Sir_Bee

It was sitting on my shelf, taunting me, so I decided to start FF VII again on PS5.  It is every bit as enjoyable as I remember, even if the dialogue feels like a disjointed afterthought sometimes.  Once I eventually complete this platinum again, I will pick up Intermission and go from there.  Should keep me occupied for a while.

As for Mrs. Bee's and my ongoing Isaac gameplay, she has found a love for Apollyon, and has managed to get everything on the post-it other than boss rush, and blue baby, she is doing well.  I currently am banging my head against the brick wall that is Keeper.  If Keeper cannot get health up in any way (like the lost), why can he still get a health down pill?  I think he should have started with coin tears, or the gulp coin, or something better than triple shot.  And as for devil deals, maybe he could buy them with money, as they are essentially useless rooms to him as he can never gain health back, and only ever has at most 2 containers.  Maybe if he could convert 10 collected coins into a new health coin?  Not a fan of this character at all, but it has to get done if we want to complete the game ...  I would say the lost was better, if only the d4 didn't also re-roll his holy mantle ...

#161 No Man's Sky PS5.  I enjoyed playing this game, right up until I realized that the bronze and silver Alien Encounter trophies glitched on me.  I kept going until I got all other trophies, then started a new save in the hopes that it would pop for me the second time, but no such luck.  Luckily however, my old PS4 save from back when the game first came out happened to be far enough to have both of those trophies, so importing that save gave me what I was missing and the platinum.  I am not happy about the order, but at least I did the requirements to get these.  It is not my fault that the game didn't give them to me.

I am torn.  I have the disc version of Final Fantasy 7, so I have the free upgrade to the PS5 version.  I could transfer my save over, and pop a free platinum, but a large part of me thinks that goes against the underlying idea of trophy hunting for me.  So then it's easy, I should not import the game and just play it again, right?  Well I am not exactly looking forward to beating the house on hard mode, or grinding up to level 50, or getting all the dresses again.  I could play through the game again, and then auto-pop all the grindy out of the way trophies, but I am very much an all or nothing kind of person, so some part of me still finds that a bit against the spirit of collecting.

I was stuck with indecision last night, so I just started No Man's Sky.  My first planet wanted to kill me (cold), and I fell into a cave system that had no exit.  I had to use the ledges on the walls I was probably not meant to stand on, and found a place my jetpack would barely get me back to the surface.  So that was fun.  By the time I had to go to bed, I got to a second planet that was much less dangerous, so I will stick around and explore there for a while...

As for Ratchet and Clank, I have really enjoyed the game.  Got all the way to the point of no return, and then Mrs. Bee had leave, so I stopped playing as she wants to see the end.  I will say though, I am disappointed with the trophy list.  I am ok with there not being a difficulty trophy (I played on the hardest difficulty, and nothing seemed all that challenging), but there isn't even a challenge mode trophy (only two weapons locked to challenge mode, but not sure how far I need to go for those).  Overall the game was fantastic, but something from that trophy list just felt missing.  Also throwing in a missable trophy was no fun either (I got it through over-exploration, but could have easily missed it).

Astro's playroom was cute and simple fun.  It looks great and it shows off the potential of the fantastic new controller (even if I still am not sure I like the shape/size more than the Dualshock 4).

Turns out I did eventually have to go to sleep, but I did get a fair amount of gaming in.

Astros playroom is neat. It's cute, fun, and the controller can do some amazing things. The biggest standout to me thus far has to be the vibration. I did not immediately notice, but each raindrop that hit ASTRO was vibrating somewhere on the controller. It just felt pretty much as you would expect, hence it not being obvious right away.

Then once Mrs Bee got home, we opened ratchet and clank. I am not sure I have need a better looking game, it looks phenomenal. It also feels distinctly like a R&C game, interesting weapon ideas, janky ledges, floaty jumps, etc. I am loving it. 

As for the console UI, I am going to ha e to get used to it. I think it looks sleek, but not everything is instantly intuitive. Going to need to learn where things are and what it can do. I will say though, the speed is noticeable and welcomed.

I am not sure about the new controller. I will say I like the texture and the look, but the first time I put it in my head it felt almost small. I am sure I will get used to it, and I don't presently hate it, but it was not the out if the box love I had for the dualshock 4.

Overall I am very happy with my new system and all that came with it. I am glad I don't have to deal with the stress of trying to catch a drop anymore.  To all those out there who are still waiting, I genuinely wish you the best of luck. Maybe try and call your local video game store and see if you can get on a waiting list.

@Beyondthegrave07 @EverythingOnFire

So the magical happened. Out of the blue I got a call from my local eb games, and they had a system in stock from me. I basically dropped what I was doing and left to pick it up. Just finished setting it up now.  I am so very excited. Got an extra sexy red controller along with ratchet and clank. I don't know how much sleep I am getting this weekend, but this week ended much better than  it began that's for sure.

I don't know why, but something is pushing me to go back to No Man's Sky.  Seems out of the blue.  I haven't put the disk in since the game first came out, and I do hear that it has become a whole new game since then.  Might end up starting a new game this weekend, will have to see.

I am done.  I can't do this anymore.  I have spent the last several days (since the 10th when Walmart put the Ratchet and Clank bundle up on their site), tracking the site.  I was on multiple trackers, looking at their site multiple times an hour, following their twitter account, and even chatting on a forum of others who were tracking it.  Yesterday, at around midnight, completely unannounced, they dropped.  Of course I was asleep at this time, but my phone was supposed to make noise as the emails came in, but for some reason did not.  It is possible I slept through them, but there would have been several, and I am relatively light sleeper, so unlikely.  Then my phone decides to make noise at 2 AM, for something dumb and completely unrelated, waking me up, and forcing me to find out that I have missed my chance, making it take longer for me to get back to sleep.

I feel like shit, I hate this.  This stress isn't worth it, but I can't just pretend I don't want one.  And on top of that, when anyone asks me how I am doing, I have to lie and pretend everything is ok, as they don't really give a shit, and even if I did tell them, they would all say "well its just a video game system, its not that big a deal".  What makes this even worse, is that they are right.  I have a loving wife, I have a job I have kept through Covid, I have a roof over my head, and food on my table.  My life is pretty good all considered.  So the part of my brain that knowns this makes me feel even worse for thinking that some hunk of electronics is a big deal.

All in all, I am giving up the hunt for a PS5.  I can't do this anymore.  I am currently on a wait list with EB Games, but even they told me it would likely be winter or later before I got one there.  To everyone out there who has one, I hope you are enjoying it.  I wish I could be too, but the universe has decided otherwise ...

For anyone still looking and interesting, Walmart has a ratchet and clank bundle up.  If I had to guess, I would say the drop will happen at midnight.

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/playstation-5-console-plus-extra-dualsense-wireless-controller-midnight-black-ratchet-clank-rift-apart-playstation-5/6000194255691