It's maybe a good design for a skyscraper in Dubai, not so much a console

but why?

Call me conservative, but I prefer the simpler, boxier designs of, say, a PS1 or a Saturn.

The PS4 has some angles, but it's not very over the top. It clearly gives no advantage to the design, but it doesn't feel very out of place.
The PS5 just has those pieces of plastic just sticking out of them, which brings attention to the fact they serve no purpose and are just there to be cool. Well, not like this is gonna affect the actual performance of the console, or so I hope. It's just my tastes for console aesthetics.

Yeah, I'm with JCG on this one, not a fan of weird curves on consoles; not just from an aesthetic standpoint, but also for practical purposes; this thing is so huge I've seen a few folks say that they won't get it simply because they can't fit it in their setup; also, those curves make it really annoying to put something on top of it, even just temporarily

Took a break from New Game+ on P5R, Persona 4 Golden released on Steam so I've been giving that a try since I never really touched the copy I had for the PS2. I just beat Kanji's bathhouse and currently waiting for him to recover, but I gotta say I am really digging the P4 cast; I wouldn't really say they're better or worse than P5s, but I haven't met everyone yet but I will say I don't really care for Teddie as the announcer. Inaba is also about on the same level as Tokyo in terms of atmosphere/setting.

However I did do an hour of grinding before the game crashed and I didn't save during any of it; just lost about 200k in money and ten levels for the MC....

Finally played for the first time Ace Combat 2 after receiving it in the mail quite some time ago. I got the hang of it very early and got as far as the ravine mission which I didn't think I would master in the first try. Also a fun tidbit, this seems to be the first of the franchise games to have a wingman named Edge since in the fifth entry, I may be wrong but a female wingman shares the same callsign.

Been playing a lot of retro and nu-retro shooters the last month or so, I think I'm just experiencing some minor burnout with modern gaming. Here's a quick rundown of which ones, a-z order:
-Amid Evil
-Doom and Doom II (mostly using the Brutal Doom/Russian Overkill/Too Many Super Shotguns mods)
-Dusk
-Heretic and Hexen
-Ion Fury
-Powerslave/Exhumed (depending on what region you're in)
-Project Warlock

AngelNo13Bardiel wrote:-Amid Evil
-Doom and Doom II
-Dusk
-Heretic and Hexen
-Ion Fury
-Powerslave/Exhumed
-Project Warlock

I like that all of these sound like they could be names for a metal band

...actually, I think about half of them are names of existing metal bands

^ Your comment isn't too far off the mark: Ion Fury was previously Ion Maiden (obvious Iron Maiden reference) when it was in Early Access (until some alleged legal trouble caused the name change) and either title for Powerslave/Exhumed (NTSC/PAL region naming, respectively) are metal references (the former is the title of the fifth Maiden album, the latter is a death metal/grindcore band).

I do admit, though, that Project Warlock would indeed make a kickass band name (right up there with other gems I've heard/thought of like Six Pixels of Nipple, Savage Tree Frogs On Speed and Cacophony of Sycophancy).

AngelNo13Bardiel wrote:and either title for Powerslave/Exhumed (NTSC/PAL region naming, respectively) are metal references (the former is the title of the fifth Maiden album, the latter is a death metal/grindcore band).

Oh yeah, that's... rather obvious in hindsight. Knew these sounded familiar, lol.

I just finished getting Endings A, B, C, and D for NieR Automata, and it's fantastic, even if the presentation makes it feel like I've only scratched the surface despite having completed the major endings. It's like Undertale and Evangelion did a fusion dance and then snorted ground up sci-fi horror existentialism novels.

AngelNo13Bardiel wrote:-Heretic and Hexen

Ahh, my childhood! Fuzzy '94-95(?) memories (of crappily playing ) on the bulky family work laptop, but fun times all the same.

I went back and got myself Minecraft again a few days ago, still is such a fun game
that I totally didn't play for ten hours straight three days in a row

Worked through Maneater for PS4 recently (platinum'ed it, actually). It's janky as shit and a bit unpolished (not to mention short), but it's clearly having fun and made with more love than most modern AAA games. How many other games let you dolphin-dive out of a canal/inlet, grab a random person off the sidewalk and thrash them about until they're a fine red paste while the rest of the crowd runs screaming? Solid 7/10, but not quite worth the asking price ($40 USD)--wait for a good sale.

Also, more retro shooters to add to the above list: Blood (specifically, the Fresh Supply version) and Shadow Warrior (Redux version).

Sailor Star Dust wrote:Ahh, my childhood! Fuzzy '94-95(?) memories (of crappily playing ) on the bulky family work laptop, but fun times all the same.

Yeah, still just as good as they were back then (though Hexen's habit of making you hunt for keys/switches across multiple levels/areas makes me kind of want to groan and pull out my hair). Amid Evil is kind of the modern take on them, only with less puzzles/annoying key-and-switch hunting and more carnage against fantasy monsters using badass magic weapons (Celestial Claw gets my vote for best of the bunch---how can one not like a staff that fires miniature planets like a rocket launcher).

Got in the mail my PS4 Sakura Wars game. Haven't done much gameplay yet but judging by the beginning scenes, the current Sakura was saved from a demon by the original Sakura when she was a child and the MC comes to Japan in a steam blimp.

So I am now making my way through my first of what I hope will be many playthroughs with the new Sakura Wars, making the right decisions to that in my first go Seijuro and Sakura are the final couple. Sumire's new look and position as head of the Imperial Theater makes for an interesting combo since we usually have known her to be self absorbed and confrontational but now she's mellowed out. I like the GPS like device that Seijuro wears which not only serves as a way to know where the girls are, it also lets you know when someone is calling you to meet them. For the record, this is the first Sakura Wars game I have played since domestic copies of other games are difficult to come by but I have heard news that more sequels and maybe even a remake of the first one are coming so I am very excited!

Carrion
Ever wanted to play a Metroidvania where you control something akin to John Carpenter's The Thing? Then this is right up your alley. The lack of a map is a serious omission and it's a bit short for its price ($20 USD), but it has great atmosphere and it's just fun to ragdoll random humans around before feeding. Not to mention the animation on the creature itself is fluid and sinew-ey (in that kind of gross-but-cool way). A good playthrough for Halloween time.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Yeah, there's no bells and whistles to the package (besides the uncompressed/improved resolutions on SM64 and Sunshine and the games' soundtracks) but it's still a fine collection. SM64 is probably the crustiest of the bunch (control isn't as refined as later titles and that camera, while innovative in '96, is kinda dogshit now) but all three are still just as good as they've always been. Really, it's just nice to have Sunshine be readily available again (the others are easy enough to get through the Wii U's eShop...provided you have/still have one).

Genshin Impact (PS4 version)
Don't be scared off by the fact that it's a gacha: this is a fairly solid title. Yeah, the "influence" of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is pretty clear (environment design, traversal, stamina, gliding, ranged combat) but it does enough of its own thing to not feel like a ripoff (like having a multi-character party or the interplay between different elemental effects...not to mention weapons don't have durability). Hell, it even has full ENG and JP audio (ENG dub is competent but unremarkable). And it never feels predatory like a lot of games like it: I've put in almost twenty hours into this over the week and haven't spent one cent (they give you plenty of free junk to get what you might want and the rolls seem to be rather generous/transparent about your odds). Seriously, it's free---at least give it a download (PS4 or mobile) and maybe you'll like it.

Also finally managed to get ahold of a Turbografx-16 Mini through Amazon (after being out of stock for months) and it should be in sometime later this week. Should be fun, I've always wanted to look more into that system (never played it, only remember seeing it talked about in gaming magazines back in the early '90s).

Had an absolute blast playing through the mecha combat that Seijuro and Sakura displayed in Sakura Wars reboot PS4!

Also the story portraying their backgrounds of how the first Sakura saved the current Sakura's life when she was younger and how Seijuro lost his warship were both touching. The Shanghai Combat Troupe members were annoying and aside from the demons, I really wanted to shut their mouths permanently but guess that's for later. I got an overall A rank and wasn't expecting that either, so proud of myself! Next chapter looks like Seijuro will be bonding with Claris, can't wait.

Sakura Wars is one of those things that has always existed at the corner of my consciousness, seen it pop up here and there without actually knowing a thing about it. I feel like I should give it a try some time

Blockio wrote:Sakura Wars is one of those things that has always existed at the corner of my consciousness, seen it pop up here and there without actually knowing a thing about it. I feel like I should give it a try some time

It's a blast when you get to know it. BTW, the pink robot you told me about in the PM is the main robot that the Sakura character pilots in case you're interested.