What are you playing?

[Svejk]

Hate to admit, but I wasted 30-45 minutes of my time trying to beat that stupid red dragon in Rebirth.  His Lava cascade II bullshit gets me no matter where, or how far I run to the appropriate corner.... So I dropped it to easy and killed his ass and switched back to Normal.  Zero regrets.. was straight up not having a good time. 

It did remind me of the Dynamic difficulty, and wish I had tried that out earlier , because the difficulty spikes in this seem absurd half the time.  Anywho, I'm just ready to wrap this game up.  Hopefully by next weekend so I can move on.

Other than that, Astrobot rules them all. 

Also, been getting back into a 2nd playthrough of Bloodstained: RotN.  Iga goodness.  Still wish they (Kickstarter backers) didn't opt for the cellshaded style, as it takes away from the atmosphere and vibe.  Still a ton of fun.

[MMaRsu]

Going hard on Shin Megami Tensei V : Vengeance

I think I'm in the final big explorable area, but there is still some more to come. At least a few bossfights ahead of me.
Lvl 77 now, and building up my party with impressive demons/angels is a lot of fun.

Playing on hard really hasn't been much of an issue, I'm interested to see what's still ahead.
In the game you have to find these little guys to collect a certain currency. You send them back to some other dude.
And in the last area I found this little guy, he was a bit upset



 

[tiesto]

Just gotta do that final challenge in Astro Bot and I'll have my Plat.
Also been playing Visions of Mana, made it to the 2nd continent. It's pretty decent but could be a bit better. Absolutely lovely environments, and it's fun jumping around collecting grizzly honeys... but the music lacks the panache of other Mana games, combat is clunky with a slight delay between moves, and side quests are bottom-of-the-barrel type stuff so far.

[demi]

Recent gaming:

- Persona 3 Reload + Episode Aigis

All the new QoL changes make this version the best to me, though Nyx's new voice is terrible and not cool. Episode Aigis is mid as shit, and having never played The Answer before, I can see why people shrugged that shit off back then too.

- Landstalker

Finished this as a pre-game for Dark Savior. I enjoyed it for the most part, though the later dungeons were ass and not really that fun.



Right now I'm just making a list of games to play in October, so if you want to hang out and watch some spooky gaming I'll be streaming most of it when I can. I'll probably get Zelda as well.

[Svejk]

Recent gaming:

- Persona 3 Reload + Episode Aigis

All the new QoL changes make this version the best to me, though Nyx's new voice is terrible and not cool. Episode Aigis is mid as shit, and having never played The Answer before, I can see why people shrugged that shit off back then too.

- Landstalker

Finished this as a pre-game for Dark Savior. I enjoyed it for the most part, though the later dungeons were ass and not really that fun.



Right now I'm just making a list of games to play in October, so if you want to hang out and watch some spooky gaming I'll be streaming most of it when I can. I'll probably get Zelda as well.

Just don't expect a grand adventure like Landstalker.  Alundra was the only spiritual successor to do that.  Not even TimeStalkers or Dual Hearts did that. Climax climaxed with Alundra.

[demi]

Played the first two "Parallels" in Dark Savior

I think this game is unique in that you get different "storylines" depending on the intro time, and you can see the Landstalker vibes... but man is it not as good as Landstalker.

Visually game is fine, I like the sprites and the 3D environments, but the game is pretty straight forward, there's no side content or anything.

Combat is... whatever, I don't know what they planned to do with this (is it a fighter? is it an RPG? is it a monster collecting game?)

I plan on doing the other 3 parallels later today.

vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2256161745

I also added some more Saturn games to look at:

- Congo City of Zinj
- Cyber Speedway
- Dungeon Master Nexus (translation)
- Ghen War
- Robotica
- Scud: The Disposable Assassin

[bork]

Recent gaming:

- Persona 3 Reload + Episode Aigis

All the new QoL changes make this version the best to me, though Nyx's new voice is terrible and not cool. Episode Aigis is mid as shit, and having never played The Answer before, I can see why people shrugged that shit off back then too.

- Landstalker

Finished this as a pre-game for Dark Savior. I enjoyed it for the most part, though the later dungeons were ass and not really that fun.



Right now I'm just making a list of games to play in October, so if you want to hang out and watch some spooky gaming I'll be streaming most of it when I can. I'll probably get Zelda as well.

Just don't expect a grand adventure like Landstalker.  Alundra was the only spiritual successor to do that.  Not even TimeStalkers or Dual Hearts did that. Climax climaxed with Alundra.

There was also Ladystalker, although I never played it.





  I couldn't get into Alundra, but I also blame working designs' tampering on that. Still need to play the Japanese version that's been patched with English.

[demi]

What the fuck is that video, who the fuck enables those filters

[Himu]

I could never get into isometric games like landstalker but I also just don’t like that perspective in general for action games. Having it as a platformer is already bad in games like Sonic 3D blast or the worst level of all time The Flyin King in Earthworm Jim 2. Can’t imagine the awful perspective in a game like action rpg. The only time I like it is in a turn based rpg or Srpg. The only isometric action rpg I like is Diablo and that shit wisely has no platforming or other stuff.

Games like Alundra are better purely because they’re not iso.

[Polident Hive]

Isometric games have a longer adjustment period for me than tank control games. More when they’re not extremely grid based. Something like Solstice is fine. It’s like Tomb Raider where it’s moving a piece on a board  and you’re counting spaces.

People have made fan patches for older isometric games where up is north. When the game is designed with up being north east or north west, it’s its own issue.

[Svejk]

LandStalker does have a pretty awkward leaving curve, but once the muscle memory develops, it starts to feel natural. Especially with an always delicious Sega Genesis controller.

[MMaRsu]

Isometric games have a longer adjustment period for me than tank control games. More when they’re not extremely grid based. Something like Solstice is fine. It’s like Tomb Raider where it’s moving a piece on a board  and you’re counting spaces.

People have made fan patches for older isometric games where up is north. When the game is designed with up being north east or north west, it’s its own issue.

Isometric games are often beautiful though!

[Svejk]

Isometric games have a longer adjustment period for me than tank control games. More when they’re not extremely grid based. Something like Solstice is fine. It’s like Tomb Raider where it’s moving a piece on a board  and you’re counting spaces.

People have made fan patches for older isometric games where up is north. When the game is designed with up being north east or north west, it’s its own issue.

Isometric games are often beautiful though!

They were the 3D effect games before real 3D was a thing. The structure of them always fascinated me. Felt like playing in a miniature diorama. 

[demi]

Metaphor ReFantazio is literally just Persona... with some SMT love thrown in

The battle theme goes plus ultra beyond

[Beezy]

That battle theme alone just sold me. The guy's vocals threw me off at first, but it's actually fire.

[bork]

What the fuck is that video, who the fuck enables those filters

LOL, yeah- I just grabbed the first video I found.  Stretched screen too. 

[bork]

LandStalker does have a pretty awkward leaving curve, but once the muscle memory develops, it starts to feel natural. Especially with an always delicious Sega Genesis controller.

Best action-RPG ever made.  The shitty ending (or lack thereof) does bring it down a bit though.

[bork]

Started playing Zelda Echoes Of Wisdom.  It's enjoyable, but the framerate issues it has are even worse than the Link's Awakening remake and it can be pretty jarring at times.  They should have just made the game run at 30 FPS.

[Svejk]

Started playing Zelda Echoes Of Wisdom.  It's enjoyable, but the framerate issues it has are even worse than the Link's Awakening remake and it can be pretty jarring at times.  They should have just made the game run at 30 FPS.

The did that on purpose to entice more people on Switch 2. 

[demi]

Started playing Shining the Holy Ark,

Yes there is no "in" the title which I thought for the longest time

Nice little JRPG, which looks and sounds like Golden Sun (which makes sense given who was involved). Not much to really say about it, though I like the automap it does.

vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2261313975


Some quickies as well from the previous post:

- Cyber Speedway

Nice little racer game, kind of has that f-zero wipeout vibe, with a goofy story. vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2257167416

- Scud: The Disposable Assassin

Just another generic mascot game that is very short. Has some fun music though.





- Robotica

"FPS" game involving a mech robot where you have to climb 30 floors that are randomly generated (neat!). Unfortunately game is very basic and doesn't really do much to make it interesting. I finished this (begrudingly)

- Ghen War

Another early "FPS" game involving a mech, that has cool FMV scenes (i love cheesy FMVs). Unfortunately the developers of this game made an autosave (cool!) but when you lose all your lives... your save gets erased and you start all over (cool!). You can circumvent this by juggling your save between cartridge and system memory, but I really wasn't going that far to finish the game.

- Congo: The Lost City of Zinj

Another FPS by the same developers of Ghen War. Guess what - the autosave bullshit is here too! Talk about replayability! Also has goofy FMVs but only early on. I looked at a playthrough and they ran out of budget very quick.


---

I also wrapped up a Nintendo DS game called Unsolved Crimes, which is a mystery game that has simple Layton vibes. You explore a 3D environment crime scene, then you get asked questions that you figure out by examining evidence, or profiles of suspects. It's pretty tight.

[tiesto]

Been getting pretty heavily into Visions of Mana, I think I just hit the halfway point and met who is presumably the game's big baddie. Some absolutely lovely environments that are a lot of fun to explore. Easily the best Mana game in a long while. Just wish the soundtrack was a bit better (though there are still a handful of very nice tunes) and the combat was a bit smoother.

Also platted the new Astro Bot.

[demi]

Finishing Shining the Holy Ark, I enjoyed it. Did a little metal slime grinding towards the end (there's a spot that only spawns these enemies) to close it out.




This game has a lot of small details that make things still feel new - lots of unique enemy sprites, the different animations for enemies and your party, such as when they do critical attacks. It has a fairy system where if you send them out correctly, you get bonus XP/Gold and a free attack. Music was nice, visuals were nice. Good Sega Saturn RPG

[MMaRsu]

Metaphor ReFantazio is literally just Persona... with some SMT love thrown in

The battle theme goes plus ultra beyond

The battle theme is distinguished mentally-challenged with the dumb chanting

Sounds like this guy

[demi]

Strange Journey did the same thing though, it's not really new. It's just tight. Quit being a hater

[MMaRsu]

Strange Journey did the same thing though, it's not really new. It's just tight. Quit being a hater

Even in that song, its not as overbearing, or sounds as stupid.

And he's not even saying anything or making sounds that sound pleasant, it's just a bunch of WAYO AHAH AYOOOO HAYO HAYA HAYO HAYO (The Metaphor one)

In the Strange Journey it sounds more like a choir too, not just one guy chanting like a clown

The parts in the Metaphor song where he's not chanting like a moron sounds great.

[demi]

Yeah you are a hater buddy. It's real buddhist monk chants, you should appreciate the realism

[tiesto]

Glad you enjoyed Holy Ark, demi... I really liked the game, some real neat dungeon designs (especially the one where you run on the ceiling), great Sakuraba soundtrack too. One thing I appreciated about this game was how Camelot added some more traditional RPG trappings to a dungeon crawl structure, kinda like how they did it with the SRPG genre with Shining Force (my personal favorite SRPG series).

[MMaRsu]

Yeah you are a hater buddy. It's real buddhist monk chants, you should appreciate the realism

 

I genuinly love all of the SMT games OST's, this is the only one that actually grinds my gears.

I'm sure the rest of the game's ost will be 10/10, Because any part where the chants arent happening sound great

[Polident Hive]

tl;dr with gamepass having weird tier changes, I decided to redeem the three months that game with my laptop. So I’m starting with

Deathloop

I set expectations too high, maybe. Pitch of Dishonored + Majora’s Mask something I should like. Long, long tutorial ending with the objective of finding a path to kill everybody in one day. Sounds cool. Let me explore and figure it out. But it doesn’t shut up. Both the nonstop chatter and guiding you on what to do. Doesn’t feel like discovering and solving anything. Keep thinking about how good Outer Wilds and The Forgotten City both were at the time loop gameplay.

It’s fun enough, that aside. All the powers are out of Dishonored, amplified. Mind linking like ten dudes, popping one, and watching them all fall probably won’t get old anytime soon.

[Bebpo]

Deathloop depends on how much you like the chatter.  I loved the main guy’s performance and so the chatter and seeing all the conversations to flesh out the story was one of the best parts.

[Svejk]

Finally finished Rebirth.  Glad I got that over, because it was getting a bit tedious. I basically started b-lining it after the first Gold Saucer scenario.  Great battles and cinematics and drama, but the fights take too damn long.  I’m not sure how to feel yet about the end and the infamous scene.  Just kinda eh at the moment.  There’s things I like better, and there’s things I don’t.  Some of it will depend on how they decide to finish it off I suppose.  Anywho, moving on from it..

Going into spooky month, I’m gonna start digging into Lords of the Fallen to get my dark fantasy fix while I finish out Astrobot (about 75% through it).

Would really like to jump on the Dominus Collection, but I’m still pissy about Konami releasing that for PS5 only, otherwise I’d love to play those throughout October.  I want a PS4 version also so my kids can play it on their PS4.  Makes no sense why Konami left it out, while every other Collection they’ve put out has been on both.  So dumb.

[Bebpo]

Rebirth is the only game I've played in 40 years of gaming that I think could've used less content. If they cut about 30% of the weakest bits, the game would be a 10/10. It's just in dire need of an edit.

[demi]

OCTOBER GAMING

I finished both Nanashi no Game titles on DS

- Nanashi no Game (The Nameless Game)
- Nanashi no Game: Me (The Nameless Game: Eye)



These are unique experiences on the DS, involving a "cursed game" that kills you after 7 days, haven't heard that before

To play the game, you have to hold the DS sideways like a book (yes it's very uncomfortable), while using the DPad AND the touch screen to move. In these segments you basically walk down hallways and avoid ghosts. Nothing excited. Occasionally you will dive into your "TS" device and play the game, which looks like an 8Bit Final Fantasy title.

The sequel is more of the same, but they add a gimmick where your character gets the ability to see things through their left eye (or left screen), but this mostly just involves seeing symbols you have to click occasionally. They also add to the 8Bit gameplay by adding a platformer, not to unlike something in Super Meat Boy. You can find collectable cartridges which unlock optional platformer levels that ramp up in difficulty.

The controls were a huge pain, just very uncomfortable. Not exactly scary, but they are unique games for the DS.

[tiesto]

Rebirth is the only game I've played in 40 years of gaming that I think could've used less content. If they cut about 30% of the weakest bits, the game would be a 10/10. It's just in dire need of an edit.

Whaaa? I know for a fact you've played all the Trails games... and you don't think those could use less content?

[tiesto]

Thinking I'm in the home stretch of Visions of Mana. Just backtracking through the areas, getting the items I missed, and fighting the benevodons (I like "God Beasts" better than this name). Have about 3 more of them to fight.

Also been playing Tron Bonne. Completed most of the mini games, have to do the final parts of Mission 3 (the cave spelunking) and Mission 5 (the farm heist), along with doing Mission 4 and the endgame.

[Bebpo]

Rebirth is the only game I've played in 40 years of gaming that I think could've used less content. If they cut about 30% of the weakest bits, the game would be a 10/10. It's just in dire need of an edit.

Whaaa? I know for a fact you've played all the Trails games... and you don't think those could use less content?

haha, true. Different kinds of edits though. Trails needs less text, Rebirth needs less gameplay.

[Himu]

Forza Motorsport 4 on Xbox 360

Looks amazing despite the jaggies. This is a fantastic game to compare with Gran Turismo. Unfortunately I ultimately prefer GT due to how its campaigns work. In GT, you have to pick a car. You have a limited amount of money and you're going through dealership after dealership to see what's good and what you can afford. Then you've got an assorted list of events. You have to find what you qualify for. You have to go through a series of cups in any order you choose and what you can access. You're stuck with your first car for a long, long time and credits to buy new cars don't grow on trees. Choices between tuning a car versus getting a new car are always present. Should you win a cup to get a specific car and then sell it at the dealer for more cash? What about an oil change? This car I picked up at the dealer is a used car and has a high-ish mileage so I'm not going to get the most i can out of it. Is my starter car even good? Maybe I should sell it for something better and start over till I get something with more power. GT is full of choices like this. I mention this because as good as Forza Motorsport 4 is, is so linear and streamlined. You're given a choice of crappy cars like Ford Ka's and you have to win with them too. But pretty soon, you win just two more races and you're already out of the Ka and into a Miata or Honda Fit that the game gave me just for winning a race or two. You're constantly unlocking, and while this makes for interesting collecting it doesn't give the feeling of choice of having earned anything. The campaign mode is surprisingly linear so far. Being able to choose what circuits you want to do only shows up once you get past Clubman and even then it's limited.

Despite all of this it's still a high contender. Racing feels great, track design is , graphics are great despite being over ten years old, presentation and Jeremy Clarkson as narrator are truly magnificent. The simplicity of the UI, the minimalism of the gallery. It gives off the feeling of classiness that few video games could ever hope to acquire that makes you feel like you've stepped inside of a car dealership.





Great game but it's no Gran Turismo 4. To be fair to FM4, not much else is.

What I’m seeing is everything in GT is a simulation from money management to car management to the racing. In forza only the racing is the simulation. Depending on what you want you may prefer one or the other or appreciate both. I appreciate both and while I prefer GT (at least up to 4) I can’t blame any body for preferring Forza. It gives cars like candy. What’s funny is many Forza fans complain modern Forza gives cars out like candy when really, forza has ALWAYS done that.

[Himu]

Yeah I don’t think it’s even close. GT is on another planet.

[Svejk]

Yeah I don’t think it’s even close. GT is on another planet.

I really need to get GT7... Like seriously. 

Been binge watching The Grand Tour, and it makes the itch for GT real.  Not sure how I've managed to live this long without having watched any Top Gear (same guys as The Grand Tour)  Show is bloody fantastic.

[Svejk]

After finishing Rebirth, jumped around a few titles to see what grabs me the most.  It was a limbo weekend trying to settle with any one game...

Lords of the Fallen.  It's... Good? Great even? But it's not sticking the way that I'd hoped. Probably not in the Soulsborne mindset currently? Dunno.

Started up Dead Space Remake. Only played for about an hour, but it may click a bit more. Definitely felt more survival-ish than expected, which was cool.  Will dabble some more.

Stellar Blade.. Picking up where I left off, this has been clicking the most so far.  Made it to Xion and the Wasteland area.  Unlocked a few outfits and gathered a bunch of side quests. It definitely opened up quite a bit... Which, after playing Rebirth, borderline made me roll my eyes. *sigh

Astrobot, I'm about 80% complete. I think I did all the shape challenge stages and still have 2 lost galaxies to find. I am savouring this game, as I don't want it to end.

Finally got my DS emu transferred over from my old phone, so I've been continuing my Ace Attorney: T&T playthrough.  Sucking me back in too.

[Himu]

Yeah I don’t think it’s even close. GT is on another planet.

I really need to get GT7... Like seriously. 

Been binge watching The Grand Tour, and it makes the itch for GT real.  Not sure how I've managed to live this long without having watched any Top Gear (same guys as The Grand Tour)  Show is bloody fantastic.

I got GT7 for ps4 finally and the intro is fucking insane.

[Himu]

Gran Turismo 7 on PS4.

I'm the type of person to always consider the negatives of a video game, often to a fault.

While playing GT7 I could list a whole bunch of negatives.

"That's different."

"Progress isn't tied to Cups like in old GT."

"Getting cars is easier in this game."

I could easily say all of this and I will, and yet I don't consider these to be flaws. The campaign in GT7 is definitely different. But it's also inspiring, aspirational, and has its own set of positives. Old GT is typified by making cars into a giant RPG game. Here's your money, go buy a car, win some races, up some stats, win cups. Win new cars, repeat. It's an open-ended experience full of choice and linear progression like going through an RPG and slowly getting better loot with better stats and dumping your points into stuff to get the best upgrades.

GT7 is still rpg-like but it's more based around the quest part of RPGs. Here's your quest: get these cars with these conditions. Oh, but your resources are limited and that car might cost 60,000 credits and you've only got 50,000. And you need three cars with a total worth of at least 90-100,000 credits. Which you can't afford. So you're going to win them in some races. But the races and conditions get steadily more steep and difficult as you progress.

Not unlike Forza Motorsport 4 and some of what I played of Forza Motorsport 8, Gran Turismo 7 is definitely a car candy game. The thing is that it's very structured in how it gives you a piece of candy and you still have to earn your piece. So in GT7 you're still earning things in classic GT fashion, just in a different manner.

On top of this, the amount of love and care put into this game is obscene. You'll get a blurb on the history, impact, and overall positive legacy cars added to automotive culture. Here's from the classic European classic compact Menu at the beginning of the game.



Some how, some way, GT managed to turn the cars even more into the main characters. It's like Animal Crossing with cars.

Yes, it's different but somehow it has landed in its own unique take on the genre with perhaps the most evolutionary and progressive racing game campaign I've ever seen that gives the fullest respect to cars and people that love them.

My only hope is that the Cafe section isn't short as shit, because I could probably do it forever.

note: as a cross gen game on PS4 and the fact I have an OG ps4 I fully expected the graphics and loading to be not so great. Both are perfectly fine.

[Polident Hive]

Deathloop depends on how much you like the chatter.  I loved the main guy’s performance and so the chatter and seeing all the conversations to flesh out the story was one of the best parts.

Goes back to expectation and accepting it for what it is.

Likewise, initially I treated it as Dishonored. Stealth, slow play style. Quickly it’s clear you don’t need to. There’s no hiding bodies. Enemies have low awareness. Once you have the silenced SMG, you can run and score headshots and that’s a valid silent play style. Or kill everybody and there’s no judgment for it. Which is nice because I only ever played Dishonored as a non-lethal ghost.

Dunkey’s video on it was right about the kick being overpowered. You really can lock bosses into the fall animation and instant kill them.

[Himu]

Death Loop’s story fascinates me

[demi]

I wouldnt get too interested, it doesn't really do anything cool or special

[demi]

OCTOBER GAMING

Scorn

That weird HR Giger game, its leaving GamePass so I decided to get through it. Visually great (HR Giger games are a rarity), gameplay very boring

Resident Evil HD Remaster

Decided to play this, actually my first time playing the HD Remaster (not the original Gamecube release). Surprised at the "modern" controls, they feel very nice. Did a Jill & Chris playthrough, Chris using Knife only

Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster

Same thing here, and man I still don't care for RE0. The item box is a requirement in these games, imo. That said, after I finished it I did the Leech Hunter mode, and unlocked infinite ammo, magnum revolver, etc. Leech Hunter is whatever. So I do the Wesker Mode (exclusive to this game), it's basically RE0 except Billy is now Wesker and he can do this cool eye attack. I speedran that because I had infinite ammo, and it was like wow this is fun! Then I cleared the game and saved over my clear, thinking it would carry over... except, now my save is locked to Wesker mode, you can't go back to Billy/Rebecca, I have to start all over. So that's the end of my RE0 playthrough!

AMBER: Journeys Beyond

A classic PC game from the 90s, when Myst was the hotness. You explore a "haunted" mansion and help your friend with her ghost tools, and learn about 3 ghosts and their tragic tales. vod playthrough here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2268803142

Shivers 2: Harvest of Souls

Shivers is one of my all time favorite games on PC (again, during the time Myst was hot), but Shivers 2 unfortunately does not meet that same level. It's cool, but can be very easy to get lost and miss that key item since you didn't click that one thing. The first Shivers takes place in a museum, the second takes place in the dusty town of Cyclone. You arrive to discover that literally the entire town is gone, and you are tasked by the mysterious Darkcloud to become "the warrior" and find the Bahos sticks and deliver them to Devil's Mouth Canyon. You quickly discover that your friends (members of band Trip Cyclone) have become paintings on the wall. As you explore the town, you can watch Trip Cyclone's music videos and see that they have done their own research into the mystery of Cyclone and left behind clues for you to use. This game also has youtuber MetalJesusRocks as a character (he doesn't talk, he's just in the music videos).

Anyway this game is tight, but it's not Shivers 1 level. It's also one of the few PC games I actually own physically.

https://ibb.co/GCv7Mkw

Shivers 1 & 2 are available on GOG if you are interested in these games

Nosferatu

A SNES game, where you make your way through Dracula's castle in prince of persia-like manner, and beat the shit out of monsters with your bare hands. It's tight. Visually impressive, mechanically solid, just a unique experience. Here's my playthrough of getting the Good Ending: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2271694309

[Polident Hive]

I wouldnt get too interested, it doesn't really do anything cool or special

Finished it, and yeah, it really doesn’t. Read how the “true” ending was added in a patch?

A sequel seems out of the question or far off. These guys are making the Blade game.

[Bebpo]

50 hours into Trails of Daybreak 3 import version - And it's starting to pick up. The first 25 hours or so are basically just walking around "recap with all the NPCs" text reading for 25 hours of no-story. But starts to pick up after that like a normal Trails game. Probably the slowest start game in the franchise which is saying a lot given how slow some of these games are.

I hear from fellow importers that Daybreak 3 is around 130-140 hours if you talk to all the NPCs each dialogue refresh, so basically the same length as Daybreak 1. The NPCs and their slice of life stories are really good though so I don't mind the time just chilling and following up with NPCs.

Also pretty sure Daybreak/Calvard is going to be five games for about 500+ hours total to tell the storyline. I guess Falcolm counts Reverie in the Cold Steel arc so they figure that got 5 games, so why not go 5 again for Calvard. Definitely a bit much and makes it an incredibly slow paced story arc, but the characters are well developed so idk, it's maintaining a decent 8/10 soap drama feel.

Also I discovered today 50 hours in that the reason the cutscenes are moving at insane speed is because Falcolm is fucking bad at technology and if you play in performance mode the cutscenes run at 2x speed. And the game's been out three weeks and they haven't patched this. Best solution I figured out today is play in 60fps performance mode and then before any boss fight switch to 30fps quality mode because basically all cutscenes are going to be before and after boss fights.

[Svejk]

Hurricane Milton had me resort to android and emu play the past 2 weeks. 

Made some progress in KOTOR 2 (Android).  Finally got to a point where I was able to construct a lightsaber, which was rather uneventful when compared to KOTOR 1, and ran into some jedi/sith handmaiden that joined.  There's defineitly some mystery in the story somewhere, all with what Keirea(?) talks about... but nothing else more than just trying to get the Ebon Hawk off a planet it crash landed on.  The Mandalorian jungle planet has been extremely boring.  I hope it picks up more once I leave it...  I probably should've spent more time play FFVI Pixel Remaster instead. (It needs more QOL, tbph)

Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations - (DS emu) Finally got past a testimony that I struggled to figure out, but got past that bottleneck and got past the 2nd major hurdle in the courtroom, then the plot definitely thickened.  Was not expecting that, so that was cool.  It just so happened to be the date on the game was the same date I played said part! (Oct. 13th) *queue x-files theme

Caved and picked up the Dominus Collection on PS5 which was on sale.  Kids are in a big Castlevania mood and I was tired of waiting for Konami to roll it back for PS4 too (which is likely never happening anyhow).  I can finally finish a playthrough of Order of Ecclesia.  Only played about 1/3 of it back when I had a DS, but dropped it for reasons I can't remember.  Also got Ghost N' Goblins Ressurection which was on sale too.  Classic fun spooky games.

Really was hoping that Lords of the Fallen grabbed the shit outta me, but it hasn't.  I guess I'm in a bit of a gaming funk, because nothing in particularly has me sucked.  Besides Astrobot, which I'm deliberately taking my time with, Stellar Blade is the only other game that carries my interest longer than 30 minutes.  Dead Space Remake seems cool and atmospheric, but not sure if my mood is there...  AAHH! 

[demi]

OCTOBER GAMING

Daymare: 1998 - https://store.steampowered.com/app/842100/Daymare_1998/

A jank ass Resident Evil, this game was the result of what was originally a Resident Evil 2 Remake Fan Game (before RE2 Remake actually came out). Capcom called them and said "hey, can you not make this? we will help you make your game though" and got a couple team members on board. The game was released, and it's jank as fuck. Not much to really say, I won't say its a good game, but it's some sweet sweet jank.

Resident Evil 2

NOT the remake but the original. NOT the ps1 version or the dreamcast version or the pc version or the game.com version BUT the NINTENDO 64 VERSION YEAH BOI. I've always been curious about this version, and I think this is a completely fine version to play. It actually has some unique features not in any other version. Such as: Updated controls - An actual randomizer built-in - Being able to change the color of blood WOW - Some exclusive lorebooks (mostly just mentions of other games such as RE3, RE0, Code Veronica) - Exclusive NG+ skins.

Leon A: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2274732191
Claire B: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2274733715

Resident Evil 3

NOT the remake cause that shit is ass, but just the classic PS1 version. Still a great game, not much to say on this one. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2275610822

Silent Hill 2

NOT the original, this time the remake that just came out. A great remake, Bloober did a great job on this.

In Sound Mind - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1119980/In_Sound_Mind/

This game often goes on sale for like $3 on Xbox, so I bought it and been meaning to play it because people said its actually good! And it is! It's a first person game where you navigate your fucked up apartment and get stalked by this weird ass zombie in a trenchcoat. You play as a therapist and wind up diving into their minds and see their individual struggles manifested in different ways. It's weird, it's tight, and it runs well.

Kuon - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2281325515

YES the PS2 game that costs upwards of $900. Do I plan on spending $900 on a single videogame? HELL NO, so I fired up the emulator (my first ps2 game emulated) and gave it a playthrough. It worked really well, PS2 emulation is in a great spot these days. Anyway, it's a survival horror game that takes place in fuedal japan, involving two exorcists who go to a "haunted" castle for reasons. You wind up being involved in a plot involving dark curses and spells and silkworms and shit. Overall a decent game, but not $900 decent. I know people arent paying $900 because of it being a good/bad game, though.