 | Chipping away at that backlog |
Writing up my whole year of gaming progress for last year was a bit of a challenge (and there might've been some stuff I forgot), so I'mma try to do this monthly.
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FINISHED
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The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC (Steam)
This is such a charming JRPG. The country of Liberl is beautifully released, and it feels alive. Each location you visit has a sense of purpose, of life, with or without your characters being there. NPCs aren't just around to try and point you in the right direction, they have their own lives. The amount of non-essential dialogue in this game is staggering - NPCs will have something new to say at many points in the game. Estelle and Joshua are really well-written characters, as well as the party members who help them along the way, usually only sticking around for a chapter until everyone comes together in the final chapter.
This game manages what a lot of other JRPGs lack - a sense of time progressing, although it does this without a Persona like calendar system or a timed day/night system. It's a little looser than that - sleeping at inns doesn't progress time, but as you take on story missions, days will turn to evenings to nights, then a new day.
The story is a lot of build up for Sky SC, which I'm currently a good 35 hours into.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (PS4)
Finished this, and I'm really itching to move onto Cold Steel III, but at this point I know I need to finish Trails in the Sky (and delve into the fan translations of the Crossbell arc). Loved this game. Love the characters, the battle system. I might have a couple of issues with the disconnect between battles and story - like, you can absolutely be skilled enough to mop the floor with a boss, but then the cutscene following treats it like your party only just scraped by and the boss is ready to power up and kill you for real (only for someone to step in at the last moment to save you). For a story about a full blown civil war, the body count is incredibly low. The antagonists are rarely defeated, either, but I guess most of them have a four game contract.
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IN PROGRESS
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The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC (Steam)
This game is taking up all... most of my JRPG energy at present. When Final Fantasy X-2 re-used a lot of the same areas as FFX, a lot of people took issue. But in a world as lively and dynamic as Liberl, it works. There's a sense of familiarity to the locations (and you get to go into areas that weren't accessible in the first game). It's the same living world, but a few months later. The mysterious society that was lurking in the background of the first chapter have come to the forefront in this game. I'm hooked.
Faerie Solitaire Harvest (Steam)
Still matching those cards, collecting eggs, etc. It's not the most stimulating game, but I like to play a few rounds each day.
Steins;Gate ELITE (Steam)
I made a start on this, mostly to check it runs properly, since I had issues with Linear Bounded Phenogram running on an AMD graphics card (actually had to roll back my version to one that worked). But this is a new engine, so it seems fine. Only played the prologue so far.
Ys I (Steam)
I played through a good chunk of this game in 2014 and then hit a wall. By wall, I mean that damn boss that turns into a swarm of bats. No matter what I did, no matter how many guides I read or watched, I couldn't seem to beat this guy. That was two computers ago, though. On a whim I decided to start it up, this time playing on my TV through SteamLink. After reading a guide again to refresh myself, I beat him second try. Only just. After that, I had no idea where I was up to in the game or what I was meant to do, so I have had to follow a guide to get myself back on track. I'm in Darm Tower now, just beat one boss in there. I guess I keep going!
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)
Still crossing those animals. Getting a little tired of it, though there's an event coming up this month. It's summer in the game, so I've managed to complete my fish collection. I only have a few insects left to find (some of which are super rare), but I need to finish that up by the end of February, or else I'm time travelling back into January until I get them.
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (Switch)
I've only progressed through the first cave at present. The game was on special in the holiday sales. Kept hearing good things about it, so decided to give it a go. It does feel like the early Paper Mario games.
Pic-a-Pix Classic 2 (Vita)
My Vita has become a Picross machine. Still plodding along. I'm nearing the end of the puzzles this game has to offer, but I have another title ready to go after this.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered (PS4)
I never got around to these games during the PS3 era. Picked up the trilogy for next to nothing. I've played an hour or so of the first game. It's interesting. I do prefer the exploration and puzzles to the combat sequences - seriously how many people is Nathan Drake going to kill?
Danganronpa 1-2 Reloaded (PS4)
Up to Chapter 3 in Danganronpa 1. It's currently my main visual novel focus at the minute. I'm not really vibing with the story or characters. The main guy is a real dweeb and I really gotta suspend my disbelief that he didn't get killed off in the first round. Anyway, I'll see where this goes.
Ni No Kuni (PS3)
Progress is really slow. I love the art, the story is interesting, but oh god the battle system in this is terrible. If you're going to do a multi-party Pokemon style game, make it turn based for goodness sake.
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EmP - February 08, 2021 (12:43 PM) Steam tells me I'm 38 hours deep into The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, which I've not played since 2017. My achievements suggest I never got further than Chapter 1. I suspect shenanigans. Always a game I mean to go back to, I feel I should start again, but that's a lot of game time to scratch. |
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jerec - February 08, 2021 (12:52 PM) I think I had about 12 hours on my first save file from back in 2016. Overall, Steam says I spent 52 hours on this game, though my completed save file is in the 60+ mark - because of turbo mode, which I used for pretty much all the combat and long stretches of walking. I'm not sure how you'd be only in Chapter 2 at 38 hours, unless you've just been wandering around grinding, but at least your save file would tell you where you're up to. |
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