Nobody Cares: Gaming Edition

[Noodles]

I had a trial of Xbox Gamepass last year and played through the first Yakuza. I did almost everything I could. Fun game, though the combat is a little repetitious at times. Also there was one period, where for SOME REASON I encountered Majina every ten feet. I was just walking across the map and I had to battle him like 20 times in that one trip, no joke. I don't know if there was a bug or what.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

I had a trial of Xbox Gamepass last year and played through the first Yakuza. I did almost everything I could. Fun game, though the combat is a little repetitious at times. Also there was one period, where for SOME REASON I encountered Majina every ten feet. I was just walking across the map and I had to battle him like 20 times in that one trip, no joke. I don't know if there was a bug or what.

Do you mean Yakuza Kiwami or Yakuza 0? Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 actually came out over 15 years ago on the PS2 (called Yakuza and Yakuza 2 back then), to be followed all the way up to 6, 0 is a prequel to those later stories,. 3, 4 5, and 6 were on the later consoles, not aging well now.

I started with 0, then felt the need to go back to the start. At the time Kiwami wasn't on PC/Steam so I emulated it. THAT one has super old mechanics. I still didn't hate it too much even with the really bad english voice acting. Even those that have been ported have not been ported very well.

I then went thru all of them, up until 6. I do not recommend that. It's just too much open world if you were to do one after the other as I did; I would give some time between each one. II still liked the basic underlying story independent of gameplay.

It was a bit odd for me to go from action-adventure to turn based in the most recent one (Like a Dragon). I love turn based jrpg's as a rule. I like to have a moment to think about what I intend to do, but I dunno if it's just modern game design, it just didn't scratch that itch. It IS still a very good game, especially compared to many recent game releases. It seems the older I get nothing can get close to what I experienced when younger, even if mechanics then had limitations.

I did love my time with Kiryu on all but the most recent, though. I felt his absence, but there was a ton of fan reference for those that have a history with the franchise. A new player it wouldn't mean much to, but they could still have a decent time in its own right.

To be honest, my favorite is still 0. It was my introduction to a fantastic world because I was completely unaware of the earlier titles. It made me want more. It still beats out Like A Dragon, not to take away from that, but it just is.

Late Edit. Fixed Kiwama to Kiwami. I know what it is, but brain dead, lol

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Do you mean Yakuza Kiwami or Yakuza 0? Yakuza Kiwama and Yakuza Kiwama 2 actually came out over 15 years ago on the PS2 (called Yakuza and Yakuza 2 back then), to be followed all the way up to 6, 0 is a prequel to those later stories,. 3, 4 5, and 6 were on the later consoles, not aging well now.

To clarify:

The original Yakuza and Yakuza 2, came out over 15 years ago - and they do look just like you expect a PS2 game to look. Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 though are remakes of the first two games, and came out in 2016. They were made for PS4, so they are high-def games, and they are not just remasters with high-definition models but are whole rebuilds of the original games on a new engine, and have some new mechanics, minigames and substories. In fact Yakuza 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, and Yakuza 6 all came out in the same two-year stretch, so they all use the same engine and a lot of the new substories connect between those games.

All of the Yakuza games used to be Playstation exclusives but now ALL of them are available on Xbox and PC. I don't think they're on Game Pass anymore (at least not for free) but they are on Steam. Yakuza 0, though it came out later, is the beginning of Kiryu's story so I definitely would recommend starting there if anyone was to pick up the games for the first time.

 

[Noodles]

It was Kiwami, the remake of the first one.

 

[Free]

Another bites the anti-woke dust bunnies.

Doom co-creator John Carmack is headlining a 'toxic and proud' sci-fi convention that rails against 'woke propaganda'

Id Software co-founder and former Oculus VR CTO John Carmack is facing criticism for his recent announcement that he will be attending BasedCon, a sci-fi and fantasy convention for fans who are "tired of woke propaganda."

"I’m going to be at basedcon.com again this year," Carmack tweeted. "I had read books from and twitter-interacted with three of the authors (more since!), but I wasn’t sure what to expect last year. It turned out fun, in a grass-roots con way that reminded me of the old Space Access days.

Attending a convention is a pretty unremarkable thing most of the time, but BasedCon isn't like most. Its website(opens in new tab) claims the convention "isn't about pushing any particular ideology," while at the same time listing examples of "based beliefs" that the organizers subscribe to:

• Men cannot give birth
• Guns don’t kill people; people kill people
• A fetus is a human being
• Socialism has failed everywhere it’s been tried
• Discriminating against white people is racism

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

My fat CECHE deluxe model PS3 bit the dust, a local repair place couldn't fix it. YLOD, without a yellow light. CC sadface. Picked up a used PS3 superslim to replace it. I do still have a working PS2, with the FFXI hard drive no less, but getting it to display properly on modern displays is a pain in the Ass. Backwards compatible PS3's made it easier even if a CECHE's PS2 compatibility wasn't as good as a CECHA/CECHB models.

This would be easier if I was still using an HDTV, but for some dumbass reason it is HARD to find small HDTV's with a complete set of inputs and full 1080p or better. I had to settle for a computer monitor when my previous HDTV display died. That's also why I picked up a Hyperkin Retron 3 HD to make it easier to play my old NES/SNES games. Sure it has sound issues compared to a real NES, but it has HDMI and works better than cheap composite to HDMI converters.

All I want is an inexpensive 22 inch 4K HDTV 120Hz with RF and composite and s-video and component and 2 HDMI inputs one of them ARC. Is that too much to ask? Apparently it is.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Has anyone ever played this game Outer Wilds? You rocket around their solar system, trying to find clues within 22 minutes or until you get killed one way or another. I've only started playing it. It is all about learning from past observations I think. It is very trippy for sure.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Has anyone ever played this game Outer Wilds? You rocket around their solar system, trying to find clues within 22 minutes or until you get killed one way or another. I've only started playing it. It is all about learning from past observations I think. It is very trippy for sure.

I've heard a lot about this game and it sounds really neat!

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Wait what

 

[Noodles]

Fortnite lets you emote about how everyone is feeling anymore.

MSN

 

[Free]

Pour one out for HDDs because PC games are starting to require SSDs

It’s time to consider an SSD upgrade for your PC game storage

www.theverge.com

Microsoft held its Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday and revealed that Bethesda’s first new IP in 25 years, Starfield, will require 125GB of SSD storage when it debuts on September 6th. It’s not a recommendation — it’s a minimum spec to play Starfield on a PC.

A single game isn’t a trend, but at the same time CD Projekt Red also revealed that it’s bumping the minimum specs of Cyberpunk 2077 to require an SSD at minimum and phasing out HDD support. While the system requirements change for Cyberpunk 2077 is related to the upcoming Phantom Liberty expansion that won’t ship on older HDD-powered Xbox One and PS4 consoles, the base PC game will be updated soon to this SSD minimum spec.

 

[Ghost Pepper]

Pour one out for HDDs because PC games are starting to require SSDs

It’s time to consider an SSD upgrade for your PC game storage

www.theverge.com

I've had SSD drive for several years now. Way better than HDD. Computer starts up way faster as do games.

 

[Noodles]

So I know this game has a lot of stigma around ot but Inhave been playing The Wizard game that shall not be nammed and man there is so much weirdness in this because the fact that it needs to be a game, and also a story about kids in school, are completely at odds with itself in a lot of ways.

Lots of minor breaking and entering and theft, lots of "you totally didn't kill that evil dark wizard but he just desintegrated and your character commented about there being 'one less dark wizard' and thats not ominous."

Also there is a lot of plot set up of little rules like restricted access and not allowed out at night, but its all forgotten almost as soon as its mentiomed so you can freely wander the entire countryside at all hours. I mean, ok, "classroom simulator" would have been dull but it feels weird.

Also your character is more of a Mary Sue archetype than Harry Potter himself.

 

[detrius]

I've had SSD drive for several years now. Way better than HDD. Computer starts up way faster as do games.

Same here.

I still have some HDDs in a RAID for data storage, though.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Ugh. Tried re-activating my battle.net account to give Diablo4 a try... I dunno why I even bothered. Their security is beyond annoying. IT'S A FREAKING GAME, stop pretending like you're some sort of financial institution!

 

[Caete]

 

[Essence Lumin]

The international scrabble championship is going on right now. The winner is who wins the best of 7 games and it is currently 2 - 2.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Oh the drama! It could be the final game and he missed MUSKONE for a bingo but got OMEN for 50.

Adding - the final game 3-3 and the last game. The first word was ECHOIER

And the winner, David Eldar.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

Ugh. Tried re-activating my battle.net account to give Diablo4 a try... I dunno why I even bothered. Their security is beyond annoying. IT'S A FREAKING GAME, stop pretending like you're some sort of financial institution!

Wait'll you see the rest of what they've done.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I just finished Yakuza 5 and what a fun and amazing game, much more fun and satisfying than 4.

Yakuza 4 was the first game in the series that was divided into 4 parts, in each of which you played a different character. They all had their own distinct personalities, personal stories, and substories to do, and as Yakuza games are RPG beat-em-ups, each character had a unique fighting style with their own fun and painful-to-watch special moves to add interest.

In Yakuza 5 you play four different characters over the course of the game again - well, five really, although two of them share one segment - but this time in addition to the normal brawling and the overall main plot that ties them all together, each character had a personal "side story" which was like a smaller, completely different game inside the game. The first character is a taxi driver, so his side story involved...well, driving a taxi (safely, legally), as well as street racing against a gang of punks. Another character gets stranded for a while in a remote mountain village and his side story involves winter survival, hunting and trapping and facepunching a freaking giant bear. Yet another does no fighting at all but is training to be a stage idol and has a gauntlet of dance battles, stage singing, and publicity events to work through. And the last is an ex-pro baseball player and his story involves a lot of time at the batting cages. All of these different activities are essentially minigames with their own unique mechanics, and these aren't just a handful of missions each that we're talking, but a few dozen, and more optional ones besides. And finally this is on top of the preposterous number of casual minigames that are already crammed into ALL Yakuza games, from bowling to poker to karaoke to shogi (like a kind of Japanese chess) to fishing to darts to pool to...you get the idea.

I've played this game for 110.8 hours, finished every single character mission and substory and side-story for each character as well as the main plot of course. Completion: 41.42%