What Games Are You Playing?

Still slowly making my way through Persona 3 Reload. At about 40 hours in and it feels like the story is 60%-65% complete. I definitely missed a Social Link by ignoring the art club for too long but getting eveerything in one playthrough wasn’t the goal. Bumping up the difficulty was a wise choice because it's forced me to use every tool the game provides to win, using skills I'd normally avoid because now they have a lot of value and also getting really invested in fusion. It’s time for a break though because fatigue is starting to settle in.

In the meantime I played through Caladrius Blaze again. Finally beating the whole game without needing to Continue at any point. Which feels like enough of an accomplishment to say that I have actually 'beaten' the game. Caladrius is a vertical arcade Shoot 'em up that I have spontaneously booted up several times a year since I brought it. Which has lead me to trying several different Shoot 'em ups but I still haven't found one I like as much as this.

Chrono Cross The Radical Dreamers Edition - Masato Kato’s passion project and incredibly decisive sequel to seminal RPG classic Chrono Trigger. This PS4 port was incredibly shoddy at launch and has since been been patched up, so the game runs incredibly well now. Chrono Cross is infamous for having over 40 possible party members and being designed to ensure you can’t see everything in a single playthrough. In 5 hours I've already accidentally gotten one party member and missed out on another. The story has stressed it is about choice and rippling unforeseen consequences so this feels appropriate even if it understandably annoys people.

The combat is different from what I expected. Firstly Chrono Cross doesn't have a normal levelling system. You gain a level after every boss fight and minus some possible bonuses that's it. So the party has fixed strength and victory comes down to equipment and correctly using your abilities. You have a few basic options: attack, element and defend. You use attack to hit the enemies and build up points to spend on elements. Elements are (confusingly) both magic spells and items. Attacking and using Elements drains a stamina bar. If you run out of stamina completely through relentless offence then it recovers slowly as other character act. You can recover stamina completely by defending, which also means you will take less damage from the enemy’s attacks. Honestly the game has been bad at explaining its systems and I am still waiting for it to open up for more options. It's unfortunately, hovering in this middle ground where I could end up dropping it if it doesn't pick up or being really positive on it after a few more hours.
 
Spark_Heal said:
Still slowly making my way through Persona 3 Reload. At about 40 hours in and it feels like the story is 60%-65% complete. I definitely missed a Social Link by ignoring the art club for too long but getting eveerything in one playthrough wasn’t the goal. Bumping up the difficulty was a wise choice because it's forced me to use every tool the game provides to win, using skills I'd normally avoid because now they have a lot of value and also getting really invested in fusion. It’s time for a break though because fatigue is starting to settle in.

In the meantime I played through Caladrius Blaze again. Finally beating the whole game without needing to Continue at any point. Which feels like enough of an accomplishment to say that I have actually 'beaten' the game. Caladrius is a vertical arcade Shoot 'em up that I have spontaneously booted up several times a year since I brought it. Which has lead me to trying several different Shoot 'em ups but I still haven't found one I like as much as this.

Chrono Cross The Radical Dreamers Edition - Masato Kato’s passion project and incredibly decisive sequel to seminal RPG classic Chrono Trigger. This PS4 port was incredibly shoddy at launch and has since been been patched up, so the game runs incredibly well now. Chrono Cross is infamous for having over 40 possible party members and being designed to ensure you can’t see everything in a single playthrough. In 5 hours I've already accidentally gotten one party member and missed out on another. The story has stressed it is about choice and rippling unforeseen consequences so this feels appropriate even if it understandably annoys people.

The combat is different from what I expected. Firstly Chrono Cross doesn't have a normal levelling system. You gain a level after every boss fight and minus some possible bonuses that's it. So the party has fixed strength and victory comes down to equipment and correctly using your abilities. You have a few basic options: attack, element and defend. You use attack to hit the enemies and build up points to spend on elements. Elements are (confusingly) both magic spells and items. Attacking and using Elements drains a stamina bar. If you run out of stamina completely through relentless offence then it recovers slowly as other character act. You can recover stamina completely by defending, which also means you will take less damage from the enemy’s attacks. Honestly the game has been bad at explaining its systems and I am still waiting for it to open up for more options. It's unfortunately, hovering in this middle ground where I could end up dropping it if it doesn't pick up or being really positive on it after a few more hours.
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You’re juggling some solid games! Persona 3 Reload sounds tough but rewarding with that difficulty boost. Congrats on beating Caladrius Blaze without Continues! Chrono Cross has a unique system, but it might take a bit to fully click. Hopefully, it opens up soon
 
Spark_Heal said:
Honestly the game has been bad at explaining its systems and I am still waiting for it to open up for more options. It's unfortunately, hovering in this middle ground where I could end up dropping it if it doesn't pick up or being really positive on it after a few more hours.
Click to expand...
Yuzzi said:
You’re juggling some solid games! Persona 3 Reload sounds tough but rewarding with that difficulty boost. Congrats on beating Caladrius Blaze without Continues! Chrono Cross has a unique system, but it might take a bit to fully click. Hopefully, it opens up soon
Click to expand...
I'm definitely in the camp that adored chrono cross back when I played it on the ps one. Do remember it's gameplay being quite different but, if I recall correctly, once you get the hang of it it is quite rewarding. If you like a strong story and narrative then definitely try to stick with it, as like chrono trigger, the story in my opinion is excellent and arguably one of the best from that era. Can't remember now why all chrono trigger fans weren't enamored with it, was it gameplay or the story that divided people? Ah man, I really need to get to playing the switch version I pre-ordered only for it to collect dust🤦
 
I’ve finally started playing Fallout 3 GOTY Edition via the Xbox Series X backwards compatibility. Whilst the game is unforgiving in many aspects and I wish there was a better map system I have enjoyed stumbling upon new quests and areas with plenty to uncover.
 
Long Gone Days
I probably would have enjoyed this more if it had been released 15+ years ago. Playing it now, this indie RPG's story set in the flashpoint of an impending war between Russia and Europe just feels too close to reality to do anything but push up my anxiety level. Granted, the developers inserted an obvious Bond villain faction in an attempt to abstract things from reality, but so many countries are run by Bond villains now that no level of satire or parody could be enough to make things more ridiculous than the world we live in. It's a shame that I probably won't complete this as it's well made, has interesting systems, and its story is intriguing. But if I wanted to live in a state of existential dread, I'd watch the news more.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered
I wasn't paying attention to the series when the original version of this was released, so it totally passed me by that this is essentially a Criterion Burnout game in all but name. If anything, it feels more like classic Burnout than Paradise did. Trying to crowbar the Burnout formula into a grid-based open world was a mistake IMO, and thankfully it's not one this game makes. It also offers lots of races as either a street racer or cop, with unique weapons for each, and enough variation in race types to keep things interesting. I'd rank this as the second-best Burnout game (after Takedown), never mind the title.
 
Donkey Kong (NES via Switch) (re-play)

Donkey Kong Jr. (NES via Switch)

Donkey Kong 3 (NES via Switch)

Mario Bros. (NES via Switch)

Super Mario Bros. (NES via Switch) (re-play)

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (NES via Switch)

I've decided to go through and play / re-play all the main series titles for a lot of Nintendo's flagship titles starting with Mario, Donkey Kong and adjacent series (e.g. Yoshi, Wario etc.)

The first four games are all arcade titles so there isn't really an end to them but I at least got through all the different levels before they reset (though variations can continue for a long time). These were all simple games and a bit of fun for a little bit but got repetitive, I'm glad I gave them a good amount of play time though to experience these games.

Super Mario Bros. I've played many times and is a classic though the controls feel rough but is always a fun time and can be beaten quickly.

The Lost Levels (a.k.a. Super Mario Bros. 2) I have never beaten before but I have now and is a decent game as well though with the tough level design and rough controls it wasn't the best experience compared to the original title but I'm glad I beat it and will probably re-visit it from time to time even if I don't play all the way through.
 
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Dead Space (remake)
This sticks pretty close to the original, just remixing a few elements. It takes the zero-g controls from Dead Space 2, which works better than I expected due to those sections being redesigned to account for the greater degree of control. There are some places where you encounter fuse boxes that can only have one switch on at a time, requiring you to choose between having lights or oxygen, for example. Perhaps the greatest change to the overall tone of the game is that Isaac speaks now. He always did in the sequels, but he was mute in the original. Most of the game's dialogue has been reworked to account for this. It's surprising how great an impact this has; somehow it makes Isaac feel less isolated, even outside of dialogue scenes. Perhaps this is why I didn't find the remake as scary as the original. I've played that one four times and it always made me tense, but the jump scares in the remake rarely caught me. It's also possible that there's a more subtle difference, with all the elements that build tension in the original not quite gelling the same in the remake; it's more an art than a science. Or I might have just acclimatised to the series' bag of tricks, since the remake doesn't try to subvert them.

Overall it's an excellent remake that almost completely serves as a replacement for the original. I think people would need to be attached to the specific quirks of the original already to choose it over this.
 
Finished Fallout 3 GOTY at the end of March and it was a buggy but engaging game with some fun DLC content. Think I’ll give New Vegas a bit of time as I don’t want to burn myself out on the franchise.

Dived back into South Park: The Stick of Truth over the last few days and finally platinumed it. Will likely revisit The Fractured But Whole next as well as they make for solid enough companion titles.
 
It's been a while since I last posted here. Since then I went on a Tomb Raider binge. Played Legend, Anniversary (again) and Underworld. Had a great time with them. Then I moved on to the new trilogy, played Rise (as I had already completed TR 2013 not long ago) and then I sprained my right wrist so took a break from strenuous gaming for a few months to let it heal. I was supposed to play Shadow next but I was gifted FF7 Remake Intergrade for my birthday so I've been currently doing nothing but playing that. I'm addicted! All the characters of the main cast are fantastic, and I love that they fleshed some of them out. Excited to see how things have changed from the original.
 
Tetris The Grand Master
Unavailable in the west for decades, the first entry in Arika's (in)famous arcade series finally hit modern consoles a couple of years ago. My Tetris time has mostly been spent in the far more recent Tetris Effect and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 over the last several years, so going back to one from 1998 is taking some adjustment. Modern staples that make things easier hadn't been implemented yet, eg. holding a tetrimino in reserve, or the ability to postpone a tetrimino locking into place indefinitely as long as you keep rotating it or moving it left and right. Rotation also feels relatively stiff and it can become impossible to rotate certain tetriminos once the field fills up to a certain point. To counterbalance that you gain the ability to pre-rotate them in the instant before they appear on the field if you get the timing right. That technique quickly becomes essential as the gravity increases, since the Grand Master games are notorious for their insane speed and difficulty as they progress.

The game constantly grades your performance as you play, with ranks advancing from 9 down to 1, then S1 up to S9, and finally Grand Master. The best I've manged so far is rank 1, by which point tetriminos are already dropping and locking in almost instantly. I'm no Grand Master. 😅

Grip
If you're as old as me, you might remember a PS1 game called Rollcage. It was a sci-fi combat racing game, rather like Wipeout, but with the gimmick that the cars could drive on the walls and ceiling as long as they're going fast enough. Grip is what would be called a 'spiritual successor' today (or what used to be called plagiarism). The developer and publisher of Rollcage are long gone though, so this is the closest we will ever get to a new one. The results are good. There's a lengthy campaign mode, a decent selection of weapons, and most tracks make good use of the wall-driving gimmick.
 
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I decided to dive into Fallout: New Vegas whilst I was still keyed into all its mechanics and quirks. Haven’t stepped foot into the Vegas area yet as there’s been plenty to do in the wasteland as is.
 
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