greenthunder

Dang, I've also being eyeing a copy for a while and I'm jealous. Are you planning to read the whole thing or just the games you like?

Finally beat Inazuma Eleven 2. I found this one a lot smoother sailing than the first, but admittedly that's mostly due to being used to the mechanics now since they're very unique for a JRPG and I finally understand how offsides work. Plot is standard Level-5 shonen/soccer is extremely serious business shenanigans, but I went in expecting that. I still like the idea of the connection map (running around and recruiting players), but at the same time it feels kinda pointless because most of the time I'm just gonna stick with the story characters anyway, especially since this one seemingly dumps a lot more of them on you. Also started Harvestella, because I've been hearing a lot of good buzz for it over at r/JRPG. I'm definitely interested to see where this is going since the setting is seemingly high fantasy medieval, but there's also been a lot of hints it's not what it seems (a character asks if the calendar is lunar or Gregorian and decides she's in the past, several robot characters, one or two very out of place destroyed highrises in a dungeon). Game's opened up a bit by letting me pick the order of Seaslight to investigate, so I think I'll do the spring one first as the game suggested then go from there. Some addition thoughts, before I forget. I don't know how I feel about the combat system yet, but I'm also comparing it to other action RPGs I've played previously. Attacking wise, you only have one basic attack that combos and several special skills. Defensive wise, there's no guard/dodge by default, though your first job gets a small dodge/quickstep that appears to have no iframes. Last few action RPGs I've played either have more emphasis on not getting hit or don't have a dodge but have characters with healing magic and I think I just personally prefer those styles more. It's still pretty early into the game and you can set 3 jobs to swap between in battle, so I'd guess there'll be more defensive or healing jobs eventually and also more upgrades to reduce job swap cooldown. I'm picking up some Etrian Odyssey inspiration in the major dungeons? Particularly in FEARs, large, high level enemies with unique movement patterns you're supposed to stay away from.

Any chance you have some of these documented anywhere? I've seen a good handful of full set collectors floating around, but few if any variant collectors so it'd be interesting to see what the 3DS has. Also, Shantae reprint finally officially announced. Still mildly disappointed it wasn't an eShop exclusive game, but LRG and Wayforward are always gonna do their thing I guess. I suppose it could be worse since Shantae got fairly expensive as well. I wonder if it means we'll see the theoretical VVVVVV release from Nicalis soon too.

Bump, added some non 3DS odds and ends I'm looking for.

If you liked Bravely Default's battle system, then I'd go with Bravely Second before II eventually. II apparently changes up the battle system (speed based instead of round based), among other things. I've been procrastinating on buying II. On my own status update, actually started playing something new. I'll save my ramble on it since I'm probably not too far off from the end.

Even barring the fact backwards compat PS3s are rare, picking one up would be out of the question for me seeing as I'm only borrowing my friend's PS2. I'm looking into Retrotink but it seems even their cheaper stuff is out of budget for me. Do they have older revisions floating around or am I looking in the wrong place?

Various 3DS odds and ends from last month.

Bump

Apologies for the stupid question, home consoles are not my specialty and I figure VGS would have good recommendations. I'm thinking of picking up a new computer monitor and I might borrow my friend's PS2, so I'm looking into what my options are for PS2 (component?) output to HDMI. Bonus points if it can deal with Wiis as well. Price wise, I'm thinking something on the cheaper side which I know limits my options quality/fancy upscaling wise. At that point, do I just go for whatever component to HDMI I feel like picking up?

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has already been out of print for a long time (it was expensive secondhand until VGP reprinted it). I'd guess it's just clearing of the shelves or just general nonsense.

How far are you on 3DS variants? Do you collect just external variants like this sticker or the misprint Art Academy or do you collect cart variants as well?

I agree with most of this, since funny enough Project X Zone was one of the games I knocked out on my list last year. I went into it while only being surface familiar (Smash/other crossover games/know from cultural osmosis) with most of the characters/games. The late/end game I was taking about 1-2 hours per stage and I found the battle system kinda repetitive at that point, so I was getting burnt out because there wasn't anything I really liked at that point. I would have definitely enjoyed it a lot more if it was only 40 hours or so instead of 65; I also think I'll enjoy PXZ2 a lot more simply because there's characters I'm actually familiar with in it. I'd like to have more shelf candy, but I kinda feel bad spending money on games that I don't play even though that's like 80% of my backlog right now. It's a funny mentality thing too, since I don't mind collector's editions or figures or like, but the idea of buying a Japanese Mario & Luigi game to display and not play bothers me. On the current state of my backlog list, I am currently ignoring it in favor of replaying/grinding in another game. Excellent. Of course, as long as I'm enjoying myself that's really all that matters, but I'll probably push myself to start Inazuma Eleven 2 or Attack of the Friday Monsters soon. I should get back into Devil Survivor as well, but I'm finding for some reason I can't really play SMT games in one go like I do for other RPGs and I'm not sure why. Decision paralysis over demon fusion maybe?

Same here, I've vaguely entertained the thought of going for a 3DS full set one day but it's hard to actually want to commit to it when you could probably get 20+ good games for the price of the most expensive shovelware game. Maybe it if just happened to fall into my lap for five bucks one day. For me at least, I've been exploring imports more to pick up more games.

Seems like the new batch of Fragrant Story is just the carts from the bad batches in new boxes, unsurprisingly. The new releases also have an extra soundtrack CD and some other stuff for the CE, which I'm mildly tempted by but trying to move the copy I already have would be a pain. I'm mad I keep missing VGP's Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse restocks.

True, even the list I've presented is only a slice of my full backlog. I suppose I can put off Octopath for another year; it's already been on my shelf for 4+ years. Anyways, apparently I lied about how far I was in Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn, but the game was also much shorter than the HowLongtoBeat time, unsurprisingly. For reference, I beat it in about 23 hours. Overall the vibes are still very good like Wrath of the White Witch. Most of my issues came from the fan translation, both on the technical side (speaker mixups in sidequests) and on the text side (the literal translation made some characters feel out of character, east/west mixups, heart fragment mixups). With the game itself, I mostly prefer how White Witch executed some plot points, either by giving some arcs more buildup or reframing some cutscenes so it's not just one character lore dumping. I suppose that means it's time to add more Level5 games to my list.

GLOVES: Done. Seconded, I'd also like one for soundtracks. A couple of questions: a) For imports, do they have to be games that weren't released in your region at all? For example, a UK release Luigi's Mansion 3 (was physically/digitally released in NA) vs a UK release Rhythm Heaven Megamix (was digital only in NA) vs a Japanese Soma Bringer (never localized anywhere outside of Japan). b) For play x games on console/genre, how should this be reported? Playtime screenshots, short blurbs, ???. Anyways for my games: (The white marks are every 10, trying to count these is annoying.)

Wasn't expecting one to show up at the local used bookstore, but here we are.

3DS + Switch here, though I've been winding down on 3DS since I have most of the things I want to play now. I'm not really going for full sets or anything, but for 3DS I've been picking up games that vaguely interests me since I'm biased toward it. Switch wise I've been a lot more specific about what I pick up since the library is so big.

Dang. Like most people here, I'm probably just gonna port my list from last year to this year. I did play a couple more games that weren't on my list but I didn't get through as much of the actual list as I would've liked. I've found I'm struggling with the lack of "hype"/an attraction point with some of the games (my off list stuff were newer gets like Super Mario Wonder or Live a Live, games that had something I was looking forward to experiencing). It's not even necessarily tied to the game quality since my list was a mix of some solidly average games and some very well received games, I just don't have the motivation that says hey go play this game instead of shiny new game. 3DS * Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked - started, about 20 hours in - 43hr expected * Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's Conspiracy - done * Style Savvy: Fashion Forward - not started - 20hr? expected * Boxboy Collection - not started - 5hr expected each, so 15hr total * Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (as part of Ace Attorney Trilogy) - done * Shin Megami Tensei IV - not started - 43hr expected * The Legend of Legacy - not started - 31hr expected * Fragrant Story - not started - 11hr expected * Bit. Trip Saga - not started - 17hr? expected. Most of the games have very low confidence times on HowLongToBeat and I might struggle with them anyway lol * Attack of the Friday Monsters - not started - 5hr expected DS * Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn - done * Inazuma Eleven 2 - done Switch * Return of the Obra Dinn - done * Harvestella - done * Disgaea 4 Complete+ - not started - 36hr expected * Trials of Mana - not started - 20.5hr expected * Collection of Mana - not started - 40hr? expected (not playing Trials of Mana since I have the remake as well) * Persona 3 Portable - not started - 65hr expected, though I probably won't have it in hand for a while. * Super Mario RPG - still need to get - 20hr expected * Baten Kaitos I & II - still need to get - 90hr expected? List isn't final, I need to double check the state of my backlog right now. Is it cheating to list games I'll probably buy + play within the year?

What game is it? Certain games had faulty manufacturing that caused them to fail early. Though it's also apparently possible to just insert the cart and let the system idle for a while to make it run a memory refresh on the cart, but if it's beyond the point of no return the refresh won't help.

Might be a bit late but do you still have Touch Generations for sale?

I'm confused, I said I agreed any potential future VGP reprints wouldn't show up on ESRB. I guess I should've clarified by what I meant by the last few slates of manufacturing was not that they are currently being printed/assembled, but what games are the last few to be printed/assembled. I'd guess the Kokopolo CE carts, Shantae, the possible VVVVVV, Shakedown Hawaii and anything else was in said last batch. I do agree Shantae will likely happen soon if we're seeing leaks, but of course as you said it hinges on how their shipping department looks now.

I mean I'm not expecting VGP reprints to hit ESRB notices ye; I was just stating what is likely in production, reprint or not. Based on what other people have said (someone noted the leaked Shantae carts were printed in Feb 2022), I suspect 3DS games just have a long production period or time between order and companies receiving the order for whatever reason. Source on the second run of Fragrant Story is from the dev himself, though it's also possible the carts were from his first batch that got mangled and he just ordered new boxes/boxart. Hard to say though because he can't sell them until his patch is cleared. Maybe. You'd break even at least if they did a CE only release, which is pretty unlikely, assuming you wanted to pick it up again once it releases.

Same, I actually got my Kokopolo Monday. Based on that thread, the ESRB ratings someone else shared and general info from various places, the last few slates of manufacturing are: * Limited Run's Shantae reprint * A possible VVVVVV from Nicalis * Another smaller run of Fragrant Story (different boxart, same cart) * Whatever reprints Video Games Plus may or may not have ordered. As an aside, it makes me wonder if there's been any Japanese post retail releases. Europe seems to have gotten only Andros Dunos II and nothing since then, but CERO's site doesn't list ratings online and it's harder to hear about releases from Japan. I would guess the answer to be no though.

Nice! Out of curiosity, where did you buy the Baten Kaitos from? I've been wanting to get the metalpak for myself but having trouble figuring out what stores actually offered it.