one-armed dwarf

It surprises me when people say they hated BOTW but really like TOTK. I can see why someone would prefer it, but they are pretty similar games in my view, with TOTK building off the other. The big thing is just that TOTK has maybe the best onboarding mechanics I've seen for a game this size and density, with this much openness edit to be clear, I'm not just talking about the tutorial island but the whole game in general.

AA batteries feeling like fisher price is such a weird take to wrap my head around but consider this. The controller loses charge, well fuck it I can't play anymore. OR, the controller loses charge, lets put in my 2nd spare AA rechargeables I have lying around (cause that's the way to use them). Nice one

The part I'll agree with mfnick on is all the friction, these games are all about that friction in every interaction. But that's why they're good imo, rather than bad. So much OW games are frictionless and consequence free, with little consideration to how to get around or deal with puzzles and obstacles I think with these games tbh you have to block out the hype and the temptation of the zeitgeist and go with what you know. if you don't like the fussiness and fiddling around you're probably not going to be on the same wavelength as those that do like the tinkering. You don't need to buy the latest shiny cause other people have it as well. It's like me with roguelikes, fuck Returnal. I think it looks like hell, fuck your metacritic averages I know what I like and it ain't that

The reason you want removable batteries is the internal ones eventually die, and bloat. Though we're talking about years down the line here, and the build quality would probably give out first. Play and charge should be cheaper though

Both games are fine, P4 is slightly better here if we are talking about the PS2 versions. The AI controlled party members in FES were really fucking annoying. The portable version fixed that, but extracted all the charm by removing all the animations and character interactions and replacing it with a visual novel style. It's always been frustrating for this, there's no ideal version of the game to play. Not to mention it's an earlier, creakier framework for the 'modern' Persona games (which again imo, P4 is actually better at. I can't judge P5, I was done with the series at that point). One of those situations in remake-mania where I kind of see the point in remaking it. As long as it's still a turn based grindy game at the end of the day, a visual uplift which keeps all the cool charm of the original with the gameplay enhancements of later entries is a way to go with it. Also be cross platform please, PC for steam deck. Or even Switch, the OLED screen is so nice that I can forgive the lack of power Also Mary's right we already know what it looks like https://www.resetera.com/threads/possible-first-footage-of-the-rumoured-persona-3-remake-the-new-jet-set-radio-teamreal-vs-teamfake.706616/ No evoker present in this footage, btw

I think blakey you seem to sort of prefer more curated open world stuff like RDRII and Ubisoft. With this one you kinda got to get in the playful and experimental mindset a bit, each camp fight can have very different outcomes. Even though the camp layout is the same, the weather might be different (rain and/or thunder, is it overcast, maybe a breeze), and nearby equipment/items/resources also influence your approach. It's dynamic in this sense, if each camp is the same layout its parameters are always changing. Then it's up to the player to come up with a fun approach that's challenging and fun based on those parameters and understanding of how it works together, or the curiosity to see and experiment if you don't already know. There's a hidden versatility to a lot of the tools in this game, particularly WRT physics and how they interact with one another and your new powers. Both in combat and exploration, but it requires the player to look for it a bit. I'm still discovering things in these identikit caves and camps That's the real reason behind the way weapons break in this, is to get players thinking about using other tools (to avoid breaking all the ones they have, or if they break them to find something else). Not necessarily speaking only about weapons, but environment and items as well

Next week is the finale of the entire show. No S5 It's 8 all together I think. Episode 7 is the one today.

Yeah it is. I dunno though. I guess what I mean is I don't feel like I have much control over the speed, and in RE4 it overshoots the aim reticle a lot. I just find analog sticks slow and clunky for lining shots up in anything. The thing I mentioned about having to walk the character around to line up shots has been my experience a lot of the time. Again it works really well in TOTK, so I hope that gyro stuff becomes more common cause it more or less fixes things

I'm caught up on Barry season 4, I don't think I like it much tbh. The first 2 had such a good balance of comedy and dark shit, and they went in a really surprising direction in 3. But I think it's just run out of runway with 4, I dunno maybe it's just me. Online reviews are great. But I'm disappointed. edit there's another episode out today, I've not seen that one yet.

I spent a ton of time in the depths yesterday also. I don't know how I feel about the area. I like how the exploring is integrated with your progress elsewhere, you need to go to the depths for improvements to zonai. But you need to go caving in Hyrule to get bloom seeds, and you need to do shrines to be strong enough to fight the very difficult enemies down there. When you do the depths then you have better transport options for the overworld. It's interesting the impact it can have for your character's power levels, if they have more hearts/stamina or more battery, and how that informs your approach (eg, fighting tough enemies while you have low health but high tech, or vice versa) But the depths themselves haven't had the surprises for me really that the overworld has. Actually neither have the sky islands, which sort of feel like they were over-represented in marketing for this game given their actual in-game presence. It's really about the interaction between Hyrule and the depths I think.I do like that there's a sense of danger tho, if you go too far and end up relying on small light sources I think this game is so good. Even tho there's little things about it that can be complained about, it deserves the 10/10 scores I think. It's the most significant game release of the past couple years I think, or at least up there with Elden Ring.

I have a g502 also. It is good, and the dpi 'sniper button' is nice in RE4 for micro-adjustments with the red laser dot weapons. I generally don't like using M&K if I can though, it's just a lot of the stuff I've been playing lately feels awful on controller. Both Prey and RE4 have (imo, for me) unplayably awful deadzones and aim acceleration. What happens with it is I end up having to strafe the character to aim the gun, rather than actually aim the gun. Which feels wrong, and shit. I know there's options to change them, but I find that stuff confusing so I just end up sidelining it with M&K I've never used it until now, but I actually really like the gyro aiming that the switch does with ToTK. It comes the closest to narrowing this gap I think. A quick swing of the controller and you can get close to that 'mouse speed and accuracy', and you can make little adjustments for aiming arrows that you just can't ever do with slow, clunky and single-speed analog sticks. I understand now why people rave about that feature, I wonder what other console games have it that I've ignored it on.

My understanding with the cooking is different foods have different 'tiers' of effects. So an endurance carrot might be tier 1 for endurance (for instance), lets say then there's also a tier 2 endurance spinach, combining more than one carrot might get you to tier 2. Then the rest of the ingredients increase the effect of the original effect, or add hearts. I think seasoning strengthens the added effect, salt, acorns, cooking oils etc. Stuff like apples, meat, that adds hearts. I'm not sure though, this is largely just me guessing at how it works. So this might be extremely wrong I think the enemy design is really underrated in this. They are dumb, but in a fun way. They have lots of cool unique reactions to shit. You kind of have to take a 'play with your food' approach to the combat to see these unique things though. Rather than just mash buttons at stuff with the highest damaging weapon. A lot of people say the combat in these games is bad but I disagree, it's just a lot of it is hidden behind broad use of all the different tools and environment stuff.

It was amazing with the quest 2 controllers though Right now my preferred controller is the 8bitdo sn pro 2. Works on PC and switch, and has a toggle for different controller modes (which is handy for getting the right buttons to show up on certain games on steam). Most importantly it has symmetrical analog sticks, which I need if I want to quickly access the dpad while using the left stick. I can't do that with the xbox and swich pro layout Has an issue with rubber wearing away though. In general I've been really displeased with the reliability of main console controllers and stick drift, it happens so often now. Joycons are even worse, absolute shite controller.

Yeah that really annoys me with ps5, it's a genre where you really want lots of controller support. The closed beta I played months back was really good, and even being bad at the game is lots of fun. From what I heard the latest demo was focused on the single player campaign and was a bit shit. I recommend trying the open beta out this weekend if you're unsure, just run up and mash some buttons at people. I'm too addicted to Zelda rn to bother though

The thing is, the bit in italics here is the game, and the bit in bold is you asking why you can't skip the video game. Again, not trying to be a dick, but just to make the point a bit more clear. The game is about doing these steps and planning. It's about improvising, adapting, gathering and preparing. The other thing is, these games are about discovery and as much as I like bragging about my discoveries I feel like a dick spoiling them so often. But honestly the first thing I'd say is it doesn't make a lot of sense that you are just running around everywhere. My memory of the early part of BOTW was building up stamina overtime to climb cliffs and jump off them. Not just running around and running out of gas all the time. Starting off, just climb to a viewpoint and look for shrines is all I'd say. Overtime you just build an accumulation of knowledge as to how to move Link around more effectively, while also getting stronger. To bring it back to the thread topic, TOTK only builds upon that even more. Its a deeper game, but fundamentally the same style

You mentioned the thing about running out of stamina all the time before but that just was never my experience with the game I guess. If you're on a lot of flatground, you should wrangle a horse. Or start a bushfire and use an updraft to get some air. Or make a boat if near water. Or just chill and take it slow anyway. Like, the puzzle problem there is "it's taking me ages to get somewhere on foot, how do I solve this?". There's lots of answers provided in the game's world. It can't be stressed enough that these games are about adapting to the world and making yourself its master over time. Italics emphasis there is not to be snide or arrogant, but to stress that this is kind of the ethos of the whole game design, and a huge part of its appeal Though tbh the menus in these games aren't good, I will grant that at least.

The solution to slippery climbing IMO isn't elixirs anyway, it's shield surfing. Going up is harder but going downhill with momentum becomes easier.

Yeah To be honest, you kind of have to be patient and curious with the game's systems and treat stuff like this as an interesting problem to solve or work around/work with. Rather than a purely limiting obstacle. It's hard to see a way that you can enjoy these Zeldas without approaching it like this. IMO

So is Homelander's fatality going to be Laser eyes until the head is just fried brains or Hand in chest and squeeze heart to death (I cant play these games now, they're so gross lol)

It's not a 2023 game, but I think death stranding 2 is maybe becoming the most overlooked Sony exclusive right now Playing TOTK has reminded me that DS2 is the closest thing that Sony has to that game, in terms of open ended traversal strategies being a 'genre'. DS1 was pretty good but plateaued very early, a sequel could iterate on that and make something much richer.

When it rains, make lemonade

There's finite systems available to play on when cloud gaming. Geforce Now works this same way with your steam account, I loaded up my witcher 3 save on a remote 3080 machine the other day. That's the cool side of cloud gaming I think, when it integrates with what you already have.

So even tho I'm all about the pro hud life, I only recently learned that the standard hud in BOTW actually has a weather forecast on the bottom of the screen. So you can tell when it's going to rain. Basically the whole thing with BOTW is you do a bit of prep when going to do things, stamina/speed potions, fireguard, stuff like that. The way the wind blows affects the speed of your glider and stuff. So if it's going to rain you need to account for this too and plan differently, tho I wish there was a way of doing that with pro hud. TOTK is still a game very much about prep and thinking how to use your resources and knowing your environment, tho there's a new mechanic for dealing with slippery surfaces as well. Climbing is not as big a focus considering the new ways you have to get around, tho it's something you need to do at times and it's good to have a few speed/stamina elixirs for that. Basically, get cooking. In both BOTW and TOTK

I dont really get the spidey hype. The first one was a decent game with a good story, but still sort of felt like a ubisoft game with good movement mechanics. Then again I feel like that with spidey in general, that last film was boring but people were asking why it wasn't getting nominated for oscars and shit. I just feel on a different planet to that kind of hype, the square Enix guardians game was better than both of them

What's good about TOTK is that handholding actually funnels through everything in the game. If you look around, you will sometimes find a bunch of vehicle parts next to a goblin camp (for instance). Or other vehicles to solve other problems. Sometimes enemies will have fusions that you didn't think of yourself, like a shield that knocks you on your arse if you try to hit it (wont spoil how to make this). Everything in these, and the shrines, are designed to teach the player what is possible and give them the knowledge needed to build off of themselves. I'm going to (slightly) push you in a certain direction though, follow the main path a bit. Stop exploring, you need to do a few main quests before you get a little something which makes things clearer (you'll know what it is, it's the thing you don't have yet). But in general near every issue people had with BOTW being directionless is largely solved in TOTK, IMO, but without entirely sacrificing the freedom to roam around. It's just less about finding views than it is about finding resources and learning new traversal/fusing tricks (which lets you get around even more) It might have the same enemies but there's lots of new ways of fighting and interacting with them. Personally I've been using a lot of MGS in my playthrough, and throwing smoke bombs that follow the direction of the wind and doing lots of sneakstrike. But you've got to kinda take your time with the game, look at the shit you have in your bag and think if there's a combination of effects that can be leveraged. These games still expect a lot of scavenging and tinkering with things, sometimes some random seeds or chu chu jelly can be a ton more effective than straight up fighting, especially early on edit there you go, both me and mmmark are here to tell you that you are playing video games wrong 🤣