Einherjar

Well, the trademark was probably pending, so this doesn't mean anything yet. But i'm pretty sure that the suits want that stuff out ASAP.

In this case, unquestionably hate.
When you try to guilt trip critics of your hussle as being hateful, you deserve everything that's coming your way and then some.
He's poisoning the well like a chem factory dumping waste into a river.

Can someone genuinely explain to me why this is news?
Everyone seems to agree that he's a colossal waste of oxygen, so why are sites like this enabling him by giving him a spotlight?

We have a GDQ going on, write some stuff about some remarkable runners, the community, community projects, whatever. Something worthwhile not giving people like this attention...

With an estimate of ~100h for main+extras, that leaves 400h of filler. Can you find all 1000 pebbles hidden in the game world?
Can you collect all 500 comic books that all look the same?
Have you heard all the kittens go meow yet?

Personally, i take replayability over UbiSoft-esque filler nonsense any day.

@MatoFilipovic Yup, you're missing something.
NFT's are proof of ownership certificates which are non-fungible.
But that's the catch: The certificate is non-fungible, not the item in question.
What you sell NFT's for is irrelevant. It just happened to be that the most famous example at the moment are these ugly monkey png's.

NFT's had the goal to create digital scarcity. Because nothing drives impulse purchases more than "Only X left in stock!" and you couldn't feasibly do that online without getting laughed at.
NFT's are a way to exploit that, because they are finite.
But again, the NFT themselves, not the item in question!

That's why people mock the idea by copying said NFT monkeys.
Everyone now owns the actual image, but only one person can proof that they actually, truly, genuinely own it...
And if you think this is stupid, congrats, you understood it.

@MatoFilipovic It affects games the same way season passes, battle passes, micro transactions etc affected it.
NFT are a prime candidate to exploit FOMO (fear of missing out) and shift things like, say, cosmetics further and further away from the actual gaming experience.

@TheBigK NFT are pretty much like purchase receipts.
Imagine this:
You go to you electronics store of your choice.
You pick a brand new and totally unique, one of a kind TV and buy it.
You get the receipt that clearly says that you are the sole owner of this TV.

Meanwhile, countless others walk by you with that very same TV under their arms.

It's why it has become a meme to "right click + save" these NFT images. Because it's your receipt that actually one-of-a-kind and not the item itself, pretty much voiding any real value.

"We need to carefully assess many things"
No, you do not. You just scrap your plans, tell your suits to suck it and tell your fans to buy your games to prove a point.

If i'm perfectly honest, i completely forgot it even existed.
So no, not at all interested.
Generally not interested in purely online games. And a single player mode tacked on to the 3rd iteration of a franchise really doesn't change much ^^

Hope everyone else likes it, but not my cup of tea.

@Kayvoo Was it really that terrible considering Codemasters last few releases?
I'd go so far as to say that their DLC shenanigans had become even more predatory than EA's usual nonsense (not counting FIFA here) plus things like Dirt 5 were a mockery of its own franchise :/

But let's say this:
It can't be worse than what happened to Project Cars 3.

Yeah, missed opportunity for Nintendo.
Especially since it's a studio that has already proven what it can do and the Switch has a severe lack of racing games (certainly partly thanks to Nintendo's refusal to introduce analog shoulder buttons).
Oh well, best of luck to them.

What a time to be alive to witness your biggest hobby get infested with "get rich quick" pyramid schemes.

@Chocobo_Shepherd
Probably spot on here, as sad as it is.

@Bizzyb Both "A New Power Awakens" DLC are completely worthless as they aren't even built into the game itself, they have to be selected from the menu.
Thus, they also don't have any story, they can't, because you can select them as soon as you start the game.
They are basically a glorified EXP farm.

The last story DLC is the biggest joke however. The game is called "DBZ: Kakarot" and they picked the one side story where Goku doesn't even exist anymore. Even when dead, he always played a key role. In this sidestory, he's just gone, with a focus solely on Trunks.

The whole DLC lot was such a misdirected mess it's unbelievable.

Nothing of value would be lost if it didn't come at all to be fair.
Adding a strictly online multiplayer MTX laden card game to a strictly single player action RPG that desperately lacked endgame content (that it never got) was a pretty catastrophic failure only made worse that it also encountered months(!) of server outages after launch.

The base game was a fantastic time, but its DLC and MTX stuff is among the worst of the worst.

@SalvorHardin Zero's sacrifice ended the civil war between reploids and humans and leading to the species merging efforts found in ZX. Zero's actions very much mattered, it's just that no matter how peaceful times are, you always find someone willing to mess it up because they get drunk on power.

@Curry The "bigger plot" was pretty much explained in Legends:
Since no effort could unite man and machine and stop them from fighting, they created Elysium flooded the planet, wiped out all life and created the "Carbon's" and observed them from there.

@Xiovanni Uhm, no, because X8 ended in an open cliffhanger.
We know how the overarching plot continues but i do think that at least some closure of how Axl is written out of it would be nice.
And "Resurrecting Sigma" was inevitable for the series, as Sigma represents a much bigger underlying problem than just the entity itself: Asimovs Laws clashing with free will and the whole moral rats tail attached to it.
For one side, the Sigma Virus made reploids go against their protocol, for the other side, it liberated their minds.

To be fair, ZX's story was done. Everything else would have felt tacked on anyways.
I'd much prefer them to finally finish up the X series.

Very much deserved.
It's a game that's bad by design, the kind that can't just be fixed by patches. They simplified the concept of a 3D platformer so much that it collapsed in on itself.

What makes this worse is that it had everything required not to be such a colossal embarrassment.
Money, manpower, experience, talent.
And it used none of that and made every bad decision in the book.

It's not a bad game because it was meddled with, because it was rushed, because unfamiliar tools were used.
None of that, it was just a bonafide horribly designed game from the ground up.

And to its credit, those have actually become rare!

@Rogueleader "Predict your next move" not as in clairvoyance, i thought that was clear...
If it knows your last ping, it can guess where your next might end up (Internally. the game would check possible coordinates within a certain radius) and instead of being glued to the same route you took, it could seek another.

As with the example given, if you run clockwise around a structure, the EMMI would be wiser to spontaneously change directions if the next ping prediction is closer that way instead of running the full course because you did.

Several FPS build their "flanking AI" around similar principles. They move to spaces where you could be to discourage you from moving there, thus limiting your options.
It's also super flawed if you understand how it ticks, but it's more sophisticated than the EMMI's routines for being in a 2D game and each in their distinct region.

Same thing with the fact that the EMMI will always approach you, no matter what, even if it means their certain doom (Being under fire in a long, straight corridor). They will go to your last ping even if its the last thing they do.

@TsukiDeity To me, personally, systematic censorship already is several steps too far. That's a slippery slope you simply don't want to get into.
Then you have things like their abysmal stance on cross-play or backwards compatibility (Or preservation in general. And yes, not an exclusive issue, still) or how vulnerable the PSN is or even debacles like the Vita which also burned me heavily.

In their own, some of these issues are neither earth shaking nor exclusive to Sony, but it's the complete package that convinced me not to support them anymore.
First and foremost the censorship, an absolute no-go in my book.

@Rogueleader With all due respect, and you're fully entitled to your opinion, but "complex AI"? Have we played the same game?

Each EMMI simply pathfinds to the last "ping" you created in their aggro range. The most effective way to get rid of them is to lead them around a piece of structure because they are hardcoded to follow your pings and not predict your next move, a.e. just change directions. You can literally lead them like a clock hand without fail.
Their behavior is entirely predictable and stiff, which makes them so utterly boring.

I'm glad you liked it, don't get me wrong. But i honestly do feel that it really doesn't earn some of its praises and that it might be a bit of nostalgia goggles at play.

@WallyWest The main issue with going strictly by sales numbers with the PS5 is, that it's one of the most scalped items in recent history. Units sold does not necessarily mean units that reached end users sadly.
These numbers are royally skewed with very little that can be done to correct them, because a sold unit is a sold unit. Hard to track where they land after that.
And no one said every game had to be GOTY.

@ModdedInkling I think the nail in the coffin as far as sound design goes was that the minor item fanfare now sounds like water pipe gurgles.Beats Samus sounding like an empty oil drum being licked in Returns but still.
Mercury Steam's sound department is horribly bad.

As far as replay value goes, i'm not gonna lie, those horrendously slow and boring EMMI passages pretty much guarantee that i won't pick it back up anytime soon.
The entire rest of the game is designed in a way to avoid as much downtime as possible. That slide for instance is an absolute godsend, allowing you to go into morphball mode on the run.
And then you these passages that serve absolutely no purpose but bring the game to a grinding halt.

Imho, an "Arcade Mode" (No Story, no EMMI) and a Boss Rush mode would have gone a looooong way with this title.
Heck, i'd take the Boss Rush alone, my personal favorite part of the game.

Personally, it wouldn't even cut the top 10 this year. It's OK but it was just so utterly mediocre and not memorable in the slightest. It was over before it started and had next to no replay value and i can't stress this enough: I can't for the life of me remember if it even had a soundtrack or not.
But if people like it, more power to them.
I personally thought it was forgettable at best, boring at worst.

@Not_Soos
Imho Ratchet's biggest issue is the platform it's on.
I've yet to meet someone in my extended circles who has seen a PS5 in the wild. I also know quite a lot of people (myself included) who started to ignore Sony because of their abhorrent business practices.
It felt like the nest about the God of War soft reboot coming to PC caused a bigger ruckus than Ratchet.

I will probably never quite understand how and why people still get hung up on nonsense like ages of fictional characters...
It's something i have a hard time caring about even if its pointed out...
It always feels like a hefty does of projection to me if i'm honest...

But yeah, fantastic Shmups! Both of them!

Pointing out your blatant hypocrisy is now "unconstructive" eh?
You can hide the comments but not your blatant sexism and prejudicial thinking. Abhorrent

"She's a pretty active protagonist who is viewed mostly from behind"
I hate to break it to you, but the MC is a "He".

@MegaVel91 Yes...but to study the role/character they are about to portray is quite literally their job.
As much as i admire his dedication, this should not be newsworthy like this.
It just shows how starved a movie going audience is for actors who take their job seriously instead of halfassing it because they get their money anyways.

I just love that the general quality of movies and acting has plummeted so drastically that it's now newsworthy that a (voice)actor prepared for the job he was hired to do?

Great casting choice nonetheless.

One of my all time favorites. Great gameplay, fantastic atmosphere, charming characters.

It still baffles me how they managed to gut this series nowadays.

I do love these type of games but i always thought that this games presentation, especially its color palette is so incredibly off putting that i haven't picked it up yet.

@CharlieGirl But those usually complain a lot when you put them on a shelf

They have been for how many years now?

2 relatively easy votes:

Phantom Hourglass:
Horribly repetitive and gimmicky. Certainly not a horrible game per se, but given its series brethren, it just can't hold a candle.

Zelda 2:
Simply annoying by design. Resource management from hell and fights against shielded enemies feel like AVGN sketches.
The concept is quite neat and i'd love to one day see a more reasonable remake

With Netflix's track record of "It wasn't meant to be good" adaptations, i'd rather not...

@mariopartyfan68 Buddy, you are so enraged that you completely ignored that i even agreed with you...
No one is "sticking up with Sony" here, you're just completely blind in your obsession and rage and apparently see everything as an attack that doesn't look like complete agreement with you...

Seriously, take some time off, being this obsessed isn't healthy in the long run.
And people tend to not look past things like this because believe it or not, some people actually care about community members...

@mariopartyfan68 You're definitely not OK my friend...
I've seen a couple of your tirades now and your obsession with "Nintendo good, Sony bad" is definitely getting out of hand...

While i'm not saying you're wrong, you should definitely get some fresh air and switch down a gear or two.

longingly looks at the delivery date of December 20th for the new Switch....
sigh

While i have negative interest in these asynchronous multiplayer games, i applaud them for finally coming up with a new idea for the Dragon Ball IP.
Imo, a great pick for a setting. I hope it does OK and makes them confident in breaking away from the fighting game formula every once in a while.

@anoyonmus A good point, yes.
I'd imagine that a few people have grown weary about Nomura Sequels and how dependent they are on you having played every piece of the series due to the mess that Kingdom Hearts has become.

@Tandy255 Oh darn, you're right! It was Mario Tennis that was out xD My bad!

My tips:
>Open the N64 App
>Play Mario Golf 64 instead

@zedit No netflix customer and not planning to become one either, so i won't ^^
But here too, more power to anyone who enjoys it!
Not my cup of tea.

@SwitchVogel I believe that, but for me, it's just a burned IP.
It's a personal thing really ^^

I couldn't fully enjoy and immerse myself in it, because the myriad of Riot games controversies and said cesspool called a playerbase would always be present in the back of my head.

I'm a bit weird like that ^^
But more power to everyone else! I exclusively heard great things about the recent show and the games.

As enticing as all of this looks, i'm not touching anything remotely associated with League of Legends and the inevitable toxic baggage it comes with.
The few run ins i had with fans of it were more than enough to steer clear of it.

As to be expected really...
-Dormant franchise
-Next to no marketing
-EGS exclusivity on PC

A lot of beartraps SE stepped into.

Also, never forget that it's SE in the first place. Their "Expectations" are usually ridiculously high, sometimes pretty much out of reach.

So while i can definitely see NTWEWY underperform, that word means something different out of SE's mouth.

@Jumping_Dead Come on, being able to give the ball a mid-air zig zag spin via QTE gave it back that dash of realism
But yeah, wholeheartedly agreed.

@zool Which is ironic, since it's by far the most "Arcady" golf game out there. Everything is designed around having as little prep and setup time as possible, you have items and powerups on courses etc.
What exactly where you looking for is this doesn't seem "arcady" enough?
Because i would go so far as to say that every version before this comes off as a golf sim in comparison

I really tried to like it, but i just can't.
The sacrifices they made to make speed golf possible (a.e. any and all ability to pre-set spin and see it on the guideline) completely ruined the game for me.

Imho, Mario Golf was always strongest when it almost felt like a strategy game. This one...it's great on a flat course, but as soon as elevation is involved, it completely breaks apart.

Sadly, my least favorite game this year and by far my most regretted purchase. And as much as i appreciate these updates, more content doesn't improve a flawed base.

@Muddy_4_Ever You know, as little as i actually liked dread...i love this reasoning!
Going by the absolute trainwrecks that have been released lately (GTA, Battlefield etc.), Dread is a finished, polished game right out of the box.

Yeah, i take that as GOTY, as sad as it is