Julius

Thanks for these @Glen-i, it's been a joy reading through all of these, and it really highlights for me what a shame it is that the trickle of spin-offs we get now just feels like it's doing so much less for the brand outside of the core series games than used to be the case. Sequels (New Pokémon Snap), remakes (hey I'll take all the PMD remakes I can get, to be clear, maybe give me some Ranger ones too?), and attempts at creating new known massive spin-off brands (Detective Pikachu), it really feels like the outlook of the rest of the industry has finally caught up to Pokémon spin-offs, and it feels so much less inventive for it. It also just really brings to fore that, even nostalgia put aside for me as someone who grew up on those games, there's a very easy case to be made for the DS era being the golden era for Pokémon in both the spinoffs and core series. The sheer volume, variety, and quality of those games were something else, and it felt like the last time Pokémon were really in a position where they were looking to try new ideas and takes risks, which they were handsomely rewarded for. And lastly, it's also just a reminder that I need to pick up Rescue Team DX I remember when, where and why I got Blue Rescue Team (2007 when I was in Year 4; it was £20 from my local CeX and a treat from my parents for a solid parent's evening!), I don't think it's up to the standard that the Explorers game set following it, but it holds such a special place in my heart. Your write-up has definitely bumped it up to the top of my backlog for when I'm looking for a new look on a nostalgic trip down memory lane

And thus our journey ends...Platinum retrieved! Throwing save clears in a spoiler tag as they show the order of key boss fights: Love seeing it go from a ribbon for the demo clear, to a silver trophy for the standard clear, then to a gold trophy for the NG+/Final Fantasy clear shame it doesn't list playtime for each, though! My initial playthrough was around 55 hours long, doing everything I possibly could, and then it took another 3 hours to clear everything I wanted to there in terms of the tomes, trials, and combat-related trophies. For my NG+/Final Fantasy playthrough I completed only one quest to help speed things up a little, and otherwise just crit pathed, skipping the majority of cutscenes and destroying most bosses at the first attempt, and also had to do about an hour of grinding for AP to complete my collection of all of the Eikon skills, all of which took 21 hours according to the PS5's timer. So just under 80 hours in total, taking things at a casual pace in my first playthrough and charging through the second. And it was worth absolutely every penny Final Fantasy Mode/second playthrough thoughts: no real changes in opinion on the game following my second playthrough, though skipping cutscenes did highlight just how many there are, I think the worst it got was skipping through 7 cutscenes in a row towards the end of the game, and there were quite a few instance of there being 4 or 5 in a row throughout. I weirdly came across way more slowdown during this second playthrough, I'm not sure if that's because of the mixed up enemy composition meaning some with attacks with more/heavier particle effects ended up in more demanding spots, but it was very odd considering my first playthrough was practically flawless from a performance perspective. The mixed up enemy composition in FF Mode is fun, but everything just becomes a sponge, and it's not really fun having even the smallest of enemy encounters stretched out just because. Mandatory grinding for AP kind of blows and it's the least fun grind I've completed since Yakuza 6, and apparently even if you 100% in both your first and Final Fantasy playthroughs (so, including quests, hunts, etc.), you'll still end up with needing to grind things out a bit. The lack of variety in the game just in terms of not having any mini-games does feel like the biggest missed opportunity in the game, while it's heavier most of the time, if VII Remake can have mini-games, then I feel XVI should too - especially considering just how much CBU III put into them in XIV! To end on a positive note, though: despite skipping 90%+ of cutscenes the second time around, the ending still hit like a ton of bricks, and my favourite boss fights were still absolutely brilliant. Also just want to pop down a guide or two that I used to make the grind for AP that much easier for anyone else who plays and guns for the Plat: I've said it before, and I'll say it one last time: absolutely adored my time with XVI, it's definitely in the GOTY conversation for me, and I'm looking forward to hearing about other peoples' journeys in Valisthea!

Yep, that sounds about right I think my low-key aim as the Bard in multiplayer is to cause as much unharmful chaos as possible outside of battle, and taking things very super seriously inside of battle! Also I just want to play songs in the background during cutscenes I will admit I am a little tempted to rip apart my Half-Elf Bard ideas though and make a Dragonborn Bard-barian...not because I think it'd be a fantastic idea (though idk the idea of a big buff dragon savagely tearing things apart only to pick up a flute later on in the game) but because the name simply sounds cool My friends: alright Julius, smash through that guy! Me: calming flute noises I think it really depends on the game and how much control/customisation I get over the character, but even with less control I do generally like to fit the name into a theme or make it suitable for the world. I think it's also a question of time investment: for something like this or Elden Ring or Monster Hunter where I'm looking at a potential 100+ hours, I definitely put loads of time into thinking about it, whereas in shorter games I'll just cobble something together. Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne I just went with some variation of Julius that seemed to suit each game, because I felt the options to take ownership of the character weren't too exhaustive It's funny, after seeing your message last night I tried to think of where it comes from, and I think it started with Pokémon? But not the Pokémon themselves, but the character. I used to stick with canon names, then I swapped it to the Japanese names, then for X I decided their name had to start with 'X'...but then weirdly since then I think I've mostly just chosen my actual name where I can Love Alcyon and Solus. I've always wanted to ask actually, where did 'Drahkon' come from? Is there an interesting origin to your screen name? I feel like whatever you decide you should go with RP reasoning, like the Ranger gets tired of the long, drawn out process of prepping for the hunt and so obvious pivots into utilising their hunting reflexes in more direct and potentially unnerving ways

Treehouse footage: Completely flew under the radar, for me at least, that there was one!

Thanks! Fingers crossed honestly so long as the controls gel at some point and I enjoy the customisation as much as I think I will, I'm sure I'll have a blast! Well ain't that the question I'd already done the research I wanted for my characters, so yeah, some Half-Elf Bard for multiplayer and then a Dragonborn Paladin for solo (because dragons are cool, and to make up for my vertically challenged Dragonborn Bard not coming to fruition), but beyond that (and their looks!) I'm sure I'm going to spend pleeeeeenty of time in the character creator fleshing everything out. It's going to be a customisation-heavy weekend, which I'm very excited for! I always take a lot of time to figure out a cool and contextual name for my character too, using name generators (in this case for D&D, just to get a grasp on the naming conventions of different races!), plugging words into Google Translate to see what sticks, making some portmanteaus, and so on. Don't think I've created a character with so much thought put into them since my Elden Ring character last year (still the happiest I've ever been with a character name, their name in context - Aligare, from the Latin alligare, or to bind, based on the emphasis on metal in marketing and so considering my Tarnished an alloyed being! - and their look!), but I've got a name for my Dragonborn ready to go, got a name I'm happy with for my Bard too but want to try a thing or two more. This sounds like a super fun build I imagine a stealthy ranger should be possible from what I've seen about the game, really want to see how that turns out if you can and do go that route. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures!

November 15th launch for PlayStation Portal in select markets (US, UK, and much of Europe): Interesting release date, would've thought they'd put the Spider-Man themed console out so early (releases tomorrow I think?) to give this some space and potentially launch around Spidey 2, but okay then.

Being really careful about which tracks I include here, just focusing on what can be heard in the demo/was released in pre-release materials, but man oh man...Final Fantasy XVI might just be my favourite video game OST of all time, at least when it comes to the bombastic and spectacular tracks accompanying it's boss fights, and it has some fantastic character themes to boot, too. So without further ado... And the ones I'll throw in spoilers... (some boss spoilers, so beware) I love how much XVI harkens back to old FF OSTs, but also feels so fresh and new with the weird places it goes to with some of its tracks. It's fantastic. Throw in a track or two that sound like they're from Dragon Quest, and another track or two that sound like they're from Xenoblade? I seriously think it's up there for me as one of the best gaming OSTs in a hot minute. Missed so many tracks too, but I'll come back to them! And also I will riot if it doesn't win awards for its music!

It is done and should arrive tomorrow! definitely need that push so thanks, got obsessed with the idea of customisation and definitely want some more focused combat after XVI Definitely looking forward to BG3, very curious to see what I end up doing with it, never thought about having two simultaneous playthroughs of one game before, but then not every game has such a convincing take on multiplayer. I'm 100% doing a weekly play session with friends, but I do also want to see what it's like as a solo experience - think I'll hold out a little bit for now just to see how PS5 performance has turned out and to get by the first few areas in multiplayer, but will at least be making my solo character and start a slow chip away at a solo campaign to get to grips with what I can before our first session next Friday! Really excited for my first CRPG, however I end up playing it feel like I've barely played any games this year, but the ones I have have mostly been released this year, and yeah...GOTY is going to be an impossible conversation, that's for sure!

Meanwhile...as I'm committing to this being my weekly multiplayer game with friends, I'm trying really hard to not pick up Armored Core VI to play alongside it. Why did I have to watch that cool customisation video?! And why do both games have so much customisation?!?! Blessing and a curse how many good games we've had this year

Love Maw-maws (Clodsire, anyone?) and very funny that there's an ability to swing around and stick to walls...when this game launches the same day as Spider-Man 2 this looks like a lot of fun! The Mario Edition Switch OLED looks nice too! Love the coins hidden away inside the dock on the cable input/output housing

Stream is up and ready to go: I'll be watching this as I doubt I'll be picking up Wonder on Day 1 (the backlog and Spidey 2 are calling my name ), but I am really curious to see how this one turns out!

Watched Part Three of Ahsoka over lunch. A solid episode, definitely felt like it was setting up the next, and a great Anakin/TCW-type moment from Ahsoka too, with some very Ahsoka dialogue to boot. Rosario and Natasha have both done a great job of embodying their characters with little moments here and there so far (for Sabine, the table and the cup comes to mind as a veeeeeeeeery Sabine moment), look forward to seeing them fleshed out and their relationship explored more in the coming episodes. Kiner OST on point as always. Oh, and also a totally subtle reminder that politicians suck. What they're doing with certain creatures and the plan to follow them seems like a very natural way for us to get elsewhere, hopefully they deliver on that and it doesn't feel shoehorned in, as I was a little worried it might. The explanation for the dramatic establishing wide shots of a planet as a ship comes out of hyperspace got me

I'm upset about everyone else having not yet played them Just reminds me I need to get to III (and every other game in existence) That's true. 2024 is very quickly looking to be one of the best years for JRPGs, it's funny that we already need to start throwing things back to the second half of next year with his busy the first half is looking now if we could just get some Dragon Quest XII news...

September Essentials: Also, yeah, yikes at that PS+ price hike @drahkon. I've still got another year from the Now > Premium upgrade I got last year, but this year I've played fewer games than ever, and the calendar is packed with new awesomeness that I'm missing out on. Not to mention the retro stuff has been abysmal

Officially delayed out of 2023 Not massively surprising considering we've heard nothing all year, but still, kind of crazy the MGS Collection leapfrogged this.

The rest of the XVI cast started to get in on this too!

Looks like a new Switch model is set to be announced here! ...a Mario Edition Switch OLED

Well, we've got a Direct! Hopefully this is focusing on Wonder so that the next Direct (if we get one before it releases) doesn't spend too much time on it, rather than this being a sign that there's no other Direct on the way I doubt it would impact it either way, especially with TGS just around the corner. 15 minutes seems quite long to me to spend focusing on a 2D platformer, makes me wonder if Martinet gets his lap of honour here and/or if we're going to get some Miyamoto weirdness.

SIE filed trademarks for Astro Bot in Europe at the end of last week... ...and in America, too. We're quickly coming up to September, and I think there's a good chance we once again get another PlayStation Showcase. So the timing could be right...could it finally be happening?

Analogue have announced a special and limited Glow in the Dark version of the Analogue Pocket:

It's basically the tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons in video game form, with the campaign already designed for you. That's probably the most succinct way I can put it Ooo thanks for that, will need to take a look! Well, originally I wanted to be a tiny Dragonborn bard the size of my lute...but there aren't any height sliders, so there went that idea I think I'm still keen on being a bard though, mainly because every D&D podcast I listen to, the bard seems to be the silliest and have the most fun, but also because knowing the friends I'm going to be playing with...yeah, I'm going to need to fill the gap as a support character So yeah, at the moment I'm thinking an Elf Bard, probably a Half-Elf like a Wood Elf? But I also still just love the idea of messing around as a Dragonborn Bard, even if I don't get to be tiny, so will need to see how the rest of the party composition looks, I think, because I'm not 100% on the race differences (especially if there are things like vision in the dark taken into account) which is precisely why I got the DE, just to mess around and see what sticks

Yep, sure did! Makes perfect sense going for the standard edition in that case, but I respect that there's still a sense of temptation to upgrade to the DE I went with it purely because I'll probably have my first session with my friends on the Friday following release, so wanted enough time to nail down my character's customisation for our co-op campaign, and just play around with the systems a little to get an idea of how things work so that we aren't totally lost! Have definitely gone off the idea of running a solo and co-op campaign separately for now with how long some people are saying they've been playing just the first act for, there are so many other games coming out that I don't want to commit to this too much! Purely running the co-op campaign first just seems like a good way to take it all in with fresh eyes too. I'll probably get to a solo campaign at some point, but with how gaming has been this year and the pile of games I wanted to get to before the year even started...yeah, could be a while before I get to that will be fun to just catalogue my co-op journey though!

Thanks for the thoughts, @drahkon! Shame you didn't love it and that it fell off so harshly for you, but at least it sounds like you had a great time at the start? Really curious to see what I think of the game when I get around to it, as I find we aren't usually a million miles apart on our gaming opinions Would love to see your AC design! I've seen a lot of emblems today (someone shared their Outer Heaven one, which looks and seems perfect?!) and really just want to dig into customising my mech

Having played the 2016 remake for the first time just a month before Rift Apart's launch, I don't think it's essential to play the remake at all, though it might make you a little familiar with any returning faces. However, I would recommend playing it before Rift Apart if you ever plan on playing it, because I think Rift Apart is a step up in almost every way, and so I imagine it could be difficult to go back to the 2016 remake after playing Rift Apart, which I think feels tighter, has mechanics that are much more fleshed out, and also just looks better (not that the 2016 game looks bad, by any stretch of the imagination!). Fwiw, I had a blast with Rift Apart despite not having the greatest time with the 2016 remake! Look forward to hearing your R&C thoughts whatever you decide

He did one on Breath of the Wild, and now Beyond Ghibli is covering the Ghibli inspirations found in Tears of the Kingdom: Love to see it. I've yet to watch it, but yeah, I imagine there's even more Mononoke and Laputa to go around this time. Anyways, I still need to get back to this at some point. Got over 60 hours in, and then just prioritised Final Fantasy XVI (because it's linear and could drag me along to the ending) when it released, which I'm still in the process of going through my second playthrough for. By the time I put it down, though, I did find myself in roughly the same situation I found myself in with Breath of the Wild, some four years ago now, feeling a little fizzled out on the game (probably 50% - 60% of the total map uncovered, a load of things unlocked, etc.). It's funny, because I swear the reason I lasted 20 hours longer with TOTK before getting to this point is purely down to having some more direct main quests to follow along the way, yet while the exploration and adventure aspect of TOTK is what I love most, it also just takes a lot of energy to want to explore - it's definitely something that I find I need to be in the mood for, rather than chip away at casually. It's a shame though, because in pretty much every way (other than reusing the same base world map, but they've added so much it's hard to complain!), I think it's a step up from BOTW, so I do need to get back to it and complete it. Hopefully before the end of the year. Maybe. No promises.