Goron_3

I've actually got a huge PS4 backlog. I pretty much avoided every AAA title from 2018 onwards because my PS4 got far too loud whilst playing. I've just ordered The Last of Us 2, but I'm going to hold off playing it until it gets a patch.

Me: I don't know if I'm ready for another Miyazaki game *sees door opening screenshot, which is clearly going to be a shortcut* Me: F*CK YES

Got a PS5 as a birthday gift! Absolutely buzzing - wasn't expecting it all. Looking forward to getting stuck into Spiderman Remastered tomorrow, and I'll probably check out God of War now that it's confirmed to have a 60 FPS patch. Hopefully Bloodborne gets one soon.

Looks like the rumour is true - the trailer has leaked (available on resetera, along with plenty of screenshots). Very happy with that. What's funny about this is that it's literally the exact opposite of what Serebii has been claiming for years

Git gud Lolllllll bugger off Tbh, it's not the difficulty. I just don't find the moment to moment gameplay very exciting. Might jump back in at one point.

I've decided that Sekiro just isn't for me. I was buzzing after the Lady Butterfly and Genshiro fight but since then I've found that when I'm up against most bosses or sub-bosses, I'm actively trying to find ways of cheesing them. I appreciate what Miyazaki has tried to do here and when it works it's brilliant (Genshiro is better than any boss I've come across in any of his other games) but those moments don't come across often enough. I think it's great how they've tried to put less emphasis on just rolling and dodging (this was especially a problem with the combat in Dark Souls 3) and so trying to make the combat feel like actual, aggressive swordplay was a pretty brave decision, but it's just not my cup of tea. I'm also not a fan of skill trees, and it's a shame they're in the game. Maybe one day I'll come back to it. Next up: Raging Loop on Switch and Bowser's Fury.

You should consider the Nioh remasters. Not quite to the level of Dark Souls / Bloodborne but a terrific attempt at producing a game inspired by them.

Here's hoping they show Silent Hill. But a 60 FPS Bloodborne patch would be excellent. I'm desperate for news on Eldin Ring though - I'm not sure who the publisher is but with a decent marketing campaign I honestly think that game could become FromSoftware's biggest release (although I'm hoping it players more like Dark Souls / Bloodborne than Sekiro).

There was a batch of Pro's early on that had the issue (In fact i'm fairly sure it was a limited edition version) but they seemed to have resolved it. I imagine the issue is simply down to the manufacturing process and the fact that most companies use the same production houses (I.e. FoxConn). Funnily enough, my first Gamecube controller still works flawlessly! And I used that several thousand hours of Melee.

The dungeons were excellent, as were some of the overworld segments in each area. As Zell points out, the main issue with the game is the ridiculous amounts of padding. I can only assume they wanted to make the game as long as possible in line with other console RPG's / open world titles but they went ridiculously overboard. If you get rid of the fetch quests and take about ten hours out of the game, it would be significantly better to replay. Twilight Princess got criticised for the really long tutorial segment, but SS does that constantly throughout. There's a segment near the end where the fate of the world is in Links hands and he gets made to collect tad tones because *checks note* he needs to prove he is the hero again. I remember just laughing when that happened - it's such poor game design and I'm not surprised they moved away from it. Skyward Sword has amazing dungeons, decent music and great characters. Unfortunately the structure of the game just doesn't work. The one positive thing I would say is that it says a lot of the Zelda team that they made three Zelda games on similar hardware specs and they all turned out completely different.

@Aperson Great to see you're progressing nicely with Dark Souls. You're in the final stretch now. Unfortunately you've saved the worst area until last though!

I actually think it's going to be very easy for them to out-do the PS4 Pro / XBO X CPU's, not just the base models. The jaguar CPU's used in last gen consoles was bad at the time; I wouldn't be surprised if ports of games like Red Dead 2 could easily do 60 FPS x 4K (using DLSS).

I've been doing some browsing on Resetera and it looks like the new Square RPG has 1440p support (via some datamining of its code), which goes beyond what we know the current Switch can do. A couple of reliable people there, including NateDrake and some more technical minded people, are confident that the new console will be around the PS4's level in base graphical power but with a much more modern GPU that uses DLSS. The CPU is apparently much stronger than what the PS4 had too. Essentially, it's a full on generational leap, but the OG Switch will continue to see cross gen support. Interestingly, Mario Kart 9, Splatoon 3, BOTW2 and a new Mario game (to coincide with the movie) will all come out in the first year of the new console. Essentially, the end of 2021-first half of 2022 will be a repeat of 2017 software wise.

Mario Golf and Famicon Detective Club look excellent. Really looking forward to the latter one especially as I'm a big fan of visual novels (as @S.C.G knows). Splatoon 3 is excellent news too. Don't care for Skyward Sword - the original was dated when it came out imo. Still no sign of life for the Metroid franchise though

The HD Zelda games and Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Nice one, thanks @Hero-of-Time @Ronnie You need to get on these Miyazaki games!

Do you have a link to Brian's Bloodborne thoughts? Reminds me of @Fierce_LiNk's experience.

Finally beat Genshiro in Sekiro. Holy moly. Honestly, about two weeks ago I genuinely considered dropping this game completely. I thought Bloodborne was pretty easy on my second run and made it through Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3, but I honestly found the combat in this game brutal. At least with Dark Souls you can take a breather in the middle of a fight and just dodge attacks but Sekiro demands that you just relentlessly attack and deflect at every moment. Once I learnt the rhythm to Genshiro's attacks it fast became one of my favourite boss fights in any game, up their with Father Gascoigne in Bloodborne. The next boss I fought was Lady Butterfly. I heard she was super difficult but I beat her really easily. Man, I adore this game. The combat is just incredible.

After doing some thinking, my wishlist is something like this: The Great Ace Attorney Trilogy (with a physical release) Either a 2D Metroid or Metroid Prime Trilogy HD Zelda collection (WW HD, Twilight Princess, Four Swords HD). A huge NSO update (at the minimum, GBA and GBC titles, but my wish is for N64 and some third party titles on there too, i.e. Sega Genesis games) A Pokemon Snap 2 segment

Would love a Four Swords Adventures remaster.

I imagine Switch Pro and BOTW2 will be reserved for the Summer direct. Wonder if we'll get an update on NSO - there have been insiders for a while saying that they've heard it's going to be a receive a big refresh. GBA / GBA / N64 games?

First half of the year games? I imagine that's Zelda ports but I wouldn't mind a port of Xenoblade Chronicles. 2D Metroid please.

Very much enjoying my replay of 3D World (haven't touched BF yet). The additional movement speed and movement options (the mid-air dive) make up for the lack of triple jump. That said, I do feel as though those mechanics break the game slightly as the level design wasn't designed around them (a bit like how playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii breaks the combat). My other half, who isn't an avid gamer, loves the game though and I'm enjoying going for the 100%. I'll probably a Toad only run at one point.

Have you played Nioh?

@Hero of Time Yeah it's Genichiro. The sound of swords clashing is pretty excellent, isn't it? I think I've got his movements down but there's nothing more demoralising than building up his posture meter only for him to start getting it back after you don't land a hit / parry for an age.