Dark Souls thoughts.

https://www.disposablemedia.co.uk/2025/07/lttp-dark-souls-remastered/

I finished Dark Souls Remastered last night! (Well, it was already past 12am "today" when the credits were rolling...)

I had tried DS1 a couple of times on 360 and it never clicked, but I had more success this time around. Some fun bosses, locations and gear - but some bits were a bit tedious and I also made some "backup" saves just in case I ended up in a softlock situation or suffered PC hacker invasion shenanigans.

It was better than 2, but I think I liked 3 and BB more.

Somehow we went from web 2.0 and an infinite canvas of user-generated content, to people evangelising a future shaped by machine prompts and approximations. From individuals having a sense of pride in their daft little uploads, to a personality void making guesses about what people want to see.

Prompt-driven output does have benefits in very specific use cases, but in the creative space it's oblivious to the appeal of individuality and expression that drives the creativity in the first place.

60% off was my breaking point for Double Dragon Gaiden in the Steam sale, after having it wishlisted for months. And I was able to get the Peggle pack - Deluxe and Nights - with the change (I found myself randomly getting into the PSP version recently, so I felt like I needed to get a "proper" version.)

I probably won't get into either of them immediately, but I can sense there being a bit of a drought in my gaming time later this year, so this will help...

On Sunday evening I finished my first playthrough of Earthbound! I had made a few attempts to play this in the past but a brutal opening combined with slightly obtuse paths to progress was offputting.

I did still resort to googling when I was totally stumped, but I got around the combat difficulty by grinding everything into the instant-kill threshold. I really liked the humour and characters but it definitely felt like a game designed to sell player guides. I'm glad I've experienced it though.

Some "retro" games for your consideration...

cc @deKay

Worst-kept secret "Persona 4 Revival" was confirmed during today's Xbox Showcase. I feel like the game was less in need of a redo than P3 (because Golden's gameplay holds up whilst Portable, uh, didn't) but I can't complain.

No release date though. Thanks.

Currently juggling time between two JRPGs:

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024) - I still think that this is up there with Persona 4 Golden as one of the few games that's as much of a joy to play. It's fleshed out without feeling bloated, consistently entertaining, and less difficulty spike-y than part 7.

Earthbound (1994) - I can't promise that I won't give up on it again, but I'm giving it another go. The difficulty curve is all over the place; even in Onett you can die easily...

In a bid to balance my Equilibrium and Swordfish purchases that I posted about earlier, I watched Wanted (2008) for the first time yesterday evening, and I don't know how I dodged this for so long.

Naïve average office man gets swept up in a group of cool assassins and they have various shooty adventures. Quite bloody, very slick, and not much regard for realistic laws of physics - it's a lot of fun. Like, "what if a director had some talented actors but also loved the Killer Bean animations."