On Saturday, I finally stumbled upon that fabled garage sale filled with stuff I wanted, for a great deal. For a paltry $105, I walked away with:

Sega Master System (version 1).
13 Master System games in their cases, all but one included the manuals.
3 controllers.
2 Atari 2600 (4-switch version) consoles.
Around 45 games.
Around half a dozen 2600 controllers.
And about 25 manuals, many in pristine condition, like new.

The kicker, two of the Master System games are well-known and sought-after RPGs: Ys - The Vanished Omens and Golvellius - The Valley of Doom.

A lot of this stuff was in very poor storage, very dusty, covered in obvious evidence of insect/arachnids using the consoles for homes. I wasn't sure anything worked. The Master System's reset button was suck down, and when I opened it to fix it, three of the housings for 3 of the six screws fucking broke. After cleaning, though, the Master System works like new, smoother than many of my older consoles. It works more reliably than my NES.

The system plus the controller is still around $300 isn't it?

That's a sweet pull.

How regularly do you go to garage sales?

When the mood and time strike me, basically. My son and I tried to look over some a couple weeks ago, but turned out that Memorial Day weekend does not translate to garage sales. Saturday, it was my girlfriend and me, and she found some good ones checking online and such. I haven't done much of it in the past couple years though, because my previous girlfriend wasn't ever up for it.

Yeah, $330 with tax. Game doesn't come out until July 13th, but you can play a demo of the game with a 3-hour time limit.

Fuck. That still seems like a lot of money for something over a year old.

Anyone else STILL playing GTA San Andreas? I play this fucking game at least once every year, still my favorite after all this time, just get lost in the world and piss around finding new things. Anyone else just come back to a game year after year?

I play it every couple / few years. One of my favorite games of all time.

I'm playing through it right now actually. I'm at 'Amphibious Assault', but can't begin it because my lungs suck

A local reseller just attempted to justify to me on Facebook a ridiculous price he was charging for a Game Boy Micro. He assumed because they didn't make a whole lot of them that it's magically worth over a hundred bucks loose. As a game collector, I'm sick of resellers setting the market instead of collectors, and sick of collectors being a bunch of fanboy suckers too eager to throw money away, creating a market set to self-destruct.

That noted, most new consoles do not drop in price after only a year, and the Switch is selling well. Nintendo is also notoriously greedy, and post-Wii, they have entered the premium cost market for their hardware, charging then uncharacteristically high prices for the Wii U and 3DS lines. Beyond that, they artificially keep game prices (base MSRPs) set far higher than any other publisher. While Sony or Microsoft or Activision or Ubisoft will lower prices of games after a year or two, Nintendo keeps their games at full MSRP for as long as possible. I was even still seeing flaming trash heap Metroid: Other M marked for full price ($50) at Target well after the Wii U had released. Any other reasonable company would have dropped that price to $20 max a year after it released. In this, don't expect the Switch to drop in price any time soon, and don't ever expect Nintendo's own games to drop in price. Almost ever.


*Oh, concerning that Game Boy Micro, I pointed out that the reason it sold low numbers was that while it was a neat system, it was mostly garbage with a smaller screen, that it was harder to hold, and that it was incompatible with pretty much every Game Boy Advance accessory. Paying more for that is unjustifiable just because it's less common. Less common doesn't mean valuable or better, unless you're a greedy fuckwit. The Wii Mini is also less common, but it's crap and didn't even have online--so why would you pay more for that? Especially in a brief moment where the Wii can still go online and access it's shop.

Has anyone been following the story of Billy Mitchell being stripped of his Donkey Kong world records for it finally being proved that he'd been cheating all along? For anyone who's seen the documentary The King of Kong, it really feels like justice had been served. Billy Mitchell is an enormous douchebag (and a right-wing patriot to boot), and pretty much everyone in the arcade gaming community seemed to know that he'd been cheating, but it had never been proven until now.

I just came across this embarrassing hour-long video of Mitchell rambling about his innocence: https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/bi ... 202860788/

I didn't see "King of Kong", but I've seen enough videos of that guy and his arrogance to really not like him to have also really enjoyed that his records being stripped from him for cheating.

I did hear somewhere that he's "working on his case" to prove his innocence. From what I've seen of this guy I think he will go to the grave saying he didn't cheat and this he has been wronged in the highest order.

This Billy Mitchell thing has popped up in all my recommended videos etc but I can't find anything on youtube talking about what he did that runs under 15 minutes.
Thanks, nerds.
"Well hey there youtube, GamerBoy1343446 here! Today I'm going to spend 25 minutes going the really long way about getting to the point. Wouldn't it be better for my popularity if I kept it short and sweet? clearly not. Anyway let's start with an overblown explanation of what you can expect in this video..."

I fucking hate Youtube for that sometimes LOL

That's one reason I enjoy LevelCap, CleanPrince, and MarcoStyle. CleanPrince formats most of his videos as video essays, and they feel very focused and well-thought even if he leans into sensationalism and hyperbole.

Oh god, "CleanPrince" is just awful from what I've seen; he literally just reads entire articles verbatim and gives them little--if no--credit at all. At least that was the case with his Mass Effect Andromeda video. I only skimmed a few others but they seemed to have the same problem.

Noah Caldwell-Gervais is probably the only video game essayist I can fully get behind. His video/essay on Depression Quest and the rhetoric of GamerGate should be required viewing for everyone even the least bit interested in video games and the toxic culture that's infested it. Super Bunnyhop is pretty damned good too, but he's a Witcher 3 fanboy.

<3

If ain't broken..

By the way, i'm finally getting a ps4 thanks to my new job.
i'm getting Bloodborne in a nanosecond

Absolver is free to play on PSN right now. I always thought it looked cool but was afraid no one played.

Seems to be a weirdly peaceful game despite being entirely based on kung fu fighting.

It's alright, but I think the combat mechanics aren't proper for a free-roam third person fighter. They feel similar to UFC controls, which exists on a shifting 2D plane (like Tekken or Virtua Fighter). This means you'll parry but end up getting rabbit punched instead.

I read about the parry while it was downloading. What I read stated that the only way to score hits off a parry is to pre-buffer the attack. I'm a dodgy lad though.

It's kind of peaceful and fun beating up NPCs but the mechanics are nothing in the face of For Honor, and I've been spoiled.

I've been playing Ys: The Vanished Omens on the Sega Master System. Anyone else buy this one recently? Just me? Okay.

I level-capped before a brutally difficult boss and I'm told the final boss is worse. C'mon the 80's.

FINALLY started a play-through of Bloodborne yesterday. I watched my roommate play quite a bit of it a few months back, but he rage quit hard and uninstalled it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. It's obviously not a brand new game to me, so that might result in some lost magic, but I'm enjoying it so far. I'm way better at parrying, and overall have had less difficulty than DS3 (so far). I like the faster combat and less reliance on your shield. Only part I've really had trouble with was the hunter on the clock tower in Old Yharnam, but I managed to cheese him off the roof in a few tries haha. Even Gascoigne only took about 4 tries (the second stage is a bitch). I'm looking forward to what horrors await me!

Nice!

I finally resumed my playthrough of Hollow Knight a few days ago, after months of hiatus (what can I say, Monster Hunter World and then Dark Souls Remastered consumed my life for a few months...). That game is amazing, and huuuuuuge. Insane how it was made by such a small team... and I'm already pretty convinced it's gonna shit all over Bloodstained with its 100x larger budget. Oh well. xD

I'm almost done with it. I have the 2nd DLC boss to fight, the 3rd Colosseum arena (I tried it once... didn't make it, and I'm guessing I was barely halfway there, if that), and the White Palace + True Final Boss. I tried the White Palace once, lol'ed, nope'd out of there, and said "fuck this". But.... apparently you need to beat it to unlock the true final boss + true ending. GODDAMMIT. Now I have to play Super Meat Boy: Insect Edition. No fair. I'd trade defiled Watchdog and Amygdala back to back in exchange...

I'm also playing Hollow Knight, on the Switch.
I tend to avoid Metroidvanias, not out of a dislike per se, I actually quite like them.
But I am hopeless at them. I always forget what abilities/items I have, how to progress to new areas with them, and even where to use them.
This, though, I am really enjoying.

Only other thing I'm playing regularly is Destiny 2. Thinking of renewing my subscription to FF14 as it's been a while, and there's a new 24 player raid to do and I always like them. Might hold off until the next series of 8 player raids to release too, more things to grind.

Gascoigne wrecked me a billion times but other than that Bloodborne hasn't been insanely difficult to me, although I haven't finished it. Playing Dark Souls 1-3 may have helped.

Gascoigne wasn't incredibly challenging to me. I found that beginning area before him a hell of a lot harder than the actual boss fight. I had way more trouble with Blood-starved Beast but I know some people consider him easy. *shrugs*

I killed BsB in two tries. The first, he did an insane berserk attack that annihilated my health pool, but the second I was more careful. Gascoigne on the other hand, has one of the more ridiculous second phases of any souls boss. Not too hard, but still pretty insane for the level you fight him at.

I remember his second phase being really aggressive and unpredictable. I honestly think I must have gotten lucky since I don't think he took me more than five tries and I'm by no means an above-average Souls player.

I don't know what it was about BsB, but that was my first brick wall. I remember getting him down to low life so many times but then he'd just spew poison everywhere and I'd drop dead in a split-second.

I suck super hard at souls games. Just never have had the patience and will to "git good", but I beat Gascoigne in like two tries when my friend, whom I was watchin play the game, got super frustrated with trying. Really not hard at all.

Gascoigne is a good early check. He's very fast and aggressive, and he can kill you quickly, but he can be partially cheesed with the music box, and if you got gud at parrying, he'll be more manageable.

Speaking of gitting gud....

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu the White Palace in Hollow Knight. Why did I even suffer through this? For a "true" final boss + ending? Was it worth it? Time will tell, because I haven't attempted that yet, but the White Palace can <insert crude idiom here>.

That thing broke me. It wasn't even the fun kind of gitting gud. Give me Dark Souls at SL1 over this any day.

The best part? Apparently there's MORE (all optional for some lore scene or whatever, mercifully) that's even WORSE. It was added in a DLC and it's called "The Path of Pain". Yeah. I peeked at it on youtube and...

Is most of Hollow Knight soul-crushingly hard, or just optional areas? I was planning to play that game at some point but if it's frustratingly hard by Dark Souls veteran standards then I don't even know...

Nah, it's not. It's a fairly medium-level difficulty game. A few of the bosses are pretty trial and error, but some can easily be cheesed. I have to say, having beaten the game, what Morrigan is talking about is news to me. But it's good news! I thought the Hollow Knight, while a pretty fun battle, was pretty weak as a "final" boss, and actually much easier than some of the other bosses. Amazing game, for what it's worth.

Ahem...



Tonight was frustrating. I did no progress. I tried round 3 of the Colosseum and still cannot progress past the wave of narrowed walls + spiked floor. I just can't.

I then tried the final DLC boss and got utterly destroyed. He's so fast, he does 2 masks of damage per attack, I last less than a minute. Like, it's not even funny. I can't do this.

(For those daunted by this difficulty -- this is all optional stuff, don't worry, the main game isn't that bad. But the optional side-content, fucking hell. I can't do it. I just can't.)

Finished dark souls remastered last night. I never finished it on ps3 so I'm pretty happy with myself, although I don't think I took the most efficient route through the game - found myself pretty over-levelled towards the end, although heading through the, uh, darkest part of the game was still a good struggle thanks to the sheercuntiness of the enemies regardless of user level. Final boss was just as good as I'd hoped, too - tough but fair, just like others like it!

NG+ I'm gonna have a bit of fun with it, invade, summon when I feel like it, etc

That's pretty great, Morrigan. Guess I have a new reason to jump right back into Hollow Knight now!

Bloodborne update: I beat Vicar Amelia in one shot, though I'm not positive it was supposed to be that easy. Anyways, on to the Charnel Lane. Riflemen and dogs abound, and adversary hunters to impede my path, I've passed the AI hunters, and found my way to Hemwick Lane. Time to die.

Another update: The Witch of Hemwick and Rom were fuckin easy; and Shadows of Yharnam took two tries. The part where I've had the most difficulty though, was the three rival hunters in Yahr'gul chapel. It took me probably 10 tries, and a short grinding for blood vials and bullets, to finally beat them. It's ok when you can fight them individually, but together it's a cluster-fuck. This game is still a blast though.

I beat the True Last Boss of Hollow Knight, woot.

Still got optional mega-hard DLC boss (which I'll probably never beat) and the 3rd wave of the arena (not sure if I'm gonna give it up or not, it's kind of a chore at this point). Too bad... well, I spent 50+ hours on that game all in all, so even if I give up on those things, it was still an incredible game and I highly recommend it.

Also dawww

I have nothing that Hollow Knight is on but I've wanted to play so bad.

TIL Brawlhalla is absurdly fun. Caught the end of the Dreamhack Valencia finals and I was on the edge of my seat lol. Got a few hours in, can't wait to play more. Loving Kojis bow and Queen Nais spear.