Hello everyone!
Another very busy week, didn’t really play much at all. And recently my DualSense (PS5 controller) started drifting and options button stopped working, so sent it for repairs, which means no PS5 games for few days. Which leaves:
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Still in water level, I paused the game and left it in sleep mode, which one of my kid closed, so I lost all progress since last castle. Had to replay all that. Now at the final castle of Water level.
- Dragon Quest XI Played some more, killed a boss, and finished all the open available side quests. Now to next main quest.
What about you all? What are all of you playing? Or planning to play next?
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I’m still on ToTK personally. I finally got the master sword this week. I got the game on launch day.
Me too! I was excited to tell my kid I finally was able to do the Tobios Hollow trick, which he showed me ages ago.
Nice! How many hours have you played it already? And where are you spending all your time?
It’s says “220 hours or more”
Uh….yes….
I play open world games by wandering all over the map, and doing whatever silver ball caught my attention at the moment.
Xenoblade 3 Future Redeemed, I think I’m about half way though. Pretty exciting and sometimes nostalgic with the throw-backs to older titles :)
I loved Xenoblade Chronicles 3! I think it took me about 6 months to finish the game. Playing 5-10 hours weekly. One of my most played game (overall the hours aren’t that much, but for me it’s one of the highest). Going to get Future Redeemed soon.
I was quite stressed this week, and one thing that helps when I’m like this is playing games where I can just shut down my brain and play purely on reflex. So I went back to Theatrhythm Final Bar Line for a few days.
I’m a huge fan of rhythm games in general and this series in particular, even got the fancy overpriced premium version with all DLCs at launch and have been playing on and off since then. I caught up to the DLCs by playing the latest pack focused on Romancing Saga 2 and 3, which brought some of my favorites from that series like Seven Heroes Battle from RS2 and both of the Sinistral themes from RS3.
I also achived two milestones in this game this week: Over 100h or play time, and finally completed all tracks in the “hard” difficulty (Ultimate). Some of the tracks also have a “very hard” difficulty (Supreme), and I started playing them but the jump in difficulty is crazy - I’m managing to finish those just because I have a party with a ton of HP and defensive skills keeping me alive despite all my mistakes.
As mentioned last week I’m also playing Grisaia Phantom Trigger 5.5 to 08, the second and final batch of chapters for this episodic VN.
Finished chapter 5.5 which was about Shiori’s past - she’s the new civilian teacher that joins near the beginning of the story, and the second “focus character” in th VN alongside Haruto. As per Grisaia standards it’s a pretty sad backstory, but makes it much easier to understand some of the things about the way she acts, and also why she fits well with the others.
I also started chapter 06, which is another flashback story - this time about the previous generation of agents (the titular “Phantom Triggers”), and also about Haruto’s (the main “focus character”) origins. Everything with the Phantom Triggers has been fun so far, they are a very entertaining bunch and it’s pretty cool to see how some of them were in the past.
Haruto’s backstory however is so goddamn crazy that I’m not sure I like or not. I am however having a lot of fun reading about the hijinks of a bunch of assassins trying to raise a baby.
There’s also couple new characters - Aoi, one of the agents and someone Haruto refers to as his “master”, and Enishi, another of the Phantom Triggers and some kind of father figure to him. Given that the chapter starts with them gathering for a grave visit (implied to be Aoi’s) and that Enishi also hasn’t shown up yet in the present I’m curious to see what happened to the two of them.
Hey! It’s Phelpssan! I love reading these posts of yours.
You gave me some very good recommendations for VNs (which I unfortunately haven’t gotten around to playing yet), and now I want some recommendations for rhythm games, since you love them so much. I have tried getting into them, but haven’t had much luck. I tried Superbeat: Xonic but couldn’t get the hang of controls. I remember liking Aviici Invector, don’t remember why I stopped playing it, maybe got busy or something, should give it another try. I also tried Patapon, but kept failing second or third level, though I have heard there is some lag in PS4 remake, so maybe that’s the issue, not sure.
With all this, which ones do you think I should try? Or if I should try any at all.
BTW I have Theatrhythm Final Bar Line on my wishlist, it looks interesting.
With all this, which ones do you think I should try? Or if I should try any at all.
I tend to prefer the simpler, arcade-style rhythm games. Think of stuff like Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution.
Definitely try Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. It’s very fun gameplay-wise, has a ridiculous amount of content (something like 380 tracks on the base game, with 100+ extras as DLC if you get the premium version), the RPG elements are interesting, and if you are a fan of FF games it’s also a huge nostalgia trip. There’s even a free demo with 30 songs which lets you get a good taste of the game.
Project Diva Megamix is my favorite “no frills” game in this genre - just choose a song and start playing. Tons of tracks, gets crazy intense on the higher difficulties. But it’s a vocaloid game, and not everyone will enjoy this type of music. There’s also a PS4 version which is essentially the same game with better graphics but no option to use motion controls.
Taiko Drum Master games are generally fun, in particular if you can get your hands on a physical drum, but even on a regular controller I have a good time with these.
There’s Old School Musical which is a hilarious indie rhythm game with chiptune tracks inspired by 8-bit and 16-bit classics. Doesn’t have as much content as some of the games above, but it’s also fairly cheap and fun.
As for more “unique” rhythm games, I enjoy Thumper, which is kinda hard to describe but it’s a metal rhythm game on a racing track of sorts, and Crypt of the Necrodancer which is a rhythm-based roguelike. There’s also a Zelda crossover for this last one called Cadence of Hyrule , but I haven’t played it yet.
ToTK, continuing. Completed the Goron area and my apparent sequence break from last week early for the main story, and found the remaining dragon tears last night. Just have Zora left to do for sages, but running around and doing more shrines/side quests again first now that I have the full map. Very tempted to get the Master Sword early too if I’ve already gotten a couple other things I supposedly shouldn’t have yet. Gonna have to really grind and make sure I have the proper equipment and food to do that, though, from what I understand I’m gonna have to take on to get it, fighting those things can really be a pain if unprepared.
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is my current obsession. Hunting monsters, swinging hammer, etc. It’s a good time. Once I’m done or bored of it, my next games are super Mario Odyssey (just got it recently for super cheap) and then Legend Of Zelda Skyward Sword (same deal). I’m set for a good long time though based on how much of an amazing time sink MHGU is. I already have 50+ in game hours and my Hunter Rank is laughably low still.
Monster Hunter is a very addicting game. I tried it before, but really got into it with Monster Hunter: World. I mainly use Long Sword, though have also tried Bow a little and liked it. I just entered High Rank recently and am stuck on a Pink Rathian, but don’t want to call SOS flare and beat it myself, so currently in grinding mode.
Though, due to the Dual Sense issues, not playing it this week. But if you are liking Generations Ultimate, you should really give Rise a try, it has tons of improvements that will make you love the game so much more.
BTW what is your Hunter Rank? I don’t know my time, but I am quite sure it’s much less than 50, so I should be way below you. Though I did had some help from a friend, who is Master Rank.
Super Mario Odyssey is a really good game. Take your time with it, and enjoy all the levels.
Oh man I absolutely loved World. I mained switchblade on that one. I decided to go with hammer to switch it up in MHGU (biggest difference is having to have patience instead of hack and slash). I haven’t done any of the academy quests, so my hunter rank is still 1 in MHGU, but on World I have HR 61 (Im pretty sure that’s pretty low but I’ve been going at my own pace) and MR 10
I absolutely love rathian fights. If you have poison resistance, it’s basically just a big old doge and slash fest with the occasional flash bang to drop em out of the sky. I feel like long sword might be more skill heavy than switchblade, but keep on with it and you’ll get there!
Im currently still technically on iceborn so it might be a few hobby cycles before I get to Rise, but I do plan on playing it eventually.
As for Odyssey, it currently feels like a less good Galaxy, but Galaxy came out right when I was in the throws of teenage video game euphoria, so I’ve been forcing myself to give it a fair shot. I heard a saying that people get stuck in the entertainment they had when they were teenagers, and that seems to be true enough. I don’t want to miss out just because I have too much nostalgia for Galaxy though.
I saw some videos about how Odyssey changes the music based on different actions you take in game, and I’m excited to see that effect in action, so I do have reason to play, it’s just that MHGU is perfect to listen to a podcast to while hunting lol I’ll get there though, it might just be a while
Switchblade and hammer look so difficult to me 😀
How are you feeling about going back to older style games? Doesn’t the lack of quality of life updates make it difficult to go back?
Well, as for Rathian, I think I just get greedy, I have bone armour, and I think I may need to grind for Anjanath one. Also, my long sword is water element, which doesn’t give me much edge, so need to grind Tobi-kadachi for Electro sack to make a Thunder one. With my current equipment, I have to dodge a lot, and my hits don’t do enough damage so fight goes very long. My last couple of fights lasted almost 30 mins. I am pretty sure that if I had lasted about 5-10 mins more, I would have brought it to final stage, where I could capture it.
So, going to upgrade my sword, then try at least couple of times, if I can not beat it, then will try to improve my armour too. Wish me good luck!
As for Odyssey, Switch is my first Nintendo console, so I never played Galaxy. As for the limited release, I didn’t like that business tactic, so voted with my wallet against it (and lost miserably 😀 ). So, for me, I had no other 3D Mario to compare it with, and I loved every single minute of it.
Good luck with Iceborne content! I have heard the last monster is pretty tough.
Hehe I used to mindlessly grind technique in the training room of World so keeping my shield and sword charged became second nature for a while. I saw some memes about it being hard and my stubbornness came out lol. Hammer is just like learning how to be patient and not always run at the monster (and learning to put your weapon away to move faster lol)
As for going backwards, it’s not super bad. I was surprised that the switchblade controls were about the same, just fewer moves. I hated the loading screens at first but now I’m just used to them. I do prefer that World has a few monsters that can interact with each other in every map instance, but I like how MHGU has more areas to visit. I also absolutely love the Palico system in MHGU that is completely missing from World (though it sounds like they may have added it to Rise? I’m not sure about that). All in all, I think I was expecting a major step down to a DS game and ended up actually getting a very nice Switch port, so while I was expecting it to sort of be not easily playable, I’m very much pleasantly surprised by what it turned out to actually be.
Ahh the good old “you don’t have enough damage to capture me” dilemma. I’m a freak about upgrading to specific monsters in World (not at that stage yet in MHGU) so when I go after a 3 monster hunt, I usually have to visit camp to switch out my armor (biggest complaint I have about MHGU is that this feature is missing but it DOES add challenge to how I approach hunts. Unfortunately, right now, my best idea is to max attack for every hunt though lol)
are you also a “capture all the monsters” kinda hunter? My biggest pride is when I can 0/x a monster type lol (sometimes very hard, especially up against like a bulldrome that just never shows when its limping because it’s almost always in rage mode)
Honestly I’m surprised you can survive with just bone armor against a pink rathian. Your dodge game must be godly! I wish you the best luck possible!
Ahh I didn’t know about the limited release, good on you for voting with your wallet regardless! If you ever get into emulators and end up being able to try it out, it was just exactly what I wanted after an entire childhood filled with Super Mario Sunshine (an even better game, imo). There’s really no reason I should dislike Odyssey though, it’s cute and it’s got everything it should.
Now if only I could get my joycon to connect to the switch farther than half a foot away so I can go back to using the dock x.x
And thank you! I’ve heard there are some nasty fights to look forward to (I’m excited about the Rajang fight, personally, but I also anticipate some rage haha) so I will take all the luck I can get!
Shadows over loathing. I’m already with the nostalgia feeling that may end it up soon and don’t want to 😅
I’ve played that Dragon Quest few years ago and liked it a lot, hope you enjoy it :)
That’s the sequel to West of Loathing, right? How is it, I never played it.
And yeah, Dragon Quest is a lot of fun. Looking forward to what they do with DQ 12.
If you played west of loathing, this is pretty similar, but set in the 1920s. Absurd RPG both, I love them.
Has DQ12 already estimated date or something? I know DQ11 had some sort of spin off game on one of the main characters, but it did not pick my interest enough, so I haven’t played it
Yeah, Dragon Quest Treasures. I haven’t played that either.
And now, DQ 12 doesn’t have any estimated date, or even anything more than a logo reveal. But they were making it more adult-oriented / mature game, that’s all we know right now.
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I’m on Splatoon 3 trying to reach level 100 on the catalog before Drizzle season comes out on 9/1. I’m still on level 57 🙃
Metroid Prime Remastered
I’m pretty happy to be playing through this again, though even the “modern” control options leave a bit to be desired. It also sucks that you can’t start on hard mode - you have to beat the game on normal to unlock it. Anyways, that makes it a pretty chill experience through a super awesome world design.
I was playing a Link to the Past for the first time but I lost a lot of progress by forgetting to save including a whole dungeon and the ocarina mini-quest :( I want to keep going but it’ll be hard to get me motivated to redo a bunch of stuff. I enjoy the game but it can be tedious just due to its age
