Video game talk, anyone?

Metroid: Prime Remastered - I learned that this was a thing apparently an hour or so after it was released on the Switch store, and as such, this is surely the earliest that I have purchased a game after it’s release. I’m not even a quarter of the way through as of writing this, but thus far I’m enjoying it a lot. Metroid: Prime is one of my all-time favorite games, and the actual gameplay is, as far as I can tell, almost identical to that of the original (if you want it to be). The updated graphics are obviously an improvement on the original (which honestly was one of the most visually impressive games of its generation); I suspect that it’s probably about as good as you’re going to get with a Switch game. There are several options re: controls. I’m playing on “Classic” mode, where the controls are effectively identical to those on the original GameCube version, but I’ve also messed around a bit with other controls. Having become used to first person games that use dual stick controls, it was actually a bit off-putting at first playing Prime with the original setup. I suspect that the best gameplay experience probably comes from the option to use a combination of dual stick control with the target lock button. There’s also a “Casual” difficulty that I don’t think was an option in the original and which I haven’t tried, but is a nice accessibility feature. Anyway, enjoying it. Dunno if it’s worth it if you aren’t a huge fan of the original and still have access to a GameCube copy, though.

But what about Destruction AllStars?


I Googled “PS5 exclusives “looking for a shitty obscure game that there was no way you’d care about to ask you about as a joke, and this was the only one that fit the bill. Probably because apparently as of December of last year there were only five PS5 exclusives.

In that case, I have a suggestion of something you might enjoy playing. Have you heard of a game called Bioshock 2?

It happened again. I picked up the remaster in the switch sale over the weekend and having fun stabbing monsters with a spear based Amazon build.

Working towards getting a skyscale in Guild Wars and I'm at the part where I have to farm map currencies and I'm deeply regretting everything.

DA Inquisition combat isn't greatly compelling for me. I think having it on a console kind of detracts from the experience. Also the menus need to flow better, I'm obviously meant to be obsessing about minor increases in values but it's too much of a pain in the ass to go back and forth checking how a new hat will improve my Attack percentage so I just go with whatever has a higher number than the old thing. Actually I go with what looks good for the outfit the character has, then I worry about how the numbers work.

Anyway, the actual thing to play a Dragon Age game for is to roleplay inside a dating simulator. Sure, an alliance with the qunari would kick ass, but my Inquisitor isn't the type to sacrifice her own men, so ah well. That qunari route is now closed off.

i wish i was as cool as this guy

Octopath 2, like its predecessor, is both incredibly beautiful and narratively exhausting. I'm being a good boy and going through each character's first chapter before moving on to any chapter 2s, and it's been 20+ hours of starting a new story, grinding a new character from level 1 to level 7-8, taking on a boss, finally adding that character to my roster, and then moving onto the next town where the next character lives. It is supremely annoying that unused characters don't earn any passive exp, so I guess I'll maintain a core roster of three overpowered party members and swap in various underleveled characters as required. The writing is overall better than Octopath 1, so at least I'm enjoying each individual storyline, but I can't help but pine for something like Final Fantasy VI, which has an even larger and more diverse cast of characters and actually bothers to weave their narratives together.

You know who they should add to the Tekken lineup? Right-wing poet Yukio Mishima. There's already a fighter who commits seppuku so they can just reuse the animation, they just need to add a giant boner for the Mishima model.

who do you think kazuya and heihachi are named after?

Dragon Age Inquisition is on my list for this year (a mere nine years after it was released - bloody hell where does the time go?) I replayed Dragon Age Origins last year and have just finished off Dragon Age Origins: Awakening. Thing is, I'm very much a "what does this hat do to my attack percentage" kind of player, which is why I've spent an absurd amount of time in the combat mechanics article in the Dragon Age wiki and my desk has several pages of notes on which characters should have what items, what crafting ingredients are required to make various types of rune, and an attempt to calculate at what Dex rating I should switch off Aim and swap out the Repeater Gloves (-3.0s rapid aim) for Red Jenny Seekers (+15% crit damage). All of which is pointless because the play balance in this game is fucked and with properly built characters (especially if one of them's an archer) even on Nightmare no combat encounter lasts more than about 30 sections. (Apart from The Mother who lasted, ooh, maybe a minute). And as with other BioWare games of the 00s, I occasionally feel like I'm playing an inventory management simulator with some combat encounters on top. I think I spent about two hours before the final sequence doing fetch quests and fannying around with gear and runes. Would be really interesting though to play a modded version that keeps the level 25 limit cap and lets you only use the spells/talents from the base game. 

Anyway I have mixed feelings on this one. Whenever I've played it I've always come away with a sense of it being a bit half-arsed and not fully thought through - missing the attention to detail and internal consistency that DAO does so well. Like the play balance issues. And Varel the senechal doing the joining rituals - why is this guy who isn't a warden doing the secret warden thing? I get that the PC never talks, but why not have it conducted by the lady the wardens sent from Weisshaupt to manage your accounts? (Also while we're at it, maybe Oghren belching his way through the joining somewhat diminishes the enormity of the occasion and Mhairi dying in the attempt right there a minute ago). And why does Nathaniel have a prison all to himself instead of being put in the one in the basement that got overrun by darkspawn? And on no fewer than four occasions we visit the storytelling well of running into a guy who delivers some exposition before conveniently dying; one of which - the warden with broken legs who turns you down when you offer to carry him - is just absurd. On the other hand, there's a lot of content there for a DLC add-on pack, I quite like the story as these things go, and it's got a ton of interesting ideas which I guess they didn't want to leave unused from DAO but wouldn't really fit in the story for DA2.

So next, onto the final couple of DLC packs, then something completely different before I replay DA2.