I started working at a high school in March and I would guess 70 percent of the kids wear them. They put pins on them and stuff. They’re very popular.

I’m just past the point where this visual change happens. I think it says I’m, like, 68 percent of the way through. I’m bailing on the game. I really, really wanted to like it, but it’s just not what I wanted.

Last night, I started Octopath Traveler 2 and I can already tell I’m going to have a better time. I should…

Yeah, I get that it’s gambling and it’s also a shit option, but I’ll take loot boxes over a battle pass any day of the week.

They have a survival MMO/RPG thingy in the works. Could be interesting, but not if current monetization trends are an indicator of how it’s gonna make money.

Oh, fair. I could have sworn I read something about Hotline Miami. Maybe I just saw the title in passing and associated them.

I think, personally, it’s the exclamation point that makes it seem like you’re joking. If I had to guess. Because I also couldn’t tell, haha.

Maybe it was a reference/homage/etc. John Wick 4 had the Hotline Miami scene and it was awesome. I don’t really see the problem.

Edit: Obviously the John Wick scene wasn’t, like, a shot-for-shot scene from Hotline Miami. So I guess that’s the difference. But still. In 120 years of cinema, it doesn’t bother me that…

Hell yeah.

I mean, or they can just sell rechargeable, replaceable batteries. It’s about being able to open the battery port yourself, not about the kind of battery.

Isn’t it beneficial for games to be multiplatform anyway? Microsoft will make more money by letting millions of people buy their game on Playstations anyway, won’t they?

Anyway, still fuck corporate consolidation.

I mean, we’re post Snyder era, aren’t we?

A few old Kotaku writers are at Polygon, and that site is alright. I’d go there more often, but muscle memory brings me here.

Crazy, man. I think I’ve been reading since late 2007 or early 2008. The last of the old guard. It’s not gonna be the same without you. Hope you’re moving on to new, great things.

That team photo is nuts. I think the best years really were from like 2010ish to 2016ish? No shade to everyone before and/or after. You’re…

Yeah, also, I think people rag on the voice acting, and people confuse that ragging with disdain for the laughing scene. No, I get the laughing scene. It’s all the other voice acting that’s weird and stilted.

Kids buy stuff on their own, too. And some parents probably either don’t know or don’t care, when their kids ask for it.

Or, like, put less caffeine in it.

Yeah, I don’t mind Clive. I think his acting is good. But he’s not that great of a lead guy. He’s like everything everyone bitches about in a lot of Batman stuff. He’s like gruff, speaks really low, kinda sullen. I dunno. He’s fine. I wish the cast was a little more exciting. Jill is cool. Love Torgal.

I don’t want to be ten years older, but I am very interested to see what the conversation around this game is like in ten years.

Eh, I just replayed it last year. Feels like it’s too soon.

I just got to the part of the story where




———————-SPOILER————————




Cid’s daughter comes to the “hideaway” and she’s the first character to really bring much levity into the game. Not that there’s absolutely none in the first half, but it’s... sparse.