Where will the pop stars and nude models of Australia go now to launch
their careers?

Play:
--=--

Dark Souls (Switch) - Woo! After nine long years (and playing it on four
different platforms) I've finally found my way through Anor Londo!
Shortcut to the giant blacksmith unlocked, front doors of the castle
opened, promptly stomped flat by the double-team boss fight. So even with
all my stats at 20 or over (on what's ostensibly a spellcaster build heavy
in Intelligence) I still can't seem to make a dent in Orenthal or Smythe.
Part of my problem is that I spent all of the past six weeks learning how
to use a shield, which feels absolutely wrong for my style of play.
Demon's Souls (and to a lesser extent DS2) seemed more accommodating to
all of the different character classes that were available, and I'm not
wild about the notion that games like Bloodborne and Sekiro pulled away
from that and towards some sort of mythical ideal build.

Sega Rally 2006 (PS2) - It's strangely tactile and noisy, in that it's
simulating a lot of the pop and bang of the rally engines of the era in a
way that other games tend not to. So the rumble is jarring and the
codriver is a bit more noisy when he complains about a jolt or a
collision. It's something of a crime that this game hasn't be remastered
in some form.

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Switch) - This is...
fine? I find it an unremarkable Metroidvania game, and that's coming in
without any expectations set. I'm not wild about the Ikaruga swap play
mechanic, where you have to switch from a fire power set to a water power
set depending on what attacks the boss is flinging at you or what
environmental hazards are around. That seems like a lot of effort and a
lot of learning curve for not much benefit.

Want:
--=--

Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection (Switch/PS4) - Maybe? Strictly Limited
put this on sale last night, and it's fifty Euros for each copy. In times
past I'd have jumped right on that bandwagon, but now it's looking a bit
more rickety and less fun to ride. At least I seem to be playing the games
I buy now, to a point.

Bin:
-==-

Nothing game-related.

Expenditure:
-----=-----

Balance forward - $757

-KKC, who wonders why there aren't more Souls games on Switch.
--
-- "People with happy families don't become spies. A bad | kendrick
childhood is the perfect background for covert ops. You | @
don't trust anyone. You're used to getting smacked around, | io-nyc
and you never get homesick." - Michael Westen, /Burn Notice/ | .com

Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick@nospam.io-nyc> wrote:

> Play:

Crazy Taxi (DC) - now with my save from 2003, and high scores I
will probably never get anywhere near. Which is nice. I think.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (DC) - as ported by some obscure outfit
called Treyarch, and played on another old save of mine, from 2002 in
this case. Although the game can hardly compare to the sequels
graphically, I forgot how much nicer it looks than the PS1 version.
Overall the remake (THPS 1+2) is probably still preferable, but I
think it's more debatable when comparing to the Dreamcast version
rather than the PS1.

> Want:

Gran Turismo 7 (PS4) - this is clearly a bit like a GT Sport Plus with
a more normal single-player, with excessive load times on the PS4
version, and that annoying online save business still, but... yeah.
Not getting this until the price drops quite a bit though.

> Bin:

Shenmue 2 (DC) only having three saves per VMU (I didn't actually play
it this time, but did copy another old save). It's oddly frustrating
that I can't even keep the old saves I still have all accessible on
one VMU, let alone adding any.

-Rus.