Hero-of-Time

Disappointing but fair result against Man U. They played really well, whereas we were pretty flat.

That's what a few people are speculating.

Pics of the new joycon have leaked. If true, all those mock ups that have been surfacing over Christmas will probably be pretty close to the final model. Again, if these are real, Nintendo won't be happy that they've been leaked. To be fair though I have little sympathy for them. They've had ample time to announce this thing.

I've actually found the magic is pretty easy to level up. Primm's you can just spam on herself and then rest at an inn. For Popoi, I've just been hanging around the area I mentioned above, using magic to kill enemies and then resting to restore MP. The magic in the game is very OP for bosses. It's pretty much all I've used when tackling them.

I've been playing some more of Secret of Mana this morning. I unlocked traversal on the world map via Flammie the dragon. This has made grinding weapon levels so much easier. Seeing as the weapons level up based on kills, I decided to fly back to the starting area and farm kills there. There's a stretch of map here where there are around 20 enemies who I can one shot. Weapon levels are now flying up. Also, I was under the impression that you needed to land a hit to score some exp. This isn't the case at all. You get less than you would if you did land a hit but at least you get something. It means the AI is still getting some gains during this farming. I'm gonna hang around this area until everything is maxed out as far as it can go and then get back to the story.

No game needs trophies/achievements. I just prefer them when they do.

If I want the platinum, yeah it does.

Here's a nice article from Push Square that highlights some lesser known games heading to PS platforms this year. https://www.pushsquare.com/features/34-under-the-radar-ps5-games-to-watch-out-for-in-2025

I decided to have a crack at the free Hidden World DLC and was very glad I did. It's a much better experience than the actual main game. It offers 10 stages to play through but they are far more challenging than the main game. You also unlock another mode which makes each of the 10 stages even more difficulty. Kinda remind me of the K stages in Donkey Kong Country Returns. The developers were a bit lacking with the trophies though. The in game achievements for the DLC are plentiful but they clearly couldn't be bothered to convert them to trophies and just offered one for playing one of the stages and another for getting 100% on the DLC. Lazy bums. @drahkon did you have a go at it? I've still been making my way through Secret of Mana and came across this fella today. Never in a million years did I expect to be fighting Santa. Given the rest of the game, it kinda adds up. It's very quirky. I mean, I have no idea what this guy is doing but just look at him go! The game is very much made for people who don't mind grinding. Every time you get a new weapon upgrade or a new spell then you have to spend a fair amount of time using them on enemies in order to level them up. This needs to be done with all 3 characters and so it can turn into a bit of a slog. If it's even wearing me down then you know the grinding that's needed is a little excessive.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was finding with them. Prices are a little higher than other places but stuff that is out of stock elsewhere they seem to have. Certainly one to keep in my mind.

Glad you enjoyed Sayonara Wild Hearts. I love that game. I played it a few years back and enjoyed playing it but the game and my enjoyment was elevated even further when going for the platinum/gold times. As you mentioned, the OST is awesome and I often listen to it at work.

Yeah, that's the site/shop I was looking on over at eBay. I was checking it out the other day as well when comtemplating picking up Power Rangers Year One.

Nah. That's Year Zero, which is a prequel and widely available.Thanks for checking though.

Yeah. It's very much like Mega Man, Shovel Knight and Duck Tales.

Injustice Year Five arrived today and just finished reading it. I thought this final volume would wrap everything up. Nope. The next set of events are what occurs in the first game. I thought they would be covered here but they weren't and instead they were released as Injustice: Ground Zero comics. Two TPBs were released that pulled all of the comics together but they seem to be hard to get a hold of, especially the second volume. Neither are available on Amazon. It's stuff like this why I backed away from the comic book scene. Sigh.

I honestly can't remember. I had a quick look at my trophies and it only took a couple of days to platinum and so I can't imagine the collectibles being much of an issue. Just remember that you can power up Bat Boy. This is something I didn't realise early on and it made the game harder than it needed to be.

Yeah, I'm the same. I used to rate the first film very highly but after you know what it is they are dealing with, the film loses a lot of its appeal and I just end up feeling bored every time I've watched it again. The only issue I have with Resurrection is the design of the alien at the end. Other than that, I find it quite enjoyable and I love the banter between all the crew members. Ron Pearlman really hams it up and shines in this movie.

Both are great although Astalon is much more of a time sink, what with it being a Metroidvania type of game. Out of the two I think Bat Boy is the better game. It's a much breezier experience.

Yeah, Blasto was pretty much made for those fights. I tried fighting them normally but once they started unleashing 4 at a time on you, as well as casting omniheal, I just reverted to the Blasto spell. Awful dungeon and boss fights.

Haha. I was just saying that to a lad at work yesterday. That whole scene is amazing.

Yesterday evening, I reached the end of my Injustice collection and completely forgot that I've not got the final book yet. Slapped an order in at Amazon and it should be with me over the weekend. It will be nice to finally finish the story after all these years. Really loved reading it again. There are so many twists and turns and I love just how off the rails Superman becomes the further you get into the story. It's a shame the Injustice 2 TPBs seem to be out of print as I wouldn't mind reading those. I see there is an omnibus edition coming out this year and so I may look into getting that.

This picture upsets me in so many ways. I'm glad you sorted it out. Hilarious how this ended up being one of the first games we all finished this year. I don't think anyone enjoyed the new post game dungeon, what with it's stupid job restrictions.

I've settled on my 2025 Gaming Pledge games. It's quite an ambitious list as a lot of these games are quite lengthy. I'll be happy to get through half of them. Dragon Quest Heroes II - After finishing DQ3, I still have the itch for a Dragon Quest game. I adored the first game but never got around to playing the sequel. Now is the time. Dragon's Crown Pro - This is one I started YEARS ago on my Vita. I think I only played an hour or so on it. Grandia HD Collection - I've never played Grandia from start to finish. I dabbled with it a few years back and played the opening segment but that was it. Judgment - This is another one that I started but never finished. I dropped it after get a bit sick of the tailing missions. This is one where I will need to pick up from my old save. I went through the hassle of beating the Puyo Puyo challenges and there's no way I'm going through that hell again! Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Julius playing through the Resident Evil Remake got me thinking how I have never played through this game. I think it's the only mainline Resi game that I have never played. Possibly keep this one for October time. Secret of Mana - This is a game I have tried many times to get into. I'm always put off by the battle system. I fired it up on the PS4 yesterday evening (first time playing this version) and played a little bit of it and have started to get to grips with the systems. Plenty of grinding has been done so far. Tales of Vesperia - Another one that has been on the backlog for years. It requires multiple playthroughs and so I've always put off starting it until I had more time. Trails from Zero - This is my one PlayStation pledge that was left over from last year. I'll attempt it again this year. Wild Arms 2 - Love the first game in the series but I've got around to playing the second. It was never released in this country during the PS1 days and so I never got to play it back in the day. Okami HD - The announcement of the sequel got me thinking how I've had this sat in my backlog but have yet to play the thing. I actually also owned it on the Wii but never played it on that either. As for other gaming goals, I've been thinking more and more about getting rid of some of my older games. I have a bunch of retro games sitting on the shelf that has now been re-released. Things like Pikmin 1 and 2, Baten Kaitos and Metroid Prime all have newer versions, the NSO takes care on my N64 needs and PS+ Classics has started to build up a healthy collection of games. In 2024 I played a couple of Gamecube games that I hadn't touched in 20 years. It was fun playing them again but if I wait another 20 years before playing them again I'll be in my 60's...or even dead. Plus, I do enjoy the QoL features that the modern releases offer, such as save states and rewind. I started getting rid of some of my Dreamcast stuff last year and this year it may be time to start thinning out the old Nintendo collection. I have an attachment to them so it's going to be hard to do but I imagine once I sell the first few games the process will be easier. A lot of my N64 collection is worth quite a bit so I should at least make some decent cash from it all.

Now that I'm back at work, I can now go through my Excel sheet and crunch the numbers. In 2024 I played and completed... 61 PS4 games 54 PS5 games 31 Switch games 2 Gamecube games 1 DS game 1 PS1 game One thing I wanted to do this year was start taking advantage of games on PS+ and NSO. I have both of these services and it's pointless having them if I'm not going to play any of the games that are on offer. This being the case I ended up with... 48 PS+ games being played 13 NSO games being played Another thing I wanted to do was avoid paying full price for games on the PlayStation. The price of a lot of new releases on the PS5/PS4 is just ridiculous. I actually managed to pull this off. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was bought with vouchers that I saved after Christmas and Astro Bot was bought with Nectar points that I had saved up. Every other 2024 release I bought when on sale. Nintendo games were still bought at launch due to them never really dropping in price and with them being still being a reasonable £40. I did end up still buying a lot of games... 62 games were bought this year 46 of these were finished Not a bad going. A lot of the ones I didn't finish were games I picked because they were on sale but never got around to actually starting. As for my 2024 pledges... I didn't finish them all but did knock out... The Outer Wilds Nioh 2 The last Guardian Ys IX Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Splatoon 2 + DLC I started the other 3 games ( Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Astral Chain and Trails of Zero ) but ended up dropping them. Astral Chain and TMS I have tried multiple times now to get through but I just can't do it. Trails of Zero I got a few hours in but dropped it. I need a big chunk of time to get through that one as it will require a bit of planning and multiple playthroughs.

I just assumed @Dcubedwas going with this option.