Mezmero

Persistent viscera. Specifically in Ninja Gaiden 2 on 360, any time you're killing humanoid enemies their blood and bodies will remain. And since you tend to backtrack in the game it's fun to go back through an area and be like "Yeesh, whoever killed these guys must be pretty twisted. Like some kind of cyborg ninja or something."

Logical hazardous surfaces. An example I'll cite is in Prey 2017, if you're on a metal surface that an electric phantom is also on you'll suffer shock damage, even if the phantom is one that you summoned as ally. Games have been getting better and better about utilizing this type of logic, as seen in stuff ranging from Divinity: Original Sin 2 to Bioshock to Enter the Gungeon where surfaces react to elements the way you expect them to.

@liquiddragon: The walk animations in 13 Sentinels is one of my favorite things about it.

Even though they've had the crummiest naming for their console SKUs I feel like merely having an "X" in their name over the course of several years is already powerful enough branding. It's so evocative that it sort of supersedes the need for mascot characters. Since Gamepass is becoming their biggest selling point then maybe they could brand that with some sort character. Maybe have the Sunset Overdrive dude stylishly grinding from game to game...

I'm looking over a games of decade draft I was putting together to try to puzzle out my levels of surprise. I know expectation should have a lot to do with it but even that seems like an iffy criteria in some cases.

I want to say Prey 2017. Some people were tepid on it, some were hot on it, some were bitter that Prey 2 didn't happen, I didn't know what to believe so I put off playing it. Finally I just played it and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. I wouldn't call it a flawless masterpiece but it nails the vibe of what it's going for a lot better than most stuff set in space. On top of that the Mooncrash add-on is an incredibly cool rogue-lite done with these same assets.

The one who started this is definitely among the front-runners... Whoops my mistake, I thought this was "most disappointing forum poster." :P

I adore Enter the Gungeon and consider it one of my top favorite Rogue-ish games. The only trophy I have to get is defeating the Advanced boss. I feel like that happens to be the achievement where you can get screwed over the most by the RNG. There are also non-trophy goals you can still shoot for should you be so inclined, for instance I've made it to the end with the Gunslinger once and lost because the end boss is so freakin' hard at that point.

If there's one thing that makes EtG somewhat less appealing compared to other Rogue-likes it's that when you're at the level of mastery that I am and you make it to the end consistently, then the average play time per run is about an hour. It's a bit harder to justify a 'one more run' kind of flow when it's that long, especially compared to other games of this type. Personally I can't resist doing at least a few tries for any run-based game I play just so I can get some sense of improvement. If anything spacing out attempts can be detrimental for me. Most recent example would be Prey Mooncrash. I adore that game but I just so happen to take long breaks from it and return to it forgetting how best to optimize my runs. I could easily see myself beating it but I probably should have just stuck with it until the end the first time around.

Noice. I've watched like half of these shows and liked them. Wasn't as strong a year for my anime watching as the previous one but it seems like some good stuff came out in spite of the pandemic that I had to work all the way through. My list is something like this:

1. Haikyuu! S4
2. Keep Your Hands off Eizouken
3. Dorohedoro
4. Kaguya-Sama S2
5. Kengan Ashura

I echo all the love that Eizouken has been getting. When I think about that show being about putting effort and craft into creating a project of love, the Haikyuu anime is the real life result of those attitudes coming together to make a truly wonderful work of art that anyone can enjoy. Jujutsu Kaisen is cool but I only just watched it this year. Haven't watched much seasonal anime this year so far. I've mostly been catching up on western cartoons and having a good time of it.

I wouldn't mind getting a PS5 as an upgrade to games I play on my base PS4 but I'm starting to lose my fucking patience. At the risk of sounding entitled, I've had to be on the second-to-front lines of essential workers all throughout the pandemic so I'd appreciate it if I could at least spend the extra money I've made on something I want to buy. To add insult to injury just about all the podcasters I listen too talk about getting one and barely touching it. I'm like "Hell dude, I'd use it if I could get one".

As far as I can tell the supply chain is being clogged by scalpers, tech hipsters, and lucky bastards. Meanwhile us Joe-12-pack's are getting the royal screwjob. I don't desperately need one right away but if I could simply find one and buy it without a fuss I totally would. At this point I'm probably more likely to finally buy a Switch, because you can actually see them on store shelves on occasion. I couldn't tell you what's stopping me from doing that aside from the price gouging on software Nintendo is known for.

The real answer to everything might be that I should just finally start playing Final Fantasy 14, which will probably cost far less money for more game time in the long run than I'd spend on any new console.

My extremely weird take is that Chris is basically the Wesker of this game. Doesn't seem to hold water since he is technically on the side of the angels but in terms of doing shady shit behind the scenes, knowing more than he lets on, and to top it off literally working FOR Umbrella I found him immensely unlikable in a similar way I did with Wesker. But it's like if you scaled Wesker waaaaay back from the mustache-twirling, inexplicably British?, super villain that he had become and instead made him more of an ambiguous faction whose goals are unclear. Kind of like how he was in the very first game. I found it interesting that Chris straight up refers to Miranda as a "bio weapon". It implies some sort of other entity deliberately deployed her in this European locale.

@miserywizard: Well if you go by Dungeons and Dragons rules he's more of a mold revenant. Golems typically can't heal themselves and need to be manually repaired to regain hit-points whereas revenants continue regenerating until their unfinished business is complete.

Were there really a lot of people who got to that hand part and thought "Dat don't make no sense!"? Because when I got there I immediately thought "Oh, there must be some residual E-type infection from 7." It does get explained but I was expecting a slightly more technical aspect to it, like that the cure he takes in 7 wasn't a cure, but rather a vaccine. I mean he gets Bruno Bucciarati'd essentially where his body is moving based on his last will and testament of "save my family at all cost" until his task is complete. I'm mixed on his ultimate fate because while I think Ethan might be my fave RE protag, I don't really care that much that this is the end of his story (maybe someone should change the game's wiki header). I think Rosemary is already a more interesting protag if they go forward with her based on VIllage being one big bizarre origin story for her. What IS she...? We'll have to wait and see.

I played through over the course of the week and I liked to a whole lot. Not quite sure how it ranks to me in the series just yet. After the past 4 years of 7, 2redo, 3make, and now VIllage I've just come to terms that I'm an unabashed fan of this series and always have been so I've kind of been predisposed to like these types of games. It's had some dips for sure but it's always bringing something interesting to both gaming as a medium and horror as an aesthetic.

I think the main criticism I agree with is how easy the game is on Standard. Initially I started the game on Hardcore but when I saw how erratic the lycan movements were I was a bit less eager so I restarted on Standard. I should have listened to my first instinct even though it was still fun enough to play. I beat every main boss on the first try except for one that took me two tries (Moreau's acid rain caught me off guard). I'll also say I wish they went all the way with emulating RE2redo's map by just showing the items when you get close enough. I get all obsessive when the room on the map is still red. I actually really enjoyed the variety in the vibes of the different biomes, I think I would've liked the game slightly less if most of them were relentless combat hallways a la RE4.

The narrative is rather silly though I wish it could have matched some of RE7's humor which is a tough ask. I know this sounds crazy but I think Ethan might be my favorite RE protagonist? Just in terms of what a hapless dope he comes across as with all his hashtagResidentEvilunderstatements, it feels more endearing in a horror setting as opposed to the hyper competence of the STARS elites or the youthful pluck of Leon and Claire. It's not even that he's a good character it's just his response to horror stuff amuses me. In conclusion I'm a Resident Evil fan, this gave me what I wanted, and I look forward to see they do with it next.