 | Because doing this every month was getting pointless. |
I noticed with my March update that it was very similar to my February update, and I didn't finish any games. And also at that point, I think I was about 75% of the blog posts on the front page. I decided dropping back to every three months might be better. Game progress is still fairly slow, but that's to be expected.
FINISHED
Muv Luv Unlimited (Vita)
I cleared this sometime in early April. Progress through the primary route was erratic, but once I got to a certain point I just kept going. Fortunately for this one, the other endings really only diverged late in the story so it didn't take much time to wrap everything up. I've got another Muv Luv VN but I think it'll be a while before I tackle that. I have to keep to my one VN at a time rule.
Triangle Strategy (Switch) - 1st ending
This was one long game, but really enjoyable. I really liked the story, and how increasingly complex the choices became. In a lot of cases, there weren't really right or wrong choices. I loved that it really came down to Morality (trying to the best for your people), Utility (doing what you need to do to get by), and Liberty (trying to claim your house's freedom). The narrative has little branches here and there based on your decision, but the different threads join up again before too long. But towards the end, there is a big decision which sets you on a path towards the ending. I've done one ending so far. I've got two more normal endings to try, and then a true ending. Decided to give it a rest as I've clocked around 80 hours on this.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (Xbox Game Pass)
This showed up on Xbox Live, and while I am far more interested in the forthcoming JRPG, this Metroidvania was an interesting diversion. The game does make a fatal mistake by having combat absolutely suck for the first few hours, enough that I thought it was a bad game, but then you unlock things like double jump, and the ability to attack while jumping or attack up and down - things that really should be there from the start - and the game does get good. I enjoyed the quests and town building aspect of this more than the dungeon crawling/combat side of this game. Difficult to recommend - it has its charms. Metroidvania enthusiasts would find this too easy, too many fetch quests, quite stiff combat, but it is so damn charming.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country (Switch)
Xenoblade 3 is nearly upon us, so I spent around 23 hours on this standalone DLC prequel story. It does a lot of the same things as Xenoblade 2, but just less of it, to tell a more compact story. Instead of 5 party members 40-50 unique Blades, you have 3 party members with two blades each. Instead of multiple Titan continents, you get two, one of which is the lost continent of Torna, in the days before its downfall. It's a great story that really adds context to Jin (one of the antagonists of XB2), and Mythra.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS)
I've been plodding along with this one for a while. Just finished it last night after an incredibly challenging final boss where you finally get control of both parties at the same time. The credits rolled and it looks like there's an epilogue chapter, so I'm not quite done yet. I liked where the story went, and how the two protagonists both had their methods of dealing with the threat to the land, and despite how much they dearly care for each other, the differences of opinion led to some interesting tension. The moment when they finally came together was worth the build up.
IN PROGRESS
Triangle Strategy (Switch) - 2nd Ending
I got a fair bit into my second playthrough before deciding to shelve it for a while. The game gets much more difficult in NG+ since enemies now scale with your party, so for my sanity I dropped it to easy. I beat it once on normal, that's enough. I've been upgrading my party's classes and weapons, something you clearly don't get enough resources to do on a first playthrough. I've been taking the paths I didn't travel before, but also skipping scenes I have already viewed, like I would when getting another ending on a visual novel.
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (PS4)
I'm 55 hours into this beast now. I thought I was nearly reaching the end of this when the merry band of characters I've been following stormed the capital and won, but it seems there is a fair bit more to go. After playing in stops and starts for a while, I've been picking up the pace lately.
Picross (Switch)
Haven't been doing Picross as much.
Picross S - 120/300 - 40%
Picross S2 - 189/420 - 45%
Picross S3 - 210/480 - 43.75%
Picross S4 - 210/485 - 43.3%
Pic-a-Pix Pieces (Vita)
Progress is still a steady one picture a month.
Cyberpunk 2077 (XSX)
I've put in a lot of play time on this, and am still generally enjoying it. It's getting a lot easier now that V is stronger and has access to more abilities. I've just started Act 3 recently, but took a break because the final missions of Act 2 were damn intense.
Ys V (SNES)
The play time for this is going to come in under 10 hours. I just don't play much because it's not that enticing. But I should hopefully finish it soon, I'm in the end game now. Just a little further...
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (Switch)
My latest purchase. I'm already a few chapters in (thanks to the demo for letting me get a head start). 10 hours or so on the clock. I'm liking it a lot more than the last Fire Emblem Warriors game. The polish on this one is up with Persona 5 Strikers, which I thought was great. Loving the alternate what-if? timeline thing going on here, curious to see how it plays out. I'm with the Golden Deer this time around.
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honestgamer - July 02, 2022 (11:31 PM) Sounds like I need to get Triangle Strategy. But I kind of figured that already. Square Enix has been doing a good job with the smaller RPGs lately. They announced a Rune Factory-type game (Harvestella or something like that) I also find promising. Hopefully, they stay away from NFTs enough to keep producing smaller gems along those lines for a long time to come. |
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jerec - July 08, 2022 (04:01 PM) Yeah, Triangle Strategy comes well recommended. I just wish the voice acting was better, but everything else is really solid. Square-Enix does worry me a bit with this obsession with NFTs, and I won't be buying any of their games that incorporate it, even if it's a future mainline Final Fantasy. |
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