Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

@Black_Swordsman Doing well, thanks. Just more of the same in my life.

Getting more interested in RotR the more I read and hear about it, but I’m too far behind on other things to commit to any of the new releases yet. So Rise, Stellar Blade, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 will all probably have to wait, just like FF7 Rebirth is on the back burner now until I knock out some other games. As far as how I’m going to prioritize those big game releases from the first of this year, I’ll have to see how the reviews come out. If RotR reviews really strong it may push it’s way to the top as far as next new release for me to buy.

Have you played any other games from Team Ninja? I haven’t since an old Ninja Gaiden game and maybe some Dead or Alive back on PS3. They have a good pedigree of action combat, so I feel like RotR will be great. There’s just too many other competing entities in my life right now.

Speaking of new releases, have you played the first Dragon’s Dogma before? It’s a fun game and so the sequel is looking like it will be good too. The combat appears similar to the first game, which is third person action-based with classes to choose from like Mage, Archer, Knight, etc. and has AI companions (pawns) to help you. It’s not Soulslike but it is worth a mention to keep in mind if it sounds interesting to you.

I just finished FF16 and am playing a weird card game/deck builder, Inscryption. Having a good time with it. Work life is still busy, but tolerable. Been trying to get back into exercising and watching some movies and TV shows too. Saw Dune 2, which was great, and back to getting through Game of Thrones, which I never really finished amongst other things like doing some light travel.

@Th3solution i've played Nioh, I enjoyed what I played of it but I had a very specific plan for a character from a manga that I usually base my builds on in the Souls & Soulslike games that I play, and when I discovered that the grind for that game was more than I could take on board at that time, I abandoned it, albeit ,temporarily.

It was a similar story, with regard to the original Dragon's Dogma for me, the abundance of quests was just something that I found quite overwhelming, but I am planning on plunging in to DD2 with full zeal and enthusiasm at some point further down the line. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Dune 2, I'm more of a Lynch man myself.😉

@Black_Swordsman As an avid reader, have you read the Dune books? I don’t know if you like Science Fantasy in your novels, but apparently they are great. It’s a series I’ve always been curious to read.

What we need next is a Dune video game. I’m not sure why that hasn’t been done yet. 😄

@Th3solution I haven't, but I agree, a Dune game would be great!

@Th3solution @Black_Swordsman Guess you guys have not seen anything on the upcoming Dune game?

@JohnnyShoulder Hadn’t seen that. It doesn’t look too bad, although survival games aren’t my bag. But at least now I can rest assured that the franchise holy trinity of book, movie, and video game has not been disturbed. If Avatar got a game, then Dune should too. Next, where’s my Hunger Games video game?! 😄

@JohnnyShoulder It looks quite good. Thanks for sharing/educating us. 😉
I like the look of the graphics and gameplay, fully pushing the power of the PS5 potentially. Do you think you will play it?

@Black_Swordsman Glad you found it interesting. It is not on my radar, no. But if it reviews well and the mood strikes me to play something like it, I may end up playing it.

I am in two minds about buying RotR now, after reading the reviews that just landed and watching a YouTube video. The general consensus seems to be that it's a bit generic, e.g here's this site's review https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/rise-of-the-ronin#:~:t...

and in the link below the reviewer says that what Team Ninja do well here, they did better in the Nioh games and FromSoft did it better with Sekiro as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm aware that there are plus points as well, just not enough plus points to merit the cost of the game imo. Opinion is of course, as always, subject to change, however, and I am interested in hearing about your experiences with the game.

Tony's Hack the Movies on YouTube currently has been funny with his Dune Part 2 and Nightmare on Elm Street Remake reviews.

Especially the recent Hack the Movies review of Dune Part 2 where Joe of Moviedumpster and Crystal pick on Tony for "fingering" the Sandworm popcorn bucket. Hilarious

I am considering giving up guitar after making a final ep in the future/next year possibly. I believe with my previous album and eps I have all but exhausted the possibilities of doing things on the electric guitar that interest me. I just have one idea for a full record left, inspired by a very specific artist, with a very specific guitar in mind. (TBA after recording/release - no spoilers available!)

Anyway, watch this space

N.B Maybe a collection of short acoustic pieces (an ep) after that as a final farewell, but then that's really it!🤣

One of my faves so far! 😂

I learned recently that the inception of free jazz was a reaction to jazz musicians and record companies churning out increasingly commercial jazz music designed to be suitable for radio play. The OG jazzers deliberately went in the opposite direction.

Sorry if this is late, but I read the first 3 books in the Dune series. The first one was enjoyable. The other two completely lost me. I'm not sure whether I'm just quite simple or maybe Frank Herbert was on a wicked melange trip, but the 2nd and 3rd book just got way too political (not in a good way), philosophical, ethereal, ephemeral or just "out there" for me to really maintain my interest in it.

I ended up donating the 2nd and 3rd books to my library, and I don't think I have any interest in any of the other books in the series.

@Pizzamorg Saw your comments on DD2 & RotR in the RotR thread. How did you find DD2? Sorry if I missed your comments in the appropriate thread. feel free to redirect me if you have been posting in there & I'll just look that up. Apparently RotR really opens up and becomes it's own beast after the opening hours, so, hey, you never know ,persevere if you wish and you may find a totally enjoyable experience there. Anyway let me know what you think if you decide to keep playing. RotR is on my Wishlist so that's another reason that I'm interested in your impressions.

Hey @Black_Swordsman - I think your appreciation for Dragons Dogma 2 really depends on how much you appreciate what DD2 is putting down. Maybe that sounds obvious, but DD2 exists in this sort of in between space between a brutal Soulslike and a more conventional fantasy RPG. What this results in is a game that feels familiar, but usually everything is just a little more arduous than you might expect given you aren't officially in the Souls space. Some people really love this, some people really hate it, I existed sort of in the middle. I feel like some abandoned conveniences like fast travel especially, was just sort of an irritation too many by the end. I had a great 20 or so hours with the game, but the back half of my time with it was a lot of mounting frustration at all the little restrictions and all the little missing conveniences slowly building up over time.

Funnily enough, it is kinda because of this, after putting a few hours into Rise of the Ronin, I am actually enjoying it a lot more than I did at the start. Like I think if I had played this in a vacuum I would have thought this was just bland, derivative, nothingness and would have bounced. But in the context of DD2, weirdly it actually helps ROTR for me, rather than hurts it like I expected. There is a lot of work done in ROTR to make this as convenient and frictionless as possible, but I feel like much of these efforts would generally have gone unnoticed if you hadn't just come fresh off a game like DD2 which defined itself by abandoning these exact conveniences.

@Pizzamorg I see, I may focus my energies and funds more on RotR when it is convenient for me to do so, especially since I am planning on getting the Digital Deluxe version of that game, as a Souls and Soulslike player, primarily, the lack of said conveniences may end up directing me more towards RotR instead, especially since it features some Soulslike mechanics while not distinctly being defined as a Soulslike.

Cheers!

@Th3solution How are you? I hope this missive finds you well. How is exercising and work going? Playing anything good right now? Did you finish off your time with SM2? I think I remember you saying you were playing that? Any Souls or Soulslikes coming up any time soon for you? I am still, still, still farming in DeS. The 'proper' max build takes a while to reach but as I am now only 37 levels away from it I think it should only be a few weeks 'till I can dive back into the game properly, after being sufficiently overleveled for my taste. Then, after I have that wrapped up it's onto either DD2, RotR, RE2 Remake or SH2 Remake if that's out by then.

Also still volunteering in the field of mental health, it's important, I feel. I'm also eyeing up appropriate educational courses to try and get my ducks in a row career-wise.

@Jimmer-jammer Hey man, I thought I'd move our chat over here as I wanted to lighten the tone and make it more chit-chaty, not that it was heavy before but I thought this would be more appropriate over here. How's the trucking and music/film work going? I saw in the RotR thread that you haven't gotten around to picking your copy up yet. What have you been playing in the meantime? Also, here's a more metal-lic track from my most recent ep. More suited to your tastes, I feel.😉

@Black_Swordsman Doing well, mate! Things are mostly still the same with private life stuff, although my exercise has fallen off a cliff of late. I’m trying to get back into it but I tweaked my back so I have to nurse that back to health.

Yeah, I'm still swinging through NYC as Peter and Miles. It’s been quite fun and I reckon I’m maybe a fourth to a third of the way through. I’ve been tempted to boot up Dark Souls 2 but I think I want to finish SM2 first because I have a hard enough time keeping my muscle memory sharp with such a fast twitch game. I fear I might mix up my inputs.
But I do think I’ll probably gravitate toward DS2 soon.

It’s awesome to hear you are still involved with volunteer work and with education. 👍🏼