Finished Final Fantasy XIV !
Well, at least A Realm Reborn, there are still some post game quests that lead to the first expansion Heavesward, but going to move the game to secondary for now and focus on other games for a little while.
As for the story, it wasn’t bad, but it didn’t had the twists and turns I have come to expect from Final Fantasy games. It is the weakest content in FF14 though, and Heavensward is considered one of the strongest, so looking forward to eventually starting it.
They did introduce quite a bit of combat elements just before the final dungeon, which also helped me understand why I am doing level 50 quests and yet still have a “newbie” icon with my name…
Finished Tiny Lands !
Not much to add here, but got stuck on couple of puzzles, so had to look them up online, they weren’t that difficult just couldn’t find them for some reason.
Started Dimension Drive. I got it on last sale but hadn’t started it. It’s a vertical shoot 'em up which isn’t a bullet hell. The main gimmick here is that screen is divided in two, and you can teleport from one to other side. Both sides are bit different with enemies coming in different orders etc.
Overall, the game isn’t too difficult, but I am only on second world (each world has 4 levels) and only getting C rating. It would probably take good level of skill to get to S rating.
Also started Moonlighter. I played it long time ago and dropped it. As I have mentioned many times, I am not a big fan of roguelikes, but wanted some dungeon crawling, also cozy games, so it seemed like a nice mixture of two.
I am still in first dungeon, but have reached the 3rd level (out of 4), but I have scratched the itch I had, so not sure if I’ll continue or not. May play a bit more, but I doubt I’ll actually finish it.
That’s it for now. Will be focusing on Judgment over the weekend, and will also look for some “big” Switch game to start, but not sure which one yet.
What about all of you? What have you been playing and/or plan to play?
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This week, Pokemon ZA released, which meant I had ample time to finish Baten Kaitos Origins! My partner is a big fan of Pokemon and basically locked themselves into a room the minute the game released. Which meant no Monster Hunter this week to distract me, or pretty much anything else.
Overall, I remain with the opinion, that the battle system just doesn’t work for normal encounters. Once I started to use the convenience settings added in the remaster, I never got back to fighting trash mobs myself. Each fight can be approached in the same way, and I basically never changed my deck. I still fought bosses properly, as those are still fun, although these also can be fought with the same strategy throughout the entire game. Well, there’s one exception. I didn’t actually defeat the final boss. I almost defeated him properly, but the game decided to crash three times in a row towards the end of the fight - a 20+ minutes fight, I might add. At that point, I just wanted to be done with the game and toggled the option back on.
In short, while trying to remove the kinks from the first game, they threw out everything that made that battle system interesting. It’s sad to say, but now I get why the series ended there.
On the bright side, I found the story to be interesting - hence why I finished the game. It doesn’t quite align with the first game, despite being a prequel, but the twists and turns had me entertained and changed the context for pretty much everything happening in the first game. That being said, I don’t think the game works as well without having played the other one first.
I haven’t decided on the next game, but I’ll start with the demo for Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree.
Hehe, glad your partner is having fun!
That’s a bit sad to hear about the Baten Kaitos, but I guess there’s always risk involved when you try to change things up (or you don’t change enough).
I just looked up who the devs are, and if it would make any sense for the series to come back, and was surprised to see that it’s co-developed by Monolith Soft, devs of Xenoblade games! I am not a big fan of deck based games, but I did enjoy it in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, so it could be interesting if done well.
As a major fan of Xenoblade, Baten Kaitos being developed by Monolith was one of the reasons I wanted to play through the series. I think I’m only missing Xenosaga now, and a return of those game is rumoured.
I’d still recommend the first game, and the second one is just really divisive. A lot of people think the battle system was massively improved over the first game.
The battle system doesn’t sound like something I’ll enjoy, but now knowing that it’s by Monolith, I am going to give it a try some day. Will go with low expectations, may end up liking it.
I just discovered WarioWare, Inc in the Switch’s Game Boy Advance collection. I didn’t expect to get sucked into these little minigames so quickly. The rapid-fire back-to-back format is really engaging some hyper-focus-y part of my brain.
Kinda frustrating at times, though, lol. Some of the games are really obtuse. It took me dozens of attempts at one of the trampoline games before I realized I’m controlling the trampoline, not the guy jumping on it.
Oh my, I did not realize Wario Ware was on Switch with the extension pack. That game is easily one of my top three best gaming values of all time and would be my number one GBA title if it wasn’t for Rhythm Heaven.
I have probably played the jump rope game hundreds of times. It is a genius game that has never been followed up with a 100% better game. Thanks for the memories!
WarioWare is extremely addictive! If you like it, try the Rhythm Heaven series too.
I have never played WarioWare games, they look too wacky. Should try the one available on NSO and see what the deal is.
My Switch 2 arrived with Pokémon Legends ZA, so I will be playing that quite a bit.
Also considering picking up Mario Kart so my wife And I can play that a bit.
Oooh! Congratulations!
FFVIII Disk 2 trying to get Tonberry then off to Shumi.
I have never played FF VIII, only VII and IX from the old ones (though I do plan to give pixel remasters a try), how do you compare 8 to 7 and 9?
You trying to start a war?
Seriously though, I am heavily biased towards this game. I’ve always liked FFVIII the most. It was my first FF so there’s that, but I hold it in highset regard compared to whole series. Second, Cid Kramer is literally my dad’s name just spelled Cid instead of Sid. When I first discovered that when I was a child I fell in love with the game instantly. When people ask me about FF8 it all comes down to the junction/leveling system. Everybody complains about it being too complicated, but it’s really just a case of picking and choosing abilities to make numbers go up on certain characters. The real hardest part is gaining abilities and certain junction slots by leveling up GFs(summons).
FF8 provides probably the most robust leveling system in the the whole series. It really lets you build characters as if it’s a ttrpg. It revolves around the GF leveling system, and that can be confusing the first time around because the game emphasizes the junction system more in the tutorials. When you get a new GF it comes with a large list of abilities you can learn simply by battling. When you give a GF to a character, that character gains all the learned abilities. GFs have shared abilities but you have to learn them separately on each GF. So if you got Elem-J on one GF but not another, that other GF also has to take the time to learn Elem-J. Whichever character has the GF without Elem-J won’t be able to junction magic to Elem-J either. There’s no real order to learning abilities but some things are “required” to make life easier later on in the game. Some GFs have abilities only they know, so now you have to pick and choose which character you want that ability on. It sounds really complicated, but it really is just like DnD leveling when you break it down.
The actual junction system itself is modifiers you set to magic. So say you want your attacks to do a bonus of Thunder damage. A GF learns Elem-Atk-J. That character equips the GF and sets the Elem-Atk-J slot to Thunder/Thundara/Thundaga. Now your normal attacks do bonus Thunder Damage. If the NPC you are fighting is weak to Thunder damage it helps take them out quicker. There’s a whole list of stats you can junction magic to that boost your characters in any way you want. It’s a true build system and not just gain xp and levels to make everything stronger. You have to pay attention to what’s junctioned and when. Use Scan aaaaaaaaa lot.
It can lead to grinding but it’s not the worst grinding in a jrpg. Generally you don’t want to min/max FF8 because the game scales with your average party level. You can do low xp runs. No junction runs if you hate your life. There’s a million ways to “play the game,” if you know what I mean.
Another hard part is grasping how much Triple Triad(the side card game) is embedded into gaining new abilities and powers. When I was a weeee lad I never touched the game. I made it all the way to disk 4 and unbeknownst to me I missed a lot of content by skipping that crazy little gem. Now I’m like a fiend trying to get every card so I can get such and such abilities later down the line. Good thing it really is the best side card game in any video game. A lot of FF8 fans will say the real game is Triple Triad and the story is the bonus content.
Speaking of, the stories are so different between the three that it’s not worth comparing. Character wise FFVII definitely has the stronger cast. If you’re into moody Emo teens then Squall is gonna be your boy. If not then I can see him being a downer. He’s definitely worth his weight as a main character though. Aesthetically, I like VIII the most. The sci-fi aspect is lighter and not as in your face with the existentialism of dying planets and eco terrorism. The second time around doing 3d really shows. Musically I think it’s the best soundtrack in the whole series.
I live and die by saying FF8 is the best game in the series. VIII grabbed me in a way that proved video games are art long before I would ever understand what that meant. Being an 8 year old and really being captured by the story for the first time in any video game changed me. I’m no longer just mindlessly playing these things. I’m paying attention to the story beats and the characters emotions and motivations. Then to go backwards and play VII with that in mind, it just didn’t grab me the same way. I enjoy it. I love playing VII now, but VIII is thee game for me. Poor IX is just the redheaded step child of the series to me. I love FF games beyond the PS1 games. X is right there with 8. 12 is up there. VI and IV are excellent. IX is the one I put the least amount of time in and my opinion of it suffers for that. Play 8. Use a guide if you have to. There’s no shame in that. If you like Final Fantasy you will be better off having 8 under your belt.
Wow, wasn’t expecting such details.
The combat system does sound complicated, but it also sounds interesting. I am not a big fan of grinding anymore, but I guess nothing wrong with using a guide to help with that.
I don’t know how Triple Triad is in FF VIII, but it is pretty much the only side activity I do regularly in FF XIV. I like the TCG aspect of it, so would be interesting to see how it is here.
12 is my favourite FF, so you rating both 12 and 8 at top gives me hope about it. I’ill give it a try some day. Might be a little while though as I have a long backlog/wishlist, but adding it to the list.
Started Dragon Quest IX (Nintendo DS).
I like how it feels similar to Dragon Quest III. The art style and music is quite nice too.This game was my wife and my relaxation when we could get the baby to sleep. It was an amazing game (with an amazing post-game that came out a week at a time through DLC if I remember correctly).
I just watched a tool-assisted speed run of someone playing through the game with just the hero. What a nostalgic blast!
I should play the Dragon Quest III remake soon.
How are 9 and 3 similar? Without any spoilers.
Same party system that you can customise. Party members never talk.
Same class system.
Same combat.
It is straight forward JRPG that I can get into quickly. I tried playing Persona 4 but it goes on and on with hardly any gameplay.
I think I prefer “less is more”.
Ah, okay. I thought you meant in the sense that DQ 4-8 are different, but DQ 9 is similar to DQ 3.
Yes. DQ 9 is similar to DQ3 but different from DQ4-8.
DQ4-8 have fixed characters and classes. Only DQ3 and DQ9 have customisable party and job changes.
DQ4-8 are more characters and narrative focused.
Ahan, interesting, thanks for the info.
Stressed and having a hard time focusing, so not playing much. 🙁
Playing Super Robot Taisen Y!
This week I finished the (very long) Chapter 3 and got a new cool attack for the A.Advent (“Dominion Obliterator”).
Chapter 4 is much shorter according to the Akurasu Wiki, so hopefully I can finish it over the weekend and get the upgraded Lunedrache.
Hope the things get better for you. I find passive form of entertainment like movies, tv shows or anime work better for me in the situation where I am stressed and not in the mood to play or read.
Only have time for Battlefield 6 at the moment. I paid for a month of EA Play Pro since I was on the fence about buying it at full price. When I have a bit more free time in the summer I want to start working through some of my Switch backlog, particularly the visual novels.
Couple of my friends are playing it, may get it for multiplayer if rest of them get too. Don’t really play multiplayer much, but it’s fun when all of us are playing together.
Otherwise, if single player has good reviews, will play it down the road in a few years.
I’m in Oceania so I figured if was best to get in while our region still has a lot of players at launch. It generally shrinks over time and we get left with very limited servers and game modes. My new problem is that I’m enjoying it more than I expected, which means I am becoming tempted to pay the exorbitant price I said I would avoid…
If you are enjoying it (and can afford it), I say go with it!
