JDubYes

Yeah. I need to start other stuff now, but sort of miss it already.

Roll on AC7.

Oh, bloody hell, I hadn't posted in here yet? I'll have definitely forgotten something…

Picross S+

Given how long it will take me to finish all the DLC for this, I'm just going to put it in here for doing the base game, as that took long enough, and should be recorded. There's not much else to say though - it's Picross, and it's lovely. I got halfway through the first batch of puzzles, and then worked out how to turn all the assists off and started again. I will likely play this until all of the DLC is exhausted, and then buy another Picross game.

Holedown

One of my favourite iOS timewasters. It came off my phone for a bit, and then went back on, and with that I had to unlock everything again, because it would be rude not to. It's a block-breaker which evokes Peggle, Breakout and, well, snooker? It's fabulous though, and still worth playing even after you've unlocked everything, as just a high-score game.

Luck Be a Landlord

I'm sure I've mentioned this on here before, and someone picked it up but then didn't "get it" (Mart?). It's basically a roguelite which feels a bit like if Balatro was made for fruit machines rather than poker. Again, I'd (completely) finished it before, but it came off the phone, and once it was back on…

It suffers a little from being so dependent on RNG, but then it is a game based on fruit machines, so I suppose that is appropriate. It's another of my iOS all-timers though.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

Finished three times, actually, to see all of the endings, as it has an interesting take on NG+ (and then NG++), whereby you retain everything you've unlocked, and can make the choices you didn't the first time through, but also new choices and paths become available. This is a somewhat surprising approach, introducing quite an interesting narrative device in a game where your character is not only mute, but also effectively hypothetical, given that almost everything story wise is just people talking at you while you look at your mech. In fact, I don't think you see a single human face throughout the game.

Interesting-but-slightly-underwhelming structure and story aside, this is a fabulous (mech) game though. The contrast between my muddling through the first playthrough and blasting through the third in a couple of hours, thanks to having grown confident with it all, and found "my" build, suggests that the usual FROM "git gud" magic is at play here too. The fact that the missions are generally bitesize (especially once you know your way around a little) meant they were eminently replayable, meaning that I did go hunting for secrets in my first playthrough. I was even more pleasantly surprised then when I found that the NG-specific missions often didn't have as many secrets, as if the developers were saying 'we know why you're still here, and we're here to make it smooth and enjoyable for you'.

I have a few little gripes, but they are few and far between, and are only things like 'I never really found a primary weapon I truly loved to single-wield', and the 'world feels a tiny bit lifeless'. The latter does make sense though, and is excused by the scale of everything - when you're boosting along, and street signs are being taken out by your mech's knees, you do feel like you're piloting a bloody enormous mech, which is sort of the point.

A classic? Not exactly? A cult classic? I certainly hope so.

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.