Eluvianii

Tokyo Xanadu sequel this summer!!! I have questions!

I suppose it would be more accurate to say I don't understand builds? I remember avoiding enemies as little as a couple levels above me. And yet there was an achievement for defeating enemies 10 levels above, which supposedly wasn't that hard. I also didn't quite figure out the deal with the main combo. Cast your pink art and cross your fingers that someone will cast their green one. And then the yellow one. I had a low enough success rate with that that I just started ignoring the mechanic entirely, and became convinced there was probably a way to make sure everyone did their job that I was missing. As for chains, I never used them because deaths were a common enough occurrence that I wanted to have my three bars full at all times. X does look more complex but I've survived so far by picking arts I like and just casting the ones blinking or with exclamation marks on them. I absolutely believe the thing about side quests. My comment about the plot was just about the main plot. One quest every 15 hours and back to side questing. But I kinda become invested in everything the named npcs have to ask of me. I loved watching the drama unfold in 1, seeing the stories, making and breaking relationships, this seems to be that on steroids. Plus the lore is cool. Only through npcs do I get to hear what life on Earth was like during the last days. Also affinity missions seem cool. Phog is my son now. Now if you mean that side quests do include some long term main-plot-worthy stories at some point, that I haven't seen but it would be awesome.

Been playing Xenoblade Chronicles X. This game is so addictive. The plot is kinda there, barely, it feels mostly like an excuse because the game shines so hard everywhere else. The setting, the map, the gameplay. I end up taking any and all boring side quests I can find because they're an excuse to keep exploring. It's like they made a whole game out of the side content from the first game, except way more of it and way more polished (no more hunting down collectables without knowing exactly where they spawn and relying on terrible rng. And if you didn't get it you had to wait like 20 minutes to retry...). Combat is, well, I don't think I'll ever understand how combat works in Xenoblade (I spent about 140 hours in the first game and I still don't know how it works) but I'm having fun with it. Music is great for the most part. Sawano Hiroyuki is such an odd choice for a composer, but the setting is practically screaming his name, so good call. Affinity tree is absolutely massive and I love it. Just a fun game. Can't wait to get my mecha.

Rewatching LOTR. I have mandela-effected myself into thinking the famous scene with Gollum arguing with himself takes place in the labyrinth of rocks. It doesn't, it takes place in a forest. The other famous scene, with the rabbit, thought it was in the swamp. Nope, also the forest. Back to back even. How does this happen? I watch these like once a year. I swear those scenes have been core memories of mine for years and they were wrong.

Finally decided to catch up with Kaguya-sama (at a pretty poor time I hear). Season 3 is amazing, the evolution of this show is kind of insane. Season 1 is just disconnected comedy skits loosely tied up to make something resembling a plot, like 80% within the council room, most side characters being little more than walking stereotypes. Then there's season 3, with a full fledged romance plot, a couple well developed sub plots, good characterization, lots of characters and the whole school is the stage now. How did we get here? Was great. The movie is good, I think. There's good character development, very necessary too, and the climax is great. It's just that Now that the ship is sinking I guess I'll jump into the manga.

I'm gonna drop the most generic response here. The anime is great, but the manga is way better. The anime is gorgeous and the atmosphere is unmatched, plus the songs are iconic, so it's definitely worth a watch. But it also cuts a big chunk of the story, including replacing the long final arc for a half-episode-long version of it. This is a show that should have been 24 episodes, or at least like 18 or something. The story does not fit in 12.

Oh, while we're on that topic, gotta mention "Here" and "Nemurasareta Lineage", both from The Ancient Magus' Bride. There are a lot of shows out there so I can't be sure but the latter might be my current favorite opening. Plus the opening animation itself is amazing. (incomprehensible contextless spoilers warning I suppose)

God Knows was like an anthem for the community eons ago. Still a banger.

Wait a minute. Swin is 3, Nadia is 9. The English word 'three' is pronounced in Japanese as SUrii. The word 'nine' NAin. SUin, NAdia. I'd say it's a little on the nose but it legit took me like 3 years to notice... I'm a sucker for thematic names though, this is neat.

I'm biased here as I am a fan of the director, but I liked Suzume a lot. The protagonist is interesting and I think it has the best music of the bunch. I'm still not over how good Sky Over Tokyo is.

Ah, that's my favorite movie of his!

I've been informed that apparently Rufus does not call himself Olivier Lenheim in his new life. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined. (not really but would've been funny)

Honestly same, if anything Cradle will be my first proper cultivation I suppose. Guess I'll see what it's like. Dude I forgot about the fake credits roll in Reverie. Was that just there for the creepy factor or was it supposed to be hinting at the super AI and the memories from a different timeline?

That was the worrying part for me really. I understand that not every character can contribute to the story indefinitely, but I will get attached to them regardless, I like to know how they're doing. I mean, on topic with this thread, a thing I like about Trails is that characters stick around forever to the point of cluttering the story, or if they disappear, we get updates on what they are doing. Reverie doesn't let you leave without telling you exactly what every Thors graduate is doing with their life, and that's beautiful. Also not a lot of experience with cultivation, I'm curious about that. Well I guess technically Lord of Mysteries is cultivation, but that works different I think.

Last bit does sound a bit worrying but at least they come back. That's more than some other stories do. Well, I guess I'll bump those up in my tbr. Issue being that my tbr is looking quite amorphous and unorganized atm.

Oh, I think I got like the first three of those packaged in a single file on Kindle an eternity and a half ago. Now, screw Kindle nowadays, but are the books good? There seems to be a lot.

Well uh, I think I just took a couple steps backwards. I am, unashamedly, very picky about resolution in games, and antialiasing to a lesser degree. Reverie and Daybreak never looked amazing on Switch to begin with, but they looked decent. However recently I upgraded to a 1080 tv, which neither game supports, so now they both turned into an actual blurfest. But since I now have a ps4 available, I figured I can just, you know, get them there and get the shiny graphics. But I started with Reverie for some reason. So yeah, it's downloading as I type this... I will take this chance to play the game more slowly, since originally I practically speedran the damn thing, to the point that speaking of blurfests, my memory of the game is itself a blur. And this time I'll also make sure to finish the post game and watch that cool Renne scene I apparently missed. So uh, see you all when I get there I guess. Calvard will have to wait. With any luck by the time I start once again the fourth game will have a title.

Had to hurry since the anime adaptation started already, but I just finished You and I Are Polar Opposites. I absolutely did not think I'd be this distressed to finish it. Genuinely can't stand the thought that I don't get to see these characters anymore. Well I mean, there's the anime, but I mean new situations. The last chapter did imply that there would be a sequel, I think. Really hope that goes through. Well, I've been feeling this way since, probably before the halfway point of the series, but now that I'm finished this is officially my favorite romance story. I utterly adore every character, the themes the story touches on, the exploration on each character's insecurities, the dynamic between each couple, the outright refusal to rely on unnecessary drama or misunderstandings to pad things out. That's a new-ish trend I've noticed in recent stories actually. Sometimes you'll see a misunderstanding, or some lack of communication pop up between two characters, something that by all accounts should be resolved pretty fast with a single conversation. And then, the unthinkable, it IS resolved within a single conversation. I swear, older anime made entire story arcs out of stuff like that. So glad that's a thing of the past. Anyway, it was simply beautiful, and I'm glad I get to watch it once more for the next three months, to cope with the fact that it's over.

Ah, that's a good one. Everything by the director is. He's somewhat infamous for being repetitive, which he is, but I still think each of his movies is worth watching. They each do something unique.

First episode of You and I Are Polar Opposites was so sweet. I'm abut to finish the manga and it's already my favorite romance. Been looking forward to this so bad.

Oh my stars there was an album... And so begins the 2026 list. Yep, first impression is all the ones I was missing are great. Definitely a step up from Epic Narratives. Which is a shame because that's such a cool name for an album. Yeah, I found both spellings and was a bit torn on which to use. In the end Toujisha just felt more like proper romaji. While we're there, I didn't actually get to listen to much Egoist, but I did watch the latest Psycho Pass movie last year, and this song stayed with me. I do hope they can do micro reunions for future Psycho Pass projects. Whatever they're doing with that particular story, it's not done yet, and I'm always up for more Akane. Boy am I going through that. For the most part, it's an instant no for me. But then I listened to Dysmn. Which made it to my list this year through Bloodshed. Problem is, the music is good. It feels kinda unique and sounds like an actual composition. And while the artist doesn't mention AI anywhere, you gotta get suspicious when he drops a song every couple days. Idk, hopefully it's only being used as a substitute for a daw while the actual composition and vocals are real, who knows. I do enjoy a good meme song here and there. "The Customer is Always ******* Wrong" comes to mind. Ah, so Lappy dropped into your recommendations too huh. I love the stuff but I never manage to remember the song once it ends. I need to listen to the artist more.

Ah, Sparkle is legendary. Was stuck in my head for a good while when I watched the movie for the first time.

Surely January 3rd is still a good time to post this. Well, concept is simple. For years a friend and I have had a tradition of making a list with our favorite songs of the year and share it with each other at the start of a new year. Honestly our tastes are pretty different and we're not likely to find something new to like by reading each other lists, but the process itself is fun, and so we keep doing it. Therefore, a few years back, I decided to share that tradition on the Shard for anyone who wants to join in. There are no rules or anything. You have one song that hasn't left your head for months? You can post it. You have a classic top 10? Perfect. You made a carefully curated list split into individual categories? Excellent. Anything works as long as it's music, there's no such thing as too much or too little. I'm slightly on that last category so, here goes mine. Hope to see yours too. List of songs I listened to in 2025, that came out in 2025: 1. What the Ripple Sees - Mili I lack context about the game this belongs to, but on its own it's the most beautiful song I've ever heard about someone dying. 2. Ready to Rock - BAND-MAID 3. Monsters in the Woods - Mili 4. Kuchisake - Utsu-P 5. Doppelganger - Phantom Siita 6. Love, Hate - Phantom Siita 7. Querida Amalia - Bruses 8. Hide and Seek With the Moon - yutori 9. bot bakka - Phantom Siita 10. Bloodlust - Dysmn List of songs I listened to in 2025, that came out before that: 1. Crime and Punishment - Shiina Ringo This is amazing. 2. Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dai Nana Gakushou "Mugen no Ai" - Momoiro Clover Z This one feels like an epic journey somehow. 3. A Driving Rain in Darkness - Shiina Ringo 4. Sugar - Mass of the Fermenting Dregs 5. Endroll - Mass of the Fermenting Dregs 6. Toujisha - EGOIST 7. Love is Orange - Orange Lounge 8. Yuvi's Longing - Hagali 9. Tabi no Tochuu - Natsumi Kiyoura 10. Tribute - Tenacious D List of songs belonging to soundtracks. Which honestly it's pretty much all video games. And I played some good ones this year: Monster Hunter World Monster Hunter Rise Umamusume Pretty Derby Shin Sakura Wars Metaphor ReFantazio Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Final Fantasy XIV Miscellaneous Aaand that's probably it. Honestly it was a pretty good year for music for me. There weren't like dozens of songs this time, like some previous years where several of my favorite artists decided to drop entire albums all at once, but the songs I did find were seriously good. I have a lot of new favorites. Hope your year was as good as mine in that regard. Looking forward to seeing what you listened to. Hopefully I can keep getting away with making these...

https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/joao-silva/nihon-falcom-reveals-new-trails-and-ys-jrpgs-for-2026/ Ok so, officially unnamed Tokyo Xanadu sequel in active development. Plus mainline Trails and Ys in production. Plus an unnamed game and a port? Did not know they had enough hands for that.

Ah, found the thing. It was a post by Kiseki Nut saying that Falcom's financial report suggested they were making two games, one of which was SC. Well, so much for that. Now we wait I suppose.