I am back! (hopefully) with properly scheduled weekly thread.
Not much change from what I mentioned in last thread couple of days ago.
Still playing Sniper Elite 4, I think I am about 60-70% done. And got back into Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 after taking a break over the holidays.
What about all of you? What have you been playing?
And while we are at it, what are your new year’s gaming resolution? Play more games? Play less games? Don’t pre-order? Always pre-order?
I don’t have anything as big as resolution, but I have been meaning to focus on older (J)RPGs from my wishlist / backlog that I haven’t had time for. So, unless something changes, I am planning to go to my “patient gamer” roots and ignore (most of the) new stuff.
Pokémon Violet. I want to get in a few more raids before they go away and then get moving on the new dlc.
I also need to face the academy ace tournament again for some cash.
New year, new games. I accidentally managed to do a triple-finish, so I really had to think about this.
I finally finished Baten Kaitos’ New Game Minus! All Achievements gotten! The game finally got hard, actually. I expected the hardest part to be the fight against three antagonists at the same time. One of them gets two attacks per turn and the game forces the weakest character into your party, so it’s technically a 4 on 2 fight. Oh, and you have to do it twice in a row. I thought once that was over with, the rest would be easy, but no, the final boss actually smeared the floor with me pretty hard. I actually had to adapt my decks for the first time. I ended up putting two characters on offense only and loaded up my fastest character with light element armor and the best healing items to revive the attackers who would inevitably die to anything. That strategy even worked first try!
I’ll probably replace the Switch-slot with Mario and Rabbids Spark of Hope. I was going to tackle Baten Kaitos Origins next, but maybe I should take a break after everything…
I completed all Challenge Maps in Arkham Origins, too. I still insist that the game is not as bad as people say, but I cannot overlook the amount of glitches. I’m looking forward to my first playthrough of Arkham Knight eventually, but first…
The PC slot has been replaced with Nier:Automata a few days ago. I already beat the game a few years ago, but that was when I was still unemployed, so I wasn’t playing a legit copy. Now I’m going after the achievements on Steam because the game is definitely worth buying.
I’ve also beaten Shantae on the GameBoy. I’m glad I saved all the overworld collectibles until the end, when you can just fly everywhere. That made it much less of a headache. The ending got a bit confusing though. No spoilers, but you’re dropped into a tense and dangerous situation, only to find it’s not at all dangerous and after five minutes of having zero clue as to what to do had to look up a walkthrough. I’m not replacing this one, three games was a mistake, but the Shantae journey will continue eventually.
Finally! Congratulations on finishing Baten Kaitos and getting all the achievements.
I loved first Mario + Rabbits, Kingdom Battle, and it’s DLC, and I have heard Spark of Hope is even better, so good luck with that!
How did you like the Shantae overall?
I stand by what I said originally: Shantae is great when you’re in the dungeons, but annoying in the overworld. I’d say it’s definitely worth looking at for the visuals though. The game is so ambitious that I have to wonder why they made it for the GameBoy in the first place. When the game released, the GameBoy Advance and the GameCube were already out for a year, too! I can only assume development took a really long time and the overall bad timing affected sales enough to get the sequel cancelled. Luckily, it’s being revived now, so I might actually wait for that to keep playing the series in order.
Finished Persona 5 Tactica!
Most of my comments about this game are on the previous thread.
Overall a fairly simple game, but I had a good time with it. Worth mentioning that it doesn’t seem to have much replay value other than playing or higher difficulties or trying to complete the Compendium.
Playing The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails!
A very charming Action RPG from the makers of Ys.
It’s stage-based, which makes it a good game for playing in short bursts, with the stages having specific “goals” that grant you bonuses if you manage to do it. I really like the “seasons” design, where after you beat a stage you can come back and play it in a different season of the year, which is effectively a new (and harder) stage based on the original one.
Combat is not as fluid as recent Falcom ARPGs, but it gets better as you unlock new abilities and spells. Story is fairly simple, but has that usual Falcom thing where the NPCs are interesting and fun to chat with. Though it also has some of the usual Falcom annoyances, like a decent amount of missables - so make sure to explore properly before going into a new chapter.
I believe I’m nearing the endgame (Chapter 6), though I haven’t played much this past few days as I have been focused on other hobbies. Will resume and try to finish this one next week.
And while we are at it, what are your new year’s gaming resolution? Play more games? Play less games? Don’t pre-order? Always pre-order?
Honestly, it’s just “beat more games than you buy”. I have a gigantic backlog and I need to keep moving forward with it.
How long did it take you to beat Persona 5 Tactica?
I have heard good things about Boundless Trails, maybe I’ll try it sometimes soon.
That’s a good resolution. I usually only buy a game when I am ready to play it, or when I am sure I’ll play it next and it’s on sale, otherwise I don’t buy games, no matter how good the sale is. Only backlog I have, is because of PS+, and all the games I keep adding to my list. But now I am thinking that I should ignore them too, for instance, I started Dragon Quest XI on PS because it as on PS+, even though I wanted to play it on Switch. So, going to ignore that from now on and just get the game where I want.
How long did it take you to beat Persona 5 Tactica?
Around 20h.
That’s a good resolution. I usually only buy a game when I am ready to play it, or when I am sure I’ll play it next and it’s on sale, otherwise I don’t buy games, no matter how good the sale is.
I’m a physical game collector and I love some niche genres, so I tend to buy games early to avoid the risk of not finding them later.
More Wonder!
I was playing Backpack Hero, which initially threw me off Mario Wonder. But BPH has a major glitch that removes progress, so it’s back to Wonder.
I’m also bouncing between a replay of the two top-down Lara Croft games. As well as, I started up another Atari recharged game, Caverns of Mars, for some quick shooter action!
How are you like Lara Croft games? And are you playing them solo or co-op?
Solo. I’m enjoying them again. Solo allows me to pick up the power ups, or at least the gems needed in order to reach certain marks, without having to share them. It always made reaching those scores more difficult. But I definitely had fun playing them co-op, all those years ago! Just different this time around.
Splatoon 3
Can’t stop. Won’t stop.
Gotta stay fresh, stay off the hook, and drip ink.
