Julius

Finished this earlier today, probably got to sit on it a bit more before I hopefully update the Gaming Diary thread...but I really ended up liking it. It's very ambitious for a title from over a decade ago, and it shows a lot of the time. The frame rate, as I mentioned before, can be very poor on the hardware it was originally intended for; the AI is temperamental in more ways than I have fingers to count them on (it's a good thing Sakurai taught us how to count in binary with our fingers! ); and there are more bugs than I can throw rocks at. There was one in the penultimate scene to the "ending" where I followed two characters into a barn and one was frozen in place in-engine from my gameplay, standing next to the in-engine version for the cutscene. The camera panned through him at the end and I got a creepy look at the back of his eyeballs through his head, which was lovely. But take that away, and there's a strong Western story, a stellar cast (if a little exaggerated at times - though I guess that's the Rockstar touch), one or two excellent quests (and a stellar job of curating those quests, there are less than 20 in total but they feel purposeful), a whole lot of mission variety (some of which I've said before that I want to see in the Breath of the Wild sequel, in terms of structure and presentation), and a game I'm not surprised at all is as beloved as it is. It's rough around the edges, and perhaps would benefit from a remaster/remake in the Red Dead II engine, but I say that thinking that's the best way to make me like this game and appreciate it even more. It deserves to be brought to that standard. My favourite thing in the game is something I'll throw in a spoiler tag, but I wanted to push back and test something to see if Rockstar had thought of all the possibilities in a game which gives you a lot of control over your actions. And then I'll mention my favourite quest too. And while towards the end it certainly became very apparent what was going to happen, I sure as hell wasn't expecting... A great video game. Look forward to mulling it over in the coming days, and hopefully getting around to Red Dead Redemption II later in the year!

Based on the footage we saw of Legends Arceus, I think we're hoping this is a miracle machine and for sure, a certain forested area in Breath of the Wild would benefit immensely from a performance boost! But yeah, I'd hope Xenoblade Chronicles 2 performs better, selfishly as I still have to play that game! Bit of a bummer grabbing a physical version of Torna looks to have become a bit of a nightmare in recent months with its resale price only going up now it seemingly isn't being printed anymore, guess I should've jumped on it earlier. I'm curious to see where they announce the Pro too, E3 feels like the logical place but it's Nintendo, which means it could also easily be announced pretty out of the blue a month or two later like the Lite was. Then again, that wasn't providing what we all assume to be a pretty noticeable boost this time around with the Pro, and if we're going to be seeing more of the Breath of the Wild sequel, why wouldn't you show gameplay off for the first time on your most powerful version of the console? Right..?

Yeah, I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing those numbers on Thursday! I have to agree with you that it's got to be in with a shot of reaching the heights of the DS and PS2 at this point, and I think that's why the timing of the Pro model could be so important to them. If they were to release a Pro model with the Breath of the Wild sequel (which would make the most sense), but if you were to combine that with a potential price cut of the original and Lite models, which like you mentioned somehow they've gone without up to this point, then I think it'd just get even crazier. Not that they need to, and I could see them sticking to their guns a while longer, but the original Switch model I think seems just beyond what I would consider pricing for an impulse buy, so the fact that there's clearly still potential to do even better is almost impossible to believe. I'm seriously considering buying a Pro model just for the Breath of the Wild sequel to make sure I get the best experience with it, and this is as someone who admittedly doesn't play their Switch nearly enough. It makes me curious about if it would see better sales numbers than we saw with the PS4 Pro/Xbox One X?

According to Nikkei, Nintendo are set to increase their production of Switch units to 30 million for this fiscal year (ending March 2022, not to be confused with the fiscal year that finished just over a month ago at the end of March).

As someone who watches their fair share of older films, watches a lot of films, and cares about film history, I'm weirdly also one of the people who can't remember what Rosebud is. Though to be fair, I haven't seen Citizen Kane as far I can recall either, and if I have it would have been when I was much younger, so there might be some sort of bias there. I have no doubt I've heard about the meaning of Rosebud at some point in the past, but I just don't think it's permeated my memory. The funny thing is though, I know I've seen that clapping scene, so I have no idea now if I have or haven't seen the film I think a large part of that is probably exposure to these "known twists" like Vader and what happens in FF VII. I can't name one person in my life who would be in a position to even bring up Citizen Kane to me in conversation! Whereas I truly think that Vader is inescapable - I knew it before I even first watched Star Wars, and that was when I was very young. Everyone I know - and their mothers - knows what that twist is. Star Wars and Vader are on the level that characters like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man have been for nearly four and a half decades now. Compare that to say the events in Final Fantasy VII, and I think it's only inescapable if you're drawn to that corner of gaming in particular or go out of your way to seek more information on the history of gaming (I know I've got a few books on my shelves for instance which point explicitly explain what happens and what the fallout of that was). I play Final Fantasy games and have an interest in JRPG's and the history of gaming, and have played VII, but before I played VII, I honestly didn't know that happened. And while Final Fantasy is obviously massive for gaming history, given the recent history of the franchise and how sporadic mainline releases have become, I wouldn't be surprised at all if most modern gamers had no idea about that twist - I know for a fact many of my friends wouldn't. It does make me start to wonder about how many twists in film and other media are on that "No, I am your father" level, though. I think that given the size of the audience of the MCU, certain events in Infinity War and Endgame seem inescapable, but will they still be that way decades from now?

Digital Foundry's analysis of the State of Play footage: Looks insane. Watched their analysis on the PS5 update of the PS4 game earlier, found it really interesting learning more about how Insomniac defied what seemed to be their general direction just a decade ago after they moved away from delivering 60 fps. Good prep for when I get to it, soon I hope!

Konami have confirmed that they won't be present at this year's E3 (after the ESA sharing that they would be previously), but it does sound like they at least have some things in the works.

Not sure how I missed this, but Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is coming to cinemas in the UK on May 26th. Still no word on home release though

Great to see Insomniac carrying over a lot of what they did in the Spider-Man games with the Photo Mode in Rift Apart, should be fun to play around with! And hell yeah, accessibility options are the best and most important options

I noticed it and thought "maybe I should edit it to be clearer that I meant the game looks underwhelming." But nah. Those aliens out there ain't missing out on much

Completely forgot about this game, the only reason I remembered it before watching the trailer was because I'm pretty sure it was in a State of Play before and I thought that it looked like they'd taken weird presentation transitions and made them into a game but yeah, I agree, the timing of it would seem to suggest it'd be here? But it's a little weird that they wouldn't just wait for us to see it in the State of Play... Looking forward to seeing more of Ratchet & Clank tonight, imagine what we'll see will push me over the edge to finally play the PS4 game in the next few weeks so I'm at least a little familiar with it ahead of launch. If Humanity is one of the two indie titles, I really hope the other one is one that we've mentioned wanting to see, because no offence to Humanity, but it's a little underwhelming.

How are fan made Yakuza Miis selling me on this game?! Now I demand Nishiki, Goda, Mr Shakedown, Akiyama, Saejima (it was at this point I realised how long the list was about to get), and fake Kiryu!

Xbox unsurprisingly continuing to push hard on PC, cutting their fees from sales down to 12% from 30%, bringing them in line with the Epic Games Store.

Free next-gen upgrade coming this summer:

Yeah, that's totally fair, especially seeing as you're already on-board! Main reason I want to check some out is to get a better idea of the length and general flow to decide if I'm ordering it to play after Red Dead or if I'm fine leaving it a few months. Something interesting I heard in the previews and seems to be sprouting up in the reviews is just how skill-based the game is. Wouldn't be surprised if we see the discourse over game difficulty come back if that is the case.

Reviews have just started going up... Generally seems to be landing on 8's and 9's. Looks like Housemarque have done a great job, time to start watching some reviews!

Seems like some DLC might be on the way...

DC Fandome is coming back on October 16th. Seems a little on the early side compared to last year's events, I know the first one in August was a bit of pivot due to them having to cancel their E3 showing and not being at Comic Cons, but still. Hopefully a sign that there's a lot in store!

I hope he does a good job, but I'm pretty mixed on Greg to be honest. Think he and the people over at Kinda Funny can have some good discussions on stuff that they're knowledgeable about, but they seem pretty clueless at times on other things. And his work at certain shows at E3's previously has been pretty...meh. Blessing is the main reason I watch any Kinda Funny stuff these days, because there's a genuine enthusiasm there to learn more about games and the industry. Some of the other folks at KFG though, I'm not big fans of. Gary Whitta especially makes me want to bounce my head off a wall sometimes, he's Mr "I have zero bias but I only play on Xbox and will pull the most stupid arguments out of my ass to make PlayStation look silly when I don't play a lot of their games anyway". Sucks because obviously he worked on Rogue One and so as a Star Wars fan it's hard to not be envious of anyone who's worked on the franchise, but if you're covering games I think you have a responsibility to share your passions and interests - of course! - while being fair to others. Would he shout Star Trek down because he's worked on Star Wars? Also the guy swears more than all of the other KFG cast combined and I think detracts from the shows he's on greatly, even more so when the focus is on any of the platform holders other than Nintendo (which to be fair to him he does manage to stay level-headed about). I know Greg plays it up for the shows, and I mean he's getting compensated to do it so fair enough to him, but Tim is the one who grinds my gears when it comes to this. Other than a select few games for which you can tell he's actually excited, you can tell he plays up his opinions to be the hype man on their team, but unlike someone like Michael Huber from Easy Allies who clearly is genuinely hyped for just about everything but is honest and pure in doing so, it feels like Tim's lying half of the time, at least to me. It's super weird to watch. I probably sound like I'm hating on Kinda Funny, but it's just not for me. I soured on IGN somewhat to be fair too, so maybe it's just a through line from that, but there's a weird vibe to it sometimes that I just can't nail down. I think someone like Ben Hanson (Minnmax, formerly of Game Informer) deserves the success that we see these guys get, he's probably the only person in the industry I feel could walk into my favourite podcasts not in Easy Allies and is guaranteed to make it a better experience. I've actually been thinking of doing the same lately, I'm mainly just holding off on confirmation of when the shows are going to air. Though, I'm working from home as it is now, at the moment my job has shifted as I'm on a projects team rather than customer-facing for the next few months, which is mainly meetings and then just sitting around waiting for email responses, and I finish mid-afternoon. So I guess I could always just stick it on in the background, but then I won't be as consumed by the hype, but unless they're changing things drastically, normally there aren't many conferences overlapping with work hours anyways. But now that I think about it that's normally because they can be held at stupid o'clock, PlayStation especially when they were showing up. With this year's event being all-digital and likely pre-recorded, my biggest hope would be that they schedule things so that it's relatively friendly to a worldwide audience rather than just the US.

Hosts for this year's E3 have been revealed:

I was listening to this week's episode of Frame Trap from Easy Allies and Brad and Huber were both raving about the little that they could (both saying it might be one of the best feeling third-person shooters of the last few years, heard it does some interesting stuff with triggers too), and I feel like what they talked about informed me a lot more on the game than some of the gameplay clips I've seen up to this point. It looks like a couple of reviews have somehow slipped through ahead of tomorrow's embargo lifting too, and both seem very positive. I'll wait until the embargo lifts tomorrow and I can get a clearer picture of the game's overall flow, I think that's been the toughest part to sell me on so far, especially as someone who hasn't played many roguelikes. I've got to finish Red Dead first anyways, and I do feel like I'm starting to get a craving for a JRPG, but if this isn't too long (which I wouldn't expect it to be?), I can see myself caving and having to check it out for myself sooner rather than later. If Demon's Souls is anything to go by, the price likely won't be dropping by too much in the next six months anyways. Also, @drahkon's enthusiasm for the game has been constant these last few months, and I think it's finally starting to wear off on me

Yeah, I think it's an excellent tool! I definitely look up trophy guides ahead of playing some games or towards the end of others I've really enjoyed too, it's a great reference point, and helps to make a decision on what I do want to chase and what I won't (the latter turned out to be pretty much every Yakuza game up until 6 ). Thanks! Yeah, I find it works well, then I just keep the case of the game I'm playing next to the system for when I finish it, and like Huber from Easy Allies, my favourite thing after completing a game is then deleting it from the console after (on the PlayStation consoles at least). Got to get that additional dopamine kick plus taking the labels off too is always fun, got to feed that lizard brain! Only issue is the Switch cases being so damn tiny. I shouldn't complain, because it's great for the environment, but even on my smallest text option for my label maker, I have to trim it down a bit and it still finds a way to brush on things and peel off, like with my Sunshine label Yeah, folders are definitely one of the things I miss most from the PS4 so far. I'm sure they'll come eventually (...right?) but until then, I've got a good few games I own digitally that I'll just forget I own (the ports of the Resident Evil games for instance, or Symphony of the Night). In a sense I personally find the PS+ free games and PS+ Collection counterproductive in a weird way, just because it means it's more games to put space between me and the other digital games I own. I think I'm going to start collecting first party titles (and some exclusives) physically in particular too, so even though I could have owned Ratchet & Clank three times digitally if I'm remembering right (free on PS+, PS+ Collection and then as part of the Play at Home initiative) that copy of Ratchet & Clank arrived today after I hunted down a non-PS Hits version. Now, whether my mind changes when my bookcase is filled completely I'm not sure, but I could also just get another one. Or move to a bigger place. But for now, especially with how films come and go on streaming services too, think my physical collection will only continue to grow. Not a hoarder I swear

Yeah, for sure, the irony of gaming coming back bigger and stronger than ever for the one generation I personally heard about it potentially going away non-stop (and this as someone who at the time wasn't really following game news) is hilarious to me. I think a big part of PlayStation's - and the industry's - resounding success in recent years also lies with the revitalisation of Japanese development after what happened the generation before with HD development, and I think it's two-fold: big third party Japanese publishers like Square Enix and Capcom have seen a resurgence in recent years I feel as they have not only adjusted to developing on modern platforms but have made genuinely great games as a result, but also the average consumer being more open to new and weird experiences, which I think many Japanese games can offer (for better and worse). I think it might have something to do with the globalisation of things we've seen over the last 5 - 10 years as the reach of the internet and social media has spread, such as with anime (I mean, just look at how great the Demon Slayer film is doing!), and I think we've started seeing a similar thing for international films in recent years, strengthened by things like Parasite's critical success last year. I'm not saying these things weren't big before, but to me, it feels like the general audience is more willing to take risks and try new things, accepting that a good film or game is a good film or game, and that it doesn't matter where it came from or just how "different" it is. And it's easier than ever before to get a recommendation too. On the topic of digital and physical media, when it comes to games, I tend to split between the two. If there's a big release, whether it be a remaster, remake, or a brand new game, I go with physical because it's often a little bit cheaper at launch than digital (and generally this is the case for already released games unless a game is on sale digitally too). However, if it's an indie or effectively a straight port - especially if I need to go out of my way to find a physical version - then I stick with digital. Same goes for games I tend to hop in and out of, like FIFA, or anything I play online with friends, as there are times where we have longer sessions and hop between games. Especially if it's a port of a game which would cost a small fortune physically (ahem, Suikoden). But the PS3 and Vita stores nearly going away the other week has certainly reinforced the need for physical for me, and makes me want to go through this summer and pick up everything I want from those stores anyway (pain as it is now that the web store is no longer there). It's funny you mention that, because I actually seem to have the opposite issue. Maybe it's down to the lack of folders/organisation options on the PS5 (and Switch, if I'm remembering right?), but when I buy digital games, they get absolutely buried. Even for free games like the monthly PS+ games and the PS+ Collection, I add them to my library and unless it's something I want to play in the moment, it's effectively lost to the aether once it's no longer in that row of games greeting you when you start the console up. I remember last year not too long before lockdowns started, I definitely felt like I wasn't getting the most out of some games, as my mind was already trailing to the next. I'm no @Hero-of-Time when it comes to getting through games at a decent clip (are any of us? ), but I got through more games last year than I ever have before, even with some long breaks thrown in when I wasn't feeling like gaming or was on one of my anime marathons. What helped me massively was getting a better idea of roughly how many hours I had to invest in each game to at least complete its main story (and if I enjoy it I can always stick with it for longer, which has happened a lot!) from HowLongToBeat. I had a label maker lying around, so I stuck these times on all of my games, and then I pick around 10 which are really picking my fancy and set them aside in a pile separate from my other games. Like so: Knowing that I probably play games for 2-3 hours on weekdays and 4-5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays (sometimes more, sometimes less), it made it easier for me to break down how long I'd be spending with each game, and then it just became a question of what I was in the mood for out of those. Once I get near the end of a pile I'll either clear it or add a few more if my mind has changed a little on what I want to play at the time, I just add a few more to the pile from the other games (I haven't been in the mood for a JRPG lately for instance, so action-oriented games have been getting played and replaced by others, but I do feel that pang for them starting to set in). For instance, from the above, I've been saving Squadrons for a weekend where I'm in a Star Wars mood (I played it at launch but was ill so it's been on that pile for a while now as I'll probably need to start over), and I know I could probably complete Sunshine or Galaxy during the week, maybe throw in a weekend too if I'm in a mood for hunting everything down. Obviously, I don't have this option with digital, which is why I think I have a big problem getting to some older games at the moment: it's just not taking up the mindshare that my physical pile of games are. A lot of the Nintendo games I know I want to play on the NES and SNES apps just slip to the back of my mind, though when I remember to get around to one of them, I get through a few of the digital games on my Switch, which is always nice!

I mean, considering that it goes beyond a typical stock shortage and everyone is still hamstrung by the chip shortage as a result of the pandemic, it is pretty insane that it's still managed to outsell the PS4 they've sold all that they've shipped, which is just over half of what they initially projected to have shipped by their year end. And I genuinely think the demand would have been there for it to sell double what it has done, which would have mean doubling the PS4's sales - which is insane! Crazy to think that we're all but guaranteed to see record-breaking numbers again next-gen already at this early stage because of this (obviously granted that there isn't another chip shortage some 7 more years down the road for some reason or another).

Only played for about an hour this evening. After cleaning up a couple of quests and doing a few jobs, I crossed the border with Irish to Mexico... ...and had what I'm sure would have been a great moment completely ruined by the game itself. The music started kicking in, which went on for about a minute before some wolves came at me. I'd tipped my hat and said hello to a stranger on the road before, so I knew things were somewhat muted for the music to be front and centre, so I tried to shoot at the wolves as they had already started attacking my horse. Well, another stranger on the road - who was also being targeted by said wolves - took the gunshots to mean that I wanted a firefight, and started shooting at me. My horse got killed by the wolves, I had to kill a stranger to survive, and had to stand around waiting for another horse to arrive. Tried to use my most recent auto-save to see if I could enjoy that moment properly, but because of the way the game works, I ended up at a safe place I hadn't even visited yet on the other side of Mexico. So yeah, that grinds my gears a bit. Which brings me to the AI in this game probably being where it most shows its age, because even when you capture someone alive with the lasso for someone who just got robbed/harassed/whatever in a town, everyone always seems to think I'm inclined to go on a killing spree with only my lasso out.