At the company I work for, the end of the year is very much the busiest, starting early fall. It’s harvest season, and with harvest, come samples, thus many tests and subsequently, tests results. Planers need these results, so they can sell and export seeds. Moreover, I was handed a massive project right in the middle of all of this. The project has been completed, sort of. I won’t call it completed until all my samples are shipped and out the door.

Like every year, we are also preparing our next field trial for Chile. Most field trials are pretty easy since they are within the US. Since this one is off the country, there is much more to it than simply packing and shipping. Many regulations and paperwork. This means lots of work for me and my team, a team of two. What makes things a bit more stressful for me, is the fact that this year, I am traveling to another of our field trials, this coming Saturday in fact. This means I only have 5 days to help with all the preparations and I will be leaving my coworker with all the rest right in the middle of. Knowing this, I have been doing a lot of prep beforehand. Still, I am stressed and also feeling a bit guilty for leaving my coworker alone with the GO prep and shipping. This is on top of all the other things I have daily. Like I’ve said, data, data, and more data.

And then some…

Back in August 2020, I played this game, and loved it. In fact, I played the shit out of this game. I beat it at least four times, over one hundred and forty hours. This was on the PlayStation 4.

Fast-forward to 2021, on Black Friday, I got my PlayStation 5. And as the story goes, I bought, yet again, but Ghost of Tsushima The Director’s Cut — on sale, I might add. Anyway, I was really looking forward to replaying this game on the PS5, I knew it was going to look outstanding and perform better.

I have been playing it since and, OH MY GOD, it feels just like the first time but better. This game is beautiful! I mean, even on the PS4 is a beautiful game, but the PS5 truly brings this game to live.

The loading times! What loading times? Let us not be silly. One of the game's features is fast traveling, from one place to another. On the PS4, fast travel was useful, but the loading wait was kind of a small inconvenience. On the PS5, though, there’s no loading wait, fast travel means fucking fast travel. Its instant — crazy.

Bottom line, I am enjoying this game the same, if not even more, then the first four times I played it.

Another game I got while on Black Friday sales was Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Another game that I put over a hundred hours on the Xbox One S. And yet, I’m sure it’ll be like playing a whole new game on the PlayStation 5.

Back in August 2020, I played this game, and loved it. In fact, I played the shit out of this game. I beat it at least four times, over one hundred and forty hours. This was on the PlayStation 4.

Fast-forward to 2021, on Black Friday, I got my PlayStation 5. And as the story goes, I bought, yet again, but Ghost of Tsushima The Director’s Cut — on sale, I might add. Anyway, I was really looking forward to replaying this game on the PS5, I knew it was going to look outstanding and perform better.

I have been playing it since and, OH MY GOD, it feels just like the first time but better. This game is beautiful! I mean, even on the PS4 is a beautiful game, but the PS5 truly brings this game to life.

The loading times! What loading times? Let us not be silly. One of the game’s features is fast traveling, from one place to another. On the PS4, fast travel was useful, but the loading wait was kind of a small inconvenience. On the PS5, though, there’s no loading wait, fast travel means fucking fast travel. It’s instant — crazy.

Bottom line, I am enjoying this game the same, if not even more, than the first four times I played it.

Another game I got while on Black Friday sales was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Another game that I put over a hundred hours on the Xbox One S. And yet, I’m sure it’ll be like playing a whole new game on the PlayStation 5.

A while ago, I traded all my consoles and physical games, well, most physical games., others, I kept. I did it because I wanted a PlayStation 5 and knew I wouldn’t quite have the budget for it. I made around 650.00 USDs in store credit.

When I asked what were the chances of me getting a PS5, they, well, hopes weren’t high. I knew this, I knew it was going to take time. As a small local retailer, they didn’t have one in stock, and they couldn’t tell for sure when would they have one? The owner of the store, did offer to “hunt down” one for me. Again, I knew it wasn’t going to be right away, which I was completely fine with. I mean, my Nintendo Switch backlog it’s quite large.

About two months later, Black Friday comes around, and unlike everyone else, I do no shopping whatsoever. I do look at the Switch store and whatnot, but that is the extent of it. That evening we had Thai food, delicious! I also happened to have a very tasty barrel aged imperial stout to try. I ate my food and poured my beer. As I am about to take my first glorious sip, a call comes is, the caller ID showed — VIP Games. My heart starts pounding, and I put my beer goblet down.

Hello, Luis? (That’s my first name on my ID, thus, Luis) I am told that in less than ten minutes we will have a PlayStation 5 for you. So, you’re more than welcome to come down and pick it up

To which I replied

I’ll be right there

A 10-minute drive later, I arrived to VIP Games. It was weird, it was the only opened and light up, store in the strip mall, besides the Wendy’s. I was having the same rush feeling when I bought my Nintendo Switch, they were rare, and there was only one, and I grabbed it. I felt like I needed to conceal it until I was safe at home.

I get in the store, the owner greets me.

We are just finishing everything in the system, and it’ll be ready

A few minutes later, he hands me the console.

You still have credit available. Any game you’d like to take with you?

I look around…

Do you happen to have Ghost of Tsushima, the director’s cut edition?

He looks around, the lady next to him hands it to him

Yes, and it’s on sale

After purchasing the PS5 and Ghost, I still have some credit left. He asked me if I wanted to cash, to which I replied to keep it in the system. In the future, rather than buying games at regular price from Amazon or Best Buy, I am coming down to this little store. It took time, but they went above and beyond to get me my console, they deserve my monies. Moreover, here is where I purchased my beloved Pokémon Shinning Pearl about a week ago.

Now, I did take advantage of some Black Friday sales. I purchased Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, again! Yes, I played the heck out off this game on the Xbox One S, but I knew that this game looks and performs better on the PS5, plus I have been wanting to replay it, just like Ghost. It only const me 23.00 USD, not bad at all.

So far, I am spending my time playing Ghost, and the difference in performance between the PS4 version and the PS5 it’s quite significant. The graphics, too, game it seems more detailed and crispier. I cannot wait to experience Valhalla on this console.

Other games I am excited to play are, the new Grand Turismo, God of War Ragnarök and Gungrave.

Up next, the Xbox, gotta have all the consoles. But that will wait much longer. Maybe sometime mid-2022 or later.