Deady

Love Steamworld. I have the sinking suspicion this will run like butt on switch, so I’ll get it on PlayStation.

I just started it this morning. I muted it in the scene where the kids started talking about our hero waking up and haven’t turned the sound back on. The characters are idiots, the story is meaningless, I don’t care about the music, the art style is drek, combat is everything it needs to be though. Playing hard/classic.

I usually trade for big titles at GameStop but they open too late for me as I’m flying out tomorrow morning. I’ll buy it at Target 7AM on the dot and have it for the flight.

@PJOReilly “get you back into the action quick smart.”

I want to marry your use of English. Also I agree on the imagined relationships and feelings about characters forged in battle. When I played Sacred Stones for the first time, a young cavalier named Kyle held a bridge alone against reinforcements to save the team. The mission dropped a paladin upgrade item for him. Much later in the game, he fell to a 1% chance critical after picking up a weakened team member to save them. He was avenged by his brother, who carried on the family legacy of sweet sweet Paladinliness, but I never got over Kyle’s sacrifice.

@Pally356 Videogames usually hit my warehouse 7-10 days before release, but we usually don’t get the bulk of them in our network. We received around 1500 Divine last week and several hundred standard, along with thousands of the accompanying amiibo. Deliveries are generally confirmed several times and tracked systematically. Theft can happen but the pay is good and so is the camera coverage.

For comparison’s sake, we had over 12,000 various copies of scarlet/violet boxed and waiting for shipping labels a week before street, 2k-ish Ragnarok, and I never saw Elden Ring pass through.

I’m trying to allow myself to get psyched up for Tears naturally but it’s not happening. I liked Breath but have never once thought about replaying it. I love Zelda and I’ll play this day one but I’m not replaying any others in the lead up.

Love Zelda 2 and just had a great time with Infernax. This art is pretty but it doesn’t give me the Zelda vibe or the doom and gloom feel of Z2.

@Beefcakeyamato Definitely true about NPC conversations. Playing the games back then, the cryptic nature of the clues from the townsfolk in Z2 and old hermits in Zelda was challenging but part of the fun, and it was all we knew. Part of that was also space limitations in data and translation. Even Final Fantasy 7, years later and on CD suffered great difficulties in translation and localization because the text boxes couldn’t fit as much English as Japanese.

@AstroTheGamosian To be fair, while the Error interaction is strange and unfortunate, you have to know his name is Error to finish a quest later in the game. They should have called him Errol or Eric, or any damn thing but Sue just to make it more obvious he was telling us his name.

I finished a “good guy” run of Infernax and it was cool. I don’t think I’ve played any other game that is so clearly inspired by Zelda 2. I’ll go back to it for completion soon.

For now I’m playing Inscryption on PS5. I made sure to avoid reading reviews on it. All I knew going in was card game, highly rated, and weird and at the point where I set down my controller, stared at the screen and said, “What the f is going on here?” I was beyond hooked.

Big beefy highly anticipated games coming out swinging month after month after month. Arceus, Horizon, Kirby, Elden Ring, Bayonetta, Xenoblade, Triangle, Sonic, Ragnarok, Scarlet/Violet, and so on. Highs and lows but something to dig into for everyone, plus some pretty cool indies (looking at you, Inscryption).

Infernax is on sale, so Infernax.

I am really not into SE’s strategy of boutique/faux-indie. Put it in a box and sell it at Target.

Edit: is the comment section freaking out for anybody else in mobile? It keeps jumping around as if ads are loading but nothing in the page is actually changing. Gah

I ran into a Flamigo. I soon ran away from that Flamigo. Friggin big stupid pink Elden Ring boss over here out of nowhere.

Sounds fine but all I can think is either Glenn or Lenne should have been renamed at some point over these seven years.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika Confirmed. I work in a distribution center for a major US retailer and we recently blasted through over 3,000 of each of the splatoon 3 amiibo over the course of a few days. We just had them all chucked into gaylords waiting for order pickers. Funko bobbleheads also arrive in bewildering quantities.

Most played, FF7 - 69 hours, Arceus - 61, …Violet - 20. Nothing else over a few. That’s the power of Elden Ring.

I enjoyed the original, still have it but haven’t played it in a long time. I may eventually get this but I’m in absolutely no hurry, have piles of other stuff to play and should be saving money.

I’ve played Elden Ring more than any other new game in the last five years easily, it’s wonderful, and I continue to go back to it.

As for Ragnarok’s soundtrack - I still haven’t played XC3, so I can’t compare directly. I found that Rag’s soundtrack was not only excellent, but also a huge, huge improvement over GoW18’s, which was weak and almost non-existent (same goes for cinematography). That level of improvement may have colored voting.

The amount of music, quality of the music, effective long-term theming, and scoring in scenes and battles were well thought out and professional. It also helps that this music got to accompany great battles and a story that is powerful at times and manages to achieve beauty when it matters most. Performance, narrative, and music support each other.

The only FPS I’ve ever spent serious time on was Medal of Honor on ps1. I don’t count Metroid Prime as a shooter, it’s a first person Metroid.

The scene in Ragnarok concerning “the culmination of love” put it over the top for me. I’m not interested in awards but I think even the best games this year (and I am a serious Elden Ring supporter) would find it hard to compete with GoW.

“Open your heart to the world as you have opened it to me, and you will find every reason to keep living in it.”

Customized my little dude with purple hair and makeup, the first thing I did with travel freedom was ran around the whole map looking for skirts and dresses, was massively disappointed, went back to Ragnarok.

Square is concerned about the concern this has caused all those who are concerned. Please look forward to it.

Target, Best Buy, Amazon, GameStop, and Walmart all had PS5+Ragnarok bundles widely available starting last week in the US. In fact when I went to pick up Ragnarok on Sunday the GameStop still had consoles available. Was there a product drop in the UK as well? Could explain Forbidden West jumping up as PS5’s de facto “may as well” first game.

That’s a lot of noms. I nommed pancakes and an omelet today and it was glorious. If elden ring were food it’d probably be extremely spicy and poisonous. I’d still nom it though. I ended up making trades for Ragnarok, got it for free plus walked off with $23 extra credit because the values were boosted by 40%. I haven’t started Ragnarok yet but I am now intrigued about its accessibility options, my hands are pretty busted these days. I find it odd Forbidden West isn’t nommed for that.

Replaying God of War 2018. I really wasn’t into it the first time I played it but I figured that after not touching it for years, something would click if I tried it again. Not sure how that works but it happens with me all the time and I’m enjoying it much more this go round. Finishing up a 56 hour work week today then six days off so probably finish that and pick up Ragnarok with trade-ins and member credit. Trying to save money and haven’t bought any games in months.

Last time I saw Pokémon, a gaggle of Gyarados was attacking the cruise ship. What have I missed?

Is this the guy who’s been dead for a hundred years?

@Andy_Witmyer Almost everything has skill trees at least now. For example, the Devil May Cry series has unlockable skills for each weapon/fighting style plus traversal skills and extendable life/magic bars by accruing and spending different colored orbs you get from defeating enemies and finding secret areas.

Bluntly, even God of War, the most actiony action game series these days, now not only has skill trees but upgradeable armor, weapons, and pure exp levels.

I think pure straight up action where you have everything from the start and it’s up to you to use it is pretty much left to indies pining for the early 90s and, oddly, Mario and Zelda. I’m also extremely tired and writing this as I go to bed so I’m probably not offering a very cogent argument. Nonetheless, play some action games.

God of War is going to make a billion dollars in its first week and none of our arguments will matter anymore. It’s friggin Ragnarok.

@Wexter I dig it, thanks. I figure the same about how developers will get better as time goes on at squeezing more out of the system, but I don’t know anything about the actual technology involved (mobile tech and so on) as it pertains to switch.

I am looking forward to a time where the PS5 is commonly available so that developers can really start trying to flex their muscles on it as opposed to keeping games cross-gen with PS4, but again, I’m clueless on the tech end. I look at games now and wonder how they could possibly look any better, but I thought that in 2001 when I saw the cutscenes in Final Fantasy 10. (Personally I think they still hold up)

PS5 can’t even play PS5 games. Most games require you to choose between 4K /or/ 60fps. Meanwhile the box says the console is 8k ready. I don’t even know what that means. Why would switch 2 play PS5 games?

I’m not getting anything right away but I’m interested in Bayonetta, Factorio, and Live by the Sword. All I know about LbtS is what’s in the shop page but tactics is one of my favorite genres and I’m always up for a new take on it. Hopefully it’s good.

I got a Wii U after selling off a stack of GBA and PS1 games and immediately bought them all back on digital for Wii U and PS3 respectively and still had around a grand left over from the sale. Metroid Prime trilogy, Zelda HD copies, and scoop everything from the virtual console you might want. Also buy a traditional pro controller for the thing.

Even if you don’t trust NL, I think you can trust PJ. If for no other reason than the fact that he poured out an overwhelmingly positive review without using the word “stunning” once inside the article. I always hope games I’m interested in are reviewed by him. I’ve just been screwing around on replays of Elden Ring, sounds about time to catch up on Bayonetta.

They’d probably make more money polishing up and porting the PS1 games and Code Veronica in HD. Don’t even remaster, just drop them on switch for $15-20 apiece and call it a day.

$79 for a pair of shorts. Woooooooo ($50 US but still)

@Nanoline52 Here’s the thing, it’s been touched on by a few other people here as well, on both sides of the discussion. People getting into gig industries generally understand the attached challenges, one of which is that the greater part of gig work is finding and securing the gigs.

If someone only gets a few jobs a year (I’m tired of saying “gig”) they have to evaluate their work. Are they networking effectively, how so and how could it be improved? Are they taking every possible route to make new connections and establish rapport? Have they maintained/improved their abilities, or fallen behind on training? Acting/VO is somewhat physical work, are they taking good enough care of themselves to continue doing it at a competitive level? Do they have access to the information they need to find more work, if not, how can they get it? I evaluate my work for efficiency, safety, and knowledge. I evaluate how I communicate with team members and management, I keep apprised of opportunities for department changes and promotions, I stay active and plan my meals to maintain my strength and a high energy level, I take advantage of education benefits to widen my skill set. I do this every day. I don’t need to do any of it. I work a regular job. I could skate by just doing 90% and staying quiet but I do this because I don’t ever want to have to find another job, it sucks. Gig work is looking for jobs and if someone is making a career of gig work they have to understand they have a 24 hour a day job. Gig workers are their own bosses, so they have to honestly detach and evaluate themselves as if they are their own boss.

Just to touch on one other point, you’d mentioned the difference in Hollywood VA and game/cartoons/etc by mentioning Shrek and Toy Story in particular. These specific comparisons aren’t entirely fair. Mike Myers, Jon Lithgow, and Cameron Diaz weren’t voice actors when Shrek was made. I am sure you already know this but Myers was already a greatly successful comedy lead with movie roles going back to the early 90s and a career on Saturday Night Live, Lithgow was a star of stage and big screen, and was the lead in a successful TV sitcom, and Cameron Diaz, nobody doesn’t like Cameron Diaz. And Toy Story, fuhgettaboutit. Tom Hanks is a beloved titan and all the main toys were voiced by established screen actors. These were made before animated movies had fully broken into the “parents can watch them too and not feel like pulling their hair out” territory, which is why it was so crucial to bring big names to them. Those movies made more money, and Pixar became a household name, because of those actors’ names and abilities.

I’ve only ever played the first one. Rotating the bullseye textured joystick dug a hole in my right palm. Fool me once.

It’s hard to beat the Zelda overworld theme and its many variants. That song got me into both videogames and music as a tyke. I mean, I’m not very demonstrative but 30+ years later, when The Knight Who Seals the Darkness started in Age of Calamity, I yelled and levitated off my couch. Not only is it an excellent rendition but it solidifies that melody as Link’s theme.

They’ll listen. They like the screams.

The first possibly bad game that comes to mind is Summoner for PS2. It was very ambitious but suffered some spectacular technical issues, even for the time.

Another one that had so much promise but just couldn’t put any of the pieces together was Black Sigil for ds. I willed my way to enjoyment, and still like it a lot but man what a missed opportunity.

Skyrim gonna Skyrim

Monster Train you cowards.

@Wexter At this point I have a harder time getting into new IPs (new to me, not new to the world necessarily) with the anime style. Not because of the look so much as the dialogue style and delivery that usually comes with it, and this tends to be worse and seems to my ear to carry more of this odd, generic earnestness when it’s the same bunch of English speaking voice actors pitching their voices up and grunting every time a character turns his head. For things I’ve been into for a million years, like FE, it’s easier to shrug it off, but I’d be ok with no VA at all, and the whole endeavor sounds more natural in JP, of course, probably because I don’t know which word is which while I read the subs.

My favorite dub of a JP property is Final Fantasy 12. FF12 was localized brilliantly and performed beautifully.

@Nanami_Ataraxi I have had every Nintendo and every PlayStation. I’ll go a few weeks without playing Elden Ring (PS5) and be taken aback for a minute when I turn it on because it is just so gorgeous that I sit here staring at it spinning the camera around. Not everything needs to be Elden Ring. Most looks work as long as the visuals match the story tone and gameplay. It’s a matter of overall style. Personally I find the fire effects in this trailer to be a little /too/ realistic for FE. That and the realistic movement on anime style characters seems dissonant, but it’s fire emblem so the gameplay is guaranteed to work and I am sure that I won’t be here, 300 hours in, worrying about how the magic effects are rendered.

It looks fine, it will be good, the main character is a bum, Alana continues to be stun-locked by everything she sees.

@Fizza I’m not sure if the function exists in the switch version but I played an NBA2K game on PS4 with a created character that used my scanned face. It looked pretty good, considering the source material.

Damn, that is some news. I recently replayed these on my PS3 but it will be nice to see these prettier versions. It looks from the screenshots like they actually added the loading screen running animation to gameplay in S1. Science!

Alana can’t let a single article go without referring to something as “stunning.” Also, every GameCube Resident Evil (0, Remake, 4) is already on switch, along with five and six if those are your bag.

I’ll play Factorio, Fire Emblem, and Zelda. Bayonetta can wait, I have the first two sitting here for backlog days. I don’t think I’ll get Octopath 2 until it’s on sale.

I’ve been playing FE since Sacred Stones and I’ll get this day one, but I’ll definitely be turning off VA or playing on mute. I couldn’t handle the few seconds of spoken dialogue in the trailer. The main character looks bad and sounds generic but as with all things of this sort it probably feels less ridiculous on the girl main, so as usual I’ll just play that option and hope for the best.

Right now I physically own PS2/3/5, PSP, 3DS, GBA, Wii U, Switch, and an XBseries just for emulating everything I’ve ever owned in one place, pre-7th gen. At this point I’m in a position to deny remasters and ports, since I almost never use the switch handheld. I was seriously bummed out by Link’s Awakening remake being $60. (I bought it at $30)

Sorry, I say it all the time but I’d really like Nintendo to put together a team to whip up handheld style Zelda adventures in the $30-40 range between tentpoles.