the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Just knocked off the Mage's Guild questline. Encountered a bug where Mannimarco was immune to damage, but I managed to make him follow me into some underwater tunnels. I had the Ring of the Rumere from the early side quest to kill the slaughterfish, which meant I just had to sit and take a pathetic beating without any risk to myself while I waited for him to die. Now to plow through through the main quest. And from there, I switch to my disc copy on my 360 to do the expansion. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,995 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Nice to see so much activity now, compared to how sleepy the 2023 thread was! Is this just a "new years resolutions in january" kinda thing, or are people gonna keep it up throughout the year? I finished my second game, Trails From Zero a few days ago, with a summary coming up soon. It's a slow start, but on the other hand it's nice to knock out one of the deadliest backlog entries looming over the list so fast. It's actually tempting to start Trails To Azure (the direct sequel) right away, but I think I need to space out my Trails games a bit more evenly, and get ready for Cold Steel next year. I've got a bunch of other Switch games that I'm itching to start. Made a poll here (did the same thing yesterday, but only shared them on Discord) that people can use to vote if they're curious. Running it until I finish up Super Cyborg. https://strawpoll.com/3RnYlqR1Qye Meanwhile, I'm also enjoying Returnal on by brand new PS5, and trying to get a clear on Bonze Adventure. The latter is a game I originally wanted to describe as an arcade platformer on the easier side, but after being at it for a while, I'd probably categorize it closer to something like Ghouls n Ghosts. It feels deviously easy once you learn how to deal with each obstacle, but there's so many little random things that can just throw an unexpected wrench into the machinery anywhere in the game. The final stage especially is really tough, and I still haven't figured out the game's end boss. Some times I reach it after credit feeding and get it down first try. Some times I keep pumping credits into the machine and take like 10-15 tries to get it down. This doesn't look promising for a potential clear 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenthunder | 115 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 For me at least, I've been trying to push myself to play more games instead of wasting time waiting for things to happen on Reddit/VGS/the like. It's still a "waste" of time but at least I'm experiencing something new instead of waiting for people to post new content? Case in point, I spent like 4 hours one day last week debating whether to start a new game or not, then decided screw it, I'll start Harvestella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhuno | 111 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Jackal is done, woo! I'd finished 5 games this year, but none were on my backlog list. It was time to start. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 For some reason I thought that I had progressed the main quest further in my prior playthroughs, but I just got an achievement so I suppose not Anyway, I'm at the point of needing to sacrifice a daedric artifact, but have not acquired any yet. I'm probably putting far too much thought into it though, as odds are if I ever play it again, I'll start from scratch anyway, but I can't decide which one to use. I thought Namira's Ring would do because it wasn't something l would use, but I somehow have to self inflict over 40 points of personality damage on myself to start the quest, so that's probably not happening. Anyone have any suggestion? Both for speed of acquisition and not giving up something I'll care about? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webhead123 | 687 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 13 hours ago, Rhuno said: Jackal is done, woo! I'd finished 5 games this year, but none were on my backlog list. It was time to start. I love Jackal. One of my favorites on the NES, honestly. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Rothchild | 9,598 Editorials Team · Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 Chopping down the Bloodborne spider moments before realizing it's an NPC 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foochie776 | 1,062 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Super Mario Wonder has been completed! While I had mixed expectations I was pleasantly surprised and how fresh this game felt. I wasn’t too stoked on the gimmicky feeling at the beginning but it grew on me. My only real complaint is that the difficulty was very low until the end and even then it wasn’t too tough. I’ve never come to expect too much challenge from a Mario game but some more would have been nice. All and all, I’ll come revisit it and finish the levels I didn’t do but for now it’s onto the next. Pikmin 3 is next on the docket and after a couple hours of play I’m already hopelessly addicted 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesRobot | 5,840 Events Team · Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Added a few Game Boy games I got over Christmas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splain | 2,592 Editorials Team · Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 2 minutes ago, JamesRobot said: Added a few Game Boy games I got over Christmas. Nice, those are good GB games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesRobot | 5,840 Events Team · Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 I decided to lean into Game Boy collecting after I got my Analogue Pocket. Shout out to my Secret Santa on a couple of those. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Rothchild | 9,598 Editorials Team · Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 Hmm, I beat Bloodborne? By accident? Got Gehrman on the first try? Not sure if there is more to the game I need to find, and I haven't done the DLC. But I guess all of that fighting against the toughest Elden Ring and Sekiro bosses had me cruising through this one. And I was a pretty high level since I basically never lost any souls for the entire playthrough. I'll wait until I do the DLC before posting final thoughts and my score. edit: Ok, I guess it goes straight to New Game Plus. So... I have no idea what I didn't get done, but it's water under the bridge now. And I don't know where the DLC is and if I have to work my way back to wherever it is, or if I fucked myself with the difficulty as I assume the hardest bosses are found there. Fuck my life, and damn you FromSoft! ... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,995 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 30 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said: Hmm, I beat Bloodborne? By accident? Got Gehrman on the first try? Not sure if there is more to the game I need to find, and I haven't done the DLC. But I guess all of that fighting against the toughest Elden Ring and Sekiro bosses had me cruising through th There's a slightly obscure thing you need to do before the final boss in order to get a second boss following that one, not a massive difference but you missed out on that fight (and probably a few hidden locations). I got both of those bosses first try, so you're not alone in that. I think Bloodborne's challenge is extremely front-loaded - once you get over the initial hump, most of the game is surprisingly smooth sailing, at least compared to the type of game it is. One thing that really made a difference for me is that parries are both easier to execute and basically risk-free in BB, and they can cripple most of the larger enemies and bosses, including the final ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Rothchild | 9,598 Editorials Team · Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 I just looked up the DLC. Not excessively far into the game, but I do have to replay a bunch of stuff, which I'm not usually keen to do right away. And then I've heard how hard some of those bosses are, and now I have to see them for the first time on NG+. So... not sure what I'm gonna do. Maybe I'll give it a shot. Maybe I'll drop it to the bottom of the list and come back to it after I clear everything else and will be refreshed by year's end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,995 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Trails From Zero - Beaten 19/1 The Wikipedia article on the Trails series describes it like this: "Trails was conceived by Falcom as a goal to create the most ambitious story in video games, with company president Toshihiro Kondo considering it to be his life's work." If nothing else, this is true entirely based on the sheer volume of these games, which so far feature 12 fully fledged entries, not counting spin-offs. But even a single game in the series is so fleshed out it's hard to really believe it, the translation alone must be a momentous effort. Usually when playing these sorts of RPGs, I like to hang around and speak to every NPC at least once. But in these games every time the story moves forward just a bit, everyone in the game moves around and starts saying new things, which really helps create the illusion of a living city where everyone is out doing their own things. There's a lot of little stories and lore that don't really matter to the game, but helps establish Crossbell State as a place, within the continent of Zemuria where every game in the overarching Trails series takes place. After three Trails in the Sky games, playing this one was refreshing. Finally a new set of locations, with a set of mostly new characters and a new basic story starting from scratch. Although there's a mild crossover into the back story one of the "Sky" series' secondary characters (and by the same merit, I wouldn't recommend anyone playing this game until finishing those). What I really liked about the first Trails game is that each chapter was its own little self contained story, and there were no attempts to get into any crazy big world-ending stakes. This game is the same, and it's comforting and homey. Compared to Trails in the Sky 1 however, most of the individual chapters aren't quite as engaging, and I don't think the characters are as interesting as the ones in that game. This is basically a lesser version of that game. Still, Trails From Azure manages to end in a satisfying manner, while also setting up more than a few loose ends that will no doubt drive the plot of the next game. And I'm honestly pretty hyped to play the sequel, just to see where it's going to take things. This time I played the game on the Nightmare difficulty, having played the previous ones on Normal, hoping it would make the gameplay feel more involving. And it definitely made every boss fight, including really minor ones quite an ordeal, occasionally requiring quite a lot of prep work! For the first time I also actually made frequent use of the cooking system towards the end, which definitely saved my ass against the final boss. While it was definitely an improvement over the Normal difficulty, the amount of actual tactics and strategy needed for the fights isn't super interesting, and I think I'm sticking to Hard Mode going forward. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Small Oblivion update: I decided to sacrifice the Sanguine Rose to progress. The quest took mere minutes, and while it's a cool reward, it's one that would sit in a chest in one of my player homes and never be seen again, so it made sense to make it my sacrifice. After this, I closed the Bruma Oblivion Gate and started on the optional ally recruitment. I'd already cleared out Kvatch so I just had to go claim that unit. Despite the optional nature of the quest, I'm going to get every possible body I can for this quest, if only to make my life easier in the long run. I do feel like this may drag on a bit, as the main quest feels the least enjoyable part of the game to me for whatever reason, but at this point there's no real reason to take chances, and this way I can experience a part of the game that I'll probably avoid in the future if I decide to replay the game again. In other news, my NES streak is still alive, 24 days and 25 games total. My last mention was when I beat Astyanax. Since then I did the following: Kid Klown in Night Mayor World (Jan. 22): I was expecting a lot better from this one, not gonna lie. I think it might have been better overall if it was still a Mickey Mouse game like in Japan, but still, it's just a "meh" IMO. I still need to go back and try hard mode at some point, but for now I'm fine with it. Skate or Die(Jan. 23): After attempting a couple other games and running short on time to finish one, I took one of the remaining gimmies off my shelf. I really like the game, have fond childhood memories of it, but it's definitely a multi-player focused title. And with no default scores or AI competition, it's like a 10 minute completion. The Rocketeer (Jan 24): This was one I'd played in the past and enjoyed, but never got around to finishing. Definitely better than I had expected from a 90s movie tie in. Also, having never actually seen the movie, it kind of makes me want to. Only took about 2 hours to burn through it, but I could see myself playing it again in the future. As yet, I've only done one of the 10 NES games from my official list, but since I've dropped a total of 26 games from my full backlog, I can't complain. And hopefully I'll be able to cross Oblivion off the list soon enough. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lago | 224 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 6 hours ago, Sumez said: Trails From Zero - Beaten 19/1 The Wikipedia article on the Trails series describes it like this: "Trails was conceived by Falcom as a goal to create the most ambitious story in video games, with company president Toshihiro Kondo considering it to be his life's work." If nothing else, this is true entirely based on the sheer volume of these games, which so far feature 12 fully fledged entries, not counting spin-offs. But even a single game in the series is so fleshed out it's hard to really believe it, the translation alone must be a momentous effort. Usually when playing these sorts of RPGs, I like to hang around and speak to every NPC at least once. But in these games every time the story moves forward just a bit, everyone in the game moves around and starts saying new things, which really helps create the illusion of a living city where everyone is out doing their own things. There's a lot of little stories and lore that don't really matter to the game, but helps establish Crossbell State as a place, within the continent of Zemuria where every game in the overarching Trails series takes place. After three Trails in the Sky games, playing this one was refreshing. Finally a new set of locations, with a set of mostly new characters and a new basic story starting from scratch. Although there's a mild crossover into the back story one of the "Sky" series' secondary characters (and by the same merit, I wouldn't recommend anyone playing this game until finishing those). What I really liked about the first Trails game is that each chapter was its own little self contained story, and there were no attempts to get into any crazy big world-ending stakes. This game is the same, and it's comforting and homey. Compared to Trails in the Sky 1 however, most of the individual chapters aren't quite as engaging, and I don't think the characters are as interesting as the ones in that game. This is basically a lesser version of that game. Still, Trails From Azure manages to end in a satisfying manner, while also setting up more than a few loose ends that will no doubt drive the plot of the next game. And I'm honestly pretty hyped to play the sequel, just to see where it's going to take things. This time I played the game on the Nightmare difficulty, having played the previous ones on Normal, hoping it would make the gameplay feel more involving. And it definitely made every boss fight, including really minor ones quite an ordeal, occasionally requiring quite a lot of prep work! For the first time I also actually made frequent use of the cooking system towards the end, which definitely saved my ass against the final boss. While it was definitely an improvement over the Normal difficulty, the amount of actual tactics and strategy needed for the fights isn't super interesting, and I think I'm sticking to Hard Mode going forward. I’ve not heard of these. I really like the aesthetic and will have to give them a try at some point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foochie776 | 1,062 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 9 hours ago, JamesRobot said: I decided to lean into Game Boy collecting after I got my Analogue Pocket. Shout out to my Secret Santa on a couple of those. I’d love to hear some suggestions for titles to play. I’ve realized I either really enjoy(Pokemon, Links Awakening) or really dislike (Super Mario Land/Oracles) Gameboy titles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wongojack | 228 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 (edited) 3 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said: The Rocketeer (Jan 24): This was one I'd played in the past and enjoyed, but never got around to finishing. Definitely better than I had expected from a 90s movie tie in. Also, having never actually seen the movie, it kind of makes me want to. Only took about 2 hours to burn through it, but I could see myself playing it again in the future. I'm enjoying your updates on Oblivion, but I just wanted to say - Jennifer Connelly is um . . . quite good in The Rocketeer. Edited January 24 by wongojack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 5 hours ago, wongojack said: I'm enjoying your updates on Oblivion, but I just wanted to say - Jennifer Connelly is um . . . quite good in The Rocketeer. Was she ever not? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koifish | 561 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 okay, 3 games for me cuz I don't have much time. Also, permission to drop any of them at any time and replace with another. 1. Wild Card 2. Picross 2 3. SaGa 2 3. Big Hurt Baseball for Game Boy 3. Beat Hal Pro difficulty on Hole in One Golf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,995 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 9 hours ago, Lago said: I’ve not heard of these. I really like the aesthetic and will have to give them a try at some point. Good luck! It's quite an established series at this point, and a massive undertaking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Rothchild | 9,598 Editorials Team · Posted January 25 Author Share Posted January 25 Bloodborne. Calling it for now. Underlevelled for the NG+ DLC, especially when I haven't learned it, and it's slow going so far, so I'm shelving it for another day. Pretty sweet stuff. Up there with Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Elden Ring for me. And much more interesting to explore than Dark Souls 2, the last Soulsborne I went through last year. That just leaves DS3 later this year and I'm caught up. Bloodborne (9.5/10) The Stanley Parable (7.5/10) The Talos Principle (7.5/10) Pikmin 1 (6.5/10) 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickman | 4,022 Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said: Bloodborne (9.5/10) Phew! I can put down the flame thrower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,995 Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 (edited) That's higher than what I'd give BB And I love the game obviously Edited January 25 by Sumez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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