Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana on PS4. I’m really enjoying although, I think this game is a bit too long for an action RPG.
Modern Ys games, have a really satisfying and extremely fast paced combat system, and this is no exception. Story wise, though, it only gets interesting in the last third of the game.
I’m on the final chapter right now, looking forward finishing the game next week.
This game looks good, and I’ve never played the old 2D Star Ocean games (the 3D ones I’ve played, Divine Force and Lymle Double Trouble, disappointed me)
I guess I need to start with First Departure which I bought at a sale recently.
I’ve finished 1 - 3 recently, and I wanted to finish the entire DMC series including DmC.
I’m not a good DMC player, tend to mash buttons bit too often. After all the DMC games, I wanna start with Ninja Gaiden, properly learning the blocking based on a YT guide I’ve seen.
Vampire Survivors: still really addicting, my save files was deleted, so I started all over. As soon as I reach library level, then it’s all about farming / grinding.
I played several games last week,
The Secret of Monkey Island: is still a really funny game
Call of the Sea: dropped it after first hour, the first person camera is making me nauseous. I had the same issue while playing Maquette, weirdly I don’t have much issue when playing FPS (but I don’t play them often)
TMNT Shredder’s Revenge: it’s an okay game, playing it solo is kinda annoying, since enemies tend to knock you back, and there’s a recovery time.
I think the term came from polyglot books, i.e. books that are written in 2 languages on each side.
Often times for me, the spoken foreign language can be quite fast or filled with colloquials, so I prefer to have subtitles in that language, and also English subtitles. Or in some cases, such as for Japanese voiced games, I’d prefer to have a Japanese subtitles to help me recognize the Kanjis, and additional English subs for translation.
I tried this method on Plex, uploaded dual subtitles for some movies, and it helped me a lot in acquiring new vocabularies. I think Netflix allows users to do the same thing too.
Dual subtitles, aka polyglot mode. Doubt that it’d ever happen, probably I’m the only one who wants it. Sometimes I’d just merge 2 subtitles with python script and upload it to my Plex.
Fast forward and save states especially for classic remaster. Some have this, some don’t
The mini fighting stick is quite ok, but it doesn’t work directly with my Mac. I have a Mayflash Magic-NS adapter that allows the OS / emulator to detect it.
I’m just using it for nostalgia, reminds me of playing old arcade games.
On consoles, I use gamepad, usually with back buttons / paddles. Nothing interesting.
On my Mac Mini, I mostly play emulated games and point and click games.
For emulated games, mostly using gamepad, except for shmups, fighting games, and arcade MAME games, which I use my Hori Mini Fighting Stick
For point and click games, Civ, and OpenRA, I use a cheap Huion drawing tablet
I don’t play much FPS, but the last one I played was TimeWarpers (an idle FPS game), and I managed to use a trackball to play it comfortably
I switched from right hand mouse to left hand trackball (It’s Kensington Expert trackball, not really right or left handed) earlier this year, because my right hand was aching. I thought it was RSI, but now when I think about it, it might have been uric acid.
I tried Star Ocean The Divine Force, up until the port town when they introduced a very anime character (after getting the healer), that I stopped.
The story didn’t grab me, and while I like how fast the combat and how agile the DUMA are, ultimately the combat feels very simplistic, even with the skill upgrades. It’s really a middling game
The only other Star Ocean game that I’ve played is Last Hope International, and I really dislike that game, because of Lymle.
tri-Ace has been insolvent, and it’s sad to see them struggling both financially, and in making good Star Ocean games. Maybe they should have gone back to 2D style to reduce budget, and to rely less on the exaggerated anime character animation style
IGN has spoken to 26 current and former employees that have worked at Bungie within the last decade. Their accounts of the studio’s work culture encompass a wide range of experiences. They span overt sexism, boys’ club culture, crunch, and HR protection of abusers, as well as more complex stories of microaggressions, systemic inequalities, and difficulties in being heard. However, interviewees also include a number of more recent employees who, despite their own hurts, truly believe the studio is slowly but steadily improving, are candid about the immense challenge of trying to turn such a massive ship in a better direction, and whose accounts of change line up with statements made to IGN by Parsons in response to this piece.
… When people objected to his demeanor, he told them they needed thicker skins, and to learn how to take criticism. He called one woman on the team an “unmanageable bitch.” Another source said he was “literally the worst person I’ve ever worked for.”
He was eventually let go, but was replaced by what our sources say were similarly antagonizing men. One lead frequently made sexist remarks, but also complained about “reverse sexism” and on at least one occasion made homophobic remarks to a queer colleague. He would openly mock his team members’ ideas in meetings then play his mockery off like a joke, and would frequently take credit for work others had done. …
It seems like the company genuinely tried to change, but some of the old guards, the old employees (not only the execs) are still racists / transphobes / misogynists. While the PR touts that it’s diverse and a safe workplace is not in line with the actual things happening. It reeks like a boys club. That was in 2021, probably going to take more time for the company to change and remove those festering toxic people.
I started playing Horizon Forbidden West, while this game is still okay, it seems like it’s taking some steps backwards:
it’s becoming more AssAssIn’s Creed like, with lots of stuff on the map
they should retire the focus / investigative / detective vision, because it’s really hard to see now
the movement is still janky, Aloy feels slow even on a mount. While the climbing doesn’t feel good
too many button inputs, sometimes they also feel inconsistent, and sometimes it feels like they are running out of buttons on the controller
way too many weapons / armors that I probably won’t use. Why not discard the rarity type, and let user level up the weapons instead?
it also has the trap of games with HDR, aka it’s too dark to see
foliage sometimes obscures the whole thing that you can’t see what’s happening
while side quests are unique, many of the characters are kinda boring and forgettable. Often I need to sit thru a long and boring / predictable conversation just to get a quest started.
Besides those complaints, I am still enjoying the game. It has an unique setting, and gameplay that prioritizes bow and arrows. However it feels like they are moving into AssAssIn’s Creed bloat.
I’ve finished FF9 Remaster, the game has some problems, mainly the battle feels slow compared to its predecessor. And personally, Zidane is not as interesting / relatable, maybe until Disc 3. Vivi on the other hand, is one of the best characters in Final Fantasy.
Halfway thru AI The Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative, the game is an improvement over the first game, so far it seems like there’s a sci-fi hook dangling in front of me, that keeps me going. Characters are still ridiculous, but never annoying. The Psync gameplay part is still nonsensical, but some of them are funny enough that I can look past it. Excited to see the reveal.