shinymcshine

Retro gaming in the future with physical copies will be weird, a mess of some broken games (assuming online support for patches will be eventually switched off - so you'll be stuck with the vanilla, day one, version). I know this isn't unique to this generation - but pretty much everything nowadays gets a post release patch, often to fix significant issues.

Think I'm just about to enter the final area in Pathfinder WotR (100+ hrs played). Looked at the time, and thought, oh I've got things I've got to do in about 20 mins (as going away overnight) - so thought I'd better save it for another day. It's weird in videogames when you get to the close and have to leave at least an hour for the final gameplay sequences, cut scenes and credits - often having to go through the full sequence before you can save again. Oh well, sure I'll see it come Monday.

Haunted Mansion (2023) Now on D+ (despite only being in the cinema a couple of months ago). It was okay, the effects are pretty good and there's plenty of nods to the Disney attraction, but it isn't as tight as the Eddie Murphy version (this running at 2hrs compared to the 90 min original) but takes a different swerve with the story - and around the 1 hr mark you do wonder quite where it's all actually going.

My nearest branch of Game is closing (Newport, S Wales) to become a part of the nearby Sports Direct store. TBH I tended to browse in there way more often than I actually buy from there anyway - but I guess it's just another (slight) decline of high street retail.

I recall having that disc 4 problem all those years ago, and how giving it a wash sorted it out.

There's an infamously obtuse puzzle in GK3: https://kotaku.com/how-we-survived-adventure-gamings-most-hair-tearingly-r-5903932

I don't think you can ever really experience the utter contemplation, frustration and trail/error of a point and click adventure (or even more retro, a text based adventure) knowing nowadays that the solution is a simple Google search away.

Wasn't quite what I was expecting, but if you have a yearing for those old seaside gaming arcades https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2023/sep/30/a-magic-carpet-ride-through-kents-beachfront-arcades-in-pictures

This is on a local FB sales group - I didn't even realise they were a thing !?!?

Gulf War Gameboy News

Pathfinder: WotR has just pulled an irksome trick (sadly often used in RPGs) where your party is taken prisoner and you lose all your equipment. And later find a chest where you get it all back - but it doesn't then re-equip you back to the previous state - instead you have to manual do it for each of the 20 equipment slots for each of the 6 party members. Oh, what a ffcking waste of gaming time.....

I'll put this here for all the MS/GP haters:

TBH whilst don't know the full test criteria ~12 hrs for an iPhone 15 is quoted here: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-15-battery-life-tested I'm sure if it just sits with screen off, WiFi, 4/5G & Bluetooth off, without Apps running it'll last for ages longer than 12 hrs - but my gripe was if you want to use the features on the go (some multimedia, apps & internet) you'll still likely run out of charge, which is problematic if your tickets, e-pay etc are on your phone

Spin Me Round (2022) Dark comedy with Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza - a group of restauranteurs 'win' a work trip to Italy, but things don't quite work out as anticipated. So true - I anticipated it would be wryly funny, but it really wasn't. Cast are engaging, but storyline is pretty poor, and running with an 18 certificate it barely touched on even American Pie type bawdy humour, and it's just the 2 min (heavily hinted) shock scene in the last 15 min that earned the rating. Maybe give it a miss.

Still kind of p*sses me off that whilst we're becoming increasingly dependent upon phones for ticketing purposes, e-payment, banking, and socials/ents etc, if you use all those then your battery dies in 12 hrs or less - meaning the need to charge on the go or carry an external battery pack.

Gamecentral had a bit of a hands on play, where: "In fact, the whole game feels almost more like a remake than a sequel, with very little that seems completely new – even if the relative uniqueness of the first game means that’s less of a problem than it might have been. It is new – the map is four times bigger than the original – but because it’s years since we last played it, the memory of the first game ends up keeping pace with the reality of the new game, which is a common problem with remakes." Overall they seemed to liked it though. "...we can’t wait to play it again when it is (finished), as while it doesn’t seem a major departure from the original, that was unique enough that even after all these years the sequel still feels surprisingly fresh." Hands on with DD2

A slight twist on this is : How many games do you have on the go at once ? I don't mind lengthy games, as I tend to only play one thing at a time, so recently I've put around 100 hrs (and still going) into Pathfinder:WotR but have been playing it since end July (when I finished Arcade Paradise). I preloaded Starfield but haven't touched it at all. I do find it odd when folks started BG3 then Starfield then MK etc and are juggling the different ongoing games - but hey whatever works for you. (Just seen @Nag post in the Gaming Shout thread.....)

It's a weird gaming attitude (demonstrated in the letters section of Gamecentral) where people are like "Oh I don't have time to play anything more than 15 hrs, as then I'd miss out on playing xyz new release on day one..." Do people do this with other forms of media (movies, books, TV shows) ? As above, so long as it's enjoyable it takes as long as it takes - and if that means you play 6 games a year rather than 60, then so what !?!

I'm certainly not a prude, the game is rated PEGI 16, and in the context of a corrupted demon from the abyss its within scope, but the way that particular conversation went in "Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous" did rather shock me a little !

"the game is fixed....." Well, unless you got the PS4 (& Xbox One) version, as I didn't think the v2.0 and DLC was coming to the last gen consoles....!?!?

Pleased that they've stuck with single player (+ AI pawns) I did fear that, given DD Online, they'd be putting online co-op in there. The trailer doesn't really show too much that's new though, just predominantly a bunch of repetition of how character classes work (much the same as DD) - but additional environmental effects look like they could be good. TBH if it was all just more of the same though I'd be reasonably happy - especially if they include creepy indoor areas that were a large part of DD:DA.

I did a summary post in the Games thread for "Pathfinder: Kingmaker" and the sequel is much of the glorious same (RPG, good cast of characters, interactions & choice). I've enjoyed both Pathfinder games at least as much as the two D:OS games and PoE Deadlight (and more than the first PoE game) - and they are worthy successors to the original Baldurs Gate games.

😲

Been playing "Pathfinder - Wrath of the Righteous" (PS4) for a couple of months, around 80+ hrs, and whilst the loading times have been pretty irksome throughout I've hit a further snag now I've progressed to Act 4. It's a Demonic Abyss with the world structure subtly changing as you rotate the camera view, to open up hidden pathways (as structures move & morph). Which all sounds pretty cool, and very thematic. But the framerate suffered badly, like single digits at times, and reading across on the official forums it's a well know issue (even on PCs) with no particular resolution. But 80+ hrs in, then I'll just have to stick with it, and make very slow progress. Please don't tell me that BG3 isn't blighted with this sort of thing too !

Wider than digital vs physical is whether they are really trying to phase out single game 'ownership', by the industry probably preferring an ongoing subscription based model (and this would likely be the same for movies too). Suppose this is the thing with multiformat gaming - what's the use of all owning all those PS1, GC and UMD etc discs once you've no hardware to play them on anyway (aside from eventually selling them on to retro collectors).