP, but goodness knows what's going on there. Factions being a total non-starter combined with the constant remasters has just really taken the wind out of my sails when it comes to being excited about whatever comes next. I love Naughty Dog, and TLOU especially, but man, imagine how depressing it's potentially been to work over there since Lost Legacy released, besides the Uncharted Legacy of Thieves collection it's been nonstop TLOU. The other problem this causes is that it puts so much pressure on Druckmann to be the face of ND, deliver consistently, and doesn't really put anyone else in the limelight, which I can see potentially stunting their climb in the future. I would kill for ND to have messed around with some other genres (straight-up psychological horror? Mob? Detective? A fun and light-hearted platformer or puzzle game? A farming sim?! ) and just put out some shorter experiences (like 5 hours tops), but I know it just doesn't work that way in AAA anymore. It's such a massive shame that they aren't doing anything else, or even really collaborating with other studios under the PlayStation umbrella in any big and noticeable way (still of the firm belief that not making Days Gone a soft tie-in to TLOU is one of the biggest missed opportunities of last gen and would've put to bed the discourse around sales and critical reception it ended up with). TLOU has got to be such a heavy game series to work on considering it's graphic nature and story beats, and I genuinely think part of the problem with II came about because they've been living and breathing TLOU for so long at this point. Well, that and Straley not being involved. The crazy part to me is that this just seems to be touting native 4K, and there's not even a mention of ray-tracing or any other new next-gen buzzwords hidden in the small print. It's not a competition - so I say this in jest and maybe half-seriously - but Insomniac have walked circles around Naughty Dog this gen in terms of game output and their technical prowess being showcased. They've got to be one of the best acquisitions of this acquisition era we've found ourselves in over the last few years.

Honestly, I think this game has some of the best side quests of the year – at the very least in terms of minutes invested/reward. That particular side mission was one of my favourite moments in gaming this year.

And it's officially official: looks like Naughty Dog did the smart thing and reacted by releasing all of the info now that it's out there. It has been confirmed that there will be a $10 upgrade path from the existing version of the game, per the PlayStation Blog.

Rumoured previously, supported by leaks a few days ago with a PS5 SKU being spotted on the PS Store backend, and now leaked completely: The Last of Us Part II Remastered, arriving 19th January 2024. The most interesting parts are probably the Lost Levels (getting to play three new early development versions of levels not included on the 2020 release) and the Roguelike Survival Mode: Nothing to indicate a PC release as of yet. Almost certainly a TGAs announcement I'd imagine, but man, Naughty Dog just haven't been able to catch a break on the leaks front of late, have they? For those keeping count, that's now all four of their PS4 offerings updated and made available as native PS5 releases. Wasn't sure how I felt about Part I, but loving the first game as much as I did, I had to bite out of curiosity. I've yet to return to Part II or get its Platinum, so I think that's something I'll be doing first before thinking about picking up the Remastered version.

Welp, looks like someone's jumped the gun somewhere: PEGI have listed the game's release date as being 22nd March 2024. I give up on Q1 2024 already Yeah, honestly finishing Like A Dragon has me really torn on prioritising Infinite Wealth or Granblue first: I know I'll have a great time with IW, I'm dying to know what happens next, but also the summer vibes and wanting to save those games for when I really need them makes me want to wait; Granblue, on the other hand, is just an epic curiosity of mine that I need to play for myself to decide if it was worth the wait. And Persona 3 Reload is just...well...going to be there for when I need a beautified remake of a super long Persona I guess I think Rebirth is probably the only one nailed down for me right now! And yeah, tell me about it. I've played fewer games this year for a lot of reasons, but what I have played that's been new has typically been 50+ hours long and of stupid enough quality that I've needed a considerable breather afterwards. We're in a real golden age for further backlog-filling, that's for sure

S-E have pretty randomly dropped a wonderfully narrated story recap of the Remake project's happenings so far: Seriously wonder if this might be the (optional to watch it, recap-style) opening for the game?

I'd completely forgot about that! Man, 2024 is already looking absurdly stacked as it is, I'm trying to figure out what I want to prioritise and where to sink my teeth in first...and we don't even know about much beyond the first half of the year no rush to get to these games, but there's just so much! Now that I think about it, Dark Arisen being announced for the PS+ catalogue this month just before this showcase announcement got announced definitely makes it seem like that addition is part of their marketing strategy, and that an announcement for a release date that's not too far off is being lined up.

Showcase scheduled for the 28th at 21:00 GMT! Look forward to seeing some more of this Also recently rated in Saudi Arabia, meaning it might not be too far off? Just please not the first few months of next year, we're already set to struggle as it is

While looking back through notes to update my gaming log in the 2023 thread, I came across my notes for 2022 and realised I never spoke about these games in this thread...and in the case of many of them, anywhere on N-E. It's been doing my head in ever since I realised to think that there's a massive gap and lack of context that I'd personally like to refer back to, so here we are, necro'ing a thread for games played in 2022 close to the end of 2023. Sorry Oh well. I'll try to keep it succinct, just a couples of paragraphs or so for every game...but no promises Mass Effect | 2007 Playing through 2021's Legendary Edition release of Mass Effect was, for me, a very mixed bag. It was just a rough experience overall: I never really loved the combat and gunplay (despite updates for this edition of the game being widely touted); the sound mixing was absolutely atrocious, for some reason the atmospheric sound effects and gunfire were both tied to the same slider, so wanting to set the tone I turned it up... and it sounded like there were live rounds going off in my apartment; the music needed to be way louder, even at max on the slider it was so easily crowded out by dialogue and sound effects; the map was terrible; and no controller feedback during combat meant it just felt so...lifeless; and poor dialogue options and not successfully characterising what the character will actually say in response. The first half of the game was just so middling for me. Areas felt too big in a way which was overwhelming early on - and this was only made worse by a terrible map - but were relatively empty, making traversal feel like a slog, and the combat not being great just meant even the action stitching these parts together were super forgettable. The story hints at where it's going in its first half but doesn't really go anywhere interesting, and certainly nowhere that'd get me hooked. However, the game turned on its head around the midway mark, and the second half felt like it was genuinely made by a different team. Spaces are designed with more of a focus and purpose, combat zones aren't stupidly wide in scale, and this all manages to help shift the pacing up several notches and catapult you towards the end of the game with much more interesting encounters, dialogue options, and story moments, so much so that I can say that, damn, Mass Effect is a pretty damn good video game. It's just a shame about its first half. Pokémon Legends: Arceus | 2022 I absolutely adored my time with this game. It's absolutely the Monkey Lizard Brain Dopamine Edition of core series Pokémon games with just how much you can chain together between material gathering and tossing out a zillion Poké Balls at a time - perhaps the only way I'd trust Game Freak to handle an open world, because it was an extremely addicting feedback loop that they cooked up here - and by the end it offers a few rewarding battles on the level of Cynthia in Diamond & Pearl (and their remakes). While I'm still gutted that we received such a hollowed out take on the Gen IV remakes compared to the love and care earlier remakes and the series seemingly at the cost of this game getting made, the animated characters, Pokémon, and the beautiful musical callbacks and ancient versions on Sinnoh tracks makes it a game that just tugged at my nostalgic strings a bit harder than Brilliant Diamond managed just a few months prior. Still patiently waiting for the next Legends game, Game Freak. Give me another one of these, please! The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | 1998 This is the only game I played last year that I have zero notes on. None - and I mean that in the sense that there's so little to discuss without getting into the nitty gritty, because the broader picture is crystal clear: it is a game that is very rightly heralded as a classic, pioneered the industry and has influenced some of my favourite games of all time, and has a majestic soundtrack to boot. I think I ended up overthinking the solution to a puzzle or two by virtue of the game being so old but coming to it after the games it influenced have taken some of its ideas further, and the framerate noticeably dropped in the 2011 3DS version I played during one of the bigger boss fights. I think that's it? It's rare that I have so little to say about a game after beating it, especially one which I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. Unquestionably a masterpiece. Elden Ring | 2022 My GOTY last year, and I still can't believe how great a job this game did at balancing the dungeons and locales of modern From Software titles with the scale and explorability of something like Breath of the Wild - all while giving you clear guidance (very cheekily taking some inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus in the way it did so) on where to go next if that's not your cup of tea. The main bosses, legacy dungeons, and a smattering of the smaller dungeons were the highlights for me. This all being said, it's not flawless, because as you'd expect, a game of this scale breeds a lot of repeated ideas - be it bosses or mini dungeon designs (which are very clearly a 2.0 take on Bloodborne's Chalice Dungeons, in my opinion). Also the soundtrack, while great at moments and for one or two bosses, pales in comparision to the breadth and depth of other From Software soundtracks I've encountered. Still just patiently waiting on an update on the DLC, because I'm very much looking forward to returning to the Lands Between! Spec Ops: The Line | 2012 This one's a rough gameplay experience but - if you stick it out - a wondrous and twisting narrative which absolutely wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and I love it for it. I really don't want to say much else, to be honest, because I think it's a really unique narrative take on what was - maybe still is? - an oversatured shooter market: just play it from beginning to end and enjoy the ride, if you haven't already. Gran Turismo 7 | 2022 Staying on with friends until stupid o'clock competing in races and License Tests, diving through the pages of customisability, zoning out while grinding for credits listening to podcasts and soundtracks to chill out....GT7 was one of my favourite gaming experiences of 2022, period. Sony were stupid enough to not be upfront about their microtransactions in a game that launched at £70, but that whole controversy aside, I really, really loved playing through this, and my time with Elden Ring was slashed apart by how hopelessly addicted I ended up getting to this game. That Tokyo Expressway grind I had going in a car capable of 300+ mph was stupid and will forever be burned into my mind. Banger OST, great haptic and adaptive trigger utilisation, absurdly beautiful to just stare at. And it recently got a new sizeable update, too, with new License Tests to boot, so maybe I'll dive back in yet Judgment | 2018 Pretty typical RGG affair wrapped in the skin of a detective game and not a Yakuza title...kind of this is all to say that I loved my time with the game, as I have every other RGG game, so if you know my thoughts on those...yeah, this isn't such a leap from 6 outside of minute details and new ideas they played around with for the first time, so I'm sure you already know how I feel about this one. Might be my favourite substory culmination of any of the games, honestly. Those stupid tailing missions can absolutely do one, though. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order | 2019 On this rare replay (heh) I found that this game and its story is paced exponentially better if you don't do any side content and lower the difficulty to carry out some Jedi wish fulfilment Star Wars: Republic Commando | 2005 Still probably my favourite campaign of any Star Wars game I've gone through alongside Battlefront II, it was awesome to return to the role of Boss over a decade after I picked this game up for the first time and assume command of Delta Squad once more. Very archaic by today's standards, so, uh, give me a remake or a spiritual successor already please Respawn Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith | 2005 A third Star Wars-related replay in a row, Revenge of the Sith golds a very special place in my heart as a film, and so does its game. I remember sneaking the instructions manual into school just to look at some of the cool art during breaks and lunch time! The animations have aged superbly (pretty sure Christensen did mo-cap for this), the unlockable content is superb - duels, concept art, bonus missions (including an alternative ending to Revenge of the Sith) - and the game just remains such a joy to play to this day. You're treated to James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan, too, so that was awesome, but Anakin...well, let's just say I can see why Obi-Wan ended up making him a paraplegic oh, the soundtrack for ROTS not being completed by the time this was gearing up for release was hilarious too - it's a bunch of reused music from the older films and nothing from ROTS The Last of Us | 2013 I've talked about TLOU here before, and spoke about how much I loved it. And this playthrough - coupled with a playthrough of both the main game and Left Behind on the hardest difficulty, and a few playthroughs of Factions, which is an incredible and underrated multiplayer experience - really just drove home to me what a well-paced masterpiece of a narrative this game is and clarifies for me some of the decisions Naughty Dog made while designing this game (or how many bricks and bottles there are lying around seeming superfluous in lower difficulties). Remains one of my favourites. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King | 2005 Nothing quite as charming as a Dragon Quest game, and that soundtrack is to die for. Excellent cast, gripping story, awesome mechanics (love the risk/reward of Tension!), a wonderful world and one of the few truly open worlds worth a damn in a JRPG that I've come across, and it's an absolutely brilliant time - improved in a lot of ways with the 2016 3DS version with the portable alchemy pot, ability to speed up battles, and so on. Unfortunately: it's not quite Dragon Quest XI Live A Live | 2022 A beautiful remake both in appearance and in its soundtrack, with a great variety of ideas on show...which the game never once really manages to commit to. What you end up with are a bunch of splintered experiences, which while charming at times in their own right, I think really fails to stick the landing as a cohesive and worthwhile experience. Star Wars: Battlefront II | 2005 Another Star Wars replay, but this time of my favourite Star Wars game that I've played through. This is easily the game I've sunk the most time into across all platforms in my life - we're talking thousands of hours; I was still playing this up to getting a PS4 and EA's Battlefront (bleh) in 2015! - and I still eagerly await the day it comes to more modern consoles (potentially with online? Pretty please?). The campaign is S-tier Legends content for someone like me, all of the maps are terrific, Galactic Conquest is one of the best modes in a Star Wars game ever...man, if I were ever stuck on an island with just one game for the rest of my life, I seriously think this would be the one I'd choose to play until the end of my days. Aperture Desk Job | 2022 Look, it's just a Steam Deck demo in all practicality, but it's such a fun one at that hearty recommend for anyone with a Steam Deck who has an hour free to just chuckle at themselves and the nonsense of it all! God of War | 2005 QTEs and puzzles galore? Maybe, but man is this game just stupid fun. Wonderful animated attacks result in some really wild combos, there are a few standout bosses (that Minotaur fight!), yeah the camera has aged pretty woefully in certain sections of this game, but honestly? It's still absolutely worth checking out the start to the God of War series today. Super Mario Sunshine | 2002 Man, I'm so torn on Sunshine. Isle Delfino? Excellent place to hang out in the summer, loved having a continuous locale in a 3D Mario like this. Some of the levels? Awesome. Soundtrack? It's 3D Mario, of course it's S-tier. It's weirdly handled at times but FLUDD is a novel way to shake up the 3D formula, too. But it feels like such a jumbled mess of a game at times, and there's some weird jank to it that I've not come across in other Mario games...ever? The camera is its own living entity with its own mood swings to go alone with it, you can never quite tell what it's going to do. There is so much repetition with red coin levels and fighting the piranha plants, and I got bored of chasing blue coins pretty quickly after a few hidden levels, because they're just so hit and miss in terms of quality. And why are they taking place in another dimension entirely on toy blocks? It's just bizarre, and feels so separate from the main experience. It's the only Mario game I've played that feels rushed and cobbled together - and it was such a shame, because I had (and still have) such great early memories of spending time in Nottingham with family playing this game on my cousin's GameCube when I was little, which maybe just compounds some of the issues I have with it to an unfair degree. Shadow of the Colossus | 2005 Having first played through Shadow of the Colossus years ago with its 2018 remake by Bluepoint, I decided to boot up their 2011 PS3 remaster of the game to experience the definitive version of the PS2 original...and I'm so happy that I did. The PS4 remake, while absolutely dropdead gorgeous, just feels so at odds with itself: while, yes, it's pulling off crazy technical tricks, it really does feel like a PS2 husk painted with a PS4 skin, and this results in an odd dissonance between how the game feels and how it looks; it feels substantially older than it looks, whether it be the weightlessness of Wander's jumps, some of the jank you'll experience from time to time with the bosses, or just the moment-to-moment framing and feel of wandering around this world. Despite thoroughly enjoying the experience, something just felt off about experiencing the game that way, and at times it just felt frustrating. I also loved their take on Demon's Souls when I played through it shortly after the PS5 launch, but that also suffers from the exact same issues for me. This is all to say that this version of the game just looks and feels right - it's easier to forgive the jank in a HD-ified PS2-looking game, and the game just feels so much more full of life when it comes to Wander in particular because of this. With the rest of the game otherwise being virtually the same - the ethereal and weighty OST, the excellent fights with the Colossi, and the game's atmosphere being captured much more honestly and earnestly with a slight green haze - I came away from this replay having not just enjoyed this version more, but having the experience cement Shadow of the Colossus on my list of favourite games of all time. Maybe I should take the hint and boot up the PS3 version of Demon's Souls, huh? The Last of Us Part I | 2022 This game was over much, much faster than the original. Definitely one of the funniest clips I've ever captured - can you imagine if that was a permadeath run? Anyways, having talked about TLOU to death already, to talk about this remake: it's a totally unnecessary but gorgeous remake of an existing masterpiece which does nothing noteworthy enough to differentiate it from the game that it's a remake of. Worse yet? I'd say that some parts of the game looking different - namely: Joel's hair being more coloured, or the subway having a hole punched into the ceiling to show off Naughty Dog's awesome light effects but sucking out the atmosphere it had in the first game almost completely and thus providing a completely different tone to that conveyed in the original - actually works against it. If it's not a question of money and you've yet to experience the first game, by all means, play it this way. But if money is a factor? Just play Remastered. It's always a pleasure to play through The Last of Us, but honestly, I'd much rather the game had got a Final Fantasy XV-like Pocket Edition than this remake. I suppose it tides Naughty Dog over while Factions goes up in flames, but that we haven't had a single new and original experience from them on the PS5 yet but have had 4 and Lost Legacy PS5-ified and TLOU remade seems like such a waste of immense talent. God of War Ragnarök | 2022 There were times during Ragnarök that it very seriously entered the conversation for me as a serious contender to Elden Ring for 2022's GOTY: its soundtrack, its performances, its new and updated mechanics and ideas, it all just comes together in a sweeping and emotional epic of a tale which means you find yourself somewhere else completely at the end than where you were at the start of the game. Now, I could wax lyrical about Ragnarök for pages on end, but we don't have that kind of time, so I want to bring up one what I think is one of its few weaknesses, and that is giving into a growing trend in tighter AAA experiences giving way to bloat (other recent AAA games I can think of like it were The Last of Us Part II and Jedi Survivor). However, whereas in other games I think that this bloat comes from a scale creep in how wide areas have become and the number of available side activities and areas to explore, I think for this game, it really impacted its narrative quite a bit. At some point in this game's development, for whatever reason - almost certainly money and wanting to wrap this story up to have another God of War 2018 moment with the next entry, I'm sure - this story went from seemingly being a trilogy to a duology, which was announced out of the blue in the build-up to the game's release. And I found that as the game darted towards the end, it wrapped things up almost at a faster pace as the end neared, with hinted at story beats and the promise of certain rivalries and ideas never truly feeling like they were fully ripened and explored, thrown aside in favour of an ever-escalating conflict. What I found that this game ended up feeling like the last two parts of a trilogy glued together into one and a half game's worth of content, which just hurts to realise - but then, also, perhaps that is part of the point. For what there is to be critical of, I struggle to want to be critical of this game, and more than ramble on about its shortcomings, I want to take a moment to talk about what this game means to me personally. I found that I played this game at a very personally difficult and sensitive time, and for so many personal reasons, this game came to mean so much to me that I don't know if I'll ever be able to quite capture what that was in written form: it delivered a simultaneous personal recognition of loss, grief, challenges overcome and yet to come, and a lasting glimmer of hope. It is games like this that makes me feel sorry for anyone who hasn't yet come to recognise the greatest gaming narratives for what they are capable of, and that is to guide, challenge, and empower you in overcoming whatever you're going through, or relating to new perspectives, in the safety of assuming the role of another. The beauty of a narrative is never determined by its medium, but its ability to transcend it. And Ragnarök, thankfully, did that for me.

Oh I'm really digging the look of this: Steam have added some official startup videos to the Steam Points Shop! Getting the Ranni Elden Ring one for sure, guess it's time to charge it up for the first time in a minute

Also announced yesterday that the Xbox version is due to drop in December: Man, I'm so very torn on this. It's a beautiful set, and at €79.99/$79.99 honestly looks like a bit of a steal. 3 disc OST, a physical cloth map, cool box? Awesome. But there's also a €20/$20 shopping fee to both Europe and the US, so really it's €100/$100 a pop at this Deluxe Edition, which is making the "price" look a bit deceptive. The Xbox edition being 3 discs vs 2 discs on the PS5 is super interesting. Coming Q1 2024 certainly makes it a difficult choice for the few stragglers on Xbox who care about physical, I imagine. ...but I think I'm going to hold out. Still no word on a standard edition, and already owning the game, I don't really feel the need to get a physical DE – I only want the physical version to sit nicely on my shelf

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!