Polly want a cracker

Something that came to my attention recently:

Original video located here. Accessed 15th April 2020

This Polymega is news to me but.....I want one

Ratting it out

Recently I completed a second run-through of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (FC). No reasoning beyond a) it's a great game and b) achievement hunting.
However in playing this game again I am reminded of one of the grips I have with it: I am following a very rigid path with little opportunity to deviate from. Thus it makes achievement hunting quite a challenge with so much stuff having the potential to be missed and the game becoming something of a battle between a player who wants to do their own thing and a DM who is furious that the player isn't going where they should be.

More recently however, I have been playing Vermintide 2 with the intention of leveling up so I can keep the pace with my gaming buddies. And in order to level up quickly, it seems that I need to grab so many collectables in each mission (ie tomes). And it suits me fine as I take a methodical approach to game playing and am willing to take the time to pick up certain details - which is subsequently at odds with the design of Vermintide which demands the player act fast and not hang around. As sch, Vermintide comes across as a battle who between a player who wants to do their own thing and a DM who is furious that the player isn't going where they should be.

Personally, finding similarities between Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky and Vermintide 2 is absolutely hilarious to me.

Where there's smoke

Last night, a recent clutch of newly-won Steam achievements led to this:

Cause for concern, perhaps?

Shut-In

I'm not one to talk about current events on this blog - that type of thing tends to look foolish five years or even ten years down the track. Yet in this case, an exception is to be made because it's too big to ignore: At time of writing, the world is held in the grip of the COVID-19 virus and, as such, has seen people being encouraged to stay home and out of danger.

But this in turn creates the environment to play games and to work on one's Hall of Shame.
I may not be the first gamer to realize that this pandemic would be helpful to gamers but hey - as the world is heading towards disaster, there's still some fun times to be had regardless.

Because I think we could all do with some right now.

Stationary

An announcement from Sony has been made that the upcoming PS5 will be backwards compatible with all PS4 software.

That's nice. So what about PS3, PS2 and PS1 software?

R.I.P. Kazuhisa Hashimoto

R.I.P. Kazuhisa Hashimoto

Up, up, down, down......

Tactical move

Here's another printed ad I remember quite vividly. This time, it's from the late nineties and from a game you may have heard of: Final Fantasy Tactics!

 Original image located here. Accessed 21st February 2020 

 It is interesting to compare this to the Ico advertisement that was discussed in an earlier post: Both contain little information about the game they're advertising and both are more intent on discussing the spirit of the game. Those bracketed headings ("or...") may look funny but they are indeed representative of the narrative in Final Fantasy Tactics. 
The use of humor in this ad is an odd choice considering how humorless the game actually is but, unlike Ico, I don't this game would be that hard a sell. After all, Final Fantasy 7 and 8 were big sellers so the brand recognition would well and truly be in place.