DoctorEncore

I spent a couple years chasing achievements and it can be a lot of fun, but if it gets to the point where you're playing solely for those awards, it's probably time to re-evaluate. Even if you want to focus on them less, I wouldn't necessarily write them off completely. Well-designed achievements actually make a game more interesting by giving you unique ways to play or pushing you out of your comfort zone, so they're not all bad. That being said, I don't even look at the lists when I start games anymore. If something cool pops up in the tracker, I might pursue it, but my achievement completion rate now is abysmally low and I'm happy with that.

Man, the world building and lore are so good in the games, I'd wager the books are amazing. Honestly, if you're just looking at The Witcher from a superficial standpoint, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a generic fantasy world. It's all the amazing details that come out about the different species, monsters, history, and politics that make it feel fantastical, yet lived-in. What CDPR accomplished with the series (and particularly 3) is really a remarkable feat.

I don't think it really made up for the extra money I spent, but it did give me access to the original NES Metroid in a convenient package which led me to actually beating it.

Armello is a really cool strategy game on PC that I never hear anyone talk about. It reviewed well, but seems to have flown under the radar. Highly recommended if you like tabletop board games and/or card games.

The Witcher 3 is complete! Finally finished my first game of the year. This has been in the backlog since release (2015!) so it feels great to knock it off the list. It's an absolutely masterclass in open world design and I loved nearly every minute of it. The story and world are just fantastic and the game as a whole is a huge step up from the first two games. I still think combat is on the weak side although I do appreciate that there is some strategy to how you approach different enemy types. Overall, it's a 9/10 game for me and one of the best open world games I've ever played. I'll continue on with the DLC at a more leisurely pace. I've heard it is as good, or possibly better, than the main game. I'm still chugging away at FFX and hope for that to be my next big completion. Also looking at a whole bunch of other stuff that's been released in the last couple years. Not sure if I'm going to focus on the backlog list or not, but there are a lot of cool releases this year that may draw my attention away (Zelda, Starfield, Redfall, Star Wars, etc).

I just watched Alex Garland's newest movie, Men. On release it was quite divisive and I can see why. I think Garland is one of the most interesting writer/directors working right now and he's put in some amazing work on things like 28 Days Later, Dredd, Ex Machina, and Annihilation. He has been skewing more and more towards experimental, avant-garde stuff as his career has progressed and this one certainly takes the cake. I'll immediately start by saying that Men is an A24 film through and through. If you're familiar with their output as a studio and you read the synopsis for this movie, you can probably imagine much of what is to come. As the title suggests, the movie is an exploration of misogyny told through the eyes of a woman fleeing a recent tragedy in her life. There's not much in the way of plot, so the movie depends on its relatively on-the-nose symbolism and themes to get viewers through. As always, Garland presents a beautifully framed film where the scenery acts as a character and pulls your attention where it's needed. There is a general sense of dread pervading nearly every shot; the uneasiness of the main character is palpable and almost entirely derived from the fact that she is a woman who dares to venture out alone. How much of her danger is projection versus reality is up for debate and central to the core of the movie. Although the plot is a bit of mixed bag, the script is quite good and Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear are wonderful; I'd love to see them together in a more interesting movie. Overall, this is Garland's weakest film. The symbolism is extremely heavy-handed, particularly the final twenty minutes, to the point that it becomes boring. The film wraps up with an excessive amount of body horror and gore which comes off as silly rather than exciting. I'm sure Garland was trying to illustrate how repetitive and overwhelming this trauma can be, but there is a fine line between making a point and belaboring it. As is typical with these arthouse movies, it's a bit of a slog and the conclusion is left open for interpretation. It's almost worth a watch just to see the two leads chewing the scenery, but you'd be hard-pressed to find many who'd enjoy this film. If you're an A24 and Garland devotee, you're probably better off rewatching Annihilation which plays with its themes in a much more interesting and visually arresting way. 2/5

9/10. I'm going to ignore your descriptions for ratings and rate as if the game was brand new since the experience now is nothing like on launch. One of the only games to nail that amazing feeling of movement and gunplay in a sic-fi setting that Halo revolutionized. Also one of the first games to do live-service really, really well. It was tons of fun with friends with a great loot system. Can't comment on how it evolved or how the sequel plays, but I had a blast with this one for 6 months or so after launch.

Very cool! I think I actually prefer the movie, but I enjoyed reading it for the first time last year.

I doubt it. It sold poorly compared to prior systems and competitors, cost them precious third party support, and put them behind technologically. It had no unique features and actually required significant additional hardware to even present the illusion that it was a competent machine. While there were minor successes such as transitioning important franchises to 3D, it was in many ways their first major mistake as a videogame company and a sign of future hubris that would continue to plague the company for many years.

Finally got around to checking out Everything Everywhere All At Once and I loved it. It's so incredibly rare to see a film that successfully blends action, comedy, and drama like this. Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh are fantastic and earned their Oscars. Jamie Lee Curtis is fine, but her Oscar was clearly a career recognition award rather than due to her performance here. My only real criticisms are the overly long final act and the recycling of the same jokes towards the end (if you've seen it, you probably know what I'm talking about). Overall, it's a fantastic film deserving of all the praise. It's uplifting to see something so unique without all the usual Oscar-bait winning the big awards.

6/10. It's okay, but nothing I'd go back to for a replay. I've never been a fan of the 3D Mario games and this didn't change my mind. I'd take any of the older 2D games over this one just about any day.

Shape of Water is so damn good. Guillermo del Toro doesn't get included in best director conversations nearly enough considering his body of work. An amazing artist who excels in every genre he attempts. Even his misfires are a sight to behold (Crimson Peak comes to mind). I'd gladly take him over Nolan, Tarantino, and countless other contemporaries.

Still working on The Witcher 3. I am astounded at the amount of quality content in this game. The main storyline is fantastic, but even the optional stuff is heads and shoulders above the story content in most open world games. It's crazy that so many of the side quests lead on huge quest lines with new characters, interesting set pieces, and unique bosses and enemies. I'm loving playing it and could actually see going back every few months after I finish just to explore. I still think the combat is the weak point of the game, but at least it allows for some interesting strategy based on monster type, time of day, weather, and other variables. I think I'll be stuck on this one for quite a while even though there is a ton of other new stuff I'd like to play (Pentiment, Hi Fi Rush, Wo Long, etc).

9/10. I don't remember too much except that it was awesome. Can't wait to rewatch with my kids.

I enjoyed the first two games, but I'm finding this one to be the most complete package by far. The story in 2 was pretty strong, but the pacing was really bad and the combat was actually a step down from the first game. I think they made a huge mistake by forcing you to choose between two major areas with no way to see the other one without a second playthrough. Most people who play a game don't finish it once, let alone twice. Also, the final chapter was so constrained and full of exposition that it was pretty clear they ran out of time and money. I just feel like 3 (so far) absolutely nails the pacing. Even if you completely remove all the side content, the main plot flows nicely and you don't really need to take a break from it. The rest of the world is great and exploring is fun, but I'm just blown away by how good the main story is. I've heard from some other people that the DLC is amazing so I'm pretty excited for that too. I don't think it will crack my list of top 3 open world games of all-time, but it's probably number one when it comes to pure storytelling.

Still whittling away at The Witcher 3. I'm currently in Novigrad (the second major set of quests). The game is fantastic and I really like the story content. I'm focusing on the mainline stuff, important character side quests, Witcher contracts, and Treasure Hunts. I'm sure I'm missing out on a ton of good additional stuff, but I just don't have time in my life to 100% a massive game like this. I want to play other games too! I'm guessing the ending map will look a lot like when I played Ghost of Tsushima, that is to say, about 50% filled in, which is totally fine for me.

I think a lot of people just group it with the original Gameboy since it didn't add a ton of extra features beyond color.

I've been seeing this repeated a lot lately, but I had this at launch with my PS1 and I don't remember the game being particularly hard. Now I'm second guessing whether I actually beat it or just played some fun levels and called it quits. I'll have to circle back around some day.

I have essentially never heard anyone say anything about this game. Awesome to hear that's it's pretty darn good. Someday I'll collect and tackle the GC library. As for me, I've just been chugging along on The Witcher 3. It really is a remarkable game and I completely understand the hype. While the story is great, the actual gameplay and combat isn't particularly interesting. Yet it just feels right and the game is definitely more than the sum of its parts. It's just so fun to play and the difficulty balance is perfect. You can run around dominating everything and then suddenly get ripped apart by wolves because you decided to rush in without preparation. Witcher 1 and 2 were both decent, but this is clearly the culmination of everything learned making those games.

2023 and we're still discovering new NES games. Bravo VGS!

On the watch list for sure, but it's gonna be a while.

Buying and selling on eBay is actually exceptionally safe and my preferred method for anything under $10,000. If you take appropriate precautions (detailed pictures and description, shipping insurance, appropriate documentation, detailed messaging, secure payment types, etc), the chance of being victimized is incredibly low. I've bought and sold many gaming items in the low thousands range and have never had a problem. The few times I've had issues, I've never lost any money. With any other type of marketplace or personal sale, you take on all the risk and expose yourself to all sorts of scams and exploits.

Now that we've exited the honeymoon period, I would only buy coins with actual utility. Bitcoin's value remains questionable as its only function is as a store of value. At least things like Solana and BNB have some use as marketplace tokens. Personally, I like Orion Protocol for its ability to facilitate decentralized secure cross-chain trading, something that will become incredibly important at some point. I doubt any of these tokens will return to previous highs. I think it's more likely some new tokens will become main players.

What percentage of people could tell you, without looking it up, which SMA game correlates to which original game? I suspect that number is incredibly low. At least the FF progression makes sense from a market perspective and was corrected later on.

Can't comment on the N64 version, but WWF Warzone for the PS1 was an absolute blast. For me, it's the pinnacle of wrestling games and I doubt I'll ever play another. I must've played through that game a hundred times with every premade character and tons of created ones as well.