I couldn’t play much Sound Voltex as I didn’t have my controller with me and Demonschool, while fun, has been getting a little repetitive, so I went looking for other games.

I played 1000xRESIST during the weekend and loved it. I don’t know how to talk about it since it’s mostly story, so I’ll just say that I thought it was really well written.

Now a bit of a rant (or two): I played Ratatan and was really disappointed. I was looking forward to the game, since I fondly remember playing Patapon when I was younger, but this just isn’t good. I don’t think the roguelike/lite model fits the game (to be honest, I generally don’t like the genre and don’t understand how to have fun with it), especially how it’s implemented here: you always go through the same identical levels without any variety, fighting always the same boss at the end of each “world”. Combat against bosses is fine, but normal encounters feel entirely out of your control and just rely on stats. I know it’s an early access game, but I don’t expect these issues to be fixed, as they seem to be core to the design of the game.

Another game I played was Soulstice. This one was so average it kinda made me have a small existential crisis about how art and capitalism can’t really coexist. I heard that the story is good, although I didn’t get far enough to be able to judge it, and the core gameplay is fine but not particularly interesting, although ruined by a terrible fixed camera. I might be over thinking this, and it’s probably a bias of mine, but knowing who the developer is, I can’t help but feel like the game is more product than art. Overall the game feels soulless, it doesn’t have any original idea and what’s there is just bland. It gives me similar vibes to gacha games that uncreatively copy another game’s gameplay.

I’ve restarted Yakuza Kiwami 2 after dropping it a few years ago, but neither the story/sidequests nor the gameplay don’t feel as good as 0 or Kiwami 1.

Demonschool released a few days ago, so I’ve been playing that. It’s pretty good, I was expecting more of an RPG but it’s actually more like a puzzle game. The writing is charming and the art looks great.

This week I’ve been mostly playing Sound Voltex tho, as I finally got the controller. It took me a while to get used to the actual layout, and I’m still having troubles understanding the lasers’ timing. It feels much more fun with the proper inputs. I’m currently trying level 13 songs and clearing them with a bit of trouble.

Very interested in the controller, I might get it day one.

Kind of curious about the Frame. I’m not really convinced VR is going anywhere, but a fully wireless setup that can run PCVR games seems interesting, if it’s not ridiculously expensive like the Index. Also Valve contributing to FEX could be useful for playing games on those Android emulators like Retroid’s, AYN’s etc.

Mainly played Project Diva and a bit of Sound Voltex on keyboard while I’m waiting for my controller.

Was hoping to play Unbeatable but unfortunately it got delayed last minute. Ended up starting Harvestella.

I finished Resident Evil: Village. I was a bit skeptical at first since I don’t really care for the more action RE games from 4 onward, but I ended up really enjoying it.

Other than that, I’m playing Project Diva. I’m trying to get past 8* extremes but I’m struggling with reading, especially when chords appear.

I spent a lot of time trying to set up Sound Voltex with wine and could only get it to work in Bottles using wine-ge, as otherwise gstreamer wouldn’t load the proper codecs. I ended up getting a spare drive and installing windows on it which I’ll keep around for situations like these.

Played Fatal Frame I was really enjoying it up until the third night, where there’s a huge difficulty spike and I fear I’m stuck there due to not having resources. I might restart it some other time, but I’ve decided to play something else.

So I played Still Wakes the Deep. I found it to be pretty mediocre: the story and acting were fine, but I couldn’t really connect to the characters. The gameplay is so scripted and simple the monster encounters had no tension as they were basically on rails. Doesn’t help that the monster design is forgettable and they mostly look like flesh blobs.

I’m currently playing Resident Evil Village and Project Diva.

My list would be too long, so I’ll just mention the most recent one: Expedition 33.

I think it has a fantastic intro and decent ending, but I found the story to be kinda weak and it lost me at the Gestral village, and never really recovered. I still finished it as I knew it was pretty short and I was hoping for it to get better.

The gameplay tho is what I really can’t tolerate. I think both dodge and parry are overpowered, as they completely negate damage, making the rpg part weaker - healing becomes useless, turn order is less significant, there’s less stats. It ends up encouraging you to build for damage, making everyone a glass cannon. This is made worse by the fact that the equipment is focused mostly on boosting damage (often with multiplicative effects).

Finished Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. It was pretty decent, unfortunately not particularly scary. Most of the times it felt it was going more for ‘horny’ than ‘horror’.

Played a few rhythm games, mainly Arcaea and Spin Rhythm XD.

I really like Arcaea, I used to play it a lot years ago. I think the lasers are a pretty good way to feel the music. It can get really cramped on a phone tho.

On the other hand, Spin Rhythm has good ideas, but I really really don’t like the song selection. Out of the around 80 songs, I enjoyed only 3 or 4, among which only on I’d say I liked. The mapping is generally good and consistent, but the gameplay feels really simple and gimmicky. I haven’t tried many custom charts, but the ones I did try didn’t feel particularly good.

I tired the demo for Milion Depth because it looked nice and the premise was interesting, but I really can’t understand the appeal of roguelikes.

I also started Fatal Frame (the first Ps2 game). From the first two hours, I already like it more than Maiden of Black Water. The atmosphere feels scarier and the gameplay is closer to survival horror than action.

Continuing Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, but mostly playing Ender Magnolia.

I played a bit of Resonance of Fate, but after realizing how repetitive the combat is, I kinda dropped it. I’m probably a bit burnt out on JRPGs too.

I too am in the mood for horror, so I’m playing Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water

Mostly played Resonance of Fate. The story is surprisingly slice-of-lifey and the character interactions are pretty charming. The gameplay tho is a bit dull. I’m 15 hours in and more or less have been repeating the same thing for each battle, so I’m not sure how long I’m gonna play.

Also just started Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon.

For others their job is unfulfilling torture they are forced to do to survive, so it’s nice to have an hobby you can put effort in and be rewarded, be it gaming, art or anything else.

Finished Xenosaga Episode I. I enjoyed it, even if the combat started to grate on me towards the end.

Started Resonance of Fate. Combat and controls are a bit confusing, but it seems interesting. Unfortunately there’s a lot of annoying visual glitches when playing on my PC.

I’ve been jumping a bit between games.

I tired playing again a bit of No Man’s Sky, because of the new update and expedition, but it didn’t keep my attention.

I mostly ended up playing Phantasy Star Online, but suddenly stopped when I noticed how repetitive it was (after around 30 hours of playtime) and started questioning the point of playing it (I wasn’t not having fun, but it did feel a bit empty), and couldn’t get back to it.

I was still looking for a similar Sci-Fi+Fantasy setting so i just started playing Xenosaga.

Finished Persona 3 Reload. Overall it’s a good remake, although it’s not necessarily better than FES.

Started Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I don’t particularly like the combat system, I think the ones in the other games were more interesting, but I’m interested in the story.

Played Slay the Princess. I liked the idea and what it was trying to do, but never really vibed with it. Without spoilers, I have some issues with how you progress the game which made me feel detached from the characters.

Playing Citizen Sleeper. Haven’t finished it yet but I’m liking the stories.

Also playing a bit of Phantasy Star Online on the Ephinea server. Playing as HUnewearl, no idea what I’m doing but it’s fun.

Finishing Persona 3 Reload. Story-wise it’s still my favourite among the (modern, at least) Persona games and I liked the new additional events. For the gameplay, I’m disappointed that it’s P5 system again and the new mechanics (theurgies) are overpowered. The game is a bit too easy, even on merciless.

Played a bit of Trails of Cold Steel III, but it feels more of the same of CS1. I’m considering dropping the series, as I can’t imagine it’s ever going back to Sky/Crossbell quality.

Still playing Persona 3 Reload.

I also played Devotion. I’m not really used to horror so I struggled a bit starting it, but the story was good.

Ok thanks. I’m on AMD so I hope it’s not a problem.

I generally hear about better performance on linux due the os being lighter, except for issues with dx12 on nvidia. Is that what you are referring to?

Thanks. I didn’t know about Bottles, that seems useful (mostly for non game software I guess).