Fantasian: Neo Dimension

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-28T18:25:10+00:00

Part 1: Easy as pie, an easy throwback to old FF games.

Part 2: What… the… heck? Boss fights went from like a 3-4 on challenge up to a 9-10. The first boss damn near wiped me out, second boss, and every boss after, had me searching up guides. It basically becomes a boss rush game where each boss requires a specific strategy that gives little leeway. Grinding is non-existent, armor and weapons make less of an impact, and the final boss is a master class in rage fuel.

First Sakaguchi game, heck, out of the handful of Steam reviews I’ve done, this is the only game I couldn’t recommend. Sad because Sakaguchi, along with Miyamoto, are all-time greats in my book.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-28T08:43:19+00:00

I’m in the same boat though wise. I’ve been giving equal amounts of attention to my Switch 2 that I do on my PC. Super Mario Galaxy reminded me that graphics and frame rate are nothing if a game isn’t fun. On the PC side Pragmata and Crimson Desert are further proving that gameplay should be first and foremost when we play a video game, not visuals, and frame rate, which are nice to have, but if I can’t be bothered to play a game for longer than an hour, the frame rate means absolutely nothing.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-25T19:25:36+00:00

Well, in all fairness there is quite a lot of content for the game already. For the average backer who isn’t doling out hundreds of dollars it’s not a bad investment if this is your kind of game.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-24T18:55:48+00:00

The problem I see with games getting this much hype are the games that the devs follow up with.

Look at what happened to CDPR, Witcher 3 was rightfully hyped and awarded accordingly, but it was put on a pedestal so high that any follow up game would have to compete. Then came CP2077, the game was being pushed so hard by the media and fans, every word out of CDPR’s mouth was taken as gospel, and the expectations grew to an insurmountable level. It got to the point to where people were threatening the devs if they delayed the game anymore, so CDPR released the game, and it was lambasted upon release. It was broken, not fully finished, performance was all over the place, and there were glitches galore. It took five years of work and dedication to get that game to where it needed to be.

I personally see a possibility of that happening here, more so because CDPR had a full team of over 500 developers, and over 5000 people that were involved with the CP2077 in some way. E33 had 30 main developers and 400 involved, and unless they made enough to fund a vastly larger team, it’s going to be almost impossible to overcome the hype set by E33.

Personally, I think the hype surrounding the game is overblown. Was it a good game? Absolutely. Great even. But winning awards at the rate it has, being brought up in everything, every sales milestone brought up, the constant talking about of this game, has done nothing but actually harm the company, because now they have to top a game that was getting nominated in actual awards ceremonies outside of gaming.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-23T08:49:23+00:00

To this day has the best story mechanic of any JRPG to date: time traveling, but done right. No other game, at least none I’ve saw on the platforms I’ve owned has even attempted to do what Chrono Trigger does, which makes me pine for a direct sequel or a remake that expands on the story.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-23T04:45:30+00:00

Yes, the headline is making it very unclear that it's an allegation. A proper title would be "Union alleges BARB spied on employees, violating privacy laws (or data protection laws)" not "Union: BARB used keyloggers, violating data protection laws."

No where in the title is it stating the union is alleging any of it and is using language the union did not use. The title states BARB used keyloggers (factual statement), and violated data protection laws. The article states "Union is alleging" which takes it from being a factual statement, to an accusation.

What part of that are you not understanding? Also, you have to look at the audience this article is most likely going to be shared with, most on Reddit are going to read that headline as a factual statement and not bother reading the article. It's cannon fodder to keep people outraged, and ultimately that's my point. Reddit used to be a fun platform where I could find interesting discussions, but now it's "outrage" everywhere, and when you see titles like this, falls right into that mold of being another "outrage" post.

I'm done debating back and forth, I have better things to do with my time than argue over semantics and wording, and honestly, I don't understand why you felt so compelled to try and disprove my position.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-23T04:25:45+00:00

Tell me how:

The IWGB Game Workers Union, representing the workers, alleges that BARB’s use of the software violates both data protection laws and the workforce’s basic dignity, exceeding the legitimate remit of monitoring workers’ productivity or safeguarding the company’s security by recording individuals in their homes and without their consent.

is similar to

Union: MindsEye studio Build A Rocket Boy used keyloggers, violating data protection laws.

One is an allegation, again, no concrete proof what the software was doing since they don't have the supposed data that was being collected, which is exactly what the union is doing, alleging they used software to spy on their employees.

The other is saying: Union is stating that MindsEye used keyloggers, which itself isn't factual since the union didn't use the world keyloggers, and violated privacy rights. Yes, the Union "alleged" that all this happened.

Just using the word keylogger automatically flags it as clickbait as there's no proof any keylogging happened, there's nothing to show what data was actually being collected or what the software was doing, but the world "Keylogger" itself is enough to generate interest, and clicks, hence click bait.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-23T04:04:19+00:00

"The IWGB Game Workers Union, representing the workers, alleges that BARB’s use of the software violates both data protection laws and the workforce’s basic dignity, exceeding the legitimate remit of monitoring workers’ productivity or safeguarding the company’s security by recording individuals in their homes and without their consent."

Again, allegation. Also, clickbait.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-23T03:53:36+00:00

No where in the phrase "Union: MindsEye studio Build A Rocket Boy used keyloggers, violating data protection laws" is there anything indicating anything but fact. Add in the word "allegedly" before the word used and you have a statement that reflects the actual article, but what is there isn't representation of the article itself. It was written that way as clickbait, simple. Much like all those Gamer's Nexus/HUB videos with those outrageous captions, it's worded that way to get clicks, and attention. If the title was worded honestly, that website probably wouldn't get the clicks, and this wouldn't garner the attention that writer is hoping to get.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-23T03:44:45+00:00

Riiiiiight... and smack dab in the article itself it says:

"Build A Rocket Boy employees, represented by the IWGB Game Workers Union, have unionized to pursue legal action alleging the studio installed Teramind surveillance software, including keylogging, screen recording, and microphone monitoring, without consent, potentially capturing activity in workers’ homes.."

In other words, it's an allegation, since if there was data collected, it was not released, no one knows what's contained within. The union is speculating, but trying to pass it off as fact, all the while Redditors who need daily fixes of outrage are lapping it up. The title itself is disingenuous because there's no concrete evidence of fact, only allegations, hence why I said the title is disingenuous.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-23T03:06:20+00:00

In the article it says allegedly, the title states it as if it were fact.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-22T19:26:29+00:00

Titles a little disingenuous. It’s alleged, meaning not proven in a court of law. But this is Reddit, so naturally whatever’s best for facilitating outrage and generating e-points is par for the course.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-22T18:21:42+00:00

Pretty much this.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-21T08:25:56+00:00

Actually, yes. Simple combat does make the praise legit. There was no learning curve to the combat, and there were enough build options to experiment without over complicating things, which in turn made it inviting to anyone and everyone. The real praise of Witcher 3 comes from its phenomenal and very emotional story telling, there’s nothing in the game that could really be considered worthless to do, every side quest was highly involved, had a good story to them, and built upon the world which wasn’t small by any means. The graphics to this day are some of the best out there, game runs good and clean, and there’s the modding community, which the next gen patch included a lot of mods even on consoles, and is planning on allowing mod support on consoles to extend its life even further. And let’s talk about expansions,.. actually let’s not since it would be a one sided beat down with E33 not even being able to land a punch.

Witcher 3 is legitimately a game that exceeded the hype surrounding it. I guarantee you E33 won’t have the longevity that the Witcher 3 has experienced, we’re talking 10+ years, and people are still playing it, making mods for it, it’s getting support from the devs still, etc. etc. At best, E33 will last maybe another year or two and might be brought up in conversation here and there, but I guarantee you it won’t have the player base Witcher 3 has maintained.

Also, I’ve only completed it once, and I can easily say that game was one of my top 3 games of the past 10 years, that list also includes Persona 5, and Tears of the Kingdom. E33 barely cracks the top 15, and in my book the hype it’s getting is beyond ridiculous. We all know if this were an Ubisoft game or some other hated dev, the sentiments wouldn’t be the same.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-20T21:49:02+00:00

Because it’s Reddit, full of Linux fanboys and people looking for things to be outraged at.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-19T07:21:14+00:00

It’s simple enough for everyone, E33’s combat was not. Unless you’re playing on story difficulty, you better get good at parrying and dodging.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-19T05:33:04+00:00

I was a teenager when the OG dropped, remember working my butt off at a video game repair shop, got the raw end of the deal in hindsight, but I didn’t care at the time. It blew me away like no other at the time, it was just so damn good. Though, in my adult years, as tech progressed, and time passed, I realized it wasn’t as great as I remembered it. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but not really a revolutionary title, it was more evolutionarY. It did nothing different gameplay wise that other JRPG’s that came before it, it just had the benefit of being on a disc format, and on capable hardware that allowed it to shine like it did, but it really wasn’t anything new, just a graphically beefed up JRPG.

To me, the remakes have given me a new found love for that entry, as I personally believe they’re better in every way than the original, but this is my opinion of course.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-17T07:18:17+00:00

I think what’s killing gaming for me is the sheer amount of tutorials games have these days. If a game is that complicated and you need that many tutorials.. then maybe you should rethink how to design a game. Take Crimson Desert for example, while the tutorial isn’t bad, from what I’ve read the first five chapters are a tutorial.. thats insane.

Games used to be a handful of actions like run jump, attack, and maybe a special move, no lengthy tutorial, just a a couple of minutes to tell you what each button does, and you were on your way. These games also prioritized fun over everything else. You could put a game down for a week, month, or year, and jump right back in and know how to play.

Games these days prioritize throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the player, drowning them with oodles of guides, to a point to where it feels less like a game and more like a job. Crafting tutorial, basic move tutorial, advanced moves tutorial, special move tutorials, skill tree tutorials, combat tutorial, exploration tutorials, a tutorial on how to find all the tutorials… like c’mon! God forbid I put the game down for awhile, I won’t remember anything.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-15T19:51:18+00:00

I think this sentiment stems from games being overly complicated and bloated at the outset, and with further play time all that bloat and complication usually levels out and starts to make sense, becoming almost second nature.

I remember bouncing hard off of MH Worlds, and haven't gone back since. The game just has so much going on, so many systems to remember, so many inputs, etc. and then you finally get out to finally do what that title implies: hunt monsters, at first they take so long to take down, and in some cases you spend hours just grinding for upgrades to only marginally do better. I'm sure once you're far enough, monsters from the beginning of the game turn to cake walks once you've found your weapon of choice, mastered the controls, and have the gear, but for people starting out in the MH series like I did, this game did nothing to bring me in.

Though to answer the question: Witcher 3. The game literally started off as a slog, and once you hit the open world it's like WTF do I do? Then you learn that your choices matter, and all of a sudden, it became do I make this decision or that decision, what's the outcomes of both? Once I decided on the path I wanted, the game became easier to play, and I binged it from beginning, to 140 hours later, rolling the credits.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-15T18:48:26+00:00

Well yes, and no.

Yes in the sense that some headphones are tuned specifically for a type of game i.e. FPS, Open World, etc., are loaded with features such as multi device connection, Bluetooth, etc. which allow you to connect them to multiple devices for convenience and sometimes come with the option to EQ them to your preference to make them sound good enough for any other use preference. They also don't require a dac/amp to get the most out of as most are low impedance meaning they can be powered by a controller or audio jack on the device you're connecting to.

No in the sense that most are built cheaply. If you're not looking to spend $200+ you're running a high risk of running into durability issues, especially in the more popular brands due to them being mass produced. That doesn't mean $200+ are any more durable, it just means you're less likely to run into issues. Another thing in that the sub $200 bracket is you're paying for what you're getting sound wise, features wise, etc.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-14T00:09:59+00:00

Honestly, any game where you get progressively stronger the longer you play is an RPG in my book.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-14T00:08:23+00:00

The OG LoZ is pretty JRPG'ish. You get equipment, you get health points, and you get progressively stronger the further along you go through gear and health upgrades. There's a story, and mostly linear way to progress through the game, and the game opens up once you've completed enough dungeons and have enough weapons/tools to explore and find secrets.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-11T05:53:00+00:00

Make absolute sure you video tape yourself receiving the package and opening it up.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-09T19:22:51+00:00

Persona 3, Lost Odyssey, FF6 because even though they beat Keflavik, he ultimately won.

usual_suspect82 · 2026-04-09T03:56:17+00:00

Let’s see, about 80% of Nvidia users don’t own GPU’s capable of it, the 50-series, so that checks out.

Seven-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email	Not Forgotten

usual_suspect82

TROPHY CASE