phresh

While it's a relatively enjoyable time to be an England fan i'm not all that confident as I still think there is a pretty inconsistent streak in the team, at their very best (which is hopefully still to come) they could batter anyone, but at their worst they can concede easily and players lose their heads. All the best teams (in any sport) have a very high 'minimum' performance level and I think England are some way off of that. I'd say that Wales have a very high minimum performance level. On the other hand you only have to get it right for a few games and Eddie Jones has got a shed load of experience in that regard (compared to England's last two world cups with rookies).

I think the replays make it look pretty clear that the arm is at a ‘look like I’m tackling but also blocking the ball’ angle. I’d completely forgotten about Biggar’s flying clothesline though, fuck knows how that was missed.

The Watson card looked a bit harsh to me initially but I think it was fair in the end. He has to go in arms out to try and wrap the player up to stop the offload but in the replay he clearly holds it out a slightly awkward angle to try and block the ball. If it looks normal then it's just a scrum - you can't have it both ways where players have to tackle with their arms but then tell them not to tackle with their arms in case there is a knock on. Either way, Watson has looked good the last couple of games, still got great acceleration and good in the air. From an England perspective I think you have to look at the inability to convert a number of excellent line breaks into points as the biggest negative, along with the failed mauls and a few turnovers too many. The starting lineup was still a good few players short of a starting 15 too (versus Wales starting line up) so i'm sure the team will take some comfort from that. For Wales their defence was outstanding (as it was in the 6N) and a lot of good teams will struggle to score against them. Great turnover work and really good at tying up the maul. The worry would be that they look slightly blunt in attack (were there any line breaks?) and the scrum looked a bit flaky. I agree with Tourist that Wales are the most consistent team and look most capable of winning the WC from the northern hemisphere, with one big caveat - I din't think they can beat NZ. I think England are capable of it, and Ireland have done it, but those line breaks by England would be a >20 point win for NZ. Who knows though!

The classes aren't really that relevant anyway as you can respec and change skills, and like Strategos says you'll end up with a group of 4 anyway (lone wolf talent aside). DOS2 is far more flexible on skills than the first game. It also encourages you to mix skills (literally when it comes to crafting new skillbooks from existing ones). Try and avoid over specialising as you will end up in an area that will become a real grind if you have too many party members with the same skills. Ultimately just treat it like any RPG really, mixed skills, at least one person with good group healing etc. Also, losing a fight isn't the end of the world, save regularly (before/at the start of battles and during) and learn from it. Sometime you can just get a bum deal at the start of a fight and you'd struggle to come back whatever. Just treat every lost fight as a learning experience and try not to get cocky - it's very easy towards the 'end' of a fight to think you can just phone it in for the last few rounds but you will get caught out. I'm surprised people struggle with the controls as well, as far as full RPG experiences go it feels really intuitive once you've got used to the radial menu. It could do with better inventory and skill bar management though, that really is a pain.

Was at the game yesterday - excellent atmosphere and a really good game (it obviously helps when you win!). Wales just looked a bit under-cooked really, i'd be very surprised if the result is in anyway similar next weekend, depending on who plays anyway. England's squad looks really interesting. Lot's of quality and flexibility in the pack but an all too obvious reliance on Billy Vunipola. Hoping Curry's injury is only minor as he has had a big impact since getting into the team and looked really sharp before going off against Wales. Some decent flexibility at wing/full back but 2 scrum halves and 2 fly halves (although I assume Slade can cover if required) is maybe a touch risky. On their day i'd fancy England to outscore anyone but the defence is still too soft out wide at times and the discipline lacking. It will be interesting to see how well the Saracens players do when under pressure - they were immense at the end of the season, by all accounts the best team in Europe, but Farrell, Itoje and others have been key culprits when England came under pressure in the 6N and weren't able to respond.

The abandoned bits of areas you’ve seen un-abandoned in Eternal Darkness.

You'll need at least 5 hours so start with that.

It’s possible but unlikely. Wales were great in the second half, England returned to just playing to a set of rules rather than what was actually in front of them. I think Wales left a couple of tries on the park too. Looks like Wales/Ireland will be the decider as you’d expect England to pick up at least one bonus point in there last two games. Edit : Didnt know about the 10 point thing!

This is exactly how you play F-zero GX weirdly (or certainly how I got relatively good at it), most complaints for people going from X to GX seem to be about it being a less of a time trial style racer. I certainly wouldn't say I mastered GX as the story mode is always insanely difficult and practically a puzzle game in figuring out how to beat the levels. I can pretty much fire it up and win any cup on the hardest difficulty still though. If anything it gets easier the more aggressive you are, just knock off your challengers one by one and you'll have the trophy sewn up before the final race.

I don't think i've ever played a game that so effortlessly consumes time. It just never seems to get boring (nearly 100 hours in and all 4 divine beasts down but still plenty of map to wonder round) and avoids so many of the traps that other similarly large games fall into (repetitive collect-athon quests, linear storylines). It's almost slight sad that the thing that blows my mind about it most is what might come next in the series.

Probably all platinums on Blast Corps is the only time I can claim to have been genuinely good at any game. Maybe Diddy Kong Racing as well.

It's a lovely game, and for the brief time you play it for, utterly captivating.

The 3DS screen the fist time I saw it (turned off not long after but 3D without headgear was amazing) The first couple of months playing WoW Playing Missile Command for the first time at the Arcade Club earlier this year. Such brilliant, yet unfortunately unrepeatable with standard controls, gameplay.

This is such a good game, had to wait for the Switch version to play local coop and glad I have as the amount of content is pretty amazing. We're currently playing through with a Witch Doctor and Necromancer and they amount of shit on the screen is brilliant. Dogs, gargantuans, spiders, golem things, a huge spirit skeleton, undead horde and whatever else, and that is before you get to the enemy! Only minor annoyance in local coop is having to manage skills and inventory in turn, they should have been able to do this split screen like Divinity OS.

Unless they've moved it it's the first machine as you walk into the top floor. Nearly creamed myself with excitement. I absolutely love Pong on the PS1, loads of pretty decent variants and even a great multiplayer game (up to 4 players on most levels).