Dufniall

I may be, if you can use a HR2 low rank gear player. If you want to do high rank quests I'm afraid I won't be much use.

But it is indeed going on for a while now and pretty annoying. I'm not sure if there is something we can do about it or that it is from the hosting company? Maybe @Shorty or @S.C.G know?

Ah, that explains why I'm getting them as well!

And another cool reward, for 400 platinum points but as always also €6,99 shipping costs to countries outside of Germany. I got the post cards last time, but I'm going to skip this one. Additionally, a bunch of 3DS themes have been added as well, for those who want to collect these.

Currently about half an hour into the podcast, but I have to already mention Street Racer, which indeed had a soccer mode: I had it on the SNES and I loved it. Maybe I even played it more than Mario Kart but that is mainly because we got Mario Kart pretty late in the SNES's lifecycle at our home. It had a colourful cast of characters (allright, quite some racial stereotypes but hey it was the 90s), who all had a different special move. Plus you could whack each other Road Rage style. It also had a pretty cool battle mode. I think this also supported 4 players if you had the thingy which allowed you to plug in 4 controllers: We never had the Multitap but it was a fun game to play in 2-player mode. Further, my TT guess is:

Day 30 - Personal gaming tradition Wow, interesting to see many of you have some kind of Christmas gaming ritual! I don't have any traditions like that, so I'm going for more of a habit thing. The first thing I do when starting a game is going through the option menu and check out all the options available. For PC this is especially useful because there are a lot of graphical settings to tweak. But I've been doing it for Nintendo consoles as well, just checking what options are there before starting the game itself. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who does this, but it also wouldn't surprise me if a lot of folks use a "shoot first, ask later" kind of approach.

Day 29 - Nicest graphics/art style I'm also picking The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The cel shaded style and cartoony Link were a great choice, and I'm glad Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks followed that art direction for a bit longer. It also showed that if you want your 3D game to age at least a bit gracefully cel shaded is the way to go.

Those are amazing @Sprout! Can't believe the work you put into it, really impressive and I love them all.

Day 28 - Favourite DLC/Expansion My favourite expansion is StarCraft: Brood War, an expansion that was even better than the original game with better missions and a couple of great new units. I'm not sure if this kills my Hard Mode, but I'm saying no as I've picked Sarah Kerrigan as favourite antagonist, but she's in StarCraft, Brood War and StarCraft II so I'll assign that to a different game than Brood War. Honourable mentions for Rise of the Tomb Raider: Baba Yaga, Red Alert 3: Uprising and the Bioshock Infinite DLC missions. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle's Donkey Kong DLC looks great as well but I've yet to play it.

Starcraft II is 10 years old, and the game received a major update as well. It brings some new options to the co-op missions, new achievements for the single player, and a lot of extra features for custom content and the map creator. Decided to get the Nova campaign as that's on sale now and I haven't played that. Happy to dive back into it for a bit again!

You're welcome!

Monthly update time! I haven't completed any big titles this month (in fact, I'm kind of struggling to find the concentration for long adventures). Instead I tackled some smaller games on the Switch, and I've been playing some random stuff on the PC as well. First game that I played and finished was the amazing Bug Fables on the Switch. It's a lovely Paper Mario-inspired RPG, so I'm just going to plug the review from @S.C.G and me here once again: https://www.n-europe.com/reviews/bug-fables-the-everlasting-sapling Infliction: Extended Cut (Nintendo Switch) We got a spare review code for this, so I got a chance to play this as well. If you haven't already, go and check out the review from @Jonnas! It was fun because we had a long chat on discord about the game, talking about what we thought of it, how the developer must have come to this game and about the general good, bad and ugly. Conclusion is I agree with him on almost all points of the review. Infliction is an interesting game, that's for sure. It's a survival horror game, but there is hardly a combat mechanic so it reminded me most of a point-and-click adventure. You can pick up a lot of items in the house you're playing in, although most serve no purpose. The setting is very eerie and disturbing, and especially during the beginning of the game I was anxious to go on as I'm really not good with scary games (and movies) haha. Later on I got a bit used to what I could expect but it still scared the crap out of me occasionally. There are definitely moments of brilliance in the game, but for me it lacked a real general direction. Some parts of the game have been worked out in detail (like the fact you can pick everything up), but other parts are severely lacking and buggy. There are also some clever mechanics or puzzles in there, but they just show up once which is weird as they are the things that make the game interesting. I'd recommend it if you are into horror games and when it gets a hefty discount. Gato Roboto (Nintendo Switch) My MetroidVania addiction continued with Gato Roboto. I picked it up in a sale after having it on my wishlist for a while. A space pilot and his cat crash onto a planet, and with the pilot being immobilized it is up to the cat to rescue them both. Luckily you're quite a clever cat so you quickly find a powersuit to control, and from there on it is basically a Metroid game. You pick up weapon and suit upgrades and make your way deeper and deeper through the planet's facilities. The game is pretty straightforward for a MetroidVania, but it's a short game so it doesn't get boring. There are some interesting mechanics that keep you entertained. You can for example get out of your powersuit and continue as just a cat (sometimes you have to to crawl through narrow spaces). This way you can climb walls but it also means a single hit can kill you. Definitely recommend it. Being a short game you cannot expect too much depth, but that's what I liked about it. It's not pretentious, but instead a short, sweet and charming title you can breeze through in a couple of hours and have a lot of fun in doing so. Super Metroid (Switch, SNES app) Yes, more MetroidVanias! After playing Metroid: Samus Returns last month and Gato Roboto this month, my thirst for MetroidVanias was still not quenched. So I figured it was time to get onto Super Metroid, a game I have played a couple of times when I was younger but never finished! Well, it's done and dusted now, but I now know why I never finished it back in the days. Mostly because of the lack of save states and walkthroughs. Because this game is filled with hidden pathways, where you have to blow away a part of the floor or wall or ceiling. Sometimes the map is a hint as to where the hidden paths are, but often you just have to figure it out yourself. Samus herself controls well, except for the wall jump and screw attack with which I struggled sometimes. All in all it's a great game and I'm happy to finally have finished it. Despite some frustrations as mentioned above the game has a great atmosphere (what else to expect from a Metroid game!), great soundtrack and some of the most iconic environments in the series. With both Metroid and Metroid II remade, one would argue that this game should be next, right? Jurassic World Evolution (PC) Being a fan of the classic park building games such as Rollercoaster Tycoon and Theme Park, and of Jurassic Park ever since the movie came out in 1993 it would be weird not to pick this up, especially when it is dirt cheap in a Steam sale. It's been a while since I've played a park builder, so I'm pretty happy Jurassic World Evolution is one of the easier ones to wrap your head around. It really doesn't require a lot of micromanaging and is quite generous with how you can increase your park rating. That means there is more time to gawk at the beauty of the game and the dinosaurs in particular, because damn it looks good. There are several parks you run on different islands. You start off easy on an island without much hazards, but the next one for example is plagued by storms. Each next islands adds a new difficulty to it. Meanwhile you unlock research, attractions and of course dinosaurs to expand your parks. You can always switch back to a different island if you feel that needs adding, or if you want to reach a higher rating there for some more unlocks. Meanwhile there are 3 advisors who give you missions for their branches (science, entertainment and security). You have to balance them out as well, otherwise they will start sabotaging your park. It does get repetitive after a while, but for me the addiction comes from getting new dinosaurs, breeding them and see how they react if you cram them together in an exhibit. I like that there are some rather obscure dino's in there as well, such as the Deinonychus who was a favourite of mine when I was a kid. Currently I'm on the third of 5 islands, and after that there is also a challenge mode and sandbox mode to go to. And if my needs are still not satisfied I can always get the DLC if that goes on sale.

Day 27 - Best boss battle I can basically quote @bob here and apply what he said to Monster Hunter Tri. Especially some of the Elder Dragons are insane, like Alatreon, Ceadeus and my favourite, the Jhen Mohran. The two-stage battle in the desert is epic, with different weaponry on your ship, the ability to climb the guy to mine him for resources and finally taking him down which seems like an impossible task by the sheer size of him.

GR5 is not a program for recording, it is basically an amp/pedal simulator so it's great for playing along. I haven't figured out how, but it should be possible to use that output in stuff like Ableton or another recording program so you basically record the processed bass or guitar. I really need to look into this as well because I think the sounds in Ableton are pretty limited. It's baffling how complex some basslines are in pop songs! There is quite often some really funky stuff going on (Bruno Mars his songs for example), and if there's one thing I can't play then it's funk/slapping haha. Never really learned it as I usually play punk, rock and metal. But I fully agree that it's nice when the bass does something different than the guitar.

Day 26 - Favourite NPC I love Cranky Kong for the stubborn, cranky ape who gives out unwanted advice in Donkey Kong Country 1. His lore that he is the original Donkey Kong is just awesome.

After getting my NI Komplete Audio I've been playing this way a lot too. Bass into the Komplete Audio, headphones on my head and playing along with Spotify and YouTube. I find it far easier to hear both the original song/bassline and what I'm playing this way, compared to audio through the speakers and bass through the amp. It also makes figuring out basslines much easier. Usually I use one of the presets in Guitar Rig 5 as bass sound. But I think there are customizable options in there as well where you can set up your own amps/pedals but I haven't looked into it so I don't have any suggestions there. You can download a free version of GR5 which has some presets. What program are you using now?

Day 25 - Best Online Multiplayer There are so many great online games to play, like the aforementioned Splatoon 2, Rocket League and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Also love me a game of Paladins, and on PC I enjoyed playing League of Legends (before it got salty) and the Starcraft II online co-op missions. But the one game that really wowed me was Battlefield 1. I upgraded my PC with a proper graphics card, and from that moment on I could finally play some more demanding games. It was the first time I played a game with 63 other players online while I could crawl in a tank, pilot a plane, blow buildings to rubble in an all-out warfare. And it looked amazing as well. It was also the first Battlefield I played, so for me it was a fresh experience and all the critics from players who played the previous game were therefore kind of lost on me.

Day 24 - Best Final Mission Tricky one. I've used up a bunch of games as good options already, so I'm going for Super Mario Odyssey. That final bit where...

Day 23 - Licensed video game Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader It's such a fun and good Star Wars game, with varied missions and it looked gorgeous at the time. I'm playing it again now and it still holds up.

We also have the Standard HD one. I don't have a 4K TV, plus 2 screens is enough. My brother uses my account as well, and one time it occured that I couldn't watch because my brother and my girlfriend (who was travelling for business) were watching haha. But that's not enough to upgrade. We've finished watching Bron (The Bridge) season one yesterday. It's a Danish/Swedish crime series, and was well worth watching. I think there are also a UK and a US adaptation of it, but the original one is still rated highest. There is something in these Scandinavian crime series I really like. The acting is always a bit clumsy, weird even, as if they are struggling with emotions or something. But somehow they keep dragging me in. I can't put my finger on it what it is with this Scandinavian acting, but I also experienced it in the Swedish The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movies, and in the Finnish series Arctic Circle.

Day 22 - Favourite playable character Samus Aran from the Metroid series of course! Whether it is in 2D, 3D or in the Smash Bros. series, she is always a joy to play. Plus, she's a character with an interesting story, and I would love another Metroid Other M kind of game that gives her even more background and a voice.

Another bonus Splatfest is inbound, and after that 2 more are coming before the end of March 2021. It sounds like they are all reruns of previous Splatfests, with the next one being the chicken-or-egg one. And here I was thinking there was a solid possibility for Splatoon 3 in 2020.

Day 21: Game that takes you back to your childhood Getting Pokémon Blue marked the start of my love for the Pokémon franchise. And for a couple of years it was one of my biggest hobbies. I watched and discussed the anime with friends, I got a couple of trading card sets, and of course I played Pokémon Blue (and later Gold and Sapphire). Single player I poured hours in it, but also going to a friend with your Game Boy and link cable, or just playing next to each other leveling up your Pokémon. After Sapphire (the end of high school) playing Pokémon became more of a solitary thing, and I wasn't as obsessed with it as I was before. Even now I still follow the franchise but not as much as I used to. But during my childhood Pokémon was "my thing", and it definitely shaped my love for Nintendo, RPGs and gaming in general.