#if you own a ps5 and haven’t got or don’t plan on getting this game… CHANGE THAT!

[swattus]

So hyped for my copy to arrive tomorrow!!

[kyotakumrau]

2020.12.19 SENDAI GIGS 2nd slot report

...it was cold. I thought I was prepared but waiting for my turn to enter was brutal. But the venue was quite well organized with letting fans in. And they had the cutest hand sanitizer stands I've seen!!

Then, when preparing for the talk event venue staff brought 4 small high tables with chairs and placed them in a good distance from each other.

Takabayashi and Fujieda entered the stage (both wearing winter jackets xp) and the latter greeted us and asked for the applause for the band members.

Then Shinya, and after a brief moment, Toshiya entered the stage.

They sat from the right to left: Takabayashi, Shinya, Toshiya and Fujieda (MC).

Toshiya wore a beret, sunglasses, a jacket over the brown Dirt shirt. Shinya had the t-shirt for the event and black clothes otherwise. He also wore sunglasses.

They started with simple greetings and next F skipped straight to the merch items talk. He handed band members their items and asked about the particular thing about the design. Toshiya explained that back has the names of the companies they are working with/are indebted to.

F: S, what's the selling point of your minimini bottle?

S: it's really tiny and you can easily put it in your bag. It's very light so very convenient when you go out.

F brought and passed the items of other members. T got the choker.

T: oh, this is nice! Shinya, I think it'll really suit you!

S: well, I might wear it next time

T: try it on!

S: some other time. (meaning 'no, thanks' 😂)

F: what do you think about Kaoru's pouch, S?

S: it's really tiny and very convenient when you go out.

F: wait, I've heard this before.

S: and the inside is gold. I really love gold.

T (teasing): can all merch items fit inside?😆

S: picks won't fit, right?

T: they do!

S passed the pouch back to F with a serious face, he had to confirm with his own eyes.

S: oh, it's just right, even the bottle fits in.

F (put all items in): all items fit in.

S: then fans should buy all items and put them in. Ah, is the t-shirt still available?

F: actually t-shirt is included in the ticket.

S: does the t-shirt fit in?

F: that might be a bit hard.

T: take it off and try.

Ok😂

F announced they will start reading questions from fans.

T: do you have any no-no topics?

S: everything is fine.

(just what happened in the 1st slot??😂)

F: I'll continue the topic from the previous slot. Is there anything you failed at? Any mistakes?

T said S sometimes messes a song during the concert, teasing him a lot and S was trying to protest saying everyone does that sometimes, but T was having too much fun😂. But then S brought up a festival abroad where he mixed up the order of songs and it was one big mess.

S: as I made mistakes they made me drink after that

T: what am I, sake-yakuza?

😂

T: F, in Nagoya you told us about imitating S on the drums.

F told us again the story about waiting for the car in Kagawa, so he played around imitating S.

S: so which song exactly where you pretending to play?

F: the last part of Ranunculus.

And then he showed us!!! Just drumming few last notes to just finish dramatically with raising hands and leaning his head back.

Shinya was so not impressed🤣🤣🤣

F: wait, didn't you upload it on your channel?

S: I can't remember.

F: 'do you have a favourite youtuber? Or what kind of yt videos do you watch?' Do you watch youtube?

S: I do usually.

F: what channels?

S: channels about games and riddles. But also Taipi Nikki (たいぴー日記), it's a channel about cats and dogs, they upload new videos everyday.

T: I don't really watch yt. But sometimes, Ojisan no nichijo (Tamotsu Takashima おじさんの日常). very casually, like watching TV while eating etc.

Ta: 'what would you like to change in the other member?'

S: I want T to stop scaring me.

T lols so hard😆

S: for example, yesterday was snowing too, I was walking very carefully not to slip but then suddenly a push came from behind🤨

T: 🤣

F: how about you, T?

T: I want him to open his heart to the band members.

F: so you're not talking together?

T: no, he talks with us. But... he's there with us, but the atmosphere is a bit...

S: but I'm open.

F: when I was still a roadie and in a car with S we were talking quite a lot.

Ta: we don't.

S: Ta doesn't talk much.

Ta: since the YT in May we haven't spoke.

F: but when I was a roadie we did usual normal chatting and so on.

T: S, you should join in.

S: はい・I see.

...

😂

F: 'are there any songs you put a lot of confidence in when writing but now you'd prefer not to play them as they are way too difficult, have difficult parts?'

S: 90% of our songs. ...and all of Ningen wo Kaburu. How about you, F?

(oh, a come back for the imitation thing!!😆)

F: the first bit, intro in Hageshisa (he actually 'sang' the bit😆)

S: Yeah, that one is tough.

F: as a roadie I asked you once to show me how to play it. I hoped you will play it slowly so I can learn, but you just went so fast it was over in second, and just said 'that's it'.

F: saku is also hard.

T said he can just follow the music during the show so no problems (?)

T: 'tomorrow is Die's birthday, how will you celebrate? The rumor is, only Shinya sent him birthday wishes'.

T: I usually do something every year, like skype with him. ...should we do something tomorrow?

F: there are no work plans to meet.

T: ok, then I guess we will skype.

S: I always send him a message on LINE.

Ta (or T?): 'it's so cold now! Are you ok with cold? Do you prefer cold or hot weather?'

S: I can't stand cold.

T: I prefer cold. When it's hot even as you take some clothes off, it's still hot. But when it's cold you can add more layers and be okay.

can you get out of bed easily?

S: it's very hard. I can live from inside my bed, even eat there.

T: that's something.

Next they talked about some food from Nagano both T and Ta like, Kanten Papa.

T: 'if you were to change into each other, like wake up as the other one, what would you do?'

T: ...

F: imagine it's only for one day.

T: ...I thought about something baaad, lol. (then he thinks for a while) then, I would work on damaging his reputation.

🤣🤣🤣

S: would I wake up in my house? In his house?

F: let's do your house.

S: then I'd do some muscle training to see what he can actually do.

F: 'we have the rhythm section today, how much do you usually rehearse?'

T said two days (before the tour ???)

F: usually you do a proper full rehearsal with bass amd drums, while checking the score.

T: recently I do it more seriously, I didn't in the past😆

S said before Wither he remembers the songs. Marrow, UROBOROS and Unraveling he can't remember, but he remembers the rest perfectly, he could play Gauze or Macabre songs anytime.

T: do it then!

S: there's no drums.

T: play air drums!

Ta: 'what's the song you want to play the most right now?'

S: and Zero.

Ta: why?

S: it was played somewhere recently, ah on the youtube audiostream, thanks to it I remembered 'oh we have a song like that'.

T: the song(s) we're working on now. I want you all to be able to listen to it/them soon. We will be recording soon.

S: oh.

T: are you practicing them properly?

S: not yet.

😂

T: 'what would you do if you won the lottery (the special new year lottery)?'

S: how much money are we talking?

F: 1bln yen.

S: ...

F: you have nothing you want?

S: not really.

F: what about PS5? Do you have it?

S: I don't have it.

F: did you apply for it?

S: I applied in one place, but didn't win.

F: nothing, really? How about you, T?

T: if I won a lottery I'd use the money to fund COVID vaccination. Well, probably it wouldn't be enough... but with vaccination we could get back to playing concerts sooner.

F: they're working on the vaccine now, right.

T: I hope it will be done soon!

F: do you buy lottery tickets?

T: I never do.

S: same.

Ta: maybe you should try it for Shinya Channel?

(didn't catch the next bit, it was about using money, then gambling?)

F: 'to T, what sauna or onsen would you like to go to next?'

T: to sauna in Finland, like the type in a small log house in the mountains where you get to swim in the lake. I'd love to try that.

F: 'what's the idea behind your outfit, S?'

S: this event t-shirt. I wanted to encourage fans to buy it, but I learned it's part of the ticket... So the rest is just black clothes. style like going to a hair salon (or coming back from there?)

F: 'is there something you'd like to fix this year?'

T: domestic concerts.

S: nothing besides the shows.

T: 'is there anything you want to try in 2021?'

S: nothing especially for 2021.

T: nothing you thought you want to try recently?

S: how about you?

T: I'd like to become able to eat spicy food. Now, I really can't handle any level of spicy.

F told him spicy food is really amazing, especially ramen, T replied he has a place he wants to take F to.

Then F talked about the additional The World You Live In stream and invited everyone to join. And after that was time for the last comments from the band members.

Shinya: Thank you for coming in today. It is snowing right now so please be careful not to slip on your way home. Let's meet again next year.

Toshiya: It's snowing so please be careful. I'd really love to stand in front of you again, so please please wait for us. That's all I can say in this situation.

They stood up, waved and were about to leave. But then Toshiya picked up the choker and gave it to Shinya🤣🤣🤣

[it1776]

Xbox Series X Pro Controller Hex Blade Pro Controller Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQUxVg75v2Y

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Too Much Tech.

And in today's video, we're going to be reviewing

this controller that I have from Hex Gaming.

This is the Xbox version of this controller

and obviously will work with Xbox One, One X, Series S,

and Series S.

Why Microsoft name of that?

Not entirely sure.

I actually don't have the new consoles myself.

I have an Xbox Series X, but I primarily use this

on PC.

So what, that's what most of my experience is going

to be on.

Obviously, it's an Xbox One controller

like all the functions you know, what not worth the mic.

This whatever port that nobody ever really uses.

And it does have Micro USB,

just like a regular Xbox controller, because that's what

it's based on.

But, I do wish that Microsoft would like update

to USB Type-C. Sony did.

Sony did.

So, Microsoft, you're next.

But, not necessarily in regards to this controller,

because obviously they're just modifying the ones

that Microsoft has.

And this one I think is an incredible value

for what it is.

And it's really easy to use, other than like maybe

like swapping the panels and whatnot,

but we'll talk about that a little bit later.

So first up, let's go ahead and talk about

the unboxing experience. So, I think the box

actually looks really clean.

It's got a controller just so that you can easily take off

the thumbsticks, and then the two paddles,

or buttons I should say, that are on the back

of the controller.

The Hex Blade tactical gaming controller

for Xbox One and PC.

Designed for esports through Hex Gaming.

Blah, blah, blah.

I will leave Hex Gaming's link in description below,

because they did send this controller out to me

a couple...

No. Two, three months ago I want to say, in January.

And it's pretty clean.

They do give you a few different thumbsticks in the box,

so they give you a domed medium, a domed long,

a concave long, and a regular thumbstick.

And then, obviously you have the ones that come

on the controller. Two remappable buttons

on the back, and the trigger control mechanism

basically you have trigger stops.

So, really nice I would say.

The controller, the feel in the hand is pretty premium.

But let's check out this carrying case

that they give you as well, because this is not

a bad value at all.

So, you have a quick start guide right here,

which is just going to show you, you know,

how to use the controller and whatnot.

And then, on the back, obviously you know,

you have your rear button setup that we'll get

into in just a bit.

Actually, let's go ahead and talk about that right now.

It is also really nice as well that they give you

a six-month warranty for defects with the controller,

but if you have any issues, I would just hit them up

on social networks. And then you just have

like these little, little storage compartments

very similar to an Elite controller for your additional

thumbsticks and whatnot.

And taking off the thumbsticks is really easy.

You just pull it off, and then you just have

to line it back up to put it back on.

And that's it.

Super duper easy. Personally, I have been using

the two convex thumbsticks, the shorter ones.

I wish that there was a medium length thumbstick

that came in the box that was convex.

That would be perfect for aiming for me,

because this does feel a tad short.

But, otherwise, you know, I think it's fine.

And it is decently grippy as well. I would say it's a bit

more grippy than the thumbsticks that Microsoft uses

on their controllers.

Okay. Getting down to the controllers.

So, the controller obviously is extremely comfortable.

Some of the options that I selected myself,

because they did allow me to customize the controller myself.

I just went with the black back buttons,

and then this white back here,

the side grip I believe only comes in black

if you want this kind of texture.

But I think that it looks pretty cool.

And then, the best thing about this controller

is the different face plates that you can get.

Now, these you can't really, you know, swap them out.

You just got to pick it when you decide to get

your controller, but these face plates

are really cool and they do have themed controllers as well

that you can pick from, but I would just customize

my own personally.

I like this little swirl that they got going on.

I just think it looks really cool and very novel.

In terms of like the performance and whatnot.

You do have trigger stops here, so you do have

a full trigger press.

You switch that down and now you've got

a half trigger press, which I think is very useful

for shooters.

Three step trigger stops I don't really think

are fully necessary.

Two steps I think are fine. It's nice to just have it,

but if you did have one additional step,

what I found one some controllers that usually have

those multi-stage trigger stops sometimes it just comes off

and then it doesn't even...

It's not that it doesn't work,

but like if you hit it too hard, sometimes they just

get disengaged, so I feel like the one level of trigger stop

is fine.

Now, in terms of the batteries and whatnot,

you know, it's not rechargeable or at least I didn't opt

for the rechargeable battery pack.

This is more of an Xbox issue.

The battery life is just however long your AA batteries

are going to last.

So, performance wise, thet thumbsticks

are extremely smooth. I would say that these

are comparable to the PowerA controller

that I reviewed a while ago which, those I like quite a bit.

Those are extremely smoooth.

This is very similar.

Maybe...

If I have to quantify like 10% slower-ish.

But I mean, you know, controlling it wise,

is perfectly fine. I do think that these thumbsticks

are very good, very grippy as well.

D-pad it's just normal.

You know, it's just a regular D-pad

from an Xbox controller, just recolored.

But, it is fairly tactile. Controller does feature Bluetooth.

I usually just paly wired, but otherwise,

it's a very, very good and premium feeling

Elite style controller for the Xbox platform.

And this is also now probably going

to be my favorite controller to use as far

as having controllers on Windows.

Reason being, I just really enjoy the placement

of these back paddles here. Like this is just so easy

and natural to hit quickly.

And it doesn't really,

you know, take much effort to actuate it.

And there's no weird placement that your thumb has to

basically learn like you do with a Scuf.

Like having a Scuf, you got to kind of learn

like a weird placement to use these back paddles.

But, using this Hex Gaming controller,

it's very easy. Like it's very natural.

Nothing that you have to relearn.

Your hands just naturally rest right where

those buttons are.

And I feel like that's the most important thing.

If you're going to be using a Pro controller,

it should feel 100% natural to you.

So, if you're looking for the most natural feeling

Pro controller for the Xbox platform,

I will look no further than this.

And then, and also, this thing is extremely customizable.

Like I mean seriously, it's like insane.

So right now we are on Hex Gaming's website,

and you know, you can view all the available controllers

that they have.

But personally, I will go right to making my own.

But I mean, it looks like they got a sale going on

right now where some are between $35-ish to $45 off

which is very good.

I mean that's pretty insane.

And then, also they do have PlayStation controllers

available as well, but I believe these are

for PS4.

The case, honestly for me, looks a little strange,

so I don't really know if I would check out

a PlayStation controller from them.

And obviously, the PS4 controllers...

PS4 controllers are good and you can use them

on PS5. But more or less, you're only going

to be using it on PS4 games.

Like if the game is not PS4 compatible,

your controller doesn't work on PS5 which kind of sucks,

and I wish that Sony would change it,

but I'm pretty sure they aren't going to,

because obviously they want to sell their new controllers.

So, I hope that Hex Gaming is going to get

PlayStation PS5 controllers in soon

that are also just as customizable.

As we can see, they are indeed planning on it as well,

so for your PlayStation guys, be sure to stay tuned,

because I'm pretty sure they're going to be coming out

with something and I will probably

review it when it comes.

But back to the topic at hand, the Blade controller

so you can make your own. We're going to click that.

And I mean look at just how many face plates there are.

Is this...

I don't think that's the one that I picked.

Let's see here.

I got this origin of chaos.

This one looks so clean to me. I absolutely knew

that I had to have it when I seen it.

I mean you got a blood splatter.

Weeds. You know, if that's your thing.

Like you know, whatever, dude.

Oh, they got a couple of them. There are a couple of it.

If you're a cannabis enthusiast, you know,

they got you covered.

And they got chrome.

Chrome cy... That's kind of clean. That chrome cyan,

chrome silver.

Okay. You know. Just depends on what you're into.

Clear. Even if, you know, if you're after the Game Boy

retro vibes.

Well, they got this...

What is this? Like a translucent, where it's not exactly

as transparent. That's kind of clean.

D-pad, they got a ton of different options.

I believe I went for the matte white.

And then, they got some chrome options as well.

ABXY, you know. They just have a ton

of different options in all the different categories.

Different base colors and whatnot for your thumbsticks.

RB buttons you can change as well. You can get a little wild

with them.

Even the buttons on the back, you can also change

the color of these two. So I mean,

It's pretty cool. I think that, you know,

by the time you get one of these all the way out,

you know, you get up to about that $200 price point.

I think it's a pretty fair deal. I mean, right now,

I mean this controller looks pretty insane.

And we haven't like added anything functionally

to the controller, you know. We could have went

with the barebones controller for $140 which is pretty nuts.

But, you know, once we start to customize it,

add on a few of those things, it's only like, you know,

$40, maybe $50 max if you're really pushing it,

but I don't even think it'll let me go that high.

I mean it really only added like an extra like $35.

And we had a pretty fully kitted custom controller.

Hex Gaming...

I don't know guys. That's a really good deal.

You know, Scuf is very easy to go.

$200 plus.

I think that this is a very good and fair price

for, at least an Xbox controller. I'm curious

what the price is going to be

on the PlayStation 5 controller.

So, you know, I'm pretty sure it's going to be a bit more.

If it's similarly priced to this,

I would say it's incredibly fair.

Even topping out at about $200.

I think that's pretty decent.

You know, spending $200 on the controller,

especially like after I'm kind of past the whole

controller phase at the moment,

it's just a little, it's just a little much for me.

$150, $170 is quite a lot.

But at the same time, you got the Elite 2 controller

which is pricey as heck, but this is a lot

more customizable.

So, I don't know. I don't know.

But for now, this controller is definitely my favorite.

Huge shout-out to Hex Gaming for sending this out as well.

If you guys are interested in it for yourself,

I will have Hex Gaming linked in the description below

so you guys can check them out.

But that is going to be it for this video.

If you guys enjoy, feel free to drop a like,

subscribe, if you guys are new to the channel as well.

And thank you again for watching.

Join the Discord, follow me on Twitter,

and I will see you guys on the next one.

[thewayisoutpb]

.it has been a while

A lot of things have happened since my last entry. So many things I have no idea where to begin.

After successfully finishing college (and clearing out things about that thing I don’t want to talk about anymore - let the past stay in the past), we have started looking for our own place. The search wasn’t long, I might even say it was the first place we came upon, checked it out and decided that this will be our first home together.

Now it has been nearly a year and a half living here. It wasn’t a big shift in my life, because I was sure that this is the right move. The first weeks/months of living together wasn’t bad at all, like people say sometimes it will be - you need to get used it. But for us everything was natural about it. We have been living together in Wales for 3 months, so I knew what I was getting into - I was excited to start building a life together. I like the way we live, the way we work and the way we manage our financies.

Yes, work, that has changed as well. It has been a year since I switched the capital city for this little town. Let’s just put it out there - I couldn’t be more happy with this change, one of my best decisions in my life so far. Thankfully, I don’t have wake up early for the train and commute anymore. But that is just one side of it. The work environment is much better (way better) not speaking of the work itself - I have learnt more in 3 months here than during the work for a year and a half there. I couldn’t wish for a better boss and colleagues. Not a lot of people can say this, but I just love my job.

But my workplace is not the only thing that has changed. The whole world did too due to COVID-19. Constant lockdowns, quarantines, everything is closed, in order to go to work you need to have a certification of a negative result that can’t be older than 7 days. Well, these rules doesn’t apply for us. Not that we’re rebels, but because we already overcame this virus. We got it at the beginning of January 2021 and were in quarantine for 3 weeks. Our families did the groceries for us. I’ve realised I had the main symptoms which are loss of smell and taste, and I’ve tested positive afterwards. The course of the disease was quite straightforward for me - other than the loss of smell and taste I felt fine. However, that couldn’t be said about my other half, her course of disease was a bit worse with cough, headaches and fever. But eventually she got out of it. Thanks to this we supposed to have some kind of immunity against the virus, that’s why we don’t need to test ourselves every week for 3 months. At least for now, but we never know, because the government changes the rules everyday. By the way, we haven’t been on holiday for quite some time now. I miss it a bit, we have some money saved and we could finally travel, but due to COVID-19 we’re not able to - there are way too many restrictions. But then again, I’m thankful I have a job and a stable income, not a lot of people can say the same during these times.

The second half of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 has been some kind of spiritual awakening for me. I started doing yoga on a daily basis (for 200 days in a row now) and for the past month I try to meditate every morning and after yoga as well. I really want meditation to be a part of my daily routine. Moreover, thanks to my colleagues I’ve started doing something, what I thought I would never do - cold water exposure. First I started taking cold showers (and I continue to take them) everyday. Then, when the weather got colder, we started swimming in the lake - outside temperature around or below zero Celsius and the water’s temperature around 0-4 Celsius. This opened me to a whole new experience - something that connects the mind and the body, which creates harmony for the soul. I’ve also started reading books again, because in the second half of 2020 I got a bit sloppy. Although, I’m excited I was able to grab a preorder of PS5 (there’s a huge shortage and people are not able to get their hands on one), there are no new games - I play Rocket League for 30 minutes or so everyday, but I’m not interested in it that much, but I’m not regretting buying it at all - I have played The Last of Us games, which were awesome and was able to play God of War with my best friend throughout the Christmas holidays, which was a great bonding experience. But I got off track a bit. Like I said - I really want yoga and meditation to be part of my daily routine for the upcoming months and years - for my whole life if possible. I feel that my physical body is finally in connection with my spiritual body and this connection brings me great harmony in life. Things are like they should be, everything’s going according to plan. I am happy. Some higher power lays the road ahead of me and I trust it, trust it that the path it creates is the right one for me, for us.

Hope the upcoming months will be kind to us and the next update would be just as positive and in similar spirit than this one - or maybe even better.

[bearpillowmonster]

ReIgnited: Spyro 1 Review

The games I wish I grew up with.

"Oh, so you didn't have a PS1?" Oh no, I did, just didn't have any games for it. I've always loved the mascot of Spyro (Crash too) and I can't really think of anybody else who thinks otherwise, whether it's the game or just appreciation for the character in some form or another and Enter the Dragonfly was my first (not even kidding) and it is considered one of the worst, I only played it that once then returned it because it felt stupid to me.

I didn't fall out of it with Spyro though, I always intended to give it another chance but it just got farther and farther. Then Skylanders came out and would you believe it? I was into it. It's not a whole lot of Spyro (but the game itself and voice of Spyro were good) I just consider it a different game. Since then, I've tried A New Beginning, and it was fun at times but still not the experience I wanted and I do plan on continuing the Legend of Spyro but in the mean time...

I have a soft spot for platformers so when Reignited was announced, it was right up my alley...so what stopped me? Well, I heard the complaint that it's a collect-a-thon and that it might not have aged well for fans that haven't played and enjoyed the originals. That shot my expectations in the water then I saw some speed-running and it made me want to give it a try so here I am, finally trying this game out for size. I'll split it up game by game though and look at them on a modern level since it's technically a modern game now.

I love the little pitter-patter of his feet while he's dashing and the little prance he does when you jump and dash at the same time. Make sure you use the D-Pad while you dash though because for some reason, the control stick just doesn't cut tight turns, like at all.

This game adds cool little flips and flaps to the loading screens and I get that it's a redone PS1 game but there's a lot of them, luckily they aren't too long  (I imagine having a PS5 may help a lot in that department). I appreciate the transitions from zone to zone as well with that little flip he does before landing. And I don't know who's idea it was to have an installation after the Artisanal area but it's really stupid because apparently there was a demo from preordering it that was just that area and you could upgrade to the full game after that point but I don't see why they didn't just make it a separate file for the people who aren't upgrading from a demo. Now if you're thinking that I played this right after downloading, the answer is no, I didn't. I downloaded it days prior and it was well past finished when I arrived, not to mention I got it digitally, I doubt it's like that on Switch but unfortunately it is for PS4.

I like how the barriers are stone pillars with gems in them which activate a forcefield to keep you from going out of bounds. I love little gameplay explanations like that. I also like the level design, including the hub worlds. There are a lot of things that I miss about older games but a lot of things that I don't. I believe I've seen some people bring this up but the dialogues for the rescued dragons are pretty bland at times, I love seeing just how different each one looks versus just the cookie cutter ones of the original but they'll often just say "I'd like to chat but I have to go." or just a small throwaway line. I know that there are too many to really do much with and how the original game had that dialogue but just a little thing I feel they could've changed if they wanted.

Now that I have more of a grasp on the game, I can say that I enjoy more than I thought I would. I don't get bored just walking around, all the landscapes are different, I love the atmosphere, I like collecting and actually feel compelled to 100% every level, the "aging" problem I originally had before I bought it is gone, I feel like just watching gameplay doesn't cut it, you have to give it your own shot.

Now there are normal stages, boss stages, and flight stages. Flight stages are easily my least favorite, good luck trying to get me to "All-in-One" those because they have a time limit. I expected a simple little game out of it but I got a lot more meat than I expected. I feel like you can just dash through it if you want (which makes for good speedrunning) but I felt compelled to collect, felt compelled to save the dragons, you only need a certain minimum but I almost don't care, I searched every nook and cranny. Boss stages are barely even recognizable as that, they're a breeze for the most part but I like them and I don't feel like it subtracts from the experience not having bosses the way other games would because it's not necessarily combat focused like the latter-day Spyro games.

Now the one boss that I hate is Gnorc and it's for that same reason, he's not a boss, you chase him around. It's not even that I dislike that though, what bugs me is the level because first you have to chase one of those egg thieves because it has a key, you use that key to unlock another door to another egg thief with another key, chase them then use the key to unlock Gnorc. Why is this so terrible? Because if you die on the Gnorc level, you have to start all over and chase those egg thieves again and you do get used to it but it's annoying as heck, give me a checkpoint! There's challenging and then there's annoying, that's annoying, just leave Gnorc on his own because you basically have to memorize the course so you know every which way to go or else you die and when you die, you lose a life and you only have so many in this game. I went the whole thing easily having around 10 lives on hand but this level made me break out the 99 lives cheat because this was the last level! I'm not going back to farm for lives when I'm in Gnorc's realm doing the same level over and over again, trial and error. I felt that for some of the jumps you have to make with the boost pad like in Tree Tops. 

Overall it's a nice precursor for Insomniac, I didn't know Spyro did those news sessions like Ratchet and Clank, it's a nice game overall but it left me wanting just a bit more out of it which is why there are 3 in the trilogy that I suppose would build on that as well as a new Spyro probably on the way that should deliver on that even further.

[the-unsolvable-cipher]

Psn plus - Uma visão geral

Personally found it a tad boring and gave up. Fortunately it was free on ps plus. Voted hot as decent price If you want to play online multiplayer games on your PlayStation 4, you’ll need PlayStation Plus. That’s just how it is. If you try to use the em linha multiplayer features within a game without subscribing first, you’ll see a message saying you need PS Plus. Build the city of your dreams: Bring on a smog-filled industrial revolution or create a quiet beach town ideal for tourists powered by renewable energy. Build it your way! **2 Shared games must be available on PlayStation®Store in both the host’s and friend’s countries for Share Play to be used. Brodie has a background in education and is passionate about breaking down complicated topics and tech garble to make it more palatable for a wider audience. You'll have to download them from your UK account, bht they should play on the US account and vice versa During last year, I bought several games with PS+ extra discount on certain games. It did payed off well. But, I noticed in the last few months, very rarely games went on those sales. How is your experience ? Eu tenho a PSN plus tbm, tu É possibilitado a unicamente criar este download através tua conta da plus e e jogar e pegar os troffoius pela tua conta brasileira.ESTES downloads podem vir a ser usados por qualquer usuario dentro do console It cuts a few budget corners, but there's a decent amount to like about realme's affordable C3 phone. PlayStation Plus subscribers also enjoy an exclusive PlayStation Plus discount on select games and video content available through PlayStation Store. These range from 10% off pre-orders and new releases to massive PlayStation Plus-only sales with games discounted by as much as 90%. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkRead more TV However, it is possible that tracing and infection status technologies for smartphones will be developed that can integrate with COVIDSafe. Technology is sure to be Teams will be allowed to use five substitutes when the season resumes after a Fifa proposal to help with fixture congestion was approved. Plenty of smart business people have been brainstorming ways to get Australia back to work as the government implements its recovery plan. Rep. Justin Amash believes his White House bid is bad for both President Trump and his Democratic challenger, the Michigan Libertarian indicated in a recent interview. Share Play – as noted above, Share Play allows your friends to play titles that you own but they do psn plusnot (as long as they are PS Plus members).

Considerações Saber Sobre Psn plus

The Playstation Plus membership is your gateway into the fantastic world of the Playstation Network: Receive countless advantages, get your games, demos and bonus content faster and cheaper, benefit from special offers, free games and much more – all that is offered by Playstation Plus. Teams will be allowed to use five substitutes when the season resumes after a Fifa proposal to help with fixture congestion was approved. PlayStation Plus is a premium membership service that offers you access to multiplayer gaming, free games every month and more. It will always be connected to the Indo account in the sense that it needs to be downloaded and installed from that account, however it can sit quite happily on your console forever and be played from a UK account etc Events The federal government shattered the record for monthly deficits in April, ending the month $737 billion in the red, according to preliminary projections by the When products are grouped in a table or list, the order in which they are initially sorted may be influenced by a range of factors including price, fees and discounts; commercial partnerships; product features; and brand popularity. We provide tools so you can sort and filter these lists to highlight features that matter to you. Not sure why this is cold, bought loads of times from MMOGA and this is decently cheap for 12 months Plus, now that we're seeing more PS5 price rumors lurking, we're never too far away from next-gen. Prepare for your PS5 pre-order by getting that pesky subscription cost out the way for less. These are the titles Sony got for us for the month of October! Very much excited for Transformers Devastation. I’ve actually yet to try this game out but come this October I will be live streaming some of this game and see how it goes. Teams will be allowed to use five substitutes when the season resumes after a Fifa proposal to help with fixture congestion was approved. Plenty of smart business people have been brainstorming ways to get Australia back to work as the government implements its recovery plan. Search for: × You can psn plus register for the PlayStation Plus free trial through PlayStation Store, but you'll need to add payment details to your PlayStation account if you haven't done so already. These free games do come with a few caveats, however. PlayStation Plus subscribers must 'purchase' a month's selection of games before that month is up--if they don't, they won't be able to go back and download those games at a later time. It gets better: whatever you purchase through these sales is yours to keep, even after your subscription expires. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this sitio we will assume that you are happy with it.OkRead more

[dracsig]

Oh boy it's that time. To toke up and write about some of the events of this year. Beginning this year I started my job at where I am now and I'm really happy where I am at work, although next year I'll try to promote my position. I'm qualified for higher positions and higher pay, I just have to stop being so lazy and actually applyyy. Speaking of lazyness, that is probably the theme of my life the past 3 years lol I never wanna do anything, and I really deeply enjoy doing nothing at all, but the older I get, the harder is to do nothing :/  Anyway, not much really happened during the first half of the year, that or I can't think of any atm. I'll prolly remember, on a random Wednesday morning, in the shower. But as of now, I honestly can't think of any. Pretty sure I spent the whole first half still playing DBFZ. Btw, I am still obsessed with Dragonball FighterZ, I've gotten really good at it, I'm still competing in it every now and then. I've even been playing Street Fighter 5 recently which is starting to be one of my favorite games. I'm sooo excited for the future game wise AND the PS5 is releasing next year. Ya know, some people, when I was younger and now, would always tell how I would grow out of playing videogames lol boy am I glad they're wrong. Honestly if it wasn't for videogames I... Actually I hate thinking of what my life would even be like without them. 

Then fast forward to like August, that's where the ride actually started. I finally saved up enough money to comfortably move into my own apartment, top 5 best decision of my life so far. A few things I was looking for, was somewhere close to work, somewhere that was cat friendly and didn't kill my bank account and I did that perfect place for me. Of course one of the first things I did when I moved was drive to shelter and adopt a kitty, I couldn't wait to finally own one. I was taking care of my brother's cat too at the time. So after I got my new kitty, Videl, I ended up having two cats with me. Videl and my brother's cat, Mia. They are my babies!!! I love them so much. At first Mia didn't even like Videl ofc, but now they are inseparable. I'm gonna be sad when my brother will have to take his cat back. Maybe by then, I'll get another kitty for Videl to have another friend... I'll worry about this when the time comes. Hmm, that’s actually a cursed phrase for me “I’ll worry about it when the time comes”  oh boy , So many personal topics I should be worried and concerned about now, but I’m always like “I’ll worry about that later” and watch it get worse , Story of my life lmao . Here’s some pics of my babiies at this time 😻

Anyway after I got my kitty I had a trip to Washington and that was okay. When I got back I was excited to see my babies. Then I really started to take advantage of me living, in a bachelor pad basically, it was just me and my kitties. Got to meet a bunch of people, who were nice, for the most part . Living by myself allowed me to have soo much time alone to think about certain aspects of my life (and do alota drugs lol) I have determined I don't think I will ever want to be in a relationship. Just from I've seen and been through this year, I can't see myself completely trusting my partner to not cheat on me lol as silly/dumb as that sounds I’ve watched it happen to many folks and too many people get away with it, I'm too afraid to be in that spot. But honestly I'm enjoying being single, I just do what I want whenever I want. I've noticed how independent I've been feeling lately, which could actual be a double edge sword when I'm not responsible 😅. I've also been noticing just how FAKE people are willing to be just for someone else's approval. Shit makes me sick. I personally haven't fallen for that trap, since like high school, just cause I stop caring about what people think of me years ago, but there are people out there who live for the approval of others. It makes me sick but it happens. All you have to do is be yourself, why worry so much about what someone thinks of you, that you're willing change who you are temporarily, and backstab others just to gain a week long friendship lol. Honestly, just be yourself, and if you don't like yourself, change yourself for the better. But don't backstab others just to appear likeable to someone else ugh. Shit irks me man. I have learned to just let these kinds of people out my life just cause they bring me too much negativity and anxiety, life's 10/10 without em. I don’t even know how I got on that topic holy shitt I wrote so much already , this might be longer than the other years , lowkey enjoying doing this, looking back at somet hings throughout the year :thinking:

Meh , on a lighter note, I have watched some pretty good movies and series this year. Avengers: Endgame, Spiderman Far from home, Detective Pikachu, Shazam, Joker, Dragonball Super Broly (ofc they’re all superhero/fantasy movies) to name a few. I plan on watching Booksmart and Parasyte soon. I also just watched Marriage Story on Netflix last night, that movie was soo damn good, had so many well written scenes. Favorite Netflix movie so far . I basically watched all of Bojack Horseman this year and it is on my top 5 favorite show, that and South Park . Game of Thrones’s last season was earlier this year, it was good, could have been way better, but the show that TRULY caught my attention and kept it, is Attack on Titan. 

Attack On Titan became my favorite show/media/manga ever of all time. Nothing will ever beat the story telling of AoT for a very long time imo. The manga is very close to finishing, and the last season will be late next year. I honestly hope that when I die, it will be after the last episode airs and after I’ve read the last chapter of the manga, then I’d be content 😅. Dead ass, I re watched the anime so many times and finally re read the manga from the beginning and my mind is blown with every page I read, HOW can an author come up with such disturbing, yet fascinating way of telling such a deep story? Wow, I can go on about that show FOREVER, It became my favorite show all time and I want to always remember it.

I know i missed a bunch of topics I planned on touching, but I’m gonna end up writing PAGES if I talk about everything. I reallly enjoyed this year though.

Just as before, I wanna say hi to my future self reading this in December 2020 . I have no way to predict anything about next year at all. Same with this year, I didn’t expect anything that happened to me (good or bad) I just rolled with it. I guess that’s life?? Hoping 2020 will be just as good, if not better :)

[leftwriteb]

Industry Trend: Sony Drops Out. E3 Is Dying. Maybe That's a Good Thing?

Sony has decided it won’t have a showcase at E3 in 2019. Some see this as a terrible sign. However, even with this news, the expo has been slowly dying for some time. It might seem all doom and gloom but maybe this is all a good thing? We break down why the absence of the E3 Expo may do the industry some good.

It’s been a good few months since we all settled in to watch the events of 2018's E3 event unfold. We got to see what the beloved yearly showcase had to offer us whether it was news, surprises or cringe-worthy out-of-touch presentations. That said, the event came and went and it seems to have become largely forgettable already… Why? Because E3 is a relic of the past and something that probably doesn't need to exist anymore.

There’s no denying that E3 is a great time for video games and acts as both a celebration and showcase of what games can be, and how varied our medium is. With such a variety of genres and experiences at hand, we get to show the world just how great gaming can be and how it can resonate with people of all ages and origins. Make no mistake, that kind of event is incredibly important and is something that will always be cherished by game devs and players alike. I, like many others, absolutely love E3 week. For the past few years I’ve been able to book the time off for it so I can watch it all happen live as it happens. Sure, it usually takes place in the early hours of the morning for those of us in the UK but I don’t mind; some people go to watch their favourites sports teams or their favourite bands but this was the kind of event that could truly grab my attention.

To me, games are an important part of my life. Whether it be for the escapism of visiting weird and wonderful places, the friendships forged over multiplayer or the excitement shared leading up to a new release, there was a whole host of reasons games spoke to me and with E3 having become the golden boy of gaming conventions and shows, I always do what I can to watch. 

The past few years worth of shows have had their fair share of memorable moments. 2015 gave us Bethesda’s first showcase, the Final Fantasy VII Remake and Cuphead. 2016 gave us the reveal of Death Stranding, Project Scorpio and Spider-Man. 2017 gave us Metroid Prime 4, the Shadow of the Colossus remake and a trailer for Beyond Good & Evil 2. 2018’s E3 Expo, on the other hand, didn’t have anything that truly stood out for me. There were some surprises for sure but it all seemed to fade from memory within the space of a week. Some of the showcases given seemed almost pityful and lacking in content, with others arguably being dragged out longer than they should have been.

This isn’t something that’s unique to 2018’s show though; past E3 expo’s have seen an interesting shift and style as the landscape in which E3 sits becomes a more competitive one. E3 used to be the pinnacle of gaming events but that’s not the case anymore. As games have become increasingly embraced, more shows have expanded in influence and instead of having one huge blowout event to give us our news, we now have several. E3 is dying and, if you haven’t heard, Sony has recently hammered a further nail in the poor things coffin.

The news broke that Sony wasn’t planning on attending E3 2019 and that no presentation would be had either at the convention centre or elsewhere. Sony aren’t the first major player to turn their backs on E3 of course, with Nintendo opting to focus on their more polished Nintendo Direct presentations in more recent years. Presentations from the likes of Ubisoft, Square Enix and EA have been spotty at best and, to boot, PlayStation has an event of its own in the form of PSX. On top of all of this, other events are starting to step on E3’s toes. With so many events scattered throughout the year, there’s inevitably going to be a bit of a battle between them to see who can bring the biggest and best news to their own showfloors. PAX, EGX, GDC, Comic-Con, Paris Games Week, the Game Awards, Gamescom, QuakeCon, BlizzCon; everyone wants a slice of the pie. With so many shows in need of content and with only so much to go around, somebody has to draw the short straw.

One of the reasons so many events have sprung up and grown over the years is that it gives reveals a chance to breathe. Too often an announcement can be made and it is buried by bigger, better or simply more controversial news showing up immediately after. E3 is a prime example of this; with the conversation following such events always centering around a small handful of bullet-points, lesser known titles are being swept under the rug all too soon. By spreading out such things through the course of the year, it gives things a chance to hold the spotlight a little longer. What’s more, it also allows for more flexibility in release schedules; there’s often expectations attached to announcements and reveals that the content will surface within specific time frames afterwards. If you had the chance to reveal your game in January instead of June, people will instead have different preconceptions of when they will see more of the game and when it will release. A more flexible schedule allows for more flexible announcements and more flexible responses.

Why does this matter? Because game release schedules are getting more and more hectic. Just as they do within games conventions and conferences, releases are now battling it out for the best time to play their hand. Winter and Fall schedules are now home to countless big releases and all within a few weeks of each other. In years past we had Battlefield, Titanfall 2 and Call of Duty all surface within a matter of days. Both Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider took considerable hits in sales because they had been forced to face off against game releases that would unfortunately outmatch them. This year alone, we learned that Anthem, Days Gone and Crackdown 3 were all going to be released on the very same day in February of 2019 - something that has thankfully changed since.

E3 is arguably the largest of those gaming showcases and is seemingly shrinking. This may well open the doors to a more varied and well-balanced schedule for the plethora of conventions spread throughout the year and, in turn, the multitude of games we get to enjoy too. A less competitive peak period would also allow for games to get the focus they deserve in periods of the year we don’t often see larger titles. Would the original Dying Light have done so well if it had released in late 2014 instead of January 2015? Would the Witcher 3 have become the enormous hit it was if it had been released in the middle of the huge Fall 2014 releases such as Destiny, Fifa and the Grand Theft Auto V rerelease?

The absence of Sony at E3 next year also presents a unique situation for those who still plan on showing up. While it can be argued that Sony’s absence may well strike a significant blow against the game industry’s annual trade show, it does free up a significant amount of space for Microsoft and Nintendo to potentially occupy. It’s the first time in the event’s 23-year history that Sony hasn’t been there but with it being one of the strongest presences at the event it could prove an opportunity for others; maybe Nintendo could return to the E3 stage in full force. It’s also foolish to deny that Microsoft struggled during the first few years of this console generation. The Xbox has certainly come along way since and is in a stronger position than ever; Microsoft has done well to introduce new policies and features into their console infrastructure that have caught peoples attention. With the host of studios they have also taken control of, they may well be able to get of to a flying start in the generation to come. With an E3 stage next year that’s more spacious than ever, both Microsoft and Nintendo have the chance to grab it with both hands and show people what they’ve got that PlayStation hasn’t. More fierce competition brings fierce change.

With PlayStation having scrapped plans for PSX this year, there’s certainly a sizeable lack of Sony within the next year or so. Maybe they want to have PSX 2019 be one huge PlayStation celebration that’s topped with a PS5-shaped cherry? Maybe Sony just doesn’t want to have to be confined by the typical structure of games media year by year? Maybe Sony simply hasn’t got much to show off next year? Whatever the case may be, the gradual withering of E3 as the industry staple is actually a sign of something bigger.

We’re now spoilt for choice. While there was once a time where we had only one event to turn to, we now have a multitude of them. There is no longer just one celebration of the medium we love so much, there is a multitude of them. Gaming isn’t that hobby people didn’t understand like it used to be. Gaming isn’t seen as the cause of troubled youth like it used to be. Gaming isn’t the niche medium it used to be. We are now at a point where gaming is something that’s just part of nearly everyone’s day to day lives. We don’t need a single celebration of our industry because it’s celebrated consistently. While the slow death of E3 is certainly a shame, it symbolises more that the industry is getting bigger and better year by year.

The death of E3 might very well change the landscape of games media and the industry as a whole but it’s been allowed to happen because changes are already underway. Gaming media has embraced the culture of YouTuber’s, Twitch Streamers and Infuencers. It’s expanded into cross-media promotions. It’s working more closely with the fanbases that follow it. Games are forming passionate communities of players. Games are becoming services that are captivating players for longer than they used to. Games as a platform and medium have changed and so to must the means used to showcase them.

Sony has dropped out of E3. They’re undoubtedly gearing up for their next console and want to make sure that it surfaces with a far share games and revelations. Looking at the release schedule for big games going forward, they seem to all be releasing in the first half of 2019 or don’t have a solid date at all. Big changes are coming for PlayStation. Big changes are coming for gaming. Big changes are coming for E3.

E3 Is dying. Maybe that's a good thing? Change can be a good thing. In the next few years we will see new consoles, new approaches to gaming experiences and new ways that developers and publishers choose to interact with their players. For a group of people that love to spend their 1-UP’s and start things over, why not let our favourite trade show do the same…

[aion-rsa]

Deathloop Proves Incredibly Flawed Games Can Still Be Masterpieces

https://ift.tt/3EmwtJd

Deathloop‘s initial reviews have everyone buzzing about this timed PS5 exclusive from developer Arkane Studios (the team behind modern classics such as Dishonored 2 and Prey), but I’m a little worried that the positive buzz surrounding this game is going to give people the wrong impression about what kind of experience it actually is.

When a game starts getting perfect scores, it’s tempting to start telling yourself it must be perfect. Well, no game is perfect, and Deathloop is one of the most imperfect major games I’ve played in quite some time. It’s loaded with obvious shortcomings that will surely chase people away from its inherently divisive core gameplay.

Yet, I too am convinced that Deathloop is a masterpiece not just in spite of its flaws but, in some strange ways, because of them. Because a score can give you the wrong impression about why Deathloop is great, let’s take a slightly deeper look at this game’s problems, greatest qualities, and the strange relationship between the two that shows you just how rare a game like this really is.

Deathloop’s A.I. Is Shockingly Bad

The core of any immersive sim’s gameplay is the thrill you get from finding different solutions to complex problems. Do you go in guns blazing to show off your arsenal and abilities, or do you use stealth, hacking, and subversion to find a more subtle solution? That thrill of finding the perfect path forward (or even just your preferred one) is what makes games like Deus Ex, System Shock 2, and BioShock the classics they are. 

Sadly, Deathloop’s terrible A.I. limits the moment-to-moment appeal of its immersive sim gameplay. Enemies will regularly walk straight into their death, ignore bodies dropped inches behind them from great heights, and generally refuse to use even basic combat techniques to try to slow your progress.  

Deathloop’s woeful A.I. rarely inspires you to find those creative solutions that should define these types of games. You can still approach a situation however you’d like, but you’re rarely left with the feeling you’ve just found and executed the perfect plan since you’re pretty sure just about any plan would have been good enough to topple this game’s hapless goons. 

Deathloop Tries Too Hard to Hold Your Hand

Deathloop is a pretty complicated game built around a fairly unique premise. As such, I can certainly sympathize with developer Arkane’s decision to frontload the game with quite a few tutorial screens designed to explain the basics. 

Still, it feels like there was a better way to explain this game’s core concepts without relying on a series of screens filled with tiny text. For a game that does such a great job of subtly relaying nearly every other bit of information while letting you figure things out on your own (more on that later), it’s odd that Arkane chose to rely on such a conventual, straightforward, and often frustrating method of delivery. 

In fact, the somewhat sudden way this game pivots from guided gameplay to encouraging you to find organic solutions to complex problems might be too much for some and ultimately negate the good intentions of the title’s opening hours. 

Deathloop Doesn’t Feel Like a Next-Gen Game

Most people knew that the Covid-19 pandemic and global supply shortages were going to slow down an already slow next-gen transition process. We probably won’t start seeing a steady stream of “true” next-gen games until later in 2022, and I understand why that’s the case. 

That being said, I’m not sure Deathloop is entirely “worthy” of its current PS5 console exclusivity (the game is also available for PC). Aside from a few Dualsense features and quicker loading times, Deathloop feels like a game that probably could have been ported to the PS4 without sacrificing its best qualities. 

Considering how hard it is to find a next-gen console, I feel like this game probably should have been developed for PS4 and PS5. Microsoft may eventually offer some kind of backward compatibility once Deathloop comes to Xbox, but this title’s few obvious next-gen features aren’t a good enough reason to limit its initial reach. 

Deathloop’s Time Loop Is One of the Best In Video Game History

You probably know that Deathloop is a time loop game, and, thanks to a surprising number of new entries into that formerly niche genre, you probably know that means Deathloop is designed to make you repeat the same time period over and over again until you break the loop. 

However, you’ve got to play Deathloop to appreciate just how great its time loop really is. In fact, the way that Deathloop uses the time loop concept to slowly unravel its initially bewildering plot and enhance your understanding of what is possible in this game may just make it the best example of time loop design in video game history. 

I’ve already heard some say that having to repeat Deathloop’s basic structure over and over again starts to feel “grindy,” but in my experience, but there was honestly never a time when I felt too disappointed to start the loop over as doing so usually opened up exciting new opportunities or at least allowed me to learn from whatever mistake I just made that triggered the most recent reset.

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Games

Future Bethesda Games Like Elder Scrolls 6 Could Still Release on PS5 on a “Case-by-case Basis”

By John Saavedra

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Xbox Team Indicates Bethesda Will Retain Creative Control

By Matthew Byrd

Deathloop’s Assassinations Are Some of the Most Satisfying Logic Puzzles Since Portal

While Deathloop’s poor A.I. makes battles against its basic enemies feel…basic, the battles against the game’s Visionaries (your “boss” targets) combine the best elements of Portal and recent Hitman games to form the most satisfying logic puzzles you’ll ever experience. 

Identifying your target and finding not just the perfect way to kill them but the perfect way to kill them that then allows you to seamlessly move on to the next target with enough time to spare is quite simply one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in a video game in the last 15 years. The number of possible ways to kill an individual target is bested only by the number of possible ways to kill every target in one perfect run.

It’s an approach that leads to a nearly infinite series of “aha” moments that never fail to provide the motivation you need to work your way through one more loop. 

Deathloop Brilliantly Repurposes the Best Qualities of the Roguelike Genre

At first, I was a little worried about Deathloop’s item rarity, skill finding, and progression/regression mechanics. During those early stages when the game is trying to explain so much to you in a short amount of time, the combination of all those roguelike systems started to feel like a bit much. 

However, you eventually discover that the reason those mechanics work so well together is that Deathloop brilliantly limits how many skills, weapons, and items you’re able to readily access during each loop. The result is a kind of roguelike experience where you (eventually) get to have some say in what your reset looks like and how close to “zero” you really have to start from.

I love a traditional roguelike experience, but between games like this, Returnal, and Hades that challenge the idea of “starting over,” it’s been fascinating to watch developers play with the boundaries of the roguelike genre and blend that genre with other concepts. 

Deathloop’s Multiplayer is a Brilliant Idea You May Choose to Ignore

In case you haven’t heard, Deathloop features a fascinating multiplayer component that allows other players to “invade” your game by controlling Julianna: a rival who will stop at nothing to kill the player and preserve the time loop. Julianna’s unique set of abilities allows invading players to easily disguise themselves and generally make your life hell.

That’s the great and annoying thing about this feature. See, if you choose to disable player-controlled Julianna invasions, the character will still “invade” your game but will instead be controlled by the A.I. Considering this game’s A.I. problems (see above), you don’t really get to experience how brilliant this concept is until you enabled the multiplayer component. 

At the same time, the “griefing” nature of this invasion system means that many people are going to find it to be quite annoying and even detrimental to the overall experience. I feel like this problem could have been solved by a stronger A.I. version of Julianna who comes closer to representing the challenge offered by human players without being quite as frustrating. 

Deathloop’s Incredible Environmental Storytelling Enhances a Sometimes Weak Narrative

Most of Deathloop’s storytelling is done through audio files, environmental clues, computer exchanges, and…well just about everything other than cutscenes and character-to-player dialog exchanges. Anyone who is familiar with Arkane’s previous works (most notably Prey) will be familiar with this basic approach. 

Arkane’s familiarity with this complicated form of storytelling generally results in some of the cleverest and most unexpected bits of narrative design I’ve ever seen, even by this studio’s lofty standards. It’s amazing that Arkane left it up to the player to discover so many vital plot points and character development moments, but that approach ultimately enhances the thrill of finding that one bit of information that puts every other piece of the puzzle in place.

However, the game’s brilliant approach to storytelling doesn’t entirely disguise the weakness of the overall narrative. I won’t get into spoilers here, but once you realize that Deathloop’s plot is more about the little moments and the journey rather the destination, you start to get the feeling that there was a more interesting overall story here that the developers just didn’t quite deliver.

Deathloop Isn’t For Everyone, and That’s What’s Great About It

Developer Arkane Studios has been criticized in the past for making a specific kind of game that rarely meets sales expectations. Some have wondered whether or not Arkane would be better off making at least a few concessions to the preferences of wider audiences just so they could help ensure that they’re able to continue making at least some kind of version of the games they make so well. 

Between Deathloop’s PS5 console exclusivity, Arkane-style design, and the fact it’s hard to even offer a basic description of the experience without getting into spoilers, I highly doubt that this is going to end up being a long-term best-seller or even just the studio’s best-selling game to date.

However, that’s kind of what makes Deathloop so great. Nearly all of the problems in Deathloop can be attributed to Arkane’s desire to focus on the things they do so well and not worry so much about whether or not someone who doesn’t really enjoy what this title is fundamentally going for is going to take a chance on it. 

I can’t speak to what would have happened if Arkane tried to make a few more changes for wider audiences or even just worked harder to break free of their bad habits, but what I do know is that they came up with a brilliant idea for a game and made that brilliant idea work despite the fact that it could have so easily fallen apart at any time. 

In a world where nothing is perfect, it’s hard to withhold the masterpiece label for something that somehow manages to get everything right. Like many of the most innovative and greatest games before it, Deathloop was made by a team of people committed to getting their biggest and best ideas right above all else.

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It’s easy enough to see how Deathloop could have been a better game, but I’d rather be left with a series of nitpicks acquired in the pursuit of something original than another perfectly fine Triple-A game that ultimately justifies its existence through sales figures alone.

The post Deathloop Proves Incredibly Flawed Games Can Still Be Masterpieces appeared first on Den of Geek.

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As Konami hopes to avoid past console transition mistakes, PES 2022 is under pressure to deliver • Eurogamer.net

I turned to the dark side. Not of the Force – of video game football.

I’m sure I was not alone. I am of the generation raised on Pro Evolution Soccer, what was once the best, most popular football game on these shores. On PSone and PS2, it was the football game. A few two-versus-two games to get warmed up before a big night out, a sip of a drink every time the ball went out of play. And of course we’re running late – we had to have a rematch, and another, and another…

And then Konami completely messed things up. The transition to the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation was a disaster for PES, as EA Sports’ rival FIFA series took hold. PES, you could argue, has yet to recover from that own goal. I moved over to FIFA along with a huge number of PES players, and didn’t look back.

As we approach the start of a new console transition, Konami is desperate to avoid past mistakes. And in order to make sure it hits the PS5 and Xbox Series X running, PES is, effectively, taking a year off. PES 2021 is a stop-gap game, a season update, and it is cheaper as a result. I was shocked to hear the news. PES hasn’t done anything like this ever, really. I doubt EA would ever consider such a thing.

Some are wondering if this now points to a new way. Could we see Konami issue cheaper season update games in between mainline entries? I think there are plenty in the community who would like to see that kind of model. And what can we expect from the series next year, when Konami is under pressure to make a big splash with PES 2022, all singing and all dancing on the Unreal engine? Can Konami loosen EA’s vice-like grip on the UK?

I had a chat with PES’ Lennart Bobzien, the European brand manager for the franchise, to ask about Konami’s master plan. Bobzien is someone I’ve spoken to before about PES and he’s always been refreshingly candid about the challenges Konami faces. There was much he couldn’t say during our recent chat, but plenty I think is interesting.

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I think it’s fair to say it was a surprising decision not to release a full, brand new version of PES this year, and instead go with the season route. What’s the thinking behind that?

Lennart Bobzien: If you look into what we’re planning for next year, our team decided they just need more development time to basically make the transition from current-gen to next-gen. And instead of delivering a product, which maybe will not meet the expectations from our users, our team in Japan, they’re really high-quality driven. PES is a really high-quality product. Our team want to make sure that when we are launching on the next-gen next year, we want to deliver a product which meets the expectations. Therefore we’ve decided to make this step that this year, basically releasing the season update, and then the team can now fully focus on the future of PES.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before. But I do know Konami has had issues with PES making console transitions before. Did that experience help inform this decision?

Lennart Bobzien: As you said, we had some challenges in the past, and I think the team has learned from that. Instead of forcing it and releasing a product on next-gen and then not delivering on the expectations, the team just decided for this year to take a step back, and then to make sure the product next year is a fully embraced next-gen title.

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People have reacted positively to this. Annualised sports game have suffered criticism in the past for being little more than roster updates, and not always justifying a completely new game at full-price. People are now wondering whether this is the way to do things in the future, or is it a one-off?

Lennart Bobzien: We’ve seen people really appreciated our decision. Annual titles, they have a challenge. You release one product, and then within the next 12 months, you have to release another product. So the development time is really tight for making big new changes. We saw after our announcement that loads of people really appreciated our decision.

If this will now become something regular, I cannot really comment on that. All I can say is we’ve made that decision for PES 2021 now, and we have to evaluate once the product life-cycle for PES 2021 is over. Then we need to see whether our decision was the right one. Or maybe there were some pros, some cons, some things went well, some things maybe we should improve. This is something Konami will discuss internally to see how the good things can be applied in the future.

Obviously PES 2021 is going to be a roster update, but are there any gameplay tweaks at all?

PES 2021 is a season update game – a first for the long-running series.

Lennart Bobzien: The gameplay will be the same as PES 2020. Whether there will be any tweaks in the future, I cannot comment on that right now.

Okay, but in terms of what Konami would typically do post-launch with a mainline PES game, I’m talking myClub stuff, gameplay updates, is this stuff that will all happen with PES 2021, or will it be different?

Lennart Bobzien: Put it this way, we will still release data pack updates with new content. There will be new kits released. And also the same with myClub. Last year we introduced the Iconic Moment Series. That’s something we will still run for PES 2021. We also have the Euros added right from launch. So there will be some Euro-related content happening in myClub, but also in matchday at a later stage. So there is new content coming to the product.

Speaking of the Euros, the current plan is the real tournament will take place in 2021. How will it work in PES?

Lennart Bobzien: I’m not working for Uefa, so I can’t comment on the Euros. We’re just relying on the information that’s publicly available. Right now, the current plan is the Euros will take place next year. Whether it will be played behind-closed-doors or not, no-one really knows how football will work out next season. I would say the situation is still quite serious.

For PES 2021, we have the Euros in the game from launch, so people can experience the tournament right from launch. Looking at the content calendar regarding MyClub, I’m sure there will be content around the Euros happening in myClub, when it comes closer to the tournament.

I recently spoke with EA Sports about their plans regarding reflecting real-world football. You’re both making sims, both striving for realism and authenticity. FIFA 21 is completely ignoring coronavirus. Do you have any plans to reflect the changing nature of real-world football in either PES 2021 or beyond?

Lennart Bobzien: PES 2021, we will not have any massive changes. Are you referring to having empty stadiums?

That would be one of the changes, yes.

Lennart Bobzien: This will not happen for 2021. 2021 will be similar to 2020. Whatever happens in the future, I can’t comment on that. But the coronavirus situation slowed down things. It did not stop us from developing or from running campaigns, but it slowed down things. And it made it difficult for us, for example, to get access to clubs or the staff. Usually around that time we’d do some campaigns with the clubs, but now with all the restrictions, it is still possible but it is a challenge. But the good thing is we are working with our partner clubs very closely, and they are trying to support us as much as possible so we can get content done, which we then can use for the future.

You recently announced PES has lost the official licence for Inter Milan and AC Milan. What message do you have for fans this year who are concerned about licenses for PES 2021 as well as the future, given we haven’t had any high-profile announcements from Konami on gained licenses this year?

Lennart Bobzien: Just to comment on AC and Inter, it came to an end. Working with both clubs was amazing over the last couple of years. But unfortunately it came to an end. At the end of June we made the announcement on our website where we informed people, look, this is happening, because we just want to be transparent. That’s the thing we want to do with PES 2021, to be transparent right from the beginning with the product, but also with the content of the product.

Obviously, our competitor, they’ve announced their new partnerships. I cannot comment on anything, but all I can say, similar to when we spoke two years ago, we are always exploring opportunities. How can we get new leagues or clubs or tournaments on board, like what we did last year with the Euros? This is something we’ve done for the last couple of months. We’ve spoken to various clubs, and there will be announcements coming soon.

Are you losing anything else?

Lennart Bobzien: Again, I cannot comment on that. But what I can say is PES 2021 will have more or less the same type of licenses as in PES 2020. The only difference will be, you have clubs which have been relegated from certain leagues, so some clubs we will lose just because they have been relegated. But overall the licence portfolio will be very similar to PES 2020.

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So you’ve still got Juventus, then?

Lennart Bobzien: Yes. With Juventus it was a long-term deal. It’s not short-term, like a one-year contract. That’s what we do with all our partner clubs. We’re not going into details, like for how many years we are signing clubs, but every time we sign an agreement or partnership with a club, we’re always thinking long-term. A one-year deal doesn’t really make sense because you can’t really achieve something. We want to do a long story with all those clubs.

Yes, but the Juventus one is different isn’t it? Because it’s not just that you’re partnering with Juventus. You’ve got the exclusive rights to their name, which forced EA to change the name of the club in FIFA. I was surprised at that. PES getting such a high-profile genuine exclusive was a hell of a coup, I thought. Is that something we can expect more of from Konami in the future, or was it a special case?

Lennart Bobzien: It depends from discussion to discussion. It also depends on the clubs and their restrictions. Every time we talk to a club we explore the possibility of exclusivity, but with some clubs it literally doesn’t work because they still have agreements with their domestic league, for example. But if there’s an option to go into exclusivity, we definitely want to explore that. In the end, it’s a case-by-case scenario.

If you look at our clubs in South America, we have some exclusives there. If there’s a chance to sign a club exclusively, then we would look to do that.

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I’d like to talk about Nintendo Switch. EA puts out a half-arsed version of FIFA on Switch. Isn’t there a big opportunity on Switch for a really good version of PES that isn’t just a crap version of the main games? Will Konami step into the breach and save Switch owners who are looking for that experience?

Lennart Bobzien: I have a Switch at home. I love the Switch as a console. But I can just comment about PES 2021, and this will just be available on the current console generation, which means PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. There will be no Switch version for this year.

Two years ago we talked about how PES was doing. Now, how is the game doing generally?

Lennart Bobzien: I cannot go into specific numbers, but PES has definitely grown overall globally. Last year we had a really big year with our new partner clubs, and there was new content coming to the game with matchday and Iconic Moment Series. We had loads of new stuff coming to the product. As you can imagine, the Juventus announcement had a big impact on our Italian market. The product quality helped us to grow the PES brand globally, but also within Europe we’ve definitely noticed an increase of sales digital especially, but also for physical as well.

Can you say anything about how PES is doing in the UK? When we last spoke we were talking about how tough it it in comparison to FIFA here.

Lennart Bobzien: Again, I can’t go into sales figures. The UK is still tough. It’s a tough market. The UK is a market dominated by our competitor. It’s not a secret. We are growing, but I would say in the UK we are growing slightly slower than in other countries, just based on the dominance of our competitor. The partnerships we have with United and Arsenal help us massively to help make people aware of our product, to showcase our product. We 3D scanned both partner clubs in the past, and that just helps us show the quality to their fans.

All eyes on PES 2022 and Konami’s next-gen efforts.

Everyone’s talking about PS5 and Xbox Series X. Will PES 2021 work on next-gen in terms of backwards compatibility?

Lennart Bobzien: In terms of backwards compatibility, we’re really leaning on the first-parties and their messaging in terms of what they’re saying will and won’t work. We’re doing testing at the moment in Japan. Microsoft has been very clear that virtually all games going way back to Xbox will run on Xbox Series X. We’re not putting out too much publicly because we want to do that testing first ourselves. But we’re confident at launch you will be able to play PES 2021 on these new consoles. But it’s a question of optimisation and what will and won’t be so good. That’s why we’re hesitant at the moment. We’re doing all that testing, and then we can put out some clear messaging as to what the advantages will be by playing on these new consoles.

So it will work, basically.

Lennart Bobzien: From what we’ve seen from Microsoft. We’re still waiting on Sony’s public messaging with regards to backwards compatibility. We’re doing that testing at the moment. And there will be more public-facing messages that we’ll put out hopefully before launch.

You’ve decided to change game engine for PES 2022 on next-gen, switching to Unreal. Why did you decide to do that?

Lennart Bobzien: Our development team in Japan tried it out, and they’ve seen they have so much more opportunity to do different things on the pitch when it comes down to gameplay visual effects. When they played around with the Unreal engine, they just decided this was the engine they wanted to use to make the step into the next-console generation. The Unreal engine is the base for the future of the PES series. The teaser, even though it’s just a snippet, it shows the beginning of the future of the PES series.

You’re doing standalone PES 2021 club editions for Arsenal, United, Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern. Konami has said they come with bespoke content. What is it, exactly?

Lennart Bobzien: It’s something the clubs are asking for. They want to distinguish themselves. Two years ago, for PES 2019, we had Coutinho. From a cover or artwork point of view, it just makes it difficult for our other partner clubs to promote this edition. But with club editions, we can work closely with our clubs, and they can push it out to their fans as well. The clubs want to offer out some unique content to their fans, which you can only get with the Manchester United edition, you can only get the Iconic Moment Series player Beckham if you buy that edition. If you go with the Juventus one you get Ronaldo. And so on.

What if you want some of this exclusive content but you don’t want to buy multiple copies of the game?

Lennart Bobzien: If you take United as an example, it’s not the case this Beckham version is only available if you buy the United edition. Beckham will be available at a later stage in the myClub campaign. The only full uniqueness are the themes we’re giving away, for the PlayStation for example. Also we’re giving away a digital retro kit. Those two items are fully exclusive to those club editions. But the other content, such as Iconic Moment Series players, they will be available at a later point. But to be fair, if you are a Bayern fan, you would look into getting the Bayern edition with the Bayern retro kit. Obviously if you love football you would love to have all those retro kits, but in the end it’s up to the user. They have to make the decision.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/08/as-konami-hopes-to-avoid-past-console-transition-mistakes-pes-2022-is-under-pressure-to-deliver-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=as-konami-hopes-to-avoid-past-console-transition-mistakes-pes-2022-is-under-pressure-to-deliver-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net