I’ve picked up a few games with the sales, among which Atelier Yumia and Star Ocean: Second Story R. Atelier Yumia is pretty decent, it has the usual issues of open world games, but the crafting is fun (although I think it’s a bit less interesting than in previous games, but I haven’t played them enough to judge). On the other hand I found Star Ocean to have incredibly dull combat, so I’ve dropped it after a few hours.

I’ve also been playing Xenosaga Episode II and Episode III. Episode II was disappointing, it’s clearly unfinished and rushed. I think the story had potential, the plot and characters could have been interesting, but the execution is lacking. The combat system is interesting and you can start seeing ideas that will later reappear in the blade games, but the implementation is really slow and repetitive. I’m currently mid-way through Episode III (just finished disc 1), which is a clear improvement, although it plays it a bit safer with more conventional combat. The story is good so far and I’m curious about how it’s gonna evolve.

I did end up trying it for a few days, but it doesn’t seem to be what I was looking for.

Other players don’t seem to be interested in the progression (which is understandable and expected due to the age of the game), but I don’t want to invest the time to reach level 99 just to then risk not enjoying it (looking at videos I don’t think the combat is what I was expecting, as I thought the mechanics would be closer to what XIV is now).

I found that there’s a free login campaign now, so I’m trying it out. If we were in the same time zone and I was sure I’d continue playing, I’d offer to join you.

I got to chapter 12 of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and can’t be bothered to finish it. I really don’t like how so much of the game feels like padding. There are parts that flow naturally, but they get interrupted by long wastes of time that usually force you to play really bad minigames. At some point the dungeons too started to feel samey. The open world is also Ubisoft-level bad, so I’ve been ignoring it.

The story also feels like a downgrade from the original version in some ways. I though some sequences had less impact (specifically Dyne’s story and Red’s trial. Shinra Mansion too I thought was ruined).

I’m not really a fan of remakes in general. I think they are usually unnecessary and a wasted opportunity to do something new, and it bothers me how they often try to “erase” the original’s gameplay. This one in particular feels like an excuse to sell a single game split in three parts. I doubt I’ll be playing the third one.

I’ve been trying The Last Remnant. Its gameplay is kinda weird and unique, although a bit too opaque. Not sure if it’s good, but it’s at least interesting.

I did play for a bit in HorizonXI and liked it, but couldn’t find many players around (which made it even grindier than it should be), which is why I was wondering about retail.

I don’t mind the difficulty, that’s kinda why I’m tired of FFXIV. Outside of the endgame “high-end” trials/raids, I find its gameplay a bit too easy to the point of being boring. The jobs in XI also look more interesting and varied, instead of FFXIV’s that feel too samey.

I’ve been continuing Pokemon X.

I also decided to give Final Fantasy VII Rebirth another chance, this time going only for the story. It’s a much better game this way even if it still feels a bit bloated. It does feel wrong tho to just ignore most of the map, even if I know it’s empty.

I was trying to finish the post Endwalker quests in Final Fantasy XIV to get to Dawntrail, but I’m not really feeling it. I’m probably burnt out on the game due to playing it for 500 hours last year.

Thanks. I do understand types (although can’t remember some combinations). I was trying to understand strategies to use when using a neutral or disadvantaged type (using buffs/debuff for example) but couldn’t find any (I don’t think I understand the combat system overall that much).

I’m currently just going through the story trying to make a more or less balanced team. I’m just past the electric gym.

I’m playing Pokemon X on 3DS. I haven’t played much of the series, I’ve only finished Pearl on DS ages ago, but I’m having fun with this one. I’m a bit confused about the combat, I don’t really understand what options I have in battle or if the outcome is predetermined by the teams.

I’m trying the demo for Raidou. Seems like an interesting setting and the combat is pretty fun.

Re-subbed to FFXIV, I’m playing the post-Endwalker MSQ.

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.