darksnowman

When the Grimwald knocks, the monstrum knocks back. Final Chapter: Monstrum Nox: Complete. Skimming through the journal in the epilogue, I made a good fist of seeing/doing everything Ys IX has to offer. Put around 50 hours into it which is the sort of range I want an RPG to fall in. Last word on Hawk, I liked the way his attitude was used at times to provide a different approach to dealing with situations than the other party members would have been able to come up with. In the final chapters, I cycled him back into the party in place of Renegade. I wasn't too fussed on the warm, fuzzy wrap-up of each party member's storyline, but the part where Krysha struck a business deal with her old man was good. It was funny to see the party collectively roll their eyes every time I accepted a side quest—Adol is an adventure junky. Some more characters to add to the previous list I would have preferred to party up with include: Tetra the bard. Reporter. Maxim. By the end, proceedings devolved into the usual RPG fare—into the void, daft story. Playing on normal, I wasn't exactly up against it (you could count the number of healing items I used throughout the entire game on one hand) then when I got the blueprints for the ultimate gear, the rest was a procession... but still satisfying to wipe the floor with all comers. I particularly enjoyed using the Prisoner's Grasp move. In Ys VIII I definitely used more items and learned enemy timing for Flash Dodging and Flash Guarding whereas in IX I barely healed and didn't need to get the dodge and flash timing down. Yeah, I could have upped the difficulty but turning enemies into damage sponges isn't the most inviting prospect, imo. When I reached the door to the final boss, I hit Adol with every stat-up item I'd amassed, bringing him up to lvl 97. So I exited and went and did the lvl 95 lemure encounter before coming back to end the game. During the first phase, the party chatter was something like "why can't we hurt him?" by which point I'd already smashed it down to one-third HP. Obviously, they aren't privy to seeing the health bar! I will mention one spoiler because it is something I was expecting. If I'd known about this, one way or the other, it may have affected my drive in the last two chapters. It's cool that these games aren't a new Adol every time. I don't know the geography of the Ys world but—sequel or not—it might be nice if the seafaring in Ys X let's you swing close to Balduq or perhaps there will even be an Isle of Seiren Easter egg out there. Got a link to a novelisation of this one, @Ike?

Okay, @EEVILMURRAY, for these first battles, I've just picked cards as they came up and won... long may it continue. Instinctively, I tried to put combos together and went for "counters"—I'm sure you did this too—but the timing isn't the same as the first game so a tutorial would indeed be welcome. Maybe one is coming, maybe there is something in the menus. I've tried to look at everything on screen during battles and it seems like whatever card you picked with defensive capabilities will go in that EQ slot at the top. But I don't see the rhyme or reason to it yet. Don't know what the wee yellow bar is supposed to tell me. From the intro video to the battle voice (FIGHT! YOU WIN!), it looks like they cheaped out on Origins. At least you get a whopping eight blank magnus to start off with! This Guillo paramachina is a weirdo that is going to need some quality characterisation. Wonder if this Valara lady will be one of us or if she's just an antagonist.

Had to employ evasive manoeuvres around some lvl 90 monsters. Hawk was making noises that our next stop would be finishing the game. But then it wasn't the final chapter. There are two things I'm waiting on happening: a convergence of the pathways (what a mystery that's proving to be) and to get control of one more party member. Just when the first one was inches from happening in a lovely sunset, it got kicked into the long grass. Straight after, it looked like I was going to be compensated with the second... then it didn't come to pass either. So onwards to a new chapter it is. The intrigue continues. Got Balduq 100% mapped. The bit I missed was up around the city walls at Artisan Lane. Also got the last chests in the city. Nice, nice. Seeing what you mean with this now. Frequent chests atop ledges that aren't strictly vertical for heaven's run. I'm basically mapping the areas out then pulling up the map screen to chart the longest way back around for these chests—more often than not it isn't far off giving me the starting point.

You have to assume we're all bots until proven otherwise. I always put this place on questionnaires that ask where I get my gaming news.

With moves like pika thunder and pika fire, you're the last person we thought it'd bother. Lakitu was there from day one, livestreaming it all to Bowser.

Astutely put. Those more taken by Flurrie's charms would, it's needless to say, choose to motorboat.

The fog lifts by the time you're into the third lap on Welcome to Drake Lake.

I've seen these too. They look cool. From time to time I've noticed my mouse head towards the buy button* on the N64: A Visual Compendium book. * could likely do with running a malware scan.

Ms. Mowz rebuffed.

Thanks for the races, and stepping in to set up the room @BowserBasher. Stayed on for GP 4 since we'd a few late starters. Glad @S.C.G and @Helmsly made it because they bumped CPU Ludwig out of it just when he was beginning to try to mix it in the top four with us players.

All petals and graffiti got. All currently accessible chests too. However the City of Balduq map is stuck at 99.9%. I'll walk the walls again to see if it gets the last bit but if not it's a needle in a haystack... The rest of the stats in the records section aren't anywhere close to complete yet. I've all the mostrums at my disposal now. It's interesting that some of them still have their own motivations—simple as it may be, it's a welcome wrinkle.

Seems that way for the time being, anyway. Endless Ocean, this, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition are all down for Thursdays. No day/ date specified for Pokémon Legends: Z-A as yet.

Nintendo giving jobs to the boys doesn't sit right with me. I'd almost rather they scooped Shiver up just because it reminded them of Splatoon 3. Will more of Doug Bowser's chums set up Frye and Big Man studios so he can splash some cash on them...? Those games @Juliusmentioned are all I'm seeing. Has Shiver been involved with any other Switch ports? From a gamer's point of view, it bodes well that Nintendo is taking steps to secure third-party ports as they're something that've made the Switch, for me. It'll be interesting to see what this opens the door to. Especially as Mortal Kombat and Hogwarts Legacy are more on the ambitious side of things for the humble Switch. I'm sure the acquisition will pay for itself once the royalties come rolling in. Could be a baby step towards Nintendo diverting all third-party support their way... total world domination.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cerryd0xkxzo The bald do-gooder is in.

I've only picked up a few issues of Retro Gamer, but with the Internet being the death knell to many-a print publication, they must be doing something right to have lasted 20 years at this point. Especially with retro gaming the subject of so many online articles, podcasts, YouTube retrospectives. The issues I got have some decent articles and it's always nice to read something that isn't on a screen. Sad. I didn't have a local WHSmith, nonetheless, I used to enjoy having a loiter to leaf through the gaming mags. Everyone was doing it. Besides, I had to know what NMS wasn't telling me. It was outside my scope of interest so I don't remember ever even having a look through it. Very much sounds like a labour of love from all involved which is something I can appreciate. Yeah, I'd tend to agree. We got a monthly news and rumour mill update then it was over to our imagination to picture how those screenshots would one day come together to be a game you're playing. Perhaps better in the sense we had weeks to pore over the mags before being swept up in the next issue's news. E3 and Spaceworld months were something else. Nowadays we're lucky to have five minutes to process what's happening before it's onto the next breaking news. "Naturally, unless you happen to be able to read Polish, the magazine's contents are going to be largely alien to you, but what's abundantly clear is that a lot of time and effort has gone into creating this magazine, which not only celebrates some of the best games to appear on Sega's final home console, but also takes a look at the many homebrew titles which have been released since Sega abandoned the system." Sounds cool. Good for them for having a go at this in 2024. Yes! Overpriced, thin, and page spreads of a single screenshot is what I associate with Edge as well. I picked up the odd issue of these too to get the disc. I didn't realise they were just GameCube-style discs with videos to watch on your PC, or demos you needed an Action Replay to get them to work on your console. Just knew I needed them after all those years of demo discs doing the rounds during the 32-bit era.

They could always do it like the novelisation and expand it by giving a look (playable, not FMV) at the characters' backstories and what they're up to before being dropped into the Spencer Mansion.

A little lull before the June Direct. Mixed in with the trailers, I saw an advert for Luigi's Mansion 2 at the cinema so that could be what they move on to promoting next. Looked far better on the big screen than TotK! Did you ever get Plumbers Don't Wear Ties reviewed? This week sees the release of a seminal RPG, upgraded, QoL enhanced, and streamlined for the modern audience: Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. The Switch/ eShop has been tremendous for bringing these kinds of games our way. Just a pity about the pricing—£35 (at least there's 10% off to begin with). It's done by Digital Eclipse. I was able to nab Turtles Cowabunga Collection on the cheap so hoping Wizardry will be ripe for price reduction too.

Were you tensely waiting for him to calculate the weight shift required to take Ruby's phone so he could call Tennant to come and sonic screwdrive the mine, provided it'd been modified in the interim to work on Donna's hoover? I thought it was fun for Villengard to crop up purely because I was reading some of the short stories last week to try and get back in the Doctor Who frame of mind and Villengard was mentioned in one. Also trying to figure out where I was with the series for a potential catchup and it's not as clear cut as I thought. Last one I remember watching was the DIY Dalek Christmas New Year's Special, but going by the episode names/ descriptions of the following series, there's at least two I reckon I've seen (Tesla and Mary Shelley). Either I caught them through the sheer random chance of tuning in in the right month, day, and timeslot, or it's easy to believe I did from the adverts and being well-versed in the general formula the programme follows. One thing's for sure: despite skipping it for years, there doesn't appear to be a great deal of series and episodes I missed. They really lost their way with it.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/10/the-15-ish-greatest-uk-video-game-magazines-of-all-time The Guardian put together a list of the top fifteenish UK game mags. There's a blurb for each through the link. I'd put GamesMaster higher but maybe that's the nostalgia goggles. Retro Gamer should either be higher or not make the 15 because sneaking it in at 14 is too low. Saturn Mag sounds like it must have provided decent coverage.

Emcee Vinze in the Balduqian Strongman Contest is trying to give the DQ:M announcers a run for their money.

With nothing riding on it, it was a bit of a snoozefest at Anfield. The crowd chanted through their repertoire and after the red card that was Wolfs day done. Two times I stepped away and that was when the Pool scored. You're gone, Klopp! Onwards to a new era.

Glad to see they are still capable of making a good Planet of the Apes film.

And may the curse of Kane continue at the Euros, boys.

Haven't heard of it so it looks like I'm not hobnobbing in these highfalutin circles. Looks like it could be all right. Making a mental note to be on the lookout for "Glen-i's game with a Pokémon move name" in the January sales.

Is there anything you would like them to do with another RE1 remake or are you just not having it at all?