Dufniall

My copy is gone. The single player is a bit of a joke, and I don't have the time to polish my skills to keep going at this competitive online. The ranking system isn't that great so you still get slaughtered a lot online. Playing for a Club is fun for a while but the way the results are based (instead of number of wins it is who gets the most points, so having a full team who plays a lot racks up more points, even if you lose a lot). The rewards you get are low, and there hasn't been any quirky seasons except for maybe an only bombs as item one. We did have a pretty cool competition with some guys on Discord but there's no way to organize it in-game. I can't believe how barebones the whole online service is. The free DLC added more characters that could have easily have been unlockables. It's a shame, I wanted to give this a proper chance and try my skills, but there just is no incentive to keep going. I traded it in and got myself Age of Calamity, already had more fun with that than with Strikers!

It took me 12 years but I've finally finished Xenoblade Chronicles! I started this on the Wii, but stranded about halfway. Now, on the Switch the credits rolled on this game's Definitive Edition. It sure has been a ride. First of all the Definitive Edition definitely helped. I remember playing this on the Wii and an old (well it wasn't that old back then ) CRT TV and I could barely read the text. Got a bigger TV later which helped but still I never finished it. The updated graphics, QoL and better readable texts at least made the game a lot more playable. Also the mobility of the Switch meant I could play in handheld. The non-spoiler verdict: I hate it and I love it. The setting is awesome, the story engaging when it kicks off in the beginning and near the end. Some environments really stand out, and the music is epic as well. But, the combat is not my cup of tea. Even with the cast of 7 characters, it all felt very repetitive for me. You don't learn that many new moves, and I feel like they didn't impact my playstyle. With Shulk it was always the same tactic of positioning for side and back attacks, and do Topple chains. With Melia it's a matter of mashing Summon arts and Elemental Discharge. Tried the rest as well but wasn't convinced playing as them. Battles got tedious, and what saved them in the end was turning on Casual mode so the normal battles at least went fast. Turned it off for the Boss battles. I know it's an RPG, but there are too many mechanics that in the end didn't really feel they mattered. Gems, I just made sure my slots were filled without paying too much attention to them. Hardly used the crafting. Arts, just kept them levelled up without changing them a lot, just picking the ones I felt were okay. Skill trees, made sure they were filled in without too much attention to what they do. Affinity: takes an age to increase, or use the collectables but that's trial and error and didn't put in the effort. So I missed almost every heart-to-heart. Pacing, the game starts fast but really slogs in the middle, and at the end it suddenly goes all out with twist after twist, and I had at least 3 moments where I thought this is it, but no, another plot twist! It was an epic ending though, have to give them that. Sidequests are pretty dull as well, it's either beat these enemies or go find these collectables. Rewards are not that great except for the XP. A long list of negatives, but luckily the story, music, world building make up for a lot of this. Still, it does make me hesitant to start XC2 or 3. Definitely not in the mood to do so right away. Now, spoiler time!

If you're looking to gamify your playing, I did have a lot of fun playing Rocksmith Remastered. It often is on sale on Steam and it's basically Guitar Hero but with a real guitar. The other thing you need is a cable, the official Rocksmith Real Tone cable goes for around €25 and is basically a USB to jack cable. You can in fact use this cable as well in software such as Guitar Rig that @Fierce_LiNk mentioned. It does take some faffing around with drivers to get it working but there are plenty of sites explaining it. Alternatively you can indeed go the DI route. I don't know about the M-Audio, but I have the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 2. Below post explains what it does and what software comes with it. I also got a free upgrade to Guitar Rig 6. I think next to the quality of the interface device, software is the most important aspect. Luckily, as Fierce mentioned, there are enough free options to get you going. Guitar Rig is a great one, and I'm not sure if you are on Mac/iPad and if Garage Band is still a thing. If you want to record, I'm sure there are free options there as well, and chances are the M-Audio comes with a piece of software for that. This is something I have to look into myself. I use Ableton Live Lite but haven't figured out how to use Guitar Rig in it for the effects recording. Should be possible though. And another bit of good news: since all the Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, we've finally had some gigs with the band. Played 2 shows with another one coming up this Saturday. Joy!

Another awesome one, new album is going to be lit! After the lighter Simulation Theory it's good to hear they are going heavy again on this record! I've been having a blast listening and watching fragments from the South Park 25th Anniversary Concert. I haven't followed the show for years, but this concert is something else. First of all seeing some classic songs being performed live with a band, it also shows the musicality of Matt and Trey. Plus, love the dedication of the background singers. And of course the South Park theme, done by Les Claypool and Primus: And then there is this moment. The two remaining members of Rush take the stage, to play a song with Matt on drums. This is special for so many reasons. First of all I think it's the first time Rush performs after their drummer passed away. Second, Matt is clearly a big fan and playing together with them is a big deal for him. Third, both Primus (who are also big Rush fans but also a respectable band on their own) and Rush and the South Park guys, all on one stage performing a Rush classic, it's the musical equivalent of stars aligning!

I'm curious what they're gonna show, as 30 minutes sounds pretty substantial. are they going to introduce this for potential new players and go over the basics? Or hardcore show a lot of new stuff that justifies a Splatoon 3? Either way excited, after the Splatfests stopped I traded in Splatoon 2 so I'm happy to get back into the Splatgame with #3!

They're already starting to experiment with a console, although not with a platform of their own but definitely testing the waters here. In collaboration with Logitech they are working on a streaming device for stuff like GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming: https://www.pcgamer.com/logitech-g-tencent-cloud-gaming-device/

Yeah I also got a Fall Guys vibe from it! Anyway great night, and I love the new tracks. A better pack than wave 1. Some highlights:

I know! But I'll keep my mouth shut. See you tonight! Edit: or just check the MK8 thread

It was a bit silly for them to voice the teacher in the trailer, with a notice that the game won't be voiced. Still one of my biggest disappointments in Arceus was the lack of voice acting.

Get the other version, that one drives on its wheels.

Not much new here. First bit is about the Championship in London. Then 3 mobile games, GO, Unite and Café update. After that a Scarlet/Violet update. Unfortunately nothing new was announced.

Yeah there must be at least some kind of pay-off as they have been doing it since Mario Tennis Aces. But still you wonder what that pay-off is. They already sold their game so why go for this route? Unless it also means a boost in sales again whenever some free content drops. They always get attention on YouTube or Twitter so I guess it's a good hook for the marketing team.

It's a bit annoying how they are marketing this as a free update, as if they're throwing us a bone. While basically they are adding features that should have been in the game in the first place.

This is accurate. They started the site Nintendo-Review with a podcast, and that's when the Discord came about as well. Later on that site died and the podcast changed to be the N-Europe podcast, but the Nintendo-Review Discord is still there and has a bunch of (ex)N-E forum members. But officially it has nothing to do with N-E. There is also an N-Europe Discord but as said, that is mostly used as voice channel for Mario Kart/Smash nights and setting up Monster Hunter parties. Doesn't take conversation away from this place. I also think that Discord is not a replacement for a forum, for the obvious reasons such as structure and it's not friendly for long posts. However, for me at the moment it's a great place to hang out. Where the forum is more like this: Discord is kind of: And I have more need for a chatty bar then a forum. First of all because, like said, the forum activity is low. Add to that that there was a time when people were pretty condescending, and not everyone's opinion was respected (it's better again luckily). Second, the few times I made a long post (in for example the Gaming Diary thread), you get one or two thumbs up and that's it. Third, one reason I was active on the forum was because I was also active on the main site, but unfortunately that is low on activity as well, as we don't get any reviews and none of the staff bar Sam is posting news. I've started writing for a Dutch Nintendo outlet and I feel my time is better spent posting news articles and reviews there then being active here on the forums. Because final point, since I had a baby in the beginning of this year my time has been severely limited as well, and the time I have I spend gaming or writing on another website. The Discord is a great place to low-key have gaming banter without the need of having to make long posts or read long posts. Yes, it is unstructured and mostly just Nekunando and Markderoos screaming for Wave Race But it is cosy, it is low-key and there are some fun things going on like a Strikers club and League.

Apparently Persona 5 R is getting a physical release according to the Atlus site. Don't know about the other ones.

Thanks to festivals doing proper livestreams there is a ton of live material out there, including this proshot show from their gig at Tempelhof Sounds: Behold, the Power Glove lives @53:00 I've been enjoying a lot of the Hellfest Content on that channel, plus saw some streams from Graspop and Pinkpop over the weekend.

Hyper Strikes and items can be turned off I believe, so it should be possible!

Yes! Still no release date though.

I don't know how much storage you have, but it's somewhere between 8-9GB. Of course you can always archive it after playing it.

Excited about this one! I loved the cartoon and NES game. It being a Kickstarter probably means it will be a long time before we see it released though.

In other news, Nintendo has stated they won't be present at Gamescom. Instead they'll focus on smaller events throughout Germany. Big loss for Gamescom, plus I'm not sure if it is a right decision from Nintendo to miss out on the same exposure usually brings, being the biggest physica gaming event in Europe.

Speculations are going all over the place already. First of all looks like Koraidon is a chopper-style motorcycle (like Glen said) and Miraidon some kind of jet/spaceship. I wonder if you can ride them? Professor Sada, based on Pasada = past Professor Turo, based on Futuro = future Koraidon, korai is Japanese for past Miraidon, mirai is Japanese for future The scarlet logo is old and the violet logo futuristic. So time/time travel seems to be a theme here.

Looks like it's "truly open world" as well:

And chonky it is! Anyway, official website has been updated: https://scarletviolet.pokemon.com/en-us/pokemon/ Revealing the names for the cover Pokémon, chubby Pikachu, Lechonk and the wannabe-Budew.