Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

I ran so far away

Rockstar Games finally released the first trailer for the hugely-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6. My first reaction is: oh my god, it’s not coming out until 2025? We’re not even done with 2023 yet! Talk about a super long gestation period. Grand Theft Auto 5 - the previous entry in the franchise - came out way back in 2013! What will be 12 years in between releases is a bloody long time for such a storied and popular series.

It’s all about incentives, isn’t it? Grand Theft Auto 5 was and still is a money printing machine. Therefore there’s no real financially-incentivized rush to make GTA 6. I myself have contributed at least $170 towards the Rockstar Games coffer vis a vis GTA 5. I’ve bought a copy for each generation of the Sony PlayStation console the game was released for: PS3, PS4, and PS5. All because I wanted the fidelity improvements in each subsequently new PlayStation. Worth it? Heck yes. GTA 5 on a giant LG OLED 4K television is an absolute experience.

I am somewhat disappointed that the GTA 6 is returning to Vice City, the fictionalized version of real-life Miami, Florida. The franchise have already done Vice City previously, and it seems Rockstar Games is keen to redo every locale since GTA 3: Liberty City and San Andreas have been featured twice. I guess it’s Vice City’s turn. I’m sure GTA 6’s world map will be spectacularly detailed and huge, but I was hoping the franchise will fictionalized another city it has not done before. There’s organized crime and general mayhem to be had in the Seattle/Vancouver area, right?

Nevertheless, Grand Theft Auto 6 will be a day-one release day buy for sure. Best of all, I have more than a whole year to prepare for it. Being not an avid gamer, I will spend 2024 playing the second (of third) entry of the Final Fantasy 7 remake franchise. Then 2025 will roll in perfectly for GTA 6.

FF7 Remake is a masterpiece

Hard to believe it’s still nearly impossible to buy a PlayStation 5 without paying a markup to scalpers. Supply drops from major retailers are still few and far. We’re nearly two years into this new generation of consoles! Even with supply chain issues, I didn’t expect the shortage to last thing long. Naively, perhaps. I’m definitely lucky to have snagged a PS5 early this year on a chance encounter with a flash in-stock situation at Best Buy.

No such luck yet for my friend who’s been trying to buy one. Without markups, obviously.

The console isn’t just sitting next to the TV doing nothing. I’ve been steadily playing through some games on the weekends. Can’t play on a school night! After Ghost of Tsushima and finally finishing Grand Theft Auto 5, the latest game on the list is Final Fantasy 7 Remake. I guess you can say my gaming preference skews towards role-playing games with a long runtime.

FF7 Remake is absolutely breathtaking. I’m glad the producers chose to expand upon the first arc of the original FF7 into a fully realized game. Even though we will have to wait many years more for parts two and three to complete the story (hashtag sad face). The city of Midgar shines and awes, especially on a giant television in 4K. Often times I would pan the camera around just to look at the surroundings. It’s surreal to see things we’ve only imagined from the original game come to life in full digital detail.

I would akin it to seeing the pages of The Lord of the Rings come to fruition in the Peter Jackson movies. It’s pure wish fulfillment.

The voice acting adds a layer of drama and emotion to the FF7 story in Remake, one that’s missing in the 1997 version’s endless wall of scrolling text. The player is more attached to the characters, more invested in their journey and what motivates them. The infamous and impending death of Aerith later on in the story will be extra emotional - if it happens!

But that’s something to find out in the sequels. As it stands, Remake is a fantastic start to retelling the beloved Final Fantasy 7 story. I enjoy playing it immensely.

Spring breaking

Last week was spring break on campus, so I decided to have my own sort of spring break as well. That meant taking a short hiatus from writing on this blog and not doing any of my usual studies. After coming home from work I basically just chilled and played video games. Wasn’t that the dream of a young Healy anyways? Make money to play videos games all the time. It was as hard core of a gaming week as I’ve had in probably a decade.

And I really don’t know how gamers find the time to play so many games! These open-world role playing game take absolutely forever to finish. I’m still in the midst of playing Ghost of Tsushima, and I’ve only barely gone into act three (of three) after nearly 50 hours of play time. At this rate I’ll be done by end of April. Then I’ll finally move on to another title. I’m not the type of gamer who can juggle multiple games at once, especially of the storytelling variety. I reckon I can make an exception for sports titles.

Nevertheless, it’s back to regularly scheduled programming this week. I’m excited to finally start reading Pachinko, right on time for the TV series that’s coming out on Apple TV+. It’s nearly one year since I started learning the piano, and there’s still plenty of work to do on that multi-year project. Perhaps taking a week off from the keys was not the wisest decision in relation to finger familiarity. Playing the piano is definitely not like riding a bike. Too much dexterity involved with the upper extremities.

But we all need a break from our daily routine from time to time. Spring break was a great opportunity to not do anything. I did get a tremendous amount of sleep, because I’m not waking up early to type out a blog post before breakfast. Good timing, too: I think I’m completely adjusted to the clock moving one hour forwards for daylight saving time.

Back on the rocks, baby.

All about games

This past weekend I spent a cumulative 10 hours playing Ghost of Tsushima. Not since beating Gran Theft Auto 4 on the PlayStation 3 have I spent this much time playing video games. For those familiar, that is a very long time ago. I forgot how addictive all of this is! The royal you would delay going to the bathroom or making dinner just to keep going. No wonder it was easier back when we were kids: mother cooked the food!

As interesting as Ghost of Tsushima is, I am not playing it on weekdays. That’s the difference of being an adult: we can exercise self control. Sacrificing sleep for video games? No freaking way.

Anyways, the major gaming news over the weekend is that the review embargo for the highly anticipated Steam Deck expired. All the major players put out reviews for the new portable gaming device from Valve. From what I’ve read, the verdict so far that the Steam Deck is an incredible piece of hardware for the price, but the thing still need more time in the oven to be truly great. Electing to run the operating system based on Linux - rather than Windows - seems to be a major hurdle yet to overcome.

But it’s incredible to see PlayStation 4 level performance in a handheld device. Computing power vis a vis packaging size have reach a point where that is possible. It made me ponder: perhaps the moment is right for Sony to make another PlayStation Portable. I had a second-generation PSP and I absolutely adored playing MLB The Show on it. Seeing such demand for the Steam Deck - and the utter popularity of the Nintendo Switch, I think the market is there for Sony.

I’d certainly buy one to pair alongside my PlayStation 5.

Back to gaming

It’s been about a month since I lucked into buying a PlayStation 5: I just so happened to catch a stock release on BestBuy’s website. It remains baffling that you still can’t simply walk into any BestBuy or Target and buy one of these next-generation consoles. But whatever; I got mine!

And yet I only started to play games on the PS5 this past weekend. Why the delay? Well, before buying the console I already had set routines and hobbies to attend to. It took a bit of time for me to carve out a space within my schedule to dedicate the few hours per week towards gaming. Much like the few hours I allocate weekly to reading, studying Korean, and piano practice.

The days of playing games with every hour of a spare time is absolutely over. Those days (read: college) was awesome. But back then I wouldn’t have been able to drop $500 dollars on a gaming console at a moment’s notice. Nor would I have been able to pay nearly $2,000 for a television to go along with it. Having an adult income is very nice, though that comes with having adult responsibilities as well that takes up your time.

Anyways, the first game I’ve decided to play on the PS5 is the director’s cut version of Ghost of Tsushima. Having recently read James Clavell’s Shogun, I was in the mood for some feudal Japan action. The game is absolutely stunning: the fictional Japanese island of Tsushima looks utterly fantastic, no matter what the in-game time of day it is. Of course, it helps to have a 4K OLED TV. The last time I consistently gamed, it was on a PlayStation 3 hooked up to a run-of-the-mill 1080P TV (playing Gran Theft Auto 4). The 4X jump in visual fidelity is kind of breathtaking.

I’m going to finish Ghost of Tsushima before moving on to another game, whenever that may be. One game at a time, instead of buying a whole lot of games and jumping around.

Switching it up

One of my coworkers like to play games on this Nintendo Switch during lunch hour. I never quite understood the popularity of these handheld gaming machines. Back in the days of GameBoy it made sense because it was a truly portable device, not all that much weightier than the modern smartphone. The Switch is an iPad in size; a small tablet flanked on the sides by joystick controllers. I never liked the gaming experience on the iPad either. It’s not very ergonomic: painful to the wrists, the constant hunching of the neck.

I much prefer playing on a proper gaming console, sitting comfortably in front of a large television.

But the popularity of the Nintendo Switch is amazing to see. Steam is coming out with a similar device - the Steam Deck - which will play the latest PC games portably. The waitlist for one of those stretches way into the 2022. No doubt scalpers will have a huge payday on eBay. Other handheld PC gaming systems are already out in the market. Linus Tech Tips have reviewed a few of them recently. Indeed, it seems people want the portable experience.

I guess it’s just another way to pass the time while we’re in between things. Is playing on a Switch during lunch time really any different than listening to a podcast, or deathly scrolling through Instagram and twitter? Man’s inability to be still with his thoughts alone have created these varying methods to keep ourselves entertained. Even as we’re taking our dogs out for a stroll, we have to stare at our phones for the latest dopamine hit.

To each their own, obviously. I rather read a book during my lunch hour.

How the turntables

I was writing yesterday about how difficult it still is to buy a new-generation gaming console. The PS5 and the XBOX Series X is out of stock everywhere, and the periodic drops the retail stores do are infrequent enough to miss unless your’e super lucky. I even wrote at the end that I reckon my gaming days are over!

Well, I was super lucky shortly after that. Just as I was done with breakfast, I saw on my twitter feed a post by The Verge saying the PlayStation 5 is in stock at Best Buy online. Without getting my hopes up, it was a worth a shot, so I got in on the virtual line. Meanwhile, I created a Best Buy account as that was a prerequisite for purchasing. The stars must be aligning, because soon as I was done with account creation, it was a my turn to finalize a purchase.

I’ll be picking up a PS5 this Sunday at my local Best Buy store. What a surprising turn of events!

Sadly I won’t be actually playing on the PS5 anytime soon. I will need to buy a TV as well. The most suitable unit would be the 42-inch LG C2 OLED that was just announced this week at CES. That is scheduled for release in the Spring, so I’ve got a bit of waiting to do. It’s been a relatively long time since I actually had a gaming console, so what’s another few months of waiting? No need to compromise on the TV I want simply due to impatience.

Besides, there isn’t yet a truly next-gen game out that I’m desperate to play. Gran Turismo 7 isn’t out until March. If anything, I will probably be playing PlayStation 4 titles that received quality updates for the PS5. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is one such game.

Anyways, I guess if you shout at the universe enough, sometimes it will give you what you want.