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Media Videogame Thread

Sony ceasing production of physical units is ultimately inconsequential given the fact that many games these days already require day one content patches to even function. The sad reality is that physical media was already pseudo-digital. Gone are the days where you could put a PS2 disc in the console and have the whole game at your disposal
 
I didn’t originally want to say anything about the ongoing Sony and Microsoft situation because, let’s be completely honest here, they’re both at fault and it’s not just Sony, but something that’s not directly related but is still relevant has come to my attention recently that’s bothering me the more people I see online make this claim.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing here, but if someone’s going online and saying they no longer wish to support Sony following their announcements because they only want to purchase and/or play physical games, that makes complete sense. I don’t have any problem with that at all. However, what I do have a problem with are the surprisingly high number of supposed PlayStation regulars, and some Xbox fans as well, saying they’re going to be jumping ship to PC and buying their games off of places like Steam from now on.

I, uh… again, maybe I’m missing something here, but am I the only one that feels a little off about that? Certainly I’m not the only one that reads these kinds of posts and comments and feels like there’s some hypocrisy going on, right? If you want to only buy physical, that’s great, but if you say that online where people can read your posts and then you immediately follow this up with posts about the Steam store or whatever else… I’m genuinely wondering what the frame of thinking is here. I’m genuinely asking. I promise I’m not upset with anyone.
 
bdt2002 said:
I didn’t originally want to say anything about the ongoing Sony and Microsoft situation because, let’s be completely honest here, they’re both at fault and it’s not just Sony, but something that’s not directly related but is still relevant has come to my attention recently that’s bothering me the more people I see online make this claim.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing here, but if someone’s going online and saying they no longer wish to support Sony following their announcements because they only want to purchase and/or play physical games, that makes complete sense. I don’t have any problem with that at all. However, what I do have a problem with are the surprisingly high number of supposed PlayStation regulars, and some Xbox fans as well, saying they’re going to be jumping ship to PC and buying their games off of places like Steam from now on.

I, uh… again, maybe I’m missing something here, but am I the only one that feels a little off about that? Certainly I’m not the only one that reads these kinds of posts and comments and feels like there’s some hypocrisy going on, right? If you want to only buy physical, that’s great, but if you say that online where people can read your posts and then you immediately follow this up with posts about the Steam store or whatever else… I’m genuinely wondering what the frame of thinking is here. I’m genuinely asking. I promise I’m not upset with anyone.
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hypocrisy probably isn't the intent, but people are hypocrites, so idk. my main guess is the idea that, if a console is just a box with a digital storefront, then there is no point in a console as opposed to a PC. the advantages of a console to a PC are generally ease of use, second-hand games, and upfront cost, but the latter two are being wiped out by the manufacturer and more people are prepared to bite the bullet on building and/or maintenance; if this is the case, then the console is redundant. PC doesn't have to pay for online (which alone will likely wipe out most or all of your cost savings within the year), PC has more games + far more freebies + more than one marketplace (including buying, or otherwise "acquiring", DRM-free games to supplant physical media as "the games you own"), PC isn't locked down, PC can do non-gaming stuff, etc.. Sony's move to ditch physical is probably just enough of a kick in the teeth to get people to open their eyes and start looking for alternatives elsewhere, regardless of whether that happens to be due to the loss of physical media itself or due to the message the ditching sends.
 
PCs are infinitely better for preservation and last longer since PCs have practical uses outside of gaming. DRM free options (primarily GOG) exists and there is actual competition compared to Playstation Store where they can just never put anything on sale and the consumers are cooked. The advantage consoles had was your ability to share media you owned around with friends and with that gone there is no reason to get one. They are likely not even being subsidized anymore so the next consoles won't be too different than building a PC from scratch.
 
PCs are also infinitely easier to pirate games for than consoles and have access to more robust emulation options.

Also I'd probably more viscerally upset about what Sony is doing if they made any fucking games.
 
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What Sony did here is a massive fuck up. For context I am a digital buyer, and I feel confident in my bought games on console or PC.

Except I'll never be confident on Sony again. They have proven in just a week that they do not give a fuck about respecting your purchases.

For one, the implication/leaks basically say there will be no disc drive option for the PS6, which means your physical games library? Not gonna be bringing them forward, better keep your PS5.

Secondly, they also removed a bunch of movies that people bought and paid for digitally.

This is unique. Xbox respects your library with as much backwards compatibility as *legally* possible. They even have initiatives to let you bring your digital library to other systems with Xbox purchased games, letting you use ones that use the program on a PC for no extra charge.

Nintendo, despite controversy for shutting down the stores, only shuts down purchasing. You can go and reinstall the Wii Shop Channel games you bought nearly two decades ago.

I actually own a delisted game: The first version of Minecraft: Nintendo Switch version. Essentially, they released the old style of console Minecraft, and then updated every version to work on the same fundamentals and made that a separate listing. I did not lose that original version of Minecraft, instead I actually have two different versions of Minecraft for the Switch in my eShop library.

Game Key Cards are super controversial, but despite what people claim they're actually (mostly) pro consumer. The nature of cartridges is they are expensive as shit. The estimates are each cart is around $13-15, and then there are other cuts and middlemen taken from the actual price you're paying for. Third party publishers would've just not done it.

GKC allow you to resell, trade and give away the cartridge. In fact, in most ways it's effectively the same system as most modern disc releases where the disc itself is just a DRM stick you use to verify you own the software you download onto your system. The only difference is that instead of that storage being from the card, it's using a server- not the eShop server, to be clear, but a separate one.

Recently someone was shipped a Game Key Card before the game officially released via Amazon. With a digital game, this would simply not work. Digital games on the Switch/2 require a patch key from the eShop (released when the game releases in your region) to unlock the software. That didn't happen, they were able to just install the game since it ignores the eShop.

Now, all of this ranting is for one major thing: Well, why do Xbox and Nintendo respect your library nowadays? Because it's mutually beneficial:

-You get to keep using your old software which makes the system more convenient.

-You have more reason to continue down the same hardware lineage when the next system comes out. If you are going to upgrade your hardware, there is only one that will have that library.

This is also true for PC, by the way. The Switch 2 in a lot of ways is the best handheld on the market for its price and performance, but it's harder for PC owners to justify over PC options because they get to keep using their library.

Sony has made a massive blunder or thinks that the future of consoles is solely the affluent buyer: they are making everyone upset at them and giving less reason for people to continue with the PS6 as their library or a portion of it will not be joining it.

QuickBH said:
PCs are infinitely better for preservation and last longer since PCs have practical uses outside of gaming. DRM free options (primarily GOG) exists and there is actual competition compared to Playstation Store where they can just never put anything on sale and the consumers are cooked. The advantage consoles had was your ability to share media you owned around with friends and with that gone there is no reason to get one. They are likely not even being subsidized anymore so the next consoles won't be too different than building a PC from scratch.
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I want to say that this is majorly exaggerated.

Like, a few things:

-No that wasn't the appeal/advantage of consoles. The point was price/performance and plug in play nature. Most people do not want to make decisions on hardware, they buy a few games a year and want to just get it and play it on a whim.

-There actually is a reason to get consoles, the PS5 just has the least reason. now.

The Xbox Series S even at its much higher price is still the best bang for your buck gaming w/ Game Pass.

The Switch 2 is essentially the cheapest mainstream hardware on the market that will play basically any game you want + exclusives. By the end of the year it will have COD alongside the many sports games, 60fps Fortnite, all the Nintendo games, most indie titles, etc. For me I own a gaming PC but since I love handheld play it's honestly becoming my main hardware, since it just does the job. I can pick up the system and within like 10 seconds be playing Cyberpunk/Mario Kart/Persona 3 Reload/whatever. Another advantage the Switch 2 has over other consoles is while the online is unfortunately paid, it's extremely cheap in comparison while still providing value. $20/year is literally an hour's wage in America and you do actually get a good amount of stuff to play with it.

Tea Guzzler said:
hypocrisy probably isn't the intent, but people are hypocrites, so idk. my main guess is the idea that, if a console is just a box with a digital storefront, then there is no point in a console as opposed to a PC. the advantages of a console to a PC are generally ease of use, second-hand games, and upfront cost, but the latter two are being wiped out by the manufacturer and more people are prepared to bite the bullet on building and/or maintenance; if this is the case, then the console is redundant. PC doesn't have to pay for online (which alone will likely wipe out most or all of your cost savings within the year), PC has more games + far more freebies + more than one marketplace (including buying, or otherwise "acquiring", DRM-free games to supplant physical media as "the games you own"), PC isn't locked down, PC can do non-gaming stuff, etc.. Sony's move to ditch physical is probably just enough of a kick in the teeth to get people to open their eyes and start looking for alternatives elsewhere, regardless of whether that happens to be due to the loss of physical media itself or due to the message the ditching sends.
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I think the traditional "make an extremely powerful box" console model will probably lose to PC over time, but I think systems like the Switch 2 or more budget consoles can be extremely successful long-term.

I think people always say "console doing a bad thing will lead to PC dominance" because, well, most of them are PC gamers that want it to be the mainstream and for consoles to die.

But that isn't really the reality, at least with Ninty and the PS5. The Switch 2 is currently putting on Lebron numbers and at least until 2027, the PS5 will do fine. It's the PS6 that is worrying for them.

The Xbox Helix will probably be DOA because it's trying to be a super powerful machine but idk Xbox has basically been dead since forever. Some other company can just copy the Series S model and it'd be a banger IMO.

Also want to note while here:

The idea that PC has significantly better deals than consoles is outdated unless you live in a country where the consoles aren't doing regional pricing. Like it's actually a complete fabrication in 2026.

You can go between platforms and 95% of the time the games will be the exact same price when on sale. You just don't hear about those sales because Steam is the only one that is good at marketing them.

Companies wisened up to the fact that PC isn't a smaller platform anymore, and you know what that means? You don't get the privilege of companies doing anything they can to fight for your dollar anymore, because the stereotype of PC ports sucking etc. isn't there anymore.

Some games even reversed their deep sales on Steam in the last couple years. They used to go on deeper discount but no longer do, and have the same price on PS/Xbox/Switch 2 if applicable.

The small advantage is alternative Steam key stores but honestly I don't think that outweighs physical which still exists on consoles, even if soon it might just be "console" with Nintendo.

A big reason I'm doing this post is because whenever any console manufacturer does something dumb any thread online will become a "PC masterrace" circlejerk, consoles are dead, PC will win etc.

And I do think PC is massive (Steam and Sony have similar MAU) but people always forget the elephant in the room that is Nintendo (the Switch 1 is on track to be the best selling console ever btw) and act like consoles have never had bad moments, or competition will never be there.

PC has a lot of traits that will always make it a harder sell for a lot of people in countries that consoles are targeting, and Nintendo and Sony have also been venturing to support more territories with translations of their software/games, regional pricing and more, in the last few years.

A lot of people don't care about how easy it is to buy 20 indie games because they simply don't care about them. You could offer them 10,000 games for $80 but they'd rather buy GTA6. For a lot of people, games are just a hobby.

Frankly, if consoles did die, while many would go to PC, a lot of people would also just stop gaming. This thread is forgetting that it costs literally $1,000+ to get an adequate PC. And even if it can do other stuff, almost all of that is stuff most would rather do on a phone, or don't care about.

I am personally a Nintendo/PC person, but I feel like if consoles trend more like the Switch 2 towards being about form factors the PC can't emulate for a right price they'd have a better identity. I can play Cyberpunk on my PC, but I can't do it anywhere in the house, or on the go, and it will take a bit to set it up, so the Switch 2 is taking up more of my gaming time outside of just Nintendo.

If I were to predict some things:

-I think the PS6 caps out at around 80m units sold, 40m floor. 60m likely.

-I think the Xbox Helix as a pseudo-PC kinda flops, but their real goal is to revitalizes Windows as a good OS for gaming, and the Xbox launcher is already tested on Windows 11. This is moreso Microsoft pre-emptively fighting SteamOS, I think, and I believe they have a good shot at that.

-PC will have some growth of course; a little bit from the console audience, but mostly from the other audiences that have been getting into gaming. A lot of PC gaming's growth is from markets where consoles were never super relevant anyways, and I still think that will be the bulk of its growth.

-Nintendo Switch 2 will be the ultimate winner: This is a bit controversial, because in online spaces we are basically told no one buys third party games on the Nintendo's unless it's an indie game, which is mostly true. But considering the stagnation of high power systems, the Switch 2 has enough power to probably play any/most of the next decade's games in 30FPS. Early reports have GTA6 having a 60fps mode on the PS5, and almost any game that can do that will run on the Switch 2 at 30fps with upscaling and be fine. Sometimes it even has superior image quality to the PS5 version, though that's rare. But ultimately, I do not think the Switch 2 will go past $600 (it's still not even raised its price until September as is), and IMO the gap in pricing will stay this way. It'll be the cheapest hardware that will have ports for like all the modern upcoming titles, most indies, and the exclusives.

-Mobile gaming will be the ultimate ultimate winner. It's responsible for most of the growth in the industry anyways (it was almost 50% of gaming revenue in the USA last year, and we're one of the smaller regions for mobile gaming!) and it'll be the most accessible way to game, especially as phones are powerful and more titles made for it have real budgets.

Thank you for reading my TED Talk, and I think Sony is deserving what is coming to them next gen. This post isn't meant to be hate towards PC, I love PC gaming, people on the line are just always way more biased towards it since most hardcore gamers are PC gamers, and they make up most of these kinds of conversations.

I am also biased since I believe the Switch 2 is pretty good, but I think there is solid reasoning behind my argument towards it thriving in the near future.

Edit: I don't think I made it clear that, to be honest, the PS5 is the worst of the offerings of the consoles right now, and that is part of why I think judging it as The Console Experience is not correct. The Xbox Series S plays games like 90% the same with a fine UI, and has extra convenience features the PS5 doesn't. You can stop playing a game to play another, go back and it'll still be at the place you quit last time, for instance. While Xbox Game Pass is expensive, the basic tier is significantly better compared to PS+ which is insanely expensive for what little they offer you. Sony has consistently had the worst backwards compatibility support and Has No Games this gen really. The Switch 2 has tons of exclusives, is the best bang for your buck for a handheld right now, and the online is ultimately really cheap. For the price of comparatively powerful PC handheld options you could buy many many games and pay NSO for several years and it'll still be cheaper, for instance. whereas PS+ costs so much that you will almost always naturally spend the same amount over time.

The PS6 will likely be a much lesser success and I think Sony will have deserved it. The PS5's success was mostly on the goodwill of the PS4 being excellent, and they keep making dumb and bad decisions to the point if someone asked me what hardware to get that isn't a PC it would probably be the third best at best.
 
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Bakugames said:
as a pc gamer, fellow pc gamers have to remember some people will live most of their lives only using their phone and maybe a laptop. and that % will increase until the ai bubble popls and prices for parts arent absurd. if theres a gaming recession, pc is getting its dues first
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This is especially true because a decent laptop can now enable most of the Gamer Lifestyle by itself. My laptop struggles with really massive, resource-intensive games like Elden Ring, but it runs every flavor-of-the-moment indie just fine, and I have the entire world of emulation at my fingertips. Why would I upgrade to a PC, especially in this market, when I'm only interested in two or three of the things such a transition would enable me to play? Even for many of the people who are committed enough to gaming as a hobby/lifestyle/art form/political philosophy/religion that they won't simply stop playing upon the death of consoles, a higher-end PC is just not a very good value proposition, I don't think. It doesn't feel like it for me, at any rate, though I will concede that I'm probably not a representative sample.
 
On its own I think this whole Playstation shitcanning discs thing would've been a nothingburger for general, not terminally online gaming nerd audiences but I guess it's at least somewhat plausible that in conjunction with spiraling RAM prices and general mounting frustration with Sony throughout the PS5 that this is too much to bare and the PS6 wont do well at all

if anyone's curious my plan is to buy a switch 2 lite at some undefined point in the future because i literally NEVER used my switch 1 docked and get all loaded up with some exclusives and an nso subscription for classics
 
My short thought on this is that I’m going to miss physical media. I’m basically just a Switch 2 guy so that’s good at least but I don’t like the trend.

Anyway, came here to see if anyone has played Fuga: Melodies of Steel. The last thing I need is to buy another game that’ll go in the backlog but I’ve heard really good things as a guy that likes TRPGs. Can anyone speak to it?
 
exam season and life kept from finishing Deltarune Chapter 5 for a long while, but I finally got it done yesterday. Some thoughts

I was originally very lukewarm on the chapter as I realized relatively quickly that this chapter would not do a lot of lore drops (though that is questionable now, more on that later), but when I got the feather and realized how unbelievably gas the gameplay is, I got into it 100%. I think its gameplay wise the best chapter yet, combining the climbing mechanics with the feather mechanics made the traversal of the overworld amazing, all the bullet patterns were very well designed and the boss fights were amazingly creative. It also looks gorgeous. And as I allowed myself to get more into whats on offer, I also got much deeper into the story

I thought that Flowery was annoying at first, but when I got into his bossfight, I realized that he was in no way morally below our heroes. He, in a way, follows the same goal and wanted to rather test their resolve through a combination of fair combat, advice and questions to incentivize character development. I also loved how he focused on Ralsei and reflected him somewhat, how he was a foil to Flowey by always doing the best possible action despite understanding his feeble mortality and having no reason to be good in many ways. I think he's no joke my favorite chapter-specific antagonist, and I love Queen and Tenna, but Flowery is just a hero that stands on the other side of things due to circumstances beyond anyone's control. He was always a good big brother to the other flowers and made friends with people who will eventually destroy his world and him. And he did have a ridiculous amount of aura

I also loved how much focus Ralsei got. Chapter 3 focused on Kris a lot, Chapter 4 on Susie, so it makes sense that Ralsei has his time to shine now. Kris being confronted by their traumas in chapter 3, Susie growing through a teacher in chapter 4, and Ralsei becoming more genuine through conflict in chapter 5 were great narrative choices

On the lore, I think its very much like chapter 3, which at first seems very much like a fun break, but when going back to it, you find a great deal of very heavy implications and subtext with a lot of meaning. I am looking at some egg room stuff and at the parallels between the new characters with Undertale, I think the next few weeks/months, there will be found quite a lot. I saw some recent work around the butcher bird and Onion-San, I think there is quite a lot that is to say with this

For now however, I have no idea how to conduct my thoughts on the lore. There was already a lot of questions I had and I have to really spend some time with what is there. I am just very confident about one thing: I think the aborted weird route is a lie from Noelle. I think she realized through the lake scene that there is someone controlling Kris, she already did describe that Kris sounds like their words come from a speaker, and that she is now communicating false statements to the controlling entity (us) by throwing them off her trail, so she can continue her path behind our backs. Just like how she started to do things behind Carol's back in the regular route. I think the chapter 5 aborted weird route will converge with the chapter 7 weird route, and that its just a way for weird route players to get an opportunity to play chapter 5 and 6. I still think that the only real aborted weird route is when you stop it after getting the thorn ring, as you get access to the twisted sword this way. The other abortion points will either lead to mixed results or to the actual weird route with a detour

Finally, this chapter made me very emotional, chapter 3 already got me very emotional at many parts, but the deeply disturbing weird route sequence with Susie trying her hardest to cheer up Kris somewhat, the fucking lake scene with the distortions and the guitar riffs... bone chilling. More disturbing than most horror games I played. Also the scene where the flowers say goodbye, the entire walk home with Susie... I think the ending sequence of chapter 5 put it above Undertale to me officially now

I have no idea what will come now. If I had to guess, I suppose the overworld sequence in chapter 6 will lead to the shelter dark world, which I think is connected to Hometown's sewer system (I believe in cammy's depths theory), and if I really had to guess, chapter 7 may play either during the roaring, or it will play at the bottom of the lake (which is, strangely, the most important location in the game by now). Catti and Jackington will probably get some attention in chapter 6 I think, Catti with her connection with Kris and Jackington being a part of the prophecy and him becoming a goner. Maybe chapter 6 will play in the Holiday residence but idk, I kinda feel like its a bit of a red herring

that's it overall. I will spend the next few weeks with reflecting on this chapter, its subtext and its writing. Chapter 4 is still my favorite chapter, chapter 3 may be a little better than chapter 5 still, but overall, I loved chapter 5 very much
 
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Pragmata, real good or hype?
 
I really love Hollow Knight: Silksong. So much so that I'm making a video on it, and why it is the greatest game ever and a perfect sequel. Or at least that was the plan. I kinda went in way over my head and the scale of the project is overwhelming me as executive disfunction prevents me from sitting down to edit the video. In the event that this video actually never gets out, I want to put out my thoughts on the story somewhere.

Oh boy, where to start.

Hollow Knight is the story of two gods, the Radiance and the Pale King. The primary struggle of the story is between these two gods trying to preserve their kingdoms. The Pale King is what we can consider the protagonist of this retrospective, but the Radiance's position as the antagonist is also of great importance. As the god of dreams and light, this presents a narrative that seems to be the antithesis to most. The dreams of the bugs of Hallownest are enslaving them, and it is these dreams that bring about this worlds downfall.

To save his kingdom, the Pale King has to utilize the antithesis to this hope. To create a being without the will to reach for dreams that would trap the light. As we know, this fails, because the Hollow Knight does develop dreams of its own. Hope is literally what causes the kingdom to fall. The folly of Hallownest being hope is easy to interpret. From this, we get a narrative that seemingly tells us to not hope. To not dream. The Pale King's attempt to save everyone fails. Doom and gloom, yada yada yada.

But is that really what this story means? Let's take a closer look at what the Pale King actually did to save his kingdom. Actually, let's go a step further back. What was his kingdom?

From what we're told, Hallownest was a grand kingdom because of the Pale King. His light elevated the minds of his subjects and was what allowed for society. In other words, the Pale King was his own kingdom, and without him, it would fundamentally not exist. Thus, any attempts to save his kingdom would fundamentally be an attempt to save himself.

Indeed, the Pale King's actions are simultaneously both noble and self-centered. His entire plan to stop the Radiance was to trap it in his offspring. The plan to save his kingdom was the same as the plan for the kingdom itself. Him. The Pale King. The salvation would come from him. Furthermore, his attempts at creating them were to leave them with no personality. Basically just objects without individuality. His children would not be people. And thus, the salvation would come from no one but himself.

Speaking of the Vessels, the role Void plays is also not to be overlooked. Void has a whole bunch of symbology tied to it. It is described literally as regrets, and is compared to a stain left on this world when we die. The exact antithesis to the Radiance and dreams. The Pale King put himself in direct opposition to the hopes and dreams of his subjects, their goals and aspirations. What they wanted and what they wanted to be. All the Pale King wanted them to be was his subjects. Defined by him. And he used the manifestation of regrets for this. Those that didn't have the ability to follow their dreams. Symbolically, his subjects being too weak to be anything but his subjects was how he planned to keep his kingdom alive.

And that was his downfall. To think he was the great man Hallownest needed. He gave himself the burden of the whole kingdom. He was the reason it ran. He was what would save them. He was a higher being in a world of lesser bugs, who would die without them. And so when his plans go to shit, what does he do? He runs away. He tries to save himself. Because, well intentioned or not, the Pale King was a fascist. The great man that made Hallownest possible. Without him, society would crumble. And that was his ultimate folly. To think that one man could make a kingdom last forever.
While never explicitly stated, I believe that the Void was indeed what killed the Pale King. He thought his kingdom could last forever if only he did. If only he was the one with power. If only everyone else were just lesser bugs that could never follow their dreams. What Void represented was integral to Hallownest. And a kingdom held up by those it holds down can never last forever. Void killed the Pale King both figuratively and literally. The Pale King was Hallownest, and Hallownest was built upon the ideals of Void. Ideals that could never hold up a kingdom. Hallownest collapsed upon itself because its foundation, bugs rejecting their nature and dreams, could never last. Hallownest was a world designed to be without hope, and so how could it see to a tomorrow the instant its existence was challenged? Void killed Hallownest by failing to hold it up. And the regrets of fallen bugs that could never accomplish their dreams killed the Pale King.

Did you pick this up when you played Hollow Knight? I didn't. We are told this story from the Pale Kings fallen kingdom, and so naturally the story it tells us is from the Pale King's perspective. And that makes it very easy to see the story of Hallownest and think that what it's saying is that hope is bad, dreams are bad, everything's bad, dream no more and embrace the void. Expect the worst. Don't get attached. And I think that stuck with a lot of people in some way, which we'll get to later. But it stuck with someone else, too. Hornet.

In Hollow Knight, Hornet starts out as another servant of her father's ideals. The attempt to save Hallownest failed, and the idea there could be any hope for change is laughable. The only thing that allows for the slightest bit of relief from the disaster brought by hopes and dreams is the machinations of the Pale King. And she defends this static solution fiercely. After being defeated however, she embraces the slightest possibility of change. She tests a different vessel to see if it has what it takes to be the new linchpin holding the stasis together or strike down the source of dreams altogether. What would this all amount to? Continuing or ending the stasis of an already fallen kingdom. When actually looking at it, Hornet doesn't really change over the course of the game. She might think change is possible, but the same ideals of her father she sees through no matter what. Despite knowing her father a failure, she cannot recognize the flaws in his ideals. The only thing she seems to criticize him and the White Lady for is trying to save the kingdom. She began without hope, and the only hope she ended with was that the hopes that killed this kingdom would die.

I think that Hollow Knight was the perfect storm for pessimism in regards to its sequel. Hollow Knight was such a perfect game. And how could tweaking perfection do anything but ruin it? Sure, Silksong wouldn't be a bad game, but the changes made to it would surely only make it imperfect. Maybe what we have is fine. Maybe don't fix what isn't broken. Maybe we should live in stasis, worshiping this one game, this one story, forever. A lot of this is what I was expecting Silksong to be. A good game, but something that couldn't compare to the mastery of the original. That is what I took away from Hollow Knight. To expect the worst. And I don't want to speak for everyone, but I don't think I was alone. I think some level of pessimism was shared among the Hollow Knight community. Yes, it's time I talk about Silkposting.

Silksong was announced back in February of 2019, and came out over six and a half years later. That's a long time, but I was surprised to learn it was only that long. It felt a lot longer. And what happens to a fandom when it goes so long without change? Brainrot. I don't think I need to explain Silkposting to you. But a certain category of Silkposts contain something of interest. A number of people would pretend that Silksong was already out, and talk about stuff in the game. But for many of these, what they imagined in the game were things that, well, would suck. Is this mostly just a joke? Probably. But I think this is telling of a worry people had on that game. That it would be a disappointment. A failure. That they spent all that time waiting for something that wouldn't hold up.

This long period of nothing after Hollow Knight is something Hornet also went through. Which finally gets us to Silksong. Silksong takes place a very, very long time after Hollow Knight. So, how has Hornet changed in this time? It doesn't seem like she has. Hornet is not painted as a hero. She is motivated by her own self interests and only helps others if she gets something out of it. And looking at this world of faith, she's rather skeptical, even pessimistic. And once again, she isn't the only one.

What did you think when you first came across Sherma? I'll tell you what I thought. This is this game's Myla. Sherma is going to die horribly. And regardless of how well the rest of this applies to most people, I'm sure at least half of you came to the same conclusion. This is how Silksong begins. Both us and Hornet have been primed to expect the worst. And Silksong is about us learning to grow past this.

Silksong has a lot more hope than Hollow Knight did. Let me ask you this. How many times can multiple NPC's be found in Hollow Knight outside of Dirtmouth? Outside of the DLC's, I don't think that happens at all. There's two settlements left standing in the world, and one of them is at first very hostile to your presence. Not exactly what I'd call a safe space. In contrast, Silksong has multiple standing settlements that are open to your presence. Bone Bottom, Fleetopia, Pilgrims Rest, and Halfway Home are all clear havens for travelers and survivors even as Pharloom suffers a similar affliction to Hallownest. This kingdom is suffering a similar fate to Hallownest, but there's much more life here. There's still hope in this kingdom. So then, do you dare to hope and try for the best?

Hornet makes a clear and positive impact upon Pharloom along her quest. The Wish system is named like that for a reason. You aren't just doing a side quest, you are fulfilling the wishes of bugs and rewarding your hope. And one of the only notable sidequests in the last game, the grubs, are replaced by the fleas, who this time can actually talk to you and thank you for helping them. And Bellhart and Songclave are very clear and big ways Hornet is helping Pharloom. You are making a positive impact on the world. You are given reasons to hope. This hope is certainly tested, but not nearly as much as Hollow Knight did with its numerous character deaths. A notable example of course being Sherma, who doesn't die horribly. You are allowed to make true change. And so is Hornet.

Hornet is outwardly quite standoffish and doesn't seem to care about much. She claims she doesn't care about people, but we're given glimpses into how she truly is. It's been said many times, but Hornet's defining attribute is that she is the fakest IDGAFer ever. She practices her aura farming, she writes about her love of fluffy things in her diary, she canonically fucked, etc. She'd claim that time has only hardened her shell, but the bugs of Pharloom were more than capable of getting through it. One of the most powerful examples of this is when she first comes across Bellhart. After she sees the citizens suspended by silk, she does not say anything. She does not react. But wordlessly, her intentions are clear. A new main quest is added. Free Bellhart. No one asked her to do this. There's no indication she'd get anything from it. But that's what she sets her mind to regardless. As the game progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious Hornet is invested in the well being of the bugs of Pharloom. And that comes to a head in Songclave. The Caretaker can be seen as a mirror to Hornet, sharing much of her perceived pessimism, but also clearly invested in the well-being of the pilgrims. And yet the idea of Hornet ending the haunting he doesn't quite take as a good thing, and it soon becomes apparent why.

Hope is a pretty important theme in Silksong, but one of the key aspects of it is a specific type of hope. Faith. Religion is obviously a pretty big focus of Silksong, and what's also quite obvious is that Silksong has quite a few criticisms of it, specifically how religious leaders abuse the faith of their followers. I don't really think I have to say much, the Underworks does the talking for me. A lot of this wasn't even done by Grand Mother Silk, rather the conductors, using the pilgrims to seal away the very center of their worship. That's a metaphor if I've ever seen one. At every turn, Silksong emphasizes how the blind faith of the Pilgrims is punished with death. I'd love to go in depth on Blasted Steps and Sinners Road, which I believe are great finales to Act 1, but this is already getting long enough and I want to keep at least some surprises for the video if I ever finish it.

Hornet appeared to Pharloom as its savior. And so her replacing the Grand Mother as the curse of Pharloom is a culmination of all the perils of hope and faith this game and series seemingly centers itself around. The faith in this savior paid off about as well as the faith in any other God in the series. And once again, the fine details of this matter a lot. We're finally getting to the real meat of Silksong. In the bad ending, Hornet essentially becomes Pharloom's new idol, following in the footsteps of her father. Because what Silksong is really about is Hornet and us learning to discard the philosophy of her father that polluted her view of why Hallownest failed. Which brings us to the antithesis of this.

I wholeheartedly believe that Lace is the best character in fiction. She is such an amazing and layered character that keeping it brief is almost impossible but I'll do my best to not have this entire essay be about Lace even though Lace is basically what Silksong is about. You probably know that Lace mirrors both Hornet and the Vessels, specifically the Hollow Knight, but this is done in so many amazing ways that make this story so great. To start, let's discuss how the creation of Lace mirrors that of the Hollow Knight.

The Pale King wanted followers. In the same way, Grand Mother Silk wanted daughters. So they raised the minds of lesser bugs to create sentient life (the specifics of what happened with the Pale King aren't as clearly cut out as for Grand Mother Silk. I could see the idea that the Pale King just fucking lied about raising the minds of his subjects, but I think that him expanding the minds of his subjects was basically more or less what Grand Mother Silk did to make the Weavers). The bugs of Hallownest's dreams however threatened the rule of the Pale King. Likewise, the Weavers rebelled and usurped the Grand Mother. The Pale King's solution to his problem was to do it right this time. Create a being completely free of free will, exactly what he wanted in his subjects.

And that's also what Grand Mother Silk did to free herself. I subscribe to the belief that one of the reasons Lace was created was to kill the people in the Citadel to silence the song keeping Silk in slumber. In this way, both the Hollow Knight and Lace were ways to regain control of their parents kingdoms. But Lace was also meant to be what her mother had failed to do before. Create a perfect child. And that meant perfect obedience. Not a daughter, but a doll. I don't think either of the Pale Beings properly understood this philosophy, and believed they were doing what a ruler and parent should. But this is the reality of their actions. And of course, both of them were flawed creations with desires of their own. That flaw would ultimately spell the downfall of both as they became the instrument for their demise.

Lace however is a much more complicated character than the Hollow Knight. Like the Hollow Knight, she does want to be what she was made to be, but that is in spite of her hatred for her mother. And somehow, she finds the same outlet for both feelings. Killing Hornet, both to stop her mother from getting her power, and to prove she is better than her. Lace is as much this games Hornet as she is this games Hollow Knight. She too carries an incredibly pessimistic outlook, so much so that she considers Hornet an optimist. Lace is the incarnation of this series' opposition to hope, attempting to keep the world in a horrible stasis rather than consider anything could change.

And that all comes to a head in Act 3, as Lace is directly responsible for the end of Pharloom, darkness consuming everything Hornet has worked for. The very embodiment of death and despair. And what form does the darkness take to mock Hornet? Lace, of course, eager to tell Hornet how she's actually dead. In life and in death, she mocks Hornet at every opportunity, welcoming her to the end. Lace already showed hints of suicidal ideation before, but that's no longer subtext as the literal manifestation of Hornet's regrets tells her to revel in the end. Hornet definitely picked up on how similar Lace's predicament is to the Vessels, as shown in her journal when she specifies "This one, the dark shall not take." and so her death at the hand of Void is the perfect thing to crush her hope, as if Act 3 wasn't filled with enough of them already.

And then we have my favorite boss in any game, Lost Lace. A final duel between Hornet and Lace that is so peak it's incredible. It starts as a one on one duel, before Lost Lace pulls out more shit to overwhelm Hornet. Then, the shadow has a fake-out death just like Lace did before. And in phase 3, it goes absolutely insane, the shadow speeding up to overwhelm you even more. And in phase 4, it pulls out one of 2.5 attacks in the game that do 3 damage.

Something is off. Void is supposed to be without emotions. But it seems almost as if something inside the shadow is trying very, very hard to stop you. This doesn't just seem like Void took the shape of Lace. And indeed, eventually, the truth is revealed, as the darkness peels back to reveal Lace underneath it.

Lace was never dead, and the shadow talking to Hornet wasn't just a manifestation of Hornet's regrets. It was Lace telling her to give up. Regardless of whether or not this was actually Lace or the Void absorbing her personality like with the Collector, Lace's will transcended the void so she could fake her death for the second time and get Hornet to abandon her. The Void does influence, but the Void alone couldn't outright control other bugs. It was the silk. Lost Lace is not the Void controlling Lace's body to fight you. Lost Lace is Lace willingly accepting the Void. But why?

Here's the deal with Lace. She was raised in this failing kingdom and sees fully the flaws in it. And yet she doesn't. Everything she knows is this dystopia, and she cannot understand a world outside of it. This is what the world is to her. All she's ever known is lies and death. And because of it, she sees existence itself as horrible. Lace was given the same circumstances as Hornet, seeing a crumbling kingdom through the perspective of failure given to them by their parents. But while Hornet learns the flaws of her father's philosophy in Silksong, Lace stands as the antithesis to this. There is no other outlook. There is no hope for something else. There is no truth past the lie.

And the idea that a better world is possible scares her. What Hornet is learning, Lace is trying to suppress. Hornet mirrors Lace, and Lace is terrified of seeing hope in that mirror. So she tries to shatter it. At every turn she tries to crush Hornet's hope. Hornet stood in opposition to Ghost because she didn't believe things could change, but Lace stands in opposition to Hornet because she doesn't want things to change.

But despite how hard she fights, there's still a glimmer of hope in her. And she tries everything to erase it. Lost Lace isn't just a fight between Hornet and Lace. It is Lace fighting her reflection. She drowned herself in darkness so that any idea of being an individual with aspirations and a life would end, and it didn't work. Darkness doesn't fight this hard. Lace does. Lace fights harder than almost anyone else to kill herself. To kill the version of herself that hopes despite everything. Despite all the tragedies in Hollow Knight and Silksong, Hornet can still hope for a better tomorrow even as the world crumbles around her. She's learned that a better world is possible, and how it is possible.

Think about what causes the true end. You can't start the Silk and Soul quest until you do a lot to build up the communities of Pharloom. Whereas the bad ending has Hornet take the fate of Pharloom into her own hands, the true ending has Hornet not become its new idol, but work to let the people of Pharloom live on their own. Because that is where the Pale King failed.

A nation built upon a man will at best live until he falls. It is inherently an extension of the self, the people being the cells that composes the body. And a cell that goes beyond its function, and a threat to the body. In other words, monarchies are built upon the leader and the cogs in the machine. Self expression is shunned and shamed, framed as the imperfections to the perfect system. But that isn't the nature of life. Free will and our flaws are parts of who we are, and fascism can't "fix" that. And that is the Pale King's folly. Not that he tried to save his kingdom. But that his kingdom was designed by him to fail. To think that something would be so perfect that it could save a kingdom forever (I'm also talking about the Hollow Knight by the way, I'm not exactly sure how to cleanly slot this in but the Vessels could never contain the Radiance and are representative of the Pale King's flawed mindset). Grand Mother Silk followed in the footsteps of the Pale King almost every step. But the difference between them is that the Pale King died not knowing where he went wrong.

When Lace betrayed her and cast her into the Void, Grand Mother Silk was probably furious. Her own daughter attempted to kill her. She was put in a position where her clinging to life required her to give the darkness a path to destroy her world. And eventually, it would fail, and the darkness would kill her. It was already seeping in. She gazed into the regrets inside her shell, and found herself weak, suspended by her own power. Where had she gone wrong?

I don't know exactly how she found the answer. I also don't know if she originally spun the cocoon to protect Lace or herself at first. And I don't know if Lace said anything to her inside the cocoon. But whatever happened, Grand Mother Silk found that despite Lace's flaws, she loved her. And she would die for her. She would lose everything she had worked for all for her. And judging by her disposition when we found her, I think she did some self-reflecting. Seeing how eager Lace is to end everything she'd given Lace including her own life, she had to stop, and instead of imposing onto Lace her own will, realize how much it hurt to be made without a mind to think, without a will to break, without a voice to cry suffering. Because she had all those. She failed to be the daughter Silk wanted her to be, and pretending to be it was killing her. Lace hadn't failed to be a daughter. Lace failed to be her daughter. It was her who failed to be a mother.

And I believe that in her final moments, she realized what being a mother meant. Not to mold them to your every whim and lord over them forever. Not to make them an extension of yourself. Not to be their entire world, everything they need. But to raise them, nurture them. Help them grow, then watch them grow. Let them grow into their own person. And prepare them so that you can hope that when you aren’t around, they will still stand, they will still grow, and they will still live. That is what Silksong is about. What it truly means to save someone.

I lied when I said Silksong was the perfect sequel. I do think it is the greatest game ever, but Silksong is riddled with flaws, from levels to bosses to the very controls, in ways Hollow Knight wasn't. Hollow Knight was truly a near perfect game. There were, at worst, mediocre parts of the game. Not really any bad parts. Not like Silksong. Silksong is not the perfect game Hollow Knight was. And yet, I think it is so much greater. There's beauty in its imperfections too. Its failures are part of its attempts to be something new. Its painful parts are part of how it says what it has to say. It's tempting to be so obsessed with perfection that you don't fix what isn't broken in fear of ruining things. Sometimes change can be bad. Sometimes it does make things worse. Sometimes our attempts to hope for something greater only hurt us. But if we just accepted what we had and didn't dare to hope for something greater, we wouldn't have gotten a game as incredible as Hollow Knight: Silksong.
 
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i had a big post written here about some games i've been playing recently, but the draft was scattered into the aether some point over the past two days, so summarizing somewhat

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Constance - 6/10 Quite Good
you can look at just about everything in this package and Quite Good is the best you can really give it. the music's probably a bit above that, but the drawn artstyle is no longer unique and dare i say charming (just by itself, not saying it doesn't look good), the combat is not particularly sophisticated, exploration isn't especially rewarding, the "charm" system i didn't find to be compelling, boss design is generally poor with projectile spam run away -> stun -> damage for 1/3 of the boss' HP -> repeat. the game is also very short; i did OK on exploration i think (did no side quests at all but filled in most of the map and got 64% completion) and on my first playthrough without any guides i got the fancy speedrun achievement with over an hour to spare. there's just not a lot to this package IMO.

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Haste - 7/10 Good
running rougelike; outrun the end of the world. it's great in this respect; the going fast feels great, as does the split-second decision making to avoid obstacles and optimize hitting slopes to keep speed, combined with one of the best OSTs i've heart in recent memory. there's more to this than constance (for a similar pricepoint), but there's still not a ton; once you've beaten the ten shards (storyline runs basically), your only real options are endless or replaying shards. the item system is kind of weird because it pads the item pool more towards getting through runs with eg. HP restoration or money engines rather than the fun bit, which is going fast; speed items are surprisingly not that common. the achievements can also fuck off (beat shard 10 with no items, no damage, and only perfect landings, in a game where perfect landings are somewhere between unforgiving and unfinished depending on the stage). the ravine-type generation is also just flat out bad and kills most of my enjoyment running, which hurts because it's annoyingly not uncommon in shard 10.

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Palworld - 8/10 Great
i put about 300 hours into this before 1.0 update and the changes are very noticeable. streamlined crafting systems, using pals for combat and not as just pixels with passives is actually viable (without replacement; full passives is still viable), the floor for optimization has been much lowered with the surgery table and star/IV fruits while still leaving a massive celing for those devoted enough, the multiple new pals and areas they've created are pretty cool, and they've fixed arguably my main criticism of beta versions (late-stage enemies seemingly being balanced around you having done unreasonable amounts of grinding). the progression is still a bit wonky, which normally wouldn't be too big of a concern, but because this is also a survival basecrafting game, you can be stuck for actual hours just waiting for things to happen if you're eg. making materials, at your old crummy crafting facility, in order to build the next one / you need a bunch of expensive ammo for a boss fight / you rushed progression (which isn't exactly a hard thing to do) - this is enough to gaze over in the grand scheme because everything else is very high quality, but it's not enough to completely ignore and docks this maybe 1 point by itself.

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CrossCode - 7.5/10 Good
Akira was mostly responsible for encouraging this purchase. it's a neat game with a cool story, and decent combat and exploration. graphics and sound design are excellent all-around, with some good music in there too (that weirdly sounds quite similar to XY's music). combat offers a fair mix of ranged chip-dealing, spacing management, occasional cooldown management, and melee bursting, and is usually active and engaging.

my main frictions revolve around the gear and levelling system, enough to do a full paragraph rant on. similar to terraria, there is no "upgrading" weapons; you can craft them up sometimes, but almost always they are to be disposed of for something better, which is usually a quest reward or something you have to go around farming materials for. this sucks because of how aggressive the damage scaling on gear and level are, which means this game probably punishes being underlevelled more than anything else i've played; this is aided by the fact that you don't get meaningful i-frames, get no parry (only a deflect that's barely usable without quest reward equipment), and your one max-HP-scaling thing is a hard-to-apply status with a cooldown (on chances to apply mind you). this wouldn't be so bad if the game actually told you that shop equipment is at best weak, and side quests / crafting are basically mandatory (unlike every game ever) to find any sense of enjoyment (because the reward equipment is usually the only half-decent thing available), but it doesn't, so my enjoyment until realizing the above was not very high.

some of the exploration is also a bit whack, since accessing a lot of secluded areas depend on chaining multiple rooms of high-elevation platforming together (often with no easy indicator for where to get high), and some of the dungeon puzzles are just obtuse, but small in comparison to progression.

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there's also forza 6 i guess? i don't know how to rate this. it's fundementally a good racing game but i would not recommend it unless your whole friend group is getting it; even then, it's £60 for an always-online live-service with quite shallow single-player content. there's lots of stuff to do in the menus with choosing different cars and tuning setups, but all of it is absolute nonsense if you don't main this game, and car/tuning is either basically irrelevant in single player or so important in multiplayer that you'll get absolutely bullied if you're not using an optimized setup (ie. copying a youtuber's tune); not exactly riveting design.
this game is not remotely near what i would describe as a sound purchase.
 
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Tea Guzzler said:
Constance - 6/10 Quite Good
you can look at just about everything in this package and Quite Good is the best you can really give it. the music's probably a bit above that, but the drawn artstyle is no longer unique and dare i say charming (just by itself, not saying it doesn't look good), the combat is not particularly sophisticated, exploration isn't especially rewarding, the "charm" system i didn't find to be compelling, boss design is generally poor with projectile spam run away -> stun -> damage for 1/3 of the boss' HP -> repeat. the game is also very short; i did OK on exploration i think (did no side quests at all but filled in most of the map and got 64% completion) and on my first playthrough without any guides i got the fancy speedrun achievement. there's just not a lot to this package IMO.
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this game makes me sad

it was advertised as Hollow Knight (my favorite two games of all time) and Splatoon (my favorite non-Hollow Knight franchise of all-time) and it's Not Good :(

on my own #gaming note:

-I finally got to FE3H which sat in my digital library for years. It's pretty good but also feels very unfinished. It makes me think being able to grind in a tactics RPG is a fucking mistake though, so much of the game is tedium imo.

-In prep for the DLC I've been sucked back into Pokopia. Still a great game.

-Today I started and finished FRLG.ips. There is a new rock in the water. Good
 
ant4456 said:
-Today I started and finished FRLG.ips. There is a new rock in the water. Good
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There is a new rock by the water. very important distinction

the game looks really well made with a bunch of effort put into it and it's made by a trans person, but i'm not particularly interested in those types of games. i'm glad it popped off so hard though.
 
im also play LOZ: majora's mask for N64, its also fire but its a bit hard for me
do you guys have any tips for it to be slightly easier?
 
Did anyone watch the today's direct on Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave? Gameplay looked fun, something of an updated version of Three House's gameplay. Story seems interesting, although I don't think they should've revealed the part 2 time jump, but I'm sure there'll still be surprises in store. Combat arts are back, as is weapon durability. The 4 main protagonists all get signature Blaze Arts that consume health. There also seems to be a time travel aspect to it. I'm personally hoping we can marry off the characters and get them to have children, like Awakening and Fates. That was one of my favourite parts of those games.

Overall really excited, my most anticipated game of the year.
 
Sugarbear said:
Did anyone watch the today's direct on Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave? Gameplay looked fun, something of an updated version of Three House's gameplay. Story seems interesting, although I don't think they should've revealed the part 2 time jump, but I'm sure there'll still be surprises in store. Combat arts are back, as is weapon durability. The 4 main protagonists all get signature Blaze Arts that consume health. There also seems to be a time travel aspect to it. I'm personally hoping we can marry off the characters and get them to have children, like Awakening and Fates. That was one of my favourite parts of those games.

Overall really excited, my most anticipated game of the year.
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there was a direct D:
I bet cdot made a video on it
 
I did watch the direct! Agree that the timeskip thing would’ve probably been better left a surprise but hey, it’s intriguing at the least. It’s only a five year skip though so I don’t think there will be marriage/children like some previous games, but I could be wrong, who knows. Seems like there’s going to be a lot of available content which is great, especially with the return of dungeons like in Shadows of Valentia.

Overall it’s Fire Emblem, so I see it, I buy it, I play it. But I do have very high hopes too!
 
Played Donkey Kong Country last week on my Steam Deck, along with these games (Shorten the text for the sake of the thread):
PKMNSyndicate said:
Play a few Mario fan games last week
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TLDR, Luigi mansion, Mario 2Dyssey and Odyssey (Ch1) lagged a lot, shame. The others played perfect on the steam deck. I uhhhhhhh also got co-op working for the GBA in big picture mode for the steam deck. Afterplay is still being worked on for multiplayer but No$GBA works. You install via Lutris via Desktop (I FORGOT TO UPLOAD THE RECORDING BEFORE DELETING IT), modify the controls and other options and save options (DO NOT ADD MORE EMULATED GAMEBOYS, IT WILL CRASH). Create a desktop shortcut. Add that shortcut to Steam. Boot back into big picture and modify the controls to match new controls, Modify the bottom right stick as a mouse with left click, also add a shortcut to load a file and to open emulation options. Then boom, you have this timestamp at 41:27. I also played Donkey Kong.
 
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