Gongsun Zan

Man, everything I hear about the Yakuza series makes me really want to dig in, but the thought of going through 8 (9?) games is frankly quite intimidating.

Overall, I'd say I liked but didn't love the season. If I'd had to rank them I'd go 2,1,4,5,3.

I think this season suffers a bit from having too many side characters with not enough time to develop all of them.

Episode 8.

Unpacking seems like a game I would enjoy, but I can't go for more than 5 minutes before the crushing guilt of not tidying up my own real-life house gets to me.

Been playing Alan Wake 2. Was a bit skeptical of the high reviews as I felt the first game (and Control) were somewhat overrated, but it's exceeded all expectations so far, with what is possibly the best gaming moment I've had this year. Somebody on Reddit described it as an AAA game but with the developers given free reign to do all the batshit ideas they wanted, and I'd say that's a fairly accurate description of the game -- it truly feels like something original. (If you're planning on playing it's best to see this blind so don't click spoilers).

It's my favorite board game of all time, and I've definitely gotten more than $350 in value out of it. Give or take, a single campaign takes about 30hours, and that's not counting any game overs or the time spent painting miniatures (if you're into that sort of thing). On the flip side, I wouldn't really get it unless you know have the time to play it (you can do a single session in around 1 to 2h). If you're not interested in assembling all the miniatures, you could probably sell all the armor kits for around $100 to get a third of the purchase price back. The other possibility is to wait for Black Friday, when the core game usually goes down to $300. But given how pricey it is, I'd definitely go a bit of research before deciding whether its something you'd enjoy. I'd say the closest thing this game resembles is X-Com 2 (the video game), with its emphasis on risk mitigation and bad dice rolls killing off all your favorite characters. If that's the sort of experience you enjoy, I'd say go for it. If you've got any other questions about the game feel free to ask.

Episode 5 of Gangs of London Holy fucking shit, easily one of the best action sequences I've seen on TV.

Why settle for either when you can do both? Silencer + Revolver Headshots deletes almost everything in one hit.

Japantown is gorgeous! A small detail I love is how the announcements are in several languages - it makes the city feel a lot more authentic. Strangely enough, Night City reminds me more of modern-day Asian megacities like Tokyo and Hong Kong than something on the West Coast of America - maybe its the Arasaka influence? Another small detail I appreciated (very minor spoilers):

This year has been a bit of a step down for me in terms of video gaming. Last year I played Pathologic 2 and Disco Elysium, both of which have firmly entrenched themselves in my Top 10 favorite games of all time. I don't think anything has come close to that this year. A bunch of thoughts on what stood out to me this year: Gears Tactics: Started out promising, but feels more like a proof-of-concept that a full fledged game. Not enough mission variety, and lack of depth makes the last third of the game a slog. Wasteland 3: This was an enjoyable old-school isometric experience that felt closer in spirit to the original Fallout games than whatever Obsidian/Bethesda has become (I hated The Outer Worlds), but it doesn't really do anything to lift itself from good to great, and the last act is a little underdeveloped. Except maybe the soundtrack, which is awesome. Crusader Kings 3: It's a good step forward and a solid base game, but it suffers from not having the benefit of 50 expansions like Crusader Kings 2. That said, I'm really excited to come back to this in a couple of years. Battle Brothers: I really like this game, but I can't figure out how to progress from mid-game to late-game so I always end up getting stuck there. Darkwood: Great atmosphere and intriguing lore, but like with most survival horror games there comes a tipping point where you have so much ammunition the game stops being scary. It might be more tense if you play on the pseudo perma-death setting, but on the default difficulty it seemed like I could just die without any consequences. If I had to pick I'd say that this is probably the best game I've played this year. Sunless Skies: It's a better game than Sunless Seas and Fallen London, but I didn't find the lore as interesting. Also got a bit too grindy towards the end, so I never finished it. Persona 5 Royal: I think I just don't have the stamina to complete long games, and the pacing of this one just doesn't help. This is my second attempt to finish the game, and although I managed to go a little further, I just run out of steam 50 hours in. Suzerain: The first two hours with this game hinted at a ton of depth, as though every choice I made matters, and I was on the verge of declaring it my GOTY. Then I finished the second two hours, and it turned out that most of my choices didn't matter. I felt pretty cheated TBH. Paradise Killer: I give this game 9/10 for the first 90%, and 2/10 for the last 10%. The first part of the game you go around doing detective work and interrogating suspects, and it's honestly one of the best in the genre I've played, with a really engaging mystery with plenty of twists. But the last part (which is where you make your accusations at trial) was disappointingly simplistic and felt emotionally unsatisfying. Fall Guys: Best mindless fun I've had all year until hackers ruined it (maybe it's been fixed now, I don't know). In terms of board games, most of what I ordered that was due to be released this year was delayed by Covid-19, but on the bright side, I've got a whole bunch of stuff that are supposedly slated to arrive in the next couple of weeks. Plus it seems that Wave 3 of Kingdom Death is finally going to ship next year, so I am extremely excited for that.

I'm at the part where Keanu has started appearing, and the game is starting to grow on me a ton more. I honestly wouldn't put too much stock into the negative reviews - even if its not a masterpiece, so far I'm finding more enjoyable than most of the AAA titles I've played in the last few years.

Played for a few hours last night. Aside from a few clipping issues, I haven't seen any bugs. I'm finding it a bit harder to get into than the Witcher, but I'm still enjoying it (without really being blow away). I'm glad I've ignored 90% of the online hype for the game though, I glanced at the subreddit and man that place looks toxic.

Since we're bothering @NaiTEOL de la reversión, is the Occupation worth getting?

I've only played one case, but the answer to each case is fixed (and I recall you get told the correct answers at the end of the case anyway). That said, from what I can tell its pretty easy to reset if you want to sell it off when you're done.