Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@Tyranexx Yeah, it’s all over the place in terms of quality. Can’t do everything right though, but even though Xeen did all the stuff like making it into a fully 3D remake with advanced graphics, voice acting and gameplay, surely the music would have the same polish?

But I agree, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition had an incredible remastered musical score. Possibly the best score remaking/remastering I’ve ever heard in fact. It’s amazing that the team re-arranged almost half the music tracks, which considering everything, were very good ones all the same. Not only do most of them sound better recorded either live or with higher quality samples, they also capture the spirit of the music in such a good way.

There are some songs that for me were let down by the remastered music, such as Gaur Plains, and Central Factory, and that’s because of how the programmed instruments were so tuned to perfection. The strings have such a full feeling in the original and it feels a little empty in DE. Same with Central Factory, the original has such massive reverb that is very strong for amplifying the feel of the place.

Some of the vocal elements were also questionable, with choir it’s better to sing full chords instead of melodies. The choir/vocal sections in Engage the Enemy and Tragic Decision were handled better in the original for me, because they didn’t sound all over the place.

SM64DS felt like a partial remake in that you started with Yoshi. His moveset would have worked with analogue movement but the sloppy D-pad controls meant it was a chore. Hopefully you manage to enjoy the original a bit more on Switch, I know I have already! For me buying 3D All-Stars was easier, because I had never so much as even touched any of the games. The minigames were unusually addicting when I played them a long time ago, especially the casino games with Luigi as the dealer. It made me addicted to gambling long before I knew what the heck it was.

Yeah you put it correctly there; glorified license keys. It’s silly and when people put in good effort to get a PS5 with a CD drive it kinda makes the effort less rewarding than it could have. Horizon Zero Dawn is Breath of the Wild, but with a slightly more concrete main quest, a heroine with personality, a decent story and stunning graphics. Easy recommend. If you’re considering PS more it could be worth making an account and redeeming the games… it’s not every day you get a game like that for free.

Funny you say exercise, because I managed to book a rather strange albeit amazing experience for tomorrow; walking around the international motor racing track that’s five minutes from where I live. It’ll be great plodding around the track at a fraction of the speed my idols do, really. Of course half the track is straights so it’ll be boring at times. I’ll get some pictures no doubt!

And as for ridiculous hours some people here do so for Ramadan… I know people who on weekends wake up at 4am, eat, then sleep in until past midday, and go to sleep after staying up all night. Flips the whole switch from my point of view…

Discord I imagine would be absolutely perfect for Monster Hunter raids. For people who own a Monster Hunter game on PC integrating it would be easy, so there’s absolutely massive gains to be had. Only time I use a “voice chat” is when I have my phone on a table next to me connected to a voice call with the guy I’m racing with 1v1. It’s not always good but it’s a serviceable solution for me! I’m not big into things like gaming headsets anyways because of how much gaming I do is single-player…

Edit: The weather's all over the bloody place right now all around the world! How it's snowing during what should be springtime is absolutely confusing me. Over here it's 38 degrees outside during the day so I'm very jealous!

I got HZD when it came to Steam & liked it a lot, @Tyranexx .... Not sure I'm as big a fan as some I've heard talking about it but it certainly looks great & if you like the idea, it's done well

Thoroughly enjoyed Hoeg Law's video discussing MS's rumored acquisition of S-E last week.

I watched this again, and its on top of everything else, probably the only take I've seen on the "should Dark Souls have an easy mode?" debate I 100% agree with.

@bimmy-lee Heh, I wondered if you got some of the same lovely weather too; an online friend in eastern Ohio also reported some of the white, fluffy stuff. Though it sounds like you got way more of it. While it snowed into the evening and dropped below freezing overnight (and will tonight as well), the ground is too warm here for a lot of it to stick around. A lot of it melted off this morning. My sympathies on those poor trees. Fingers crossed they make it!

@MarioLover92 In that case, Merry Christmas! As mentioned above, it's pretty much already gone here other than the occasional trace. MAN was my backyard an odd, contrasting green and white yesterday and early this morning! It was kind of a wet snow too.

I've only played the White version of Mega Man Battle Network 3 (back in the day) and have heard the Blue variant had some more welcome changes. I'd like to try the latter sometime, though IMO MMBN3 overall is one of the best numeric entries in the Battle Network sub-series. I'd say the only other games that plead any contest in my book are both versions of 6. I also need to pick up Drill Dozer. As for GCN, the only games I've played are ports/remasters of titles that originated on the system: Luigi's Mansion (3DS), The Wind Waker (Wii U), Metroid Prime Trilogy (since the first two games originated on the system), and soon Super Mario Sunshine. There are a decent amount of other titles I'd like to try, such as Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Star Fox Adventures, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Beyond Good & Evil, and Pokemon Colosseum/XD: Gale of Darkness.

@BruceCM I've heard great feedback on HZD overall; some seem to absolutely love it, while others at least liked it but thought it was overhyped lol.

@TheJGG As I didn't play Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition the first time around, I intentionally set the soundtrack to the original score for most of my playthrough. In hindsight I wish I'd switched the tracks in the settings while still in an area as I thought I'd be able to come back to some of them and listen whenever I wanted. Lesson learned lol. Thankfully, extended versions of the OST exist on YouTube. My favorite track is definitely Mechonis Field, and I like the remastered version even more! Didn't think that would be possible. I didn't think Gaur Plains was bad, though I certainly see your point. I fully agree with your observations on Central Factory's track, however. Same with the choir sections, for the most part.

On Super Mario 64 DS: I only got a few stars in and dropped the game like a hot potato. Between the controls, camera, my dislike of playing as Yoshi, and the (to my mind at the time) recycled mini-games, I just wasn't into the game. I'm glad I gave the original a chance on the Wii U VC; minor complaints mentioned earlier aside, I had a much better time with it! Even if the polygons haven't aged the best to the modern eye. Then again, graphics are very rarely the most important aspect of a game for me. I also adapted to simulated gambling as a kid. Not through Casino Luigi, but the earlier Pokemon games. I usually just bought the amounts of coins I needed to redeem something I wanted though lol. They've done away with the actual slot machine elements in more recent remakes of the earlier games. Gotta keep that rating as low as possible! XD

Ouch. That DOES seem to stomp on the efforts to score a PS5 with a CD drive....It's been interesting to occasionally peek into the ongoing stock fiasco from afar. It just seems crazy to me that the demand is absolutely killing the supply lines, and that's even before factoring in scalping. Backwards compatibility is certainly a thing, but if I already had a PS4 I'd just hang onto that for awhile until a few software updates and upgrades hit the PS5 before picking up a new system. That's how I roll with most new hardware though, Switch included.

I've heard the Horizon: Zero Dawn vs. Breath of the Wild comparisons; those are in part why I'm very interested in the former, even more so now that I've played the latter. Enough for me to consider making an account!

You get to take a stroll around the international motor racing track near you? Sounds like a fun experience! Especially since I gather it seems to be one of your favorite things. Any pics you wish to share (with that new camera ) will be appreciated!

My preference for single player games is the main reason why I very rarely need to use voice chat. I've had very few voice chat experiences through gaming via preference. I had enough problems with text chat when I played MMOs like WoW back in the day (For every decent person out there, I posit that there at least one or two trolls or self-entitled [insert word of choice here]) and didn't own a headset back then anyway. I've certainly heard plenty of stories about how toxic voice chat can get in popular online multiplayer games and prefer to pick my poison, so to speak. The few times I do multiplayer, I'd rather do it with people in the room or with those I've built up trust with chatting online. The latter takes a LOT to work up to lol.

On the weather: Actually, where I am, it's joked that we can see all four seasons in a week or less! Though such occurrences and quotes more often surface during the fall.

@kkslider5552000 I wish Dark Souls had an assist mode, like damage multipliers or added defence. Because I absolutely suck at video games.

Of course if I really wanted to beat Demon’s Souls I’d play and play until I finally beat the game, but I’m not as good as I thought. The way the video points it out is very good, thanks for posting.

@BruceCM Gee, wonder who that could be?

Yeah, well the way I heard some people talking about it .... @Tyranexx! Only saw your post about it when I was doing mine, @TheJGG. & that at least explained what you loved about it more reasonably than some of the stuff I'd heard before! But there's quite a few games that I thought were great & were still a bit overhyped! Definitely do recommend that game, anyway

How do you add images to a post? Please help.

@Minako You’d want to use an image hosting service, like ibb.co . You can link a Google Account to it.

When you upload an image take the link (should end with .jpg), put it into a thread line, like so: [img] insert image link [/img

Add the bracket after that. Hope it helps.

@TheJGG Last night, Nhk news showed a hydrogen powered prototype car for Le Mans this year. I think it's this car. The first minute of this clip is quite amusing for its futuristic feel/sound.

@BruceCM Sounds similar to my experience with Secret of Mana. The game was enjoyable overall but definitely wasn't the magnum opus I was expecting. Most of the story (with a few exceptions) was kinda meh, the combat felt slow, and the magic/weapon leveling is really grindy.

Out of other famous JRPGs from that era, I'd rank Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and now Final Fantasy VI over it.

@Tyranexx - How are the roses? We had a couple small injuries to some smaller trees, but I think they’ll be okay. We might lose two, non native, decorative/fruit trees. I don’t know what they are, possibly some kind of crab apple type tree. They’re having serious problems, they were in flower and they won’t stand back up. It’s not that big of a deal if we lose them, but they’re in the front yard and do provide some shade & privacy.

Yeah, something sort of like that, @Tyranexx .... It's only that some were saying HZD is this absolute masterpiece, deserving at least 11/10 & so on! I'd give it more like an 8.5 or so but I haven't yet scored any game with a 10, since there's always some things 'wrong'!
In plenty of cases, 'overhyped' still means the game in question is very good/ great, anyway!

@TheJCG Thanks! Here's my first image (for the Video game foods you'd like to eat thread)

Yeah, that’s a right shame @Tyranexx, hindsight (or foresight…?) would have been useful in that respect. Either way there’s enough replayability to ensure that at the very least revisiting it for the music alone would be worth it. When I was waiting for the game the entire remastered soundtrack was published online. I wanted to remain spoil-free, but I ended up listening to every single song in the space of three days!

Mechonis Field is your favourite song? I wouldn’t say it’s my absolute favourite song but man it’s such a good one. The remastered track does it justice, cleaning up all the sound effects and samples whilst adding a new dimension to the song. There’s a subtle electric guitar that plays in the background along with one of the synth leads, and it sounds much nicer.

Central Factory sounds good but some extra post-production reverb would have been good. I loved Colony 9’s new acoustics, they suited it down to a tee. The added percussion for Tephra Cave was fantastic, and I can’t even mention the soundtrack without mentioning Satorl Marsh, that song got such a massive favourite. In fact I’m listening to it right now as I type. But all said and done I can’t identify any one track that was inherently bad compared to the original. Gotta be the work of Monolithsoft if you can’t find any negatives!

Of course I’ve had my fair share of silent griping about Super Mario 64’s graphics, or lack thereof. I never used Wii or Wii U for Virtual Console, but nowadays for the games I would want to play, I’d just wait until they get ported or remade and then I’ll take it. Seeing games like Trials of Mana get a full 3D Remake treatment makes me very happy, but at the same time slightly outraged that Nintendo doesn’t do this. They’re the ones that gain the most out of any company after all.

It’s sad, the whole CD drive affair, but there are some “grasping at straws” positives I can take away. First, all the physical PS4 games I have can be played on PS5. This also means that select games, like Ghost of Tsushima for example, get some reasonable boosts from the hardware, like unlocked 60fps or dynamic 4K. Third, I can play Blu-Ray discs on it, and although I have literally one to my name (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) it’s not entirely obsolete. All said and done I’m still glad I have the CD drive instead of.. not having it.

I’m surprised at the lack of first party support the PS5 has gotten lately, although COVID is no doubt a factor you’d think Sony has much more now. But that’s not a problem at all for me, I have numerous games on PS4 that have attracted my attention, namely the two NieR games, The Witcher III, the first eight (or so?) Kingdom Hearts games, plus the Tomb Raider titles I already have, it’s good business.

The comparisons aren’t helped by the fact that they released three days apart! In terms of their game design they are radically different, but there’s many areas the two can be compared. First off, the world, it’s absolutely stunning in every sense of the word. Things as intrinsically simple as a sunrise, snow, a sunset or the sun peeking over a lake, are always worth seeing. And in Horizon itself there’s things like the aurora borealis, which is so beautiful I find it hard to put into words.

Thing with the Complete Edition is that the DLC expansion is very much included, meaning an extra ten hours easily of solid story content, a massive new environment to explore, and a number of new quests. It ties into the story nicely as well, so it’s not like you’re leaving the world to put in effort elsewhere. You’ll love it, if you liked Breath of the Wild even a little! (I typed almost the last two whole paragraphs with my eyes closed, so.. no typos!)

That’s a very interesting weather cycle! Shame you can’t rely on weather to be consistent though, here it is consistent. Consistently hot!

The track stroll was relatively nice, though it was so bloody hot. When we got into the track at… I’d say quarter to six in the evening, it was around thirty five and a half degrees, plus 40% humidity. It was great, no, amazing, seeing the track, walking on it and seeing all the individual tyre marks and all, but I had a thin layer of sweat all over by the time I was finished. Next time I’ll take my bike. I’ll post pictures tomorrow, it’s getting rather late.

@Minako Alrighty! Glad you managed to learn it and get it done!

I do wonder why any Smash fighter would want to be that... vile meal. Surely they all know by now how absolutely atrocious Chie and Yukiko's cooking is, right?

I actually played the game yesterday to freshen up my mind @BruceCM... and you make a lot of sense, the game is indeed overhyped. It's very much 9/10 material but is not on the same level as Breath of the Wild, the direct competitor at the time. The story, and graphics are better due to more voice work and advanced hardware, but the world itself feels very barren. Beautiful but barren.

Well, BotW is rather empty, too, @TheJGG .... Similar 'post-apocalyptic reasons for that in both games, though! Anyway, we'd be going on forever about games that are good/ very good/ great but just not quite as amazing as some make out

@Eel Ah, I see.

@Snatcher Well, we've been right here all along, so the joke's on you.

@Tyranexx Duly noted on the singing brother...
P.S. I just mentioned the movie because of the name, I don't have any particularly fond memories of it myself. I just know that it exists.

@bimmy-lee Yeah, Nintendo is also a class act where that is concerned: not releasing games in certain regions, releasing them after all decades after the fact, and subsequently renaming and/or retro-fitting them. Come to think of it, considering we started this with Japanese cartoons, maybe it's predominantly an Asian to Western thing.

And I carefully picked the word "predominantly", otherwise I wouldn't have any valid explanation for the M&M's conundrum...

@ogo79 You should have gotten to the chopper...