Your 2025 Gaming Diary

[Dcubed]

It’s done by the same people who made Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons @Glen-i.  Pure co-op only (kind of the developer’s shtick).

I would get it… but the file size on Switch 2 (and every other platform) is quite frankly, frightening.

[Cube]

14 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

It’s done by the same people who made Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons @Glen-i.  Pure co-op only (kind of the developer’s shtick).

It's the same director, but he founded his own company for A Way Out. 

Plus, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is designed as a single player game, you just control two people with one controller. 

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, Cube said:

 

Plus, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is designed as a single player game, you just control two people with one controller. 

Indeed. I could actually play that game (loved it) but have no way of playing these newer games.

[nekunando]

 

 

Must be getting close to half way in Travis Strikes Again and it's just feeling like a game to burn through, tick off and move on.

I think Tunic and Daemon X Machina are both on the 'Delete' pile. Certainly wouldn't be wasting precious Switch 2 space on them 😅

[Cube]

Tales of Symphonia

 

Good lord, this one took a very long time. And there were a load of side quests that I didn't do as well. That said, even though I was ready to be done well before the end, I still very much enjoyed it.

The combat not being turn based was a very pleasant surprised and I found manual mode to be the best way to play. It's also interesting that you could have friends join you in the fights, although it would be a lot of doing nothing between the fights (I suppose you could take turns of walking around). I found the combat to be quite enjoyable, although some bosses were crazy with damage. 

The story and characters I also liked a lot, and there were a lot of plot twist (and a lot of devastation that you end up causing), although also some moments of the main characters not figuring obvious stuff out too late, like when a character mentions that their shop is named after their mother - the shop having the name of a character important to Lloyd and Genis, but thankfully it's just a few little moments.

The dungeons had some interesting puzzles, but they were so large with a lot of trekking back and forth to the different parts of the puzzle. And then when you get to the end, you often have to walk all the way back out as well. Some of the later quests are also a lot of ferrying back and forth (that gnome dungeon was horrible) and when you have to revisit dungeons, there's nothing new, you just walk through the completed dungeon. The characters even complain about how boring it is walking through the finished dungeons again...

 

But still, it's a great game and I liked the characters enough that I'm tempted to check out the Wii sequel at some point. 

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, Cube said:

 

But still, it's a great game and I liked the characters enough that I'm tempted to check out the Wii sequel at some point.

 

 

Absolutely under no circumstances should you ever touch the Wii sequel, especially if you enjoyed the original game!!

It’s a complete travesty!

[Glen-i]

He's right. It's terribad!

Tales of Symphonia is @Ugh first aid's most favourite game of all time, and even she hates the sequel!

[Cube]

@Dcubed @Glen-i is this from a gameplay perspective or story perspective? Because if the former is the problem, I can use cheats to put up with it.

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, Cube said:

@Dcubed @Glen-i is this from a gameplay perspective or story perspective? Because if the former is the problem, I can use cheats to put up with it.

Both.  It’s a shit game in every respect.  A complete insult to the original TOS.

If you want a decent follow up game? Play Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Vesperia or Tales of Eternia next.

Edited April 28 by Dcubed

[Jonnas]

On 4/28/2025 at 1:09 PM, Cube said:

Good lord, this one took a very long time. And there were a load of side quests that I didn't do as well.

In order to fully 100% this game, you need to beat it 3 times (all because of the item records. There are three mutually-exclusive items that you can only get one of per playthrough). I do not recommend aiming for 100% completion, just do whatever sidequests you find, as this game as a surprisingly large amount of them. I know I managed to find a new one I had never heard about around my 3rd or 4th playthrough.

I am very happy to hear you liked it Tales of Symphonia is among my Top 3 RPGs of all time, and its plot, characters, and writing meant a lot to me growing up. It's also an incredibly fun game to just play and enjoy. There aren't many RPGs like it.

On 4/28/2025 at 1:09 PM, Cube said:

But still, it's a great game and I liked the characters enough that I'm tempted to check out the Wii sequel at some point. 

While my reaction isn't as visceral as Dcubed's, I will recommend that you heavily temper your expectations before approaching ToS2. It was done by a very different team (with different aesthetic and writing sensibilities) with an improvised plot, on a very tight budget, for the sake of making a quick buck on the Wii.

Gameplay-wise, there's nothing egregious about it. It's perfectly serviceable, if repetitive.

To this day, what bothers me the most about that sequel is the aesthetic clash with the first game. The monsters look nothing like the first game's, the new characters look waaay overdesigned compared to the first game (and the two sets of characters meet, so the clash is right there on-screen), the voice actors are different, and even the way they pronounce certain terms is different ("Mana" and "Palmacosta" being most notable).

It's a messy game for sure, and it does not mesh with the original at all. I don't think it's horrible, mind you (I do genuinely appreciate the the main story and its protagonist), but it only gets 2 stars out of 5 from me.

On 4/28/2025 at 6:56 PM, Dcubed said:

If you want a decent follow up game? Play Tales of the Abyss

...I'm surprised to hear you recommend that one, in the same post where you say ToS2 is shit. TotA and ToS2 have practically identical battle systems, and the 3D aesthetic is literally the same.

[Dcubed]

8 hours ago, Jonnas said:

...I'm surprised to hear you recommend that one, in the same post where you say ToS2 is shit. TotA and ToS2 have practically identical battle systems, and the 3D aesthetic is literally the same.

That's because TOTA is actually a good game, with worthwhile out-of-battle gameplay.  Decent dungeons & puzzles to solve, actual proper RPG towns, a proper world map etc.

And the story & characters aren't hot bum either.

Edited April 30 by Dcubed

[nekunando]

Spoiler

Delete is winning 😐

 

[bob]

I played another session of A Short Hike and ended up reaching the peak and reaching the end credits. I didn't end up finishing everything in the game, and i doubt that i will bother, but i did enjoy it a lot. It's very satisfying, and there always seems to be something just on the edge of the screen that looks inviting enough to explore.

 

The only downside that I found with it is the annoying camera. You can sort of move it a bit (but it moves the opposite way to which you think it should), but not far enough to see where you're headed. And then it forcefully switches perspective sometimes when you aren't expecting it to, which is irritating if you are trying to navigate and you suddenly get disorientated.

 

Anywho, a lovely game, I give a thumbs up to.

[drahkon]

I'm coming very close to the point where my Blue Prince save data might become "corrupted" (i.e. no progress can be made until/if it gets patched), so I decided to tackle a trophy that has eluded me for years (since the game has been added to PS+ in 2019!)

The Witness - Challenge

In short: You have to solve a random assortment of puzzles. Since you unlock this challenge by beating the game (I think) and basically doing everything else it has to offer, you know how to solve these puzzles. The kicker: You only get 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

In recent years I have tried to get it done many times. To no avail...

Since I've come back from Spain last Monday, I decided to give it yet another go. Took me a few hours to get acquainted with the puzzle types again. Surprisingly, this didn't take up the majority of time during this attempt.

Now...actually solving all puzzles in time...that is the real challenge. Especially when the song that plays during the final minutes is this:

 

But, as you can imagine, given the fact that I'm writing this post: I did it!
It was a bit anticlimactic, since I completed the challenge before In the Hall of the Mountain King reached its climax  

I was surprisingly calm during my successful run. I came close to getting the trophy many times and I noticed my heart beat becoming faster. Not this time  

Anyways, there it is:

Coincidentally, this is my 200th Platinum. I don't really care about making certain Platinums special, but it is kinda cool

(And yes, I know there is a way to glitch the final challenge right before the last two puzzles, but I would've done it that way years ago if I wanted to - getting it legitimately is so much more satisfying)

Edited May 3 by drahkon

[WackerJr]

22 hours ago, drahkon said:

Coincidentally, this is my 200th Platinum. I don't really care about making certain Platinums special, but it is kinda cool

Wow! In every way, that’s fantastic! Just reading you post about getting that one it must’ve been incredibly satisfying! Congrats!

[Jonnas]

Well, it's been a while since we had

A Jonnas NSO Update

, but it's not a very interesting one. I've been very busy.

The replays

I replayed Wario Land 4, for a long time. I started around the time it released on the NSO and I've been playing it at a rhythm of... one level per week? It's an incredibly pretty game (in a grotesque way), with an incredible game-feel. Very solid level design as well.

It's weird, it's like a 4-out-of-5 game, but I consider it essential playing for anyone minimally interested in platformers at the same time. It's the best kind of unique that a videogame can be.

I also replayed Streets of Rage 1 in a single session when that came out as well. It's nice to go back to it after playing SoR2 so much. It definitely feels more archaic (no unique special moves is a bummer), but it's still very solid. I've played a few other games since then that take a lot from SoR2, but they often lack the tight design that was already present in SoR1. My only true complaint about this first entry is that boss fight with the twins: they're so dodgy, they will literally wait out the clock to beat you, it's one of the most legitimately frustrating bosses I've ever seen.

The one new game

...The word "new" is doing a lot of legwork here. Mario's Picross is as typical as Picross games get. There are some challenges missing, like the puzzles that don't warn you of mistakes (the Game Boy can only hold so much). There's also an annoying delay with the buttons that caused me to make occasional mistakes. Still, Picross is a trusty companion to us, the folk-who-are-too-busy-for-truly-new-games-and-who'd-rather-look-at-some-creepy-eyes-if-that-means-something-comfy-and-familiar (There are dozens of us! Dozens!)

My next update will definitely feature something more interesting. Whenever that is.

[Glen-i]

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is yet another bloody Metroidvania-style game in the Castlevania series. It originally came out for the GBA in 2002, but I played the version that's part of the Advance Collection that released on more modern consoles in 2021.

By the way, this is officially the last game of this style left on my list of these kinds of Castlevania games! Apparently, there's some weird one called "Empathy of the Light", or something, but it can't be very good because it's in neither of these collections.

Juste Belmont is the grandson of Simon Belmont. His childhood friend, Maxim Kischine, suddenly comes back from a journey, exclaims that he has lost his memory of recent events, and Lydie Erlanger, another childhood friend, has been kidnapped.

Conveniently enough, a mysterious castle has suddenly appeared out of nowhere. That's suspicious, but more importantly...

For Christ's sake, Dracula! Why is your castle so blasé? Shell out for some blooming tables once in a while!

Don't ask why, but in this game, you can collect furniture and use it decorate this room. Juste's priorities are... odd. Yeah, let's go with odd.

Apart from interior design, this game plays very simlarly to all the other Castlevanias I've played. It's a winning formula. Thankfully, the movement is a lot more fluid then Circle of the Moon, but it still uses the subweapon method of old school Castlevania games.
That said, the Bible is so insanely good, it didn't matter too much.

The defining gimmick (Apart from "Belmont Eye for the Vampire Guy") are the spellbooks. There are a handful of them throughout the castle, and you can combine them with the previously mentioned sub-weapons to provide different combos. Some of these are really effective, which makes this the easiest Castlevania game that I've played, Bolt Book + Bible is wayyyyy too good, and fun!
I mean, yeah, I'm a fan of Bravely Default, I kinda like it when experimentation snaps the difficulty curve like a twig. It's satisfying.

Guess Juste has played a Castlevania game before

I know the plot is not a humongous thing in this series, but the English localisation is very weird compared to other Castlevania games. It doesn't really fit the Castlevania vibes, so it becomes unintentionally comedic.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun, it's not the best GBA Castlevania, but it's a lot better then Circle of the Moon. Anyway, seeing as I've played all the Metroidvanias available on Switch now, here's how I rank them.

1. Dawn of Sorrow
2. Order of Ecclesia
3. Aria of Sorrow
4. Portrait of Ruin
5. Harmony of Dissonance
6. Circle of the Moon

Spoiler

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Omori
Pokémon Scarlet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Albus Mode)
Wario Land 4 (Hard Mode)
Suikoden HD Remaster
Rift of the NecroDancer
Suikoden II HD Remaster
Freedom Planet 2
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Richter Mode)
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

[Cube]

Reading your Castlevania stuff, perhaps I should consider doing a franchise that I've barely touched at some point...

[Dcubed]

52 minutes ago, Cube said:

Reading your Castlevania stuff, perhaps I should consider doing a franchise that I've barely touched at some point...

Considering that the only Castlevania game you’ve ever played is Castlevania 64 (and its glorified DLC) for Christ’s sake? Yeah, you probably should.

[Glen-i]

36 minutes ago, Cube said:

Reading your Castlevania stuff, perhaps I should consider doing a franchise that I've barely touched at some point...

Looking back, starting with Circle of the Moon with my first attempt in trying this series was a big mistake. That is not a good starting point, and it wasn't until the Dominus Collection got released until I gave it another shot with Aria of Sorrow, which @Dcubed claimed was much better.

He was right, so going with first one that released may not be the best option.

[Dcubed]

27 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Looking back, starting with Circle of the Moon with my first attempt in trying this series was a big mistake. That is not a good starting point, and it wasn't until the Dominus Collection got released until I gave it another shot with Aria of Sorrow, which @Dcubed claimed was much better.

He was right, so going with first one that released may not be the best option.

Keep in mind that he would also be playing the classicvanias as well, where starting with the OG NES game would actually be a very good choice!

[Cube]

I still have a while left with GameCube gsmes, but I've started sorting out my list, and I've added a few fun extras. 

With the GBA/DS ones, would you recommend the originals or the collections? 

 

(Some games I will play different versions of, like full remakes or significantly different content, I've sorted out all the versions of SotN).

[Glen-i]

25 minutes ago, Cube said:

With the GBA/DS ones, would you recommend the originals or the collections? 

Those collections are handled by M2, so you know the emulation is excellent. They let you choose which region to use. (EU, American, or Japanese for both, with Korean for the DS ones) Save states, rewinds, the ability to save replays, button remapping, standard stuff.

Each game also has an "encyclopedia" with enemy stats, item lists, and more specific information about whatever "Gimmick" that game has. Music players, and various artwork, including the original instruction booklets.

The Advance Collection has these "Gadgets" that add extra HUD elements to the border that differ depending on the game you're playing. For example, in the Harmony of Dissonance screenshots, you can see those squares on the side which show what items and furniture are in the area.

The Dominus Collection goes further. It takes a note from how the WiiU did DS screens and gives various layouts, but it also has a very neat option that displays three screens. The DS games originally had an option for displaying either a map or stats on the second screen, but this three screen option displays all of them! It's very cool.
Dawn of Sorrow is also notable in that the mandatory touch screen segments have been tweaked so that you can do them with a button sequence instead.

As well as that, each collection also has a "Classicvania" game included. Dracula X on the Advance Collection, and Haunted Castle on the Dominus one. Haunted Castle is terrible, though, so M2 also did a full-on remake of that game, and it's pretty damn good, apparently. Those aren't my bag, though, so I didn't play them.

[Dcubed]

2 hours ago, Cube said:

I still have a while left with GameCube gsmes, but I've started sorting out my list, and I've added a few fun extras. 

With the GBA/DS ones, would you recommend the originals or the collections? 

 

(Some games I will play different versions of, like full remakes or significantly different content, I've sorted out all the versions of SotN).

The collections are very well done, but the DS games will naturally be compromised by the loss of the second screen and Resistive Stylus controls.  M2 did the best they could with what they had (and the Switch version of the collection does still retain touch controls when played in handheld mode), but it’s still sub-optimal compared to real DS/DSi hardware.

The rest of the modern collections though? Absolutely fine, ideal ways to play even.  Keep in mind that if you’re planning on doing a full series playthrough, you would need to buy the Dominus Collection anyway even if you’re planning to play the original DS releases on DS/DSi hardware, because it includes a brand new game called Haunted Castle: Revisited (which is a Metroid Zero Mission style reimagining of the utterly godawful arcade game by the same name… which M2 somehow spun into gold!).

As for SOTN? The ideal version is still the PS1 original; you can still get it on the PS3 PSN store if you still have a PS3 kicking around (just make sure you buy the US NTSC version for that 60hz support!).  The 360 version is probably second best, but you do lose the FMV cutscenes (not a huge deal, but obviously not ideal).  The PSP version (which is also on PS4 in emulated form, alongside Rondo of Blood) is not ideal, as they recast the voices and made some gameplay tweaks that are not ideal.

Likewise, best version of Rondo if Blood is the TG16 original, which is available on the Wii VC (only available via piracy/2nd hand sales now) and the excellent TG16/PC Engine Mini console.  The PSP version is ok, and even comes with an English dub, but it’s not quite as good as the original.

Castlevania Chronicles? PS1 or Sharp X68000 is your only option, but the PS1 version IS still available via the PS3 PSN service for a vastly lower cost than the physical version.  Again, be sure to get the US 60hz NTSC release instead of the PAL one.

And the weird whip-based arcade game has no official home release, so Technoparrot on PC is your only option.

There’s also the GB version of Kid Dracula, Vampire Killer MSX, and the PS2/N64 3D games which have never seen any sort of re-release ever.  So physical carts/discs or piracy are your only options.

Everything else? The modern collections and PC versions of the Lords of Shadow games are the way to go.

Edited Saturday at 11:40 AM by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

The collections are very well done, but the DS games will naturally be compromised by the loss of the second screen and Resistive Stylus controls.

I don't think this aspect is that big a deal. These games only use the second screen as a map or stat screen. So nothing is lost by displaying them all on one screen. The three screen option is far better! The only criticism I have is that it would be nice if there was a TATE option to have the vertical layout while not wasting loads of real estate.

I do agree with the resistive stylus stuff though. A pity, seeing as two of the bonus character modes utilises the Touch Screen.