Messages

1

Modern Video Games / Re: GTA VI $80 | physical is code in a box

« on: Today at 10:31:25 am »

Polish game website PPE is reporting a rumor that a disc version will launch in December, and that the code-in-a-box version was just to prevent it from leaking early. This is apparently from the same source that said the initial release would be code-in-a-box months ago.

https://www.gematsu.com/2026/06/rumor-grand-theft-auto-vi-disc-version-to-launch-in-december

I'll still be waiting a long time after release to get info on whether or not it's actually good before I decide to get it. I don't really want a game that's going to be hundreds of hours of filler side quests, and I don't want a 'modernized' version of GTA. Plus, this game is in no way going to be rare. It will be one of the best-selling games of all time regardless of how many problems it has because people these days buy brands instead of products, so why pay full price when it will be $20 in a few years?

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General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 11, 2026, 06:04:52 pm »

I just got to the Alexandria segment of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Remastered, so I'm about 1/3 of the way through it. So far I'm liking it quite a bit more than the first TR trilogy. This might be the first pre-Crystal Dynamics TR to get a 6/10 or higher from me.

Also played a bit of Farmagia today. Very disappointed with it. The game is very hard, but unlike a soulsborne game where you can keep leveling up and upgrading your gear to make it easier, this game gates your leveling and progress behind story missions. So I'm often left beating my head against a brick wall over and over until I get lucky, because I can't buy the stuff I need to boost my monsters further until i beat the mission I'm on. Eventually I just turned the difficulty down to easy so it wasn't such a chore to play. It's a shame, because I really do like the character and monster designs.

I've been playing a bit of Minecraft survival mode, too. Not trying to beat it right now, just taking my time. I just got to the point where iron ore is becoming more common. It's a fun game to play when I just want to relax after getting burnt out while whittling down my backlog. It doesn't hold a candle to Dragon Quest Builders 2, though.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Nintendo Direct 6.9.2026 thoughts?

« on: June 11, 2026, 01:37:42 pm »

I do have to admit, Final Fantasy Resonance does look really good. I'd be psyched if Square-Enix hadn't burnt away all of my goodwill with the unfinished FFXV and the butchered FFVII Remake Trilogy. Ten years ago, I would've been all over this. Also, funny that they're bringing back airships and world maps in FF Resonance and FFVII Revelations, after telling us since the PS2 days that it was too hard to do in a modern game. Funny how they just figured out something they knew how to do 30 years ago.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Nintendo Direct 6.9.2026 thoughts?

« on: June 09, 2026, 01:53:46 pm »

I mean, five series titles released for the Switch. I'd argue that The Legend of Zelda fans should be more than happy with that kind of support.

For mainline Zelda games we got: A port of a Wii U game that I disliked because it deviated way too far from the formula and chased every game design trend of that time, and a direct sequel to that Wii U game that did nothing to address the game's major flaws (and was the only mainline Zelda game native to the Switch). Then we got a remake of an obscure GameBoy game, and a port of Skyward Sword (which is definitely on the low end of Zelda games). Not exactly good support, especially when the WII U got HD remasters of Twilight Princess and Wind Waker in addition to BOTW, and the Switch 2 is getting the OOT remake and at least one new Zelda game unrelated to BOTW in the future. Heck, even the 3DS got remasters of OOT and Majora's Mask. The Switch didn't even get its own Mario Kart, while the Wii U and Switch 2 did.

Anyhow, the OOT remake is revealed to be a Switch 2 exclusive like I thought it would be. Great for Switch 2 owners, but I'll never get to play it because I'm never buying a Switch 2. I promised myself years ago that I'd only buy one console this gen. Nonetheless, Nintendo won this year's announcement week, because the new benchmark for the industry is who has the best remake, and this one blew the others out of the water.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Nintendo Direct 6.9.2026 thoughts?

« on: June 09, 2026, 09:10:06 am »

I'd love to see Switch ports of Twilight Princess HD, Wind Waker HD, and the rumored OOT remake. If any of those are announced, though, I'm fully expecting Nintendo to make them Switch 2 exclusive to further shaft everyone who bought the original Switch.

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Modern Video Games / Re: XBOX Games Showcase 2026 thoughts?

« on: June 08, 2026, 12:16:15 pm »

The only things that interested me were Persona 4 Revival (been looking forward to it, I loved Golden), and Maybe Persona 6, but I'm still not sure if I need another 100+ hour JRPG about Japanese teenagers doing Japanese teenager things. I have 3 of them already. Plus it might be 3 to 8 years before we actually get Persona 6. Wo Long 2 looks good as well, and I like what I've played of the first one, but I have so many soulsborne games at this point (15 of them once I get Nioh 3, Mortal Shell 2, and Lords of the Fallen 2) that I'm really not sure if I need any more unless it's something major like another Elden Ring.

Overall, these 3 events have solidified my decision to stop buying new games after 2027. Out of all the games shown, the only ones that I cared about were Resident Evil Veronica, Persona 4 Revival, Persona 6, Wo Long 2, Lords of the Fallen 2, Mortal Shell 2, and Stellar Blade: Blood Rain. Of those, the big two I'm excited about are remakes of games I already own, 3 are AA sequels in the soulsborne genre (one of which I might pass on), one is a maybe because we might not see it for more than 3 years and it will be a very long game, and one is a maybe because I think the devs might have lost their nerve after what happened with the last game. All of the games I'm definitely getting will be out by the end of 2027. What's there to look forward to beyond that? Almost nothing. I've lost all interest in the Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5 because they're taking so long to make that I just stopped caring. I'm probably done with Resident Evil after Veronica because I haven't cared for any of the post-Revelations games, and all of the ones that needed remakes have been remade (0,1, and 5 don't need remakes). Final Fantasy is dead to me after a string of failures and a radical change in direction. Kingdom Hearts ended with the Xehanort Saga as far as I'm concerned, I haven't seen a single thing about KH4 that I like. The Witcher 4 stars the most boring protagonist they could have possibly picked, I'm out.

There is a very short list of possible future games that I'd still buy beyond 2027: DOA7 (assuming it's not out by the end of 2027), SoulCalibur VII (or a remake of SoulCalibur III), Elden Ring 2 (or a similar Fromsoft soulsborne game), a Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse remake (another remake, but the original is stuck on the 3DS), and Monster Hunter Stories 4. But other than those, I'm out. Gaming today feels like digging through a mountain of crap to find a few gold flakes, and I'm tired of digging through crap. I'd rather just enjoy what I already have.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Summer Gamefest hopes and predictions thread

« on: June 06, 2026, 02:10:11 am »

Glad to see Resident Evil: Veronica finally show up, even if they did drop the "Code." Capcom, if you screw this up, you instantly go from being one of my favorite devs to joining Square-Enix in the dumpster. I will never buy your games new again, and I will abandon the RE franchise for good.

Gundam: Rogue Orbit: I was interested until I saw the pictures close-up. Why did they go with such a generic realistic art direction in a Gundam game?

Happy to get some updates on Lords of the Fallen II and Mortal Shell II. I'll get both eventually.

Not sure what to think of gen ATLAS, it's very different from Ueda's past works.

Stellar Blade: Bloodrain: Hmmm... I'll be keeping a careful eye on this. Not thrilled with how they seem to have gone with a much safer design for the new main character. Reserving judgment until I see more.

Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance expansion looks cool.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation: At least soon I'll be able to get all 3 FFVIIR games on steam and mod the hell out of them to remove all the trash changes to the story, then stitch what remains back into an actual remake of FFVII.

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General / Re: The Mighty Polymega

« on: June 04, 2026, 08:15:11 pm »

I liked the idea when it was first announced, but when it was released, I balked at the idea of paying $400 plus $60 per module to play a lot of old games on a single console. At the time of release, it cost more than a brand-new PS4. Now it's gone up to $550 for the base unit and $80-$90 for each additional module. After my interest in collecting pre-7th-gen physical games waned, I lost all interest in the Polymega. I'd rather spend $640 on a mini PC that plays everything the Polymega plays (and then some), and has far more uses on the side.

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Modern Video Games / Re: State of Play | June 2, 2026 thoughts?

« on: June 03, 2026, 01:21:58 pm »

Not much interested me. Maybe Ace Combat 8 as I don't have any 3D jet fighter games, might just get 7 instead. Clutch looks good, but it's a racing game, so it's 90% going to be an always-online live service game. Loved Until Dawn, but can't really get behind a "sequel" that has nothing to do with the original or wendigos in general.

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Modern Video Games / Valve Raises Price of Steam Deck OLED by $300

« on: May 27, 2026, 06:22:03 pm »

The price of the Steam Deck OLED has just skyrocketed from $649 to $949 for the 1TB model. The 512GB model has gone from $549 to $789. Damn, I thought the recent Sony price hikes were bad. If this keeps up much longer, I'm strongly considering buying a powerful mini PC for gaming and emulation instead of waiting for the XBOX Helix. I was planning on earmarking $1,500 for the Helix next year, but if the aging Steam Deck costs nearly $1,000 now, I'm having a hard time imagining any next gen home console costing less than $2,000. And at that point there's no longer a value proposition for me, because there's almost no new games being announced that interest me.

https://www.gematsu.com/2026/05/steam-deck-oled-price-increase-announced

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: May 27, 2026, 02:02:07 pm »

8: Dragon Ball FighterZ (XBOX One)

I've finished all 3 story arcs and beaten all 3 Arcade routes, so I'm calling this one finished. A very visually impressive 2.5D fighter that uses cel shading to make 3D models look like 2D sprites. Though the game itself seems to run at 60fps, the character animations seem to run at 24fps to make it look more like an episode of the anime. It works most of the time, but looks odd in some cut scenes during close-up shots where the framerate stutter is obvious. Surprisingly for a modern fighting game, FighterZ has a decent amount of single-player content with a story mode that lasts about 20 hours and 3 arcade routes with their own hard and randomized modes. The story mode is pretty good by fighting game standards, borrowing the "game board" concept from Dissidia where you move a piece on a game grid to battle other teams and get to the boss. However, it suffers from being roughly one arc too long. The battles themselves have very little variety to them, with you mostly fighting the same 12 or so characters over and over again. It gets very repetitive and tedious after about 12 hours, and by the end I was ready for it to be over. Arcade Mode is actually more fun because it's shorter and you can change character costumes for added variety, not to mention you can fight the entire roster. The game also loses points due to aggressive monetization. Slightly less than half the damn roster is paid dlc, with only 3 characters being unlockable. With characters costing $5 each, you're looking at some serious cash if you want everyone.

Something I forgot when I was originally typing this: someone on the dev team definitely had a vore fetish. The main antagonist, Andriod 21, turns powerful fighters into sweets and eats them to increase her power level. This is due to part of her DNA being from Majin Buu. But while it was treated as just another one of Buu's abilities in Dragon Ball Z, FighterZ places a bizarre amount of emphasis on 21 doing it. It's actually a major plot point. After about the third time Android 21 described in a vaguely sexual way how good it was going to feel to fill her belly with powerful fighters, I laughed and said, "Yeah, this was somebody's fetish." Also, because 21 resembles a female of Majin Buu's species, I shall forever refer to her as Majin Boobs. Nobody can stop me from doing so.

The game is a lot of fun, but not nearly as fun as Sparking! Zero in the long run due to the much smaller roster and the limitations imposed by the 2.5D format. I'd still buy a sequel, but only if it had a larger roster before DLC. Paywalling so many characters really limited FighterZ' potential.

Rating: 7/10 (Great)

Completed:

Tomb Raider II (Evercade)
Tomb Raider III (Evercade)
Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)
Gundam Breaker 4 (PS5)
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection (PS5)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica X (Gamecube)
Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA)
Dragon Ball FighterZ (XBOX One)

In Progress:

Nioh (PS4)
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Remastered (PS4)
Farmagia (Switch)

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Modern Video Games / Re: Third expansion for The Witcher 3 in 2027

« on: May 27, 2026, 01:08:45 pm »

My biggest question is... why? Why now after all this time? In 2027, TW3 will be 12 years old. The complete edition with all DLC was released a decade ago. Can any game be considered complete now that they go on forever? Seems like they don't have much faith in The Witcher 4 if they're resorting to this.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Summer Gamefest hopes and predictions thread

« on: May 27, 2026, 01:02:01 pm »

Sonic Adventure 3

I would love Sonic Adventure 3 with a revamped Chao Garden that takes advantage of today's processing power. I was so disappointed when Sonic Heroes removed the Chao Garden that I pretty much dropped the franchise. I doubt they'll ever do it, though.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Summer Gamefest hopes and predictions thread

« on: May 23, 2026, 12:30:51 pm »

Unrealistic Wishes:

Dark Souls 4
Golden Sun sequel/remaster/remake/whatever
Resident Evil: Code Veronica X Remake unveiled and not botched in any way
Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero: Super Limit Breaking Neo gets a physical release, with the base game and all DLC up to the new titular expansion included on-disc
SNK announces they will develop new games for the Neo Geo AES+
Capcom announces Monster Hunter Stories 3 sold so well that they're going to release a sequel in 2 years instead of the usual 5.

Realistic Wishes:

Elden Ring 2
Star Wars: Jedi Telemarketer (or whatever the third Jedi game is called)
New DLC expansion for Monster Hunter Stories 3
New DLC for Monster Hunter Wilds
SNK announces next wave of games for the Neo Geo AES+
Dead or Alive 7

What we'll get:

Resident Evil: Code Veronica X Remake announced with some modern audience tweaks like those stupid cat ear accessories from RE4 Remake.
Skyrim: The Journey Edition announced for car entertainment screens. Steering wheel and gearshift-based control scheme. Expect a dramatic spike in car crashes.
An online-only live service game where you play as a man with a gun trying to take things from other men who also have guns. It will surely absorb the player bases from the other live service games with the same premise and cannot possibly fail.

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General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: May 21, 2026, 09:15:42 am »

I've been playing a lot of Dragon Ball FighterZ lately. I'm now about 6 chapters into the 2nd arc of story mode. It's a pretty solid game so far, I really like the polished visuals and how robust the story mode is. My story completion right now is close to 50%, so I think I should have it done within a week from today.

Make sure to pick up Masamune  there're some invisible paths in this dungeon.
Love Final Fantasy IV for it was the first game of the series I played. Have fun!

I did end up getting the Murasame and Masamune for Edge, as well as the Holy lance for Kain and the Ragnarok for Cecil. I also got all of Rydia's major optional summons. Really the only big side quest I didn't do was the Adamant Armor, because I didn't feel like spending hours farming pink tails on the moon. I just made my party as overpowered as possible, overleveled everyone to at least level 60, and finally kicked Zeromus' ass. This game is also special to me as FFIV and FFX were the games my best friend used to introduce me to JRPGs back when I was a teenager.