Hero-of-Time

The move in question is still pretty OP and can still wreck enemies. They just scaled it back a little. I kept cancelling the update as I didn't want it nerfed. I've still yet to update the game.

Crazy. I paid £39.99 on Amazon. I think they jacked up the price though once stock got low. It's £42.99 at Argos if you can find stock.

Who are you using in your party, @RedShell Mine wasn't really set in stone and I kept chopping and changing depending on what the situation called for. However, once I prepped Maelle to be an absolute beast, the other two party members didn't really matter. 😛 That's very true and I think that's why the game has been as successful as it has been. Plus, I think the more realistic aesthetics, rather than an anime look, have helped give the game more appeal to a wider audience. Have you fought many of the Mime enemies? I thought those battles were hilarious, mainly due to the very French theme that plays during the battle.

I loved Doshin the Giant. It's a bit rough around the edges and clunky to control but it was such a chill game to play. When I traded my copy in at CEX they had to test it due to it being over the price threshold and the lad who had to play it was like "What the hell is this?" Clearly the game didn't have mass market appeal.

Yeah, this was something very special. Fantastic set of characters, gripping narrative, phenomenal soundtrack, amazing voice acting and a awesome battle system. If I had to criticise anything it would be that the game could do with a mini map when in dungeons and the world map. Other than that... What's crazy about all of this is how such a game has been created. It was done by a very small team and for many of them it was their first job in the industry. It's a prime example of what can be achieved when a development team are allowed to create what their vision is, without the focus testing and interference from big publishers. These are the kinds of games that are needed more than ever in this industry, which IMO, has become very stale. I'm thrilled that the game didn't get buried and has found success, both critically and financially. It's funny when you look at what the game was released with. The Oblivion remaster was dropped alongside this and yet this is the game that is on people's minds. Oblivion may have sold more but look at the state of the thing. Again, it's a good comparison between a game that has been created with care by a small team and one that has been pushed out the door for a quick buck by a large publisher. The battle system in the game is something very special. Every character brings something unique to the table and I had a blast with playing around with different abilities and team selections. The creative director of the game has said that FFVIII is his favourite Final Fantasy game (a man of good taste and Ben Starr must have loved him) and this kinda comes through in a few places. The Expedition uniforms are very SeeD like, one of the later bosses reminds me very much of a FFVIII boss fight, and the battle system in this game can be busted wide open early on, just like FFVIII. Due to the amount of customisable load outs, you can decimate enemies. I took on the game's super boss with a single character and killed it in a single hit. I wasn't even max level at that point but the game rewards you for smart use of ability stacking. @Glen-i you would love it. The game feels very much like a PS1 era JRPG but with modern designs. The game has 3 acts and each of them end as if the disc is finished and the next needs to be inserted. I loved this feeling when playing those games as a teenager and this game recaptures that feeling at the end of each act. The third act certainly feels like the final disc of FFVII or FFVIII, where all that's left in the main story is to take on the end boss but the whole world is open for you to explore. You end up losing yourself hours upon end in side quests, super bosses and general exploration. Like I used to do on those games, I made sure to do everything and reach the max level, before taking on the final boss. I won't go into the narrative but all I will say is that it gripped me from start to finish. The English VA cast done an amazing job and really brought the characters and story to life. It's another example of good VAs really elevating a game to another level. Usually in JRPGs I can't be bothered with reading logs or listening to random dialogue but that wasn't the case here. I was listening to every conversation by the fire at the campsite and reading every log that I came across. I was so engrossed in the world. Once in a while a game like this comes along and reminds me why I love gaming. These experiences seem few and far between these days but this has been a light in what has been a very dark year for the majority of the industry. What made this even better was how it just kinda came out of nowhere. What a marvelous surprise it has been. If you have any love for the RPG genre then you owe it to yourself to play this game.

More thoughts on it will come tomorrow. All I can say at the moment is this is one of the best games I've played in a long time.

Indeed...

Microsoft's handling of their physical releases is just ridiculous. Indiana Jones was the same. Like, whats the point of even release the game physically when there is sod all on the disc? No doubt Gears of War will be the same.

*adds to 2025 Gaming Pledge list* Nah, I've not played any of them. I think I have all 3 though in my PS+ library.

I wasn't paying attention to this release but seeing people say that this trailer made the game look like Uncharted made me give it a watch. Yeah, I'll be keeping my eye on this one.

Releasing on all platforms this Summer. New trailer.

Halfway there! I've started playing around with the different skills and bonuses each character can use. You can get equipment that has a skill attached to it. After so many battles, this skill becomes usable for all members of the party and without needing to equip the item. The skills can mixed and matched with some truly fantastic results. At the moment I've got ones set up so that my characters get first go and have enough points to unleash their most powerful moves in their first turn. I imagine there are some crazy broken builds out there.

I think being part of N-E helps with this. We are a very small community, with most members having partners and kids to support. This means time and money needs to go elsewhere and as such gaming takes a back seat. Sure, we can still discuss new releases but very few of us now get things on day 1 and get sucked into the hype, which in turn stops others from getting sucked in because there is no conversation. You look at somewhere like Resetera and a lot of people get a sense of FOMO and buy a game just to be part of the conversation rather than actually wanting to play it. They are desperate to be part of the zeitgeist. I think one of the best threads we have on here is the Gaming Diary thread. People on here are playing all kinds of games from different generations and it always makes for a great read.

Loved the first one but I'm not paying £70 for the sequel. I do have a £40 Amazon voucher that I have kept from Christmas that I potentially could use on this but probably won't. I've actually toyed with the idea of playing through the PS5 version of the game. I've not played the original since it's release and there is another platinum to be earned. It will refresh my mind on the narrative and by the time I get through it, the sequel will probably have come down in price.

Yeah, this very much mirrors myself. I always jumped on games day 1 that I had an interest in but a lot of the time I never really got around to playing them. It's why I have a decent sized backlog. A couple of years ago I started tracking my gaming purchases and then made an effort to keep on top of them by marking them off an excel chart. As for buying games on release day in recent times, again, I'm a bit like you. Both Final Fantasy Rebirth and Astrobot were bought on day 1 but Final Fantasy was done with an Amazon voucher I got for Christmas and Astrobot was bought with Nectar points I had saved up. I've yet to buy any game at full price since all of these price increases occurred.