Your 2019 Gaming Diary

[Dcubed]

Ahh man, that really sucks when you realise that you've got a pirated cart...

DS is absolutely infested with them on eBay now.  It's virtually impossible to avoid them sadly... though ironically, GBA isn't as bad as it used to be anymore!

What game was it? 

[Aperson]

4 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Ahh man, that really sucks when you realise that you've got a pirated cart...

DS is absolutely infested with them on eBay now.  It's virtually impossible to avoid them sadly... though ironically, GBA isn't as bad as it used to be anymore!

What game was it? 

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. I had an original DS (I say had because the hinge has been damaged far more than most regular DS' that break) and played through that game back when it came out, but never replayed it again because by that point the amount of games I had to play in a backlog were getting to ridiculous levels.

 

I also lost Partners in Time (which was also an American cartridge) while Superstar Saga isn't even mine so the only legit non pirated copy of a Mario & Luigi game I have now is Dream Team.

 

I have never liked having to shop online. People have told me that I should be looking a bit closer at what is actually being sold but consistent bad experiences with actually buying things off eBay mean that I would much rather shop on Amazon. Between Bowser's Inside Story, a fake Link to the Past GBA cartridge and a fake Pokemon HeartGold which I bought after seeing it was significantly cheaper than the rest (no wonder, the game froze occassionally, Voltorb Flip would not work and eventually I could not access my save file after changing the clock which saw me buy a legit SoulSilver cartridge from CeX... I even found two shinies on that HeartGold!) I have grown to be sceptical of online shopping and trundle on down to GAME to buy every new game when it's released rather than pre-order online and have it delivered.

Edited April 22, 2019 by GenericAperson

[Dcubed]

Yeah... shopping for DS games is very hard now.  It's very very hard to avoid fake copies now.

 

Thankfully GBA is nowhere near as bad as it used to be (and the availablity of games on the Wii U VC helps too), but DS is so bad right now.  I absolutely would never buy a DS cart unless I could either see it in person, or have a good photo of the circuit board beforehand.  There are just far too many fakes out there now.

[Aperson]

1 minute ago, Dcubed said:

Yeah... shopping for DS games is very hard now.  It's very very hard to avoid fake copies now.

 

Thankfully GBA is nowhere near as bad as it used to be (and the availablity of games on the Wii U VC helps too), but DS is so bad right now.  I absolutely would never buy a DS cart unless I could either see it in person, or have a good photo of the circuit board beforehand.  There are just far too many fakes out there now.

I can fully understand now why Nintendo finally decided to take action and install anti-piracy measures in their handhelds, the open nature region free properties of their previous handhelds were being exploited to the max with loads of fake software, like "99 Games in 1" on Game Boy.

[Aperson]

Still not been playing much lately, still Classic mode and Stage Builder for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch) and filling the Pokedex on Pokemon White 2 (Nintendo DS). I have now evolved all the Pokemon I can that don't require trades so now I'm breeding for pre-evolutions that you can't catch in the wild. I am still missing the Panpour and Archen lines so I don't think I will quite be able to complete the Pokedex but I'm getting close.

 

Both games have been time stallers and something to play really because I'm waiting for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age to come out on Switch this Tuesday. That is what I intend to be playing this coming month. It has a very similar battle system to Xenoblade Chronicles by the looks of things which is one of the reasons why I'm interested, and the remake fixes problems from the original game.

[Aperson]

Well, here we go, started Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Nintendo Switch). It's my first time playing this particular FF having never owned a PS2 back when it came out, only getting one later and even then never getting it myself while getting a PS2 because I'd heard the series saw a decline in quality after X. But, maybe XII was just ahead of it's time. My interest in this grew after finding out the similarities in playstyle between this and Xenoblade Chronicles and... they actually play quite a bit differently but with many similarities. Xenoblade gives you everything either from an arts pallet or on certain buttons while this game sees you change from standard attacks by using a menu. The tutorial with Reks gives you a good feel to the new battle system... then they kill him off. Thanks for that...

 

So, now playing as some Tidus like guy named Vaan and have just completed the Sunstone in Giza Plains.

 

 

 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Another month over and another batch of games completed.

The Mummy Demastered (Switch) 

I picked this up while it was on sale and had a great time with it. I'm a big fan of WayForward's work and this certainly disappoint. The game had issues when it first launched ( difficulty spikes, framerate problems ) but seeing as I played this well after that time I didn't encounter any of them thanks to a few patches. There was a good sense of progression within the game and I felt I was getting more and more powerful with every new weapon and power up that I came across. I also like how it kind of indicates what section of the map these power ups are found on. I hate the earlier Metroid games where you are essentially flying blind when looking for stuff and I much prefer this set up. 

MetaGal (PS4) + Daggerhood (PS4) + Super Weekend Mode (PS4)

I was in the mood for some good old trophy hunting games and these were the ones that were pretty cheap and looked quite fun. I was actually going to buy MetaGal on the Switch but I seen the trophies were super easy and went with the PS4 version instead. MetaGal was certainly the best of the bunch due to it being a bit of a MegaMan clone. Daggerhood was a great little platformer than had a very interesting teleporting mechanic. Again, quite a fun little game. Super Weekend Mode was easily the weakest of the bunch. It's a shooter but it has very fiddly controls and I found it a bit of a pain to get to grips with. Still, I do enjoy grabbing easy platinums every now and then and these certainly delivered. What's great is that they are crossbuy so I can earn some more on my Vita at some point.  

Assassin's Creed Freedom (PS4)

I woke up at 2am one morning and I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to see what games I had on my PS4 digital backlog and this popped out to me. With it being a short standalone adventure I figured it would be a good game to just blast through. I was happy to play through this because it's been quite a while since i've played a more traditional Creed game. It was also nice to not have a massive open world to roam around in, as well as being able to have ship battles once again. Also, I forgot how much I missed and enjoyed using the Berserk darts. Those things are so overpowered.  

Assassin's Creed II (PS4)

Playing Freedom got me in the mood to play through a classic mainline Creed game. I've had the Ezio Collection sitting on my shelf for a while now and I felt now was the time to crack it open and play through at least one of them.

Apart from the cutscenes and some of the character models, the game has aged pretty well. Some of the game mechanics and controls do feel a little fiddly though and sometimes it can be a bit awkward just trying to climb or move around. Ezio was always my favourite Creed protagonist and playing through this again really reinforced that. The guy is just so likeable...shame the same can't be said about Desmond and his crew. 

Going for the platinum proved a bit of a pain at times. The fact that there is no way to track what feathers you have found is a bit of a ballache but luckily there are plenty of guides kicking about now. I remember when I played it back on the 360 I had the official guide and a huge map laid out so I could tick them off as I went through them all one by one. I did enjoy playing through each of the tombs though. They had a certain classic Tomb Raider feel to them and I honestly wished there were more of them discover and explore.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (PS4)

I went straight on from Creed II to this. This has always been one of my favourite Creed games and you can really see that this is where the series really hit it's stride. The hiring, levelling up and using your assassins mechanic is a fantastic one and it's certainly one that I never got tired of using and seeing. Walking around the streets of Rome and then calling your assassins into battle, only for them to emerge from a haystack or mid air and take out enemies will always make me smile.

The game certainly feels more fluid than the second entry. Things like climbing are made slightly easier and the game is less picky about what can and can't grab on to while you climb buildings. You still need to learn the higher jump to make progress on some of the higher buildings but the general climbing seems so much better in this game.

I also enjoyed nabbing the platinum in this game. I don't think I ever got the full 1000/1000 on the 360 back in the day due to the game having multiplayer trophies but with these being removed for this version it made the game much more manageable. It did offer a nice challenge though when going for the il Principe trophy. This meant  I had to get 100% synchronisation for every mission in the game, including the DLC and side missions. I had to replay a few of them a couple of times, especially ones with a time limit but it's something I enjoyed doing very much.

What I loved about playing both of these games was how they were open world but they weren't stupidly oversized. These were made in a time before developers started trying to make massive worlds that offer very little of anything interesting to do in them and it was nice to play through open world games again that felt more compact and offered a more tighter experience. these also come from a time when the Creed games were still about being stealthy.

SteamWorld Quest (Switch) 

Image & Form have got quite the reputation for trying out new genres with each of the games. SteamWorld Tower Defense was....well the name says it all. SteamWorld Dig 1 & 2 were Metroid style games. SteamWorld Heist was a tactics game and the newly released SteamWorld Quest is a RPG card battling game. 

I loved this to bits and it's probably my favourite SteamWorld game. I don't have much experience in the card battling RPG genre ( only ones I can think of off the top of my head that I have played is Baten Kaitos and Pokemon: The Trading Card Game ) but the game does a fantastic job of teaching the player the mechanics of the game and at no point did I ever feel like I was overwhelmed by what I was being taught to do. The game is also pretty good in making a balanced experience for whoever is playing the game. At any point during your adventure you can switch the difficulty level up or down with any consequences. It's a nice touch and one that can help beginners get the most out of the game.

I found the characters and the writing to be hilarious. The interactions between them and the banter that each of them brings to the table was very much appreciated by me. I know a few reviews marked the game down as they thought the writing was cringe worthy and unfunny but I didn't find that to be the case at all. The following clip shows what kind of humour and banter to expect in the game.

There is a tremendous amount of different strategies that a player can come up. There are lots of cards to find and add to your deck and I found myself often chopping and changing cards to see what combos I could come up with. Of course you don't always have to do this. You can try and just brute force your way through the game or even just find a deck that works for you and stick without it through most of your adventure. Towards the end though you will have to start thinking a little about nulling status effects or inflicting them, especially on normal difficulty and above. I found that both poison and blind cards were invaluable in helping to see the end credits.

As I said, I love the game I encourage all Switch owners to give the game a go. If if you aren't a fan of RPGs or card battling games the developers have done such a good job of explaining things, keeping things fun and tailoring the game to the difficulty you want to play at, I think there's something for everyone to enjoy here. I clocked the game in around 11 hours so those worrying about it taking up a lot of their time need not be concerned about the game overstaying its welcome.

Katana Zero (Switch)

This is a game that jumped out to me immediately when I seen it during the most recent Indie Direct. It had an artistic look and flair about it that I really liked and i'm happy to report that the game is another fantastic indie game to hit the Switch.

You play as a hitman who is given various contracts of people who you have to take out. You do this by infiltrating areas and taking out the enemies one by one. The kicker to this is that while you can kill them all with a single blow, the same thing happens to you. If you get hit then the game rewinds and its back to the start of the stage you go. This isn't nearly as frustrating as you may think. The levels are broken up into nice little sections so even you do get killed you never feel like you have to go back that far. 

To get through the stages you have game mechanics such as slowing down time, which is great for hitting bullets back at enemies with your sword, a fast rolling dodge which will help you evade gunfire and the ability to pick up and throw random objects like bottles and knives. Doing things like kicking down a door so that the enemy behind it gets killed, rolling towards a bottle and picking it up to throw at the oncoming enemy, slowing down time to knock the bullet back towards an enemy that has appeared from a door behind you and then rolling thorough the gunfire of the last enemy in the room and finishing him off with your samurai sword is VERY satisfying. At times it makes you feel like you are in some kind of Japanese action movie. 

The game is beautiful to look at and the animations that are used in some of the scenes are fantastic. Some of them remind me of the earlier Monkey Island games only more detailed. Even some of the still images are fantastic to just stare at. For example...

What is a surprise in this game is the narrative. I wasn't expecting the game to have such an interesting story. I knew there were dialogue choices to be made but I wasn't aware that these choices would have an impact on the game. As I mentioned, the story is very interesting and it's just a shame that the game ends ( game is about 5 hours long )  just when things start to get interesting. Luckily the game has done stupidly well in terms of reception and sales so it looks like we will at least get a sequel to the game to carry on what has been started here.

Another thing to note is just how good the soundtrack is. Some of the tunes are absolutely fantastic and very fitting to the world the game is set in. Just like the story, I think the OST to this game is going to surprise a lot of people in terms of just how good it is.

 

Yup. I think this is another must buy indie game for the Switch. Highly recommended.

Edited May 1, 2019 by Hero-of-Time

[bob]

 
Assassin's Creed Freedom (PS4)
I woke up at 2am one morning and I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to see what games I had on my PS4 digital backlog and this popped out to me. With it being a short standalone adventure I figured it would be a good game to just blast through. I was happy to play through this because it's been quite a while since i've played a more traditional Creed game. It was also nice to not have a massive open world to roam around in, as well as being able to have ship battles once again. Also, I forgot how much I missed and enjoyed using the Berserk darts. Those things are so overpowered. [emoji3] 

The final boss guy in this is laughably easy because the game ends as soon as you kill him. He has like 20 bodyguards standing around him, but you can just run up to him and stab him without killing any of them, and without having to worry about escaping afterwards.

[drahkon]

@Hero-of-Time Man, Katana ZERO's OST truly is incredible. Love me some good old synthwave songs.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, drahkon said:

@Hero-of-Time Man, Katana ZERO's OST truly is incredible. Love me some good old synthwave songs.

Yup. I knew you'd appreciate it. It's easily one of my favourite soundtracks and games of the year so far.

[drahkon]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Yup. I knew you'd appreciate it. It's easily one of my favourite soundtracks and games of the year so far.

Isn't it supposed to be released on PS4 eventually? Would love to get my hands on it.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, drahkon said:

Isn't it supposed to be released on PS4 eventually? Would love to get my hands on it.

Most indie games end up on all the platforms at some point but I don't think there has been any word yet about a PS4 or Xbox version of this game.

[drahkon]

Well...nothing really new for me in April.

Path of Exile is taking up the majority of my gaming time these days. It's such a great game. Started getting into the endgame and I don't really understand what I'm doing but it looks like I'm making progress. And it's fun, so yay  

Apex Legends is still there and still enjoyable.

My mate and I haven't played Styx: Shards of Darkness much because one of us is always busy when the other is not. We did, however, finish two missions and it was a blast.  

Next two weeks I'll be on vacation in Bucharest so no gaming then  

[Aperson]

Still playing Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Nintendo Switch). Party are getting close to double digits in terms of levels and I have reached the point in the game where you have to take an airship to Bhujerba to save Penelo.

 

I must say I'm really not sure about the Gambit system, with the options available to you it kind of makes sure you can deal with any situation. Early on in the game enemies didn't feel threatening enough to be able to overwhelm your Gambits. I appreciate bringing game elements of ATB from FFIV-IX and combining them with a more seamless design but... maybe I've been spoiled by the Xenoblade games from which MonolithSoft clearly used FFXII as their template. In FFXII fights feel inconsequential as the music doesn't change whenever you get into a battle and you can just not do anything and have the other character hack the opponents to death. Boss battles don't really feel that more involved, a few extra reactions are needed from the player but the fact that you can use Gambits to cover party healing means that it wasn't until the following boss where a party member got taken out... which just so happened to be my mage :/

 

 

Also, huge shout out to the "stealth" section. It is the most stealthiest stealth section I've ever seen, where you pretty much tell everyone exactly where you are and then run away using the level design to get them to move to a different location and not get caught. It's kind of hilarious.

 

 

[Aperson]

Been a while since my last update, so here's more on my current playthrough of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Nintendo Switch).

 

Game has certainly grown on me some more and I have just got my first Esper after finishing the Tomb of Raithwall. For context, the story has combined all six of the main party members together now and I found another boss that I got stuck on, the Judge... but only because I accidentally equipped Penelo with an accessory that causes permanent Silence. And she's the White Mage on the team. Anyone who has previously played any Final Fantasy game can understand the problem right there xD.

 

 

 

 

Shoutout to the Moogles aboard the Dreadnought

 

 

 

I had obviously passed that point and made my way across the Sandsea section which somehow looks familiar in design even though I can't quite place it. Big area with a lot of dead ends but it's a bit samey if I'm to be perfectly honest.

 

Also unlocked Quickenings, which remind me of Xenoblade Chronicles' chain attacks

 

 

Got to the Tomb of the Raithwall and... oh no, they brought back the Demon Wall from Final Fantasy VII!

 

 

I love the design of this thing but after deciding to fight the first one... I got a Game Over because it squashed me. Whoops!

 

Anyway I got the Esper at the end of the dungeon and have just left. This is the point where I am at.

[Jonnas]

After what felt like ages, I finally uninstalled Fire Emblem Heroes. The laguz injected a ton of life into it, but the amount of stuff to do was getting to me again. Plus, the Legendary Hero battles (which are the most fun maps in the game) are available for a limited time, and I'm not going to wait for them every month. At this point, I'm probably letting it rest until Brave Eliwood gets released.

(Incidentally, the burnout extends to the FE Awakening run, which I'll pause for now. I should be able to hop back in at a later date)

Also, I finally started the World of Light in SSBU! I'm probably gonna play it very sporadically, though.

With that in mind, I finished other games recently:

Furi

An incredibly fun and satisfying boss-rush game. Feels like what I imagine Dark Souls to be (didn't play that one yet). The bullet hell segments can sometimes drag a bit, but even then, I can dash around the place, charge a shot of my own, or even charge up my blade, Battousai style. It's all very satisfying.

Aesthetically, everything from the art style to the animation to the plot of this game reminds me of off-the-wall Anime from the late '90s and early '00s, like Afro Samurai, Trigun, etc. Super stylish. Music also fits the style very well, but unlike @drahkon, it's not the kind of thing I'd hear in my spare time.

Check the April N-E Game Club thread for a few more impressions. French voices work great in this game.

 

Noitu Love 2: Devolution

A fast-paced beat'em up that I cleared in an hour or two. I originally had bought it for Steam, but then saw a 3DS version without the 2 up for grabs for a few gold points and got it. I thought "Hey, I'll play the first one here, then move on to the sequel on Steam". Turns out, it was the same game all along! The first one was an experimental flash game made a long time ago, then came the more polished sequel as a full game, and when releasing that sequel on the 3DS, they removed the "2" from the title for seemingly no reason.

Anyway, misunderstandings aside, this is a game controlled with d-pad and mouse/stylus. You beat up baddies by clicking/tapping on them, and there are a few other moves you can do with this scheme (like a dash attack, or a screwattack variation). Not a bad idea, but the way it controls felt super janky for me, a lot of times the game didn't do what I told it to do. But worst of all, I just didn't find it that engaging or fun (aside from the frequent bosses, which were admittedly the most fun I had here). If it wasn't so short, I might have dropped it.

That said, for those who do like how it plays, don't let its short length fool you: it's a replay-heavy game. 3 difficulty levels, 3 distinct playable characters, and every level is ranked, so aiming for those A or S ranks might just be your general goals for this game.

You may also notice that the art is from the same guy who did Iconoclasts. The spritework and art direction are by far the best things about this game, imo.

 

Fairune

Basic Zelda/Dragon Quest clone, but very enjoyable. Combat is basically non-existent (exclusively level-based), but the puzzles and exploration bits are pretty decent, with a steady difficulty curve and even some tricky points. Overall great to play during breaks. It's roughly 2-3 hours, and for the price I paid (2,49€), it's perfect, especially for genre beginners. I may check out the sequel at one point.

Hopefully I can continue clearing up my backlog this quickly.

  My 2019 log (Hide contents)

Played/Beat/Completed:

-Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (1994) Completed (January 30th)

-Dr.Mario (1990) Completed, I guess (March 18th)

-Furi (2016) Beat (May 1st)

-Noitu Love 2: Devolution (2008) Beat (May 9th)

-Fairune (2014) Completed (May 12th)

 

Currently Playing:

-Crypt of the Necrodancer (2015)

 

Will always be Playing:

-Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

 

Dropped/Hiatus

-Tetris 99 (2019) Never won

-Super Mario Bros. DX (1999) Bad port

-Fire Emblem Awakening (2012) Hiatus

-Fire Emblem Heroes (2017) Need a heavy break

 

[Aperson]

 

Still playing through Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Switch). While this game has been a bit of a slow burner and some aspects I've needed to get used to... it's really starting to ramp up now. Just come off of a major story event which has upped the ante somewhat and this game's soundtrack is really growing on me. While they couldn't get Uematsu for this one, the guy they got in place delivered a pretty solid soundtrack with some quality pieces of music right up there with the previous games even if it's not immediately obvious. Ozmone Plains has an especially great tune.

 

If anyone here enjoyed the Xenoblade game and played previous Final Fantasy games I highly recommend this one now if you've never played it before.

 

Turns out even with the Gambit System on the game can still be pretty intense, especially during boss fights. I was fighting Tiamat and switched to my usual boss strategy... only for him to be a Reflect spammer and forcing me to use Dispel if I wanted to do any magic damage to it. This type of battle system, like in Xenoblade, does place a lot of focus on the summons/limit break type moves moreso than standard spells and the way they are implemented feels exactly like Xenoblade... guess MonolithSoft had a game of reference for this.

 

I am just about to leave Mt Bur-Omisage after about 27 hours of gametime, though the time may have been exaggerted by leaving the game on pause... whoops.

Anyway, here are a few tweets from my recent play sessions

 

 

 

 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I forgot to post what I had played last month.

• Venture Kid (Switch)
• Days Gone (PS4)
• Overcooked! (PS4)
• Pokemon Ultra Moon (3DS)
• One Word Powgi (PS4)
• Midnight Deluxe (PS4)
• Storm Boy (PS4)
• Access Denied (PS4)
• Drowning (PS4)
• Suicide Guy: Sleepin Deeply (PS4)
• Ghost Giant (PS4)
• Team Sonic Racing (Switch)
• Zelda II: Adventure of Link (Switch/NES)
• Super Mario Bros. 2 (Switch/NES)
• Dragon Quest IV: The Chapters of the Chosen  (DS/3DS)
• Adventures of Lolo (Switch/NES)

I think most of what I played has been discussed in other threads, so I won't going to in each of them here. I did go through a phase of playing a bunch of garbage, quick and easy platinum games purely because I couldn't be bothered to play anything worth while on my PS4. I think Days Gone has killed my desire to play anything decent on the PS4.  Highlights of the month were definitely Ghost Giant ( fantastic VR game ) and replaying Dragon Quest IV, a game I haven't played in around 10 years.

[buenavides]

Here are some of the games that I look forward to playing the moment they got a release in the market: 

The Sinking City

Super Mario Maker 2 - this game will bring back so many memories of my childhood. LOL 

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order 

Control

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

[Jonnas]

Here's a few games I finished recently:

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

I found this one used for 20€ in Frankfurt last year. A bargain, if you ask me. I only got around to starting it in the middle of May, and after figuring out how to set it to English (you must keep L+R pressed while starting the console. Wtf, Konami?), I finally got back into the Metroidvania genre in a big way.

As you'd expect, it's really solid. This was their first entry for the DS, but they really took the opportunity to improve the game graphically, with 3D elements in the environment, big detailed bosses, and a lot of returning monsters from the previous game with new and improved sprites. Not to mention the excellent music the series as accustomed us to.

Of course, there's the infamous art style change. The beautiful gothic artwork by Ayami Kojima, so commonly associated with the series, was nowhere to be seen here, replaced with some generic-looking Anime faces. This is a game with returning characters, too. But honestly, I don't mind it too much for this game. Aria of Sorrow's storyline was fairly serious, featured a bold direction for Dracula, a journey of self-discovery, and a subversion of character roles, so Kojima's art style felt poignant to the whole thing. By comparison, Dawn of Sorrow's plot feels like a Saturday morning cartoon, with some cool dudes going on a cool adventure. So, even if it looks ridiculous at times, I don't think it clashes too much with the overall experience (Portrait of Ruin is another story, though)

But honestly, all of that aside, I was just happy to play a new Castlevania, like I never expected. The soul system is a strict improvement over Aria of Sorrow, since we now have more souls, boss souls always drop, and the game keeps track of how many souls you have (so, easier to 100%). Finally, the ability to farm souls to forge weapons is pretty cool, and a good way to tie equipment into the game's main mechanic. Plus, the "Doppelgänger" soul allows you to have two distinct set-ups, meaning you can change between two entirely different playstyles on the fly. I enjoyed having a luck&movement-based kit for general exploration (Axe Armour + Flying Armour/Bat Company + Spears), with a strength-focused kit for sturdy foes and/or emergencies (Hell Boar + Manticore + Axes). They were night and day, but each one was incredibly fun in their own way. And of course, I started using more set-ups when it came to farming specific monsters, or beating Boss Rush quickly. I honestly wish we could save more than two set-ups!

The only flaw was the magic seal system, a useless obstacle that just screams of "Let's take advantage of the DS's gimmick!". And to be fair, reviewers were oddly fixated on that at the time.

I was having so much fun that, when taking a break from this game, I actually went back to Aria of Sorrow and beat Julius Mode in a couple of hours (something I hadn't done before)*. And then I kept playing this one, got all the endings, and 100% souls. I would've beat Julius Mode here too, but after zipping throughout the castle several times with the Black Panther soul (no relation to the movie), re-exploring it as a regular Belmont movement feels like a screeching halt. So, I'll cool off, and do that playthrough at a later date, like I did with Aria.

I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, seeing as Castlevania environments tend to feel repetitive from game to game, but I guess the series is more effective when you play one only once in a while...

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

*I played Julius Mode on a whim, took me a  couple of hours. Totally holds up.

Chase: Cold Case Investigations

~Distant Memories~

This is one of the games I got for a handful of Gold coins from My Nintendo. Something about this game caught my attention: the fact that it was made by former Cing staff. The director in particular, Taisuke Kanasaki, he was the man who helmed Hotel Dusk, Last Window, and the Another Code series way back then. And now that I said that, the guy on the right up there looks an awful lot like Kyle Hyde, doesn't he? It's even more noticeable in-game.

The setting is a police precinct in Japan, namely the Cold Case unit, which reopens and investigates old crimes when new information arises (you might be familiar with police procedure TV show Cold Case, which follows a similar formula). The two people working there are the young, inexperienced and optimistic Koto Amekura and the grizzled cynical veteran Kyle Hyde  Shounosuke Nanase. The writing is 100% Cing. The mostly serious tone, the occasional moments of deadpan comedy, the part where Nanase goes into "introspection mode"... And it's really good, from the endearing contrast between the main characters, to the engaging way that the case is slowly unravelled.

Now, this isn't quite like Hotel Dusk. There's no exploration segments or creative puzzles. This is strictly a visual novel where you get to fill some blanks when asked details about the case, and examine the occasional photograph. It's very short, too, since it's only one case, lasting about two hours. In fact, this feels more like a demo (or a "pilot" episode) featuring the general structure of a full game that doesn't exist (this was released three years ago, but no sequel or follow-up has ever been announced).

A damn shame, since this did seem to have a lot of potential... A Cing game through and through.

  My 2019 log (Hide contents)

Played/Beat/Completed:

-Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (1994) Completed (January 30th)

-Dr.Mario (1990) Completed, I guess (March 18th)

-Furi (2016) Beat (May 1st)

-Noitu Love 2: Devolution (2008) Beat (May 9th)

-Fairune (2014) Completed (May 12th)

-Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003) Julius Mode (May 18th)

-Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2005) Beat (May 31st)

-Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~ (2016) Completed (June 6th)

 

Currently Playing:

-Crypt of the Necrodancer (2015)

-One Night Stand (2016)

-Adventures of Lolo (1989)

-Severed (2016)

 

Will always be Playing:

-Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

 

Dropped/Hiatus

-Tetris 99 (2019) Never won

-Super Mario Bros. DX (1999) Bad port

-Fire Emblem Awakening (2012) Hiatus

-Fire Emblem Heroes (2017) Need a heavy break

 

[Aperson]

So, um, when was my last update?

 

*checks thread*

 

May 18th? Yikes, I've done quite a bit since then.

 

I still haven't finished Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Nintendo Switch) but then again I haven't necessarily been playing it consistently. I want to finish the game before Mario Maker 2 comes out but the problem is with me and FF games, I simply do not see it enough to finish the game, I want to be able to get the best spells and weapons possible so after Giruvegan and The Great Crystal I took a break from the story having pretty much the entire map of Ivalice unlocked and started exploring side quests and areas for the equipment I want to get. Granted, this trend of mine dates back to Final Fantasy VI which had an endgame structure that was open ended so you could do anything in any order you wanted before choosing when to take on the final dungeon (oh hey, FFVI was doing Breath of the Wild well before Breath of the Wild).

 

So yeah, I have made a considerable amount of progress and here are my levels:

 

 

3 guesses as to who the main three characters I use are

 

So yeah, I trecked through Mosphoran Highwastes, The Salikawood, Phon Coast, Tchita Uplands and the Sochen Cave Palace in order to reach Archades. The story then took me through the Feywood to Giruvegan and The Great Crystal where I obtained the third story esper and the last quarter of the game came up, which I thought was a good time to seriously consider doing sidequests and getting the best magic. I have obtained the Scathe spell after taking inspiration from Xenoblade Chronicles and running through high level monster areas while trying to avoid fighting said monsters and taking massive damage as a result. The same thing happened with The Great Crystal, of which I had to use a guide to help me through to get the spells I wanted because that place is so confusing...

 

 

 

 

(no, seriously, it took me multiple tries to beat this boss because it kept inflicting my party with Stop so I couldn't do anything to it, it also hits like a truck.)

 

 

(This is no longer relevant anymore because Scathe pretty much is better than any of these spells)

 

Also been playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo Switch) purely for the Mii Fighter tournament and Stage Showcase videos I've done over on my Youtube channel #ShamelessPlug. I already posted the videos in the Smash Bros. thread though so you have already seen them.

 

The last game I've been playing is Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (PS2) a game I've owned for many years and which has had by far the longest time spent in the PS2 out of any game in my collection but mostly because I use it as a means to watch football matches and edit the data to try and make it more accurate to the season it's supposed to represent. The acquisition of an Elgato last year really brought this back to the spotlight for me though as after so many years editing I finally had a way to show these online so I decided to record the matches. However... that doesn't really count as me playing the game personally so I went and did the American Cup with Brazil... forgetting that I had already won the American Cup with Chile on my option file. Whoops. Oh well. I then did the African Cup which I had never done before and with edited International squads that are more true to what they actually were at the time I took Senegal to the final where they beat Tunisia to win the African Cup. Mahmadou Niang and Diomansy Kamara were beasts for me and scored hattricks during the course of the competition. So I've added the African Cup to the PES Museum.

 

 

Returing to FFXII for a brief moment because I have one more tweet from the previous batch to post but since spoiler boxes tend to glitch out for me I had to move it towards the bottom of the page.

[Aperson]

So yeah, finished Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Nintendo Switch) the other day. Here is me facing the final boss:

 

Overall a pretty solid game. If you like Xenoblade and Final Fantasy I would recommend you give this game a go, but do be warned that the story isn't particularly great and is more focused on the world around the characters than the actual characters themselves. However, the map design is some of the best in the series.

 

I may yet go back to the game at a later date to try Trial Mode and to finish the Gilgamesh Hunt which I never finished because the second fight he's at Level 70. If anyone is curious these were my final levels that I was facing the final boss in the video above.

 

However, I think with Super Mario Maker 2 due out it might be a good time to go back and play Super Mario Maker (Wii U) in preperation.

 

[Aperson]

Started playing Super Mario Maker (Wii U) for Youtube, recording myself trying to remember how levels I designed three to four years ago were built. First episode went up today.

 

 

 

Also recently bought Hollow Knight (Switch). It was on my indie game watch list and it's gotten great reviews in the past so I thought while it was on sale I would buy the game... it is the game that forced me to delete software on Switch to make way for Hollow Knight. I have yet to start playing the game...

[Dcubed]

On 6/18/2019 at 6:17 PM, GenericAperson said:

Started playing Super Mario Maker (Wii U) for Youtube, recording myself trying to remember how levels I designed three to four years ago were built. First episode went up today.

 

 

 

Also recently bought Hollow Knight (Switch). It was on my indie game watch list and it's gotten great reviews in the past so I thought while it was on sale I would buy the game... it is the game that forced me to delete software on Switch to make way for Hollow Knight. I have yet to start playing the game...

That's a really neat idea, doing developer Let's Play commentary on your own levels! Enjoyed watching that 

 

Maybe I can do some for my own... I put a lot of care and thought into the design of my own ones... Would be a nice way to get myself back in the groove for SMM2!

[Ronnie]

Just 100%'d Ori and the Blind Forest (except for that no dying run, F that). Fantastic. The movement and traversal is amazing once you've unlocked most of the skills, just a joy to play through. Can't wait of the sequel, looks even more lovely.

Edited June 25, 2019 by Ronnie