Quetzalcutlass

Super Nintendo:

• Megaman X. I was never a fan of classic Megaman, but the faster, more action-oriented sequel/spinoff X series rates amongst my favorites. It has tight controls, good music, varied stages, and memorable bosses and combat encounters. I must have beaten the first game dozens of times over the years.
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It and Link's Awakening on the Game Boy were so close to perfect that decades later they're still the basis of comparison for any new 2D Zelda-like.

PC:

• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. it was the game that introduced Bioware's trademark party banter and focus on interesting and likeable characters. The systems are a little rough but it still mostly holds up. Though it's been a while since my last playthrough, and I usually stop once I hit the Underdark and the open world structure constricts for a few hours.

The motion capture excuse would also hold more water if they didn't go for an actor only two years younger than David Hayter.

He wanted out for a long time, IIRC as early as MGS 2. 4 was originally planned to end with Snake and Otacon being captured and executed for terrorism to put the final nail in the franchise's coffin, with Kojima only dropping the idea after his entire writing staff protested.

I think you hit the nail on the head with his dissatisfaction being why 5 felt so different. It barely feels like a Metal Gear game even if the stealth is at its all-time best, but you can definitely see some proto-Death Stranding DNA in it in retrospect. He was clearly experimenting with new gameplay ideas, which might explain why the game went so far over budget and ended up unfinished.

You need to hold the PS button and select (I'll never stop calling it that) until the LED starts flashing, then it'll be in pairing mode.

You can buy phone mounts for PlayStation controllers. It'd definitely be cheaper than a whole new controller.

It looks like the game that changed its dailies was Star Rail, not Genshin Impact. Which makes sense: I remember seeing the change in-game but I haven't played Genshin since around the time of that event in Enk... whatever the underground area is called.

I'm trying to find good articles about it but internet search is abysmal these days, especially for news outside the anglosphere. I did find a forum thread about the Star Rail change as well as a Reddit comment translating and explaining the proposed law though.

The TL;DR of it all seems to be that some time around December 2023, new restrictions were proposed affecting gacha games to curb addicting behavior. The news caused stock prices for affected Chinese companies to plummet, and the person who proposed the law was quickly removed from his position and the proposal dropped.

That's good to know, thanks! It still ran fine with mods before, it was just the initial load to the main menu that was affected. If you didn't experience anything then hopefully it was fixed.

I do, but I also know he'd been trying to get rid of Hayter for a while by then even though he was the voice of Snake, so the excuse rings hollow.

Remember when he got rid of David Hayter, the iconic long-time voice actor of Snake, main character of his most popular series, just so he could replace him with some Hollywood actor doing a generic gruff guy impression? Then said actor ended up being so expensive that there was barely any dialogue... in a Metal Gear game?

Charlie was my first crush and I'd still let him wreck me

Instance checks out? Though that result is better than being scarred for life by ADGTH* like so many other children were.

• This can be replaced with any other Don Bluth film.

Andor falls into the same category as Knights of the Old Republic 2: it's amongst the best Star Wars despite (or rather because of) it not being very Star Wars-y.

Much like KOTOR 2 deconstructed Jedi, the Force, and their roles in the universe, Andor deconstructs and elaborates on how the universe would work as shown: instead of waving everything away into the background to focus on a Chosen One with space magic, you get to see how normal people live in a messed up universe like that. It's also depressingly relevant with its focus on the slide into an authoritarian regime and how people respond and adapt.

If you go in expecting the normal black-and-white power fantasy you'll probably be disappointed, but if you're looking for a masterful character-driven drama with morally gray protagonists and antagonists then you'll be riveted.

(Another thing both have in common is the beginning can be a bit of a slog - try to make it past episode 3 before calling it quits.)

You can't just share a story like that and not say how it ended. I'm invested now!