#I bought it when it first came out on PS2

[st-hedge]

I liked ffxii when it first came out but didn't own it, just played it on a friend's PS2. When it came out for Switch a couple years ago I picked it up and tried it. I bought the wrong gear and magic and found myself at the Vossler boss battle unable to beat him. My back was against the dungeon, so while I could back up and grind a little it would have taken forever to get strong enough to proceed. So I said fuck it and walked away. Maybe someday I'll try again.

Pros of ffxii: big ol world, so much to explore so much to fight, so many things to do

Cons of ffxii: one lil fuck up and there is so much to do *sobbing* so many things to fight

[toyota-supra]

for context, I did have a lot of consoles throughout my life bc as I've said video games pretty much are my life but they were:

Mega Drive 3 or whatever its called yknow one of those TecToy things that comes with games already in it - older cousin didn't want it anymore

Polystation (famiclone) - 1980's console sold in the 2000's yeah this was probably like 10 dollars. we gave it away eventually. my parents barely remember that we had this but if there's something I don't forget it's video games

PlayStation 2 Slim - cheapest version of the PS2 you could get at the time when the PS3 was already out. I think my parents divided the cost with someone else in the family. we pirated all our games.

black Nintendo DSi - my mom asked a friend of hers who was visiting the US to get it there cheaper and she'd pay it back. I was disappointed to find that every other kid on the planet had a DSi XL instead which deeply insulted me because 90% of them stopped playing with the thing as soon as it wasn't cool anymore and my hands grew to be larger than average so I kind of needed that. I pirated all my games.

normal white Nintendo Wii - I don't remember how many years after the console's release this was but it was a standard Wii. my uncle who doesn't live here happened to have bought this in fucking Syngapore and gave it to us. yes that means it used PAL games. in a region that only sold NTSC games. we pirated all our games except for the Wii Sports and Wii Play discs that came with the console and the second controller respectively

normal 8GB storage release year Wii U (as opposed to the 32GB black one that actually came with a game already) - my parents divided the cost with another family member and bought it for me on the christmas of the year that thing released because I really really really begged them so I could play Smash 4. I didn't know how to mod a Wii U, so this was my first console with original games. I had to wait a month or two after I got it to actually have something to play though, since they couldn't afford it. I don't regret wanting a Wii U, all things considered

release year Nintendo Switch with the red and blue joycons - I got this used from a colleague in late 2022 (nearly 6 years after it came out) because of how expensive this shit is. the joycons were brand new due to stick drift replacements. I got a few games since then and found out that I actually don't like this thing at all it feels so bad to play in any form possible and every game is like 300 bucks

besides that I would play stuff on old used laptops or whatever we could get emulators running on. always keep gaming and buy a ps vita for me if you can

[smokeybrandreviews]

Festival Season

I am a massive fan of MegaTen games. I love everything about them; the battle systems, characters, and overall world. I fell in love with the summoning and fusion systems of these games almost immediately and longed for other franchises to do something similar. It was basically Digimon Fusion before Digimon was a thing. Who wouldn’t want to Lego two Pokemon into a goddamn MewTwo? The missus introduced me to this brave new world with the purchase of Digital Devil Saga so long ago. It was one of the first gifts I ever got her. Watching her play that sh*t really awakened something within me. It was like watching my kid brother playing Final Fantasy IX for the first time but with, you know, violent monstrosities. Way back then, during the golden age of the JRPG, on the PS2, we made it a point to play all of the obscure titles. Nippon Ichi and Atlus were our bread and butter. We had copies of Stella Deus, every DIsgaea available, and even Soul Nomad. No one talks about Soul Nomad. One day, she came home with Persona 3. On that list was Persona 3 vanilla. Bro, after we booted it up and those first few notes of Burn My Dread popped, I was hooked. I must have put three hundred hours into that game. I conquered everything I could in that game, romanced every option, and completed one hundred percent of that sh*t. I unlocked every Persona on just two runs and readily did it again when FES released. The Answer was kind if disappointing but I didn’t mind running through the enhanced world of P3 once again. And then I did it one more time when P3P dropped, though, admittedly, Portable is my least favorite of the lot. Persona 3 opened my eyes to a world of RPGs beyond just your Final Fantasys and Dragon Warriors. Because I enjoyed this one game so much, I was open to trying out others. I wouldn’t have touched Magna Carta if not for Persona. I would have missed out on Rogue Galaxy. Wouldn’t have given Shining Force EXA a second thought. If I had never played Persona 3, I would have never played 4 or 5, and that sh*t seems so bewildering to me because those games are some of my all-time favorites. In fact, for a long while, Persona 5 was my favorite of these games. I wrote a whole thing about, about how, while I loved 3, 5 was a close second. It had legitimately closed that gap after Royal dropped but then Persona 3 Reload was announced. Guess who pulled ahead once again.

I got Reload day one and immediately dove into to. It felt familiar, yet, new. It definitely got all the bells and whistles that made Persona 5 so enjoyable but was still definitely Persona 3. I got my copy for the PS4 so, while the presentation is loads better than the original, and it shows, it’s comparable to Persona 5. Having that “side-by-side” experience just solidifies that P3 IS my favorite Persona title and one of my all-time favorite games, period. I was a little bummed Burn My Dread wasn’t the opening song but Full Moon Full ain’t too shabby on its own. More than that, the quality of life changes are amazing. It’s the little things like the Online Saves or the fact you don't get fatigued in Tartarus anymore. I love how the original character designs got a remix, bringing them closer in line with that Persona 5 aesthetic, and boy do they steal from that P5 aesthetic let me tell you! The thing is, though, it feels full circle to me. I remember, way back when I was playing P5 (shout out to Tae Takemi, best girl in the entire game), that P5 feels like the spiritual successor to P3 in every way P4 is not. Don’t get me wrong, P4 is a classic, but it feels out of place in the trio, almost disconnected. Also, I remember hating Teddy. It’s like, did P3 influence P5, only to have that sh*t bleed back into Reload? I don’t know, and I don’t really care. I get to play Persona 3, on my PS4, with the look of Persona 5. I cannot stress how dope that is. Also, Satanael is DLC. You KNOW I bought due and have been decimating the early game! Thanatos is my second favorite Persona, always, Alice is the first (especially after I customize her), but Ren’s ultimate Persona is a strong third. Like, laughably so. There’s just something about summoning a Demon God that feels so…powerful. Also, you shoot God in the face. How can you not love that?

I’m ten hours into Reload and it is everything I ever dreamed  a full-on Persona 3 remake should be. This isn’t that bait and switch FFVII pulled with Remake. No, for all intents and purposes, this IS Persona 3 but with modern game play and graphics. It’s like I’m popping ion the game for the very first time, damn near twenty years later. The Protagonist is as stoic as ever and the city of Tatsumi Port Island is alive with a vibrancy only the power of PS4 could bring. Building this game on the Unreal engine was a stroke of genius because the models are crisp, detailed, and fluid. There are so many little particle effects that make everything pop. The biggest upgrade is the UI. The thing is, I’m old as f*ck. I’ve been gaming since the old NES days. I’ve seen the evolution of video game and, for me, they peaked way back in the PS3 era. When P3 originally came out, I had no problem with how the title was presented. It got a little flashier with P3P and Persona 4 added their own flair, but Persona 5 really went in on the showmanship. P3R gets a bit of that and it goes a very long way to captivating the player. I thought modern hardware would affect the charm of these OG designs, but it doesn’t. It actually enhances them considerably. It’s subtle, but the bodies are longer, the eyes are smaller, and the overall proportions feel more realistic. I kind of love it. I also love the redesigns, so far. I mean, Mitsuru is gorgeous and I adore the new-ish Elizabeth model, but I’m holding judgment until the very end when I get to see Nyx again. And definitely get my ass throttled by her. Now, admittedly, not all that shimmers is gold. The fact that the Answer, the additional part of FES, isn’t included in what is a very obvious FES remake, kind of bones. I hear that it will be DLC down the line and that sucks. I like Metis. Her design was dope. I’m also not that huge a fan of Thanatos’ first reveal being made with in-game models. The visceral nature of that genesis feels lost when not in animation. It’s good in its own way but, goddamn, did that sh*t hit different way back when. These are, of course, superficial gripes because I am having the time of my life with this game! And it’s only the first play through. That New Game is about to slap crazy hard! I cannot wait to run it back with my heavy hitters on deck. Satanael be damned, getting Thanatos and my laughably OP Alice in the mix is going to be the best!

[van-yangyin]

Get to Know Me - Sims Edition

Thank you @honeybeenrw and @stargazer-sims for tagging me 🙇💕

If it seems like a lot of text, don't force yourself to read it, you can simply ignore it. Sometimes I write too much, I know.

1.- What’s your favorite sims death? Sims eaten by cowplants, although there is an anecdote from when I was little that is very funny because I had a little "trauma" with that death. When I first played The Sims Take the Street on PS2 (the first sims game I played for the first time in my life) together with Lea, we made sims from Fushigi Yugi and we put them to live in a house… They all ended up being eaten by mutant plant (a plant similar to cowplant in that time), being the last one Amiboshi just after his twin brother Suboshi… It was one of our first games so adding a mutant plant was like, "What is this? Let's put it in, it sounds fun" and it ended up being a bit of a shock since at that time we had no internet, no guides or anything and everything was new, from that time for me at the end, after that experience it's ended up being fun, so being eaten by a (cow)plant it's one of my favorites sims death.

2.- Alpha CC or Maxis Match? Maxis Mix, I absolutly like more Maxis Match for hair, but with clothes I usually use both Maxis Match and/or Alpha, same with makeup or skin details, so yes, I'm consider myself Maxis Mix more towards Maxis Match.

3.- Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? Why? When it comes to my/our OCs (Lea's and mine) we leave them as they wish to be, because they've gained or lost it by themselves because they have so wished, in fact one of our OCs, Carla, when gained more weight even became much more beautiful than when she had less weight, at least from our point of view.

4.- Do you use move objects? Yes, quite a lot when I have to place a lot of clutter together or I have to place in a special way the constructions to do what I want and look for.

5.- Favorite mod? I would say MCCC, but there are many times it causes me a headache.

6.- First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? Get to Work on realease. (Lea bought it, not me, but he likes to share, I mean it's stupid to buy the same thing twice when in gameplay we play together)

7.- Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? I pronounce "Modo Vivir", but if it's in English then like aLIVE.

8.- Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? I have quite a few… They're all my cute babies, Ryuuya, Luka, Aris, Jack, Kyle, Kyla, Noah, Icaro, Carla. Lux, Kaoru, Ainosuke, Rin, Haruka, and many more but the list would go on and on... Sorry I can't choose... (And yeah we have a lot of original sims that we don't show here yet 😆)

9.- Have you made a simself? I did it once, when toddlers came out, I made myself into a toddler for a contest, but I have never done it again, and that simself no longer exists.

10.- What sim traits did you give yourself? With pack Growing Together that came out I can officially add more than three, right? Creative, Socially awkward, Ambitious, Music lover, Geek and Perfectionist. (The limit is 3 more traits, so I can't put Cat fan, Dog fan and Animal enthusiast [although these three should be considered more likes and dislikes, I don't understand how it can still be in traits], so I have them present but didn't add them, because I consider more as likes and dislikes).

11.- What is your favorite EA hair color? Red. I like black, but it changes and varies so much between different hairs and many of them look gray or bluish that they're no longer my favorite.

12.- Favorite EA hair? The two hairs that were added when Incheon Arrivals Kit came out and the hair from Snowy Escape that has two little clips on it.

13.- Favorite life stage? I don't have any favorite life stage, because all life stages are special in one way or another and I try to create sims of all kinds of ages, although maybe the ones I have the most are teenagers/young adults because I usually create a lot of sims based on video games/anime/shows if that makes sense, so people may consider those to be my favorite kind of stages.

14.- Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Let's see, I would consider myself mixed, or versatile. During the day from time to time I would consider myself a builder, especially when I make constructions with references that help me to locate myself (although there are times that I also make them without a base, but it takes me a long time to finish them and I consider myself a noob, Kitta's house, Dope Sketch I look at all of you just now). On the other hand, during the night before going to sleep and after dinner I'm more of a gameplay person and I have a lot of fun playing together with Lea.

15.- Are you a CC creator? Yes, I love to create CAS CC (hair, clothes, shoes, accessories, etc…), construction CC (furniture, clutter, whatever I need depending on the moment), small modifications in the sims, I'm usually very versatile, I do recolors and frankmeshing too although most of the things I love to do are from scratch (with references that aren't mine or concept arts that I draw previously which are usually mine) to learn even more, so I usually take a lot of time but I have a lot of fun. Although around here what I usually share with everyone, are hairs made from scratch, some other skin details, poses and conversions from other games.

16.- Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? Not that I know of. The person I interact with the most around here is Lea but that's because we are family/best friends and spend a lot of time together, so for me it's like day to day. I would love to be able to have a constant energy and mood so I can interact more to make and keep friends around here. I write from time to time with people and would like to consider them friends but since we don't interact much or very constantly, I don't know if they consider me friends or if they would just consider me mutuals. I know of some people that we consider each other friends but we don't talk much either lately because I'm in my stage of writing little with people. But I don't refuse anyone or anyone who wants to interact with me and in the future something might come out of those interactions (friendship or... what's a squad? srsly I don't know it), I'm quite social/asocial and insecure, sometimes I write a lot and sometimes I write very little with people, so I don't know what they currently think of me.

17.- What’s your favorite game? Have a lot, Kingdom Hearts (yes, I went through the time when you needed different consoles to play the whole saga), Final Fantasy series, The Sims series, Life is Strange series, Resident Evil series, Tomb Raider series, Tales of Zestiria, Arc the Lad series, Minecraft, Spyro series, Crash Bandicoot series, Genshin Impact and I'm sure there are many more games that I haven't tried yet that I could add to the list in the future.

18.- Do you have any Sims merch? Nothing.

19.- Do you have a YouTube for sims? I don't have one, but I would love to, although I don't think anyone would be interested. I mean if you share something it's for someone else to see it and if no one would be interested then it would be like exposing yourself to the world but without being seen. I don't know if I make myself clear. I know that stories of your own sims/anything you do in the community have more room for other people when you do it as video, because when you talk they feel more empathetic with your stories/what you explain but my English is not very good and talking in general/talking to my sims is not my forte (that's something Lea is better at)

20.- How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? Pictures speak louder than words. I don't have sims screenshots I took in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 because I can't access the external USB drive were on, so I'll limit myself to The Sims 4 screenshots.

A written summary would be that I currently use more sliders and presets, use 3D eyelashes and natural nails for all my sims and use eye makeup to give more volume to the "eyelashes" and give them more "life". And try to make more different types of noses, faces, eye shapes, etc…. Besides adding natural lips as "make up" (when they don't wear makeup) to make them more "realistic" within my sims realism.

21.- What’s your Origin ID? I don't have anything shared, so I don't know if it's really important to say.

22.- Who’s your favorite CC creator? I have a few and they're the ones I use the most in my gameplays shared with Lea in our sims. They're all amazing so allé voy, @/pralinesims, @/simandy, @/happy-misanthropist (although is currently retired), @/obscurus-sims, @/raccoonium, @/falsogod, @/iowaisms, @/saruin, @/xxxtaiyaki, @/kijiko-sims, @/acha-sims, @/simmireen, @/lea-heartscxiv (yeah is with whom I share my sims game and he makes recolors mainly for me and him) and myself (self-esteem should never be lacking).

23.- How long have you had a simblr? Since last year, end of April 2022.

24.- How do you edit your pictures? So far the only things I use are Photoshop and Clip Studio, but I don't retouch pictures so much, I just "improved" problems with scratches that appear in some parts of sims, eyelashes that are displayed wrong, etc… And then I put one or two tonal change filters in Photoshop, but out of CC I use on sims, it's pretty vanilla the final pictures. If I were to do something else at some point, I would probably put unretouched edit under the cut line to see the differences.

25.- What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? If I had to say one for how the world is shown, CAS, objects and gameplay I would say Snowy Escape.

26.- What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? Seriously writing, refreshes. I would like to see refreshes and improvements of base game, an impossible dream, I know. Especially refreshes of Realm of Magic and Get To Work. Since Lea and I were forced to switch to EAAppsh*t we haven't bought anything from them anymore.

I know. It's only 26 questions and I've almost written a book just answering them, sometimes I get too excited writing when I know what I'm talking about 💦 Now time for the tags:

I'm tagging @lea-heartscxiv, @falsogod, @freedomending, @pralinesims, @saruin, @the-daydream-archives and @dizzyrobinsims

If you already done it, please ignore and if you have it handy tag me in the one you already did so I can see it, because maybe I missed it or wasn't connected the day you did it. If you don't feel like doing it, you can just skip it. And to anyone who wants to do so, feel free to tag me. If you share as a favorite death the cowplant one, don't wonder anymore if you should or shouldn't do it, do it, for all the sims who have fallen eaten by cowplants.

[lowpolynpixelated]

Let's talk about handhelds!

Specifically the Steam Deck and what (at least I think) is a decent part of its success as a handheld in today’s rather stagnant landscape as far as competition and innovation goes in the gaming space. For those who don’t know, the Steam Deck is a device first released in February 2022 by game development/publishing company Valve. Valve is mostly known nowadays for being the owners and operators of Steam, the largest and most widely used online marketplace for PC gaming, but rose to fame in the late 90s for their smash hit game Half-Life as well as its sequels and expansions. During the mid-late 2010s Valve had taken a pretty big step back from game development and focussed more on running steam and supporting some of their games (Dota 2, Artifact, Team Fortress 2 just to name a few) though the support varied from game to game. But that aside, let's get into it! PART 1: The Steam Machines

During this time Valve had ALSO begun to dip their proverbial toes into the waters of gaming hardware in the form of both the “Steam Machines” as well as the “Steam Controller”. So what were the Steam Machines? Why are they important to this article about the Steam Deck and other modern handhelds? Well everything has to start somewhere, and I’m of the opinion that the Steam Deck accomplishes the original mission of the Steam Machines better than they ever did, but I’m getting ahead of myself. First announced on September 23rd, 2013, the Steam Machines were touted as a new pillar of console gaming. The aim was to provide a console-like user experience on a device with the horsepower and game variety of your average gaming PC. Runnin on a Linux based operating system called “SteamOS” valve wanted the the consoles to be an open source experience in the living room to compete with the likes of Microsoft’s Xbox consoles. So what went wrong? Well let's start with the big one: variety. I first want to preface this part with: I am looking at these pieces of hardware through the lens of someone with little technical knowledge, the average consumer if you will. I myself have a decent bit of tech know-how, but I wasn't always like that, and I’ve certainly been poor enough my whole life that knowing the biggest and best PC stuff on the market didn’t really mean I could afford it. So, why was variety a bad thing? To your usual console gamer, consistency is key. It's usually assumed by whoever is getting whatever Xbox or PlayStation what-have-you that the box you’re paying money for will play the games you put in it. And to that credit, this is usually the case! Back in the day if you bought a PS2 or a Wii, bought a game for either and slotted it in, your game box would play it no problem. This isn’t always the case for PCs however. PC games vary way more wildly when it comes to the sorts of specifications the game is made to run on, or even what hardware the PC has that can be considered reasonable for said game. The fact of the matter is that PCs are modular, which means optimal configurations and what is considered “a baseline” are changing far more frequently than in the console landscape. The Steam Machines still wanted to offer some of this variety, but in the end it backfired more than anything. 

Steam Machine models ranged in price anywhere from $400 to $2000 in 2015 money when they finally released (November 10th, 2015) depending on the parts they used. And the difference between a $400 model and a $2000 model could mean not being able to play a good chunk of games on the market at the time. To your average console fan, this was perhaps too much choice when it came to finding which box to get to play all the shiny PC games they were being told they’d be able to play. Now this isn’t a matter of being disingenuous, more of an oversight. Valve wasn’t specifically trying to just target average consumers, but they did end up somewhat alienating those who didn’t have the technical know-how to figure out what model best suited the games they wanted to play. What reason would I have to buy a Steam Machine for $650 that might play all the games I want when I could just wait until November 15th, 2013 when the PS4 launched for $400 and would play all the games that came out for it? It was a perfect storm of releasing a brand new (and honestly decent) idea into an already pretty stagnant and established market and not being able to sell to people who weren’t already buying gaming computers. Steam Machines were decently popular with the PC gaming crowd. Being able to buy a pre-assembled computer with decent parts is appealing to a pretty decent chunk of people who primarily play on PC. Maybe you don’t know much about building computers and have always bought pre-built, maybe you like the specs of one of the Steam Machines and don’t mind the price tag too much. This big issue with all this though, was that almost no one was buying the Steam Machines to be a Steam Machine. To quote an article by Tyler Wilde for PC Gamer back in 2018, “Nobody was buying it with SteamOS,” Digital Storm marketing manager Rajeev Kuruppu tells me over the phone. The manufacturer had already been building the Eclipse—which is still available with Windows—when Valve pitched SteamOS, and added a Steam Machine build mid-project. That version has since been axed, and Digital Storm no longer has an active relationship with Valve. 

“I think over time as the demand from customers wasn’t there we basically had no reason to speak with Valve,” says Kuruppu. Digital Storm is still open to working with Valve, so long as its customers want what Valve is putting out. Right now, they don’t.” - Rajeev Kuruppu in a 2018 phone interview with PC Gamer Executive Editor Tyler Wilde for his article “What happened to Steam Machines?” (link in sources section)

This highlights the issue beautifully. SteamOS just couldn’t make the waves Valve wanted it to with the PC manufacturers they partnered with, leading to people simply not buying the pre-built machines as what they were intended to be. So what happens now? Well, after the failure of both the Steam Machines and the Steam Controller (a topic for a different time), Valve wouldn’t try again in the hardware space until 2019 with their admittedly very impressive VR gear, the Valve Index. With the Index making positive waves in the burgeoning VR space, Valve would then go on to release another successful piece of hardware. The real topic if this article, the Steam Deck. 

Part 2: The Steam Deck (part 1: Launch)

Revealed on July 15th, 2021, the Steam Deck was Valve's answer to their failed hardware attempt of the past. A handheld computer with a brand new version of SteamOS capable of playing most of your favourite PC games with a set of specs that only changed depending on internal storage (and eventually small differences in battery life.) So what changed between the times that the Steam Machine and Steam Deck released? Well, the PC and console markets (at least at the time of writing this article, 12/21/2023) are a bit more stable in how new and better parts are being pushed. Make no mistake, the PC community’s search for new and more powerful machines will always be a constant, but it's at the very least a little easier to keep up with right now. On top of that, the Nintendo Switch made MASSIVE waves in the console landscape being a near instant success story of merging handheld and home console markets into one harmonious group. Handhelds were all the rage, with many companies throwing in their lot with the mobile console idea such as the LYRA for playing classic games, and Google’s STADIA (which hilariously imploded shortly after launching to poor reception). Valve’s new device was right at home in the new invigorated market of gaming-on-the-go, a boom of innovative and experimental handhelds to rival the Gameboy’s release all the way back in 1989 (but more on that later.) The Steam Deck launched to a generally positive reception. Lots of PC gamers were more than happy to add the device to their repertoire of ways to play their favourite games, with higher ups in the gaming space like Tim Sweeny of Epic Games and Phil Spencer of Microsoft calling it “An amazing move by Valve!” (- Quoted from a PC Gamer article by Andy Chalk written in 2021 titled “Tim Sweeney: Steam Deck is 'an amazing move by Valve”, link in sources section) The things the Steam Deck was offering on launch were more in line with what some key parts of the overall gaming space wanted at the time, and so the device was more positively received by people already in those spaces. Now let’s talk about what I said before about consoles being able to play their games off the bat and why the Steam Deck stood out despite being essentially a handheld PC. The Steam Deck stripped away the modularity that the Steam Machines boasted by having a set table of Specs to offer across all 3 of its launch models, with the price and model really only determining how much storage you got. At launch the Steam Deck models on offer were the following:

-$400 for 64gb of internal eMMC storage(embedded multi media card, think a thumb drive) (and a bonus carrying case!) -$530 for 256gb of internal SSD storage (SSD or Solid State Drive being a decent bit faster than eMMC but also more pricey) (exclusive steam profile goodies and a bonus carrying case still! wow!)

-$650 for 512gb of internal SSD storage AND a more premium anti-glare etched glass screen (along with the profile goodies, a steam virtual keyboard theme and the bonus carrying case! wowsers!!!)

These models were more on-par with consoles of the time. Maybe not as powerful, but comparatively so in performance and price in such a way that the Steam Deck was a genuinely appealing offer to not only someone who already knew their stuff about PC gaming, but someone who played on PC and maybe didn’t know too much but wanted a good mobile option other than a laptop. Now those are both still parts of the same niche, PC gamers, and we’re here to talk about your average console Jane, as it were. And we will! But first let’s compare Valve’s previous attempt with the Steam Machines to their modern success. One of the most powerful (at the time) Steam Machines on offer was the Alienware Machine. Alienware is a popular manufacturer of gaming PCs and laptops for those not in-the-know. Here’s what anywhere from $550-$900 could get you in 2014:

Alienware Steam Machine basic specifications:

Processor

Haswell Intel Based CPU

RAM

4GB - 8GB

GPU

Nvidia GPUX

HDD

500GB - 2 TB

(specifications sourced from IGN’s “Steam Machine Guide” from 2014, link in sources section) Now at the time these were decently impressive specs, but I would like to point out both the price tag and the fact that some of these parts vary! If you don’t know, the GPU (graphics processing unit) being listed as “Nvidia GPUX” could be any one of SEVERAL parts which would most likely change your price point wildly. In fact, everything on this list is a variable component! Having anywhere between 4gb-8gb of RAM, what size HDD you have, and what CPU you put in, could end up boosting you all the way to that $900 point mentioned above. As stated before, this wasn’t going to win over anyone who was already going to pay $500 less for a PS4 that could just play PS4 games with no research on components needed. Let’s compare these general specs to those of the Steam Deck, which haven’t changed much since its launch in 2022. No matter what model you pick (aside from the storage and screen in the case of the 512gb model) here’s what you get in a Steam Deck:

Steam Deck basic specifications:

APU

6 nm AMD APU

CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)

GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.6GHz (1.6 TFlops FP32)

APU power: 4-15W

RAM

16 GB LPDDR5 on-board RAM (6400 MT/s quad 32-bit channels) Storage Steam Deck 64GB eMMC

Steam Deck 256GB NVMe SSD

Steam Deck 512GB NVMe SSD

(specs sourced from the Valve official website for the Steam Deck, link in sources section)

Granted there’s almost 10 years of technology between these specs and those of the Alienware, the point here is consistency. All 3 models of the Steam Deck use the exact same internal components for things like GPU, CPU, RAM, and almost everything else! To someone looking for something with more oomph than the Switch and maybe even wanting to get into PC gaming alongside it, it’s a pretty good deal! And it’s only gotten MORE appealing with more recent developments in the Steam Deck’s models and pricing, but we’ll talk about that after a short jaunt through gaming history.

Part 3: Handheld market factor history and why I think the Steam Deck is a pretty cool example of them (intermission from the Steam Deck)

As I said we’re gonna take a short break to talk about what I would consider the core of this article. You may have noticed me using terms like “handheld boom” and “market”. I’m gonna throw out some more of those so bare with me, but we’re gonna talk about the Gameboy. What’s so special about the Gameboy? Lots of people know it for being the most popular handheld console of the 4th generation beating out the likes of the Atari Lynx and more importantly, the Sega Game Gear. Why is that important? We’ll get there in a second I promise. The bigger question is “why was the gameboy successful?” to which the answer is usually “brand recognition”. Which isn’t incorrect in its own right, but is only one piece of a larger whole. The Gameboy entered a market that was predominantly occupied by two things, home consoles and arcade games. Handheld games DID exist, but not in the cartridge based console form the Gameboy popularized. This “wild west” era of console development was the second resurgence of video games after a market crash from 1983 to 1985. Spearheaded by the 3rd generation consisting of heavy hitters like the NES and Sega Master System, it gave way to an era of constant development and innovation attempts. The Gameboy specifically hit a couple of key factors when it comes to your average person. No remember, this was during a time when large portions of people still didn’t really understand what a video game was, and a lot of them were even marketed as toys to help them sell. The Gameboy’s success lies in a few points that went a long way towards selling it specifically to people without a ton of video game experience. These were: price point, and usability. 

Let’s get into it! First off: price point! In 1989 the Gameboy launched with an introductory price of $90 in the US. Compare this to the Sega Game Gear releasing the following year for $150, and the Atari Lynx at $180. Retailing for HALF the price of a (at the time) big name competitor is kind of a big deal! Price point ties directly into something like accessibility for something being sold as a product, and needless to say paying less than $100 for something with Nintendo’s (again at the time) pedigree behind it put the Gameboy in the hands of a LOT of people. Next off: Usability! What does this mean? Well, this one is a bit rocky. To put it bluntly: the Gameboy was incredibly underpowered for its generation. (A Nintendo console underpowered? Never!) Why was this a good thing? From the perspective of someone trying to get the most “bang for their buck” so to speak, the Gameboy’s underwhelming specs gave it a bit of an edge. How you may ask? Battery life and cost! Let’s get the bad out of the way first by directly comparing the Gameboy and the Sega Game Gear. The old SGG was rocking not only a full colour backlit display in 1990, but also had a good bit more horsepower as far as its specifications go. Able to run full colour games at nearly 60fps on a handheld in the 90s is nothing to sneeze at! But the cost of that is 6 whole AA batteries that would die out in anywhere between 3-5 hours depending on the games you play. The Gameboy in comparison, had a simple dot matrix display that only showed in black and white. (or various shades of off-green if you’ve ever seen one in person.) 

The Gameboy as well couldn’t handle beefier games, with notable examples like Mario Land 2: The six golden coins having a good amount of slowdown due to its large chunky sprites and level assets. So its battery life must’ve been something special then? Compared to the Game Gear, absolutely. Clocking in at 15+ hours of battery life on just 4 of the same AAs the Game Gear uses, the Gameboy’s game time and price were unbeatable. 

This is why I think it's important to look at more than just a piece of hardware’s specifications when it comes to measuring success. And I can hear you. “Clair, why are we talking about the Gameboy and how it sold a bajillion units because it was more affordable and had Tetris on it? How does this relate to the Steam Deck?” Well my dear reader, let’s finally answer that and talk about the new Handheld Boom.

Part 4: The Steam Deck (part 2: OLED and new pricing)

So here we are! The year is 2023, the Nintendo Switch is 6 years old, the Steam Deck has been selling decently well, and I need to wrap this whole thing up. In November 2023, Valve announced the Steam Deck was getting some pricing adjustments, as well as a brand new model that included better battery life and a slightly larger OLED screen for better picture quality. The Introduction of the new OLED model not only introduced 2 new tiers of Steam Decks to choose from (the new OLED 512gb model for $550 and the OLED 1tb model for $650), but also locked in ONE of the previous Steam Deck LCD models as the only LCD model available, for a price cut! If you go back and look at the old pricing, the 256gb LCD model used to cost $530. Due to the OLED models knocking out the lower tier LCD models entirely, the price has now been locked at just $400. Why does this matter? Well, just like with the Gameboy, you’re making some sacrifices for the lower cost. The higher tier OLED models have nicer screens and better batteries, but also cost a good bit more. Just as well, the Steam Deck is in NO way one of the beefiest PC gaming devices on the market. 

In recent years more and more PC handhelds have been coming out to try and cash in on what the Steam Deck has set up. My personal favourite example is the ROG Ally, and AMD powered handheld that for all intents and purposes, outpaces the Steam Deck in raw power. So why aren’t people flocking to the Ally? Well the basic model clocks in at around $600, and can be upgraded with a better processor for another $100. Looking at just the basic models for both, the Steam Deck wins out on being just the right amount of a powerhouse it needs to be for just over half the price of the Ally. This matters because that’s going to appeal to different parts of the market and landscape as a whole. 

I hold the opinion that the Steam Deck serves as an EXCELLENT initial entry point into PC gaming for someone who has only ever played on console. It offers that console experience the Steam Machines tried so hard to at a price point that most people interested in game consoles are paying nowadays anyway. A PS5 cost $500, and a PS4 (the console the deck is most likely to be on par with) launched for $400. I find it a much easier sell to get someone who wants to get into PC to play with friends, or have a Switch-like experience for games not available on it, than trying to tell them the $700 one gets more FPS and has a better processor. It all comes down to those factors of price point and usability. It's been so interesting to see the Steam Deck rise into popularity in so many corners of the internet that I hang around in. I haven’t even talked about how emulating on the Steam Deck is one of the most seamless and easy to set up processes I’ve ever seen! With arguably the best LCD model option now locked at the introductory price for most modern game consoles, it’s so neat to see what could genuinely be considered a truly NEW game console enter the fray. And a handheld at that! Part 5: I am just one woman (conclusion and thanks)

Hey there! If you read through all this garbled nonsense I’d like to extend a small thank you. I also want to take a second to say that I’m not presenting any of this as objective facts. Yes I have listed facts in this article, but as the title of this section says, I am just one woman. These are my overly excited thoughts on a phenomenon I’ve observed in my own time and wanted to share with anyone who would read it. Thanks a ton for reading! I’ll be back with more ramblings at some point, but for now let's part with this: The Steam Deck is an awesome piece of tech that I feel really shakes up the gaming space. I’m not sponsored by anyone, I’ve only been paid in the satisfaction of writing. If you’re someone who doesn’t dabble much in PC gaming, and are planning to buy a new console, maybe give the Steam Deck a try! I definitely plan on getting one after watching some stuff on the EmuDeck frontend for emulation and being thoroughly impressed. That’s all for now, see ya around! -Clair (FembotY2K) (sources below the cut!)

[neoyi]

Last-minute panics to do a task is real; it's a constant habit of mine and something you should, on a general note, never, ever, ever, EVER do.

I am, of course, talking about buying up any of the 3DS games I wanted before the eshop closes (as of this writing, tomorrow.) So the last two or so weeks have been a mad dash as I tried to fill my l'il handheld with whatever game that piques my interest. I can only hope I'll enjoy them!

So in fashionable alphabetical order, they are... under the "Keep Reading."

Attack of the Friday Monster! A Tokyo Tale: Just the sound of exploring everyday mundane life in a small-time quiet, rural Japanese town was enough to draw me in. The Kaiju battles that happens every Friday was just incidental.

BoxBoxBoy/Bye-Bye Box Boy: I already owned the first one and though I never finished it, I didn't feel particularly guilty about it. The whole series is one of those pick-up-and-play-for-a-few-minutes kind of puzzlers, so it'll still be there waiting for me whenever I feel the urge to return to its monochromatic world. I'm just relieved I don't love Box Boy that much to invest in the far-too-expensive Japanese exclusive amiibo.

Bravely Default: "You gotta play Bravely Default!" "If you like Final Fantasy, play Bravely Default!" "Hey! When are you gonna play Bravely Default?" "Are you gonna get Bravely Default?" "YOU GOTTA PLAY BRAVELY DEFAULT!" Jesus Christ, alright already! I got goddang Bravely Default! I swear, this had better be the JRPG equivalent of ambrosia. (Exaggerated joking aside, I do love JRPGs and am always on the lookout for any intriguing potentials from its massive library.)\

Crashmo: I mean, I already got Pushmo. I did pick up Stretchmo, but I'm not going to waste more money buying the packs that come with it. These are enough and like the Box Boy series, they're games that'll do on a whim.

Dillon's Rolling Western: Honestly, I don't care about tower defense games and even though this is one of the rare, new Nintendo IP (well, "new", this game came out a decade ago, which says a lot about Nintendo's reliance on tried-and-true franchises nowadays), I don't particular find the artwork or setting (I can take or leave westerns) appealing. I guess I'm getting it since it's a digital-only game and I'm not confident I'll see any of these ported or remastered to newer consoles anytime soon. Who knows, maybe I'll dig it. I'm also kind of kicking myself, because when I purchased Dillon, I thought I got the first game. What I accidentally bought was its sequel (The Last Ranger), and me being a stickler to try and play the very first game whenever possible, double dipped to get Game 1. So I guess I have two Dillon games. I guess. :/

Dragon Quest VIII: I have no excuse for this one. I have literally played the PS2 demo before it first came out almost twenty damn years ago, impressed as hell, and dead set on buying a copy when it came out. Then I got lazy. Then they announced the 3DS version and I was dead set on getting that. Then I got lazy. And now, both physical copies of the game went soaring up in price. Only now have I finally moved my ass and fulfilled a promise to my nineteen-year-old self to get this goddamn game. I've only played the DQ Builders series, so this will be my first mainstream DQ game... unless I get to DQ11 first, which I got for my Switch a while back. In any case, I couldn't pass up on entry number 8, the one that people cite as "one of the best in the series." Which... well, I can't compare since I'm both Dragon and Questless, but I am looking forward to a fun role-playing experience.

Ever Oasis: My criteria for getting most of these games were, "Will it be difficult to buy on ebay that it's just better to get the cheaper digital version because no one has heard about this hidden gem?" Hence Ever Oasis.

Fantasy Life: Ditto this, too. I've been told Fantasy Life and the one before, Ever Oasis, are JRPGs with farm/town management and I'm moth to a flame for both genres, but even more so when combined.

Kid Icarus: Uprising: Generally, I try to play at least one major Nintendo franchise unless I reaaaaaaaally don't care for its aesthetic or genre (Yeah, I'm good, F-Zero.) The bar is admittedly low for Kid Icarus since prior to the 3DS game, the series only had two games from nearly thirty years ago and I just do not have the time or patience nowadays to play a lot of 80s-era games. I'm fine if my only Kid Icarus exposure is the new version that comes with a hat.

Picross 3D Round 2/Pokemon Picross: My other criteria is to find the digital-only 3DS exclusive that may or may not ever come out in other consoles, such as the Picross series. I didn't buy all of them because there's like twenty dang versions. I picked up Pokemon Picross because it's free and Picross 3D because it looks neat and different from the 98% 2D versions out there. I fucking love Picross.

Pocket Card Jockey: I wasn't going to get this game because it supposedly came out for phones, but I couldn't find the damn thing in my android's store. So I just got it on the 3DS. I like Solitaire. And it was seven dollars. *shrugs*

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology: It's a JRPG that uses time travel as its gameplay gimmick, 'nuff said. I should play Chrono Trigger again.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix: I've never played a Rhythm Heaven game before, but I've been told if I didn't buy at least one, Rhythm Heaven will personally come into my apartment and break my kneecaps.

Rhythm Thief: The Emperor's Treasure: I've heard the game has some issues, but it's a Lovable Rogue thief wearing a sharp as fuck suit wrapped up in a theater's kid rhythm game. It was a thousand times designed for me and my aesthetic.

Rusty's Real Deal Baseball: Honestly, I think I just want it for the novelty than anything else. I'm aware this game will be totally useless come the 27th, but I don't wanna buy its micro-transcation-before-micro-transcation-were-a-thing mini-games, so I guess it'll remain forever in my 3DS as the little oddball that it is. I'm alright with that.

Yo-Kai Watch: Boy, I'm gonna really regret it if I only bought the first game in the series, end up liking it so much, and then crying because the physical copies of its sequels are currently forty billion dollars on ebay. I got to admit, this carries some serious Dubbed-By-4kids energy, which either means it's gonna be annoying or charmingly cheesy. But also, I kind of bought it because the game's art style got me nostalgic for 90s-era anime. It certainly looks fun for that alone.

I also got Demos for Chibi-Robo: Photo Finder (just to experience at least one Chibi-Robo game), The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes (I've been told you can play by yourself, it's just not recommended, and since I'm a single-player kinda gal, I might as well test out the demo and see how clunky the solo session supposedly is), Bravely Second (sure, why not), and Puzzles and Dragons: Super Mario Bros Edition (suuuuure, why not?)

There are other 3DS games I'd love to get, but those are going to be physical hunts later down the line. Some I know will still be easy to nab (The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds), others probably shovelware that I can find in a bargain bin (Doctor Lautrec and the Forbidden Knights), and others ebay is selling at a higher price than normal, but I still might want (Warioware Gold), etc etc.

Regardless, I feel like I picked out a nice selection of games that will tide me over whenever I get the chance to play them. I guess it was, ultimately, a happy hunt for me. Buy physicals whenever you can. Don't be like me, who has to resort to digital-only for these games because I waited till the last damn minute.

...WiiU? What about the WiiU?

[justnoahthings]

Dragon Quest Journey

Dragon Quest is one of my favourite game franchises. It’s the reason why I am so into turn based JRPGs. I love Dragon Quest from the bottom of my heart, and yet I have only managed to finish three of the games!

So a brief tale of my Dragon Quest Journey. The first game I ever played was DQVIII for the PS2, I started by watching my father playing it when I was around 7 years. At the time I didn’t understand english and had to ask my father to translate everything. But not long after I started playing the game by myself, using google translator to understand what was going on and what I had to do. This game is one of the main reasons why I learned english. Unfortunately I have actually never finished it.

After DQVIII, I started playing the Nintendo DS Dragon Quest games, I played DQIV, DQV, DQVI and DQIX, again I never actually finished any of them.

I then moved to the Game Boy games, I played DQI, DQII and DQIII, those are the ones that I managed to finish.

And then a few years ago DQXI came out, and I bought it, I really loved playing this game, but due to the fact that is so long I have yet to finish it too.

So out of the main DQ games the only I haven’t played are DQX, for obvious reasons, and DQVII, since I haven’t been able to get my hands on that game.

I have also played a little bit of some side games, I have played DQ Monsters and DQ Swords, but I have also never finished any of them.

[thetruejerrycan]

Happy 1 year anniversary to Gungrave G.O.R.E!

A lot of you are probably scratching your heads right now wondering what the hell this is. Well, let's just say that an obscure PS2 series made its return after almost 20 years of inactivity. And Gungrave G.O.R.E feels like it picks up right after 2004's Gungrave Overdose in all but graphics.

To briefly provide some context, Gungrave is a series of third-person shooter games and is the brainchild of Red Entertainment and Yasuhiro Nightow, creator of Trigun. The player assumes control of Beyond The Grave (Grave, for short), a corpse who has been resurrected to enact his revenge on the organization that had him killed and to destroy the drug that made all of this possible, Seed. Equipped with two hand cannons named Cerberus and a transforming coffin-shaped weapon named Death Hauler, the player engages in stylish gunplay inspired by the films of directors John Woo and Robert Rodriguez, with Grave himself bearing resemblance to Antonio Banderas's character El Mariachi from Desperado.

Despite the game seemingly being made on a rather small budget, Gungrave G.O.R.E features an alumni of legendary game producers, with Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun) returning as image director, Ikumi Nakamura (Ghost of Tsushima) creating many of the character designs, Tetsuya Shibata (Devil May Cry) and Yoshino Aoki (Mega Man Battle Network) composing much of the soundtrack, and select cutscenes being animated by Digic Pictures (Assassin's Creed).

Gungrave G.O.R.E has had a rather unique development, being a console game developed by a South Korean studio, Iggymob. I encourage you to check out this video by Blue that goes a little bit into how Gungrave G.O.R.E came to be and why the fact that this is a Korean console game is more interesting than it may seem. They've included their sources in the description for further reading.

Looking at what director Kay Kim has had to say about Gungrave G.O.R.E's development, you can tell this was a game developed by the fans for the fans. When Gungrave G.O.R.E was first announced, it was slated to be an open-world game similar to Dark Souls. Later, taking influence from the likes of Metal Gear Rising, Bayonetta, and Devil May Cry, it was decided that the game would revert to its original linear mission-based structure. Kim has gone on record to say that the original open-world version of the game was "terrible" and expressed concern that this isn't what a Gungrave fan who has been waiting 20 years for another installment would want to play.

This is not something that a greedy businessman who bought the rights to a long-gone game series to cash in on nostalgia would ever care about. Gungrave G.O.R.E, whether it's a good game or a bad game, is a passion project before anything else. When this game first released last year, it was rough and naturally received patches over time. And these patches universally only heavily improved the game, such as making Grave's moveset more versatile, making the controls more accessible, and heavily altering levels to the point where some sections such as those that required Grave to platform were simply removed.

The game is in odd state at the moment. The original release on consoles and PC were published by Prime Matter, and earlier this year they released Gungrave G.O.R.E: Ultimate Enhanced Edition on the Nintendo Switch, which includes "over 100 changes" to the game including further improvements to the game's controls, further alterations to level design, new mechanics, and extra playable characters such as Gungrave Overdose's Rocketbilly Redcadillac, and Harry MacDowell. This is odd because not only are these magnitude of changes exclusive to U.E.E, which is only on Switch, Iggymob self-published this release.

I don't know what the future has in store for Gungrave or Studio Iggymob, but let us take today and every day after to celebrate that Gungrave G.O.R.E even happened because of them. Thank you for being the reason my new favorite game series made such a kick-ass return, and godspeed on future endeavors.

[doubleddenden]

I read something about how Sony is already planning to make the PS6 because the PS5 wasn't meeting their financial goals. Similarly, I saw something about Microsoft wanting to try working on the next Xbox- both want to try and make the graphics the strongest ever-

God they just do not fucking get it man. The ps5 and Xbox Series SeX are fine, they just came out and they're so strong you can barely differentiate life from them. The graphics are not the issue here- actually, scratch that, the REALISM is not the issue here. The issues are

Price. Nobody can fucking afford those things in this economy. Why are we fucking charging almost a month's rent for a game console 10 people bought?

Availability. I can count the number of times I've seen a wild PS5 last year on ONE hand, man

There's no fucking exclusives worth getting. Horizon? Okay, great, but is there ANYTHING else you can't get for cheaper on the PS4, Xbone, or pc's that are still running just fine? This is the huge things- Remember when Sony used to have a strong lineup of Sly, Spyro, Crash, Jak and Daxter, and eventually Infamous? Remember... Well, Xbox had Halo I guess? I guess Gears of War, but other than that I can't say I can remember anything good that was original and exclusive.

Graphics- Remember how I changed my mind? That's because these big companies think we need to be able to see the exact excretion of sweat from a pore in a horse's nutsack, when we really don't? What's needed is something more cartoonish like the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube era, something that sticks out and isn't lost among games that look exactly the same. This, combined with Exclusives, is why Nintendo just has more memorable games.

Here's my opinion: Stop trying to pursue reality-level graphics and start trying to pursue fun ideas again that don't just appeal to your average brain rotted CoD or EA sports player. Plenty of adults still love cartoonish games like Mario, and you still make a game look GREAT that lasts years later (Okami is a huge one, but also look at Sly 2 for PS2, Sonic Colors for Wii, etc).

Also, stop trying to use top of the line parts that will either get scalped or never sell for way too much. A game console should be no more than $360 max imo, and you don't need to make its "exclusives" completely 1 to 1 with reality because it's just gonna look bad in 5 years. You need something that looks FUN, that appeals to all ages and not just either little kids or adults that think they're too "adult" to enjoy something other than your copy paste war zone or zombie apocalypse.

Focus on stability and accessibility, not a pissing contest to see who can go bankrupt first.

[flojocabron]

08/23/23: Wednesday fleamarket finds. Came across some good stuff today, I had to leave the place and pull out some more money from a grocery store nearby. First thing bought was for $5.00, two Blurays and a Godzilla dvd. The next stall caught my attention with something cool. A ps4 VR set! At first, the guy wanted $50 for it. And I wasn't sure if it had everything. So, I posted on social media whether it was complete and worth it. Most everyone replied yes, and a pic someone sent me showed me a parts list. It was missing the AC adapter. So when I went back and told the guy it's missing its plug, he lowered it to $40. Next seller had more movies. Four Disney blurays and three dvds for $15. I then found more games and movies from another seller. I spent $25 here, getting: one James Bond dvd set, three dvds, three ps3 games, one ps1, ps2 and 360 game, Red Dead Redemption 2 steelbook Xbone and some extra memory cards and ps3 mini USB cable. Also included was something quite interesting. A Wendy's restaurant Mario Gameboy Advance themed mini board game. This thing must be over 20 years old by now. It's sadly crushed a bit and missing a few paper tokens in it. But it's interesting nonetheless. As I kept looking, my eyes caught something retro. I thought I got lucky again and found a classic 80s toy. But the thing was too clean to look like something from over 30+ years ago. It was a Teddy Ruxpin bear from a few years back, not the OG. It didn't have the built-in cassette player of the original, but a spot for a mini cartridge. But the dollar I got it for was quite worth it. After this, I found more ps3 accessories. A ps3 controller for $5.00 and another move controller for $3.00. I also found more Stranger Things season one sets from the same lady I bought a few weeks ago. And still a dollar. Finally, the last thing I bought was a wii console for $10.

[necromancy-enthusiast]

in what ways is the 3ds better friend

Oh boy anon, I am so happy you asked, because the 3ds rivals the playstation 2 as my favorite video games console, so buckle in, because I have Many Thoughts about this. The switch, as I’m sure you know, has been an incredible success. Nintendo learned from the mistakes they made with the wii u, and they’ve been raking the money in ever since. But like I said before, which I imagine is what prompted you to ask this question in the first place, is that once you get past the novelty of the switch, it feels underwhelming. I primarily play it in handheld mode so my opinion is colored by that, but the thing is, it's supposed to be both a home console and a handheld console, and theoretically it's supposed to perform at least to generally equal standards. But it doesn't.

The original switch's battery life is garbage, and there's a huge downgrade in graphic fidelity between TVs and the switch's native screen. I'm by no means one of those people who thinks anything that isn't absolutely cutting edge is A Sin Against Viddy Gaems, and yeah I also get there's bound to be some downgrade, but I think that games shouldn't play like powerpoint presentation slides in handheld mode, I think that's a reasonable thing to ask. From what I've gathered this has been improved in the switch lite and oled versions, so I'll give them that, but the thing is that these deficits suggest that the ‘handheld’ mode was more of a sloppy after-thought than anything, sorta like an ‘just shove it on there we’ll deal with the problems later once everyone’s already bought one so it’ll incentivize them to buy the new upgraded version’ thing.

As long as we’re talking about hardware issues though, one thing I think is totally inexcusable is the problem with the switch joycon drift. That wasn't an honest mistake, Nintendo knew about this problem long before the switch came out. Originally they wouldn't even repair joycons out of warranty, but people made enough of a fuss about it that they started to. Apparently, with the switch oled they’ve ‘improved’ the joycons.

Note the term ‘improved’. Not ‘fixed’. ‘Improved’. Meaning that even 6 years after it launched, people are buying brand new switches and getting joycon drift. That’s total bullshit. I’ve heard people try to excuse these issues by saying ‘it’s wear and tear, of course it’s going to degrade after a lot of use’, which is also utter bullshit. How do I know that?

The oldest Nintendo console I have is an N64 that I basically inherited from my older siblings (lol I’m kinda the collection keeper nowadays). Now the N64 is uh… It has a weird controller that has awkward movement controls. But it still works just like it always did despite being over 20 years old. My ps2 is also over 20 years old and trust me, it has seen A LOT of use, but the original controller it came with and the extra I got a few years later also work just as good as new. So why does Nintendo suddenly get to pull the ‘wear and tear’ excuse when they’ve proven they and other video game companies can make durable controllers in the past?

I can’t really think of another video game console that has so consistently had such long reaching hardware problems, and not just little problems, problems that make some games basically unplayable (lol just try playing the game Card Shark on the switch with a drifting joycon, it’s not very fun), but Nintendo gets away with it because they’re Nintendo, and because the switch was their comeback. People love underdog stories, so that plus Nintendo’s brand loyalty (that Sony and Microsoft would probably put out a hit on someone to achieve for themselves, if it were only so simple) has made people feel lenient towards them…

But that good will and grace that Nintendo garners from many of its fans is wearing thin, which I think is fantastic because at the end of the day, Nintendo is another company that wants to make as much money as possible, and it should be held to much, much harsher standards! Especially since it’s a multi-million dollar company! But that’s another topic.

Another thing that has really started bugging me after I started messing around on my n3ds again is that the sheer amount of customizability in the 3ds absolutely puts the switch to shame. The switch has virtually nothing. You can mostly just change between the UI being black or white. But the 3ds has themes and folders you can organize your games in (or you can just have them all show on the main screen so you don't forget you have them, like I do with the switch -_-). They also have badges! Admittedly you get them through the badge arcade game, which is a 'free to start' game that tries to get you to pay real money, but you can easily get a lot of good stuff for free anyway.

I wouldn’t say this next part is bad, but it does indicate a change in Nintendo’s strategy and how that was likely influenced by their financial situation. The switch has a lot of ports. A lot of them. Like I said, this isn’t bad in and of itself, those games become easier for people to access in an easy, legitimate manner. But why would they suddenly change this? Traditionally Nintendo has been very picky about what it chooses to port, but nowadays the switch eshop is absolutely flooded with games of varying quality. It’s nowhere as near as bad as steam’s ‘quality control’ issues, but like I said, it just points to Nintendo’s underlying problems.

I’m not saying the 3ds didn’t have problems. Apparently when it first launched some people got headaches when they played with the 3d effect on, but given how a handheld console projecting 3d graphics like that was a brand new thing and how they actually seriously improved that (and how it’s totally optional anyway, it’s not necessary to the experience like oh I don’t know, the damn controllers of a home console), I think it’s more reasonable, and its launch titles were underwhelming (except Samurai Warriors Chronicles, God I love me a good Samurai Warriors, but admittedly it ran kinda eeehhh on the original 3ds, but the n3ds is much smoother).

Still, the 3ds is indicative of a time when Nintendo was flush with money and success from the wii/ds era in the 00s. The switch is indicative of when they were hemorrhaging money due to the wii u's failure and the 3ds' rocky start in the early-mid 10s. Marketing the switch as an all-in-one console was pretty smart, because I'm 99% sure they made that choice so they wouldn't have to split resources and money on developing two separate systems like they were generally expected to, since at this point Nintendo has practically cornered the market on traditional handheld game consoles. But it's clear the handheld part was tacked on and not given much thought, and that the whole process was rushed and occurred in a time of financial desperation.

[teecupangel]

I wanna hear the Altair blorbo origin story

Alright, nonny. You asked for it. Let me tell you in my own long-winded ramble-y way how Altaïr became my blorbo. (and a sorta summary of my experience with AC games I guess)

(It got long because I wrote how I got my first few AC games 'cause I always found it funny. If you want to just know how Altaïr became my blorbo, search for "by 'accident' ", yes, with the single quotes, those who wants to learn how my awkwardness got me to buying a lot of second-hand AC games all in one go, read on)

It all started... well, a couple of years back. My family and I went to this bigass mall because my sister thought it would be cheaper if we buy Christmas presents for our relatives there as things there were usually cheaper (it was not anymore) and I was given free rein to go wherever I want alone for an hour or so. The thing about this mall is that it has a big section that is just filled with second-hand video games so I went there, just to check what cheap game I could buy that I won't play anyway (and also maybe find a COD that we don't have yet that I can give to my father as a present). At this point, the PS3 is pretty much dead so PS3 games were cheap and I just got a PS3 like a year ago or so.

Anyway, so I just looking around, my primary 'target' was any JRPGs I haven't bought yet when I got to this stall. I don't remember which AC game they had but I think it was either Brotherhood or Revelations? Just, one of the middle PS3 games. So that made me remember how my best friend and childhood friend both liked the series and how I really liked watching my brother play Prince of Persia on our PS2 (may it rest in peace) so I asked the dude manning the store if he has more AC games. He was like "wait" and I'm just standing there awkwardly, watching this man check like three boxes filled with PS3 games. I was just thinking of getting AC1 and maybe AC2 to try it out but this man was checking every game they have and then he looks at me and went "if I find all of them, you'll buy them?" and I was like "uuuuhhh... sure....?" because he was really looking for them and I felt bad and awkward.

So this man placed I think Revelations and Brotherhood on the box of PS3 games in front of me and told me, "Wait here."

Then he left his goddamn stall and went to the next stall???

The owner of the other stall went to his stall and told me, "Oh, miss, just wait for a bit."

And I don't even know if they own both stalls or if this dude asked his neighboring stall to man his store while he goes to the other stalls in this section of the mall. I swear he went to every stall and I'm just awkwardly waiting there, blaming my awkward self for this weird situation.

It probably took 10ish minutes or so and he came back saying, "Sorry, miss, I couldn't find Rogue."

And I thought 'Yes! That's my out! I agreed to buy them only if he found all!'

But then he placed the AC 1, 2, Brotherhood, Revelations, and 3 in front of me and said, "But these are really good games."

So I was like, "Oh, okay. I'll buy these."

And internally I'm like 'ohmygod, this is why you should never shop alone, you dumbass'

So I bought second-hand AC games by 'accident' and, when we got home, I started AC1 just to check if it was working.

At this point, I should probably tell you that the only things I know about Assassin's Creed back then were:

Ezio's hot and I am obligated to love him because of my best friend

Leonardo Da Vinci must be hugged at all costs (although I didn't know that she meant it was a QTE thing)

You can whack people with a broom and it sounds like a hammer

Desmond dies in the end (and, ooohh boy, I had to comfort my best friend when this happened and I did not know anything about Desmond or AC back then)

Oh! And Lucy dies somewhere in the middle and it's supposed to be 'wtf'.

Anyway, so the PS3 installs it then I started to play it just to check if it really works.

.............

............

About 3 hours in and I was still playing it.

I actually didn't know anything about AC1. I only knew about Ezio because of my best friend so I wasn't expecting anything. The thing about past!me is that I was primarily a JRPG player and my favorite were turn-based RPGs. The only stealth game I ever played was Metal Gear Solid and I sucked at it. So the parkouring and social stealth mechanics were brand new to me. I know that a lot of people would say AC1 wasn't as polished as AC2 or that there is a lot of QoL missing in it that should have been implemented and, yeah, those are all true but, as someone whose main gaming background in parkouring was Drakengard 3's platforming? It was fun.

AC1 was fun.

And I love the setting because I love history. I love the modern-day setup too because:

Desmond is voiced by Nolan North and I love him as Captain Walker in Spec Ops the Line so I was instantly in love with Desmond (and knowing he was going to die meant that I was on the 'Desmond deserves better' bandwagon even though I haven't even finished AC1 yet back then)

I love sci-fi in general and I enjoy stories that make me go "wait, what?" so this whole "we're using the memory of your DNA to watch your ancestor's memories" made me love it just for how ridiculous of a premise it is

So, yeah, I love AC1.

Just one caveat: WHY IS THERE NO SUBTITLES??? WHO THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA????????

Annnyyywwwaaaayyyy. I went from just trying it out to pausing whatever game I was playing during that time and just blazing through the entirety of AC1 game. I learned it had no trophies on the PS3 so I didn't have to do any of the collecting thingies unless it was mandatory and, yeah, it got repetitive but I was enjoying the places Altaïr went to and all this "you know nothing" mystery about his targets were interesting for me.

But here's the thing.

Altaïr wasn't my blorbo then.

He was just there. He was okay as a character and I did like his redemption arc but...

My favorite in AC1 (other than Desmond who got that title because Nolan North) was... Malik.

Then I played AC Revelations last year.

And I realized that, as much as I like playing as Ezio, my favorite parts of Revelations were Altaïr's memory seals. Seeing how he went from this arrogant jerk to a more cautious knowledgeable man.

Then Altaïr used the Apple to try and kill Swarmi and I was like "Oh?".

Then Altaïr killed Abbas by creating a freaking gun during the 13th century and I was like "ohmygod, what???" (I knew he made the specs for the hidden gun but I thought that was like, just, sketches and stuff. I didn't think he would actually make a working version of it and also, where the hell is that gun by Ezio's time???)

And then Darim said "All that is good in me, began with you, Father. and I cried.

With just a few scenes in Revelations, I fell in love with Altaïr as a character but I didn't necessarily think of him as my favorite. But the more I play the other AC games, the more I missed him.

I missed the kind of Assassin he was.

By the time I finished Valhalla, I was messaging my childhood friend about how I missed Altaïr and how I wanted to play as him again. He was surprised because when he asked me after I finished all the OG AC games how I would rank all the AC MCs, I had put Altaïr in the middle with Edward Kenway as my no 1 protagonist. (Desmond doesn't count)

But then I started playing Origin which I thought was pretty good. Then Odyssey... then Valhalla...

The more AC veers away from the stealth-focused games, the more I missed being an actual Assassin in an Assassin's Creed game. And the one character that I missed the most, the character I thought about when I think Assassin was Altaïr.

And talking to my childhood friend made me realize...

Oh, fuck, Altaïr is my Assassin's Creed blorbo.

(considering Assassin's Creed is also the first stealth game I actually played AND finished, I guess you can say that Altaïr was my 'first' and you never forget your first)

[phoenix-flamed]

🌸 If you get this, answer with 3 random facts about yourself and send it to the last 7 blogs in your notifications, anonymously or not! Let's get to know the person behind the blog. 🌸

ogod three more facts. Uh, let's see here --

My first Final Fantasy game was actually VIII! My mom bought the PC version for my sister and I because she found it at the store and thought it looked like something we might enjoy. She was not wrong. My second Final Fantasy game was VII, which I didn't get the chance to play until Kingdom Hearts came out; I only remember it was specifically at that time because !!! my sister and mom bought me my first PS2 along with Kingdom Hearts and a copy of FFVII, because they knew how much I'd wanted to play the latter.

Umm. Hmm. I love collecting art books and strategy guides. When it comes to strategy guides, I mostly get them for the extra lore, character information, official artwork and screenshots, etc., and used to use them to practice drawing! I was actually guilty of taking my FFVII and FFIX strategy guides to school with me in junior high, so that I could use them to draw in my classes...

I retain completely useless information. It used to be that I could read a book once, and have it memorized enough that I'd not have to open it again in order to write essays, take tests and quizzes about it, etc. My memory isn't nearly that sharp anymore, but I still do retain useless information better than anything, y'know, actually important. Going back to my previous fact and the mention of strategy guides, I used to read strategy guides as if they were actual books, and as a result I tended to memorize games and their dungeons, etc. (The best example being The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.)

[swoot-swoot]

I wish I could go back to the first time I finished Okami.

I remember the first time I played Okami HD. I had a PS2, sure, but the games I could play there have been monitored. Growing up with a brother that never appreciated a side that could have been more empathetic or leveled meant that we usually chose games like San Andreas, Pro Evolution Soccer and the rare shooter... and then the replaying of these games ad nauseam.

I played this game after a rather weird breakup. Well... some time after a breakup. Maybe a year. I still felt stuck, though. Heartbroken, cheated and unloved. In that moment, I distracted myself as I always would. In a personal project, I would end up looking for games from my childhood that I glimpsed and never played. Okami, Oddworld, Yakuza, Shadow of the Colossus. And second in this entire journey... was Okami.

I was lucky to even run the game. In my life, there have been big ups and downs where I couldn't have the necessairy hardware. So when I bought Okami HD, it was in a time where I could plug in a controller in my PC at the time and just... go for it. Finally realizing what I never played.

For a month, a magical journey through a stylized land of Gods and Spirits, drawn to remind and call back to traditional tapestry, would unfold with every play session. All the while, reminding itself to have fun with colorful characters and gags. A game that knew its limitations graphically, and wasn't stopped by that. A light-hearted adventure through mythos... and yet, when it was all over, it made me cry. I sat through the entire credits section, softly sobbing and smiling at what I went through. It was inspiring, soothing and powerful. Every moment of the game, crafted with care and love, and it only hits you once you realize the stages went through were not meant to be "levels", but a wide array of people that you helped, like a benevolent deity that came to their lives and ran wild. Listening to their many plights and finding the answers. Actively helping people for no gain. But because you can - you can and you should. And realizing how much you changed their lives at the end of the game was powerful. Knowing you made the world a better place.

When it was all over, I cried for things beyond the ending. It was... done. And at that moment, I was thrust into the world again. I remember feeling this sort of ecstasy wearing out once I realized that the feeling would come to pass once the world choked me out again. So I cried. Because since the ending of that game, since that one day, nothing has felt quite like the end of the journey. I have tried to take the mantle and offer that sort of love I saw. It works... but there are times where this empathy seems to run dry. Where my energy for other people dies, and I try my hardest to rebound back to my feet. But I always manage. Yet the hardest part always is that the world seems to not need you. You can give out love, but out there, it really feels like everything else will try to step on your throat and choke out what you want to do. And always - always - because you have to survive...

Shortly after finishing the game, outside sources tried to force me to take active action on things that were barely my choice, if even my choice at all. Forced trips, large periods of time in other places, without anything or anyone to know, and for reasons trivial. All while your voice doesn't matter against them. Constant reminders of "what must be done" and "how you should act", killing me every day as I was not allowed to take things one day at a time. Shortly after my journey through a land shaped from empathy, I broke down and could not act on them. My own pace forced to go quicker for no apparent reason, stealing from me the ability to deal with my own problems in the ways I know how to. Years later, I still avoid handling problems. A habbit that I can't get rid of. I freeze in anxiety, my heart beats faster and I can never cope against it.

I still listen to the soundtrack, though. I still feel the tears, every time I hear Reset and Theme of the Celestials. The mark of some things never really washes out. I will always look back at the beauty I was presented, the confidence with which this game carried itself... and a feeling yet unmatched. In my hardest times, I always take a moment to go back. Every time, I try to go back to the first time I finished Okami. Where things seemed like they would evolve with love - given and received - a promise that was crushed. And yet, a glimmer of hope through all the sorrow. I want to fight back. I want to live the rest of my days like that. I know I'll figure it out sometime. Definitely later, rather than sooner. Maybe this textwall is the first step towards it rebuilding resolve and learning to live with anxiety.

I may only hope.

"Life is all about resolve. Outcome is secondary. It is resolve that determines the value of your life." - Waka

[bearpillowmonster]

Tomb Raider Anniversary Review (PC)

This can be buggy. Places not properly mapped so trying to jump up onto places clearly there in front of you but there's no grab (though, I had auto grab on so maybe manual has a difference). Enemy AI getting stuck in odd places. Player AI getting stuck (mainly when crawling). And the camera…yeesh. Especially when you're trying to jump onto something behind you. It's a blind leap. Even worse when I used a controller, luckily I'm not picky enough to refuse keyboard and mouse.

But I went in knowing all that, I just wanted to treasure hunt and shoot dinosaurs.

I was actually just going to buy Underworld and saw both this and that were 98 cents so I figured what the heck, I'd just finish the trilogy since I already played Legend. Legend has a lot of the same problems but I enjoyed it anyway, this one just has a lot more.

I was left in kind of a weird situation because the best way to play these games…is on the Xbox 360, (I'll get to why when I talk about Underworld) but I heard that the PS2 and Wii ports were different from the PS3 and Xbox ones, cutting puzzles out and stuff, they even look a little different. PS2 and Wii happen to be the ports that I could play since I have those consoles but the reviews said to not even bother, that they shouldn't have even been released. Which is a far cry from what I wanted. Steam reviews said that the controls were atrocious and that it didn't even launch half the time so I figured heck with it, check the other stores, maybe they're supported a bit better. GOG had positive reviews so I bought them both.

Now despite all those problems I mentioned, I was having fun with it, there seemed to be some merit. A good experimental base for a good Tomb Raider game, but I can NOT recommend it. I ran it right after buying it, worked fine. I ran it again a few days later and started a playthrough, beat the first 3 chapters. I tried running it again that night and lo and behold a black screen. Not just any black screen though because I couldn't get out of it. I couldn't close the game. I ctrl alt deleted, I pressed every button on my keyboard, I tried everything I could but couldn't make it to my desktop, I had to restart my whole computer. After restart, same problem. It even crashed the whole computer once.

This isn't an uncommon issue either, it comes down to how much tolerance you have for how a game works and crashes. I ended up verifying game files, uninstalling then reinstalling and somehow it came back. Even then, I played it with task manager in the background but it didn't last. What ended up working was playing in windowed mode. How? I downloaded a thing off github that I could provide upon request but there's a gimmick now. Sometimes the camera only wants to aim downwards so I can't see what I'm doing…It's just a shame that this game has aged this poorly because it could be darn fine if it all worked the way it was supposed to. But the way it is now, this is probably one of the worst games I've ever played.

What's more is that the swan dive just plain doesn't work, when you load a game, you have to start a new game, skip the cutscenes until you can play and then load it from the menu. The way to fix this is to either rename your profile (or just make a new one) or rename the manual save to autosave.trasave. I don't think I was noble by finishing the game with all these problems but if I wanted to play it, I didn't have a whole lot of other options unless I wanted to buy it for a load more money by buying an outdated PS3 or Xbox 360 and as I mentioned, when I tried using a controller, it didn't work so well.

Now that I said that, I bought the Wii version because I heard that it's the best version, a bit of an outliar. So, that will be a second review for my second attempt. I mentioned Underworld but don't get the Wii version of that one. (rather complicated, I know.)

[toyota-supra]

I'm very tired from work and uni so let's just talk whatever for a bit. how about a list of things I love lists.

- I started watching both Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury and the original MSG when the first ep of GWitch came out. both are great! I'm very excited for GWitch every week because every episode is a treasure. the original show is really really good and makes me very emotional. I like it the same way I liked Star Trek (1966) though maybe more so

- I played through the PS2 game Batman Begins, obviously based on the movie of same name, and it's pretty fucking good! I have a certain disdain for the movie itself and Nolan Trilogy's interpretation of Batman as a character but the things you see and do in the game are fun and surprisingly refreshing for someone who's played through countless Batman video games like me. genuinely recommend it

- I also started playing Heaven Will Be Mine, a queer sci-fi mecha VN by the team behind We Know The Devil, and it's also really good. I'm only an hour in but I really like the writing, and hope I can read more soon

- I got Mario Kart 8 (again), and while I'm having fun with it, playing it solo does reinforce a lot my problems with Mario Kart and racing games in the modern day. I would like to write further on this topic, but I might lack the information or knowledge or just communicational skills to convey everything I think about it. I like playing as King Boo.

- I haven't written anything in months, except by this one poem about how I haven't had the emotional energy to write about anything in months, which is very on-brand for my poetry (which no one will know because no one knows how much I've written about not writing)

- I bought the first chapters of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. will let you know what I think later.

- R4 Ridge Racer Type 4 is still the best

- I reeeeally want to play GO Vacation on Nintendo Switch, dude

I think that's all for today. thanks for reading