Maryokutai

They talk a bit about the Xbox version of FFXVI here, specifically Series X. The summary is that the resolution is lower than on PS5, in certain modes even significantly so (Performance mode goes from 1080p on PS5 to 720p on Xbox). On the plus side, or rather as a byproduct, the framerate is more stable, so Quality mode is basically a locked 30fps and performance a locked 60fps. IIRC the latter was a rollercoaster on PS5, so that's good I suppose, but no idea how a 4K TV deals with a 720p image. Seems like they half-arsed the port a bit though, but at the same I can't really fault them because without a Gamepass deal there's really not much money to be made on Xbox anymore unless you're COD or FIFA. I'm just happy it finally is on the platform, though I'm not sure yet when I'm going to give it a try.

A bit of a technical analysis from maf's favourite youtuber. I think we all noticed ourselves that its native resolution is rather low, so it was interesting to hear they're preparing a patch for next week which adds a new visual setting that ditches DLSS in favour of the tried-and-tested dynamic resolution approach they used in RMX. I doubt this will help on a 4K TV, but it might end up being a huge boon for handheld mode (and to an extent ancient TVs like mine).

Slogging through misery might be a bit too harsh but it is definitely the kind of game I need to be in the right mood for, which likely explains why I haven't gotten around to the sequel yet.

I could see leadership maybe targeting a younger demographic when developing a live service game (possibly f2p, too), which would explain the MCU-ish tone and writing, whereas a pure single player RPG build on the foundations of BioWare's past projects is very much millennial/boomer territory. At least that's my initial thought on the matter, haven't read the piece yet, but I'll save it for later. The ME team having basically directed the ending makes so much sense in hindsight though. Not getting into detail here to avoid spoilers but it's basically just a fantasy spin of something straight out of Mass Effect. Though all that said, I can't stress enough how good of a job the actual programmers did on that game considering its turbulent development. I have not seen such a clean, smooth and bugfree AAA game from a third-party studio on release in quite some time.

Yeah, it's apples and oranges really, but some people turn everything into a smoothie competition.

Which is roughly the same amount as the Steam Deck's lifetime sales. I thought that would make people realise that these PC handhelds target an entirely different and more niche demographic, but in true internet fashion it seems everyone just thinks the Steam Deck is dead now. Watch the same 'conclusions' being drawn at the end of the year with the ROG Xbox. Anyway, good on Nintendo, though not surprising. It is kind of funny to think that the system has already passed 1/3rd of WiiU's total sales though.

I tried Gameshare earlier with Fast Fusion just for the heck of it (ie. the feature that allows you to stream a game to another Switch 2 or even a Switch 1 without needing another copy of the game). Switch 2 was in the Dock, Switch 1 in handheld mode, so I played one race on the latter. On the plus side it ran pretty much flawlessly with barely noticeably input lag, if at all. And one advantage it has over Download Play on DS back in the day is that the entire game is playable this way, not just a limited amount of courses and cars. On the flipside, however, image quality takes a massive hit – it's very pixelated and/or filled with artefacts, like an online livestream with low bitrate. I saw people mention it being quite neat for stuff like Clubhouse Games, which makes sense with that game's clean, lo-fi visuals and turn-based gameplay. For games like Fast it's more of an interesting gimmick that kids might get some fun out of for an afternoon but everyone else is probably rather going to spend the additional 15 bucks.

There was certainly a bit of Zeitgeist-riding going on with Halo's success but at the same time you could say something similar about CoD (Modern Warfare specifically). Maybe it's just a setting kind of thing, where CoD's 'near future' is more timeless than Halo's late 90's, early 2000's sci-fi mumbo-jumbo, but at the same time I wonder if Halo could simply have stayed relevant if it had turned into a trend-chaser like CoD did, which I believe still does bigger numbers through Warfare than its annual releases (not revenue, but profit). But I guess this is all alternate dimension talk at the end of the day.

07/01/2025 - Florence (Switch) 22/01/2025 - Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Series X) 23/01/2025 - Ys X: Nordics (Switch) 18/02/2025 - This Bed We Made (Series X) 24/02/2025 - Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (Switch) 12/03/2025 - Beach Buggy Racing 2: Island Adventure (Switch) 04/04/2025 - Rift of the Necrodancer (Switch) 27/04/2025 - Spilled Mushrooms (Playdate) 17/05/2025 - Eternal Strands (Series X) 26/05/2025 - Akimbot (Series X) 31/05/2025 - Yars Rising (Series X) 09/06/2025 - XEL (Switch 2) Unexpected follow-up to this post. Decided to give this another go to see if Switch 2 could simply bypass the late-game crashes by bruteforcing it through hardware power and lo and behold, it worked. It's a shame the Switch version (even when played on the 2) is just absolutely awful, because there's a neat game underneath there with a cool storyline.

I found a really good combination that has carried me through both middle a high speed classes. Have to double-check which one it is, but I think I just combined the fastest ship with one that had a good boost value (I think acceleration is mostly negligeable). Handheld mode can be a bit tricky, some stuff is harder to see and I get the feeling its dynamic resolution drops quite low there compared to TV mode. It's fine on the lowest speed class though, so I've used it a bit for the easy Hero Mode challenges.

Fatal Fury is the new kid on the block, usually the first year in the lineup gets good numbers. Regarding accessibility I don't understand why you find MvC so impenetrable. All the way back to MvC1 these games had easy inputs for supers and such and you could always just hop in and do very basic ABC combos into launcher. MvC3 even added an auto jump so your character followed the opponent when launching them. High level gameplay makes those games look like rocket science but the skill floor is really low, everyone can just jump in, hit buttons and unleash cool stuff. It's the 2D equivalent of Tekken. As for X-Factor, the recent 2XKO feedback made me re-evaluate my opinion on that. Without X-Factor, getting a quick two KOs would almost be a checkmate scenario where the opponent would probably better off to just let themselves get killed than even try mounting a comeback against three characters and a limited amount of time on the clock. It's not the most elegant piece of game design and some characters kind of made it extremely stupid, but it seems the best of the worst ideas.

Thanks! I unlocked the highest difficulty/speed class today and finished the first two cups there. Damn this game is good. In previous games this speed class was borderline unplayable, it turned everything into such a mushy low-res pixelfest you couldn't make out anything so you just hit boost and started praying. But this time around it's actually properly working and hitting both its resolution and framerate targets, plus the handling can deal with the speed, too. It's super intense as well, because one mistake can cost you the race but at the same time it doesn't push CPU favourites, so even if you only get 3rd or 4th in a race you can still turn it around in some cases. Really good launch game. Everyone who helped make Welcome Tour outsell this should be ashamed of themselves.

He did not. Ironically Blanka players are the most salty when they get hit with obscure knowledge checks. Edit: yeah, its training mode is unrivalled. The game itself hasn't changed or evolved much though. They changed how parry works with the recent update – you have to differentiate between high/mid and low to get the screen freeze now – but otherwise it's still very much the same. Except for Ryu, who's now kind of dumb good.

As I'm still a bit in the mindset I decided to get Elena, because I can live with forking out the money for one character per season. To my surprise she's the first character in this I feel somewhat comfortable with. I think the reason is that her combo routes feel very SFIV-ish, with different strengths leading to different juggles and her being more reliant on OD moves than Drive Rush. Her cr.MK can't be cancelled and is unsafe on block, so even going in with Drive Rush and hitting it, which is a very dumb but common combo starter in this game, leaves you even if they block it. Her new key move in this game is Lynx Tail, a forward roll that can transition into a safe-ish poke, a launcher or her classic overhead, and if you roll multiple times or transition into it from another special the follow-ups become stronger. Outside of specific setups it's all rather gimmicky, as I found out when the game matched me against Gold/Platinum players because these guys never fucking block and just mash jab/DP/Drive Impact on defense, but it's rather fun tu use and if you catch the opponent getting overwhelmed – which is easy in this game due to how explosive offense is – it can lead to some cool snowballing rounds that oddly never feel cheap, either. Had this match against the ugliest Blanka ever earlier, just posting it to boost my ego because I'll never get a first round as cool as this again:

I saw people dodge the blue shell by tapping the rewind button, which I thought was hilarious. Only works in single player but if that isn't some kind of unintentional middle finger towards the most egregious item ever invented I don't know.