darksnowman

Princess' voice is a bit off.

This is a cool thing about the nature of findables--we will all spot and gravitate towards things when going through levels... no matter how thorough we believe we're being. I've no doubt you (and everyone else) had no bother finding things that've been less obvious to me, whereas for example, the battles on the big bridge level was one I personally came away with everything at the first time of asking. Your spoiler is truth. @Mokong that's child's play compared to frenzy mode in the food truck!!

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Nintendo-Switch/Game-Updates/How-to-Update-Metroid-Dread-2064021.html These new additions tempting anyone back into Dread?

Launch trailer.

Yup, was committing the line-up to memory up until the last second.

Dear Diary, Today I was disappointed to see the simple calculation of (7/10)*10 is beyond the modern generation. I hope @Glen-i and @Ike resume with Brain Training soon. That's all for today.

Good job I've a photographic memory. I'll be spread-eagled on the settee using d-pad controls!

And thank you Nintendo for the dummies starter tips! https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2022/March/Ten-tactical-tips-for-TRIANGLE-STRATEGY--2181496.html

I'm good this week, ta, but keep your gates open in case Bowsie's in need!

It came out 10/03/2022. These eShop roundups have fallen a smidge behind. I checked some Aztech opinions and sadly it seemed pretty average. Not sure if that's changed over the last month through updates.

Exact same for me.

It's a Sonny day!

I love crawling through a dungeon, cave, up a mountain or across the overworld, and the further you get, the more depleted your resources become and there comes a time when you have to decide whether you'll press on in the hopes of reaching the next inn, or to double back and rest up. Onwards you go. It can't be far. You're down to your last HP restores, you've already used the last of your MP restores and not for offensive magic... you've been relying on those healing spells and little else. A party member falls in battle. Then another. And another. The revives are used up. Would it have been better to go back? Doesn't bear thinking about now. It's just you. The enemies whiff a round of attacks. You crit. Can't count on that getting you much further. Then... you emerge/ find a roaming merchant/ a warp point back to the last town and the relief is palpable. You were on the verge of losing all that exp and levelling but you've made it. Just. You revive, restore, retool, restock, upgrade and go again. Refreshed and ready, those levels you've gained and the new gear you're able to afford make it that little bit easier to get around and after a while you've command of the area, ploughing through battles that were apt to one-shot you before in a single turn now. The pwnee has become the pwner. Then you move on and start the cycle again. Love it. Not saying I expect Chrono Cross to be like that or that it should be. I've always heard it's been divisive on both a story and systems level. Variety is the spice of life in RPGs too.

Sounds like a right ragtag bunch. Recommended: A serviceable restoration of one of the best and strangest games in Squaresoft's back catalogue. https://www.eurogamer.net/chrono-cross-the-radical-dreamers-edition-review-an-rpg-that-haunts-itself Also mentions that Cross isn't the grindiest of RPGs and spends several paragraphs on battles. Worth a read for anyone getting warmed up to dive into this.

I'd 134 yesterday PM and 126 now. It says I'm on fluctuating for the week and any forthcoming peak won't be significantly larger than what's already happened.

New mission on the NSO app: Try Super Metroid (on the SNES app). Well, you know what? I was gonna because I've been playing and loving Axiom Verge. Additionally, instead of a new round of Mario Galaxy icons, it's been swapped out for Splatoon 2.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/apr/04/pep-guardiola-jokes-about-his-stupid-tactics-in-champions-league Pep has become self-aware and learned sarcasm. We're double doomed.

Actually, a boss fight was where I'd picked up with it over the weekend. This evening I continued from a factory level. On the point of Waddle Dee collecting, I was given one for "clearing out the first area" in a level there. I mean... yeah. I've cleared out every area and level as I've gone. Not sure how everyone else has been playing but my Kirby is like John Wick. LOL. Something I discovered tonight is that A and B make the mouthful mode lift thing go up and down. Like both buttons work for up and down. I'd played every instance of that pressing Y for up and B for down until tonight I pressed B when it was down to see if it would hop and it just went up. Jaunted through to seeing the credits. So many thoughts and feelings through that end section. I was chilled to the bone going up that final elevator. From the authentication bit to the top really freaked me out and had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. It wasn't what you learned, it was the way you learned it. Then that was immediately replaced with a snort of laughter and bemusement as it appeared I'd arrived in a room where Conker's Bad Fur Day and Doctor Who had collided...! And then the very last moment of the final cutscene hit me much harder than it probably should've. Cracking stuff. I jumped back in to check what % I've racked up to this point and got presented with a host of newly available things including... a music test! I'm curious to see how many tracks there are, haha. 67% by the way. I skimped on Treasure Roads there after a while but if I'd known that was the credit rolling level I would've held off and gone back to them first. (Also played on hard mode the whole way for what it's worth. ) It's a pity they have to employ these kinds of tricks and techniques but I honestly thought it was okay here as it gave proceedings a stop-motion charm. Possibly the art style helped me favour it in this light. Saying that... I remember MH: Rise doing it too (in the demo anyway) and I was forgiving of it there as well as it looked like a throwback to the special effects in an old monster film.

Have you had a chance to get into these two yet?

It's good stuff, isn't it? Glad to hear you've enjoyed it so much. My next stop is a boss stage. I'm in the region of 50% done according to the last time I saw the save screen. As @MindFreak says, it's a good game to come back to later. Seeing a lot of people 100% it during release weekend (or... day), I know it's not the longest game, so I'm happy to do a few levels--or replay a few to complete missions--and put it down for another day. Wonder how many tracks are on the soundtrack? Seems like it'd be: - Forgotten Lands Theme Medley - Boss approach - Boss encounter - Mini boss - Mini game Some are tricky enough! Longest search for me so far has been "find the back alley". The way you can't go back and check earlier sections of levels meant I finished that level several times just so I could get a look at the opening parts again. Good job the fly-through intro was nice to watch! Then there are others where I come away with everything first time through so it's all swings and roundabouts. Still hoping to bumble through a defeat so-and-so with such-and-such first time.

I'm sure I've come across Brave Souls while perusing the Switch eShop at some point or another.

How was Elevator Action on the Sega Sadturn, @Dcubed? I mean, Saturn. Pay no heed to my inner fanboy.

Totes. I don't think E3 has botched it enough to warrant the calls for its head either, nor do I think it's been given enough of a chance to reinvent itself as something fit for purpose in the modern-day that works for everyone involved. As far as I remember, it basically started out as something for shops and games magazines to see upcoming software and hardware. Obviously, it's grown a lot since then and still needs to figure out how best to meet modern expectations. Like, that recent change of letting fans in sounded like a decent step into the present to me. Okay, it didn't end up being well received, but why aren't they allowed a grace period to review it, take on board what worked and what didn't, and to adapt and try other approaches to find something that suits everyone? And what exactly were they supposed to do in recent years when the world has been shut down? They provided a centralised portal for companies to post their presentations. What more do people want? Yeah, a portal that was better equipped to deal with the traffic would have been nice, I know. That aside, it's hardly been E3s fault that offerings have been poor from game devs and publishers. E3 doesn't make the games, they provide the expo environment for companies to show off what they have. What's weirder yet is that people want to be rid of E3 just to replace it with an E3 rip-off? Doesn't add up. Summer Games Festival seems to be all look at me, oh, no, get that spotlight off little old me I'm so meek and humble and undeserving, all I want is these game announcements to get attention... but don't ever forget these announcements wouldn't be happening without me so you better be thankful someone like me's around to step in and the games industry going! Feels off. This is just my assessment from what I've seen from the outside; I'm not an attendee. And I'm not married to E3 or anything so if the industry has to move on from it that's all well and good. However, I do believe E3 should be given a fair shake and any replacement (or usurper as the case appears to be) should, by default, deliver immediately on whatever it is that E3 has been unable to give and surpass it. If Summer Games Festival is signalling to us that it has the contacts and clout and hip knowhow to pull this off, then they should knock it out of the park without breaking a sweat or face calls to be kicked aside too.

So this is it for E3? What an unceremonious way to go out. E3 has been a massive part of gaming for so long. The magazines after were always hotly anticipated for a blowout look at what was in the pipeline. Pored over them every year. Even in the advent of the Internet age things like seeing the Twilight Princess trailer WITH CONAN MUSIC on IGN within a day (!) was spinetingling and immense. E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, was like having a second Christmas in the middle of the year. Know all that cool stuff you've been playing? Well here's the even cooler stuff we've been busy working on! Who was the face of it? Games in general, or if pushed you might say one or your preferred companies presentation givers. This replacement smacks of being a vehicle for the glorification of the person organising it with gaming being an incidental by the by. (Would love to be proved wrong.) Will feature: book interview with Reggie. Will not feature: anything by Nintendo if they shift their stuff out of June with no comment. Will piggyback on: Direct and Treehouse by Nintendo if they continue as usual in June with no comment. If this had been a Melee scrap, the awards handed out would be Opportunist, Poser KO, Sweeper, Bird of Prey.