The Monday letters page is worried Crisis Core Reunion will confuse the remaster vs. remake question, as one reader demands a new Golden Axe.
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Real characters
Now that Elden Ring has been out for a while it’s had time to pick up a few detractors and I’d just like to take exception with one complaint that’s come up a few times, that the game has no story. Like everything else you have to work at it, since it’s not handed to you on a platter, but Elden Ring absolutely does have a story. It’s not all that complex, from what I understand of it, but what makes the game is the characters.
Their back stories can all be worked out if you pay attention and a lot of them are very charismatic and a welcome sight after slogging through hordes of seemingly mindless enemies.
There’s the seemingly pathetic Roderika who becomes a vital ally, the honourable Master Hewg, the determined Millicent, the loyal Blaidd, and the mysterious Fia. Ranni the Witch is also a great character, who’s a lot stronger and more ruthless than she first seems and who can change the entire ending of the game depending on how you handle her.
My absolute favourite is Alexander, though. He’s a giant talking pot with arms and legs, which sounds stupid even when you learn what he’s filled with. But he’s a loyal friend and always a pleasure to bump into when you least expect. Although, like most Elden Ring enemies, his fate is a bittersweet one.
Cormat
Plug and wait
I had 90 minutes free this morning so wanted to start a new game (Pillars Of Eternity 2).
It’s always a bit deflating nowadays to remove the seal, open the box, and just find a disc and no manual or even control scheme flyer, but so be it.
But I hadn’t used the PlayStation 4 for a few weeks – so 20 minutes to install a new system update, then 30 minutes for a 9GB game Install followed by a 30 minutes 12GB patch download… and it was then time to switch off.
I miss that old school excitement of just a plug and play cartridge – even Nintendo Switch games have an inevitable patch. A five minutes load time on a ZX Spectrum game at least gave, in most cases, a nice loading screen to view – or on the odd C64 game the Invade-a-load Space Invaders game!
Frustrated gamer, or loading screen watcher…
Steve, South Wales
Size matters
It’s getting harder and harder for game graphics to really wow me. Don’t get me wrong, there are games with wonderful graphics or art style, but nothing that has made my jaw drop quite like the transition to 3D (Super Mario 64) and my first HD game on an HDTV (Resident Evil 5).
Nowadays, it’s the scale of games that really makes me stare in awe at the progress of gaming over the past couple generations. I’m currently playing the (optimised for current gen) Assassin’s Creed Origins and seeing the game world stretch for miles into the distance is still an incredible feeling. Then on ground level, there’s still so much going on, some of which are really minor things you could easily overlook.
I can’t even begin to imagine what scale the next Elder Scrolls will be like…
ttfp saylow (gamertag)
Now playing: Assassin’s Creed Origins and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
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Super reboot
Considering Dotemu have done it again with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and another great beat ‘em-up revival it’s got to be Golden Axe is night. I’m sure they’d do a great job in their usual fashion but I really wish this was one game that Sega would give the ‘super game’ treatment to.
It would take only the smallest effort to turn Golden Axe into a modern action role-player. Put the emphasis on co-op play, lower the difficultly, and you’ve basically got Elden Ring: Not Stupidly Hard Edition.
I know it’s not as simple as that really but if Sega has conned Microsoft into giving them a bunch of money then I don’t know what they’re going to suspend the money on. Probably something stupid, like $100 million Alex Kidd game or something, but I hope they put in some effort and bring Death=Adder back to the big/small/whatever you’ve got screen.
Preston
Worth a pass
To mbeet, who wrote in Friday about the Sniper Elite 5 DLC. I also am loving Sniper Elite 5 and having played all the games in the series I would say if he is thinking of getting the season pass then I would say go for it. I have actually bought it myself. The kill Hitler mission was actually one of my favourite missions in the game and took a few hours to complete, as I like to explore the whole map and play as stealthy as possible.
I would say Rebellion do support their games with good DLC and I actually bought the extra missions and weapons in Sniper Elite 3 and 4. You will also get two extra missions and various weapons and skins as well as different characters when they are released. It’s a game I will keep playing for a long time which is why I went for the season pass.
David Clixby
Realistic wait
My favourite game reveal ever has to be the 2004 E3 reveal of The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. That entire Nintendo E3 conference was like a fever dream (well, apart from the business figures which they used to report back then!).
They had trailers for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Resident Evil 4, and the announcement of the Nintendo DS. Then at the end Reggie says: ‘I’d like you to step inside one more world for Nintendo GameCube’. Cue the totally unexpected trailer for Twilight Princess and then Miyamoto with a Hylian shield and Master Sword.
For context, this was during the time after The Wind Waker, when, rightly or wrongly, fans were crying out for a ‘realistic Zelda’. As a 13-year-old gamer, this announcement was incredible. Although looking back, it wasn’t until four years later that I actually played Twilight Princess on the Wii.
Barry
Funny objection
Starfield looks hugely impressive, but so much of space is, naturally, depressingly cold and barren. I worry that sci-fi’s lack of humour and warmth will alienate horse-loving Red Dead/Oblivion fans, and we’ll simply try and find lush planets that look like, err, Oblivion.
Similarly, spaceship building and combat is just so dull when compared to thundering through woodland with rifle in hand. I also don’t want a Doom-like first person shooter.
I did like the new lockpicking wheel, and the main city looked impressive, as did the new character faces. Sure it’ll be amazing when it lands fully formed.
Will Sargent
GC: We don’t see what the setting has to do with whether it’s funny or not.
Slots together
Beautiful Desolation should still be free to claim on GOG on Monday, so grab it quick before the offer closes today!
Andrew J.
PS: I love these special editions of Tetris Connected for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch, as the box they come in is shaped like a Tetris block shape (or the correct word Tetromino-shaped box) and all correctly colour coded blue, green, and red for each console, respectively! They are a bit out of my price range and also they might be hard to store on the game shelf! I bought the standard PlayStation VR version instead.
If only he’d known
I thought regardless of the game, that Cyberpunk 2077 was a great reveal, with Keanu Reeves adding some star power. He came onto the stage with a whole heap of applause and shoutouts from the crowd, when he famously responded with, ‘You’re breathtaking!’
Keanu was enjoying it and really responding to the game’s developers and the fans in general. He showed some on-screen demonstrations of gameplay and gave thanks to the people he worked with and wow – what a guy! Especially loving him after the John Wick movies.
I always love reveals, even if the release date is years away. As long as they actually are released at some point! Pre-rendered trailers can be good but give me some actual gameplay closer to the release date.
I avoid and ignore hype now and it’ll hopefully never be an issue anymore. But I do feel for the developers whose game is critically given a kicking due to not living up to the hype which it created.
But I love that we still get these teasers and reveals, that put gaming on par or better with other entertainment mediums.
Alucard
Inbox also-rans
So Capcom didn’t mention Dragon’s Dogma 2 in their big not-E3 livestream and then did a separate 10 minute event in which three men performed the least sexy striptease in history? Now that’s marketing!
Gruel
My favourite thing about Crisis Core Reunion is how it’s going to make people even more confused about the difference between remaster and remake. All from the masters of the nonsensical name, at Square Enix!
Blenheim
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Gonch, who asks what’s the easiest video game you’ve ever played?
The debate over games that are unusually difficult will never end but what about the other end of the spectrum and games that are a lot easier than normal? What do you consider to be the easiest game you’ve ever come across and is it being easy a generally held belief or did you happen to be unusually good at it?
Do you enjoy easy games and what, if any, problems did its difficultly level create? Did you enjoy the game and do you think it would’ve been better or worse if it was harder?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
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