Julius

Another AC update, probably not super in-depth, but that's what the videos and screenshots are for going to preface all this by saying I had a good few framerate drops today, especially for the final Rank D encounter in the Arena. First things first: my black AC, Gawain, got renamed to Percival (yes, they're getting named after the Knights of the Round Table). No real reason other than Percival seeming like a more suitable name for a black AC than Gawain, which sounds very knightly to me! Anyways, got to the next boss, a certain someone from the trailers who fires a BUNCH of missiles, and Percival didn't have a great time...a few times. So I went back to the drawing board, as I just felt a bit too slow, so picked up some new parts and tested out my build a couple of times: rather than going tanky (which probably would've made the fight a lot easier), I wanted to up my speed, because I really enjoy darting around and dodging everything that I can at a breakneck speed. Gawain's weapons - missile launchers on shoulders, machine gun in the right hand and a laser sword in the left - would still do the trick, but the body needed to shed some weight, a new generator could come in handy, and obviously a new AC means a new paint job! Which brings me to the testing and creation of my second AC: Tristan. Obviously using that poor new AC pilot as the testing grounds and showcase of my new AC! Absolutely love this build, Tristan just absolutely flies all over the place, and it's such a joy to strafe, dodge, launch a bunch of missiles and chase that up at insane speed with a laser sword slash! Anywho, as for the third boss... While there is still certainly a sense of needing to learn your enemy's patterns and know your own build inside and out - when you've got the capacity to fire, to boost, or to dodge - I think what makes the bosses in this game so different - rather than difficult - and require some adjusting to is just how omnidirectional the battles can get; I simply don't think there are many other games making truly 3D boss encounters in this way, not even in the other From games. For example, think about how Ornstein and Smough chase you around the room in Dark Souls, pillar to pillar...in a very two-dimensional sense. There's left and right, backwards and forwards, but there is no up and down to contend with. Even in Elden Ring, a game in which you can jump and there's a newfound sense of verticality to exploration, boss fights are still very much the same as they have been in Souls games for a long time: they're two-dimensional. Not in the "this lacks substance" sense, but rather, in the way that you could capture an attack from above and from in front and you would have the complete picture of what is going on mechanically, and what you need to pay attention to. In Armored Core VI, for both better and worse (so far), I find that you also need to pay attention to your verticality (which is presented very differently from boss to boss)...and all of your systems. Energy. Ammo/capacity for FOUR different attack inputs. Keeping your enemy centred. Paying attention to audio cues. It's a lot, and at times, a little bit overwhelming; again, just because it is a different approach to a boss fight than what we typically get these days, and what's more there are a BUNCH of systems to pay attention to on top of that. At times - against bosses in particular, I find - I've found myself spamming attacks from a place of feeling overwhelmed rather than of purpose, which has occasionally resulted in death, but at other times seems to genuinely work out. Heck, there's been one or two times where I've just lost track of what's going on, and what buttons I'm pressing - like an 8 player game of Smash - because there's so much feedback I'm taking on mentally from the game at certain moments. I do think it's this, though, which leads to an approach like the one @drahkon mentioned being an almost one-size-fits-all solution for bosses: get in the enemy's face and just go absolutely ham. This approach also just removes or minimises a lot of the other noise I was mentioning before from the equation. And while I have enjoyed the bosses and don't mind spending an hour or so getting accustomed to one for it to finally work out in my favour, it weirdly doesn't feel skill-based, and it's such a shame because I think it almost casts a shadow over where the absolute gold is in this game: the one-on-one AC combat. Taking on an AC one-on-one, whether in the Arena or any other time a pilot turns up to face me down in the campaign, has been absolutely brilliant. It's why I can't stop replaying the mission where you're one-on-one against a trainee pilot: it's great practice and a good way to test a new build, but despite the fact that it's super easy, I think the one-on-one fights are where I'm by far having the most fun in the game. This game honestly seems like such an inverse of Soulsborne games in that sense, as in those games I feel that I struggle most with boss fights where you are one-on-one against another human NPC (maybe it's down to the sizing or the angle of the HUD, I don't know) and have the most fun with the bigger than life boss fights, whereas AC VI I'm having the most fun in one-on-one scenarios. Anyways, this is all to say that I blitzed through the E ranks, and just like yesterday: all in under a minute. Anyways, the next boss was another interesting case of needing to change my build for the occasion, and this time, it worked out immediately in my favour. But not before one of the funniest exchanges I've ever had walking into a boss arena for the first time in a From Software game... After this it was soon onto another boss fight, but not before a satellite-made minefield. That was fun to navigate after I decided to go back to the drawing board on my build. So anyways... After that it was back to the Arena, this time for D ranks, and finally a few of these took me longer than a minute to complete. I got close a few times - excruciatingly so! - but the last AC in D ranks gave me a wonderful bit of trouble, which meant a whole lot of fun for me! For these I've been committing to getting through each ranking with the AC I start out with, so in this case, it meant Tristan, and it just adds that bit more fun knuckling down and just going with one build. I rounded off my time today with AC getting to work on my next build: I wanted a bipedal AC with normal joints, a bit bulkier to take a hit but still be pretty speedy, with some big ass heavy ammunitions, a laser sword (of course!), a faster rate of fire than just a machine gun could offer; basically, I want to fire nonstop to wear down their stagger (I think it's called attitude in the game?) meter, quickly dodge out the way, timed right to then deliver a heavy blow with either a sword or a big gun. Oh, and obviously, a cool name and an even cooler paint job. Enter: Artorias. I am so, so happy with how it turned out! Having an absolute blast with this game, and let's end this post on something I don't think I've said about the game yet: this is by far, without question, the coolest I've ever felt in a video game

Decided to boot this up after a post-BG3-opening power nap (don't ask), just to have a quick go at things, and well... ...I already can't put this game down I'm having a blast so far. I love the mission-based level structure. The number of customisation options are absurd. The bosses so far have been fun (although, nothing on other early game bosses by From, based on what I've seen so far at least ), and the checkpoints have been really generous. The story, or what scraps there are of a story, are more than enough to keep me hooked. This feels like a PS2 game, and right now for what I want and need from a game, it's certainly scratching an itch I didn't even know I had! Going to throw some stuff on (and footage of my time with!) the bosses in spoiler tags... After the first boss/mission, I spent some time going through a few more missions, and eventually found myself replaying a mission where you are one-on-one against a trainee AC pilot...and I watched him die. Again. And again. And again. That kid made me a millionaire after a few attempts I swapped out the default rifle for a machine gun, and my replays immediately jumped from C to A rank, and so it became clear that, for me and the way I want to play this game, that was the way to go. Then went and picked up some missiles for my left shoulder to match my right, kept the laser sword in my left hand, and this is the result, my first AC: Gawain. I spent well over an hour on trying out different colours and parts, but eventually I gave up and decided that I'll likely stick with a very basic look my first time through all of these missions, because until I have all the parts purchased, I'm going to be making changes nonstop anyways anyways, my Gawain strat is fairly straightforward: don't let up with the machine gun, fire missiles to force a stagger, and when the enemy is/is about to be staggered, it's laser sword time. I love it! Best way to showcase my play style with Gawain is probably to just show how my Advanced Mercenary Certification went, so: To nearly round off my first session I took on a mission where I had to pick up as many logs as possible, which led to this extremely close call after an enemy AC turned up at the last minute: And then it was time for the arena, which, well, early doors, but Gawain made incredibly light work of: all three F ranks taking less than a minute to complete each! And that's a wrap on my first session with AC VI, I'm really having a blast! Look forward to picking up more parts and eventually getting all of them to go as ham as I want to in customising my ACs

Put a little bit of time in just to get past the very opening of the game, after spending far too long on character customisation. Unfair to call these early impressions for the amount of time I've played so far, but the pre-rendered cutscenes are pretty spectacular (even if they buckled once or twice), I already love the amount of options in dialogue, and I already feel like this game has illustrated that it's going to get weird, and I'm here for it! So anyways, here's Alxodar (AL-SOH-DAR), my Brass Dragonborn Paladin who has taken the Oath of Vengeance! ...and his Guardian! Who I spent way too long on considering I don't know what she's for/will do story-wise, originally I wanted my Guardian to be another Dragonborn, but that didn't seem to be an option? But hey-ho, she turns out looking pretty good imo So yeah, super early, I have very little else to say at this point. Oh, I love the dice rolls and their animations! Definitely going to be a game I chip away at for an hour or two here and there I think, really want to take my time with it is the sense I got from my first but of time with it. Yeah, okay, that's it, that's all I've got to say for now

11 tracks from Final Fantasy XVI are being added on November 1st! aaaaaaaand I guess now I know when I'm going to be picking up a copy of Theatrhythm all absolute banger tracks, some of my favourites from the game made it in, so if your ears haven't yet been blessed with the sounds of XVI's soundtrack, buckle up: because they're about to be!

A free update launches today (see video below: potential spoilers) and not one, but two, installments of paid DLC are coming to XVI – with an update on that coming later this year! Maybe TGAs? Free update DLC Really exciting stuff, already can't wait to get back to Valisthea. And you just know the music is going to kill

Thanks for these @Glen-i, it's been a joy reading through all of these, and it really highlights for me what a shame it is that the trickle of spin-offs we get now just feels like it's doing so much less for the brand outside of the core series games than used to be the case. Sequels (New Pokémon Snap), remakes (hey I'll take all the PMD remakes I can get, to be clear, maybe give me some Ranger ones too?), and attempts at creating new known massive spin-off brands (Detective Pikachu), it really feels like the outlook of the rest of the industry has finally caught up to Pokémon spin-offs, and it feels so much less inventive for it. It also just really brings to fore that, even nostalgia put aside for me as someone who grew up on those games, there's a very easy case to be made for the DS era being the golden era for Pokémon in both the spinoffs and core series. The sheer volume, variety, and quality of those games were something else, and it felt like the last time Pokémon were really in a position where they were looking to try new ideas and takes risks, which they were handsomely rewarded for. And lastly, it's also just a reminder that I need to pick up Rescue Team DX I remember when, where and why I got Blue Rescue Team (2007 when I was in Year 4; it was £20 from my local CeX and a treat from my parents for a solid parent's evening!), I don't think it's up to the standard that the Explorers game set following it, but it holds such a special place in my heart. Your write-up has definitely bumped it up to the top of my backlog for when I'm looking for a new look on a nostalgic trip down memory lane

And thus our journey ends...Platinum retrieved! Throwing save clears in a spoiler tag as they show the order of key boss fights: Love seeing it go from a ribbon for the demo clear, to a silver trophy for the standard clear, then to a gold trophy for the NG+/Final Fantasy clear shame it doesn't list playtime for each, though! My initial playthrough was around 55 hours long, doing everything I possibly could, and then it took another 3 hours to clear everything I wanted to there in terms of the tomes, trials, and combat-related trophies. For my NG+/Final Fantasy playthrough I completed only one quest to help speed things up a little, and otherwise just crit pathed, skipping the majority of cutscenes and destroying most bosses at the first attempt, and also had to do about an hour of grinding for AP to complete my collection of all of the Eikon skills, all of which took 21 hours according to the PS5's timer. So just under 80 hours in total, taking things at a casual pace in my first playthrough and charging through the second. And it was worth absolutely every penny Final Fantasy Mode/second playthrough thoughts: no real changes in opinion on the game following my second playthrough, though skipping cutscenes did highlight just how many there are, I think the worst it got was skipping through 7 cutscenes in a row towards the end of the game, and there were quite a few instance of there being 4 or 5 in a row throughout. I weirdly came across way more slowdown during this second playthrough, I'm not sure if that's because of the mixed up enemy composition meaning some with attacks with more/heavier particle effects ended up in more demanding spots, but it was very odd considering my first playthrough was practically flawless from a performance perspective. The mixed up enemy composition in FF Mode is fun, but everything just becomes a sponge, and it's not really fun having even the smallest of enemy encounters stretched out just because. Mandatory grinding for AP kind of blows and it's the least fun grind I've completed since Yakuza 6, and apparently even if you 100% in both your first and Final Fantasy playthroughs (so, including quests, hunts, etc.), you'll still end up with needing to grind things out a bit. The lack of variety in the game just in terms of not having any mini-games does feel like the biggest missed opportunity in the game, while it's heavier most of the time, if VII Remake can have mini-games, then I feel XVI should too - especially considering just how much CBU III put into them in XIV! To end on a positive note, though: despite skipping 90%+ of cutscenes the second time around, the ending still hit like a ton of bricks, and my favourite boss fights were still absolutely brilliant. Also just want to pop down a guide or two that I used to make the grind for AP that much easier for anyone else who plays and guns for the Plat: I've said it before, and I'll say it one last time: absolutely adored my time with XVI, it's definitely in the GOTY conversation for me, and I'm looking forward to hearing about other peoples' journeys in Valisthea!

Yep, that sounds about right I think my low-key aim as the Bard in multiplayer is to cause as much unharmful chaos as possible outside of battle, and taking things very super seriously inside of battle! Also I just want to play songs in the background during cutscenes I will admit I am a little tempted to rip apart my Half-Elf Bard ideas though and make a Dragonborn Bard-barian...not because I think it'd be a fantastic idea (though idk the idea of a big buff dragon savagely tearing things apart only to pick up a flute later on in the game) but because the name simply sounds cool My friends: alright Julius, smash through that guy! Me: calming flute noises I think it really depends on the game and how much control/customisation I get over the character, but even with less control I do generally like to fit the name into a theme or make it suitable for the world. I think it's also a question of time investment: for something like this or Elden Ring or Monster Hunter where I'm looking at a potential 100+ hours, I definitely put loads of time into thinking about it, whereas in shorter games I'll just cobble something together. Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne I just went with some variation of Julius that seemed to suit each game, because I felt the options to take ownership of the character weren't too exhaustive It's funny, after seeing your message last night I tried to think of where it comes from, and I think it started with Pokémon? But not the Pokémon themselves, but the character. I used to stick with canon names, then I swapped it to the Japanese names, then for X I decided their name had to start with 'X'...but then weirdly since then I think I've mostly just chosen my actual name where I can Love Alcyon and Solus. I've always wanted to ask actually, where did 'Drahkon' come from? Is there an interesting origin to your screen name? I feel like whatever you decide you should go with RP reasoning, like the Ranger gets tired of the long, drawn out process of prepping for the hunt and so obvious pivots into utilising their hunting reflexes in more direct and potentially unnerving ways

Treehouse footage: Completely flew under the radar, for me at least, that there was one!

Thanks! Fingers crossed honestly so long as the controls gel at some point and I enjoy the customisation as much as I think I will, I'm sure I'll have a blast! Well ain't that the question I'd already done the research I wanted for my characters, so yeah, some Half-Elf Bard for multiplayer and then a Dragonborn Paladin for solo (because dragons are cool, and to make up for my vertically challenged Dragonborn Bard not coming to fruition), but beyond that (and their looks!) I'm sure I'm going to spend pleeeeeenty of time in the character creator fleshing everything out. It's going to be a customisation-heavy weekend, which I'm very excited for! I always take a lot of time to figure out a cool and contextual name for my character too, using name generators (in this case for D&D, just to get a grasp on the naming conventions of different races!), plugging words into Google Translate to see what sticks, making some portmanteaus, and so on. Don't think I've created a character with so much thought put into them since my Elden Ring character last year (still the happiest I've ever been with a character name, their name in context - Aligare, from the Latin alligare, or to bind, based on the emphasis on metal in marketing and so considering my Tarnished an alloyed being! - and their look!), but I've got a name for my Dragonborn ready to go, got a name I'm happy with for my Bard too but want to try a thing or two more. This sounds like a super fun build I imagine a stealthy ranger should be possible from what I've seen about the game, really want to see how that turns out if you can and do go that route. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures!

November 15th launch for PlayStation Portal in select markets (US, UK, and much of Europe): Interesting release date, would've thought they'd put the Spider-Man themed console out so early (releases tomorrow I think?) to give this some space and potentially launch around Spidey 2, but okay then.

Being really careful about which tracks I include here, just focusing on what can be heard in the demo/was released in pre-release materials, but man oh man...Final Fantasy XVI might just be my favourite video game OST of all time, at least when it comes to the bombastic and spectacular tracks accompanying it's boss fights, and it has some fantastic character themes to boot, too. So without further ado... And the ones I'll throw in spoilers... (some boss spoilers, so beware) I love how much XVI harkens back to old FF OSTs, but also feels so fresh and new with the weird places it goes to with some of its tracks. It's fantastic. Throw in a track or two that sound like they're from Dragon Quest, and another track or two that sound like they're from Xenoblade? I seriously think it's up there for me as one of the best gaming OSTs in a hot minute. Missed so many tracks too, but I'll come back to them! And also I will riot if it doesn't win awards for its music!

It is done and should arrive tomorrow! definitely need that push so thanks, got obsessed with the idea of customisation and definitely want some more focused combat after XVI Definitely looking forward to BG3, very curious to see what I end up doing with it, never thought about having two simultaneous playthroughs of one game before, but then not every game has such a convincing take on multiplayer. I'm 100% doing a weekly play session with friends, but I do also want to see what it's like as a solo experience - think I'll hold out a little bit for now just to see how PS5 performance has turned out and to get by the first few areas in multiplayer, but will at least be making my solo character and start a slow chip away at a solo campaign to get to grips with what I can before our first session next Friday! Really excited for my first CRPG, however I end up playing it feel like I've barely played any games this year, but the ones I have have mostly been released this year, and yeah...GOTY is going to be an impossible conversation, that's for sure!

Meanwhile...as I'm committing to this being my weekly multiplayer game with friends, I'm trying really hard to not pick up Armored Core VI to play alongside it. Why did I have to watch that cool customisation video?! And why do both games have so much customisation?!?! Blessing and a curse how many good games we've had this year

Love Maw-maws (Clodsire, anyone?) and very funny that there's an ability to swing around and stick to walls...when this game launches the same day as Spider-Man 2 this looks like a lot of fun! The Mario Edition Switch OLED looks nice too! Love the coins hidden away inside the dock on the cable input/output housing

Stream is up and ready to go: I'll be watching this as I doubt I'll be picking up Wonder on Day 1 (the backlog and Spidey 2 are calling my name ), but I am really curious to see how this one turns out!

Watched Part Three of Ahsoka over lunch. A solid episode, definitely felt like it was setting up the next, and a great Anakin/TCW-type moment from Ahsoka too, with some very Ahsoka dialogue to boot. Rosario and Natasha have both done a great job of embodying their characters with little moments here and there so far (for Sabine, the table and the cup comes to mind as a veeeeeeeeery Sabine moment), look forward to seeing them fleshed out and their relationship explored more in the coming episodes. Kiner OST on point as always. Oh, and also a totally subtle reminder that politicians suck. What they're doing with certain creatures and the plan to follow them seems like a very natural way for us to get elsewhere, hopefully they deliver on that and it doesn't feel shoehorned in, as I was a little worried it might. The explanation for the dramatic establishing wide shots of a planet as a ship comes out of hyperspace got me

I'm upset about everyone else having not yet played them Just reminds me I need to get to III (and every other game in existence) That's true. 2024 is very quickly looking to be one of the best years for JRPGs, it's funny that we already need to start throwing things back to the second half of next year with his busy the first half is looking now if we could just get some Dragon Quest XII news...

September Essentials: Also, yeah, yikes at that PS+ price hike @drahkon. I've still got another year from the Now > Premium upgrade I got last year, but this year I've played fewer games than ever, and the calendar is packed with new awesomeness that I'm missing out on. Not to mention the retro stuff has been abysmal

Officially delayed out of 2023 Not massively surprising considering we've heard nothing all year, but still, kind of crazy the MGS Collection leapfrogged this.

The rest of the XVI cast started to get in on this too!

Looks like a new Switch model is set to be announced here! ...a Mario Edition Switch OLED

Well, we've got a Direct! Hopefully this is focusing on Wonder so that the next Direct (if we get one before it releases) doesn't spend too much time on it, rather than this being a sign that there's no other Direct on the way I doubt it would impact it either way, especially with TGS just around the corner. 15 minutes seems quite long to me to spend focusing on a 2D platformer, makes me wonder if Martinet gets his lap of honour here and/or if we're going to get some Miyamoto weirdness.

SIE filed trademarks for Astro Bot in Europe at the end of last week... ...and in America, too. We're quickly coming up to September, and I think there's a good chance we once again get another PlayStation Showcase. So the timing could be right...could it finally be happening?

Analogue have announced a special and limited Glow in the Dark version of the Analogue Pocket: