From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc


I didn't watch any American football Sunday night. But I do feel tired
on behalf of everyone else in my country. I hope everybody is inclined
to phone it in at work today as a result.

Play:
--=--

Elden Ring (PS5) - Still mopping up old bosses. This game needs some
kind of Morrowind-styled journal feature, since being open world means
that the bosses aren't gatekeepers to other parts of the game. I'm encountering a lot of weird frustration trying to unlock the last little optional area because it feels unfair how there are always archers and invisible assassin types from at least three directions anywhere you go,
which is not a combat situation that suits a spellcaster. I think the
fact that I found time for so much other gaming means that I'm finally wandering towards the end here.

Yakuza 6 (PC) - The intent was to rush my way through Kamurocho and
unlock the town in Hiroshima so I could get some nice animated scenery
for my workplace meeting backgrounds, but I caught myself getting
invested in the story again because it's just that good. It doesn't hurt
that just levelling up normally makes Kiryu kind of overpowered after
just a handful of story mission fights, means means I can pretty well
one-hit any of the Tokyo street thugs who pick a fight.

Psikyo Shooting Library Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (PS4) - I had the first entry
on Switch already, but it's nice to have these old arcade games on the
big screen. I don't recall ever playing the three Sengoku shooters
before, and they are rock hard. Beautiful and pleasant to watch, like I
knew they were, but there's a reason these games were coin-sinks. I
actually got quite a few of the trophies in the Sengoku Cannon game
before my aging reflexes gave out, which was enough to inspire me to get
the Switch cart for Volume 2. Weirdly a lot of these games are showing
up just on normal Amazon now, which is nice because Play Asia is having
new trouble getting boxes out of Hong Kong.

River City Girls 2 (PS4/Switch) - Now that I finally have these in hand
I can admit to myself that I don't actually like the new River City
games much, and I struggle to articulate why. Way Forward has a design aesthetic with energy and intent, and so it's a disappointment that all
that auteur vision doesn't necessarily lead to fun in the gameplay. It's
a little clunky and a little inconvenient to navigate River City when
it's so slavishly devoted to otherwise recreating the old Famicom/NES experience of the game with just slightly better graphics, because basic creature comforts like knowing when a fight is actually starting or
having proper freedom of movement just isn't in the vocabulary of the
world that's being presented. I'm not having as much fun with these
games as new experiences as I would have with the old River City Ransom
game being a breath of nostalgia, and that feels like an unfair
conclusion to draw.

Want:
--=--

My Evercade EXP (Evercade) - I'm *this* close to just buying a standard non-limited edition EXP unit so I can actually make use of the silly
thing. I know it's not Funstock's fault that the lorry got robbed, but
it's my nature to be annoyed about anything that inconveniences me but
was also clearly preventable.

Bin:
-==-

Nothing game-related.

Expenditure:
-----=-----

Balance forward - $181

Psikyo Shooting Library Vol. 2 (NSW) - $30
Like a Dragon: Ishin (PS5) - $60 (preorder)
Indie Heroes Vol.2 (Evercade) - $20

Total to date - $291

-KKC, charging all his game system batteries.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc

Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick@nospam.io-nyc> wrote:

Play:

Minecraft (PSV) - tried enchantments, fishing, and fishing for
enchantments. Also explored more of the caverns and especially ravines
around the normal map, and finally found a preexisting structure
there. A dungeon of some sort, with just one small room, and a spider
generator block. My favourite. Usually I don't find spiders too bad in Minecraft (despite their habit of jumping at you), but having a bunch
of them crawling all over the walls at once was a bit much. Let's just
say it certainly encouraged me to destroy the generator.

That wasn't the first structure I found anywhere, as I did previously
find quite a big fortress in the Nether. Though I suspect that one
might be guaranteed, as you need to fight the Blazes that spawn there
to get the rods/powder needed to find a stronghold (back in the normal
map) and activate the portal there to reach the End dimension.
Obviously.

After collecting more of the stuff required, I got there and beat the
End boss. That actually ended up being much easier than it initially
seemed to me, because any progress you make persists over deaths. So I
did it with deliberately minimal equipment and no armour (reducing any equipment loss and armour damage) and managed it after dying maybe ten
times. Probably not a sensible strategy, but it worked for me. :-)
While beating the boss serves as an ending for the game,
unsurprisingly you do get to play on afterwards.

Mineclone 2 (Linux) - briefly tried this again, and I have to admit,
even with the limitations of the Vita version Minecraft is really a
lot more playable and less awkward. But I suppose this is partly due
to the weird controls I'm using on MC2, as I mentioned before.

Want:

Nothing.

Bin:

Vita Minecraft's draw distance being low enough that the End boss is
likely to be literally invisible on a regular basis. I think it's fair
to say that this encourages a death-heavy approach one way or another.

The End portal in Minecraft generating nowhere near either of my two
main existing bases, which is a bit annoying as there are (mainly
loot-based) reasons to look around more after beating the boss.

-Rus.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2