Your 2025 Gaming Diary

[nekunando]

8 hours ago, Cube said:

@WackerJr there is another one. It doesn't have Nate in it, but it's still great, it's called The Lost Legacy.

 

(Golden Abyss is also good fun)

I definitely didn't enjoy The Lost Legacy as much as the previous Uncharted games and I think part of that was probably making some of it more open.

I did pick up The Nathan Drake Collection on PS4 a few years ago with the intention of playing through the first 3 games again but that never looks like happening.

The same is sadly true of a lot of PS4 games I purchased at the beginning of the decade 🥲

[WackerJr]

12 hours ago, Cube said:

@WackerJr there is another one. It doesn't have Nate in it, but it's still great, it's called The Lost Legacy.

 

(Golden Abyss is also good fun)

Thanks, I hadn’t realised that! I may have to track that down! 😁

[bob]

I am still plugging away at BOTW2 when I can. Got to the Goron dungeon, and not enjoying it much. The combination of darkness + lava mist stuff that permanently locks your hearts up makes it frustrating. 

[Cube]

I finished the next game of my 10 picks, Viewtiful Joe

It's stylish, and enjoyable with some really fun combat mechanics, with an amusing story and looks really nice.

However, I found enemies took far too many hits until they dies, and some of the enemies seemed to have far more health than others of the same type. I did really like the use of the VFX powers for puzzles and the objectives that cropped up, but the difficulty of the combat was just insane. 

The next game on my list isn't far away from this one.

[Glen-i]

Back when it came out, I could never beat Viewtiful Joe, even on Kids difficulty.

Yes, it was Fire Leo. I know I'm not alone in saying that's an insane difficulty jump.
After playing through 3 Bayonetta games, maybe I should give it another go...

[Cube]

8 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Back when it came out, I could never beat Viewtiful Joe, even on Kids difficulty.

Yes, it was Fire Leo. I know I'm not alone in saying that's an insane difficulty jump.
After playing through 3 Bayonetta games, maybe I should give it another go...

I initially thought that the Street Shark was an insane difficulty jump. It got a second release in Japan with an easier mode added. 

[Nicktendo]

I should give you all a bit of update seeing as how we're almost 1/4 of the way through the year already and I have said nothing since I made my (stupid) 12-game pledge. 

I've beaten two of them so far. Well, actually 1 and 1/3. 

First up, the one game I said I would probably wait for, Yooka-Laylee. I found a cheap GamePass Ultimate deal for a month so jumped into this as I wanted a slightly superior version to the Switch one. Beat it in about 3 weeks. 115 pagies from 145. I had a great time, still missing about 10 quills, unfortunately. Honestly, this game is much, much better than reviews had led me to believe. Apart from the Casino world, I thought this was a very solid platformer and very worth sequel to the Banjo games. Very nostalgic feelings throughout. Originally, I had wanted to 100% each world as it came, but quickly understood that that was not really a viable path. Heavily borrows from Tooie in that regard. but it was fun coming back to the first couple of worlds to mop up with the full banquet of abilities. My GP has expired now, so I'm not going to get that coveted 100%, but I will absolutely pick up the remaster. A very close 2nd to the 2D game. 

I also beat the first Metal Gear Solid on PC in the Master Collection. This one is spectacular. I think we're all already aware of that fact. Had an absolute blast, ran through it in about 3 days. Saved Meryl. Had zero issues with what is basically PS1 emulation. The game still holds up wonderfully. Started the second but haven't made too much progress as of yet. 

In addition, and being a bit of a naughty boy because I'm not pledge gaming, I powered my way thought Zelda: Ocarina of Time on NSO. I've beaten this game countless times on N64, GC (Master Quest), and Wii, but I was genuinely shocked at just how well it still holds up. Teary-eyed on many occasions, but that's just the nostalgia. Just magical playing with the N64 controller, which I finally picked up when I was back home in January. Took me around 18 hours to beat, almost to 100% (all items except the last bottle, 18 hearts, and ~70 gold skulltulas). I was surprised at how much I remembered and how quickly I got through it. It has probably been around 10 years since I have played this (think I beat it on 3DS, but old age is making that a blur) but it just underlined how good of an entry this is in the series. Completely reshaped my view on Wind Waker, TP and SS, which I have beaten much more recently. This is the OG and best. Nothing comes close. I have also started a playthrough of Majora's Mask, which I have not played since launch. Currently half-way through the Snowfall temple, and having just as much of a good time. 

I also played GTAV to completion for the first time. On March 4th the enhanced PC version dropped for free for GTAV owners, so I decided to jump in and finish off the story mode. I have played through the first 10-15 hours of this game maybe three times on Xbox, PS3, and again PC, but never really bothered to go further because it never captured me in the same way IV did. While the story is not a patch on the fourth instalment, it did win me round in the end. I finished it and found myself getting more engrossed as it progressed. I'm a big fan of the heist missions and do enjoy the general set-up / humour in this edition. The ending was abrupt to some extent, but still satisfactory. R* has created a wonderful living, breathing world here, and I had a lot of fun just doing side missions and exploring during my playthrough. 

Speaking of side missions and R*, what's taking up most of my time as we speak is Red Dead Redemption 2. Having finished GTAV and being decidedly whelmed - not underwhelmed, but not overly impressed - I decided to give their latest release another try. This is another one I have on PC. Have started twice, and picked up from where I left of on my 2nd playthrough (which according to Steam was mid-2020). I left it on 34 hours in the middle of chapter 2, picking up again about 5 days ago. Now I'm at 70 hours in the middle of chapter 3. Well, this game is leaps and bounds ahead of GTAV. I am continuously surprised and impressed at just how utterly incredible this game is. The random events, the feeling of the world, and how the various systems integrate are utterly astounding, and massively ahead of more recent games I have dipped into from 2024 and 2025 (mainly Avowed and Starfield). I honestly don't know why I dropped this, I have been completely hooked over the past few days, mostly wandering around doing side-missions and completing challenges. I think this might be the best game I have ever played. I'm keen to press on, but I really don't want it to end. Just a truly engrossing experience. 

I pledge to move on to more pledge games eventually, but I was totting up my spending so far in 2025 and it's currently over 200 euros and more than 20 games on Switch and PC, sales have been grabbing me good. The backlog continues to grow.  

Edited Friday at 09:21 PM by Nicktendo

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Nicktendo said:

Yooka-Laylee.

Hey, someone who agrees with me!

I think this game got a real bum rap. Sure, it's rough at times, but I still enjoyed it. I still prefer the N64 Banjo games, mind you.

Very much looking forward to revisiting it when Replaylee is released on the Nintendo.

[nekunando]

I still feel like I was generous with my 6/10 review but do sometimes think that the time may come to go back and re-evaluate things.

Outside of Mario, it's difficult to find a modern 3D platformer that resonates with me. I'd say Astro Bot might but I won't be picking up a PS5 just for that 😅

Banjo-Kazooie was wonderful to play again on NSO but Tooie doesn't have the same draw..

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm another who loved the original Yooka-Laylee. It was a fantastic follow up to the Banjo games and I much preferred to over Tooie. The second YL game is still my fav out of the two of them but the original is still a top tier game.

@Nicktendo glad you enjoyed your playthroughs of OOT and MGS. Both are very special games and ones which I can replay endlessly. It's crazy just how well they both hold up and the impact each of them had on the industry can still be felt 25+ years on.

[nekunando]

3 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'm another who loved the original Yooka-Laylee. It was a fantastic follow up to the Banjo games and I much preferred to over Tooie. The second YL game is still my fav out of the two of them but the original is still a top tier game.

@Nicktendo glad you enjoyed your playthroughs of OOT and MGS. Both are very special games and ones which I can replay endlessly. It's crazy just how well they both hold up and the impact each of them had on the industry can still be felt 25+ years on.

Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid are both in my top 20 games of all time (if not top 10 😀) and the original Banjo-Kazooie is in that category too 🔥

As I enter the last few chapters of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on Switch, the feeling that I'd prefer to go back to play the games I love rather than dig into the backlog.

I quite enjoyed the first Ninja Gaiden Sigma but this one has just been a bit of a slog. It hasn't provided the same challenge and I've kinda just been going through the motions and mashing my way to victory. Little satisfaction, sadly, but I'll finish it 😕

I should probably have finally started Pikmin 4 but I'll get there eventually.

I'm increasingly craving the loving embrace of old favourites above new and unplayed experiences and while I'm definitely excited for what is to come with Switch 2 I also hope that we keep getting loads of remakes, remasters and NSO stuff to bring more old games I love to the convenience of the Switch family!

[Hero-of-Time]

5 minutes ago, nekunando said:

I'd prefer to go back to play the games I love rather than dig into the backlog.

I'm increasingly craving the loving embrace of old favourites above new and unplayed experiences and while I'm definitely excited for what is to come with Switch 2 I also hope that we keep getting loads of remakes, remasters and NSO stuff to bring more old games I love to the convenience of the Switch family!

I'm getting a bit like that these days. Reading Nick's thoughts on OOT has me wanting to fire it up again, despite having many games on the backlog. I had the same feeling earlier when someone on Era was praising ALTTP.

The one thing I want from Switch 2 is Gamecube games on there. I will happily pay for them outside of the NSO. We've had NES, SNES, and N64 stuff since the Wii days. It's time for an upgrade.

[nekunando]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'm getting a bit like that these days. Reading Nick's thoughts on OOT has me wanting to fire it up again, despite having many games on the backlog. I had the same feeling earlier when someone on Era was praising ALTTP.

The one thing I want from Switch 2 is Gamecube games on there. I will happily pay for them outside of the NSO. We've had NES, SNES, and N64 stuff since the Wii days. It's time for an upgrade.

Likewise with Ocarina of Time. The last time I played it was on 3DS a long time ago and I'm not sure whether to play it there again or go with the NSO version for convenience 😅

I'm just at a stage, and have been for a while, where I've just reached saturation point with the amount of games I own, want to play or would like to revisit.

I look at something like Super Mario Odyssey and can barely believe it has been closed to 8 years since it came out and was played through to completion. I'd love to play it again but have never just found the right time yet I'm sure too much of those 8 years has been spent finishing off games that I probably didn't even really enjoy or just didn't deserve the time (much like the one I'm endeavouring to finish right now 😖)

I keep striving to do better but I can never quite find the right balance between playing form fun and playing something to beat it whether I enjoy it or not.

As much as I'd love to clear up significant portions of the backlog, I'm certainly way more reluctant now to add to it unless I'm buying something I'm certain I will enjoy.

I've only purchased Donkey Kong Country Returns HD in 2025 and while I did pick up Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble to play too, I sold it pretty quickly after without a loss so it barely even counts 😅

Switch 2 will be a welcome spark this year but I envisage a much tighter library of new games than I had with Switch..

 

[Hero-of-Time]

For me, some of it comes down to nostalgia and some of it comes down to a lot of games were crafted a lot better back then. There's so much bloat in modern releases and games are now created to suck the time and money out of people, rather than just making a fun experience.

I kinda miss the days of owning just a few games and playing through them over and over again to the point where I knew them off by heart. I sometimes still get this when going for platinums but if I haven't got a carrot dangling at the end of a stick, then the game is usually shelved once it's done. It's why I sold a lot of my PS4 collection at the start of the year as I just can't see me ever going back to most of the games I've completed.

In a nutshell, I'm old and I miss my youth/earlier gaming days.

[WackerJr]

22 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's why I sold a lot of my PS4 collection at the start of the year as I just can't see me ever going back to most of the games I've completed.

In a nutshell, I'm old and I miss my youth/earlier gaming days.

Similar situation for me me too.  I’ve been finally selling off my old games and systems over the past few years as while I’d love the time to play them again, I’d been saying that for years and realistically it’s never going to happen on their original format.  Plus now with modern TVs not having the SCART ports I’m loathe to put in the extra effort to buy additional adapters just so I can maybe one day play them. I’m now up to my N64 games to part with, which probably hold the most nostalgia for me, being the first system I bought myself.  With so many modern games to get through though know I need to sell these…

[Hero-of-Time]

31 minutes ago, WackerJr said:

Similar situation for me me too.  I’ve been finally selling off my old games and systems over the past few years as while I’d love the time to play them again, I’d been saying that for years and realistically it’s never going to happen on their original format.  Plus now with modern TVs not having the SCART ports I’m loathe to put in the extra effort to buy additional adapters just so I can maybe one day play them. I’m now up to my N64 games to part with, which probably hold the most nostalgia for me, being the first system I bought myself.  With so many modern games to get through though know I need to sell these…

I've still not had the courage to pull the trigger on my retro stuff. I'd make a killing on it as well as everything is mint in box with protectors. A part of me thinks I would regret getting rid of them and, given how expensive the retro scene now is, I doubt I would be able to even afford to aquire it all again later down the road.

I just wish retro stuff was available more freely and I mean this in the official sense because I don't dabble with PC emulation. If favourites were available to own on modern platforms I would be more inclined sell some of it.

[Cube]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I just wish retro stuff was available more freely and I mean this in the official sense because I don't dabble with PC emulation. If favourites were available to own on modern platforms I would be more inclined sell some of it.

What about looking at flash carts and similar solutions that allow you to use the original consoles?

[Hero-of-Time]

8 minutes ago, Cube said:

What about looking at flash carts and similar solutions that allow you to use the original consoles?

Nah. I don't like using stuff like that. The whole thing still feels iffy to me.

[nekunando]

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I've still not had the courage to pull the trigger on my retro stuff. I'd make a killing on it as well as everything is mint in box with protectors. A part of me thinks I would regret getting rid of them and, given how expensive the retro scene now is, I doubt I would be able to even afford to aquire it all again later down the road.

I just wish retro stuff was available more freely and I mean this in the official sense because I don't dabble with PC emulation. If favourites were available to own on modern platforms I would be more inclined sell some of it.

I wouldn't want to get rid of any of my older consoles but I also just wish more stuff was available on modern hardware, both for convenience and picture quality.

Things have come along quite well in that regard on Switch but there is still a long way to go and, ultimately, we'll never have EVERYTHING 🥲

With another child on the way, it looks like my gaming room is on borrowed time (for a good while, at least) so access to my older consoles is going to be even less convenient than it is now.

I loved having Super Soccer on Switch so much but that disappearing means going back to the original SNES version is now the only option again.

Such a shame but I have no interest in messing about with non-official means!

Glad I was able to say goodbye for now, at least.

[Hero-of-Time]

49 minutes ago, nekunando said:

I'm the same. I remember the hype around the game at the time of release. Both Official Nintendo and N64 magazines were constantly raving about it, especially the face capture feature that was ultimately canned. I picked it up on launch day from Woolworths and played it all weekend. After the credits rolled I boxed it up and never played it again and it was never in the multiplayer rotation when my friends and I had gaming sessions. I've never completed the game since. I'm one of the sickos who actually prefers Perfect Dark Zero. 

It's a shame the GBC version isn't on NSO. I would have liked to have given it a go.

[nekunando]

38 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'm the same. I remember the hype around the game at the time of release. Both Official Nintendo and N64 magazines were constantly raving about it, especially the face capture feature that was ultimately canned. I picked it up on launch day from Woolworths and played it all weekend. After the credits rolled I boxed it up and never played it again and it was never in the multiplayer rotation when my friends and I had gaming sessions. I've never completed the game since. I'm one of the sickos who actually prefers Perfect Dark Zero. 

It's a shame the GBC version isn't on NSO. I would have liked to have given it a go.

Maybe it'll come. I forgot that I got it on GB at some point over the years but never really felt like playing it on the dim old GBA 🥲

I'd certainly try it if it came to NSO and I wouldn't mind seeing Metal Gear Solid too as I never played the Gameboy version of that either!

I'm not sure if I'll go back to finish Perfect Dark again or not. The stage design and lack of clarity with some of the missions is proving to be a bit of a nightmare at times 😕

[Nicktendo]

I always thought the 2 Rare N64 shooters were very front loaded. The first few levels in each are endlessly replayable and a lot of fun, but they both dip heavily in the mid-game. Unlike Goldeneye, Perfect Dark doesn't pick up again towards the end, and the back half of the game is pretty average. Level design is not very interesting and I was never really a fan of the alien stuff. I've played through both to the end on NSO (and Goldeneye once again on Series S) and had a great time with both, but those games were really all about the multiplayer and the fun times with friends looking back. 

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Nicktendo said:

I always thought the 2 Rare N64 shooters were very front loaded. The first few levels in each are endlessly replayable and a lot of fun, but they both dip heavily in the mid-game. Unlike Goldeneye, Perfect Dark doesn't pick up again towards the end, and the back half of the game is pretty average. Level design is not very interesting and I was never really a fan of the alien stuff. I've played through both to the end on NSO (and Goldeneye once again on Series S) and had a great time with both, but those games were really all about the multiplayer and the fun times with friends looking back. 

Again, same for me.

I remember thinking it all turned a bit goofy once Elvis the alien showed up. Feels like it was a few years too late with all that stuff anyway. Things like Independance Day, X-Files, Men in Black, Starship Troopers, Outer Limits and Mars Attacks had all been and gone by the time the game released. Had it stuck with the more futuristic Bond setting then I may have enjoyed it more. 

[Hero-of-Time]

I picked this up in a recent sale and it wasn't half as good as I remember it being. Part of the problem with games like this is that if you do remember how things play out then they lose a lot of their charm.

I also preffered the look of the DS game more than this one. Things looked too sharp and clean and I found myself missing the pixilated look of the original version.

Missile still rules though.