Julius

Seems like there might be some news related to FFVIIR at Saturday's Orchestra World Tour... ... it's going to be a PC port or PS5 upgrade, isn't it?

Yeah, I think HAL is a great shout. I'm all for companies locking down and acquiring studios they already have strong partnerships with. I think it makes much more sense that way, seeing as they will have the benefit of knowing the value and expectations of their relationship beforehand. That's the underlying reason that I'm still a little hesitant when it comes to some of Xbox's acquisitions. What have we seen from how their first parties are handled to suggest that these other studios will actually run well under them? Whereas obviously here and with many of Nintendo's other acquisitions, they have that working relationship already, and it just provides them both with a bit more security.

Spent some time with my Vita for the first time probably since it arrived nearly 2 years ago (!) and I set it up and dabbled in some things. Finally completed some games on it! I ended up playing through some shorter games this weekend (though the second one I moved over to my PS5 for in the end, because I realised there was a PS4 version, and I'll always prefer a bigger screen to a smaller one), and it's quickly grown on me. I really like that D-pad, the crispness of the touch screen, and just how tactile the buttons are. Also picked up a few more shorter games after doing a little more research on the games on there. A question about some of the titles though, namely Gravity Rush and Tearaway: for anyone who has played them on both the Vita and their PS4 counterparts, which do you think was the better experience? I'm thinking of picking them up at some point (not in any real rush, but maybe the sooner better, seeing how high the physical version of Gravity Rush Remastered has climbed), so I'm curious more than anything. Gravity Rush Remastered I've heard is really enjoyable and that Bluepoint did a great job of translating that to a home console experience, and like I said I'll generally lean towards a big screen experience over a small one, so I'm leaning towards Remastered over picking up the game on Vita. I've read pretty muddled things about Tearaway and Unfolded, though, so I'm wondering if anyone could give me some guidance there? From what I've read, it seems like it makes great use of the Vita's capabilities, and I've seen some say that the Unfolded version of the game drags on a bit by comparison, so I'm not really leaning in either direction too strongly at the moment.

That looks like the opening battle between Gengar and Nidorino, though here it's some unholy sight that's like a Charizard crossed with a Dunsparce. I thought this was Sugimori's concept art for Rhydon? Man, I really love looking back at Sugimori's older stuff. I don't know what it is about it, but there's just this unbridled sense of both simplicity and exploration that I really hope the core series games can one day achieve. Anyways, to the question at hand: it's a tricky one, and I've always found the question of what the first Pokémon was to be a little too open-ended. Being a fictional world, the question of what the first Pokémon is just isn't that simple, because we see different answers for very different lines of thinking. I've always viewed the question as being specific to the first to exist in the Pokémon world, but, again, it's just too vague a question for my liking. Rhydon might be the first Pokémon designed, so perhaps in our world it can be considered the first, but in the fictional world of Pokémon, it's just not, given the existence of the other answers to the question. As for Bulbasaur, I don't think it is either. First classified in the Pokédex by scientists in the world of Pokémon, sure, but that could just as well be any other Pokémon. As we see from other regions starting their respective Dex (what's the plural here, probably Dexes right? But I guess the plural of Pokédex would be Pokédices? Whatever, that's not important ) with the Grass-type starters, that just seems to be the order of things. It probably doesn't mean that Bulbasaur was the first discovered, or anything like that. It just means Kanto were the first to get out there with the Pokédex and classified their own Pokémon first. Mew I've always viewed as being more of an Adam and Eve situation from a religious perspective, and from a scientific one (especially given how heavily Gen I in particular leans into the themes of genetics, what with evolution, artificially created life, and cloning), I've always viewed it as the missing link which ties all Pokémon together. Despite being the creator of the Pokémon universe, and basically the closest thing to they have a capital 'G' god, I do consider Arceus to be the first Pokémon, in the context of the Pokémon world (when it comes to fictional worlds that's how I interpret the question, otherwise there's a whole Star Wars argument we could have over who the first Jedi is, which doesn't sound fun at all). Unlike our own world's creators in religious history with the pantheon of gods and God, the Pokémon universe's has a verifiable, physical form, which is officially classified in and recognised by the Pokédex. Given the creation myth of Sinnoh, it's pretty clear that, at least based on what's written in the Pokémon world, Arceus existed before anything like a Big Bang (again, closer to "God" than a "god"; "The Original One breathed alone before the universe came.") So yeah, I think what's more important here is the vagueness of the question and how it could lead to multiple interpretations of the question being asked (not saying this is on @Glen-i, obviously, because like he says, it's a discussion which stretches back a while, but this is the issue I've always had with this argument and similar ones concerning other topics). You could just as well throw Mewtwo, Portion, Baltoy, Claydol et al into that list too, and starting have a discussion about the first man-made Pokémon inside of this one, because they could be argued to be the first Pokémon in another sense.

Nice to see the anime is still putting out some quality content @Ashley I have to imagine Gold/Silver remakes will be coming in the form of Let's Go Pichu! and Let's Go [less popular Johto Pokémon], or worse try Let's Go Again Pikachu! and Let's Go Again Eevee!, eventually. I don't see it being this year, and I'd be pretty disappointed if it was, if I'm being honest, because I want us to finally get the Diamond and Pearl remakes It is crazy though how Game Freak have managed to get away with having effectively three different concurrent subseries of the core series games: the new main titles with new Pokémon/region/etc., the remakes, and now with Let's Go (they'd be crazy to drop it, surely?) they are remaking games which have already been remade. I'm really curious to see how potential Diamond and Pearl remakes would perform today, because up until the end of Gen VI, they were the only pair of generation-opening core series games to buck the trend of declining sales, though only by a few million copies, which is insane given they were on the best-selling handheld console. Now that I think about it, those games probably have the lowest attachment rate of any generation-opening pair of Pokémon games too. But anyways, yeah, with Gen IV in many ways being the childhood-defining Pokémon titles of people my age, should be interesting to see how that pans out. Does anyone have any plans for the 25th anniversary, either the date specifically or throughout the year? And can you remember what you did for the 20th anniversary, if anything? I'm planning to wait until the hopefully inevitable Anniversary Direct, which should be just under three weeks away, before I really set my plans in stone, just in case there are any surprise announcements. Regardless of whether or not this year's game is the year we get Diamond and Pearl remakes (I say through gritted teeth), I'll be picking whatever the new games are anyways, just because that's how far gone I am with this franchise. I'm really looking forward to New Pokémon Snap, and obviously I'm hoping for some ports to be announced (please give us the GBA Kanto remakes!). I've had White 2 sitting on my shelf for nearly the last year now, so I plan to get back to that, because the Unova sequels are still the only original entries I haven't experienced all the way through in any way (yeah, I worded it that way; suck it, USUM). I played the first 2 hours to find I just wasn't in a Pokémon mood at the time, so it got shelved, because I didn't see the point in forcing it, but I love White, so I'm definitely looking forward to getting back around to it. I think it's finally time for another Explorers of Sky playthrough this year, it's been a good few years now since I played it through for the fourth time (I think? It might've been the fifth, but I've clearly lost count) and I'm definitely starting to feel the urge to go back to it. Say what you might about the moment-to-moment dungeon gameplay of those games, I will gladly write off every issue I have with this game simply because it's the best Pokémon story and it has some seriously great music. Other than that, I might play Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs again? I played Ranger and Shadows of Almia again most recently back in 2018 if I'm remembering right, so it's been a little while, but I have a soft spot for the series, and they're pretty short and fun games. Now that I think about it, Guardian Signs might be the only one that I haven't returned to since release. So yeah, guess I might've just talked myself into that. Other than those, I'm not too sure? That might be enough as it is, but returning to Blue Rescue Team or playing Rescue Team DX, or even Gates to Infinity or Super Mystery Dungeon, sounds compelling too. Pokémon Conquest is starting to rise in price so I might finally pick that up (I remember wanting it when I was younger, no idea how that one passed me by!), and I haven't played Detective Pikachu either, so might have to look into that too. As for on the day? I might watch Detective Pikachu (yeah, I've managed to not see it somehow!), or maybe even watch some of the anime (series or films? Not sure, but I think Origins might be a worthy shout), but I imagine anything else is contingent on potential announcements in a potential Direct. Potentially. Back on the 20th Anniversary, I was working in Birmingham on the day and popped by GAME on my lunch break, when I picked up my Virtual Console codes for Red, Blue, and Yellow, got the Mewtwo and Pikachu amiibo (which I've since passed on to my younger brother), the code for Mew, and just had a nice chat with the guy at the counter - while it was waaaaaaaaay too busy for him to be talking to me, if I'm being honest - about the announcements of Sun and Moon the day before. Good times

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is premiering on March 19th. New trailer: Great to see the Disney+ content train finally start to roll a bit now; that's certainly one hell of a way to follow up on the success WandaVision is having, and if I'm not wrong, this will be coming just 2 weeks after that show airs it's finale. I watched the first two episodes of WandaVision back when they were released but haven't had much of a chance to get back to it since, meaning I'm a bit behind, so I'm stuck deciding between catching up now, or just watching it all in one go the weekend after it finishes. We'll see I really liked what they were going for anyways, so I look forward to getting back to it. With a lot of content starting to come out a bit more consistently now, I don't think I'll be cancelling my Disney+ subscription for a good while yet.

Yeah, I definitely think so! I think I might tackle the ones I have (I picked up both of the Legacy and X Legacy Collections) in a general order of release, though I won't stick to a hard and fast rule on that, and will probably jump ahead a bit if I see one that really takes my fancy. Definitely going to be Mega Man 3 next, though, if only because I've heard the title screen music for that game before, and I'm convinced that the soundtrack will be magical there too.

Yep! Posted that on a short break I gave myself after Stage 4 because my hands hurt a little bit, and then went on to finish the rest of the game last night too The boss rush in Stage 5 was a lot of fun, lost a few lives to it but handily got through without seeing a Game Over screen (thankfully), think having some level ground definitely made the difference. The first stage of the boss fight against Wily was easy once I figured out I could just cling to the left, time my jumps well (and make sure to jump high enough), and shoot the window on his ship. The second stage was a tad trickier and had me on two lines of health left once it was over. That final boss fight was a bit weird. I changed direction whenever it shot at me, had to really nail the height of the jumps, and switched weapons constantly to figure out what it's weakness was, and of course Bubble Lead being my least favourite weapon, that was the weakness here once I figured that out it was then a case of getting a shot in at close range without getting hit, which was way tougher than it looked! But yeah, overall had a absolute blast with it I haven't even mentioned some of the boss sprites in this game! They look pretty astounding for an NES title!

Yep! I did the same for Super Mario Bros. when I played that through NES Online, and it's probably something I'll stick with where I can, just because it adds an interesting dimension to the experience. Saying all that, it's certainly not the most comfortable way to play for long stretches, but fortunately the NES games I've played through so far have been kind in their length, and the longer games I want to play from that system thankfully are going to rely less on reactions (like the early FF games). It's something I'm weirdly picky about, playing with the original controller where I can (it was an absolute treat getting to spend a long time with the SNES controller for long stints playing through Final Fantasy VI last year!), and even if it's not on the original hardware, I strangely still gravitate towards picking them up on their modern console counterparts (a big part of why I got the Mega Man and Castlevania collections on Switch). Yeah, I genuinely ended up walking around that first part of the stage trying everything except for scrolling over and trying the Transport Items out. Because of that I ended up killing a lot of those birds with Leaf Man's weapon, which was great to replenish my weapons! Yeah, it was a genuine nightmare, especially once I realised that I wasted most of them bombs on breaking down those walls at the start! one of those bosses where it feels less like a challenge and felt genuinely unfair. Locked-on shots with absolutely zero heads-up coming from every direction? Crazy! To push that point even further, after my first few deaths I managed to get to the last few of those domes, and I was really curious and wanted to test if the Rewind function included in the collection might trivialise the fight, so I tested it for five minutes and genuinely felt like I was going insane, so the short answer is that it really doesn't make a difference there, which just speaks to how poorly done it is. Easily the boss I spent the most time on, I really enjoyed the game, but it doesn't inspire me to return to it because of the stress of that one section if I'm being honest. Yeah, took up a decent chunk of my evening! I'll admit there were one or two instances when I used the Rewind function early on getting used to the game on one or two daft mistakes. It took a while to get used to controlling the height of the jump, so I mainly used it on practicing that and testing things like weapon direction - figuring out diagonal attacks and things like that - and shooting on/jumping from ladders. Yeah, Heat Man's stage with the Item-2 would have been so much less stressful than what I ended up doing. Jumping from one vanishing block to another was pretty intense, especially the deeper into the stage I got! Especially that one room where you jump onto a vanishing block, and have to jump up and around onto another vanishing block, then jump to the left, and then onto that ladder, it was a nightmare! Those lasers on Quick Man's stage are almost comically deadly, those and the spikes I think on Wily's Castle Stage 3 - I think? - where the walls are lined with them and you're just dropping from one screen to another with the drop twisting all over the place, it's moments like that where the game shows it's age a bit I feel, because the difficulty is a bit more artificial than it is skill-based. That being said, obviously I had a huge grin on my face every time I got by one of those challenging parts, so it was totally worth it in the end Yeah, the Metal Blade I didn't really get used to late on, it took me a while to get it going diagonally with any real consistency. Wasn't the biggest fan of the Bubble Lead if I'm being honest (apart from using it on Heat Man), which was probably my second least utilised weapon, miles ahead of the Time Stopper (which I tested at different points and just really didn't get to grips with). I'd probably say that the Quick Boomerang was my favourite weapon by some margin, just throwing that over and over at a boss and taking them out so quickly made me feel very overpowered, which was a great feeling in a game I found to be really challenging!

Played through Mega Man 2 for the first time tonight as my first Mega Man game after @Jonnas recommended that's where I start when I was asking about platformers back in the summer (thanks!), and really enjoyed it. Especially playing it with the NES Online Controller (though I'll admit my hands are a little cramped now!). Took a bit of getting used to, and I didn't really understand the Transport Items until Wily's Castle, when scaling that first grey wall (the first time in the game you're forced to use one?). Took a good 5 minutes for me to realise the controller wasn't set up right (B was set to jump and A wasn't doing anything), which meant I was just trying to get by on jumping alone, thinking the weapons - even the starting weapon - came along later . Anyways, that soundtrack is absolutely God tier ...but what the hell is up with that boss on Stage 4 of Wily's Castle?

I haven't had the chance yet, but yeah, that's certainly the impression I get.Going from a £70 game at launch to getting delayed to be a PS+ tie-in just a few months later really drained the little interest I had in it. Really doesn't instill you with much confidence. Still, it's free (well, you get what I mean), so I might hop on for a couple hours just to see for myself. Have you had the chance to give it a spin yet?

Delayed from March 18th to an unspecified date. Which was originally delayed from January 21st.

Finished this Tuesday night and think I've finally digested it enough to share some deeper thoughts here.

So not exactly related to the game, but...I love gaming music, and figured this was worth a share, seeing as it's aimed at replicating what the trailer music for Part II might sound like, and I'm sure some others here will appreciate it: Honestly, it got me really hyped just to play through this game again

Yeah, agree, it looks great! I mean, I think their process is normally to have LEGO designers work off the initial idea, so it wouldn't necessarily be a 1:1 thing. For instance, the Medieval Blacksmith set has some pretty drastic changes from Idea to reality: I think more likely to get in the way of it becoming a reality is Nintendo's overprotection of its own IP, though in this case, considering they worked together on last year's Mario sets, and that this year is the 30th and 35th anniversaries for Metroid and Zelda, respectively, I don't think it's too crazy that we see sets for them this year. Even if it's not necessarily those Ideas, because I wouldn't be surprised if we found out they've already got stuff in the works!

I don't know if this will be the set which gets me buying LEGO again (I really don't have the space these days), but that looks great. Absolutely love LEGO Ideas, I really need to spend more time voting for sets on there The next round of LEGO Ideas reviews is definitely going to be worth keeping an eye on, too! Because it's going to include these:

These are shipped numbers and not sold-through, so that shouldn't impact it I don't think? Great numbers, but obviously limited by production, and I can't help but wonder what it might have topped out if not limited in such a way. I saw that this was the highest quarterly revenue in video game history somewhere? Which is really crazy. The PS4 dropped off really hard, but besides holiday sales, I imagine that could still be boosted by a healthy price cut at this point. Honestly, I'm a little surprised they didn't do that already, but it's probably down to wanting something solid to fall back on in the face of COVID, which is fair.

Insaneintherainmusic dropped his Sinnoh cover album, Sinnohvation, around Christmas time, and I've been listening to it pretty religiously. I'll link the video playlist here: It's insanely good, and does an excellent job of recapturing a jazzier and higher fidelity take on the soundscape of Sinnoh. I absolutely love it, it's now probably my joint favourite video game OST cover album alongside Malcolm Robinson's orchestral Chrono Trigger album. It's an album filled with great takes, but here are a few of my favourites: One of my absolute favourite tracks isn't in the album, Route 225-227, but he's covered it before: I've also been watching and listening to Alex Moukala quite a bit lately, and he's definitely worth checking out if you want some great mish-mash covers which are a bit more daring and outlandish, where he takes music from one game and tries to fit it into another (or just straight up makes it funky, in the case of One-Winged Angel) and a further breakdown of his music writing process, if you're into that kind of thing (and there's a lot of Final Fantasy, so of course you should check it out). Well worth diving down that rabbit hole! He also recreated the Final Fantasy XVI trailer music's choir and rounded it out with some inspiration from Soken's XIV work: Alright, think I've shared enough greatness for now

Finished a pretty short but wonderfully done game this evening for the Video Game Club. I'll keep it brief and just be posting my initial impressions here, trying to steer clear from any major revelations in the game, before posting my further thoughts after I've let it ruminate a little longer in the Club's thread (which I'll throw in at the end of this post in a spoiler tag for my own future reference). WHAT REMAINS OF EDITH FINCH | 2017 Developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive, What Remains of Edith Finch is a great example of how effective interactive storytelling, brilliant writing, and a well-designed space can come together to form something much more than the sum of its parts. As Edith, we make our way through the Finch family household, learning about the ways in which a perceived curse has long afflicted the family through the generations. Edith's words artfully populate the house and its surrounding environments as you explore many nooks and crannies, a place filled with character in each room which consistently characterises the Finch family members with aplomb. Throughout you'll find yourself lightly interacting with objects, locks, and doors, as you dive deeper and deeper into some form of understanding of the curse, eventually finding diary entries which recounts how the curse affected a particular family member, putting you in their shoes as their lives are changed permanently. Each family member feels unique, from their handwriting to the layout of their room, the way they sound, sometimes even how their story is delivered visually, and, most importantly, the way in which their recounting of the events of the curse unfold: one moment you'll be making a wind-up frog jump around, the next you'll be flying a kite across a beach, or soaring across the sky. Whatever it is, these short vignettes allow you to peer - however briefly - into the lives of the Finch family's members, and sometimes, even into their own psyche. I've spoken before about how video games and interactive storytelling can be a great way to instill empathy and share an experience others might be without, and at its highest points, this game delivers on that promise. The game is brief, coming in at around 2 hours long, yet manages to get a lot done in that time in its illustration of these characters and the atmosphere of the Finch house. While there are no standout tracks, the music in this game is pretty much exactly what it needs to be, ambiently imbuing scenes with the right emotion or atmosphere time and again, though there is one standout scene in particular involving music which comes to mind which had me grinning from ear-to-ear; if you've played the game, you'll have no doubt what I'm talking about. Lighting, the placement of objects in a room, how tidy rooms are - or aren't - and the narrow spaces connecting these rooms all feed into this game developing a unique atmosphere which reminds me of returning to a place without a loved one around anymore: while there's a melancholy and emptiness to the Finch house, it was very clearly once a place of warmth and a lot of love. As much as there is to praise about this game, it does have some shortcomings, which I'd be remiss to mention. Most noticeably on my playthrough, the framerate would occasionally tank in a very noticeable way. It wasn't anything game-breaking, mind, but it would occasionally take me out of the experience and shatter the illusion of immersion that a first-person game is normally reaching for. While the events brought to life from diaries and letters are often very well done, and I love the variety of gameplay styles and the way in which they are uniquely framed, there were one or two which fell a bit flat to me, in that they were a little janky at times to control where the game had otherwise done a brilliant job of leading you through its controls by intuition, and one felt rather uninspired when compared with the rest. Maybe it's not a particular weakness of that story but rather speaks to the strength of others, but my initial impression is that it was a small step down from the rest. Those small nitpicks aside, I think What Remains of Edith Finch is nothing short of a masterpiece. If you haven't played it already, I heartily recommend that you do; turn out the lights, stick some headphones on, and put yourself in someone else's shoes for a couple of hours. You won't regret it.

Yeah, that's what I was getting at And it's name is @Hero-of-Time

Just seen it in the description, weird that it wasn't in the trailer, but thanks for the heads-up! Seems like a pretty good date for it, look forward to digging in

New trailer: Looks pretty good to me, and damn, that music got me hyped. A bit odd we still don't have a release date, I hope we get one soon, because I'm really hoping this releases before things start picking up!

Perform a ritual to summon the strength to get good Drahkon right now: But all jokes aside, I'd just lower the difficulty (personally, I know I'm not going to stand much of a chance at Give Me God of War). I don't think there were any NG+ trophies or difficulty related trophies, unless I'm remembering wrong, so all you're missing out on are bragging rights if that's the case. From what you said and how it seems to have surprised you, it sounds like they went the worst route of increasing difficulty in my eyes where they just extended enemy health bars and made them hit harder, which would suck

PlayStation 2020 Wrap Up stats are rolling out. Was stuck between putting this here or in the PS4 thread, but yeah, I'm just sticking it here. Because The link. You'll probably need to change the locale to /en-us/. My 2020 Wrap Up Yeah okay, so I can already tell just looking through that some of these are a little off, but oh well, it's just some fun! Yeah, so this one hurts. GTA V not so much, because that's just Friday night with the guys from work, but that's the least FIFA I've played in a year by far and it still totalled 50 hours. Yes, I'm a corporate shill. Oh, and I swear I'm not too far off the same mark for FIFA 21, and I only started playing that about a month ago. Definitely going to have to delete it after this next Career Mode season. Gah, I hate it! From what I've seen this is probably falling on the lower end of anything, and holy cow, that's easily the most hours I've put into gaming in a year. Yeah, no hour and a half morning and evening commute seriously adds up, and this is just on PlayStation; considering that I have over 70 hours in Xenoblade and 50 hours in Animal Crossing, as well as a few PS3 games which wouldn't be included in this too, I'm solidly over the 1000 hour mark in gaming for a year for the first time in my life. I don't know whether to be proud or concerned. Yeah, single player gaming or get out is how I roll. Well, besides Fridays, which are long sessions, clearly! Again, kind of crazy for me. Let's hope it passed the 200 mark this year Yeah, there it is. The Wednesday dip doesn't surprise me so much, but Sunday is clearly higher than Saturday just because I'm trying to get a game finished before returning to work on the Monday I've just checked and this is nearly half of my current trophy count (1348). Holy cow. Just checked and I've soared by a lot of my friends in terms of trophy levels who have been on PlayStation Network since early on in the PS3's life. Which makes it abundantly clear I don't have anyone on here on PSN Yeah, so this and the next part is making me question if all of the stats I've shared so far are just based on my time spent with the PS4? Because I got three Platinum trophies this year (Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Astro's Playroom) but only one was on the PS4. I don't know anyways, that's the most Platinum trophies for me in a year since 2018, when I think I picked up 5, but maybe I'm forgetting some? Off the top of my head being Shenmue, Shenmue II, Spider-Man, Dragon Quest XI, and a super short game called Burly Men at Sea I played that Christmas. PS5-specific stuff: Yeah, that checks out. As does that. Yeah, okay, but this doesn't. BRING THE PS5 THEMES ON YOU COWARDS.