Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 8th)

Lords of Thunder (please Konami bring this to Switch )

I played Cat Quest 1 & 2 PS4 in the morning.

Then, I played PS3 games in the afternoon for maintenance time.
1. PlayStation Move Heroes
2. Ben 10 Omniverse
3. Skylanders Swap Force

I will be playing FF4 pixel remaster after I'm done with my haircut appointment, (anyone else hate doing it and put it off for way too long?)

I've also bought a DS and started collecting physical Pokémon GBA rom hacks so I'll be playing some Moemon FireRed where all the pokemon are gijinkas and it's so freaking cute. It's not lewd, just cute as heck!

I also have Raincode coming in the post today after Shinigami sold me on it (not really one for adventure games normally) so it will be hard not to play that. There's something so good about getting a physical game in the post, it never gets old and I think physical media will never die.

Just finished Metroid Prime Remastered. Wow what a game, I can’t believe I never played it on the GameCube. I am now just having a more chilled experience with Return to Monkey Island and loving every second.

On PS5 i will be continuing with the excellent Final Fantasy 16, currently 51% through and the story has been brilliant so far. I will also be continuing with Trails of cold steel 2.

On switch I will be continuing with Master Detective Archives and Kirby return to dreamland.

On 3DS I will be starting Detective Pikachu which I never got round to completing originally but I want to complete it before the next game comes out.

Continuing with FFX, I think I'm very near the end of the game but too weak for the boss battle I'm at so I'll be going to return to past areas in case I missed optional stuff that'll help me. In addition more MK8 Deluxe as I'm extremely excited for wave 5 coming next week.

Just unlocked the main quest for the final sage and so finishing off some side quests/side adventures before starting that. And thought I had beaten the final boss on The Messenger (that annoyingly tough, fast red devil guy) but it seems I’ve opened up a whole new adventure!

Just like the past eight weekends, lots more Tears of the Kingdom for me. I’m 82 shrines and two temples down so far, and loving every last second. This is a genuine once in a generation experience, so I’m still taking my sweet time with what, so far, has become my favourite game of all time.

Also, after really enjoying the demo and loving the DS original, I’ve been itching to start Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, but I just can’t pull myself away from Zelda. Soon though, Sissel. I’ll see you real soon.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I'm continuing on with Fire Emblem New Mystery (w/old mystery fanhack which removes the awful prologue & gaiden maps the remake added and removes the avatar from the plot). Decently far in already, Chapter 19 to be exact.

Game's been fine but even with the hack its definitely a lesser version compared to the original Mystery of the Emblem between the loss of the weapon weight mechanic, massively inflated growth rates, and lesser slots for units to deploy (despite the gargantuan roster of units). I wish I could just have the original mystery's balancing with the smoother engine and added difficulty options from the remake.

I’m almost done with Final Fantasy XV on Ps5. Thinking about going for the platinum trophy.

After that I’m probably gonna replay Persona 4 Dancing All Night on my PsVita.

Might also start Final Fantasy VII Remastered on the Switch as I’m still in a Final Fantasy mood.

Finally I started Ravenlock on my Xbox Series X.

I might finish Tears this weekend. Four more lightroots and 7 more shrines left, although it’s feeling like time to seek out the Demon King himself. Really loved playing this game so far.

Other than that, I’d like to play some Picross and maybe Oxenfree. And if I finish Tears, tomorrow it might be time to start Xenoblade 3 at least 🥰

Octopath traveller again for me, although progress is slow as I’m only spending a couple of hours or so a week on games right now. I really should try and fix that!

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age: What a game. I've just finished Act I, and the story is a glorious realization of the Hero's Journey. Add in excellent characters like misguided knight Sir Hendrik, long-lost princess seeking her place Jade, or thief looking for a purpose Erik, plus gorgeous visuals, sharp turn-based gameplay, and a really fun 2D mode, and you have one of the best JRPGs - no, RPGs period - of our generation.

Just Tears of the Kingdom probably. I have other games I want to play, but I usually start what little time I have with TOTK and then before I know it, it took all the time I had. Again and again... Also I'm exploring everything on foot, so this will take a loooooooong time still. At least I don't need to think about what I'm voting for here!

Took the plunge on TOTK last week and am enjoying it so much but wow it is big. I also get SO sidetracked as every time I’m on the way to do something you come across loads of other things to do; a monster strong hold to clear, a cave to explore, a korok to chase, a rock falling from the sky to recall - it’s an incredible experience and I’ve decided to just enjoy the world for a bit and explore/get through the shrines before I progress the story. When I got to the end of BOTW I was so underpowered and underprepared it made the final boss fight almost unbearable, so this time I’m going to make sure I’m super prepared when I eventually go toe to toe with whatever awaits at the end - at this rate I’ll be lucky to finish it by Christmas!

Outside of TOTK maybe some online multiplayer but not sure what, perhaps fortnite if I want to ruin my mood.

Have a great weekend everyone!

@S83 don’t delay on Xenoblade 3 - without a doubt my favourite game of all time, absolutely incredible. Enjoy!

@Daz73 Have you played Dread? If not, I highly recommend, especially given how much you enjoyed Prime (yes, even with the perspective shift to 2D).

River City Girls on my RTX4090FE. A bit repetitive but do like the leveling up system.

@Dannyboy89 I’ve been given a £50.00 Nintendo card and have been wondering what to buy. I might get Xenoblade 3 😊👍🏻

I was about to buy myself a Series S today when I saw a pre-order for a black 1TB version for the same price. It doesn't release till September though. I'll hang off for now but I might end up buying the X.

Playing Afterimage, this game is art in motion.
Great game so far.
Also playing Totk, moving along at a snails pace, the way it should be.

Finished Battle Princess Madelyn, enjoyed it.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Nintendo Switch:
Guilty Gear XX ΛCore Plus R – finally completed Sol Badguy's Story Mode on Path 1. Completed Jam Kuradoberi's Story Mode on Path 2.
Danganronpa: The Academy of Hope and the High School Students of Despair – finally completed School Mode! Got Sayaka's, Kiyotaka's, and Byakuya's "presents".
SNES Nintendo Classic Mini:
Final Fantasy VI – I was in Zozo. Got first 4 Phantom beasts/Epsers in the game. And, I hate this "Reset the clock" puzzle.
Kirby of the Stars Super Deluxe/Kirby's Super Star – successfully completed Crushing Megaton Punch mini-game on all 3 difficulty levels. Spent a lot of time in Slash in the Flash/Samurai Kirby on novice difficulty trying to get 5 win streak. But, I got only 4. Meta-Knight is too fast for me.
Android:
Terraria – spent some time gaining money by killing mobs in my Normal difficulty small world.
Well... That's all what I've played on this week. Have a nice gaming week, everyone.

Still Tears of the Kingdom. I'm doing as much as I can before I find a certain someone. Maybe some Splatoon 3, as well. I voted for Team Vanilla for the next Splatfest.

Event-dictated plans aside (Tetris 99 done last night but there's still stuff to do in NMS's soon-ending expedition), this weekend's urges measure their greed with whole franchises.😅 Multiple Xenoblade, RE and FF playthroughs were already among the horsemen of my gamer gluttony, but now I seem to have gone off the deep end with Tales as well - Eternia joined by Innocence R on Vita, plus Xillia and Zestiria on Deck... and now Symphonia on Switch to boot.😵😆 Atelier Marie is lock'n'loaded as well but still a week away so I may well do more stuff in Nelke in the meantime. And RPG itches don't even end there - the usual Switch suspects (RF5, Portia, DerQ, MS2 and Fuga), [3]DS ones (Endless Frontier, Valentia, EOU and Fantasy Life), Vita ones (God Eater and Neptunia), Deck ones (Resonance of Fate, ESO, Omega Quintet and Xenosaga/Xenogears)... and maybe others from Star Ocean, Valkyria Chronicles, Romancing SaGa and TWEWY to Ever Oasis, Odin Sphere, Mass Effect and Nights of Azure on top.

Ambitions outside the genre are comparatively more tempered for the weekend but do include stuff like Danganronpa and VLS, the usual Isaac and the finally double-dipped Taimumari, Horizon and Starbound, Doom 1 and Carto, JC2 and NFS Rivals/Payback... okay, I did say "comparatively".😅

Still fully in tears. 125 korok seeds and I still haven’t found Hestu 😭

It's more FF16 for me. Coming up on 50% completion according the PS5 dashboard. Enjoying the game and really interested to see where the story goes. Ready for it to ramp up another notch now but I'm pretty sure current events are leading to that.

My copy of Reverie arrived but Sky FC is my other main game right now. Will probably have a few matches of SF6 too. Sadly Diablo 4 has taken a bit of a back seat but looking forward to returning to it post FF16. I also really want to finally play the Xenosaga trilogy following Future Redeemed. Those are ready to go on my Steam Deck.

I'm going to continue playing this co-op game with my wife called Keywe. It's similar to Overcooked but it's about playing as two kiwi birds in a mail sorting room. It's actually a lot of fun and requires a lot of communication to get through the stages. I'll also continue some Cult of the Lamb. I've got one major boss down but I didnt realize that I needed more followers to open up the other Crusade doors, so I gotta grind the first Crusade door for a bit.

Huntdown, a great 90's style game about 80's style action.

Super Bullet Break, a game I would have completely overlooked for not being interesting to me in the slightest, were I not looking for a cheap physical game with some extra's to complete an online order of cheap physical games with some extra's to get free shipping. Absolutely surprised how much I enjoy this game despite how awful it matches with my usual preferences of video games or any media.

I might start Sakuna of Rice and Ruin or Mortal Shell, or one of the other games I got in that same online order (not all of them with physical extra's, some of them just REALLY cheap on sales, used, whatever). Every once in a while I make an order like that, and get enough points to get some extra dirt cheap games on sale on the eshop. Thinking of getting Ritual Crown of Horns now. And I still have several games to play from previous orders, and several others I still just haven't gotten to, so plenty... Perhaps (way) too much.

I’m about to hop on a long flight where I’ll be playing Shin Megami Tensei V the whole time. I’ll play it plenty at my destination as well! Love it!

@Shambo I'm playing Huntdown, too. Great game, especially once you get into the rhythm of the boss fights.

I'm also playing Legend of Wukong on the Evercade. It's a decent JRPG that suffers from being waaay too hard at first. Once I'd taken down the first two bosses, though, the game really opened up to a more enjoyable experience.

I am also continuing with Diablo IV, having finally found a build I like.

I'm just playing a little game called Tears of the Kingdom. You all probably haven't heard of it

Zelda definitely, some Guitar Hero, and definitely some good ol' Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

This week I will be mostly playing

Beyond Good & Evil
Tears of the Kingdom

@MattAllsopp do it do it do it. I wish I could erase my memory and play it again men in black style 😂 as much as I’m loving TOTK, for me, it doesn’t have a patch on XC3 (unpopular opinion no doubt!)

I'm boring and still playing TOTK. Extremely minor spoilers ahead for those who want to go in blind.

I finally went ahead and completed a regional phenomenon (which was a total cinch) so that I could finally unlock the shrine/item sensor, though I have already found 132 shrines without it, but it will come in handy for finding specific monster parts for armor upgrades.

It's funny because I've been playing the game for so long now (185+ hours) that all of the Purah Pad updates were handed to me one after the other because I had already met all of the conditions and been to any places that I had to find, which was nice. I liked not having to run errands after being so thorough with the game so far.

And I'm kind of annoyed with how just rare Lynels seem to be in this game. I've only encountered... three or four so far (one of which I had skipped early on and hadn't encountered again). I had also found the Lynel colosseum in the depths, and I was able to make out that I would have to face about 4-5 of them in a row, so I decided to sit it out until I am fully stacked with 60+ power weapons, multi-shot bows, bomb flowers, and maybe some Zonai springs and food for good measure.

I think I only have one Lightroot left to find, and I haven't been able to figure out how to get there, even after running around in circles on the surface. Grrr... and I bet a few others here will know which one I am talking about.

I've also escorted Yunobo to the temple a week or so ago, but I'm still taking my time before I make an attempt to clear it, but I think I will tackle that one next.

And the amiibo yields haven't improved since completing my first regional phenomenon, in contrast to BOTW, where you got better rewards (and Champion armor) after completing at least one Beast. I'm so sick of all of the 6-7 power decayed weapons.

Playing with my rog ally diablo IV

@Bucket Yeah they are (on easy, admittedly) just about right on that sweet spot where they get me a couple of times, I think "this is impossible, wtf", and then I win and want to play the next level.

The fact that it has a regular retail physical version with a full colour manual and some buttons of the main characters only makes it more awesomely 80's / 90's.

Now, if they could make a game like this from the movie They Live by John Carpenter, I have no further requests (from the games industry... for a while).

@Daz73 Two fantastic games, man! Good choices. Metroid Prime is simply brilliant, and Return to Monkey Island was an amazing surprise, very faithful to the originals, imo.

Juggling between playing more Rain Code, wrapping up Dual Destinies, and occasionally fiddling with New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

@IronMan30 I believe I know where you are in the game. Remember that this is not Breath of the Wild. Just saying.

This weekend, I'm looking to wrap up Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe, it's been a blast playing through this game. I also picked up AEW Fight Forever last night, so I’ll definitely be checking out the Road To Elite mode.

On Sunday, Squirtle gets the community day classic spotlight, in Pokémon Go as well. Speaking of Pokémon, I'll also fire up Pokémon Scarlet for a bit, to do Delphox raid(s) with the wife as well.

Zelda.
It’s raining
Lovely jubly

@Dannyboy89 That’s good enough for me! I’ll download it later 👍🏻😊😊 Cheers 👍🏻😊

On the last chapter on Rain Code and man is it really good. The game is held together by duct tape and glue, but the story and characters are just that engaging. After I beat it I’ll finish up Final Fantasy 16.

This weekend I’m playing Final Fantasy 16 on the PS5. According to the PSN, I’m 70% through the game clocking in at 44hrs. If that’s the case, it has been some of the best forty hours I’ve experienced in this current generation.

It’s crazy how good FFXVI is, at least to me. There are obvious flaws in the game - level design, the lack of proper RPG elements, and not the greatest of side quests - but I can’t stop thinking about the game. The story is absolutely gripping, with memorable characters and excellent voice acting. And the combat is really damn fun.

Now that I’m over halfway through the game, it has opened up a lot more in terms of content, story, quests, and it truly does get better and better as you progress through the game. I really like the structure of the game. Unlike most RPGs (I’m looking at you, Xenoblade Chronicles) you are never bogged down by a list of mundane side quests and conventions. It’s nice to have only two or three side quests available after a main quest. Some of these side quests may be fetch quests, but they are meaningful with the rewards. And these rewards aren’t just items acquired - it’s the character(s) development and world building.

I’ve heard complaints that say this game is “empty”, and I don’t understand that. We are talking about a linear, narrative driven game. Not every game needs to be this massive open world that has bustling towns and cities, with NPCs that you’ll never remember, and quests that are essentially meaningless.

When I hear people say this game is empty, I am confounded because the locations you visit - and I would classify them more as “levels” - do have some sort of life to them. However, these places are simply a serviceable open playground to fight monsters, go on hunts, and get experience. It’s essentially a means to an end to reach the next story beat. And this is fine because, as I stated earlier, FFXVI is a story driven and linear game, focusing on a handful of characters in order to make it feel more of a personal journey.

Honestly, this may be my favorite FF title. It’s easily my favorite PS5 exclusive at the moment. I’m hoping I can beat the game before I head to Nashville, TN next weekend. Regardless, I’m definitely going to do a NG+ in order to get the Platinum trophy, which is something I rarely do.

Only:

Street Fighter 6 (Steam)
The King of Fighters XV (Steam)

I´m waiting for my cockpit Fanatec (complete)...to play Dirt Rally 2 in high quality. But.....I´m still waiting....unfortunatly

Well, I just earned the platinum trophy on Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart last night so I am unsure of what I will be playing on PlayStation 5 though I have a few ideas. On Nintendo Switch I am still playing TOTK and that probably won't change anytime soon.

Edit: I ended up deciding to play Guardians Of The Galaxy on PlayStation 5 and I am enjoying the game very much. It doesn't help that the soundtrack hearkens back to my overall favorite era of music. And watching everyone grow as individuals and seeing them grow as a team has been a blast as well. It is true to the style that GOTG has.

Majoras Mask 3D! Continuing my Zelda run this summer after conquering TOTK and OoT3D

i continuing with my Tears of the Kingdom playtrought, with 116 shirnes done, 52 Lightroot unlocked, 223 Korok found, i about to do my final Labyrinth(the south Lomei Labyrinth) and then complete the Zora quest.

I'm working on Metroid Samus Returns (3DS). I'm 94% complete. Got all the upgrades. Just trying to get off the planet. ugh . . . LOL.

I also want to play a bit more of Kirby and the Forgotten Land with my daughter. We are about to do the boss level on World 7.

But I enjoyed Samus Returns so much I want to try out the Metroid Dread demo. If I like it, that's my next game. And I'm thinking of starting Super Metroid on NSO.

@Zuljaras Hollow Knight is all.
Can't stop until you Embrace The Void

... I've reached the pantheon of hollownest but I took a break and haven't gone back for it. I'm kind of afraid of it.

Finally got a copy of Advance Wars. Never played original, looking forward to diving in!

TotK.

I've finally completed the quest related to the mask I discovered on Dragon Head Island just after I completed the first regional phenomenon over 100 hours ago. I wonder whether it's possible to unlock the fifth sage first?

I've now completed every main adventure except the last and almost every side adventure. I think I have a lot of side quests to go.

The last five or so hours have been spent completing the 50 shrines I'd unlocked but left unfinished. Lots of Lights of Blessing to convert to hearts. Should double my health!

I can't for the life of me find the final Lightroot... I've scoured the map looking for incomplete bits, but nothing.

The next couple of weeks will be spent finding the remaining shrines, finishing any side quests I find on the way and then going after Ganondorf. I won't be collecting all the seeds or Bubbul gems, finding the wells or signs, or completing the compendium.

Had a great time.

This weekend, it's TOTK and Shovel Knight Dig.

Next weekend, it's Splatoon 3 all day. #TEAMSTRAWBERRYSWEEP

The Weekend after that, it's gonna be Shovel Knight Dig, TotK, and My second playthrough of Hamtaro: Ham Ham Heartbreak, this time on real hardware. (I threw $60 towards buying the cartridge and I don't even have a GBA lmao, I'm hopefully gonna get one next week.)

This weekend I think I'm finally going to finish 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. I got this game for Christmas last year and I started playing it back in April. At this point I think I'm ready for it to be over 😅. Currently I'm at 95% for the story. I think I'm over 35 hours into the game now.

Imperia Online (Windows Phone) - Still grinding away.

Angry Birds Rio (Windows Phone) - Still also playing in bursts.

Fire Emblem 6 on the Japanese NSO will be the bulk of what I'll be playing. I'll also pop in to Pokémon Violet for the Delphox event.

I'm working my way through Hi Fi Rush on the series X. If any game on the other consoles needs a Switch port - this is the game. It's great but it feels like a natural fit for the Switch's audience.

Lots of Street Fighter 6. I'm trying to improve by hitting the practice room. I rarely have the patience to sit in a blank room and hit combos but SF6 is inspiring me to get better. It's the best fighter I've ever played.

I'm traveling today so I'm looking forward to playing Zelda: The Minish Cap tonight. Collaboration games with big Nintendo IPs usually end up so well done - I wish we'd see more of them. My dream matchup would be Platinum Games doing an action game with some big Nintendo property like Mario.

Beat TOTK and now on to Rain Code! The former is absolutely amazing.

Haven't gamed as much as I'd like the past few days. Partially remedying that today (Saturday).

• LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom - About to start my third dungeon (Sidon/Zora's Domain). I've just taken a couple of days off the game. 120+ hours in and felt I needed a short breather lol.
• Dragon Quest Builders 2 Jumbo Demo - I THOUGHT I was almost done with this, but "Jumbo" is aptly named. XD I've been playing for about an hour here and there. Very fun game, allows for plenty of creativity while also providing some structure. I'll buy the full game when it's next on sale.
• Pokemon Go - I'll be participating in the Squirtle Community Day Classic for a little while tomorrow. I'm very fond of the little guy!

Happy gaming!

Edit: My Trails Into Reverie Amazon preorder should arrive in the mail later. It'll be ages before I get to it though.

Tears of the Kingdom and Tetris 99 (for the Pikmin 4 theme).

Will be finishing TOTK this week finally. There are a lot of games in my backlog to tackle afterwards.
Start Metroid Dread? Finish PKMN Violet? Continue Persona 5? Finish GOW Ragnarok? So many good options and so many games I left half the way because another one got released

Not the person who put Hentai World 😭

Well, this week I beat Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, a true masterpiece. I also finished my second playthrough of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Only Shu Takumi can think of a game about a lawyer and a game about a ghost and have them both be some of the best games I've ever played.

So...what now? I'll probably press on in my playthrough of Professor Layton and the Last Specter on DS...or Spectre's Call to some of you, I suppose. I'm still fairly early in the game and have progressed rather slowly so far, so it might be time to pick up the pace. After all, I still have two more Layton games from eShop Doomsday...

A bit of Hollow Knight some WarioWare Gold and Fire Emblem engage for me.

@the_beaver oh yeah, I have about 150 hours in so I believe I get what you mean.

@OorWullie
I’d def be getting the X if it’s the same price as the S. September is only 2 months away, not to mention Starfield is releasing soon after. Btw…I still need to finish DUSK!

@Shambo @Bucket
Huntdown is an excellent game, especially with 2 players. The game would have been sweet with an online co op mode. I’d love a Huntdown 2 , or I always felt Huntdown could have been a Robocop game. A Robocop DLC would have been dope.

Busy weekend, not much time for anything really. Still playing TOTK like the rest of the world. I’m considering picking up The Dredge on sale because my backlog apparently lacks a ‘sinister fishing experience’!

Strains on deck…Red Congo, Gelato 33 and a superb batch of LA Kush Cake!

Have a fun filled weekend!

As of last night I got to the last chapter of Fire Emblem (Blazing Sword) on the switch before I had to put it up, cos I had to get up early for work. I've already beat this game before, but I couldn't wait to jump back in!

I'm planning on playing Ni No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch. I beat it a few weeks ago, but now I wanna tackle the post game.

Edit: Just beat Fire Emblem Blazing Sword again. Time to dive back into WotWW and explore the wonders of magic with Oliver!

@Z-Core Oh mate you just made me feel so old. I absolutely loved that game. That game made me buy a hamster IRL as a tween, good times.

Fire Emblem(GBA) currently on chapter 18. Also might play some Sega Genesis games as well.

Minish Cap and my daily grind of Street Fighter 6 on Steam.

I played some Tetris 99, it's been a while, I'm going instead to Effect when I'm in the mood for Tetris these days. The Pikmin music isn't a fit imo.

I played some more Cuphead this morning to see how far I would go into the achievements, and I've got 30 of the 42. That's good enough for now. I had lots of fun, but ranking A and S isn't for me. At least not in this walkthrough.
Great visuals, perfect soundtrack, and a really nice challenge.

I thought to get into Metroid since there's potentially 5 Switch games to enjoy of that series. I never played it before, so I'm now already over a couple hours into Metroid NES on NSO.
I hate mazes. That's what this game seems to be all about. So it's definitely not great. There's no story and no explanations whatsoever. I'm so glad I didn't get that one as a kid, it would have drove me absolutely mad.
I picked up a walkthrough online (go left 2 doors, go right 5 doors, ...) and I'll do the game like that to get a feel for it. I really hope Super Metroid is better than this, maybe a map please.
Don't want to sound negative, but I usually don't enjoy retro games that much unless I played them back in the days.

Finally, I'm playing Hatsune Miku the rythm game in between. I'm doing the songs in hard mode and it's getting really fun.
There's that song called something like "the end of the world dancehall", I had to go and download it. I just love the verse with those dissonant guitars, and I can't get that chorus out of my head. Also really like not understanding what they're singing about, with their lovely mice voices.

@Cordyceps Hollow Knight is such a great game. I think I spent somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of my time on the game @ Pantheons. I had to give up at some point, it became too challenging for me. But really, what a great game. Looking forward to Silksong.

@Yalloo Super Metroid is far better.

Metroid Zero Mission is a remake of the original Metroid and I'd recommend playing that if possible. Samus Returns is a remake of Metroid II and I'd again recommend that over the original. The remakes add lots of quality of life improvements as well as better feeling controls, graphics, etc.

I haven’t played anything yet this weekend, just being lazy after last night’s They Might Be Giants concert - they’re one of my favorite bands, the first I ever saw live, and now my younger daughter’s first, too! We loved the show and danced the whole time 😆

So as I bask in post-Mesopotamian feels and get weekend chores done, I’ll probably play a little Y’s VIII and a few arcade titles. TOTK hasn’t guilted me into going back to it quite yet.

Wishing everyone a rockin’ weekend!

End-game Pokemon Violet on Switch and Dying Light 2 on Steam Deck (it’s 50% off in the Summer Sale, which is pretty crazy for game barely a year old)

Well this weekend is kinda simple. On the switch side of things I’m just gonna keep going at Bayonetta Origins. Still a absolutely amazing game and again honestly kinda my Nintendo GOTY so far. I’m catching up on those Nintendo 1st Parties as I think all I got after this is the Fire Emblem Fell Xenologue, Advance Wars, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Future Redeemed and Tears of the Kingdom. So I’m thinking on how/when to swap over to third party catch ups as over on that front I got a whole lot like Octopath Traveler 2, Paranormasight, Trails to Azure, Atelier Ryza 3, WE ❤️ KATAMARI, Ghost Trick and soon to be Rain Code and Trails into Reverie. Honestly if anyone has any thoughts and ideas lemme know I would appreciate it. Speaking of Rain Code I wanna play it so bad but I still gotta wait until at least the 18th. Stinking customs…… Tho Amazon ain’t just screwing me on that but Reverie too that’s coming in like 4 days too. Over on the PS front it’s pretty simple not sure if I’ll play some more XVI later as I’m really enjoying it and don’t wanna just blast through it. Maybe I’ll get back into SF6 as I’m really excited for Rashid and would definitely love to earn some trophies for like World Tour mode or Battle Hub. This week I was able to buy Resident Evil Village's Winters Expansion and Lost Judgment’s The Kaito Files so I reinstalled Lost Judgment as well as RE5, 6, and 7. I’m now all set to finish up my Yakuza and Resident Evil marathons. The Resident Evil one has definitely taught me some interesting things about that series that I wanna elaborate on when I’m done with it. Over on the anime front I’m impressed at the fact I now only have two animes left to wrap up after finishing Demon Slayer last night and that is Mobile Suit Gundam Witch From Mercury and Birdie Wing. That and catching up on this new show I love now called Bungo Stray Dogs. Once I finish Witch and Birdie I’ll be able to put together my top spring list and I’m really excited to see how that comes together. As for my early Summer picks currently I’m looking at Atelier Ryza, Jujutsu Kaisen, Liar Liar and Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Season 2. Overall big excited feelings heading into less then two weeks until Pikmin 4. Have a good weekend y’all and Happy Gaming as always.

Factorio every free moment I get whilst revisiting the incredible Shenzhen I/O on my laptop.

Its the best “game” I have played since building alchemical computers in Opus Magnum 3 years ago.

Please Zachtronics, port your library to Switch so I can play on the toilet.

I'm grabbing as much conch shells as I can in Splatoon 3 in the name of team vanilla.

Still playing Tears of the Kingdom. When I'm not, been enjoying Ultra Street Fighter 2 and Slipstream after it's recent update to add more cars and tracks. Also playing the Amiga version of Turrican 3 on the anthology collection 2.

Centipede and Millipede Atari 2600 versions via the Atari 50 Anniversary Collection.

i havent beat tears yet still exploring the depths trying to find all the green tunic outfit along with any other treasures and collecting poes as well plus still need to find more memories and shrines.

@IronMan30 Lol, ok, I'm also about 160 hours in, and I was really glad when I found out that.

Finally just defeated Ganondorf! So, I guess that means it’s time to finish up side quests?

I finished SPLASHER the other day. Very good 2D platformer. Think Mario Sunshine in 2D. Not 100% it yet though, may pop back from time to time to master a level or two.

Restarted A HAT IN TIME after getting 14 time pieces last year. Up to about 8 again now. It’s an ok game but way overrated by online people. Yooka-Laylee is better. Still, I’m going to see it through to completion.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, Moonrider, and TotK.
Hot Pursuit is an excellent game. Decent performance. Bring your own OST. The only proooooblem I have with it is the full 2-3 second delay from after unpausing to when you have control of your vehicle again during a race. You basically can't pause the game during a race. That's a biggie when ya got kids running around bothering you every 5 minutes for like "food and water" and stuff. Oh also, put the Switch in Airplane mode to avoid EA's reindeer games on start up up. Gross.
Moonrider is excellent.

I feel for you, the person in the staff playing Danganronpa V3.

Please do not play it on Switch, it's the worst version.

Still playing Tears of the Kingdom. At this point I’m just doing whatever I feel like doing whenever I play, since I’m done with all of the main quests.

Totk and a wonderful life. Pretty much all I am playing for the next few months.

@Zuljaras modded or vanilla? I been thinking in jumpng in again on my steam deck.

@Ooyah Also playing Trinity Trigger here! I thought I was the only one, as it was kind of here-and-gone overnight. But I’m a sucker for Mana, so I shamelessly and gladly jumped in feet-first. The fact that you’re almost done with it suggests that it’s worth taking it to the end.

If My Heart Had Wings, Atelier Ryza, Warhammer 40k: Boltgun and Little Busters!

I'm continuing on in Metroid Dread. Things are getting more serious now and the handholding, ever so subtle, "go this way" is not so clear anymore, which is great. Time for some true Metroid now.

@Yalloo Oh yes, the original Metroid is certainly of a bygone era. Unapologetically opaque. And sadly the performance hinders the gameplay in a lot of places, especially towards the end. I loved it back in the day, and it still holds a very special place in my gaming heart. But if I were to experience it fresh now, I'd feel exactly the same as you.

Fortunately Super Metroid is a timeless classic. And I think it's fair to say that experiencing — and ideally conquering — the original, as painful as that can be, only serves to enhance the experience of the SNES follow-up.

After that, the Prime series is amazing, with Dread being a very solid entry as well (only downside on that one being the extremely lackluster music).

Diablo 3 and AEW on switch. Tomb Raider DE on Xbox

ive played my fair share of TOTK this weekend ofc, but the award this time around goes to hi-fi rush! Seriously, if you have the means to play it (xbox or pc), DO IT NOW. The story is really fun, the gameplay is so addicting, and the music, oh the MUSIC! If you don't know, its a Bayonetta/DMC type game except all your movements are to the beat of the song. It has a cel-shaded comic book artstyle and it just looks fantastic. Sometimes it's hard to tell when the cutscene ends and the gameplay starts since both look so good. Definitely worth a try, or AT LEAST a look. Happy gaming y'all!

So here’s my current gaming lineup:
1. TOTK 170 hrs in. Story complete. All roots. 9 shrines left. Surface, sky and depths all 100%. Maybe like 90 koroks.

2. Majoras Mask on 3DS. Play this through maybe every year or two.

3. FFXVI. Maybe like 17% in. Haven’t scratched surface. I just got a tattoo that fills my right inner forearm. Majoras Mask and TOTK collab. Full color. 8 hrs straight of work. The fast pace button mashing affects my arm, and I want it to heal properly.

@Rainz I mean the new model of Series S with twice the storage will be the same price as the current model of S. I would prefer the X though.

I played through Dusk again a few months back. The developer has made a smaller game since Dusk called Chop Goblins and it's very good. I think it's only on Steam though.

As for the strains on deck, I just finished off some Gelato. Now I'm going through some 100% organic Watermelon Zkitttlez and it's very nice. I have a delivery arriving in one hour with 7 of Lilac Diesel Popcorn Edition - 7 of OMFG Crumb Edition and 2 of free samplers. It's so cheap here in Thailand if you know where to shop.

Playing mostly Xbox (incentivized by Microsoft rewards).

However on Switch playing Super Mario 3 NES. Actually got stuck on a section there and moved (admitted unfairly IMO) to Super Mario 64. Looks like much fun. Just have to master the controls.

Trails in the Sky and probably some FF16

Played a lot of Smash Ultimate, both online and off and more than a little disheartened to finally discover a Smash Bros character I can say I unequivocally despise. Incineroar. God that thing is hideous to behold. I could almost forgive it if it weren't for the fact Pyroar is right there, guys. Stupid furry Broly. Better believe you're getting picked less than Pichu, pal D:<

I’m finally on FE Engage, and I really like it. It’s definitely not as good as FE 3H, but it’s still good.

I just finished the crazy chapter 4 of Danganronpa 2 and I’m onto the 5th! I can’t wait to start getting some answers. I honestly have no idea who Monokuma, Monomi, or the Future Foundation spy are. I’m just along for the ride LOL.

Astral chain for me, my first play trough was so disjointed, due to having a daughter, so hopefully I can get it done in about a month give or take, instead of over the course of entire 2022 and late 2021. The length of my last play trough.

@Gaviin @tgt Thanks guys, feeling a bit less lonely with your comments. I was reading yesterday how a great game Metroid was and still is, and frankly I have not been able to see it.
I did notice that enemies movement was sometimes slowing down. I think when I'm jumping and the screen is scrolling.

Anyways I gave up after reaching 1/3 according to the walkthrough. I tried the gameboy Metroid after that but that was also really not engaging.
I started playing Mario and the gold coins after that, and even though it is not extraordinary, I had a better time with this one. It felt like I was actually getting somewhere, instead of being lost with no goal and no feeling of acheiving anything really.

I thought it would be nice to go through Metroid's history before getting in the new games and remasters. So far it was not.
I will wait a bit and try to get into Super Metroid another time.

So I have finally done all 4 phenomemons, the next bit too (without giving spoilers), I have done all Lightroots, and this weekend i'm chipping away at the last few shrines, I'm currently at 140 completed.
I just got the official guide book, personally not a fan of online walkthroughs because they seem too handholdy but with the book it makes me feel like indiana jones or something, cause its like a map and a journal and im discovering clues HAHA.

so thats been very helpful with tracking down those last few shrines, gonna go through the rest of the side quests and try and max out my inventory before going to beat Ganondorf's bug butt

@The_Pixel_King I think I will go for the X. I know if i buy the S, I'll always be wondering how much better the graphics look on X. I'm only really wanting it for Gamepass and a graphics upgrade for Rocket League. If not for my Switch backlog, I'd probably have one by now. I tried Gamepass on PC earlier this year and got right into Yakuza 0. Prefer playing on TV though.

I think I'll hang off, finish off TOTK and a couple of the big games in my backlog, Dragon Quest XI, Bioshock.Devil May Cry 3...and then buy the X around Autumn.

Cheers pal.

@OorWullie
I almost forgot they’d upgraded the storage on the S! I’d still lean towards the X for the superior experience.

Say less!! Your strain game has earned my digital salute 🫡 Nothing but respect for your taste in state of mind 😆 I juuust finished off a batch of “Miss Kim” it’s Lilac Diesel x Cherry Cheesecake…it was a damn near perfectly balanced hybrid. Lilac Diesel is a fav of mine, I have an unsealed batch of Zkittlez as well.

DUSK…every time I get back to it I’m discovering some new secrets. Think I’m getting close to the end. That game has a vibe!…and it’s a messed up one!

@The_Pixel_King
I have the same dilemma , I love my series X…but it doesn’t get consistent play. It’s dusty compared my Switch. Need to start taking more advantage of Gamepass. I’m comfy as a Nintendo/Xbox gamer

Started playing RainCode. It has some jank to it, unsurprisingly, but it also has some occasionally great visual compositions which I wasn't expecting. The main negative is the loading screens, but otherwise very happy with the game.

@Nintendencies I cut my own hair. Use a Wahl hair clipper and it looks pretty good. Just start with highest length attachment for the top and transition on the way down.

Hardest part is wrapping one hand around the back of my head to push the clipper against, to keep the line on my neck. Takes about 15 minutes to a half hour, but no trip anywhere and it's free (after the initial purchase, and those things last a long time).

I still usually put it off until I can't stand it anymore. lol.

I usually play one big game a year, but I finished Jedi: Survivor a couple times and I couldn't resist Tears of the Kingdom, so I'm deep into that now. It's just an astonishingly great game in its flexibility that you can make it what you want it to be. Makes it hard to stop playing.

Wife continues to play Wildfrost which is even better with some nice small updates and Slay the Spire. My son is on his PC playing through the Halo collection with his friend (we skipped Xbox) and Cosmoteer, Hearts of Iron IV, and a bit of co-op Rainworld. He is also playing TotK and my daughter is close to the end. We are sharing one copy.

@aaronsullivan
Mad respect to you there, I wouldn't dream of doing it myself xD
I have the dexterity of an 80 year old

I'm at the age where grey hairs have started appearing and just trying to pluck them out is hard enough let alone do the back, oh that would end so badly...

But yeah must be a great money saver to do it yourself, even though the procrastination is real regardless. >.<