Julius

Announced during today's Direct!

How can you not love this cast?

Yep, the actual last episode

Well, I made my solo build...and yeah, I figured I was planning to start my co-op playthrough with friends on the Friday anyways, so have left it as it is and decided I'd focus on playing the game that way first. Then, mine and my group's first session with the game got delayed...by over a month Basically, me and a friend bought the DE on Day 1, he played it pretty much nonstop launch weekend (I was busy wrecking mechs), and while not fully sold on the combat, yeah, he's fully onboard. Then last Monday we hopped on with another friend in our group after we talked about all the customisation options (that and dialogue choices are why I feel like he's in), and ahead of wanting to start our sessions last Friday, all three of us - while in chat - got to work on our character looks and tried to figure out our classes (and figure out if we'd have any gaps to fill), so all of that got screenshot and is ready to go; I'm super happy with how my character turned out! We did this for hours and had an absolute blast, even going so far as making backstories for our characters and respective Guardians. Eventually we realised we just wanted to hop into the game, but our first session wasn't planned until Friday. We then had a brief talk when we realised that our fourth group member could potentially have commitment issues to the game (he's the one in our group who always leaves first, sometimes has other commitments on Friday nights, etc.) and so we got him into the chat...for him to tell us he'd planned his finances poorly for the month and couldn't afford the game, but his girlfriend would buy it for him at the end of the month..but we can't start at the end of the month because one of my friends is getting laser eye surgery on that Friday (this was booked long before we'd discussed getting the game, and plus: priorities), so we're going to give him a week to rest, and so now the plan is to dive in on the first Friday of October (the 6th). I properly grilled my friend who caused the delay to make sure he's even interested, explaining that the other three of us are ready to hard commit to this game, and starting a co-op campaign with the four of us for him to not turn up consistently/drop out could cause problems purely from a gameplay perspective (not to mention it'd be a little bit annoying for him to not commit to it after delaying the start of our campaign). In short: I'm ready to go, it's just on hold Personally, I still have some doubts over how much we'll commit to and play the game. This is the same group I convinced to play Monster Hunter World, we had a blast with our first session being 10+ hours long...and then we just shelved it for a year and a half (with me and another person in the group pushing for it every now and then), and by the time we got back to it, shocker, we couldn't get back into it. Whatever happens, it is what it is. Worst case I'll end up needing to bin off the co-op campaign in favour of a solo one, though personally I'd rather experience it co-op first and have a more thorough experience the second time around, rather than going the other way around. Though, I'll admit, I just want to play my instrument at awful times in the background during serious cutscenes already! If/when we start

Attack on Titan The Final Season Final Chapters Special 2 (good lord am I not going to miss typing that out) premieres on 4th November 2023: The end is nigh! ( FINALLY ! ! ! )

Just completed NG++ and got the third ending, and all I can say is: wooooooooooow. Love the approach they took to the other endings in this. Obviously it's down to the game being mission-based, but when the paths diverge on subsequent playthroughs, they REALLY diverge, and that means a whole host of new missions and so much more context. That final boss fight had me grinning from ear to ear beat it first time, too! All that remains for my Plat is to get the rest of the collectibles (through replaying the NG and NG+ missions for Chapter 5), and then it will be a case of getting S-Ranks, and that'll be that. I'll make a longer post with more cohesive thoughts on, and videos of, my time with NG+ and NG++ once it's all wrapped up, but yeah...hell of a game!

This feels pretty big: Stig Asmussen (director of both Star Wars Jedi titles) is leaving EA. A shame he won't get the chance to close out the trilogy, but I feel like the Jedi games pretty much singlehandedly got EA thinking about making some decent single player games again, and it kind of sounds like he's off to start his own studio – who wouldn't be throwing money at this man after the success of Fallen Order and Survivor? So that's a job well done from me, and good luck to him for whatever he's got planned next!

Aligned perfectly with TGS (coming up at the end of next week), so I think there's a pretty obviously high chance of Rebirth news. As for first party scheduled for the rest of 2023: Spider-Man 2 has previews scheduled to drop on Friday, Stellar Blade is published by PS Studios but developed by a third party (so maybe it's here?), and idk what the plan is for Helldivers II, that's starting to feel like it's getting bundled in with PS+ tbh. As for 2024, Rise of Ronin is another case of published by Sony but developed by a third party, so I guess there's a chance that turns up, too. Expectations are really low, but we do seem to be in a bit of a dip for first party at the moment, especially after the delay to Factions announced earlier this year, but thankfully third party releases have been rock solid this year. And here's to another event without an update on Little Devil Inside, I guess?

Here you go Super solid month!

Honestly, I agree that it's not impossible...but I also think there are more compelling reasons against them saying anything about it here compared to the reason for saying anything. I mean, if it's just an NX level of "yeah, it exists, and we'll have more news next year", I don't think it does anything all that positive for them. The devs trusted to come up with the goods in the Switch successor's launch window likely either have specs on hand already, or got to see the demo at Gamescom. Maybe for mid-tier and indie developers it could help to get word out, but then, I don't see them making any leaps substantial enough with it that would uproot any projects already in development for the current Switch. If anything, I think saying anything here could make people hesitate to buy a Switch over the holiday season. Why even consider the Mario Edition OLED when you could pocket that £300 towards your Switch 2 next year? They kind of had to give the vague NX answer because the Wii U flopped that hard and they had no other way to really spin that trainwreck, but I think the Switch has done so well - and continues to do so well - that I think they'd be getting in their own way. The Switch 2 is news you save for the end of March/start of April to make investors' ears perk up, I think it's mere mention - in any context - overshadows every other potential announcement tomorrow, bar an update on Prime 4 (not impossible) or a Mario Odyssey follow-up announcement (super, super unlikely). Then again: it's Nintendo. Let's not discount their ability to do things in weirdly wonderful ways that are totally illogical and still see them come out on top Personally, I've said it before, but I think the closest you get to Switch 2 news here is a Prime 4 teaser to end the show on and saying that it's coming 'Late 2024'. Confirms it's coming to Switch still, but hints not-so-subtly that the Switch 2 is coming out in that window too, without actually needing to say it. Throw in another impossibly expensive game on the secondhand market like Path of Radiance and we have a deal But for real, I hate that we can't get an Explorers of Sky remake announcement here. Urgh. So, instead, please just announce a remaster of Star Wars Battlefront II (which will also come to all other modern consoles), please and thank you

All aboard the hype train! Focusing on games coming this winter: Based on other Directs which have said they're focusing on a certain window...yeah, I'm sure we'll get some 2024 news Excited to potentially hear more about Untitled Peach Game!

Stayed up late to watch Ahsoka when it dropped...and I have zero regrets. This is, by far and away, the best episode I think Dave has delivered since transitioning into his role as a live-action storyteller. I don't want to wait another week for what's next, I want it now EDIT: also @FalcoLombardi yeah, I think Part 5 is my favourite too (for veeeeeeeeery obvious reasons in my case!). I'm trying to think about it, but Part 4/Part 5 of Ahsoka might be my favourite double-hitter of live-action episodes outside of Andor? Which I think is a bit unfair to compare this show (purely because of how it's set up in arcs so arc-ending double-hitters have a lot built up going into them)

Pretty major update has gone live today: Seems to patch some of the bosses people have had more issues with: Bit of a shame, really, but then I also thought it was a shame that Radahn was heavily nerfed in Elden Ring. I feel like it just weirdly sets up this contrast between Day 1 players/early adopters and those who play the game a couple of weeks later, and find it comparatively easier? Making changes to online makes total sense to me, but bosses - unless completely broken in some way, such as the last boss mentioned in the spoiler tag - I'm not too sure about. Anyways, as for my Platinum journey, I've already finished NG+, finished that up on Saturday to get the second ending. Yesterday I started NG++ to get the third ending, and have started hunting down Combat Logs and Parts as part of this run, as well as completing some missions at S-Rank. Can already tell some are going to be a real pain! I'll be back for one final update, once the Plat is mine

Some new details for the game were recently added to its PlayStation page: State of Play or Showcase seemingly inbound this week (what, with TGS starting at the end of next week and all).

Games for PS+ Extra have leaked... Still have Replicant and 13 Sentinels on my shelf, and Unpacking is one I've had my eye on for a while now. A really good month, especially for TGS month! (can this finally mean a NieR sequel announcement already please for the love of YoRHa)

It seems like Hall Effect joysticks have been patented by Nintendo, which - if used for the Switch 2 - should negate the whole Joy-Con drift issue we've seen on the Switch. Per Dexterto: Link to the patent. And here's iFixit's take, explaining the how and why of the Hall Effect, and how it can be used to fix joystick drift: Can't imagine it's a particularly cheap option to mass produce, but at the same time, neither is Nintendo's current solution of replacing Joy-Cons experiencing drift!

Aye, I've since seen Damn it S-E, get your crap together! I just want a DQ XII update so bad

Spent *a lot* of time this evening looking up some ideas for builds, then testing, re-testing, and painting some new ACs for NG+. Time to show off the outcome! Gawain First up is Gawain, based on what I read was a completely broken build wielding dual Zimmerman shotguns and dual Songbird missile launchers. And well, yeah: it's busted as all hell (as you'll see later on in this post), because both of those weapon types chip away chunks of the stagger gauge at a time, and both hit for plenty of damage normally, too. Combined? It's honestly obscene just how crazy this thing is. You'll see...I tuned it to my liking otherwise (as I have all these builds - spent hours replaying the trainee mission and tweaking things!), a build with a bit more heft, some more EN to stay in the air a bit longer, and a super high boost speed for snappy dodging and running around. Anyways, paint job started going a certain direction subconsciously, and I realised it's loosely based on the Wolf Ranger from Power Rangers: Wild Force! You know, one of the coolest Power Ranger designs of all time? Galahad Next up is Galahad, filling a role I'd certainly not been serving in my AC roster during NG, and that's a walking nuclear wasteland of destruction. It brings the heat, that's for sure. Lancelot For over an hour I toyed with different colour schemes for Lancelot after deciding he should be a medium build and a bit of an all-rounder: originally the plan was white and gold (based on its namesake from Code Geass), but it just never looked right, and I had a hard time deciding whether to go with a deep, dark blood red or an ocean deep dark blue to accompany the white and gold...so I settled for both, each taking up the theming for one arm, while the white I decided was better served more yellowed/bone-like to compliment the gold. The green eyes were a mainstay from the Code Geass inspiration. ...and then, 5 minutes after completing it's paint job, what did I realise had caused me to go with gold specifically around the "gems" on its lower torso? Oh gee, I wonder...totally wasn't Arceus! Oh, and here's a bonus clip of Lancelot destroying the trainee pilot with a brutal boosted kick: Tristan So, in earlier posts I talked about finding a lighter build I wanted to try out...and I wasn't a fan. Heck, it's boost speed wasn't remotely close to Tristan's, in any MK variant! So, instead of making a new build from scratch, I decided to use my Tristan MK-III (the chaingun variant) as the basis for MK-IV, focusing on a lightweight and speedy build. Plasma missiles were a carryover from before, just making sense to fire off when I need to back away and regenerate some energy/stamina before charging in with my boosters; the machine gun had to stay, too, though I decided to go with a different type to MK-I's; and then, for the melee weapon, I decided to go with the laser dagger, after seeing it be used so effectively in some boss battles towards the end of my NG run. I. Freaking. Love. This. Build! It's so fast, tight, and is everything I wanted an upgraded Tristan to be. It also got a nice paint job update, going for a lustrous palette (treating it like a second season of a show refresh, of course!) and swapping white out for silver. Super happy with how it turned out. NG+: A New Beginning After all this, I put a little bit of time into NG+...and flew through the entirety of Chapter 1 without so much as a second thought. Other than one mission where I used Tristan MK-IV to skip around quickly (to collect combat logs), I've exclusively used Gawain to see how broken my take on that build turned out, and well...yeah, it's busted. The closest I came to dying was when I simply stopped paying attention because I got cocky with how stupidly OP the build was, and that honestly just happened being targeted by massive lasers early in Chapter 1. I think getting S-Rank on these levels is going to be a breeze with Gawain. Now, NG+ doesn't make use of the tutorial boss, which messes the numbering of bosses up a little, so what I'll do is reuse the boss numbers from before to make it easy to compare the two. Spoilers: both go down without me dying once, and the second one was one of the tougher bosses for me in NG, for sure. Really curious to see how Gawain copes with some of the other bosses I struggled with after seeing how it coped with Boss #3. I'm thinking it's time for a little payback! After all this, I got called back to the Arena for some NG+ exclusive fun... Anyways, at this point, I'm going to announce my intention of going for the Plat. I absolutely adore this game and can't put it down, I've looked around a little for points on how to get to the Plat, and I've already come across an instance where new options were available in the middle of missions which seem to all cumulatively lead me down the road of two other endings, besides the one I got originally. Can't wait to see more of what this game has to offer, and how much of it Gawain can kick ass against

1..2..Wii U 2!!

Yeah, I think anywhere from September to November of next year makes sense. Personally I'd like for it to be September (because October/November is typically already so busy for new game releases)...which probably means it'll drop in November Kind of crazy to think we're probably going to see this thing in 6 months or so. Really, really curious to see if Nintendo goes for the easy wins with marketing (a clear separator from the Switch for starters) and what they have planned for launch. I hate how the UE5 demo is so obviously going to be coming from Square Enix lmao. Secretly hoping it's DQ XII (thinking back to when XI was announced for the NX, would just be a nice way to tie it all together) A lot of obvious big wins if they can make porting high(er) spec games relatively easy to this thing. GTA V Online seems ripe for it, and then all of the other third party big hitters of the last generation like Red Dead Redemption II, the Assassin's Creed RPGs, Elden Ring, the Star Wars Jedi games, and so on. Really curious to see what Square Enix's plans are going to be seeing as they seem to have a lot of deals going on with PlayStation for Final Fantasy at the moment. I like to think this is them just mulling over dedicated DX versions or offering upgrades I was actually thinking about it last night: while DX versions of games less than 6 years old with additional/complete content would kind of really suck rather than just offering upgrades to first party titles through BC and a fixed cost, if any company can get away with it, it's Nintendo. Their first-party stuff so rarely goes down in value that so long as the RRP is around the same as the original Switch versions, no-one is really going to give it too much thought from a pricing POV.

Wrapped up Chapter 5 today, which was indeed the final chapter of Armored Core VI. So, let's cover the rest of it, shall we? I'm just going to stick my thoughts on the remaining boss fights and missions in a single spoiler tag this time around, as there really wasn't much left! Yeah...suffice to say I'm not done with the game yet. There are more mechs to build and paint, and I want to see everything this game apparently has to offer (with new missions in NG+ and NG++). Not sure if I'll go for the Plat - I'll see how realistic that even is to attempt after trying to get a few more S rank mission completions under my belt - but all being well, well, I think I'll go for it. I said not too long ago that though it might not be the best game I play this year, Final Fantasy XVI will be the GOTY in my heart, because I enjoyed that game so much. We'll see what else Rubicon has to offer, but all I'm saying is... ...maybe there's room in there for two.

Next week's episode is going to be showing in select theatres in the US (I'm putting it in a spoiler tag as there's a new poster with a spoiler for this week's episode): Interesting to have a mid-season event like this, but based on this week's episode it makes perfect sense to me...

First international trailer for Ghibli's and Miyazaki's next film, The Boy and The Heron: Yep, that's a Ghibli film alright, but some of those frames are a clear step up. It gets its debut here in the UK in October as part of the BFI London Film Festival. No official confirmation on a wider UK release just yet, but the US are getting it 8th December. This would make a wonderful Christmas present, that's all I'm saying either way, I can't wait!

Pretty gargantuan update in store from playing more of this the last couple of days, I'm at the start of Chapter 5 now - which based on the story I imagine is probably the last chapter in the game? Oh, also, the definition of what is and isn't a boss fight gets super weird - I'm generally just counting as when there's a health bar and it feels important (they're typically introduced with cutscenes or at the end of a level), so yeah, just so you know, the definition of a boss in this feels very different to other From games, which I think are much more consistent about what gets the big health bar at the top or bottom of the screen. Anyways: HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS! 04.09.23 First up on Tuesday was V.VII Swinburne. Now, from the multiple endings other From Software games - specifically the Soulsborne stuff - I'm no stranger to having to make choices in these games, but I didn't quite expect to come across one so soon in Armored Core (more come later with choices made in which missions you take on at certain points in the game). About halfway through the battle, where you've been hired and given the task of hunting down Swinburne by an opposing force, Swinburne sees the writing on the wall, stops fighting, and offers to pay you well for letting him go: which you can either Accept or Refuse. Naturally, I didn't answer and just started backing off and shooting, which he wasn't a massive fan of, giving me a proper earful and letting me know as much! Eventually I downed him but wanted to see the other outcome and also to see if there was more unique dialogue - the first time around he commented on me sneaking up on him - so the next time around I positioned myself in front of him, and after a solid 10 seconds, he moaned at me for pretending to be one of his guys eventually I got him down to half of his health, Accepted his offer, and my original contractor then sent a tougher guy out to handle me for betraying for them. Love it. And then, From being From, I figured there must be a third option related to gunning him down after accepting his offer...and sure enough, there was, with even more unique dialogue! Such a lovely touch Anyways, next on the agenda was another boss fight... After this it was back to the Arena for Rank C programs. A couple of these took over a minute, but still a few sub-60 seconds in there Then it was onto the return of a familiar face with the next boss fight... The next boss gave me a bit more resistance, even forcing my hand into making a new build: Gaheris. I didn't use him for the fight (and haven't used him much since), but I figure I might as well show him off! From another run against the trainee I got this beautiful kill shot, where he succumbs to plasma missiles as he goes in for a laser sword slash, the slowdown resulting in this slow-mo shot of my AC dodging the sword slash and firing off what looks like a killing blow with its plasma rifle. Beautiful stuff! By far the coolest thing I've done in this game so far Anyways, back to that boss... Oh, also, it was part of the same mission being attempted so might as well show off another cool, with some absolute BM in spinning around while dodging! Then it was some missions and another boss...and I'll also show you how we drew the first time around too, so I had to do it a second itme. That darn cheat, Rusty just pick me up and take me home! Then the Arena was the place to B (heh)... Wanted to show off one of my Rank B kills, just because of the speed of it all (Tristan is life): Then another boss (I love it but man this game seriously has a lot of them! Though not all equal ) And then, from that, to one of the coolest entries and boss battles in the game, after one of the coolest openings to a mission so far... And then it was time to wrap things up on a weird and recurring enemy... 05.09.23 Started yesterday with coming up all Aces the arena finally started to offer something of a challenge here, but nothing I was stuck on for particularly long. After this, though, it was time for a mission which ended with a boss that did take me a good few attempts! Also by far the closest I've come to losing in this game while coming out on top in a one-on-one - I was left with just 3 - 3!!!!!!!! - AP at the end of this fight. Following this it was back to the Arena to face off against the cream of the crop: the S ranks. 03 and 02 definitely took me a couple of attempts to adjust to - again defaulting to Tristan for speed and to pick up on their attack patterns - but I managed to beat 01 - the top ranking AC, unless there's more to come in this playthrough or NG+/NG++? - on my very first attempt. Following this was a mission I got stuck on for a few attempts, mainly because a boss - an S Rank! - turns up halfway through the mission while getting swarmed by a bunch of other ACs, which meant I was out of ammo by the time I got to the very end of the fight and had cleared the room to face the boss one-on-one. Naturally, this meant back to the assembly line, and a new AC: Bors. The focus here was on trying a different type of laser sword - or, in this case, a lance - and trying the laser handgun (a fast enough rate of fire with enough damage to be useful, with an option to charge) and plasma missiles too. Unfortunately I struggled to get an S Rank clear against the trainee pilot because of the cost involved in my ammo, after a run I swore up and down was an S Eank, no question. Nice to know recession hits some parts of the future, AC-fearing galaxy too. Anyways, well, I beat the boss and the mission first time with this build! After this it was time for a boss fight which I feel I knew was coming but didn't want to admit... After this it was time for what I think was only the second serious wall in a boss I've hit in this game, after deciding on a build to stick with... Anyways, still loving the game, bunch of builds and paint schemes to try out yet, as well as the rest of the story to finish. I did look up the strat for that final boss I downed on YouTube after, as well as some others, and it's crazy just how broken some of the meta builds are (big guns for stagger, which funnily enough I ended up on naturally for that last boss), I've seen some people beat that boss in less than 60 seconds with the right build - but at least it still takes some skill with the dodge timing and learning its moveset. The other bosses though seem to just roll over at the sight of certain builds, and it's such a shame, because while I think experimentation is awesome and finding these things for yourself is cool, I feel a lot of people are robbing themselves of some fun challenges and experimentation by just going straight to those from the off (I'm mainly talking anyone who has looked up a broken build going into this game). A build video I watched yesterday someone was trying for the fastest AC they could make and be somewhat balanced made it clear why I love my fast Tristan build so much: I'm just getting so much joy out of learning attack patterns for some of these bosses, zooming around and slicing things up, that's exactly what I love about mechs, the impossibility of their speed; it feels like there's a higher skill ceiling going with a faster build, and so there's space to learn so much more about the game. I might toy around with some even lighter builds - his video gave me some ideas - as well as some of the heavier and broken builds if I get into NG+ and NG++, because I'm super interested to see if I still have as good a time with the game playing in a completely different way. That's also what makes the game and its many customisaiton aspects so intriguing, though! I'll leave that there, and to be clear I'm not hating on people using broken builds - play how you want to play! - but I think there's a conversation to be had that could be interesting about games having an Easy mode - like so many seem to want from From - vs having busted builds, and if that's a suitable replacement for an Easy mode. EDIT: oh, also, forgot to mention... That's all for now folks

I agree, honestly it feels like we're inundated with enough games as it is on the Switch alone, never mind every other platform! This year has been stacked and it already looks like the gaming calendar is stacked until at least the start of the second half of next year, which is nuts. For Nintendo, assuming we do get a Direct this month and it is a Direct proper this time around (not a silly old Partner Showcase, I hate those things, they just look and feel like the contractual obligations we all guess they are), I imagine it would be more from the perspective of hyping everyone up for what looks to be the Switch's last Christmas as their main focus, given that the general consensus is that it's successor is arriving next year. Maybe one or two announcements, but you're right, there's not much space for a megaton announcement to be dropped, especially with some titles already announced with very little info (like the Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon port or the new Peach game). This all being said, if this does shape out to be the last Direct proper solely for the Switch - given that I think it wouldn't be crazy for Nintendo to drop news on the Switch successor in Q1 next year and gear up for a more typical Q3/Q4 release this time around - I think they can yank our legs a little, if they really want to, and close on a Metroid Prime 4 teaser trailer, ending with a date of 'Late 2024'. Puts it squarely in the camp of launching alongside the Switch successor, one last big hype announcement for the Switch, and finally gives us an update on a game we haven't heard anything from since, when, well over four and a half years ago?!