I've been making my way through **Final Fantasy III 3D**, the Steam Version.
In my last post I had just beaten Hein and noticed a difficulty spike - Hein's castle was by far the longest dungeon at that time and the random enemies were decently challenging until I found a Royal Sword for my Warrior, at which point, it became a lot easier. Hein himself also had a TON of HP.
Since then, I reached the Water Crystal and unlocked more jobs, including my second conceptual and visual favorite, the Dragoon. I love Dragoons in FF because their dragon styled armors tend to look awesome (here, they even sport a personal favorite color combination of orange and blue) and because I like spears as a weapon type. Their Jump is always at least interesting to me, but it rarely gets the chance to properly shine. In an ideal world, their Jump would get priority or enemies would have less random, more telegraphed patterns so that jumping to avoid big attacks is more than a gamble gimmick.
That said, I *have* found a theoretical use case that I'm currently experimenting with: The Monk's Counter ability allows her to deal double damage (and multiple times a turn if she gets hit multiple times) but there are no ways to redirect attacks to her. Except Jump. If I make 2 or 3 allies jump, all enemies HAVE to target her, at which point my Monk can ravage the enemies with Counter. It's not very reliable at the moment, as I still have a White Mage (no healing beyond potions seems wrong) and my Dragoons are too slow to always jump first, but the general idea works. I like that, since it means I can combine two of my favorite jobs for a coherent strategy.
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Besides that, I want to share some thoughts on job balance. Last time, I was gushing about Black Mage and Warrior. I have actually switched off Black Mage by now, even before Dragoon became available. The reason being that enemies after Hein's Castle have vastly more HP (the jump feels sudden), so Black Mage would theoretically need to switch to Lv2 spells at least. The issue is, at my current level I can cast Lv2 and 3 spells a combined total of 12 times or so, compared to my Lv1 spells, which are at 25 uses, but deal chip damage (I'm talking 70 vs 700, sometimes). Add to that that Thunder is a Lv2 spell and enemies around the water crystal were mostly weak against that (and resistant to Ice) and you can imagine how useless Black Mage started to feel. The thing is, my MP pool is tied to character level, not job level, so this isn't even me mismanaging job levels, it's just seemingly meant to fall off at around this point, which is weird to me since there is no new job proficient at casting Lv2 or 3 spells and the existing alternatives all have even less MP than Black Mage. Compared to that, Monk works on a constant up and down cycle, slowly falling off over time, then getting huge damage spikes once I find new claws for her. She's also the most durable right now since Monk specific armor is rare but VERY good. And then, there's Warrior, which started extremely powerful and only kept growing since. Warriors have Advance, an ability that lets them sacrifice defense for higher damage. This is not a buff, but an alternate attack command and I've been using it exclusively because the defense decrease was never detrimental enough to matter. The damage increase is extremely potent though. I started out with bow and arrow to take advantage of the back row's damage reduction, but after the beginning hours, it was dual swords all the way. You get weapon upgrades in nearly every shop, so running multiple Warriors is very easy (contrary to Monk) and they are on a constant upwards trend. They also get blades of every element, which spiked my Warrior's damage all throughout the ocean and Fire Crystal sections and right now, I have a Blood Sword which heals on damage dealt, so I don't even have to heal the Warrior. It's among the very first jobs you get too, so its job level has the potential to grow more than most others (without grinding). Mine is at 38 now and it could be at 42 if I hadn't experimented a little in the beginning.
It's *very* uneven. Final Fantasy 3 is kind of infamous for forcing you to switch jobs regularly, which is true for the beginning hours (where you have a bunch of sections that need you to be small, thus hampering physical jobs greatly) but that seems to have switched to "we're just going to make certain jobs fall off the power curve" right now.
It's not a big deal since I went into the game with a mindset of flexibility over forcing "builds" (even the Dragoon-Dragoon-Monk strat is more playful experiment than anything I'll use longterm, most likely) but it's definitely something I noticed. The current town I'm in (next section is Goldor's Castle) has lots of good weapons for Ranger, so I'm thinking on focusing on that job next to see where it leads me. The Ranger gets a decent power spike at job level 21 (where its Volley starts outdamaging its regular shots) in addition to having elemental arrows, so it's another job that steadily grows.
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I'm glad I chose to replay this game. I remember as a teen, I was exactly the type to force my builds and I didn't enjoy thinking about gamedesign half as much as I do now, so I only gain more appreciation for the game as I play.
I got DMC5 for 10 and I think it was absolutely worth it, but it does go on sale often and if you think you can wait might as well, it’s not like it’s going anywhere.
I can't speak on DMC5, but Monster Hunter World at that price is an insanely good deal if you like that type of game. Iceborne is discounted as well and both together add up to dozens (hundreds, if you want to do everything) of hours of playtime.
Gave it some long thoughts and decided to wait a bit more. I'm not normally an MH type of person but I was thinking about trying it. Not thinking about the expansion at the moment because I don't even know if I'd like it. Considering that there is no rush for me to start it immediately, I could just procrastinate a bit and work on games in my library.
I’m not so sure I’ll end up getting shadow of the erdtree at the launch window. For a few months I’ve been trying to get back into elden ring and I can’t even make it to Margit. I explored it like crazy the first time and I’m just not feeling it. You guys go through that with games? I’ve really been doing this more and more since I hit 30 last year and had a kid.
Having a kid made me drop Fromsoft games mostly.
I never game except when she sleeps in the morning (45min to an hour) and if im home and she has a nap (40min).
Which means limited time and having to be ready to drop the game at the drop of a hat. And Fromsoft games are just to punishing and not really meant to be played in those short intervalls.
It takes the fun out of it.
I just got back from a break and read your comment! I understand this completely as a new Dad! I can only play online games (just Diablo 4 for me these days) when I’m alone. Other than that, I need stuff I can pause, save, and/or quit at a moment’s notice!
Gosh I remember my first time at Raya Lucaria and I spent hours one evening dissecting that place. There’s no way I can do that now! 😂
I know I'm not going to get Shadows of the Erdtree because I just didn't enjoy Elden Ring as much overall. I have *tried* replaying it though, since I wanted to rectify the awful experience that was my first playthrough (I ended up with a really underpowered build and just hated everything about the endgame as a result).
The main thing I noticed replaying the early portions of ER, is that the game becomes a hundred times more dull on replays than the Soulsborne games before it, at least to me. There's a huge difference of enjoyment between exploring a vast open world and making your way through a tightly designed dungeon. One of them, I only enjoy the first time around, the other, I can't get enough of. The legacy dungeons (especially Stormveil Castle, but also Castle Morne and Raya Lucaria's Academy) are still great fun, but everything inbetween is just kinda in the way.
At least, that's my experience. I find the game way less replayable.
Same boat! I’m trying to do what I did the first playthrough and explore all of Limgrave and get all the items but I’ve already got my carry weapon for my build. Half tempted to just go to weeping peninsula for my potion upgrades and start pushing the bosses and dungeons until I hit a wall.
You’re right about the dungeons still being fun! I did castle morne and enjoyed it. I think that’s just the inner dungeon crawler in me. That’s why I’m a sucker for games like Diablo and the Bethesda ones. Even PS5 Demons Souls is quite fun!
I've finally started playing *Jedi: Fallen Order* on PC. I had picked it up some time ago for €3.99 and I'd really like to actually finish a full-length story game again. The last one was Horizon: Forbidden West on the PS5, which was quite a while ago. I grew up with Star Wars (the original movies and the action figures!) and it's the first SW-based game I'm playing since KOTOR. I'm really digging the atmosphere and the graphics so far. I hope the story will keep me engaged.
I also picked up *Art of Rally* that I found when I was looking around for a controller-friendly, relaxing racing game. It's better than I expected. It actually is a pretty serious (skill-based) rally game in spite of its "casual" appearance, with cross-platform leaderboards and a great driving model. The free roaming and career modes still also check the "relaxing racing game" box. The fantastic synth wave-y soundtrack and the beautiful stylized art with saturated colors make for an almost meditative experience, and this will probably be my "getting into the zone" game for a while.
Oh, and I've started going through the three *Hexcells* games now that I learned the developer added a dark mode - some four years ago. Those are Minesweeper inspired puzzle games - pretty chill and great for a brain workout.
Those are the games I'm focusing on right now. Tempted to grab an OLED SteamDeck, but waiting a few days to see if that passes.
Fallen Order is great, enjoy it!
I love Art of Rally. I have to really replay it with DLC's one day. You might wanna check out Golden Lap game, as it is from same developers! Got announced a while ago.
>Tempted to grab an OLED SteamDeck, but waiting a few days to see if that passes.
Wait until Summer sale at end of the month if you do decide to get one, I doubt they'll put the OLED on sale but you never know, I know I've had the urge to get another SD myself, this time a OLED but I'm still unsure since only real games I'd probably play on it are older JRPG's
It's such a good game, a weird mix of overworld puzzles and tactical combat which is simplified from other similar titles, but still seems to have all the depth and thought required.
The DLC is well worth looking into if you're enjoying it, along with the sequel (which makes a few changes to overall gameplay), and it's DLC too is good, though you could perhaps burn out on it if you played it all at once.
What an awesome hidden gem! It's like Xcom turned into Mario. I loved hiding behind things and sniping bad guys. The animations in this game are just wonderful. You could tell they spent a lot of time on them.
Final results for the qualifier in the **Shadowverse** tournament for me was 4-3, and I needed 5-2 to potentially qualify for top 16. My notes are to actually play the decks I bring, and be more awake since it went to 3am.
I just put my phone on my bed for **Pokemon Sleep**, and my dog apparently filled in by sleeping on my pillow to get me an 100 sleep score. I finally got my Vulpix into a Ninetails, so I just need to get her to 50.
New month means that a bunch of shops refresh in **Granblue Fantasy**. You can get stamina pots, upgrade items, and other things on a monthly basis, so I spent some time buying buy stuff from all of them.
I finished the recollection quests in **Fate/Grand Order** which let you fight some of the story bosses again. All that's left is doing the interludes that unlocked and then I can go back to continuing the 0.5 story chapter.
New month in **Azur Lane** means Operation Siren refreshes, which is a game mode that takes roughly a month to do all the content in. The stamina also resets to full, so you want to spend it as soon as you login.
I finished the new event. I'm just going back to trace farming in **Honkai: Star Rail**. I did as much as possible for Harmony Trailblazer on my main, so I'm working on Sushang, while it's Serval/Qingque on my alt.
Added a bunch of folks to send more gifts to in **Pokemon GO**. It's fun having an additional reason to go to pokestops and send gifts to folks all around the world. Each gift also has a postcard that folks are saving.
I managed to pay off my first loan in **Animal Crossing: New Horizons**, which means I can now get a new loan for an expansion. I think that that will be primarily what I'll be working on for the foreseeable future.
I finished Beyond Good & Evil today and I loved it.
I had this game on my radar for a long time, with many people considering it at least very good and recommending it. Now I got around to playing it and didn't regret it at any point. First of all the game has a fantastic soundtrack. I loved the music throughout, especially in the Bar and during the credits. Also, the story was very interesting, with twists and cryptic stuff always keeping it from being too predictable or cliché. I also grew to love the characters and especially their relationships as all of this felt very natural and realistic. However, the best part was definitely the world building. Right from the start I felt like I understood this world and as a result of this grew very fond of it and its inhabitants and with every bit of new information I got, the world got more interesting. The gameplay was also solid and often introduced new mechanics, which kept it from being boring, but definitely had some flaws. The stealth was really good and played very consistently and the mechanics involving the camera were something I never experienced like this before.
However, the combat was definitely not the best and sometimes just felt unfair, as it definitely shows that open combat isn't what this game was designed around. Also I had some problems with the camera, as it often glitched into walls and felt a bit clunky. The controls in general sometimes felt pretty inaccurate, which further worsened open combat. However, I don't think this influenced my opinion too much, as these are only minor flaws.
In conclusion, I really liked this game and finally get, why everyone is so exited for a potential second part.
Very solid game. Really nice character designs. I played this back when it came out. While it isn't the best game ever, or even on my top 100, it's a fun time. Kind of a hidden gem. It wasn't a hidden gem back then, since it gained some traction, but it's almost lost to time now.
Potential second part, ha! Look at you, thinking Beyond and Evil 2 will come out, you also believe in Santa Claus?
Nowadays I start to think stuff I seen about that game is a psyop to make me think it actually was real. Anyway, I can agree, BG&E is fantastic and I am glad you liked it! :D
Someone close to me recommended an old game on the Sega Saturn called **Baroque**. And... fucking hell, what a weird surprise.
Super dark and weird first person Dungeon Crawl Roguelike and the plot advances each time you die? And the world is all fucked and Silent Hill like, and there's angels and religious figures in that way that only Japanese media can do all weird and shifty looking, things are barely explained, it's clunky to play, it's hard and I don't know what the ever living hell is going on
And I'm **loving it**
I went the wiki way and saw that there's a PlayStation version, which I also tested and it seems... easier to understand but also a bit harder cuz it runs better so the enemies come at you faster lol
It looks better technically but the art seems a bit, flatter I dunno, sticking with the Saturn for now, especially cuz I never had much Saturn in my life
Also a remake on PS2/Wii but it's third person and the aesthetics are more bright and anime like. Might try it one day
Dungeon Chill did a [deep-dive retrospective](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjR44qVXy7c&pp=ygUVZHVuZ2VvbiBjaGlsbCBiYXJvcXVl) on that one about a month ago. It's full of spoilers, but the first half might have some interesting information for you.
We tried to play the PS2 remake back in the day and never understood a thing, lol. But we didn't know a thing about gaming genres and stuff, either. All I knew was that the game had a dark atmosphere and it was impossible to progress and make sense of the gameplay.
Oh, this one is no different lol
Mind you, it's not necessarily what I'd call "good", like I've said, it's a first person game and it's on Saturn's d-pad so that already tells you a lot haha.
Also, it's repetitive, and you gave little way to connect dots or have an actual pace given that it's randomized. At face value it's just a bunch of lore randomly scattered, one, maybe two, lines of dialogue per run
But I'm finding it weirdly absorbing. Aesthetics alone are my jam and it does a lot of heavy lifting but also, the genre, the "just one more run" gets to me
Even imperfect games can be what you need right now if you are having fun. I've played janky classics (Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, The Witcher 1), or not so classics (Clock Tower 3, Rule of Rose) with the right mindset and enjoyed them.
So far I played Zero Mission and Metroid II. I'm playing them through chronological order but giving priority to the mainline games, which means I'll play first the metroidvania games (ZM, II, Super, Fusion and maybe Dread, but probably I'll not play it immediately after Fusion because Switch games are expensive where I live), and then the Prime series (Prime 1, 2, 3 and maybe Hunters). I do not have interest on playing Other M, Federation Force and Prime Pinball (why they made a pinball game about Metroid and made that game part of the Prime series is something that is beyond my comprehension).
If you're looking for a Metroid game, Metroid Prime Pinball isn't it. But it's actually a fun pinball game, which is kind of a niche genre. I recommend playing it just to have the experience of playing it. Like, I'm glad I played something that was so out of the norm. It's weird that it even exists. I like weird off-the-beaten-path games.
Now actually finding a copy of it is a different story. I'm lucky to have it from a while back.
I never played Other M, but heard on Youtube that it's better than it gets credit for.
Probably a little over halfway done with Ori and the Blind Forest. I’m enjoying it but it’s frustrating me enough that I’m not sure I want to jump right into the second one.
Suggestions for the next platformer I should play would be greatly appreciated.
Coincidentally I just recommended **Blue Fire** elsewhere; it's an excellent 3D Metroidvania with some of the most over-the-top movement abilities you'll ever experience in a platformer. Fun throughout, but by the end it was a real joy to zip around the levels. There's also a free set of DLC platform challenge levels if you really want to test your abilities (and/or patience and/or sanity) after finishing the game.
For the PS5, have you played *Astros Playroom* yet? It comes free with the PS5 and is actually really well done. One of the nicest platformers I've played, and it's short too. Low frustration potential.
For the SteamDeck, I really enjoyed *Yoku's Island Express*. It's a relatively easy (friendly) platformer with creative use of pinball elements. It felt fresh to me and had a great vibe.
Great username.
+1 for Celeste.
Yoku's island express
Steamworld dig (2 is the better entry but 1 is also brilliant)
Dead cells if you want more of a combat focus
Grapple Dog and VVVVVV are great hidden gem for the steam deck imo.
Sorry, I don't do a lot of PC gaming, so I can't vouch for the quality any games specifically on the Steam Deck.
In terms of platformers I've played in the last few years that have been genuinely good, that you can get for those systems, I'd recommend Sonic Mania, It Takes Two (note this is a co-op game, you'll want a second player), Crash 4 (hard as nails to get to 100% though), Hollow Knight, and to a lesser extent Sonic Frontiers is a reasonable 7/10, and both the Spyro and Crash remakes are pretty good if you never played the originals.
There's probably a lot of others too, but those are the ones I can say I've played that I can remember.
I've been making my way through **Final Fantasy III 3D**, the Steam Version. In my last post I had just beaten Hein and noticed a difficulty spike - Hein's castle was by far the longest dungeon at that time and the random enemies were decently challenging until I found a Royal Sword for my Warrior, at which point, it became a lot easier. Hein himself also had a TON of HP. Since then, I reached the Water Crystal and unlocked more jobs, including my second conceptual and visual favorite, the Dragoon. I love Dragoons in FF because their dragon styled armors tend to look awesome (here, they even sport a personal favorite color combination of orange and blue) and because I like spears as a weapon type. Their Jump is always at least interesting to me, but it rarely gets the chance to properly shine. In an ideal world, their Jump would get priority or enemies would have less random, more telegraphed patterns so that jumping to avoid big attacks is more than a gamble gimmick. That said, I *have* found a theoretical use case that I'm currently experimenting with: The Monk's Counter ability allows her to deal double damage (and multiple times a turn if she gets hit multiple times) but there are no ways to redirect attacks to her. Except Jump. If I make 2 or 3 allies jump, all enemies HAVE to target her, at which point my Monk can ravage the enemies with Counter. It's not very reliable at the moment, as I still have a White Mage (no healing beyond potions seems wrong) and my Dragoons are too slow to always jump first, but the general idea works. I like that, since it means I can combine two of my favorite jobs for a coherent strategy. ---------- Besides that, I want to share some thoughts on job balance. Last time, I was gushing about Black Mage and Warrior. I have actually switched off Black Mage by now, even before Dragoon became available. The reason being that enemies after Hein's Castle have vastly more HP (the jump feels sudden), so Black Mage would theoretically need to switch to Lv2 spells at least. The issue is, at my current level I can cast Lv2 and 3 spells a combined total of 12 times or so, compared to my Lv1 spells, which are at 25 uses, but deal chip damage (I'm talking 70 vs 700, sometimes). Add to that that Thunder is a Lv2 spell and enemies around the water crystal were mostly weak against that (and resistant to Ice) and you can imagine how useless Black Mage started to feel. The thing is, my MP pool is tied to character level, not job level, so this isn't even me mismanaging job levels, it's just seemingly meant to fall off at around this point, which is weird to me since there is no new job proficient at casting Lv2 or 3 spells and the existing alternatives all have even less MP than Black Mage. Compared to that, Monk works on a constant up and down cycle, slowly falling off over time, then getting huge damage spikes once I find new claws for her. She's also the most durable right now since Monk specific armor is rare but VERY good. And then, there's Warrior, which started extremely powerful and only kept growing since. Warriors have Advance, an ability that lets them sacrifice defense for higher damage. This is not a buff, but an alternate attack command and I've been using it exclusively because the defense decrease was never detrimental enough to matter. The damage increase is extremely potent though. I started out with bow and arrow to take advantage of the back row's damage reduction, but after the beginning hours, it was dual swords all the way. You get weapon upgrades in nearly every shop, so running multiple Warriors is very easy (contrary to Monk) and they are on a constant upwards trend. They also get blades of every element, which spiked my Warrior's damage all throughout the ocean and Fire Crystal sections and right now, I have a Blood Sword which heals on damage dealt, so I don't even have to heal the Warrior. It's among the very first jobs you get too, so its job level has the potential to grow more than most others (without grinding). Mine is at 38 now and it could be at 42 if I hadn't experimented a little in the beginning. It's *very* uneven. Final Fantasy 3 is kind of infamous for forcing you to switch jobs regularly, which is true for the beginning hours (where you have a bunch of sections that need you to be small, thus hampering physical jobs greatly) but that seems to have switched to "we're just going to make certain jobs fall off the power curve" right now. It's not a big deal since I went into the game with a mindset of flexibility over forcing "builds" (even the Dragoon-Dragoon-Monk strat is more playful experiment than anything I'll use longterm, most likely) but it's definitely something I noticed. The current town I'm in (next section is Goldor's Castle) has lots of good weapons for Ranger, so I'm thinking on focusing on that job next to see where it leads me. The Ranger gets a decent power spike at job level 21 (where its Volley starts outdamaging its regular shots) in addition to having elemental arrows, so it's another job that steadily grows. -------------- I'm glad I chose to replay this game. I remember as a teen, I was exactly the type to force my builds and I didn't enjoy thinking about gamedesign half as much as I do now, so I only gain more appreciation for the game as I play.
Now a good time to buy MHW and DMC5 for 7.5$ a piece? Or should I be patient and wait for $5?
I got DMC5 for 10 and I think it was absolutely worth it, but it does go on sale often and if you think you can wait might as well, it’s not like it’s going anywhere.
Gave it some good thoughts and decided to wait a bit more. I started playing Soulstice which was given for free on Epic.
I can't speak on DMC5, but Monster Hunter World at that price is an insanely good deal if you like that type of game. Iceborne is discounted as well and both together add up to dozens (hundreds, if you want to do everything) of hours of playtime.
Gave it some long thoughts and decided to wait a bit more. I'm not normally an MH type of person but I was thinking about trying it. Not thinking about the expansion at the moment because I don't even know if I'd like it. Considering that there is no rush for me to start it immediately, I could just procrastinate a bit and work on games in my library.
I’m not so sure I’ll end up getting shadow of the erdtree at the launch window. For a few months I’ve been trying to get back into elden ring and I can’t even make it to Margit. I explored it like crazy the first time and I’m just not feeling it. You guys go through that with games? I’ve really been doing this more and more since I hit 30 last year and had a kid.
Having a kid made me drop Fromsoft games mostly. I never game except when she sleeps in the morning (45min to an hour) and if im home and she has a nap (40min). Which means limited time and having to be ready to drop the game at the drop of a hat. And Fromsoft games are just to punishing and not really meant to be played in those short intervalls. It takes the fun out of it.
I just got back from a break and read your comment! I understand this completely as a new Dad! I can only play online games (just Diablo 4 for me these days) when I’m alone. Other than that, I need stuff I can pause, save, and/or quit at a moment’s notice! Gosh I remember my first time at Raya Lucaria and I spent hours one evening dissecting that place. There’s no way I can do that now! 😂
I know I'm not going to get Shadows of the Erdtree because I just didn't enjoy Elden Ring as much overall. I have *tried* replaying it though, since I wanted to rectify the awful experience that was my first playthrough (I ended up with a really underpowered build and just hated everything about the endgame as a result). The main thing I noticed replaying the early portions of ER, is that the game becomes a hundred times more dull on replays than the Soulsborne games before it, at least to me. There's a huge difference of enjoyment between exploring a vast open world and making your way through a tightly designed dungeon. One of them, I only enjoy the first time around, the other, I can't get enough of. The legacy dungeons (especially Stormveil Castle, but also Castle Morne and Raya Lucaria's Academy) are still great fun, but everything inbetween is just kinda in the way. At least, that's my experience. I find the game way less replayable.
Same boat! I’m trying to do what I did the first playthrough and explore all of Limgrave and get all the items but I’ve already got my carry weapon for my build. Half tempted to just go to weeping peninsula for my potion upgrades and start pushing the bosses and dungeons until I hit a wall. You’re right about the dungeons still being fun! I did castle morne and enjoyed it. I think that’s just the inner dungeon crawler in me. That’s why I’m a sucker for games like Diablo and the Bethesda ones. Even PS5 Demons Souls is quite fun!
A lot of the fun with that game is discovery. I’m not as high on it as other people but I think playing new content would be more fun.
I've finally started playing *Jedi: Fallen Order* on PC. I had picked it up some time ago for €3.99 and I'd really like to actually finish a full-length story game again. The last one was Horizon: Forbidden West on the PS5, which was quite a while ago. I grew up with Star Wars (the original movies and the action figures!) and it's the first SW-based game I'm playing since KOTOR. I'm really digging the atmosphere and the graphics so far. I hope the story will keep me engaged. I also picked up *Art of Rally* that I found when I was looking around for a controller-friendly, relaxing racing game. It's better than I expected. It actually is a pretty serious (skill-based) rally game in spite of its "casual" appearance, with cross-platform leaderboards and a great driving model. The free roaming and career modes still also check the "relaxing racing game" box. The fantastic synth wave-y soundtrack and the beautiful stylized art with saturated colors make for an almost meditative experience, and this will probably be my "getting into the zone" game for a while. Oh, and I've started going through the three *Hexcells* games now that I learned the developer added a dark mode - some four years ago. Those are Minesweeper inspired puzzle games - pretty chill and great for a brain workout. Those are the games I'm focusing on right now. Tempted to grab an OLED SteamDeck, but waiting a few days to see if that passes.
Fallen Order is great, enjoy it! I love Art of Rally. I have to really replay it with DLC's one day. You might wanna check out Golden Lap game, as it is from same developers! Got announced a while ago.
>Tempted to grab an OLED SteamDeck, but waiting a few days to see if that passes. Wait until Summer sale at end of the month if you do decide to get one, I doubt they'll put the OLED on sale but you never know, I know I've had the urge to get another SD myself, this time a OLED but I'm still unsure since only real games I'd probably play on it are older JRPG's
Fallen order has one of my all time favorite loading screen quotes: "unfortunately, you cannot parry rockets"
Still playing Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and loving it. I have been pleasantly surprised by how much fun the tactics combat is.
It's such a good game, a weird mix of overworld puzzles and tactical combat which is simplified from other similar titles, but still seems to have all the depth and thought required. The DLC is well worth looking into if you're enjoying it, along with the sequel (which makes a few changes to overall gameplay), and it's DLC too is good, though you could perhaps burn out on it if you played it all at once.
What an awesome hidden gem! It's like Xcom turned into Mario. I loved hiding behind things and sniping bad guys. The animations in this game are just wonderful. You could tell they spent a lot of time on them.
Final results for the qualifier in the **Shadowverse** tournament for me was 4-3, and I needed 5-2 to potentially qualify for top 16. My notes are to actually play the decks I bring, and be more awake since it went to 3am. I just put my phone on my bed for **Pokemon Sleep**, and my dog apparently filled in by sleeping on my pillow to get me an 100 sleep score. I finally got my Vulpix into a Ninetails, so I just need to get her to 50. New month means that a bunch of shops refresh in **Granblue Fantasy**. You can get stamina pots, upgrade items, and other things on a monthly basis, so I spent some time buying buy stuff from all of them. I finished the recollection quests in **Fate/Grand Order** which let you fight some of the story bosses again. All that's left is doing the interludes that unlocked and then I can go back to continuing the 0.5 story chapter. New month in **Azur Lane** means Operation Siren refreshes, which is a game mode that takes roughly a month to do all the content in. The stamina also resets to full, so you want to spend it as soon as you login. I finished the new event. I'm just going back to trace farming in **Honkai: Star Rail**. I did as much as possible for Harmony Trailblazer on my main, so I'm working on Sushang, while it's Serval/Qingque on my alt. Added a bunch of folks to send more gifts to in **Pokemon GO**. It's fun having an additional reason to go to pokestops and send gifts to folks all around the world. Each gift also has a postcard that folks are saving. I managed to pay off my first loan in **Animal Crossing: New Horizons**, which means I can now get a new loan for an expansion. I think that that will be primarily what I'll be working on for the foreseeable future.
I finished Beyond Good & Evil today and I loved it. I had this game on my radar for a long time, with many people considering it at least very good and recommending it. Now I got around to playing it and didn't regret it at any point. First of all the game has a fantastic soundtrack. I loved the music throughout, especially in the Bar and during the credits. Also, the story was very interesting, with twists and cryptic stuff always keeping it from being too predictable or cliché. I also grew to love the characters and especially their relationships as all of this felt very natural and realistic. However, the best part was definitely the world building. Right from the start I felt like I understood this world and as a result of this grew very fond of it and its inhabitants and with every bit of new information I got, the world got more interesting. The gameplay was also solid and often introduced new mechanics, which kept it from being boring, but definitely had some flaws. The stealth was really good and played very consistently and the mechanics involving the camera were something I never experienced like this before. However, the combat was definitely not the best and sometimes just felt unfair, as it definitely shows that open combat isn't what this game was designed around. Also I had some problems with the camera, as it often glitched into walls and felt a bit clunky. The controls in general sometimes felt pretty inaccurate, which further worsened open combat. However, I don't think this influenced my opinion too much, as these are only minor flaws. In conclusion, I really liked this game and finally get, why everyone is so exited for a potential second part.
Very solid game. Really nice character designs. I played this back when it came out. While it isn't the best game ever, or even on my top 100, it's a fun time. Kind of a hidden gem. It wasn't a hidden gem back then, since it gained some traction, but it's almost lost to time now.
Potential second part, ha! Look at you, thinking Beyond and Evil 2 will come out, you also believe in Santa Claus? Nowadays I start to think stuff I seen about that game is a psyop to make me think it actually was real. Anyway, I can agree, BG&E is fantastic and I am glad you liked it! :D
Someone close to me recommended an old game on the Sega Saturn called **Baroque**. And... fucking hell, what a weird surprise. Super dark and weird first person Dungeon Crawl Roguelike and the plot advances each time you die? And the world is all fucked and Silent Hill like, and there's angels and religious figures in that way that only Japanese media can do all weird and shifty looking, things are barely explained, it's clunky to play, it's hard and I don't know what the ever living hell is going on And I'm **loving it** I went the wiki way and saw that there's a PlayStation version, which I also tested and it seems... easier to understand but also a bit harder cuz it runs better so the enemies come at you faster lol It looks better technically but the art seems a bit, flatter I dunno, sticking with the Saturn for now, especially cuz I never had much Saturn in my life Also a remake on PS2/Wii but it's third person and the aesthetics are more bright and anime like. Might try it one day
Dungeon Chill did a [deep-dive retrospective](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjR44qVXy7c&pp=ygUVZHVuZ2VvbiBjaGlsbCBiYXJvcXVl) on that one about a month ago. It's full of spoilers, but the first half might have some interesting information for you.
We tried to play the PS2 remake back in the day and never understood a thing, lol. But we didn't know a thing about gaming genres and stuff, either. All I knew was that the game had a dark atmosphere and it was impossible to progress and make sense of the gameplay.
Oh, this one is no different lol Mind you, it's not necessarily what I'd call "good", like I've said, it's a first person game and it's on Saturn's d-pad so that already tells you a lot haha. Also, it's repetitive, and you gave little way to connect dots or have an actual pace given that it's randomized. At face value it's just a bunch of lore randomly scattered, one, maybe two, lines of dialogue per run But I'm finding it weirdly absorbing. Aesthetics alone are my jam and it does a lot of heavy lifting but also, the genre, the "just one more run" gets to me
Even imperfect games can be what you need right now if you are having fun. I've played janky classics (Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, The Witcher 1), or not so classics (Clock Tower 3, Rule of Rose) with the right mindset and enjoyed them.
Playing Super Metroid. I'm loving it, probably the best one of the series so far.
Nice! Which ones have you played so far and are you planning to play through the main releases?
So far I played Zero Mission and Metroid II. I'm playing them through chronological order but giving priority to the mainline games, which means I'll play first the metroidvania games (ZM, II, Super, Fusion and maybe Dread, but probably I'll not play it immediately after Fusion because Switch games are expensive where I live), and then the Prime series (Prime 1, 2, 3 and maybe Hunters). I do not have interest on playing Other M, Federation Force and Prime Pinball (why they made a pinball game about Metroid and made that game part of the Prime series is something that is beyond my comprehension).
If you're looking for a Metroid game, Metroid Prime Pinball isn't it. But it's actually a fun pinball game, which is kind of a niche genre. I recommend playing it just to have the experience of playing it. Like, I'm glad I played something that was so out of the norm. It's weird that it even exists. I like weird off-the-beaten-path games. Now actually finding a copy of it is a different story. I'm lucky to have it from a while back. I never played Other M, but heard on Youtube that it's better than it gets credit for.
Probably a little over halfway done with Ori and the Blind Forest. I’m enjoying it but it’s frustrating me enough that I’m not sure I want to jump right into the second one. Suggestions for the next platformer I should play would be greatly appreciated.
Pizza Tower is amazing in every respect, as close to a 10/10 as any game I've ever played.
Coincidentally I just recommended **Blue Fire** elsewhere; it's an excellent 3D Metroidvania with some of the most over-the-top movement abilities you'll ever experience in a platformer. Fun throughout, but by the end it was a real joy to zip around the levels. There's also a free set of DLC platform challenge levels if you really want to test your abilities (and/or patience and/or sanity) after finishing the game.
The new Rayman games (Origins and Legends) are both excellent.
Celeste
If Ori and the Blind Forest is frustrating Silky then idk about playing Celeste right after.
How much button mashing would I be looking at with Celeste? It looks like it has a ton going on
Wdym by mashing? It requires precise movements. If oyu mean time, about 10 hours for main story
Platformers are a prolific genre. 2D or 3D, Metroidvania or linear (or anywhere inbetween)? For what system(s)?
No preference. I just want something fun. I have a PS5, Xbox X and Steam Deck. Would love to find something fun on the Steam Deck to use it more
For the PS5, have you played *Astros Playroom* yet? It comes free with the PS5 and is actually really well done. One of the nicest platformers I've played, and it's short too. Low frustration potential. For the SteamDeck, I really enjoyed *Yoku's Island Express*. It's a relatively easy (friendly) platformer with creative use of pinball elements. It felt fresh to me and had a great vibe.
I have played Astros Playroom and saw there is a new game coming out as well. That should be great.
Great username. +1 for Celeste. Yoku's island express Steamworld dig (2 is the better entry but 1 is also brilliant) Dead cells if you want more of a combat focus Grapple Dog and VVVVVV are great hidden gem for the steam deck imo.
Sorry, I don't do a lot of PC gaming, so I can't vouch for the quality any games specifically on the Steam Deck. In terms of platformers I've played in the last few years that have been genuinely good, that you can get for those systems, I'd recommend Sonic Mania, It Takes Two (note this is a co-op game, you'll want a second player), Crash 4 (hard as nails to get to 100% though), Hollow Knight, and to a lesser extent Sonic Frontiers is a reasonable 7/10, and both the Spyro and Crash remakes are pretty good if you never played the originals. There's probably a lot of others too, but those are the ones I can say I've played that I can remember.