shinymcshine

Died a few times now (which is sort of a problem, in so much as it trivialises the tension a bit (die, restart, repeat until progress - and it seems a bit unavoidable at times in terms of trial & error and pathfinding).

Still, the story is cracking along at a pace, and at least most of it is done in relatively well lit areas (rather than gloom & darkness).

I'm a bit surprised (but not wholly disappointed) that they didn't put collectibles in the game- unless they have and I'm really terrible at finding them !

I would recommend anyone who enjoys this having a look at "Close to the Sun" esp. if it's still on Gamepass, which has similar gameplay albeit in a more art deco / Bioshock inspired environment (albeit feel free to curse me regarding a particular chase/escape sequence near the end which took so many 'pixel perfect' times to pass).

Yep, if they want this to be successful they need to remove barriers that might prevent non-gamers from trying it - so either bundle it with a controller and Gamepass trial or make it a low price optional extra at point of sale.

Otherwise it's asking people to spend an extra £50 (£35 on a controller, £15 for 1mth GP) on something that they may/may not even like.

LG launching a MS Gamepass Cloud enabled TV

https://www.eurogamer.net/xbox-cloud-gaming-is-coming-to-lg-tvs

1 hour ago, Maryokutai said:

 The change in style between the first movie and the last one is immense, they look like they come from two completely different eras. 

They sort of did - I think I've got the first one on VHS and the last film (Pts 1&2) on 3D enabled Blu-rays (free when I bought my Sony TV).

Been a while since I watched them all (once - over a long weekend, so not exactly a film buff on them) but there is a notable difference in how Hogwarts looks & is laid out, from the early films to the later ones.

But I guess that's magic for you.....

Only recently read that Rik Mayall got cut from the first film - he filmed scenes as a named poltergeist (Wikipedia says it was "Peeves" but guess that only makes sense if you've read the books), but didn't make the final version.

Also one of the Hairy Bikers, Si King, is in the credits of the first & maybe second film, location management, as that was his job back then, pre cookery et al (and he met Dave Myers when they were working on an ITV production of a Catherine Cookson novel / period drama).

Forgot about this one, so giving it a go on Gamepass. 

About an hour played and I'm liking it, whilst clearly somewhat a linear walking sim, the dialogue is great, and there's enough player control and interaction to make it engaging (a bit like SOMA was too).

Hopefully it'll continue in the same way.

GTA IV - it works..... except for the bit where Kate kept calling me for a date after she'd been murdered......

Maybe I miss the Peter Molyneux type of hyperbole we use to get about how amazing a new game will be as it will have features x,y and z* and instead we now often just get a clip reel where it's sometimes difficult to separate gameplay from cut scenes.

*Of course with Peter this actually meant you got; half of x; y was left out entirely but you might get a fraction of it in a DLC; and z was beyond the realms of physical possibility. Actually no, that's not right, with other people's hype you got that, with Peter you go a different game, almost, entirely.....

After reading the 2025 release list of course this pops up as likely due out in 'the Autumn' - but I still know very little about it (in terms of what the gameplay loop, single player, is likely to comprise).

I've been a bit underwhelmed since GTA SA personally, GTA IV & V had some high spots for sure, but was there really anything that took forward the peaks from SA ? Suppose this is the problem that I never engaged with GTA Online - so I still ponder whether the single player experience of GTA VI will just be a reharsh of what we've already had, or if they'll finally bring a whole bunch of new ideas to the table (albeit from a corporate perspective the money is clearly with establishment of the online gaming hook).

Despite loving CRPGs I'll often just skim read long paras of lore & background text and in game books - unless they clearly culminate in a decision point.

So I probably don't get as immersed in the game world, as I'm more interested in playing than just reading - however I don't know if it's actually something I'll resolve to change, I'd rather games had a more direct connection between in game background and gameplay choice (even where picking up & reading a book might give you a mini quest or clues to where xyz might be).

I think it's Wuthering Heights where one of the elderly housekeeping staff has all their dialogue written in Yorkshire phonetics ?

Enjoyable book still

Only a few weeks ago this was in the cinema, but yesterday Wicked (Part One) came to digital rental / purchase.

Enjoyable movie, albeit a tad long at 2h 40m esp as there's a Part Two coming at the end of the year.

I'm still not convinced with Ariana Grande as Galinda - she no doubt has the vocals, but seemed a bit too slight and diminutive (as in the Wizard of Oz, and Wild at Heart - Galinda always seems to feel better when shown as much taller than Grande's 5'1")

Most of the characters are pretty unlikable, which I suppose is the point of Elphaba being shown as the misunderstood star.

Notable cameos when they finally got to the Emerald City too.

Looking forward to Part Two, as, despite seeing the stage show in London years ago I can't actually remember how it ends - well aside from the WoOz house drop &  bucket of water - and will hope to keep it a mystery so to enjoy the second part without too much pre-expectation.

Credits rolling (twice) so think I'm done - enjoyed that !

Shame that the Gameplay & Story is a bit mind-numbing.....

I think my main tips for the early game would be:

TBH I gave it an initial attempt, ~1 hr, didn't really understand too much about how it all worked and felt a tad indifferent to it, went back the next day, started a new game, and it all clicked that time around.

Another 90 mins today and feel I've made loads of positive progress - levelling up to get the dice modifiers and also the karma reroll makes things a lot easier.

Whilst I recognise it's not a perfect guide, especially for games on Gamepass, I've unlocked a number of achievements that have <10% completion, so it must be a sign that I'm going about things okay.

Not too sure if I'll go on with the DLC area (I've got sufficient items to unlock it now) but want to wrap up the main story.

Been playing this for about 5 hrs (Series S, Gamepass) and once you get over the text heavy narrative and familiar with the dice allocation system, it's a great cyberpunk themed RPG.

It's probably a good example of the Hot Topic discussion from the other week, re. the relative importance (or not) of graphical presentation - as this could certainly have been from the 8/16 bit era (or PC with EGA graphics) - and that's certainly no put down as the gameplay and narrative engages & involves you.

That whole GOTY talk is style over substance - it really captures the spirit & feel of the characters and theme, but I don't think it does anything remarkable at all in terms of gameplay.

RotTR was definitely the highlight of the 3 reboot games.

@Metroid66 You're only a terrible PC conversion away from it all crashing down though (can't remember a recent PC video card frame rate disaster, but there was a huge faff around one of the Batman games a while back).

Best - the 100+ hours spent playing Pathfinder WotR

Middle - a large proportion of time playing Persona 3 Reloaded was fun, but some of the social elements felt like they dragged

Worst - way too many of the 100+ hours playing Baldurs Gate 3

Think it annoys me where game devs replace good story telling with cinematic presentation and hi res cut scenes - where it feels they want to make a CGI movie rather than involve me, through either gameplay or branching choices, in influencing the action.

Drova - hadn't heard of it, but saw it made it to the consoles too (Series S, £20.99) so maybe one to check out sometime....

They make unified agreement to release all retro console games, cross platform, for free !