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https://my.nintendo.com/rewards/ee6d5675104d4a34 OMG! FINALLY!!! Something actually good!!!!!!

arounf £90 worth of beer. I have no room for food in my fridge.

That's a Dragon Quest-y paragraph alright

Well, despite my "ungrindiness" I've been making pretty good progress in this. Only hit a couple of roadblocks so far, the first one was getting paired with a guy who had his eyes closed (and was also off his face) for a fighting tournament. He kept messing up my tactics of using the sleep spell to prevent the opponents using their pep team attack. Every time I'd get one of them sleeping, the dickhead would attack and wake them up again! Managed to get through it though, eventually. The second sticking point was that guy's drug dealer, a giant spider. Actually had to do a bit of grinding to get past that thing! Luckily those good old Metal Slimes were conveniently hanging around in the same area though, so it didn't take very long. Anyway, I'm definitely enjoying this game. Not sure if it'll dethrone my current favourite JRPG of all time (Ni No Kuni), but it's certainly got a very good chance.

Given that we’ve been trapped inside for the better part of a year and it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon I thought it would be a good time to pick up a new hobby. I’ve always had an interest console modding but never done any myself. I thought now might be the time to give it a go and see what I can do. I posted in the “What Have You Bought” thread that I’d recently picked up a few tools to get started and @Happenstance suggested I make a thread to document my progress, so here it is! I have a few projects in mind and will document my progress, any ideas or suggestions are very welcome! Project #1: My Japanese GameCube I bought this GameCube back when I lived in Japan and haven’t used it in years. Given the simple nature of the console and the quite nice quick work you can do on it I thought it would be a good place to start. I have a few plans for things to do with this. Mod #1: Region Switch The first mod is a simple one, a US/JP region switch. I don’t actually have any US games here but this is a simple enough project to get started with and very easy to test the success of. I’ve ordered a pack of switches and some cable and hope this one will be pretty easy to get done. Mod #2: Region Identifying Power LED Linked to Mod #1 is installing multiple LED lights such that the power light will be a different colour dependent on the region selected. This is a little trickier than the first but should be easy to test and not cause me too many issues. The LEDs I need for this have also been ordered Mod #3: Controller Port LEDs This is a little trickier than the first two as it will require some gaps be made in the existing body. The idea is to make the controller ports light up when the console is powered on. I need to acquire a glue gun to help with this one but otherwise everything is ready for it. Mod #4: HDMI Output Currently I have to use this mess of bad quality to get my GameCube on my TV: Luckily, the GameCube I have has got the digital output which means there is a kit available that will turn this into and HDMI port. It seems I have a few options on this one so will be doing a bit of investigation into the best way to do this before I take the plunge. Whatever I go with this will be a challenging mod. Mod #5: USB-C Power There are a few parts to this one. A couple of years ago I totally forgot about power differences and managed to blow up... something. I bought a new power supply so the first thing to do was test everything actually works: Great, I have a working GameCube! Being more sensible I now have a step-down transformer but my god does it take up a lot of space: It also weighs a ton. So that I can avoid all of this in the future and not worry about power issues I’ve found a USB-C power board that matches the GameCube power adapter output that I will attempt to install into the console. This one is completely self-created so I have no clue if it will actually work. Based on my research it should do, but it’s untested. So that’s the plan for my first project. Looking forward to getting started on it. Have any of you tried anything similar? Any thoughts or tips?

After @Hero-of-Time and I had a brief moment discussing the best DS game ever created, Super Princess Peach... imagine my surprise when my OH told me that there was a bag on the stairs with some old games in that he’d found when boxing things up for our upcoming house move. The bag was stuffed in a box from the last time we moved house like 5 years ago, and there were so many gems in there... including this! So, I’ve fired up my 2DS and this is going to be my night time ‘before bed’ play.

You are gonna be in my Twitch chat drunk many more times aren't you. lol

33rd floor of Purity Forest on PMD: Rescue Team DX before I fainted. Stupid Dugtrio and it's stupid Earth Power... After studying what possible moves every Pokémon can have at Level 5 (Don't bother, I already know how nerdy that is), I think Heracross might be my best hope of success. Pros It can start off with Arm Thrust, a multi hitting move. Multi hitting moves are stupid powerful in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon! It can also start with Bullet Seed, another multi-hitting move that can hit from a distance! That's literally one of the best moves in the game! I gave it the rare quality called 'Rapid Bulls-eye', which makes all multi-hitting moves have perfect accuracy. In case multi-hitting moves aren't broken enough. Guts is a pretty decent ability that boosts Attack if Heracross has a status effect. If I manage to find an Empowerment Seed, then Heracross can Mega Evolve! Apart from the obvious stat boost, this changes Guts to Skill Link, which makes all multi-hitting moves hit the maximum amount of times. Cons Will literally have a heart attack if pecked by a Pidgey. Heracross isn't a Kecleon, so it's stats are pretty average. Gonna give this dungeon another attempt today.

I can't believe @Dcubed sold his soul for 150 Platinum Points. I can now confidently say that I'm the only person on N-Europe who has never downloaded a Nintendo mobile game.

Nopes. Me neither. Does it count if the phone I have was smart? In 2011, when it came out? I use it.. once a month on average. I don't even know my current number from the top of my head.

Good man! Yeah I think they described Bowser’s Fury as “short but action packed”. I’m expecting a couple hours worth.

I've never downloaded any mobile game. I don't even own a smartphone... I can confidently say that I'm probably the only person on N-Europe who doesn't own one. Do I win a prize? (if it's a smartphone, I don't want it) - - - - - Do Nintendo ever have anything worth having in exchange for Platinum points? I gave up on them a while ago, only going for the gold points which come with Switch games. The course decoration kit does seem alright, for what it is, but equally, it's something which could have been included in the box for Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. But hey, it's something, for almost nothing.

....more than possible

@RedShell your descriptions of the characters are both fantastic and hilarious.

See, now that just makes it look even more bleak, given the countless amount of hours I've poured into the series.

Last time I tried to exhange Platinum points for a "free" prize it tried to charge me for postage. So I didn't bother. xD

Job done. Thanks Nintendo!

What a show, totally digging it!!

Well...it certainly makes me look like a fool

Happy birthday Glen!

Not too surprising an update, but it does feel too specific to be a mistake. It's why I think there's still a chance Demon's Souls makes it into PC. Like, seriously, who behind-the-scenes keeps botching these?

I wish Nintendo would make a reasonably priced, stand-alone version of Bowser’s Fury, even if had to be exclusive to eShop. But again, they’re just not thinking of those that were onboard with the Wii U.

Ready to make my first 2021 post! It's been a long time coming, but it's finally done. After 165 hours of recorded game time (but surely 200+ hours in practice), I finally finished: Fire Emblem: Three Houses I feel so attacked right now After months and months of slow progress, I finally beat my first (and hopefully the longest) campaign in this game. I've been intentionally exploring as many aspects of the game as I could (trying to master several classes, complete every paralogue that came my way, went for a few rare beasts, read the vast majority of the dialogue, saw every single support, etc.), hence the long playtime. For future playthroughs, I'll likely be much more efficient, even if I keep focusing on the plot. As a whole, I actually liked the different pace of the game, compared to other FEs. In Garreg Mach, we can talk to our units during peace time, read up the lore at any time, interact with other characters in smaller situations that make sense, influence character growth and supports a lot easier... On one hand, it becomes easy to exploit the best paths, but on the other hand, Maddening exists. Loved playing as the Golden Deer, and I definitely enjoyed soaking the world's lore from that perspective. In fact, I love how this game possesses such a thick lore, but rarely spells it details out loud. So many reveals weren't reveals at all, but left for the player to find or figure out for themselves (or even just talked about in a different route). Also, it's fair to say Claude is now one of my favourite lords in the series, and I now want a prequel starring his parents, Blazing Blade style. Plot-wise, there's a lot to dissect, but I'm overall very pleased. It's a bold choice to do a grey conflict like this again (being able to choose any of the sides), but they actually managed to do it very well, and I enjoyed the results. The worldbuilding is fascinating, and its conveyed in a subtle way that reminds me of Elibe, which as high a praise as you get from me. Even without the lore, the characters on their own easily carry the game. The writing and voice acting are easily on the same level of Shadows of Valentia, and that helps in creating a huge lovable cast you can easily get attached to. I also want to give a shout out to Tea Time, a surprisingly good "Date Simulator", even if I think it still needs some extra polish. Shamir, why do you keep hurting me with truth? Gameplay-wise, I like all the toys we're given. The gauntlets, the gambits, the monsters, the combat arts, the utility spells, the various Rallies, the versatility of picking your dancer... Lots of good stuff, once you understand how it all mixes together. My main complaint is that the endgame jobs are so weirdly implemented (Why does Mortal Savant feel worse than Swordmaster? Why aren't Assassin, Fortress Knight, and Paladin considered Master Classes? How am I supposed to build a Great Knight? Why the fuck are fist-leaning classes barred from women? Heck, why are the Dark Magic classes male-only, when only 3 people learn dark magic, and two of those are women?!), resulting in a system that feels far more rigid than it should be. The DLC classes help in this regard, but I do think they're patching an issue that shouldn't be there in the first place. (P.S.: I don't like Divine Pulse, and that's all I'll say) Map design was unimpressive. A lot of missions had cool ideas in a vacuum, but bizarrely designed maps (like, a lategame map has a treasure chest in a far away corner, surrounded by enemies. If you risk going there, you're rewarded with... a Brave Sword that you can buy in Garreg Mach. Why even?). I thought the most impressive thing about the second half of the game is that you're implicitly encouraged to spare enemies and finish missions super quickly (something that barely any FE game has convincingly done), but I can't help but feel that this was a fortunate accident. Presentation-wise, a lot of fun has been made of jpeg oranges. Rightfully so, they're hilarious. But overall, the graphics are more than serviceable, what matters is that the anime cutscenes look great, and the art style is expressive, memorable, and bright. Music-wise it's phenomenal, with some impeccable music choices in key moments, using a soundtrack that's gorgeous on its own (I had listened to Chasing Daybreak before, but hearing it in context is to experience it properly). I'm also personally proud that I managed to avoid hearing a single note of God-Shattering Star until I reached that battle myself. There are a few other flaws scattered throughout the game, though to avoid rambling (like with the job system above), I'll just say that there are a lot of rough edges in design and/or writing through the game still. It's normal for a game of this scope, and minor in the grand scheme of things. I'm only saying that, as much as I loved this game, I'm not blind to its flaws. tl;dr Narrative..........5/5 Characters.......5/5 Mechanics........4/5 Map Design......2/5 Graphics...........3/5 Music................5/5 Game Length.................................................../5 Overall, an ambitious (but still excellent) game that accomplishes most of what it wants to do. Can't ask for more. It might be in my personal Top 3 for the series, but it's hard to say right now. In the future, I'll play the Cindered Shadows missions (I bought the DLC some time ago), followed by a Crimson Flower run. Just not right now. After finally felling this juggernaut, I can be content with 2020. As for 2021, it feels like an open book right now. I want to do more of my physical backlog, but I'm also pondering a potentially fun way to help thin out my digital backlog... Hopefully I'll put it into practice this month.