darksnowman

I know one thing: Ys and good music go together like bangers and mash. I'd love to tap out the high tempo tunes from these games in Theatrhythm. Any Christmas remixes like was shared for Ys VIII? Did you like that Adol in disguise looks like Lord Ike? Still getting to grips with everything that's at my disposal in Balduq, so I forgot one of my people in the Dandelion hideout functions as a catchall shop for every shop I've been to. Mega handy. I think that means I only need to keep up with a handful of people outside the hideout—the landmarks guy, the petal girl, the back alley dealer, and go for frequent baths to give everyone a little HP boost. I suppose the doctor too to refill my jars but I've a feeling I might get a doctor of my own at some point. I want more jars. I'm enjoying getting a gang together at the hideout and it's fun when you see them out and about running their errands. Makes it feel like they aren't holed up at the Dandelion all the time waiting for me to sprint in. I was upgrading my weapons until I realised you can buy new swords and stuff. Still in Ys VIII mode. Not sure now what the best path to follow is: aim to upgrade something to the max or just buy new? I'll just go by the numbers at any given time (and if I have the materials to upgrade versus the money to buy new) but it's a bit of a headscratcher for now because I'm not sure if the benefits of upgrading would be preferable in the long-term. "Web slinging", wall running and gliding around the city is fun in and of itself. No complaints from me.

Good to know. Was wondering if there'd be more quests to go for. Kind of wish you could mix and match yourself a DLC bundle because I sort of just want the rest of the FF tunes + TWEWY and Chrono Trigger.

I was toying with getting some DLC for this since it was on sale recently. Wondering if FF XVI gets its own slot in Series Quests mode or are the tracks just dropped into Music Series?

The gameplay and gothic theme has hooked me in so I'm perfectly happy to explore the Prison City of Balduq, meet citizens, and complete quests on my way to clearing Adol's name in this debacle, but I'd be lying if I said the story hasn't got me intrigued. Going to be interesting to see how it plays out. There was a conversation with Dogi where one of the answers was something along the lines of "Like on the Isle of Seiren" (the Ys VIII location) which was like it read my mind because I was thinking what he was describing was just like the raid battles in Ys VIII. I'm wary of pushing things forward from one chapter to the next in case I miss something so it's great to have a slew of map icons to keep me right... fingers crossed. There's a lot of shops so I hope I'm not expected to check them all every chapter—be good if their wares accumulate for me to happen upon later. It feels like some buttons have been swapped around from VIII but I'm trying to get used to it instead of resorting to remapping the controls in the menu. Because of the Lady Ann voiceover crossover with P5R, I keep viewing the main characters in terms of who their Persona 5 analogue would be. Interrogator = interrogator, White Cat = Morgana, Hawk = (Hawk from Cobra Kai) Ryuji, Doll = Haru, Chante = Leblanc with a sprinkle of Sylvando from DQ XI. Picking and choosing when to view Ys IX as its own thing or with this external baggage certainly adds another layer to it.

128 x 750 or 800 is going to be a lot of Marios.

Unfortunate as that's quite possibly the high point of the film you're snoozing through every time. The "this is podracing!" line towards the end will be lost on you. Against my better judgement, I went to see the Phantom Menace again last weekend. First time since it last did the rounds in 3D. Oh well. Holds it's own in the context of the latest trilogy but that's a low bar if ever there was one. Thought the acolytes was another CGI-fest so for it to be Star Wars Matrix? Colour me interested. I may well give it a look once all the episodes are out. Though I still need to catch up with the last series of Mandalorian and Ashoka so no guarantees. Can sympathise. Some normal names like Luke and Leia would help with this hurdle, imo.

KOTOR was just on Game Trial. I got about 90 minutes into it this past week. Would need more time with it to fully form an opinion because I was far from getting a handle on it. Weird because I thought it was regarded as an all-time great so I expected to be grabbed from the off. Massive download for an old game, too.

You'll say it's outdated if I ask for it to be quantified in bits, so can you tell me how much duct tape's been requisitioned?

Lovely theme, this one.

Viewers in search of drama and twists galore need look no further.

It was a Snooker World Championships for the purists this year.

Indeed. Announcing the announcement would suffice.

It was always going to be 2025 because they are going to retool Mario 35 as 40 for the big launch game.

I think my phone would calve if I try to put a game on it.

Link to the Past icons are available. To be able to get them you have to fire up LttP first. There's a mission for doing so which will net you the 50 platinum points needed to get all five icons.

Not watching that! Want to see and hear it during the event for the first time.

You backed down on your stipulation you'd need to dedicate company time to Baten Kaitos??

Anyone with never ending red shells should see their GP. And when I say that I don't mean Grand Prix.

How's your progress? You should be well into it by now.

Nice haul, @Helmsly. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Roost coasters too—they even come in a nice little metal holder. I've manage to whittle my platinum points way down so it'll be a good while before I order anything else.

Chelsea had made that tenth spot their own and now look at them flying high.

Thanks for providing this write-up. Looks like you made sure to do it as accurately as possible based on what you say about boosting, gliding, Mushroom Gorge. Waluigi Pinball sure feels like a long track and I agree it's a pity Rainbow Road 64 has been reduced to a one-lapper—also liked it better when it was more of an endurance race. Now, mind doing it again and cross-referencing these results against your total distance driven (in your profile) after each race?

Hopped back on it over the weekend and discovered I have several cheats unlocked. Fairly certain I didn't check that menu since I perused the options when I first started into the game to see what's what. Activated everything I have though sadly that didn't include the colour shooter cheat @BowserBasher mentioned. One of them disabled headwear which made Chase McCain look weird going around with his yellow dome on show. Otherwise, just some multipliers and block attracters. Still very welcome as I went into the police station and got up to 9/10 blocks in there now I have all the abilities, then enjoyed scooping up blocks outside from far and wide with the attract bonus before summoning an aircraft for a bit of general flight around the map. A lot of the public seemed to be in costumes—I'm not sure if that was also down to a cheat or just the way they happened to generate.

Taz Bars, Freddos, Fudges...

Let's see if you immerse yourself in this one! Will you have a whale of a time or will you resurface with salty impressions...