crispy4000

FF7 Crisis Core Reunion. The dialogue is so bad, it’s kind of like a fanfic. But I’m kind of here for it? It’s of a bygone era, that’s for sure.

Many launchers that have gone bunk have just transferred their licenses to steam. Plus the console manufacturers are all leaning towards persistent libraries that can be carried forward. I trust most of those purchases will stick around in some capacity. I trust that a lot more than I trust subscription providers not to jack up their prices unduly over the years.

The new Ubisoft+ and getting gamers comfortable with not owning their games WWW.GAMESINDUSTRY.BIZ Ubisoft has rebranded its subscription offering and introduced a new service for PC players.Ubisoft's main all-singing,… Nope, not me. I don't like resubscribing to access my progress in a game. I feel like I am the loser if I keep paying by the month for access to a game I'm partway through. Or worse, it leaves the subscription. Many games don't respect your time enough as it is. I don't want to give publishers more incentive to pad or gaas them further. Ubisoft is one of the poster childs of that approach. It's one of the big distinguishing factors between games today and other media: games have busywork. That and DLC, sold separately.

I'm going in dark so I can't speak to what's on display here, but it should get a lot more lighthearted fantasy and 'open air' in terms of the environments.

As others have said here, it's got flaws. The moderate challenge starts to fade away in the last third of the game, outside of the hardest optional bosses. Equipment and crafting items are rarely worth getting excited about. At some point partway through they hit the in-game lighting with an ugly stick, for story reasons. Sidequests are largely doldrum. There’s too many in game environments you can’t return to, that play out as basic action game levels. The voice acting is great, but the lip-sync is laughably inconsistent. The occasional partial nudity and sexual joke moments feel forced. It ruins the emotional impact of at least one scene as a spectacularly dumb fantasy euphemism for sex. Still, I found FFXVI a lot of fun on the whole. The combat is great, if a tad bit too parry dependent, with big windows used as an excuse to toss the kitchen sink at you. I was concerned early on that all the effects-driven attacks would make its action too hard to follow, and while it does on some level, by the end of the game I was surprised how much I got used to seeing through the chaos. It's legible, but this is the extent to which I can tolerate without pulling the camera back. Plot and characters are well developed, if not a series high mark. While the stakes can feel a bit too small, it largely succeeds with its story in ways other modern FF games falter, especially the dialogue. I really like the way that world politics are presented, especially the military advisor bits that take a cue from GoT. And the set piece battle moments don’t disappoint, constantly one-upping the last thing you saw. They somehow nailed the excitement of watching cinematic summons like in previous games, when I thought I was long over that. And the game’s antagonists are all really fun, maybe even more so than the main cast. A word on the sidequests, I don’t think they’re the problem as much as the world and game they’re put in. It needed more interesting environments to sustain a quest log. It mostly feels like one off set pieces padded with transition routes and obvious combat quest amphitheaters. Later in the game the sidequests unlock new optional towns or subplot driven areas, I would have liked to see more of that throughout. Next time, SquareEnix, please tells us the rewards from the outset to respect our time. Overall, I’m still very positive on the game. The gameplay itself is fun, and if you can dig the medieval castle vibes like I do, it delivers on its vision. Not the best FF out there, and not quite up to FF7 Remake, but warts and all I'd still recommend it if you enjoy the general tone of it from the demo. 8.5/10 2024 Games Final Fantasy XVI - 8.5/10

Whelp, I just beat every side quest in FFXVI, sans the combat challenges and hunts. It's really not that big of a thing to do, but they could have stood to cut maybe half of them and the game would be better for it. They all fill out the world lore, just in a way that's lesser compared to say, Xenoblade 3. Onto the final boss.

Took this one. And yep, that was it. Into the try pile it goes.

Figures. There’s good odds that the next gen AMD chips better utilize faster DDR5 speeds.

Would it be worth buying some ddr5 2x16 6000mhz ram now for $90 if I’m planning a build in (late) 2025? Reading some stuff about prices on memory likely to go up.

I could actually see an argument against ultrawide for a Metroidvania that doesn’t target that resolution as a baseline. They’re often designed around what a player can and can’t see in a given moment. If that extra real estate lets you peer into other rooms, it could change the pacing and flow. It depends on how ‘screen’ oriented the level design is. HDR is a more obvious gaffe, but that’s true on the consoles as well. It sounds like Auto-HDR on PC is the best option if you want HDR at all.

It's clearly a game that targets Switch at 60fps, with a few extra bells and whistles for more modern platforms. I don't see anything wrong with that approach for a 2D platformer, where its not going to limit the game design at all. Must have helped them stick to a budget as well. We'll be past the Switch soon enough. Then the Deck would be the lowest common denominator.

Time Spent: 2.5 hours Rating: *** Completed (copying old review) Very short Zelda-like with 4 small dungeons and Link's Awakening-esque trading quests. It's a lot like Minit. Turnip Boy is more charming and approachable, but Minit has better puzzles and a better final act. The power-ups are surprisingly cool, but the basic combat sucks. Still fun enough to play through, but I'd say buy it on a discount.

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/sail-forth-51847e

Time Spent: 45 minutes Rating: *** Puzzle platformer where you swap between puzzle adventure and platforming characters. It's also a hard one to judge, but more on the basis of where it could ultimately land: it might be an exceptional puzzle game with Lucas Arts style humor and clever mechanic swapping between adventuring/platforming. Or it could be a tedious genre mash up with grating dialogue and obtuse puzzles. I can't tell within the time I played. The platforming doesn't feel that great, the character often glitches out and warps beneath the level momentarily. And the 'adventure' character moves slowly. But there's enough of interest here to say it's probably worth returning to, eventually.

I've yet to crack open my copy of Jedi Survivor, but if Fallen Order is anything to go by, I really hope it wins this. Fallen Order low key has some of the best closing credit music of any game.

Time Spent: 4 hours Rating: **** Completed Proof that 16-bit styled games can have as compelling stories as any other in the medium. There's a part or two I found slightly cringey, and the puzzles at the end of each scenario are weak, but you're too invested for it to really matter. I don't want to spoil any more, because the game is too short, so just go and play it if you haven't. One of the best indie games of all time. I'll be getting to the sequels at some point through this process.

Time Spent: ~20 minutes Rating: *** I feel like I'm the wrong person to properly judge this. The tactical strategy games I've enjoyed are largely melee or close-quarter focused, rather than predominately ranged. Having to factor in huge enemy movement & firing ranges (and cover) doesn't appeal to me. Even Mario Rabbids, the closest analog I've played, feels a bit too loose with that stuff, although that's probably what XCOM fans like about it. Pathways has a Slay the Spire like map with roguelike, Oregon Trail random events, some being these turn based combat scenarios. You can tell some thought went into your character's roles and skill upgrades, which seem to be persistent. Graphics are quite appealing with subtle bloom and shadows, and the music has tinges of Indiana Jones. I won't lie, I died in my first combat encounter, so that kind of sours me on returning to it. This was free on Epic a while back, so if it's a genre you enjoy, it's probably worth checking out.

I want them to take a look back at the Lucas Arts adventure games for inspiration. At the very least, I'd enjoy more puzzle elements than Uncharted. Carmen Santiago elements chasing leads around the world could be cool as well. I think I'm done with the Uncharted formula. They're pretty vanilla games all said and done, gameplay-wise.

Coming closer to the end now. Overall the game is wrapping up quite nicely. Some very on the nose JRPG tropes in the final hours, but its still enjoyable. Enemy gauntlets are pretty pointless by now though. Flare Breath, the flamethrower ability, decimates trash mobs and reactivates super quick. I don't even care that its useless against bosses, I keep it equipped just for that.

I'm very curious to know about 1st/3rd person details for Indy. Really hoping they don't just try to make it an answer to Uncharted. Last year's show was great, I love the format Microsoft is using now.

In theory it’s not. PC is a gaming platform as valid as any other, and if they think releasing games (late) on PC helps their cause, great. In practice, Sony sells many more consoles than Microsoft because of their first party line-up in prior years. When the consoles are vying so closely for the same space, it becomes the difference maker. More than cost or value. I believe Microsoft signaling that they’ll port more of their games to other consoles doubles down on a competitive approach that doesn’t work. The only way this even remotely makes sense is if Sony is willing to do the same. I could see them wanting to port games to the Switch that appeal to a broader demographic. But there's nothing different enough between Xbox and Playstation audiences that Microsoft is targeting at the moment. Maybe if they bought miHoYo or something. But that also wouldn't be so different than their strategy with CoD and Minecraft, where they keep appeasing the established base. (in contrast to Bethesda, Ninja Theory, etc) They already won Activision, the biggest prize. Any future plays will feel smaller. And again, not as big of a concern today. M&A-wise, they’re doing more than fine. The bigger problem is managing their empire of development staff.

That’s what the ADEA is supposed to be there for, even if it’s a high burden of proof. Kotick’s alleged remark about having too many old (white) execs could fall under that if this guy can reasonably demonstrate his termination and/or lack of promotion was acted on as such.

I don’t owe any respect, other than liking video games and being saddened by the layoffs lately.

The GI article said his boss left “based, at least in part, on Kotick's ageist remarks," and he was denied that position after being recommended to it. I won’t pretend to know much about the legal case here, but to get to the bottom of things at least, talking to the former boss could clarify a lot. One broad comment from Kotick wouldn’t make his arguement. Also from the GI article, it seems there’s a lot of infighting among employees under the new manager to sift through.

Maybe they think with more fans of their games on other hardware, Games Pass will look more attractive? It could work for CoD. The rest of their library? That's a tougher sell.