I'm back to playing Pokemon Leaf Green again and I know I stopped playing it for a while but it's a bit daunting! Feels way more open than I remember, at one point I think I had like 3 directions to go and some NPCs give you cool stuff for talking to them completely unprompted. I still think it's very good though of course, and I think levelling pokemon being a bit more involved in the older games is to the games benefit but maybe that's just me. I got a Charizard at last earlier and it's still one of the coolest Pokemon ever, then I stopped outside the Safari Zone and i'mv ery excited to see what I get in there tomorrow
The dream is to finally beat this so I can play Crystal on my Analog Pocket at last. But no rush…
Still playing Sakura Wars 2 and if this wasn't a direct sequel (and required Saturn emulation to play…) I would easily reccomend this as the game to get people into the franchise, it's leaps and bounds better than SW1, a game I still really like. Hard game to describe but, it's got a strategy game in there, some visual novel type sections where you can freely roam about the location and get into 'events' and it's got some minigames for good measure. But it's the way the whole thing is wrapped together like a Saturday Morning Cartoon, a tale of the righteous Imperial Theatre Troupe, part stage actors/part defenders of Japan vs the Demonspawn and also their own pasts. One of the best games I've played in 2025.
I did all the Cuban and Haitian missions in Vice City and these missions are starting to get a bit hard huh? Still miles ahead of what GTA3 offered in that regard so it's fine. Had a Danny Dyer jump scare when I did a mission and his character started talking to me, quite a few big names in this one actually. One thing that surprised me is that I remember taking over the Diaz mansion was a more epic and difficult mission that it actually was, in reality it was kind of mid considering it was a pivotal story moment and the big Scarface reference, but at least the 'Say goodnight, Mr Diaz' scene was amazing as I remember. Feels like the cinematic stuff is something they did better on in GTA4 onwards at the cost of a bit of sandbox-ey freedom in the missions themselves.
Finally, still trying to do at least a level a day on Nightshade, the sequel to Shinobi. The more I play, the more I appreciate the game for what it added to the formula, level design is still a lowpoint but it's good where it counts.
Ninja Gaiden Black 2
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Baldur's Gate 3
Shadow Hearts
Atelier Sophie: the Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
Gunstar Heroes
Koudelka
The Punisher
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Doom: The Dark Ages
Shadow Hearts 2
Xenoblade X
Goldeneye
Death Stranding 2
Resident Evil 2
Donkey Kong Bananza
Shadow Hearts: From the New World
Metal Gear Solid Delta
Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King (3DS)
Hollow Knight
Trails 1st
Resident Evil 2 (PS1)
Resident Evil 3 (PS1)
Silent Hill f
Ninja Gaiden 4
Resident Evil 4 (Remake)
Shinobi (PS2)
I think this is a pretty much perfect game for what it, what was once a modern reimagining of an old classic series and successful in that and being a really fun game, if not frustrating at times. The visuals of the scarf as you ninja dash everywhere are iconic to this day and tate chains are one of the most fun mechanics in an action game imo. A perfect example of 'less is more'.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Alliance
Almost the definitive version of one of the Top 3 Final Fantasy games in the entire series, the voice acting isn't as evenly at the same high standard (But it is nice to FFXVI's Clive here, one of the better roles) that FFXII's was, overall I really think it really elevates the story or at least lets you buy into the whole 'This is in the same universe as FFXII' thing. The QOL is really good and will hopefully help a lot more people get into the game, not only is there an easier difficulty there's more on screen information for you to make informed decisions and there's basically no way to soft lock yourself now.
My issues are more that I wish I could play in Enhanced mode with Classic graphics and also still think the 'Classic' mode not actually having the PS1 script is a baffling choice that undermines the point of the mode being there in the first place, if I want to actually play the PS1 version I'll probably still have to go to emulation. Also, maybe minor but I did kind of miss the WOTL PSP content in the end, I missed Luso and Balthier, I really missed Dark Knight on my Ramza, even so, it's another reason why this might be the 'best' version but it's not a definitive version sadly.
That said, pretty easy GOTY for me, the base game alone is good enough and having it on the Switch 2 feels pretty special.
I'm probably not going to get Lumines Arise for a number of reasons, it's probably not a bad game by any means and may well be the definite Lumines experience but if it's anything like Tetris Connect it will be a bit hard for me (seriously why was TE so hard lol, or was it just me) and having tried the PSP version I think I quite like the loop but after a while I was starting to feel it's a bit long (then again, Tetris was probably Always Like That and I was never good enough to tell).
But man, it looks and sounds amazing.
Anyway I did get Lumines Remastered for Switch on sale still, very cheap and more than worth the price I think. I also had a quick go on Meteos for the DS after Lumines because they're like, sister games or whatever and honestly think I prefer it. Not sure we'll ever see that again due to the touchscreen being mandatory but hey, we got The World Ends With You on consoles so who knows.
If I could put any serious time into games of this ilk it would probably be Puyo Pop, I think the chain reactions in that game are a far bigger dopamine hit than get a big Lumines combo, a Tetris or errr, lifting up all the blocks on the screen into the planet at once.
I cant remember the controls but the combo meter is basd on who you have in your party, both the elementand the strength of the attack, and because your party can depend on the real gacha what you're working with can vary from what someone else had to work with, though you get some characters in the story and one of them is ridiculously strong if you put time into her affinty chart.
I appreciated XC2 a lot more when I replayed it after beating XC3, combat system is awesome
Alastor