yeah nintendo does not know business. they only know how to make ridiculously good games. the SD card thing is so fucking simple, but w/e. i stand by tetris attack being GOAT. i play it every holiday with my sisters when i return home to my parents SNES. Did they HD the SNES games?

It doesn't make sense, they could charge through the nose for those games and people would still buy them. Hell, I'd happily fork over 50 clams a pop for the DS9, TNG or Star Wars trilogy SNES games, but w/e. Glad to see Nintendo, CBS and Disney have no interest in money anymore.

I'm a total normie about it but I wanted Super Mario All-Stars. They've added in a couple of those cutesy-baby Mario games but not the canonical stuff, which bums me out.

Mordor: Shadow of War has microtransaction loot boxes that affect gameplay (you can't see the real ending unless you grind like hell or pay real money).

Star Wars Battlefront 2 has pay2win microtransactions.

The AAA industry, man.... if you thought it couldn't go lower

I mean...did anyone really think it couldn't?

Touché.

Having been at Studio Monolith, that's the shit I saw months ago. Battling orcs got really old and the items were copy-paste, just with higher levels. Also to whoever buys it, if they didn't fix the flying controls, god help you.

Why did you go to that studio if you don't mind me asking? Was it a professional visit in any capacity?

lol for me i enjoyed it a lot but it did have some sections that felt like a massive chore but i do love the idea of an open world(ish) horror game and i like what i have seen so far but i have tried to keep pretty dark on it so i dont spoil too much

not too happy if shadows of war is like that but i kinda expect that from video games sadly

Anyone play Cuphead yet?

From what I've heard so far the difficulty level is real high.

So the game is kinda buggy still, chalk that up to technically not being complete yet, but a lot of the negativity seems to come from their policy of reporting and banning alleged stream snipers which I agree is rather stupid.

About those stream snipers...... it can get rather silly.

Crazy as this sounds, I really like PUBG because it reminds of some of my favorite Minecraft sessions. I never played much with the creative minecraft modes, but once they added a survival mode and opened the game up to large servers I regularly played on these survival multiplayer servers where the only goal was to stay alive until the server rerolled (usually at the end of the week or month). Some of my favorite moments on these servers was leaving my small underground base to make trips to the surface for gathering resources - these really tense moments where you never knew if someone had their eye on you from behind a hill to swoop in for the kill (or similarly the rush when you'd find some poor fool with has back turned and some good equipment to loot). PUBG of course doesn't really have the survival aspect, but it's the closest thing I've found now that those MC servers are dead and gone.

it's worth the 20 bucks for sure, loads of fun and obviously the artwork for it is fantastic. 100% a pain in the ass at times so you'll end up dying and retrying a lot, but it'll keep you entertained if you're into the gameplay style at all.

Now I hated Shadow of Bordor and I doubt I'll even play this game, but I actually rather like what they seem to have done for the final act of Shadow of War, and I wish games I was actually interested in would follow suit: hide a bit of extra story behind indulging in a game's mechanics for when your character is high-level and fully powered up. Sure, it's maybe a bit mean to completionists who absolutely must see ever square nanometer of a game... but that's their choice, and if a person is going to be an anal 100%-or-bust freak, he should be well aware that almost any major game of the past 10 years is going to be a giant PITA to 100%.

Obviously loot boxes are unforgivably shithouse, but I'm not convinced that the hidden "bonus" ending (to act "4" of a 3 act game btw) exists primarily to flog micros. Many of the same accusations were hurled at Mankind Divided and that was entirely without merit (you actually get way too many praxis kits way too quickly even in the vanilla game lol).

Huh. Were you also a fan of the Riddler trophy hunts in Arkham Knight?

This Forsen guy comes across as a glutton for punishment and/or he's allowing this to happen because that's his own form of entertainment for the rest of his streamers. There is no other sane reason why you'd turn on open voice chat in PUBG.

The bigger question I have is why is this only a problem in this game when theoretically you could have the same problem in other multiplayer games? You see a bit of it in MTGO or Hearthstone streams, but what about tactical team shooters or MOBAs? Not saying they don't exist (there was a minor scandal when a Thai Dota 2 team was caught using stream sniping in an official match, though the game's spectator mode usually has a 2-5 minute delay and they still lost), but why is it a big thing in PUBG?

Those snipers are members of his audience. They have made a sport of tracking him down. Mainly while roleplaying as, I kid you not, a Zulu warrior army. Complete with sound files from low budget Ugandan action movies. He would lose most of his current viewer base if he turned off voice chat. He surely didn't ask for this to happen but I guess he has embraced it. Although not 100% willingly

It seems like a lot of PUBG sniping is not done to win the match (as PUBG just has to many variables going on to pull it off reliably) but mainly just to annoy/entertain.

Stream sniping (and ghosting) is an old thing, it's neither new nor unique to this game at all. You see it in tactical shooters like CSGO all the time. You see it in survival/sandbox games like Rust, Ark, Minecraft, and GTA V. You see it in Gmods like Prop Hunt, Trouble in Terrorist Town, etc... You even see it in Dark Souls. Basically, any online game you can troll other people with, you have stream snipers.

The reason it's a hot topic in PUBG is because a dev decided to ban some people for stream sniping a few months ago and thus sparked a debate as to whether stream sniping on its own (excluding stuff like verbal abuse) is something that could be considered harassment and ban-worthy, if even reliably provable in the first place.

What you've heard is true, the game is very difficult (but fair) you'll notice though that half of your deaths will be cause by the highly distracting backgrounds and characters' desing, this game is a visual piece of art.

Jesus Christ, you just gave me a fucking Vietnam flashback to finding out I would have to do that to see the true ending.
FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
The Riddler can fucking suffocate underground for all I care

Haha. Yeah, Warner Brother sure love this grindy, padding shit.

Speaking of padding... Just finished Gravity Rush 2. While it does improve a few things over the first one, it also has a few quests that are somehow worse than the worst ones in GR1, and it's just unnecessarily bloated. There's even another case of a "true ending", although quite different than WB games; after beating a major story boss, you get a short cut scene, credits, then you regain control of the character and you can keep doing side-missions, etc. freely, and there's sort of a story mission you can unlock by repeatedly talking to a mysterious NPC. Then, when you start this story mission, the game warns you that you won't be able to return for a long time, are you sure you wanna continue? And sure enough it's a very lengthy story mission where you are locked out of the main map, with an utterly bizarre story sequence at some point but one that is kind of necessary to fill in all the gaps that were missing in the story since GR1, a lengthy final boss fight, and THEN more credits (??), lengthier ones. And after that, a "congrats on beating the story, you can keep playing again" and you are returned to the main map and can finish challenges or side-missions or whatever.

It's just... why the first "fake" ending and fake/short credits to begin with? It's not like it's an ending, and then a bonus ending later on; the "second" ending is clearly meant to be the real conclusion. It's just weird how they went about doing this. I can imagine a few people wouldn't think the game really continued after the first credits and would put the game away or something.

Shit, I didn't realize it was only $20. The art alone should be worth it for me.

Hey guyyyyys... Time for another installment of "Jono's Behind the Times". So, last night in the span of about 15 minutes I discovered and then dove completely headfirst into the Metroidvania indy games on PS4's store. I bought: Apotheon, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Salt & Sanctuary (OMFG), Sundered, Shovel Knight, and Strider.

This all happened at about 2:30 am. I get up for work at 7ish. I sank most of my time last night into Apotheon. The combat is a touch clunky but somehow that only makes it more satisfying? Everything else completely stole my heart. Artwork (obvs), sound, level design. I only completed the first mission but it was so so fun and satisfying. I played Dust for just a few minutes to get a feel for it. That combat is addictive as fuck! Again, stunning artwork. Props to them for marrying something so cutesy and brutal at the same time, while still leaving you feeling like a total bad ass. Can't wait to get home tonight and try some others. My girlfriend started Salt & Sanctuary. I didn't have the heart to face down a character creation screen at that time of night but watching her play gave me a lot of hope for the game. Imagine I'll be dropping hours and hours into that one.

Strider looks like dumb ninja fun. Sundered I bought just for the look of it, I'm hearing mixed reviews but still excited. Shovel Knight is probably the most old-school feeling of the stuff I grabbed but it seems to have a lot of potential. I have a feeling it'll be the last one to grab my attention but it'll be worth the wait.

I really liked Salt & Sanctuary.

The game play is very Dark Souls-esque, but the difficulty is a lot more forgiving.

Yeah I read comparisons to Dark Souls but it meant nothing to me, as I'm unfamiliar. I'll be honest I haven't been much of a video game fan for years and years. Last night with the dim-witted discovery of Metroidvania-style indy games I sorta felt like I met up with an old friend again. I'm so excited to play these things!

Salt & Sanctuary will end up having the most hours logged I imagine. Watching my girl die and then go try to hunt down the mob that looted her salt was pretty entertaining. Really makes that shit personal.

I can't stop researching/buying these things. Currently at work watching a review for Hollow Knight. Might have to snag this one. I'm also really annoyed that The Last Night is an XBOX/PC exclusive. Hoping that is subject to change. That has to be one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen in motion.

I've never heard of The Last Night. Thanks for the heads up. The art looks great. Hopefully, there are some RPG elements. Just "Platforming" isn't as enticing to me.

I'm not sure how heavy handed the RPG elements will be but almost all of these games seem to have at least light RPG elements in the way your character develops and progresses. Just watching a little gameplay from The Last Night it seems heavily atmospheric. I assume there will be a lot of dialogue and decision making.

Reminder that The Last Night dev is a Gamergater and shouldn't be supported.

Good picks, Jonpo. I would recommend playing Dust on hard, as even then it's not an overly difficult game. Salt and Sanctuary is also easier if you play a mage or a strength build and generally harder with dex weapons. Quite probably my favourite indie game overall, it's got tons of content, very replayable, and is insanely polished for a game made by just 2 devs and no publisher support. Btw there's local coop, too, though that makes the game easier and a bit of a different experience than just solo'ing.

I just beat Dark Souls 3 last night... wow, what an undertaking that was. After Bloodborne and DS3 back-to-back I feel exhausted. Very satisfied, but exhausted.

Practically everything about DS3 ruled but I have to say I loved Bloodborne quite a bit more. Not to rag on DS3 at all, but Bloodborne might honestly make my top 10 video games ever. It just blew my mind the entire time I played it: the gothic setting, the cosmic horror, the surrealism, the totally new style of gameplay (I'd never played a Souls game before), the relentless difficulty. I already want to replay it and try out the expansion this time.

I also found Dark Souls 3 markedly harder, which kind of surprised me since there wasn't the same learning curve there was with Bloodborne. While I felt Bloodborne's difficulty peaked at around the halfway point and then eased up a bit once I'd leveled up a lot and upgraded my weapon and stuff, Dark Souls 3 was cranked to 11 from the get-go and never let up at all. Not a criticism, but I think if it was any harder it would begin to grate on my sanity, as it came close to doing a number of times (Pontiff Sulyvahn, Lothric Brothers, Nameless King, Soul of Cinder). I think I've heard that Demon's Souls is even harder, which I have to admit doesn't exactly sound appealing to me.

Super glad I was finally able to get into this series. I really want to play Nioh now, but I'm gonna chill out for a while before diving into another Soulsborne game.

I think we're all trying to figure out what The Last Night is. All we've seen is some great animation and lighting, but not much a semblance of what the game is going to actually be. I'm curious as hell for it, that's for sure.

Thanks for these thoughts! I'm completely, horribly consumed right now. I never even played Metroid or Castlevania as a kid (hated a challenge) but these games have me excited about video games again and I haven't felt that since the N64/PS1 days.

It's obvious S&S is a completely different beast. Just the best of it's kind. I can't wait to sink hours and hours into it. My girl created a Chef lmao. I was heckling her through the entire creation. I'm definitely trying to be a mage or warrior type class to start with.

I played Dust for just about 15-20 minutes. The combat is stupidly satisfying. You're right though it felt pretty "soft". I may ramp up the difficulty if that holds. I love the artstyle (duh) and the fluidity of motion in the actions.

The reviews are great but I'm still really excited about Sundered. I love the HPL influence and those hyper-chaotic battle scenes. I know it's supposed to be a bit repetitive and the randomized dungeons can be tedious. I love the idea of upgrading when you die though.

I'm downloading Guacamelee and Hollow Knight when I get home. Any other must-haves or just really fun games? These things are so cheap and I love how fast they download/install.

Jonpo - are you playing on PC, or consoles? If PC, I'd recommend Valdis Story, it's another excellent Metroidvania with great combat.


Dude, the Bloodborne expansion is quite possibly the best DLC content ever made. Get iiiiiiiit

Demon's Souls is by far the easiest in the series. No bosses are on the level of the twin princes or Nameless King, for instance. It's also very easy to have a completely game-breaking build.

Dust was pretty fun, but I had trouble getting behind the characters and the emotional story they were trying to convey. I can't really say why. The sidekick character was frequently annoying, but the combat was super satisfying.

Super Guacamelee was tons of fun, but I loathed the final boss. That game is loaded with fun Easter Eggs, too. Look for Mega Man's silhouette on a wall in a town at one point.

One I've mentioned before is the top-down twin-stick shooter Crimsonland. They did a couple updates to it recently that ironed out major issues. My son and I played that one tons of times and have all the Trophies. It's simple on the surface, but quite enjoyable.

Deadly Tower of Monsters is also great, if you haven't played that, especially if you're a movie buff or have a MST3K fan. Handily one of my favorite PSN+ titles when it was a freebie. Broforce is also a good one.

PS4 only, sorry, I should have said that.

R_H: I appreciate the name drops. Those twin shooters will probably be a lot of fun when I get a second controller. Broforce is on the definite list when that happens, a buddy had already told me it's stupid fun.

I'm only really asking about Metroidvania games for PS4, at the moment. I'm very curious about Eitr when it drops. I'm mostly interested in main characters/combat that makes you feel bad fucking ass (no Shantae games for me, thanks).

Probably going to grab Ori and the Blind Forest even though it doesn't exactly fit my desired mold. It's just too gorgeous looking to pass on.

Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest aren't available on PS4, though? Hence my confusion.

And yeah Eitr looks really good, I'm very impatiently waiting for that one, along with Death's Gambit.

Blehhhhh I wannnnnt.



Oh really? I must have been misinformed. Which do most people consider the hardest in the series? I remember a friend of mine telling me that in Dark Souls 2 your HP gets decreased every time you die or some such thing. That sounds pretty fucked.

Oh shit are you serious? Woops. This is what happens when you do your research at work on very little sleep.

Death's Gambit and Eitr previews are what set me down this whole path. I didn't realize when I was watching the ads that they weren't out yet and I felt so cheated. Started looking for alternatives...oh hello entire new universe.

That's not as big an issue as you'd think - it's a very small amount, and you can also get a ring that halves the amount you lose - and then you can reset it when you consume a human effigy (ds2 version of humanity). You won't really lose that much unless you're just dying at the rate of a complete souls newbie, and by the time you reach the end of the game where you might die more often you're pretty much swimming in effigies.

Honestly the one thing about DS2 that annoyed me is the relatively fast weapon degradation (even after the patch that fixed some initial problems with it).

I actually need to go back and finally finish DS2, I've been sitting near the end since last summer. Maybe once I finish Bloodborne.

Remember when I said that Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was Pay2Win?

Well... It's worse than you think.



Hahahahahahaha


Well, nobody agrees on which one is the hardest in the series. A lot of people claim their first Souls games is their hardest, but mine was Demon's Souls, and I think it's the easiest. Keep in mind, though, that I play and replay all these games many times, and a first experience is different than a 3rd playthrough etc. And it greatly varies on your playstyle. Magic is a gamechanger and makes Demon's Souls a borderline easy game, but it's not the case for Dark Souls 3. But even without magic, Demon's Souls has utterly broken, OP builds, but then again, you might not figure them out on your first playthrough either, making things harder than they could be. And yes, you lose 50% of your health instantly when you die in Demon's Souls (so it's harsher than DS2), but it's fairly easy to revive, and the Cling Ring mitigates that somewhat by bringing your HP back to 75% in soul form.

For example, in the Bloodborne DLC, there are 5 bosses. The one that took me the most retries on the first isn't, actually, the one I would consider the most difficult of the DLC, after replaying it many times and understanding how each boss works. I just happened, on that first playthrough, to use a weapon on that particular boss that made this particular fight more difficult, but when I tried with a different character/weapon I won far more easily.

Also, the games are not consistent all the way through, difficulty-wise. The Dark Souls 2 DLC are probably, overall, the hardest content in the series, but Dark Souls 2 also has some painfully easy bosses and areas. Dark Souls has S&O, sure, but also fairly trivial bosses like Seath or Nito. The very hardest boss of them all, IMO, is the main boss in the 1st Dark Souls 3 DLC (which has 3 phases/health bars, lol), but does this make DS3 the hardest game? I don't know, really.

Bloodborne is an interesting case. I'd say its non-optional content is generally not that difficult, but its DLC and optional content (such as Ebrietas, Castle Cainhurst, and of course the depth 4 and 5 Chalice Dungeons) are difficult. In the case of later Chalice Dungeons it can be absolutely brutal, the hardest levels in the Soulsborne series, and the bosses are no pushovers either. But all of that is optional.

And then Dark Souls 2 is the only game which features difficulty levels. The normal game is standard Souls fare, as I said above. But you can play in a special covenant that increases the difficulty majorly: it prevents summons (of course), it prevents YOU from being summoned (so, to revive to full health you HAVE to spend an effigy, can't do a quick coop session to humanity back with some more souls as a bonus), you can still be invaded, and enemies have 20% more defense and deal 20-30% more damage.

So, IMO, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin played in the Company of Champions is the hardest Souls game by far. I did it and it was brutal, especially the DLCs. Not counting the special covenant, though, I'd say Dark Souls 3 is probably the hardest ~overall~, because it has a few really tough mandatory bosses like Abyss Watchers, Pontiff Sulyvahn, L&L, and the final boss, and it doesn't have any ultra-cheese game-breaking builds the way the other games do (well OK neither does Bloodborne I guess, but its mandatory content is also easier than DS3's). But that's very subjective and again, depends on your build, playstyle, etc.

All I know for sure is that Manus (Dark Souls 1 DLC final boss) at level 1 is the hardest thing I've ever done in this series. Died like 50+ times and when I finally beat him, my hands were literally shaking. I don't know why I did this to myself...