Didn't get to play much this week. And haven't really started anything new.
Played a few levels of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, not much though, still on the same water world.
Played Dragon Quest XI for couple of hours, going to continue playing that.
Reached High Rank in Monster Hunter: World but now I am stuck at Pink Rathian, maybe I need to improve my equipment, or maybe I should cave and fire that SOS flare.
Playing a bit of Brotato before sleep, if I am not tired. Finally cleared it once, now trying other characters and weapon combinations. A combination of guns has been working out great for me though. All guns, all different type, and focusing on increasing ranged attack.
That's all from me, what about you guys? What have you been playing?
I’m excited to play Octopath at some point. I’m probably going to start with the second one. Heard it was better and the stories between 1 and 2 aren’t really dependent on each other.
I got BotW for Christmas back in 2019 and only just finished it a few months ago lol. I was just happy to finally understand all the memes!
My 4 year old and I started playing Mario Sunshine recently, too, and it's a lot of fun. Definitely one of the more challenging Mario games, but not as big as some made it seem. Very fun.
CrossCode! So excited, this game makes me feel like a little kid again, back when I would just sit and do nothing but game all day, totally lost in the experience.
Finishing off Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s post-game content before moving on to Future Redeemed. I’ve enjoyed the heck out of it, though I am basically ready to be done, so… that lined up pretty nicely, actually.
Oh, I had completely forgotten about Future Redeemed! I was planning to play it after TotK, but then completely forgot it's existence. Going to get it soon.
I got a little burnt out on TotK so I decided on playing a little bit of Persona 5 as an in-between game and got completely hooked on that instead. Even though I usually don’t really enjoy turn-based combat. Super cool game, I can definitely recommend it
Been a busy week, haven't been playing a ton. Picking up a little Overcooked 2 here or there, I always loved that game but couldn't find friends to play it with. Apparently none of them like it nearly as much as I do, so I've just been playing it solo. Still a fun game though!
Yeah it's a bit much one the more difficult levels. You have two chefs to control, and you switch between them (using L I believe? Hard to say without just playing lol). So if you multi task well, you can set a chef up with some stuff and start chopping, then switch to the other to focus on other tasks
Just slow turns. Since that I like to play on large maps with a lot of cities and Leaders. I’m just used to my pc that it’s quick and not taking 2+ minutes for every turn.
I'm working through my first playthrough of Stray. Last save I was just about to leave the Slums for what I understand to be the final time. Going for 100% and so far don't think I've missed anything.
Not exactly video games, but I've also been doing puzzles lately - just completed my 4th in like a week. They were 300, 300, 1000, and 1000 pieces - but the last one only had 999 pieces present 🙁 Gonna try to make the missing piece myself before I return them to the library.
After Stray I might start on New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe too. Wanna get through it before Wonder comes out.
Edit: lol just realized this is the Nintendo community and not general gaming. Oh well, at least I fit NSMBUD in there
@zkfcfbzr Hardest puzzle I ever did was the White Mountain Lucky Charms 500 piece puzzle. The box art of the puzzle washes over the sides, top and bottom, so you can’t get a clear picture, and there’s only like 5 lucky charms shapes and colors that repeat over and over again.
The last of the puzzles I just did was a Wasgij - which always does tricky things with the box art. For this one you're shown a scene on the front of the box, then the actual puzzle is what someone in that scene would see from their perspective - so most of the puzzle isn't actually shown, and the things that are shown are in the wrong perspective. It was interesting to do since my puzzle strategy usually relies heavily on comparing pieces to the box.
Loved Stray, it's a really fun game. Good luck with 100%!
I love jigsaw puzzles, the last one I got from some random shop, and I think it wasn't original, or maybe just faulty, as the colours on the pieces didn't exactly match the box. And all the different shades of dark gray were simple black. I just gave up on it. I want to try some nice ones.
As for Mario, yeah, I started it for the same reason. Wanted to finish it before Wonder comes out.
I've been playing a BG3 campaign with my buddy when I got a few spare hours, so we'll probably play that some this weekend.
I've also been playing Thronefall. Great, simple tower defense RTS kinda game.
Also been playing New Star GP. A retro style, arcadey Formula One game in a retro style similar to Virtua Racer from the devs that made Retro Bowl. It's got a fun little career mode.
How are you liking BG3? I have mentioned it few times, but I am really excited for the game, but still haven't gotten around to playing the Divinity: Original Sin series, so have to play that first.
Thronefall looks nice. Still in early access but Overwhelmingly Positive. I have added it to my wishlist, mainly to keep an eye on it if they ever release a console version.
How's New Star GP? I used to love older Need for Speed games, but haven't played a racing game in a long time, at least none that I liked. If the feel of the cars, and career mode is good, can add it to my list.
BG3 is great. So far I'm thinking it's the best CRPG of all time. I'd recommend it over DoS 1&2, which is saying a LOT because DoS2 is amazing.
Thronefall is a great, cozy game that still scratches my RTS itch.
I think New Star is probably only going to work for specific people. It has the look of Virtua Racer, with old school arcadey car feel, in Formula One style races with a career mode based on managing your sponsorships, pit crew, and engineers, while upgrading your car. It's absolutely nothing like NFS.
I'd recommend it if you liked games like Rush and Cruis'n USA, and Formula One.
If you're looking for something like NFS, NFS Heat was pretty solid. Forza Horizon 5 would be another game you might enjoy. Project Cars 3 is another solid Arcadey racer. I mostly play Sim and Simcade racers, so I don't have a lot of recommendations for arcadey racers.
Back to Tears of the Kingdom until Fantasy Life i drops. Finally cleared Korok Forest. It was surprisingly easy after the Hyrule Castle fight.
I got bold enough to try facing a Gleeok. I didn't die but I wasted a whole lot of stuff. Seems like my stuff is not up to par yet. Am I supposed to have a bunch of elemental eyes or what?
@TwilightVulpine The elemental eyes help, fire vs ice etc.. but aren’t a requirement by any means. My best strategy is a Lynel bow that shoots 3-8 arrows because they only use 1 eye at a time.
I'm currently playing through Super Mario World and having a blast - it's been decades since I played it.
I've been fancying trying my hand at kaizo so thought it would be best to play through the base game first.
I finished the PSP versions of Trails in the Sky 1 & 2, then watched a summary of 3rd recently. Now I’m playing Trails from Zero on Switch and I can’t put it down. I’ve already earmarked the money for Azure.
I finished the all the english-released games (my mini-review of Reverie is somewhere in this thread), but I still consider Zero+Azure my favorites. Best cast overall (though Estelle is my favorite protagonist), a fantastic setting, goddamn amazing OST.
I love this duology so much, simply hearing the CSPD theme play during one of the sections in Reverie was enough to make me immediately crack as smile.
Minor spoiler about the way the story is structured, does not mention any events or plot points
Another thing I love about these two games is how crazy is the ramp on the final stretch. Most Trails games follow the "start slow and increase the stakes near the end" approach, but IMO this duology is where they made the best use of this plot structure.
I literally just wrapped up chapter 3 (what a development!) and can’t believe I have already been at it for over 50hrs already. My goal is to play them all for the first time by order of release, so the western arrival of the cross bell arc couldn’t have been timed more perfectly for me.
Oooh! I had forgotten about the PSP versions! It won't have things like making game fast, but it can be a good way to play the game handheld! I wonder if I can buy those for Vita now.
I would have much preferred to play the vita versions, but I left my vita at the foreign in-laws’ and haven’t had a chance for a trip back there. Whenever I get it back, I think I’m going to eventually replay the Sky games there. I miss my vita. :(
Well, that took a while, more than 90h, but I went for full completion - main game, post game dungeon, trials, daydreams, minigames, everything done.
I love the Trails series, it's one of my favorite JRPG series ever, but it has its fair share of problems - they use the same formula for most games so it's easy to get burned out if you play many of them in sequence, there's a lot of cast bloat due it being a series with all games interconnected, an annoying tendency to keep trying to redeem villains, and just being too verbose at times (often because they want to use all members of that huge cast).
Why I'm talking about this? Because while I had a lot of fun with the previous game (Cold Steel 4), it also did showcase all the problems above at full strength, but Reverie does something different and provides a much necessary "break" from the usual Trails experience.
The game is split in three routes, two for protagonists of previous games (Lloyd and Rean) and one for a mysterious new masked character ("C"). This breakdown is a good shift from the usual game dynamic, lessens the issues with cast bloat since they are all spread around, and "C"s route is focused on new cast members making it a much fresher experience.
Another major change is the Reverie Corridor. Most of games in the series are heavy into sidequests, but this time the "main" game barely contains any, only a few optional extra-challenging monsters. Instead, almost all optional content takes place in this dream-like world where time flows differently and memories from the real world as hazy. Here you have access to the full cast of the game (and even some extras!), a randomly generated dungeon you can use to grind freely, a ton of minigames including series classics like Pom and Vantage Masters, and a very nice section called "Daydreams" with a lot of mini-stories showing what's going on around with both the main cast and some familiar NPCs - very similar to the Doors from Sky 3rd.
This keeps the main story very tight and focused while also having a lot of fun optional content, and gives you freedom to decide if and when to focus on each. I don't expect this to become the norm for future games in the series, but I enjoyed this structure a lot and I hope they do use something like this time to time to avoid burnout from the usual formula.
Finally, on the story, this is an epilogue for both Zero+Azure and Cold Steel 1-4, so obviously not a game for someone starting the series. It does a much better job story-wise then CS4 IMO, in particular in the Crossbell section - it's still the weakest of the three routes largely due to it just rethreading old plot lines, but it fixes a lot of the things that bothered in the last two games. Rean's route is a nice epilogue that touches on the impact of the last game's events in Erebonia, and "C"s route is just great fun with a cast of anti-heroes.
And now the wait for the next game begins. Really looking forward to see the Calvard arc.
Phantom Trigger is the 4th game in the Grisaia series, with the three first games (Fruit, Labyrinth and Eden) being available as a bundle as well on the Switch. This last game was released as a bunch of 2-5h "Episodes", and this is second half of that game.
The original Grisaia games have a very interesting structure. The "Common" route of Fruit is 70% of the story and it's full slice-of-life comedy, but once it splits into the individual routes for each heroine it gets crazy dark as you learn their backstories. Labyrinth shifts into having the main story being dark (it's the MC's backstory) with "lighter" after-stories for each heroine. Finally Eden goes towards a more action-focused story, but I wasn't a big fan of it, and one of the main reasons is that most of the cast was just regular girls, so having they become involved in a spy conspiracy didn't really work for me, it was just too hard to believe.
Phantom Trigger is more action-focused, much like Eden, but it fixes the above problem by stating from the beginning that the cast is part of "school of assassin" of sorts. It takes place in the same universe as the earlier games, but so far has been a completely independent story with a brand-new cast.
The first five episodes were focused on introducing the cast.
01: Introduction of the initial cast (Shiori, Haruto, Rena, Tohka, Chris and Murasaki) and premise.
02: Rena's backstory, adds Maki.
03: Tohka's backstory, adds Gumi.
04: Chris' backstory, adds Taiga.
05: Murasaki's backstory, adds Yuuki.
I only had time to start 5.5 for now, but it seems to be centered on Shiori, the focus character of the first episode - a new "civilian" teacher that just joined this school. Looks like this chapter will be about how she is adapting to the her new school and students, but I'll talk more about it next week.
As for my overall impression of the story, a redditor once described Phantom Trigger as "pretty cozy comfort food reading", and I think that's an accurate description. It doesn't do anything special or amazing, but it's been consistently fun and entertaining.
Nice, that Reverie game structure sounds interesting, but I am generally not a fan of grinding just for grinding sake, so not sure if I'll like that part, but rest sounds good. I just hope I can finish rest of the Trails series by the time Calvard Arc is finished (the localized version). If only they release Trails in the Sky on Switch, I'll done with the Liberl and Crossbell arc in just a few months.
Grisaia is one of the VNs that you recommended me! I haven't started it yet, but I have saved the list, though with the amount of games that I have in my backlog and to-play list, it might be a while before I get to them. Interesting to read about it, and the "pretty cozy comfort food reading" sounds good, making me interested.
It's not quite "grinding just for grinding sake" because going through dungeon is also what unlocks the optional stuff like Trials, Daydreams and Minigames. But asides from the first visit you're not required to go through it at all.
I really like it! I mean, it's still in early access, much of the content is still in pogress. Bugfixes come regular and the discord server is helpfull.
It does every farming stuff and it's neat. The diving and cleaning the ocean stuff is nice. Pretty relaxing. I really like the Characterdesign and artwork. The Characters are diverse and the variety of bachelor/ettes is huge.
Been playing through a lot of Oracle of Seasons, I love 2D Zelda so I've been enjoying it a lot. The puzzles require a bit of thinking but are easy to complete. The season changing mechanic is also pretty cool. Currently on the 5th dungeon, Unicorn's Cave. I think that places me around somewhere halfway through the game?
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is always fun to sit down and play for a bit. Love the series, ever since playing Double Dash as a kid.
Also have been thinking about restarting FE: Three Houses lately, loved what I played during my first playthrough, but life happened and eventually began playing less and never got around to completing the game. Honestly would rather start up a new playthrough instead of trying to remember everything that had happened leading up to where I last saved.
I've also begun an obsession with Pikmin. Up until the demo for Pikmin 4 released I had never played any of the games, but it's got me absolutely hooked. Unfortunately can't afford Nintendo's usual $60 at the moment, so I've been making due with 4's demo. Definitely going to be my first purchase once I get things in order.
I have been hearing good things about Oracle of Seasons / Ages, glad you are enjoying them.
I have FE: Three Houses on pause. I love the combat, but the monastery stuff feels a bit of chore, and I was in about my 7th or 8th month, and not even close to recruiting anyone, so it kept making me feel I am missing out on stuff, and not playing properly. Still, going to get back to it once I clear a few games, as the combat was really fun.
Good luck with Pikmin, hope the things get sorted out for you soon.
It's fantastic. If you're new to the series, it's the best game to start with due to how many items and gear are available to help you out. It's also a great place to start story-wise too (even though these games' stories aren't important or big anyway) since it's a retread of Pikmin 1's story, but expands on it with more characters.
I can comfortably beat all games in the series, so difficulty-wise, I think it's the easiest in the series. The game definitely becomes difficult in the dandori battles (where your efficiency skills are put to the test in a battle against a cpu to collect the most treasure).
As for downsides, this game has no true coop either, which is a bummer since Pikmin 3 Deluxe included this feature. The second player option in this game acts as a helper instead of controlling a full character. There are no difficulty options either, and a new game+ would be nice as well.
I've spent most of my little free time lately doing the daily challenges on Fallout 76. But I recently finally fired up Wolfenstein New Order that I bought like 4 years ago. Lol. I'm really enjoying it. After that, I might finally start Elden Ring which I got for Christmas.
Edit: lol. Just noticed this was the Nintendo lemmy. Thought it was general gaming. For Nintendo, my kid was just saying she wanted to play Bowser's Fury again and maybe some Animal Crossing. ☺ I do find AC very relaxing so I might have to lay on the couch with that one soon. Or if I don't feel like relaxing, I'll fire up Hades again. Lol
It is Nintendo community, but we don't mind mention of other games. I myself have mentioned Monster Hunter: World this week, and regularly mention all the games I am playing anywhere.
How are you enjoying the Fallout 76? Is the game better now? Someone mentioned that it's fun now, so I was thinking about giving it a try sometime, specially since it available on PS+ Extra.
I played Wolfenstein New Order recently, a really good FPS. Still have the sequel to play though. I haven't gotten around to Elden Ring yet, but from all accounts, it's a masterpiece.
Haha, the contrast of you going from general gaming to "nintendo" gaming is so funny. From Wolfenstein and Elden Ring to Animal Crossing. Bowser's Fury is my daughter's favourite game, or well, you can say the Fury Browser is her favourite character. After Princess Peach that is.
Hahaha. It is pretty appropriate to see such a shift in genre, isn't it? I think most of my hours on the Switch are definitely Mario games and Animal Crossing. And not just because of my kid. Lol. (Although I say that while she's next to me playing AC. Haha.)
I've been playing FO76 since launch, and I've actually always found it enjoyable. But it's definitely a much improved and in ways a very different game than launch. I highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you've liked fallout games in the past. It's perfectly fine to play solo, which is pretty much how I played it for like the first year. But the events and other multi-player aspects are pretty fun, too. The first time I triggered a server wide event, I didn't even realize what I had done until suddenly there were a dozen players around me fighting waves and waves of enemies. It was chaos and so much fun. Also, the world is quite beautiful and there's something so peaceful about just walking around listening to Appalachia Radio. Give it a shot!
Yeah, love the "Story so far" feature of DQ XI, it helped trigger my memory of everything that was going on. I am currently in the "medal college" area. Well, near that, but that overall area. How far ahead are you from that? 😀
You know I am so hooked on DQ XI I am not playing anything else right now. I play for about an hour before I go to sleep. I am past the "medal college" area :-).
I haven't played any TOTK in a few weeks - I've been distracted by other games! But I should probably play some more.
Besides that I've been enjoying 13 Sentinels, Battlebit and a bit of Minecraft on the side.
13 Sentinels is really great so far! The animations are beautiful. There are some slightly cringey anime tropes/fanservice at points but it's not too bad. After the introduction the game lets you choose whether you'd prefer to advance the plot or play the Fire Emblem-esque battles. Having this choice is nice - sometimes I just want to relax with the visual novel side for example.
My wife and I have beaten NSMBU multiple times at this point. She We love it! lol. I never got into Monster Hunter or Dragon Quest at all but I've always been intrigued. Going to check out Brotato soon.
Brotato is somewhat similar to Vampire Survivors, you probably read our discussion when I shared the Brotato launch trailer.
Did you guys get any game over sceen? I haven't gotten one yet, but I think if it kept going like this, I may have to go play some older levels to farm some 1ups.
Monster Hunter requires ton of grinding, but if you end up liking the genre, it's very addicting. And as for Dragon Quest, they are your traditional, turn based JRPGs. I am really enjoying it.
It has been awhile but I think if you get a game over you have to start the current world over again. You don't go back to 1-1. Each castle is also a save point. And you get unlimited game overs.
Yeah, not trying to grind much these days. And as far as turn based...I'm going to be having that itch scratched by BG3 soon enough.
I am catsitting for my gf so my gaming PC isn't close. Luckily I have a Switch with TotK on it! As soon as I get home on Monday I'm firing up that Quake 2 Remaster.
Catsitting sounds fun! Though I don't have any experience with real cats, so I could be off the mark. TotK is always a good a choice for a game. It should keep you entertained before you can reach Quake 2 Remaster.
Drinkbox is one of my favourite studio. How are you liking Nobody Saves the World? I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.
I am just 3 Picross games away from the Sega one. Currently playing Picross S4, about half of all puzzles are done (this time I am doing all puzzles together. Do Clip Picross as soon as they open, other than that, one page of Picross, then one page of Mega Picross, or something two pages of one and then other, but keeping them together. Leaving Colour Picross and Extras for the end though). Then I want to play Murder by Numbers, then Picross S5, and then Sega one! 😀
I dig Drinkbox as well, based totally on the two Guacamelee games....
NStW is fun so far. I like the art style quite a bit. It has their usual goofiness in there. Being able to switch forms to different characters is cool, and there's a very interesting mix. I just unlocked the ability to change into an egg. I've certainly never seen that before.
The combat is just OK. It gets a little samey after awhile. While I really like the different forms, I've got enough unlocked now, I'm forgetting what options I have. I think that could have been pared back a bit to a fewer choices. And with the ability to mix and match powers between the forms, they can start to feel similar, which defeats the purpose of having them. But minor nitpicks. Overall, well worth it so far.
I just finished Pictooi on my switch a few weeks ago, and was jonesing for some more grid puzzles. And when I saw there was a Sega Picross, I jumped right on that. I'll eventually have to go back and play the other ones, as I'm really liking this. I did also get Murder by Numbers last week I think when Steam had a sale for like $5. Haven't played yet, but that'll be in the near future. I'm hoping I can play that one on my Steamdeck, not that I go very far these days. But upstairs can still count as playing on the go, I think.
I'm playing Wylde Flowers! It takes a lot of inspiration from Stardew Valley, but it is more focused on story, characters and relationships. It is also has a lot more "mature" themes than Stardew.
Anyway, I am at the beginning of the summer season and am fulfilling quests for the summer festival, while also trying to gather enough materials to upgrade my tools and farm buildings. There is quite a lot to do once you get the hang of the gameplay loop.
I heard Dave the Diver is coming to Switch too, hope they release it soon.
Just looked up Melatonin, the games is beautiful! I am not a big fan of rhythm games, but with Overwhelming Positive, assist features, and beautiful art style, this seems like worth a try. Going to add it to my list!
Phogs is super fun with a partner, you each control one head and solve puzzles and get around. It’s silly, fun, sometimes super easy, sometimes like huh? but enjoyed it!
More sidequesting/shrine hunting in TotK, in Akkala, Faron and near Lurelin Village. Mostly been dealing with the Yiga, including beating up Master Kohga twice in the depths, and at one point went through a cave looking for a shrine and ended up
spoiler
in the lower level of a labyrinth fighting gloom hands (f**k gloom hands) and a Phantom Ganon.
Currently very likely sequence breaking by
spoiler
putting together the body for the Spirit Sage before finishing all four surface temples apparently. Wanted to see what was up with the storm cloud above Faron and stumbled upon the beginning of the quest.