darksnowman

Yes, that's it! It had slipped my mind that Abyss followed Symphonia and with it being "unleashed" on the PS2, they had a recipe for success. I've been making some decent progress in Vesperia--got the boat, it looks like the party is solidifying after some regular comings and goings, and I'm up to the desert area. I didn't think I was skimping on levelling as I've been battling for gald to buy regular weapon and armour upgrades, but when new members join the party they are routinely stronger than the guys I have. Whether it's right or wrong, I've been seeing new party member levels as guidance for where I should be. Battling for the gald needed to upgrade everyone at each new town is pretty time consuming so I'm not sure if that's a good approach--so much so that for the desert area I gave up on it entirely. There, all I did was catalogue some enemies and sprint through. Just prior, I had bother with a bat boss in the cave leading to the desert, which I beat the old fashioned way by reloading the last save and making sure to come back with an almost-full inventory. Though the limit of fifteen of each healing item kept things interesting. Afterwards, I started to think that I should juggle the party based on the enemies in each area as my A-team of physical hitters had bother reaching the airborne bats, and then again with the boss on the far side of the desert. But I dunno, I'm okay with benching the kids and letting the "adults" be the heroes here. Otherwise, I grabbed the (free) DLC packs. The contents of these are gels, gald, levels! Why would I use these? I'm collecting the grade points so you must be able to carry stuff over for easier new game +'s, so why break the game on your first time through? I don't get it.

Sounds like Mario's turning circle just hasn't aged as well as I'd like to remember, then! Turning him when shell-surfing must have been a bit of a struggle. Even outside the blue coins, some of the stars in Sunshine are stinkers. Best of luck with that endeavour! Self-bannable offense to be fair...!

Nicely done, @Hero-of-Time. I was close to pre-ordering this All-Stars collection but I resisted, and continue resisting. Every day I forget about it a little more. It seems you are weaker. I'm pretty certain I've only played Mario 64 on the N64 and DS. The N64 games I did go on to play on Wii Virtual Console felt real weird on the Classic Controller, so do you think it is just that Mario 64 (maybe the N64 in general) doesn't translate well to re-releases due to the differences in the controllers themselves, or is it just a problem with how they ported it to Switch? Will you 100% Sunshine??

Just remembered about the new transfer photo to device option, so here is a quick snap I took the other night. Tom Nook and Isabelle were overrun with us lot piling into the Townhall! @Glen-i@BowserBasher@Sméagol@Sofiz@RedShellBluestar Well, Toy Day,. Here it is at last. The only December recipes I've got so far are from the Snowboys so I'm looking forward to seeing what I can snag from Jingle to Christmas my island up a bit!

Thanks again for planning and organising all that, @Glen-i! Merry Christmas to you and @BowserBasher, @Sméagol, @Sofiz, @RedShell and Bluestar!

Flatters to deceive, you reckon?

I will send something later this afternoon. It can literally be anything? No Secret Santa cost restrictions or anything? Just downloaded the phone app and it is even emptier than I imagined. I think I'll be deleting it on the flight back from your island later. Thanks for organising this!

Enjoyed the demo during the October sale and plan to get the full game. It seems to go on sale frequently (currently £4) but I think I'll pass for now as I don't think I would immediately play it. As a side note, after playing the demo, I pegged Yoku's Island Express as a game that would be up your alley as there is a hint of Soul Bubbles about it!

Since you want us to tell you everything, then I'd advise you to start researching controllers and putting money aside for one because you're on the countdown to your Joy-Con joystick drifting. And if you like roguelikes, Shiren the Wanderer recently came out on the eShop.

So he does a Direct for Super Nintendo World but Kinder World just gets a casual mention in this interview??

Since you mention FF X and X-2, you might want to look into Dragon Quest XI. Luigi's Mansion 3 and Mario & Rabbids are also great, as mentioned already, and you could always check out Link's Awakening if you fancy a charming and concise Zelda game.

Perfection. Does after 8pm work for you later? I can maybe jump on sooner so I'll keep an eye out for your response.

"Have a garbage day!"

When I said you could do it in ~4 hours @Hero-of-Time I didn't mean sub 3! Amazing. Well, that's Christmas over for another year, then.

I bought Cat Quest when it was on sale a few Christmases ago. It has a fun personality and the gameplay is absolutely fine for what the game is going for. For 99p you can't really go too wrong if you fancy some questing.

I have one of those eShop tickets going spare, and needing to be redeemed by mid-March. TWEWY is eligible and would be ripe for a replay before the new game, but it sounds like it isn't worth the time or the money.

What's so special about Abyss, then? I skipped it on 3DS as reviews and impressions weren't great at all.

Right you are. Standing by!

Pirates, you say! I had forgotten that tidbit (if I ever knew it). I also got done in in an early map by forming up around a bridge and expecting the baddies to funnel over to me... if nothing else it gave me a chance to utilise the retry turn option.

We still haven't met up so I can't send you in-game post.

Maybe they are working on a Mario Warriors game instead.

Downloaded this for a tenner in the recent sale. I was unsure about was going digital as I would have preferred to have the cart and box, but a bargain is a bargain. I've only played Phantasia (GBA) and Symphonia I & II and immediately Vesperia has clicked with me. Interesting to read back in this thread about the battle controls and artes not feeling right. Now that I think about it, something about the combat doesn't seem as good or flowing as I remember in the Symphonias. If not for this thread, I would've put that down to me still being in the initial stages--recently got overlimits so I am very much still in the "learning the game" phase. I got wiped out by an early forest boss (wiped out so hard that I thought it was a forced death or a New Game + boss) so there could well be something on the tactical side I haven't figured out yet. Would be nice to carry more than 15 of each item as the party seem to show no mercy at burning through gels as soon as their HP or TP bars begin to deplete, which is something I am trying to find a happy medium for. For all these years, I thought the main character looked like a Sheena rip-off, and with the kid that looks like Lloyd, and the dog being sort of similar to Noishe, I figured Vesperia was just Symphonia for the HD non-Nintendo crowd. Needless to say I am happy to be proved wrong.

With a name like Persona 5 Strikers this should be a Mario Strikers crossover instead of a Warriors game.

I had a feeling DKC 3 might be added on Christmas day but I'll take it a week early.