u/plantsandramen

#This Review May Contain Spoilers

#Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Status - Completed, many side quests done.

Time played: 70+ hours

Difficulty - N/A

Set-up - AMD 5800X3D, AMD 9070XT, 32gb DDR4 3600, 2tb SN850 | Played at 4K with all settings up, locked to 60 for a very smooth experience

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Mini-Review Thoughts

Like a Dragon is the first installment in the Yakuza series to shake up the combat system. Traditionally, Yakuza is a one-man-party, real-time action brawler, that focuses on utilizing different fighting styles to beat your opponent. It’s not too dissimilar from a stylish action game with how I played the series. With the 7th installment, Like a Dragon, combat is now a turn-based RPG that focuses on party synergy, and a plethora of whacky “jobs” that act as the class system in a more traditional RPG.

The radical change in combat could be seen as a step-down from Yakuza 0 for long-time fans. Yakuza 0’s combat is engaging and I found myself locked-in. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the combat in Like a Dragon can be incredibly hands off, to the point that there’s an auto-battle option. My wife couldn’t grasp the concept of that, and asked, “Why would you not want to play the game if you’re playing the game?” Fair point.

What Like a Dragon lacks in combat engagement, it makes up for in creativity and fluidity. There are a plethora of jobs that the player can, and should, explore. Leveling up jobs provides permanent character stat upgrades, and new combat abilities that may be accessed by other jobs. Jobs such as devil rocker, hostess, clerk, or breaker, provide a plethora of unique attacks that keeps the combat entertaining for a while. I have never seen a clerk use a staple gun to attack an enemy, but it was a hell of a great attack in mid-game, as was the breaker doing a handstand and giving the enemy a few kicks from this position.

Tonally, the Yakuza games are over-the-top and wide in range of emotions. At its heart there is a story that takes itself seriously, which involves murder, child abandonment, and a money counterfeiting scheme, but it takes a hard turn on many side quests. The side quests may involve feeding incredibly spicy kimchi to an elderly woman to give her the pep to run across a road, or it may involve fighting a giant roomba, oftentimes providing needed levity. You may cry when going on a date with a young girl whose life you saved years ago, you may laugh when trying to help a mascot fight off bootleg copies, and you may be unsure of how to feel about Mr. Masochist.

Minigames are a big draw to these games and Like a Dragon has plenty. The minigame highlights for me are business management, batting cages, kart racing, and black jack. There's a lot to do here if you want to live within the environment for a while, and the city is a wonderful backdrop.

Performance is great on my system with a rock solid 60fps at 4k max settings. I have two gripes though, my first gripe is that the grass pop-in when running through the park is terrible, and my second gripe is that the high-production cutscenes drop the framerate to 30fps, and it looked juddery on my TV. I also have a major bone to pick about the cutscenes, mainly the question of why is RGG afraid of allowing players to save before length cutscenes? The ending sequence takes about 90 minutes and once you initiate it you will have no chance to save before rolling credits and finish the cutscenes. I can’t think of a good reason for this, especially when there’s plenty of opportunities to do so, perhaps in-between the 2 end-boss battles?

I hate to say that I don't really remember the music, but I don't. I would have recalled more of the music if I enjoyed the karaoke minigame, but the button chart didn’t seem like it lined up with the music rhythmically, so I didn’t play it much. The Japanese voice acting is top-notch, but I cannot say the same for the English cast. I tried it out for 10 minutes and went back to Japanese. I don't know if it was that I was just so used to the Japanese voice actors by that point or if the English actors did not fit the game well, but I think Japanese is the way to go for this.

Conclusion

Like a Dragon is a great game with incredible highlights that I would recommend for fans of the series, fans of turn-based RPG, and fans of unique games. My gripes with the game are the unengaging combat, and at times the disregard for the time of the player, but they don’t completely mar the experience.

8.25/10

I'm looking for a lightweight sim management game that's like the business mini-game in Yakuza. I have Game Dev Tycoon, but I burnt myself out on that years ago. I'd prefer to not have to build/design anything, just make choices and watch numbers go up.

#Hearts of Stone (Spoilers below)

Hearts of Stone is DLC to The Witcher 3, offering a focused narrative that takes place in Velen, and features 3 new main characters: Olgierd Van Everec, Gaunter O'Dimm, and Shani. The narrative focuses on the immortal Olgierd, and his binding contract with the mysterious and powerfully magical O'Dimm, which Geralt finds himself in the middle of. During the journey we meet an old flame of Geralt's, Shani, who assists Geralt in a variety of ways.

The narrative is, quite frankly, brutal. It involves several "impossible" tasks that lead to heartbreaking moments, and ending with a difficult decision that Geralt must make. Specifically, the sequence of events with Olgierd’s wife Iris hit me hard, and I couldn’t help but think about it for a few hours afterwards. It’s a fantastic story that only felt like a chore during the moments involving Vlodimir. The moments involving Vlodimir and Shani were especially difficult to get through, they made me uncomfortable and I was looking forward to the sequence ending.

On the topic of Shani, her introduction feels unnatural and forced. If I hadn’t learned, after-the-fact, that she was in the books and previous games, then I would have assumed that she was created solely to have an attractive woman in the DLC. Geralt and Shani discuss their past, but it felt as if the game was trying to convince me that they had history rather than them having a natural conversation. I genuinely like her as a character though, her demeanor is pleasant and I feel like she would be a really fun character for future quests involving injuries or solving mysteries based on illness.

Lastly, the DLC introduces new weapon and armor enhancements called runewords, which is basically enchanting, except glyphs need to be removed before the runeword can be applied. Unlocking upgrades is expensive, and so are runewords in general. It feels out of place for a short narrative focused DLC, perhaps it fits better in the context of when it was released as a way for hardcore Witcher 3 players to spend money and use glyphs that may have been stockpiled.

There is minimal fluff to get sidetracked by, and I highly encourage fans of Wild Hunt to play if they want more of The Witcher.

#Kingdom Hearts

• Status - Completed with heavy side content done. Sora & Co. were in the high 60s to low 70s, 22 items were crafted, and the Hades cup in the Colosseum was completed.

• Time played: Approximately 45 hours

• Difficulty - Normal

• Set-up - Retroid Pocket 6 with widescreen hacks enabled

When Kingdom Hearts was announced, I was already a huge Final Fantasy fan. Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9 and 10, had come out in successive years, and that run of games left a huge imprint on me, shaping my taste in games forever. It was because of this that I was initially apprehensive about Square’s new game that combined Final Fantasy with Disney. It seemed like an absurd premise to the pre-teen version of myself, and I was highly apprehensive. My worries were soon eased after seeing a demo reel at a GameStop store. The clerk assured me that it was going to be fantastic, and I made a pre-order to get it on day 1.

Kingdom Hearts immediately hooked me with its memorable intro cutscene, just like the Final Fantasy games had. The high-energy remix of Simple and Clean with the dream-like sequences set a high-bar for my expectations, and the atmospheric “tutorial” felt unreal in the best way. The intro cutscene and tutorial are still effective on the adult version of myself.

#The World

The world is a lot smaller than it seemed over 20 years ago. There are many unique locations, but they do not occupy significant physical space. Despite the size constraint, the locations are densely packed with vertical spaces to explore and hidden areas to find. As I learned new movement abilities, I found myself re-visiting areas to find more of their secrets.

Each location is themed, with the majority of them being themed after a Disney IP. You will visit locations from Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and many more. When visiting the Disney locations, Sora & Co. will each don an aesthetically appropriate outfit, many of which are iconic to me. Additionally, each location will have memorable areas from the Disney IP, feature familiar songs and characters, and hold at least 1 new keyblade that matches the aesthetic. It’s a wonderful touch that smoothly integrates the Disney aesthetic without feeling out of place.

Traveling to the locations is done via an on-rails shooter akin to Star Fox, and later the ability to warp drive from location to location is locked. Traveling offers an enjoyable mini-game, a creative outlet in building your ship, and insight into the connective tissue of the locations you will travel to. It works within the context of the game.

The atmosphere of the game can be phenomenal, and SquareEnix did a wonderful job packing hidden areas into these locations,giving me a reason to revisit them later in the game. It was a joy to explore when it was brand new, and 20+ years later it is still fun to explore. Well, except for The Little Mermaid location, water levels remain unfun.

#Gameplay

Combat is a substantial portion of the overall Kingdom Hearts experience, yet controlling Sora during battle feels clumsy in nearly every aspect.

The system relies on a command action menu structured into four primary top-level commands: Attack, Item, Magic, and a context-sensitive slot at the bottom. Pressing the action button (X) activates the currently selected command, and navigation of this menu is achieved by using the d-pad or the right thumbstick. Selecting either the magic or item option will open a sub-menu, which is likely to have six or more options to choose from by the end of the game.

The d-pad offers the best accuracy for navigating the command menu, but it was not possible for me to use the d-pad while using the left thumbstick to move. I was able to move Sora while using the right thumbstick to navigate the menu, but I wasn’t consistently accurate in my menu selection while using both thumbsticks at the same time. A shortcut menu is available and is used to assign three magic spells which are easily activated by a combination of holding “L1” and pressing either square, triangle, or X. This alleviates some menu-diving challenges, but it is limited in what can be assigned to the shortcut, and how many shortcuts are available. Neither items or summons can be bound to these shortcuts, so must navigate the command menu in real-time to use them. Due to the challenges of this menu system, I only used items, and non-shortcut magic and summons out of curiosity, and any reactive or context sensitive abilities were unequipped in-favor of passive options.

The controls are perfectly fine for exploration and traveling outside of combat. The glide and high-jump ability are excellent movement tools which allow for access to new and hidden rooms, and faster traveling within a location.

Lastly, there are some minigames and side-content that I will touch on briefly.

• Gummi Ship - An on-rails, Starfox-esque shooter that serves as the mode of transportation between locations. While initially fun, it lacks depth. Thankfully, unlocking warp drive allows you to bypass previously visited locations before the minigame drags on.

• Gummi Ship Garage - You can build or customize your gummi ship in the garage. It is clunky to use, but I did find it fun to build a ship.

• Crafting - Crafting in Kingdom Hearts leads to powerful accessories, and even Sora’s ultimate weapon. Unfortunately, it requires farming a lot of rare drop materials. I crafted 22 items before calling it quits.

• Colosseum - This is a fun challenge, but I do not like that powerful spells are locked behind it.

Overall, the clunky combat system dampers exploration of spells, abilities, and summons. Movement around the locations is fun and the unlocked movement abilities encourage further exploration. Lastly, the side-content can be fun, but it lacks depth that makes it satisfying to explore to its fullest.

#Story

While there are standout moments throughout the story, they are primarily within the beginning and closing cutscenes. The song “Simple and Clean” does a lot of heavy lifting in making me feel emotionally connected to the plot. Additionally, although the Disney locations are visually appealing, their stories are uninspiring, and some locations were a chore to get through.

#Audio

The voice acting is solid, especially for this era. Many of the original Disney voice actors are featured, as well as notable actors like Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, Mandy Moore, and Hayden Panettiere (RIP). Both the original soundtrack and licensed tracks are great, making for an enjoyable audio experience that kept me tuned in.

#Conclusion

I had many complaints about the combat controls, and the story was very uninspiring to me. Why then, did I enjoy my time playing and completing Kingdom Hearts? Nostalgia is certainly a factor, but the vibes of the game are compelling, and the Disney worlds make for a fun setting in an action RPG. I never felt like I had to push through boredom in order to complete the game. Despite my issues with the game, I enjoyed it very much.

7.5/10 - A flawed but enjoyable experience that doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Hi y'all,

My wife is wrapping up the last of her chemo, and in anticipation of her getting a clean bill of health, we are looking for a short getaway. We want to lounge on the beach and not think about much. My wife has used a website that specializes in cheap trips in Mexico/Caribbean Islands, and has used it successfully to go to Cancun a few years ago.

We're finding some trips we can afford, but my worry is about the weather. I'm reading that it's hurricane/rain season in the Caribbean/Mexico. What I'm wondering is what areas are considered a "safer" bet to be less affected by the weather.

Thank you in advance.

#The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Status - Completed with heavy side content done. Ended level 37 with mastercrafted gear and weapons.

Time played: Steam says 100 hours, but I left my PC on overnight once, and it messed up the tracking. I would estimate 80-90 hours based on that.

Difficulty - Blood and Broken Bones (Hard)

Set-up - PC at 4k/60, most settings high with some HDR on. HD texture pack added.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a game that I have had on my radar for quite some time. I had originally played it about 8 years ago on my PlayStation 4, but only got so far as completing the Bloody Baron quest. As a lifelong RPG fan, I felt that I needed to give it another chance at some point, and after recently completing Cyberpunk 2077, I thought it would be a good time to jump in.

#The World

The world is massive, densely packed, and gorgeous. It is a fun and rewarding world to explore, with many small towns and villages that may offer interesting side quests. Many off-the-beaten-path treasures may be found, but they may be guarded by a strong enemy who poses a fun challenge. You may also find places of power, where you can find extremely valuable skill points to make Geralt stronger. Even when I find myself in a sparsely populated corner of the world, the environment itself is usually interesting enough to enjoy exploring

The world feels lived in, like it exists whether I'm there or not. The only game that I've ever played that feels this realistic and alive is Baldur's Gate 3, and I do not say that lightly. It is a joy to explore and stands in elite company.

#Gameplay

The gameplay itself is enjoyable overall. I most enjoyed traveling on foot, or on horse, as it never became tiring. The combat itself leaves something to be desired, though. The combat is a little simplistic. I feel there are illusions of choice in how to approach combat, such as signs, bombs, or crossbows, all of which are situationally useful. By primarily using Quen, fast attacks, and dodging, I was able to complete the game without much stress. A simple combat system isn't necessarily a bad thing in such a story-rich game, but combat is largely easy and won’t entice players looking for a robust system. My main issue with the simple combat is that many of the systems don't pay off.

The sign system has a lot of potential, but I often found myself using Quen in combat, with the other signs only situationally useful. I also found the crossbow and bombs to be rarely useful, though admittedly I didn’t spec into them. I also felt the same way about potions. There are so many potions and decoctions, but they either have a very short duration, are very limited in usefulness, or are punishing to use unless you spend skill points into the potion skills. There are 40 potions in The Witcher 3, and I mainly used 4 of them.

For most of the game, I found myself using Quen and fast attacks to take out most enemies. The physical attack tree feels well thought out, with strong synergy between skills that made my fast-attack build very deadly, but it did not make for interesting gameplay.

The crafting system provided a few fun journeys to find diagrams, and the witcher gear helps with enhancing your attack style further. The crafting system made the equipment found in the world unnecessary. Speaking of unnecessary, the food in the game never becomes useful, and with the amount of crafting in the game, it would have been nice to find a way to make food useful in healing vitality. Unfortunately, it isn’t worth keeping.

Overall, the simple combat isn’t a hindrance in and of itself, but it makes some of the combat and alternative weapons unnecessary in my experience.

#Story

The main story was a worthwhile journey, though it had pacing issues at the end. I enjoyed the detective work while tracking down Ciri, as well as the new lands and locations the questline took me to. Once Ciri is found, it's time to tackle the Wild Hunt. In between, there are a few tender moments between Geralt and Ciri that make an appearance in a flashback later in the game. It was thrilling to finally face the Wild Hunt head-on, with an epic battle at Kaer Morhen followed up by an exhilarating fight against the Crones and Ilmerith. The Crones were easily the hardest fight in the game, and it was quite fun. The game felt like it had come to an end at this point, but there was still more to come. I do not know how many more hours I played after that before the credits rolled, but it took away some of my excitement about completing the game.

The Bloody Baron quest line is often cited as one of the best quests in the game, and I would agree that it is fantastic. It's traumatic, it's devastating, and it shows you how dark this world is and does so pretty early on in the game. There are two other quests that I think are worth mentioning as well.

The first is Whoreson Junior’s quest line, which is part of the main questline and unmissable. The questline involves gathering information around Novigrad and visiting seedy underground locations, eventually culminating in Geralt confronting Junior while he is in the privacy of his bath. I chose to let Geralt get his revenge by killing the bastard. Stoic Geralt was extremely pissed, and I couldn’t help but get him revenge for Ciri, as well as the many women who Junior tortured and killed.

The other is the quest titled “The Tower Out of Nowheres” in which a mage tower appears randomly one day at Urialla Harbor, a small seaside town in Skellige. Externally, the tower brings unrelenting bad storms, which is hurting the local economy. Some folk from the town investigate the tower but never return, and Geralt is asked to look into it. The questline itself has some funny references to DRM and GOG, but it’s not what made it a memorable quest for me. At the end of the quest, as Geralt is walking away, one of the villagers stops Geralt to ask if his brother, who had gone into the tower, is alive. I chose to tell the villager the truth, that his brother was dead. What followed was a brief moment of pain, quiet, and acceptance from the villager, ending in a beautiful somber scene.

#Audio

A quick touch on the audio, I greatly enjoyed the music throughout. I thought that the music fit the scenes and locations very well. The voice acting was decent, I don't recall any particularly standout moments, good or bad. My main complaint with the voice acting is really the mediocre syncing with the facial expressions. I have started Hearts of Stone and do notice that the facial animation seems to sync better with the voice acting.

#Conclusion

The Witcher 3 is a game that, despite its flaws, I greatly enjoyed playing every chance I got. Even during shorter sessions of about an hour, The Witcher 3 often gave me a feeling that I had accomplished a lot within that timeframe. In my opinion, The Witcher 3 holds up to its legendary status as one of the best RPGs of all time, and I look forward to continuing the story with the Hearts of Stone expansion.

#9/10 (A) - An excellent game that’s up there with the greats of the genre. An abundance of quirks in the game caused some friction, but didn’t impede my desire to complete it.

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Ending: I received the ending where Ciri flashed back to a snowball fight, Ciri and Geralt burying Skjall and returning some of his honor, and them trashing Avallac'h’s mage tower. It culminated with Geralt getting Ciri a custom Witcher sword and giving it to her in a tavern.

I'm looking around and I keep coming across the N95/N100/N150 line of processors which lead me to this Kamrui AK1PLUS N100 mini pc for $250. It seems like a good option for my needs.

I would use this solely for a home 4k Plex server and torrenting. I would use it headless and remote into it when needing to operate it. Is there a better option that's on Amazon? I'm ideally wanting to buy from there for the ease of returns if there's any issues or it doesn't suit my needs.

Right now my home PC is idling at 90W, averaging 0.092kWh*24 = 2.2kWh/day, or 66.24kWh/month, which is about $17/month since it's on 24/7 with this being the min wattage it uses.

I have no energy settings enabled on my PC, so I'm gong to try that before I buy a minipc, but as it is currently, this mini PC would pay for itself in about 14-15 months. That's why I'm considering this.

I'm looking into a new controller for my Switch 2 and can't justify a non HE or TMR controller for $80. So I'm checking gamepadla and see gullikit has the best latency, and I also see that they sponsor the site. That's fishy to me, so I wanted to see outside opinions.

I like 8bitdo and have multiple controllers of theirs. I'm thinking of getting the Ultimate 2 Bluetooth for it, but wanted to do some research and came across the information above.