Lockdown of Cold Steel.

Another month. Sydney went back into lockdown in late June, and there is no sign of it ending soon. I had a job interview which seemed promising, which I'm hoping to hear back from soon. If I get that job, I'll probably be working from home in the beginning, which is the only thing likely to stop me playing games for several hours a day.

I don't think I've ever played one game/series with such a singular focus since I was a kid who only owned a handful of games. I may never be able to do this again.

FINISHED

Trails of Cold Steel III (PS4)

Finished this game with about 100 hours on the game clock. I had been playing 5-6 hours of this game per day, every day. Unemployment plus a return to lockdown means I don't have much else to do right now. So upon finishing this and getting hit with the cliffhanger ending I immediately jumped into Cold Steel IV.

Steins;Gate ELITE (Steam)

Completed all the endings, got 100% of the Steam achievements. Still a really enjoyable visual novel. I know a lot of people didn't like this one compared to the original because of the art style (basically using the anime visuals). You can see the quality drop when they had to produce some new anime style art. I do like the original style, but it could be very static at times and spend a lot of time telling you what was happening without showing it. This style shows a lot more, and honestly it was worth it to see the alternate endings animated. I'd have loved to see them add an English dub to this, since the anime dub is fantastic.

IN PROGRESS

Trails of Cold Steel IV (PS4)

Okay, this is the big Endgame level event that they've been building to in three separate game arcs. I've been absolutely hooked on this ride through all 95 hours so far. I just hit the title screen for the final chapter last night, so there's still a bit to go, but safe to say, my journey in this amazing series will come to a close in August, unlikely to resume until Trails into Reverie comes out in 2023. I started Cold Steel I last September, and had a two month break earlier this year, so I really will have played nine of these huge JRPGs in about 9 months.

So many excellent moments. Playing these two games back to back with no break has made it feel like one big game, because mechanically they are exactly the same. This one has more characters and moves the story towards the conclusion which I am eager to get to. Once this game is done, I'll probably be able to split my game progress a bit more evenly across other games.

Disco Elysium: Final Cut (Steam)

I did begin a new game of Disco Elysium. I haven't played much yet, and haven't stumbled across any new content. I did notice with a different character build, I'm having trouble with stuff that gave me no problems the first time around - this time my character can't get close to the body in the tree without puking. I probably passed a skill check for this without even noticing on my first play. So that is interesting, I need to find different ways to approach familiar problems.

Muv Luv (Vita)

Progress on this visual novel is slow - progressed by a couple of in-game days. I still don't really know what this is about. If it's a parody, I'm possibly not familiar enough with the genre to really appreciate this.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

I pop in for maybe 20 minutes a day. Though one day last week I did manage about 45 minutes. Moved a couple of villagers out, replaced them with fresh faces.

Faerie Solitare Harvest (Steam)

Did maybe three or four hands.

Pic-a-Pix Pieces (Vita)

Completed a large picture of some tropical fish. Still quite a bit left in this game.

NEGLECTED

To be returned to at some point. Honestly, Cold Steel III/IV has dominated my gaming time to a ridiculous extent.

Ni No Kuni
Bug Fables
Uncharted
Danganronpa 1-2 Reloaded
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Fire Emblem: Fates
Mass Effect 2
Ys II
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD
Xenogears

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Feedback
	Genj - August 04, 2021 (05:46 PM) I don't know if I'll ever get to Trails. I wanted to get into Cold Steel, but didn't realize the other Trails games were connected. So like 9 or whatever super long RPGs is a bit intimidating.
	jerec - August 04, 2021 (05:56 PM) But so worth it.