Ironic Indie Lad

Review embargo is up for the Ocarina of Time Remake on Switch 2. Surprise surprise...its a well reviewed game! Currently 96/100 on Metacritic after 80 reviews.

The Brand trial could be done and dusted any minute / day now by the sounds of it. Prosecution and defence cases both finished, Judge wrapped up yesterday. Jury deliberated for about an hour last night before being sent home. They have been deliberating today for another hour so far. It's all gone by extremely quickly. I am sure it was originally expected to last up to 12 weeks, its only been 3.

What a bonkers game last night. Felt like it was absolutely cursed for most of it. Awful in the first half with Roma seemingly able to cut right through United midfield with minimal effort. Gave away a penalty, Baleba went down injured, Bruno took a terrible penalty which missed, Mbuemo one on one with the keeper and somehow managed to hit both posts without the ball crossing the line... Total lifeline with Bruno being able to re-take the penalty and it just seemed to completely change the game. Yoro played so well, Mainoo is just a lovely footballer and Cunha reminded everyone what he is capable of when he is on it (which is far too infrequently). Another feather in the cap for young Shea Lacey as well who will surely start to feature more and more. Very reminiscent of the comeback against Lyon which also started with a Bruno penalty. I would have bet the house on Roma winning, Villa winning and Carrick being out of the door Monday morning of the break. Now I am not so sure.

Ozzfest has started a countdown. Looks like this Villa Park Ozzfest might really be happening. interested to see the line up

Manchester United cant keep a clean sheet at the moment. Tonight they play Roma who are banging them in. In recent games they have had 5 against Udinese, 4 against Cagliari, 3 against Real Madrid, 3 against Napoli, 2 against Inter.... Former Villa man Donyell Malen has 8 goals in 9 league appearances. Could be a reverse of the 7-1 game from 20 years ago!

Maybe some should take all of their posts to the DM's instead. Just type it up and send it to yourself.

SCORPIONS have announced an arena tour for next summer. I am a huge fan of 80s Scorpions. Blackout, Love at First Sting etc. Just fantastic stuff. I used to have 2x badges on my jacket as a much younger man. Scorpions and Manowar. FORM A QUEUE LADIES.

I totally changed my mind after playing the Final Fantasy Resonance Demo. I enjoyed it so much that I have purchased the full game and pushed Zelda back. Zelda can be the game I play over Christmas and New Year (just like in 1998 really). What a truly beautiful looking and enjoyable game Resonance is. Exactly what I want from an RPG.

Never been a Star Trek guy really although I did enjoy TNG as a kid and had some of the figures (which were everywhere at the time). I was and am a huge fan of comics for my entire life. Nobody could have played Professor Charles Xavier better than Patrick Stewart. Huge loss. A genuine icon of popular culture.

Heung’s Gonna Run Your Wild Horses

I remember buying my dad tickets for U2 about 20 years ago and thinking "these cunts are taking the fucking piss with these prices". Probably insanely cheap compared to whatever these will be.

I’m still arguing Beckham should have won it ‘99

It's worth noting that INEOS entire thing is "best in class" and they had a "plan" to win the league by 2028 (lol) In their time at the club, they have had exactly 1 run of good form and that was Michael Carrick from January to May 2026. So their only good period wasn't even as a result of their planning, they stumbled into it having sacked Ruben Amorim. They have an awful track record already. Ten Hag* - They didn't want him, they sounded out other managers but then decided to keep him after winning the FA cup. Sacked him after a poor start to the season. Amorim - Dan Ashworth didn't want him so they sacked Ashworth (having just paid big money to get him out of Newcastle) and hired him anyway. He showed an absolute pig headed determination to stick to his system regardless of progress or results. They publicly backed him and said he needed time but then sacked him after his Meltdown after a draw against Leeds. Carrick - He obviously wasn't in their plans but they decided to keep him based on results achieved as an interim. He's then done badly in what appears to be an environment of incredibly bad morale and will be fired today, in all likelihood. *I actually think the best chance to push on was probably at the end of Ten Hags first season. 3rd place finish, great home record, made it to the final of the FA Cup and won the League Cup. For most clubs thats an excellent season. Imagine they spent the £100m on Kane that summer instead of the £70 on Hojlund. The recruitment in that period was so bad.

No matter who comes in, they are still inheriting a squad without a fit centre forward and huge problems with the defensive line up. That'll be the least of their worries too. If you really look through the entire squad, its a nightmare. It's reflective of years and years of bad decisions all about to explode at once. Keeper Lammens - a decent keeper and a good find given he was plucked from relative obscurity. Defenders Luke Shaw - Older. Injury record speaks for itself. A good player when fit to be fair. Problem is with his age and his injuries, you just arent going to be able to move him on for any money. Maguire - A meme for a while but has been mostly good for a while now. Will leave for free. Martinez - Has looked excellent on rare occasions. Awful injury record, older, doesnt want to be here, will leave for free (there is a theme developing here!) Mazraoui - I think if you were extremely kind then you could say that he is an acceptable squad player. Heaven - It's kind of a disgrace that United are in a position where they are regularly having to start a youngster they paid £1m for. Yoro - Was very sought after when he signed. Never going to live up to potential if he is in and out of the squad and being played out of position etc. He is probably the only one I would keep. De Ligt - I have no idea. He was playing quite well under Amorim then destroyed his back and missed an entire year. Dorgu - I dont know where he fits in now. He was signed as a wing back for Amorim and now wing backs arent required. He hasnt played well as a left back and he isnt better than the other options to play as a left winger. I think he briefly tricked people into thinking he was good with the goal against Arsenal. Dalot - I am so tired of watching this guy. Midfield Santos - I am still waiting to find out why the club spent £50m for him. Tielemens - I rated him at Villa. I dont think he has had one good game for United. To me, this didnt feel like a well thought out move. It felt like someone found out he had quite a cheap release clause and jumped on it. There is no way he is being moved on for any decent money. Baleba - Has shown potential. I dont really have much of an opinion on him so far as he came in injured and is still getting back to fitness. Mainoo - I think he is an excellent player. Ugarte - Do not rate him at all and I am confident he would have been moved on if it wasnt for his injury. Ten Hag didnt want him, Amorim only played him if he had no other choice despite their previous relationship. Likely very low value now. Mount - he still has not reached a combined 10 goals and assists in his entire time at United. Awful fitness record and will inevitably leave for free having achieved nothing of note across several years at the club. Bruno - He is getting on in years. A frustrating player as he is capable of being world class but also capable of being one of the most annoying players to watch. It was unlikely he would repeat his form from last season and at times I believe there is an over-reliance on him that holds the team back. I could still see him going to a less competitive league and playing well for several more years at a good level but that fee is dwindling by the day. Forwards Rashford - Endless and annoying discourse around him that I just cant be bothered with. He has not been particularly good since the first Ten Hag season which was several years ago now. If the club was able to get any sort of meaningful fee and get his wages off the books, he would be long gone. Amad - One of the few I enjoy watching. Good on the ball, happy to actually run at people and take them on. I would personally keep. Cunha - Doesnt work as a 9 and really hasnt lived up to expectations since coming from Wolves. Mbuemo - Is having to play as a 9 more often than not which isnt his favoured position. He's still coming up with a decent goal tally despite not playing well this season. I would keep as he has shown to be an excellent player. Sesko - Its hard to gauge as he has been so in and out. Massive potential and there was a couple of times where it looked like he was about to really get going. Whatever this recurring shin issue he has is a real worry. I honestly worry he is now in the "what if?" category. Long winded post BUT my point is that the squad is crap and you couldnt even sell most of these players to raise the money needed for decent replacements.

Can’t really put it any better than this tbh.

I am in the exact same position. I have STILL not finished Gears E-Day and I just wont have time for FF before Ocarina of Time. If it wasnt for the OoT remake, Resonance would 100% be my next game.

Manchester United off to Como tonight in the Champions League. No big deal as only Yoro, Martinez, Shaw, Heaven, Mazraoui, Dorgu, Mainoo, Rashford and Sesko are missing. Baleba and De Ligt also havent played 90 mins but are in the squad. Sure it'll be fine. There are 4 keepers travelling just to make up the numbers. Maybe play them all as a back four and stick Zirkzee in goals.

Add me to the list of people hating their job at the moment. My company is one of many who have basically gone "AI will save us money. Lets move ahead with this and worry about it later!". They seem to have binned a bunch of roles off on the assumption that AI will be able to do their jobs, which has failed. Its meant that other people (such as me) have had to absorb more duties into their already very, very stretched working day. Everyone in my entire department is very behind and extremely stressed. It has led directly to some people leaving and some others going off sick. This has a further domino effect as other people (me again!) need to pick up work in progress for those who have left or are absent. Every single day I have much, much more work to do than I can possibly complete. I was briefly logging in early and doing extra work just to try reduce my stress by getting more on top of things. I've since come to my senses and made it clear that this isn't my problem and I wont continue to do this. I've given management plenty of data on how much I am doing every day and how it is completely unmanageable and cannot continue. I've asked them to suggest how to move forward and the answer is basically "we don't have anyone else who can do the work". I've gotten far better at logging off at 5 sharp and not letting it bother me until 9am comes but I can still feel the stress creeping in. There are plenty of times where I wake up in the middle of the night and my thoughts are about calls I really need to make, emails I need to respond to etc. It's not good.

For anyone who just needs even more of it, Warhammer Survivors is coming out in November. Its on everything including iOS and Android.

I feel completely out of the loop as I somehow did not even know a new Gears of War game was coming out. I've always enjoyed the series. I actually bought a 360 based entirely on the strength of the original game. I was horrified to realise this was TWENTY YEARS AGO now. I have to say, as much as I have enjoyed the series of the years, I could not really give two shits about the story. I probably couldnt even summarise it beyond "its some really muscular soldiers who are at war with humanoid locusts". That is about all the backdrop I really need though, I just find them very satisfying games to play and they are usually some of the better looking games around. With this in mind, I downloaded Gears of War: E-Day on Game Pass last night and played the first hour or so. It looks great and its the familiar cover / shoot gameplay you will be aware of if you have played any of the games. As the name suggests, this is a prequel which tells the story of 'emergence day'. I can tell they are going for a weighty, emotional story thats been all the rage in AAA games for a while now (The Last of Us, God of War etc.) . I've not played enough to tell if the story / writing are any good. I will say that one of the very first area's is a police station and the design of this station and the horror feel is almost too similar to Resident Evil 2. It may as well have flashed up WE HAVE BEEN HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY RESI 2 on the screen. I half expected to see some decorations welcoming Leon Kennedy to his first day on the job.

I will say that I did sigh a bit at the healing flasks and all enemies regenerating when you save. Not everything has to be Dark Souls.

Speaking of Castlevania... A demo of the upcoming Belmonts Curse is out now on all platforms. I played through it last night in one go. Its very brief, probably only about 30-40 mins or so. It's enough for you you to get a feel of the movement, combat etc. and a boss fight. I really enjoyed it. I was always going to be getting it (2D Castlevania among my favourite series of games ever) but I am more excited now. Presentation is lovely and it just feels very good to play.