Video Games

AFAIK master mode does not require you to complete regular mode in BOTW, and I doubt it would in future instalments.

I enjoyed HZD. Also waiting for forbidden west to come out on pc.

I think the worst thing about the game is being able to pause and heal. It just makes everything arbitrary. Your health in combat is effectively "how many times can I fuck up". Once you are not getting one shot by anything, you can just have so many health items, that you can use with no penalty, that you will eventually just win.

I was going to reply with how much time I wasted between my first and second attempts at the final boss running around gathering truffles & sundelions as a negative point. Then I remembered how many times I got side-tracked with some fun & interesting diversions. I guess even though some of the mainline stuff isn't great, the world in general is interesting enough that.

Obviously there needs to be a story of sorts and a main questline to go with it. But I think I'll actually enjoy playing it more now that I've ticked that off and can just go exploring instead. I definitely found that with BotW.

Though those korok pairs can absolutely get fucked.

I thoroughly enjoyed HZD on aging PS4, but have to say as with a lot of games like that, I found the mystery far more satisfying than the mid-game reveal/twist.

That said it's apocalypse certainly feels a lot more plausible after the last couple of years

I found the mystery far more satisfying than the mid-game reveal/twist.

Pretty easy to guess that one early on. The story telling is good, though. Strong similarities with the background narrative in The Talos Principle, of course.

That said it's apocalypse certainly feels a lot more plausible after the last couple of years

Future alien archaeologist: We can see from these games that they knew this was coming. Why didn't they stop it?
Colleague: Maybe we'll find the answer somewhere in all these Hentai games.

but you can't really create a climax to a game with exploration and discovery

You should try subnautica.

https://youtu.be/XQVdR8mJrds

I saw this yesterday, interesting interview with the creator. Crazy how his whole life pretty much changed overnight.

So, I got Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 from my crummy local CEX for a fiver. Fancied a few retro THPS vibes, despite knowing this version was shit. Turns out it is even shittier than anything you could possibly imagine - it's like the PS2 version with worse graphics, playability, mechanics and, crucially, soundtrack. A lot of stuff you can only do online, but the servers shut down a few months post-release, because nobody played it because, again, it's shit.

Just a clear money-grab put together over a weekend by cunts. Anyone involved in making it should be ashamed of themselves, especially Tony Hawk for putting his name to it. Feel very sorry for anyone who ever paid full price for it.

especially Tony Hawk for putting his name to it

I imagine he signed a contract with Activision and didn't necessarily think that they might just call up another random dev company because Neversoft are too busy making the next big money maker in the Guitar Hero series.

Well, that's on him - he took the money.

And you gave your money, knowing it was shit. I'd say that's on you.

I have the Platinum trophy on PS4 for that bad boy.

Full grind, trophy popped and I sold it on eBay for more than I paid for it.

THPS 1+2 remastered are pretty good fun and worth getting

I'm pondering getting a secondhand switch but not sure how games work. I assume they are all download are they without any secondhand market so could be pretty expensive?

Had a quick search of Mariokart and that still seems to be ~ £40 everywhere for a fairly old game.

Is there something like Game Pass or some other option for cheaper games that I'm missing?

Most big games are sold on cartridge too.

For example Mario Kart 8 is very old game and RRP is still at aroun £40.
Used one you can get for around£28, but what is good, you can usually resell again for same price you bought it for as they retain velue.

On Switch Eshop there are a lot of deals and sales too. Especially on indie games with up to 90% discount sometimes.

Cheers. Didn't realise they actually had cartridges too, is that the case for all models? Reviews don't really seem to mention much of this stuff annoyingly.

Yes, all models have cartridge support.

Cheers. Looks like I may have just bought one on ebay so probably need to look into this in more detail.

Let me know if you're still on the lookout. Have been thinking of shifting mine

Cheers but I got a bit carried away and got one from ebay.

Have a 3DS charger for some reason (no 3DS!) and a wired USB Xbox 360 controller for free if anyone wants them.

Note: the 360 controller wasn’t working last I tried using it. It will connect briefly via usb and then drop. Probably an issue with the cord if someone here wants to give a go at fixing it.

Been revisiting the later Assassin's Creed games, only to rediscover why I just walked away from them. Origins was a superlative reboot, but Odyssey and Valhalla are bloated messes that seemed to be designed by people who really didn't like the franchise. Also true of most of the people who reviewed them positively: "I'm so glad they got away from all that Assassin stuff". Yeah, fuck you.

The old style of gameplay really needed a revamp and Origins managed that very impressively while still feeling like an AC game. It also gave you choice: you could opt to play it more like the old games (only with much better combat) or to treat it as a generic pseudo-historical RPG. If you opted for the former path, you had to work at it with gear and crafting selections and it really felt like an achievement (and part of the origins story for the brotherhood) the closer you got. If you chose the more generic route, you still got a good game with good story telling (you don't have to care about the AC bit to enjoy it).

I'll spare you my rant about the sequels, except to say "Bloat, a fuck-tonne of grind and laughably shit story telling overall".

Mirage is being marketed as something that would be a worthy successor to Origins. Here's hoping.

I want to replay origins. Remember being genuinely blown away by the visuals and it was massive but not overwhelming. Think I 100%’d back in the day.

I want to replay origins.

It really is one of the very best of the whole franchise and a damn good open world RPG in itself. Also one of the very few AC games I still enjoyed playing after completing the main story (which I did relatively early somewhere around level 30).

I stopped after the barely interactive American history cut scene one so I may actually have go at origins as I do generally like thr series

3 was the worst of the lot I think. Black Flag was a massive improvement on that.

I’m forever waiting for a black flag remaster.