JDubYes

Yeah, my main issue now is that from what I’ve heard Napishtim is the one where a lot of it ties together, so naturally that isn’t out on anything I can play it on…

I’m going to check and see where that should be in the order, then maybe at least read up on anything I need to know before I move on. I can’t remember which is next now out of Celceta or Felghana either, but I’ll probably be playing a few other things first anyway

Monster Hunter Rise & Sunbreak
Ys Chronicles 1
Metaphor Refantazio
Monster Hunter Wilds
Ys Chronicles II
Astro Bot
God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla
Luigi’s Mansion
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Nuclear Blaze

I am so sure I'm forgetting some stuff, and I have gotten all the way through Luck Be a Landlord and Holedown again, but I don't feel like counting mobile games (apart from Ys 1 & 2, I suppose, which I played on there out of necessity). Finally going on that Japan trip - I was there at the same time as Ninchilla, I think, to the point where we may have even overlapped in Osaka - definitely confused my gaming habits in the latter half of the year, leading to a few games being dropped and semi-forgotten halfway through. I still need to get back to Armored Core 6, most notably…

Persona 5 Tactica was fine. I liked it. I wanted to try and play more SRPGs, and this seemed like a decent start. Unfortunately I finished it months ago, but only just remembered, and now can't think of much to say about it. It was faithful to its source material, in that it was perhaps a bit long, but the combat was good, and it's not too hard for a relative SRPG noob like me.

Ys Origin was a pleasant surprise, in that I didn't think it would grab me enough that I would necessarily do all three playthroughs, but then it did, and I did. Then a trophy for doing so didn't drop. I'm not bitter though. It's not necessarily going to be held up as the pinnacle of the genre, but it was good fun, and I very much enjoyed it. I thought I might jump straight to the more modern games after this, but I might do the other two "retro" ones that are on PS first after all, as I've never played any of them before, enjoy the older games anyway, and it'll probably be harder to go back to them after I've played VIII-X.

(Yes, I am speaking my having the time to do all of this into existence.)

Donkey Kong Bananza I really enjoyed, though I would've liked it better if it'd known when to end. I genuinely don't remember ever playing a game before where I was so convinced that the last few hours either originally were, or if not definitely should've been DLC released a couple of months after the rest of the game. It's so odd.

It's not a stone-cold classic, but it's marvellous fun, as it never gets old punching stuff, and also an excellent advert for the system. Despite some (pseudo) launch title jank, like that bloody camera, and it occasionally feeling like it's a tiny bit too confident in how well its systems work, and writing cheques it can't quite cash, I thought it was great.

I am enjoying it. My biggest problem at the moment is choice paralysis with my builds, partially as I don't really fully like any of the "primary" weapons - everything is either a bit unsatisfying in some situations, needs reloading/overheats too much, or has too little ammo for me to be happy using it for adds…

I should push on further, as I'm only on chapter 3, so more stuff is bound to become available, but then I spent about an hour on it last night mainly tweaking builds and testing them in Arena. At one point I was just comparing leg types, as I'd mainly just been going bipedal, and dabbled a little with the quad stuff, but last night I finally bought the "wheelchair" legs, and then also realised I quite like the reverse-jointed ones, as being able to get off the ground that quickly is wonderful…

It is great though. People talking about it reminding them of other Fromsoft games I get, though sometimes I think they're reaching. With that said, it has started reminding me of Otogi, as that was a bit floatier/more vertical in it's combat than the Souls games were. I'm not sure I'll get it finished before I go away in 10 days or so, but I think how it works is ingrained enough that I'll be fine when I get back, having false-started on it a couple of times before and having to restart. It'll probably stay on the PS5 for a bit after I'm done as well, as I'm already replaying missions almost immediately after finishing them, so a replay and/or NG+ seems likely.

You're right on the 'good mech game' front as well. I'm trying to think of other really good ones I've played, and other than Titanfall 2… ZOE 2 was the last one I played?! I must be forgetting stuff. And I'm not counting Into the Breach, et al, that have the theme but not the piloting.

Additional play. The Messenger is fun; it's an 8-bit retro platformer (no wait!) that is tough, but it does the Celeste thing of liberally sprinkling checkpoints, so you never really mind when you die. Plus halfway through, A Cool Thing happens that flips everything on its head. But I won't spoil that.

It's 3 quid on Switch atm, give it a go!

I admire the commitment to avoiding spoilers, even if I think the Cool Thing might have been in the trailer. 😂

It is a very good game, which I was very much enjoying…right up until it crashed during an auto save and I lost all my progress. (I was past the Cool Thing, but not that far, so I assume about halfway through.)

I was playing on PS4, so I’m going to give it a little rest, then restart on the Switch (good handheld game, I imagine), or on the PS5 upgrade, which feels utterly pointless, except for the fact that I can earn trophies again for the early game, I suppose?

Monster Hunter Rise & Sunbreak
Ys Chronicles 1
Metaphor Refantazio
Monster Hunter Wilds
Ys Chronicles II
Astro Bot
God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla
Luigi’s Mansion
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Nuclear Blaze

Looking through my library for a palette cleanser, and spotted this, a game I bought years ago, on a whim, as it was ‘by the creator of Dead Cells’, and which then later almost inexplicably got a PS5 upgrade.

It’s a 2d platformer with mild puzzling, where you’re a firefighter sent to deal with a blaze, who stumbles upon a mysterious facility, and has to battle through that solo putting out fires. It was apparently made for a competition, and that is perhaps borne out by the reuse of the odd Dead Cells asset here and there, but it is fun and unique, and doesn’t outstay its welcome; it is very short. It also has multiple settings you can change to tailor your experience/difficulty, as well as multiple modes, including a Kid Mode, and a harder ‘Hold My Beer’ mode unlocked after completing the game. The latter does shake things up nicely, and I should know, as I had to complete that too to get the Platinum, and the whole thing took less than a day.

I liked it. I needed a game to kill some time yesterday, and it did that admirably. I also liked the multiple modes thing; even if I didn’t test out Kid Mode myself, I do like that it’s there. The whole thing was just an amiable, fun time.