Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@Pastellioli Good point; Conker is fairly nice as far as game IPs go. At least compared to what else Microsoft has at its disposal. Rare has certainly changed a lot since the SNES and N64 days, so I can see them wanting to work on/be interested in different games and genres. I've not kept up with what Rare does get up to. At least it doesn't appear Microsoft forces game studios to churn out something they aren't passionate about. At least from what Phil Spencer says (I don't dislike the guy, not the biggest fan though).

Besides world building and story, game manuals also had some really great character illustrations and art. Not that we can't get that sort of thing online today, but it was turli something special to open a page and find a really neat art panel or character design. It was sort of like getting a free art book packed in.

Conker + a bazooka makes so much sense it hurts. XD

@Tyranexx Unlike most game studios, Rare prefers not to make sequels to their games. Usually, whenever they make a new game, it’s a one and done thing, maybe it gets one sequel or a related installment of some sort and then move on to a new, fantastic idea for a new game. Some people think it’s something they have only been doing in recent times, but Rare has been like that ever since the 90s-00s, in fact, for Banjo-Kazooie, I believe I read that they actually wanted to end it at Tooie, but some games of theirs (like Conker) were supposed to get sequels and continuations and possibly get turned into franchises but didn’t happen and stayed as one and done things.

Since modern Rare has different staff than old Rare, they would not want to use their old IPs for anything besides merchandise, and what modern Rare has been up to after Rare Replay is continuing work on Sea of Thieves and developing a new IP called Everwild, but no one knows what the heck is going on with that game; all everyone has been hearing is that development for Everwild has been unfortunately been going a bit poorly and was rebooted not too long ago. It is interesting to see how much the studio changed significantly and their approach to making sequels, and I am hoping that Everwild is good or decent, cuz despite being a huge Rare fan, for some reason their newer games don’t really interest me. I think why Sea of Thieves doesn’t interest me is because it’s an online game (which I don’t have the time for) and although you can play the game alone, I heard the game is really unfun when you don’t play with other people. Not that I’m against modern games at all or think their bad, I love modern games and old games equally, but for Rare, I don’t know, I’m not into their new games a ton for some strange reason.

It is nice that they are sticking to making more original stuff, and I would like to see some of their other IPs getting lent out more to other game studios that can make good games and have perfect ideas for modern entries, like how they let some of Rare’s old IPs like Killer Instinct and Perfect Dark get modern reboots by other studios. A cool thing is, I believe someone noted that the upcoming Perfect Dark reboot appeared to be taking some ideas from a cancelled two-part sequel Rare was making for the original N64 game, so it makes me happy to see that some old ideas from the original creators are being recycled and put to use for newer games. I am excited for the reboot, but I hope it isn’t one of those situations where a game is hyped up and then released with glitches, bugs, or technical issues that make the experience unfun, cuz I have heard of a lot of games releasing in bad states and not being fixed till later, but I don’t actually think Microsoft’s game studios would be the types to do that.

Even though Microsoft has messed up a lot of things in the Xbox division as of late and has a couple of things to improve on, I do like that they want to let their studios make games they actually feel like making, and not forcing them to make specific games.

In one of the game’s chapters you do use a bazooka, but when I played the original, I really messed up with using it when I got near the end of the level and kept dying lol. I kept forgetting which trigger to use to aim closer at the enemies, so the second I took the bazooka out, I shot too close to a wall and died, though it was more on me and not the game.

Pretty late, but just finished up a few pen sketches and adding in a few details. Listening to a couple new Vocaloid songs and they are really great!

@Pastellioli hey man! Mainly chiming in to say. I got really nothing to say atm. There’s probably something in these threads I forgot to reply to, and I could definitely read up on what I missed if I had more energy. xD
Sadly my current week is not giving me much leeway energy wise. I’ve at least been cooking a lot (Evan if that was a byproduct of extra free time…

@Yousef- Hello! Haven’t talked to you in a while. Hope that life is going well and that your day has been good. I also haven’t had a lot of say on NL, but that is fine!

I am hoping you are fine. Cooking is great, for me, I’ve been drawing a lot more in my free time. Feels great having more creativity and not getting art block a ton. I’ve made at least three art works last week and I am really obsessed with using pens in my art. Probably going to share some new art again tomorrow.

My The Sims 4 PS4 was running better on my PS5 machine and it gave me some new confident to getting more engaged with The Sims 4 despite of tons of DLC stuffs.
Not gonna lie i still don't like the idea of never ending DLC but i started to feel bored with my current The Sims 4.
I bought 6 DLC stuffs for my The Sims 4 since 5 years ago and the fact of more DLC for The Sims 4 added, it will drain my wallet if i want to get the DLC that i have interest about.
I will study more about the DLC stuffs and decide which i will get next.

It’s so late! Staying up late is fun but I need to go to bed. Anyway, I hope everyone had (or is having) a good day, hope to have lots of more fun chats later today!

@Pastellioli I’ve made chicken, omelettes, chocolate cake and also French toast! I plan to make a mutton burger too since I got some minced meat yesterday I’m currently dethawing!

This week I’ve got some really wholesome comments from my pops that are really helping me me keep going. He told me his first year on the job was his roughest, just like how I am right now haha. It’s really heartwarming and motivational, stuff like this helps going. I respond a bit too to positive feedback. XD

Good to talk to you again : )

@Yousef- Gosh that all sounds delicious, I haven’t actually heard of a mutton burger before. French toast and chocolate cake sound the best…I love sweet stuff but I need to actually cut down on sugar since I’ve been having it way too much. My sister is the baker in our family, she loves making desserts like cookies and brownies.

That’s very good to hear about your father being very supporting and loving. I am a very negative and don’t feel happy when things get rough for me, but similar to your father, my family (especially my brother) also tell me hopeful things to help me push through when things are hard but most of the time I don’t feel encouraged at all because I tend to focus a lot on how awful I feel and the situation at hand, because sometimes I feel like positive words do not change the situation; however, if I did actually follow what they said, I would feel better even in a bad situation and hopeful that things would get better. Even being self-deprecating to be funny can be a bit hurtful, and I do want to try to be less like that and more positive about myself.

@Pastellioli I’ve had leftover Hershey’s white chocolate chips. Was curious how they’d work as a French toast topping and they turned out great! My usuals toppings are honey, maple syrup, strawberry/raspberry/blueberry jam or gaymar.

Mutton is delicious. I love lamb, so of course I love it minced. Mutton is tastier than Beef imo. Hardee’s once brought it back and it was really great.

Yeahhhh the chocolate cake was fun to bake!! I had no frosting unfortunately, but i salvaged it by breaking apart a Galaxy chocolate bar I had into little pieces, thrown into the oven for at least a minute and viola. Took my cake to the next level!

I’ve not made cookies, but I’m contemplating it. The Hershey chocolate chips are really tasty and they work as a snack too! Great with chai/ milktea.

Think I’ll try finding strawberry cookies recipe, I love strawberries so much.

Yessss positive reinforcement goes a long way : ))))))

@Yousef- For French toast, all I top it with is usually banana slices and syrup. Nothing exciting, but it still tastes good. Haven’t had French toast with chocolate or white chocolate, but I can imagine it tastes good!

It’s cool you were able to make the frosting despite not having any, it’s nice to hear everything worked out in the end! I really like how chocolate tastes. I had a bit of a Hersheys chocolate craze that I did kind of talk about a few pages back in this forum. Love the king-size Hershey chocolate bars and sharing them with my mom and brother, but they got sick of it quickly. For me, I always liked it! Hershey’s chocolate tastes the best when you let it sit in the freezer and eat it cold. I remember a few years ago when I was visiting my grandma, she had Hershey’s kisses that she froze in the freezer and they tasted heavenly. I also do think Hershey’s kisses still taste amazing on their own!

Ooh, strawberry cookies, I haven’t actually made those before. I think the closest I have maybe eaten a cookie that was made with strawberry was these packs of shortbread cookies from Knott’s Berry Farm that had strawberry jam in the center of it. I can remember those are sold in-stores or online.

@Pastellioli there’s a lot of fruit-themed sweets I like! Orange cake, mixed fruit sponge cake, vanilla cake with strawberry topping, etc.

@Pastellioli Eh, whatever works best for Rare. As long as they still have the will to make some great games, and to experiment. I can understand not wanting to be locked into a certain IP or genre. And apparently other studios are more than happy to give some IPs Rare previously touched new life.

I know of Sea of Thieves but decided it wasn't my cup of tea since it's meant to be played online. Plus I don't currently own a viable platform to play the game. I admit I've not heard of Everwild (Or I have, but just forgot lol), but it sounds like the game has been through development hell. Which more often than not isn't the best thing for a game. Studios have surprised me with some great turnarounds in this regard, but then there are examples like the infamous Duke Nukem Forever.

I repeat: the chaos from bazookas in games can be a good time. XD

@Tyranexx Unlike most Rare fans, I am pretty unbothered with the games they make nowadays and think it is nice that they want to be more creative than other studios. A lot of people say that modern Rare is bad, but I kind of feel like that only stems from how they no longer make games using their popular IPs from the N64 days and tend to take longer when developing games compared to how they pumped out games almost yearly from the late 90s to late 00s, but I think what some people forget is that game development takes longer nowadays, and it was much easier back then. Rare has always liked developing a variety of games in different genres, and I do like how a lot of their Xbox games (mostly ones from the 360 days) were very experimental and they tried to branch out into different genres and add twists, like platformers (the genre that Rare is arguably most famous for), shooters, beat ‘em’ ups, life sims, etc. A lot of their 360 titles were pretty decent in my opinion despite how much fans like to say they were abysmal and worse than their previous games.

Even though they have moved on from making games using their classic IP, I am glad that Microsoft is trying to find game studios that can put in new life into them and is being a bit careful with who they choose to assign the games to. I like seeing old and dormant IPs getting modern comebacks and getting new games rather than being completely dead.

I wouldn’t blame you for not knowing what Everwild is, cuz I think all they have had to show for that one was a single trailer and that was it. I am a bit sad to hear that management at modern Rare is a bit of a mess, and I believe the developers were reported on not even knowing what direction to take Everwild in; because of that, reports on the game’s genre are conflicting, some say it’s a third-person adventure game, but some say its Viva Piñata-like and will have absolutely no combat at all. I believe Everwild has been in development for around a decade, but it wasn’t until three years ago that they rebooted development. They apparently had planned to release it this year from what was reported, but I am really doubtful they are going to be able to do that unfortunately from how little they have revealed on it. I am hopeful that the game can release to good reception despite how rocky development has been on it, but unfortunately when a game is in development for so long and has issues stemming from the lengthy development time, it usually is released to mediocre reception.

Toasted sandwiches with pineapple pork in them tastes heavenly.

@MarioVillager92 I could play A Hat in Time soon, I am just a bit busy so I’ve been playing quick game sessions on my phone instead. I have been wanting to play some new games, but I need to find stuff that interests me and is reviewed well. I have also played Cuphead too, but didn’t finish it at all and I remember it being really hard to finish. It’s still a good game though, I’m just not the greatest at it.

Banjo- is really kind, pretty much everyone on this site is super kind and is why I like this site a lot. Everyone is so respectful when they talk to me and even when they disagree with my opinions. It’s way better than other sites I use like Instagram. The kind community here is why I always go on here a lot.

Thank you! I like your new profile picture, I do sometimes like using in-game screenshots as avatar pictures. Changing avatar pictures is my favorite, I usually settle on one for a month and then change it again. I think that profile pictures can really do a good job showing your interests and what you like. I really like my current one of Shiver and the one I had previously. Splatoon has been one of my favorite game series even though I haven’t been playing it as of late, and after hearing stuff about the Grand Fest (which I sadly missed), I chose to make my avatar Shiver to commemorate it.

For the GIF profile picture, I remember it being a bit tricky to get it to work on here. I went to a walkthrough of Bad Fur Day on YouTube, and screen recorded a goofy scene spoofing Terminator and then cropped it, but then I found it didn’t work on here because it was big, so I had to turn it into a GIF and turn it low quality. I was also thinking of having my next profile picture also be a Bad Fur Day GIF again before I went with Shiver, but I thought I should go for something new. I sometimes like to wait a while before changing it, and I already have an idea for one next month and in December. I remember my first profile picture on here being a render of Conker cuz I couldn’t think of anything else lol.

I am sure I’ve had Conker as my profile on here about five times, and the only times I haven’t had him as one is right now and back in June when I had Banjo as my avatar for a bit. I change my avatars on here a lot, but I haven’t changed it on social media for months. Just today I changed my avatar on the Xbox to a character from a video game called Viva Piñata after having my avatar unchanged since April and I’m pretty satisfied with it.

@Sunsy You were right! I didn’t know it used amiibos of some sort. That’s cool.

Ooh, I remember playing Minion Rush so many years ago. I think that is a pretty solid endless runner game, so is Subway Surfers, which is pretty iconic and classic. I have also played Sonic CD on my phone and finished it in full, and I think I also finished it as Tails, since if you finish the mobile port as Sonic, you’ll unlock Tails as a playable character. I did have Sonic 2 on there as well, but I didn’t finish it.

I am pretty glad with the approach they are taking with Pocket Camp. Although I don’t play it anymore and thought it was an okay game, I do know some people still play it and love it a lot, and seeing them preserve it and still give access to playing it (albeit offline) makes me happy instead of seeing it wiped away forever. I would also love if live-service games did have plans in place to keep supporting the game in some way, even if they do shut down at some point, and it is sad to see all that game progress going down the drain. It’s also sad when the developer’s work on the game is gone too. I remember a few being disappointed with them shutting down another Nintendo mobile game called Dragalia Lost and not allowing it to be played offline, never played that but I heard it was a good game. It kind of looked cool, and I sort of regret not trying it out when it was still available to download. I know Miitomo didn’t last long, only for two years!

I think that is the reason why, and given that Bad Fur Day’s colorful art style made a lot of parents accidentally buy it for their kids under the assumption it was a clean, family-friendly experience, I can definitely see why they wouldn’t want a pretty big game franchise they own appearing in a somewhat controversial game. Nintendo was reported as having concerns over Bad Fur Day being mistaken as a kids game, but they didn’t interfere or have a huge affect on the final product, only just telling them to remove certain jokes and references, though they absolutely didn’t want any association with it despite how little involvement they had in it, like how when I mentioned Nintendo’s European branch refused to publish it in Europe likely over the content in the game.

I just appreciate sites like those. They report and write about cancelled game projects that could have been forgotten or remained niche, and seeing the other info they gather is cool; like when the game was first announced, when it was cancelled, the planned consoles for it, interviews on the game, information on the game given by the developers, concept art and character models...I know a lot of work goes into getting all that information and making sure it’s correct and then putting it all together to make page entries/articles on them. The site does also report on cut content for games that did actually release, and I read a bit on those too. I gotta commend the people running these cancelled game sites and wikis for the hard work and research they do to make people aware of some cancelled games. I just love hearing about anything on game development and game history.

Huge question for help!! I got my kids switches for Christmas and want to set them up correctly. Is their a guide for setting up family accounts? My biggest question is... if I buy a game digitally is it playable on all the switches at the same time?

Super new to all this so please be patient 😔☺️