In case you're wanting to get info outside of Kabong (obviously he's very informed) but I'm in Facebook groups (I'm sure reddit has discussion for them too) that people will discuss stuff like that. There's emulation and buy sell groups that allow discussions and I've seen it posted about.

Thanks, killer. Right now I’m kinda having fun hunting down individual carts, but I do think I’ll pick up an Everdrive/emulator eventually.

Today’s haul:

I finished Demon's Souls on PS3. Great game and it's no wonder it's been so influential on game design since. No hand holding, non-linear, heavy exploration, great characters and story, good gameplay and I like the original take on what is essentially a post-apocalyptic setting. The way that the item descriptions, dialogue, monster and level designs, etc. told much of the story in an organic and subtle way is brilliant. It took the best of old school game design and for the most part minimized the negatives. The multiplayer system of seeing other people's ghosts and bloodstains and messages was original and cool too. The selective multiplayer aspects of it were done well.

The main negative isn't that it's difficult, but that it's very repetitive. Fighting a boss multiple times isn't that bad, but it's annoying to spend all that time getting through the level. Like if I have a 33% chance of beating the boss when I get there, but only a 50% chance of getting to the boss then it means it could take me 6 or 7 times to beat it. World tendency is also a cool idea but not executed well. It would've been cool to have them try to fix it for the sequels. And I didn't bother with PvP, despite playing on the fan PS3 server. NG+ seems pointless when you can theoretically get all the items and quests in a single playthrough. Repetition was my main negative about the game so playing the exact same thing again but all the numbers are bigger (enemies have more HP, do more damage, etc) is not attractive to me at all. Also, the ending is abrupt. They put so much effort into the lore and characters that I would've like to have a more detailed ending. It felt rushed and lacking detail, which contrasted with all other aspects of the story.

The replay might be needed for people who go for the platinum. Don’t remember, but maybe it was difficult to get both pure tendencies during a single play through, which trigger some extra events, maybe it was just dialogue. Also there is a second ending, which you can of course just find in YouTube.

I think you need 3 or 4 replays for platinum. Going by memory here.

Actually there are a few items/spells you can't get on the first playthrough. And getting both pure white and black world tendency on one playthrough requires a lot of manipulation. I'm just a bit burned out on the game after playing it and have no desire to do it all over again. NG+ is a nice feature though for people who do want to keep playing.

Another great thing about the game is the bosses. Nice variety of puzzle/gimmick bosses and bosses that put up a regular, but tough fight.

Yeah, the OG soulsborne games didn't really have a crystal clear story/lore, it was more woven into the people you talk to etc. But that's understandable and as the games progressed they got a bit better about not making you trek as far like Demon Souls (I've played every game except Demon; I own it on ps3 but haven't played yet). You'd prob really like Sekiro fwiw. It's the best of them all and the story is MUCH more clear.

Does No Mercy still hold up?

No spoilers, but does Dark Souls have a story? I played it a while ago and watched a video of the start of it on youtube recently. You are an undead guy, you wake up in an undead prison and some guy lets you out and tells you to ring a bell. Then you travel to Lordran and another guy says, "actually it's 2 bells."

Um, so what am I doing here? Why am I ringing bells? Why do I care? With Demon's Souls you get a clear picture of the story (Allant woke up the Old One, unleashed the Demons and your guy entered the fissure to do something about it), but I remember having played Dark Souls for 10 or 15 hours last time, I never really knew what was going on.

As a video game player, I enjoy killing monsters and exploring. But why does my in game character care? In Demon's Souls there were plenty of NPCs which gave context to the story and motivated you to go on. But I remember there were few NPCs in Dark Souls, none of whom I really cared about. The intro of Dark Souls talks about an ancient war with dragons and from my partial playthrough, I can't remember any connection between the intro and the game itself.

And is there a narrative reason why Dark Souls uses the "souls" system? In Demon's Souls it's explained that the awakening of the Old One and the re-emergence of the soul arts created the souls system, with Demons who want them and humans who can use them as well. And the Maiden in Black can use her powers to strengthen your character.

So there is a ludo-narrative reason for the "souls" system in Demon's Souls. It's one of the brilliant parts of it. In Dark Souls, it just seems like they said "Well, we came up with this great gameplay system last time so no point in reinventing the wheel."

There isn't really a story, i believe the only real premise of why you are doing stuff is that the undead slowly but inevitably "go hollow" over time and you are trying to not let that happen.

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I guess you have to piece together everything that happens through item descriptions, dialogue, level design, enemy placements, boss design, etc.?

That's why Demon's Souls hooked me much more than Dark Souls. Another game with great ludo-narrative consonance is Bioshock. That one hooked me too.

It's funny because it's one of the things I loved about Dark Souls. Completely gameplay focused. The lore is there but hidden in flavourful text, etc. Reminds me of the back in the day where you are dumped off in a beautiful expansive game world with no more motive needed than "go save the princess".

If you are a lore guy however, go ask the same question on /r/DarkSouls and you'll likely get an essay written back.

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I don't want everything to be spoon fed to me. But at least a little bit of a motivation is good to have.

In Zelda 1, you're told that Ganon kidnapped Zelda and she broke up the triforce. Okay so my quest is to get the triforce and rescue Zelda.

In Ultima IV, you're told to become an Avatar and become a example of virtue to the world. Okay I don't exactly know how to do that but I have a goal and motivation.

In Demon's Souls, Allant awakened the Old One and unleashed demons and the fog. You go in to save the world or to get the power of the souls (you decide).

In Dark Souls, you're told that there was an ancient Dragon war and you are a "chosen undead" and to ring 2 bells. Huh? Who am I? Why am I here? Why do I want to listen to this random guy? Throw me a frickin bone here! LOL. There is a difference between a barebones story and no story and Dark Souls feels more like the latter.

Well I'm looking forward to playing it. Maybe it'll hook me once I start getting all the lore and story breadcrumbs.

Absolutely! I’m honestly surprised at how much they managed to cram into this game. Create a wrestler, branching storylines for every championship mode, create your own PPV, shitloads of unlockables, ridiculous number of wrestlers, instant replays, all the match types, ability to go to the dressing rooms/locker rooms/lounge, lengthy move sets. Whew!

Having a blast, already getting a blister.

So the main selling point is obviously the fantastic gameplay, but there is definitely a story waiting for you to uncover it. It is hidden in dialogue with the npcs and item descriptions, but it’s there. Also when talking with npcs, exhaust their dialogue every time, meaning after the conversation seems to be over talk to them again until the dialogue starts repeating. If I remember correctly, they might not move to new locations if you don’t. Try to find Solaire at every location at least.

There’s plenty of videos in YouTube explaining the lore, but they might contain spoilers for the whole trilogy as the story continues throughout them. When I played the game first, I didn’t read any of the items and missed most npcs, then after I finished I happened to found some videos by VaatiVidya and after I watched those I remember thinking “wait, all of this was in the game, how did I miss all of it?”.

All the Dark Souls games are linked? That's interesting.

The Dark Souls games have lots of lore but little story. The two are not the same thing.

Will not be able to come close to doing it justice in this write up, but if you are looking a for a very chill game to play, I can't recommend Spritfarer enough.

It is very hard to describe, but i guess you could say it's a very low-pressure city builder.

The premise is you ferry souls to the underworld, but not before you complete quests on their behalf to ease their way into the afterlife. Only about 1/3 through the game, but it is such a beautifully written game that I have already literally cried over a few of the early storylines.

Hopefully some people who have played it can do this game more justice than I have in this post.

I tried Spiritfarer briefly when I was trying the MS Game Pass. Did not like it, just felt boring mostly. I definitely didn't get far enough to get much story exposition though, it just felt (early on) like a game where I wait for my boat to go places, wasn't really clear what the "game" part was.

Enjoyed Spiritfarer for a while but I ran into the Sawmill bug (which was never fixed afaik) and made it impossible to continue.

Waited for a few weeks to see if it got fixed but uninstalled it and don't think I'll go back to it now even if it is fixed. I think it only happens on the game pass version (at least everyone I've seen report it have been on that version) so getting it from Steam would be an option, but I didn't love it that much.

I didn't know there was an everdrive for N64.

I have an SD2SNES flashcart for snes.

This is a beautiful game. My wife loved it and I had a great time watching along

Just picked up a used Wii U with the game pad and 7 games for $140.

It is in great condition. Haven’t owned a console since Wii and that stopping playing discs over a year ago so I had a huge Wii library I couldn’t play. Also my 7 year old daughter is getting into video games so we are pretty excited.

System is in great condition, very happy with the purchase.

Devastated at this, as is the whole Tetris community, he was only my age, I think it's fair to say that without Jonas we wouldn't have a competitive scene at all. Still can't believe it.

That's really unfortunate.