One day late, didn’t know where the week go.
Played some Trails in the Sky: SC. Got stuck at the boss of Chapter 2. It’s pretty tough. Though I have couple of ideas that can help, but sudden difficulty spikes like this annoy me a lot, so taking a small break from it.
Started Spider-man 2 on PS5. After playing and dropping Batman: Arkham Knight, I needed play something similar but not as slow, so got Spider-man 2. Have played a few hours and loving every minute of it. From combat to traversal to story. Great game!
Also started WWE 2K24. Haven’t played a wrestling game in a very long time, but since I got it for “free” as PS+ monthly game, gave it a try. Having tons of fun with it.
On Switch, most of the time was spent with the NSO Playtest thingy, and some Picross S4 in-between. I was stuck at one Picross puzzle (P-133) from a long time (and same puzzle in Mega-Picross), so wasn’t playing it much. Finally looked up a video online (watched a video instead of turning on assists, to figure out how to solve it, instead of just getting the solution), basically just had to do a wee bit of brute force thingy to check possible values 3-4 moves ahead to get couple of invalid positions, after that it was simple enough. Just have last page of Picross and MegaPicross remaining now, and then 4/5 extra-big Extra puzzles. So, should be finishing it soon.
That’s all from me, what about all of you? What have you been playing
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It’s a mess hahaha
I’ve been working on some personal and work things and there are a few moments with more free time (and anxiety) than I’m used to. So, I’m juggling 3 games right now:
- Yo-Kai Watch 2: Psychic Specters for the 3DS. I played the first one and really liked it, but when I went through the sequel I had a lot going on and really rushed through it. I ended up not liking it very much and not even doing the post game stuff, which is weird because everybody praised the post game online. Now I’m going through it with a bit more time and I’m enjoying it much more, it surpasses the first one for sure.
- Sonic Adventure 2 on Steam: I felt like revisiting this one due to all the focus on Shadow Generations now. I’m going for a 100% completion for the first time since I was a kid. I must have sucked back then, because I’m finding that getting A ranks is much easier than I remembered (and much more fun). The chao are cute but I wish I could have a “Skip” button for them to grow up, eat and sleep. I have already resorted to leaving the game on while I showered and it still wasn’t enough.
- Minecraft with the Cobblemon mod, essentially Pokémon in Minecraft: I tried Pixelmon too, and to be honest I didn’t mind the art style clash, but one of the mods I added to Cobblemon was a trainer/gym leader system, with included level caps, so there’s a sense of progression. But the enemy gyms are tough so I’m only on Misty so far and I’m seeing that my team needs a lot of work, even though I’m already at the level cap!
I also started The Sims 1, got to the top of my career and got married, was planning on continuing with the content from the expansions but haven’t picked it up in weeks. I guess I’ll go back some day, or maybe not.
Oooh, nice!
Never played Sonic Adventure 2. I have only played one or two 3D Sonic games of old, and I don’t think it was this one. Do plan to get Shadow Generations though.
I don’t recall if I played the first Sims or the second one, but I remember loving it. I recently tried Sims 4 on PlayStation but couldn’t get into it, no idea if the game was bad or I just don’t like such games anymore.
I think Sonic Adventure can be a frustrating game. I confess it has some issues that I have learned to work around. But I still can’t see it as anything less than a great game that gets way more hate than it deserves.
The first Sims was in fake 3D, the 2nd one was already full 3D. The fourth one is known for being a huge downgrade when compared to 3 and even 2. I haven’t played 4 a lot but people really hate it, a lot of the community stayed on 3. It doesn’t help that EA is EA, and while the whole series has always had expansion packs and extra purchaseable content, with 3 already being a bit unreasonable, The Sims 4 took it to unimaginable heights. I think buying everything will set you back like 1500 USD or more, and it was super criticized for slicing up content into multiple packs. They even have DLC for DLC, with a content pack only having content for another pack…
Oh yeah, heard about that. Good thing I couldn’t get into Sims 4, or would’ve been too disappointed.
Balatro on android, so much balatro.I don’t have a problem, YOU have a problem. Leave me alone.
I’m stuck at blue stake, but I’ve got a few decks up to it. So I’m focusing on unlocking jokers. My wins have been a lot of luck I think, so I’m trying to focus on conservative decision making instead of “it would be cool if… oh I didn’t roll the winning hand and lost?”
Heh, good thing you don’t have problem. Good luck with getting better!
Somehow like 95% of my friends have Hollow Knight brain rot right now, so we’re all blasting through that and watching it on each others stream lol
Nice, it’s a great game!
I’m stuck very close to the end after playing for a long time more than a year ago. Never again got the motivation to finish the last badge and the last boss and the stupid mission to go from one corner of the map to another without being touched. But I loved the game. I still hope that the second game will really happen.
@dinckelman, I should brave up and finish that game. I love that bug and the wonderful weird world he’s in, but, boy, it can be hard.
I was off work sick for a few days, so I decided to catch up with Super Mario RPG on Switch. I finished it and did a bit of the aftergame stuff, and it was quite fun. The style is amazing, I really enjoyed how pretty everything looks in this remake. The easter eggs and the humour in general are really good.
The negatives are the battles get a bit repetitive at times. And:
spoiler
Whoever designed the 3D maze seems to have a personal vendetta against gamers and hates us with a passion. It did some damage… 😆
I also played some stuff on Steam. Titan Attacks (a modern Space Invaders with a cool style) and Syder Arcade when in a mood for pew pew games and Brütal Legend which I’ve had for years and only just now can play with a decent set up.
Sick enough to not work, but not sick enough to enjoy games, that’s a fun time 😀
I played a bit of Titan Attacks, and it’s a good game, but don’t care about arcade games too much these days.
Did you get Brütal Legend from Humble Bundle? Cause I have it in my library for a long time too, and have never played it. Let me know if the game still holds up, my current system can run it well, so can give it a try.
Yeah, the worst day was when I was too sick to even look at a screen 😅
I did get Brütal Legend in a Humble Bundle yes. Looks like it was Humble Indie Bundle 9 in September 2013, back when they were cool!
The game is still quite fun. Other than the humor (if you don’t like Jack Black, it might not be the game for you), the gameplay is good and has lots of different mechanics.
Glad you are better now.
Ah, 2013! When we were still young!
Jack Black is generally fun. Will give it a try some day soon.
Skullgirls, Vampire Savior - 2nd in SG, 1st in VSav at locals. This happened in grand finals
Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes] - Didn’t do too hot in netplay biweekly. Gordeau matchup takes years off my lifespan.
Riichi Mahjong - skill
Splatoon 3 - Splatfestin’
Also finally published the big secret video essay I’d been working on. It’s about Puyo Puyo.
Oooh. Double KO at grand finals! Congratulations on your position in VSav and SG!
That looks like a nice video. I have some interest in Puyo Puyo so will check it out.
Started with Emio, the third Famicom detective Club game and I am really digging it this far.
I just started it myself as my “spooky” game to play on Halloween. Even though I played the remakes of the other two, I especially got Ace Attorney vibes off the beginning of this one. I do enjoy the Famicom Detective Club games, but they have that really annoying quirk of needing to select the same option over and over, sometimes consecutively, to get through a whole dialogue.
Eiyuden Chronicles
Despite playing on the highest difficulty with all extra challanges, it’s quite chill right now. Due to some quirks in how EXP works, one of my characters shot up 35 levels in a single fight. While he is lvl 55, everyone else - including my enemies - are around lvl 28.
Huh, that seems like a strange thing. How are you liking the game overall?
Performance problems aside (menus take ages to load in), I like the game quite a bit. There is just so much stuff: 120 characters, two additional fighting systems for special events, a card game, a bayblade minigame, a castle/town upgrade system and probably much more - I’m not even halfway done. The combat is quite auto-attack heavy and therefore simple, but keep in mind I’m olaying with double MP cost for all abilities (one of the additional challanges to tweak your own difficulty, like the ones in Dragon Quest XI).
As for the EXP thing, there are a few things that happened to align for me. EXP works like this:
- Each level requires 1000 EXP.
- You get EXP based on level difference between you and your enemies. There is a maximum value of EXP a single enemy can give to usually prevent what happened to me - I think it’s about 1000 for most enemies.
- If you get say 3000 EXP, that’s 3 level ups. Remaining EXP does not get adjusted upon each level up. That’s great since you can recruit 120 characters and if you miss someone at first, it does not take long to catch up if you want to use them.
- You fight with 6 charaters. EXP is split between them, meaning you get more EXP per character if only e.g. 2 of them survive.
Now, what actually happened to me is: I fought a unique mini-boss encounter with 5 enemies. I was overall underleveled and got wiped twice. The third time however, I won with only my weakest character still standing - he was 8 level below my team average. He got about 1200 EXP for the level difference * 5 enemies * 6, since only he survived, resulting in about 35 level ups.
lol, the weakest character becoming the strongest 😀
It’s sad to see menus are still slow, it has gotten multiple patches and have improved things a lot from initial launch. Hope they fix the remaining stuff too.
Slow week. A lot of drama on another of my hobbies (Magic the Gathering), and I spent quite a bit of time putting in action a plan I had in my mind for a while to change how I interact with that game.
Busy weekend too so it’s unlikely I’ll be able to play a lot, but I really want to finish my current VN ASAP so I can start Ys X.
Playing My Girlfriend is a Mermaid!?!
Very minor progress this week.
Playing Vampire Survivors!
Played this during the NSO Trial and loved it, it’s stupidly addictive and a great game to play in short bursts. Focused on unlocking more characters and items right now.
Oooh, what happened with Magic the Gathering? I love the idea of these card collecting games, but can’t justify the amount you have to spend on them. Disney’s Lorcana looked interesting, since you could just get one starter pack and play without worrying about anything, but with so much stuff coming out for it, I am not sure how feasible it is anymore.
I played a bit of Vampire Survivors trial too. After playing Brotato and couple of mobile games like that, I know it’s not something I’ll play long term, so I played a few hours to see what I was missing, and I am happy with the amount I have played. Don’t have an urge to buy it. So, that’s one game off my loooooong wishlist.
Oooh, what happened with Magic the Gathering?
Wizards of the Coast (the game manufacturer) announced they are going hard into “Universes Beyond” sets, which are based on 3rd party IP like LOTR, Final Fantasy or Marvel. They have been releasing a few of these in recent years, but next year that’ll be half of their product line.
This is rather controversial for several reasons:
- A lot of players dislike this mish-mash of franchises, and see it a loss of identity of the game. This comic from 2020 has been reposted non-stop during the week as a prediction of the future of MTG.
- So far these sets have been more expensive, likely due to the IP licensing costs.
- They also announced a change where all competitive formats will include those sets, removing the option to play without them.
There’s a lot of discussion going on if this is just the cynical attempt at short-term cash grab sacrificing the long-term health of the game, or if this new focus will help increasing the playerbase.
And that adds to a few other problems that are already plaguing the game.
- Product and wallet burnout: They doubled the amount of new cards being released in the last ~4 years making it very hard to keep up. And they announced even more sets in 2025 so this will probably continue keep getting worse.
- Power creep: This is something that always existed in the game, but also sped up a lot recently. There’s also concerns that they’ll push cards too hard to ensure these “Universes Beyond” sets sell - as an example we had a LOTR set last year and “The One Ring” was an game-warping card. Even worse, 18 months later it hasn’t been banned and lot of people are questioning if this is going to be the trend with these sets.
For a lot of people this was the breaking point to drop out of the game, or change the way they interact with it. I’m moving away from competitive play for good, and will only play unnoficial “nostalgia” formats based on the game’s past like Premodern (1995-2003) or 2015 Modern (2003-2015) where I can just stick to old decks and ignore all new releases.
TL;DR: “Magic the Gathering” is now “Fortnite the Gathering”, and a lot of people are pissed.
Wow, that sounds bad.
I knew that people aren’t happy with Wizards of the Coast because of their decisions with D&D, but didn’t know MTG people weren’t happy with them either.
MTG and D&D are both amazing games owned by a horrible company.
I reached the second half of Echoes of Wisdom. I didn’t expect it, but for some reason it feels like the game has actually begun now. Maybe I’m imagining it. Haven’t played much since then though, but will continue tomorrow.
I finished the second main quest in Lightning Returns. The fight against
spoiler
Snow
was a lot more fun than the fight against
spoiler
Noel.
It’s kinda fitting that I found such a good time to pause on both games, because it’s time for the monthly game of Civ 5! I’m going down the list to play every civilization and the Huns are up this time. I’m not a fan of domination victories, so I keep the map smaller. Usually, I out-tech my opponents at some point on the normal difficulty, but something went really wrong and we’re actually all on equal footing. We’re down to three players and just as my warmonger penalty has worn off and I’m starting to be on good terms with everyone, both of my opponents declared war on me at the same time! They were at each other’s throats for a long time themselves. I fended them off, but I got some rebuilding to do now…
I also dug out Snowboard Kids for the N64 again. Quicksand Valley is really walling me right now.
And a special shoutout to the Beta of Monster Hunter Wilds that dropped all of a sudden. I had no idea! I just wanted to see if my PC can handle the game but ended up playing for three hours. I haven’t played World, so it’s my first time in this more realistic art direction. I miss the colors Rise had, but I’ll get used to it. I wanted to try out a new weapon for this game, but I think I’m too old to learn new tricks. I went back to my trusty Switch Axe within minutes. Everything feels a bit more sluggish, but I’m not so rusty that I couldn’t beat all the monsters in the beta by myself. The Magnamalo from the Rise demo way back when did not leave me with such confidence…
About Echoes of Wisdom, I guess you can say that, it does feel like world has opened up completely.
I saw the news about the beta, but since I have already planned to buy it, didn’t care about the beta. A few friends are planning to get it on launch, so will get it with them.
Fucking finished Bloodstained after the last patch made it playable finally after more than 6 months. Had been grinding a lot and passed the last boss very easily in less than 5 minutes :D. Loved the game. Excellent story and great stuff to do and collect.
Why did it become unplayable? And Congratulations on finally finishing it!
What are you starting next?
Everytime a player entered the last boss room the game would crash https://www.reddit.com/r/Bloodstained/comments/1fbys0z/switch_version_crashing/
One of the few games I managed to play and actually reach the end. I got no immediate plans for playing anything else.
Ah, thanks for the info.
Gonna try to finish my first-time play through of The Last of Us (PS5) today or tomorrow so I can start on Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Xbox). Excited to jump in after the decade since Inquisition.
Oooh, nice. The Last of Us is a ride!
I finished Inquisition this year. Looking forward to The Veilguard, but it’s going to be a while before I play it. Do let us know how you like it.
I’ve been watching and helping my daughter play through Kingdom Two Crowns (on peaceful mode) and once she feels ready we will try co-op on normal difficulty.
I’ve been playing through Gears of War 2 on the Xbox and it’s been great fun. Haven’t played it since original release and didn’t go any further so after I’m done it’s on to GoW3 and maybe more.
I played a bit of Kingdom Two Crowns but something got messed up in my world, and everything was broken when I started next time. Didn’t want to bother with doing it again.
How’s Gears of War? It’s on my wishlist, planning to start Halo MC collection soon, but want to play Gears of Wars games after that.
How’s Gears of War? It’s on my wishlist, planning to start Halo MC collection soon, but want to play Gears of Wars games after that.
It holds up very well and GoW2 is one of the games that gets a fps & resolution boost for backwards compatibility so actually looks really good to.
Cool, thanks for the info.
I’ll be playing on PC though (assuming it’s available there).
