The +$10 for physical games also worries me they might be trying to push more people to digital games only. But also there seems to be the new “game key” cards which might be an improvement over codes, if they are not tied to accounts.
Also yea, I am still not used to $70 for games and even that seems too much.
Quite disappointed with how they are now going for $90 (physical, $80 digital for MKW) games, the upgraded versions are paid DLCs and even the tech demo is a digital purchase.
The console looks good, and $450 seems fine for it, but everything else looks overpriced and that has kinda killed my interest.
I’ll probably wait a bit to play III, but I’ve heard it’s alright from people who hate I and II. Although I’ve also heard that IV is not good.
Azure and Zero are definitely the best ones, I really liked FC and SC, although they do have some problems (the first half of SC is pretty bad, and the same problem with ouroboros I mentioned before) and I think 3rd has an interesting story, but bad gameplay and pacing.
Randomly trying games on my phone, I downloaded Infinity Nikki and I’ve been hooked for the past few days.
I like the customization, especially when compared to the more limited one in FFXIV, although I wish it had dyeing (and more jackets). Compared to other gacha games, I like how “the grind” is more focused on crafting clothing instead of just leveling up, although resources (and by that I mean the timed energy) feel a bit too scarce.
I finally finished Trails of Cold Steel II, or more accurately I watched the final story cutscenes because I gave up towards the end of the final dungeon (Which I’m glad I did because it otherwise would have been a waste of time).
The duology was really bad, I don’t think there’s anything positive I can say about it, other than that it’s finally over (hopefully III is actually better as I’ve heard). I’ve already complained about the characters in previous, so I’ll now complain about the rest.
The overall story felt pointless, at best it added nothing to what was already established, at worse it made the civil war feel like a joke. I think it would have been better to just skip to the end as what was mentioned in Azure felt bigger than what actually happened in CS.
The writing is childish and really doesn’t fit the setting it’s trying to build. The supposed war doesn’t feel like an actual conflict.
This was an issue with the previous games too, but this time it feels like it’s done to a ridiculous amount: the bosses either escape because the were “holding back” or a more powerful ally comes in and solves the situation. The game doesn’t want to remove anyone from the story, so everyone just leaves every fight and no one ever dies (I’m pretty sure there are 3 deaths in the whole war, and one of them I’m sure is another fakeout).
I don’t find Ourobororos that interesting of an enemy, their motivations are too vague and I find the current active enforcers boring characters.
Crow feels like a waste of a character. He’s the only one I feel had any potential, but he has barely any screentime (in both games) and the way Class VII is obsessed with him feels really weird and unmotivated.
Overall I think the two games were bad in the worst way possible: they were a boring waste of time.
Trying to finish Trails of Cold Steel II.
My opinion hasn’t really changed on it from last time, it still drags and most of the game feels like padding, the characters are uninteresting and the combat is a downgrade from the older games. The tone of the writing also really doesn’t fit the setting and that bothers me a lot.
As with CS1, the bond system feels unnecessary and it’s not really used for character growth (which would have probably been fine if they were interesting in the main story). I’m still playing only because I really liked the previous games, otherwise I’d have dropped them early into CS1.
Borrowed Nine Sols and tried it for a few hours. It seems quite good, I really enjoy the art and parrying feels really satisfying.
Played a bit more Library of Ruina, but couldn’t focus so I ended up looking for something else to play.
Tried Ninja Gaiden (Sigma, from the Master Collection), but while I do like the gameplay I just can’t stand the controls and the camera.
Next I tried Daemon X Machina, it’s fine but it feels rather lacking when compared to AC6.
I tried Final Fantasy X again, and I do find the general story and themes interesting but I can’t care about the characters and the gameplay is mind numbingly boring.
I ended up settling on Final Fantasy V (Pixel Remaster) because of the job system. I don’t really like how the pixel remasters look, but it’s fine.
Finished Chants of Sennaar. It was pretty good, altho it got a little bit repetitive towards the end. I did enjoy the
translation puzzles in particular.
Played a bit of Shenzhen I/O. It’s fun, but I’m a bit annoyed at how logic gates are (not) used and overall it makes me want to work on actual hardware projects.
Started Library of Ruina, hopefully it’s less painful than Lobotomy Corporation, which I had to drop as I couldn’t figure it out even tho I liked it.
Also tried Persona 5 Strikers. The combat is fun, but everything in the game feels a bit off and I can’t explain why I’m not really enjoying it.
This week I played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 which I started a while ago. Compared to the first one which I did not like at all, both story and gameplay are a huge improvement. I actually am interested in the characters now and the combat is pretty fun, altho I still haven’t had a chance to experiment much with it.
I have however a few minor complaints: the blade gacha is a terrible concept and I can’t understand why it was put in the game; on handheld, performance is generally good but the graphics are ruined by a really strong sharpening filter; Pyra’s outfit is dumb and doesn’t fit the character.
I’m also playing Chants of Sennarr and it’s really good! I especially liked the design of the first three languages. The artstye is also really nice.
I’m back to Trails of Cold Steel 2. It is better than the first one. It still feels a bit like padding but it doesn’t feel as pointless. The game structure doesn’t feel as formulaic and repetitive, there’s less quests and it moves much quicker. The characters also finally look different from eachother, as they are no longer in uniform.
The issues tho are still mostly the same: the combat is a downgrade from the Crossbell game (the orbment system in Cold Steel is basically materia from FF7, instead of the much more interesting previous implementation) and I don’t care about any of these characters as they barely have a personality (I blame this on the social link-style mechanics and bloated cast).
Bad week this time:
I got a bit tired of Trails of Cold Steel 2, so to take a break I tried playing Wolfenstein 2, but it gave me motion sickness (not sure why, as the game is running fine and I tried increasing the fov, which usually works for me). I started looking for other games to play, but I can’t find anything that clicks.
I tried CrossCode again, restarting it after stopping around a year ago at the first real dungeon (the mines).
I really like the art, the characters are charming and the premise is interesting enough.
The puzzles are alright, altho they’ve already started getting repetitive (I’m after the halfway point of the second dungeon). The combat too seems alright, but the enemies are really annoying to fight, as they all force you to wait to hit them, which I find really boring.
Overall I don’t like it and will very likely drop it now. After like 10 hours the actual story hasn’t advanced much and the MMO’s story is not at all interesting. I tried doing a few sidequests as I had heard they were good and I felt I was underleveled, but I ended up being disappointed by what I found. Same for the exploration, mostly because it was unrewarding and the graphics lack depth, making telling apart different heights for puzzles and platforming really hard. I could probably keep ranting, but I’ll end it here.
I just finished FFIX, which I liked a lot. I quite liked that it had themes that are usually more common in scifi than fantasy. I am however a bit disappointed with how some characters feel like the get forgotten after encountering them.
Especially with Freya, I was hoping she’d have more screen time (both for Fratley and the burmecian genocide).
On the contrary, I felt like the final boss came a bit out of nowhere and ending with Kuja would have probably been more satisfying.
I’ve also started Trails of Cold Steel 2. I have low expectations, after the disappointment that was CS1, but the start seems OK, although I’m always bothered by how the relationship between Rean and his sister is written.
My target is 60, but depending on the game I find framerates down to 20 technically playable (if it’s stable), but I need a bit of time to get used to it.
For framerates above 60, however, I can’t really feel any difference so I usually set a cap at 60 to reduce heat and because the on board sound card is poorly isolated and picks up noise from the gpu.
I played a bit of Granblue Fantasy Relink, I’m at the last chapter of the story. I still haven’t finished it, the story itself wasn’t particularly memorable, but the environments were gorgeous and the gameplay is fun. For the gameplay tho, I’m a bit worried about the endgame/postgame, as there wasn’t much variety in fights.
I’m still playing Fire Emblem Engage. The gameplay is overall really good, but I’m a bit confused that new units are much better than most of the previous ones. From the initial party I think I’ve kept using only Chloé and Jean, while the others had better replacements every few chapters. It’s not exactly a complaint but it feels a bit weird.
I would have tried continuing FFVII Rebirth, but I remembered I bought FFIX last sales and played that nonstop during the weekend.
I too am in the mood for Wolfenstein, I’m thinking of playing the second one.
Remake is great, I replayed it recently too in anticipation for Rebirth.
I too like the characters, which is why I’ll try to continue, but I’m probably gonna play the original game instead. I’ve already played around 20 hours of it, up to just after the
temple of the ancients
, and while the fast pacing is a bit jarring when compared to Remake, I enjoyed it much more than the parts of Rebirth I played.
I played a bit of FFVII rebirth at the start of the week, but then had to pause I don’t have my main pc with me and I doubt it plays well on deck. I’m not sure if I wanna continue it tho, as my overall experience with the game up to now (middle of Costa del Sol) has been pretty bad.
I started Granblue Fantasy Relink, I think I’m near the end of the story mode. It’s pretty fun, although I wish the story too was coop.
I’m also playing Fire Emblem Engage (chapter 14), and it’s much better than Awakening: the maps are more interesting and the break system encourages you to be aggressive and makes using weaker units easier. The engage rings are pretty interesting; they feel a bit overpowered, but at the same time I feel like I’m not using them optimally.
I’ve been playing Fire Emblem Awakening. I had the dumb idea of playing hard/classic for the first time (having also not played much FE before), so a few of the last chapters have been a bit too challenging: I got stuck on chapter 17 for a couple of days. It’s been enjoyable, I think I’m near the end (chapter 21).
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth came out on PC, so I played that for most of the weekend, and I’m rather disappointed with a couple of things: the open world in the first area is the usual dull ubisoft-like checklist of chores. Luckily it doesn’t take too much to get past it, but then there’s my other complaint: the pacing and tone of the story feel off. There’s been a few too many breaks which IMO ruined the momentum. I’m now at Costa del Sol, and I’m already tired of the minigames.
Initially I had planned on playing Emio, since I played the demo and liked it, but the copy I ordered got delayed, the lost, so I’m gonna get it some other time.
Happy new year!
This week I finished the Endwalker MSQ in ffxiv, which I loved. I’m now taking a break before going into the post ew patch quests to complete most raids which I slipped and a few other quests, while leveling white mage.
Played a bit more of Guild Wars 2 with a friend, but continuing only confirmed our negative first impressions, so we dropped it a bit after the first set of story missions.
For non videogames: we also continued our dnd campaign and played call of cthulhu’s Lightless Beacon
Finally actually started Endwalker in FFXIV and I’m enjoying it.
Tried Outward with a friend. We liked the initial quest, but we didn’t enjoy the game after that and didn’t feel like continuing it. We are trying Guild Wars 2 now, and it’s enjoyable enough, but I’m a bit confused on what to do and why do it.
We also have been playing Rabbit and Steel.
Outward
Outward looks interesting. I’m not completely sold on it because of the open-endedness and survival elements, but we might try it as it’s cheap.
Edit: we tried it for ~8h and liked the start but didn’t really get anything (combat, progression, etc.), so we dropped it as we weren’t enjoying it.
We did try BG3 when it came out, but were disappointed in how the coop interacted with dialogues and story events so we ended up dropping it. I kept playing it alone up to the start of act 2, but didn’t enjoy it so we never tried coop again. We are playing an actual DnD campaign tho.
I haven’t played PoE, but one issue I have with coop in action RPGs is that everyone is mostly doing their own thing independently of the other players and the classes are all damage dealers (which, side note, I feel like is the same in BG3 and DnD too). Does PoE have any options to play support roles? It does look fun tho so I might still try it, even if it’s not exactly what I’m looking for.
I wonder if that’s why they’ve been more aggressive against emulators lately.
But yea, same for me: there’s very few games I’d spend that much money on, and I can’t imagine myself paying 80$ for something I don’t even know if I’ll like. I hope it doesn’t become the new standard.