crispy4000

And for those of us slumming it...

Yeah, I refrained from posting that one since they were the outlet saying FSR 1.0 was great. But it really does sound like 2.0 is legit.

Runs on older than stated minimum GPUs too.

Really enjoyed Torna. I thought it'd be hard getting back into XB2's world since finishing several other large JRPGs (DQXI, FF7R, FF9), but it ultimately reminded me why XB2 was such a good game to begin with. It does recycle a bit of content with some twists (the Gormott titan), but it's still a solid 30 hour game which felt justified paying for. It isn't better than the base game overall, but moment-to-moment, it's more fun. I found it interesting that it didn't get to some of the more critical flashback moments from XB2. Instead, it just fills in some gaps without stealing too many of XB2's moments. Torna also strips out most of the ugly bits of that game. No truly annoying characters, no gatcha, better tutorials/pacing/character design, and less level gating. There is a huge progress gate near the end with sidequests though, but I planned on doing most of them anyways since it's a shorter game. It never actually blocked me. I really enjoyed the ending as well, it's the most spectacle I've seen in a game since FF7R. Being a prequel gives it permission to end on a dower note. Definitely appreciated that after my qualms with XB2's end credits. 9/10 2021 Death's Door - 8.5/10 Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10

Waiting for DF to put their vid together, but this looks like AMD delivered something ballpark.

Cool, so we'll know tomorrow if the tech is worth its salt.

Gunbrella and the Crab game looked great to me.

The biggest difference I can see is the animation. With Batman, he’s constantly jumping, diving, flipping or rolling. With this, there’s so many animations with this guy’s feet on the ground that it looks like he’s figure skating on asphalt.

I don’t remember Arkham being this loosey goosey, but I’ll take your word for it.

Eh, I'm think The flips don't bother me. But the sliding around is silly. It's like they looked at Spiderman and thought they had to compensate for no webs here. Doesn't look like should be delayed. Just a bit misdirected.

I don't think there's a game today that has better depth than Starcraft 1's meta. Controls are really arguable too, based on taste. We're fortunately seeing plenty of 60fps games, which helps with input latency. But there's a sense of twitch fun that old arena FPSs, character action games and arcade-styled games excelled at, that we don't see quite as much today in the AAA space. There's a lot more obsession with controls feeling weighty on the whole. Indies are a different story, but rarely best their inspirations. Multiplayer... I guess that depends how much you value split screen versus and couch co-op. I don't see the general loss of those once standard options as an improvement. We've stepped forward in other ways, yes. Still.

Didn't say they couldn't. Rocket League is something original. It's nice that it doesn't have an analog in the past, so the comparisons can never be too direct. I am looking forward to Wave Break, that's one to keep an eye on.

Okay, so we’re both not really talking from experience here. I haven’t played it, but never heard it be called a classic before (though it could be). Or a better arcade sports game than all that came before it.

Hat in Time is both wonderful and sloppy. It's like a better and worse version of Mario Sunshine. It's really forgiving to control and fun to bounce around, but there's definitely parts that feel slapdash and overly cluttered. Camera control kind of sucks too, with you needing to zoom in to look up.

Is it?

I always have hope that they'll get there. I think Yooka Laylee 2 might shape up okay now with Tencent dollars and a better game under Playtonic's belt.

Tony Hawk, SSX, NBA Jam, etc. Indie 3D platformers, even the better ones, all feel somewhat budget constrained. It's a genre where extra manpower can be is useful, but you don't see many AAA examples any more. Thank goodness Psyconauts 2 got Microsoft's backing. The best examples of which have great core gameplay to begin with, and upgrades that matter.

Yes and no. It's rare I play an indie game and think its better than old AAA gems. I'd put Hollow Knight and Hades up there. Indies also come up very short in some genres, like action sports and 3d platformers. There's too much of it, IMO. Everything has to be an RPG-lite. Often to push you forward because the gameplay without upgrades isn't all that much fun. To bring up Hades again, that's a game that actually understands that, and gets the vibe right from the onset.

I can easily see myself preferring older AAA games to today's crop of bloated & systems driven stuff. ... But there's just no way I wouldn't go with a modern platform anyways. There's never been more good games to play due to the vibrancy of the indie market. And the big games of today would keep me plenty busy collecting shit and doing side quests made to fill a quota.

Did you ever play Torna? I’m 20 hours in and loving it.

Random spattering of PC freebies, Humble/Amazon stuff I imported to Launchbox in the past month. No rhyme or reason to this stuff at all. But I'm sure there's some hidden gems here.

Some. There’s a limited print collection of Mario games that includes 64, Sunshine and Galaxy 1. It’s on sale and GameStop right now, I’d get it now if you’d ever want to, since it could get rare since it’s no longer available digitally. Galaxy 1 is about as good as Odyssey, in its own way. The real shame is that Galaxy 2 isn’t part of the collection. I consider it the best Mario game ever made, even ahead of SMB3 and World. Xenoblade 1 got a remaster with a complete visual overhaul. If you’ve never played it and like JRPGs, get on that. It’s up there with Chrono Trigger and FF6 for me. Had no right being as good at it was when it first released. It was also technical marvel for the hardware with the scope of its world, doing much more than HD JRPGs that gen with limited means. Game is massive though, be warned. Skyward Sword got a re-release. It’s a Zelda with some of the highest highs, and lowest lows, in the series. I really enjoyed it personally, but it’s not without flaws. Some outstanding bosses and highly creative puzzle mechanics there though. Twilight Princess HD never got a rerelease, it’s stuck on WiiU. It’s more consistent, but less original. There’s rumors about the Metroid Prime series getting some form of remaster ahead of 4. They’re all worth playing. There’s many other gems that were never ported to Switch, like DKC Returns and Punchout, but they’re less essential.

Many of the absolute best games that generation were on the Wii. Xenoblade. Mario Galaxy 1 & 2. Metroid Prime 3. I'd even say Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword stand up alongside most 360/PS3 bests, in spite of not having the clout of Breath of the Wild. All those games are well worth checking out if you've never played them. They're as much a part of what defines that gen to me (in a good way) as games like Bioshock and Arkham Asylum.

I like a good balance. You didn’t get it that gen without a Wii, which had its own problems with ill-considered control schemes for the hardware. I don’t think we’re seeing less dark, edgy or serious games now than then anyhow. There’s more to pick from across a range of tastes these days. Though there’s still some mostly dead genres like action sports, sadly.

Not mentally or physically able, yes. (cc 1452) That has been argued to include those who aren’t Catholic, if they make a “perfect” contrition in whatever way God may accept.