Re: 2026 Gaming Plans

[jrnlgrn]

First Quarter Recap:
Currently Playing:
MLB the Show '26 (PS5):
I buy the show every other year. The only downside is that I miss out on a year of the Negro League Story Lines. Started a Franchise with the Cincinnati Reds. Trying something new this year I asked Google Gemini to help me create a slider set. Surprisingly so far it's a decent set for my needs. I've had to override some dumb suggestions here but after a few more tweaks I think I'll have it really dialed in. It's essentially the same game year after year but the gameplay is rarely ever an issue. I'd give this a 7.5/10

The Finals (PS5):
Something about this really clicks with me despite not being that good and not really an multiplayer FPS guy. It probably comes down to the fact that there while most matches I'm kind meh at best other games you'd think I was above average. I think it also helps that game-sense/awareness can get you pretty far and it's easy to find other ways to contribute. Still probably my most played game continuing on from last year 7.5/10

Ghost of Yotei (PS5):
This is a weird one. I go a week or two without playing and then can put in several hours and drop it for another week or two. When I play it though I always enjoy it. I like the story and the gameplay is enjoyable and it is great looking game. Rating pending.

Groove Coaster - Future Performers (Switch):
I will forever be a sucker for a good music rhythm game. I've probably put in 30 hours since I picked this up. The actual gameplay is the star here and has some interesting elements. Even has a fun but trope-y anime story mode. The downside I'd say is that I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the song choices. I'll have to check out and see what the DLC songs are to fill out get some better tracks. I'll give this one a 7/10

Playing but Extremely Sporadically:
PGA 2k25
FIFA '26
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Gran Turismo 7
Lumines Arise

Possible Purchase:
This list has pretty much remained the same from my initial post. Dropped CFB '27 I just don't care for this NIL transfer portal 6 years if elegibility stu
Grand Theft Auto VI - If it releases this year I'm all in.
Pragmata - I've been waiting on this since I saw the first trailer in 2020
Spine (This is Gun Fu) - This looks like an interesting premise hopefully it comes out this year or at all.
South of Midnight - Was really intrigued when I first saw this was going to be released on Xbox. Glad it's out on PS and Switch now.
MLB the Show '26 - PURCHASED
CFB '27 - Passing. I just don't care about CFB that much these days. Nostalgia is the only reason I even bought in '25

[Armor and Sword]

1st quarter update.


Games Purchased

MLB The Show 26
The Outer Worlds 2
Starfield
Kingdom Come II
Hell Let Loose
Expedition 33
Silent Hill 2
Borderlands 4
Gears of War Reloaded
Assassins Creed Shadows
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater
Mafia Old Country
The Precinct
007 First Light

Games Currently Playing
MLB 26 The Show
College Football 26
Madden 26
The Outer Worlds 2

Games Completed
The Precinct
Mafia Old Country
Silent Hill 2
Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remaster


In the Que
Starfield
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater

[KSUowls]

1st quarter update.


Games Purchased

MLB The Show 26
The Outer Worlds 2
Starfield
Kingdom Come II
Hell Let Loose
Expedition 33
Silent Hill 2
Borderlands 4
Gears of War Reloaded
Assassins Creed Shadows
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater
Mafia Old Country
The Precinct
007 First Light

Games Currently Playing
MLB 26 The Show
College Football 26
Madden 26
The Outer Worlds 2

Games Completed
The Precinct
Mafia Old Country
Silent Hill 2
Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remaster


In the Que
Starfield
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater

I am jealous of your completed list 3 months into the year.

[Armor and Sword]

I am jealous of your completed list 3 months into the year.

To be fair I started Oblivion last year.

[Armor and Sword]

1st quarter update.


Games Purchased

MLB The Show 26
The Outer Worlds 2
Starfield
Kingdom Come II
Hell Let Loose
Expedition 33
Silent Hill 2
Borderlands 4
Gears of War Reloaded
Assassins Creed Shadows
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater
Mafia Old Country
The Precinct
007 First Light

Games Currently Playing
MLB 26 The Show
College Football 26
Madden 26
Starfield

Games Completed
The Precinct
Mafia Old Country
Silent Hill 2
Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remaster
Outer Worlds 2


In the Que
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater


Starfield will be a 150-175 hour first character build playthrough......maybe longer. I love it.

[Kramer5150]

1st quarter update.


Games Purchased

MLB The Show 26
The Outer Worlds 2
Starfield
Kingdom Come II
Hell Let Loose
Expedition 33
Silent Hill 2
Borderlands 4
Gears of War Reloaded
Assassins Creed Shadows
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater
Mafia Old Country
The Precinct
007 First Light

Games Currently Playing
MLB 26 The Show
College Football 26
Madden 26
Starfield

Games Completed
The Precinct
Mafia Old Country
Silent Hill 2
Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remaster
Outer Worlds 2


In the Que
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater


Starfield will be a 150-175 hour first character build playthrough......maybe longer. I love it.

Have you checked out Crimson Desert yet? Game is pretty damn good.

[TripleCrown9]

I was trying to decide between LEGO Batman and the new 007 game, and I've pretty much talked myself into 007.

Mainly because I'm wrapping up another Arkham Knight playthrough, and need a little break from Batman.

[Armor and Sword]

Have you checked out Crimson Desert yet? Game is pretty damn good.

I have not....but hearing good things....I am sure I will pick it up on the cheap for a holiday sale.....my backlog is stupid large LOL.

[Kramer5150]

I have not....but hearing good things....I am sure I will pick it up on the cheap for a holiday sale.....my backlog is stupid large LOL.

lol gotcha

[KSUowls]

Unfortunately I encountered a bug which broke my franchise in MLB the Show, and I had no motivation to deal with the new trade system again when I went to start a fresh one. So, I think that game is getting permanently shelved.

--April Game Reviews:
Diablo IV: Lord Of Hatred - (PC) - (5.0) - Diablo got worse?

Spoiler

First off, the new expansion has a pretty cool story. The new Paladin class (playable since December with pre-order) was tons of fun to play the last 2 seasons. It was arguably over tuned, but I really enjoyed the playstyle. The expansion also included a new Warlock class that did not unlock until the expansion went live this week. It's visually cool, but my experience with it has been underwhelming. This might be due to the entire re-design of how classes and everything work in the game, and everything is just weaker overall, but I don't have any experience with the re-design of the other new classes to say for certain. All I know that is that Warlock doesn't feel amazing.

As alluded to above, the new expansion also includes a significant redesign to the base game. Leveling now caps at 70 instead of 60, every classes' skill tree has been revamped, many in-game items have been altered, and then of course there are new ones as well. Mechanics like Overpower work different than they ever have before, etc. There is also an entirely new (to D4) crafting component with bringing back the Cube from D2/D3.

I'm somewhat ambivalent on the class skill tree changes. There are a lot more options overall, but the removal of passives make it so that you basically are just going to pick your 6 skills and level them up to max (well 5 of them). In this way the skill system is more like Diablo 3, and probably a bit easier to understand overall. It does feel slightly dumbed down though.

They did add back passives via a new itemization/equipment menu. You now have a separate inventory bank of charms that you can equip which is kind of cool. Though it's hurt by the itemization in the game (explained below).

Warplans - The new endgame activity that you can start quite early on. The positive on these is that they give you access to an entirely different skill tree (several actually). But they kind of remind me of bounties from D3 though in that they push me to do things that I don't necessarily want to do. The bigger problem with them though is that you select 2+ at a time and you have to do them in order, even if one of the activities is helltide caches...you could run all around helltide opening everything up, but if it's #2 on your warplan list and #1 is clear an undercity run...then you're not going to advance your warplan. Actually that's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that your account does not share warplan advancement, meaning when you create an alt character in the season then you have to do advance the warplan from scratch...there is also a problem with getting credit for them if you play in a party.

Leveling - By far the worst part of D4 for it's entire run has been the leveling experience to 60 (now 70). In D3 a super efficient player could get to max level in about 1 hour. A moderately skilled/efficient player could get max level in 2 to 3 hours. For most of D4's life, a super efficient player, playing in a group, could maybe get max level in 2 hours. Most people were going to be in the 4-5 hour range. Now, the problem isn't that it takes time to get to max level. It's that Diablo, at it's core, is a game built around playing at higher difficulties and getting better item drops. The 1-60 experience each season was never fun, and it was never rewarding in terms of materials that you can use later. It only served as a barrier to the real game. I never had a huge problem with this in D3 because it never asked me to invest more than like 2 or 3 hours tops. D4 (prior to this expansion) doubled those numbers, and I think any game that asks you to invest 4, 5, or 6 hours before it gets "good" is a failure in game design.

...The new expansion has slowed things down even more. I finished the 8 hour campaign right around level 45, and then needed another 3 hours to hit level 70 (the new max). So, it wasn't until I was 10 hours into the game before I started getting items of any real quality, I barely had any legendaries, runes, or crafting materials. When the game is all about crafting and itemization, it shouldn't take 10 hours just to 'start' the game.

Itemization - I had gripes with the old D4's itemization. Specifically around 2 categories: Runes and Mythics. Mythics could have had their drop rates doubled and it wouldn't have made a meaningful difference in how easy they were to acquire and rune drops were abysmal considering how many builds required very specific rune drops. And to make matters worse, the only way to ensure you get a specific mythic item was to #1 find 2 ultra rare Sparks and #2 Get I think 3x each of 3 specific runes (one of them being a legendary rune). I've played to about paragon 250 in 8 or 9 seasons of D4, and not once have I acquired enough of the specific legendary rune to craft a specific mythic, and only once have I gotten random mythic drops that actually let me complete the build I was working on (just in terms of general itemization, still a long way for maxing it out).

Everything I just said about itemization in D4's history is now slower with the new expansion. They expanded the difficulties up to T12, but they seem to have nerfed the drop rates for all lower difficulties. Even playing on Torment 1, I almost never see legendary items drop. They added the Cube to encourage crafting and create new ways to get to some of the items you want, but they slowed down all the avenues to get the materials needed to use the cube, and so I wonder if it will actually be the net positive that some people seem to think it will.

I had a lot of issues with D4 in its early days. However, while there were still some major grips that I still had with it, the overall game experience had vastly improved over the last year or so. I actually looked forward to playing each season. Usually by day 4 of a season I would have sunk 20 or more hours into it and be having fun progressing. I've struggled to get to 12 hours so far with the new season/expansion, and the only time I've really enjoyed it was in the 6 or 7 cut scenes that advanced the Lord of Hatred story.

I think that Blizzard kept hearing that people weren't happy with the endgame of D4, and that there wasn't anything to do once you hit a certain point. So they just made it take longer to get to that point, but in the process I'm not sure I even want to invest the time to get to that breaking point anymore.

Currently Playing:
Fable Anniversary
Diablo 4
Pokemon FireRed
Saints Row the Third Remastered
Tales of Berseria Remastered

2026 Gaming Goals:

Complete 10 games: More ambitious than my goal last year, and I didn't even hit that goal. I am hoping that work is a little less hectic in 2026 though, and there are a handful of games that I'm already pretty deep into that I'm carrying over. Plus I just need to force myself to really start finishing some of these games.

The 2026 Release Watch List

Spoiler

Unexpected Purchases:
Tales of Berseria Remastered - PC - Feb 26
MLB The Show 26 - PS5
Pokemon FireRed - Switch

Pre-Order Worthy - Self Explanatory
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake - PC - Mar 12: Just a classic. I can't skip it
Resident Evil: Requiem - PC - Feb 27: It's Resident Evil. Not sure I need to say anything else


Highly Interested In - Likely day 1 buy's, but not as fully invested in yet
Forza Horizon 6 - May 19 - Forza in Japan. Yes please.
GTA 6 - PS5 - Nov 19: I'm not the biggest GTA fan, highly overrated franchise imo, but that does not mean that the games are not still very good. As long as it isn't $80 or $100 then it will be a day 1 buy.
Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred

Maybe - I need more information before deciding
007 First Light - PC - May 27: A week ago this would have been a pre-order. Recent comments by the dev team give me pause. I need to make sure that James Bond is still James Bond.
CFB 27 - XBX - July: I don't know why I do this to myself. I don't enjoy either CFB 25 or CFB 26. They are just massively mediocre football games. It's the one franchise that I've never been able to fully pull myself away from though. Hopefully A LOT gets improved for the new one.
Code Violet - PS5 - Jan 10: I lean towards buying it. It's just sitting in that realm of games that looks like it could be 100% marketing gimmick than substance though, and that is my only hesitation. - Purchased, but yeah....see my review
Pragmata - PC - April 24: Honestly it does look cool. Just not the type of game I usually jump for. - 100% going to buy it at some point. The backlog is too big right now though
Saros - PS5 - April 30: Looks cool. Looks like Returnal. These are good things. But also not something that I'm dying to play
Solasta 2 - PC - Mar 12: I have always struggled to enjoy cRPGs (even though I love other RPG sub genres). BG3 re-opened my willingness to try them though, and this one looks cool

Get on Sale - Game's I'm interested in, but really don't mind waiting on
Code Vein 2 - PC - Jan 30: I'm nowhere near completing the first one. So, this one will probably be discounted by the time I get around to it. I am looking forward to it eventually though.
High on Life 2 - PC - Feb 13: The first one was surprisingly good. I worry that they won't be able to capture the humor a 2nd time around, but could be good. Either way, it's not something I'm going to be buying day 1 or at full price.
Mortal Kombat 2 - Multi - May 8: It's Mortal Kombat, so there is built in interest. I will never have any interest in playing a fighting game online/competitively though, and so it limits the games potential for me. I'll get it eventually, but at a price that justifies me playing it only for the story.

No release date - These games have a possible 2026 release window but could be pushed out
Ace Combat 8
Battlestar Gallactica: Scattered Hopes - Demo was so boring
Clockwork Revolution
Control: Resonant
Directive 8020: A Dark Pictures Game
Fable
Gears of War E-Day
Lords of the Fallen 2
Mudang: Two Hearts
Showa American Story
Tides of Annihilation
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4

--January Game Reviews:
Code Violet - (PS5) - (4.0) - wow...

Spoiler

This is going to be one of the lowest rated games I've scored since I started doing these game reviews.

It's like Resident Evil, but with dinosaurs. The graphics are mediocre and it's noticeable within the first 30 seconds of starting a new game, facial expressions are distractingly bad. The gameplay loop is...well it exists. I don't have a lot to say because it was honestly hard to put a lot of time in.

Fable Anniversary - (PC) - (8.0) - A classic that holds up surprisingly well.

Spoiler

It's not a hard game. Not an incredibly deep game either. It is a fun game though.

Considering this is a decade old remake of a (now) 20 year old game, it's pretty surprising just how well the gameplay loop holds up in 2026. Combat is simple, but effective. The grind for more xp also feels rewarding.

The story is shallow, but it's engaging enough.

I dock the score slightly because it is relatively shallow compared to other games that I could be playing in 2026, but it was certainly much better when it originally came out. Definitely recommend playing it, especially if you never played the original

--February Game Reviews:
Gran Turismo 7 - (PS5) - (6.0) - A fantastic car game plagued by game-economy hell.

Spoiler

By all rights this game should be a 10.0 or close to it. As a car culture guy, it's great. As a racing sim fan, it's superb. But I do not have strong enough words to condemn this game's economy.

This was a day 1 purchase when it released in early 2022. I sunk 30-40 hours into it immediately going through the great cafe menu, which is this game's version of a campaign. I love that it introduces you to non-hyper cars and forces a real progression on you. You have to get good at slower cars before you can jump into a Buggati. This is something that I have always appreciated about Gran Turismo versus the Forza games (more on this later).

As soon as you boot up the game there is a sense of nostalgia and a noticeable appreciation for car culture and its history. The menu music is very relaxing, and it just fits into the experience. There are tons of cars to acquire, all of them with great models. The tracks look realistic, and the cars themselves sound great.

I'm sure the game is better with a wheel, but they did a great job at making the cars very responsive with the controller. There is a weight to them that you can feel, and proper physics which makes it really satisfying when you take a turn just right.

There is a ton of praise that I'm giving here, and all of it is well deserved. However, I ended up abandoning this game, which I loved, for nearly 4 years though because of the criminal in-game economy. When the game first launched there was actually a way to obtain a decent amount of credits relatively easy on a short race. A couple hours of grinding would get you a few million credits. This method was nerfed just a couple of weeks into the game's life though, and the sad thing is that the game's economy was atrocious EVEN BEFORE the nerf.

The game treats car prices like their real world counterparts. So you'll see a lot of these fancy cars cars costs anywhere from a few hundred thousand all the way up to a million or more. In fact, there are over 100 cars that each cost over 1M credits. The game's launch inventory required over $550M credits to buy all 526 cars. Don't pay attention to someone taking the time to complete the entire game's car catalog, pay attention to the fact that the average cost per car ends up being over $1M credits. That number was certainly skewed by some of the $10M and $20M cars because there are dozens of cars under 100k, but even you don't account for the outliers then the credits per car is in the hundreds of thousands. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if you were getting consistently high payouts, but many of the games tracks pay out credits that are only slightly higher than much older Gran Turismo games...which already had the "grind" as part of the game.

I am harping on this to illustrate just how atrocious the game's economy is. When you have to grind a single track for an hour straight just to buy 1 car, that's a problem, when one of the main selling points of your game is collecting cars like they are pokemon.

I have had the itch to return to this game for a long time, but I never did due to the game's economy problems. The economy problems have in no way been fixed, but I did stumble on a way to get a decent amount of credits without actually playing (basically setting up the controller to run an oval track for 30 minutes while you step away and do other things). It's the best work around available, but it is another data point on just how bad this game's economy is. It's already concerning that people felt the need to resort to this, but after doing this method for a few days something else has become clear. Now, when I'm not actively playing the game, I set up the particular method and step away for a bit, coming back every 30 minutes or so to start it up again. This has netted me around $20M credits over the course of a few days because I can get around $1M credits an hour...$20M credits does give me the ability to buy a few cars and have fun with them, but it's barely making a dent in the total car collecting. Ever after ~20 hours of this method, I still have to be strategic and intentional whenever I go to buy a new car from the showroom because this is in no way an infinite money glitch. It's just the most optimal way to attack the credit payout vs car price problem in the game, and even this method "which requires almost no effort from me other than checking on the game periodically, is creating burnout. The fact that even this AFK method is not producing super high returns and forces dozens of hours of (boring) monitoring of the game just further illustrates the INSANE problem with the the game's economy.

Which is why a near perfect car culture & racing game gets a 6.0 score instead of a 9 or higher.
/rant


The one bright spot is that I have been able to get back to enjoying this game in between the AFK sessions. I don't know how long it will last because I don't like tying up my PS5 & TV for AFK sessions for hours on end. So I'm going to hit a point soon where the money I have is all that there is, and when that runs out then there won't be much incentive to keep grinding. But for now I'm at least able enjoy some of the great car culture this game offers once again.

Saints Row The Third Remastered - (PC) - 8.0 - Wacky Fun

Spoiler

Saints Row was always a game that took the GTA formula an made it even more over the top. SR3 was where the franchise started to go off the rails, but it was still somewhat grounded (certainly compared to SR4 or Gat Out of Hell). It manages to find a really good balance between insanity and free-form-gangster-violence which results in a really fun package.

There is a particular character missing for much of the game, which is a huge detriment, but the rest of the cast really steps up and delivers. The story is silly, but it is still engaging largely thanks to the great cast.

Character progression mechanics are rewarding and let you tailor your experience by the time you hit endgame. It's certainly possible to turn your character into an invincible god, but you can also stop your progression short of that if you wish, while still being stronger than you started.

It's a game that is easy to jump in and do a couple of missions and quite. It's also a game that you will sometimes want to play a mission and then keep going because it can be so engaging at times.

Just really fun. I take off half a point from my overall score due to the remaster not really offering anything that the original SR3 didn't. Graphics are slightly improved, but I really can't tell any other difference between this and the original.

Tales of Berseria Remastered - (PC) - 9.0 - Best of the Tales series

Spoiler

This is another remaster that doesn't do a ton to separate it from the original. Graphics are a little bit improved, and you get instant access to the Grade Shop. If you've played ToB before though, and you still have it on Playstation or Steam then you probably don't need the grade shop. Making it so graphics are the only real improvement.

Complaints about the "remaster" aside, this has always been my favorite entry into the Tales franchise. It's the most mature game in the series, featuring some pretty dark themes, but it still maintains the comical nature that the franchise is famous for.

Combat can be so straightforward that it feels like a hack and slash and it can have more depth like other classic RPGs (more so at higher difficulties). So you can kind of make it what you want.

The grind is a bit much though. Not necessarily the leveling grind. That is fine. It's the grind for other things. Specifically Arte Mastery and Exploration. Artes are "mastered" by using them more. It can take as many as 1,000 uses of a single arte in order to fully master it, and there are a lot of Arte's per character. It also becomes difficult to use individual Arte's the more you play because you level up > you get stronger > fights against monsters end faster > therefore fewer opportunities to use your skills.

The Exploration grind is even worse. There is a mechanic where you send your ship off to explore other islands which are done in real time with a 30 minute count down. The mechanic opens up a couple of hours into the game, but you have to manually send it off each time. It would have been great if the "remaster" had an option to automatically keep sending it out. The mechanic itself isn't vital to the story, it just helps you collect some of the hidden items and recipes in the game. But if you factor a JRPG has ~50 hours gameplay for a pretty thorough completion (meaning you do a lot of side quests and exploration), then you basically need to be on top of sending this thing out as close to the 30 minute mark as possible, twice an hour for all 50 hours, to unlock everything.

Back to the positives. Itemization is pretty standard for a RPG with both multiple pieces of equipment to wear per character as well as some crafting options to improve your gear. So there is a good sense of reward for doing battles, beyond just the XP gain. I do think that the crafting system is a bit excessive though. As you get duplicates of various weapohns and armor then you're going to want to "dismantle" them to get materials that you'll use to enhance your current weapons. There is a hard cap of 99 for each material though, and you very quickly reach that. So then you're constantly doing an inventory cleanup every hour or so which can get tedious.

The story and characters are where this game shines. As mentioned, it's a fairly mature story with some hard topics like revenge playing a big role. The main character Violet is a lot of fun, and she is easy to root for. The rest of the cast compliments her in different ways, and you end up loving your misfit crew.

ToB is jut a ton of fun to play, even if this "remaster" doesn't offer much additional value

--March Game Reviews
MLB The Show 26 - (PS5) - 7.5 - I went back and forth on giving this a higher score. It has solid gameplay and small but noticeable improvements from the last time I bought the game 6 years ago. There are some design decisions that offer anti-realism in Franchise though, and I would argue that those do not respect the players time either (even though it does make things more difficult which some people like).

Spoiler

This used to be an annual purchase for me, but I stopped after MLB the Show 20 (before I completely abandoned the MLB in RL). The game felt so nearly identical to versions from 4, 5, 6 years prior that I lost faith in the series. This new version still shares 95% of the DNA of MLB the Show 20 from 6 years ago, but it is an appreciable upgrade in many areas.

One thing that the Show has always done well is play a great game of baseball. Defenders definitely feel better and more unique with the expanded defensive attributes, and overall it's just a really solid on-field experience. Other than the defender attributes, it's hard for me to pinpoint any individual thing that feels very different from the last time I bought this game, but the total package seems better.

I also like some of the Franchise features (or at least concepts of them) that are present now versus the game 6 years ago. Expanding the trade capacity to 4 players on each side is a nice win, insane that it took this long. I also just don't remember some of the contract negotiation depth and similar things that are in franchise now. All of that is appreciated. I also like the addition of untouchables, in theory (more on this later).

It's not a perfect experience though. Some legacy design choices, and some of the new features are kind of asinine.

Fog of War (FOW) is a problem in this game. I say that as someone who constantly opines for a deeper simulation like experiences in sports games. However, I want FOW that makes realistic sense, not FOW just to have it arbitrarily make things more difficult. I'm seeing a lot of people mention FOW like it's a badge of honor for this game, without examining whether its design is actually intentional and grounded in realism. In practice, it is less realistic and more arbitrarily restrictive than people seem to want to admit:

Player potential being locked to a single letter grade: It's a legacy issue, but it's more pronounced here due to other design choices. The fact that an 80 potential guy and an 89 potential guy appear the same to the user is a problem. I'm fine that we don't get exact values (in fact it is a positive), but the game should at least break it out between B and B+ or A and A+, if not B-, B, B+. I like that there is some guess work involved with ratings, but there is a massive different between an 80/100 and an 89/100 that should at least be directionally visible because it is visible in real life with the naked eye.

No trade evaluator & no trade finder: I've seen people praise this decision as realistic, but it's 100% the opposite. I've consistently heard GM's, across sports, say that they are constantly doing their due diligence in talking to other teams. They always know who is available, and the cost of doing business for anyone...even "untouchables". Which makes sense, their job goes beyond just the executed transactions that we see hit headlines. This is effectively a real life trade evaluator, and The Show 26 doesn't give us anything like it. Real GM's will understand how close or far apart a deal is to getting done, and so having this as a complete guess & check in game is actually less realistic (the added "trade feedback" feature can hardly be called that). This can also be extended to the lack of a trade finder. Not only do real life GM's have full staffs to help them scout and understand the value of other players, but again these GM's are in regular communication with each other to know who is available. So not only are trade evaluators and trade finders great quality of life tools in a video game, but they actually help to simulate real life conversations and exchange information that the video game inherently can't. People can whine about someone just guessing & checking to see which D prospect makes a trade work, but the pros outweigh the cons...plus it kind of simulates an actual conversation "Hey how about this guy? No? What about this one? Ok that works for you? Great lets sign the deal!". If a team has a player that they want to make available, they know the general worth of that player on the market, and they know the rosters of the other 29 teams enough to know what they can roughly get in return. They also generally know the same things from the other angle of trying to be the buyer. Pretending that the lack of these features is somehow more realistic is an abject falsehood.

1 week response time on trades. This is such a dumb thing. Similar to the above, I've heard GM's talk about this. Trades usually happen pretty fast, which makes sense if they are already having regular discussions to know the availability and price of different players. The fact that the game basically enforces a 3-5 day response time on each trade offer is just dumb. Even worse that this can't seem to be toggled off in the options (something that OOTP fortunately allows for). If real GM's generally know the parameters of making a trade through conversations that happen throughout the year, then players shouldn't have an arbitrary waiting period. Maybe big block buster trades with a lot of complexity should have a waiting period, but the vast majority of trades should have an instant response in order to simulate the fact that these GMs are in continuous discussions with each other at all times. This is both a QoL issue and not realistic.

To sum up this whole FOW section. It fails not because information is hidden, but because it hides the wrong information and removes system that exist (or at least simulate their existence) in real life. Real GM's do not operate under blind guess work like this game asks you to when it comes to trades

Untouchables - Great idea, terrible execution. CPU roster management is always a problem in video games, but this is such an over the top solution that does more harm than good. While it does protect the integrity of CPU rosters, it cripples the ability of Users (and the CPU) to make blockbuster trades when a franchise starts out in an environment where like 90% of all players under the age of 25 and with a potential of B or better are on the "untouchable list" (and most stay there). It's a problem that the game won't let you sell off your big time stars for anything more than some C potential guys, when in real life that player would command at least 1 A potential guy + more. You have to wait until basically June of that first season before you'll start to see some change, and even then the vast majority of high potential players are off the board. You can have Ronald Acuna Jr as trade bait in year 1, but you're not getting any premium prospect in return, because literally every single one of them is "untouchable" at the start of franchise and even by the all-star break when those lists have started to shift a bit. This is a design flaw as it hurts user choice (in a video game) and it's maybe the least realistic thing in this "simulation" experience. If a GM had a chance to get 3 years of Acuna (his current contract at the beginning of the 2026 season) then they would give up any prospect in their organization for that. There are at least ways around it, but that also requires you committing to the hassle of 30 team control and forcing you to evaluate your own trades to ensure they are fair for the CPU.

Scouting is still kind of dumb. I don't find it particularly fun. It is better than anything Madden has had in basically forever, but the system just doesn't really feel organic imo.

Franchise is the thing that is both making things look better than they were 6 years ago, but it is also actively diminishing the experience with asinine design choices which in some ways make the total package less enjoyable than it used to be.

Road To the Show is another problem: It's not the mode I care a lot about, but it can be fun to mess around in sometimes. However, the mode has a problem. Specifically the college portion. Choosing to go to college is an objectively terrible choice to make in RTTS. It's a bare bones experience, and it gives pennies on the dollar in terms of attribute bonuses versus just going straight into the draft from high school. The training bonuses for going to college need an exponential buff at minimum. Making the mode itself deeper would be great, but at minimum you should not be coming out of college as a 21 year old in only slightly better position as an 18 year old prospect versus if you skipped college (that you'll more than makeup for the the attribute deficiency half way through your first year of minor league ball)

To end on some positive notes:
I love the pre-game matchup reports. It's a nice touch to be able to scroll through the opposing lineup and starter and get a mini scouting report for each. I'd love it to be a little more descriptive, but it's still a positive. The story lines are also really neat. It's a really good presentation package.

I've seen some complaints around presentation in this game. I do miss the commentators that the series used to have, but this game's approach to commentators is still light years ahead of Madden and CFB. Oddly I have experienced a few times where their in-game commentary was just wrong, like talking about a 2 strike count when there are 2 balls. This has plagued the EA football games for the last decade, but I don't remember it ever being a problem in The Show (from The Show 20 and earlier years). I wonder if there is some common platform that these game companies are adopting versus what sports titles used to have that is causing this. Fortunately I've only encountered 3 or 4 such instances thus far versus it being something that I expect to get multiple times a game in the EA football games, but I also don't have a huge sample of games played yet.

Nascar 25 - (XBX) - 1.0 - A re-review and still inexcusable

Spoiler

My recent return to Gran Turismo had me really wanting to give Nascar another shot. I gave it a 1.0 then, and my score hasn't changed 6 months later. This is an atrocious attempt at a Nascar game at a fundamental level. If this were a remake of Nascar rumble or some other purely arcade Nascar game then it would deserve higher because the cars themselves to feel and sound pretty good. But, this isn't NFL Blitz reskinned as Nascar. So, not having DNFs, not being able to see who pits on a caution, not having access to basic results information...all of this is an abject failure on the part of the developers. This is an Arcade Nascar game cosplaying as a sim experience. On track rivalries don't matter (and don't exist outside of the social media posts after each race), getting "The Big One" at Daytona doesn't result in any lasting damage to your or the competition, the career progression is about as linear as you can get for this type of mode, with little to really consider and make decisions about. Still the biggest waste of money I've made on a game in years.

Pokemon FireRed - (Switch) - 8.5 - A nostalgic return, and still great.

Spoiler

Nintendo is finally tapping into the easiest money printing scheme that has been at their fingertips for nearly 30 years...putting handheld Pokemon games on console.

Not much needs to be said about this game. We all played it when we were younger, and if you haven't then stop living under a rock! It offers a fun challenge, rewarding grind, and the collecting part of the game is not overly punitive (looking at you Gran Turismo 7).

My two complaints about this game are:
EV - This mechanic makes it so you are kind of punished for using your starter Pokemon. Fortunately min/maxing is not required to finish the game, but I'm sure a lot of people feel like I do where we at least want to push our starter to as strong as he can get. And to do that it means I can't actually use him until I'm like half way through the game and have access to certain enemies and items.

Trading - I've always disliked the version exclusives and evolutions that require training. They are nothing more than money grabs and anti-gamer. It's particularly bad here though because...it's a 'remaster' (emulator port) of a 30 year old game, on a $400 console. That already is going to lower the number of potential trade partners, but also many of us who rushed out to buy this game from our childhood...we are not longer children. The opportunities that we may have had as kids to have trade partners through school and other interactions is significantly less now. This further highlights the problems with trading as a design concept, and they don't even offer a way to trade online like you can in newer Pokemon games to offset this constraint.

[jrnlgrn]

It's Gonna Be Maaaaay, Update:

Finished my first game of the year!
Ghost of Yotei:
The story is a small step below GoT but overall I enjoyed this one more. Combat wise playing as the "Onryo" felt far more satisfying than playing as the Jin/The Ghost. I have a lot of side stuff to take care of but I think the exploring in this one feels better as well. And obviously it a great looking game. Again other than the story I'm going to say this is definitely a sequel that took what the game did right and improved on them and added some nice QoL enhancements. I'm going to try 100% this one. Last game I got a platinum for was Marvels: Spider-man. Going to do the same thing I did with that and just slowly chip away at the activities over a long period.

Gran Turismo 7 (Back in Heavy Rotation):
After a little of 2 years I'm back in. Finally digging into the power pack DLC. The DLC is closer to how the Career mode should have been. Also since my G29 was acting up went back to playing on controller. I still in awe at how good these car models look and love the growth of the SophyAI. It's definitely getting better. Since I'm sitting on the couch now I've changed my cockpit view to offset and using wobble 2 which have been game changers for me. Now I can see out the entire windshield and see my rearview mirror easier. If this run holds up this might just take over for The Show '20 as most hours played.

Next Up:
Pragmata - Was going to hold off but I just couldn't. I've been waiting for this since it was first announced. Played and loved the demo and I've been hearing good things. Can't wait to jump in.

Newcomers to the "Definite Buy/Possible Buy" lists:
Directive 8020 (Definite) - This should have always been on the list but I forgot about it. Another in the Dark Pictures series from SuperMassive, the same people who made Until Dawn and The Quarry.

Saros (Prossible)- I had a love/hate relationship with Returnal but it looks like the QoL improvements and other new additions build in great way. Sucker for some weird sci-fi action.

Crimson Desert (Possible)- This wasn't on my radar. Looked pretty generic. After watching some gameplay and reading more I'm kind of on board. From the amount and size of patches this game has gotten this definitely looks like a situation where waiting a year we'll end up with the best possible version of the game and it will probably be cheaper.

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On my attempt at being more intentional with my gaming... I think it's going well. Something I reminded myself of especially with a game like Ghost of Yotei was "There's no wrong way to play". No looking up am I picking the right skills, no second guessing, no trying to play the "optimal/efficient" way. Just enjoy the ride as long as I'm having fun and progressing who cares how I get there. Also just asking myself am I having fun. If I start a gaming session and the vibe is/was immediately off I just call it good and good do something else.