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iriihutoR84
Might go for Rise of the Ronin next. It was a bit overshadowed by Dragon's Dogma 2 but it feels like the internets in the end preferred Ronin although both games feel a bit forgotten today.
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iriihutoR84
I finished Mario RPG. I think it had a lot of good and unique ideas but it is a bit on the short and easy side. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but the hidden collectibles were also made in a really awful way. You can be told that they are on the screen but the only way to find them is to jump absolutely everywhere on that screen? I had a good time but it's not an essential in 2024.
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iriihutoR84
Yeah, State of Play normally sucks but just putting a sequel to Ghost in there casually with a 2025 release date made it good. Hope they can make it interesting and not too derivative. The first game was one of the best open world games last gen. Definitely picking up the Soul Reavers and Lunar too. I only played the original Legacy of Kain on PS1 and only the first Lunar too. Working Design was an awesome company for bringing over some stuff we never would have gotten otherwise but their localizations should be left in the past. They also ruined games by making them harder than the Japanese originals too.
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iriihutoR84
Finished Astro Bot. Definitely a great game but on the short side and gameplay is a bit limited because of the genre. It does some gameplay and level design gimmicks and keeps things fresh and occasionally surprising so it's fun throughout but 3D platformers do lack a bit of depth. Good bosses, nice attention to detail and very polished. You can tell that some resources was invested into the game. The cameos were a cute touch too and included some stuff I had never even heard of and not just legends like Delsin Rowe. Definitely on the easy side apart from some optional challenge levels but some collectibles are well hidden so exploring the levels was fun. Doesn't beat Rebirth as my GOTY but I'd recommend it at the right price. I liked it as much as I like 3D Mario games.
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iriihutoR84
Scalpers really want to take advantage of any potential video game-related shortage. Probably gonna be bad for the Switch 2 as well. Has to be a pretty risky business though since they have no insights into the production capacity of the products. There are also selling costs on eBay and the likes.
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iriihutoR84
Shame they couldn't land a slam dunk with Visions. It looked promising. I still need to play Trials of Mana still. Seems it wasn't amazing either though.
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iriihutoR84
I think Xenoblade 2 gets a bit better if you have the time to dedicate to it and I liked it more up until the end when I had a few hours every day. The final boss was pretty messy though and the friendly AI was almost as bad as that boss fight in Xenoblade 1 where they ignored that the poisonous stomach acid or whatever actually hurt them. Not an awesome game and the story and most characters were pretty goofy. The core was pretty good though and combat had some depth and neat ideas. A step above Tales of... games perhaps but not as good as FF15/16 or the 7R games. Will still play Xenoblade 3 and most seem to prefer that one.
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iriihutoR84
I hope you will vote for Trump to protect all of America's dogs against the immigrants.
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iriihutoR84
The trade-in value for the OG PS5 should still be decent too and there shouldn't be much of a reason to keep that around. With maybe 2-3 years until the PS6, it doesn't seem essential to me. I don't play on a 50''+ TV so I don't really need the native 4K in performance mode. Would be nice with a Pro but I don't think it's worth it personally.
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iriihutoR84
I've always enjoyed playing some simpler games from time to time and I'd like to see more of them. Not sure if Astro can mix things up enough to keep the gameplay fresh for a full game but we'll see. I'll try to finish Xenoblade 2 first though but I'm not sure how much is left. I'm in chapter 8/10 it seems.
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iriihutoR84
Astro Bot getting insanely good reviews so I decided to grab it. The VR game was awesome and the PS5 tech demo was cool for what it was. I've been craving shorter, linear games this gen and the big single-player games are often a bit bloated and open world. Also ordered the Prince of Persia: Lost Crown but that one might have to wait a few months.
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iriihutoR84
Not sure why they make it sound like you need 20 unique mechanical items from some collectibles list if it's literally "salvage 20 items". I did Google it and the threads I found mentioned salvaging but not it being that easy. The description could really have said "salvage 20 items". Another reminder not to use GameFAQs over Reddit I guess.
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iriihutoR84
I think I'm gonna drop Xenoblade 2 sadly. Got to a point where I absolutely needed "Ancient Wisdom" or something like that at level 3 and I only have two Blades with it. In order to level it up I'd need to do tons of grinding it seems. For one I'd have to go salvaging and the other I have to do some quest plus grind for money. I also already drew all the blades I could and did not luck out in the gacha. Feels like there are some things in the Xenoblade games that are generally needlessly complicated and meant to pad out the games. I wasn't absolutely loving the game anyway so I'm okay with dropping it. It definitely has some strong points in combat, music and some of the world building but also some BS.
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iriihutoR84
I'm of the opposite impression about marketing for Concord. I've seen lots of marketing for it. They even had a limited edition controller and long spots in their State of Play events. I think they genuinely believed it would do well, at least right up until the Beta a month ago which seemingly had low player counts. That might be where their faith in the product stopped. The internets always seemed lukewarm for it but that is often the case for live service games. The $40 price tag was probably inspired by the success of Helldivers 2 and likely not a good move by Sony when there is much more competition from F2P hero shooters. I don't think going F2P can save Concord. It will still have dull characters and doesn't seem like an outstanding game apart from that either. Plus now the Concord brand is tainted too. Why would anyone want to play the game known for being one of the biggest flops in video game history? Morbid curiosity?
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iriihutoR84
Concord closing the servers after less than two weeks and refunding everyone. Sony's live service initiative is certainly going well. The only successful game is Helldivers 2 and that one is more likely to be a product of Helldivers 1 being a hit than this initiative. 3 billion dollars wasted on Bungie too, a developer that will seemingly always remain multiplat. That money they invested could have made some cool single-player games.
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iriihutoR84
Sounds awesome for Wukong. I'll hold out a bit for a physical release but I'm definitely playing it at some point! I'm under the impression that Visions of Mana was pretty polished. Hope you end up liking that one as well.
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iriihutoR84
Not really sure how I feel about Xenoblade 2. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the exploration in this series. On one hand, I get frustrated following the quest marker and ending up nowhere near the goal but I also enjoy, exploring, looking around and finding the route. Those moments feel brilliant but sometimes it doesn't happen and you just feel lost in the big world. Avoiding enemies should also be easier when there is an exploration focus. I dropped the Wii U game because of the exploration. I should be past the halfway point in this one at least so hopefully I can stick with it.
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iriihutoR84
Feels like western devs have been hit harder with longer development times since they strive for a more technically complex product. Eastern devs are more capable of making quicker games on a budget even if that means Yakuza and Wukong have some invisible walls. Feels like the big western devs are really down to making just one game per generation at this point. Star Wars Outlaws is another Ubisoft games that isn't complete on the disc so I'm not sure I will buy it. Gotta prioritize and you can't play everything. I might get around to Mana eventually but I still haven't played Trials of Mana.
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iriihutoR84
Lessons that should be learned: make big asian single-player games, stop chasing live service money in an ultra-crowded market. Unless you can offer something unique at least. Seems people think Concord is fine, not awful but generic. Hard to get people to pay $40 for that when the competition is better and free to play. Seems Concord was an absolutely monumental disaster. Struggling to crack top 50 charts even on PSN and on Steam it's dead. It really feels like a game absolutely no one asked for. Struggling to figure out who it was for.
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iriihutoR84
Sounds like it doesn't have the polish and competence of From. Many seem to say it's not all that Soulslike either. Not upset that you don't lose your souls upon death personally at least.
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iriihutoR84
Not sure what they were thinking with Demon of Hatred tbh. IIRC I got fed up and cheesed him to fall off a ledge or something. That's how we hardcore gamers do it. Definitely replaying Sekiro some day but I'll do all Souls games before that.
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iriihutoR84
Reading that Wukong isn't too shabby on the PS5 so it should be worth playing at launch after all. I'll wait and see about a physical release personally. I have plenty of other stuff to play too and I'm probably far from done with Xenoblade 2.
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iriihutoR84
Wukong getting really good reviews but it seems the PC version is pretty buggy and the PS5 version didn't even get any review copies sent out. Definitely a wait and see in my opinion.
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iriihutoR84
Sekiro was really cool and it felt good to succeed but it took a long time for me to get used to the parrying. I barely parry in Souls. It probably made Wo Long easier at least.
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iriihutoR84
Gotta say I'm quite liking the combat in Xenoblade 2. There is a bit of depth and strategy in there although sometimes I wish it was easier to avoid combat when you don't want to fight. I'm not quite feeling the cast and story though and it is a bit silly = the love story between a boy and his sword.
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iriihutoR84
I always cheese Micolash with poison knives. lol. That final phase is just frustrating and ruins the fight. I really enjoy the fight apart from that BS. At least it was a really cool experience the first time. Maybe not as much on replays.
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iriihutoR84
I doubt I'll get around to Flintlock. Sounds like there are just better games out there. I have some games to play and then I hope to do a D. Souls replay run this year or next. Lots of new releases and old games that get cheap too. And I think there are better Game Pass games if I do resub.
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iriihutoR84
Cancelling Game Pass also feels good because it sends a message. If their numbers start going down or don't increase even with Call of Duty then maybe that's the end of Microsoft's focus on it. That might mean MS dropping out of consoles though. Not sure where else Microsoft can go at this point. They put their eggs in one basket.
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iriihutoR84
On Game Pass this year, I've played Dead Space Remake, Lies of P, Psychonauts 2, Jedi Survivor and Hellblade 2. Not even one game per month. The value could be worse but I will probably end up buying Lies of P and Dead Space anyway because I consider them borderline classics. Kind of sucks not owning games like that and it will be fun replaying them on PS5 with fresh trophies. I don't really see rentals as the value it would cost to buy the games either because I wouldn't have spent $40 on Hellblade 2 for example. I would have bought it at $10 or something like that and had ownership. So I'm more or less losing money on Game Pass since the monthly cost is more than I would have spent on these games. Or I will rebuy them anyway.
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iriihutoR84
I just let my Game Pass expire so I'm not sure I'll ever play Flintlock. I just haven't been using it enough to make it worthwhile and I prefer owning my games. I'll resub occasionally though. No denying you can abuse it a little to get good value. I quite liked Ashen apart from the final boss but it wasn't anything special. There weren't as many Soulslikes back then either.
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iriihutoR84
Yeah, the writing is a bit awkward in Xenoblade 2 so far. Even if it's not as good as Xeno 3, it seems many still enjoyed it and if I don't play it first, chances are I never will.
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iriihutoR84
I'm doing some Xenoblade 2 finally. I've owned it and #3 for a while but never got around to it. I'm not sure if it's me getting old but I'm having a harder time with anime protagonists these days. Their designs are so goofy. Maybe not in all games but definitely in this game so far. Seems like a great game overall though.
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iriihutoR84
I'm wondering if it was Nagoshi who wanted to push for a new protagonist and when he left they just brought back Kiryu. The Man Who Erased His Name only had Kiryu and Infinite Wealth was split. It'll be interesting to see Yakuza 9: Like a Dragon 3.
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iriihutoR84
Speaking of confusing naming: now there is Like a Dragon: Yakuza on Amazon Prime.
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iriihutoR84
The Judgment games are essentially Yakuza games packed with bad detective mini-games. Most is fine but the crime scene investigations in particular feel poorly executed to me. You just go around and try to interact with or look at random object and I always waste time because I can't find all the objectives you are supposed to find. That's one case where I'd prefer a detective vision showing you in red/yellow what you can interact with. And the next Judgment will totally take place in Hawaii.
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iriihutoR84
Sounds like a highly enjoyable game at least. I'm mostly fine with a bit of rehashing and evidently it helps them churn out these games faster than other developers can but it would definitely lead to the games feeling a bit fresher with each entry if they did less of it.
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iriihutoR84
I would say that older Yakuza games also often have better side content than Rebirth. Rebirth certainly wasn't perfect in that regard.
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iriihutoR84
I play any game in English, even kawaii anime games but I'm too used to the Japanese in Yakuza. Kiryu and Majima can't speak English. It's part of the charm.
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iriihutoR84
Maybe it would have been easier if Ichiban's first game wasn't called "Yakuza" but it was. Then it could have been a bit of a clean break at least with Kiryu being Yakuza and Ichiban Like a Dragon... But then The Man Who Erased His Name happened too.
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iriihutoR84
Animal Crossing kind of feels like a phone game where every day passed in-game is a cooldown. Every day you work a little bit towards a goal. I think it appeals to phone gamers and those who don't want stress or high skill requirements. Lots to collect and stuff like that. Annabelle likes the games a lot.
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iriihutoR84
Seems Infinite Wealth got a really good reception both from gamers and the press. Hopefully combat feels better than in Like a Dragon... that name just feels wrong now.
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iriihutoR84
Yeah, it would have been nice with a Bloodborne remaster during the early days of the PS5 and then a remake for the PS6 launch or something. Maybe they didn't want to steal the thunder of Demon's. I'm strongly convinced something will happen with Bloodborne so we'll just have to wait and see what.
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iriihutoR84
But what's better: a Bamco 60fps remaster that's barely untouched apart from framerate now or a Demon's Souls-style remake for the launch of the PS6?
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iriihutoR84
Sony will absolutely do something with Bloodborne 1 in the future. The question is just what and when. Astro Bot's gimmick is more or less having references to ALL PlayStation characters. Parappa is a pre-order bonus too and there is about zero chance of that coming back with modern Sony's focus.
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iriihutoR84
I don't think I spent that much time on Radahn but I didn't like the fight. Happy I at least had the Mimic Tear Ashes to distract him a little but he sometimes tore right through my sidekick. The Moonlight Greatsword clearly didn't do as much poise damage anymore either. Still probably a great weapon though. The blessings system isn't great either in my opinion. Feels like the fight should be balanced around you finding maybe half of them. For me it was a tough fight with 19/20. I think it was a mistake to put that system in the DLC.
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iriihutoR84
I could go for a Bloodborne remaster because I want to replay it. I'm convinced they will do it for the PS6 though and we should definitely be past the halfway point of this gen.
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iriihutoR84
The DS2 DLC was just very forgettable. The game has many great ups even if it also has its downs too but the DLC was disappointing. No bosses I'd call classics either.
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iriihutoR84
Finished Erdtree. Used some of those talismans you recommended and they definitely helped. The final boss is pretty BS. Too many flashing lights, too many AoE attacks with big hit boxes and just not a particularly fun fight. I more or less had to get lucky with my Mimic staying alive to beat him. I think I explored most of the map and beat all the major bosses. Apart from Radahn, it was excellent but maybe a bit too samey compared to the main game which to be fair is common for a DLC. I just think The Old Hunters managed to surprise more and all areas felt unique. Some bosses almost felt a bit on the easy side too but most of the big ones were solid. Midra, Messmer and Rellana were probably my favorites too. Fair and challenging. Radahn was shit though. Might replay the DLC with a different build in the future. INT as a base but without magic didn't really give me much that wasn't in the base game.
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iriihutoR84
Yeah, it was Rahdan who was giving me issues. I did a handful of attempts and was pretty close once but I decided to explore some more instead. Gaining a few levels isn't a disadvantage at least even if every point invested is seeing diminishing returns at this point. The DLC is really good but it does feel a bit same ol'. Rebirth might be my GOTY so far even if I'm loving Erdtree.
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