What are you playing right now?

[aneonfoxtribute]

The Fire Emblem Three Hope's demo. Someday I'll finish Golden Deer route in the original game

[Use the Falchion]

On 6/9/2022 at 2:36 AM, aneonfoxtribute said:

The Fire Emblem Three Hope's demo. Someday I'll finish Golden Deer route in the original game

Ay Three Hopes Demo! What do you think of it so far? What house/route did you choose? Any interesting builds?

[aneonfoxtribute]

6 hours ago, Use the Falchion said:

Ay Three Hopes Demo! What do you think of it so far? What house/route did you choose? Any interesting builds?

Its absolutely fantastic. I chose Blue Lions because Dimitri is best. And I dunno about any builds, I was just gonna make my characters how they were in 3 House's, where the only real deviation was Dedue being a Brawler instead of an axe wielder

[Use the Falchion]

6 hours ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

Its absolutely fantastic. I chose Blue Lions because Dimitri is best. And I dunno about any builds, I was just gonna make my characters how they were in 3 House's, where the only real deviation was Dedue being a Brawler instead of an axe wielder

Nice! I've been enjoying the stuffing out of it as well. I have an Azure Gleam M!Shez/F!Byleth playthrough which is my primary one, and a F!Shez/M!Byleth Verdant Wildfire playthrough as a secondary one. 

Weird builds I've tried:

Priest Dimitri - Thunder is great, and I think this will help him become a Holy Knight down the line. (Cavalier Dimitri is fun also.)

Priest Ingrid - Her Magic was higher than her Strength, so I put her in the Mage/Priest line...and then she gained no Magic for her final two level-ups...either way, I want her to go Dark Flier if that class is in the game, and Holy Knight at some point if it isn't.

Mage Sylvain - He learns Bolganone, which is GREAT. I'm gonna try and teach it to Felix later down the line when the game releases, since I want Felix to go Mortal Savant. 

Priest Rodrigue - He learns an ability that only Mercedes learns currently, but he may be a little better than her since he also learns a good offensive spell in Thunder and Fortify. Still, he's going Holy Knight while Mercedes will probably go Gremory. 

Brigand Ashe - I was really torn on Ashe, since for the longest time his Magic was higher than his Strength. Turning him into a Brigand actually evened the two, and he's wrecked shop since. I've heard good things about Thief Ashe, but I don't want to go that route for head-canon/characterization reasons. (Ashe is ashamed of his past as a thief, it feels wrong to turn him into one. Granted, this could be him taking agency over it, but I'd rather see who else may become a thief.) 

Mercenary Lysithea - She's kicking but and taking names! I may make her a Mortal Savant later down the line, which is why I have her in this class. It was either her or Marianne, and I feel like Marianne may be a better Holy Knight...depending on what happens to her Relic. Constance will be my Gremory, so I'm not too worried about having a position missing. 

Pegasus Knight Leonie - She wrecks shop, 'nuff said. 

[Eluvianii]

The Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak demo. This one seems more forgiving than the previous one. Just did a triple hunt in the intermediate quest. I doubt I'll be so lucky with the next two but I'm having a blast so far. 

Edit: Did Astalos too. Malzeno unfortunately seems to be there only to give you a taste. He's buffed up and you get 15 minutes to beat him. Maybe on multi but, as things stand, I'll take my triple cart. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Eluvianii

[aneonfoxtribute]

7 hours ago, Use the Falchion said:

Nice! I've been enjoying the stuffing out of it as well. I have an Azure Gleam M!Shez/F!Byleth playthrough which is my primary one, and a F!Shez/M!Byleth Verdant Wildfire playthrough as a secondary one. 

Weird builds I've tried:

Priest Dimitri - Thunder is great, and I think this will help him become a Holy Knight down the line. (Cavalier Dimitri is fun also.)

Priest Ingrid - Her Magic was higher than her Strength, so I put her in the Mage/Priest line...and then she gained no Magic for her final two level-ups...either way, I want her to go Dark Flier if that class is in the game, and Holy Knight at some point if it isn't.

Mage Sylvain - He learns Bolganone, which is GREAT. I'm gonna try and teach it to Felix later down the line when the game releases, since I want Felix to go Mortal Savant. 

Priest Rodrigue - He learns an ability that only Mercedes learns currently, but he may be a little better than her since he also learns a good offensive spell in Thunder and Fortify. Still, he's going Holy Knight while Mercedes will probably go Gremory. 

Brigand Ashe - I was really torn on Ashe, since for the longest time his Magic was higher than his Strength. Turning him into a Brigand actually evened the two, and he's wrecked shop since. I've heard good things about Thief Ashe, but I don't want to go that route for head-canon/characterization reasons. (Ashe is ashamed of his past as a thief, it feels wrong to turn him into one. Granted, this could be him taking agency over it, but I'd rather see who else may become a thief.) 

Mercenary Lysithea - She's kicking but and taking names! I may make her a Mortal Savant later down the line, which is why I have her in this class. It was either her or Marianne, and I feel like Marianne may be a better Holy Knight...depending on what happens to her Relic. Constance will be my Gremory, so I'm not too worried about having a position missing. 

Pegasus Knight Leonie - She wrecks shop, 'nuff said. 

I'll probably go Dark Mage Lorenz again too, but that's not even a weird build I think. Lorenz is literally a mage that the game wants to make a cavalier for some reason. 

[Dunkum]

accidentally finished my long-delayed (on purpose) second play-through of Breath of the Wild the other day. short version - I was raiding the castle for equipment and collectibles but wasn't paying close attention to where I was so I accidentally ran into the Sanctum and started the final boss battle before I meant to while trying to dodge some guardian fire.  obviously once I stated the fight I wasn't going to just quit, so I ended up beating it. I could go back and do more stuff, but now I don't feel like it - and I did most of it in my first play-through anyway, so there isn't much I would want to do right now that I didn't do then.

[aneonfoxtribute]

AI The Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative. It's so good so far. I'm loving every second

[Use the Falchion]

Just finished Azure Gleam aka the Blue Lions route of Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. It was a great but imperfect story, which fits a great but imperfect game. There were a fair bit of twists and turns, and while not everything was answered or played out satisfactorily, I'm hopeful that DLC will fix these issues. Still, Three Hopes is a stellar sequel and spin-off to Three Houses, and I'm excited to begin my Verdant Wildfire aka Golden Deer route.  Eventually. I want to begin right now, but I'm not entirely sure I'll like it as much as my Azure Gleam playthrough, if only because VW has the smallest cast of the bunch. (BOO!!) (I also am pretty sure I know a little about what the story is about, and the story makes me a tad uncomfortable, but I'm ready for it!) 

This game is one where I do want a Golden Route for, though. Three Houses was fine without it, but I think Three Hopes could really benefit from it. Just...so long as it doesn't go the standard "Evil Church is Evil and We Must Destroy Evilness!" route. It's an annoying trope, and the Fodlan games are too nuanced for that. 

Overall, if you're a fan of Three Houses, Three Hopes is an easy next step and a must-have. If you didn't like Three Houses, I'd probably recommend skipping this one for now. 

[Eluvianii]

About halfway through Final Fantasy VIII I decided to try and break my party a little. Then I beat Disc 2 boss in like 4 hits and I'm now wondering whether taking the tension out of the battles was worth it. 

[Briar King]

Cold Steel 4, Xenoblade X, Xenoblade 2 Torna, Xenoblade 3

oh my

[Medium]

minecraft

[The Bookwyrm]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

I just got it yesterday but can already conclude that this game is awesome.

[Eluvianii]

I finally finished Final Fantasy VIII.

You can't possibly imagine the level of catharsis I'm feeling right now. I had begun to say I was cursed in regards to this game. Every time I tried to play it, something happened to prevent me from finishing it. My PSP broke, my laptop broke. Heck, last time it was burnout, because I had already gone all the way through most of disc 2 several times and it was getting repetitive. But it's finally over.

This game is weird and clunky and I loved every second of it. I personally think breakable combat systems are a lot of fun, and this one is king when it comes to breaking. Even then the final battle felt just right difficulty-wise. I can't imagine what a "balanced" playthrough would be like.

The characters aren't terribly complex but I love them. They're fun and charming. And I like having an initially unlikable protagonist who grows as the game progresses. Especially since it wasn't something quick. He continued to grow all the way to the last cutscene.

Speaking of those, the plot advances fairly fast but it doesn't feel like it. Like, sometimes you'll snap from one plot point right to the next with no development in the middle, but the scenes are so well fleshed out while still being short that you don't really notice. Games like Trails spoiled me with more details than I could ever need but here you have to cherish every word because there aren't that many. In that sense, I guess if Trails is like reading a giant fantasy book, this game is like watching a well-paced action movie. Short but sweet.

Soundtrack was amazing. There were some themes (namely Eyes on Me, and The Extreme) that I spent years avoiding because I wanted to hear them in-game. And let me tell you, it was worth every second. Eyes on Me is a beautiful song and I freaked out when it started playing. It was such a good scene. And The Extreme hit me like a truck when I thought the final battle was over, made my excitement go even higher than it already was.

At some point during the "curse", I got stubborn and decided this had to be my first Final Fantasy. So even though I've become interested in most of the games in the series each for their own reasons, I restrained myself and waited. Well, I'm glad I did. First impressions are important and as first impressions go, this one was brilliant. So excited to see what else the series has to offer.

 

That will wait for a bit though because next game on my list is Xenogears. The things I hear about this game sound hyperbolic. How it's on another league compared to other jrpgs, and how it changes your perception of video games when you play it. So I should probably control my expectations, but I can't help being excited.

[Dunkum]

8 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

I finally finished Final Fantasy VIII.

I should probably give FF VIII another chance one of these days....once I replace my now broken PS2.  it is one of my least favorites in the series. that sid, it does have on of my favorite scenes - if you have Odin prior to one of the Seifer fights (I forget which), Odin will come out at the beginning and try to Zantetsuekn Seifer, only for Seifer to just murder him.

[Eluvianii]

16 hours ago, Dunkum said:

I should probably give FF VIII another chance one of these days....once I replace my now broken PS2.  it is one of my least favorites in the series. that sid, it does have on of my favorite scenes - if you have Odin prior to one of the Seifer fights (I forget which), Odin will come out at the beginning and try to Zantetsuekn Seifer, only for Seifer to just murder him.

Storms, I have to see that. I like how cryptic the game is with details like that. There seem to be a few extra scenes with no clues whatsoever as to how to get them. As for Odin, I got him in disc 4, so I didn't even get to see him in action. Also missed like 7 GFs. I should play this again sometime and be more thorough. 

[Dunkum]

8 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Storms, I have to see that. I like how cryptic the game is with details like that. There seem to be a few extra scenes with no clues whatsoever as to how to get them. As for Odin, I got him in disc 4, so I didn't even get to see him in action. Also missed like 7 GFs. I should play this again sometime and be more thorough. 

last time around when I played it, ages ago, i was using guides extensively, because there is a fair amount of stuff you can miss.  I think to make it work, you have to have Odin pretty much as soon as you can get him. but its great because you get used to the idea that Odin will sometimes show up at the start of a fight to murder everything and then you get to a storming Boss fight and here comes Odin when you least expect him! and then Seifer just kills him.

[Eluvianii]

Started Xenogears and I just finished what is apparently known as the first act. This game has mechas, desert pirates, martial arts, and special moves are the normal moves here. Probably a dream setting for me as a kid. Save for, of course, the fact that the game is fairly depressing and has quite a lot of talk about the weight of a sin, responsibility, the meaning (or lack thereof) of war. I won't be surprised in the slightest if the protagonists start planning a genocide for the greater good or something.

The tone isn't too heavy though, whenever they're not on those topics, everyone stays on their assigned jrpg trope, which does make playing this a lot easier if you can believe it. I think I might be playing the game equivalent of Evangelion here. Combat is fun, though getting more moves can be slow if you don't have a guide to tell you which buttons to press. The moment a normal enemy takes three deathblows to go down you know you did something wrong.

Music is good. I can't say how good just yet but I like it so far. I'm loving the plot too. It's bizarre and I can't tell where it's going, only that it will be really weird. Also the game is extremely cinematic. I said that about FF8 and now this, am I that easy to please? But this one is kind of different. FF8 relied on the creative way they used fmv's and prerendered backgrounds, but that did come with limitations. Here the visuals don't stand out nearly as much but since environments are actual 3d objects, they can do whatever the heck they want with the camera, and they squeeze every drop out of that feature. There are some genuinely breathtaking shots, low res textures and all. Not to say that the game looks bad visually, the sprites are gorgeous and I feel less detailed textures really fit the kind of playable anime aesthetic they seem to be going for. Overall really enjoying this so far.

 

On another note, I decided to restart FE Fates: Birthright, maybe for the third time. Now, this doesn't mean I don't like the game, but my usual troubles with this series always come up. I do just fine the first few chapters, then they start turning into a reload fest that takes hours to finish, which gets progressively less fun.

But this time I decided to bite the bullet and limit myself to just a few units, I'm thinking 12. See, I'm one of those people, the ones who just have to level every single unit they get. Of course that means that by chapter 10 or so, half my army is severely underleveled and it becomes a lot harder to make any safe moves. So now I'm gonna choose the units I like the most while trying to keep it balanced and level only those. Maybe sometime in the future I can do a second run with the characters I neglected but for now, hopefully this will make things easier, especially knowing you can't grind in Conquest. Gonna miss the supports though.

Edit: I don't think it worked. I just said that and here I am now, 2 hours into stage 11, having reloaded about 5 times already. I swear, I love what I've played of this series so far, but sometimes I wonder if it's even worth it. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Eluvianii

[Dunkum]

9 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Edit: I don't think it worked. I just said that and here I am now, 2 hours into stage 11, having reloaded about 5 times already. I swear, I love what I've played of this series so far, but sometimes I wonder if it's even worth it. 

i've only played a couple of FE games, but this is me every time.  even characters I never end up using I still like to get, and I don't like my guys dying, so I end up reloading a lot. I'm pretty sure the most I enjoyed an FE game was the first time through when I eventually just let people die, but I can't make myself play it that way anymore.

[Eluvianii]

5 hours ago, Dunkum said:

i've only played a couple of FE games, but this is me every time.  even characters I never end up using I still like to get, and I don't like my guys dying, so I end up reloading a lot. I'm pretty sure the most I enjoyed an FE game was the first time through when I eventually just let people die, but I can't make myself play it that way anymore.

From what I hear that is the "right" way to play them, but I don't think I can bring myself to do it. Ideally, I want to actually get good at the tactics part, but then there are levels like this one, where there are enemies who can one shot 90% of my army, and are only weak to archers (who they can one shot too).

Best part is when you look for help and everyone is like "Nice to see there is at least one mildly challenging map in this game, but still really easy" and you regret asking. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Eluvianii

[Briar King]

Man I’m loving the hell out of Xenoblade 3! Hit Ch 3 today. Sooo good.

 I’m staying out of the ded thread.

[aneonfoxtribute]

2 hours ago, Briar King said:

Man I’m loving the hell out of Xenoblade 3! Hit Ch 3 today. Sooo good.

 I’m staying out of the ded thread.

The thread doesn't have any unmarked spoilers.

[Eluvianii]

Been playing The Dark Mod, which is this dark fantasy stealth game where you're a thief. Now here's the thing. You can't steal food, because food doesn't sell as well as gold in the black market. But you can eat it. 

So now I have made it my calling to eat people's dinner in this game. 

[Briar King]

On 8/13/2022 at 3:48 AM, aneonfoxtribute said:

The thread doesn't have any unmarked spoilers.

Are they marked good like how I usually do CS4 Act whatever stuff?

[aneonfoxtribute]

17 hours ago, Briar King said:

Are they marked good like how I usually do CS4 Act whatever stuff?

There hasn't been much convo, I've mostly just been saying where I am, but it will be tagged properly if people do talk about it. There was a big post by someone who beat the game, but there are no details, only impressions

Edited August 15, 2022 by aneonfoxtribute