MGSV is my first MGS game since the first one and it's slowly growing on me. The one function I appreciate is the ability to travel to MB and discipline my troops

I get that for some players it's just fun to run around the open world fultoning things and clearing outposts, making your own narrative as you go. If this wasn't mainline MGS then maybe I wouldn't view it as harshly or held it to such a high standard. But it is.

The pacing is terrible, the intro starts with such promise and then it falls into the usual open world trap of sacrificing storytelling for meaningless side quests and endless title sequences or end credits. Repetition upon repetition upon repetition.

Snake isn't Snake, He has barely any personality. He's a passive, mostly silent avatar and that makes the info dump you constantly get from Miller and Ocelot even more obtrusive than the codec spam from previous games. Stunt casting Keifer actually harmed the character, not because he's bad at all but because he's a gimmick and he's barely present. They then double down on this by making your only human support character a mute.

Boss battles are forgettable filler, nothing here even comes close to previous entries which were stacked full of creativity.

The Big Boss heel turn is completely handwaved. The pay-off for the main plot points storylines are rushed, flat, or in some cases entirely unresolved (not entirely Kojima's fault tbf). Narratively it is a complete failure and to me that makes a poor Metal Gear experience. The story beats don't even top Ground Zeroes ffs. The drop in quality from the other numbered games is severe and incredibly disappointing.

It was a let down because you didnt play 3 or 4 which are legit all time masterpieces.

I played them along with the psp ones (minus acid) and still consider it a strong tie to the series. Metal Gear Survive on the other hand.

Been replaying Skyrim.

Still such a great game. So much to do, and I'm 150 hours in.

Meanwhile I have never played the Online version. Is it worth playing as some of the posts seem to indicate so?

Do you like mmos?

Deleted it from my PS4 recently after finishing the last few trophies to get the full 💯% score.

Never really played one.

TBH if you aren't worried about a few raids or a couple multiplayer zones, ESO is a very solo friendly game. I played through an absolute ton of the content a couple years ago with no issues and easily max ranked for the time. If you just want the lore and a typical ES experience, it's there.

Been playing Grim Dawn again. Got around to getting the expansion and am having a good time with it. Scratches the diablo itch really well.

Also noticed that THQ Nordic released a new expansion for Titan Quest after 11 years, probably gonna give that a try too because I loved Titan Quest.

Just started "Disc 2" of FF7, so probably halfway if my memory serves me right.

Forgot a bunch of details surrounding the big death. Cait Sith "dies" immediately before Aeris and for some reason I found it sadder, there's absolutely nothing sad or even dramatic about it since he's a robot but the scene just plays really weird like it's a major event. Odd.

The last interaction of Cloud / Aeris prior to her leaving the group is him literally beating the shit out of her. That's going to be an interesting scene in the Remake, definitely expect that sort of thing to be changed haha.

I never really got behind CloudxAeris, it seemed like that was the narrative the game wanted to take, Cait Sith pretty much says it outright that they are the OTP, but I guess at this point Cloud is Zack, so there actually never is any CloudxAeris, its all Zack and it was always Zack. Tifabestgirl.

Hojo is the biggest dick.

Tifa <3

Just started GoW2018

I'm gonna go back to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and do my "Foxiest of the Hounds" run and snag most of the trophies I missed. Gonna be a pain, but I love the challenge.

FWIW, it is significantly shorter than Human Revolution.

Completed storymode in Injustice 2 while taking a break from State of Decay 2.

Good story but think I preferred the first one.

I have now purchased Elder Scrolls Online.

Think the different mechanics and graphics to Skyrim will take some getting used to. Almost feels more like Fable 2 (the only Fable I played). Still, looking forward to getting a bit more in depth with it.

Startling admission time: "the big death" wasn't so much of a blow for me as it was many, as *I* was one who assumed Tifa in the first place. You have your big breasted, badass fighter, childhood friend on one hand and some random chick you just met who oozes that annoying, tropey "tee hee hee, look how frail and innocent I am" thing that is apparently culturally sexy, but I never got on board with finding that appealing so I never "got" it. Hell, I didn't know the Gold Saucer date scene was flag dependent, and got Tifa my first time through even though the game is set up to funnel you towards Aerith unless you knew how to do otherwise.

I didn't even use the flower girl all that much, and when I started using her a bit more, it was when she gets her best weapon with all the extra materia slots... which isn't all that long before she bites the dust. I was a bit more upset that I bothered starting to use her more RIGHT BEFORE she goes all Obi Wan. Could've been leveling someone else. Character wise, though, I wasn't really supper attached at all.

I forgot about Cait as well. And I actually remember thinking, when they revealed who he actually was, that the actual person would be joining the party for awhile. Then that never happened.

Cait Sith is one of the most interesting characters. That whole scene with him in the Temple of the Ancients is so confusing, like is he actually getting sentimental, or acting, or what?

Definitely one of the most interesting. When I played it when I was young I didn't really feel that way but on subsequent playthroughs as I got older I started to appreciate the conflicted nature of his character more and more.

Tifa was always the one for me. Aerith always seemed somehow distant and too carefree, like she wasn't really interested and was destined for something else. Still didn't soften the big blow when it happened though as I had grown to appreciate her for other reasons. That is still one of the most gut-wrenching moments in gaming history for me, up there with the death and resurrection of Crono and the subsequent scenes with Marle in Chrono Trigger.

Don't know if you guys ever experienced it, but the best Saucer scene is if you somehow get the date with Barret. That was glorious.

I did the Barret date on this playthrough, dude called me a spikey headed fucker and chastised me for not being into any of the girls. This was preceded by 20 seconds of awkward silence during the fireworks display and it totally cracked me.

Was pretty interesting that Cait Sith was the only hero who really called Barret out on his bullshit moral high ground, what AVALANCHE did in the opening was pretty fucking horrific but Aeris/th, Cid, Yuffie, Nanaki and Vince never even touch on the subject of joining forces with a terrorist cell.

Cid was too busy verbally abusing his wife to be on any moral high ground about terrorist cells.

"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN AND DRINK YOUR GODDAMN TEA!!!"

I do like his reaction to wanting to make him party leader after that whole lifestream thing... "Pain in the ass! Forget it!"

lol Cid is such a selfish arsehole, dude was willing to sacrifice the huge materia you've been chasing around Gaea for an entire disc if it meant he got to go into space, but he wasn't willing to burn Shera to a crisp so you know he must really care about her deep down.

So I decided I need a break from heavy gaming and downloaded a few little titles to toy around with.

Yoku's Island Express is super fun. It's like Metroid combined with pinball. I realize that sounds weird but that is exactly what it is. You are a dung beetle rolling your ball around the world, doing quests for other island inhabitants and searching for powerups. Navigation is done by rolling around the world and engaging a massive number of pinball flippers that are everywhere in the environment. Some are just a flipper here or there, other areas have fairly complex puzzles involving tons of them. There are also pinball boss fights. It does have a pretty light hearted story component to fuel your adventure, and it does enough for what it is. Pretty fun game, really liked it and was kind of sad when I finished it. Would definitely play more of the style. It was just so charming lol.

Also got Hot Lava. Remember being a kid and pretending the floor is lava? Yeah. This is that. First person mirrors edge style parkour.....with lava. Hot lava. Straight forward game but surprisingly challenging. Still in early access but there is a pretty good amount of content already. Only 9.99 right now, and it gives you an extra copy to gift to someone through steam. Gave it to my oldest son and now I'm dad of the year (for the next week anyways until he wants something else).

Also saw this little game called Ballistic Golf, also in early access.....but it was only 2.99. 3 bucks, what the hell, I'll give it a go. Typical PC mini-golf game, little rough around the edges in terms of some framerate issues (doesn't effect your play though), but a TON of content for 3 dollars. I want to say there is like 250-ish holes so far, broken down into 9 hole courses, and they constantly add more and more for free. Theres some easy holes on the beginning courses but it ramps up in a hurry. I just played a 9 hole course that was par 157. One hole was like a par 35 LOL. You will get blindsided by some crazy traps you weren't expecting from time to time, but it's hardly upsetting most of the time. But yea, if you want a little mini golf game that you can kill a few minutes here or there with, it's a steal at the price. I can see it being my go to when I only have a little time to play something, at least for the forseeable future.

Just finished God of War 2018. Amazing game. Makes me look back on the franchise (that i love) and feel like all the previous games are a joke. I cant think of a franchise reinventing itself like this one has. I cant gush loud enough.

Will pass the time until Octopath with Banjo Kazooi, Cuphead and Hollow Knight

Felt the same way.

Old Man Kratos is so much cooler than the original series version.

Also, said this before but

This was the best cinematic gaming experience since TLoU

Embarking on the ridiculous grind to beat Emerald and Ruby Weapon with Mime W-Summon quadra magic KOTR. Not sure how long this is going to take but I once beat Ruby Weapon without KOTR as a self-inflicted challenge and that battle seemed to take longer than any amount of grinding ever has.

I hate the optional bosses in FF7. To be reasonable to need KOTR and that cast animation is unbearable

Yeah they're either too much or too easy, there's no balanced way to get a good fight out of them. I prefer the lucky 7s method of beating Emerald since limits have a much quicker animation, but he doesn't even get a turn it's sad.

Tifa was awesome. I just think the music after the bastard stabs her is what makes the moment for me. The first time I played it I was like 12, just having a blast playing the game, wondering why Cloud was mentally messed up. Then Sephiroth drops from the sky and stabs her through her heart and you are like..........wtf just happened:'(

They fixed it in FF8. Omega Weapon takes the straightforward route of making you wish you were never born.

Oh yeah, Omega is a real fucker, he's right up there with Penance. Reaching Ultima in 8 was also such an ordeal that facing him became a much scarier prospect, that was one anxiety inducing game over.

I think the Dark Aeons from X are actually my favourite bunch of superbosses.

Since GTA: San Andreas showed up on backwards compatible, I've been playing a lot of that. And some Midnight Club: LA too.

How well has GTA:SA aged?

The graphics are bad. Way worse than Bully or RDR. The story is still pretty phenomenal.

Graphics felt bad even then tbf. does the game mechanics still feel fluid? Game felt really great in the day