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I just want my new Halo game already. I need it bad. Team Xbox all the way.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

I've settled into Bloodborne now.

At first, the game sort of tricks you into thinking you are playing another Souls game, and in many ways, it is a Souls game. Alas, there are many subtle differences that subvert this idea, and the player, causing difficulty if you don't shed some of your learned habits. Once you realize this, and settle into Bloodborne's faster and more aggressive systems, things start to click. The game also has a more robust and direct narrative, although it is still fairly cryptic by some standards. The world/level design is more in line with DS 1, with interconnected areas making up a greater whole.

This is a horror game first, in all its Lovecraftian glory. The Souls stuff is more dark fantasy, with the occasional smattering of horror here and there. For fans of horror games, this is highly recommended. Although, if you haven't played a Souls-like game before, be prepare for some punishing difficulty.

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Hogwarts Legacy

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Looks very cool, even though I can't tell from the trailer what kind of game it is.

Open World, loot/hoard, power up and all that good stuff.

God of War: Ragnarok

Cool, open world RPG-ish is exactly what I was hoping.

One more day and then it's gunna be Super Mario time.

Keep upgrading it till it's iridium (which I think is the highest you can get--purple). The only tool I haven't yet taken to that level is the scythe, but that'll happen soon. I need more hay for the winter!

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I don't see much need to upgrade just yet. I'm sure I will bump one or two of them up more, but most of my farm work doesn't require tools to complete.

spelled it r'awng.

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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear

i still have halo 2 on my original xbox that i would never sell it and its one of my favorite halo games back in the day

sooo excited for the new harry potter game

Pre-Ordered a PS5

I'd been in two minds what way to go right up until the moment I found myself sitting at my PC at 7.59am looking at the Argos website wondering when the pre-orders went live.

Demon's Souls swung it for me - There's nothing I'd want to play which is Xbox specific until well into next year, then I'll probably pick up an S on All Access.

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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

When the first trailer released, there was info on a multi-platform plan for this game, which had me really excited. Alas, they pulled that trailer pretty fast, and now are claiming it's a PS5 exclusive, Looks like I will still not be able to play Demon's Souls. Bummer!

Yep, apparently the 'coming to PS5 and PC' line was mistakenly left on screen from the previous trailer.

I feel, at this point right now, PS5 is the clear direction to take for gamers. But my typical appetite for gaming over the years has waned for a number of reasons. It took me a good while to get rid of my PS3, and I only did it because it was crashing under the weight of my Plex library.

Funnily enough, tho, I have owned 2 Xbox Ones. The first one was the launch model S that came bundled with Halo 5. Then I sold it when inventory got tight and it’s used value went up. Lasted about a year before I broke down and bought a Minecraft edition S.

Personally, I think the S is one of the best console advancements in a long while. If only because of its versatility, affordability, and usability.

So I started playing Man of Medan. First time ever playing a multiplayer/co-op game. It was mostly fun, mainly because of the person I was paying with. But holy hell, the angle of the character is god awful to the point where it actually hindered my gameplay. In one area I couldn't pick up certain things due to a pillar being in front of my face the whole time. The prompts whizzing by didn't help, either. Barely had any time to hit the keys. Needless to say, I ended up getting most of the characters killed. Not my fault, the game is basically designed for failure.

Yeah, you won't see me for a while come November.

Looks like I'm back into Ghost of Tsushima. I'd finish my writeup if I could ever stop playing it. That thing got addictive, fast. I'll say it was a pretty high wall to get over leaving the tutorial area. Almost too much of a difference without much in explaining the details of the game. There are still a lot more details that I'm clumsy with, but I can handle things enough with a hack-n-slash style until I figure things out more. It still feels very much like a hybrid of Witcher III and RDR2, but with better horse control (I've not hung up on ONE tree or rock!) and a great fast-travel option for discovered areas (I'm looking at you, Arthur Morgan, and your 20-minute ride of forced exposition), respectively. Really, it feels it has the best of both games with a more balanced blend of cinematics and gameplay than either, IMO.

Lovely open world environments too.

My only real complaint is the lighting and color contrast. As gorgeous as the world is and as fluid as the movements are (right up there with CONTROL, just controls are more complicated), it hurts my eyes to play this for long. Enemy characters are difficult to see against backgrounds, interiors are much too dark to see where to go, and loot items are a crap shoot for me to see the first, second, and sometimes third time around them. And that's even with the glimmer effect that rolls over such items. The animation is a bit slow so it's easy to turn past items before you see them glow. I've disabled and enabled HDR settings, but it's the same either way. I have to remind myself to play at night and to turn off all the lights because the slightest amount of ambient light completely washes out a few environments. Some quests require you to track footprints. Good luck if the game world is at night, under tree covering, with dancing glimmers of moonlight jumping everywhere. Luckily in these situations, if you do not pick up on the trail within a time frame, directional icons appear to help nudge you along.

So I can only handle so much Super Mario N64 before the camera makes me rage quit. It’s funny how when that launched it was revolutionary and now it’s rage city.

Super Mario Sunshine is still as awesome as I remember. It is my favorite of the series but I forgot how jarring of a change it was from N64, and I understand the mixed feelings around it now.

Haven’t played Galaxy any yet. I liked it back at release, but I thought it was kinda weak compared to Sunshine.

In the end, All-Stars is worth the money.