Briste's Diary of a Madman

[Briste]

1 hour ago, AJ_Radio said:

That is a serious setup there @Briste with multiple consoles and a Blu ray player. It's bad enough for me having to swap between PS4 and PS3 on my flatscreen. The Vita of course is on the go, I basically have five games left for the handheld before I'll probably retire it for good.

 

Yeah, it's pretty convenient for moving back and forth between systems.

 

55" TV (needs to be replaced soon...there is some streaking that is starting to appear on the left half of the screen). First cubby is the Blu Ray player, middle cubby is the PS3, right cubby the PS4, PS5 on top and the VR headset next to it. My VR is in between the furniture and my desk where I've been working from home for the past year....as you can see. It is very easy to get distracted during the day lol

Edited April 16, 2021 by Briste

[AJ_Radio]

Playing Detroit: Become Human. Need to get back to that one.

[Briste]

19 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

Playing Detroit: Become Human. Need to get back to that one.

I'm about three hours in. A lot of setting the stage so far....seems like something I'll like. We'll see how painful the playthroughs end up being. I know they slightly soured my experience in the other games.

[Grotz99]

Does the PS5 fit into a cubby? Surprised to see someone still rocking a blu-ray player.

[Briste]

9 hours ago, Grotz99 said:

Does the PS5 fit into a cubby? Surprised to see someone still rocking a blu-ray player.

It probably could, but I generally play with the controller plugged in and I generally sit in my chair at my desk when I'm playing games with the TV angled that way. The Blu Ray cubby is the furthest from where I sit and the cord isn't long enough from where I usually play. I rarely use the Blu Ray and bought it back when I bought the TV. It was a wasteful purchase in hindsight. The TV is a 3D TV and the Blu Ray plays 3D Blu Rays. It was novelty and overpriced and I've probably only watched about 30 movies in 3D on it. I stream 99% of what I watch now and I only keep it hooked up for the five or six DVD's I own that are unavailable to stream. I'm not rich or anything lol I just don't drink, smoke or partake in any kind of substance abuse and spend most of my disposable income on my entertainment area. My vice is in my gaming and my usual attitude when I buy this stuff is to go big or go home. I probably won't ever splurge on something so novelty again and will just get a good 4K TV for my next big purchase. Eventually the PS5 will end up in the cubby where my PS4 is. I'm going to be giving my PS4 to a friend of mine when they come visit in a couple of months so there will be a vacancy.

[AJ_Radio]

2 hours ago, Briste said:

It probably could, but I generally play with the controller plugged in and I generally sit in my chair at my desk when I'm playing games with the TV angled that way. The Blu Ray cubby is the furthest from where I sit and the cord isn't long enough from where I usually play. I rarely use the Blu Ray and bought it back when I bought the TV. It was a wasteful purchase in hindsight. The TV is a 3D TV and the Blu Ray plays 3D Blu Rays. It was novelty and overpriced and I've probably only watched about 30 movies in 3D on it. I stream 99% of what I watch now and I only keep it hooked up for the five or six DVD's I own that are unavailable to stream. I'm not rich or anything lol I just don't drink, smoke or partake in any kind of substance abuse and spend most of my disposable income on my entertainment area. My vice is in my gaming and my usual attitude when I buy this stuff is to go big or go home. I probably won't ever splurge on something so novelty again and will just get a good 4K TV for my next big purchase. Eventually the PS5 will end up in the cubby where my PS4 is. I'm going to be giving my PS4 to a friend of mine when they come visit in a couple of months so there will be a vacancy.

 

Who does these days anymore anyway?

 

Gaming and social media replaces the cigarette smoking and alcohol that past generations used to get their dopamine injections.

[Rally-Vincent---]

5 hours ago, Briste said:

It probably could, but I generally play with the controller plugged in

 

How close to the TV do you sit? Or is the cable longer than with the DS4? I can't reach from my set-up to my couch. If I outplay a controller's charge, I either switch the controller or plug it in in my laptop.

[Arcesius]

2 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

Who does these days anymore anyway?

 

Gaming and social media replaces the cigarette smoking and alcohol that past generations used to get their dopamine injections.

 

Are you serious? ?? 

 

 

14 minutes ago, Rally-Vincent--- said:

How close to the TV do you sit? Or is the cable longer than with the DS4? I can't reach from my set-up to my couch. If I outplay a controller's charge, I either switch the controller or plug it in in my laptop.

 

I sit far enough from the TV that the cable doesn't reach, but I have a socket behind my couch and just plug my DS4 cable into my phone charging "head" (you know, the thing that goes into the socket.. no idea how it's called). 

 

 

On 16.4.2021 at 5:47 AM, Briste said:

Yeah, it's pretty convenient for moving back and forth between systems.

 

55" TV (needs to be replaced soon...there is some streaking that is starting to appear on the left half of the screen). First cubby is the Blu Ray player, middle cubby is the PS3, right cubby the PS4, PS5 on top and the VR headset next to it. My VR is in between the furniture and my desk where I've been working from home for the past year....as you can see. It is very easy to get distracted during the day lol

 

Nice setup!  Do you have enough space to properly play VR, or can you only do games that you can sit for? I haven't touched it in a while (well, ever since my son was born... cannot immerse myself entirely with him around!), but I always had a lamp in the way, or a table, or the wall... ? Was a bit awckward when going for Beat Saber, for example, I needed to keep in mind that there was a lamp over my left arm... not the easiest thing to keep track off while playing fast songs, letting yourself go to the music ?

Edited April 17, 2021 by Arcesius

[Rally-Vincent---]

6 hours ago, Arcesius said:

I sit far enough from the TV that the cable doesn't reach, but I have a socket behind my couch and just plug my DS4 cable into my phone charging "head" (you know, the thing that goes into the socket.. no idea how it's called).

 

I know what you mean. Funny enough, I use the controller cable to charge my phone because the original loading cable didn't last long and I don't want to buy a "100% original" cable that burns down my flat.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Rally-Vincent---

[Briste]

12 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

Who does these days anymore anyway?

 

Gaming and social media replaces the cigarette smoking and alcohol that past generations used to get their dopamine injections.

Most of my friends spend a lot of money on those kinds of things. Some of my friends buy expensive micro-brewed beer that's like $20 for a 6 pack. A lot of my friends also smoke pot. I don't have many that smoke cigarettes, but some do. I might have a beer/glass of wine once a month if we go out to dinner, but most people I know spend tons on booze. Which is fine with me, we all have our vice lol So long as their habits aren't hurting anyone, I'm cool with it.
 

 

10 hours ago, Rally-Vincent--- said:

How close to the TV do you sit? Or is the cable longer than with the DS4? I can't reach from my set-up to my couch. If I outplay a controller's charge, I either switch the controller or plug it in in my laptop.

10 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Nice setup!  Do you have enough space to properly play VR, or can you only do games that you can sit for? I haven't touched it in a while (well, ever since my son was born... cannot

immerse myself entirely with him around!), but I always had a lamp in the way, or a table, or the wall... ? Was a bit awckward when going for Beat Saber, for example, I needed to keep in mind that there was a lamp over my left arm... not the easiest thing to keep track off while playing fast songs, letting yourself go to the music ?

 

Thanks! So this is what my whole basement/work space/man cave area looks like:

 

I generally sit in the reclining chair when I'm playing games and angle it more towards to TV with the TV angled towards the chair. I'd say it's between 6-8 feet away. I generally use the ottoman like a table. You'll notice I have one of each controller type on there in addition to the controller for the receiver and the controller for the fire stick. The cords for the controllers easily reach the ottoman for charging and usually reach me in the chair just fine too. The PS3 one doesn't really, but that controller holds a charge so much better than the PS4/5 ones do.

 

If I am using the VR, I'll move the ottoman out of the way and use that space there. So far, the games I've played I tend to push the ottoman back towards my couch and sit on the ottoman to play. None of the VR games I've played so far were terribly interactive to the point where I was moving around much.

 

The laptop is my work PC which I have connected to my desktop monitor so I can have dual screens while working. I don't know how I used to work without two screens. I have a cool little switcher that allows me to cycle back and forth on the main monitor from my PC to the dual work PC's. The blue mouse and keyboard are for the desktop and the black mouse and keyboard are for work. I have it down to a science, but when my wife needs to use my computer to print something, she always messes it up lol

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Briste

[AJ_Radio]

You’re a Boston Red Sox fan @Briste. 
 

Haven’t really watched them since David Ortiz left. Loved watching them in the Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, David Wells, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek era. I literally can’t recognize the team anymore. Mookie Betts was the last guy I really rooted for. Now he’s playing for a different team. That makes me feel old. 
 

12 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Are you serious?  

Was mostly joking.

 

2 hours ago, Briste said:

Most of my friends spend a lot of money on those kinds of things. Some of my friends buy expensive micro-brewed beer that's like $20 for a 6 pack. A lot of my friends also smoke pot. I don't have many that smoke cigarettes, but some do. I might have a beer/glass of wine once a month if we go out to dinner, but most people I know spend tons on booze. Which is fine with me, we all have our vice lol So long as their habits aren't hurting anyone, I'm cool with it.

Part of my family is Irish which as we all know spends a lot of time and money on booze. There is a long history of alcohol abuse in my family, which is mostly why I don’t drink. But I just don’t like the appeal of drinking to get drunk. 
 

Smoking cigarettes is on the way out. Some of my friends and peers in their 30s mostly smoke pot and marijuana. Smoking cigarettes reduces your life span, there’s just too many downsides as opposed to positives. Second hand smoke is also bad, it’s probably a good thing people in general are beginning to be allergic to it. 
 

The only drug I’m addicted to is caffeine, which about every other person is also addicted to so it’s not even a big concern for the most part.

[Briste]

On 4/17/2021 at 4:41 PM, AJ_Radio said:

You’re a Boston Red Sox fan @Briste. 
 

Haven’t really watched them since David Ortiz left. Loved watching them in the Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, David Wells, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek era. I literally can’t recognize the team anymore. Mookie Betts was the last guy I really rooted for. Now he’s playing for a different team. That makes me feel old. 

I am lol I haven't watched much in recent years due to my wife hating baseball and me being soured a bit from an experience I had. This comment here actually helped me decide which platinum to declare next

 

Platinum #134

MLB The Show 20

As I’ve mentioned before, I played baseball from age 5 all the way up through college and a few years after. I grew up idolizing Roger Clemens (was painful to see him go to the Yanks, but I still rooted for him when he was on the mound….also he should be in the HoF) and wanted to be a pitcher. I did pitch when I was younger, but I found I got a little bored not being in every play on days I wasn't pitching. I decided that I wanted to be a catcher so I could still be in every play on days I didn't pitch and that ended up being the position I excelled at. I threw hard enough that I could be an effective pitcher through high school….but I never really learned how to pitch and never developed much past my fastball. I truly loved the game and would watch the Sox every night. Unfortunately, my wife is bored to tears by baseball and I’ve stopped watching over the years. I haven’t followed really closely in probably 10 years or so.

 

Actually, I know exactly when I stopped watching every day….it was the ‘chicken and beer’ incident that got Terry Francona fired as the manager of the Red Sox back in 2011. I loved Francona and felt that the Sox did him dirty, so that whole situation soured me a bit. The other reason I was soured was a more personal reason. I got married that same summer and as a gift to my groomsmen, I bought tickets to see the Red Sox play at Fenway. As a special thanks, the tickets I bought were to sit on the Green Monster….they were $600 a piece on StubHub and I spent $2400 in total to go. It was something I had wanted to do since they put seats up there and this seemed like the perfect excuse to splurge without getting crucified by my wife at the cost lol The game was at the end of August against the Athletics and I bought them for a Sunday game. The plan was to get up there early, watch batting practice and then grab some food and adult beverages or something after the game. I had bought the tickets in April so that we could plan ahead….turns out the weekend I picked was the weekend hurricane Irene visited New England. (Pro tip….if you’re going to buy tickets on the secondary market…wait until the day of the game and the price drops dramatically….I stupidly paid a premium.)

 

To try and get the game in before the hurricane, the Red Sox moved the game from Sunday to Saturday and made it part of a double header. I was disappointed since I knew that meant no BP and no after game festivities since the hurricane would be coming. One of my buddies lived near me and we drove up together to meet my other two buddies in Framingham where one of them lived. Framingham is about 20-25 minutes from Fenway so we were close enough to get there in time if the game was on. We were all hoping the game would be postponed so that we could still make a full day of it still later in the year (or it’d be canceled and I’d get my money back) and things looked good early. The game originally scheduled for Saturday was moved to 11:00am and the second game was going to start about 45 minutes after the first game was over. There was quite a bit of rain and the first game had a few delays. In about the 8^th inning of the first game, the Red Sox announced that anyone that had tickets for the second game, was welcome to come see the end of the first game (there was no one at the stadium.) We figured, what the hell and drove in.

 

We arrived just in time to see the final out of the first game. We made our way up to our seats and waited for the second game to start. We were still hoping that the game would be postponed, but there was no such luck. To add insult to injury, the Red Sox tweeted out while we were there, that anyone in the area who wanted to come to the game would be allowed in free of charge….so the game I spent $2400 on was the only game I can remember where the team let everyone in for free lol

 

The game had two rain delays while we were there, and we were hoping the game would get called before the 5^th inning and the game became 'official'. Once the game is 'official', there is no postponing and the game will be final no matter how many innings have been played. In theory, if the game was tied it could have been 'suspended' until a later date...but that doesn't happen often. With the way Red Sox starter Eric Bedard was pitching…it looked like we could get lucky. When the rain delay hit in the 4^th inning, we thought we were golden….we would get two chances to sit on the wall when the game would be made up later in the year….turns out no. During that rain delay, the friend I drove up with’s wife called and asked how close we were to home. We informed her that we were still in our seats lol She was not happy about that…she was like ‘there is a fucking hurricane that is here and you’re up watching a baseball game?!?! COME. HOME. NOW!!!’ We really couldn’t argue and made the trek back home….leaving in the 4^th inning….of a game I spent a lot of money on….that anyone could have gone to for free….to drive 2 hours in a hurricane….the only cool thing from it was Ortiz home run over the wall. I was on TV for 2 seconds while they tracked the ball in the air lol I was the dude in the green shirt! The other good news is my two other buddies who lived locally were able to stay and watch the whole game.

 

What I should have done after, was write a letter to the Red Sox to let them know what had happened and see if they would let me buy tickets for the following season at face value to try again. Not free tickets…just an opportunity to buy at face value without the ridiculous secondary-market mark up. It was really unsafe for the Red Sox to let that game go on and I was pretty pissed about it (so were the players as it turned out). However, I never did send that letter and all I have to show for it is a good story. The Red Sox won both games that day and (partly due to karma) it was the last time they won back-to-back games that season. Then the ‘chicken and beer’ “scandal” happened and Francona was fired. I’m still a Red Sox fan, but I lost some of my passion after the way that season ended.

 

Oh yeah….this was an MLB The Show 20 game review….the game was pretty much the same as the prior year with only the trophy list being easier, yet dumber at the same time. There is no outlandish MP trophy this time around, but they have two trophies for throwing runners out on the basepaths for some reason….yet no trophy for doing the game mode Road to the Show. It’s a weird trophy list, but it’s easily doable.

 

I did enjoy this iteration better than the 2019 version. This was mostly due to the addition of the ‘Collection’ portion of the game. You had always collected baseball cards before and from the cards you had obtained, you made up your team….but you could buy and sell pretty freely. Now with the collectible’s album, anything you add to the album is unable to be sold, but by completing different sets, you unlock more (usually better) cards to add to your roster. I had a lot of fun with that part of the game and it actually gave the game a bit of a purpose. You played the different modes to unlock cards for your collection to unlock more cards. While the ‘pay to play’ option is there, there is really no need for it since you can get a pretty good team really quickly. If you going to play an MLB game, I would say this is the one to get.

[AJ_Radio]

Just now, Briste said:

 I grew up idolizing Roger Clemens (was painful to see him go to the Yanks, but I still rooted for him when he was on the mound….also he should be in the HoF) and wanted to be a pitcher. I did pitch when I was younger, but I found I got a little bored not being in every play on days I wasn't pitching.

 

I think he definitely deserves to get in. Cooperstown, New York can leave out Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and the rest of those steroid fueled sluggers. Unfortunately Roger Clemens got caught up in the Bud Selig era of steroid allegations and court rulings.

 

Watching him play for New York and then to see Mariano Rivera close out the game. We'll never see anything like that ever again. I was a big fan of Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams, but hell, I'm talking to a Baltimore fan, not a New York Yankees fan.

 

5 minutes ago, Briste said:

Actually, I know exactly when I stopped watching every day….it was the ‘chicken and beer’ incident that got Terry Francona fired as the manager of the Red Sox back in 2011. I loved Francona and felt that the Sox did him dirty, so that whole situation soured me a bit. The other reason I was soured was a more personal reason. I got married that same summer and as a gift to my groomsmen, I bought tickets to see the Red Sox play at Fenway. As a special thanks, the tickets I bought were to sit on the Green Monster….they were $600 a piece on StubHub and I spent $2400 in total to go. It was something I had wanted to do since they put seats up there and this seemed like the perfect excuse to splurge without getting crucified by my wife at the cost lol The game was at the end of August against the Athletics and I bought them for a Sunday game. The plan was to get up there early, watch batting practice and then grab some food and adult beverages or something after the game. I had bought the tickets in April so that we could plan ahead….turns out the weekend I picked was the weekend hurricane Irene visited New England. (Pro tip….if you’re going to buy tickets on the secondary market…wait until the day of the game and the price drops dramatically….I stupidly paid a premium.)

 

To try and get the game in before the hurricane, the Red Sox moved the game from Sunday to Saturday and made it part of a double header. I was disappointed since I knew that meant no BP and no after game festivities since the hurricane would be coming. One of my buddies lived near me and we drove up together to meet my other two buddies in Framingham where one of them lived. Framingham is about 20-25 minutes from Fenway so we were close enough to get there in time if the game was on. We were all hoping the game would be postponed so that we could still make a full day of it still later in the year (or it’d be canceled and I’d get my money back) and things looked good early. The game originally scheduled for Saturday was moved to 11:00am and the second game was going to start about 45 minutes after the first game was over. There was quite a bit of rain and the first game had a few delays. In about the 8^th inning of the first game, the Red Sox announced that anyone that had tickets for the second game, was welcome to come see the end of the first game (there was no one at the stadium.) We figured, what the hell and drove in.

 

We arrived just in time to see the final out of the first game. We made our way up to our seats and waited for the second game to start. We were still hoping that the game would be postponed, but there was no such luck. To add insult to injury, the Red Sox tweeted out while we were there, that anyone in the area who wanted to come to the game would be allowed in free of charge….so the game I spent $2400 on was the only game I can remember where the team let everyone in for free lol

 

The game had two rain delays while we were there, and we were hoping the game would get called before the 5^th inning and the game became 'official'. Once the game is 'official', there is no postponing and the game will be final no matter how many innings have been played. In theory, if the game was tied it could have been 'suspended' until a later date...but that doesn't happen often. With the way Red Sox starter Eric Bedard was pitching…it looked like we could get lucky. When the rain delay hit in the 4^th inning, we thought we were golden….we would get two chances to sit on the wall when the game would be made up later in the year….turns out no. During that rain delay, the friend I drove up with’s wife called and asked how close we were to home. We informed her that we were still in our seats lol She was not happy about that…she was like ‘there is a fucking hurricane that is here and you’re up watching a baseball game?!?! COME. HOME. NOW!!!’ We really couldn’t argue and made the trek back home….leaving in the 4^th inning….of a game I spent a lot of money on….that anyone could have gone to for free….to drive 2 hours in a hurricane….the only cool thing from it was Ortiz home run over the wall. I was on TV for 2 seconds while they tracked the ball in the air lol I was the dude in the green shirt! The other good news is my two other buddies who lived locally were able to stay and watch the whole game.

 

What I should have done after, was write a letter to the Red Sox to let them know what had happened and see if they would let me buy tickets for the following season at face value to try again. Not free tickets…just an opportunity to buy at face value without the ridiculous secondary-market mark up. It was really unsafe for the Red Sox to let that game go on and I was pretty pissed about it (so were the players as it turned out). However, I never did send that letter and all I have to show for it is a good story. The Red Sox won both games that day and (partly due to karma) it was the last time they won back-to-back games that season. Then the ‘chicken and beer’ “scandal” happened and Francona was fired. I’m still a Red Sox fan, but I lost some of my passion after the way that season ended.

 

What a wall of text.

 

I was a part of several Boston Red Sox groups on MySpace and Facebook respectively. Used to keep up to date with Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. Johnny Damon with his cave man look. God that feels so long ago now.

 

It's not that I lost my love for baseball, but I definitely don't feel passionate for it like I used to back in the day. Maybe the steroid fueled era of the late 1990s, early - mid 2000s spoiled me and the players today can only produce a fraction of what Sammy Sosa put out. Who knows.

 

I don't particularly like a majority of Red Sox fans. If you take every team in the MLB, the Boston Red Sox has the most rabid, fanboy struck fanbase out there. I can understand hatred for the New York Yankees, because they are historically the most successful team of all time. The Yankees - Red Sox rivalry is still #1, but I can't forgive Boston because their fans are in many ways just as bad as the Yankee fans.

 

I'm not sure how much you follow the Baltimore Orioles anymore. Chris Davis and Adam Jones were the last two guys I really cared about. Both were decent, although Chris Davis was purely a slugger, couldn't hit for average, couldn't run the bases, but cranked out a lot of home runs and RBIs.

[Briste]

25 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

What a wall of text.

lol says one of the kings of text walls

 

26 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

I'm not sure how much you follow the Baltimore Orioles anymore. Chris Davis and Adam Jones were the last two guys I really cared about. Both were decent, although Chris Davis was purely a slugger, couldn't hit for average, couldn't run the bases, but cranked out a lot of home runs and RBIs.

I think you're confusing me with someone else, I've never followed the Orioles outside of them being in the AL East so knowing who was on their team. I've been a Sox fan all my life.

 

28 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

I don't particularly like a majority of Red Sox fans. If you take every team in the MLB, the Boston Red Sox has the most rabid, fanboy struck fanbase out there. I can understand hatred for the New York Yankees, because they are historically the most successful team of all time. The Yankees - Red Sox rivalry is still #1, but I can't forgive Boston because their fans are in many ways just as bad as the Yankee fans.

I think most fanbases have those types of fans though. Anytime anything major happens like a fan favorite leaving their team, the idiots go out and burn their jersey's....like the league and player don't already have their money. It's the dumbest form of 'I'll show them!'. Most diehards of any fanbase can be insufferable and the Sox are no different. I used to pride myself on knowing enough players on every team that if you met me in a bar and talked baseball, you wouldn't be able to tell which team I was a fan of because I knew enough about each team to pass their test.

 

Being a Sox fan used to mean something different prior to 2004 prior to them winning the World Series. Being a Sox fan used to 'build character' and teach you how to live with heartbreaking losses lol...since then, everyone claims to have been a 'long suffering Sox fan' and now there are quite a bit of pink hat fans....I'd actually be a pink hat fan at this point since I really don't know much about the current team. I'm sneaky hoping one of my sons ends up liking baseball so we can gang up on my wife and claim the TV lol It's not looking good though...which is also fine with me. I just want them to find something they enjoy, whether it is chasing butterflies or fly balls

[AJ_Radio]

19 hours ago, Briste said:

I think you're confusing me with someone else, I've never followed the Orioles outside of them being in the AL East so knowing who was on their team. I've been a Sox fan all my life.

My mistake. B1rvine and Briste. Both of you guys are baseball fans. B1rvine handles the cheaters on the disputes forum here, follows/followed the Baltimore Orioles. 
 

Got the names mixed up. Your names start with a B and end with an E.

[Briste]

Platinum #135

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate

 

This was one of the first games that I played on my Vita and I thought it worked pretty well on the Vita. It was tough to see some of the collectibles on the small screen, but overall it wasn’t too bad. The game is virtually identical on the PS3 and honestly, this game is the text book definition of mediocre.

 

The game is a 2.5D style game which is usually fine, however does come with several annoying things. The biggest is navigation. The map is a 3d map, but the game is a side-scroller, which makes navigation extremely confusing at times. You might be running left to right on the screen and enter a door, then all of a sudden you’re going right to left, but on the map you’re heading the same direction. It can be a little discombobulating. By the 3^rd playthrough however, I had pretty much memorized the map so it wasn’t as big an issue…but trying to find the collectibles can be a real pain in the ass. You can see the ‘?’ on the map to let you know there’s a secret there….but sometimes it is really hard to figure out how to get there on the map.

 

Combat is also affected pretty badly by the 2.5D action. The free flow combat isn’t nearly as smooth or polished in this game and with the side-to-side fighting, it is near impossible to pick the guy you want to target. Batman seems to target the guys with knives or armor and it messes up the combo all the time. It took me a lot longer than it should have to get the 100 combo trophy because of this. Other than that one trophy, the game is very easy. It only took me about 3-3.5 hours each to do the two playthroughs that didn’t involve getting collectibles (which was my second and third playthroughs) and it took about 8 hours to do the first playthrough while I was learning the map and getting collectibles.

 

The only real reason I played this game again was to complete the ‘Arkham Series’ tab on PSNP. I’ve loved the whole series (this game is fine) and fully completing the series tab was a tiny goal of mine. I also recently completed the imported JP version of Arkham Asylum so the series is complete (for now).

 

There is no reason to go out of your way to play this game as there’s nothing really memorable or groundbreaking about it and the story is kind of meh. It’s probably not worth the $19.99 price tag that’s on the PS Store. Unless you have some weird goal like I did, you can leave this game on the shelf.

[AJ_Radio]

Well written review on Blackgate. Would you recommend the Vita or the PS3 version?  This definitely looks to be the weakest of the Batman Arkham games. I'd do Origins on the PS3 but the online servers for that were supposed to shut years ago, and some of the online trophies require multiple people. That will definitely give me a pass to skip it, as I'll be phasing out online boosting for good on the older consoles once I finish off Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.

Edited May 5, 2021 by AJ_Radio

[Briste]

33 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

Would you recommend the Vita or the PS3 version?  This definitely looks to be the weakest of the Batman Arkham games.

Well I felt like it was a decent to good game on the Vita and a mediocre to poor game on the PS3. Being so used to the tight controls of the main entries in the series on the consoles, these just doesn't play as well. On the Vita, it felt better to play. The collectibles are a bit harder to see on the Vita, but overall it was a more enjoyable experience.

 

35 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

I'd do Origins on the PS3 but the online servers for that were supposed to shut years ago, and some of the online trophies require multiple people.

I'm one of the few people that really liked that game. I actually liked the MP as well to be honest. If the servers were more stable it would have been a much better experience. I thought the idea of 3 vs 3 vs 2 was pretty cool and was actually quite fun. Playing as Batman or Robin against non-AI thugs was much more fun and it was kind of neat to be keeping your eyes to the sky and vents when you were on either Team Bane or Joker to make sure you weren't surprised by the caped crusader.

 

The constant disconnects made it much more of a chore than it needed to be and because of that, the trophies proved much more challenging than needed as well. That 100% is one of my more proud ones. I did all the MP without boosting and it was really satisfying when I finally got them.

[Briste]

Just a couple more weeks until my rain day, so here's the next game I plan to pop and the review ahead of time.

Platinum #136

Hollow Knight

This game came highly recommended to me by @Jens and was something I had purchased a couple of years ago. It wasn’t something that I was in a rush to play, but I have enjoyed metroidvania games in the past and figured it was definitely something I’d want to play eventually. As I approached my 6000^th trophy milestone, I was looking through my backlog for some trophies that I thought would be worthy of a spot on my page. This game has a ton of well-done trophy images and has one called Pure Completion, which I figured was a good choice considering my overall goal when it comes to trophy hunting. If I wanted that trophy as a milestone, It seemed like a good time to get it started.

 

In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t started to play it when I did though. I started the game a little early and ended up putting it on pause while I hurried to squeeze Mad Max in before the server shutdown. Then I started Vampyr for a Halloween event and I ended up having longer breaks in the game than I normally would like. I wasn’t super impressed at the start either, which made taking breaks easier. The graphics were good, the controls were good and the soundtrack fantastic, however you can’t really do much in the beginning before you have any abilities and I found it kind of boring to start. I ended up not being in much of a rush to finish it. However, after finishing Mass Effect, I wanted to have a little palate cleanser before starting up Mass Effect 2…plus my milestone was fast approaching and I wanted to make sure it was ready to pop when the time came. I started playing and once I got a few upgrades and learned my way around the map, the game became a lot more fun.

 

I didn’t find the main game to be terribly challenging. Don’t get me wrong, there were quite a few bosses that took several tries, but as you get more moves into your arsenal, the game is quite manageable. The puzzles are pretty challenging and navigating can be quite difficult at times since you can either use a charm spot to show your position on the map or guess. I tended to guess since I liked using charms that helped in battle. The only thing I didn’t really like about the combat in the game was the stupid knockback. Every time you hit an enemy, you get knocked back slightly. Again, you can get rid of that eventually by using a charm slot….but that seemed wasteful to me so I just dealt with the knockback. Once you eventually get used to it, it can be a bit of a benefit to create space between you and the enemy in between whacks, but it was super annoying until you got the hang of it.

 

I wasn’t great at using the attack skills in the beginning and mostly relied on regular melee and healing, however you really do need to figure out how to utilize your skills if you want to make it through some of the colosseum matches. Those were probably the most challenging part of the game. I was really surprised how long some of those gauntlets ended up being. The first one was pretty easy and I got cocky…the next one was a bit harder, but still manageable….then they just got really hard and I had to work on my skills and better learn the abilities. There ended up being a pretty large variety of enemies and you do need to develop some sort of strategy for a lot of them. It's definitely not a 'mash attack' kind of game. I was really impressed by how many bosses there were and the variety of tactics. I've played a lot of games lately where the bosses are beefed up versions of regular enemies, or slight variations of each other. Most of these bosses mopped the floor with me the first time I tried. 

 

Despite the challenge of a lot of the bosses, I was actually surprised how easy beating the Hollow Knight was. I stumbled upon him by accident the first time I fought him. I was completely unprepared for the fight and beat him really easily. I didn’t even have a strategy other than spam attack and heal when I had a moment. The Soul Master was the toughest regular boss for me during the game and took several tries. I also found navigating through the White Palace to be really hard. The platforming was really crisp throughout the game but there was some really challenging spots in there.

 

Other than those few areas, the unholy challenge is final Pantheon. I tried….a lot…and just couldn’t get through it legitimately. At the end of the day, I really enjoyed this game. I was starting to get frustrated and figured I could keep trying the pantheon and end up hating my experience, or take the easy way out and use the glitch to finish it up. This game is really great and I didn’t want to sour the experience. If I didn’t know about the glitch, I would keep practicing until I could get it, but considering how many games I have to play, I really can’t get psyched up to spend 20 hours practicing for something I know has an ‘easy button’ and I can move on to something else. I give a ton of props to those who finished this game legitimately because that pantheon is no joke. This game really should be played by everyone because it is that good and is easily worth the pretty fair price it is usually offered at. If you haven't played this game yet, do yourself a favor and give it a try.

 

[realm722]

4 hours ago, Briste said:

-snip- Hollow Knight Review

 

  Woohoo! Very happy to finally see your review on HK. I, much like you had decided to get into it due to the raving reviews and recommendations it had received. So much so that I bought it well before it went on PS+. I think you and I had a very different experience with the difficulty. The game wasn't soul-crushing for me, but I had bosses that handed my ass to me over and over and over again. Soul Master you mentioned is super tough due to how annoyingly quick he can teleport. The coliseum's 3rd challenge utterly obliterated me - particularly the sequence once you get further on where you'll essentially have no more platforms to stand on, and must time your downward attacks precisely to do damage while maintaining your balance in the air attacking enemies. For whatever reason, the timing there for me just really messed with me. 

 

I don't fault you whatsoever for using the glitch. I personally used it for The White Palace + All the Pantheons. I understand why hardcore HK-lovers hate it, but I think it's also fair to say "listen, the glitch has been baked into the game for quite some time now, it's not like you can glitch thru the WHOLE game to get it since you need the end-of-game teleport function + it's not a cakewalk until that point, plus, since it's been around so long, a lot of people have used it." Not the greatest justification - but I'm for one relieved since it convinced me to try it out knowing I had it as an ace in my back-pocket in case I wasn't good enough otherwise. 

 

For me, and I don't know if you'd summarize the game like this - but I just thought to myself "it's mind-boggling a development team of 4 people made this entire game." From the lush environments to the enemy variety to just the little extra things you may have even looked over (look up Zote if you haven't lol). I got almost more out of the game after playing it and looking up on YT all the easter eggs and the dedicated community still contributing to the games life-blood years after it's release. I don't love the game like they do, I had a good time with it - but it ultimately ranked as my 13th favorite game I played in 2020. There are those who have HK as their Game of the Year in 2017 and view Hollow Knight: Silksong as their most anticipated game yet to be released. I'm not quite to there level, but I have a deep respect for what they created and def wanna play the sequel (esp if it has an attainable plat like the original did :D)

[Arcesius]

5 hours ago, Briste said:

I wasn’t super impressed at the start either, which made taking breaks easier. The graphics were good, the controls were good and the soundtrack fantastic, however you can’t really do much in the beginning before you have any abilities and I found it kind of boring to start.

 

I... Can kind of understand. I think it comes down to what you expect going into the game. I knew this was going to be an exploration-focused game and made sure to be in the mood for that aspect before I started ?

 

If you want an action-packed Metroidvania from the get-go... Yeah, you won't find it here.

 

 

Quote

I didn’t find the main game to be terribly challenging. Don’t get me wrong, there were quite a few bosses that took several tries, but as you get more moves into your arsenal, the game is quite manageable. 

 

I totally agree. The only difficulty spikes (for me) were the third Trial, as you mentioned as well, and of course P5. Has to be said, the Pantheons are originally DLC content, and so I don't agree with the people saying that having such a difficult challenge on an otherwise manageable game is bad design.

 

But also here... I wasn't hoping for the game to be tough throughout, and so I wasn't disappointed... only with the three story bosses, they could have been a bit more challenging.

 

 

Quote

Desspite the challenge of a lot of the bosses, I was actually surprised how easy beating the Hollow Knight was. I stumbled upon him by accident the first time I fought him. I was completely unprepared for the fight and beat him really easily. I didn’t even have a strategy other than spam attack and heal when I had a moment. 

 

I guess you know now that he is not the real end Boss, right? ?

 

The P5 version of Hollow Knight is very well designed I found, and much closer to what I would have expected from a final boss. Tricky initially, but with practice easy to no-damage, which feels very satisfying. Awesome fight for sure! ?

 

 

Quote

Other than those few areas, the unholy challenge is final Pantheon. I tried….a lot…and just couldn’t get through it legitimately. At the end of the day, I really enjoyed this game. I was starting to get frustrated and figured I could keep trying the pantheon and end up hating my experience, or take the easy way out and use the glitch to finish it up. This game is really great and I didn’t want to sour the experience. If I didn’t know about the glitch, I would keep practicing until I could get it, but considering how many games I have to play, I really can’t get psyched up to spend 20 hours practicing for something I know has an ‘easy button’ and I can move on to something else.

 

I... Can't really blame you. Had I known about the glitch, I would have been tempted to use it as well.

 

That being said... while not the most challenging thing I've done, all the practice, the multiple chokes, the failed attempts and, finally, landing the final blow are all memories that, together, still bring a smile to my face today whenever I think about P5. It felt amazing overcoming that challenge as the ending point to what I thought was an amazing experience overall.

 

In hindsight, I really am glad that the exploit wasn't known yet back then.

 

 

22 minutes ago, realm722 said:

For me, and I don't know if you'd summarize the game like this - but I just thought to myself "it's mind-boggling a development team of 4 people made this entire game." From the lush environments to the enemy variety to just the little extra things you may have even looked over (look up Zote if you haven't lol). 

 

That's also something that blows my mind. Such a small studio creating something this coherent and full of small little details that make the game feel whole, consistent and remarkable. Even the musical themes help tie story strands together...

 

Just unbelievable. And then releasing this game for 15€... 

Edited May 13, 2021 by Arcesius

[AJ_Radio]

Okay so I just recently picked up MLB the Show 20 @Briste, but the online trophies for it are rather confusing.

 

I played a few games on an alt account and I already earned some cards I can use in Diamond Dynasty just by playing the Play Now option. There's no trophy tied to Road to the Show so I won't be doing that, and it doesn't look like there's any actual multiplayer I need to go as I just need to be connected online.

 

So do I just need to keep playing the game? Getting the trophies for a home run and making perfect contact for a home run are already piss easy, and apart from having to score at least one run in every inning (9 inning game) I think the rest of the trophies should come by naturally as long as I keep playing the game.

[Briste]

@AJ_RadioYeah, other than earning points towards specific cards, there is no requirement to play online. There are daily missions that can add points to the different inning trophies and what not, but unless you want those cards, there is no need to play MP at all. You can get to silver level easily by just doing moments and conquest and stuff. RTTS gives xp as well and I enjoy that part of the game, but you're right with regards to trophies....there's no need to do that part of the game at all. I hope you enjoy it!

Edited May 16, 2021 by Briste

[AJ_Radio]

They basically used the same game engine as MLB the Show 18. Season March to October is entirely new. 
 

The Diamond Dynasty moments remind me of the ESPN 2K football game. You had those ESPN moments which were practically old historical moments in NFL history that you’re supposed to emulate. Here in Diamond Dynasty doing those tasks rewards me with XP and gives me new cards. 
 

I only received a bunch of Bronze tier cards but I suppose that will change.

 

Wish I could do MLB the Show 19 but that Diamond Dynasty trophy completely ruined it. Also you have to agree to license terms, which includes Sony San Diego punishing players who can specifically ban online players for cheating by trading wins. Bullshit all around.

[Briste]

Platinum #137

Slay the Spire

 

This was another @Jens recommendation. I had it on my Wishlist at playstation.com for a while and it never went on sale. Then sometime over the summer I think, @Cassylvania bought it and mentioned how cheap it was to get the disc version on Amazon…I checked and was pretty happy to see it was a good price. I bought it and it sat for a few months on my shelf. Looking for a good reason to stall starting Mass Effect: Andromeda, I saw Jens and Cass talking about the game and decided I wanted in too and installed it on a whim. Turns out it’s one of the best games I’ve played.

 

For those that don't know, StS is a rogue-like game that utilizes cards as your method of attack. Each of the four character has cards that are unique to them and you accumulate them as you travel up the spire. Every 'floor' has a regular fight, elite fight, treasure chest, shop, campfire or '?' which can be any number of things including all things mentioned or a mini-game/event. There are several different paths you can take up the spire, however each trip up the spire includes three acts made up of several floors. You gain new cards after each battle with a relic item being acquired after beating an 'elite' or opening a treasure box. Each Act ends with a boss battle against one of three different bosses for each level. Each act has three different bosses that will only appear in that act. The only progress that carries over between runs is the relics and cards you can unlock by finding them during the trek or by winning with certain conditions. Each successful run can take from twenty minutes to an hour. The game is challenging, addicting and fun!

 

I won my very first trek up the Spire and thought, pshh this isn’t so bad…..lol….yeah so this game is very hard. Save scumming is possible, however it seems that every fight/drop/item is set based on the seed (map) you get. It really doesn’t matter which path you take, your first fight will be the same and the drops will be the same…the first treasure box will have the same relic and the shop will sell the same items. Sometimes, you just get a bad seed and are doomed from the start.

 

Early on, my strategy was to try and build a specific type of deck, and always take the card removal option when it was available. I did this for all four combatants…When I got the cards I wanted….my deck would be beefy…but far too often I wouldn’t get the specific cards I wanted and it ended in a failed run. I chose to use The Defect for my A20 run because frost orbs are so sweet. With a glacier card, a blizzard card, a consume card and the relic that adds an orb every other turn, you can pretty much live forever. So, I tried that strat every time. I’d avoid all of the elite’s, remove any card that didn’t help a frost build and skip taking a card unless it fit that build. I’d get to the second act almost every time, but then I’d find I didn’t have the cards I needed and would get slaughtered. It was starting to get a little frustrating because I was trying to keyhole my runs....which actually does a disservice to the game since one of the great things about the game is the several different ways you can go about playing your deck.

 

After several failed runs, I got some very good advice on an approach (thanks Cass). Small deck builds work ok in the earlier Ascensions, but the higher you go, the harder it gets. Cass’s advice was to just try and survive the first floor. Fight all the elites you can and take the best card you can to just build up your deck. With the relics from the elite fights and some decent cards, it makes surviving a lot easier. Plus, you can still have a frost orb deck with more than eight cards and with cards not made specifically for that build. The best part of that advice, was that I tried out a lot of different card combinations than I normally wouldn't have. I found that there were many cards I didn’t even try to learn since it didn’t seem good for my specific build but ended up being really good for it. I went from being stuck on A14 for about six hours to getting through to A19 in about ten more hours.

 

While I chose to play with The Defect, I really enjoyed each of the characters and what they had to bring. I had the hardest time beating the final boss with The Watcher….took me like fifty runs probably. It was super frustrating since I could get through all three acts pretty consistently, but then that last level would just destroy me. It was a big relief when I finally brought the final boss down. I thought that The Ironclad was a lot of fun and I used him for a lot of my random trophies. I got super lucky on my speed run and got through the level in 13 minutes. I got a few Whirlwinds that I upgraded, a relic that added 8 points to my first attack, the Jaxxed relic that added three strength to my first round attack, the other relic that added 1 str, the coffee mug to add one energy and the Necronomicon which would double my first attack using two or more energy. I literally beat everything in the first round and just blew through it. That was a lot of fun. I also really liked The Silent, but didn’t play her as much (I think it’s a her). It was fun to poison stuff.

 

The best and worst part of this game is how quick a run can be….a successful run is just about an hour or so. Far less if you die early. If you die, you feel like you didn’t waste that much time BUT you can’t end on a bad run so just one more run….just one more run and all of a sudden it is 3:00am and you have to get up for work in three hours. This game will beat you far more often than you beat it, but it is a lot of fun and I highly recommend this game to anyone and everyone. It's also much better to look for the disc with this game since it was far cheaper.