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Maryokutai

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Maryokutai last won the day on February 10

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  1. Played this for about 3 hours so far, I'll admit it's extremely weird seeing the Playstation logo pop up when booting a game on Switch. The easiest way to describe this is probably 'baby's first action RPG', as it is fundamentally part of that subgenre but stripped down to its bare minimum of features and complexities. You start off in a town that works as a hub area and from there certain exits lead to the stages/missions you have to complete. Those stages are all pretty linear and are divided between simple platforming and combat areas. Combat is actually rather fun, at least if you're fighting the robots as the humans are just cannon fodder. Pressing the left shoulder button sends out a pulse that reveals their weak spots which Aloy targets semi-automatically if your line of sight isn't obstructed. Your standard weapon is a bow, but you can find power-ups throughout the levels, like a double jump that send a shockwave downards, fire and ice arrows and some more wacky stuff like a hotdog stand that randomly throws out explosive hotdogs at enemies. Killing enemies yields XP, but the level-ups are pre-determined and alter between increasing your health or your damage. There's four different characters to pick from who all have access to their own set of tools but I've stuck with Aloy for the moment as the hit feedback when landing her charged shots on weak spots feels surprisingly good and rewarding. Unfortunately the levels all feel a bit samey, to the point where you might think they'd be procedurally generated if there wasn't one here and there with a more unique twist. Combined with the random power-ups you can't carry over or the lack of an inventory system it gives the whole thing a rather arcade-y vibe, like if Golden Axe somewhat evolved into an action RPG at some point in time. You can find treasure chests and small structures to build off the beaten path but the only thing you get from them is money (in the form of Lego studs) which in turn can be used to unlock permanent upgrades (more XP, more damage for your power-ups etc.) or to redecorate your hub town. I haven't played the Horizon games but the story seems to be a retelling of the first one. It doesn't take itself too seriously but the humour isn't annoying at least. It's pretty silly, but I've chuckled here and there, though in combination with the very barebones systems it's obvious this is made for younger audience first and foremost. There's also co-op, but only locally, no online modes. Visually it's one of the best-looking Switch games for sure with extremely detailed and clean visuals that really push the hardware (I can hear the fan all the time) – in handheld mode maybe even more-so than on the TV because the sometimes choppy 30fps seem more stable there. I'm enjoying it so far, will continue to play it in short bursts due to its lack of depth and sort of repetitive design.
  2. I never paid attention to it myself and this isn't directly related to the question, but I do remember a little anecdote Patricia Arquette once told in an interview when she talked about Boyhood, as there was one person who over the span of those 12 years managed to climb up the career ladder in the business but kept his role of assistant throughout the entire project.
  3. One of many examples how detached internet discourse is from mainstream performance. There seems to be almost a hate-bandwagon online for this thing. I find it incredibly uninteresting unfortunately. I doubt I'll even check it out whenever it hits some streaming service.
  4. Well, Nintendo hasn't really shown anything yet this year, except their new hardware. I have rather high hopes for their initial Switch 2 lineup because their last big game came out in 2023 and some series have been dormant for a significantly longer period. How much of that they're willing to blow in 2025 is another question of course, but we'll at least get to see Metroid Prime 4 and that's all I need really. Xbox seems to be doing fine now as well, which is such poor timing considering the multiplat approach. But I doubt I'll play much of their stuff due to their release policies ('don't ever press a disc and if you do, make sure it barely holds any game code'). I think Fable is due for this year, which will be interesting. I get the feeling that'll either be a milestone or a complete trainwreck after all that time. Sony is in hibernation, nothing to see here anyway. Will probably be an interesting year overall, but I also don't quite get this year-by-year thing people do, like saying 2024 was weak (which I don't agree with at all). As if everything released beforehand somehow disappeared. Edit: surprising announcement, Ninja Gaiden 4 for sure. Would never have believed that series to return in this form, I thought the 2D game was all they'd be willing to risk.
  5. Well, I might have spoken too soon because on their homepage they talk about 'characters from the Sonic and SEGA universes' so it might have more of a broader cast after all and the naming conventions got thrown out the window. Guess we'll find out soon enough. It also seems like they differentiate between main tracks and Cross Worlds, so it seems like it's pretty much just a binary choice the leading racer can make. As an example, you're racing on Ocean View and then at some point a portion of the track will transport you to Dino-Land or into Space and back. A bit more basic than I thought it would be, but still a nice gimmick and with 24 tracks and 15 of those Cross Worlds that's a decent number I think.
  6. This got announced a while ago, wasn't really paying attention too much until I read the latest EDGE and found out that this is made by Takaya Imamura, who was the main art director at Nintendo behind F-Zero, Starfox and Majora's Mask, but who also directed some smaller projects before his departure, like Tank Troopers and Steel Diver. This is based on a manga he drew in his spare time just for fun. Never read it either, but I'm kind of interested in the game now. Obviously very retro, channeling a bit of that classic Japanese visual novel/adventure style à la Snatcher and whatnot. Comes out on PC and Switch, though wouldn't rule out a Playstation port down the line.
  7. Just heard Conan O'Brian talk about his role in an upcoming A24 movie called If I had legs I'd kick you. Apparently he's playing a really serious role as Rose Byrne's psychiatrist and is kind of an asshole, too. The movie is about Byrne's character who struggles to balance her mental health and her role of a mother or something. Sounds quite interesting I think, couldn't find a trailer for it though.
  8. Barely understood what they are talking about, but a rare example of AI being used for a good cause. A fun fact is that this story is also linked to the videogame world, because one of the leading heads behind that Alphafold tech is Demis Hassabis who worked on Popolous and Theme Park back in the day.
  9. It's Valentine's Day, your date is here. If I have a weak moment in the next 24 hours I might get this, I'm really interested in seeing what they did with AoD. If not there's always the yet-to-be-announced physical later.
  10. I think it was good for its time and had its place, and likely played an important role in opening up the genre in the console space. We did have Deus Ex, Thief and Riddick on consoles, but BioShock was really the first one that made a bigger impact in the mainstream, and we might never have gotten two Deus Ex sequels or Dishonored or Prey without Irrational doing the heavy lifting first. Plus it had the cool narrative twist that made everyone talk about it (though from what I understand almost verbatim lifted from System Shock, but I never played that). It was the first smart game in a genre that at the time was at the risk of getting dumbed down, at least it feels a bit like that. I certainly enjoyed it, like for many other people it was my first foray into this specific subgenre and while I don't find it impressive anymore there's some quality memories associated with it.
  11. Maryokutai

    After Love EP

    Have it on my wishlist actually, yeah. It's from the writer behind Coffee Talk, this was his last script before he passed away, giving the whole thing a bit of a bittersweet vibe. Don't know when I'll play it though, might be soon-ish, might take a bit.
  12. Maryokutai

    Crysis 4

    Kingdom Come 2 is the most recent game that uses it. There's actually a bit more than I thought after looking at their homepage (the Sniper series for example, or that Wolcen Diablo-like). But I'd imagine that's hardly enough to sustain them through more difficult times like they seem to be in a the moment. Probably impossible to catch up to UE anyway, it's a bit like building a launcher to compete with Steam.
  13. I like this a bit more than the trailer, the elemental puppet characters are pretty cool – didn't really catch that there were so many when watching the State of Play. There's still some work to be done on the performance side, but I don't expect this to come out this year anyway. Hitstop effects seems a bit overdone in some instances (whenever one of the puppets launches or breaks guard etc.) but that might just be the first impression. The dialogue is pretty awful though, it takes itself way too seriously for saying such laughable stuff out loud. But you're not playing these games for the narrative usually, so not that big of a deal I suppose.
  14. Yeah, I agree, I replayed it two years ago and unlike the majority I even think this is the best of the BioShocks, but I'm also a huge fan of anything taking place in the air. Plus I think Booker adds to the experience because it doesn't force the writing to settle with monologues all the time (though obviously there was a payoff for that in BioShock 1). I wonder how you feel about the others when you go back to those. I recently tried to replay 1, at least a little bit, but felt like it lost a lot of what made it so fascinating back in the day and doesn't hold up too well as a result.
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