HandsomeDead

Jeff Gerstmann is going viral because of an engagement bait shit site I've not listened to his podcast in a while but I know the format and I think the "calling out" was just an anecdote. I just think it's funny he's now "dad".

I know I rented it back then because I thought it looked cool but it's one of those games that left zero impression on me, I can't say either way.

Ah, okay. New memory unlocked actually. When I lived with my grandparents there was a "copper box" where they put their loose change and I was allowed to have what's in there. I bought a few games with it and do have a memory of buying Ridge Racer 4 with bags of silvers. I'd usually change it at the bank but this time I hadn't. Not sure if it's my first but one I remember at least.

I dunno what my first game was and figuring out how "earned" my money was with early purchases is vague so if I draw a hard line on a paycheque I'm still not sure. It could have been anything in around 2002. I know the first console I bought with my own cash was the Xbox. The GC and GBA I had during the time were gifts.

I was just being cheeky and unserious with that line 😅 I'm not really interested in shitting on the FF7 remakes. There's decisions and additions I don't like but others I do. Overall it is a more interesting project than a faithful remake imho. And Kitase and Nomura are leads on the remake so it's not new people adding OCs, most of the creative leads from the OG are still here. And Persona is a bad example of keeping things the same is good especially since the amount of huffing and puffing there is amongst the old heads regarding Persona 3 and what it added. But I dunno I just want an RPG with 2D pre-renders because I think they give a game really memorable environments and allow for a certain attention to detail. And with all this cozy indie games thing that's going on I don't think coziness will truly be achieved until we bring back 2D pre-renders. Maybe it's harder to do now than 3D with 4K displays. I dunno if it would turn around the series or anything, I doubt it would, but I'd like it. I just want them to do it once. They can go back to what they were doing after that.

I just want a FF game to do 2D pre-renders again. I don't really want any remakes I just want a new FF that looks like this: Reject modernity, embrace tradition.

I'm not entirely convinced of a generational divide. I did work with a lot of younger folk a while back and those that played games had a pretty similar attitude to me in my early 20s. But these were pretty nerdy collection of people. I think the same amount of young people like single player games as our generation but more treat games like a social media platform with a game attached I'd say. Just somewhere else to hang out with friends as society gets more online. It's just not necessarily translating to them being interested in trying other games.

I don't think this letter makes much sense either. A lot of language trying not to be "kids, get off my yard" but saying it anyway. The single player and multiplayer industries are as separate as they've ever been now and I don't know how they can go further. Is it he just wants a box without Fortnite and Roblox even available on it? What good would that do Fella maybe just wants a new PS2. They should reissue the PS2, send out devkits and see what happens. That's my stupid idea. Speaking of which, I think there is a chance that if Oppenheimer was released in 2001 it could have had a accompanying PS2 game.

They can't keep getting away with this

Since games have been centering a certain demographic I don't think romance is prioritised a lot. Even in bioware games it's the sort of romance that you'll find in an action movie. They're quite superficial and since they're optional there is only so much you can have them as part of a character's motivation and overall plot. I think Final Fantasy VIII and X are pretty good for having the romance more weaved into the main plot so it feels more meaningful. But other than those I guess it's more part of dating sims and visual novels. Maybe when we get the Assassin's Creed looking Jane Austen video game adaptation we'll be in an interesting place.

Well I'm having quite a bit of fun with this. I still have an old TV so it more or less looks like it does in the screenshots for me. It's unusually high contrast but I think I just don't like how it overly highlights interactive route pointers. The cutscenes look like the grindhouse aesthetic from a while back that a bunch of games went for and it looks quaint now. It's just more that not a lot happens in the cutscenes except have the lads actually tough, but it's not written in the most entertaining way. The game itself I'm enjoying a lot. I wasn't expecting something so close to God of War '18 either but it definitely has a lot of that. I checked the devs previous games and a lot of that is mixed in there too. They made the Shadow Warrior games so you can also see them doing the grindhouse thing there too. But their shooters are made in a way where swapping weapons and making use of their traits is the optimal way to play. And that's in here too but it's kinda better because your always just a button or combo of buttons away from using a particular skill to take advantage of a situation. And they do throw a lot of enemies at you and it can be overwhelming. I have died a few times, it gets serious pretty quick. I've been enjoying the B-movie-ness of it, it's very third act of From Dusk Til Dawn but in a video game. It's fun.

I was up for joining this. Found my GBA Micro and everything but I've no idea where my copy of VI is. It's be ideal since I wrapped up Persona 5. I'll have another look sometime but it could be in one of the last houses I lived in. Strange, especially since I did find FF IV, VII, VIII and IX 🙃

12/02/24 - Persona 3 Reload (S/X) 11/04/24 - Persona 5 Royal (PS4)

Midgar taking an hour or two my arse. A casual play is 6 - 8 hours. Those are speed running times.

I lost enough for the delay as it is.

No, keep going, it's so inferior to the real ending. I think it could be done in less than 5 hours easily. Actually, second thoughts it may be a few hours more than that but if you're rushing it to get to the end 5 may be it.

I'm mostly basing it on the experience of using it because we can list all the Good Games for each system all day. I think there's always gems on any mainstream system. This is less important on earlier systems of course I found the PS3 the most frustrating to use. Can't say I did with the 360, maybe a little with later updates but I genuinely found it intuitive even with all the options it had, a rarely felt lost. But I found the Iwata era of Nintendo delightful to use. The DS/3DS Wii/WiiU were all great in that regard and I miss it more now especially since the Switch is just like a stripped down PS4.

I can't say the Wii was the worst when the PS3 was sitting right next to it. It had a bad user interface, was slow, had the weirdest DualShock. It was rough. In terms of home consoles I think it's my least favourite. But add handhelds I'm struggling between the OG GBA and the PSP. I've never owned any of the really weird stuff like an Ouya or a CDi or whatever.

Andy Serkis for Blanka. Not CGI though, but bouncing around in prosthetics.

I don't think anyone is wrong really. There was a DF video on the Gran Turismo series a while back and it did remind me of the "Hi-Rez" mode on either GT or GT2 where they took one track and toned down the detail so it could run at 60fps. I definitely noticed the smoothness at the time but it was presented as a tech demo, though I do remember thinking it would be cool if the whole game felt like that. Later games on the PS2 they would start to prioritise 60fps more because it was a way to get your game to feel more "next gen" and while it may have not have been the thing people were talking about I think it was to those making games. I wonder if you're all half right because maybe that's why there was less of a priority for 60fps in the 360 era because they felt the audience didn't notice it, talk about it, or have the language to talk about it.

Listen, I got into gaming in the early 90s. I only messed around with some of these computer games a little. I'm 40 and this stuff feels like it's before my time.

I think it's a funny list. It says it's a poll from 4000 people from around the world but who around the world is keeping an eye on BAFTA polls? Lara as no.1? Sackboy there at all? These are mostly British games industry types. I bet Manic Miner was no. 21.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-matrix-new-movie-drew-goddard-1235865603/ *I guess we'll see what "executive producer" means.

I dunno about DD2 overall but I'm pretty sure early review code didn't show any signs of the MTXs being there. I know quite a few Japanese publishers have had consumables available to buy for a long time but it's odd they've always been willing to risk that goodwill for something I can't imagine getting bought a lot. As for Ronin, like, this is just annoying. I think Sony are cultivating such a shitty audience. Team Ninja are clearly establishing that they make a certain standard of game. Even in recent years they did that Final Fantasy game, Wo Long and even Nioh 2 wasn't that long ago. Surely they must know what they're getting. They're not gonna turn into a prestige studio just because they have some deal with Sony, we don't know the terms of the deal. It's okay for games to be a bit messy, especially one where they aren't taking 5 years to make them.