Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

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It's been a physically tough few days, it's become so tiring to sit down and write for a solid forty minutes or so, so that's why I took a break from longer posts. I usually complain about the weather a fair bit, but I'm not exaggerating when I say it's getting very bad now. In the last week it's regularly gone up to 40 degrees Celsius, and going outside for as little as two minutes starts to make me dizzy. I had to go to the pool for an hour today to supervise some kids, and... it's as bad as Breath of the Wild puts it.

It's not even that close to the hotter months in the Northern Hemisphere but it's already above that... pain threshold of temperature. And it's going to get worse by June. But at the same time I hope you guys in the Northern Hemisphere can find some sun, I've heard a lot about just how cold it is in some places. I can offer this advice to those wanting it; wear sun cream. A lot of it especially during the June-August months. I spend thirty minutes a day applying various creams twice a day, and it's worth it. My skin's gotten blotchy from the intense sun and I've just about began to undo it. @ThanosReXXX Hope that explains my own absence, while I appreciate being acknowledged as a text wall creator you'll know as well as me that it can take a lot out of you! But I'll do what I can do well, catching up with the latest the users here have to say!

@Tyranexx In response to @MarioLover92's comment for you, getting a PS5 will be worth it later on down the line. I'd say though... if you are able to get one, get one. The console as you know is the hardest part far and away, so getting games can be a secondary priority in terms of that bubble of wish. Based on your game interests from our conversations I'd say (for PS4/5);

• You'd be halfway house for Demon's Souls. That game is really good, well designed and looks pretty darn moody, but is so... so hard. I haven't beaten the first level yet and I've had the game for almost half a year!
• I'd like to think you'd like the Spider-Man game (plus Miles Morales), they look simply amazing, and I imagine it'll be a blast slinging through New York City!
• Persona 5 [Royal] easily. One of the best RPGs I have ever played, and as you know I've played a lot of them. It's so long, takes a massive chunk of time to beat, but the investment is so worth it. Of course when you get all nitty gritty and compare it to other Persona games you'll find the characters in 4 and the story of 3 are better but it's a modern masterpiece and a must play for anyone who even marginally likes RPGs. Turn based combat at the most stylish it'll ever be.
• FF7 Remake, why is this even a debate? Same with Persona 5, an outstanding game with some technical wizardry. It looks awesome, runs great, the soundtrack is a bop, the cutscenes are so well done and the voice acting is beauty. Plus the combat's fire for adrenaline junkies.

Xenoblade 2's story needs a push but it can be very good when it wants to be. The gacha mechanics are silly and the Rare Blades have no story presence but at least the music's good. Man I love video game music. Some of 2's music is much better when experienced in game, so I'd of course recommend that once you settle down with Monster Hunter, Eevee and the OG Xenoblade. Xenoblade X was such a good game because the designers were able to make a game they wanted to make for fifteen years, with giant controllable mechanical warrior robots, and cool weapons and fighting styles.

X was your first? It was my second, I played them in release order. X was the best open world game I had ever played, until Breath of the Wild. I don't know how they did it on Wii U, it must be begging for mercy every time I open the game. I preferred the exploration emphasis, especially after chapters, like after Episode 3: Builders of a Legacy, when you had to survey 15% of Primordia before starting Episode 4. Getting your Skell license felt the exact same as when I first explored the giant part of Noctilum. Like; "you thought that was it?". Unlocking such massive potential in the world. Of course grinding was boring, same with power levelling. But fighting against Ganglion who were an actual threat to you, is backed up by some epic music. Like; "you know we're coming, prepare to die,".

Told'ja, Sawano has a style! It plays a few times during the first season but it's so appropriate. The bit before the main "Sawano explosion" at the two minute area, has a particularly Sawano-y feel, like the violin part during the "dangerous area" theme in X. The vocals feel identical to X because they are, the singer, Mika Kobayashi, performs in multiple X songs. Especially "so nah, so fern", which have lyrics in German. Same with "attack ON titan", which also has German vocals. The drum kit too.

Missed that typo! But my wish lift is clear. X is my dream port now because it's so.... so undeserving of the amount of underexposure it has. Metroid Prime similarly, I want to be able to love the Metroid Prime series, but Nintendo isn't giving people like me a chance yet. I also think it'll be used for marketing for Prime 4, so I hope E3 will surprise me!

Honestly myself, I was never... apprehensive about the PS5. As soon as I saw the design in June I had fallen massively in love. It's so sleek, so rounded with no edges at all. It's the future, now. I wonder how a slim version would work though, the primary reason for the PS5's size is because of the massive cooling systems, which keep it very quiet. It's not a stable platform and you actually get given a stand to position it vertically or horizontally, so it's not ideal for tight spaces. Explains why Japan's taken a backseat in Sony's eyes, they don't have enough space for it!

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I've been REALLY busy with work the past couple days. Today was worse. I was due to leave a bit early (short lunch), but a coworker and I ran into a few hiccups during our application's deployment process. The normal guy who handles things is out on vacation this week. I can go through the process fine, but we were trying to get him set up to do it in case I and the other guy are both out at some point. We made it, but I left about an hour later than I originally intended. Then tonight was an exercise night...so now I'm finally interneting. XD

@ThanosReXXX MUWAHAHAHA! I...am...UNLEASHED! (And maybe mildly insane by this point in the week lol)

@TheJGG You haven't scared me away. As mentioned above, I have been pretty busy/tired IRL as well. Too, I'm trying to limit my internet time a bit more in the evenings. Haven't been sleeping the best, so I'm trying to cut off the blue light a bit earlier again. My sympathies on how HOT it seems to be in your corner of the planet right now. I can tolerate heat more than cold, but only to a point. Honestly, I'd probably NOPE going outside where you are unless I absolutely had to.

On the PS5: I'm content to wait for now, not in the least because of the stock issues. It's common that I wait for a slight revision to show anyway; I didn't pick up a Switch until the V2 model was a thing, for example. On the game suggestions, in order:

• I've heard Demon Souls is really good, but I'm very hesitant to jump into Souls games in general. I like to be challenged, but to me there's a difference between "Reasonably challenging" and "Hello Wall, meet controller" lol. (Note: I've never actually thrown a controller across a room, but I've DEFINITELY had the urge)
• Spider-Man: Miles Morales would be a definite purchase. I've liked Spidey since I was a kid, and who DOESN'T want to sling through New York as a superhero?
• Persona 5....I've heard this is a really, REALLY good game. But also a very long one. I'm intentionally very picky about the timesinks I pick up these days. Maybe eventually, but not anytime soon. Though TBH, I've never played a Persona entry.
• Final Fantasy 7 Remake would also be a definite pickup. Though I do feel like I should play the original first just for comparison's sake lol. I like the trailers and gameplay I've seen of the game, though I've intentionally limited the latter to earlier sections of the game in order to try to avoid major spoilers.

On the Xenoblade entries: I've heard some of the complaints about the gacha mechanics in XC2, especially when it comes to trying to farm rare blades. I might do some farming myself when the time comes, but I'll intentionally try not to go TOO crazy over it all. XD As for XCX, Nintendo and Monolith Soft really hyped up the game back in 2015, enough that I wanted to give it a try. I loved the game, learned about the original, wanted to try that, and...learned how scalped to death it was even used. I'm very glad XC:DE released on the Switch, because I missed out on the New 3DS port too; I didn't obtain that 3DS variant until a couple years ago. It was certainly worth the wait, but man was I frantic for the game at one point!

In terms of a true open-world game, XCX was probably my first console game that pushed the concept. Before that, the largest game I'd played in terms of large maps (though not completely seamless) was World of Warcraft. Definitely a fun MMO, but those games are such time sinks that I swore them off a few years ago. The exploration emphasis really worked well for XCX and, in my opinion, brought home the fact that humans WERE strangers on this planet, and we needed to figure out every little thing we could about the vast, beautiful, and at times hostile world of Mira as soon as possible. It's fun to explore, gather resources, meet new sentient life-forms, fight monsters/tyrants, and pilot giant robots in real time! Grinding was a bit bleh - there were a couple times where I had to forcibly grind to get past a particularly difficult fight - but thankfully it didn't feel like a slog most of the time; I was having too much fun.

I admit: Sawano DOES have style! I now want to seek out more of his compositions. Glad to learn that my ears weren't fooling me in regards to Mika Kobayashi's involvement!

Fingers crossed that XCX does see a Switch release! Of the games left to move over from the Wii U, it's certainly the most deserving in my book. I also suspect the Switch version wouldn't require as many patches to make the game run in a playable state. As for the first three Metroid Prime entries, I can attest that they're very, VERY good. They truly are Metroid games, in 3D! Some FPS elements, sure, but the have the series upgrades, exploration, neat visuals/vistas (Well, for the time), (mostly) fun boss fights, and plenty of lore if you want it.

Heh, it's admittedly a little hard for me to love the PS5's current design with how much it looks like my tower fan when it's standing up vertically! Its horizontal position is more visually pleasing to me. My main concern is my current space; I'd need a new entertainment center, or at least a table or stand next to my entertainment center lol. I'd take some slight downgrades for a slim system if that's what it came to, though.