From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc


Spent the whole weekend arranging for my son to have surprising and
enriching social experiences. Next weekend he's going to spend all 48
hours in front of a television if I can help it because I need a nap
now.

Play:
--=--

Freedom Wars Remastered (PS5) - And nothing else. The counter says I've
put in 42 hours since I started playing? That's super absurd. It's kind
of amazing to me how much fun I'm having, which is both a function of
the robust single-player game (which is intended to train you for
multiplayer) and the engaging story. It's almost Yakuza-like in its
pacing, where there's a slow burn of a mystery that you don't even
realise is a mystery until you're halfway into it.

Want:
--=--

Retroremake Superstation (PSX) - I'll probably regret this. It's a
MISTer Pi unit with some Playstation controller ports hardwired into it,
but hypothetically you can run any FPGA core you want. I don't really
need one of these, but it's relatively cheap and I wanted in before international trade is completely ruined. Let's see if they deliver this
year like they plan to.

Bin:
-==-

Nothing game-related.

-KKC, who can't tolerate Parmesan cheese in his old age.
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From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc

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

Spent the whole weekend arranging for my son to have surprising and enriching social experiences.

Such a flexible description. :-)

Play:

Tomb Raider (2013) (PC) - I played this on PS3 originally (it came to
PS+ like seemingly every non-Japanese Square Enix game of that era),
and thought it was... well, not too bad. Some bullet-spongey baddies
and an annoying boss at the end, or something like that, but generally
a solid Uncharted-like game with maybe a hint of Resident Evil 4, and
with the few actual tomb-raiding moments amusingly being entirely
optional. This time the game is seeming decent enough so far, but I'm
finding the QTEs to be pretty awkward - I routinely fail them a few
times. I'm also getting to the point where the bullet-sponge business
is getting a bit excessive, despite going for headshots and mostly
spending the skill points on combat skills. It might have been more
sensible to just play on Easy not Normal, but I expect I'll fumble my
way through somehow.

Want:

Maybe to eventually try the later Tomb Raider games (the Rise and
Shadow ones). Though, maybe not if they too have baddies who react to
bullets as a mild inconvenience.

Bin:

Nothing.

-Rus.
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From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc

In article <nsJlP.112$O%.29@usenetxs.com>,
Russell Marks <zgedneil@spam^H^H^H^Hgmail.com> wrote:

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

Spent the whole weekend arranging for my son to have surprising and
enriching social experiences.

Such a flexible description. :-)

If you must know, he saw a hockey game for the first time on Saturday
with his scouting troupe, and he went in apprehensively not knowing what
to expect and came out wanting to do more. On Sunday he made an absurd
amount of noise at a trampoline park with his best friend, who is coincidentally the daughter of one of my oldest friends. Their mums
claim to be joking about wedding plans.

Play:

Tomb Raider (2013) (PC) - I played this on PS3 originally (it came to
PS+ like seemingly every non-Japanese Square Enix game of that era),
and thought it was... well, not too bad. Some bullet-spongey baddies
and an annoying boss at the end, or something like that, but generally
a solid Uncharted-like game with maybe a hint of Resident Evil 4, and
with the few actual tomb-raiding moments amusingly being entirely
optional. This time the game is seeming decent enough so far, but I'm
finding the QTEs to be pretty awkward

<snip>

I am completely put off by the modern Tomb Raider games. I get that you
can't just revisit the older genres and styles forever, but to me Tomb
Raider is about having a big wide-open space with consistent physics and
a puzzle to solve. The idea of superimposing the soulless and linear
game style of Uncharted onto the characters and setting is just shy of
false advertising. It'd be like announcing a new Lode Runner that is
somehow also a typing tutor.

-KKC, who needed more sleep last night.
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From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc

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

In article <nsJlP.112$O%.29@usenetxs.com>,
Russell Marks <zgedneil@spam^H^H^H^Hgmail.com> wrote:

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

Spent the whole weekend arranging for my son to have surprising and
enriching social experiences.

Such a flexible description. :-)

If you must know, he saw a hockey game for the first time on Saturday
with his scouting troupe, and he went in apprehensively not knowing what
to expect and came out wanting to do more. On Sunday he made an absurd amount of noise at a trampoline park with his best friend, who is coincidentally the daughter of one of my oldest friends. Their mums
claim to be joking about wedding plans.

That's all great to hear of course, I was just finding the sensible
vagueness of what you originally said oddly hilarious. :-)

Play:

Tomb Raider (2013) (PC) - I played this on PS3 originally (it came to

[...]

I am completely put off by the modern Tomb Raider games. I get that you can't just revisit the older genres and styles forever

Sometimes I feel like I'm unintentionally doing a decent approximation.

but to me Tomb Raider is about having a big wide-open space with
consistent physics and a puzzle to solve. The idea of superimposing
the soulless and linear game style of Uncharted onto the characters
and setting is just shy of false advertising. It'd be like
announcing a new Lode Runner that is somehow also a typing tutor.

Lara actually says at one point "I hate tombs". I do think it's a
fairly questionable direction for Tomb Raider to have taken, but I
imagine the commercial case for doing so seemed solid. Curiously, this
time around I think I probably liked it the most out of any of the
Tomb Raider and Uncharted games I've played, which surprised me a bit.
Though that's probably just because it cost like two quid.

-Rus.
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