Lurker > LightningStrikes

Surgeon

In parts of the world including where I am surgeons arent officially doctors and are very proud of this fact lol. They dont use Dr as a title so your surgeon would be Mr John Smith rather than Dr John Smith. Its because surgery came out of craft trades rather than the medical profession.

The term JRPG came about effectively to distinguish the console-style RPGs coming out of Japan from the computer-style RPGs coming out of the west. However, then you had Bioware break the dichotomy in the 2000s followed by a bunch of Japanese games doing the same thing going the other way. Its a really useless term these days, theyre just RPGs. Although that term is also a bit ambiguous now!

Anyway Balatro has several things going for it that Vampire Survivors didnt. For starters it reviewed much better and had a 92 critic average, that automatically puts it in the conversation. It is also coming out in a weaker year for big AAA games, in particular those big action adventure and action RPGs that do well at these awards. Vampire Survivors also first went playable in late 2021 so wasnt necessarily viewed as as much of a 2022 game. Vampire Survivors was also effectively a PC exclusive when nominations were happening (it launched on Xbox right before nominations closed) and wasnt on Switch or Playstation until the next year while Balatro is on everything. Lastly theyve nominated a card game before in Hearthstone.

Overall its probably fair to say that Balatro is in a much stronger position than Vampire Survivors was. Vampire Survivors seemed to get close to a nomination despite everything going against it. So looking at the contenders unless it gets crowded out by games that arent out yet, a nomination for Balatro seems very likely.

These days JRPG is an absolutely meaningless distinction, but I dont see anything blocking one from winning GotY at the Game Awards. Several have been nominated in the past and this year its possible that fully half of the nominees will be JRPGs. Persona 6, for instance, definitely seems like a potential winner in a future year.

As for this year, Rebirth is the obvious frontrunner but between its underwhelming sales, nature as a middle chapter and complaints over pacing that are starting to build it doesnt feel like a winner. It would only win 2014 and 2021 of previous years. If it wins its partially because it wasnt the strongest year and I love the game.

I think of games already released this year, Balatro seems like the one that could take it. That game had a real moment and took over the industry. Also its reception is on par with Rebirths. The big question mark here is Nintendo, who will probably have something major for the second half of the year. If Metroid Prime 4 does release this year that seems like a strong contender.

Yeah they also set it up in the third case of this game. That part did not feel incongruous to me.

Which reminds me, another thing these two cases do really well is Ginas development, shes great here.

Of these 8 is the goofiest but I voted for 3 because it is by far the most embarrassing.

I dont hold 7 against them, thats just game development, plus if you count the big budget direct sequels and the VII Remake games its more like 10 in that span, which is slower but not too bad actually. They still get these games out at a clip they just changed what they make in the series.

Happy to provide writeups for any of the games on my list, PM me whats needed.

Nobody knows for sure yet but he is a very controversial figure. Very pro-Russian, nationalistic, and socially conservative but also economically left wing. In a coalition with the far-right, but also social democrats. Stopped support to Ukraine. Got deposed for being massively corrupt, then last year got back in and started trying to dismantle the countrys anti-corruption laws. It could have been for any number of reasons.

https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1790739191866753069

The Prime Minister of Slovakia has been shot and rushed to the hospital. Head and chest apparently so not a good sign. He is a bad person but hope he recovers, first of all nobody deserves that and secondly it sets a terrible precedent. Very, very worrying.

9/10.

Yeah this is really firing on all cylinders. Its half a case so its difficult to rate but thats how much enjoyment I got out of it. I would go farther than Leon and say that Gregson is the most shocking death in the series, Mia dies very shortly after being introduced while Gregson is a multi-game major character. And what they do with the character here is pretty brave. The mystery here is great also. The music as well deserves special mention, in particular Kazumas prosecutor theme but also the track we get at the end. Which wasnt a case ending, but it was an excellent moment and reveal in its own right.

1 was alright but basically a cinematic tech demo. 2 was pretty good I thought. Very much too long but actually has some interesting story and characters to it.

The best deduction is definitely in the last case! But this could be the best one with Naruhodo.

8.5/10.

Not quite as on board as some here but its a great case. I really liked that it actually gave you a decently sized cast of characters aside from just the principle figures for the case and the ending is terrific. The mystery is solid, clearly riffing on stories like The Prestige and that whole genre. One issue I have with it is that the amnesia angle for Kazuma just felt quite unnecessary and trite, though the payoff after he regains his memories is great.

Mario Kart 8
Forza Horizon 5
Gran Turismo
F-Zero

The moment it stops being worth bringing up is the moment the video game industry is lost.

DmC was good (on PC or the Definitive Edition) although a lot of the key creatives were bad for a variety of reasons. Though lets be honest, they could have been saints and the fanbase still would have lost their minds. The reaction to just that first teaser was pure toxicity.

7.5/10

This is a really good case! Actually uses the London setting well whereas cases 4 and 5 of the previous game felt like they could be in just about any city. This is also something that the next three cases do well also. Shamspeare turning out to be alive was an incredible moment.

Late but:

HeroicCrono posted...

I really don't get what the Tories are doing. No attempt to correct course on the things that voters might want, including conservative ideas like lower taxes that they somehow haven't done after many years in power. Instead they push incredibly dumb ideas like banning smoking and declaring Rwanda safe by fiat.

Well first of all they tried lowering taxes and it trashed the economy which is part of what put them in this situation. They are also in the position now where they cant cut taxes without spending cuts, which are absolutely unconscionable to voters. They also dont even know what they want any more because Sunak has no control of his party and its just a bunch of people trying to push in their preferred direction. And critically Johnson doomed the party by throwing out nearly everybody sensible in 2019 and sending it much more to the right and depriving it of talent.

Most importantly though, at this stage it doesnt actually matter what the Tories do because people have just stopped listening. They had plenty of chances and the country got worse every time they did anything. Frankly Im not sure voters under the age of about 50 will ever forgive them.

7/10. Liked this one quite a bit, very well paced and hits the themes of the duology well. The mystery was solid and playing as Susato was great. It is a bit disappointing that this is the only time we do, and it makes me wonder if that aspect was a casualty of the games going from three to two.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Holy shit Ukraine.

It was a very good act, but also Ukraine now has a huge diaspora in Europe because of the war, as well as a lot of votes in support of them. If I recall they have smashed the public vote every time since the war started.

UK gave 12 points to Israel apparently? Vs 10 for Ireland.

Yeah Switzerland has an enormous lead right now, hard to see it losing that now.

Serbia gave 12 jury points to Croatia hahaha.

Absolutely wild that France is in second place so far.

They didnt turn on the anti-booing tech lol.

Well it looks like Switzerland is running away with this.

Friendship ended with Switzerland.

Now Croatia is my best friend.

Yeah Switzerland might win.

Okay Norway is good. The opening gave me Nier vibes.

Apparently Israel only made the final because of the audience vote apparently. Which to me stinks of an organised campaign, but jury vote will probably sink them.

https://imgur.com/VXXJmWQ

Anagram posted...

I just dropped in; what are the controversies with Ireland and the Netherlands? Israel I assume is obvious.

The Netherlands act apparently got into an altercation backstage and got disqualified, the Netherlands as you can imagine were not happy about it and will seemingly not be giving out points as a result.

Ireland got criticism in commentary from the Israeli broadcaster that supposedly breaches EBU rules and complained but was ignored. Also, nobody knows why but they missed the dress rehearsal and flag ceremony due to an urgent situation but not clear what that was.

Yeah missed the dress rehearsal due to a situation which always sounds ominous!

Ukraine were very good. Luxembourgs lady looks like a Street Fighter character.

Edit: Well, time to change the channel I suppose!

Ill be watching for Ireland but it sounds like an absolute mess and every time I look I find something new. Would be great to have a list of everything thats gone wrong!

Got a decent view in Ireland after walking to the seaside to avoid the light pollution lol.

Yeah it was definitely the right move to put up two episodes at once. I do kind of feel that having an episode as light as Space Babies directly follow the also extremely light Church on Ruby Road was a little odd and could put off new viewers so if you are reading this post and have never seen the show before, keep going until the latest episode!

Watched both episodes. Space Babies was fine I guess? Ots very, very light on substance and some of the humour is definitely aimed at a younger audience but it goes at a good pace. The Devils Chord though was a great episode, great villain, got the tone just right and slightly felt like the real premiere almost.

First two episodes of the new season out now! On Disney+ in most of the world and iplayer in the UK, will also be airing in the UK & Ireland on BBC One Saturday evening! If youve never watched they are literally branding this as season one so its a great place to jump on!

8/10.

Its very good but does feel a bit like it lacks that finale oomph in part because, well, its not really a finale. However, I actually thought that in hindsight, the slow start that is basically its own self-contained story was actually kind of genius, as it both gives the characters a lot more time to develop and then ties in towards the end in a really satisfying way. When I was playing it I was a bit why is this taking so long and then at the end I was like ohhhh. Plus it has the Skulkin Brothers.

+5 Pokmon Gold/Silver/Crystal
+4 The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
+4 The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
+3 Wario Land 3
+3 Metroid II: Return of Samus
+3 Pokmon Red/Blue/Yellow
+2 Tetris
+2 Donkey Kong (aka Donkey Kong 94)
+2 Super Mario Land 2: Six Gold Coins
+2 Pokmon Trading Card Game
+1 Kirbys Dream Land
+1 Super Mario Land
+1 The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening
+1 Pokmon Pinball
+1 Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
+1 Donkey Kong Land III
+1 Mario Golf
+1 Wave Race
+1 Tetris Attack
+1 James Bond 007

That doesnt necessarily mean that, just that it wasnt included in the hardware sales forecast. However I would not take a Q1 launch as given either.

4.5/10.

Meh. I dont hate it but its not super interesting. The concept is fun but nothing quite clicks. The follow-up case is much better.

There are great looking realistic style games coming out still, but whats happened is the rate of improvement has gotten slower and slower while costs have kept going up at the same rate. To be honest if AAA gaming stayed at the level of fidelity high end console games are at now if even where they were five years ago thats enough, but the problem is publishers and quite possibly the audience are locked into a mentality where these things need to just get better and better without ever stopping.

9/10.

Doki Doki Literature Club
Fate/Stay Night
Steins;Gate
999

Yeah I dont really count Ace Attorney even though it did contribute to the VN boom.

I think people would have vastly preferred that though!

The sad thing is, Xbox isnt an industry joke, theyre a big player and this is just showing where the industry is. Its bigger and more shocking for sure but sadly I think we can expect a lot more of this. Gaming is in a super unhealthy place right now in general.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

For all of MSs talk about really wanting a foothold in Japan, they finally had a studio there making quality games and they fucking shut it down

god I wish so bad that Gerstmann interviewing Phil Spencer live on stream was still a thing that happened in the summer, hed fucking eviscerate him

Giant Bomb still do it but with Jeff Grubb doing the interviewing. I doubt Grubb will give him an easy ride.

Oh, and in addition theyre cancelling the remaining Redfall DLC and ending support of that. Sounds like it was actually getting into a good state too.

All of this is happening so they can prioritise the biggest titles more which is a story we keep seeing. Industrys in an absolutely dire state. Though I struggle to remember the last studio closure this shocking since THQ went bust a decade ago. Lionhead maybe, guess what that has in common with this, Microsoft ownership.

Tango in particular is huge after Hi-Fi Rush, thats horrible. Thoughts with all those affected.

This case also introduces the best jury member in the duology.

I think there are lots of smaller areas of improvement for a Switch 2 like those, but also hardware improvements such as form factor, screen size/quality, 4k output, and of course power. They could also start bringing over Gamecube games to NSO among other things.

However Ill be real, I think this will do extremely well, I dont think itll be selling Switch numbers. Indeed Nintendo just projected the Switch to sell 13.5 million this fiscal year which if accurate would all but guarantee it outsells the PS2 lifetime. The PS5 and Xbox Series are also down on their predecessors, so its possible that this generation will not only be the first console generation to see contraction in terms of sales, but also the first where every manufacturer is down. And that is something that probably can only be reversed by a more radical change, not just a better box.

They wouldnt announce it as a successor if that was the case. Increasing compatibility with old hardware and software is just the way video games have been heading for a decade. Remember, there are without exaggerating about six PS5 exclusives three and a half years in.

Also this June Direct seems like the place for Metroid Prime 4.