Ryan

Feel like this is ‘too little too late’ since everyone can so easily emulate these games on their phones now.

Still cool, I guess, but then also annoying these won’t be part of the GameBoy Advance Collection with the Switch Online subscription.

Nintendo’s gonna Nintendo. 🤷🏻

The full game plays pretty identically to the demo!

It just gets more demanding of mechanics and whatnot as you go.

70th Platinum Trophy btw

My three favorite Zelda games, in no particular order:

- Ocarina of Time

- A Link Between Worlds

- A Link to the Past

Nioh 3

✅ One of the best combat systems in gaming
✅ Strong level design
✅ Every weapon has significant depth
✅ Thrilling boss encounters

❌ Story is nonsense and boring
❌ First dozen or so hours are poorly paced
❌ Open world design has some diminishing returns

8.5 / 10

Hope you enjoy!

I bought my brother a Dreamcast *and* Chu Chu Rocket for Christmas this past year! Was a blast watching him play it. Lots of nostalgia.

I’m liking it a lot! I don’t like it as much as Nioh 2, personally, but it’s still pretty great.

I’m in, what I believe to be, the game’s final map/era. Just fought cat mommy Kasha and it reminded me of how fond I am of her boss design!

This looks so much better than I imagined. Can’t wait to play it sometime.

I feel like they maybe made the entire open world of the first area *too* welcoming for newcomers. It’s like they removed all friction for a massive part of the game solely to help with onboarding.

Even now, it’s still much easier than Nioh 2. But it’s to a more acceptable degree for me.

Things did in fact change! Near the end of the first era, the difficulty ramped up quite a bit and it’s maintained that pace into the second era.

I’m intentionally keeping myself underleveled a bit. But I’m having a much better time now in Nioh 3!

I’ve been playing 90% Samurai as I like ki pulsing, so it’s true in my experience for Samurai.

I’ve heard Ninja makes things even easier, but I don’t play it enough to know. I really just use it for magic on enemies at a distance.

I’m still early in the game. Things could change as I get further into it. But I’ve died a total of 1 time in about 8 or so hours of play past the demo.

That’s absurd for this series.

Despite those major issues, Nioh 3 is a good game. Maybe even a great game. The level design is strong. The open world is seamless. The combat system is as impressive and elaborate as ever.

But it feels like the thing that made Nioh *special*, for me, is working against it this time around.

It’s frustrating. Nioh 2 nailed the difficulty balance so perfectly. The hope was for Nioh 3 to do the same, but in an open world. Like Elden Ring.

But Elden Ring did a significantly better job at keeping friction despite how far off you went on side paths. Nioh 3 fails at this spectacularly.

Even if you aren’t overleveled, most of the enemy encounters feel lackluster. Enemy attacks that used to take 3/4ths of your health bar in Nioh 2 now do less than a fifth of it in Nioh 3.

There’s a dramatic lack of tension and friction.

Nioh 3 has such a massive problem with its difficulty and progression pacing. These issues go in tandem, but are also troublesome independently.

If you go off the beaten path *at all* you’re gonna get overleveled. Which is a problem as it makes the enemy encounters trivial.

That was certainly a Partner Direct.

I’m expecting it to be like, 90% third-party ports of games released 3+ years ago on other platforms lol.

After playing like, 3 hours of the demo, I’m really worried about Nioh 3’s lack of difficulty.

Not all games need to be hard, but difficulty is part of Nioh’s DNA and what makes it special for me.

This demo has been *extremely* easy compared to the opening hours of Nioh 2.

Gonna drop Sly 2: Band of Thieves.

I was using it as my ‘game to play before Nioh 3’, but I’m just not vibing with it and don’t have the motivation to finish it before Nioh 3 launches.

New marriage candidates *and* children are going to be “more interesting”.

Excited to finally start up a new farm when 1.7 releases!

Arguably a top 10 game of all-time for me!

why can’t people just be real and normal

a man wearing glasses is looking at a laptop computer . ALT: a man wearing glasses is looking at a laptop computer .

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

✅ Hawaii is a great new location
✅ Side content is engaging
✅ Refined turn-based combat system
✅ Really special Kiryu content for longtime Yakuza fans

❌ Storytelling is very sloppy
❌ Some significant pacing issues

8 / 10

I *think* I’m nearing the end and I’m getting that same feeling! Hopefully the next mainline entry for the series isn’t too far away.

two men are standing next to each other in front of a red light . ALT: two men are standing next to each other in front of a red light .

I was a bit mixed early on in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but I’ve been loving it more as it goes.

The Kiryu content is especially great as someone who has played the entire series.

Overall, it feels a bit bloated and pacing can be all over the place. But it hits hard in a lot of areas too.

This game is so good and weird. One of my all-time favorites.

Hope you enjoy it!

Giving Fable an “Autumn 2026” release window is interesting.

I assume it’s tentative and depends a lot on whatever GTA VI ends up doing.

Fable looks incredible.

And on PlayStation day one.

Can’t wait.