Six Games Are Leaving Xbox Game Pass Today (January 15)

@Kaloudz I still highly recommend switching the audio to Japanese in the settings. The English Dub just isn't as good and really contrasts with the games setting along with everything else.

But yes, good the games give an option at least.

@Kaloudz Personally, I hate the English dub in new Yakuza games. Part of it is the voices they pick are terrible... Like in LAD for ichiban, his Japanese va portrays him as an excitable, zany, kinda crazy character that matches his art and animations. The English va portrays him as this dry straight laced intense hero. It just isn't the right character at all.

Not it's also a game set in Tokyo, featuring all Japanese characters, in a very Japanese life and it's just wrong if they don't actually speak Japanese and even weirder if they sound like they're from North Dakota.

Though I also feel the same about ghost of Tsushima. Any time I hear English sub I want to carve my ears out, though at least that game the sub has Japanese accents.

I haven't played judgement yet. I bought it but haven't started it so I can't say how it is. I still have to finish zero!

@SplooshDmg that's so odd, I've always read Judgment took the action combat up a notch and at least did a better job of it (I think especially the 2nd game)
Did you play the second one?
I re-downloaded it as well yesterday to start it some day lol
Also, how are you new here? I remember seeing your name before 🤔

Ahh you hate fighting games! I haven't played judgement yet but if it's more fg oriented that could be it. I'm not a great fg player or comp player but SF6 and Tekken 8 are the only games I'm actually tempted to pay 70 for.... I have my big razer fight stick ready. I might end up liking judgement then.

@Cherip-the-Ripper @SplooshDmg lol sploosh leaving and deleting his account is directly responsible for at least two people blocking me for being an Xbox fanboy that hates ps when a back and forth running joke about Jim Ryan and naughty dog lost all the posts from splosh making it look like I was just ranting alone against ps in a thread without the meme.... I shall never forgive him for that

The trap needs to get electricity from somewhere....

@SplooshDmg @NEStalgia now that Sploosh mentioned it I do actually remember him saying that before, but you getting blocked by some people is a surprise NES 😂
Anyway I'll be sure to start Judgment sooner than later, this convo has gotten me rather interested in it now, whilst yakuza LAD's combat was appropriate it still kind of let me down compared to its regular beat em up gameplay so I was looking for a return to it anyway.

@Cherip-the-Ripper lol yeah, to be fair it was the more dedicated pony crowd, but to be fair to them I did look like a psychotic Xbox fanboy thanks to splooshs half the the meme suddenly missing

@SplooshDmg lol you sound like rjejr, my curmudgeonly doppelganger on NL and Push 😂

I love classic fighting games. Can't say I'm any good at them. I can beat super sf II on world champion as Deejay or chun li so I'm not as bad as I feel I am I guess... Tekken is insane in its combos. I'm not great at it but I enjoy it. But I only play with a full arcade stick. I learned at the arcade and I just can't play without arcade controls lol.

I'm off mixed mind if dmc and Bayonetta but they're sort of a hybrid of fg and bump. Heck even Sonic frontier has combo moves now. Then again Sega is a master of fighting games

But I hear you in general. Nioh I can't beat the first boss. Anything with perfect dodge parry moves and learning "tells" like souls doesn't work for me. Fg it depends. Sf is more about bait and punish than perfect timing on telegraphs. Tekken is more about juggling. That's probably why I like those two, they're less based on telegraph perfect responses.

I picked the right time to get back into Nobody Saves the World on Friday 😂

@Kaloudz

You should be OK mate. I'm playing judgement now and loving it.
Some of the detective mechanics are a little rough, but I'm finding the whole thing very enjoyable. I'm also playing with the English dub and think they've done a fine job personally - I feel no need to switch to jap voices, though appreciate there is an option to do so.
Thought the combat mecahnics look hideously comlex, most of them are 'push triangle whilst in the right position;. Triangle is heavy attack anyway, so as long as you are spamming heavy attack you tend to pull off all the specials regardless and I've not bother learning combo's. this may change if you turn up difficulty and are looking for a fighting game, but its fine on normal if you are here for the detective work!
I hope you enjoy it as much as me!

@themightyant lol, I know what you mean, there's a few people that I too often end up just never replying to once a conversation gets too long...it's like a temporary mental pseudo block

@SplooshDmg I love bayo technically, but the problem to me with Bayo is damage sponge bosses, and its dependency on perfect dodging. Heck I was playing a bit of Elden ring yesterday, finally got past Margit at the Stormveil bridge, but was struck by how dependent everything in that game is on iframes and perfect dodge. It kid of rubs me the wrong way. It'll cut my enjoyment short for sure.

I kinda wish I hadn't picked a magic build in Elden, something shield based could have made it less perfect dodge dependent. It's not age based, I was always the kid that would swing after the ball went by.

IMO DMC/Bayo/even Souls is actually more perfect-reflex based than fighting games though. The DMCSouls are more like Mega Man with brutal bosses that require perfect reflexes. FG is its own thing. SF is a bit more about outsmarting the opponent and punishing them (CPU or human either), and Tekken is more aggressive, it's about getting your opponent up in the air and keeping them there. Both are, IMO less reflex-based than Bayo or even Souls with the whole "react to the telegraphed move" thing, largely because FGs don't even telegraph moves that much. Competitive players play that way for sure, but not mortals. I feel like maybe action games were spawned out of high level FG player's play styles and turning it into its own genre.

@Kaloudz I feel like a dreadful interloper now - its on PSN extra and I'd always meant to play it, so I'm playing it there!
Yeah the detective stuff makes more sense latter on it seems, I've only just finished chapter 4 myself - too busy going for high scores in their 'day of the dead' game or playing drone races

@SplooshDmg @themightyant I'm terrible at reflex things and pattern learns in games, but, somehow Splatoon is my exception...I'm not the top tier but I'm on the very good side and somehow keep up with the insane speed at the high tiers... I suddenly want to play it against Sploosh.......

...then again I know the matchmaker....he'll be on my team....

@Kaloudz I honestly bought the game and its sequel and have at no point ever noticed it was misspeleled, I just write "Judgement" all the time! It's probably Nagoshi's idea of "cool".

@SplooshDmg Didn't they add video games as an actual olympic sport since Tokyo now? It's amazing. I never thought I could be an actual olympic champion by sitting on my butt and consuming copious amounts of doritos, but here we are, it's a beautiful tomorrow. Eat that, 10th grade gym teacher! Michael Phelps did it all wrong....

@Kaloudz GoT absolutely is stunning, but if it makes you feel better, it's basically a Ubisoft game (Sucker Punch really specializes in "improved Ubisoft games") and can be a bit redundant after a while. That said, I do absolutely love it. I think I like the Horizon series a bit more though as far as PS Studios titles. But GoT is easily my #2 of their current series over GoW.

@SplooshDmg you must be so psyched for FFXVI, the "JRPG" where the combat is literally designed by DMC's combat designer....

@themightyant Sekiro is BRUTAL. It's basically FromSoft design but with Team Ninja gameplay. Nioh glued onto Bloodborne. It SOUNDS great on paper, but playing it is a nightmare. Granted I suck at Souls in general, but Nioh and Sekiro I simply can not play into, not because of a lack of interest but because of a skill wall. I just can't succeed in fights. I'm too slow at the perfect doge/parry, and that's a death sentence. Bought that sucker on launch because the devs said it was Tenchu inspired. Big mistake. There is nothing Tenchu about it other than that everything ohko's you if you're detected.

Kena is one of the only games, ever I actually managed to be REASONABLY acceptable with parry times. Maybe 75% which is good for me.

Sekiro......is not as forgiving...........

Elden is a time sink. I don't understand all the people that beat it in short order. I've spent a week or two on and off playing it (can't take it in too large a dose, I just get sloppy), and in that time I've only explored West Limgrave which is like 1/10 the map, and JUST beat the first "Great Enemy" which exists as something of a skill check/boss gate before the first main (though technically skippable) dungeon ("classic" souls area.) You know how much I despise everything souls, but Elden is actually kind of addicting me. The boss gates put me off easily though. The exterior is like Zelda 1. I mean exactly like Zelda 1, in 3D. You just randomly explore every cliff edge, get destroyed often, and find all these caves to explore, each is a minidungeon with a miniboss, and some of them end up unlocking shops. It's soooooooo Zelda 1 and I can't believe I love a Fromsoft game but it rebooted the original even better than BotW did.

Like Zelda 1 though I feel like it's also a game best played with a guide, because it's too easy to miss too many things that are technically important, or not described in-game why it's useful, and like Zelda 1 I think it could be the only game someone plays for YEARS just exploring and finding new things you never knew were there (it's a secret to everybody.) Some things need (or greatly benefit from) a secret (or not secret but just unmentioned) item that you find or craft somewhere else, like a dark cave needing a torch and you have to go back buy or craft a torch, etc.

That said the "proper" dungeons are true Souls dungeons....and that kinda turns me off. IT took maybe a dozen tries to pass Margit, that skill check boss. I'm currently brick walled by a magic resistant knight in a dark room which apparently as a magic build is a brutal, brutal, brutal fight (worse than the actual Great Enemy.) I think that's where I stop until next week...

@SplooshDmg The reward is increasing your rank, though.

A better reward than that grindfest that is Genshin with time gates and cooldowns

I agree otherwise though, Splatoon is literally the ONLY online shooter I've played since Quake 1. Somehow it addicts though. Wait, though, I thought you loved online games?

I actually downloaded Genshin on PS5 again after you talking about it...OMG combat is so bland...I think I'd rather play Forespoken...

Haha, yeah a lot of the PS games are that format (well, GoT, Horizon and Spidey anyway.) I somewhat share that addiction. I need breaks from it, but it's an evergreen design.

@SplooshDmg How is your level up different than a rank though? Same difference.

Funny thing about Genshin is I could tell right away it was Chinese and Japanese because the outfits were not showing that much revealing skin

Ahh yeah, I can't stand games that "never end" seems like a worthless time waster without a clear objective. It's probably the most hated thing possible in games for me. Same is true with Splatoon of course, but that's about maintaining your rank and improving your real skills, so it's a different loop. For me the addiction with SPlatoon is every match I'm keenly aware of a mistake I made, an imperfection in aim that I have to perfect over and over and over. A never ending online RPG feels like an RPG without goals, just doing stuff for the sake of doing stuff. I'll play to level up, to get all the skills, to max things out, to reach the end, or complete the quests....but just collecting for the sake of doing it unless it's a specific ability upgrade that advances progression....doesn't do anything for me.

I'm convinced you just like Genshin because you get to play as Ota.

@SplooshDmg Oh, well yeah just turf war is just a time waster, it's good practice for improving skills and learning weapons, but yeah, ranked and salmon run are the modes that has actual progression via ranks and actual objectives to control and play. And higher ranks means....higher skill matches to play, faster play, etc, etc. Like unlocking difficulties. So yeah burning out on that makes sense.

To me an RPG means getting to a high enough level to beat the big bad and complete all the quests. Then it's done. Job complete. If it never ends, then it's like there was no purpose doing it to begin with it's just killing time for the sake of it. Then I'm sad that it's done, but if I keep trying to do "post game content" or checklist all the fetch quests it feels lifeless and empty no matter how much I wish it didn't.

I don't blame you for not wanting to do XC side quests though, they're definitely bad, just like any MMO...but isn't that also Genshin in a nutshell?

I've never been into min-maxing anything at all. I need enough power to get the job done.... or sure a particular unlock I'd like...but not just numerically maxing for the sake of it. But you're an accountant. That's your thing

@SplooshDmg You really really like carrots. I have learned this today.

The design of Genshin is designed to get you to pump money into it to maintain progression like any gatcha. Like any gatcha it's designed that it either has to consume your time, or convince you that your time is worth enough to buy progress instead....I mean that's the whole point of "free" games, to make you pay for them.... It's not Xi's charity fund to spread fun entertainment worldwide (as they crack down on gaming there)

I'm still messing with it, but....so far the design really reveals nothing but a giant gatcha machine with the usual MMO faff.

@SplooshDmg Mm-hm....now we have subscription fees.... and " I love getting enough gems to spin the wheel and get a prize. It's fun, and I like it. "

@SplooshDmg I never paid the eso subscription and just bought the dlc outright when I was getting into it. The subscription seems to mostly be for the consummate crafters. It's impossible without the sub but since I don't care about crafting it never affected me I wouldn't mind 15/mo to login with no mtx if the game was fun but.......I just don't get what people see on xiv. It feels like pc mmos from 2001. It's insane how dated it is... How is so popular I just don't know. People say story but all I've seen is "go talk to this person then talk to that person then talk to that person, then kill 2 of these and talk to that person again. All in voice less pantomime. And the most horrible ui and navigation I have ever seen. Which is why I also don't trust yoship for 16.

@SplooshDmg Yeah there's something just not right about xiv. I dunno why it's popular. That said I just can't put my finger on what rubs be wrong about genshin from the get go but everything rubs me wrong. I think it is that mmo/mobile/10,000 different resources thing.... Or something. The art and animation and voices are very good but everything about the actual gameplay just feels like an empty framework, like most mmo and mobile games, just with higher production values.

I can't tell with 16. It looks to me like it'll be like everything modern square. Linear action game with dmc sensibilities for westerners . I'd like there to be more to it, but it just looks from what we've seen like an srs stranger of paradise.

I didn't start judgement but you guys got me to continue Yakuza zero at least. I'm finally done the cabaret game and back to the real story. And even after all that grinding of the cabaret I STILL don't have enough money to max the skill trees!

@SplooshDmg I kinda did the same, but I bought one 60 day card to give it an honest try again..... I don't mind the payment if I'm ACTUALLY dedicated to the game. If I pay $45 on a sale for a game and spend 3 months on it, it's the same price, so it's justifiable to a point unless you're a 10 year addict player. But...I just....it's not fun. It's endless fetch quests and insipid "press button on timer cooldown" combat, made worse because the map is gawd-awful and the UI is even worse. On PC it would be "ok" but dated. On console it's pretty bad, and I find the PS touchpad essential as a trackpad for the mouse to play it. Only time I'll ever say that. I honestly think that's the problem with an XB port. I don't think the game is playable without a mouse or at least the PS touch pad. Which even for a PC only MMO is pretty 1999 in design. Even ESO has the Skyrim controller-based UI even on PC. IDK about WOW, that's probably still ancient. I never really got into it. It has actual pop up window displays with a top-right close button, and you have multiple windows up at once to cycle between, even on console, I kid you not. It's 90's PC gaming for today's generation.

But people rave about it. I've heard that "after the first 30 hours or so it gets better (in the expansion content.) Wait...what? I have to pay $15/mo to sit through a full game's worth of garbage gameplay just to have fun?

Wait how do you get a digital copy half off from GS? I get the $5 montly pro rewards coupon but how half off?

LOL I don't love grind, I've been "grinding" the club because I play for 30 minutes and don't touch it again for 8 months. I love the yakuza games, but the economy minigame grinds are what keep me from finishing like 10 of them. Plus at least you get Majima cutscenes for your effort. Genshin just gives you wannabe waifus that are sensibly covered to Chinese standards yet still somehow inappropriate looking.

@SplooshDmg Now that's a smart idea....why have I never thought of doing that?! All those $5 coupons wasted!! I don't have two memberships but I could still end up with $120 a year in store for $60. Even if I just do it for Nintendo since their games are never on sale anyway. Though I probably am buying some PS stuff for PSVR2 (I need my Moss) next month.

LOL, I stopped buying anything in actual GS stores circa 15-20 yeas ago with that whole open game thing. I argued with them so much and it was just funny how they went on about how everybody would steal everything if it was all out on the shelf. So I walked across the aisle to Best Buy where they had 3x more, all sitting out on the shelf. Last time I was in a physical GS was Switch launch. Somehow between Switch launch and when Disgaia 5 came out and I went in for the ONE copy the store received, most of the store was replaced with apparel and Star Wars keychains. That was the last time I was ever in a GS, though I will be sad when the store closes because it's still cool having it there and at least it's something better than another nail salon or medical imaging lab which is all that exists.

LOL, IDK there's something odd about the Genshin waifus. Like they're Chinese-state-approved-semi-puritanical, Jim "Xinping" "Thousand beams of light" Ryan approved content. Yet somehow they seem even.....kinkier than the half naked Japanse variety waifu. IDK...there's something unsettling about them, like I'd rather be seen playing XC2 than that. Like they're trying too hard to be selling sex to drive mtx while also meeting Chinese state requirements, so it sells like a "convent" full of "nuns" that everyone knows is a brothel I think it's kind of a weird Chinese projection of how they perceive the way Japanese perceive anime girls, so it's "right" but also "off."

LOL classy, because fishnets and bunny ears are always classy That's only classy at places that serve copious amounts of scotch for special clients.

Please tell me you don't have the Senran Kagura mouse pad to go with that....

@SplooshDmg I don't like letting it lapse because then they take MONTHS to start sending me print mag copies, and I love collecting those.

LOL, yeah, I mean the fact that the moment you enter the game you're just surrounded by this all encompassing harem, it's just so obvious what's on sale, and it's not resin. Gal Gun shows restraint by comparison.

Master Chief has cat ears now so I'm not inclined to judge that one But Amber, literally the first waifu you meet has a bunny ear hairband.

That Senran Kagura mouse pad was......just......wow......namely the wrist rest...... The hilarious thing is I think it may have been a Nintendo exclusive for the "kiddie" console, lol.

Yeah I also never got into SK. I bought one because someone on the NL PS thread was praising it so highly and it was on sale, so I bought it, got into the intro as far as basically an upskirt on an 12 year old and I was like "nope, I'm out"

Ahh, of course those mousepads exist....because this whole game is built for deviantart.....

I mean it's obvious you meant the one and only anime Yuri that has ever mattered. Yuri Lowell.

@SplooshDmg LOL

@SplooshDmg I would laugh at you but that's how I used to be with Splatoon back on WiiU solidarity!