Julius

Yeah, like @bob mentioned they used real-time CGI screens powered by Unreal Engine 4 a lot of the time for those backgrounds, officially dubbed 'Stagecraft' and unofficially dubbed 'The Volume' during production. It's definitely worth watching the BTS stuff on it, it's really interesting stuff. Though I still agree with you @Ganepark32, it looks really rough at times, especially in sandy environments I found, as well as with some of the droids and movement (start of the first episode felt a bit like Star Tours at times). Never mind how deep into the uncanny valley they go with some of the faces at times! Either way, glad you seemed to enjoy it for the most part

New Switch variant for Mario's 35th Anniversary:

Yeah, I hope so! Been a long while since I've played a Gran Turismo game, not since 3 A-Spec way back when I picked up my PS2 the year before the PS3 launched think this was only detailing the games included in the CES presentation. Which is why we're still waiting on that and Final Fantasy XVI I'll be surprised if Gran Turismo doesn't make it this year, to be honest. XVI is probably Q4 2021 if we're lucky, and Q1/Q2 2022 if we're not (I think the only reason we wouldn't see it release this year is because of COVID delays, because that aside, Unit III have been stupidly consistent with what they've churned out).

New trailer dropping tomorrow at 14:00 GMT: Pretty crazy that this game went quiet for so long. I know it's a port + additional content kind of deal, but still! Got to imagine that's part of the reason they announced the time that the trailer drops this time around, as opposed to just dropping it out of the blue.

The first time I actually noticed online everyone making a real fuss before the show about there being absolutely no PlayStation news at a CES, that you'd only be setting yourself up for disappointment, and we get this It's not a lot, but I'll take it! Out of the ones with specified release months, it's surprisingly the indie games which have my attention the most. Kena looks cosy as hell, Little Devil Inside looked really interesting to me when it was first revealed, and in Stray you get to be a cat surrounded by robots. What's not to like? Solar Ash is probably the one of the indie games that in least interested in, though it might be unfair of me to say that without having tried out Hyper Light Drifter. Hitman III is a pass from me for now, simply because I'd like to try the earlier games first. Destruction AllStars I might give a go, but with only myself and a friend in my online multiplayer group having PS5's at the moment, doubt it'll be something we put any real time into. Returnal I'm really intrigued by, and while I hope it does well, that price tag has me holding off until we know and see a bit more (and potentially until we get reviews). Deathloop's intriguing too, but we all know how busy spring can get, and with how little we currently know about this year's releases, I'm going to hold off to see if there's anything else around that time I might be more interested in. Ghostwire Tokyo had me as being in a few years back when it was first revealed at E3, but learning it was first-person put a bit of a damper on things for me. Ratchet & Clank and Horizon I'm definitely going to be in for (and God of War too, if it does make this year, but I don't think there's much rush). It looks a promising year with that lineup having something pretty much every month, that's for sure, should be another great year for gaming Oh, and wait, Pragmata got delayed to 2023 from 2022? I mean it's not unexpected, but still, weird they'd add that here. Got to imagine January 2022 is a placeholder for Athia because that thing seemed a ways off based on the trailer, surprised they'd add a specified year here, let alone a month, because again, that seems a super weird way in which to give this game a date. Then again, that thing has probably been in development 3-4 years at this point, so it's not totally crazy I guess. Imagine: XVI in 2021, Athia in 2022, VII Remake sequel in 2023? That'd be kind of nuts for Square

A second VII Compilation? Or the title for the Remake sequel? Or a new Super Noodle flavor? Interesting stuff.

juliusshotfirst.gif Yep, for sure. Not counting mobile and expansions to The Old Republic, what we got with Battlefront, Battlefront II, Jedi: Fallen Order and Squadrons is a very poor turnaround, and with only 2 years left on their deal, I kind of doubt EA are working on much besides sequels to all three of their current Star Wars output: Battlefront III, Jedi: Fallen Order II, Squadrons II. And I'll be honest with you: what we've ended up with in Battlefront has been nothing but disappointing - yes, even with the progress made with Battlefront II after launch - when compared with the ambition of Free Radical's cancelled Battlefront III game from the late 2000's. For me, the games have ended up all style, and very little substance, though looking back at EA's last few years, that seems bang on. I know we've talked about the possibility of Lucasfilm having their own licensing arm for games before Ronnie, do you think they might be preparing for that? And just to indulge in some speculation of my own here: while EA maintain exclusive rights to publish Star Wars games until 2023, there's little else that we know about the agreement, which makes me wonder if we might end up with games being developed elsewhere in preparation of the floodgates crashing open come 2023 or thereabouts. I think that's the most interesting possibility out of all of this, because when you think about it, why else would you announce this now? Because you've already started talking to folks elsewhere - and perhaps even development has broken ground to some extent - about what you want after the EA deal is over. Otherwise, the EA deal is basically going to end up running until 2025/2026 on a normal AAA development schedule if development can't start elsewhere until then. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Time for me to start dreaming about post-EA Star Wars games, which feels really good.

Totally out of the blue: Lucasfilm Games. So it's not quite LucasArts, but still, with only a couple of years left on the EA deal, I'll be very surprised if this isn't fleshed out to be something more than just a logo in a few years' time. Possible even a licensing arm for their games, maybe?

Yeah, it looks very bad. For those who haven't seen Derrick's statement yet: It seems like communication wasn't as transparent as it perhaps could have been, but at the same time, a non-compete clause in games media? That'd basically have been a death sentence for Derrick's career in the industry. Yikes. Yeah, that's my biggest issue with a number of gaming podcasts having such a strong focus on news above all else. It's why I don't really listen to too much outside of Easy Allies these days, because the main podcast covers the news pretty well (though I think it doesn't flow as well without Kyle at the helm, and I think that bleeds over to their streams quite a bit too) and Frame Trap is absolutely top tier for deeper game impressions and discussions about the industry as a whole. Well, all that and because I'm trying to make a conscious effort to either listen less to podcasts where I can, or be more selective in those I do listen to, so I can spend more time gaming myself or with my other interests EDIT: forgot to mention, I think this whole thing is going to be a big lesson for those growing YouTube channels. Being a fan and pumping out videos to cover a certain brand does not make you manager material, and I think in retrospect Andre will be kicking himself for being naive enough to think that. I mean, chasing your boss to get paid is perhaps the biggest red flag out there. A one-off might happen, people make mistakes, but if it continues, it screams out how little they respect you and value your work.

Was just reading about this, and boy does this suck. I normally dip in and out of watching GX content (their analysis videos are definitely the highlight of their channel for me), so was super confused when I went in to watch their 2020 in review and 2021 predictions videos, just to find that everyone I liked had upped and left. Andre always fell a bit flat for me with his lack of personal opinions, always seeming to land somewhere in the middle at his most critical, and generally with how he carried conversations with the others. It definitely gave me the increasing vibe over the last year or two that he was the boss, and they were his workers. Like you mention, there has been a ridiculously increase in their content output when it comes to getting the smallest of tidbits out quickly, and it always kind of irked me. Their analysis videos are quality content, and it felt like they were struggling in a weird way to make ends meet simply looking at their high volume of output, and I think this is no better illustrated than with their non-Nintendo coverage. I'm not saying that they can't cover non-Nintendo things, but their coverage of games which aren't related to Nintendo has only increased, despite (from what I've seen) them generally getting much lower viewer numbers on such videos. They clearly carved a good space out for themselves putting out quality content around Nintendo, and yet here they are slaving away over the smallest morsels of info on things not even related to them. It struck me as odd, and now I guess it's more apparent why that was. I remember Ash moved apartment I think a little while ago, and I remember being surprised at how many hints he dropped about struggling to pay some of his bills in a discussion video (can't remember if it was an Easy Allies guest appearance or just a normal GX discussion video). I thought that maybe he just had more expenses elsewhere which we weren't clued in on, so it sucks to learn how he and the others were apparently treated by Andre. They seemed like genuine friends, and yet Andre seemingly betrayed their trust and ran them into the ground. Case in point: their Good Vibes Gaming 2020 breakdown video. April was a busy month for games, and they dig into it at 50:49, and it really doesn't take long for them to shine a light on things. So, getting Final Fantasy VII Remake only a few days before release is on Square Enix to an extent, but being a content driven channel on YouTube means of course they had to have a review out for the game at launch. To hear someone just ran themselves into the ground to cover it over two days is insane. I don't know, the whole thing just sucks. I unsubscribed when I found out the others had left and couldn't find a good reason for them to leave in a similar time frame together, because it seemed off. They were quickly replaced with younger content creators, and I think Andre is rightly going to get a lot of heat for all of this. Even if they aren't being paid peanuts (reading that some of the guys were getting only $1 or $2 AN HOUR, but of course not sure how much truth there is to that yet), the absolute best case situation is that Andre worked some of his own friends into the ground for his own personal gain. The channel's transition to faster uploads, reactions, shorter videos, and covering things outside of their Nintendo remit all seem to point, to me, that this is going to turn out accurate in some way. I mean, it was inhuman just how quickly they would turn around some of those analysis videos. Good Vibes Gaming is definitely worth checking out if you liked the GX crew, and though it kind of blows Jon isn't there with the guys (then again, his work at Nintendo Life now is still great as always), they do a great job of regularly getting guests in for discussion. I still think they're finding their feet, but if they were to basically become a more focused GameXplain - a regular podcast style show like they have now with the news, maybe an analysis video here and there (but only for things they actually care about), and reactions to events - I think they should be able to grow a healthy audience while making good use of their GameXplain toolset, while not having to kill themselves for it. I know a few of them hinted at certain things they wanted to do at GX which would always peter out, so hopefully they can do some experimenting here too. It's awesome to see them on Twitter saying they're in better places mentally, spending more time with family, and just enjoying things a bit more now. Best of luck to them. I imagine it's only a matter of time before we see what might happen with GameXplain, but I hope it doesn't cause too much stress for those who have already left (and for those who recently joined).

Yeah, for sure. I definitely feel a pang to return to BotW sometimes, just being away from that level of freedom (especially being cooped up due to lockdown) really makes me want more. Even with me having some issues with the game, I think it's a really strong foundation. I know we've discussed this elsewhere in other threads before, and I don't want to derail this one too much, but I've been thinking about this a whole lot lately, pretty much exclusively because of my experience with Demon's Souls. I think my perspective on this has shifted slightly because of that game alone, and I feel I have a much more refined idea of what I do and don't like about cinematic storytelling in video games. I do think storytelling is important in games, and I still think it's the best medium by far and away to convey the very thing many in the world seem to lack today: empathy. It's also, at it's best, the very best way to immerse yourself in a world, explore, and learn about it, simply because it has a level of interactivity which film and books do not. Don't get me wrong: a game does not have to have a good story to be a good game, but I do think good stories have and will continue to be told in games. But to highlight your "movie maker plot lines" comment, I think that this is the issue with some video game stories. I think back to playing Mafia: Definitive Edition and Mafia II last year, and I can tell you for a fact that those games would be better served as a TV series or a couple of films. It's a movie script made a video game. There is a clear A to B in terms of narrative which is heavily dependent on telling you a story rather than you experiencing it (case in point: a time skip scene where it is explained to you that an entire mob war goes down, the part where there should logically be the most gameplay, and the entire thing takes up a footnote in a cutscene), the entire world feels like set dressing, and it being a game does not serve the narrative, it's characters, or the purpose of being a game rather than a film. I compare this to the final scene from The Last of Us, or the moments in Final Fantasy games where it manages to make a game out of the most mundane things to allow you to experience it (the opera scene in VI comes to mind), or any of the amazing moments in the first three MGS games, and it is crystal clear that even though these are narrative driven games with cinematic storytelling, at their best moments, they are a video game. You do not watch the ending of The Last of Us, you play it, and I feel like the entire game could have fallen flat had the decision been made to make that play out as a cutscene. You do not watch the blunders of the Final Fantasy VI cast as they're dragged into an opera, but you take part in it! It's such a small yet enormous difference. And then, you know, those attempts at cinematic storytelling aside, you'll have games like Shadow of the Colossus, Inside, and Demon's Souls, where the entire game is you experiencing and learning about a world, its history and it's present, conveying so much through your interactions with and exploration of it. I think these examples manage to ride that fine line between empowering the player and achieving a high quality of video game storytelling. It's fundamentally why, while I enjoy the Uncharted games for what they are, for me they fall short of that greatness of the first Last of Us. And of course, this is all subjective, but I think it's a really interesting topic. I think Breath of the Wild definitely falls into the latter category with your Shadow of the Colossus and Soulsborne games where the world you're experiencing is doing so much if the heavy lifting, but the way in which I think it can improve on its actual storytelling would be to give more of a sense of direction at times. I think about Wander raising his sword up to seek the next Colossi, or how Demon's Souls is weirdly like a Mario game in its level structure, and it's that sort of thing I'd like to see in the Breath of the Wild sequel I guess. It's difficult, but I do think there's a fine line it could straddle between having a great sense of adventure and exploration, and having a greater sense of direction in its narrative and character interactions.

So hadn't played this since again until today(/yesterday - Friday ), waiting for the guys to play through the tutorial and giving me the chance to look up some beginner's tips, how online works, etc. Okay, elephant in the room: how online multiplayer works for quests kind of sucks. It really does. It's obtuse, it's way messier than it needs to be with locking people out because not everyone has watched the cutscenes, etc. It's seriously archaic for a game designed with multiplayer in mind. The tutorials are also quite long and wordy, and there are a lot of them; really reminds me of Xenoblade at times in this regard, and glad I had looked up some guides, etc., and played a little behind the tutorial quest so I could give direction on how the basics of the game work (and I'm sure there's still loads I missed, but oh well). Anyways, now that the only negatives I have about this are out of the way...this game absolutely rules! My playtime before today(/yesterday)? Just over 3 hours. Now? 10 hours the guys really liked it. I really liked it! It's a lot to take in, like I said the tutorials are a bit frantic and the online took a while to get our heads around, but once we were actually hunting some monsters, it was nothing but a good time. I played the quests for the Kukei Kukei and Barroth by myself in-between quests and issues with getting the online working, and both went alright. It wasn't exactly fun, kind of a long, drawn out grind by myself, even if the world and the interactions between the monsters had so much to offer. Barroth took particularly long, it was a very bad time to find out about stamina being reduced that's for sure! First time it got slammed through the ground by what I later learned to be the Diabolos, I followed it down into the cavern below, and got hit by its tail animation as it fought the Diabolos (not an actual attack) which one-shot me. Second time things went much more smoothly, but again, it was quite long, and this was when I figured out how to cook, the important of steak in replenishing stamina, and beat the Barroth on my lonesome with what I imagine was only a minute or two to spare! But enough about my solo session, because the time I spent with the guys playing was infinitely more enjoyable, on a number of fronts. The quests weren't too bad, it was a great way to share with them some of the basics I feel (I missed out on a second Kukei Kukei looting because I was busy teaching a friend how to cook steak and replenish stamina!), but they're so awkward in terms of cutscenes. If the ability to play quests together needs to be locked behind a cutscene, then I feel this should have happened across all of them at the end of a quest (or, you know, it could get with the times and just have us watch it together, but I'll put down that pitchfork). It's what eventually deterred us from continuing with them, as we got to grips with the basics, and, for now, just wanted to hunt some monsters together. We beat the Barroth together (I didn't get a Tail drop so my wait for the awesome looking Barroth Helm continued) and then I suggested trying an expedition instead. And making a squad did help some, though, that's for sure. I feel like this is how the game is really meant to be played, the assigned quests and story are almost certainly just a tutorial in my eyes (I mean, I imagine this to be the case up until some more difficult enemies, anyways). We went into the Wildspire Waste and hunted Barroth until those of us who wanted a Barroth Helm had the Tail (took a good number of attempts!), and we also took down the Rathian too. Got absolutely demolished by the Diabolos, mind, but I imagine we're just underlevelled. Then we went back to the Ancient Forest, took out the Anjenath (which was a LONG fight), and even tracked down the Rathalos (took forever with it flying all over the place!) who eventually flew off. The freedom of exploration in the expeditions and allowing us to naturally run into Rathalos was awesome, and obviously I don't know if/when it turns up in the assigned quests, but it felt so much more powerful running into it this way Seeing the Anjenath just pick up a Great Jagras by the neck with its teeth and throwing it around in the air is one heck of a sight, I was kind of taken aback by some of the unique monster fight animations, I thought it was awesome. But, yeah, I love it. GTA V offers stupid but aimless fun, and there's certainly a time and a place where I need that, because it's also a great game for venting and moaning about work. But Monster Hunter felt like such a good time, to put it in a way it felt constructive where GTA might feel destructive (not that that's a bad thing). Cooking steak and the little tune that plays, setting your sights on a set of armour and remembering what you need to hunt and what you need to drop from them once slain, chilling out in the Gathering Hub arm wrestling or drinking and falling around the place, it was so much fun. It was a learning experience, and not only do I feel we got way better at the game, but it was refreshing to feel like we weren't talking exclusively about work (actually, for the first time in forever, I don't think it came up once as the focal point of conversation), but other stupid things people our age do too: girls, games, films, just having a fun time enjoying each other's company and slaying monsters. It's weird how few times it genuinely feels like we've opened up like that during COVID and just spoke about the most stupid and random things, it really felt like a normal Friday night again for a change. And while I know that's possible in GTA and other games, of course, the constructive nature of Monster Hunter I feel really had an impact on how the conversations carried, and I'm really grateful for that. Does it become our primary multiplayer game now? Is it in rotation with GTA? Are we going to end up dropping it? I have absolutely no idea. But I loved my time with it in this session, and really hope we make our way back to Astera soon.

Yeah, they've got the systems down for sure (kind of reminds me of MGS V in that way - even though from what I hear the narrative is a mess, those missions I found fun when I spent a few hours with it years ago before playing the earlier games). It's easily my favourite game when it comes to exploration, I can't really think of any game that comes close in that regard. I imagine some might argue the first Zelda? I've mentioned before that I think it has some issues, but I will be very surprised if the sequel doesn't go some way to mending some of those. I'm fine with weapon durability, but the rate at which weapons degrade felt much faster than what I came across in Demon's Souls (of all games, right?), and not having a way to repair weapons (let alone regularly) was an odd choice. Yes, it pushes you to use a wider range of weapons, but it means you can come away not really feeling like a master of any of them. Upgrading weapons would also be interesting in this world I think. I think my biggest issue is probably the lack of narrative direction. I love getting lost and going exploring, and the world itself actually does a great job in how it's designed in putting you on the path towards finding something interesting time and time again, but I came away from Breath of the Wild thinking it's probably as minimalistic a plot as you could get, which felt like such a waste given how many hints there were of this world having a great history - it felt like everything had happened before you woke up. Granted, yeah, it's basically a post-apocalyptic Zelda, and not every open world game nails quest lines and recurring characters particularly well (I liked Horizon, but I can't tell you the names of many characters outside of the ones you'd find in a story synopsis), but now that Hyrule is supposedly being/has been rebuilt, I think it's a good chance to fill the world up with more meaningful characters and quests. I mean, imagine coming across a village under attack, and having a short quest line where you go full on Seven Samurai, train the villagers, and go to battle with them at your side (heck, you could make that a longer quest line and a mini game with the Blood Moons). There's a solid foundation that I really hope they flesh out. @Goron_3, definitely agree with you when it comes to Hyrule Castle, one of my favourite locations in BotW for sure. The music, the scale, it's one of the few locations in the game which sets the tone and let's it sit (not saying that's a bad thing, but it's definitely a thing which makes it more memorable). Hopefully dungeons make a return in a more traditional manner in the sequel to help have more places like this. Actually, speaking of dungeons, I know a lot of people have spoken about having a playable Zelda and having Link tackle the underground and dungeons. I really like this idea, I mean, you did basically master Link in the first game - I feel like some areas could become a bit repetitive if you come across them with him again, at least at the start. Have Link stuck underground for a fair chunk, clearing a dungeon perhaps to change something happening in the world to make it safer for Zelda to travel to whatever is above ground, or to learn something, and then have Zelda above ground (for a fair bit) actually travelling across Hyrule for the first time, visiting towns and villages which are being rebuilt, and heck, let us gain some mastery of her magic, too. She could still use light weapons, but having her use magic would give her a different moveset to tackle enemies which might return from the first game, and I think that would be a really interesting way to have her progress throughout the game. I mean, further than that - LET US TRANSFER OUR SAVE OVER (one of my favourite things which took few games actually do)! Get our hearts and stamina carried over, have Link be a beast from the start (have a healthy amount to start with for those who don't have a save to carry over), because he should be - this is a sequel, and he's already grown in this world. I really think that seeing Zelda grow, and learn about her kingdom, would be the ideal way - narratively and in terms of exploration too - to revisit the locales from the first game, because it keeps it fresh. Oh, and if it wasn't for Hyrule Castle seemingly doing it's best impression of a space shuttle in the trailer, I'd be saying that and/or Castle Town could be this game's Tarrey Town. The Breath of the Wild sequel is easily my most anticipated Nintendo game right now, and it's probably on par with Final Fantasy XVI (in terms of actually announced titles, anyways) for my most anticipated games on any console. Do you guys expect it to release this year? I feel like that would have been the aim before COVID, but we should at least see it if it didn't release this year (what with it being the 35th anniversary and all), right?

Wait, that's what everyone's been talking about?

Worth mentioning for those who were put off by the game's price, it's gone down pretty quickly and is currently at £54.99 in the UK at Amazon and Curry's PC World. Seen it elsewhere at places like Smyth's and The Game Collection where it's still around the £59.99 mark, but imagine those will be adjusting sooner rather than later

Determining whether Breath of the Wild is a Wii U or Switch title is certainly interesting, because I guess it really just depends on your own opinion. I mean, it released on both on the same day Seriously though, it is a weird one. Clearly designed initially for the Wii U, shown off first at The Game Awards running on the Wii U, heck, it was basically Nintendo's entire E3 2016, and all shown off on the Wii U because we still hadn't had the Switch officially announced, but we did know it was going to be destined to release on the NX/Switch I guess at that stage. And then it was the centrepiece of the Switch marketing (that reveal trailer, the Tonight Show appearance, the January 2017 Presentation), there day and date with the launch of the Switch (and also on Wii U), and Nintendo have been pretty forward I feel in presenting it as a Switch title (though, of course, that makes sense for marketing purposes). @Ronnie brings up Miles Morales and Sackboy on PS5, and I guess the only difference I would say there is the success of the PS4, making the argument more that it's a title for both from my perspective, purely in a marketing sense. PlayStation are pushing the PS5 first and foremost, but they have to push those games as PS4 titles; they'd be silly not to with the size of their install base on that console, especially with the limited PS5 stock in circulation at the moment. The closest example I can think of is probably Twilight Princess, but even then, didn't that have a delay between Wii and GameCube releases? And, I have to imagine, more noticeable differences between the two versions in that instance too. I guess all I can say is, makes sense for Nintendo from a marketing and financial perspective to release on both, and from a fan perspective to not force people's hands into buying a Switch or Wii just for the newest Zelda I think is pretty good. As for the Switch depending on the Wii U, I've said it before: as someone who didn't have a Wii U, it's great to get the chance to play some of these games. On the other hand, can totally understand why some might be frustrated with them leaning on Wii U ports (and remasters in general) in such a substantial way with the Switch. Much as I enjoy the Switch when I do play it, I don't think that the merging of their handheld and console divisions has quite had the impact fans were hoping for, which is a real shame. But...back to the topic at hand, I've kind of been feeling the pull to return to Breath of the Wild lately, to try out more of the DLC and complete more of the shrines. I really do miss just exploring that world, even if I do feel it slipped up a bit in other areas. On the other hand, I've got other Zelda games to get to, so, we'll see

Yeah, I totally get it. Being at parity with the others would be ideal, for sure, though the charging stand and having a second controller had taken that away for me this time around. I've said it before, but it really does feel weird going back to the PS3 and getting longer lasting battery life there than on the DualShock 4 or DualSense (and we're talking some DualShock 3 from CeX in my case). I think that's why it's so noticeable, but it is what it is. How does everyone feel about the colour now by the way? I won't lie, the white and black has really grown on me this last month and a half or so!

I think it's a case-by-case more than with the DualShock 4, it really depends what you're playing and how much they're using the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Demon's Souls, for example, I could play for probably 6-8 hours and still have a bar of battery life left. Astro's Playroom on the other hand? Found myself having to swap over to my other controller after 5-6 hours spent on the main story so I could continue with my speedrunning attempts. For the most part, I think it's been a decent enough trade-off. Astro's in particular was worth it for me, just the right length compared with the battery life, and the tension in the adaptive triggers in parts of Demon's Souls and Miles Morales was fun too. Though, I am kind of curious to see how a potentially longer Astro's game would hold up by comparison. On the other hand, I played a bit of FIFA over Christmas, and that game's battery life consumption is all over the place. The adaptive triggers are extremely random when it comes to what triggers them; sometimes I've held R2 to sprint and had no feedback from them, but then other times it'll just randomly start. I know that it's supposed to come into play when players are tiring, but it rarely works that way, so it also makes the choice to include adaptive trigger functionality completely at odds with some of the game. It could be better, and I kind of wish we'd get a PlayStation take on Xbox's Elite line. But it's definitely not as bad as the DualShock V2 I finished my time off with the PS4 on!

I'd actually been planning on getting to What Remains of Edith Finch this month anyways, as it's been sitting in my library for a while now, so that gets my vote

Having really enjoyed my time with Ghost of Tsushima, it sucks to read that you were disappointed with the game, @Sheikah. Even having enjoyed it myself though, I do agree with some of your issues with it. For instance, with what you mention about stealth and being a samurai not being incompatible, I think it would have been totally fine if Shimura personally had issues with it, perhaps justified in the story if Jin's father had been assassinated it something like that, and so Shimura can naturally develop this disgust for such methods, which eventually grows into him claiming that it is not an honourable way to do things, etc. And having not played the inFamous games, but being aware of their morality systems in those games going into this, I was really surprised that a similar thing wasn't used here for being a Ghost vs being a Samurai. Ultimately, being stealthy only added another (incredibly small) toolset (which wasn't really anything other than an excuse to lock the Ghost stance behind a system you can't access until later in the game), but even if you act like a Samurai throughout the whole game and "fight honourably" by confronting everyone head on, it has zero impact - as far as I'm aware - on the way in which the game unfolds. I guess maybe some of the objectives aimed at stealth in camps might make your Ghost of Tsushima level go up faster? And I guess it could be argued that the Mongols might have just exaggerated encounters with Jin, but things like stealth missions feel totally out of place if you play solely as this game defines a Samurai would do. I guess it's worth noting that I rarely play open world games as it is (in terms of typical Ubi-style open world affair, seriously think it's only this, Horizon, and BotW off the top of my head?), as well as not being really interested AAA games in the PS3/Xbox 360 generation, which means I skipped a whole lot of Ubisoft-style open worlds being recycled around a decade ago. It probably does colour my perspective on the game and means I don't have as many issues with some elements typical of open world games (though there are certainly still some issues) which I might have otherwise. I'm interested to see how I like the game if/when I return to it in the future, having played more open world games. I don't even have the greatest memories of Horizon's open world, cool as it was, and returning that at some point in anticipation of Forbidden West could be eye-opening for me.

So, uh, I just realised that I somehow completely missed another game I played in December: Uncharted 4. Probably because of the mess that was the Cyberpunk launch and everything else going on immediately following me completing it, but yikes In short: visually stunning, great music, though the story really, really took its sweet time getting it's hooks into me. Once a certain character makes her appearance in the second half it got so much better, and I really think Nate played off better against her and Sully than he did any of the other characters in the game. The chemistry and the pain of their relationship really comes across well, and I felt both of their frustrations throughout, it was really well performed. I wish we spent more time with them in this game. But hey, at least the ending comes together in a solid way once they turn up. Favourite scene in the game without a doubt is... People like to point at the Last of Us games for stale and repetitive gunplay...yet I think Uncharted is almost objectively worse when it comes to it. The AI can be temperamental at best, getting wiped out by you with ease in one firefight and easily surrounding you the next. In the end, I just threw the difficulty down because I was far more interested in the story by the second half than I was the gameplay, which is something I've never done before. It's not Naughty Dog's best in my eyes, but I definitely don't think it's there worst modern game, either. In terms of their Uncharted offerings, I'd slot it in a peg or two below Uncharted 2, probably on an even keel with Uncharted 3. And it's still definitely worth playing, just to see how it all wraps up.

I'm really, really curious to see how they go about it this year with Pokémon. For the 20th anniversary in 2016, it was an absolute blowout from what I can remember: Pokémon Sun and Moon announced and released; Pokémon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow 3DS VC releases on the anniversary itself (and I'm fairly certain they went trigger happy with this on Wii U VC too? Is this the year that got the Mystery Dungeon and Ranger games too?); Pokkén Tournament release; Detective Pikachu announced; and probably loads of other VC and mobile releases I'm missing too. In terms of the core series, I think Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes are a given...right? Well, I certainly hope so, for Game Freak's sake, because it's also those games' 15th anniversary this year, which is the longest we've been waiting for a pair of remakes by nearly three years already. Normally we don't get remake news until May, but it being an anniversary year, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a Pokémon Direct next month like they did in 2016. COVID is definitely the unknown factor in all of this, because we've seen how closely Nintendo have been keeping their cards to their chests since how they revealed Paper Mario last year. I've spoken before about how I have little faith they'll do the original games justice in a remake if it is basically just a Sword and Shield version of those games, yet I will absolutely be there on Day 1, based purely on nostalgia and my love of that soundtrack alone. It's a weakness. The only bit about this which makes me a little nervous is the success of the Let's Go games, but I don't see Game Freak passing up the opportunity to celebrate two anniversaries at once. In terms of re-releases and ports, I hope they do the smart thing here and skip over the Game Boy games and go to the Game Boy Advance games instead. We got RBY on 3DS already (while I know they're not on the Switch, I think there are smarter things they can do with those versions of the game), and because we also got GSC in 2017 on 3DS too, I feel like it's time the GBA titles are released on a modern platform. FireRed and LeafGreen this year (because 25th Anniversary), then Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald next year (because it will be the 20th Anniversary of Ruby and Sapphire). Sell them for £10 - £15 each (and wreak havoc on the economy of the GBA resale market in the process), and I think they've absolutely got a winner. Plus, you already have access to every generation of core series game except the third generation (the GBA games) on 3DS, so if you want to keep it fresh, that's how you do it best I feel. In terms of spin-off titles, so far we know that there's a Detective Pikachu sequel and New Pokémon Snap in the works (though not specified for this year, before COVID I have to imagine they were both aiming for a release this year), as well as Pokémon Arena (gross). We could see spin-off collections for their earlier games which I think could go down really well (the Ranger series, as @Sckewi mentioned the Stadium games too). Heck, port over Colosseum! And I would absolutely be all over a remake of Explorers of Sky. And I love how this is just talking Pokémon, never mind the countless Nintendo first party franchises which have their anniversaries this year too. You cap all of that off with a couple of Zelda collections (and maybe the Breath of the Wild sequel? At the very least I'll be surprised if we didn't see that game turn up somewhere this year), Prime Trilogy finally coming out on Switch, maybe even a Donkey Kong Country Returns port? I played it on Wii, and playing that game with a Wiimote was definitely not the way to play that game, and while I know it's on 3DS, I want to play it on the big screen I think things are stacked for this next financial year if Nintendo play their cards right. I mean, not that they wouldn't still do great if they didn't

High Republic launch stream is taking place in just over an hour, at 17:00 GMT. Took a year or two off from the books, but it might be time I jump back in...

Been a while since I've posted in here, been a bit busy with life, and work, and being ill. I'm going to try to keep it pretty brief compared to my previous entries, because there's a lot to get through. This post will be covering the 11 games I played from July up to the end of the year, so buckle up! JULY BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM | 2009 Awesome responsive combat, which has been aped by many games in the decade since. Dark and brooding world, both thematically, and, well, quite literally - it can be hard to see what's going on at times! Maybe one of my least favourite Batman costumes? A novel plot, but a great way to set a defined scope in Arkham. Solid 3D Metroidvania gameplay loop, with plenty to explore, and numerous gadgets to deploy to reach new heights (or distances). Memorable boss encounters with solid voice-acting throughout, and some interesting boss fights; on the other hand, very forgettable encounters with foot soldiers paving almost every corridor. An awful final boss fight which left a poor taste in my mouth. Noticeable screen-tearing and framerate dips throughout. Fun Riddler trophies to find (no, I didn't find all of them!). A really strong introduction to the Arkhamverse, setting up a Batman who feels experienced, and has storied relationships with friend and foe alike. Batman: Arkham Asylum by no means blew me away, but I had a fun time with it, and it's certainly got me excited for whenever I decide to check out Arkham City. GHOST OF TSUSHIMA | 2020 It had been a while since I'd sunk my teeth into an open world game, and Ghost of Tsushima was a great way to return to one. Lighting and atmosphere from the world surrounding you in this game adds so much, I constantly found myself stopping and just taking this world in, and it's so natural to traverse or finds things to do. The combat is generally fun and intuitive, though it does get quite repetitive later on in the game; my biggest gripe with the combat is the lack of an option to lock-on, and so you inevitably find yourself fighting against the camera at times. Similarly, it also took me a bit of getting used to using R2 for most interactions. Also, for combat, because there are different styles to use with each being stronger against certain enemy weapons, the game occasionally basically pauses itself to force you to change your combat style, which is a bit of a pain when I'm attacking someone from behind after having jumped behind them! In terms of the story and characters, I think it starts out really poorly paced, to be honest: this is an open world game, so why on Earth am I being teleported from one area to another? I understand if you want the player to hear there immediately, but fence them in, or have them ride the distance on horseback, it really isn't that hard a thing and would have added a lot for me; instead, a bit like some films, it feels shoddily assembled in its opening hours. But once it opens up, it gets much, much better, with a sprawling world filled with activities to do and tougher enemies to seek out. It also gives us one of the best title card reveals in video games this year (alongside Final Fantasy VII Remake, of course!): However, the story gets much better as it goes on and once characters have had more time to breathe, and Jin I feel grows as a character quite a bit throughout. That being said, the choice between becoming a 'Ghost' and being a 'Samurai' felt really overstated, as even if you do use stealthy tactics in line with the way of being the Ghost of Tsushima, it doesn't really impact the story in any way? I haven't played any of Sucker Punch's previous games, but I do know about their good/evil decisions and bars, so I feel like this would have been the most obvious and natural way to have gameplay determine the story. That being said, the way in which this story ends felt natural and epic to me, and I was stuck there for five minutes thinking about what it was I wanted to do. What did I want to do as the player? What would Jin want as a character? Both options felt like the right one, so Sucker Punch did a really nice job of writing those I think. It's one of the best looking games of the generation, so playing on a base PS4 I was surprised I didn't experience too many technical issues (the normal frame rate drops and such) throughout my adventure. My final special mention has to go to the fast travel: 2 - 5 seconds to load into another spot in this beautiful open world means, for once, it's viable as a way to just hop back if you think you might have missed something, and it often loaded much faster than I could read the tips. It just lacks that final bit of polish, and I feel like it could have done with a few more months in the oven. An example of this was with how Jin's feet, when, walking up a hill, regularly would disappear into the ground, or the usual open world jank where quests don't pick up on you clearing an area or doing what was asked. On the other hand, though, being able to run with NPC's from one area to the next for a quest was a great way to immerse yourself in the world, and show every other open world developer how to do it right. Also, swiping right on the touchpad to wipe your blade clean? Has there been a greater dopamine release this year? The main story starts out with some shaky pacing, but is otherwise great at the best of times, and a solid Samurai story at the worst, but the real strength here lies within the side quest storylines, sword combat (easily the best I've experienced), secrets, stellar soundtrack written and composed by Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi which I still listen to regularly (Sacrifice of Tradition is my favourite), and the absolutely gorgeous open world. Obligatory spoiler tag filled with only a small selection of the 1000+ photos I ended up taking (I've just thrown tweets in there from my gaming Twitter account so it's easier to look through, but I will warn you, there's still a lot in there!), and a quick shout out to recognise how great a decision it was having Photo Mode mapped to the D-pad by default: There's a lot of respect for Japanese culture and samurai cinema on show, and judging from the reactions over there, I'd guess that the feel is mutual. I have never cared about an open world so much, there's just so much life and vibrance to it all, despite it being quite dark and serious throughout. It didn't pull any punches, and I think that's important, because it didn't shy away from the brutality of war, and sugarcoat it like so many forms of entertainment do. It's an unpolished masterpiece of a game, one I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in, and remains one of my favourite open world experiences to date, and perhaps one of my favourite games of the generation. Kudos, Sucker Punch, you knocked it out of the park. AUGUST SUPER MARIO BROS. | 1985 I don't play many platformers, but I do genuinely want to play more of them; I even made a thread back in August asking for recommendations, in which many here pointed me in a good direction on which platformers to check out. But, well, what better place to start with platformers than with Super Mario Bros.? This game is still inherently fun to play three and a half decades since its initial release, with its whacky, timeless character designs; charming and instantly recognisable 8-bit soundtrack by the awesome Yoji Kondo; and, of course, that trademark, tightly refined Mario platforming. It's rare that I play shorter games, which is a shame, because I loved beating this in one sitting over the course of a few hours on a relaxed, sun-filled August evening, and for the most part, I really think it holds up well. I think my favourite world is probably World 3, simply because of how fresh everything still is, and almost every level introducing something new (as far as I can remember). 3-1 admittedly gave me a bit of trouble, with a lot of Flying Green Koopa Troopas about, the introduction of the Hammer Bros. (though, in fairness, I didn't find myself falling to them!), and a trampoline which might have sent me flying off a cliff to my imminent doom (guess Peach wasn't getting saved on that day, huh?). 3-2 was the first time I got a Super Star, which put a huge smile on my face; 3-3 introduces pulleys, and your platforming skills are tested a bit further with the moving platforms; and 3-4 introduces those jumping fire balls. Oh, those are fun. Now, there are some things which I'm not the biggest fan of: namely the fearless Cheep Cheeps, whose intimidation as a species know no bounds. 2-3 is great when things go smoothly, and you're running and hopping around like a maniac...but not so great when you want to take those fish, barbecue them, grind them up, and feed them to their kids. Screw Cheep Cheeps. How easy the Bowser battles are when compared with some of the other enemies is a bit odd, too? The water levels are mostly quite enjoyable in the earlier parts, until it devolves into praying a Blooper doesn't decide to head your way after you are chased into a corner by them, in the later stages of the game. Probably why World 7 would be my last favourite, and while I think World 8 on the whole is much stronger in its consistency of challenge (and the fun in doing so), 8-4 is definitely the most archaic element of this game playing it today: it depends on trial and error throughout when trying to figure out a way through, and even though modern versions of the same idea, the lack of an audio or visual cue to hint that you're going the right way is a bit of a letdown. But, in the end, it doesn't really matter. This game was fun and a great time, even if it does date itself a little at times. Looking forward to playing more 2D Mario games in the future! YAKUZA 4 | 2010 Splendid game, though there's not much to say without me gushing about the usual Yakuza stuff to keep it brief, I think Yakuza 4 is a worthy continuation of the series with how it ties many things together, and also a great way to carry on from 3, doing so much more I feel than previous games. It's especially amazing when considering they ended up splitting a similar total length for the main story (about 20-22 hours?) across four different playable characters when compared with the three entries released prior to this one. Akiyama and Saejima stole the show for me, and it has probably my favourite first half of any Yakuza game I've played so far because of them. The plot is much more focused than in previous games, doing so much to further the backstories of characters like Majima too. Solid soundtrack as always, many, many, many fun side activities and quests to lose yourself in, and a great evolution in combat from 3 - it honestly handles just like 0 and Kiwami, astounding considering that 3 was so sluggish by comparison. The finale definitely runs a bit long in the tooth, but other than that, it's a great game, with a great story, with great characters. Play these games if you haven't already! SEPTEMBER FINAL FANTASY IX | 2000 Final Fantasy IX is a beautiful tale of love, loss, and life. It's an epic story with a wonderfully endearing and nuanced cast, breathed into life by a spectacular Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack which by its end brought me to tears. It's arguably his best and most emotionally resonant work, which is high praise considering just how true that is for so many of his other works, too. I could reel off every track in the game and have zero regrets, because it really is just that great. In particular, it has my favourite town themes of any Final Fantasy I've played so far; introduces a great variation of the Main Theme, which we've heard time and time again since; utilises a singular leitmotif perhaps more than in any other Final Fantasy game I've played, with the main melody of Melodies of Life (which is probably easiest to recognise in the world map track, Crossing Those Hills) heard in probably more than a third of the tracks used in the game; the use of the Prelude and how it is distorted into this much darker track in Crystal World; Kuja's Theme being a sinister track - not too far in its makeup I feel than One Winged Angel - and then going full on We Will Rock You! in Dark Messenger; probably my favourite airship theme in Hilda Garde; and, of course, Melodies of Life in the credits, the song which brought me to tears. I genuinely think that it's one of the most beautifully written, composed, and sung songs I've ever heard - I'm even listening it to again now, and I find myself welling up again, it's just one of those rare songs which begs to be felt rather than listened to. And, as always, I found myself in the dark just soaking it all in as the Prelude played after completing the game. This game is the epitome of everything a Final Fantasy game should aspire to be, in my opinion. It's charming, fun to play yet difficult to master, and pays homage to earlier entries in the series in such great ways. For me, without question, it's on the same level as both VI and VII. It doesn't hesitate to explore humanity in a way few games do, with deep attention clearly paid by the developers to the player and their emotions as the game and certain scenes play out, often asking players to do more than just play the game. It wants you to slow down and just think about what it's trying to say, and what it's asking of you. What does it mean to have lived? It wants you to aspire to be a better person. And it succeeds. SUPER MARIO 64 | 1996 It kind of feels like cheating, but...I've already written up my thoughts on Super Mario 64 in the 3D All-Stars thread, so I'm just going to copy that MAFIA: DEFINITIVE EDITION | 2020 Mafia: Definitive Edition is such a strange game. Developed by Hangar 13, it's a remake of the 2002 cult classic Mafia, with all of the flaws and shine modern remakes seem to have. Set in the fictional city of Lost Heaven in the 1930's, it follows the rise of American-Italian Tommy Angelo in the Salieri crime family. The story itself is an intriguing one which keeps you hooked, even if it is a bit derivative at times of other works in the mafia genre, and I do sincerely feel it is stronger than Mafia II (which I played earlier this year) in this regard. How it links tothat game is pretty awesome, too, and the setting and era are stunningly captured, with the entire city rebuilt from the ground up from the original game, as well as an onslaught of licensed music from the time, which can be listened to on the car radio. Speaking of which, the orchestrated soundtrack, and the Main Theme in particular, is very strong too. But this was a budget title, and so it felt like there was always going to be a catch, especially looking back at Mafia II. And that catch is simply put: the moment-to-moment gameplay just isn't fun, once again. Characters outside of the main trio feel like shallow caricatures of what they should be, the gunplay isn't all that exciting. In fact, the most fun I had was an incredbily short racing segment of the game, which for some silly reason, in an open world, you never get the chance to return to. While, yes, I was playing on a base PS4 at the time, even outside of the screen-tearing, framerate issues, and texture pop-in, other issues, such as getting caught on environments, were very much in my face. While it's stronger than Mafia II, and I've yet to play Mafia III, Mafia: Definitive Edition ends up a stunning recreation of 1930's Chicago, and not much more. OCTOBER MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN | 2018 In preparation for Miles Morales, and knowing I wanted to hop right into that game as soon as I got my PS5 in November instead of playing through the remaster, I booted Spider-Man up on my PS4. This time around, instead of aiming to complete everything in the main game like I had before, I was instead just going to critical path the main story, and then dig into the DLC The City That Never Sleeps, as I had bought it on offer a while back but just never got around to it. I also wanted to get my trophy percentage for the game back to 100%, as the New Game+ and DLC trophies meant it had slipped to 62%. This meant playing through the game on Ultimate difficulty, after having only played on Amazing (normal) before, and though it took one or two fights to get back into the swing of things, it was an absolute blast, and something I barely noticed after a couple of hours. The swinging and zipping across the roofs of New York in this game was better than I remembered, the story and characters are still well written, and the combat is so snappy, it was just an absolute delight returning to this game! Even parts of the game I wasn't a big fan of the first time around (playing as other characters in stealth missions) was much better this time around, I think because if you're only critical pathing the game, it's actually a decent change of pace, though this certainly wasn't the case when I was collecting everything on my first playthrough. I played through it entirely in the Raimi suit, which was so much fun, as it was the Spider-Man I grew up with alongside the 90's animated series. Yuri Lowenthal really nailed his portrayal of Spidey, because he genuinely sounds like Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield at times! Oh, and the music - the Main Theme in particular - remains as awesome a Spidey theme now as it was back at release. As for The City That Never Sleeps DLC, it continues the story with Black Cat and Yuri, in ways much bigger than I was genuinely expecting considering that this was post-release DLC. As in, some pretty major things go down! It also serves as a great bookend into Miles Morales, as Miles is constantly calling you throughout the DLC content. The DLC offers more collectibles (which I had to collect to get my trophies!) which really helped me get back into the swing ahead of Miles Morales, as well as a few boss fights, which are generally more difficult than in the main story, and the same can be said for the new enemy types introduced. Overall, a welcome addition to the game, which was absolutely worth checking out. NOVEMBER MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES | 2020 Spider-Man: Miles Morales doesn't do much to deviate from the foundation set in the previous game, instead continuing to focus on what the first game did so well. The combat additions, world traversal, and the addition of next-gen features in as Performance and Fidelity Modes (the latter meaning you can play with ray tracing and enhanced, crisp visuals, the latter offering a lower resolution but consistently smooth 60 fps) really does a great job of sprucing things up, especially with load times being as short as they are, too. Haptic feedback wasn't super noticeable, but the tension felt in the adaptive triggers certainly was, and I really enjoyed that addition. The newly introduced Venom attacks are really fun and snappy to use, and there are so many great set pieces throughout the game, and an excellent montage sequence too. I would argue the soundtrack is perhaps even stronger here than it was in the original game, just because of the sheer variety; I think the best example of this is the use of trap beat throughout the soundtrack, specifically in the Main Theme, which also does an excellent job of utilising a choir and having a tremendous orchestra involved too, with some great triumphant moments which gave me goosebumps every time I heard them when swinging around. I was surprised by just how strong the cast was this time around, which has me hoping that some of these faces pop up again in Spider-Man 2 down the road. The game does a great job of communicating how new to this Miles is: there are a lot of moves and gadgets from the first game which just aren't available here, and the animations for his swinging add a lot to this side of his character, too. Spinning to look at you when he runs and jumps off a roof, or slamming his face into the ground if you're too late to swing out of some tricks, just does so much to establish the confidence and rookie nature of Miles in the game. Having the level cap be lower than half of the original game with Peter is an excellent way of communicating this too! I've said it before, and I'll say it again: an excellent way to kick off this generation. This game was visually stunning, so much fun to play, and resonated me with emotionally a bit more than the original game did. Can't wait for Spider-Man 2! ASTRO'S PLAYROOM | 2020 Astro's Playroom is pure bliss, to the point that it's biggest problem is that it's as short as it is! Incredibly fun soundtrack, Mario-like precision when it comes to movement, great level design, and just so much joy packed into this game. The references to a legacy of PlayStation hits throughout the years, the quips in the artefact viewer, and the way the bots interact with each other never struggled to put a smile on my face. And at the same time, it also does a brilliant job of capturing that Wii Sports-like showcase of what the controller is capable of; in the case of the DualSense, that means feeling the tippy-tapping of Astro's feet as he runs around, the pitter-patter of the rain, or the smoothness of gliding across the ice thanks to the haptic feedback, and some really fun uses of the adaptive triggers which I'll avoid spoiling here. Essential playing on the PS5, and I know many here agree. I can't wait to see what Asobi Team does next, and in any case, I seriously hope PlayStation hurry up and put out PSVR2, if only because I'm trying to not pick up PSVR just to play Astro Bot Rescue Mission! DECEMBER DEMON'S SOULS | 2009 / 2020 Having never played a From Software game before, and being fully aware of their difficulty, I went into Demon's Souls fully convinced that I knew what I was getting myself into. Just stick with it, smile through the adversity, and it'll all be fine. I could not have been more wrong. This game kicked my ass, and just when I was on the brink of walking away - frustrated with myself, and the game, and haunted by its motifs and imagery of man's ability for evil - it all just clicked, and my entire outlook on the game changed. This is a hard video game, and I genuinely do think that. You will more than likely die in the tutorial area; souls, the currency of the world of Boletaria after being covered in a thick fog and left in a cursed state, can be lost temporarily if you find yourself killed (which leaves you in soul form, knocked down to 50% of your health, and having to begin from the start of the level, having to face all of the adversity found in a level once again), and lost permanently if you don't get back to and retrieve them with your next life; enemies hit hard, bosses hit harder; and traps, pitfalls, and enemies lurk around most corners. It punishes players who don't respect the game and their adversaries, and having not played a From game before, it definitely took some time to adjust, and a lot of deaths to get to grips with so much of it. But it's not difficult in a way which is unfair; instead, I think it's a lesson in being proactively patient. Absolutely don't stand still, but wait to strike, and strike hard when you do. The sense of accomplishment I felt when felling Tower Knight, or the adrenaline pumping through me when taking on Flamelurker to the point I almost threw up, or even just knowing exactly when and where I needed to be when sprinting across the bridges of Boletaria Castle to avoid being burned alive by the Red Dragon, it's something I can genuinely say I haven't felt playing a game before. This game terrified me at times, in its imagery and depiction of a world turned by man's cruelty, and yet I still loved it. That genuinely says a lot. The subtle story, the Shadow of the Colossus-like scale and melancholy, the interactivity with the world and NPC's, the level design, the reward in going off the beaten path to find an NPC or make yourself a shortcut, it's really, really well done. There's a heft to character movement and combat which forces your hand into learning your character through and through: how many hits they can take from certain enemies, how much damage they can do to certain enemies and how many hits it will take to take them down, the reaction time for dodge rolls, enemy attack patterns, the best way to parry or back stab them, the range of ranged attacks. Then it's the same for enemies, bosses, and the environment itself. Now, this 2020 version of the game released for PS5 isn't perfect. While Bluepoint has done an excellent job at bringing the game up to speed with modern visuals, layering this over code which is a decade old shows at times, such as when enemies can strike you through walls or, in one case during a boss fight, where I was hit through the floor. I don't think it's a coincidence that it was at that boss that I nearly found myself quitting the game. And one particular boss, the Old Monk, is just as potentially unenjoyable played in the "proper way" as it would have been in the PS3 version (not faulting Bluepoint here for staying honest to the original game, but do think it's something From overlooked to some extent in designing the game originally). Having listened to the original soundtrack for the PS3 game and comparing it to the new soundtrack for this release, I can certainly see and appreciate the argument from some fans that the soundtrack is weaker this time around, as everything feels substantially more epic - way more choir, a much higher orchestra volume in contrast - which in some locations, I feel, actually altered the atmosphere, and didn't quite capture what the original game was going for. But, that's not a serious issue for me, and I think that Shunsuke's Kida's compositions for the original game, and his work helping on this version's soundtrack, are nothing short of brilliant. Environments and music bleed together in a way which oftentimes feels overwhelming in intensity or malice, and these tracks are purposely designed to not sound good. They sound ugly, in many cases, which just adds so much to the despair you encounter through your journey in Boletaria. Standout tracks for me are the Main Theme, Maiden Astraea, Flamelurker, Old King Allant (basically the most epic version of Demon's Souls in the game), and The Old One. Return to Slumber, the credits track, certainly lends itself to the feeling of a melancholic victory, a feeling of hollowness, but is also, perhaps, the only slightest hint of hope and light in the game; it's easily my favourite track. It's such a tragic piece at the beginning, but the way in which it climbs upwards starting from 01:50 is divine. It floors me that Demon's Souls is the only video game credit to Kida's name, and that his list of work elsewhere is relatively short, because his compositions are perfectly matched to this game, and his talent is clear. Ultimately, challenging as it can be to get to grips with, Demon's Souls - the story, the soundtrack, the game - is a reflection on man's ability to pursue and persevere unrelentlessly, bouncing back in the face of adversity and cruelty to go another round, and the feeling of overcoming what once stood before you as some insurmountable challenge is such an empowering one. This has been one of my favourite gaming experiences of the year, and I look forward to trying, dying, and trying again in Dark Souls in the future. Now that my Gaming Diary for 2020 is finally up-to-date - and complete! - I can share my final list of games completed in 2020, and I also want to reflect on how I did with my aims I set for myself gaming at the start of the year. And that's not counting any 'ongoing' games I had, such as Animal Crossing, which I spent over 50 hours with; Fall Guys, which I spent around 15 hours with; and FIFA and GTA V, which I'm not even going to look at how many hours I spent with overall, though, by a longshot, the most games I've played in a single year. Looking back at my original aims for gaming at the beginning of the year... Well, I played both Final Fantasy VI and IX, which I ideally wanted to play through from Final Fantasy in 2020. So that one went well! I didn't play a Dragon Quest this year... Didn't do this one either... Kind of went above and beyond on this one! I ended up playing Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3, and 4 throughout the course of the year. I don't think I'll have any troubles continuing that this year, either Done. Loved it. It's now one of my favourite games of all time. I feel like this one's the worst, because I didn't get to a single indie game this year... Think my only aim for 2021 is to play some shorter games too, which will probably help me get to some indie games and platformers I've had sitting on my console for a while. That and posting to the Gaming Diary thread more regularly to the point where I don't feel overwhelmed by catching up, I might start forcing myself to write something up after every or every other game! But at least I'm all caught up for now

I've finally convinced some of my friends to start playing this with me, so I started it up a couple of hours ago and finished the first few assigned missions solo. Don't know if it's something they'll commit to week in and week out, or if it's something they'll want to move on from, but at least I tried! worst case it'll just become a single player game I'll chip away at over the year (much rather this than FIFA...). I've told them to avoid using the Guardian armour if they can, because it's clearly for those wanting to shoot through the main game to get to Iceborne, and I feel like we'd be missing out on a lot of the core gameplay loop to this game if we did that. Firstly: spent way too long on character customisation, nearly an hour and a half between designing my character and my Palico! I was going for samurai vibes, think it turned out pretty well in the end, if I do say so myself. Still very slowly getting to grips with the gameplay, and still stuck choosing between Great Sword and Longsword, too. I love the weight of the Great Sword...but I wanted to make a samurai character, and there's a katana longsword from the outset. Decisions, decisions... Anyways, like I said, super early on, but I get the appeal, and I'm quite enjoying it! Seeing all of the monsters interact with one another out in the open has definitely been the highlight for me, that and the Anjanath turning up out of nowhere in the middle of me chasing down the Kula-Ya-Ku and ducking for cover