Julius

That's a good shout, feels like the appropriate platform for showing off their current gen marketing deals. Which I'm guessing means FIFA and Avengers showing up here too, even if it's just them reiterating the launch date and saying there's exclusive content on PlayStation.

Oh yeah, I totally agree that they know what they're doing, though I just think it's an odd thing to do at this time. Now that TLOU2 and Ghost are out, I think most were fully expecting them to turn their full gaze towards the PS5. Which I don't think is a totally unfair expectation three and a half months from launch. Agreed, but an even bigger pounce I think would be advertising going around saying "PS5 - Pre-order now". They no doubt know what they're doing and this thing will break records, I'm sure, especially after the reported increase in units being manufactured for launch, but I feel like it would have been a great way to show that the PS5 is now their main focus. It just reminds me a little too much of Xbox's handling of their Showcase where they looked like they were caught in the middle of two generations. Don't think that's the case here, but I do hope this is the last PS4 SoP and that they share some plans for the PS5 not too long after.

Made a dedicated thread for it, but wanted to put it down here too, because I do think it's an important part of the conversation surrounding the PS5: this week's State of Play won't feature any news on the PS5. Now really isn't the time to start mixing their messaging, I feel they should be all-in on PS5 now, especially seeing as we have the (presumably) last of the first party exclusives out of the way now that TLOU2 and Ghost have released. Would hope that they at least have the foresight to confirm a date/time for the next State of Play if there is indeed another one scheduled for August. Weird too, because the Champions League kicks off again this Friday, and with PS5 advertising being on show, you'd think now would be the time to pounce. But alas, guess we might end up waiting until Gamescom for more game news, but I would hope that we'd have been able to pre-order it by then.

No PS5 news. What a strange thing to do seeing as they should be ramping up to PS5! Sony, the master procrastinators At the very least, hoping for a better look at Kena and some of the other indie games that were on show during the PS5 event in June.

Update on compatible peripherals and accessories. Biggest takeaway is that the DualShock 4 will not be compatible with PS5 titles, but will be compatible with supported backwards compatible PS4 titles.

New trailer for Demon Slayer: Mugen Train looks so good. New song from LiSA too And new key visual: Absolutely love that they're just continuing the story with this film instead of the usual canon-but-not-actually-canon hype fests we usually see. Can't wait to see what ufotable can do with a movie budget!

Thanks for those suggestions @Jonnas, added those to the list which I didn't have already. I remember seeing a lot of full page ads for De Blob in magazines growing up, but don't remember if I ever saw any gameplay? Your mentions of Wario Land and Freedom Planet (first time I'd heard about that game!) had me looking them up to, and those are also on the list now. I actually ended up starting my platforming adventure earlier this afternoon with Super Mario Bros., which I finished a short while ago. Got to say, I love games which you can play in one sitting. I'll go into it more when I eventually catch up and cover it in the Gaming Diary thread, but overall I quite enjoyed it, it was interesting seeing the variety of enemies and level designs which, for the most part, are still around in some form or another, and hold up to this day. And of course there's Koji Kondo's timeless and instantly recognisable music for the game, too. Least favourite world was probably World 7, water levels never were my favourite in the Mario games I've played and that's especially true with 7-2. Waaaaaaay too many Bloopers for my liking. That being back-to-back with 7-3, with the flying Cheep Cheeps coming up with little time to react, just cemented World 7 for me as my least favourite, though I was very happy once I'd finished those levels. 7-4 had some weird puzzles, it's odd going back to this game after playing more modern versions where you're at least given an indication (either audio or visually in the level design) that you're going the right way, so I didn't particularly like that. And while I much preferred World 8, as I think it presented an overall fairer challenge, 8-4 has to be one of the most ridiculously designed levels of any game I've ever played, and feels the most dated to me. It's the only level in the whole game which depended entirely on trial and error throughout, and it was just complete guess work. Shame, because I enjoyed watching Bowser fall to his doom for the eighth time. For anyone wondering: yes, I did make use of suspend points. While I would have loved to struggle against the game for hours on end, I'm so glad that the the option is there as someone both new to platforming and generally new to the somewhat archaic nature of NES games, I just feel like it modernises the experience more than anything else realistically could, at least without changing the actual experience. To keep some level of challenge I limited myself to only using them at the beginning of world's, and in the end for 8-4 too. Goodness knows how long this blind playthrough would have taken without it on that level! Having completed that, not totally sure on where I'll go next with platformers. That was very short, so I don't mind hopping into another before diving into something else for a few hours to keep it fresh, but I'm undecided as to what it will be. Super Mario Bros. 2? Mega Man? Rayman Legends? Something else? Guess I'll see how I feel later, unless I dig into it tomorrow. At the very least, glad I've finally started this platforming adventure, it should be a lot of fun!

Well, that's a spicy but not totally unpopular opinion. I'm sure you probably mentioned it back when it released, but maybe your thoughts have changed since, so I'll ask: what were the biggest problems you had with it? Still haven't seen Knives Out, but was a big fan of his going into The Last Jedi after really enjoying Looper. I feel like one of the issues is that he started out with a Saga film. If you took a lot of the main beats and applied them to anyone else in the galaxy, at any other time, in an original story, I feel like it would have been received much better. Another issue is that him directing this film was hyped to all hell: someone should have told Kathleen Kennedy to not set him up as some mythical filmmaker like she did, nor should they have announced that he was going to take the reins on his own original trilogy of films some two months before launch. It hyped me up at the time, because seriously, how wouldn't it? But looking back, they just put far more pressure on him and the film than was warranted. Also, the timeline of the sequel trilogy's story itself that JJ corned Rian into somewhat with that cliffhanger ending really didn't help, especially considering there was no overarching plan for the film. Sure I've mentioned it before, but having TFA happen, TLJ take place in the immediately following week or two, and then TROS a year later is just so poor from a storytelling perspective. It's funny because it feels to me like the sequels could be called: "Rey: That Year I Changed The Galaxy". Compare that to the original trilogy, and even the prequels, and I think the timeline is much stronger in that regards. I mean look at the originals in particular, just focusing on Luke's arc: farm boy to Rebel hero in A New Hope; potential-filled but somewhat arrogant Jedi hopeful in The Empire Strikes Back; a humbled and honed Jedi by the end of Return of the Jedi. The main thread and direction that the story was going to go in during ROTJ was also clearly set up at the end of TESB: Vader is Luke's father, now which one of them is going to take the biggest risk and make the choice to bring the other to their side? What I will say is that I think The Last Jedi has the highest of highs in the sequel trilogy for me, with some great concepts, but the pacing and execution just weren't there for me. It's quite clearly the only one of the three films which was well managed, finishing principal photography well over a year before release, and I feel like that's the main reason Rian was given his own trilogy: he delivered a risky blockbuster on schedule and within budget on his first try. From a purely studio-facing perspective, it makes sense to me that they would want him back. For me, it's on par with The Force Awakens. While that film captured the magic of the original trilogy by firmly gripping to the proven formula (perhaps a little too hard at times), The Last Jedi took risks, which I will always respect. They didn't all land for me, but I knew Rian had the best intentions, and came away with high expectations for The Rise of Skywalker, considering that they still could have gone out on a high with this trilogy. That one still hurts the most for me. I think the biggest problem overall for me with the sequel trilogy is that it was very clearly influenced by Star Wars, and made by Star Wars fans. Not Flash Gordon, or samurai films (as much as it should have been, at least, though I think Rian was best in this regard with the Rashomon-style thread in TLJ and some of his cinematography), or old westerns, or fresh ideas on the Force influenced by modern society's generally shifting perspective on religion, or old war films, etc. That's where I feel The Mandalorian shows best that it understands how to make Star Wars in the modern era: be inspired by the same things as George, by all means pay homage to what has come before in the franchise, but above all else tell a new story from there. Yeah...I won't be able to stop myself from watching the Mando trailer but I respect you for doing so! They are normally pretty good with the trailers, only time I think they dropped the ball under Disney was with TFA, I went in knowing full well what was about to play out with just a little speculation (okay, maybe a lot, but all based on things shown in the trailers!) on my side. Instead of a trilogy I wish they gave him a standalone film and saw how it went from there. Rian for me was clearly far more attuned to the same influences as George than JJ was, I would have loved a film about a wandering Jedi. Yep, I'm very excited for what we have in store too! Oddly enough, most concerned about Obi-Wan, it's odd to me that they still seem to be having issues with deciding how to best tell that story. I'm sure Ewan will be great, but I feel like if they focus on what I think they should - a spiritual journey for Kenobi where he communes with Qui-Gon and Yoda, learns more about the Force, reflects on his past (Satine and Anakin in particular), perhaps even senses Anakin's mechanical breathing through the Force during meditation, and scares away a caravan of Tusken Raiders rampaging through Tatooine by using the Force to embody a krayt dragon, and all while on Tatooine - then this should just be a film. I get that they need things for Disney+, but there are so many shows in the works, and I feel like this chapter of Obi's life would be better presented in a film. At the moment I hate the idea of a Kenobi S2.

Disney has an earnings call this coming Tuesday. Would not surprise me in the slightest if we see some more official news, or even trailers, drop in the next seven days. Fingers crossed. Mando S2 is still scheduled for October as it stands, and considering that S1 dropped in November and had its first trailer at the end of August, if the marketing timeline is going to be similar, we should see a trailer in the next week or two at the latest. And then there's the Rebels sequel. Whenever we get news for that, whether it be next week or next year, I'm sure I'll be over the moon. Exciting as announcements for new shows and films are, they've got more than enough announced right now. It's time that we start seeing how far along things are, even if release windows are still going to be nebulous. I mean, I know production and release has been delayed for it, but we haven't heard anything new about Rian's project since The Last Jedi was released, other than that it's still in the works.

Well dang. This is awkward. I mean, one of us has to be right (I mean, it could be a combination of both...but that's not interesting!), so only one of us is the real Halo outsider here. And the other is clearly a lifelong Halo fan. I'm onto you Glen!

Yep, we gave a pretty average performance, and Arsenal deserved it. And after this season, it's really hard for me to be optimistic about our chances against Bayern. It's just been such an inconsistent season for us, and even with the great signings we're making, the short gap between the end of this season and the start of the next (which feels rushed, but oh well) doesn't give us much time to iron out our weaknesses, but at the very least I hope we strengthen our defence a bit. Looking forward to the Champions League being back, at any rate. Fully expecting it to feel like a cross between the World Cup or Euro's - in that you only have to turn up for a couple of weeks to win it now, and basically it's anyone's guess as to who could win from the quarter finals - and a pre-season tournament. I'm fully expecting to see some bizarre scorelines, should be a good watch!

Glad you mentioned this Glen. My younger brother has put thousands of hours and quite a lot of money into Fortnite over the last few years, and the issue I've generally noticed with the majority of that community is just how dialled in they all seem to be when it comes to these cosmetics. Knowing when new cosmetics are being made available in the store, exclusive items being added in another country and trying to change their server and system settings to obtain it, or exclusive things being made available on certain platforms/through certain activities outside of the game, they're ready for it. Watching videos, reading (a lot of totally bogus) articles, etc., seems to be their source. I think, at least for most cases I've seen through my younger brother and his friends, it goes beyond a surface level "yeah, I'll just buy this skin and be set for a month". Of course this varies from person to person, depending on a whole load of other factors (emotional and psychological maturity, awareness, money handling, etc.) and I don't want to lump everyone in together on this, but it just rubs me the wrong way. I don't care if it's not gambling through EA's "surprise mechanics", it is clear as day to me that cosmetics-only F2P platforms which are updated on a daily basis can have just as big and unhealthy an impact on younger minds. As for the topic at hand, I agree with general the sentiment that it's cool that Halo's multiplayer will be F2P, and it might tie in further to something else which seems to be knocking around as a headline today: Xbox are apparently planning on dropping Gold and going all-in on Ultimate/Game Pass, and will be returning to free online gaming across the board, which would be a very interesting turn of events. Curious to see how PlayStation respond if that is the case, but considering they have somewhere around 30 million PS+ subscribers, I don't think there's a chance they'll be budging anytime soon. 120 Hz is fine and dandy (though perhaps a little excessive at this stage for the overwhelming majority of gamers), though I do agree with the spirit of what @Sheikah is saying, in that I would rather have them focus on selling the story of Infinite's campaign and blowing us away with a stunning gameplay demo, rather than announcing that the yet-to-be-seen multiplayer will be capable of running at 120 Hz and free-to-play. I could be totally wrong here, but I had always been under the impression that the campaigns were the big selling point of Halo games, like with most first person shooters, with the online multiplayer adding a reason to return after the campaign on a regular basis. I still feel like they should have gone all-in on blowing us away with that demo rather than showing us something that they've since claimed is something like 6 months old? I don't know who thought that would be a great idea.

Thanks for the recommendations everyone, appreciate them! With the older Mario, Kirby, and Metroid games (as well as some of the Donkey Kong Country games), I'm hoping that I have access covered to most of those mentioned across NES and SNES Online, as well as the NES and SNES Classics I picked up earlier this year. I kind of feel obligated to start with the Super Mario Bros. games, so I think I'll be starting my platforming adventure there. @markderoos mentioned Castlevania and Mega Man too, which I've looked into. I picked up the Requiem of the Night (Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night) and the Mega Man and Mega Man X Legacy Collections (1 & 2 for both) a while back when they were on sale, so got those lined up too! Have added the Castlevania Collection to my Switch wishlist in anticipation of a sale also. @drahkon, you mentioned Rayman Legends, and thanks to your mention I noticed it had gone on the sale on the eShop, so have picked that up. Look forward to getting around to it, recall watching a great Game Maker's Toolkit video on the game but I completely forgot about it, so glad you put it back on my radar! And speaking of sales, turns out the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy were on sale too, so picked those up on my PlayStation. Played a bit of both of these franchises way back on the PS1, mostly around friends' houses (don't think I ever owned them myself), can barely remember it but I do remember having a good time, so looking forward to that too. Thanks drahkon, @GenericAperson and @Zell for those recommendations Blew me away how many people recommended Sonic, played quite a bit of it in high school through Flash. Obviously not the same, but I've picked up the SEGA AGES version of Sonic the Hedgehog, and have added 2 and Mania to my eShop wishlist. Thanks for sharing some love for the 'hog @Goron_3, @will', markderoos and GenericAperson, looking forward to that too! @Ronnie some big recommendations, I've seen you say glowing things about a number of them throughout the years so they are well on my radar. I actually picked up Hollow Knight, Celeste, and Ori and The Blind Forest during a sale at some point on the eShop, but Shovel Knight and the Guacamelee games have also been added to the wishlist. Conker's Bad Fur Day and Banjo are both on my radar after all of the recommendations, but unfortunately going to be playing the waiting game for them to be made readily available in some way, either on a Classic console or a platform I already own. Other games I haven't mentioned (Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, et al) are also on my radar now and have been added to my Excel spreadsheet for games I want to play at some point, but definitely in no rush to get through all of these games and I'm sure will get to them when the opportunity presents itself! Finally, about the 3D Mario games...same thing there, that's up to Nintendo I already own Odyssey, and actually put a few hours into it, but stopped myself as I really wanted the context of the older games, in the sense that strong mechanics seem to be the core of those games, and I would love to experience them in order because of this. Have brief memories of Sunshine from when I was younger, and the fact that a specific area sticks in my mind to this day from that game means it certainly left an impression. Here's to hoping that the 3D Mario collection comes to fruition, because I will be there day 1 if so

Grubb is teasing a PS5 State of Play between 5th August and 11th August... ...though he has said this is very shaky due to everything going on at the moment. Apparently PlayStation have some more third party deals to share (Doritos swooped on Call of Duty this year though, clearly!). With the Tokyo Game Show going digital for the first time this year and unlikely to attract huge crowds from abroad, hopefully we could see some Japanese developers at this potential State of Play. I don't care if it's a couple of years away and is a completely CG trailer. I want to see FFXVI! Would also love to see some more of the PS5 UI that they teased during the event back in June. Side note: August looks packed, and like a great way to wrap up this summer of gaming news!

If that 30 Day Video Game Challenge made one thing abundantly clear to me, it's that I haven't played nearly enough platformers. I've dabbled here and there with a number of them, but can't think of any that I've played to completion since New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS. This has got me wanting to play more platformers, 2D or 3D. They're generally much shorter than the games I usually play, and I'm always up for trying out new games and learning more about the history of games. I'm sure I know certain names that will pop up (a certain plumber I'm sure), but I'm just going to build from a blank slate. So, I turn to you for guidance, N-Europe. What are your essential platformers?

Holy smokes @Sprout those are fantastic, hadn't the slightest idea that things like this were possible with Ultimate's Photo Mode. Love the captions for each, and the descriptions of how you got the shot, and especially what was challenging on some of them. Awesome stuff Personal favourite has to be Squirtle's gasp reaction to Mechazard. I can't stop laughing

Really sorry to hear that @MindFreak, can't imagine the toll that news might have after everything you've already gone through until now. In a weird way, I'm glad you were willing to share that with us, if only so that you know that we're here if you ever need to talk or just vent that frustration. Hoping for all the best for you and your family, and fingers crossed things only look up from here.

Right, been very hit-and-miss when it comes to consistency on this, but it's time to catch up. I'll start with today's topic first. Day 30: Personal Gaming Tradition In terms of something I would consider a tradition seeing as I do it pretty much every time I play a game: lights out, curtains drawn, door closed. Like when focusing on a film, I want to be as focused as I can (reasonably) be on whatever it is that I'm playing. In terms of returning to games, I don't really have games that I return to on an annual basis like many do here. I have a lot of respect for @Glen-i returning to Explorers of Sky so often (it is probably one of my most played story-driven games, I've played it four or five times I think and that's excluding Explorers of Time), it's short, sweet, and so impactful. Though then again, I have played Chrono Trigger two Januaries in a row...coincidence? No idea, guess we'll find out in January 2021 oh, and I quite enjoyed reading through the list of games you've played over the last few years @Ronnie! In terms of other traditions? Unwrapping games as soon as they arrive, even if I know they'll be on the shelf for a while (looking at you, Yakuza 6). Watching credits all the way through like I do with films, I really like when I get to a point where I start recognising the same names popping up. Ejecting a game cartridge or disc as soon as I am done with it (whether that be story or 100% completion), putting it back in its case, and throwing it on a pile of complete games (found this is the best way for me to motivate myself to get through far more games than I have before). Screen protectors for anything and everything that needs it. And I always keep a game installed that I can play pretty mindlessly, like FIFA or Need for Speed, for whenever I'm not really in the mood for watching or playing something new. Now to catch up... Day 15: Best Story Really surprised by just how many aren't the biggest fan of stories in their games, but to each their own! For me, story is oftentimes the biggest draw when it comes to just about any entertainment (as some might be able to tell from my previous Gaming Diary or Anime thread posts), so it's little surprise that this is another really tough one for me. But there's only when answer for me when I think of the best story I've experienced in a video game. I will wholeheartedly throw in the towel here on Hard Mode, because this won't be the last time I mention this series. The Last of Us. I only played this for the first time a few months ago, somehow managing to avoid spoilers for the better part of a decade, and it blew my socks off. I don't really touch horror games in any definition of the genre, but had to make an exception for this solely because of the praise I'd heard for its story, and it also gave me a great opportunity to decide on whether I was going to buy and play its sequel last month (spoiler: I did. I pre-ordered it before I finished the game). Having only played the first three Uncharted games before this, apart from standout moments in Among Thieves, it was really difficult for me to understand the hype behind Naughty Dog. This sold me on everything they might do for the next decade. Brilliantly paced with a terrific soundtrack from Gustavo Santaolalla, a nerve-wracking world which matches the dread of surviving its moment-to-moment gameplay, great characters and some of the standout character moments in video game storytelling, the real difficulty here was trying to justify my other potential picks with this in mind. That being said, honourable mentions to Chrono Trigger, the most tightly-packed and impactful JRPG I've played (and it isn't even close) with a great time travel story, and my other mention has to go to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Excellent story with some of the best setpieces in video games. Day 16: Most Interesting Collectibles The Last of Us Part II. Specifically, the notes left behind from the old world which you'll find as you make your way through the game. It just adds such a depth to each and every area. Most buildings have notes left behind, as well as their fair share of corpses and Infected, which all combine into small vignettes, and you're often left piecing together what happened there. The way it goes about this is by detailing things from codes for opening safes, to dark secrets kept until someone's dying breath, to something like the above: a guilt-ridden admission of taking safety for granted in such a brutal world. Special mention to Dragon Quest XI's Mini Medals, they're so abundant and smartly placed that it's impossible to not find yourself opening up everything you can get your hand on, or deviating from the beaten path. What's most interesting about them isn't necessarily how you obtain them, or where, but rather how much it incites just exploring every nook and cranny with confidence that, at some point, you will find a Mini Medal. Along similar lines, special mention also to Final Fantasy VII Remake's Music Discs, which are remixes of a number of songs from the original game (many for locations and characters not in this game), hinting at a musical taste of what is to come next. Day 17: Racing Game Burnout Paradise. Killer soundtrack, huge variety in challenge and race types available, fun collectibles and open world, and it's always awesome seeing the crumple zones come into play when you inevitably end up crashing. Day 18: Best Mini Game "Hey, how about a game of Lucky Hit?" For the fiftieth time, street vendor: yes. Shenmue II's Lucky Hit reminds me of a simpler time of when I visited family in the Philippines for a month at the age of 8 back in 2007, when I would frequently see similar boards dotted around while walking the streets there, and would bet on them with my cousins. Cosy times I feel perfectly captured in Shenmue II, where throughout your journey in Hong Kong you will have the opportunity to play game after game of Lucky Hit (in an attempt) to earn some serious cash. It's simple: you drop a ball from the top of an angled board packed with pins, normally arranged based on the design of an animal or creature on the board, and hope your ball lands in one of the designated win slots, either for a payout or a prize. Seriously addicting but its so simple and fun, I had to tear myself away from it after a while, otherwise I'm sure Ryo's story would have ended right then and there: a lost, down on his luck foreigner with a newfound gambling addiction. Special mentions this time to the Pokéathlon events in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, as well as the Pokémon Contests in Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Put a lot of time into earning those medals and ribbons as a kid. Day 19: Melee Combat Playing the Arkham series backwards right now, returning to the first three having played Arkham Knight first a few years ago (finished Arkham Asylum a few weeks ago), and it's interesting from only playing the first and most recent entries in the series how consistent the combat is, save for small differences in the timing of how Batman reacts. The weight of the blows Batman deals, and the impacts of those he is dealt, are hard to not feel, and chaining combos together while beating down on Gotham punks is awesome. Agree with a lot of the other choices mentioned though: God of War, Spider-Man, NieR:Automata, But my special mentions have to go to the first two Shenmue games for how it perfectly evolved the arcade-style structure and mechanics of Virtua Fighter to make a compelling and fun melee combat system, as well as, perhaps with a hint of recency bias, Ghost of Tsushima. A lack of lock-on hurts it for me, but it still easily has my favourite "normal" sword combat of any game I've ever played, Day 20: Saddest Moment The Last of Us Part II. @Glen-i, yep, that's definitely the sad moment to choose from Explorers, but it's an excellent one! And @Vileplume2000, about Valkyria Chronicles, excellent pick, really glad that you mentioned it. That moment got me too. Especially when... Day 21: Game that takes you back to your childhood Pokémon Diamond & Pearl. I mentioned this only last month in another thread, so yes, I'm going to quote myself Probably my favourite main series Pokémon OST alongside Ruby & Sapphire, too. So many great memories. Day 22: Favourite Playable Character Going to have to second @Happenstance on this one. Without hesitation: Kazuma Kiryu. I've mentioned it before, but having "only" played 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2 and 3 to this point, I feel like I have a strong grasp on Kiryu as a character now having played through around 100 hours of adventures with him, and I maintain that he is a role model male video game character, and a prime example of how everyone should try to act. Day 23: Best Licensed Video Game Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005). Told you it would be back. I've put thousands of hours into this game. To date, the best Battlefront game (and then some), one of the best Star Wars campaigns which elegantly walks that fine line and successfully ties the prequel and original trilogies together, which is no mean feat, a diverse range of modes (Galactic Conquest is like Monopoly meets turn-based, galactic scale Star Wars skirmishes, with four unique endings for victory as the Republic, Separatists, Rebels, and Imperials). It has space combat, ground warfare, and a vast array of heroes, and one of the best hero implementations in a game like this. I love this game. Admittedly, I haven't played Knights of the Old Republic (though I know the story inside and out, thanks Wookieepedia for indulging a young Star Wars fan well over a decade ago!), nor have I played Rogue Leader. I simply wasn't at an age where that was feasible when they were released, but I hope to play them soon (I've got KOTOR on Steam, so that's ready to go when I'm in the mood). But special mentions to Republic Commando, the original Battlefront, and the first two LEGO Star Wars games. I think there's an undeniable fact here the more and more I talk about this: Star Wars by far has the strongest catalogue of licensed video games. Fight me. Day 24: Best Final Mission Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. It's hard to nail down what exactly the final mission is here seeing as there's a fluidity to how levels weave into one another, but I'll just say that final boss fight. It takes everything you've learned throughout the game and forces you to take someone on who is objectively stronger than you are, wraps all of the game's themes and messaging into a nice bow, and has some excellent music backing it all up. Day 25: Online Multiplayer Got to admit, I really don't play many games online, so I'll go with Rocket League. Great mechanics and gameplay, it's a whole lot of fun and chaos but, like the best of games, it's easy to pick up yet difficult to master. It's easy to sink hours into. Not at all mentioning them in the same breath as Rocket League...but I have put far more hours into EA's Battlefront and Battlefront II online offerings than I would ever care to admit. Those are at the opposite end of the spectrum (or at least they were, DICE have actually turned Battlefront II around for the most part since launch). Day 26: Favourite NPC Mimir from 2018's God of War. If you've played the game, you know exactly why. But again, @Glen-i the Explorers call here with Wigglytuff is a great one. So many great characters in that game...might be time for a replay soon. Day 27: Best Boss Battle Jenova from Final Fantasy VII Remake. Not going to spoil anything about it, but this game has plenty of great boss battles, but this one stands out for how well it punches through the roof that were my expectations for this game (which were super high, by the way). Awesome song to back it up, because of course that's something that would win me over, shame I can't post a link to share it because Square Enix are still busy clamping down on this game's OST. Special mentions to the first colossus in Shadow of the Colossus; the final boss, The Shagohod, and The End in Metal Gear Solid 3; and Magus in Chrono Trigger. But an extra special mention to The Ice Queen in Dragon Quest XI. Up until that point, the sum of my turn-based JRPG experience was a long list of Pokémon games and Final Fantasy VII. I love those games, but it was so easy to just brute force my way through battles, and I never understood why anyone would be more tactical in their approach to turn-based games, specifically when it came to buffs and debuffs. Enter The Ice Queen. Up until that point in Dragon Quest XI I had cruised along without any concern, I don't think I had got close to meeting my maker, so much so that I was still trusting the AI to control my other characters. Against The Ice Queen I hit that wall, and I hit it hard. I tried brute force again after wiping for the first time in the game, but then figured that I would have to play it more methodically. Taking control of my other characters and focusing for the first time on buffs and debuffs, I found myself going from a struggling hero to one who overcame The Ice Queen with aplomb. I will never forget that boss fight, as it's the first time that I found myself having serious difficulty for reasons other than low levels in a JRPG, and while levelling up I'm sure would have fixed things, I'm so happy I learned the hard way. It resulted in an hour long clash of back and forth buffs, debuffs, and long sequence setups with the final boss of the main story in Dragon Quest XI, as well as me figuring out how to grind to LV 99 effectively in the game, comparing my tactics to others online for doing so and even being so bold as to tweak their tried and true tactics with my own spin to make it even more efficient. It opened up the world of JRPG's to me, for instance my three hour back and forth with Storm Dragon in Final Fantasy VI where I was adamant that I wouldn't grind and would find a way to overcome it without, and I did. That's one of my proudest moments in a game to date. Day 28: Favourite DLC/Expansion The Last of Us: Left Behind. A great two hour long epilogue to a great game which explores something briefly mentioned in the main game, and expands on it and delivers in a great way. Pacing and writing just as good as the main game, some more excellent music from Santaolalla, it adds so much meaning to what could have easily been some throwaway lines in the main game, and adds more standout moments and interactions to the long list you can already find in the main game. It is must play if you play The Last of Us. Day 29: Favourite Graphics/Art Style Having not played Wind Waker I don't feel it's fair for me to throw another mention at that, though that art style used in promotion is exactly why I bought Spirit Tracks. Wind Waker was that game I didn't know the name of as a kid (not until Smash Bros. Brawl) but wanted to play, mainly thanks to its art style. Having played Breath of the Wild I think that game also has a beautiful art style, up there with the very best. And @Goafer's mention of Persona 5 is absolutely something I need to mention, that game's art style is fantastic (as is that opening), and it doesn't get old during the around 100 hours you'll spend with that game. On the other end of things, in terms of realistic art style, I think Ghost of Tsushima and its vibrant and colourful island of Tsushima is the best in that regard. But I'm going to finally give a game I've mentioned a lot in my honourable mentions a win here. Say what you might (or rather, what I might!) about Square Enix's underhand marketing and distribution of this game in the West, Dragon Quest XI perfectly captures Akira Toriyama's art style in a 3D setting, is a massive step up technically from Dragon Quest VIII (which let's be honest, also probably deserves mentioning here in the art style department), and Toriyama's art style just matches the cosy vibes of Yuji Horii's Dragon Quest world. This is then furthered by battle animations and other interactions in the world, which just emanate an overwhelming feeling of warmth. And that's me all caught up!

This game doesn't seem to getting that much attention on here! Gameplay demo from the other day: Hopefully with their next showing they do a better job of communicating why this should be a next gen launch title. I felt like this demo was a bit lackluster.

It's not too late! I fell behind because I've had so much on my plate, but I'll be catching up on it later. It's a great thread and there's been a lot of interesting discussion, always really nice to learn more about everyone's gaming history and preferences too. Thanks again for the thread @Cube!

Think it's more the fact that there was already a thread for this, which @CrowingJoe79 himself started back in April when rumours were flying around. Feel like that one should have just been renamed. Though there doesn't seem to be as much interest in the Other Consoles threads in general, I don't think the Halo Infinite one has even been updated with the gameplay demo from Xbox's Showcase. But that's been the trend I've noticed since H-o-T stopped posting, I remember feeling super weird being the one to start a bunch of threads well after the PS5 conference was over. Not much there in that other thread either though, to be honest. I feel like most of the discussion probably happened in the PS5 thread during the event. Oh, and H-o-T hasn't been around, feel like he would have had some stuff to say, being a huge fan of the series.

After around 55 - 60 hours, I have liberated the region of Kamiagata and completed the game's story, meaning that I've liberated the steadfast island of Tsushima. Platinum get: 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, and the absolutely gorgeous open world. 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 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. I'll stop there as I've mentioned a lot of my thoughts in this thread since starting the game, but in short, I think Sucker Punch have knocked it out of the park. This is a not completely polished masterpiece of a game, easily one of my favourite open world experiences to date, and one of my favourite games of this generation.

Doing a lot of pretty monotonous spreadsheet processing for work at the moment, so been listening to a mix of film scores (a lot of Morricone after his recent passing) and game scores. This stands out: This Final Fantasy VI medley arrangement by Roger Wanamo, performed by the Royal Philharmonic, is absolutely fantastic

Yeah, seconding the opinions here: I can't wait to try Fall Guys out. I was on the fence before but having it be a PS+ game pushes that well over the edge, it just looks fun. Hopefully this will be another Rocket League-type situation. I put off picking up MW2 a few months back because of its launch price (I bought a PS3 earlier this year and could have just picked up a cheap copy of the original instead), and now I'm glad I did. I played MW's campaign last year and thought it was solid if a little predictable, I'll be fine with the same here. Still a massive shame they didn't include Spec Ops though, that was the main mode I played with my friend back in high school and had a blast with.

Well...that's a bit of a buzzkill. Oh well, it's only one week! I've actually been toying with the idea of picking up a modded GBA for the last 7 or 8 months, because there are certain games I'm interested in playing that just aren't widely available on modern platforms, as well as revisiting some I already own. Going to try my best to get a pre-order in, but I finish work at 16:30 next week being kept on my toes at least!