Be Excellent To Each Other

Those look amazing Mimi

I have a sackboy figure which will be sitting on my desk at work probably under a few inches of dust :-)

(it was a secret santa gift a few years ago)

Darwin 100%’ed his first game last week: Lego Jurassic Worlds.

Excellent! Get him in the completed in 2020 thread!

Seren's just started playing my old ds, she's got a drawing game that's about the right level, it's close enough to touch screen games that she's had on the iPad but I'm keen to get her playing something with a bit more depth on it (also all the kids iOS games are just vehicles for pushy adverts which are infuriating)

It's got an old Pokémon leaf green cart in it that does work but never saves so she just has to start new every time which is a shame, anyone have a fix for this? Or does anyone have a suitable kid friendly Pokémon for DS I can buy?

Hmm... that is odd. Is it a genuine cart? I don’t have any Pokemon games, sadly, but I’ll ask my brothers. They might have one knocking about.

Sorry Mimi just seen this post now - they are lovely!

In further Sackboy news some of the levels do get a bit frustrating due to the 'genuine' 3D nature of the game, unlike say DKC Tropical Freeze where the game is rendered fully in 3D and switches perspective and whatnot, it still remains resolutely 2D in terms of how you move through the levels, at the most having different 'tracks' that you can switch between.

In Sackboy however you can move around freely in the 3D space and this is a bad match for some of the levels, there was one in particular where I got to a Game Over screen off the back of overly fiddly platforms and not being able to work out where I was going to land, which was irritating.

Fortunately it's rare, and overall the game remains delightful, I also have lots of lovely costumes for Sackboy now and many splendid items of clothing to dress him in.

Cute. I like little costumes and such, also. I’ve got a Santa suit for Story of Seasons: Friends Of Mineral Town, but do I wear it now because it’s nearly Christmas IRL, or during winter in the game?

@krazywookie I texted my brothers but they both gave their Pokemon games to a friend’s partner a couple of years ago, sadly.

Thanks for checking meems! It is a genuine one but it's been in the Ds for a thousand years, so fair enough.

Odd that it doesn't save though - I thought Leaf Green was one that needed the battery for timed events, but not to save the game. Mind you, I've tested and sold so many Pokemon games across various formats, I forget which ones are which. The most annoying one to test is Pokemon Trading Card Game as you have to go through the whole tutorial to reach the first save point, and god it's a dull game.

We’ve got him the game of the Lego Movie (as well as the actual Lego movie, which he’s not seen) for Christmas. He loves lego Minifigs. That’s what he wrote and asked Father Christmas for this year: three minifigs. We thought we’d buy the game and movie from us to go alongside it.

I've had another go on Mario Kart live today and it's brilliant fun! I've had the gates set up in the living room and created my own course and it's just like Mario Kart, but in my house!

It's clever how the kart reacts to things on the track which aren't really there. You can even power slide round corners. The kart itself works fine on the carpet but better on a hard floor but honestly... I can see any kid having this on Christmas being well chuffed with it.

And to end the evening, fun with a QBU....

I have started playing, Avengers. It is set in an alternate timeline, and after a disaster the avengers have been dissolved. There are a lot of missions to rebuild the avengers.

I am not sold on it, but after playing god of war. It seems lacking.

Just dipped my toes into StarWars Squadrons. Happy to have paid the asking price just to sit inside the cockpits in VR. Cor!

I’ve also an overwhelming urge to buy Yakuza Kiwami 2 after finishing Yakuza Kiwami the other night. They’re nice places to be.

I think I want a VR...

You can’t get hold of PSVR at sensible money. I think Sony have discontinued it?

The kids got me Yakuza like a dragon for Xmas and I'm really enjoying the pace of it. I usually hate cut scenes but they're so accepted as part of the Yakuza experience that I enjoy chilling out and letting it wash over me. The shift to turn based JRPG fight mechanics seems pretty well done too.

Like you say, they're a nice place to be.

Yeah the atmosphere, quirky humour and smut in the ones I’ve played are great

Games that know they’re games and not taking themselves too seriously.

Ah nuts.

"have this, you bastards"

This is a bit meh...

While Yakuza Like a Dragon is my current game of choice for the solitary 45 minutes I have at the end of the day, I'm finding pockets of time to enjoy Yoku's Island Express on the Switch (also available on other platforms).

It's utterly adorable and I'm finding it most relaxing to play, which is frankly very much needed right now as I'm one-week deep into my no-booze and no-fags regime, and juggling homeschooling with work (like most other parents).

What is it? It's kind of a Metroidvania-pinball hybrid, in which you guide your little ant around a tropical island, ostensibly delivering letters, but largely helping the island's citizens. Controls are a mixture of chilled rolling about and largely enjoyable but occasionally fidgety pinball sections.

It's going for very cheap on Steam and Switch at the mo. Pick it oop.

I've sank back into the lovingly cold embrace of Dark Souls...

We bought Harrison a copy at Christmas and I've enjoyed playing it with him so much that I fancied a re-run too. Just over £10 on PSN now.

In all my other DS games I've gone for nippy dex builds with Pyromancy / Magic so this time I made a conscious effort to try something new: Knight with Miracles to make a Paladin.

I'm playing Hades... a lot... when I should really be working...

It's very good.

I also fired up Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath on the Switch, which I bought for £8 (and you can too!)

I adored it on the Xbox, hated it on the Vita, and on the Switch... it's spot on. Can see myself giving it another run through. Haven't fired it up on the big screen yet, either.

Dave "I am going to get a kill with the crossbow for shits and giggles !".
Me - "Oh look ! someone to kill ! *BANG*"
Dave - "You bastard, he was mine.... Have this !"
Me - "Thanks Dave. I will now spend the rest of the game with a crossbow bolt in my foot"

Yoku's Island Express continues to be a thing of gentle wonder. The amount I've enjoyed exploring this island really can't be overstated. The art style is absolutely lovely.

Would be a 10/10 for me, but the section I played last night that saw me scale the mountain with carnivorous plants is one of the most frustrating things I've done for a long time. Virtually impossible to time your swings with any degree of purpose or accuracy. Shame, as it's been absolute joy aside from that.

Just Cause 4 is buggy and a bit boring. There's so much to do I just.... can't really be bothered with it. It's given me a million different things to try with my tether and my loadouts and my territory and my missions and my things and other things keep popping up on the screen but I don't really care. I also seem to get stuck on, or inside, scenery/walls/stuff quite often. YAWN

The Outer Worlds seems less interesting than Mass Effect (which I loved) and oh, I hated fallout and this basically seems like Fallout in Space (Hi, TommyJ!) and the text is really small and and and I just can't be bothered. MEH

Minecraft Dungeons is fun, especially with my 5-shooter crossbow that also does fire damage and periodically fires an explodey shot(s). I've enjoyed playing this with our Minecraft-obsessed 8 year old, and have even snuck in a few goes after he's gone to bed. I've convinced myself that this is so I can level up a bit so that I can 'look after' him a bit better in the game, as he does tend to dive straight into a fight without much thought, but -really- it's because I'm enjoying it. I suspect it may get a bit too grindy-feeling later but for now, couch co-op fun. WHEEEEEE

I ditched it after an hour. The opening set piece should have been thrilling, but I found I was already bored by the fourth wave of generic army dudes.

At the end of last year I saw Hades in various "Game of the year" lists alongside titans such as TLoU2, Ghost of Tsushima and Animal Crossing; and I sneered a little, thinking that "edgy" and "hip" game critics put something from the indy studio up against the multi-million dollar blockbusters. But! It was on sale on the Switch recently, and who can resist a bargain? So I bought it.

It's fucking phenomenal, and would have easily troubled my "best games of 2020" list had I played it that year. As it is, 2021 is starting with a solid contender.

P.S. I'm slightly better than Trooper at it, at least until he posts his next complete time

Does Hades run OK on Switch? Like you I've seen it on many GOTY lists including Jim Sterling and SkillUp, I should probably just drop the cash and buy it.

Problem is we only have one Switch which might cause contention with Mrs Hearthly and her turnips in Animal Crossing.

Oh yes and everyone who's put Ghost of Tsushima on their GOTY list is 100% correct, for the love of god anyone who's got a PS4 and hasn't bought this game yet, please do so it's damn near the perfect videogame.

It's one I'm saving for when I eventually get a PS5. My PS4 is already creaking along, with fans that suggest it's about to lift off. Think GoT would push it over the edge.

Yeah it pushed my PS4 Pro pretty hard, which is definitely the most unpleasant sounding piece of hardware I've owned since my original XBox 360.

It's a pity Sony couldn't be arsed to spend an extra £6.47p on a decent vapour chamber cooler like MS did for the XB1X.

I'm playing Hades on a relatively low spec PC with no issue.

p.s. Grim... only stepped up his game after I annihilated his times...

Plus it's basically animal crossing anyway, i'm currently fishing and talking to Achilles, trying to get him to fall in love with me.

I’ve been playing the co-op/multiplayer bit of DLC with a mate. It’s been immensely good fun.

He played the game on a PS4 Pro and tells me he wished he’d waited until he got a PS5 cause the doubling of the frame rate makes a massive difference. I’ll tell you this, as someone who never played it on PS4, it’s super snappy and the combat feels tight and responsive.

The combat is remarkably like a lite version of Sekiro. It’s not all about mashing attack and fights can slow right down into waiting to make a decision whether to parry, dodge or jump. Mind you, that’s the main game. The coop mode can get really hairy as the pair of you pile into the nearest goon and hack him to bits.

We’ve done the 9 coop campaign missions once on the normal difficulty which unlocks a harder difficulty (and after you do it again to unlock the hardest difficulty). We’re just battling through the next level of difficulty (which only gives 3 continues in the event of a team wipe) and having a good laugh. This level of difficulty definitely more challenging and it’s worth playing through the the coop campaign quickly to get to this.

Oh, and best of all, it’s got time limited skins. Well that’s shit, obviously, but one of them is a Shadow of the Collosus skin and you get a big furry Collossi head and Wander’s cape! It fucking made my day. There’s also Aloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn, a God of War one and lastly an awesome Bloodborne one.

The last time to unlock these skins is tomorrow so if you’re interested you best get on it! It’s easy to get one by just doing a single mission. 3 takes a bit more time but not too long.

I'm going to play through the whole game again on PS5, so probably some time in 2025 when they're available to purchase.

In fairness performance on PS4 Pro was decent, I played it in 'PERFORMANCE' mode which was an upscaled 1080p at a solid 30FPS with motion blur. Not ideal but didn't detract from the game in the main, although there were a few occasions where the motion blur couldn't hide the framerate. I tried it in 'QUALITY' mode which dynamically tries to keep the resolution up around 4K-ish and maintain 30FPS but there were too many drops from the target framerate so had to go to PERFORMANCE mode.

Put it this way, I wouldn't try to put off anyone from playing it if they only had access to PS4/PS4 Pro hardware.

Seeing Anor Londo again after Sens Fortress is still spectacular.

Ghost of Tsushima skins

https://twitter.com/playstationuk/statu ... 2208443399

Complete any #GhostOfTsushima: Legends Story or Survival mission with each Class by January 15, 2021 to unlock all four outfits inspired by iconic PlayStation characters. 😍 pic.twitter.com/6m3nHRjzZt

— PlayStation UK (@PlayStationUK) December 18, 2020

Yup.

I’ve still been playing Ghost of Tsushima a fair bit and not only has it clicked but it’s become a bit of a favourite. And I’m not that keen on open world games with all their icons and endless shit to do and checklists of nonsense, but, here, it’s not so bad I don’t reckon. If I want to clear a camp Far Cry stylee I’ll quite happily mooch over and have a look what’s happening. If I come across a fox I’ll follow him for the 30-60 seconds it takes to lead me somewhere. And if I just want to get on with the story I’ll follow the mission path again. There’s a few different activities dotted about that might have otherwise irritated me in any other game but the setting, the snappy controls and satisfying combat; it doesn’t feel like a chore to knob around. It helps that it looks absolutely beautiful and runs at 60fps. And that you headshotting folks in the face with an arrow is always awesome.

I’ve just finished helping Yarikawa defend a siege and it pretty much fucking kicked ass. Although I couldn’t help but wonder why I needed to get 6 archers beforehand to lure away the mongols when dude just let a horde kick in the front door.

Conclusion: Ghost of Tsushima kicks ass.