Dufniall

This is the only online place where I use Vileplume2000 as a user name and I kind of hate it because it just screams 1999 MSN messenger era. Plus I'm not that big of a Pokémon fan anymore. So I would like to change my username to Dufniall, the online name I use on all my other gaming outlets. Is that something you can help with @Ashley?

When I was still working in the office I had my half an hour drive home that helped me wind down from the working day. Put on a podcast or relaxing music, or some sing-along punk or heavy metal if I had frustrations. Now, working from home since the beginning of covid, I usually relax after work with a game of League of Legends Wild Rift on my phone, or with a Switch game. Sometimes cooking helps to de-stress, although sometimes it feels more like a burden so that depends on the mood. If I'm really worked up from work I go for an extra walk (I also walk during my lunch break).

I figured it was because it's 2022 now haha. But yeah, the Pokémon split sounds reasonable too.

My top 3 games of 2021 would be Monster Hunter Rise, Metroid Dread and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Monster Hunter Rise is an amazing instalment in the series, it improved in all the right places while keeping the good bits of the franchise. Especially the ease of playing online is a godsend. Metroid Dread is a great Metroid title, and although I've only played through it once, I still feel I got my money's worth from it. Finally, SM3DW+BF; it was the first time I got to experience 3D World and I enjoy the more level-structured approach it has. The game looks, sounds and plays so well. Bowser's Fury is a good addition and a nice experience and I enjoyed going through it. If I take games played in 2021 into account, three games stand out for me. On PC, I really enjoyed my time with Jurassic World Evolution. I actually played most of it in 2020, but I finished it in January. It's not the deepest sim game but the gameplay loop was addicting enough, plus dinosaurs. Immortals Fenyx Rising is a game I can recommend to any Switch owner as it can be picked up cheap quite often. The presentation is really done well, and although it doesn't play as fluently as BOTW, the gameplay is more than adequate, plus you have an amazing moveset you can use. I really enjoyed my time with this. And finally Dark Souls Remastered. I bought it at the end of 2018, played it for some hours but stalled. A couple of months later I started it again, and stalled again. This year I started it for a third time, and after hours of perseverance (and the help of a guide here and there), I finally finished it on January 1. I'll talk about it more in detail in the Gaming Diary thread, but finishing this was one of my highlights of 2021, and possibly ever.

Nintendo of Europe shared a list of the 22 most played titles on Switch in 2021: 1. Fortnite 2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3. Minecraft 4. Pokemon Sword 5. Pokemon Shield 6. Zelda: Breath of the Wild 7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 8. Rocket League 9. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 10. Super Mario Odyssey 11. FIFA 21 Legacy Edition 12. Pokemon Unite 13. Monster Hunter Rise 14. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe 15. Super Mario Party 16. Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu 17. Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee 18. Splatoon 2 19. FIFA 20 Legacy Edition 20. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury 21. Super Mario Maker 2 22. Luigi’s Mansion 3 Quite an interesting list. Seeing both FIFAs there (guess 22 arrived a bit too late to make the chart), Fortnite #1, Minecraft #3. Zelda still high in the chart. No Metroid, maybe it's too short of a game to make it in. Would have expected Monster Hunter to be higher as well. And Splatoon 2 is still being played apparently.

It's been a long time since I posted here, so an update is due. Next to the games here I've also finished Metroid Dread, a Axiom Verge randomizer run and I've been dabbling with Control on Stadia but I posted about that in the respective threads. I've further gotten back to and again stopped playing Animal Crossing, made some progress in Xenoblade Chronicles HD (I'm back to the point where I stalled on the Wii), and I'm making progress in Bioshock: Remastered. But let's get on to the games I've finished or played more recently: Dark Souls Remastered (Nintendo Switch) After getting stuck in the sewers somewhere last year, I kind of left the game for what it is. But this year the urge came back to finish it once and for all, and that's what I'm doing now. The game was my 3rd played game this year according to the stats, so it looks like I'm getting somewhere. To be more precise, I've acquired the Lordvessel and I've taken down Nito, so I'm slowly moving towards the end. This time I have used a guide for when I got stuck, and to be fair there were quite some times I needed it. But it also really helped me to understand the mechanisms. What stats to upgrade and which ones are useless for my build, how weapon upgrades work, what certain items do, how to get some optional sidequests et cetera et cetera. Without it I would have missed a lot, and would have progressed a lot slower I think. While the game does feel unfair at times, and sometimes you die because of weird mechanisms, I do enjoy the feeling of finally getting on top of the game instead of just struggling. Some bosses (like Nito) I took down on first try, while others took some tries but I did overcome them. On the one hand I don't want this game to end, on the other hand I'm glad when it is over. New Super Lucky's Tale (Nintendo Switch) I finished New Super Lucky's Tale somewhere early October, and it was a really fun game! Some of the dialogue is just cringe, but Lucky is a pretty charming character, plus the game has a lot to offer. There are 3D levels, 2D levels, boss fights, puzzles, auto-runner levels, so quite a good variety which means it doesn't get boring. The game is pretty easy so having that variety is a must. Lucky himself controls pretty good, something which can be tricky in 3D platformers. You have the standard moveset of jumping, a tail swipe and you can burrow, but I never felt I was losing control. The game does look decent on the Switch, although loading times are a tad long. If you're looking for a very easygoing, charming and varied 3D platformer, I'd definitely recommend it. Panzer Paladin (Nintendo Switch) A game I had my eye on since it launched, finally got a decent discount in the November sales. Panzer Paladin is a 2D platformer from a couple of old Ubisoft developers, with a couple of gimmicks. First, your weapons are breakable, meaning you have to micromanage them a bit, as you don't want to wind up at a boss with a weapon with short range for example. You can also choose to sacrifice your weapon, unleashing its magic. This can be a thunder attack, a healing spell, increasing the durability of the next weapon, and so on. The trick is to wear a weapon down to almost breaking, and then sacrificing it for its effect. The other gimmick is that you can get out of your paladin and go on foot as the android that controls it. She has limited health, but is small so can fit through smaller gaps and has a whip that lets you swing on hooks. There are usually a couple of moments in a level where you have to leave the paladin behind, some necessary and some for optional collectibles. For the rest, the game is pretty damn straight forward. Choose a level, go through it, and fight the boss. These boss fights are the highlight of the game. Some bosses are easy, some take a while to learn their patterns. They are based on mythological beings such as Medusa, Baba Yaga and Anubis and reward you with a good weapon drop at the end. The levels themselves are decent, not Mega Man quality but good enough, and ultimately are just a route to the boss encounter. The game does look fresh with its pixel graphics, and has a nice pumping soundtrack. Playing as a paladin has a nice mix of good moveability and feeling weighty as you are a big robot at the same time. If you are looking for a straightforward 2D retro platformer, this is a good mix between Zelda II, some Ducktales, some Castlevania, and some Mega Man. Mechstermination Force (Nintendo Switch) Also got this one in the November sale, as @Londragon was pretty enthusiastic about it. Mechstermination Force is a 2D boss battle game. The presentation is pretty basic, and the dialogue is nothing to write home about. But the game is fun, and I can imagine this being a fun co-op game to blast through in a day or two. I did play solo though. The game really is all boss battle. No levels to run through, you just go in and fight massive bosses. Usually this means breaking certain crucial parts to whittle it down. For example, you may need to blast off pieces of armour in order to cling onto it, so you can climb to the head. In between battles you can spend your earned cash to buy health upgrades or different weapons like a laser or spread gun. Those weapons remind me of Contra/Probotector, and the game does play as such as well. You run and gun and jump and climb. The controls feel a little bit on the floaty side. Some bosses are more impressive than others, but there is a nice variety in them. All in all not a must-play, but a fun game to pick up in a sale and play with a friend. I do like the boss fight style though, and wouldn't mind seeing this concept worked out Shadow Of The Colossus style (either in 2D or 3D) on the Switch.

Another massive eShop sale is live with 1900+ games on sale. No More Heroes 1 and 2 both 50% off. Bloodstained 60%. Steamworld Dig 2 70%. Just to name a few!

One of the worst Indie Worlds for me personally, few games appealed to me and a lot of games didn't really trigger my interest. It's good to see River City Girls is getting a sequel, although it looks to be more of the same and I have yet to play the first part. Dungeon Munchies slightly caught my eye because the mechanism looks kind of interesting. Endling looked great but the story and concept just feels to depressing, and I have a feeling they are going to milk that despair to the max in this game. Figment 2 makes me wonder if maybe I should pick up Figment in a big sale, although I wasn't that impressed with the trailer. Sea of Stars looks good, but I'm also not in the market for an RPG. All in all not a single game that I need to play ASAP, or even have to put on the wishlist, while usually there are at least 2 or 3.

After that supercute Voltorb reveal, they now come out with... this: Good way to kill the good Voltorb vibes.

Here is mine: And my handheld percentage was 87%. Curious to see that I put so many hours in Immortals, but it is a good game so actually not that surprising. Dark Souls at 30 hours and still not finished!

As always curious to see what they show. Sports Story, Silksong, Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, Fall Guys, Windjammers 2, River City Girls Zero are the "bigger" ones I can think of, some of them already confirmed to be delayed to 2022 though. Maybe Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon gets a bit more spotlight although it is out now already. But most fun comes from the new surprises.

There was a promotion on the Stadia Premiere Edition for around €20, so I figured let's grab one, mostly for the Chromecast Ultra that comes bundled. But I had to at least give Stadia a try before burning it to the ground, and... it actually works quite well! Aside from the discussion about owning games, if it's very sustainable to run stuff in the cloud and if you want to be tied to Google; it's a pretty solid experience. It came with a month of Stadia Pro so I tried to play Control first. It runs smooth both on TV at Full HD (haven't tried 4K as I don't have a 4K TV) and on my phone and my girlfriend's iPad. Only a slight stutter when coming from a pause menu. Also tried Avicii Invector, it being a rhythm game is a good way to test any input lag as Control is a relatively slow game. That also ran without an issue. Will try some multiplayer next to see how that holds up. It's a strange experience being able to run AAA titles on any device, and hopping from and to different devices. I can see Stadia fit in the line of Spotify, Netflix and other services: for people who see games as consumable media, and don't want to dish out big money for a console. Basically, with this Stadia deal and a sale on Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, it would effectively cost me €35 to play a 2021 AAA title on any screen I have available. Or I could go for the Stadia Pro subscription and I would get a monthly collection of bigger or smaller games for a tenner without having to own a Playstation, XBox, PC or Switch. Again, we are not the crowd for this as gaming is our passion and we want to have it, but for people who don't care about that and just want some cheap entertainment? This could work for them, the tech is in place. I wonder how long Google will keep supporting it though. Anyway, I'll just continue blasting through Control this month until the prescription runs out on my own DIY handheld.

The museum also has a copy of a letter regarding Microsoft's attempted acquisition of Nintendo:

Put some hours into this yesterday, and it's hard to put away! I had a couple of losses, one with the Inventor and twice with the Witch. I'm the exact opposite, liked what I saw with the Inventor (although it took a couple of enemies before I understood her mechanism). The Witch I'm having trouble with (and haven't finished a run with her yet) because I'm not doing massive damage and I lack healing as well. Will try again tonight! Putting the next bit into spoilers although I think it's pretty safe to read for everyone.

I played the first dungeon (six floors) over the weekend, and I liked what I saw so far! I like how you can upgrade moves at certain points in the game, and have a fairly limited "deck" you can use. I'm guessing when the game progresses and you know enemies weaknesses you will have to switch your moveset a bit more, but for dungeon 1 it was just a matter of completely annihilating everyone. With the abundance of languages I set mine to Dutch, it's kind of weird to play a game in Dutch but for now the translation seems solid.

Three Gen1 Pokémon?! Would never have expected that from you.

Okay, I'll break @drahkon's Ace Combat 7 streak... by talking about Ace Combat! I've played Ace Combat 2 on the original PlayStation dozens of times at a friend back in the days, and always loved it. The other game I played was Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy on the 3DS, and I really enjoyed that one as well. 3D worked proper in that game, and I just love a good dogfight. Thinking back flight games are a type of games I enjoy, but rarely play (I have the same with rhythm games). But stuff like Ace Combat, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, the outer space parts in Starlink and Starfox, all great. Ace Combat 7 has been on my Steam wishlist for a while, so I'm guessing next time it is on sale I'll go for it. How long did it take for you to get through the campaign @drahkon?

Haha yeah already saw the leaked cast earlier, but nice to see it confirmed. What a stupid cast, can't decide if I love it or hate it. Also bizarre to see that they went with the Shaggy the all-powerful meme at 1:56. They emphasize the voice cast but to me they all sound off, but maybe that's because most voices are based of the (more recent) cartoon series? The game looks very slow as well, and a bit cheap and clumsy, not as polished as for example the Nickelodeon one. All in all can't see myself putting any time in this but who knows. Edit: I do like how they put more focus on teamwork, something that is for example completely missing in the Smash Bros. movesets.

Got quite an interesting survey from Nintendo about Metroid Dread in the mail. It asks about other Metroid games you played, whether you prefer the 3D games or the 2D ones, and asks about other Metroidvanias you played like Shantae/Hollow Knight/Axiom Verge/Castlevania. Also asks about if you are going to replay the game and for what reason, about your favourite aspects and power-ups (one which spoils the very final upgrade, wonder if you als get that question if you say you haven't finished the game yet). Also this made me chuckle a bit. One option for reasons for buying Dread you could choose was "to fill up my time until Prime 4 arrives". They know. All in all seems like they perfectly know what the game is about, how people play it and what the "competition" in the genre is. Was surprised by the depth of the survey!

Since it is quite an old MacBook Pro you can probably open it up easily and install more RAM and/or an SSD to give it a little bit of a kick in speed. Processor is still old though, 10 years is quite old for a notebook. Windows on Mac, you can do it free (only need a Windows licence) with Boot Camp which is part of Mac OS. Windows 10 however has some age requirements: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201468 If you can install Windows on it with Boot Camp, you can choose when booting up whether you want to boot Windows or Mac OS. Don't have any experience with Linux on Mac.

Talking about Netflix movies with a big budget, I watched Red Notice last weekend. It stars Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson. I guess it's a mix between a heist movie like Ocean's 11 and an adventure film like National Treasure. Enjoyable for what it is, plenty of humour although it does get a bit cringe at times. It's okay as a Saturday night no nonsense action comedy, but don't expect anything too high quality, especially knowing they had a $200 million budget.

Big eShop sale incoming. I already see a nice discount for THPS1+2, for those who are interested in that one. The press release can be found on the frontpage!