gaming

So SEGA has added Chaos Emeralds jewelry into their shop, a set of 7 rings inside a nifty box.

On an X post by SAAC NEWS, the flashy details show as follows:

- Emerald Size: 2.5 cm each
- Emeralds arrive shrink-wrapped inside the box
- SEGA warns that actual colors may differ compared to your display’s color calibration
- Available for pre-order at $59.99

The post also adds that:

A 35th Anniversary Chaos Emeralds Set has been added to SEGA Shop. The items are crafted from brilliant artificial crystal glass, and each emerald rests on its own color-plated brass stand inside a decorative gift box finished with a gold-stamped Sonic logo.

Link to the post itself which includes pics of said jewelry below 👇

LINK

Current Mood: geeky

ysabetwordsmith

Here is a post about the loss of a famous gaming company.

goodbye, bioware

BioWare is a game studio that has been around since the mid-90s, and was responsible for the creation of games like the original two Baldur's Gate games, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, and of course the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series.

And today Electronic Arts, the company that owns BioWare, laid off hundreds of people and shut the studio down for good.

Current Mood: busy

fennectik

I don't know how to feel about this. Yuji Horii went on using AI to generate a game.

"As covered by VGC, Horii-san posted a link on X to a game titled Interrogation Room Komiya in which you select a series of text prompts to push a suspect into confessing to a crime. The creator claims that the game was made in "about 30 minutes" with the help of AI, calling the technology 'truly astonishing".

Astonishing indeed.

Guess Square-Enix will go the way Disney does with its current movie releases, and that leaves room for concern if that's the case.

"It's not the first time Horii-san has praised AI, either. As reported by Automaton toward the end of 2025, he was keen on the idea of using an AI chatbot in a quiz or mystery game, stating that the player could theoretically chat with the bot to solve cases. When asked whether he would be interested in incorporating AI into his future games, he replied with a simple "yes"."

Oy vey.

Link to said article at Nintendolife:

ARTICLE

In other gaming news, it has been found out that the PS5 is backwards compatible, making Sony a big liar about its capabilities among other tidbits that make them look even worse than before:

LINK

Current Mood: disappointed
Current Music: Drowning Pool- Tear Away

fennectik

Along with that ridiculous notion about ending physical copies by 2028, Sony goes around telling about anyone actually owning a game overall, screaming back at the consumer/gamers for expressing their frustration about the entire thing.

According to Polygon:

"The policy states that Sony will not tolerate problematic behavior, like threatening employees or discriminating against people. It also specifies that persistent or "prolonged" demands that are "unrelated to products or services" are no longer allowed."

I can understand about threats and discrimination towards employees and everyone overall, but acting up about anything else is pretty uncalled for.

The full link here.

Current Mood: annoyed

ysabetwordsmith

This past Wednesday, we played Shadows in the Forest for the first time. It is a modern American version of Waldschattenspiel. This is a blackout game meant to be played in the dark (more or less). Every game collection should include at least one game in this category, and this one makes an excellent choice.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

rocky41_7

Damn that title is a mouthful. One of many things that could have used a lot more work in this game. In VTMB2, you play as the Nomad, an Elder vampire recently awoken with a mysterious mark. For regrettable reasons, the Nomad chooses to go by the laughable name "Phyre" (pronounced "fire") in-game.

I went into this without any familiarity with the first game, which released in 2004, or the tabletop RPG on which the series is based. I first heard about VTMB2 years ago when it was just a flicker in the developers' eyes in Game Informer. It looked very cool! A customizable vampire character to run around Seattle and ally with various factions in a political fight? Sign me up!

Unfortunately the game is a real disappointment. I can't imagine how it must feel for fans of the original game to wait more than 20 years for this.

First, the game sells itself as an RPG, but there's very little of that, either on the combat or the narrative end. Your ability to customize Phyre is very limited--you can choose their gender, change up their hair a little, put some make-up and piercings on them, and change their outfits (the outfits, admittedly, are fun), but otherwise, Phyre is Phyre.

In terms of combat, you unlock the five powers associated with Phyre's clan pretty early in the game; you have the ability to unlock the other clans' powers too, but you can only ever equip four at a time, and none of them upgrade from where they start. Aside from one power I swapped, I kept my Phyre's original Brujah set equipped for the entire game.

You get various popups about how an NPC feels about what Phyre just said or did, but these ultimately have no impact. There are only a couple of late-game decisions that have any influence on the ending, and your relationships don't matter at all.
( Read more... )

tally

I picked up Quarantine Zone: The Last Check on an impulse purchase and thought I'd leave a few thoughts on it!

It's a sim game where you have to check people for zombie symptoms before letting them into the checkpoint. There's also some base management to it, as well as some little zombie shooting segments, but the sim part was what got me interested.

And the sim part is pretty fun! I've sunk quite a few hours into it. Very nice gameplay loop of checking symptoms, with increasing difficulty as new symptoms reveal themselves.

The base building is...fine? It's just very shallow and not challenging. I don't mind it, I just find myself wanting more complexity in it.

And finally, I find the zombie shooting bits (you have to defend the wall from a horde) to be boring and unwelcome but mercifully short, easy, and infrequent. Honestly, I wish they would have scrapped this entire thing and instead focused on putting more into the base management.

It's a little buggy, but receiving fixes.

I've only played the campaign so far, which I like, but I do worry that once I'm done with the campaign, there won't be much reason for me to come back to play the endless mode.

My verdict: good game, but maybe buy it on sale.

fennectik

On this Christmas Day, I finally finished Parasite Eve.

12/25/25

9:51 PM (The time I gave the final shot to the last boss)

I'll start the Ex Game later on.

Current Mood: nostalgic
Current Music: Madonna - Vogue

fennectik

I am very sorry to share that Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa passed away on Thursday, December 4, 2025, at the age of 75.

His family confirmed that he died in Santa Barbara, California, due to complications from a stroke.
He is widely remembered for his iconic role as Shang Tsung in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film.

Besides Mortal Kombat 11, his work as Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat franchise included:

Mortal Kombat: Onslaught **(2023): He lent his voice and likeness to the character in this mobile RPG.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy **(2013): He reprised the role in this web series.
Other roles he played were:

The Last Emperor (1987) as Chang
Licence to Kill (1989) as Kwang (a James Bond film)
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) as Funekei Yoshida
Rising Sun (1993) as Eddie Sakamura
The Phantom (1996) as The Great Kabai Sengh
Snow Falling on Cedars (1999) as Zenhichi Miyamoto
Pearl Harbor (2001) as Commander Minoru Genda
Planet of the Apes (2001) as Krull
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) as The Baron
Tekken (2009) as Heihachi Mishima
47 Ronin (2013) as Shogun Tsunayoshi

I had found out this yesterday, and he will surely be missed. Rest in peace.

Article:

LINK

Current Mood: sad

fennectik

And that makes two. After awakening the White and Blue dragons, only the Red and Black. Although something tells me I probably should've gotten the Red Dragon before the Blue one? I had thought rescuing the Black one would had been the last, but I guess I'm wrong.

I'm currently on Disc 2, and anxious to finish it sometime soon.

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Depeche Mode - People are People

fennectik

Been busy getting through Lunar Eternal Blue Complete for PSX, and also began playing the likes of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, and Metroid Fusion.

I had also started playing Metal Gear Solid and hoping to finish it this time around.

Still haven't finished Dragon Quest III, but I'm hoping to do so as well.

That would be my update for the time being.

fennectik

Been playing the original Ys for Famicom. This game ain't no Zelda I can tell that much, it's a whole lot harder than it looks.

Current Mood: dorky
Current Music: Duran Duran - Electric Barbarella

fennectik

Ruby is quite simply one of the best characters in the game.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: The Doors- Light My Fire

fennectik

I'm playing through Lunar Eternal Blue Complete for PSX as I said, enjoying the game throughout. Have met Lucia and her demise while encountering Zophar, nerfing her to a 1 HP punching bag. So now the real quest begins to help ber locate Althena and prevent Zophar destroy their world.

I'm sure glad that other battle against the guardians was a scripted one. I don't think I want to go back fighting the first one all over again being it was a tad difficult for being the beginning of the game.

Current Mood: complacent
Current Music: I'm Blue (Da Ba Dee)- Eiffel 65

fennectik

Had forgotten to post about recent events in gaming in my life besides playing games.

I found out that those who broke into my storage unit took with them most of my videogames and consoles, including my nintendo switch and a severe amount of cartridges I had owned. I invested hundreds of dollars on all of that and its gone.

I'm not sure if my other games are still around anymore, but I doubt it.

The sole thing that I can consider positive today is that the soda machine returned most of my money after buying a coke. I only spent ¢.25 cents like in the good, ol' days.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Sheena Easton - Morning Train (Nine to Five)

fennectik

System: PSX
US Release: December, 2000

I just can't get over how cute Ruby is here.

Current Mood: content
Current Music: The Timelords- Doctorin' The TARDIS

rocky41_7

Earlier this week I polished off Citizen Sleeper 2, sequel to the 2022 game Citizen Sleeper. This is a text-based RPG about a player character fleeing from what is effectively corporate slavery.

The protagonist, as in the first game, is a "sleeper"--an android imbued with the consciousness of a debtor to the corporation Essen-Arp. In order to pay off their debt, the original human goes into stasis and permits a copy of their mind to be put into the android, who then labors, free of charge, for Essen-Arp until the debt is paid. As in the first game, this sleeper escapes and is now on the run. Unlike the first game, the sleeper of 2 is fleeing not Essen-Arp themselves, but another individual who would use the sleeper for their own ends.

As a sequel, I think this game does an excellent job of sticking with what made the first game fun while not coming off too derivative from the first game. The beautiful graphics, music, and game design are still there, but with expanded focus: you can now travel to several different space ports. The themes of community-building, compassion, and resisting corporate cruelty are still present, but with a new cast with their own interesting stories. There are a few recurring characters from the first game, but not in a way that would be confusing if you skip 1 and start with 2.

2 has difficulty levels as well, if you'd like to crank things up or dial it back. I played on the standard level and found it pretty easy to manage resources. There's a new stress mechanic to incorporate into your strategy, and while off on certain quests, you can utilize team members for various tasks as well.

If I had any complaints, I would have liked to find out more about Laine, the man tracking the sleeper. While his motives are explained by the end, he himself remains a rather mysterious figure and it would have been nice to have a clearer picture of the sleeper's main enemy, particularly given their history. The themes can also be a little heavy-handed, but not so much that I found them obnoxious, and I'm always happy to interrogate the harm that unchecked corporate power exerts on society, particularly on those least able to fight back.

On the whole, as a fan of the first game, I was quite happy with this follow-up and I will definitely play it again.

fennectik

Fire Emblem Gaiden is a 1992 famicom game that wasn't released in the USA, being that we got the GBA titles instead several years later, and its the second game in the popular tactical jrpg series.

It revolves around heroes rising to defend their village from invading forces and it goes from there.

I haven't been able to play the very first instalment since there doesn't seem to be a translated rom of it, at least to my knowledge. Pretty sure I can find it later. I also read that unlike the first game, this one was received with mixed results from those who played it.

I'm doing fine on it so far, it looks simplistic in comparison to the GBA titles (obviously,) but seems solid enough.

Being I never can finish these games no matter how hard I've tried, I probably won't be able to do so with this one either, but I sure will try.

Current Mood: content

retrogrrrl

Yo, gamers!

Check it, I'm not an RPG player by any means. Most I played in terms of RPG is The Legend of Dragoon & Persona 4. Very briefly I tried my hand with Final Fantasy 8, however I feel like the only one that sunk its fang proper was Legend of Dragoon, and Persona 4's social aspect was far more compelling to me than the actual combat -- even though I had my fun with it.

So, I'm looking to experience more RPG titles and see which one sticks to me. My preferred type of games should be anything below the PS2 era. If it's a classic, even better. Something that is beginner friendly, to get me started in the funky fantastical but foreign world of RPGs.

Feel free to comment any suggestions, I'll look into 'em.

Current Mood: bouncy

fennectik

Went on starting a new game here. This game is my favorite of past years as I said and also because Renamon appears here. Yeah I will go on being biased but really, it is a fine little cozy game overall, even when it's difficulty its akin to Dark Souls levels of frustration.

Still...

Let's do it Renamon.

Current Mood: contemplative

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Chaos Emeralds rings

Gaming

Dragonquest creator generates full game using AI

Sony is getting nastier

Review: "Shadows in the Forest"

Recent Playing: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2

[Review] Quarantine Zone: The Last Check

Finished Parasite Eve

R.I.P Shang Tsung

Lunar: Eternal Blue post

Had restarted some games

Ys

(no subject)

My quest of playing RPGs continues

When life gives you prunes

Started playing Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete

Recent Playing: Citizen Sleeper 2

Been playing fire emblem gaiden for famicom

What RPG would you recommend to a newbie?

Started playing Digimon World 3

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