zephie's game journals
i guess this'll double as my "i just got a PS5" journal. i wanted to keep playing Stranger of Paradise but there was much chaos involved in running the version i'd pirated on my PC, and the sticks on my controller were busted so i needed another one of those. when i determined i'd probably need to actually buy the game to continue, i found out i could get it on PS5 secondhand for less than half the price. "why not" - me, ignoring the many reasons as to why not
i hate this all-digital hell future! beside the fact that physically having things is just nice, i want to actually own the games i buy, with the option to sell them later on. plus they're usually cheaper than digital versions, and there's no chance GameCorp will suddenly say hmm, no you don't have that anymore (as has happened with a past Steam account of mine). and i don't have to continue giving Sony money! i'm sad physical is being phased out!!
i forgot PlayStation came out with its own digital library subscription thing. i reaffirm to myself my devotion to discs as i scroll through what they have available and get a lil itchy. then i remember it's like, a pretend discount. "$15/month for all the games you could want!" ok but. i'm gonna play one or two of those games a month, max. and then you'll probably take it away before i'm done with it and i'll end up having to buy it anyway. and the very extremely real (for me) paradox of choice? all that plus the reasons i prefer physical makes not paying for PlayStation Plus an easy decision
now here i am playing this tech demo robot game that snuck its way onto my system before i could even turn it on. i remembered there was an Astro Bot game that came out on PS4 that also seemed tech demo-y but everyone said was actually crazy good. so here's hoping this ends up at all warranting its own page on my website despite having "playroom" in the title
i wasn't even thinkin about what da DualSense could do i just needed a new pad... i know this thing is three years old now so is it lame if i'm constantly going whoaa Whooaaa!!! sorry i haven't played a station in years and the PC games i play don't have these gimmicks. no i'm cool i'm totally used to this, yeahh it's the future and this is normal to me.. I've definitely seen graphics like these before and i'm NOT scared of technology
through pretty much the whole thing the controller is going absolutely wacky, positively bonkers with the 3D rumblage, which is good because for a while it made me not realize how stiff and creaky the left stick is on this thing. i thought it was some ultra next gen haptic feedback 1 million future experience, but it just turned out to be shoddy plastic. made me almost wanna put it down until at least tomorrow so i can go to a hardware store for some safe lubricant or something, out of worry that continuing will only further wear it down - or worse, cause me to have a shameful imprecise gaming moment..
on one hand, i'm playing The PlayStation Game which at every corner is saying to me "remember PlayStation?" and that's lame. on the other hand, the game is very fun and i DO remember PlayStation, and i am unfortunately finding it cute and neat when there's a part of the menu that's styled like the PS1 BIOS menu. Sony Corporation wins this round but one day i will take them down
was so close to having "Pain!" be the first trophy on my PS account
i think the PS achievement system is the only system-level one i've ever been somewhat interested in, probably because of the platinum tier. Xbox had an arbitrary number and Steam has them just kinda there. i've definitely felt the push to carry on with a game if i had just a few trophies left. maybe that's bad for my OCD. whatever it goes ding and numbers go up that's gaming baby
man does this game's title do it a disservice!! what i thought would be a dinky virtual playroom is actually one of the best 3D platformers i've played in a long time. it's kind of the perfect pack-in game? serving as a brand showcase makes a lot of the reliance on the nostalgia factor more forgivable, and to an extent the references to other games i guess whatever. i'm less impressed by "this robot is dressed like Crash Bandicoot haha", especially when he's now a microsoft character. but show me the PlayStation Home logo and i'll get a good laugh, though probably not for intended reasons
the GPU song that plays in the jungle world is currently entrenched in the deepest depths of my brain and i would prefer it leave. it's a grating roboticized voice singing about how hard it works to render things for me because it loves me so much. but then partway through the level it finally shows the giant computer face that's singing it and i guess i love it too
i did keep thinking to myself "it's crazy how polished this is for a free pack-in game" then realizing that's probably the point; literally everyone with a PS5 is going to own* this game so why wouldn't they go all-out. all the little details and interactivity with the environments is wild. i started to not care that "look there's robot Snake in a cardboard box" was a shallow easter egg because i could attack him and he'd have a funny little box animation
i had a great time with this game!!! in keeping with the spirit of it i went and got da platinum trophy. i can't help but feel i've set myself up for disappointment knowing that every PS5 game will not be exactly like this (they should). it reminded me of when i first got a PS3 and LittleBigPlanet and just the same pure fun and wonder i felt as a New World of Gaming was opened up to me.... Power to the Player's. this has been my review of play station
