Grazza

Out of interest, what was the Necromancer Meta?

The same thing. I do recall Iron Man's release though and was pleased with how visually accurate it was. There was all this talk about how it was leading towards an Avengers film with Thor, Captain America et al, and I remember thinking "I wonder if that will work...?"

Just a reminder that there is now a very enjoyable demo for this game.

Well, the thing that's causing all this strain at the moment is the Irish backstop. Norway Plus totally, utterly fixes that - no border, no backstop. I admit it is a very soft Brexit indeed, but I'd see it as similar to Scottish or Welsh devolution. We'd have full control over any laws that don't relate to trade, and we'd also be exempt from ever-closer union, which I'm sure is one of people's biggest concerns. If we'd pursued this all along, businesses would have been fully reassured. I don't think there are many countries who totally object to the EU, but some of us believe in an inner core and outer circle. Whichever option we choose, it should be one that keeps trade alignment between both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Norway Plus and Remain are the only two options that do that, and (in my opinion) the only two that should ever have been on the table.

I like him even more as time goes on. Derek was misunderstood genius, in my opinion, and David Brent: Life on the Road is the best TV-to-film adaptation I've ever seen. It's literally the only one that conveys exactly the same tone as the TV series. I'll look out for this one; thanks for the recommendation.

Well, that was a surprise. In every Etrian Odyssey (apart from V) there are post-game dragons. Beating them usually raises your level cap from 70 to 99.

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself, but I really think the hardest type of Brexit now reasonably likely is Jeremy Corbyn's "Customs Union but not Single Market" idea. Norway Plus is now the "medium" option, and Remain is always a possibility, perhaps via a referendum or just a revocation. You could put one of those choices (whichever one Parliament agrees is possible) to the people: Leave the EU but remain in Customs Union Remain or Leave the EU but remain in Single Market and Customs Union Remain Either way, I'm pretty relaxed about it now. Unless Theresa May tries to get her deal through a third time!

Well, that's a relief (for now). When there's a way to leave the EU without fracturing Britain and Ireland (Norway Plus), it doesn't seem logical to me that we'd choose another way. Theresa May's deal way pretty darn "medium" in my opinion - too hard for Remainers and too binding for Leavers. In principle, we could have had a hard Brexit and actually raised food and agricultural standards, as well as animal welfare, but the Hard Brexiteers were just trying to deregulate. I hope their plan is over now. Despite considering myself a lifelong right-winger, I will never trust the Economic Right again. I thought Jeremy Corbyn was the epitome of logic tonight in his speech.

After approx. 110 hours, I have finally finished the main game of Etrian Odyssey Nexus. It was quite a departure from the tried-and-tested formula. For one thing, I was surprised to find myself at level 99 just before I fought the final boss. In the first game, the level cap was 70 (which you could strengthen by Retiring), with EOII having a similar system (technically, you could get to 99, but it wasn't worth it). Ever since, 70 has been the level cap for the main game, with level 99 being possible to unlock afterwards. In this way, Etrian Odyssey Nexus reminds me of the first game, as the only way to strengthen my level 99 team now is to Retire and build them up again. Interestingly, the main game boss was easy to fight at this level, although it would be hard to get to without being 99. Structurally, Etrian Odyssey Nexus is quite indistinct. From a map screen, there are what I call "retro" levels - several floors celebrating classic EO - which are quite easy and enjoyable. There are also single-floor mini-dungeons, which are puzzle heavy and designed to sap your TP if you just muscle your way through them. Most of the new content is in the "Shrines", which are fairly tough in terms of combat, and also make you consider the environment a lot. There are times when you need to think about every step. Even after completing the game I couldn't tell you the exact ratio of Retro/Mini/Shrine levels, so it's not the best entry in the series for those who like the order of going up or down a single labyrinth. In terms of the smaller technical aspects, though, Nexus may be the best so far. Like EOV, blacksmithing, is confined to boosting your weapons by a +5 factor, compared to III and IV which allowed you to add all sorts of elements and status effects to them. However, unlike V, the best weapons are exempt from this. No more getting a conditional boss drop six times! Wisely, cooking has also been dropped. Best of all is the Force Boost/Break mechanism. EOI just allowed you to emphasise each character's action for one turn, which in hindsight was rather mean. EOII gave each character a unique move. For III and IV there was some variation of using one special move as a team (with V sharing moves between races). Nexus handles this brilliantly, with each character being able to Boost for three turns; at the end of the 3rd turn, you can choose to use your powerful, individual "Break" move (and forfeit your use of the Force gauge for the rest of the battle) or just wait until the gauge builds up again. All in all, Nexus is a very good, even great, entry in the EO series, but has some questionable game design choices. It has lots of fresh idea, many of which are too much of a departure for my liking, but mechanically-speaking it has been refined to perfection.

In all likelihood, Michael Jackson was a child molester. None of us knows for sure, but on the balance of probability, I'd say he was guilty. I grew up loving his music in the '80s and don't want to hate him at all, but I can't ignore my instinct. I remember being a young teenager in the early '90s when the first allegation was made. Although I wasn't quite sure what to think at the time, I did stop buying his music, even though I really liked some of the post-allegation stuff. Many made out Michael Jackson to be some sort of "Peter Pan" who never grew up. Whilst I can understand that, I still think you'd keep boundaries between yourself and children. What cemented my opinion was the Martin Bashir documentary of the early '00s. Seeing Jackson holding hands with a young boy made me think he saw them as lovers. As a small boy myself I played computer games with my friends and talked about films, but we didn't behave as though we were in relationships with each other. I very much got the impression of a superstar who, yes, helped many with his money, but also extracted a sordid price. Presumably he could not form relationships with other adults, and so got his kicks in other, sneaky ways. It's a dark subject and I hope I'm wrong, but as I say, few people alive actually know. I must admit I thought this would be a "Jimmy Savile" moment, where people finally feel they can see the (probable) truth about a star they genuinely loved (Jackson, not Saville), but I must say I am surprised to see how much support he is getting on social media and amongst my workmates. Which is fair enough - hopefully they're right and I'm wrong. But generally, I think this is about reverence. I've long thought that there is a human need to revere famous figures and ignore transgressions, both sexual and non-sexual. Apart from legal restrictions on what you can say, which is a factor, I often feel celebrities and authority figures have some sort of psychological hold on us. We need to feel that some amongst us are important, almost as though they have magic powers, and don't see the truth (a bit like The Emperor's New Clothes) until we feel we have been given permission to. Historically, we have been way too trusting towards Catholic priests, Rabbis, Scout leaders... Whilst I am the biggest advocate of civility and manners, perhaps we could do with a lot more irreverence.

Yeah, I can't really imagine the Russo Brothers making a mistake like that, as much as I've thought it in the past. If she could somehow weaken the Infinity Stones, and the Avengers then fight Thanos "normally", that would seem fair.

That would have been great - no more party members missing out on EXP!

I'd say an extension would be an excellent result if you want to Remain. Let's say the EU insists on a two-year extension, so as not to clash with the European Election (in which I would certainly want to participate if we're still in). Then, after five years, the legitimacy of the Leave vote would be much, much weaker than it once was.

The Russos haven't put a foot wrong yet - Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War - so I'm still looking forward to that however much I end up enjoying Captain Marvel. It's like how (in my opinion) Black Panther is better in Civil War and Infinity War than in his own film. Same with Spider-Man, even.

Yeah, should have phrased that better - I meant I've never feared it would happen. Not enough MPs are prepared to let it come to that. I think they would back an extension, soft Brexit or 2nd referendum if it really looked like we were crashing out.

I still think Theresa May's deal going through is the most likely outcome; not that I want it to, but have always had a nasty feeling it will. The EU has called for "acceptable" ideas by tomorrow, which ties in with what I saw predicted several weeks ago - that there will be a breakthrough on 8th March. My gut feeling is that the UK will compromise on the Customs Union, as that seems to be the area where Labour is willing to forge a softer Brexit. I'm by no means an expert on the ins-and-outs of it, but I believe that it would remove tariffs within it (so manufacturers could still move car parts etc freely) and also allow the EU to force the UK to place tariffs on external trade. I personally don't have a problem with that, and as I've indicated, it might not be a bad thing if it puts a halt to some of our planned trade deals. For what it's worth, I've never feared No Deal and still don't think there's any chance of it at all, but that's only my opinion. I would really like voters to get a choice between this Soft Brexit vs Remain, but I don't think that's going to happen, unfortunately. A couple of weeks ago there was talk of a clause that meant MPs would support the deal on the condition it was also put to the public, but I haven't seen much mention of it since.

True, although we've already had many of their biggest series. My hope is that Switch is now firmly established as Nintendo's "platform", and it gets built upon with a more powerful successor (not that I feel we need it right now). The best games might turn out to be Majora's Mask-like sequels to the software Nintendo has already created. The other thing is that it may receive a more handheld-like hardware revision and start to attract more handheld-specific games that would have gone to the 3DS a year or two ago. I certainly want somewhere to play my Atlus RPGs! I was also thinking this morning how good it would be for Nintendo to port their Zelda remasters - Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess - onto their new system. Either way, I'm really looking forward to Dragon Quest XI and Animal Crossing, so there's still time for the Switch to become an absolute classic.

The Switch is probably my favourite platform so far - versatile, well-supported and non-gimmicky. I've played more 100+ hour games on DS and 3DS, but that's just because they had Dragon Quest IX (900 hours on that one!), Animal Crossing and Etrian Odyssey, not to mention an incredible battery life. And sure, the PS2 and GameCube had games I loved more, but I'm always hopeful they'll be surpassed. The Switch is set up so that it could be better than anything before, and that's what I appreciate about it.

Just a note to mention my concern over food standards in relation to a US/UK trade deal. It seems people's worse suspicions have come true, in that Trump/America seeks to trample all over our regulations: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/01/us-seeks-greater-access-to-uk-food-markets-after-brexit-trade-deal This is one reason I favour Norway Plus, but Remain is certainly better than all other options when it comes to this. I ask that anyone who shares my concern considers signing the official petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/239898

To be fair it does have really awesome female figures in it. I can't believe Tecmo are the only ones interested in pursuing this fine art!

I could explain why the Japanese image is better, but it's sort of like how you can't explain a joke. I don't really care about supposed ages of characters. It's like the European version of Dead or Alive: Dimensions - the instruction manual (remember those days?) simply had ages removed for some of the characters; for Sweden's sake, if I recall correctly. I'm happy with that - it's clear they were meant to be fully-developed women. Japan just has different ideas of what an adult is, and a lot of people in the West read too much into that. But where images are altered or ruined is a different matter. This is art, to a great extent, and changing the visual side lessens it; it really is as simple as that. There is also the not inconsiderable factor that Nintendo of America's localisation team was particularly SJW at the time of these games in question, and some of us don't like other people's politics forced on us. If you don't like males appreciating female figures, fine, but don't try and change our games. Personally, though, I suspect there has been a compromise. Nintendo isn't so censorious these days, but at the same time I don't think their Japanese games will be so risqué in the first place. A case of "Nothing censored, but nothing to censor either".

It's funny when you think how negative a lot of people were about it at first, speaking like it would never get going. Personally, I genuinely loved it from the moment I turned it on, from the 3D thrills of Pilotwings to the luxury of an OOT remake. Fire Emblem: Awakening and Animal Crossing: New Leaf were truly excellent, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse was the perfect 2D platformer and Etrian Odyssey IV, V and Nexus have kept me occupied for hours and hours. The 3DS accompanied me everywhere I went throughout much of the 2010s, and in my opinion, there's never been a better handheld.

Massive respect to those seven MPs - Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey - who have quit the Labour Party. I thought Remainers would be really pleased. Sure, they may not succeed, but they are putting their country first in accordance with what they believe in.

Captain Rainbow - Mankini Edition!

The owl was magical. I remember playing this on my Game Boy in the '90s - it really was like going into a different world. Like you, I can't wait to see what extras are hidden away, and though this is my favourite, I'd like to see A Link to the Past remastered as well. Yes, I do think Four Swords GC is the best overhead style so far. I feel a hand-drawn update of that has the most potential.