Julius

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

I'm just imagining the helmet being removed and Shovel Knight being all: But yeah, unfortunately I feel like you might be right about it being some sort of crossover. I hope it's not, but they've crossed over with so many things at this point that it seems like an inevitability! Shovel Knight 64? I get what you mean though, I'd like to see something new from them too. I've picked up Shovel Knight before, and while I enjoyed it a lot, I felt like I was missing a lot of context for it. Having not played many NES platformers at the time, which is something I want to rectify before getting back around to it at some point; I have similar reasons for not playing a lot of indie Metroidvanias, as I've played one Metroid game, which I loved, and haven't touched a Castlevania. I know not everyone's like me when it comes to wanting to have some context before diving into a game like that, but I also feel like Shovel Knight games definitely have a very select fanbase, and more Shovel Knight games probably aren't going to expand the reach of the series I feel. I haven't looked anything up, so this is totally baseless and I could be wrong, but I would have to imagine that everything that came after the original Shovel Knight has seen diminishing sales for them. So yeah, something fresh and new would be great. There are definitely some niches they could revive which I think would be appreciated in this day and age. Maybe an Actraiser-esque game, or some weird melding of F-Zero styled racing with RPG elements? There's a lot they could do that could feel fresh but also feel like a revival of a niche, so even if it's not revealed this week, I do hope the next thing we see from them is something fresh and new!

Yeah, noticed this too. Even emptying out your satchel into storage is pretty useless because you're likely going to be picking up similar items anyways the next time you're out in the field, so you're left just putting the harder to find items where you only collect 1 or 2 in a run in storage to free up slots. Giving me major Breath of the Wild weapons vibes to be honest, in that there's just a bit too much for your inventory to handle and there comes a point where it's a pain to keep upgrading your inventory space, though I'd say it's much worse because: i) there isn't a risk-reward nature to deciding what to keep on you. It's exclusively a tedious process. ii) the items are one-use and do very little to actually change a mechanical aspect of the game, whereas in BotW, different weapons really can change things up. I know it's a holdover from this style of game, but I'm not a fan either. I wish they made it unlimited and then used that as a launchpad for more quests where you're gathering things to help upgrade parts of Jubilife Village. What makes it crazier is that there's a great enough variety of items in the first area to actually end up with a full satchel in the first place. Gah, something that bugs me with Stardust - because of the way the description is worded ("it can be sold at a low price to shops"), I actually tossed a few early on! I know it's a wording change in the description they made way back in Gen VII (before that I'm pretty sure it was "it can be sold at a high price to shops" - which is nuts, because I swear they sell for the same amount anyways), but I genuinely thought that they'd taken the extra step with the economy and some of the sale prices of items had changed based on the fact that Hisui barely has an economy to begin with at this point, and that because it's so unexplored, that Stardust is somewhat in abundance at this stage, meaning it has a relatively low value! D'oh!

Yeah, I knew there would have to be something. Still, though, I don't think it popularised it, because as far as I'm aware it didn't carry over to other games at the time. Which is I guess to say, I think it's far more likely Game Freak was inspired by Persona 5 than they were Super Mario RPG when making this game I was also -2.75 years old I haven't played it! I've heard great things about it but I've honestly not seen anything beyond the main menu I think? Which I'll change at some point. Let me get back to Ocarina of Time and every other Nintendo classic first

Also, somehow I completely forgot to mention: having individual ABXY buttons assigned to different things in the main battle menu is such a godsend. It just snaps onto how quick and snappy the battles are this time around, they feel the fastest they've been since maybe Gen V. I'm blanking on whether any big JRPG's did it before Persona 5 (feel free to chime in, I'm sure there are others, but P5 might have popularised it?), but it was one of those things where when I first experienced it in that game, I came away wondering why every turn-based game doesn't make use of it. If you have more options than there are ABXY buttons? Then make it a radial wheel or something. But yeah, just needed to gush about that for a sec! Now back to it

I don't know how on Earth I missed this, but the first teaser for Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio went up the other day... ...and I can't wait! Forget the voice cast (which is absurdly stacked), what has me most excited here - besides GDT and this being a passion project - is the animation team. Mark Gustafson, the animation director from Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, as co-director? Patrick McHale of Adventure Time and Over the Garden Wall fame working on the screenplay? Heck yes, I'm all in on this. The wait to December is going to be brutal.

Didn't get to play as much as this I wanted yesterday, but I did make a start and I'm a few hours in. Fast and loose early thoughts: • This is basically Pokémon: Dopamine Rush For Monkey Lizard Brain Edition, good lord. Throw a Poké Ball to try catching a Pokémon while sprinting away before you see what happens to immediately throw your Pokémon of choice at a tree or some ore for materials, bundling into the grass to sneak and then throw another Poké Ball at another Pokémon, rolling out and throwing another Pokémon out to do some more material gathering...the speedruns of this game are going to look absurd! • So far, I've been pleasantly surprised by just how animated the characters are in cutscenes and battles, they seem far, far more emotive than they have been before. Akari takes the cake for most animated so far, I chuckle every time I see her swing her arms around to do the stupid little "let's get on with it" jig. • I saved and reset my game for an hour straight to play around with hair and eye colour combinations, before landing on a good combination of the two but realising that I like a fair number of the styles on offer. Naturally, this means I'm going hardcore RP mode and starting with a shaved head before "growing out" my hair as the game goes on funnily enough, I landed on the same colour combination as I did in Sun, but for an entirely different reason... • the arc of the Poké Ball when thrown can feel incredibly satisfying. I've been playing around a bunch with seeing how far away I can hit a tree or catch a Pokémon when throwing them, and catching a Pokémon while it's running around and nailing that timing is a lot of fun. Well, the dopamine hit is nice I mean, I don't know about "fun" • some other QoL features worth shouting out: the streamlining of changing movesets (evolution is a bit weird, but sure, why not?), receiving a quest and then adding it as your objective by pressing +, etc. • while they're neat mechanics on their own, Heavy Ball + Back Strike is insanely overpowered, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I caught an Alpha Luxray on my very first attempt by just sneaking into the grass and using that combo. • Pokémon running away in battle sucks. It sucks hard. It's always sucked hard. • research tasks getting me to use Pokémon and moves that I never would have given a second thought otherwise is actually really great. Normally in Pokémon games I get my main team and don't use the rest, sticking to the most powerful attacks I can get early on rather than using a wide range, before using more nuanced movesets later on. • someone managed to fit in the phrase "crammed cheek by jowel" into a Pokémon game, which is way too funny to not mention. • despite the game looking leagues better than it did when it was first shown last year, it's still rough around the edges. The framerate isn't great at times, textures leave much to be desired, and having a vast open world where your radius of vision is, like, 25 metres before Pokémon vanish/start popping in can be pretty distracting. • on the flip side, there are some really cool minor details that I'm appreciating a lot, like how your character takes off their sandals when entering the upper level/deck of a home. • in terms of the gameplay loop, it's a bit distracting at times to basically find myself stopping after running around like a headless chicken for 15 minutes, catching new Pokémon while collecting materials, and composing myself before opening up the Pokédex to see what I actually need to be doing. I wish you could either pin an abbreviated checklist of your research tasks to the HUD itself, or just streamline the process of getting to the details in the Pokédex (for something I need to check more frequently than before, why can't pressing down take me to the page I was last on rather than having to press 'A' as well?). • speaking of the HUD, I love that there's an option to toggle it by clicking in the right stick, it makes capturing HUD-free screenshots so much more convenient! I do wish it stayed off and wasn't brought back by interacting with things, though. I also wish removing the HUD didn't mean taking away the aiming reticle when trying to catch a Pokémon. • I'm pretty happy with the soundtrack so far, especially some of the battle themes. The Galaxy Team HQ has a theme which sounds like a mix between Rowan's theme, something from Monster Hunter, the Pokémon Ranger HQ theme, and the barracks theme from Fire Emblem: Awakening -- I'm not complaining! • Regarding the story... To wrap up my thoughts: so far, so good. I'm enjoying this more than I would have hoped early on, though I do share the opinion that others have voiced that this could very easily get repetitive very quickly, especially with all of the bursts of dopamine you get from the saturation of different tasks to do out in the field, but I'll have to wait and see on that. So yeah: thumbs up from me! Totally agree! The intro like you said smacks of PMD, but the whole vibe too. Being taken in by a town/guild, and something I've found mirrored it very closely too - and I don't know if this is just down to us not having cutscenes curated well previously - is when Akari/your opposite character says something at night early on, before it cuts away to Mt Coronet and the rift above it. Got huge Explorers vibes for what happens at night in that game for me.