Julius

I haven't played through the Sword/Shield Expansion Pass, so can't speak to any improvements they might have made there, but the difference between this and the base game Wild Areas for Sword/Shield is night and day. It's crystal clear in Legends: Arceus that a lot more thought was put into shortening the gaps between groups of Pokémon, the composition of those groups of Pokémon, the terrain and topology of these areas, and they feel much more vast. The addition of shaking trees and resources for you to throw your Pokémon at in order for them to interact with also goes some way to creating a finer and more consistent gameplay loop compared to what I remember of Sword/Shield's Wild Area. You can kind of tell Monolith Soft was consulted by how much of an improvement I feel this is (I also reckon they nabbed some ideas for the targeting/camera too, feels very Breath of the Wild with the way it pulls back at times). There are still some empty spaces, but in my opinion it's nowhere near as barren as it was in the base game of Sword/Shield. And completely unrelated, the ads for this game have been absolutely nutty. Here's another to follow on from the Munchlax one:

Interestingly enough, from earlier on in the earnings call, it seems like they might have been concerned about the game's performance due to it being one version rather than two: I don't know how many people Nintendo and TPCi thought were double dipping...

Yeah, I'd say probably 2024 or 2025, and I'm still half expecting some kind of beefed up model at some point (chip shortage permitting) if that is going to be the case. The Switch being halfway into its life can still be true without us waiting until 2027 for a Switch successor, they'll just continue to manufacture and sell it at a discount once the successor is released for a few years. I think they'd be shooting themselves in the foot a bit if we got one by the end of next year, seeing as they'll probably sell another 20 million Switch consoles in the next financial year. This from the earnings call unsurprisingly makes it sound like the next device will be backwards compatible and a continuation of what they've done with the Switch: Yeah, that's absolutely nuts. The numbers are insane as is, but stepping back and gaining some perspective on their software sales compared with the rest of the industry just shows how truly bonkers-good their games are selling. BotW making it past the 30 million mark would be insane too, but I agree with you that it's not impossible that it happens this year. I'd have to imagine once we start seeing more of BotW2 that we see a bump in sales for the first game. Ideally for it to pass 30 million in 2022 I guess you'd probably want BotW2 next March so that it doesn't end up getting kicked to the curb during the Christmas period, but it's still totally possible. And naturally I hope that doesn't happen, I want BotW2 yesterday It's funny you say that, because in a lot of other entertainment-focused industries, quality very rarely directly translates to great financial performance, such as in the film industry, where everything to break the $1 billion box office mark feeds heavily on CGI and action set-pieces. High quality output seems to be much more consistently recognised and, as such, rewarded in the gaming industry across all genres, I suppose in part down to the interactivity of the medium compared with the products from those other industries, but it's interesting to think about nonetheless!

The game has had the second best first week of a Switch game in Japan (behind only Animal Crossing). See you all in March where 4 of the 10 best-selling Switch games are Pokémon, then

Yeah, I definitely agree with you. At this stage I don't see the need for a true Switch successor just yet considering that the Switch is probably going to end this financial year with 23+ million units sold, and let's not forget that in part that's reduced in part due to the chip shortage. I don't think it's crazy to imagine it doing some 20+ million units in the next financial year, either, and until it truly starts that downwards curve towards bottoming out, I just don't see why they'd chop the legs off the Switch from a business perspective. From a consumer and development perspective I think there's still a growing need for a more able console, so I'd gladly take a Pro model this year or next year and see a Switch 2 in 2024 or 2025. Mainly because I don't want any issues in forests in BotW2 As well as the PS4 has done, the announcement of the PS5 completely killed it's momentum dead in its tracks. It wouldn't have been surprising if it slowed down, but it felt like it straight up stopped, to the point that it looks like it'll find it impossible to make it to 120 million units sold, despite it seeming like a lock-in just a couple of years ago. I like seeing big numbers (even if it's to the benefit of massive companies I have no vested interest in), so I hope Nintendo are a bit smarter about how they handle the Switch's successor. As for Mario Kart, I honestly don't know what to expect next. They've had so much time that it could be absolutely massive in scale at launch, or they could scale it back and have seasonal updates, or even go the route of microtransactions. I'd prefer the former, naturally, but they seriously could go wherever they want next. I still find it barmy that they didn't try to boost their books a bit by dropping an expansion to be honest. It's out there, somewhere, just in a slow cooker Yeah, PS4 will probably be surpassed by the end of 2022 I reckon, and I find it hard to disagree with you over it surpassing the PS2. Which would be bonkers. The launch aligned graph definitely shows that its on the right track: Sell some 5 million units by the end of March to round off this FY at 108 million units sold, another 20 million or so in FY23, probably somewhere between 15 - 20 million in both FY24 and FY25, and then the slowed but consistent trickle of sales after the Switch successor launches. The only thing which could stop it I think are Nintendo themselves. No they don't, just thought it was an interesting stat so thought I'd throw it in there

Nintendo's Q3 earnings report has dropped, covering the period of 1st October 2021 to 31st December 2021. The Big Takeaways - 10.67 million hardware units sold this quarter between the Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED, which brings the total number of Switch consoles sold up to 18.95 million units sold for the financial year. Of these, 3.99 million units sold were for the newly released OLED model. This brings the overall lifetime sales of the Switch past the 100 million units sold mark for the very first time, to 103.54 million units sold. - this makes it official: the Nintendo Switch has flown past the total lifetime sales of the Wii (101.63 million units sold), making it the best-selling Nintendo home console. This has also seen it overtake the sales of the original PlayStation (102.5 million units sold), putting it at fifth on the all-time best-selling list of consoles. Next on its hit list is the PlayStation 4 (116.4 million units sold) and the original Game Boy (118.69 million units sold), both of which it will likely overtake by the end of the next financial year (ending March 2023). After that, the Switch will find itself in no-man's land, chasing the sales number of the Nintendo DS (154.9 million units sold) and the PS2 (157.68 million units sold). - a reminder that the annual projection for console sales of the Switch were lowered last quarter from 25.5 million units to 24 million units, and then last month was revised down to 23 million. For reference, the Switch sold 4.73 million units in Q4 of its Nintendo's last financial year, so it's going to be a tight one. - Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield are now the second best-selling set of Pokémon games at 23.9 million units sold, having overtaken the combined sales of Gold & Silver (23.7 million units sold - had it down as 23.1 million before, but this report from 2010 is apparently more trustworthy than wherever the 23.1 million figure came from). For reference, the best-selling set of Pokémon games to date is Red/Green/Blue (31.38 million units sold), but it's highly unlikely that Sword/Shield will come close to surpassing those sales. - Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl debuted in November and have already sold 13.97 million units, just barely shy of the lifetime total for Let's Go Pikachu!/Eevee! at 14.33 million units sold. This means it debuts at #9 on the List of Top 10 best-selling first party Switch titles, and makes it the best launch for a Pokémon remake to date. For reference, on the Switch the Let's Go games sold 10 million units and Sword/Shield sold 16.06 million units in a similar timeframe, and back on the 3DS, Sun/Moon sold 14.61 million in its first quarter. - Metroid Dread, sold 2.74 million units from it's launch in October through to the end of December. It will very likely overtake Metroid Prime as the best-selling title in the series by the end of the next quarter (2.84 million units sold). The other big title to launch this quarter, Mario Party Superstars, sold 5.43 million units. Elsewhere, a smaller title to debut this quarter, Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain sold 1.28 million units. - to update the sales numbers of the other titles released in 2022: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD has sold 3.85 million units, Super Mario World + Bowser's Fury has sold 8.85 million units, New Pokémon Snap has sold 2.36 million units, Mario Golf: Super Rush has sold 2.26 million units, Miitopia has sold 1.63 million units, WarioWare: Get it Together! has sold 1.24 million units, and Game Builder Garage sold 1.01 million units. - another strong quarter for Ring Fit Adventure (1.32 million units sold) has given it lifetime sales of 13.53 million units sold, seeing it edge out Splatoon 2 to the #10 spot. - the lifetime sales of Luigi's Mansion 3 have now reached a whopping 11.04 million units sold! That's Next Level Games' first title to pass the tally of 10 million units sold. - the lifetime sales of Mario Kart 8 (Wii U and Switch) have surpassed 50 million units sold (8.46 million on Wii U, 43.35 million on Switch). Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 4.61 million units in this last quarter alone. Top 10 Best-selling Switch titles as of 31st December 2021 1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 43.35 million 2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 37.62 million 3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 27.40 million 4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 25.80 million 5. Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield - 23.90 million 6. Super Mario Odyssey - 23.02 million 7. Super Mario Party - 17.39 million 8. Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu!/Pokémon Let's Go Eevee! - 14.33 million 9. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Pokémon Shining Pearl - 13.97 million 10. Ring Fit Adventure - 13.53 million

Game Informer have shared their hands-on preview, for anyone who wants to see a bit more:

Well, inject GT7 into my veins. Damn. A lot of tracks shown (a lot of menus too!), a crazy array of cars, insanely snobby tech (best sky boxes confirmed?), some hilarious moments of commentary, and Moon Over The Castle is basically an anime outro, which I'm always all about. I'm so happy right now, it's been a loooooong time since I've played a Gran Turismo game, and I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this. I love just how much Polyphony are doing to share their love of cars in such a variety of ways (listening to designers at the café, the museum, Scapes, etc.). I used to obsess over car magazines growing up, and have fond memories of flicking through thick books packed to the brim with automobile history, so these additions look to be right up my alley, and will take me back to those rainy Sundays lying on the sofa, losing myself in the joy of cars. License tests are being back too, how haven't I mentioned that yet? Gah, haven't felt this excited about cars in a good while! Think I've just found my FIFA replacement. My verdict on the State of Play for GT7: 8/10. As great a showing as it needed to be. Roll on March 4th!

Not too soon after I first landed here I played a good 10+ hours of The Witcher 3, and for whatever reason, it just didn't click with me on any level at all. This was back in 2016 or maybe 2017, mind you, and my enjoyment of gaming as a medium was still in its infancy compared to where I think it is today, so maybe I'd get on with it better today. This is all to say that I played Red Dead Redemption II for the first time over Christmas and absolutely adored it. I binged it for a good 70+ hours over 10 days, and having played Red Dead Redemption for the first time last year really helped me to appreciate it that much more. At the very least, to keep it vague: as far as Westerns are concerned, I think it has an absolutely S tier soundtrack (seriously!), and as far as video game storytelling goes, it has excellent writing, a great cast of characters, and is insanely easy on the eye. Those damn sky boxes are purty. And that's my pitch for why you should play Red Dead II More seriously though, I think The Witcher 3 might be better suited for you completing your targets. Like you said, you own it already and it'll cross off being an RPG, but I think also for your last target of going for a Plat in every game you play is going to be less time consuming (albeit, still very time consuming - just comparatively less!) than going for the Plat in Red Dead II, which I think also includes a fair few trophies for Red Dead Online. But don't listen to the more serious and logical Julius, he's an idiot. Play Red Dead II EDIT: I also hope I'm not the only one who read 'Monster World IV' as 'Monster Hunter IV' and didn't question for a second that H-o-T could Platinum a (totally non-existent, Roman-numeralled) Monster Hunter game, along with all of the other games he played in January

Looks like a Showcase for this game might be announced at the end of today's Gran Turismo 7 State of Play for tomorrow, at the same time (22:00 GMT). The description for the video also seems to confirm the game's release date as 25th March, which was seen floating around in some screenshots of the PlayStation Store a few weeks ago. Premiere link: UPDATE: comunicado oficial

So...it didn't come December 7th Early reviews have dropped for the game ahead of its release date this Friday (4th February), and considering how many times this game has been delayed, they aren't great: Considering this graphic they were so proud of putting out there a couple of weeks ago... I'm going to hazard a guess that they got carried away and the game's focus shifted from polish to features that would end up making it bloated, because a consistent thing across the reviews seems to be concerns about bugs. "Thousands of tweaks" coming and knowing a fix is on the way, but yikes, this game is coming in HOT. For those curious, here's the quick and dirty Dying Light 2 timeline: • announced at E3 2018 (!) • delayed indefinitely in January 2020 from it's Early 2020 release window (not officially announced, this was internal and shared in their statement) • during their digital event in May 2021, the release date of 7th December 2021 was announced • delayed to 4th February 2022 via tweet

Damn, and I thought I was being thorough! I've just got to the third area just shy of Sixth Star myself. I'm having a blast, but struggling a bit to put in sessions longer than a few hours at a time (all that dopamine is frying my lizard brain). Yeah, that sounds about right

To add to what @Glen-i suggested with False Swipe, I know Sleep has changed a bit now that it's Drowsy so it won't be quite as effective, but I would have to imagine a Gallade with False Swipe and Hypnosis is probably still the way to go for a Pokémon best equipped to catch everything you want. You two are much further along than I am so maybe you already know if it's in the game, but at this point I have to imagine Mean Look hasn't made it, as I haven't seen it in all of my encounters with the Zubat and Gastly families so far if it is though and I just haven't come across it, I'd throw that move on a Gallade too. I made very liberal use of a Gallade for Pokémon hunting in Brilliant Diamond, it's always my go-to when available, so would definitely recommend

Well, this was the big takeaway from tonight's Yacht Club presentation, and it looks great (looks very Game Boy Colour and Link's Awakening meets Castlevania): Choosing to "go back to their routes" and get partial funding for this game through Kickstarter (link to the game's Kickstarter here), but they've stated that they will be investing in the game themselves also, so it seems like it's mainly for the purpose of stretch goals and so that they get some of that money trickling in now from higher tiers. Still, I think that's a really bizarre decision given just how well Shovel Knight and everything to do with it has done, and just how much they've grown in size and stature in the years since. Estimated delivery on their Kickstarter is currently December 2023, though I'm sure that is subject to change.

Yeah, gave me a good chuckle when it popped up on my YouTube feed on my lunch break Unrelated to Legends: Arceus but related to Sinnoh and along similar lines, and something I'm sure some here will get a good kick out of, is Bidoof's Big Stand, which they released a few weeks ago for Bidoof Day: Some of the animated stuff on their channel wipes the floor with a lot of the anime proper, you can tell they have so much fun putting these together

And then it comes to Switch in the summer with the rest of them, right?! ... right?

Yeah, glad to see I'm not the only one who thought the game did a pretty poor job of preparing the player from the start! You definitely learn a lot as you go on, but I think there were some things I could and probably should have been told much earlier on in the game than I figured it out. Earliest example of this for me was the Astronaut Figurine. Was super confused when I got a second chance for the first time. I just figured that it was a key story item and so didn't check it in my inventory, because it probably wouldn't have much use based on how little attention they bring to its actual functionality Yeah, the Carbine is honestly probably the best all-around gun in the game. I'd also suggest if you ever come up against a wall in the form of a boss or an enemy with a load of health that the Thermogenic Launcher could be the way to go. It's not great on normal enemy types, but has massive damage output and forces you to be a bit more deliberate and slow down because of how few rounds you can get off before needing to reload. I'd agree with @drahkon that Trackerswarm is probably the best alt-fire for its accuracy (homing) and damage output, probably followed for me by Vertical Barrage, then Voidbeam, then Horizontal Barrage (the thing putting it so low for me would be the arc it takes meaning you need to calculate where you aim a bit more precisely than with the others). Look forward to reading more of your thoughts! Yes! This + Boss Rush. Pleaseeeeeee Housemarque. Also I hope H-o-T notices your message because I agree. I really liked it in Returnal to be honest!

Congrats Cube! May I be the first to suggest the name of 'smallerCube'?

Man, that Midnight Theme is pure bliss. The opening of it is definitely inspired by Schala's Theme from Chrono Trigger, conscious decision or not, so of course it was going to be a great track for me Another track I'm loving is Crimson Mirelands Theme 2, a really fun way to bring a jazzy touch to what so far on my journey has been a heavily orchestral but largely subdued soundtrack (out in the field, at least). I think @Glen-i mentioned he wasn't a fan of not being able to listen to the tracks properly due to it being handled somewhat similarly to Breath of the Wild, and I agree to an extent...and that extent being that I think it's been handled even worse here. What I've heard of the soundtrack so far has been great when I've looked individual tracks up, but as Glen mentioned before, the only chance you really get to settle into the soundtrack is during battles, as well as in cutscenes/scripted sequences and back in Jubilife. In Breath of the Wild I feel the complaint was more about the soundtrack being much more subdued and ambient, fading in and out, but even if you weren't a fan of the game's soundtrack itself, I think it was programmed into the game really well: the right track played at the right time, and, in my time with BotW at least, it was never introduced or phased out poorly. Here? I came across Crimson Mirelands Theme 2, slowed way down after it triggered and the jazz really started kicking in, took another 5 steps, and the music had been phased out. What the hell Game Freak?! If you don't know what I mean, just climb up on Wyrdeer and sprint around any of the areas, and you'll see what I mean. It's like they've programmed the track based on location within an area, as you would probably expect, but the areas just aren't large enough when making use of Wyrdeer (and I would have to imagine it's the same for any of the other rideable Pokémon in the game) for the music to actually be listened to and enjoyed. I've found it really bizarre, which is a shame, because like I said, the individuals tracks I've looked up after hearing a snapshot of them in the game have been great. On a totally unrelated note, as I haven't seen anyone mention it yet (though I imagine some of you might have picked up on it by now): if you want a nice environmental shot which doesn't include your character, you don't need to remove the HUD, you can just hold down 'ZL' and it will basically swoop into what feels like a first-person perspective. As someone who loves to take a lot of screenshots it's been a godsend!

Just, guys, read the room already... I've got to admit I spat out my drink when I read this and started laughing my ass off. It feels like the pettiest imaginable way to get back at Microsoft for acquiring Activision Blizzard: by hooking up with their ex. Honestly, I have very little new at all to say about this, these acquisitions are getting so frequent that I honestly don't have the energy to type up that many original thoughts on the matter. I'm doubling down now that PlayStation are doing it too. It's wrong, and I hate to see it. Like with the Bethesda and Activision Blizzard acquisitions by Microsoft, it's inorganic growth, which just feels plain wrong. They're saying they'll remain independent and multi-platform for now, but I can all but guarantee we see that change a bit once Microsoft figure out how they're handling Call of Duty moving forwards, and if it's anything but things continuing exactly as they already are (which lets face it, isn't happening), that PlayStation will try to position Bungie to churn out an FPS for them that isn't Destiny, possibly alongside Guerrilla? It's anyone's guess, but that's where my mind goes. What's even stranger about this move for me is that I don't get who this move is supposed to be enticing to, from a customer perspective. Like I said, exclusivity may come down the road, but if it's not for now, then what's the point? And even if it does become exclusive down the road, I seriously fail to see how Destiny of all games is pulling players to PlayStation. As others have mentioned, a move for Square Enix makes much more sense (not that I want to see that come to pass, mind you), and they actually have a number of IP which I think can bring people into the ecosystem. I think it's because Bungie don't have much to offer right now when it comes to making one of their own IP exclusive, hence keeping them multi-platform. For now. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Bungie is one thing, but I struggle to see Sony making a move for anyone much bigger: EA and Ubisoft are certainly too big, Square Enix I think are too big in scale and considering that PlayStation has moved out of Japan I struggle to see them making that move, etc. I mean, God knows we all want to see Konami back in the game, but that is purely an IP acquisition, it would be generous to call their development team a shell of what they were a decade ago. The only thing I think they can do now, unless Sony are pushing unreasonably hard and risking everything when it comes to making more moves, is coming to some crazy arrangements with IP owners for exclusivity moving forwards, and actually announcing them. Things like "PlayStation enter decade-long arrangement with Konami for Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, and Silent Hill IP's" or "PlayStation have agreed an exclusivity arrangement for the Final Fantasy VII Remake Saga and Final Fantasy XIV for console", etc., and it kind of helps to put Xbox off making those big moves for those companies if there's a contract that's going to be kept for X amount of years for huge IP's that they can't then touch. Not exactly cheap, but I think obviously much cheaper than buying these companies outright. Now I'm going to go wash my hands, because I feel filthy just typing the suggestion that PlayStation should do that See you all in February for Microsoft's acquisition of Ubisoft!

Sees a white 'H' on a light blue background Great to see you again H-o-T, hope you've been keeping well!

Oh yeah, I get what you mean. I guess I meant more in the sense that I personally like to have the context of the most influential games in a genre (in this case, Metroid and Castlevania games) when I'm diving into something new. For example, I didn't even finish Ocarina of Time (I will go back, I swear it!) but the time I spent with it meant that there have been a lot of times where I've gone into a new game and can see the influence there. I guess for me personally I like having a point of reference, and I also find that it makes it much easier to explain how I feel about a game if I have experience with games that likely influenced it? I put off Suikoden and Suikoden II for a little while after hearing a bit about them and picking them up, for example, to play more JRPG's and get a greater understanding and appreciation of the genre, and when I did play them, I could go in and really analyse and compare them to other JRPG's to get a greater understanding of how I felt about those games and why I felt that way. If that all makes sense

Hell yeah! Seems like we've heard so little at this point, hope they've got a lot to show off! I've got to say, my hype for this has been growing substantially over the last few weeks. It's been a very long time since I've really sunk my teeth into a driving sim, much less a Gran Turismo. I quit FIFA cold turkey a couple of months ago, which is going well so far, but I do miss having game I can just return to and relax with, so fingers crossed that this will be the game to fill that hole (and to also help delay me picking up a Series X for Forza!). EDIT: well, it's going to be a meaty one. 30 minutes!

This wholeheartedly. Like you say, I think part of it unfortunately boils down to not all of the Allies aligning on what world design even is in the first place, and folding so many elements into it that it becomes a melting pot of what could potentially be separate categories. Best level or game design could absolutely be it's own category, but I don't think all of the Allies are capable of that level of analysis, and trying to dive deep into the how behind why they're enjoying what they are, and similarly, best visuals could also be it's own category. Lore, for me at least, should just be considered when it comes to best narrative, unless it actually has to do with the construction of and impacting the world being experienced (e.g. something like the blood moon in Breath of the Wild). For me, world design is about the atmosphere and logic of the world, and how interesting that makes the world to experience. In the context of a GOTY discussion, for me, the questions being asked should mainly be around anything that might be incongruous: does the tone of the game match the visual setting of the world (a good example of this would be Souls games being quite darkly coloured matching the darker nature of those games, rather than being all sunshine and rainbows); is it visually interesting and unique (vs. is it visually impressive?); and does the design of the world itself make sense given what the game is trying to achieve (for example, if a game is clearly going for a realistic look and world, it wouldn't at all make sense for a tree to be sprouting in the heart of a volcano, whereas in a less realistically presented world that's a bit more loose with that - I'm kind of imagining a JRPG here - it might not feel out of place). Yep, the only part I had left when I posted was the GOTY discussion itself, and I 100% agree. It felt like he was going the way of offering to cut Guilty Gear a good two or three times but then the attention would somehow be swung far away from it and towards another game. Look, I didn't play Guilty Gear or Metroid Dread last year, so I'm saying this more as someone who has heard the conversations around those games, but when you are the only one who has seriously put time into Guilty Gear, is the only one fighting for it, and the game being raised to cut for it to stay on the shortlist is Dread - which was high up on almost everyone's lists - you need to just concede. That's the exact reason for them having a Personal Picks video!!! And yeah, I do agree with you pushing for his favourites as he should, I guess for me it was just watching him struggle within himself to figure out which of his favourites were his favourite that got a bit annoying for me. It happened multiple times where Ben would say one thing about a favourite game of his, the Allies would agree, but then he'd go "but its difficulty, because with this other favourite of mine..." and basically drew a lot of the attention of the conversation to his own favourites, rather than to the wider group's thoughts and favourites. Yeah, I see where you're coming from and agree he could have voiced some of his opinions better, but to be fair with XIV in particular, I think all of the Allies defer to Damiani. I meant more in the sense that he was the only one willing to make the hard cuts for some of his picks for the sake of not meaninglessly dragging out the discussion, such as how he knew Lost Judgment wasn't a serious contender (I think he's the only one who played it, and that was for review), and just made the cut himself. Jones and Blood seemed like they were there trying to see and listen to all sides but didn't have a lot of stake in many of the categories; Ben was fighting for pretty much everything; on the opposite end, Huber was fighting for particular games (I totally agree with you that he could and should have pushed for something like Life is Strange much harder!); Isla pretty much checked out and became very agreeable after Echoes of the Eye won (other than mentioning that these were their awards and saying they could just increase the number of nominees again - am I the only one who always finds this a bit undermining to the discussion? I get where she's coming from but having a set number of nominees is clearly something they all agree upon as a group behind the scenes); Damiani was staying back for the most part analysing what on the whole he felt the group was saying but not realising (to be fair I know his cat passed away, so I'm honestly just happy he was around friends and turned up for GOTY's during a tough personal time); and Brad, for me, was the one making hard cuts and trying to move the conversation along, making sure people didn't cut people off in the middle of points. The fact they spent nearly an hour on Best Boss Fight at the start to me is insane. I think overall, the most frustrating part of the GOTY discussion itself was that... Just a surprisingly frustrating GOTY discussion to be honest can't imagine next year's being much easier either, because if the big games currently pencilled in for 2022 all arrive (BotW2, Ragnarök, Starfield, possibly XVI) and the ones just around the corner live up to the hype (Elden Ring, Forbidden West) AND we see some big surprises this year (probably from Nintendo) then I can see them all having a legitimate but different horse in the GOTY race. So I'd expect that to be a very long one!

Last night's episode of Attack on Titan: Season 4 Part 2 was superb. Took one of my favourite storytelling tropes, which can be so easily done wrong, and executed almost flawlessly. Also started Jujutsu Kaisen. 5 episodes in, fight animations are insanely good, really liking the cast and story so far. It's like the demon-hunting aspect of Demon Slayer crossed with a more serious take on the exorcism aspect of Mob Psycho which just so happens to be eye candy. Yeah, definitely got that feeling going through that it would hold up well to a rewatch. I've seen some people online (after I completed my watch) complaining about the pacing, and while I would agree that it's a bit slow early on and at other points, I was still forcing it down by the shovelful, I think the core premise and wanting to see what happens to these characters next is more than enough to have that effect. Then again, I've seen people complain about the pacing of Steins;Gate and drop off before things really pick up, which I find insane. When I read things like that I think some people online just confuse bad pacing with something not grabbing you and getting you immediately invested, which is fine, but a story starting slow and picking up can also be a calculated decision Anyways, I've been keeping an eye out for Volume 1 of the Perfect Edition of 20th Century Boys recently as it has been out of stock for a short time here in the UK (a lot of places only had a European language version, if lucky). Set up a bunch of notifications for when the English version came back in stock (as the only English version available when I checked on Friday was secondhand on eBay...for £99.99), and luckily got the notification yesterday that it was back in stock somewhere, so the volume I found was hardest to locate is on the way won't mess around waiting too long to get the rest, will probably pick them all up when I'm next paid. Very much looking forward to giving it a read! It's funny, because I actually find it hard to disagree with you regarding the second half of the season being a mess, like you say the arcs themselves feel very disconnected and there isn't that flow between arcs which earlier seasons definitely had, but a lot of that could be down to them rearranging some of the arcs during the adaptation of the manga for Season 5. For example, something which is only the focus for a single episode here in the anime didn't happen in the manga until the next arc that's being adapted for the anime, and MVA was bumped up ahead of the Agency arc. I have no clue why they did that, and while I don't think the pacing of it was all that better in the manga from what I remember, it definitely wasn't quite as disjointed as I agree it was in the anime. The actual contents of the arcs themselves were adapted well enough from the manga I feel (*cries in Season 4*), but so much of it is setting up the scale and story of the next arc, which is why I think Horikoshi resorted to bouncing around a lot more. Which is a shame, because he now seems to be sprinting towards the end, and from everything I've heard, the quality and pacing of the manga has tanked recently. Something you touched on is that some of the arcs were clearly rushed when adapted from the manga (MVA), which I totally agree with, and that's where I think my issue lies with the first half of the season. Only one thing of real consequence for the overall story and our protagonist happens in the joint training arc itself, which is... So, for me, that the first half of the season was as long as it was, and padded out with anime-original content and the like just to make it last the length of a cour before moving onto the later arcs was an atrocious decision in my opinion. Part of it you can point to the source material for - the joint training arc should really have been earlier in the manga - but shuffling arcs around is entirely unnecessary. I think the problem with My Hero to some extent is that it came out between the time of everyone questioning what would replace the Big Three™ and much more effective modern adaptations of manga where filler isn't all that necessary, like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, both of which are making use of movies to adapt some of their arcs and look even better, whereas My Hero has been stuck on producing non-canonical movies and for whatever reason adding filler episodes when it's already far behind the manga as things are anyways. Honestly, I think we'll end up looking back and thinking it's probably one of the most poorly managed major manga-to-anime adaptations of the last few years, and that each season feels like it's sliding in comparison to the last - and then hearing that the manga is also now sliding in quality and pacing too - is a real shame. So much wasted potential. The most damning thing I can say about Season 5 is that it's the first time after catching up on the anime that I have very little desire to catch up on the manga, which I usually do with My Hero. Oh man, that must have been fun Had no idea about the changes made in Season 3 Part 1 from the manga, but from the sounds of it, I'm guessing those changes were for the better? And it's funny you mention that you wonder if they'll change things from the ending in the anime, because tangentially related, something I've been wondering about a fair bit lately (not strictly in regards to AoT, though it came about after hearing vague thoughts on the manga ending) is how much the storytelling process might change for writers and mangaka when they see their works getting adapted, while they themselves are still in the process of telling the story. Prior to an adaptation all they really have to go off is their own storytelling methods, research, etc., whereas once their work is being adapted, I wonder if they might also change some of their storytelling decisions - subconsciously, but honestly maybe even consciously? - based on how it could be adapted: making fights bigger and badder, adding more points of drama, etc. They also have a library of music to tune into that wasn't there before to influence them before an adaptation started, a lot more pressure on their storytelling (in a lot of cases a much larger fanbase to deal with, not to mention the livelihoods of those actually adapting their works - especially so in the case of manga-to-anime adaptations), and also a voice and visual physicality to attach to their characters which they never had before. I could see how it might influence their storytelling to a degree, because they basically have another storyteller's voice telling (normally the same story), but through a different medium. Not strictly anime/manga related, but it's just been on my mind a lot