Playing Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, did lots of side missions (green ones) that I had started before but hadn’t finished. Still have quite a few of them left though.
It’s nice to see how the city evolves with our actions.
Also started Chapter 11, want to say some spoilery stuff about that, but want to finish the chapter first see how they deal with it.
Chapter 11 story
but if they redeemed you-know-who without giving a VERY solid reason, I am going to be very annoyed by the story.
I am still annoyed how Murderess joins our team after how she behaved, instead of getting any kind of punishment.
Chapter 11 brings you to skell-less fighting, and since I was used to beating everyone in few seconds, it feels so slow to kill people without skell now. And there are tons of enemies to fight there, so thinking about loading my previous save and leveling up a bit more before coming back to it.
Also played more Marvel’s Midnight Suns and Ghost of Tsushima, but nothing new to add about either of them.
What about all of you? What have you been playing and/or plan to play?
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I’m off in the wilds of North Carolina, but I did bring the Switch 2. It’s family reunion time so Mario Kart World is getting the most screen time.
Mostly, we’re playing family board games: The Crew (cooperative trick taking) Green Team Wins (“trivia” game where the right answer is what the plurality of players selects) 13 Beavers (a push your luck game that seems like it was created just to hear seven year olds shout “dam”) Flip 7 (another Push Your Luck game that encourages card counting)
I went to see a minor league baseball game last night! That counts as gaming because I bought a replica jersey, I think.
Sounds like a fun time! Enjoy!
I’ve started playing Rematch, a new small-sided PvP football game where you control one player on your 3v3/4v4/5v5 team (it’s all players, no AI). It seems like something that could run on the Switch 2 in the future, but for now I am playing on PC.
Cool! It’s by the devs of Sifu. I was keeping an eye on it until I found that it multiplayer only.
May still give it a try if all friends want to get it but seems less likely.
How are liking it?
It’s very fun. I have played football all my life and always wanted a game like this to play virtually with other people at home. A couple of years ago I had to give up the sport due to a bad knee injury, so to be able to play again albeit in an arcadey video game is so satisfying.
It’s probably not as fun for people who aren’t football fans or players, as I think a lot of the enjoyment comes from aspects that are unique to the sport rather than traditional video game elements. A good comparison is the Camelot Mario sports games on the N64. They weren’t hardcore simulations or anything, but were still focused largely on the core principles of the sport, as opposed to newer Mario sports games or the Mario Strikers series which are very silly and not really designed for sports lovers.
I am not a hardcore football fan, but have played a bit here and there, also used to play Fifa a lot in my younger days. Haven’t played it much recently, but I did try FC24, since they gave it away in PS+ monthly games.
I’ve been slowly playing through Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Slime Rancher 2 on the PS5 (enjoying both! FF7Rebirth is a very slow game at times though)
On Switch I’ve been playing a bit of Picross S4 whenever I get the chance. At some point I need to finish Steamworld Quest! But I’ve not had much spare time with several events on recently, and trying to raise a puppy.
I love the Picross games!
I’m looking forward to (hopefully) the full FF7 trilogy on Switch 2, but for the life of me, I can’t memorize the naming scheme of the parts!
It took me a moment to figure out that you aren’t talking about me 😀
FF7 Remake wasn’t that fast either, is Rebirth even slower?
What do you think of the Slime Rancher games? :)
Hmm it’s been a while since I played FF7Remake, but yeah it’s probably about the same pace! Lots of cutscenes and distractions which I don’t mind at all, it just means it’s gonna be a while before I finish it.
I have only played the first, and it’s a pretty good “cozy”/“farming” game. Would love to play the second one sometimes.
Funny thing is I didn’t set my name for the game, just wanted to add some word after slime, and rancher felt “natural”, only later realised it felt natural because I had already played the game 😀
The second feels like more of the same to be fair! There are some cool teleporter options which I’m yet to unlock but I imagine they’ll make things a lot easier. I think the first game added automation at some point after I’d finished playing it.
Don’t remember any automation in the first one, maybe I have forgotten them or played them before they were added (or maybe they were there and I never realised 😀 )
Finished Deltarune on my $450 Deltarune machine. I don’t know if I can handle waiting another decade for the full thing to be finished.
Storm knocked out my power yesterday (just got it back this morning), so I figured that at least until my batteries die, this is the time to start on that copy of Sea of Stars that’s been sitting on my shelf after I bought it on sale last year. So far very impressed by it. Also nice that I can actually use handheld mode again with working JoyCons, my Switch 1 hadn’t left the dock in years.
Here’s an Under Night In-Birth II clip.
Relapsing back into Puyo Puyo Champions, again. My relationship with the game remains complicated, as does my sadness at feeling like queue times are getting slower and slower…
Also dusted off Splatoon 3 for the new Jet kit. There’s gonna be a casual bracket at a convention I’m going to next weekend, so I gotta try and derust a bit.
Glad you got power back.
How’s the battery life of Switch 2? It has larger battery, but also a larger screen and more powerful cpu / gpu.
What was that power-up thingy you were doing in the clip? And why was your opponent letting you do it? Unless it was just some kind of taunt.
My save file says I got a little over three hours into the game. I think I ran the battery down to around 20% before going to bed. I did try to use a portable charger, but it still drained faster than it charged and so I decided I should save that juice for my phone. Honestly not great for a power outage situation, but under normal circumstances I’m never gonna be far from an outlet so eh.
Concentrate builds GRD, which is a sort of tug-of-war meter. Every time the circular timer in the bottom center completes, whoever has more GRD goes into a state called Vorpal, which grants some key buffs that effectively put them in control to press their advantage state. For Vatista, being able to just set a gem in front of me and Concentrate is a way of forcing my opponent to make a move - I have the life lead, I have Vorpal, I’ll wait. They tried to just Concentrate back at first, but since I’m already ahead that just maintains an equilibrium in my favor.
Battery life doesn’t sound that bad then, but of course heavier games will dain it quicker.
Thanks for the info. Do you play Street Fighter? I recently got SF6 on PS5. I am a VERY casual player though. But I wont’ mind if you have some general tips 😀
SF4 was my gateway drug into fighting games, and I’ve put a solid chunk of time into playing the classic titles on FightCade, but I have no interest in anything Capcom does today. Skullgirls, UNI2, and Them’s Fightin’ Herds are my main games.
spoiler
the 3DS version
had me like “damn, where have these games been all my life? oh, mostly on things I don’t own.”Hehe, interesting. Any special reason for this Capcom love?
Them’s Fightin’ Herds looks interesting, may give it a try some day.
Still working on Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, this is taking longer than anticipated as I am not a fan of the chibi graphics. But I really want an Arceus for my Tera Raid arsenal in Violet, so I keep plugging away. I think I am closing in on my 5th badge now.
Good luck!
Xenoblade X continued to take up all the time I spend gaming. Got a bit carried away with side stuff and reached Lv 40, currently inbetween Chapter 6 and 7.
Just got my Skell too, but I honestly don’t like them much. Ground combat feels more dynamic, Skells don’t level in any way and the hefty repair cost doesn’t match my playstyle of stat checking every living thing I come across. Probably why I’m so overleveled.
Just like in the WiiU version, it will probably get relegated to cheesy grinding tactics, if necessary, and flying.
How are you level 40? I am at Chapter 11, and I’ve hardly reached level 44!
My equipment is filled with EXP augments. You can get these preinstalled from the shop, they get better when you level up the Sakura manufacturer. Or you can craft the 40% one quite cheap early on only using material tickets. Set one to each piece of armor for a grand total of at least 200% extra. (It may be capped at a 100%, they are so cheap, I never bothered testing).
My teammates are only lv 33, I didn’t given them any.
The other ingredient was simply fighting stuff up to 10 levels above me. If you succed you easily get a full level early on.
It may be capped at a 100%, they are so cheap, I never bothered testing
From what I’ve read there’s no cap on augments, but apparently here’s a maximum of 9999XP per kill.
Interesting…
I’m in the last third of Kena. Nothing really changed, it’s still a simple, beautiful game. Some of the optional trials are brutal, but I think I’ve completed them all. Now I have the main hub to clean up and then the game should be nearing its end!
Played more of Mario Kart World. The Knockout Races are a neat idea, but since you mostly race on the roads between the actual tracks, you’re spending most of your time driving a straight line. It’s not as interesting as it could be.
And with all of that 3-starred in 50CC to get a feel for the game, I finally started the Free Roam portion of the game. It’s a lot of fun, but it desperately needs a map! You have an overview that shows you where the tracks are, but its missing every detail you could want. And on top of that, it only properly tracks one of the three tasks you are chasing in this mode. I can already see myself going through a list of rewards to reverse-engineer the last few coins/switches I missed somewhere!
Hope they improve some of these things with QoL updates.
Started playing Paranormasight on Switch yesterday. Maybe progress this weekend…
We don’t get many VN fans. How are you liking it? Seem to have great reviews on steam.
For a VN, it’s very exciting and creepy. It has a very intense mood. It really draws you into the action.
Playing a translated ROM of Mother 1 (Earthbound Beginnings) on my Famicom i got on a recent trip to Japan.
Really enjoying it so far, looking forward to continuing. It’s clear this series was a big inspiration for Undertale
Interesting. Have fun!
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
I started a New Game + on Switch 2, and while it doesn’t have a resolution or graphical update (please, Nintendo), it now never has a frame dip so it does feel better to play.
This game is still probably my favorite of the last generation. I love these characters to death. It’s fun to see the story again from the start knowing where it’s going and to also to absolutely stomp everything because I started at level 88.
But yeah, the story is awesome, and it makes me have real feelings in a way basically no other game has done. So good.
XC3 is my favourite game of the series, and one of my favourite game overall. Haven’t tried the NG+, but it sounds fun!
I ended up spending the $40 or whatever to get the Mio and Noah Amiibo, and they are sitting on my desk right now.
I’m so sad I didn’t get the steelbook case for the game when I had the chance. I had waffled because while I like XC2, it was just OK for me. I don’t know if I wanted to spend the extra money on the steelbook at the time. XC3 is in my top five favorite games, too, now.
I ended up spending the $40 or whatever to get the Mio and Noah Amiibo, and they are sitting on my desk right now.
I also got those, I love Xenoblade too much. The only Amiibo’s I’ve ever bought are the Noah/Mio and Pyra/Mythra pairs.
Should probably grab a Shulk one as well since they still appear to be available.
That reminds me that I do have Shulk as well. I had just moved recently, and a lot of those things are still in a box.
Honestly, the Shulk may have better detail than the Noah and Mio. But I love Noah and Mio a little bit more anyway 🙂.
Now, the real question… Elma amiibo when? 😃
Wow, I wanted those but couldn’t get them at the time. They are on my wishlist, if they are ever available at official price again.
You might try Ebay if it’s available where you are.
I just did a quick search and found some ~$30 which I think was around the MSRP.
Let me check. Thanks for the tip.
Slow week, wasn’t very motivated for some reason. Otherwise I’d probably have finished both games below.
Playing Never 7: The End of Infinity (part of the Ever 17/Never 7 Double Pack)!
Followed the plan I mentioned last week - did a first “blind” run which got me the Yuka route, then found a nice guide to help me get the other routes.
I’ve cleared all the “main game” routes (Yuka, Haruka, Saki, Kurumi, Izumi “Cure” and Izumi), and completed the CG library. Only thing left now is the “Append Story”, an extra option in the main menu that shows up after you clear Yuka’s route, which appears to be her POV of the story.
Playing The Mummy Demastered!
Played less than 2h this week. Map is around 50%.
Game is mostly good, but has the annoying tendency (reminiscent of old-school Castlevanias) of having enemies positioned to “trip” you and make you fall down when you’re doing plataforming sections. :/
So, what do you think about Never 17 now?
Fairly solid for its age. It’s more of a romance/slice-of-life but has some neat sci-fi ideas, in particular in the “Cure” route that acts as the main story ending. I can see why people mention it as an inspiration for games like Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate.
The main issue is that most of the routes follow the same formula, so they get boring after a while.
Anyway, quite curious for Ever 17 now since everyone says it’s miles better than the first game - Never 7 has a 6.73 rating on VNDB while Ever 17 has a 8.45.
I’ve only played Ever 17, but it was very good. I hope you enjoy it too!
Ahan, interesting. Would look forward to your review then.
