whatchu playing now

trails has 9 games out in english so i didnt count it but yeah i'll play all of those + the new ones when they get them out here

something about the LoH/trails series is just so much more intimidating for me. i think i made it an hour into one of them a couple of times. trails in the sky 1? idk, maybe that's a smarter play.

i used to be 100% on team town vs team dungeon but idk something in my brain broke in the past few years.

My pathological need to see every line of NPC dialogue sours me on towns sometimes I must admit

i only have that pathology for games that do it well. cold steel hits the sweet spot where you have a small hub town that updates all the npc dialogue/routines constantly and then all the other towns are one and done

persona and atelier are sadly both subpar on this for series where you spend half your time in town. at the very least give the main party members their own routines rather than have them stand in the same place every day waiting for you to show up

i can live with the dialogue updating irregularly but there really ought to be a clear visual cue when an NPC has something new to say, otherwise it's bad design

other RPG series with 10+ entries are SaGa and the Mana series. also Digimon and Mystery Dungeon if you consider them RPGs.

dunno if i'd play all the saga games i can imagine a dud in that series being particularly tedious to play through but i've liked the ones i've tried. didn't know there were that many manas i can only name 4

looks like half the mana games are remakes/reboots of those 4 so my instincts were somewhat right

the switch has added game boy recently (after the nintendo direct), with these free games:

wario land 3
tetris (what is this game)
super mario land 2 (6 golden coins)
metroid II Return of Samus
Zelda Link's Awakening
Alone in the Dark
Game & Watch Gallery 3
Gargoyle's Quest (haven't heard of this one for real, it's probably canon)
Kirby's Dream World

this noob has never played Link's Awakening! excited to check it out tonight

still my fav zelda game. probably the only case of the game boy iteration of a franchise being top tier though, the rest of those are pretty meh

wario land 3 is a rare treat, a nonlinear platformer with upgrades and progressive level changes. recommended.

LA is probably the spookiest zelda game. this is probably my youngest brother's favorite game ever -- he played through it multiple times, then bought the color version, and recently got the switch remake.

metroid 2 is bad, sorry to say. the 3ds remake improved it greatly, although the "kill'em all" plot taken from aliens is still bad. there's also a fan remake called am2r that puts the game into the super metroid engine.

kirby's dreamland doesn't have the power gains from eating enemies. it's very basic. almost casual.

sml2 is one of the least played mario platformers. it's decent enough. i remember the level design being kind of bland. has a few secret exits in the style of smw.

gargoyle's quest is an early metroidvania but unfortunately also an early GB game meaning it hasn't aged well. slow movement to compensate for the original gameboy blur. the NES and SNES games are both better.

alone in the dark was a very late GB title that approximated the prerendered background look of the resident evil (and AITD, which yes I know did it first) games. i am interested in playing it.

no idea why they included some game & watch remakes in here. i tried one and turned it off before i died.

Well, I did this in Sunless Skies! 😳
https://i.postimg.cc/PqWJcbtf/88-BC0099-A7-BA-4-DEF-9-B42-79167-DC63-C7-B.jpg

probably the only case of the game boy iteration of a franchise being top tier though

Donkey Kong 94 might be the best Donkey Kong game, it's an absolute gem of game design

oh yeah that game rules, forgot about it. they should add that

also gbc mario golf qualifies

xp will, mad respect AND fear at that SMT spreadsheet

Can't believe nobody else itt is impressed by gyac fucking a giant bat. A thousand high fives from me.

A giant space bat, thank you for this! 🫡🫡🫡

Donkey Kong 94 might be the best Donkey Kong game, it's an absolute gem of game design

― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Thursday, February 23, 2023 5:28 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i had that game and totally loved it. not sure if i ever beat it tho

Donkey Kong Country, right? it’s a good one

no, DK94 is the one that looks like a port of arcade donkey kong at the start and then surprises you with more and more and more levels/worlds

DKC was snes and the game boy versions (donkey kong land?) weren't very good, they tried to replicate the really detailed graphic style and it wasnt very readable on the gameboy screen

Nintendo took the DK portable games in an interesting direction after DK94: Mario vs Donkey Kong was a puzzle platformer, then the "minis" games were more like Lemmings. worth a look if you have your own emulator setup.

https://www.doctorwho.tv/play/thirteen

Jedi: Fallen Order is on sale right now for $4 (not a typo). At that price pretty much anything is worthwhile, but man, do I not care about Star Wars. Has anyone played it? I heard it was good.

I think it was free on PS+ bottom tier a few months ago, probably why its so cheap. Of course, I already purchased it last year on discount and never played it

Ha, that's where my instinct is kinda pushing me. Buy it but bury it. $4!

if it's $4 once it'll be $4 again

I mean, I don't add most of the PS Plus monthlies to my purchases and they're literally free

if it's $0 once it'll be $0 again

Exackly

Maybe if I wait long enough they will pay *me* to download it.

my waning time on earth holds so much more weight than price when deciding whether or not to play a video game. the idea of playing a star wars game fills me with dread

Hmm, so what next? I've got a ton of stuff in my backlog. Maybe leaning toward something lighter? It's good to alternate. "Rift Apart"?

RE3MAKE. very very very very funny game coming from TLOU2. Zombies and people are all so zany, like they're having a fun time amidst it all. Little do they know the terrible suffering happening in the zombie universe next door :(

almost done of the main story in xenoblade 2. This game is much more xenogears than xenoblade 1 was. it even has xenogears's silly arcs. I like that it has a bunch of big ideas and it just throws them all together. I like how they worked the title into it:it uses the word "blade" as in bladerunner. bad parts are the sexism and fanservice. Also it is a prime example of ludonarrative dissonance as the story's explanation of core crystals does not match up with how they are used in the gameplay.

re4 remake demo is out, gotta try that soon.

xpost Hmm, I like that idea! Maybe I will try RE2 (I owned a few for the Gamecube but never actually played any RE games, not really); I hear RE3 is short and might make for a good chaser. I'm pretty sure I have RE2, RE3, REVillage and ... RE7? (Lots of good sales, lol). And I'll eventually get RE4, too, so probably good to catch up.

Hmm, though I also have all the Hitman games, that might be a more chill/goofy follow-up to Demon's Souls and LOU2.

the excavation of hobbs barrow is on switch now so i'm playing that

Did end up starting "Hitman," seems like it's going to be good, mean-spirited (but still silly) fun.

that huge hitman collection of the recent few games is pretty cool. the interface has a couple wonky bits, but having a multi-game hitman experience that feels like one big episodic game, with a few tweaks to the controls between sections, excellent

I got secondhand Nintendo Switch for about £120. It came with Smash Bros and the Ringfit system (but not the game for some reason, so it's a bit useless unless I can somehow find a copy).

Downloaded a bunch of games. I was gonna get Breath of the Wild seeing as people love banging on about it, but I figured the Switch, for me, is going to be more of a fun secondary system for certain types of games I can just pick up and have a quick go on rather than epic AAA RPGs etc (which I'll play on the PS5).

The main game I've been playing, admittedly, is the demo of Theatrhythm Final Bar Line which is a twitchy rhythm game based on the music from the Final Fantasy series. It didn't sound like my kind of thing, but it's more addictive than a big bowl of peanuts. The main game is £50 + extra for add-ons (I really want to play the Chrono Trigger one, but yikes, that's a LOT of money).

I downloaded Ori which I've had a quick go on but got a bit stuck and didn't know where to go very early on. Hollow Knight too, which I've heard is very difficult but fun if you like Metroid and Souls games (which I do!)

Really looking forward to checking out Hades properly. I'd had it on the PS for a while but never relly felt like playing it on the big screen. Feels more like something you can just have a quick run at and put away. That said, on the small screen a lot of the sprites are absolutely TINY and I fear for my eyesight.

Citizen Sleeper is another one I'm very excited to play after having heard nothing but good things about it.

Something else I'm looking forward to digging into is Civilisation VI, another game I had on the PS but never got round to playing because it just didn't feel like a couch + TV type thing.

Also got the original Final Fantasy VII which frankly looked horrid due to upscaling issues on the PS - I'm hoping it works a bit better on the Switch. Either way, it's another game I think I can just dig out on occasion and work through - a lot of my mates have deep love for that one.

Other than that, on the main PS5, I've recently gone back to Returnal which I hadn't really played since first getting the console. It's a toughy. It's not just difficult to play, but getting used the UI, the HUD, the glossary, the systems etc takes a while and I strongly recommend looking up a few guides and YouTubes to get a better idea of what's going on with all the obolites and ethers and translocators etc.

There are a LOT of different types of items with arcane names and colour coding to go with them which I'm not entirely sure I have my head wrapped around - I know purple items are malginant but also I think some purple items can also be health?? Who knows. It's a deliberately confusing game, possibly as confusing and obfuscated as your average Souls-like.

That said, I played co-op with a mate yesterday and got just a little bit further than before - finally picked up the melee weapon (thank god) and the house key and even made it to the first boss, which has never happened.

I've not really played a lot of Roguelike games before, so I'm not totally sure why on that particualr run we were able to make so much progress whereas on previous runs I'd often be running around for ages while feeling like I was getting nowhere, then running out of health and just dying.

horribly addicted to Geometry Wars 3 again

I've been saving Returnal for when I have a backup controller.

Out of interest, why is that?

I really lost interest in it early on, I must say. But I think I'm ready to get stuck in again

Downloaded Darksiders Genesis on a whim from the PS Plus Extra catalogue. Solid enough Diablo-like stuff so far.

Out of interest, why is that?

lol, only because some of the more stressful, challenging games I've played (Sekiro, Celeste) are the ones that have left my controller damaged! So much literal high-pressure on the stick...

Hitman stuff is great Josh. Strong recommend on RE7 for your next game though if you haven’t touched it. Incredible experience, wish I could play it for the first time again. Relatively short too (compared to Hitman + TLOU).

Cool! I'll make sure it's on deck. I assume Hitman 1-3 will take some time, but so far it's a hoot.