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The People's Republic of Clogher
The Playstation + Collection is a fantastic addition to anyone new to the Sony ecosystem. I've played most of the stuff on there I was interested in by now, but it's a nice feature. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/p...st-ps-ps5-6300

I'm also loving the controller. Haptic feedback and force feedback triggers, combined with a much improved controller speaker, are kinda revelatory. As long as developers think about how they want to use the features, that is - combat in Demon's Souls, for example, just feels so meaty and I put that down to the subtle use of the controller speaker.
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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan



there's a frog in my snake oil
Ok, this is non-VR as well, I can post this here too

Review: War Thunder





Ok, with 24hrs under my belt in WT already somehow, I'm gonna go ahead and review it

I'm really not feeling the bite of the P2W structure at the moment. Yes you do get one-shotted by guys periodically, and can get absolutely dominated by fighters with absurd speed, agility & DPS. The starter tiering gives you a decent soft entry to find your feet though, and I do feel like my freebie-earned vehicles can do their bit in the arcade matches. (And more importantly, are mainly fun to fly while doing it . Once you've unlocked an upgrade or two.)

The main selling points for me currently are that:

The arcade modes:

These are all almost exclusively fun. I love the main war front objectives, where you normally find yourself doing a bit of everything throughout the match. Bombing runs, fighter interceptions, land strafing, defending objectives. Maybe even taking out a torpedo ship once you've unlocked more specialised stuff.

The 'capture the airfield' variants also invite some decent tactical decisions (including which ships from your roster you might sacrifice to seize an early airstrip), and a ton of low-flying dog-fighting. (With a bit of bonus, desperate airstrip bombing once you start running out of rides )

The only round I'm not super fond of is the 'hold the aerial location' one, purely because it plays out in a narrower, dog-fighting-alone, fashion.

The damage model throws some extra variety your way in every round as a rule, with a damaged wing to nurse or a faltering engine. And the ability to low fly through obstacles like trees means you'll see some spectacular plane disintegrations too .

Overall, despite the odd fist waved at an uber-fighter slicing me in half with one pass, I'm generally having a blast


The locations & environmental touches:

The new cloud tech, sea reflections, glancing sunlight, and varied locales, all really evoke a sense of place beautifully at times. And the maps themselves invite all kinds of ill-advised stunts and escape shenanigans. Great for all of the above online play, but also very chill to just cruise around in using the test flight mode

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At some point I should totally try the single player campaigns. And the tanks and stuff. But I'm still happy as a pig in mud unlocking bizarre British planes of yester-year rigth now

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



A system of cells interlinked
Unpopular opinion: Cyberpunk 2077 looks like an uninspired pile of trash.
I will wait to pass judgment until after I play, which will probably be closer to 2077 than 2020.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



Welcome to the human race...
Can't say I'm terribly fussed about it either even though an open-world cyberpunk RPG sounds like it should be my jam, but some of my recent gaming choices have made me think that I need to play different types of games anyway. I can reserve judgment until it actually drops, anyway.

Honestly, if you're not getting yourself into a financial hole buying the thing, the console is worth it for the improved performance on PS4 games alone.

I'm getting a solid 4K 60fps with God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Hitman 2, Monster Hunter etc. They play so much better than they did on PS4, even on the Pro. I'm having a blast.

Any games with an unlocked framerate should benefit, which means stuff like Bloodbourne, locked to 30, loses out.
I think the main selling point for me will be storage. I keep having to delete installed games off my PS4's hard drive to make room for new ones and there's always the question of whether I'll want to play them again at any point (especially if they're slowly dropping fresh DLC like Control or The Outer Worlds). Maybe now that I have PS Plus I should look into how the cloud storage works, but I get the impression it doesn't apply to the storage space you need to install games.
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



A system of cells interlinked
A few thoughts on Bloodborne.

I finished up Bloodborne last week. Overall, I enjoyed the game, but a couple of issues keep me from ranking above my favorite Souls titles. Bloodboorne isn't a Souls game, per se, but when all is said and done, it is close enough to be grouped in with them. Soulsborne is a genre for a reason!

First, the great/good: The atmosphere and production design are stellar. This game just oozes with horror and existential dread. The developers absolutely nailed the whole Lovecraft thing. What starts as a sort of werewolf and cursed townspeople environment, eventually morphs into a twisted cosmic horror filled nightmare, ratcheting up the tension to almost unbearable levels. A few times, I had to set the game down for a while, as I needed a break from the barrage of dark horrors.

The boss fights, for the most part, were well done. As in the Souls games, the big, unwieldy beast type bosses are markedly less fluid and fun fights, which usually see you trying to hit some giant creature in the ass over and over, while dodging and rolling to get into i-frames during their attacks. This is the Souls method, for better or for worse. Also as in the Souls games, the humanoid Hunters/knights type fights are all excellent. The faster, more aggressive Bloodeborne fighting really plays into these fights well. There are no shields in the game, so defensive styles pretty much don't exist. I have always believed the Souls games were more fun without using shields, and Bloodborne took that to heart in its design, and it's just so great. The enemy hunter fights were my favorite boss fights in the game, offering up a jaw-clenching level of challenge and strategy. Defeating these opponents was truly rewarding in that way that only Soulsborne games can be. The Gherman and Gascoigne fights were especially good.

I mentioned the fighting style. The rally system in Bloodeborne is a stroke of genius. The idea that you can quickly regain some precious HP if you immediately attack after getting hit retrains Souls veterans into an approach to these games that is arguably objectively more fun and exciting, while simultaneously training new players to the series in a way that will heighten their gaming experience. This type of player conditioning is awesome, and more games should use it.

Now, the not so good: Sigh. I understand the Estus flask system is a Dark Souls thing, but dang it, it makes all other healing systems pale in comparison. While the blood vial system is Bloodborne is still a limited system, the fact that it is a farmable item is straight up annoying. In Souls, when I run up against a boss that is owning me, I can keep repeating the boss, learning its moves, and getting sort of mentally locked in on the rhythm of the fight, replenishing my flask after each death at the bonfire, and then running back to fight again, eventually overcoming the boss. In Bloodborne, I can keep repeating the boss, learning its moves, and getting sort of mentally locked in...oh, now I have to go farm a bunch of items in some low level area by running around doing a bunch of useless **** over and over, because I ran out of healing items. Lame.

The rune system: Using runes instead of rings was kind of a cool idea. Making me run back to the hub to change them was not. Seriously bad idea. Oh, a poison swamp? Run back to the lamp, teleport back to the dream, etch the runes, teleport back to the beginning of the swamp area, fight all the way back to where you were...around the corner is a boss that does arcane damage. Uggg!! Back to the dream blah blah blah. Really? The latter half of the game was full of instance of me dealing with this.

Those are two pretty prevalent and annoying issues that ended up detracting from the game quite a bit for me.

So now, I am back to DS3. started a new game, due to me not knowing that Steam doesn't sync the Souls sequels for some reason, and in the time since I last played, I had to reinstall my PC. No NG+ for me! That's OK, DS3 is awesome, and I am glad to be back in the game. Running a Dark Build this time around; three bosses down so far, as well as some jolly co-op!




“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
Any killer Cyber Monday deals?




there's a frog in my snake oil
A few times, I had to set the game down for a while, as I needed a break from the barrage of dark horrors.
Oh my, if you want Eldritch horrors...

Star Citizen: The Enbuggening

The two stand out bug additions from the latest patch are:

Perpetual limb possession:



Spooky ship disappearances:



This last one isn’t new, it has just got terrifyingly worse. If you enjoy long reads about bugs, you can learn why citizens should now travel with a dead NPC at all times.




there's a frog in my snake oil
Star Citizen is still doing its thing, I see!
Getting better at it every year



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
So I beat Super Mario Sunshine today. Corona Mountain was semi difficult but could've been much harder. Damn, playing a level named Corona Mountain just doesn't seem right.

Anyways, I was flipping back and forth between this and Galaxy so I should have Galaxy done pretty soon too.

I would like to try to beat all Marios. I think this gets me to 4 now, 5 with Galaxy. In reality it's probably 7 as I'm fairly certain I beat the original Gameboy ones, but I won't count them because they were so long ago.

I guess after Galaxy I can tackle 64 one or wait for 3d world to come out on Switch.

Soon I need to get back on my Castlevania Symphony of the Night quest too. That game is a toughie.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Tough call, but I think it's up there, except for some of the really old ones at least (since games were just in general a lot harder back then, I'd say). I remember thinking it was harder than usual, though, yeah.
I just read this now (well I saw it but forgot to comment). Would you say 3 is technically one of the hardest?

If I remember right 2 is a real pain but honestly don't think I've ever beat that.



I'm honestly not sure, I don't have great memories of the end of the third one, which I guess would be the hardest part. Maybe not playing to that part much when I was a kid is an indicator it was tough, though, in and of itself.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
I just read this now (well I saw it but forgot to comment). Would you say 3 is technically one of the hardest?

If I remember right 2 is a real pain but honestly don't think I've ever beat that.
2 was definitely the hardest. I think it being a reskinned game and not a true Mario game by design was part of the reason.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
I'm honestly not sure, I don't have great memories of the end of the third one, which I guess would be the hardest part. Maybe not playing to that part much when I was a kid is an indicator it was tough, though, in and of itself.
It was tricky but me playing it so much makes it not seem over difficult I guess.



Let me just say that Control is a great game. The detail, the story, it's amazing. But these boss fights are ridiculous. I died a bajillion and one times in this game because not only do enemies respawn, but these bosses are no joke. It's weird because it puts me in a rage unlike anything I've ever experienced and yet I can't put the game down. I'm fighting a certain boss right now and I can't tell you how enraged I've been these past few days. Things were shouted that no one should hear.

P.S. This game deserves the TV treatment. Plenty of material to work with.



The People's Republic of Clogher
Control has been in my backlog for a while now, but I've decided not to touch it (I bought it in a PSN sale a few months ago) until the PS5 update gets released. It seems to run fine on the new console, but I've waited this long and I can wait some more.

In other news, I sold my PS4 Pro and am gonna list the One S and PSVR today. This is the most I've used facebook in years and I'm feeling slightly queasy.



The Adventure Starts Here!
I always love to come in here when everyone is discussing FPS games and boss fights... just so I can mention the easy, non-threatening little adventure game I'm playing. Today's fare is Morels: The Hunt. It's a Steam game about, yes, mushroom hunting. You pick a location in the U.S., head there, and then walk around some lovely scenery looking for mushrooms. You can also get points and achievements by taking pictures of various animals, and there are weekly tasks to perform for more points.

There is a special "golden morel" to be found in each location. And there is a mystery animal.

So go right ahead with your monsters and your ammunition gathering and your boss fights. I'll just waltz around the Pacific Northwest looking for mushrooms among the redwoods. And if I spot Bigfoot somewhere, I'm totally taking his picture.






I always love to come in here when everyone is discussing FPS games and boss fights... just so I can mention the easy, non-threatening little adventure game I'm playing. Today's fare is Morels: The Hunt. It's a Steam game about, yes, mushroom hunting. You pick a location in the U.S., head there, and then walk around some lovely scenery looking for mushrooms. You can also get points and achievements by taking pictures of various animals, and there are weekly tasks to perform for more points.

There is a special "golden morel" to be found in each location. And there is a mystery animal.

So go right ahead with your monsters and your ammunition gathering and your boss fights. I'll just waltz around the Pacific Northwest looking for mushrooms among the redwoods. And if I spot Bigfoot somewhere, I'm totally taking his picture.



I don't know about you, but when I see a growling bear and Bigfoot in a game's promotional artwork I expect to fight at least one of them. Sounds like a case of false advertising to me.