any1th3r3

any1th3r3, 2 miesiące temu

I’m still playing Persona 3 Reload and I believe it finally clicked for me.
I still don’t particularly like Tartarus that much, but I’ve been able to complete each section relatively quickly so far (and without grinding) so it’s certainly not too bad. The rest of the game has definitely opened up though (thankfully, I’m about 30-35 hrs in, haha).

Slowly making my way through Jeanne d’Arc on the side - gameplay wise it’s up my alley (minus grinding…), however the story is pretty subpar imo.

any1th3r3, 2 miesiące temu

Persona 3 Reload - I’m not sure whether I like it or not just yet tbh. I’m about 20 hours in (or 2 months of “in-game time”) and the plot is very slow to unravel.
I don’t like turn-based RPGs usually, so combat is a bit of a chore and the exploration of Tartarus is very samey. Social sim aspects have been fine, but I guess I expected a bit more interactivity? I’m not sure. Its been nice to learn more about side characters, albeit ones not present in the “core” team.
The only somewhat similar game I’ve played before is Fire Emblem: Three Houses and I absolutely loved it, but I was much more interested in the gameplay (T-RPGs are 100% up my alley) and social sim was okay as well.
I think my primary issue with P3R is the setting - which I didn’t think would matter so much - I really don’t relate to high school life / issues anymore and it’s making it hard for me to get into the game…
The OST is absolutely S-tier though (and it has made exploring Tartarus much more bearable!)

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

Ditto. tbh after hearing Ben Starr in the first few seconds of the trailer, I was hooked, but the style and gameplay showcased definitely impressed me even more.

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

I finally started Horizon: Forbidden West - gameplay changes compared to HZD keep trickling in and I couldn’t be happier. I love Aloy’s character so I’m really happy to be in her shoes again.

This past week was pretty disappointing before that:

• Hellblade II was good, but nowhere near as impactful as the first one for me. I’m left with a sour taste overall, although I’ll admit they did a tremendous job with cinematography and character rendering.
• Stellar Blade was insipid. Whatever could save it in my book - its gameplay - turns out stale pretty quickly, so I ended up abandoning the game midway. The story and characters were really uninteresting imo, couple that with how EVE is represented… I couldn’t really find any redeeming qualities.

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

Absolutely! You could sort of “cheese” your way into climbing some parts of the world of Zero Dawn, but Forbidden West’s climbing is much improved - to the point that I’ve been getting sidetracked a number of times already just exploring and getting to great vistas.

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

That’s right! It’s referenced in the video as well (and from memory Neil also mentioned it in a previous video, but I wouldn’t be able to link to it tbf)

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

I finished DMC 5 SE sometime last week (or the “primary” arc at least) and it was fun as heck.
I moved on to Stellar Blade, combat is very fun/engaging, but story is utter sh*t (so comparisons with NieR were definitely unwarranted IMO, seeing as it’s pretty much the opposite of my experience with Automata).

As far as this weekend goes, I am playing Hellblade II, which was probably my most anticipated game of the year. I am loving it so far!

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

Most handhelds tbh.
I didn’t really grow up with “traditional” (home) consoles, but I always had handhelds (and a PC).
I have trouble going back to most handheld games pre-Vita nowadays, even if I remember the PSP (and GBA to a certain extent) fondly, between the controls, smaller screen and cut versions of games vs their home console counterparts, it’s hard to go back. Emulation makes it somewhat nicer for me, but still.
And let’s not begin with GB or GG games, they have a certain charm, but I usually can’t stand them for more than 5 mins nowadays.

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

Shmups, I’m only a beginner but I have a few suggestions:

• ESP Ra.De. - somewhat slower bullet hell with pretty interesting scoring, the “Psi” re-release has a lot of useful QoL features.
• Espgaluda II - you could think of it as a successor to the former, it has refined gameplay and recent releases have great QoL features. Somewhat faster paced bullet hell?
• Ikaruga / Radiant Silvergun - Although these are two very different games, they have entirely different mechanisms to most other shmups. Ikaruga feels like a “puzzle” game a lot of the time, while Radiant Silvergun has some light RPG elements. Both are somewhat hard to get into imo.
• Dodonpachi Resurrection - great starting point re bullet hells, the recent re-release offers a ton of QoL features and the game itself has interesting scoring / gameplay. Soundtrack is awesome.
• Raiden IV - Super biased, but I love the soundstrack. Pretty great, if simple, game otherwise.

I have many more shmups in my backlog (Ketsui, Dodonpachi Daioujou, Battle Garegga, Rolling Gunner, etc) which I’m sure I could recommend, but seeing as I haven’t played them first hand yet… I’ll leave it there for now.

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

Just finished Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty, which I enjoyed greatly, despite all the jank!

I’ll likely move on to DMC 5 now, since I left it unfinished a few years ago and would like a shorter / fast-pace game atm.

I’ve also been playing a fair amount of Guilty Gear Strive on the side, first real fighting game and it’s a blast so far trying to learn the right combos, cancels, etc…

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

Not to be a Debby Downer, but you’d either need a LG TV which is already rooted, or one you can root (per the repo’s README, “RootMyTV is unlikely to work on firmware released since mid-2022” and given firmware downgrades are impossible…).
AFAIK firmware updates are opt-out by default, so as long as you connect your LG TV to internet, you’re likely to have received one, but I could be wrong.

any1th3r3, 3 miesiące temu

Maybe? You would need to know rooting a TV is even a possibility in the first place, I had no idea that was the case and I’ve had my LG TV for over 4 years.
I’m just pointing out some specifics of the prerequisites, which the article did a pretty bad job of highlighting imo, and how this is not the miraculous solution it’s somewhat touted to be.

any1th3r3, 4 miesiące temu

Cyberpunk 2077. I just finished Act 2 last night and I’m (probably) about to begin Phantom Liberty.
Really enjoying most of the story and side quests so far!

any1th3r3, 4 miesiące temu

PSP, hands down. So many incredible games, it was a RPG powerhouse, that screen was great for the time and for me it was an “everything” device (I remember browsing the web and reading mangas on the PSP… Janky but incredible all the same).

The Vita comes close - nigh “home console” games on the go and the OLED screen to make those shine.

any1th3r3, 4 miesiące temu

I only played through most of the first one, but really enjoyed it! The second one is firmly on my backlog.

As for FFT (WotL), do you have a Vita lying around? Its around $10 USD on the store iirc. Same on Android, but I’m not sure about gamepad support.
A physical copy shouldn’t be much more, be it for the PSP or PSX versions.

any1th3r3, 4 miesiące temu

Oh, that could likely be it - you might want to look into replacing the laser as they’re pretty cheap and easy to find (but that’s not really what you’re interested in atm I suppose).

Anyways, the emulator you want to look into is DuckStation. It is pretty much full featured (save states, fast-forward/rewind, etc) and the de-facto PSX emulator to beat.

any1th3r3, 4 miesiące temu

I finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth a couple days ago after about 110 hours, what a journey!

I’m currently playing a few shmups since I just purchased a (very cheap but perfectly adequate) arcade stick, easy modes for now and “moving up the chain”:

• DoDonPachi Resurrection
• ESP Ra De
• Espgaluda II
• Radiant Silvergun

After that, I’ll probably pick Cyberpunk 2077 back up (only 10 hours in from the free trial a few weeks ago).

any1th3r3, 4 miesiące temu

Enjoy! Remake is really great and I’ve heard it runs like a charm on pretty much any recent handheld

any1th3r3, 4 miesiące temu

I’ve only quickly skimmed through, but another two:

• A Short Hike, adventure/exploration game with relaxing gameplay, I really recommend this one
• ZeroRanger, “old-school” shmup with awesome gameplay and ost, if you’re into shmups it’s almost worth getting the bundle for this one alone tbh

any1th3r3, 4 miesiące temu

The Nathan Drake Collection. Uncharted 1 is a bit rough around the edges, but I would recommend going in order of release either way.
Enjoy, those are wonderful games! (I might be slightly biased, Uncharted is probably my favourite video game series tbh)

any1th3r3, 5 miesięcy temu

Performance issues are definitely present in the console versions of the game, albeit not 4-5s stutters and whether you notice framerate drops or they bother you or not is a different thing entirely I suppose.

any1th3r3, 5 miesięcy temu

NB: Careful, that reporter has apparently been wrong on a number of accounts regarding Sony’s PlayStation business in the past, eg:

• Sony: "We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5"
• Sony: “We have not cut PSVR 2 production numbers”

I wouldn’t take this article too seriously / as gospel (although PSVR2 has probably not been selling like hot cakes).

any1th3r3, 6 miesięcy temu (edited 6 miesięcy temu)

I would wholeheartedly recommend the A Plague Tale duology (Innocence and Requiem). They both had a lasting impact on me (especially Requiem) and the overall presentation is really great IMO.

any1th3r3, 6 miesięcy temu

I’m not saying the combat is straight up bad, but throughout my 6-7hrs with the game (so far), it was definitely its most underwhelming aspect IMO.
I have to give it another go, but Sekiro’s was definitely more fun (or at least rewarding), while Ghost of Tsushima’s felt tedious. Maybe it just didn’t “click” for me though.

any1th3r3, 6 miesięcy temu

It used to be that the timer started as soon as you hit download, however they supposedly fixed it later on to only start whenever you booted up the game (and stop as soon as you fully quit it).
I guess there might be some bugs / potential rollback on that fix, but since it’s never been officially communicated AFAIK…

any1th3r3, 7 miesięcy temu

I think it’s fair to see the Xbox as a Game Pass box in the short to mid-term, yes. Microsoft’s efforts have been focused on getting everyone on Game Pass, be it Xbox, PC or Mobile (and they would love for other console manufacturers to have it as well).
They are selling Xbox consoles at a loss and are only recouping money on games and Game Pass subscriptions, now that neither Nintendo nor Sony is onboard with bringing the latter to their ecosystem, might as well port their first-party games to competing platforms to make more money.

any1th3r3, 8 miesięcy temu

A Plague Tale: Requiem.

any1th3r3, 8 miesięcy temu (edited 8 miesięcy temu)

I’m rounding off the year with The Last of Us Part I and so far it lives up to my expectations (and even more).

I’ve also been playing some PSVR2 recently, I recently completed Moss and just started RE: Village (and it seems I’ve almost got my “VR legs”, I wasn’t really feeling nauseated after the first session).

any1th3r3, 8 miesięcy temu

No, I didn’t want to spoil myself at all, so I’m not sure how the two compare tbh. I would imagine there are still some slight differences and/or you might want to play on a more challenging difficulty if that’s your thing?

any1th3r3, 11 miesięcy temu

WRT how small it is, this video comparing the OG and Slim PS2 could be of interest to you, just so you can see how Sony was able to make it that much smaller back then.

any1th3r3, 11 miesięcy temu

The company’s dedication to retro authenticity goes far beyond creating desirable gaming hardware.

Sure, Analogue also caters to scalpers, to a point.
Somewhat /s, I guess?

I love my Analogue Pocket, which I’ve had for a little over a year, and Dock, which I’ve gotten maybe a week ago but has already surpassed my (fairly mild) expectations. I’ve also had a Super Nt for over a year and have a pre-order in for the Duo, so I tend to appreciate what Analogue comes out with, but their recent strategy with limited edition Pockets feels a bit ill-intentioned.
They had seemingly finally caught up to production issues and were able to deliver everyone’s orders towards the end of August and suddenly made both regular editions of the Pocket unavailable to then “drop” limited editions a few weeks later.
Those are once again hard to get, unsurprisingly slightly more expensive than the “regular” variant and generate a significant amount of demand for very limited quantities.

I might be reading too much into it, but it feels like they’re still trying to cultivate a constant feeling of FOMO and/or limited supply around the Pocket, all the while being finally able to catch up with demand (I fully understand production was not at scale compared to how much demand there was for it back in 2021/2022).

any1th3r3, rok temu

Used or loaned games (provided you have libraries offering them in your area) are still a huge benefit for (most, ie physical media “enabled”) consoles.

The subscription model is broken by default, regardless of Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo, and is only good and cheap until it isn’t anymore.

Agreed that consumers have a say, to some extent, however some are too far “into the ecosystem” to either care or be willing to boycott or make a change that would inconvenience them, so they’d rather give in.

any1th3r3, rok temu

Oh absolutely, I know I’m already part of a minority when I favour physical over digital media.
We’re likely seeing the last (or, more realistically, second to last?) generation of consoles with physical media as an option and that’s a bummer…
GOG is great on the PC side of things, but as someone with a Steam Deck as their only PC, it isn’t always the best option (some games have been giving me a headache or end up straight up not working - eg I’ve had to rebuy Gris because the GOG version would show a white screen with any version of Proton I tried, while the Steam version was perfectly fine).

any1th3r3, rok temu

considering that Sony doesn’t offer PS+ Day 1 Launches, unlike Xbox

They don’t offer them as often as on Game Pass, but there are some day 1 launches on Extra.

As with most subscription models, the value proposition will probably decrease as we move forward (one only has to glance at streaming services to see what awaits us in the gaming space imo…). Bummer, but expected.

any1th3r3, rok temu

Yes, thank you!
Microsoft has historically never been profitably selling consoles, which is certainly part of their shift towards different business models, including Game Pass and a focus on more than just Xbox, but PC and Cloud as well. They don’t really have much of a financial incentive to sell consoles for that sake alone, they have to get people to subscribe to Game Pass and/or buy games (possibly digitally whenever possible) and the Series S is their best console for that, as the consumer is very much locked in.

any1th3r3, rok temu

I’ve been going back to The Witcher 3 to play the DLCs.
I finished Hearts of Stone and started Blood and Wine. I really enjoyed the former, but the change of atmosphere and setting of the latter is simply something else and it feels like a new game with how much content there is!