Kovukono

My dog can barely walk down stairs. Up is fine, down is terrifying. He also has a way of sitting on the couch that makes him look like a noble passing judgment on the peasants beneath him.

Nier Replicant is a remake of Nier, which came out in 2010. Nier Automata is a sequel to that 2010 game.

Regarding Elden Ring, I would argue it does the sense of exploration better than Hollow Knight, but only by a small degree. For every area, there’s no map at the start, and the entire map’s size is obscured since it only shows what you’ve traveled through. It gets bigger as you go, but it’s still obscured by a fog of war for areas that fit inside the map, but you don’t have a map fragment for. You can see on the map where you can obtain the fragment, but not how to get there. Most times you can just cut a straight line to it, but sometimes it’s a pain.

All that said, the thing it does better than Hollow Knight for exploration is a limitation of Hollow Knight’s map system. It’s split into different rooms, and each room has finite entrances and exits. Because you fill out the map through exploration, you’re going to know what you have and haven’t found.

Because Elden Ring gives you the entirety of the map, it’s both helpful and not. You can figure out (mostly) how to get from point A to point B, and you have markers for everywhere you’ve been. There’s two minor issues with that, though. It’s a 2D map for a 3D world, which means you end up with some locations not being properly shown, because they’re underneath cliffs. The second is that the map does almost nothing to show what places of interest there are. You have large buildings shown, but that excludes all the catacombs (dungeon areas) you can visit. There are areas on the map that are right there, but due to the topography you have no idea how to get there. Going by the map alone means you’re going to miss out on a solid amount of the content available.

It’s because the map is so limiting that it feels so good. You’re able to use it to figure where places are in directional relation, but you still have to look yourself to try and uncover areas. My first run, I prided myself on uncovering everything. I searched high and low, inspected the map to make sure I went to every corner, and really made sure I knew what was out there, and it felt amazing in terms of how much content there was and how much exploration you could do. I started a second run when the DLC came out, and found an area that, somehow, I had entirely missed. It took over a hundred and forty hours of searching, really searching, to get what I thought was complete, and it still wasn’t. It was a fantastic feeling on my second run.

Hollow Knight’s map is excellent. The gameplay is excellent, the exploration is rewarding and challenging. But the issue it has is that it only has those two dimensions to work with. Elden Ring really works to emphasize that third dimension when scouring for secrets.

No, that’s a stew. A coup is a long procession that’s waiting for something.

I genuinely enjoyed Arkham Knight, but those mandatory Batmobile sections are easily the most miserable part of the game. If we had those for an entire game, it might not be too bad, but most of the time you just end up using it to get from point A to point B. If you can put up with being stuck for a bit on those sections, you might enjoy it.

Its big issue is that it has to follow up on Arkham City. It’s not a bad game by any stretch, but it’s following up to one of the best superhero games out there. If you’re not invested in the story, there’s no harm in dropping it. Play something you’ll have fun with.

I remember there was one time where electro-swing was implicated in a gang massacre at a club. And the police seemed pretty shocked at the level of violence.

Even with the added costs of owning the home and upkeep, it’s only equivalent or just above rent, and that’s with the condo association fees and insurance. Even while renting I was stuck paying for utilities. And I’m highly aware that the roof needs replacing, given that we’ve got to replace ours within 5 years.

But if your point is “owning a home is more expensive than renting when you factor in all extra costs,” I want to again point out that most people are barely able to stay afloat. His point was that anyone can buy a house. Mine is that the money he thinks grows on trees literally does not exist for the majority of people.

I’m lucky enough to have been financially able to buy a home. I had help making the down payment, but we’ve now got a 30 year mortgage. My monthly payments are less than what I was paying for rent, less than the average rent in the city by almost a third. I got this place with two above-average incomes, and had the good fortune to get it during the COVID housing and interest rate dip, and I still needed extra help.

If someone is stuck with renting, they’re likely paying more than they would for a mortgage. They can’t save up the money because they’re already lagging behind, and the housing market isn’t coming down in price, and wages absolutely aren’t keeping pace. No one is saying a house would “lock them down,” they’re pointing out they can never afford it because they can’t even come up with the money to show the bank they can save because they’re already paying above the potential mortgage payments every month.

But you’re saying they won’t, not can’t, so what should they do to come up with the money? Start selling kidneys? 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and that same link shows 71% have less than $2000 in their savings. So where exactly are people supposed to shit out your hypothetical $30,000?

The game is about spreading Managed Democracy to protect our way of life, with tip screens like “If an alien ever attempts to engage in negotiation, SHOOT THEM. We mustn’t believe their lies,” and “Helldivers who fail an objective do not get sent to freedom camps. This is merely a dissident rumor,” and “Remember: FREEDOM!”

There’s an entire mission objective based on raising a flag while you salute it, with cameras recording it for the millions of innocent civilians back home you’re protecting with the gentle outreach of an iron fist.

While spreading peace through the galaxy, your character will shout things like “Say hello to democracy!”, “Freedom never sleeps!”, “How about a nice cup of liber-tea?!”, “How do you like the taste of FREEDOM?!”, and “You’ll never destroy our way of life!”

The PA on the ship announces things like “Every bullet fired is a freedom seed planted in the hearts of our enemies,” and “Do not think of rebels as human. If our views are alien to them, they are alien to us.”

The game might have a slight satirical lean.

It’s cheating since it’s already been done, but Edgar Wright expanded Mint Royale - Blue Song into Baby Driver.

In case you didn’t know, that’s actually a sequel to their other video The Stampede.

Treasure Planet has solar sails used as the energy source for propulsion for ships.

Currently it’s Electric Callboy, namely We’ve Got the Moves and Hypa Hypa.

Boy, you’re not going to be happy when you find out where they got the title from.

I never played horror games when I was a kid, but Dead Space and Amnesia: The Dark Descent were the two games that really solidified what I wanted out of a horror game. Having the ability to defend yourself instead of running is still something that makes or breaks a horror game for me.

Wait, does that actually happen? I thought that was just a message and no one came, no matter how long you wait.

It’s not a very good game, but I laughed my ass off through the Deadpool game. The one that immediately comes to mind though is Bulletstorm. It definitely set the bar for high-brow, sophisticated humor.It’s a shame that People Can Fly chose to go with Outriders, because I’d kill for Bulletstorm 2.