Sheikah

Nah, Dark Souls is all about sharing information. You've never seen a message on the floor saying "beware mimicry" or "attack chest" bruh?

Hey, no problem. Always nice to revisit my memories of this game. Ahh, the original Dark Souls. My key tip for this one is to pick pyromancy to begin with, and upgrade your pyromancy glove as much as possible and up your attunement some to carry more/better pyromancy spells. Pyromancy is god tier in the first game, what with the damage output being linked to the + value of your glove and no other stat (so no need to spec for it), and getting charges every time you rest (rather than pyromancy being drained by your mana bar). With regards to stats, I say pump strength up to 40 and equally level vitality to begin with. There is a softcap somewhere there but you will see big gains by doing this initially ahead of anything else. When you get to a room in The Depths filled with barrels, roll around to destroy them to reveal a pyromancer seller NPC. Don't attack the barrels with a weapon as you can aggro the NPC! Give one tap with a weapon to each chest to check if they're a mimic. Don't destroy the chests as you'll only find rubbish inside. Generally speaking, work to find a shortcut back the beginning/bonfire before going into boss fog gates, since you'll probably die first time fighting a boss. Oh and a great tip - in the Undead Parish, load up on arrows and give yourself a little dex (if needed to use the bow), then stand to the right of the bridge to shoot the tail off the red drake without getting hit. You get the Drake sword which is great up until mid-late game.

Tora keeps the attacks on him when you aggro too much as Rex, and Nia heals you. I have had literally no problem breezing through most encounters so far this way.

I'm really bad for that too, I think they don't make it easy for you to swap characters either. The starter 3 work well in attack/defense/healer roles and you can only have 3 characters in your active party so it feels so much easier to stick with them. Weirdly though the additional characters that join seem to be a much higher level, maybe they do that to encourage you to switch out?

This looks really cool, impossible to watch that video without a smile on your face.

I've been playing this game an awful lot, really enjoy it. Such a great game after the disappointing XCX, never understood why they ruined the typical story structure format in the previous game. I've already clocked over 110 hours and don't seem to be that far (most characters around L50). What a game!

Resi 5 is good, get that one. Resi 6 is not.

I think he meant more the bump in sales rather than overall sales was disappointing.

Also, P4 is one of the best games ever, while Catherine is a genuine scream fest.

Ah man, you got him there.

I don't think backwards compatibility in this instance is doing much at all for Microsoft - as I've said before, it's something people go on about wanting but it actually impacts very little at the end of the day. Most people don't buy new consoles with a strong desire to play their old games on it (especially when they still own the old console). PS4 was less backwards compatible than X1 and Wii U but that didn't hurt it a bit. Where it could be important is if BC is in place at the start of the next refresh, meaning that there could be more of a "Pro" upgrade each time (as in, only the console 2 refreshes ago loses support running the latest games).

I think as well we have seen Zelda, 3D Mario, Mario Kart and Splatoon in these few months as a big factor. Great sales now but I wonder how Nintendo will keep momentum going at the same level over say 7 years.

I watched it live and I found it really entertaining. Detroit Become Human was particularly awesome I thought, really made me want to buy the game!

Yeah Bravely Default was an utterly generic experience, even if the battle system was quite finely tuned. I remember playing it in utter disbelief how far narrative standards and level design had fallen in the 10 or so years since Final Fantasy IX. I would love if PS1 era FF-style RPGs returned to Switch in true form.

It's a good win for the Switch but I can't deny that I feel nothing for this series. Have 1 and 2 on Wii U but just couldn't get into the series at all.

It's not even a particularly good game. This is coming from a massive BK fan too.

Well did you ever do trials? Because that's what I'm talking about. D2 is teamshooting and primary weapons...it gets boring really quick.

Nearly everyone did when it came out. Destiny 2 is absolutely lacking in one key area though - PvP. No matter what small changes they make, I can't see this becoming fun. For anyone wanting a piece of entertainment from the days of D1 Trials, here's that fun vid where we played an insane Top 200 player:

Yup, this basically sums up the problem - there's no permanence to Nintendo's display name system. Well, except permanent friend codes, but nobody remembers people by them.

I think it's annoying for about 2 minutes then gives me the freedom to change my Switch username whenever I like. Both the name that appears to my friends, AND the tag that appears online to everyone. But you have the freedom to change your display name on PS4 too. You just get to choose who sees that display name - choice is a good thing, no? Honestly, the way Switch does this is a bit of a mess. If someone changes their display name on my Switch, which has happened, I have literally no clue who they are. It's kinda mad that there is no permanent handle for people for you to refer to. I have genuinely been searching friend codes in google to be linked to N-Europe to see who some of the people on my list are. Not that it matters much mind, what with the Switch's innate lack of a messaging system.

And you can change the name that appears to people on PSN - and your profile picture. Don't know why we are still talking about this. You choose who sees that name, sure, but that's a good thing. If I choose to use my real name (as many do on Switch), I'd also like to choose who sees that. Out of interest, what is your opinion on the friend code being arbitrary and something you most likely will need to look up to share with someone, versus a handle? It feels like you are avoiding certain inadequacies to make a point here.

Yup, exactly the same as the Switch with its friend code. Not that it would even matter if you could (or can) change your friend code, as it'd still be arbitrary.

That's fine that you disagree, but at least provide some explanation as I literally countered every point you put out. You most definitely can change the name that will appear to others. And you can also set your own photo or picture that friends see on your profile, rather than the PSN avatar. I also fail to see how (*checks Switch friend code*) "5442-9012-6148" (my friend code) is better than "Meltigemini" (something I didn't have to look up). In order to befriend someone on Switch, at least one of you is going to have to look your friend code up, because it's just arbitrary. Not so on PSN.

PS4 has Switch beat on this one. If you had a choice between a unique and arbitrary long number or unique words and numbers of your choosing, you'd definitely pick the latter. On the PS4 you can set and change your name just the same, and make it so that appears as your main name with your tag also appearing beneath it. This includes a surname, if you want. On the Switch, at a glance you basically see people's chosen first name (e.g. when they log in), which is quite annoying as my list is full of people called Chris and Matt who I have no idea who they are. It's also difficult to remember people's individual friend codes so looking at them doesn't help you much. I could look at my friend list on Switch full of N-Europers and quite honestly I wouldn't be able to tel you who all of them are.

My game of the year is Breath of the Wild by a considerable margin.