Messages

91

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019

« on: August 24, 2019, 11:50:32 am »

31) Dragon Quest Builders 2 (PS4)

Well.. bloody hell. That took as much time to plough through as a full-fat turn based RPG from back in the day, there's just so much to it. I unexpectedly got a little emotified at the ending too *waves hands under eyes* , didn't see that coming. I've read a few reviews (silly me), which suggested it's too drawn-out, and must admit a few sections do overstay their welcome, but the complete package is a dream - the make-it-yourself area is now integral to the game, rather than hived-off like in the original, which is all the better, there's also separate areas to explore to gather materials and recruit new folk. I'm just really impressed by it.

It's also interesting to note it was (at least partially) developed by Omega Force, the Koei Tecmo developer which churns out Dynasty Warriors etc. games - perhaps that's why DW9 was an open world game - trying out for this one, or influenced by this one's creation? Just a pity they keep messing around with the DW formula without ever nailing it.

92

Classic Video Games / Re: Your Opinions Of The Original Nintendo Wii Console

« on: August 16, 2019, 07:19:05 am »

I'm not a fan of the motion controls, but the Wii has been and will continue to be a cherished system for me, there's so many first-party and third-party games for it that are fun to play. There's a huge amount of shovelware for it, but then the supermarket's full of food I don't like, I just don't put it in my basket.

93

Modern Video Games / Re: Are Steelbook Editions Getting Too Expensive?

« on: August 16, 2019, 07:08:33 am »

I was thinking what most of the folks think here have already said, don't see the fascination in the first place, let alone paying extra for them. I mean, some of the artwork is gorgeous, but the steelbooks themselves either get scratched and are ruined, or come with those plastic slipcases which seem a lot more prone to scratching than the standard plastic you get on game cases. I've spent god knows how many years replacing game cases to get them looking spangly, so card or any other material that can't be replaced as outer packaging makes me grind my teeth. It doesn't help that, as you point out, publishers seem to think that limited edition steelbooks aren't just nice to look at, they're 'must have' and add value.

94

General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: August 12, 2019, 12:05:47 pm »

Dragon Quest Builders 2, probably going to be my game of the year, love it. Hard to believe it's by the team behind Dynasty Warriors, but it might explain why Dynasty Warriors 9 was an open-world mess.

95

General / Re: Free time for games

« on: August 12, 2019, 11:55:27 am »

Mrs SHFan is on maternity leave and likes to go to bed a reasonable time, SHFan jr is 5 months now, so I need to start to get more hands-on with looking after him, I still manage to get some time in the evenings or when madame and the little one are visiting someone, but when I'm daddy daycare we'll just have to see how it works out. Got the feeling it'll be handhelds for a few minutes here and there.

96

Off Topic / Re: My house got broken into today. (How do you protect your collections?)

« on: August 11, 2019, 11:54:24 am »

I'm really sorry you had that awful experience, so pleased they didn't get through the third door and that your dog's OK. 

97

General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: July 19, 2019, 12:30:58 pm »

YS VIII is a real breath of fresh air for a current-gen game Telly, it just does what you'd want it to.

98

General / Re: So, a funny thing happened this past weekend...

« on: July 13, 2019, 06:34:18 pm »

Well, good on you! If your collection's moved your buying habits and gaming habits (and priorities) in the wrong direction then it's time for a change. I had a similar thing happen several months ago and have since shed hundreds of games that I was in no hurry to play. SwordDude's suggestions are very good - for the cheap 'chum' games at the very least, it's a good idea to trade them in if there's somewhere you'll get either cash or swaps that are of use to you. I traded in all the low value ones to a chain called CEX, then took the resultant hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers and turned them into some rare games I did want, blu rays and a blu ray player.

Now I'm focused on 4 main areas: childhood memories, "well it looks interesting", "it's a genre I really like" and "played and liked". Ones which just look interesting I've whittled down to barely anything, even games in genres I like have been given a good examing and downsized.  Could do with an ongoing preen to get rid of rubbish, but it's better all the time, I'm also really focussing on what's likely to played down the line, a lot of these limited release games aren't worth the trouble and expense.

99

General / Re: What Does Everyone Think of the Nintendo Switch Lite?

« on: July 13, 2019, 09:43:28 am »

It's the opposite of what I was hoping for - a cut-down model just designed to be plugged into the teevee without the portability. Still, perhaps down the line I'll get one of these if they go cheap.

100

General / Re: Your favorite swag

« on: June 30, 2019, 07:04:09 pm »

BioShock blew me away and the sequel's announcement got me majorly stoked - so when my local supermarket had a card standee featuring a little sister on a big daddy's shoulder I had to have it, the manager let me have it and I gave a donation to charity in thanks. Unfortunately it's been in my parents' garage roof ever since because I've had nowhere for it - I'm hoping to be able to finally display it somewhere in the house now, 10 years later nearly.

101

General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 20, 2019, 03:55:02 pm »

Drakengard (PS2), Bloodstained (PS4) and RuneScape.

102

Modern Video Games / Re: ELDEN RING E3 Leak - New Soulsborne game Incoming!

« on: June 10, 2019, 06:11:26 am »

All aboard the hype train!

*Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonk, hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooonk*
*Vengabus music starts to play*

Soulsborne games are just a perfect combination of exploration, stat/equip tinkering and combat for me, I'll gladly take every one FROM create.

103

General / Re: In your opinion whats the best system to collect for and why

« on: June 06, 2019, 04:22:30 pm »

Whatever's accessable and cheap in your part of the world, to get started with.

Recently I've become a lot more interested in PC games, particularly noughties indie/casual/obscure ones on CD/DVD-ROM, they can be picked up for pence and there's a lot of different genres and oddball titles.

104

General / Re: Your opinions on limited quantity, physical release online retailers

« on: May 30, 2019, 07:19:47 pm »

To me they're like Kickstarter, something which initially looked very exciting but over time has shown itself to be a cardboard cut-out with nothing behind it.

The concept of games being released on physical is great, but the mechanism for reserving a game (be there and hope) is poor for consumers. In addition to that, the actual games themselves are more often than not little more than flash games which can be played online free. There is the occasional gem, but instead of actually delivering titles like Castle Crashers or the like, we're getting any old thing they can convince the creator to slap onto a disc.

Pricing's another problem - you've got these substandard games which cost more than you could buy a better game released via a standard publisher which has gone down in price a few weeks after release. Postage costs make this so much worse - Limited Run charge $15 to get a game to me in Europe - it seriously bumps up the investment needed to secure one.

I order occasionally, but only very occasionally, far too much dross - the interesting games (like Bomber Crew) tend to go with specialist or budget publishers rather than the limited ones.

105

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

« on: May 16, 2019, 04:34:42 pm »

Long overdue watch of an old favourite, invasion of the willy-monsters Love the Arrow Video blu ray, lovely picture and nice extras.