Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

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Probably the earliest I've managed to deliver this one; just a few seconds after 10am here. Good to see you, @Tyranexx! No worries, life tends to do that to all of us! Ironically it’s better that you waited, especially so you were able to process the absolute joy that was the Nintendo E3 Direct. Conversely I’ve been very free, more on that later of course.

Funnily I feel the opposite about keeping your save when implementing the Breath of the Wild DLC, after beating The Champion’s Ballad from my original save I wiped it, to start a “complete edition” playthrough of the game with all the DLC available from the start. When I exited the Great Plateau, did a shrine, and emerged back into the world the next two minutes was just all the DLC sidequests being accepted in the background. I also had relatively early access to the Travel Medallion, and got access to some very powerful (8 defence) armour very quickly. On one hand it could feel like the DLC content breaks the balance of the game, but it also offers a smoother difficulty curve.

That’s where Master Mode comes in though, and I really appreciate the increased difficulty. The Great Plateau is markedly harder than in the original, especially with the White Lynel in the middle of the field area. The floating platforms are fun to raid but the weapons they offer are so hilariously unbalanced that it breaks the game. No joke, mere minutes after leaving the Great Plateau I found a Five Shot Burst Mighty Lynel Bow But the challenge is great, especially with the harder enemies. Now normal mode feels way too easy!

I didn’t miss too much from the Square presentation, even if I was a little irked I managed to sleep through the entire thing. I didn’t realise at the time but the Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin trailer would become one of the most infamous game trailers in history. Even a week on from that horror-show I still find ways to laugh whenever I see that trailer. My thoughts haven’t changed much on it, especially after seeing battle and cinematic gameplay, though I’ll concede the UI graphics are neat. The characters feel as stereotypical as ever, and I’ve played enough Warriors games for a lifetime (three). It’s definitely just me but I’m not terribly excited for Guardians of the Galaxy, so that pretty much was the make or break feature in that show.

It’s gone smoothly, I’ve put down three pages already, I’ve spent maybe… forty minutes total working on it? I put that in my forum signature as well for convenience sake. I have the whole summer to work on that, and some new songs…

Yeah, Clash of Clans was bad, though not quite as popular as Fortnite is now. I haven’t met many gamers who don’t play it currently, so it’s always nice when I meet someone who hasn’t. All the stories of children abusing the V-bucks system are mainly born from parents being too ignorant of what their kids are doing, so getting parents aware of the dangers of micro-transactions is important. It’s happening now though, as more people play video games, and by extension more people who play video games become parents. I’m glad my parents never gave in, it made me a much better person when it comes to saving money. The games that offer a good experience without money can be great, I’d like to think Genshin Impact is one such game. Looks amazing, has a boatload of story and side content, and some great music and combat.

Ironically I’ve said a lot of good stuff about Stardew Valley after getting severely burnt out from Animal Crossing. Games with time and date systems synced to the real world will bring their own fair share of problems, like permanently missing festivals and having to wait another year, not being able to find a specific fish unless you get up at 2am or whatever… yeah it’s not good. @ThanosReXXX put it best; only person that gets to decide what time it is and when, is you, the player. I’m not gonna try and sell it to you though, since you’re at least a bit aware of how good the game’s been received!

Considering your schedule you probably may want to get Disney+, I don’t remember how expensive it is (edit: I checked and it’s $7.99 a month) but from what I’ve heard it offers amazing value. From what you wrote you aren’t able to record shows or films, so that’s an option. Again it’s your choice, but considering everything’s important. As for me… I watched the second part of Christie’s “And Then There Were None”, and the plot thickens with some dramatic plot twists and some truly unsettling camerawork and lighting.

I was actually asked about games last night by a friend of mine who was getting a Switch. They asked me for three recommended games, and when they combined my choices with others, they decided to get Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury… for BotW it was between that and Super Mario Odyssey and honestly… while Odyssey’s good it’s not in the same league as BotW. All three have insane amounts of content, so money-wise 3D World’s very much earned its $60 price tag. I agree that Pikmin 3 Deluxe and DKC: Tropical Freeze should have been priced less though, I’d have both now if they were.

Speaking of, not only did I get The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt but also both Spider-Man Remastered, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Five games in the space of about eight days. That’s more than enough for the whole summer… I’ve played all of them except for Miles Morales and here’s some basic thoughts, who knows, they may help in future;

• Spider-Man with ray tracing is absolutely insane. The controls feel very awkward at times but it’s easy enough to get used to. The enemy AI’s no slouch, so assuming you can just walk in and punch the bad guys over and over until you defeat them, is going to get you killed.
• NieR:Automata’s a wonderfully weird game, so something I already know I’m going to love. I like the dynamic between 2B and 9S, so I hope their relationship develops realistically over the course of the game. The combat’s really smooth and the game looks and runs like butter on PS5. The music’s amazing.
• Final Fantasy VII Remake’s markedly improved. The lighting’s much better, the game runs so much better, and some of the haptic feedback’s just so good… Plus a photo mode. And the loading times… you can go from your console home screen to playing the game in, I’m not joking, three seconds.
• The Witcher 3… probably the disappointment of the bunch in terms of performance. It looks so… choppy now, so I hope CDPR are working on that PS5 version they promised. Half of me still doesn’t believe I sucked myself into their vortex, but this game is really good for a reason.

Well… it took me two full days to recover from the vaccine! I got it at around 8:30am without any waiting or lines… and I began feeling quite sleepy on my way home. I felt fine for the whole day, maybe a bit of fatigue… until after I finished watching the Nintendo Direct, at which point I went to sleep. Cold shivers, fever, headache, nausea, and one of the weirdest dreams I’ve ever had in my life, and I’m pretty sure it was a mix of Breath of the Wild 2… and Final Fantasy Origin. It was that bad. The next day I was still feeling very cold and I ended up taking four showers. I went out in the middle of the day to collect some stuff; and it was tough getting up and standing in the hot sun for ten minutes. Sorry for all that but it was a right journey. Nothing medicine couldn’t fix, and I was right as Reyn the next day.

More or less agree with your consensus on E3, it was neither here nor there. Metroid’s given me a lot to think about, I know you’re super excited for that one! I’m a bit disappointed about the Game & Watch, apart from collection it has little to no value for me. I’m absolutely gonna give Advance Wars a go, probably not for WarioWare but I’m happy for others who will enjoy that game.