Member Interviews: Golem25

[Charizarzar]

Hey PSNP! Welcome back to another member interview. Our current interviewee is @Golem25!

 

Golem25

 

Standard Questions

How did you come up with your PSN name?
I don't quite remember what it was for originally, but I first used the monniker 'Golem25' in 2007, with the oldest record I still have of it being my GameFAQs account which was created on August 31st of that year. 25 is my lucky and favourite number and was a given, and while I'm not massively into folklore, golems tend to be pretty rad. The word Golem was distinct and simple enough in an era where everyone seemed to be called xx-d3m0nk1ll3r-xx, and it stuck with me ever since. I didn't even consider a different name when I finally made my PSN account in 2009.

 

What games convinced you to get your PlayStation 3, Playstation Vita, PlayStation 4, and Playstation 5?

For PS3, it was GTA IV - although I never learnt to love it quite as much as the 3D era GTA titles. For the Vita, I just really wanted to get back into handheld gaming so there was no single title that convinced me - I would have bought it regardless of the launch titles. I surprisingly never owned a PS4 as its lifespan largely overlapped with my Playstation 'dark ages' where I stuck to PC and Nintendo devices. For the PS5, it ironically wasn't any single platform exclusive but rather the promise of being able to play all the amazing PS4 games I missed out on in the previous generation.

 

What are your top 5 game series and why?

This requires some thinking;

 

1. Yakuza (I cannot put into words how much joy exploring the meticulously recreated Japanese cities in this series makes me feel)
2. Football Manager (for living out my fantasies of not absolutely sucking at any sport I get involved in)
3. Pokemon (but only up until HeartGold and SoulSilver. I hated Gen 5, was ambivalent towards 6 and 7, and checked out once I saw the garbage designs of Gen 8)
4. Grand Theft Auto (my open world fix prior to Yakuza coming along - there's something about Vice City as a sandbox that I just can't resist)
5. Mario Kart (MK8 Deluxe still tops sales charts despite its original version being nearly a decade old, which says it all about its appeal)

 

What are your top 5 games and why?

 

I don't want to commit these games to an actual ranking, as they are all quite different from one another (save for two that are from the same series) - as such, have them in random order;

Yakuza 5

 

I think a large part of the Yakuza fanbase - if not the majority of it - have come in as a result of or since the release of Yakuza 0, so not all of them know quite how painful the wait for Yakuza 5 was. I saw Yakuza Dead Souls - a zombie spin-off - come out and completely bomb in 2011, and the general mood among fans was a nervy one; will Sega still localize Yakuza 5? 5 came out in Japan at the end of 2012, and the silence from Sega was deafening. I remember seeing the trailers and sizzle reels from Japan for 5, and the game looked way bigger and better than Yakuza 3 and 4 before it. But no announcement was made, no localization forthcoming.

 

Thanks to a valiant effort from all parties involved, Yakuza 5 eventually reached Western shores at the end of 2015 - three years after it originally released - and was only available digitally on PS3 even though most had by then ditched the aging console for the PS4. Maybe it was the anticipation of waiting so long, maybe it was the gratitude of getting a localization I thought I'd never live to see, but Yakuza 5 delivered on everything I had hoped it to be, and then some. Five different cities to play in, five different characters, and a typically flawed Yakuza story. It is the longest game and the grindiest Plat in the series, but I love it for that same reason - more Yakuza is always better in my mind, and while many will disagree with me on how good Yakuza 5 is, I will happily defend it until the end of days.

 

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

 

A seemingly very weird choice, but hear me out; where most people prefer San Andreas or Vice City, it's Vice City Stories for me. Its version of the map felt even more colourful than the original game's, the radio was just as good, and there was a sprawling, in-depth empire-building minigame included that kept me playing for far longer than I should have. The story was better than Vice City's as well, which relied a bit too much on its inspiration (Scarface) and didn't dare to stand on its own legs in quite the same way Vice City Stories did.

 

Freelancer

 

You might never have heard of this game, and that's okay; it is a typical case of abandonware, an old game that isn't available on a single digital storefront currently (despite being a Microsoft title!). This was my first true PC game back in 2004, and boy did it blow my mind. This is a space flight sim with decently fleshed-out economic and reputational systems, which lets you explore dozens of star systems while taking odd jobs for countless factions, hauling cargo from one end of the map to the next for a profit, and exploring nebulae for derelict ships and their precious cargo - plus a pretty engaging story about a spooky conspiracy. The sheer scale of it all did my head in way back then, and honestly, I'd kill for a modern remake and sequel.

 

Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver

 

The sad thing about reaching the top of a mountain? It's all downhill from there. Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver were the perfect remakes; bringing old games onto modern (at the time!) hardware, ironing out some of the issues of the original titles, and adding plenty of new stuff on top! New routes, new activities, new Pokemon (well, Gen 3 and 4), new post-game content - these titles had it all. They felt like a real labour of love, as if Game Freak was proud of going back to the best-ever generation of Pokemon (do not @ me, Gen 2 is the best) and did their utmost to honour those timeless games. And then Gen 5 happened (unpopular opinion, I know). And Gen 6. And 7. And 8. And 9. I played SoulSilver, and it was the most magical the series had ever been to me. Magic that was immediately lost afterwards and never recaptured, in my opinion.

 

Yakuza 0

 

I owe Yakuza 0 a great debt for not only saving the Yakuza franchise in the West but pushing it to such a level of popularity that we now get new games at the same time that Japan gets them. However, even if it hadn't played such a pivotal role in franchise history, it would still be mentioned here. Set in the garish 80s at the height of Japan's economic bubble, with outlandish minigames and substories to match. Arguably the best storyline in franchise history. Playing as Majima for half of the game. Real Estate Royale and Cabaret Czar. Yakuza 0 deserves all the praise it gets, and I can fully understand why for so many fans, it's far and away the best game in the series.

 

Which unreleased game(s) are you looking forward to the most and why?

 

Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

 

This has been promised to be a slightly smaller scale Yakuza Like A Dragon title compared to the numbered entries in the series, but it will continue the story of Kiryu AND use the beat-'em-up gameplay system that the series was known for prior to Yakuza LAD. As much as LAD's RPG gameplay was enjoyable, I enjoy the gameplay of yore more so to get what might be one last outing with it under the Like A Dragon name is very welcome indeed. Obviously also looking forward to Like A Dragon 8, but not quite as much as I am to Gaiden.

 

Do you have any other hobbies outside of gaming?

I spend way too much time watching football (English, Dutch, and Singaporean - all matches are streamed on YouTube for free), Formula 1 (MAX MAX MAX SUPER MAX, although I've been watching since 2003), and the NFL (J, E, T, S, JETS JETS JETS). I also really enjoy going out in whichever city or town I happen to be in at any given time and finding bubble tea stores - a bad habit I picked up whilst living in Singapore. I also really enjoy shitposting on all manner of websites, although never under the name you know me as!

 

Top 5 TV shows, movies, and/or anime, why, and would you recommend them to people?

 

This is a tough one, as I don't actually watch any of these! No, seriously! I've never been subscribed to a streaming service (or even shared passwords with someone)! I have a fondness for a very old television show from the 1960's called Thunderbirds, which still thrills me to this day, but other than that I would struggle to name any single series or flick I have an attachment to! If the Eurovision Song Contest counts, then that.

 

Top 5 favorite music bands/group/artists/composers/OST?

Another tough one, as I am not big into music at all. My favourite band is an English outfit called Editors (best albums: 'In This Light & On This Evening', and the recent 'EBM' - songs of choice: 'Papillon' and 'Heart Attack'), but I also enjoy the bands White Lies (best album: 'Friends' - song of choice: 'Don't Fall') and Future Islands (best album: 'On The Water' - song of choice: 'Before The Bridge'). I'd again struggle to name anything else of note.

 

Your favorite platinum and why?

There are a couple of contenders, but I want to say Yakuza 0's. It is perfectly balanced between fair and punishing, and has a fair bit of thought put into it with a few missable story-related Trophies. It's also very multi-faceted in that it forces you to git gud at pretty much all the minigames included, rather than letting you rely on just mastering the core beat-'em-up gameplay loop. Very pretty Trophy tiles too, in a style that the series sadly departed from with Yakuza 6 (and returned to with Ishin, but they may drop it once more).

 

Your least favorite platinum and why?

Split between Farming Simulator on the Vita and Pro Evolution Soccer 2014. Both of them bored me to tears, and I had to strenuously force myself to finish them - with a great degree of frustration, I might add. Dumb, uninspired grindy Trophies dominate both lists.

 

Have you ever been tempted to switch over to the Xbox/Nintendo/PC gaming ecosystems?

I started out on the PS1 so have been with Playstation for a very, very long time, and have never, ever been tempted by XBox. I don't know what it is with those guys, but I'd rather just give up on gaming entirely than get involved with those consoles - and I don't consider myself a frothing fanboy, because Sony is far from perfect. I did skip pretty much the entirety of the PS4 era to instead subsist on PC gaming and my 3DS, but ultimately Playstation just feels like home. With my ever-growing Trophy collection I'm also now more entrenched than ever, so I don't foresee myself leaving again - I'd probably quit games altogether rather than jump to a different ecosystem.

 

If you could have one game from any gaming generation be remade or re-released, which one would it be and why?

Freelancer, as alluded to above. The space sim genre has had a drought for many years, and Star Citizen just won't be what we need - even though it's the brainchild of Freelancer's creator. I adored the lore and general vibe of Freelancer, and I'd love to see it get a nice, new lick of paint.

 

How far are you willing to go for a platinum?

I refer you to this picture of my bedroom from early 2022;

 

 

 

I bought two extra PS3s, a spare TV, an HDMI splitter, and two extra copies of Far Cry 2 to grind out the notoriously horrific online portion of the game to completion - right before it went down for months, you can imagine my relief. It since came back up for a while but is currently down once more, and a shutdown has been rumoured so I cannot tell you how pleased I am that I got that absolute nightmare done and dusted. It is still my rarest Trophy to date, and will remain so for quite a while I imagine (or at least until I play and Plat Madden NFL 23 and its rarity dips below 0.65%).

 

If you could give Sony direct feedback on business decisions in the last year, and the latest console generation, what would you tell them?

I mean, we just had to sit through the relatively poor Playstation showcase that opened with Fairgame$, which honestly is the most awful-sounding live service game I've seen in a long, long time. While I'm sure a team of very smart analysts are telling Sony otherwise, I'd really encourage Jim Ryan and my compatriot Hermen Hulst to stop chasing the live service market. They're throwing so many studios to the wall to see if anything sticks, but they are wasting a lot of manpower chasing the next Fortnite when all that talent is better utilized in crafting either sequels to existing IPs or brand new series across a variety of genres. If the gamble doesn't pay off, all they will have done is lost out on the chance of creating the new big Playstation IP in favour of adding a new section to the live service graveyard.

 

Also, gimme Vita 2. Now.

 

What is your favorite thing about PSNP?

The Statistics page, by far. I check my average rarity daily and take a lot of joy out of manipulating some of the graphs, and seeing things like my completion slowly creep upwards.

 

What is your least favorite thing about PSNP?

You know the average completion figure given for every game? It's weighted based on the point values of Trophies (so a Silver counts twice as much towards completion as a Bronze). I believe that a true mean average figure would be much more useful for statistical purposes (e.g. if a game only has two trophies, one which has a rarity of 50% and one which has a rarity of 100%, the average will be 75%)

 

Is there anyone in the PSNP Community you would like to give a shout-out to and if so, why?

Every single guide writer, every single moderator (sorry for having to clean up my shitposts in the past - I've been well-behaved for a while now), every single person who maintains a Trophy checklist (they're all extremely interesting to read - @realm722 and @Copanele come to mind), and every single person with an anime avatar. Because for some reason, people with anime avatars tend to be genuinely cool peeps. Oh, and everyone who likes my posts, because I love seeing my Community Reputation go up!

 

PSNP Community Questions

If someone gave you a good career and you were financially stable for life (300k/yr) but had to give up gaming for good. Couldnt own or be around them. Would you take that deal?
That depends, I suppose. My career has an earning potential beyond 300k p/a, and gaming is my main way of relaxing so I wouldn't necessarily want to lock myself at that level. But if you offered me that figure as a minimum right now, I might just take it and have a good, long think about how to spend my free time from now on.

 

What console is your least favorite and why?

Of the consoles I've owned, probably the Wii. Some great games (Mario Kart Wii, Smash Bros Brawl, Metroid Prime 3), but the novelty of the Wii Remote wore off after five minutes and it really was underpowered for its time. Least favourite overall? I want to say the Ouya - that was a trainwreck everyone saw coming from a mile away.

 

Did you ever have a gaming drought? if so, how long was it and what game brought you back? Thanks for your time.

While the statistics page of my profile implies a drought from 2014ish to 2020, I was still happily playing Football Manager at the time (500+ hours in more of those annual games than I care to admit) plus quite a bit of Hitman and PUBG from 2016 until 2020. The only true extended drought I can think of was the period I lived in Singapore, where I had way too much IRL fun to so much as touch a video game. I brought my 3DS with me and didn't open it even once.

 

As a Norwich fan how much did you enjoy Luis Suarez coming to town? As a Liverpool fan I know I was always salivating at the chance to see him take on your defence.

As a Dutchman, I saw Suarez take his first steps in European football at FC Groningen and then at Ajax, so I was aware of what he could do even before Liverpool bought him. The man had such a thin divide between brilliance and madness, but I always enjoyed seeing him play - even against Norwich. That's the lot of being a supporter of a 'small team', I just can't get mad if a world class player styles all over us.

 

Who is your favourite Norwich City player of all time and why?

I don't really adore or follow individual players, as I am far more interested in the clubs they represent. However, I have a soft spot for Todd Cantwell, a local chap who I first saw play in the Netherlands at Fortuna Sittard before he broke into the first team at Norwich. I got a signed card of him giving me his best wishes, which I received for my birthday in 2021, and I have a matchworn shirt of his from the youth team. Hopefully one day I can get him to sign it.

 

Why is it do you think that Norwich can never stay in the Prem for much more than a season at a time? Bad luck? Bad decisions? Bad players?

Norwich City are owned by a somewhat elderly TV cook and her husband. Had they signed Frank Lampard as was rumoured during the 2021/2022 season, it would have been the first instance of a club's manager having greater personal wealth than the club's owners! The money simply isn't there, and the ground and number of willing sponsors in East Anglia simply aren't big enough to the point where they can sustain a Premier League football team that doesn't ace every single incoming and outgoing transfer. This doesn't anger me in the slightest; I prefer a caring, local owner over some dodgy bloke or consortium from God-knows-where. If Norwich never reach the Prem again, then so be it - they have my support no matter the level at which they play.

 

You come home after a long day to find your significant other on your doorstep. They seem very excited. Inviting them in, you sit down in curious anticipation of what's got them so wound up. From behind their back the pull the ugliest, tackiest nick-nack you've ever seen. Like, it's the worst thing imaginable, it goes with literally no decore that exists or ever has existed. The person who created the damn thing should be shot. Twice. And then shot again while being flipped off by their ancestors. BUT, your significant other is somehow into it. They got it for you and are smiling ear to ear, nearly teary-eyed in the hopes they got you the bestest gift ever. You look them straight in the eyes and say.......?

'Oh my gosh, that's so cool, thank you!'. I have had this happen with my mom, who brought home an awful sculpture of a LEGO figure that was half-transparent with moulded organs inside. I thanked her warmly and hid my utter horror, then when she left carefully placed it back in its packaging and banished it to the cupboard. Being disappointed yourself is okay, but disappointing someone else over a well-intentioned gesture is much worse.

 

Do you feel more Dutch or Singaporean?

I don't feel particularly Dutch, although I fit the archetype (very close-fisted, very direct, very tall), but on the other hand, I'm not Singaporean either - that identity is a complex one, shared between the country's various ethnic groups which all have their own interpretations of it. I certainly don't feel British either - I am a guest here and nothing more. I think, in my cynicism, I've gotten to the point that flags and nation-states have lost a lot of meaning in respect to my identity, although I still appreciate them as the main political entities through which we make sense of the political and economic world. I don't think I will ever distance myself from my Dutch passport (it is too useful), but I would probably cry a lot of very unmanly tears if I were to receive the honour of becoming a PR (Permanent Resident) in Singapore.

 

Why did you skip FIFA 14 on the PsVita?

The FIFA 13 Plat wasn't the most fun experience in the world, and 14 was literally a copy+paste with the kits and rosters swapped out so I didn't see a point in getting it at the time. Which, nowadays, I really regret as it would be really cool to own the hat-trick of Vita FIFA Plats (disregarding the unobtainable FIFA Football Plat, which was broken from the get-go). If the servers had still been up in 2020, I would for sure have gotten 14 and Platted it, but now it will forever be a gap on my profile.

 

Did you watch the Eurovision a few nights ago? What are your favourite songs if so?

Finland tops the leaderboard for me and will forever be the true winner of the night. But I also have mad respect for Austria and Australia, same for Czechia. Lithuania really grew on me after the semi-final, but nothing topped what I still think is my favourite Eurovision entry ever; Ukraine 2021.

 

What's the most obscure sport you've played?

This is only obscure if you've never lived in the Netherlands or Belgium, but it's korfball. Best I can describe it is off-brand basketball, with mixed-gender teams. We played our fair share of it during PE in high school. The common joke associated with korfball is the notion that men only play it so they can share showers with the women (which they don't, but it's funny to parrot when you're a teen).

 

Are you more of a Star Wars or LOTR kinda human?

Pre-Disney Star Wars, thank you very much. I kinda grew up with the prequels, and didn't see the LOTR movies in full until 2017 or so. I've fully checked out of SW since, however - The Force Awakens remains one of the biggest wastes of time I've ever committed myself to, more so still than Farming Simulator and Pro Evolution Soccer 2014.

 

If game characters were real and you could meet one, who would it be?

Yakuza's Kazuma Kiryu - so I can pretend to be an NPC from one of the upcoming games, with Kiryu inadvertently solving all my problems as part of a substory.

 

What's your opinion on live service games?

They can be executed quite well, but the vast majority of them are doomed to fail - as I alluded to earlier in regards to Sony's business decisions. We already have Fortnite, Apex, COD Warzone, etc. The odds of being the next big thing are so small, but the rewards are so great that I totally get why companies chase this particular dragon. It's both amusing and cringe-inducing to see them badly fail time and time again, and I have no doubt that Fairgame$ will flop badly and be the latest source of amusement. I need to see more of Concord which looks better but only because they showed nothing at all, and Foamstars will likely lead a middling existence before eventually being put out to pasture too.

 

What's your opinion on games that have multiple updated releases with DLC (SFV, MK11)? Do you prefer to get it at launch or wait for and hope for a "complete edition"?

Since the early days of the Vita, I've stopped buying games on release day apart from Yakuza titles - and even those I've now abandoned as the series' future in the West is secure. Due to having the luxury of now getting to catch up on the entire PS4 library as I sat out the generation, I can find countless great games for very little money on the aftermarket, and being a PS Plus Premium subscriber only adds to the pile, so I honestly cannot see myself buy any game at launch anymore. It just doesn't make financial sense at all, and I pride myself on getting my jollies as cheaply as possible.

 

What's the stupidest game you've ever played?

Good question; dumbest in execution was Radical Heights, a cringe-themed battle royale by a dying studio that was shut down within mere months as funding dried up - it was one of the first knock-offs to attempt to cash in on Fortnite becoming big, but is now a very obscure footnote in gaming history. I also want to shout out Gal*Gun Double Peace, which has an elaborate plot involving fallen angels that serves as an excuse to look at anime girls' panties - it is a fun rail shooter though. And a special mention for Octodad: Dadliest Catch. Making your controls awful on purpose to fit the central premise of your game is not the win you think it is, and does not make it fun to play in the slightest. Within five minutes of starting it I was tempted to re-format my Vita to keep the Trophies from syncing.

 

Have you ever moved cities, towns, or a long way?

By my count, I've moved house about 22 times now. Longest distance was 10,400ish kilometres from my hometown to Singapore, shortest was about 500 metres from the house I was born in to my grandparents' place.

 

What's your dream job?

From a passion perspective, be the manager of a football/soccer team - preferably one I own so I don't have to sweat about my immediate future. Alternatively, head of Playstation or Xbox, so I can secretly fund my passion projects and pass them off as very sensible investments. Why yes, of course we need a new Killzone!

 

What's your dream vacation?

A roadtrip that takes me through every single prefecture of Japan - and that includes a ferry to Okinawa, yes. Spend minimal time in the big touristy places like Tokyo and Kyoto (with exceptions made for the districts that have been recreated in the Yakuza series), and instead explore rural areas like Gifu and Yamagata. End every day in an Onsen, spend every night in a Ryokan, and have way too many beef bowls!

 

What made you choose to study in Singapore, and were there other options you were considering?

My university there was a joint-venture between an Ivy League institution and the top-ranked university in Asia, so from a career perspective it made a lot of sense - although I don't think I used my time there as wisely as I should have, considering I was having way too much fun with many different kinds of frivolities. Singapore being an English-speaking country, and a travel hub within Asia, made the choice even easier. My other options were Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea (another massive name) and Yamanashi Gakuin University in Kofu, Japan. The latter didn't have the right reputation, although I sometimes still realize that I missed out on waking up with Mount Fuji looming outside my dorm window.

 

If there was one message you could give to the world or here at PSNP, what would your message be?

Life is way too short not to enjoy what you're doing; don't go overboard with Trophy hunting, and stop when the fun diminishes. There's no shame in putting down the controller and going outside to explore.

 

What were the best and worst things about living in the Netherlands, Singapore and UK?

My home region of the Netherlands has a lot of gorgeous forests and endless farmlands, and it feels serene. Downside is that I don't seem to work well with other Dutch people, they find me rather odd for some reason, and it left me feeling isolated at the best of times in school and at work. In the UK, people respect and love me for who I am - my odd sides they just put down to me being Dutch! - but literally everything else is godawful. The infrastructure, the food, the government, the economy, I'm sort of counting down the days until I can leave. Singapore is amazing in all the ways that the UK is not, but on the flipside, you'll likely never own property (lease it for 99 years at best) and the weather is nuts. Also, exceedingly difficult to get a job there as a foreigner due to the quotas. Everything I do for my career, I do to climb high enough to be able to finally make that jump back.

 

Have you ever stolen anything?

Hearts, and probably a few hundred Pounds of cookies and tea from the various offices I've worked in to take back to my hotel rooms - but that's not truly stealing, right? Right?!

 

As you've platted them all - how would you rank the GTA games and what features or improvements would you like to see in IV?

III < Chinatown Wars < V < IV < San Andreas < Vice City < LCS < VCS

 

Yes, I like the PSP games that much. For VI, I'd love to see a return of empire building from Vice City and VCS, which I consider a realistic prospect - getting the drug economy from Chinatown Wars back would be awesome too. My biggest wish would be to actually return to the 3D universe (the canon that the PS2 games were set in, but that's not happening), and I would also be happy if the Trophy list exclusively focuses on the singleplayer campaign, with a separate list for the new GTA Online so I can entirely disregard it.

 

Is it intentional that you have a lot of Yakuza milestones, and what would you say are the best and worst games in the series?

Absolutely intentional, and will continue for quite a while. 5 and 0 are at the top end of the scale for me, Yakuza Kiwami and 4 near the bottom. I think we have evolved past being satisfied with Kamurocho being the only playable map in a title, and 4 was really hurt by lacking Ryukyu and only getting a few sewers and rooftops back in return. I can forgive Kiwami in that regard as being a remake of the original game. I started my journey with the series with 3, so I might be a bit of an apologist but it absolutely is not the worst of the lot. Also, Dead Souls was a lot of fun and gets a worse rep than it deserves - but its flaws still need to be acknowledged.

 

What was it like working as a model and what made you decide to quit in the end?

Modelling was bizarre, honestly; I had dedicated dressers who would help me undress and re-dress in-between stints on the catwalk as models often wear two or more outfits in the same show. Everyone was also extremely casual about being naked - the female models strutted around topless behind the scenes during the shows, I didn't really know where to look when one strolled by. Ultimately though, it isn't a sustainable career and I always just considered it a fun pastime, a little source of extra money, and a fun thing to brag about. I don't regret the decision not to continue it, and I've done some amateur stuff since - photographers randomly approach me on the street every once in a while.

 

Is there a game you consider underrated or overrated?

I will never understand why the Ezio-led Assassin's Creed games are so loved - they were bland, soulless sandboxes to me, at the time of release already. The same goes for Black Flag, which at least had a better setting to work with. Conversely, in the past year I played Shadow of The Colossus for the first time and it blew me away - you can tell it used to be a PS2 game, but everything about it is just bewitching. I know it's well-loved, but nowhere near enough. Only 300,000 owners on PSNP!

 

What's your food heaven and hell?

Ever had a curry puff? A famous, flaky pastry from Singapore filled with all kinds of goodies, but the best variant has curry spices, chicken, potato, and a hard boiled egg. Couple it with ice cold bandung or bubble tea and you'll be smiling ear to ear. Anything involving mushrooms would be my personal nightmare - I can't stand the taste, smell, or texture no matter how they are prepared. And that's coming from a guy who will happily eat century eggs.

 

For the games you will never 100% because of unobtainables (EG: NHL 2K10) do you try to get all of the obtainable trophies?

I regret every unobtainable Trophy I never got around to unlocking, with a few being extra painful (I was really close to WipEout HD, for instance), so it is only fair that I do try my best to get all the ones I can still unlock. I had close to 800 unearned Trophies when I returned to Playstation platforms in 2020, so to now be down to 225 is quite an achievement, I think. I've cleaned up most of my old PS3 games, and I've been putting off the remainder now that PS Plus takes up all my time, but I hope to push to under 200 left before long.

 

Favourite game you got off PS Plus or PS Now?

Shadow of The Colossus, without a doubt - I cannot recommend that game enough. I also really enjoyed revisiting Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, which was my most played game circa 2003 on the PS2 - it holds up remarkably well today, even if it is a little on the short side. Exceedingly rare Trophies dominate its list if those are your jam.

 

Least favourite game you got from PS Plus or PS Now?

I hate to be that guy, but Everybody's Gone To The Rapture was an absolute slog. A walking simulator doesn't have to be boring, but by jove did they manage to get more than a few yawns out of me. A very pretty game, that much I will say though. I'm usually quite good in dodging the trash games included with PS Plus Essential but Wreckfest was one of those rare games that did manage to con me; I know it has its fans, but it was, again, an absolute bore from start to finish.

 

Who will finish higher next season in the championship, Norwich or Southampton?

Southampton and it ain't even close - especially if the Russell Martin deal comes to fruition. Norwich should have done their utmost to get him in from Swansea when they fired Dean Smith, but instead they went for David Wagner - a man who hadn't had a single successful season in half a decade and who managed to lose a one-horse-race to the title in Switzerland. I never wanted Farke sacked during the Prem seasons, or for Smith to get sacked even when things were poor this season, but I frankly can't wait for Wagner to leave. It's one of those truly torrid choices that a club of Norwich' financial stature cannot afford to make. I do wish the Saints well, I've visited Southampton (the city, not the club) last year and quite liked what I saw.

 

If you had the time, would you try to get all of the online trophies of a game done before shutdown?

Been there, done that; since coming back to Playstation in 2020, I've finished up Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Revelations, LittleBigPlanet, and Grand Theft Auto V (PS3) which have all since shut down. I also cleaned up Far Cry 2 before a temporary loss of service and the currently ongoing server outage. I also cleaned up Assassin's Creed Black Flag, which really can't be long for this world. Everything else I have left in terms of unearned obtainables is either singleplayer or peer-to-peer (Grid 2, notably), and I've bought pretty much all the DLC needed apart from the Hong Kong-exclusive pack for X-COM: Enemy Unknown. It's just a matter of me finding the time and willpower to dive in.

 

____________________________________________________________________

Thank you to all who participated in asking questions in this interview! See you soon for the next one.

Spoiler

@Infected Elite @PotrikBerger @Jelly Soup @KenjiCBZ @breakingthegreen @serrated-banner9

Edited July 17, 2023 by Charizarzar

[serrated-banner9]

Good read

 

i always thought Fairgame$ would also be singleplayer but maybe i'm just being a idiot (unless they confirmed it on the PS blog which i don't read)

 

16 hours ago, Charizarzar said:

For the games you will never 100% because of unobtainables (EG: NHL 2K10) do you try to get all of the obtainable trophies?

I regret every unobtainable Trophy I never got around to unlocking, with a few being extra painful (I was really close to WipEout HD, for instance), so it is only fair that I do try my best to get all the ones I can still unlock. I had close to 800 unearned Trophies when I returned to Playstation platforms in 2020, so to now be down to 225 is quite an achievement, I think. I've cleaned up most of my old PS3 games, and I've been putting off the remainder now that PS Plus takes up all my time, but I hope to push to under 200 left before long.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

@Infected Elite @PotrikBerger @Jelly Soup @KenjiCBZ @breakingthegreen @serrated-banner9

that's what i want to do as well, play a game with unobtainable and get every obtainable trophy there is

 

 

[Jelly Soup]

On 5/27/2023 at 8:42 AM, Charizarzar said:

I have had this happen with my mom, who brought home an awful sculpture of a LEGO figure that was half-transparent with moulded organs inside.

 

I had to google this. What I found was some mini-figs someone made of glass with mouse organs inside.

So there's that.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Jelly Soup