mcdreamer

Finished Bayonetta 3 last night. It's the first game in the series I've completed, having given up on the original half way through and having never touched 2. I was on the fence about picking the game up but really enjoyed it. One of those "I don't want to play anything else" kind of titles. The ending left me baffled more than anything, especially if the next title does focus on what I thought was by far the worst element of the game. However, I suspect the reality (whenever the next game comes) will be rather different to what most people expect. I now plan to work backwards through the series, as 2 seems to have the edge with fans of the series.

Next up is Sonic Frontiers on the PS5. Despite the mixed reviews, and what appear to be valid criticisms, I suspect the game can be enjoyed in spite of those. Certainly that seems to be what people are saying. I doubt I will, but hoping to get relatively far in the game before Pokemon takes over everything next weekend.

I took the dive with Bayonetta 3 and I'm very glad I did. Not really sure why I bounced off the first one half way through. Definitely want to go back and play 1 and 2 now once 3 is finished. The only thing I'm not sure about is the stealth platform sections. I've only play the first one so far, but I got lost first time around and ran out of time. Feel like they might end up being a bit of a chore to get through.

@eltomo As do I and my anecdotal data points are the opposite to yours. Again, I think most gamers worldwide focus only a handful of the most popular titles. It's not just a UK specific thing.

On topic - I would have assumed the Switch outside the Xbox One years ago here.

@quinnyboy58 It's more that I think you're describing the global gaming population in general. This isn't a UK specific thing. And really there's nothing wrong with it if it makes said players happy.

@quinnyboy58 @eltomo Beg to differ on that front I'm afraid.

Quite tempted to pick up Bayonetta 3. Wasn't really on my radar as I never finished the first game and don't even own the second. It does seem to have somewhat mixed reviews however.

Also started Shadows Of Rose last night on the Series X. Very good so far.

It is tempting but I only played 5 hours of the first game and never picked up the second. Appears way I’ll find these kinds of games turn into a button mashing affair with no depth.

I have increasingly had my eye on DMC V but have the same concerns.

Not Persona 5 Royal Though, it is an excellent game. Very excited for those playing it for the first time on Switch (never thought I'd see the day!).

On the Nintendo side I've been leafing through the Xenoblade 3 art book. It's quite a bit more substantial than I expected. Lots of great stuff in there. Now I just need to work out where on earth that huge box is going I've also continued playing the wave 2 content of the game too.

I do tend to avoid articles for games I'm still playing when I want to avoid spoilers, but most sites these days don't seem to really give much warning at all. In this case, if you're viewing this page on anything but a phone, by the time you see the spoiler warning the tweet is already in view.

The one which really gets me is the case of spoilers for remasters. Writers seem to usually assume that anybody who will play the remaster played the original making spoilers are fair game. How often do you hear phrases along the lines of "spoilers for a decade old game, I guess"?

On topic: This is quite a cool change.

I'm going to be diving into wave 2 of the Xenoblade 3 DLC later.

Will also slog through some more of Soul Hackers 2. It's not terrible but I'm ready for it to be over now. Might finish off the last part of the game on easy just to get it done.

I'm so excited for this game. I think all the returning heroes could work out really well - will certainly be interesting to see what mechanics they bring once we get our hands on the game.

@Tyranexx I really loved the cast of characters in Shadows of Valentia, with Celica being one of the standouts.

Like others here, I loved the game on PC back in its early days but haven't played for years. I will definitely try Overwatch 2 given the price of entry but I suspect it won't hold my attention too long. It's a shame as a love the world and characters but I'm not really a big player of games like this. I'd be all over a single player game set in this world though.

They could have stopped after the Fire Emblem reveal. Everything else was a bonus.

I'd love a chance to play Baten Kaitos on a modern system. Always looks fascinating.

Thinking about picking up Splatoon 3. I loved the single player content in 2 and would be keen to dive in again in 3. I've heard it's similar to the Octo Expansion but not quite as good. No doubt I'd dive into the online play as well, but somewhat perversely it's really about the single player content for me.

Other than that, Nintendo wise I've started Soul Hackers on the 3DS.

I've just arrived in chapter 5 of Xenoblade 3. Approaching 40 hours of playtime. I've done quite a few side quests so far, and I agree with the article published here over the weekend that they are high quality. Whether you need to do them all is an open question, but certainly the yellow quests all seem vital. At the rate I'm going I'm thinking I may near the end within another couple of weeks. Far faster than I expected to get through the game.

Whilst this isn't great, equally I'd probably rather have the game digitally in any case. I'll pick this up with a switch online voucher and hopefully get the special edition contents later in the year. Now, I wonder whether I'll hold off and use the other voucher for Pokemon or whether I'll cave and get Three Hopes

I can't believe this is real!

Tried out the demo of FE: Three Hope last night. I did play about half of FE: Warriors years ago before I dropped off. I can see a similar thing happening with Three Hopes. I was just wishing the whole time we had a new mainline FE game instead. Will keep playing the demo and perhaps my mind will be changed.

Hearing those originals again for the first time in years was incredibly nostalgic. Hearing what they'll be replaced with was incredibly disappointing.

I am so excited for this game and am delighted to see how much attention and promotion it's getting. However, because I'm so excited I've avoided much beyond the first couple of trailers. I will probably end up watching this direct at some point after I finish the game.

Let's hope this sale comes to the UK, though I have my doubts now. Even if it does, SMT IV:A and Devil Survivor 1 never seem to get discounts now anyway.

I played this game last summer on the PS4. It's absolutely incredible. One of the best games I played last year for sure.

I finished Arceus last week, and I'm kind of glad that it's done. Despite being really impressed with the refinements to the mechanics and all the streamlining, by the last few hours the terrible world graphics were really starting to be a bit of a downer. I also found the variety of Pokemon to be much more lacking that I'd have hoped.

Overall though it's a good game and a huge step in the right direction for the series. I just hope that there's a step up in the quality of the world next time around. They've pretty much got the character models spot on bar some oddly low resolution costume textures.

My main Nintendo game will be Persona Q2 which has been great so far (about 6 hours in). Besides that like many I'll be playing Horizon Forbidden West.

I've been waiting for this to happen and have been questioning whether or not my 3DS collection is already complete. I only got mine in summer 2019 but I've pretty much been able to get every game I want. I think the only remaining games which I'm curious about are the Luigi's Mansions, Majora's Mask and SMT IV Apocalypse. Seems I will have to jump on these relatively soon, especially if I want physical copies of the first two (SMT is way too expensive!).

For Wii U I think it's just the GBA Fire Emblem games and Wind Waker that I need to get.

Booted up Arceus very late last night - played all of 5 minutes so far. About to dive back in! I gave up on Shining Pearl after a couple of gyms just a couple of weeks back. I'm really unsure whether I'll return to that after Arceus. It just felt like a game I'd already played 100 times before (I never played the gen 4 games originally).

I've also reached the final battle in FE: Shadows Of Valentia. I think this might be my favourite of the three FE games on 3DS. Birthright a close second. I do still have Conquest to dive into at some point too.

On the Series X I'm still going through RE Village. Terrifying stuff.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

This is an incredible game. One of the best games I've played all year in fact. I never expected it to leave the PS4, happy that others will now get a chance to play.

This is definitely my game of the year. I have no idea how long I have left in the game but I assume quite a bit. I'm about 20 hours in so far.

SMT V. There is no other game right now! I think it's beyond doubt for me that the SMT universe of games is my favourite series of RPGs now.

I'm all in on SMT V and will be for some time. Whilst I've only played a few hours of 3 and 4, I finished Persona 3, 4 and 5 last year so at this point the gameplay feels very comfortable. I've made some progress so far but the difficulty jump over Persona is very much real. Need to grind a bit more before I unlock the next few areas I think.

I absolutely love the soundtrack so far. The game looks good, but equally I feel like the qualification "for a Switch title" is kind of needed at this point. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the PS5, but returning to the Switch the lack of power is very much apparent. It's not going to ruin the game or anything - gameplay is still king - but it would be nice to see a Switch revision which allows these kinds of game to shine more than they can. The game must be at the limits of what the hardware can achieve as the fan is really singing during play. The only other game I remember doing this was Fire Emblem Three Houses.

I've not read the comments above, but what I will say is this article is accurate. I've been a professional software developer for nearly 20 years and have been writing my own software for 30 (yes, including game dev). I think the term "lazy developer" just underscores how little people know about software development in general. It can be exceptionally challenging to do something which sounds simple. In fact, often the simplest things can be the hardest. As the article says, it's often astounding that any given piece of software comes together at all. I don't know what the solution is, but more insights into the world of development can only be a good thing.

I've seen a lot of comments about games development over the years which have stimulated a range of emotions. One I always remember is from a few years ago - "Why doesn't BotW have online multiplayer? All they need to do is turn some servers on".

I agree on earlier comments about pacing. I play a lot of JRPGs. These are long games, though often they don't need to be as long as they are. A lot of 40 hour games could be condensed to 30 hours without losing much - at least for the main story. That way you get a tighter experience without so much padding and can play more games overall! And let's face it, 30 hours is hardly short.

Xenoblade 1 & 2 and Persona 5 are very much exceptions as they justified their long playtimes. I just think that a lot of JRPGs could be shorter.

Getting somewhere in Metroid Dread now. Must be getting fairly close to the end. Will try and wrap it up this weekend and then I'll be back to Tales of Arise.

I was one of those who picked up Fusion. I've never played it before. Still haven't finished it but enjoyed the first couple of hours. This makes me want to finish the set and pick up Zero Mission too! And, you know, actually play Super Metroid and the Prime Trilogy for the first time....

I'm back playing on Switch again for the first time in ages. Diving into Metroid Dread. A couple of hours in and it feels like everything I enjoyed about Samus Returns on the 3DS ramped up to the next level. Absolutely loving it. With Metroid, SMT V and the Pokemon remakes, I'll be here for some time! I'll still be making sure to continue Tales of Arise on the PS5 in the background though!

It's a no for me, but only because I have zero interest in anything related to Disney.

Xenoblade 3 is all I need

Every time I see an article like this I always wonder how much time people are spending looking at their home screens. The current design has very fast performance and is visually very simple to navigate. It would be a really bad decision if Nintendo bloated things out to "look better" at the cost of this (see almost the entire web and most modern software as an example).

Mostly Quake on Switch. So much fun going back to it.

I picked up a New 3DS XL from eBay last week. Love the 3D effect! Deciding whether to keep my New 2DS XL as my main system still or whether to transfer over. The system is in perfect condition (which seems to be pretty hard to find). The one issue I have is that sometimes the right speaker will rattle/distort. Looking around this seems to be a relatively common issue. The console is in such great condition I don't really want to send it back, so I'm thinking I'll just live with it. It also seems likely any other unit will have the same issue anyway.

As much as I would like an Ultra Ball there's no way I could justify it given the price of these...

This is a brilliant game. Even though we've got much more graphically impressive titles on handhelds now, it's still kind of amazing to think this is Quake handheld from the perspective of the high requirements when it was originally released.

I think my favourite Quake game is Quake 3 Arena. However, this is a close second. If they reboot the series this is the one I'd love to see, rather than a Quake 2 or 4 style game. Quake 2 in fact was supposed to be a new IP but they decided to make it a sequel due to the recognition the name had.

Pre-ordered as I really wished I'd bought the Sword and Shield special edition. Fortunately I love the design of both.

I am very tempted, but I have also never quite been able to press the buy button on the original game. The review kind of touches on it, but it sounds like this game could be played before the original. Tempted as it sounds and looks more intriguing to me overall.

Just finished Horizon Zero Dawn, so mostly Skyward Sword HD for me. The pad controls are really weird but I'm kind of getting used to them now. Currently in the second area on the surface. As ever with every Zelda besides BotW, I'm enjoying it but I'm not sure I'm loving it. I will probably make it to the end though.

Also been playing a bit of Mushihimesama.

Just dropped through my letter box. Looking forward to diving in!

My most anticipated game of the year. I really can't wait to dive in.

Been waiting for this. Will grab it now it's back up!

@Thirteen1355 On what experience do you base this assertion?

This game will be great. Samus Returns was excellent. Played it for the first time earlier this year. Amazing what the developer was able to do with the 3DS. I really think people have no idea how expensive a game like this, or indeed software in general, is to develop.