Soooooo what'cha playing?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

This week I played Crystalis and boy am I glad I did. What a unique game. I've heard comparisons to Zelda and Ys, but honestly Secret of Mana was what my brain kept thinking of. In fact I googled whether Crystalis served as the inspiration for Secret of Mana, and all I got was some dude on Gamefaqs wondering the same thing. Well, at least I'm not crazy. Anyway it's a top down action-rpg. I really like how your defense stat can get so high that you take no damage from enemies, but that also applies to enemies too. If you're not strong enough, you can't damage them. Same goes for boss fights, so you may find yourself grinding exp just to progress the game. At least the game has the sense to tell you when your attacks deal no damage though. Enemies also have elemental resistances, usually to all but one element so you find yourself swapping elements several times, even on the same screen. It only takes a second to do so, but your non charged attacks really should have been treated as non elemental. There's also some obtuse NES logic going on, like how the answer to spikes on the ground is to jump repeatedly as you pass them in order to avoid damage. And there's also some key items needed to progress that no NPC dialogue ever informs the player about. A guide is necessary for sure.

Even with some poor design, the gameplay never gets old, grinding feels rewarding and fast to do, and the music is excellent. The plot's pretty good too - at least for NES standards, I love how NPCs have different dialogue based on events in the game, or how you can talk to Wise Men for advice. All the items and spells are useful (and with no bugs!). You can also ride a talking dolphin. This is definitely a favorite of mine out of the NES catalog. 5.5 out of 10.

On 2/4/2020 at 9:55 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Luigi's Mansion 3 isn't so fun when it gets to B2; its boss I tried once, and it is no fun at all, the controls are horrible. I'm still liking the game though.

My friend and I are actually working through that game on Co-op. Yeah that boss was a doozy to figure out. I kept figuring I had to blow the mines at him with the L button, but that jettisons you into spikes. The strategy I ended up with was just activating the mine by passing near it, and letting the boss paddle into it. Sometimes bosses seem more complicated than they really are.

[NegativeExponents-]

I've been playing Cuphead. It's supposed to be a brutal platformer but honestly I keep thinking of it as a mild bullet hell instead lol. I've been playing it co-op with my cousin and it's such a blast.

Another game I've been playing is Skyrim. I went into expecting not to like it but I found myself quickly hooked on it instead. I've been playing as a "thief" which ended up being surprisingly harder than just doing it normally but after basically killing everyone in Riverwood I finally learned how to go about it in a way that keeps me out of trouble. I've playing on the switch so I don't have access to mods but I wouldn't even know where to start anyway so vanilla and portable is fine by me.

[Sidereal Wraith]

I mostly read nowadays, but I’m replaying Castlevania Order of Ecclesia to help me remember to time when I wasn’t old and decrepit. After February half term (War and Peace/Dreams of Steel/Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe) I’m going to take an honest crack at FE: 3H.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Resident Evil Code Veronica is a game often panned by fans of the series. But in my many years I've never heard anybody mention any flaws with the game beyond things that exist chiefly within its (skippable) cutscenes, so I felt the criticism was unfair. In fact, poorly told stories and atrocious voice acting was a lot of the charm for me growing up with those early games. Well, I played it again for the first time in ten or so years, and went for the A rank. A rank requires beating the game under four and a half hours without saving or retrying after a game over. It took a lot of research, but I'm proud to say I did it. But pushing the game to the limit like that clued me in on its flaws. Enemy hitboxes are weird. Your attacks simply do less damage when hitting somebody during certain, arbitrary animations. This makes hunters and bandersnatches especially seem very inconsistent and unpredictable when they shouldn't be to an experienced player. This game also has, in my opinion, some of the worst boss fights in the series. Like Nosferatu and the Tyrant. Nosferatu's flailing limbs have no windup or indication of when he is attacking, and the player just gets knocked over the edge for a cheap death. He's also a gratuitous bullet sponge if you don't know about or fail to hit his weak point, but I don't mind him soaking up that much ammo since by this point Claire is 95% done with her segments. Tyrant is unforgiveably hard though. If you didn't go back for those B.O.W rounds, you will suffer for it. And there's no indication in-game what they do, even if the player used one to experiment on some enemies. I could go on about the terrible design of this fight for a first time player.

But there's some good stuff in the game too. The music and sound design is excellent - easily the best of the classic entries of the series. Environmental aesthetics and level design are superb. Inventory space is the most generous it's ever been, and when its full you can use herbs from the ground without having to make room for them. I like how some of the busywork early on allows you to access powerful weapons many hours later in Chris' campaign. And when you die you can just retry without having to return to your last save, making this the first and only of the classic resident evils with a checkpoint system. You can really tell they wanted to go with a more actiony style for the series with over the top shootouts in cutscenes. There are floods of enemies in most rooms, and enough ammo lying around to deal with it all. The game's Battle Mode even includes a first person mode where you can blast zombies up close and personal with infinite ammo weapons. I rate the game a 6.8 out of 10.

[Hawkwing]

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Got this around 2-3 weeks ago. Been alternating between several videogames at the moment, so I haven't gotten that far into the game (beat the first world, and unlocked the option to redo fights to get a better ranking), but I can say that it's a very fun and zany strategy game. It's pretty simple, but that works to its benefit. There are no complex equations to keep track of or long term planning needed; 0%, 50%, and 100% are the only chances to hit depending on the cover, skill points are shared for each character and can be reset allowing for experimentation, and permadeath isn't a thing. The ability to dash into enemies, jump to higher ground, and use pipes to get to other parts of the level fits right in with the Mario series while adding some unique and engaging elements to a strategy title. The game is very beginner friendly as a result of this, while still having enough depth and uniqueness to draw in more experienced strategy game fans. It's also filled with slapstick, jokes, and other cartoony hijinks, making it fun for all ages.

Ultimate Chicken Horse: Was looking around the E-shop when several things were on sale, saw this game, and my younger brother was interested in getting it. I've seen him watch some youtubers play it every now and again, and the gameplay looked interesting, so I bought it, and we've been having quite a bit of fun with it.

Ultimate Chicken Horse is a multiplayer platforming game where the players build the level, and add things like blocks, moving platforms, coins, and loads of traps in order to reach the end of the level and earn points. Every turn, something new is added, and then the players have to run through it. No one gets points if everyone succeeds, and nor does anyone gain anything if everyone fails the level, so it's up to the players to create challenging yet possible obstacles to go through. It's interesting to see how much the layout changes from turn to turn, as well as how hilarious it can be when someone trap placing backfires or works too well. It also has a level editor, which my brother loves to use to make deathtraps and messing around with the jetpacks, teleporters, and black holes.

Resident Evil 4: Been watching SomecallmeJohnny's marathon of Resident Evil, was curious if Capcom's habit of releasing past games on every console held true for the Switch, saw Resident Evil 4 on sale, remembered it heralded as one of the best action games ever made, and decided "why not?". And boy, do I not regret this purchase.

The tank controls took a little getting used to, but I caught on pretty quickly. I actually don't mind that you can't shoot and move at the same time; it adds more importance to positioning and being in a good spot to take out several enemies. While ammo is plentiful, it's not unlimited, so making every shot count is essential. It's not a "run-and-gun", but RE4 is still action-packed, addictive, and just plain fun. It also has one of the better escort missions I've seen (Crimson Skies holds the reward for the best), as Ashley tends to stay out of your way while aiming, and you can tell her to wait in a safe location while you deal with a larger threat.

The plot is silly and evokes several B movie cliches, and in several ways it works to the games advantage. It's not taking things very seriously, so neither should you, and going in with that mindset helps makes the cheesier aspects laughably fun instead of groan-worthy. I haven't found the game to be that scary yet (I was slightly startled when a snake was in one of the breakable boxes since I was used to goodies appearing instead, and the fish boss was enjoyably tense, but that was it), but then again I haven't gotten to the infamous regenerators yet, so that sentiment may or may not change later on.

Does Not Commute: A mobile game that I got two days ago, and it's pretty fun. The trailer does a good job at showing what the gameplay is about, but to summarize; It's a driving game about getting from point A to point B in a certain amount of time, except that YOU control every car. What starts as one car casually strolling to get to the end of the map soon turns into a frantic frenzy as you try to maneuver between 15 or more vehicles each going their own way, and knowing the craziness is entirely YOUR doing. You also get a description of what each driver is doing in each level, giving the game a quirky sense of humor that fits right in with the 1970's vibe it gives off, and there is some fun continuity if you pay attention. It's also hilarious reading the description and comparing to what you do in-game, such as a father with sick kids jumping over a ramp or ice cream trucks driving through the grass just to save time.It is annoying that without paying for the premium version you have to start all the way back from the beginning whenever you turn on the game, regardless of where you were when you stopped, but it's not the worse case of withholding features behind a paywall I've seen, and the game is perfectly playable and beatable without spending a cent.

[Morgan--Grandmaster]

Three Houses, Pokemon Shield, Planet Zoo, Dragon Quest VIII

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I completed the story mode of BlazBlue Crosstag Battle.

I hardly would call it "story", but from a fighting game there's not much to expect from it.

Still it was very fun and the big character cast was a very pleasant surprise.

Might test online mode once I have the free time.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Grabbed some 2001 FPS games out of the old backlog. The first is Red Faction, a sci-fi/horror plot taking place on a Martian colony. The groundbreaking feature of this game as it came out was its destructible environments. I've heard from more than one person with the PS2 version as a child, just digging tunnels with rocket launchers in the multiplayer mode and working together with friends to see if they can connect their base to the enemy base. In the main campaign, explosives can be used to blow your way through a wall with a door beside it you can't open. But any time I tried to get creative with explosions I just ended up soft locking myself. So I don't know whether I should be thankful or disappointed you're never asked to use explosives for puzzle solving. Anyway, I think one mechanic of the game that's equally great are the vehicles. The submarine and fighter jet feel great to control, especially for a shooter of this era. The narrative was creative as well. Like how the bad guy taunted me as I kept pressing a button that did nothing. When they start to introduce supernatural elements about halfway into the game I was all there for it. Some of the characters aren't that likable. Eos is very well written, but every line delivery from her actress is the same shouting/nagging tone with no variation. The playable character also speaks during cutscenes and I really wish he wouldn't. He's even less likeable, and has no expressed motivation for joining the rebellion.

Red Faction was a fun game to play, though. The game balance takes a dip in the last third of the game when enemies spawn with a rail gun that kills you instantly. That seems pretty unfair when getting blown up does only a fraction of your health and the player can dodge a rocket better than they can dodge a laser. Be prepared to hammer that autosave button before you round a corner, as there are no checkpoints. Some rooms also frustrated me because certain objects you can interact with randomly have no square indicator as you approach like any other button does. There was also a bug I encountered in which a submarine explodes in mid air due to the high frame rate modern PCs are capable of. There's no way to adjust the frame rate in the settings, but a youtube comment clued me in that I can make the game frame drop if I spam quick save, which worked first try. I rate it a 5.2 out of 10.

Next up is 007: Agent Under Fire. Like Red Faction, I knocked it out in about four hours. Anything I can say about the game risks getting sidetracked on the controls so I'll start there. I played the gamecube version, but I can't blame everything on that controller. The programmers decided that the player should use both the control stick and C-stick simultaneously to aim...and simultaneously to move. It is totally confusing, and more than once I walked off a cliff while just trying to adjust my aim. I'd rather have something like Metroid Prime's style of controls over this, because I can at least wrap my head around the idea of Samus controlling like a turret atop a car. I like the game's emphasis on gadgets, but swapping between gadgets and weapons are both done with the D-Pad, and it's a very imprecise D-Pad. The HUD also takes a long time to update to what is currently equipped so I often pass over what I want. One of the gadgets is a jetpack, and it's pretty bad to control. Basically a single super jump that may send you over your destination to your death. This game typically has checkpoints every five minutes so a death never sets you back too far. Just make sure to back out to the main menu when you're done playing and save your game, because the game will not remind you.

The plot is completely throwaway. Bond's character model has his left eyebrow permanently raised, probably because every time we see his face, he's delivering a cheesy one-liner or flirting with a female character. The villain is a shadow organization with cloning technology attempting to replace the world leaders with clones. But they also cloned this game's Bond Girl who is killed in the first mission. Upon meeting her clone, Bond's immediate response is to bang her which confirms the creepiness of this take on the character. I rate it a 3.8 out of 10. About the only thing I like are Bond Moments. Parts of a level where you find a secret or defeat enemies with the environment for some more points. Pretty creative to reward the player on cleverness in a Bond game.

[Armagon]

About two days ago, i finished Atelier Escha & Logy. A vast improvement over it's predeceor Atelier Ayesha in terms of gameplay. The game returns to the segemented approach of Atelier Rorona and this makes managing things a lot easier. The alchemy system was something i could easily grasp again, which helped in me regularly leveling up my alchemy level, helped by the fact that the segemented time-limits allowed me to actually focus on stuff like this, since the main objectives were pretty easy to complete. The battle system also sees a vast improvement and this one might be my favorite battle system in the series. I think. It's up there at the very least. Having a vanguard and a rearguard allows things to be more interesting. Also there's a party member reserve. Gone are the days of you having to find the characters' locations to recruit them to your party. The game has what's called Search Equipment in which you basically put your items in a table and these items will be restocked for free whenever you return to the atelier. It's a lot like Atelier Ryza's Core Charge mechanic except it doesn't discourage you from using items. Speaking of items and Ryza, this game has my favorite equipment system in the series tied with Ryza, due to the simple fact that you don't have to dequip and requip weapons and armor you're crafting/upgrading. Characters and music are good as always. 

I don't have as much bad things to say about this game as i did with Atelier Ayesha but there were some minor inconviences. The game really likes to tell you whenever you got a new item. Like, it stops the whole game to tell you. This wasn't really an issue later on but in the beginning when everything was new, finding items was kinda annoying. I also experienced some technical issues where the game's settings would reset. I play Atelier with Japanese voices (mainly because the series doesn't do English dubs anymore) and sometimes the voices would default back to English. I don't know why. Also the final two bosses of the main story are just gimmicks. One can just decide to give itself an extra turn, adding to it's already two actions per turn. The other can just decide to delete your support meter, forcing you to build it back up. Thankfully, only the penultimate boss is required in order to beat the game, which is what i did. Knowledge Book+Double Draw II is busted.

Atelier Escha & Logy is my current third favorite Atelier game. Onwards to Atelier Shallie. Let's see how the Dusk trilogy ends. 

[ciphertul]

Well, just finished AzurLane crosswave, was a blast but way to short. About to finish Warriors Orochi 4 ult, this was a big letdown. Still glad I got to play Joan again thou. I’m currently playing a mix of Cold Steel 2 and The Caligula Effect overdose, both are great RPGs that have good stories. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

3 hours ago, ciphertul said:

Well, just finished AzurLane crosswave, was a blast but way to short. About to finish Warriors Orochi 4 ult, this was a big letdown. Still glad I got to play Joan again thou. I’m currently playing a mix of Cold Steel 2 and The Caligula Effect overdose, both are great RPGs that have good stories. 

What was disappointing about WO4 Ultimate specifically? Don't you generally know what you're getting with these games?

 

Anyway, I'm currently playing Trails in the Sky SC.

[ciphertul]

Just now, Etheus said:

What was disappointing about WO4 Ultimate specifically? Don't you generally know what you're getting with these games?

Yes, and that is saying something. I love the Warriors games and I just found 4u not as good as its predecessors, 3U is still my favorite Warriors game followed by FEW and then Dynasty Warriors 8 Emps. Infinity mode is a let down, the new characters* are okay but I guess I would rather have the guests back. I might have had a high expectation for it, which is my fault, but it didn’t live up to it.

[DragonFlames]

There is already an Ultimate version of Warriors Orochi 4? That was quick.

---

Anyway, I'm currently alternating between playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Trails of Cold Steel III, with a focus on the latter, because I have a feeling I will finish it soon. And because my JoyCons need to recharge right now, so... that's a bit inconvenient.

[Jingle Jangle]

Recently I have been playing EA Star Wars Battlefront 2. In its current state I'll give the game a 7/10. I like the post launch support the game has come with. Characters such as Yoda, Grevious, and Obi wan should have been in the game since launch. There are all kinds of planets from the Star Wars universe spanning over 100 years of lore. The general balancing have been solid for the most part. Clone Commandos and Droidekas in the game finally; sign me up.

What holds it back for me is: Still wishing there was a map selector. For over 15 hours I never once been on Hoth, Crait, or Yavin 4; just the same 6 or or maps time and time again. New blaster, since the launch of the game there hasn't been any substantial changes to the main 4 classes the the focus when into the heroes and reinforcements. Which means the normal gameplay can be state after a while.  Hero balancing, I find it silly that all of the Heroes cost the same amount of battle points despite the vast gap in  performance between some of them. Darth Vader and Anakin under the right player can  solo the entire enemy team, Compared to some others can only be effective in picking off weakened players. The mode Capital Supremacy being treated as the golden child. It works best when there is a clear team that players better. It not then it becomes a three hour stalemate with no tie breakers. Unfortunately in most of the games I have been in it's a later. Even worst when majority of the development time it focused on more maps, ignoring the other 5+ modes. 

Might seen to be overly critical about the game. But I want it to be the best it can be. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

This week I wasn't quite finished with early 2000s FPS games. Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is a game set in the 007 universe, but features classic bond villains as both protagonists and antagonists rather than Bond himself. Your protagonist is the mute Goldeneye, a discharged 00 agent with a cool technological false eye and a vendetta against Dr. No. Your team includes Goldfinger, Oddjob, the Man with the Golden Gun, and Pussy Galore. Kind of a suicide squad-style lineup. As a longtime 007 fan, I appreciate seeing so many familiar faces but the plot makes virtually no effort to explain the various allegiances between our protagonists and antagonists. This is one of those turn-your-brain-off shooters. You can wield two one-handed weapons at once which makes the shooting fairly satisfying even if enemies won't respond to your bullets until their HP reaches 0. And boy do they get a lot of HP. My go to strategy was running straight up to enemies for the headshot instant kill. 

There was a ridiculous section of the Hoover Damn level that forced me to drop the difficulty to Easy, and I was still stuck for a time. You're pitted against a dozen tanks and only enough ordinance to destroy two. your only option is to run between them, dodging shells in front of and behind you at painfully slow walking speed. Also ridiculous is the final level where enemies spawn with a gun that instantly kills you, even at max health and armor. The projectiles aren't as fast as a bullet - you can dodge them, but when it's sprinkled inbetween several other super armored soldiers, there just isn't a whole lot you can do to dispatch these guys quickly and safely. Hard as the game is, you've got the opportunity to sit back in cover and let your health refill just like in Halo. You've also got a damage immunity shield that may not last long but keeps the game reasonable. I rate it a 4.6 out of 10. It's playable even if some sections don't seem play tested.

Coming off of last week's Red Faction, I moved on to its sequel, Red Faction 2, which had me scratching my head a fair bit. Apparently the Red Faction Rebellion is not unique to Mars and neither was the research going on there. I definitely wish I knew why the uniform of the rebels on Earth is the same as the Martian miners. The sequel has us take the role of super soldier "Alias". Admittedly a funny name for a mute FPS protagonist. Unlike Parker of the last game, this guy won't speak, even in cutscenes. But what he does have is a conscience, unlike his fellow super soldiers you spend the first half of the game fighting alongside. After a shift in allegiance, the player finds themselves fighting with the underdogs and encountering the former squad mates as boss fights. Earth also seems to be in the midst of a zombie outbreak in 2080. And I do mean the come out of the ground in a cemetery level, cartoon variety of zombie. It's totally out of left field with no explanation.

The boss fights are a drag - just a large HP pool you have to drain with your strongest weapons. And the characters are all just unlikable, immature military tropes. Even the one squadmate who defects with you speaks primarily through flirtations. Also unlike the first game, blowing up environments is repeatedly necessary to progress, although the game seldom gives indications on what walls or even floors are breakable, let alone the way to progress in a room. Your health also refills slowly when not taking fire, which is an understandable addition when this game released at a point where Halo was still brand new. This one's a 4.9 out of 10. It's got a lot of the modern conventions of the genre but seems to be lacking the heart and narrative focus the original had.

[DragonFlames]

So, I finished the third installment in Falcom's The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel saga earlier. Here are some thoughts on it.

The Good:

• Battle animations are a lot smoother than they were in previous games
• Hidden quests are a lot easier to find as every possible quest is now marked on the minimap, meaning unless you fail to visit every area, you won't miss out on many quests
• The new Class VII members are great, I'd even go so far as to say that they eclipsed most of the old Class VII by a wide margin
• Finally getting some answers to long-held questions is great. Even players of the Sky trilogy or the Crossbell games will get some stuff revealed that they might not have known about previously (this latter point is pure conjecture on my part, though, as I haven't played those other games).
• Divine Knight fights are improved from the previous games. The concept itself is still pretty weird, though
• Rean himself is a much better character than he was in Cold Steel 1 and 2. They took him in a good direction, and Sean Chiplock's on the top of his game here
• speaking of voice acting, it's great!
• the ending theme is amazing

The Bad:

• Many quests still have hidden AP requirements you won't know about unless you look them up or get them by coincidence. Some of them are also very, VERY hard to get and sometimes, there is no indication if you got everything right or not
• The story still falls into trappings from Cold Steel 2 by having the main characters be rescued by plenty of Deus Ex Machina after boss fights. This very much devalues the new Class VII members' presence from a story perspective, as they get exactly one moment where they can shine on their own merits in the entire story. One.
• Speaking of the story, it follows many of the same beats the original Trails of Cold Steel did, making many things (especially at the beginning of the game) feel very familiar to those who have played it (and if you haven't, what are you doing playing this game?)
• The music is much weaker than it was in the previous two games, not that you'd actually be able to hear it in-game because the sound mixing is flat-out terrible, making sound effects and voices too loud while the BGM is way too quiet

The Ugly:

• The writers LOVE character shilling, to the point where it defies reason. If this bothers you in other games, hoo boy, you're in for a ride here...

The Conclusion

My overall feelings on this game are schizophrenic, almost. Things that bother me bother me a lot, while the things I like, I like a lot. I won't name this as my favorite game anytime soon, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy myself.

[Slumber]

In preparation for Resident Evil 3, I'm currently working through a number of Resident Evil titles that I haven't played in a while on their hardest difficulty settings.

Last week I beat both REmake as Chris on Hiking and Revelations 1 on Infernal.

REmake was well balanced and fair, if a little tedious as Chris due to his limited inventory. Forgot to rescue Rebecca after making it back to the mansion, so I didn't get the final Tyrant boss fight, but I was saving all of my magnum rounds for it, so it likely wouldn't have really added much if I didn't forget.

Revelations is some hot dogshit on its hardest setting, though. A lot of people complain about the non-Jill segments on Infernal because of how hard they are compared to Jill's segments. The thing is, Infernal is tuned for New Game+. I went through it on a fresh save and did it on a vanilla New Game. Those non-Jill segments were the easy parts of my playthrough. That mode is not at all balanced for a vanilla playthrough. Still managed to beat it at a decent pace.

This week I'll probably get around to either Revelations 2, RE4 or RE5. I just have to decide if I want to subject a friend to Rev 2 on No Escape or RE5 on Professional.

[CH0D]

Suikoden II is a hard bop: fantastic characters, amazing soundtrack, and a badass plot!

Edited February 24, 2020 by CH0D

[Von Ithipathachai]

I've been playing Command & Conquer: Red Alert.  I beat the Allied campaign and got started on the Soviet campaign last night.

[SSJDennis]

Since I can't seem to beat the final bosses in Zelda BotW (I am horrible at the combat) I figured I would finish Ys VII first. After I can try SRW T, X or buy something new.

Anyone into Valkyrie chronicles 4? Loved the first game, will this one be refreshing or interesting? Or just a copy of VC? Last time I played on my PS3.

[know_naim]

I'm tackling the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo. Finished it once yesterday, normal mode. Looks great even on the basic PS4! I'm a little worried the fighting will be too chaoticlater on as more characters appear, but with just two it worked fine for me. I'm not a fan of ATB but since the combat is real-time I'm not so bothered as in the original anymore. Charging the ATB gouge is now basicaly a way to use spells and special attacks.

I see a lot of Final XV in this demo. Menus look similar (where I hope that in the full version they will be slightly embellished, because for my taste they look too sterile), and the combat system itself is like the natural evolution of FFXV. Just hold one button to attack and use either active pause or shortcuts to activate skills.

What I think was lacking is greater interactivity with the environment than just smashing up boxes. Also I'm a little underwhelmed by the in game hud and hud pop-ups. Like when levelling up: just a small box that informs that now the character has a higher level, no iconic jiggle either. However, I understand why it was designed this way. Rather hard with combat design like this in to implement a separate level up screen or level up mechanic like in XV.  

I'm afraid that without an "hard mode" option the game will be quite simple. Demo is trivial, I even led Barret to be hit by the scorpions laser on purpose and it didn't kill him. I wanted to see what would happen if someone got KOed, but I did not succeed ^_^'

Had mad fun though and already know this will be a day 1 purchase. However, because of this whole splitting the game into parts thing, it will be a one-weekend affair, if I decide to not replay it much. 

Ah, and one more thing: staggering mechanic is cool. Reminds me of FFXIII. You can say a lot negative about thirteen, but the possibility of incapacitating opponents with appropriate combos (as well as the entire battle system) was ace and in FFVIIR staggering has the potential to be the strategic element that will diversify skirmishes over "hold the square button and sometimes cast a spell".

[Anathaco]

At the moment, there are a few games I'm playing.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE: Encore: I got this game for the meme, I'm being completely honest. None of my FE playing friends were ever going to get the game for me to see exactly what it was like, so I took the plunge and got it myself. Admittedly, part of the reason was "damn this song for the Heroes trailer is REALLY catchy" Anyway...

I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I have.

Part of it probably is the fact that I went into it with low expectations, but the game (at least in my opinion) is fairly solid. The gameplay is fun as hell, and having just come off of Octopath Traveler, the idea of enemies having weaknesses I needed to exploit came fairly naturally to me. Doesn't mean I'm any good at the game though, the bosses are still kicking my ass, and I'm not even on Hard mode. But the combat is just SO satisfying to pull off, especially when you pull off sessions of like 10 or more (10 is my highest atm, but I don't have Barry or Maiko, and I only have 1 duo art).

The story so far isn't anything special. It does what it needs to do, and I don't really love it or hate it. Recently beat Chapter 4, so I don't know if it gets any better or not, but it's holding my interest enough to keep playing, at least.

The characters, in my opinion, are the biggest surprise. They... are actually enjoyable, if not deep or meaningful. The side stories, particularly Touma's and Kiria's, are actually more engaging to me than the main game. And the dialogue between characters is pretty decent. One particular line at the end of Barry's second side story had me laughing my ass off for a good 10 minutes.

Anyway, that's my verdict on the game. Not perfect by any means, but a lot of fun, and engaging enough to keep me wanting more. 7.5/10

 

Octopath Traveler: Technically I'm not playing this, my brother is, but he's absolutely hopeless, so I'm kinda forced to play along with him, otherwise he'd never make it to the end of the game. He chose Therion as his starter, and went around recruiting Alfyn, Primrose, Olberic, Tressa and Cyrus. He didn't get Ophilia or Ha'anit, despite me advising him to at least get Ha'anit so he can get access to the Golden Axe early on, but eh. The price you pay for not actually playing the game. Anyway, we beat Therion's 2nd chapter and are about to finish Alfyn's 2nd chapter. I shudder to think of how many Concoct ingredients we will use for this battle, considering how much we used in Therion's chapter 2. Apart from the gameplay, which he seems to be enjoying, he's legitimately hooked on most of the character's stories, Therion's and Alfyn's particularly. So it'll be interesting to see where we go from this point.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Again, my brother is the one playing this one, but this time it's not because he wants to, it's part of a deal between us. I let him put the difficulty on easy and use my New Game + file (I've already beaten the game twice), so he could get to experience the story at least. He's not really enjoying the gameplay, but he is still interested in the story.

Spoiler

Pretty sure he shed a few tears when Vandham died, which I count as a victory.

Despite that, we haven't played in a couple of weeks, so I should probably resolve that. He's been more interested in Octopath at the moment.

[DragonFlames]

2 hours ago, Anathaco said:

He's not really enjoying the gameplay, but he is still interested in the story.

That's basically my take on the game currently.

2 hours ago, Anathaco said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Pretty sure he shed a few tears when Vandham died, which I count as a victory.

 

I can see why. He was my favorite character up until that point.

 

Then Mythra showed up.

---

As you might be able to infer from my recent postings, I'm currently playing Xenoblade 2.

I also dipped my toes into older Pokémon games (Generation 3, to be exact) on the side because I felt a sudden urge to revisit the old times... only to discover that these games have always been a fustercluck of frustration and feeling cheated by them, so that stint didn't really last very long. Introducing Natures was a mistake.

Edited March 3, 2020 by DragonFlames

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney. At no point of this game do these two characters fist fight each other, so I have to say I don't feel I got my money's worth. In the Phoenix Wright sections, the game features the usual gameplay systems, and standard annoyances. Several times I had the right piece of evidence during witness testimony, but was looking at the "wrong" piece of dialogue, when both should logically work. Several times I also managed to discover huge contradictions long before phoenix was capable of bringing it up, so many penalties were earned trying to point them out early. There's also one point of the game in which you are presented with three very wrong answers, but only one is "right" in terms of narrative because a better answer spontaneously presents itself in the resulting dialogue, while the others get you a penalty. It's the phoenix wright equivalent to a Kaizo block in a platformer. Awful.

Why do Ace Attorney games even have failure states? If I asked this question back in 2001 when the first game was released, the answer would be "because it's a video game, stupid". But these days, there are plenty of games that don't have game overs or hard consequences for failure beyond the player having to restart from a checkpoint. Furthermore, this is a game where I can drop a save whenever there's a possibility of getting a penalty, so I'm just going to save scum whenever I get the answer wrong if the developers are going to let me. There's really no point to a failure state in a game like this.

The Professor Layton sections weren't much better. Several times I feel the game presents a puzzle with unclear wording to a point where you understand what you're doing, but you don't understand what answer the game is asking for in the first place. But wrong answers are ultimately fine since, as far as I know, it's impossible to get a game over, unlike the Ace Attorney sections. A wrong answer only makes you lose points, which I don't care about anyway. The plot is a mixed bag. It gets really good about 12 hours in, but that should never be something said about any video game. Only in the final hour does a lot of stuff get logical explanations, and even then there's one huge plot point that is still inexplicable with the narrative's established rules. It's odd how it takes so long for the game to tell its story yet the story telling feels so lazy.

[Armagon]

So earlier today, I finished Atelier Shallie. Here are my thoughts.

This being the first Atelier game to not have a time-limit, it was pretty interesting seeing how the series would evolve over time. The fact that this game was the first Atelier game to not have a time-limit and it shows but i'll get into that later.

Removing the time-limit was honestly one of the best things the series has ever done in my opinion. No time-limit means i could experiment to my hearts content and basically do whatever i wanted. The combat in this game is *slightly* worse than Escha & Logy's. It's mostly the same except there's no grid this time and everyone has their own individual support meter. I prefered it when support meters were unified. The game's setting was also pretty interesting. Dried up oceans as your main setting is not something you see everyday in a game. Shalliestera and Shallotte were fun protagonists, though unlike Escha & Logy, i'd judge them seperately, since Stera and Lotte don't meet until like, Ch.4. I did Stera's story btw. In terms of music, boss themes peaked with this game imo. So many good boss themes. Not that later games don't have bangers for boss themes (Lulua has Cygnus, for example) but i felt that Shallie was the most consistent with it's boss themes. The vocal boss themes especially were a treat.

Alchemy is really nice in this game. Using skill slots to increase the attributes of ingridients was kinda addicting, even if the most i did was use the Early/Late Addition and Order Skills. The weapon crafting system in this game is basically the same as E&L's except you have to pay to do it and because it's in seperate locations, you can't synthesis what you need directly if you're missing something. So it's *slightly* worse than E&L's weapon crafting system but this is still one of the best in the series.

The characters in this game were fine but coming after E&L, i felt that this cast was generally pretty weak. It wasn't until after the returning characters came back that the cast got better in my opinion. Besides the Shallies, the only new character i felt had a lasting impression was Homura. Kortes, Jurie and Miruca were kinda just....there. This game's cast was strongly carried by it's returning members imo.

As for the negatives, well, remember when i said that this game shows that it's the first Atelier game to not have a timelimit? Yeah, let's talk about that. I'm gonna get the biggest thing out of the way first: Life Tasks suck. I hate this mechanic. It is just blatently padding. My guess is that they didn't know how to pace the game now that it didn't have a timelimit. I say this because Lulua and Ryza were paced far better. Speaking of Lulua, Life Tasks felt like Alchemyriddle but worse. The main reason you're doing Life Tasks is either to progress the story or to unlock new events. Which is good, yeah but given how many Life Tasks you have to do and how you mostly get nothing out of it, it's like "but why tho". Also, this game lacks any sort of item duplication mechanic. The most it gets is the same Search Equipment system that E&L had, as well as skills that increase the number of items made. Other than that, that's it. My guess is that Gust thought "well, since time isn't a concern, there's no need to save it" but that line of thinking made crafting weapons and armor kinda inconvinent. You couldn't just make a really good tier of cloth and have it duplicated. You have to make more manually. Thankfully, future games brought back item duplication (heck, Sophie brought it back from what i hear so it's not like i have to wait long) so this is really more of a "first time" issue. A minor issue i have is i never figured out exactly what causes your Ultimate meter to increase. It just sorta happened but this didn't impede me so i didn't think too much about it. It was just weird.

Shallie was an interesting experience. I got to see how Atelier transitioned from having time-limits to not having time-limits. And while i do prefer the games without, i do think this is an exception as i didn't enjoy Shallie as much as E&L. I still liked it a lot though.

The Dusk trilogy overall was pretty good. I'd say it has a few bumps along the way which not a whole lot of people talk about it. I think i'd say the Arland series is overall better, even if Arland does have the worst game in the series imo (Totori). In terms of Dusk, i'd say the rankings are: Escha & Logy > Shallie > Ayesha. Overall series rankings: Lulua > Ryza=Escha & Logy (these two are fighting each other for second place in my mind at the moment) > Rorona > Shallie > Meruru > Ayesha >>>>> Totori. Onwards to Mysterious.