ninnanuam

If I look at it as objectively as I can, I think its the best gen ever.

I gave myself a guideline: Finish the story in games I don't actively hate. But honestly since the drop off in AAA and AA releases this really hasn't been a problem for me.

Sometimes I'll go a few months without buying anything now. Although November can still get a bit expensive.

Kwaidan, ghost folk stories from japan

Getting myself hyped for my trip in a few weeks.

it was a little dry but it still held up a lot better than I expected. 3/5

The Dreamcast was a pretty great system and it had one really stellar year. But its hard to choose any singular system as the one you'd plug in during a net outage. It wouldn't be one of the new ones as they are too reliant on the net for my fun and the library just isn't there. The instinctual answer is the 360. Its got swathes of single player games, everything from decent story based shooters to great RPG's It even got some pretty decent JRPG's. Early on it even had some interesting experimentation going on. The graphics don't hurt the eyes either.

I can understand the nostalgia for the era though and weirdly I associate it with Winter as well. I look back at the end of the 90's and the early 2000's and fondly remember all the systems out at that time, especially the DC and the OG Xbox. It seemed like both companies were just being so interesting and were throwing everything at a wall.

The industry shifted focus so much that the DC looks like some kind of weird aberration still clinging to its arcade roots. But surprisingly modern. It feels like an evolutionary dead end brought to life.

edited for stupid paragraph.

Hey I'm also going to Japan in March/April for a month. I've been to Tokyo before but this is my first trip outside that Metro area. So I'm sorta doing the same thing as you at the moment, planning all the bits and pieces.

Anyway I do have some advice for you.

If your trip is a week and you have already booked accommodation for all 7 days I would recommend you not leave the Tokyo Metro area. Kyoto is about 3 hours away by train so round trip you are looking at 6 or so hours. If you stayed overnight it might be worth it but that means paying for a place in Kyoto and Kyoto can be a bit expensive especially in the pretty seasons. Maybe try air BnB? I think a better use of time/money would be focusing on Tokyo, unless you think you'll never return to Japan then try and do as much as you can.

What are your dates of travel? Check local event listings Tokyo has things going on all the time, festivals, exhibitions, parades. It also has great museums.

If you are into music check local gig guides as well, Tokyo is a world class city when it comes to music.

People are friendly but will generally not speak English well, or at all. Be polite and usually you can muddle through basic interactions. Sometimes they are a bit standoffish, however in bars and once wasted they have no problem letting their hair down.

Tokyo is really big and quite disbursed don't expect to see all of it in 7 days. I haven't seen everything I want to see. I plan on checking everything off the list on the next trip. As I'm staying in Tokyo for 19 days.

Don't be afraid of the train system. its big but everything is in English. Remember that the trains stop running around 12, the very first time I went I wasn't prepared for that as I thought Tokyo was a 24 hour city.

Put all your change on a suica card (train pass) it can also be used on most vending machines and at 7-11. There are machines in most stations that allow you to just drop in a bunch of change.

Check out if there is anything going on at Tokyo big site. (convention center)

The highlights for my last trip (also for 7 days, but last May) were:

1, Design Festa at Odaiba

2, Kabukicho and Golden Gai, Capcom Bar, Godz,

3, Sumo!

4, Harajuku

Deadpool: I am not an original fan so I don't know if its in keeping with his origin story or who Ajax was. I've read a few more recent runs though (like the Posehn/Duggan stuff) and I thought it captured the same feel. I laughed a fair few times. I give it 4/5.

The Martian: I finally got around to watching this people in my social circle were hype for this movie and I have to say I enjoyed it but it was a bit monotonous in places. I give 3/5.

I tried a lot of stuff in the top ten but didn't really like any of it apart from One Punch Man.

Also no-one else voted for Osomatsu-san? Fucking for real? or am I not reading it right?

@scottjay01:

Its weird I think I would fall into the came of those not that impressed with the new consoles they are missing features and the specs are lacking. I also have a good PC But I still generally play games on Xbox One.

I time breakdown is probably around 60% game time on Xbox One, 20% PS4, 20% PC.

I assume its because that's where all my friends are.

Harassing someone to do something, even if its a fun thing, makes the thing in question a chore. Instead of doing it for fun your doing it out of a sense of obligation or to get the asshole who keeps harassing you off your back, that is going to colour your time with the thing.

These only apply to myself obviously but firstly there is a difference between a recommendation like:

"hey that game/show/book has some great bla bla bla, you like bla so you might like it"

and

"Witcher 3/Undertale/Soma/Dark Souls is the best game ever, its important you should play it"

The first actually tells my why I should like it and tells me why the recommendation is a fit for me...if its something like a review I use the description (it has bla bla bla) to make up my mind if it ticks my boxes.

The second immediately draws battlelines, it doesn't take into consideration my tastes and it seems to be the inevitable end point in all conversations on the internet.

The first is an actual recommendation, the second is proselytizing and it sucks.

Hearing the second one over and over does get old fast, and it does dampen my enthusiasm for things pretty quick even if i haven't formed any opinion at all. But gets incredibly annoying if i have already formed my own opinion. Like Demon Souls/Dark Souls, I played Demon Souls about a year after it came out. I didn't beat it, not because I found it hard, but because I found it tedious, slow and poorly made (clipping, camera, etc) I put about 15 hours in . At that point there was no rabid fanbase and it was just another meh game on my unfinished pile. Now apparently its an important game and I should "get good" or I didn't "understand it", no I'm not giving it any more time and the constant badgering has me dig my heels in and I feel like I have to defend my opinion over and over again and in doing so it feels like my defence gets more and more vitriolic.

In addition I feel time gets missed a lot in these discussions, there just isn't enough to play everything. The Witcher 3 took me around 80 -100 hours to beat, that's a long commitment. If after the first main quest line (lets say bloody baron) which is probably 20 hours or so into a game you still ain't feeling it then the game isn't for you, and there is no problem saying that the negatives outweigh the positives and you didn't feel like continuing. The same works for Undertale, if the first hour of a 5 hour game (or 20% of it) is meh then why the hell should you expect someone who didn't like that to continue with it?

My personal pet peeve I just cannot stand are people who tell me that I should keep going or it gets better after X. I had this with Breaking Bad. I tried that show when it came out, I hated the dumb ass set up, and got bored about 6 - 8 episodes in, then like two years later the world was hype for that show and dealing with all the people telling me how great it is and that I should watch it got old really fast, its like they discounted my opinion, and everyone said just keep going, it gets better. Who the fuck cares if it gets better, I don't want to have to sit through a season of tedium to enjoy something. Especially when there are other things that have 0 tedium right there for me to do.