What are you playing right now?

[Use the Falchion]

Taking a break from Xenoblade 3 so I don't get burnout. I've had the urge to start up and beat Triangle Strategy over the past few weeks, and today's the day I've had the opportunity to continue the game. I'm about halfway through, and I've been going for the Golden Route...except now I can't, because I don't have enough points in one area or the right information to convince a key character to vote a certain way. And now all the planning I've done and guide-following is useless because I can't access that stupid route. Needless to say, I'm ticked off right now.

This did help me realize that I do have a MAJOR gaming pet peeve when it comes to Golden Routes - it's perfectly fine to have Golden Routes in games, but don't make them hard to access for everyone if they're available on a first playthrough. Mass Effect 2 is good about this, as there are clear choices and a simple recommended strategy to get the best ending. (Do the Loyalty Missions before the Reaper IMF*, go full Paragon or full Renegade outside of a few personal choices (this makes some in-game stuff easier), and don't wait to do the final mission.*) (I was a little disappointed that Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Houses didn't have one, given all the rumors about it being an unlockable thing after you beat the game once.)

I'll beat Triangle Strategy still, but my emotional investment is at an all-time low. I honestly don't care about the story, choices, or characters that much anymore because the game railroaded me into a path I didn't want to take. There's also no guarantee I'll replay the game. I'm VERY selective about the games I replay, and this one isn't doing itself any favors by locking me out of what I wanted. If I do replay the game, part of it will be out of spite, and that's no way to play a game. On the bright side, I do get to pick up some route-exclusive characters that I'll have access to in NG+. (Good for roleplaying and head-canons, but route-exclusive characters is another gaming pet peeve for me.)

As it stands, due to Triangle Strategy forcing two of my gaming pet peeves back-to-back, it's probably going to fall out of my top 3 games of the year, allowing Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - which only has one of my pet peeves at this time in route-exclusive characters - to take its spot. It may even fall out of the Top 5, depending on if I replay this game or not, what other games I decide to play this year, and how good of a game Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is. (My current Top 3 2022 games are: Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and Triangle Strategy...but again, that may change soon.)

 

*Mass Effect 2 Spoilers

Spoiler

Apparently, this isn't entirely true. You can do one single Loyalty Mission after Legion's before going to save the crew and still everyone, but it requires not talking to anyone or something like that. I've never tried it, to be honest. But it's apparently how you can get Legion and have his loyalty while on Tali's Loyalty Mission. There's even special dialogue in Mass Effect 3 if you did this exact thing! 

 

[urrutiap]

playing Ni No Kuni II for my Nintendo Switch Lite

[jamesbondsmith]

Started replaying Skyrim, and I ran into the same problem as last time where I'm paralysed by choice. Also, I was hoping for a completionist run but I'm also averse to being mean, which cuts out a whole bunch of quests.
 

Spoiler

Any candidates for people who deserve to be betrayed to charge up the Ebony Blade?

 

[Quantus he/him]

Story Time:    In the mid-90's I played the crap out of Ultima7 and U7 Serpent Isle, a pair of old DOS game and some of the first and best Open World Games out there. But it was an old DOS game in the early days of Computers and it required a lot of work to run on modern machines.  Enter the Exult Project, a fan-made wrapper program that takes the original source files and recompiles the game in a slightly updated engine for play on modern PC's.  10 Years ago there was a guy working on a port for Android but he didnt get it to a particularly strong release point before he stopped developing it.  Turns out he stopped because he had a son, and he's picked it up a decade later because that son is interested in coding and they're working on it together.  

So Im Nostolgia-playing an isometric DOS game from the 90's and loving every minute of it. 

[Eluvianii he/him]

Been trying out the Harvestella demo. I like it. Music is really nice, combat system feels extremely basic so far but it works. Farming is faster than I'm used to, and days are short. It always felt weird to me how tight these games are with the schedule when their whole deal is to be relaxing, I think Rune Factory still strikes my favorite balance with that. Days there are short but not this short, and and there's so little pressure with the story that you have to keep track yourself because it stops reminding you to advance it. Back to Harvestella, plot looks way crazier than it needs to be but I'm absolutely ok with that. 

Speaking of this morning's direct as a whole, the highlight for me was definitely Fatal Frame 4. It may just be a remaster, but this is really good news for the series. Each day we're closer to a Fatal Frame 6 announcement. I may have shed an actual tear while watching the trailer. 

Fae Farm and Rune Factory 3 are definitely up there too. Look, I like fantasy farm sims. They have the coziness of a farm sim, but you can also have dragons. Can't say I'm the least bit upset at the unusual number of them coming out lately. 

Excited for FE and TotK though I still feel as if I know nothing about the latter. Looking forward to Pikmin, and I'm really intrigued by Various Daylife and Rain Code. 

[Briar King]

72 hrs clocked on Xeno 3..just got to ch 4 yesterday. I’m loving the rust out of this game for real! It’s my main play since launch day and Cold Steel 4 has gotten zero progress since though I do some fishing each day. Going to have had lotssssss of droplets taken from when I last progressed story that’s for sure. 209 hrs clocked on that.

Hey maybe by the time I get back on full time Hajimari will be close and I can keep my flow going with these wonderful characters!?!

[Eluvianii he/him]

Finished the first Fatal Frame game. It's a lot shorter and smaller than the other games, which is saying a lot for a series where no games go above the 15-hour mark, but surprisingly (and I'm now ashamed to use that word) just as good as the rest.

I expected something unpolished. Maybe the controls would be janky or the gameplay unbalanced or the ghosts boring. Maybe the game would be too small since it's all in a single house.

Well, you do have less options with the camera but it works as I remember it. The game is really hard in comparison to the others but I wouldn't say unbalanced, if anything it would probably be a lot easier if I actually used my resources (no sacred waters spent in the entire game. Shameful). There weren't many ghosts but the few there are are memorable and have good stories, it's just as easy to become attached to them as it is in future games. The map is pretty small and once you have shortcuts you can probably traverse between any two given points in under two minutes, but the game makes the most of it hiding things and mixing things up between chapters.

This isn't an experiment looking for an identity, this is a darn good game marking a path so clear, the subsequent games were left with no option but to follow in its steps.

Absolute gem of a game, on to Fatal Frame 3 now.

[Dunkum he/him]

just finished a playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. not sure how many times i've beaten it before - at least 3 or 4, probably more. but I am pretty sure this is the first time I realized that the path leading to the boss of the 8th dungeon is a hint at how to beat him.  First you cut a bush with your sword, then blow up a cracked block with a bomb, 3rd shoot a seed to light  torch and finally lift a heavy statue with your power glove - each one represents the weapon you need to bet the boss's 4 forms

[Sequence she/they]

Working on the weird puzzliness behind the !!! QUARANTINE | QUARANTINE !!! Door in the Bonelab, trying not to die at the Pobeda Factory in Into the Radius, trying to improve my aim in Contractors, Onward, and Pavlov, and working on my swordsmanship skills in Blade And Sorcery. (Not going to say anything about Bloodtrail. I will forever be haunted by my actions.)

Edited September 30, 2022 by Sequence

[Eluvianii he/him]

In the end I decided, if I'm playing Fatal Frame 1 and 3, it's only appropriate that I play 2 too, even if I already know that game. So I did just that.

Now, while it's true that I've played Crimson Butterfly before, it was the Wii edition, so the original ps2 version was uncharted territory for me. That said, I was impressed by how similar they were. You could notice a couple differences in the scenarios, like windows actually connecting with the outside in the Wii edition, but for the most part, it felt like a 1:1 conversion. The graphics are noticeably better in the Wii version if you compare two screenshots, but playing it separately like this it's hard to notice a difference. The game was marginally harder too, but it has nothing on the first game on that department. I guess this is a pretty easy series overall, which I'm fine with. Instilling fear via the stress that comes with the risk of losing all your progress if you mess up, RE style, is effective. But that comes with frustration too and that's not the emotion I'm looking to feel here and overall I don't love it. And if a game can be scary without resorting to that it just speaks even better of the game's atmosphere.

Actually, that's another thing I was impressed about. This game is special, different version or not, this is the third time I finish Crimson Butterfly, and I still found it utterly terrifying. The days where I could play 20 minutes before being too scared to continue are long behind me, but while I can play most of this game feeling relaxed now (at times comforted even. Behold the power of nostalgia), there were not moments but entire sequences that had my heart rate going up, many of them, even if I fully knew what to expect.

This time I also got a better feel about who was who, and what in the past felt like hundreds of different ghosts turned out to be about 20 or so, which you can easily recognize as soon as they appear. While I miss the feeling that the place was haunted by hundreds of people, this does make it easier to connect with those people. It's heartbreaking really, now as soon as a ghost appears I know who it is, their story, why they appear the way they do and attack the way they do. This is a series where villains are basically nonexistent, and any danger you're subjected to is just a result of the unfortunate way spirits work in Japanese folklore. It's just a collection of tragic stories where you have no choice but to fight the victims.

As it happens every time I finish either of the two, I can't decide which one I like more, Crimson Butterfly, or Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. Both are so good. The fourth game (the latter) has such a good ending sequence, that's a game that knows the meaning of the term build-up, but 2 has such a powerful ending cutscene. Seriously, one of the strongest endings in any game period, and the fact that I was just able to experience it with its original ending theme, well, it started raining let's say.

Masterpiece, that's a fact that only gets clearer every time I finish it. On to Fatal Frame 3, this time for real.

 

I'm also playing Clock Tower 3 on the side. This seems like a really short game. I've played two sessions so far and I'm thinking maybe another two will be enough. This one is fun. It's creepy, gory, very silly, it's great spooky month material. I enjoy the weird contrast between the protagonist getting so scared that you can't control her, and her being so brave that there are dozens of little cutscenes where she faces the enemies head on. Love it so far, may get me into the first two.

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

Sonic Frontiers, it is pretty much the greatest sonic game to ever come out in my oh-so-humble opinion.

The worst part about the game was the wait for it to come out.

Some janky physics and slightly confusing story if you don't know much about the lore of Sonic Games but overall it's worth every cent.

[Dunkum he/him]

Finally picked up a Switch, but I need to ration myself on games - $60 per game is a bit steep so I can't get a bunch at once.  Starting things off light with Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which is pretty fun so far.

planning to probably pick up Pokemon Scarlet in the next couple weeks (I read somewhere there is supposed to be a sale the week of Thanksgiving, so will probably wait until then).  and BOTW2 when it comes out, for sure.  beyond that, I'm not sure what all else I need to grab.

[Kasimir he/him]

Hundred Days and inbento.

Chill game where you make wine and keep your winery producing (featuring a puzzle-fitting mechanic for how many activities you can do, e.g. harvesting the grapes, fermenting, suckering and trimming the vines...) with some fairly zen music. inbento's a game where you're a cat making bento sets with the bento being puzzles of increasing difficulty. Clearing a level unlocks a bit more story, told in images of a cat mother-and-child pair.

I haven't really felt in the mood for anything more involved lately.

[Use the Falchion]

Rotating between Pokemon Violet, Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation, and KOTOR on my iPad. 

In Violet I have three badges, have beaten three of the Titans, and have done one of the Starfall raids. Once I finish the game I'm going to play a rom-hack called Pokemon Infinite Fusion before heading into Pokemon Scarlet. 

In Fates Revelation, I have one final character to recruit and then I should have everyone but Flora (whose recruitment is weird) and Rhajat (who I'm not getting this playthrough). Then I need to buy Conquest on my Birthright save, buy some of the DLC classes, finish some of my quirky builds, and we'll call it a day. (I don't plan on revisiting Fates until LONG after Engage comes out.)

In KOTOR I just finished Taris and am at the Jedi Temple. I'm going for a full Light Side playthrough and Bastilla romance if possible. 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Use the Falchion

[Briar King]

Oh my the free PS games are Mass Effect 1-3 and Biomutant.

I loaded all and am currently walking around the Citadel being reminded just how truly epic Mass Effect was at the time. It was mind blowing. I even pulled out my guidebook from storage.

Im not going to finish Cold Steel 4 anytime soon looks like…back to just getting on and catching a few fish before I load up ME the last 3 days…

[Use the Falchion]

Beat Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on December 31, and it was easily my GOTY. Now I'm just playing Three Houses (Blue Lions, M!Byleth, either romancing Hilda or Manuela [EDIT - I've decided on Manuela. Hilda will stay with Caspar as always]) until Fire Emblem Engage comes out. I should do Scarlet Blaze in Three Hopes, but I really don't care about Edelgard... (...and NG+ means I can cheese through most maps with half of my cast, given that I recruited everyone during Azure Gleam...)

I also have Pokemon Scarlet since I want to wait until I have a new computer before playing Infinite Fusion now, but I just beat Violet...decisions, decisions...

Edited January 5, 2023 by Use the Falchion

[Use the Falchion]

Fire Emblem Engage now that it's out. The game is like a Saturday Morning Cartoon, and I love it for that. 

[Briar King]

Oh I thought Forspoken hit the 29th but it was the 24th.. I got it today and have been playing around on it. Very pretty so far!

[LilyBlossom9876]

UNDERTALE, my 19th neutral run. I'm trying to get all endings

Celeste

A Short Hike

Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Minecraft

Portal 2

Subnautica: Below Zero

 

And a lot more, but those are my current mains...

[Use the Falchion]

On 1/27/2023 at 5:54 PM, Briar King said:

Oh I thought Forspoken hit the 29th but it was the 24th.. I got it today and have been playing around on it. Very pretty so far!

How do you like it so far? It's a game I've been looking forward to getting and playing once I get a PS5! (Which should be happening this month!)

 

Finished my first playthrough of Fire Emblem Engage this morning. My initial impressions are the same to my ending ones for the most part - this is a Saturday Morning cartoon of a game that wraps the soul of Awakening through the lens of Fates with some of the best gameplay the series has seen. For fans of the 3DS era, this game is a MUST BUY. For fans of Three Houses, this game is a "take it or leave it," as it's very antithetical to Three Houses by design. Solid 8.75/10. 

I S-Supported Yunaka, but since several of the supports had romance taken out due to localization issues (as in, most of the cast is underage), her paired ending with Alear, despite the supports and confessions leaning romantic, was completely platonic. No Me Gusta. I've started Playthrough 2 today in order to romance Ivy (properly this time rather than just a save-scum file) and use different characters. After that, I'll take a break until more DLC drops, and then I'll play as F!Alear (aka Allriane) and romance Alfred. 

[Briar King]

I had to quit Forspoken for now. It really is pretty and fun to zip around but it’s a very dead world. Also if you are going to play it be sure to turn Cuff on minimal… I didn’t know this till the day before I stopped which was way to late for my sanity… I got sooooo tired of hearing the same bits of dialogue 100’s of times in the 24 hours I had clocked..

 

Am now playing Hogwarts Legacy as of about 3 hours ago. Looks great so far.

[Sequence she/they]

For anyone who likes silly open-world shooters with lots of destruction, I highly recommend Far Cry 5's Vietnam expansion and just Far Cry 5 in general. (Although it is rated M for a reason )

[Lord Gregorio he/him]

I don't have anything to play on but my phone and an old Wii. So right now I just found Gunfire Reborn and Lost Portals and I'm obsessed with both. Super cool.

[Wittles he/him]

Anyone play Hades?

That's the game I've been playing most often recently, it's pretty fun. 

Also Portal 2

and replaying Majora's Mask on my DS occasionally

[Stick The Savant]

34 minutes ago, Witless of Shinovar said:

Anyone play Hades?

That's the game I've been playing most often recently, it's pretty fun. 

Also Portal 2

and replaying Majora's Mask on my DS occasionally

I love hades, played the heck out of it while was on game pass

iv'e been playing Deep Rock Galactic and Monster Hunter Sunbreak