Your 2019 Gaming Diary

[Hero-of-Time]

I was wanting something to play while I had the Women's World Cup on in the background. I still had the itch to play something similar to Bloodstained and Dcubed made a good point in a thread about playing through the GBA games and DS Castlevania games. I've had the GBA games sat unplayed on my Wii U for a long time now and with being able to play them on the gamepad, I figured now would be a good time to play at least one of them.

I started Castlevania: Circle of the Moon last night. It took a while for the game to get going. I found the starting areas to be pretty bland and repetitive. The same old enemies just kept appearing but thankfully as I progressed further into the game these encounters became a lot more varied. I was happy that you got the ability to run very early on in the game. This was a minor gripe I had with Bloodstained in that you don't get the ability to dash/run fast until near the end of your adventure. I was also happy to find that I could grind early on. There was a  a large armoured enemy that was positioned right next to an entry point and he dished out a large amount of experience points. I just kept running back and forth between screens, constantly spawning and killing him, all the while racking up the exp and levelling up my character. Love it.

I'm quite enjoying the cards system that is in play. For the first half an hour I didn't really touch it but i've now unlocked a fair few of them and being able to mix and match to produce different abilities for your whip and character has been fun to play around with. At the moment i'm rocking an ability that gives me exp for simply moving. 

I'm going to assume the game is short. Here is my progress so far.

As you can see, i've only put in an hour and a half but i've already unlocked 36% of the map.

I've got a nice system going on at the moment. I get in from work, play Dragon Quest Swords for an hour, put the football on while playing this, once the match finishes I switch back to DQS for another hour of playtime and then when the evening match kicks off I go back to this.  

[Hero-of-Time]

I put a bit more time into Circle of the Moon, this evening.

The difficulty has really started to ramp up now. There's lots of areas that I need to traverse that are proving to be a pain to get through due to the amount of enemies that can poison you. The boss fights are also proving quite challenging. I fought Adramelech earlier and it took me ages to figure out a pattern and finally bring it down. I'm now pretty stumped on the Dragon Zombie boss. Methinks I'll do some level grinding and head back to previous areas to see if there are any secrets I've missed or cards that I need to collect. I suspect collecting more cards will help me in the battle. What I have at the moment is pretty limited.

I'm still enjoying the game and I quite like the challenge that it's giving me.

Also, Hugh is a bit of a douchebag, isn't he? Dude keeps giving me attitude during every conversation we have. 

[Aperson]

Made a bit more progress in Hollow Knight (Switch). I haven't played it in large bursts so far, in fact they've been rather tiny. But I did beat the False Knight the other day and got a new major upgrade in the Soul Burst or whatever it's called. Currently exploring around trying to find where I can go with my new upgrade, as is the norm with this genre of games.

 

I am also interested in setting Catlevania: Symphony of the Night, but priorities need to be set because Super Mario Maker 2 is nearly out. @Hero-of-Time Aside from the setting and the way your character attacks are there any key differences between Castlevania and Metroid in how you gradually open up new areas?

[Dcubed]

8 hours ago, GenericAperson said:

Made a bit more progress in Hollow Knight (Switch). I haven't played it in large bursts so far, in fact they've been rather tiny. But I did beat the False Knight the other day and got a new major upgrade in the Soul Burst or whatever it's called. Currently exploring around trying to find where I can go with my new upgrade, as is the norm with this genre of games.

 

I am also interested in setting Catlevania: Symphony of the Night, but priorities need to be set because Super Mario Maker 2 is nearly out. @Hero-of-Time Aside from the setting and the way your character attacks are there any key differences between Castlevania and Metroid in how you gradually open up new areas?

The Igavania CV games are structurally very similar to the Metroid games.  Progression wise, they’re very similar; but the biggest differences generally lie in the CV games stronger focus on narrative, the fact that boss battles are not always punctuated with new traversal abilities as a prize and that there are a LOT of items and abilities that you can acquire that aren’t necessarily tied to map progression (but rather they tie into the RPG-lite stat system as character progression).  

 

That being said, map progression can sometimes be a bit obtuse; as you will occasionally find areas that are only made accessible via an innocuous item or ability that doesn’t seem to be tied to map progression; but actually is.

 

Generally speaking though, you will almost certainly enjoy the Igavania titles if you like Metroid  

Edited June 26, 2019 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

9 hours ago, GenericAperson said:

I am also interested in setting Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but priorities need to be set because Super Mario Maker 2 is nearly out. @Hero-of-Time Aside from the setting and the way your character attacks are there any key differences between Castlevania and Metroid in how you gradually open up new areas?

Looks like Dcubed has already answered the question.  If you are interested in the game it's currently on sale on PSN but the sale price ends at midnight tonight.

[Glen-i]

Yesterday, I deleted my Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon file and started again. Because if Sword and Shield won't let me catch 'em all, then I'll just recruit them instead.

Already half through the main game, it's so good! The music is still amazing too.

Forgot how much attention to detail this game has. The models change their expression based on the dialogue picture that shows up. The partner Pokémon follows behind you a lot more closely during one chapter involving ghosts, he even freezes on the spot in fear if you get too far away. And during a section where a village writes you a letter to wish you well on your journey, Kecleon blatantly plugs his shop in the next town over.

[S.C.G]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Yesterday, I deleted my Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon file and started again. Because if Sword and Shield won't let me catch 'em all, then I'll just recruit them instead.

You know what? I was considering playing this game at some point soon, for similar reasons too but also because I really enjoyed playing Explorers of Sky as well.

I have a feeling that I'd probably enjoy it, I picked up Shiren the Wanderer a while back too with the intention to play through it but I might save that one for another time.

[Hero-of-Time]

I've made some good progress in Circle of the Moon over the past two evenings.

I've defeated a few more bosses, including the SOB that was the Dragon Zombie. I've also nabbed a few more cards and I think I'm only missing 3 or 4 more.

A lot of my time this evening has been taken up with level grinding. I read that Lilith offers some of the best exp in the game so I made it my mission to get the summon card that I needed and then go to the area where she spawns and do some good old exp farming. Doing this has levelled me to level 50. I'll keep doing this until the England match is finished.

While I was doing this, Lilith eventually dropped a Sage Robe. I'm going to assume this is a rare drop because the stat boost when equipped is pretty impressive.

Here's my progress so far.

[Glen-i]

11 hours ago, S.C.G said:

You know what? I was considering playing this game at some point soon, for similar reasons too but also because I really enjoyed playing Explorers of Sky as well.

Fair warning, it's super hard. Ranged attacks and multi hitting attacks are your best friend.

Seriously, Fury Swipes is legit one of the best moves in the game.

[Dcubed]

13 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I've made some good progress in Circle of the Moon over the past two evenings.

I've defeated a few more bosses, including the SOB that was the Dragon Zombie. I've also nabbed a few more cards and I think I'm only missing 3 or 4 more.

A lot of my time this evening has been taken up with level grinding. I read that Lilith offers some of the best exp in the game so I made it my mission to get the summon card that I needed and then go to the area where she spawns and do some good old exp farming. Doing this has levelled me to level 50. I'll keep doing this until the England match is finished.

While I was doing this, Lilith eventually dropped a Sage Robe. I'm going to assume this is a rare drop because the stat boost when equipped is pretty impressive.

Here's my progress so far.

Congrats! Dragon Zombie is probably the hardest boss in the game (save for the final boss).  Took me forever to be able to beat it!

 

I know COTM gets a bit of a bum rap amongst fans, but I still like it myself.  It's definitely not the best of the Igavanias, and the DSS system is a bit unbalanced to say the least, but I still have a good time with it whenever I play it.  It's still way better than Harmony of Dissonance! (Just think that Aria of Sorrow comes afterwards... AKA, probably the best one!)

[Hero-of-Time]

5 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Congrats! Dragon Zombie is probably the hardest boss in the game (save for the final boss).  Took me forever to be able to beat it!

It's such a nightmare to fight. You get attacked from every angle and it's hard to find any safe spot at all. Once you manage to get rid of one of the heads then the rest of the fight isn't that bad. I was so chuffed to bits to kill it, mainly because the item you get off of him allows you to finally move those blocks that had been mocking me for the best part of the game.

I ended up levelling up to level 60 last night and have now got the map percentage past 90%. I think I can go and fight the final boss now but I'll probably try and have a crack at the battle arena, once I get in from work. It's supposed to be quite challenging so i'm looking forward to giving it a whirl. I need to do it anyway if I want to collect all of the cards.

I'm hoping to have the game finished tonight.

Edited June 28, 2019 by Hero-of-Time

[Hero-of-Time]

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is complete! I ended up unlocking 100% of the map and nabbing all of the cards.

The last card was a bit of a nightmare to unlock. I think I spent about half an hour farming the same enemy over and over again in order for it to drop. Due to my level being so high, as well as collecting all the power ups, the final battle was stupidly easy. I just stood there and spammed the card attack that summoned a lightning bird. Poor Dracula didn't stand a chance.  

Great game and one i'm happy I finally got around to playing. It certainly filled the void that Bloodstained left and if this game is considered one of the weakest in the series then i'm in for a treat when I get around to playing the others.

 

[Jonnas]

On 28/06/2019 at 9:46 AM, Dcubed said:

the DSS system is a bit unbalanced to say the least

This is honestly my biggest gripe with the game. It's a mechanic that relies a lot on experimenting with 64 (iirc) combinations, it feels daunting, and worse of all, it depends entirely on being lucky with drops. The souls in the Sorrow duology also depends on luck, but the rates are good enough for the player to get something to work with. With CotM, there's a good likelihood you'll be stuck with 4-5 cards the whole game. (There's also a bland plot and a couple of difficulty spikes, but that's minor stuff)

Besides that, it's a solid Castlevania, so it never gets bad. And even in this series, that game's soundtrack stands out.

As for my recent gaming habits... I've been saving this update for when I finished Necrodancer... and that took a long time Well, this post is now my June update:

Crypt of the Necrodancer

Yes, I finally beat Aria Mode. That's what took me so long.

Unlike what you might've thought, I didn't play this due to Cadence of Hyrule. This is one I had been meaning to check out for a long time before @drahkon pestered me into finally buying it for the Switch.

For whatever reason, it hadn't clicked with me that this game used Mystery Dungeon mechanics. I usually hate those... but in this game, I loved them. I guess I don't like how "turns" work in those games (kinda rigid, but also looking kinda freeform), but when you add Rhythm into it, I no longer see it as a turn, and it's just a stylish action game that's dancing all the time. In fact, I don't even like playing as the Bard, since that breaks the illusion.

Aesthetically, I love everything about this game. The monsters, the characters, the music, the punny names, the Merchant (Freddy Merchantry is his name)... I guess the cutscenes feel oddly serious for how goofy the game is, but one can also interpret them as an "ironic" seriousness. I also highly recommend playing the DLC content, since that's where the game's best boss fight is located.

For serious flaws, Aria Mode is too hard to be part of the main story. Yeah, I beat it, since the game's fun and I wanted to reach that goalpost, but it's too much to expect of everyone who'd rather play this leisurely (they could let us use other weapons beside the Dagger, at least...). I'm also not a fan of how they suddenly change the rules for Story bosses (Dead Ringer needs to hit the gong for some reason! The Conductor is defeated via mechanics that weren't used until her battle! Every single Necrodancer phase introduced a new gimmick!).

But other than that, there's a already a lot of bang for your buck. I myself will probably play this a few more times, since it's a pretty fun Roguelike that's meaty without necessarily becoming too overwhelming. Tremendously fun idea.

Adventures of Lolo

I saw @Hero-of-Time's post about this game the other day and decided to take it for a swirl. I played the Game Boy game a lot when I was younger, so I already knew how the mechanics worked. I simply played this whenever I was watching TV or Youtube.

It's a cute, competent puzzle game. Game Boy game is better, though: more varied aesthetics, less garish colours, and Lolo's slower movement means you don't accidentally move a block half a tile like I did countless times in the NES game.

*ahem* Moving on.

One Night Stand

I figured I'd drop a flex for my recent sexcapades here.

I kid. This is a very short Visual Novel (which, according to recent claims from @Glen-i, are definitely videogames) I had on my Steam backlog. The premise is, you wake up on a strange girl's bed in the morning, and you get a limited number of decisions on how to act. Will you be nice? Cold? Will you respect her privacy? Search her wallet? Bail on her? Steal her clothes? A lot of possible ways the script and dialogue options can change.

There are 9 endings to see, and it took me 1-2 hours to see them all. The polite ones were endearing, the shady ones made me feel like a scumbag, and a couple of ones were legit funny. Plus, the Steam Achievement list draws attention to some neat pieces of dialogue.

Besides the premise, the art style is pretty memorable, looking like a series of watercolour pictures, making it look pretty dang nice. Like the art style in Hotel Dusk, but with fewer frames and more colour.

All in all, "neat" is the best score I can give it, which is reasonable, considering the low price. Gave me a fun night, but it's best if we stay just friends.

Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia

Rise of the Deliverance

Three Houses is almost upon us, so I decided to finally purchase the story DLC from Echoes. It's a collection of self-contained missions from the characters' backstories that produce rewards in the main game (items and additional conversations). A few stray thoughts:

• I dig these guerrilla-style missions. I think FE should explore the concept more often;
• The alternate objectives here (Defend, Escape, Rescue) were much more common in the Tellius/GBA days. I sure hope Three Houses uses them a lot more often;
• The Support conversations that came with this pack should've been in the base game. I know they were probably written after its release, but the DLC was available so soon after launch, it could've been a free update. Memory Prisms being DLC, that I can understand, but Support conversations are something else;
• Fernand was very well fleshed out, here. The idea of him liking chubby women is so minor and mundane, it's hilarious. Lukas also got a hell of a monologue. Really good dialogue all around, on par with the main game, if not better;
• I had forgotten how smooth the battle animations for this game are. I have the feeling Three Houses' choreography won't match what we see here, but it'll be fun to compare what each game was going for.

Snipperclips

Unlike other games I've been posting about, I didn't quite finish this one yet. I don't know when I will, but it's irrelevant. It's a sporadic playthrough for whenever there's guests. The reason I'm talking about this one now is because I recently had the opportunity to try the 4-player mode, as well as Party Mode. They're both wonderful, and I think I officially found the perfect party game.

I'm sure others can say it better than me, but this game is genius in its simplicity. It's easy to pick up, easy to understand, there isn't much dexterity required... And it's the most charming thing on my Switch. It's absolutely lovely, and easily the 2nd best game on the Switch, behind Smash Bros.

Severed

Finally, this is a game I had in my 3DS for a long time. I had heard good things about it ever since it was a Vita exclusive, so I got it at a discount a while back.

Much like Necrodancer, Severed is part of a genre I usually dislike: first-person dungeon crawler. And also like Necrodancer, I actually like this one. There are two clear reasons for this: First, there's a visible map on the top screen at all times, so I don't need to get dizzy/noxious looking at the protagonist's POV. Second, combat is super interesting.

This is a hack'n'slash controlled via stylus. It sounds very basic, but the geniuses behind this game managed to make it tricky, frantic, and deep enough to stay interesting the whole way. Every encounter has attacks that need to be countered, defences that need to be pierced, and targets that need to be prioritized. Plus, there's a skill tree that requires your own skill with the stylus in order to be filled. It's a blast.

The story is surprisingly good. It's mostly dependent on a sombre environment and aesthetic, achieved with an art style reminiscent of Samurai Jack, and beautiful ethnic-sounding music. It takes place in this alien, hostile, almost Lovecraftian world, in which every monster looks unique and grotesque. They don't seem to be inspired by real life myths or anything, it's all original monstrosities.

So yeah, after a playtime of 9 hours, I'm very pleasantly surprised. Didn't expect this game to be as good as it turned out to be.

Oh, and apparently, these guys also made Guacamelee? That's another one to check out.

  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)

-Adventures of Lolo (1989) Completed (June 8th)

-Severed (2016) Completed (June 24th)

-Crypt of the Necrodancer (2015) Beat (June 27th)

-One Night Stand (2016) Completed (June 28th)

-Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia - Rise of the Deliverance (2017) Completed (June 29th)

 

Currently Playing:

 

Will always be Playing:

-Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

-Snipperclips

 

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

Edited June 30, 2019 by Jonnas

[Glen-i]

Holy rhythm based gameplay! Batm... I mean, @Jonnas. Kudos on beating Aria Mode!

Legit impressive!

I guess I should point out that I completed the Story Mode in Mario Maker 2 yesterday. All levels done. The last one was kinda funny, but nothing too difficult.

I'm also trucking through Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, well, more like struggling. Game's still really hard. About three quarters through the main plotline and I'm almost at that moment. Those who've played it will know what I'm on about.

I've also finally started playing Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers. Man, the budget upgrade really shows. Still sports awesome character designs (well, expect the Amiimals, which look so out of place). Shout out to Mayor Panthado, who looks completely trustworthy. 

I'd vote for him.

Edited June 30, 2019 by Glen-i

[Ganepark32]

I've been meaning to post my gaming diary for the year for a bit. I've taken a different approach to playing games this year. I got majorly burned out on stuff towards the end of last year with so many big releases so I've been decided a more laidback approach is what I'm going for and that's meant replaying some smaller games and even going back and playing some of my favourites from years past amongst the newer releases this year. I'm not setting myself a target for completions of trophies/achievements either, just play what I want and hoping to enjoy them. This is what I've managed to get through so far this year:

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (PS4)
Metro Exodus (PS4)
Dishonored Definitive Edition (PS4)
Doom (2016) (PS4)
Mass Effect 1 (PS3)
Mass Effect 2 (PS3)
The Forest (PS4)
Mass Effect Andromeda (PS4)
Falcon Age (PS4)
Borderlands: Game of the Year edition (PS4)
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
Planet Alpha (PS4)
The Messenger (PS4)
Far: Lone Sails (PS4)
Jupiter and Mars (PS4)
Florence (Android)
Golf Peaks (Android)
A Plague Tale: Innocence (PS4)
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition (Xbox One)
Ryse: Son of Rome (Xbox One)
Human Fall Flat (Xbox One)
Thomas Was Alone (Xbox One)
Halo 2 Anniversary Edition (Xbox One)
Riverbond (Xbox One)
Quantum Break (Xbox One)
Trover Saves The Universe (PS4)
Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One)

So quite a varied bunch of titles, most of which I've enjoyed. Some, like Planet Alpha and Jupiter and Mars, we're visually great but poor on the gameplay side of things. Replaying the original Halo was nice as it's been so long since I've played it and it's been even longer since I played the second one so that was cool to go back to that, though the amount of effort that went into redoing the cutscenes seems disproportionate to the visual upgrades in game. 

I'd been wanting to play the Mass Effect games for a while and hooked up my PS3 to do so and loved every second of playing through them, even if the ports are a bit iffy in places. Even jumping into Andromeda was a great but sombre experience seeing that some of the glitches have been left unfixed because of the shut down of the studio and EA's washing their hands of the game. Waiting to pick up all the DLC for the third game before jumping on with it.

Forza Horizon 4 has been a superb game to jump into. Looks great, plays so well and I love driving round an abridged version of Edinburgh (seeing Stockbridge church was especially weird because my high school did services there at end of term). I absolutely love the game and looking to jump back into the 3rd one again as well to finish that up.

As for games from this year, I loved both Metro Exodus and A Plague Tale: Innocence. I was looking forward to the former and I was glad it met my expectations and the latter was such a great surprise to stumble upon. Loved the game and I just hope that word of mouth has meant that more people are trying it out now (it has been on offer in-GAME recently as well so worth checking out if you're interested). Though I've not finished them, both Outer Wilds and Void Bastards have been superb, especially the former. That game has just hooked me in massively and the whole Majora's Mask meets Metroid meets The Witness has been so good for short or deep dives in trying to unravel that universe.

Though not played in VR, Falcon Age was a great little game. As I say, Jupiter and Mars wasn't great gameplay wise and Trover Saves The Universe didn't click with me. It just felt it was trying to hard to be edgy and was just shallow (I should say that while I enjoy Rick and Morty, I have a similar problem with that trying to be too try hard). Indie game else, playing both The Messenger and Far Line Sails were great and I've still got Observation to sit down with.

Things will change in the coming months as I look to Control and Borderlands 3 and such so more bigger games but it's been great just playing whatever and enjoying playing things again.

[Hero-of-Time]

45 minutes ago, Ganepark32 said:

As for games from this year, I loved both Metro Exodus and A Plague Tale: Innocence. I was looking forward to the former and I was glad it met my expectations and the latter was such a great surprise to stumble upon. Loved the game and I just hope that word of mouth has meant that more people are trying it out now (it has been on offer in-GAME recently as well so worth checking out if you're interested).

I finally got around to picking this up late last week ( it was on sale on Amazon). I installed it on my PS4 yesterday evening and it will be my main gaming focus this week.

With the month of June over, here's what I played and finished.

• Gato Roboto (Switch)
• Dragon Quest V (DS/3DS)
• Cadence of Hyrule (Switch)
• Dragon Quest VI (DS/3DS)
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PS4)
• Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA/Wii U)
• Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4)
• Bird Game + (PS4)
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS4)

I actually got through more than I expected. With playing 2 Dragon Quest games in a row I thought that would hold me back from getting through anything else but that wasn't the case. I have to say, going through the DQ games has been an absolute joy. This also goes for playing through the Igavania games, all of which i've never played before. It's times like these why I like to keep my old consoles and games collection on hand. It's great being able to dip into older games whenever I get the urge to do so.

Looking ahead to this month, methinks i'll continue playing the GBA Castlevania games, with both Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow waiting on my Wii U to be played. I'm still playing through Dragon Quest Swords and, as I mentioned earlier,  A Plague Tale will be my focus on the PS4 this coming week, as well as finally getting to play Horizon: Chase Turbo that releases on PS+. Dragon Quest Builders 2 will also be releasing this month and it's the one game that I will certainly be getting at launch. 

Now that we've reached the halfway point in the year, here's the list of games that i've played and finished over the past 6 months.

Spoiler

8^th Jan – Moss (PS4)
11^th Jan – Alone Together (PS4)
12^th Jan – Zone of the Enders: The 2^nd Runner (PS4)
13^th Jan – No Heroes Allowed! VR (PS4)
13^th Jan – Accounting+ (PS4)
16^th Jan – Batman: Arkham VR (PS4)
19^th Jan  - Onimusha (PS4)
23^rd Jan – New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch)
29^th Jan – Resident Evil 2 (PS4)

1^st Feb – Two Crude Dudes (Switch)
5^th Feb – Kingdom Hearts 3 (PS4)
8^th Feb – Caveman Ninja (Switch)
9^th Feb – New Super Luigi U Deluxe (Switch)
10^th Feb – Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4)
15^th Feb – The Playroom VR (PS4)
18^th Feb – Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS4)
27^th Feb –Luigi’s Mansion (3DS)

1^st Mar – Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove (Switch)
3^rd Mar – Batman: Enemy Within (PS4)
8^th Mar – Devil May Cry V (PS4)
12^th Mar – Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4)
15^th Mar – Captain Toad DLC (Switch)
16^th Mar – Albedo: Eyes From Outer Space (PS4)
17^th Mar – Burly Men At Sea (PS4)
17^th Mar – Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn (3DS)
21^st Mar – Shining the Holy Ark (Saturn)
23^rd Mar – Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Switch)
23^rd Mar - Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove (PS4)
24^th Mar – Blaster Master Zero 2 (Switch)
24^th Mar – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (PS4)
26^th Mar – Yoshi’s Crafted World (Switch)
27^th Mar – The Walking Dead: Final Season (PS4)

1^st Apr – The Mummy Demastered (Switch)
5^th Apr – Metagal (PS4)
11^th Apr – Super Weekend Mode (PS4)
11^th Apr – Daggerhood (PS4)
13^th Apr – Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry (PS4)
19^th Apr – Assassins Creed II (PS4)
24th Apr – Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (PS4)
29^th Apr – SteamWorld Quest (Switch)
30^th Apr – Katana Zero (Switch)

3^rd May – Venture Kid (Switch)
4^th May – Days Gone (PS4)
9^th May - Overcooked! (PS4)
11^th May – Pokemon Ultra Moon (3DS)
11^th May – One Word Powgi (PS4)
11^th May – Midnight Deluxe (PS4)
11^th May – Storm Boy (PS4)
11^th May – Access Denied (PS4)
12^th May - Drowning (PS4)
18^th May – Suicide Guy: Sleepin Deeply (PS4)
18^th May – Ghost Giant (PS4)
19^th May – Team Sonic Racing (Switch)
24^th May – Zelda II: Adventure of Link (Switch/NES)
24^th May – Super Mario Bros. 2 (Switch/NES)
27^th May – Dragon Quest IV: The Chapters of the Chosen  (DS/3DS)
28^th May – Adventures of Lolo (Switch/NES)

2^nd June - Gato Roboto (Switch)
6^th June - Dragon Quest V (DS/3DS)
13^th June – Cadence of Hyrule (Switch)
21^st June – Dragon Quest VI (DS/3DS)
22^nd June – Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PS4)
28^th June – Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA/Wii U)
29^th June – Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4)
30^th June – Bird Game + (PS4)
30^th June – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS4)

 

[drahkon]

19 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Bird Game + (PS4)

I assume this is one of those "cheap and easy Platinum games"?  

[Hero-of-Time]

44 minutes ago, drahkon said:

I assume this is one of those "cheap and easy Platinum games"?  

Indeed. It was a way quick and easy way to make Castlevania my 300th.  

I've got a few of them just waiting in the stock pile. I usually buy them when they are on sale for £1.50-£1.99.  The guys over at Ratalaika Games seem to know what they are doing because just about every game they publish they make sure the trophies list is an easy one. Hell, sometimes they even publish a guide a day or two before they release a game. 

[drahkon]

4 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The guys over at Ratalaika Games seem to know what they are doing because just about every game they publish they make sure the trophies list is an easy one. Hell, sometimes they even publish a guide a day or two before they release a game. 

Seems like they know their demographic.  

[Hero-of-Time]

I started Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance yesterday evening and made quite a bit of progress, with me uncovering 51.1% of the map.

I was lost pretty early on in the game. For the life of me I couldn't find out where to go. I knew I needed either a key or an item to help me slide through gaps but I just couldn't find either of them. After walking around in circles I eventually found the Lizard Tale item. After nabbing that I was able to make some speedy progress. I also came across a good area for grinding experience points that had 4 Axe Armours in a row and an exit near by. I went for level 13 to level 20 in the space of around 10 minutes.  

The controls took a little getting used to. The way the L and R buttons work for dashing are a bit weird. Making it so that the dashing and backstep working depending on the way you are facing took a bit of getting used to. Still, despite this niggle i'm really enjoying the game. 

 

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I also came across a good area for grinding experience points that had 4 Axe Armours in a row and an exit near by. I went for level 13 to level 20 in the space of around 10 minutes.

[Hero-of-Time]

8 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Honestly, I freaking love it. I just find it so very satisfying. With playing a bunch of Dragon Quest games and Castlevania games it seems that's all i'm doing at the moment. 

[drahkon]

59 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Honestly, I freaking love it. I just find it so very satisfying. With playing a bunch of Dragon Quest games and Castlevania games it seems that's all i'm doing at the moment. 

You're living the best life.  

Right now, the games I'm playing don't allow for grinding.  But they're awesome, nonetheless.  

[Aperson]

Taken a break recently from playing Hollow Knight for obvious reasons, Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo Switch) came out recently and I've spent so much time creating levels on the game that I only got around to starting the Story mode today. Just completed the foundation of the castle.

 

The final boss better be the Undodog for starting this whole mess!

[Ronnie]

I've been playing a lot of smaller scale games lately, Cadence of Hyrule, Ori, Mario Maker... but now I'm in the mood to play a big meaty AAA potentially openworld game. Think it might either be AC: Odyssey or Shadow of the Tomb Raider as I can't think of much else that fits the bill.

Edit: wow, they're both £22 on Amazon, gaming can be so cheap these days.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Ronnie