Strider Hiryu

As someone who loves going through their collection and playing old stuff this is one of the major things pushing me toward PC gaming (besides the above and a few other reasons). Ok I get it, PS2 backwards compatibility is out the window. I can live with that. My PS2 still works (though it is showing it's age, wonder if you can still find a relatively new (and still working) PS2 Slim anywhere for a decent price) and I can still hook it up and play my old games if I want but when you won't even allow your users to play games from two generations ago, bought digitally on your platform, it's getting bad. It's also bad considering you want to push gamers to digital only without giving them access to already purchased games (sorry, licenses. Another reason I hate digital only (console wise, I'm okay with it on PC to an extent) is you don't actually own a copy of the game, just a license to play the game that can be revoked at any time should the developer/publisher decide to do so (another reason why I feel digital games shouldn't be priced at $60+)) when in the past we could just throw our PS1 disc in our PS2 and play like nothing had changed. Guess semi-retro gaming is something console devs just don't support anymore (and it's sad really). Granted most old titles have been ported/adapted for PC it's the principal of having to re-buy something you already own just to play it in another format that urks the fuck out of me.

Holy fuck, I never thought Shadow of War would come to PS+. I still haven't even finished Shadow of Mordor yet, guess I now have a reason to finally go back and beat it.

Sadly PC is a major threat it's just they don't see it yet (I used to be one of those "PC gaming is dying and will never threaten consoles" stans for many years but once I bought my PC I've come full circle). With Gaming PC's becoming more affordable every year (hell you can get a decent one for slightly more then what you'll pay for one of the new consoles that you can continually upgrade beyond the life of a console as long as you're case can support the upgrades (as well as your wallet)) and the major tech advancements only PC's are seeing (console gaming is far behind tech wise and will only continue to be) it's only a matter of time before Sony and Microsoft start shitting themselves due to their shitty practices (it won't happen anytime soon but it will happen). As you said the only issue is cheating but if all you're looking for is to play multiplayer games and you don't want the hassle stick to console, single player games are just as good if not better on PC (what with mods and what have you). We're honestly at the point where a console is just a severely hampered gaming PC with, at any given time, tech that's 1-2 years behind current PC's. I digress though, PC gaming isn't the subject here. Honestly my only gripe has been why do they keep doing this shit? Storage tech keeps advancing and keeps going down in price, there's no call for using a smaller storage device just because you want to "eliminate load times" with a much faster version of what you can get on the open market (and as I said you will never eliminate load times, you can hide them with fancy UI elements and what have you but never fully eliminate them (current tech does not support this and won't until quantum computing becomes a thing)). While the current generation of gamers currently don't give a shit about this they will once they realize they can only have less than a handful of games on their console to play. Not all of them just play one BR/FPS, they play multiple and I don't foresee them being willing to constantly delete and re-download a game to play it and until all internet infrastructures support fiber speeds for an affordable price streaming games isn't exactly viable (something Stadia ran into and besides the lack of games is the major reason the idea flopped hard). As someone who plays pretty much solo games only I just can't support this move (the only games I play that can be considered multiplayer are FFXIV and my mobile games, otherwise everything else is solo based). If fucks my ability to play multiple games at once without having to constantly uninstall and reinstall shit (it's the major factor behind why I bought a 2TB passport for my PS4). Then again I'm just a literal representation of the "old man shaking fist at sky" meme. I now take my leave and thank you for attending my TED talk.

Then they're going to lose a big market of gamers if they're not willing to increase storage limit sizes or do away with this retarded limitation of not allowing games to boot from external drives (SSD or otherwise). Designing a game to run on only one set of hardware is short sighted and extremely stupid (I point you to Stadia) especially in a day and age when game sizes are growing exponentially and storage sizes aren't. Then again I'm old and I like the way things used to be. It's why I still fight the move to digital only games instead of releasing physical copies (still a retarded process that fucks the gamer over more than most realize), why I hate current day RPG's (real time is shit, turn based will always be superior), and why I don't like this. I guess if they can't figure out how to make it work with external drives I'm out this and every generation to come and will just stick with PC where I can have as much space as I want and can afford (and still run a game off the primary SSD). I'll believe no load times when I see it and I'm pretty sure a PS5 won't be the first thing to do it.

So not only does it barely come with enough space for maybe 5 games worth (I'm thinking next gen titles, as it stands now Modern Warfare in its current iteration (both Warzone and Game) takes up over a quarter of the 825 gigs the PS5 is launching with) they're not supporting external options. Good god as much as I want one they're making it really hard to give up the PS4 or just moving entirely to PC gaming. Fucking christ when will console manufacturers get with the times and launch with at least a terabyte as standard (if not more). Before it's said it would not jump the cost of the console by much (a decent Samsung SSD with 1 TB of space is $119). Really glad I decided to wait on getting one now (and will now wait until external storage is an option and if it's not I guess I'm not getting a PS5).

Hey we getting there, apparently they sliced through a safe in the last video (haven't watched it yet). Small step my friend, eventually we'll have full blown lightsabers.

Boys they did it, we now have a lightsaber (sorry a proto-plasma saber). God damn is this thing fucking cool.

And this is why I don't watch TV anymore, read the paper/news apps, why I blocked his ass on Twitter (only so I can't read his tweets, I still have to read the aftermath), and why I stay out of anything that has to do with him/politics/etc. Sadly I can't get away from it as much as I'd like since I live in a red state and everyone up here praises/worships the ground he walks on (and the majority of my extended family are Trump supporters so I get to hear it from them as well (and people wonder why I'm anti-social and hate being around my family)). Sadly this show won't be getting cancelled because I don't think Biden can pull out a win no matter how hard he tries (and even if he managed to Trump will bitch, moan, and take it into legislation where he'll most likely win if his Supreme Court nominee gets in (which will most likely happen)). I just wish the lot of this was over with (both Trump and COVID) but my only hope of one of them going away seems to be getting slimmer and slimmer by the day (I leave it to your imaginations as to what I'm implying here).

Super hyped and can't freaking wait. Thank god it's next year, don't think I'd be able to find the time this year between finishing up Amalur, Cyberpunk in Nov, and whenever they decide to release the second Pokemon Sword/Shield DLC (yes, I still play Pokemon. Don't judge me).

Actually quite a few retailers had it live after the showcase yesterday (Target, Walmart, and Best Buy all had them live shortly after. Most of the streamers I follow were getting there's shortly after. Amazon was the only real hold out and that shit went fast (especially everywhere else)). Honestly since I'm not getting one of these until late next year at the earliest I'm not worried (no way to swing it financially this year, not with getting the Collector's Edition of Cyberpunk ($274) and pre-ordering the LE Violet Evergarden boxset + the mini-movie (which I was happy to find out was being released as well)). Happy they settled on a $499 price tag as that'll make it easier for me to get one after saving some money (I might have a job but I'm only part-time and I barely get 30 hours a week atm (at $14 an hour, fuck if that's not a kick in the balls and a non-living wage up here)).

I'm not going to lie I just screamed like a fucking schoolgirl while reading that. Thank you Funi, I might have a lot of issues with you as a company but god damn have you just made my fucking day. Now lets see you add that lovely little gaiden story and I'll be over the moon. Now to start saving money for the Limited Edition set (I MUST HAVE IT!).

I was kitted for full on damage, health gain, and stealth (those two up-gradable charms you get from the Inari shrines are broken). I was two shotting enemies like they were nothing in the end (and if I was wearing the Sakai Clan armor I was damn near just insta-killing people). With that I had no problem gaining resolve since I was literally decimating people left and right (once I got sprinting slash I felt bad for archers, bastards just dropped dead and I sprinted by them). I guess for me I was fully upgraded on everything come the end of Act II so I guess that would make Act III a cake walk (fully upgraded sword, fully upgraded Sakai Clan armor, maxed out stance trees and ghost weapons) but I still wish there was a noticeable increase in difficulty. Than again not everyone plays a game like I do and actively seeks to make sure they're in top form before beating an area (80% of my gameplay is just me searching for charms, supplies, and anything else to give me an edge in battle (and with the Charm of the Inari it was a cake walk to have enough supplies to upgrade everything by the end of Act II (gold was the only issue since it's linked to liberation areas))). Out of all the Mythic quests Uchitsune, Heavenly Strike, and Yarikawa's Vengeance were my favorite just on their visuals alone (and lets face it in a game littered with amazing visuals topping the standard is rather hard and they did it). See I hated the duel in the cave as I couldn't see shit and while the ambience was cool after I beat Kojiro I couldn't find my way out of the blasted cave (pissed me off, spent almost 5 minutes searching for the exit (might need to tweak my brightness settings on my TV)).

So I finally beat it (yea I know, Strider bringing up the rear but I wanted to really enjoy it and Platinum it (which I did)). Have to hand it to Sucker Punch, this was a hell of a game. Probably my second favorite story behind Detroit (yea yea Nier was a great story, a fantastic story but Detroit was just so much better (for me, granted I know a lot of people had differing opinions on it)) though there are a few areas I found it lacking (just little gripes, mostly with how Jin's treated (hypocritical as fuck considering Samurai were just as devious and underhanded historically, even worse than Jin in some cases (though I'm not 100% sure I agree with the Act II finale shenanigans (not going to ruin it for Sledge) but I understand why it happened). I will say this that finale though was spectacular even if that final fight with the Khan was underhanded and while I still disagree with Shimura's treatment of Jin that whole end sequence is fucking heart wrenching (yea you know what ending I chose). Again though my favorite part of the story was watching Jin come to terms with what he was becoming and what he had to do to save his people. Act II was the real turning point for his character and it was really great watching him finally settle into his role (and if there was any reason I'd give to play this game it would be that. Jin's progression as a character is by far the best part of this game and is a wonderful arc). Combat wise this was a blast. As I said before it's punishing until you master the basic combat fundamentals. Quite honestly I don't agree with the massive difficulty spike between Act's I and II (was kinda eye opening how powerful enemies became in the matter of one tale) but I was disappointed by the lack of difficulty in Act III (granted it wasn't a complete cake walk but considering the jump between I and II I was expecting III to be harder than it was). I guess you can chock that up to being comfortable and more familiar with the combat system but once you get Ghost Stance the game is practically easy mode (especially if you wear the fully upgraded Ghost Armor). Three guaranteed kills with a 25% chance to scare other enemies is broken as fuck (and I generally terrified 3 mongols on average every time I used Ghost Stance making liberating areas a cake walk). I gave up on being stealthy toward the end and just bum rushed into combat. I still had fun don't get me wrong but I guess I just wanted more challenge (hell the so called most difficult duel in the game was a cake walk, two shotted him no problem). Plus once you max Wind stance spear guys are a joke. Really wishing I would of known that in the beginning, I'd of just maxed it as soon as I unlocked it (yea I didn't read the upgrades right away, I was more interested in being stealth ninja man and upgrading my Ghost weapons). I really enjoyed the side quests with your four (five if you count Kenji) main supporting NPC's. Very interesting and rather personal tales that fit in well with the story as a whole. As a whole I really enjoyed Masako and Norio's tales the most (with Masako's being my favorite. Hey I like crazy old ladies with a vendetta apparently) but Yuna's probably had my favorite part (I won't say what but I'm sure you can guess). Overall I thought all the other tales were rather interesting but like slippers said a lot of them get repetitive and after awhile it becomes a chore to do them (much like liberating areas) and the mythic tales were quite interesting though I fail to see the need for some of them (I really don't see the need for the flaming sword one, while cool that tale was a bitch to complete). I give it a 9/10 (would be a 10/10 if it wasn't for some of the choices they made with the story) and like I said earlier I'd give this my Game of the Year if it wasn't for the fact Cyberpunk is coming out this year. Well that and the remaster of Kingdoms of Amalur coming out next month (probably one of my favorite games of the PS3/360 generation). Overall though a thoroughly enjoyable game well deserving of the hype it received. SP made a very rare gem in this rather bland era of gaming history and I tip my hat to them. Now to see what this new co-op mode brings to the game this fall (what with it's supernatural theme and whatnot).

Sadly though I think Ghost is going to be an odd outlier for the minimal to no UI approach (plus it's very obvious that SP designed the game this way because they were going for the Kurosawa feel and aesthetic). The gameplay and the sheer vast openness of the map and environment made it so a UI would hamper you more than help you (plus the game is breathtakingly beautiful and marring it with anything more then they did would be an atrocity). Plus, as you noted, they implemented a vast variety of things to hide what wasn't needed until you actually called upon it (I love the guiding winds mechanic and think more games need to implement something like it). Based on that little bit of gameplay footage I'm of the opinion Godfall needs a UI or they're really going to have to figure out how to implement some sort of minimalistic hp tracker because this type of game needs some way of tracking that stuff (I mean I'll dump on Destiny any day of the week but there UI implementation is crisp and, imo, the ideal way of going about a UI in a looter type game (though I don't like their quest tracker in the least as I think that's garish as hell and right in your face)). Then again I'm still not all that impressed by what I see. It looks fun and I'd definitely be all about those dual blades but quite honestly I think it looks rather meh. Then again looters in general just aren't my thing anymore and I blame Destiny for killing that passion in me. Ever since playing it I just can't get interested or find joy in playing anything remotely of the genre (old school looters like D2 and Torchlight are exceptions because that's my jam, it's these new ones that lack anything remotely interesting for me).