Messages

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

« on: May 04, 2024, 03:49:25 pm »

Game 8 - 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3) - 17 Hours

I found this game to be a very charming experience. It's a simple classic take on a Zelda-style adventure game but with some modern ideas under the hood. The most striking is the 3D pixel look which is very unique visually, even though it felt more like a gimmick to me. I think where this game really stands out is your 3D sword that you can suspend in midair and increase it's length and width to cover more of the screen. It's honestly really interesting to use and separates the gameplay from Zelda just a touch.

Other than that, it's essentially the same. You do have an expansive world to explore with plenty of secrets and side quests to indulge in. There's also a huge collection of minigames to try out and they're actually pretty fun! I think the dungeons were kind of tedious and a little boring though. The game doesn't really throw much at you that's super interesting. There's also very little puzzle solving - everything is either communicated directly to you by your fairy friend or you have a magic spell that will straight up tell you the solution.

Lastly, this game had a lot of charm to it that I really appreciated. As a total throwback to classic games, the game sports a very "retro" style to it with a lot of hidden secrets and 4th wall-breaking dialogue. This also comes through in the music which is very retro, but is a little inconsistent - some of it is great, but a few songs are really bad - the fire temple in particular was awful.

Other than that I had a good time playing - on to the next stop on the console tour, the PS1 with another Zelda-style game - Alundra!

I really wanted to love that game, it's so cool, but the hardcore depth of field visuals killed it for me, it's like the extreme version of what was done with the Link's Awakening remake, another one I didn't like.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Funko Fusion

« on: April 30, 2024, 06:31:29 pm »

Wasn't expecting all the blood and violence lol Like I said last year, if it's get that Lego game vibe and it's not burdened by excessive amounts of microtransactions, it could be a goofy little game.  We'll see I guess. I was right about the faceless Pop stuff though, it's so bad with a lot of them not having mouths lol

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: April 26, 2024, 05:06:13 pm »

Caught up with Dungeon Meshi myself (Delicious in Dungeon) and man this is a damn good show.  I was happy to have this and Frieren out together, because we are finally getting good fantasy shows that have no isekai elements to it.  The show is also incredibly well animated, funny, and the characters are amazing.  This is also one of the animes where from what I've seen of the different dubs, the english one in particular stands out more than usual as the reads some characters give sell the moment so hard. 

I also appreciate that while the show is very funny, this is a comedy primarily, it doesn't hold back on the violence and drama when needed.  It's similar to Frieren in that while it is a fantasy show, that does have threats to worry about, it's generally very slice of life feel, just happy to show very involved food preparation or spend a lot of time world building and talking about the fantasy creatures and getting to know the crew.  This also isn't like a Konosuba situation where it's kind of a group of idiots just managing to get by, they are all goofballs in their own way, but each one is actually very knowledgeable about something in particular, so coming together as a party creates a perfect team.

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: April 23, 2024, 10:35:29 pm »

Anyone watch Black Sails? I'm half way through the first season and while I like the show when it's about pirates being pirates out on the high seas, I'm losing interesting in all the Nassau drama with Ms. Guthry and the brothel and all that.  So much of the first half of the season is just Nassau, something like 6 of the 9 or close to it, when what I want is just more piracy stuff.  It's not a bad show, just curious if it's worth sticking around for.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed revealed!

« on: April 18, 2024, 01:37:07 am »

Not my favorite genre of game, Hades being kinda the only one I really got into, but the art looks decent and new TMNT is great.  It's honestly crazy how much TMNT stuff is out here now.  There's vintage re-issues of the 90's and 03 toys, there's the new movie, the new toyline, multiple crossovers with other toys like Transformers and Masters of the Universe, tons of game crossovers (Street Fighter 6, the Street Fighter mobile game, and I know there was another somewhere), an upcoming tv show, a game and seemingly a movie for The Last Ronin, and I'm probably missing other stuff too lol

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

« on: April 18, 2024, 01:30:59 am »

13 - Grounded (PC 2022) - BEAT - Been a few since I beat something, FF7 is on hold at the moment, but had a real mood to jump back into this game after seeing it's possible final update happening, which added a bunch more cool stuff.  I had a save that was most of the way done, but I still put in like 10 hours in the past couple days to beat the game, though I'm gonna beat the Wasp Queen soon so I can do New Game + and experience that new content, but I still love this game.  This is my 2nd or third time beating it, I forget, but it's so good.  I think at this point it's my favorite survival game.  It was this and Subnautica up there, but I just like so much about this game and it's been great to see all the content they've continued to add. 

I hope it gets a sequel someday, I'd love to have something that has you maybe dealing with multiple area types, so not just a backyard, but maybe like a house location too, there's just a lot that can be done with a "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" situation.

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: April 11, 2024, 06:18:47 am »

Fallout - Binged through this and had a great time with it.  When it comes to adapting game properties, it is getting better, as we've seen with Super Mario Bros and Last of Us, but we also still have things like Halo and I was worried this would slip into that realm more, and as a fan of these games, that would've been disappointing, but I think they got it.  I think they nailed all the aesthetics, they embraced the period setting, and overall it feels like Fallout.  Story is very decent, all the actors in their roles do a good job, Goggins in particular is a standout, and I like that they didn't hold back on how messed up things are.  It's a bloody, violent, game, things can be kinda screwed up, while also being downright goofy at times, and that's all here.

I can't comment on how "accurate" it is lore wise, that sorta stuff doesn't bother me as much as long as they get the broadstrokes right.  It's possible they are retconning abit of New Vegas, but we won't know about that entirely till Season 2 I guess.  Highly recommend this show either way, whether you are a fun, or you just want a good post-apocalyptic scifi show.

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Modern Video Games / Re: SEGA declares this is the Year of Shadow

« on: April 10, 2024, 07:42:08 pm »

I was into Sonic before the whole Shadow thing, so I never cared too much about the character either, though him just being edgy Sonic was entertaining, especially with his PS2 game lol

I am looking forward to the Sonic x Shadow Generations game, Generations is kinda the only Sonic game I liked gameplay wise, as I thought it did 3D well while also getting me to like 2D Sonic gameplay because they pulled the camera back more.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: April 06, 2024, 12:03:50 am »

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - Finally got to finishing this as I was waiting on the dub, and it's a really wonderful show.  It came around at a time where I was really wanting a proper fantasy show, because sword/magic anime these days is literally plagued with isekai based fantasy.  Everything with a fantasy setting has to involve a character being reincarnated in this world or transported into a game, and the majority of it is either bad or boring.  Wild that we got this and Dungeon Meshi back to back, of which I need to catch up with Dungeon Meshi.

This is a unique fantasy show, as it's actually more slice of life.  A story about a functionally immortal elf going through her life, after adventuring with her party, taking out the demon king, and then after that time has passed, having to come to terms with their loss and trying to better understand the time she spent with her party in the past, growing more emotionally because of it.  There is some action moments dotted throughout, but they aren't the focus.  It's definitely a show that tugs at the heartstrings, I choked up twice in the first two episodes lol It's more chill after that, but it's such a solid show with great character building interactions going on.

Really can't wait for the second season.  Hope they are able to get back to it soon.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Xbox decides to launch their second AAA exclusive of the gen at 30fps

« on: April 04, 2024, 11:45:53 pm »

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is apparently 30fps as well. What was the point of the current gen again? PS4 Pro and One X already output 4K so it wasn't that.

I saw that the lead or one of the team was talking about "cinematic quality" or something to justify the framerate, which makes zero sense being that movies are at 24, not 30, and also doesn't work being that the PC version will run at a higher framerate.  Like I know they can't just come out to say the hardware isn't powerful enough to do the higher framerate for the game with how they prioritized visuals/resolution, but performance to me always matter more to me.  Anymore, I only deal with 30fps on Switch games, but it's a thing of expectations too, where I know Switch is lesser hardware and also I feel more cartoony graphics aren't as problematic when it comes to the lower FPS/resolution.  It only bothers me when the FPS tanks and it's like a Pokemon Scarlet/Violet situation where the game is both pretty ugly and has bad framerate problems.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: March 30, 2024, 09:32:01 pm »

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - Liked this way more than I thought I would, especially since the MonsterVerse has been running on diminishing returns since its debut in 2014's Godzilla.  Does a much better job of balancing Kong and Godzilla through the whole picture than GvK did, and, unlike that film, it has a strong emotional throughline.

I still stand by what I said in 2019, however.  Introducing (and killing) King Ghidorah in Godzilla's second appearance was a terrible decision because now you're building up to what... just another giant ape?  Pleasantly surprised by the return of another Titan, though!

I'm hoping the next movie will be Godzilla focused again like King of the Monsters and they can delve into the alien side of things, because I feel like they've done a lot to deal with the Hollow Earth for a few things now really, and while there is plenty of room to explore that, make that the next King Kong movie, let Godzilla have something else.  I do sorta agree that going with Ghidorah so quickly, just to end it in the second movie was too soon, but I would love a new alien threat alongside someone like Gigan, who is another favorite of mine.  A possible alien invasion story will also give the humans something to deal with too.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: March 28, 2024, 07:37:54 pm »

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - As always, if a movie is gonna get me to the theater, it's going to be Godzilla.  Didn't see Dune 2 in theater, but I watched both Godzilla: Minus One and this one right there in Imax lol

I had a blast with this one, because it was exactly what I was expecting it to be.  I saw some folks kinda ragging on it beforehand, because Minus One came out, big favorite, lots of love, and then people see Godzilla running with Kong to punch another giant monkey and they scoff at that like it's beneath them.  Which to me just shows they aren't really that big of Godzilla fans, because Godzilla has been like the Monsterverse movies than they have been the serious allegorical/politically driven dramas like the original or Shin Godzilla.  This movie calls back to like the Heisei/Milleniumera of Godzilla, where it does get more over the top and crazy, but is fun.

I think my only real complaints is that they may be pushing the "spectacle" too far, they want crazy action visuals and sweeping camera shots and cool stylish stuff for the Titans to do, and it looks sick, but also it loses the size and impact of them when they move around so fast.  It was something that greatly hurt Pacific Rim: Uprising, because the first movie does so much to push the size of the Jaegers, but in Pacific Rim: Uprising, it's like watching the Transformers fight.  In this movie, it's similar, but they still do a lot of low shots looking up, so it's kind of an inbetween take on it.  It's not bad, but to me it's losing abit of what what sells their immense, terrifying, nature.  They need to tweak it abit with the next one for sure.

It's all good fun though, I would say I may prefer this one abit more to the last one, the overall story is more engaging, the human stuff is better, the only negative between how the action is portrayed abit like I brought up before.  I think King of the Monsters is still my favorite, but once this one comes out on home video, I'll give it all a rewatch to see how it all feels at this point. 

For a future one, if they get to continue the series, I'm hoping it's a proper Godzilla solo flick, PLEASE...I like these last two movies, but they are absolutely more Kong movies than they are Godzilla.  I understand Kong allows for them to have more of an emoting character along with his story of being without his kind, but I just want more of my giant stompy lizard beast lol They've done most of what they can with Kong at this point, so let Godzilla go wild again, maybe look into the alien stuff that has been teased with Ghidorah.  Would make me so happy to get a new Gigan or something.

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General / Re: New Low Poly Games?

« on: March 12, 2024, 01:59:28 pm »

Here's another great looking new game, "Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom".  A collectathon platformer, nice big open areas to explore as a windup taxi car, very wacky.  Alongside the N64 vibes, I also get like Katamari Damacy vibes abit, looks like fun though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_OBp2EJUI

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Modern Video Games / Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed revealed!

« on: March 05, 2024, 11:20:42 pm »

The publisher being a brand mill is a red flag and the developer not having done anything I recognize is not a good sign, but I would love for it to be good, I'm just not gonna have any expectations that it will.  That's not usually a great pairing.

Slightly related to this, there is another TMNT game coming, TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants, it's an older game that uses the 2012 era turtles, your average sidescroller beat-em-up, but could be fun maybe, not sure, never played it and didn't even know it existed till they announced it.  It'll even have new content.  Honestly, I'm kinda expecting this to be the better game of the two, it was at least considered decent enough for them to bring back and invest money into adding new content and bringing back the VA for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIomr5vOVAk

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General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: March 05, 2024, 02:30:18 pm »

Finally was able to devote a bunch of time to FF7: Rebirth and I'm loving it, I'm enjoying the experience a lot more than I did FF16 last year, which is interesting to compare, as they have very similar aspects, FF7 was just the better realization of it in terms of what you do in the world, the general structure of things. It's so much more enjoyable compared to how boring it could be in FF16, which is a shame as I loved the story of that game.  I'm going to spend so much time trying to do everything I can in every area before progressing lol