ShreddieMercury

Speaking of PoP, I recently watched this video about the original game and how the designers cleverly overcame system limitations. The rotoscoping stuff is also fascinating. It's worth a watch.

It wasn't just Sony, I think it more had to do with that era in general and the industry still being relatively new and less homogenized. There are still experimental and interesting games, and perhaps more of them than ever, but that's just not where the money is nowadays, so you tend to see less first-party stuff that isn't straight down the middle. The closest that you can get to that is probably Nintendo, who are still pushing out bizarre and frequently successful experiments that flex the medium (Ring Fitness Adventure is a great recent example). PSVR is where most of the wild Sony stuff is this gen. Recently, Paper Beast, which sounds pretty incredible and might scratch that itch for you.

@AbsolutSurgen

I don't understand how people can judge the quality of a story solely on its twists or major plot beats, and if they're "spoiled" for them it ruins the experience. Spoiler culture is insane. If the only thing going for your story is the immensity of surprises, it's a shitty story. I read the leaks, and I'm no less likely to play this, because knowing and experiencing a story/narrative are entirely different things. I read recently that they spent time giving every character a distinct heartbeat, so it certainly has RDR-levels of completely pointless and superfluous details. Critics and fans who can't see these developers for the frustrated wannabe filmmakers that they are will surely herald it as a work of art.

If you are wanting to go digital, you will definitely need a microSD with lots of room as I believe the Switch only has something like 25g on board the unit. I have a 128G card and I haven't filled it, though I tend to delete games I'm not playing off of the system and redownload them later if need be. MicroSD cards aren't too expensive these days, so I'd say go as large as you can afford. The other thing to consider is whether you're going to play mostly in portable mode or docked - I play mostly docked and would say that the Pro Controller is excellent and a borderline must-have. The eshop has some excellent deals, but you're out of luck if you're wanting deep discounts on first party Nintendo software. The lowest they'll go is about $40. There are however lots of great sales on third party and indie stuff - the sales can't compete with something like Steam, but are still very good in my experience. Luckily, the games are incredible. The Switch has potentially the best library of Nintendo games on any of their consoles, as well as the cream of the crop of indie titles new and old. I own more games for Switch than any other console, and it gets my priority for any multiplatform games that aren't especially technically demanding. Of the exclusive games I've played, I would recommend: Zelda BotW Mario Odyssey Mario Kart 8 Luigi's Mansion 3 Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Astral Chain Splatoon 2 I can also run through some of the indie games I've played but I'm not sure what you're interested in or what you might have played already. All things considered, it's one of my favorite consoles I've ever owned, and I rarely use the portability that it offers.

Holy shit, really? This makes me happy that I mostly only frequent D1P for game stuff and mostly avoid this type of repulsive bullshit. The level of insecurity that these people must feel has to be earth shatteringly pathetic.

I'm guessing they needed the extra time to polish the horse testicle physics, which were extremely important in my RDR2 play through.

Maybe it doesn't count based on the premise but what about a really good game based on/in The Matrix? I enjoyed Enter the Matrix and Path of Neo, but they were objectively bad games, and I'm surprised at the lack of Matrix-related games given the insane storytelling/video game potential of that universe.

Yeah, Steamworld Dig 2 is excellent. I find most metroidvania games too confusing to be fun, and I think SWD2 and Shadow Complex may be the only two that I've played all the way through. Ori and the Blind Forest is really good, but I'm not sure if it's considered a true metroidvania. There is also a really cool looking game called Shinsekai: Into the Depths that seems like it's got a lot of the same elements - I'm excited to play that one soon. Here is a trailer:

While I'm not a big fan of the first game, the insane negative reactions of "gamers" and "fans" to this leak has me thinking that maybe the story is actually incredible?

Good for the employee.

I'm towards the end of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and it's been a really pleasant surprise. I held off after the lukewarm reception at launch, and just got it recently on sale. I have to say, I'm confused by this game's reception - not only is it the strongest of the recent reboot trilogy, it might be the best of this type of game (cinematic swashbuckler?) that I've played this gen. The tombs and puzzles require some legitimate freeform platforming, and while the combat is still the weakest part, the stealth sections are really fun and the game gives you a ton of interesting skills and tools that make it feel open ended. The graphics are excellent, and the soundtrack is fantastic. I have felt compelled to explore almost everything the game has to offer, which I almost never do in these types of semi-open world games. The story isn't great, but the premise is interesting and it never gets in the way. It bums me out that people (including myself) seem to have overlooked this game, as I think it's pretty underrated.

Damn, the save screen music is killer!

Cool! I'm watching now, I've never played Code Veronica. Which of the games you've played is your favorite? I've tried to play REmake a few times and it seems like it would be really great, but I keep getting completely stuck early on and having no idea what to do. I tend to be very bad at puzzles in games, but particularly the obtuse ones in RE games.

Jet Set Radio Revolution is mythical to me.

Harakiri is one of the best films I've ever seen. I recently watched the Takashi Miike remake and it was alright, but still a pale imitation of the original.

Criterion is celebrating Toshiro Mifune's 100th birthday this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxVEJj1Fvec I don't have the Criterion Channel, but I was lucky to inherit the 25 film Akira Kurosawa Criterion box set a few years back, so I've been going through some of the films that I've never seen (most of the them). I initially tried Yojimbo, which I didn't love, but then watched Stray Dogs which was incredible, and I'm now watching High and Low. What Toshiro Mifune/Akira Kurosawa films have you seen? Which are your favorites?

He had great scoops, and I really appreciate his persistence in reporting on crunch and other awful employment practices in the industry. I'll also miss him turning into a whiny baby at the slightest provocation in the comment section.

I play mostly single player, and it depends on the game. In a game where the sidequests/collectibles are engaging and don't feel tacked on, I'll work on them. In other games that just pad this stuff on, I'll ignore it entirely. I typically end most open world/exploration games with about 60-70% total completion and that feels fine to me.

I'm playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider at the moment and I'm enjoying it way more than any of the Uncharted games.

Sony will be giving away these two games starting 4/15, no PS+ subscription required. They are also donating $10m to indie developers, which is great! https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/14/21220819/uncharted-journey-free-ps4-sony-coronavirus-stay-at-home-initiative

I switch back pretty often between the DS and the Xbox One controller, and I honestly barely notice much of a difference. I didn't initially like the stick placement on the DS, but it took almost no time at all to get used to. I will say that the placement of the sticks on the Joy-Con make it nearly impossible to play any twin stick game oh the Switch in handheld mode, likely because they are both small. I would have preferred the Wii-U tablet controller placement, as that's a very underrated and comfortable controller to use.

I played it on PS4 with a controller and it definitely feels like it was designed for a m+kb. Watching footage of people switching weapons with bindings on PC without interrupting the flow of the game (which the weapon wheel definitely does) basically proves that it's the superior set up. Also, the fact that switching between regular and ice grenades is mapped to the left d-pad by default is very strange - it should probably be down on the d-pad so your finger doesn't have to travel as far. It's a highly punishing game with way too much going on for a controller. The more distance I have from the game the less I think I like it. It looks great and generally feels pretty amazing to play, but it's hat-on-a-hat combat design has too many layers and the level design is overly reliant on arenas. It's objectively a very good game, but I don't think I'll revisit it the same way I have with Doom 2016.

Great list! Eurogamer has a feature called "The Double-A Team" that covers a lot of the same ground. Namely, lots of mid-budget action games that had interesting or fun mechanics. It would be worth taking a look at that as well. https://www.eurogamer.net/archive/double-a-team

The difficulty balance in the game is strange - I played a lot of the game on UV and then turned it down and had a lot more fun. It's still challenging on Hurt Me Plenty but less cheap and stressful, especially toward the end.