Gonna try to finish my first-time play through of The Last of Us (PS5) today or tomorrow so I can start on Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Xbox). Excited to jump in after the decade since Inquisition.

Online gaming is a cesspit that everyone should either avoid or play with everyone perma-muted

Physical only for all systems, unless it’s a short indie game, in which case I’ll wait for a digital sale.

If Xbox and PlayStation ever try to force digital-only, I’ll probably wind down my game buying. I’ll definitely stop buying new games at full price and just wait for steep discounts for the digital versions. Meanwhile I’ll play through my unplayed physical games.

They built their own internal emulator

This is what Nintendo hardware engineers do to fill time when the Switch 2 is just a scaled-up Switch 1

“A The Lord of the Rings Game”

I’d love that, but that isn’t really the pattern with these remakes. They do them because they’re way cheaper than making a new game.

I’m not going to make a big deal about it but it would be nice if they remastered Blood Omen also

The Dreamcast was released almost exactly 25 years ago. That’s the difference between the end of Gerald Ford’s presidency (what would have been Nixon’s second term) to 9/11. So I don’t know what time warp you fell into.

In real time it’s been longer than it was from NES to Super NES. For the teenagers clearly doing most of the commenting on these Nintendo posts, they were in elementary or middle school at launch. Now they’re in college.

Buy Astro Bot

There was a multi-year animated series on Netflix just a few years ago, and evidently it must still do well given this announcement.

the publishers note that a live-action Carmen Sandiego movie is also in the works at Netflix

Yes, but it’s very unlike Nintendo to just do a hardware bump with similar form factor; the closest I can think of was DS to 3DS, and that added stereoscopic 3D. So I’d expect some kind of new feature to go with it.

It’s a Kemco game. They basically merged the interface of early Ultima and Wizardry into a retro themed game. No animation, just a map, static images, and numbers.

You should not buy this on Switch. I owned Civ 6 on Switch, and once the game reached a certain state of play near the end, the game just gradually became slower and slower until it would hang completely, every time, in the same place. This happened to me in two different campaigns before I gave up.

I reached out to their customer support and included tons of context, but they basically just stopped responding because there was nothing they could do; the game is just too hungry to run properly on Switch except for small, quick games, and those game styles just don’t feel like Civ to me.

I bought all the DLC before this happened. Lesson learned.

The engine is definitely dated graphically, but they are still a blast. I played the Enhanced Editions on Xbox. I had never played any of them before, although I do like RPGs and enjoy older games.

So coming in cold and playing them quite thoroughly without any outside knowledge (I never follow guides), I would rate them as follows (out of 10):

• Baldur’s Gate: 8.5
• Siege of Dragonspear: 6.5
• Shadows of Amn: 9
• Throne of Bhaal: 8

And just to make people upset (and show that I’m not an easy grader):

• Planescape: Torment: 7

I haven’t yet finished the Icewind Dale games.

I did also play the first Dark Alliance game and would give that a 7.5.

I have receipts for all of these scores, lol.

You should also look up Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, an official “interquel” set between BG 1 and 2 and bridging those games. It was built on the same Infinity Engine as the originals. There were some nit-picky reviews at the time of its release given the buildup and fond memories of the originals, but it really is a solid (albeit linear) game with some excellent companions unique to that game. I enjoyed it.

A few years ago in preparation for BG3, I played 1, Dragonspear, and 2, along with all the expansions, in one continuous play-through with a single main character. It was incredibly satisfying.

Baldur’s Gate 3. I’ve played every Baldur’s Gate and Divinity: Original Sin entry, so it was nice to finally have the time to play this one. I’m about 70 hours in. I’m a Paladin/Sorcerer do-gooder who smites the enemies of peace what for.

What is the intersection of people who use business cards and people who want a Famicom business card holder?

I’ve been playing Indivisible, a Metroidvania RPG. Pretty fun, a few great characters, some moderately challenging platforming sections, but—it’s gone on a little long. Not counting a Larian game, this must be the longest indie RPG I’ve ever played when you factor in the repeated backtracking.

I’m at the end, so I should finish it up this week. Next up is Baldur’s Gate 3, finally (but that’s for Xbox).

The movie’s theme: hone the mind, body, and spirit, achieve calm, and only use force as a last resort.

The game’s theme: let’s beat the shit out of all these guys!!!