Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (19th October)

Finished Grime,
Started New Game+, level 112 and still going strong, love it.

Started and finished Pepper Grinder.
Awesome little game that reminds me of some of Nintendo's platformers.
Some great gameplay mechanics that both surprised me and made me smile at the same time.

Just started Rack n Ruin, brilliant so far.

I will start Wife Quest next as well.
Love the quality of Premium Edition Games Retro Editions, really high grade.

My copy of Overlord: Escape from Nazarick CE is finally on its way from LRG so I look forward to playing that when it arrives.

Have a great weekend everyone.

What’s the opposite of a gaming rut? Because that’s what I am currently experiencing. With help from the video games Visions of Mana and the Plucky Squire. I may also start Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Nearing the end of the base game for persona 5 (not the royal content) so I’m going to dabble in that a bit along with Fortnite because of the event happening and some tetris (99 or gameboy) to sooth the mind. I just kinda don’t want to suck at it anymore lol.

Oh and since its nearing Halloween I will probably continue SOTN!

This week I will be mostly cloning

Echoes of Wisdom

Taking a break from Bayonetta 2 to participate in the weekly WAYP 😋
I got the Platinum trophy for the first 4 Witch Trials. I managed to finish the 5th one just last night but only with Gold. I did get (Pure) Platinum for 5 of the Verses but on different runs. So I'm pretty sure I can do it ... just don't know how long it will take me. In any ways, Witch Trials are one of my favourite challenges in the game, so as long as I don't get the Platinum trophy, I'll have fun playing that over and over.

In between, I do some online challenge runs in Just Shapes And Beats, somehow I didn't get bored of this one yet either.

Finally some Tears of the Kingdom, because... well, it really just feels like home.

Happy gaming! 🎮
And thanks for participating in this feature, making it so lively, creating this beautiful community here on NL 🧡

I'm sick so will be in bed playing Killing Time, Echoes of Wisdom, and The Outer Worlds. I ordered the Ash vs Evil Dead and Halloween two pack for my 18 year old's birthday, but that won't be arriving until the 25th. Also, my BG3 Deluxe Edition arrived. I know it's a weird collector thing, but it's staying boxed. In my defense!!! My PS5 disc drive doesn't work anyway. Yes. That's my defense. I bought a disc version of a game without a disc drive to play it. Because collecting.
...I'm not a lawyer.

I found Rayman Legends for Wii U in a charity shop, so I've got my Wii U out of storage. I've only played it for a few minutes and found the need to move my attention between the TV and the gamepad rather annoying, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

There was also Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for Wii U for £5, but I've always looked at it and assumed it'd be too simple. Should I have bought that too..?

Finished Master Detective Archives: Rain Code during the week. What an underrated gem! I’m so happy I gave it a chance.
Now playing FF1 Pixel Remaster, best part is the soundtrack. Also some LEGO Star Wars, starting the prequel trilogy, and Picross S6, where I’m on a 30x30 puzzle.

Started Pikmin 4 last week. Loving the more relaxed gameplay having completed the other three over the last year. Will be carrying on with this, and booting up the N64 app to brush up on Banjo ahead of the sequel on Friday.

Echoes of Wisdom. What a brilliant game. Up with the Zora at the mo and ready to start the dungeon...

I am in chapter V of Visions of Mana. Mana is back! A really good game with good vibes.

Happy gaming everyone!

@LikelySatan Feel better soon, man. And collecting beautiful things is one of life's pleasures, isn't it. It's also one of the reasons I'd rather buy physical than digital.

@JohnnyMind The flu sucks, but the fall is a season when many of us get sick. At least you can still enjoy your great games, just not the exercises ones for now, but it's also good to take a break sometimes, right! That's what both Ring and the Wii Balance Board keep telling me 😅
I see you've reached the last two shrines in TotK, I can confirm you'll need to progress with the story to get to these, I can remember being there myself just like it was yesterday 😅

@Ooyah People will always find something to complain anyways (I'm one of those people, so I know about that 😝) but one of the things I love about this feature is the variety, so it would be a shame to miss out on your participation here. As long as you enjoy it, please do keep us updated with your gaming plans and progress.

I tried to get into Mario Party Jamboree, but wow is the gameplay incredibly sluggish and slow. It should NOT take 90 minutes to wrap up a 10 turn board.. So I ditched that one rather quickly.
For me, this weekend consists off:

• Celeste
• Pokémon Scarlet
• Super Mario Bros Wonder
• YS X Nordics (Got it in the mail yesterday; so lucky)

Happy weekend everyone!

Tears of the Kingdom of course. I've collected almost every article of clothing available in the mod I'm playing. I also messed up and got too many armors(up to like 160), and think I've permanently lost the champion's leathers. Kinda sad, but I've got about 145 other things to wear while exploring and fighting in Hyrule. I'm still amazed at how much is packed into TOTK. I'm also playing it on Switch, about to start the Sage of Lightning questline. But lossless scaling is like 1,000 times better than the bad frame interpolation on my "smart" TV, so I'm mostly playing on laptop.
I've also just set up Super Mario 64 coop deluxe on my laptop. It is super fun, and beautiful at 240fps. Actually, when I unlocked the frame rate it was saying 1,800 fps. That's definitely the highest number I've ever seen for a frame rate reading!
I'm also playing Burnout 2, F Zero GX, Rally Championship (this old rally game I used to enjoy looks awesome on OLED Deck!), Zoom Action Puzzle Game (Mino No Soft Series on GBA), Motoracer Advance, Thronefall (this new tower defense game reminds me of the Kingdom games and Bad North, and it runs flawlessly at 240fps. It is incredible, great music, upgrades, just awesome), Neva (devs limit it to 120fps for some reason, but my beloved Lossless Scaling comes to the rescue with the 2x frame rate multiplier!), UFO 50 (I'm starting to doubt I'll ever stop playing this game. Incredible! I'm super into Pilot Quest, Bug Hunter, and Attactics these days)(I haven't even tried over 30 of the games yet!), Power of Ten (fun twin stick STG RPG), Dwarf Fortress (finally tried this), Vividlope (awesome game!), Kingdom Two Crowns (the new DLC is awesome! They improved the game on Switch too, but I'm not tempted by it's 30fps, of course), Citizen Sleeper 2 (I like the demo), and UFO Unidentified Falling Objects. Oh, I'm also playing Fist of the North Star Boxing and Jump Rope Challenge on Switch. Love the music in North Star.
I've enjoyed Wulfden's video about Portmaster on tiny handhelds. Seeing UFO 50 on a small device is cool, and his great sense of humor in the section where he shows Mario 64 is funny! Oh, I also love that someone created an LX system to play UFO 50 on. The sound when connecting controllers is great. And they're going to release the 3D printing info for it soon.
Tea of the weekend is 1991 wild arbor pu-erh, such a rich and interesting flavor! Music of the weekend is anything from Dordogne - love that game!
Have fun and take care everyone!

@JohnnyMind @LikelySatan
I hope both of you get well soon.

Super Mario Party Jamboree will be my focus until Sonic X Shadow Generations releases next week.

Another weekend of jumping between TotK end game and Alan Wake 2 ng+ while I'm waiting for Lake House arriving next week.

@Ooyah I'm posting every week about my awesome laptop and OLED Steam Deck. I hope people can just block me if they don't want to see my posts! So stay and share!

@JohnnyMind My next goal in TOTK is getting all the shrines. I've never done that in BOTW or TOTK, even though they're my favorite 2 games.
And heal up soon!

I also highly recommend Captain Toad to anyone considering it. I've played it on Wii U, loved the enhanced Switch version, and now I still dabble with it every once in a while on Deck. Great game!

In anticipation of Banjo Tooie coming to Switch Online next week I am playing another Rare classic, Jet Force Gemini!

Hope to have it finished by then.

I'm playing Ratchet and Clank A Crack In Time on the PS3 which I'm enjoying along with a dose of Splatoon 3 which I keep going back to. Happy gaming everyone.

Yamask Research Day in Pokémon Go. Caught a shiny Galarian Zigzagoon during my walk, noticed I didn't have my wallet on me, panicked, hurried home, wallet was there (thank God), walked back, met up with the gang, and caught three normal shinies and two Galarian.

It was raining a fair bit past the halfway point of the research, but it eventually cleared.

One of the guys in our group caught a perfect shiny Yamask and one of the girls received a perfect Larvesta in a trade (which are infamously rare and only spawn from eggs) to which she let out a delighted scream in a busy food court. 😅

All in all, a fun day out. There's a golden lure event organised for tomorrow which I intend to contribute two golden lures to, but if it turns out to be a dud, then I might just keep them to myself.

Darksiders 2

Continuing my Crow Country playthrough. And then starting up Ash Vs The Evil Dead. I'm also considering adding RE4R since it's on a sale for Xbox.

Things are quiet in Blue Archive right now while the -ive Alive event is brewing in the next few days. Basically think K-on but with m17s and AK-47s. I'm currently grinding gems via character stories just so i don't miss out on the current characters. I got Nagisa, but ended up trying to get Toki too (Spoiler edit: I got her!!!) and I'm seriously wondering how many gems I would have left, since if I run out, I'd be at the mercy of the game's generocity, which is quite generous admittedly, but with the game self-banned where I live, I couldn't buy gems with real money even if I tried because Google Play's region locks is a pain in the ass... They don't even let you update if you live outside the country. But yeah, where I live there's just a law about accurate rates, which is the same as KR law, so I dunno why Nexon is trying to make this more difficult than it should be for me to give them my money. They should just release the game here properly already...

sigh

besides that. I've also been playing a lot more Punishing Grey Raven and let me just say, if you think your conventional gacha action game is too bare bones and want something more on the level of a conventional action game for console, this game is bloody nuts. It's like they were inspired by Bayonetta 2 with the weapon mechanics from that game making it into this one. It's far more satisfying than ZZZ or Honkai 3rd. But it's different from those because you are also essentially playing a card game at the same time through its ping skill system. So the gameplay is definitely keeping me wired when it doesn't become a visual novel, which I don't mind reading, but the combat is SO GOOOOOD!!!! (assuming you make it past the tutorial chapters) BLACK★ROCK SHOOTER is such a fun character to play as, and has combos that play like a real action game character, even pause combos! Oh I love her so much!!!!

@Yalloo thanks. And yeah, I don't do that kind of thing often. Just with games that mean a lot. I hope to have a game room/library at some point that I can ruin with cheesy game stuff on display. Some day.

Hit a few swanton bombs on Wrestlemania X-8 last night before proving to the rest of the household who the true Mario Party ace is with a well-earned victory in Jamboree's pro mode.

This morning I've had a few games of Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting on the Super Pocket, and hope to get a little time in with Echoed of Wisdom later on.

@NinChocolate Too many games, ugh. I forgot they just did a current gen remaster of that game.

Doing something I don't usually do, having three games on the go at once. I'm working my way through the final teeth-grinding levels of 'Kaze and the Wild Masks', I've started playing 'Luigi's Mansion 3' for the first time because Spooky Season and I wanted an RPG but not a long, demanding one, so on the PS5 I started 'Granblue Fantasy - Relink'.

Didn’t get a chance to do it last weekend like I wanted, but I’ve finally started playing Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore last night.

Didn’t get very far, though, because I had to grab dinner for my mother, who was waiting with my father in the ER, and that took an hour or so off of the time that I would have spent playing the game.

Tonight won’t be much better, either, because I have to attend a birthday party for a couple of my aunts right after work, and that will take up the entire evening. Hopefully I’ll be able to play more tomorrow.

@JohnnyMind
Thank you! Yeah, I hope they will port it someday. Seems like a perfect fit.

I know the pain of a gamer. So many games, so little time to play all the games you want to play. Still I hope you will find the time to play the Mana games available for the Switch. I would recommend them all.

My boyfriend gave me the new Zelda as an anniversary gift.

And we've played the Mall of Mario map in Jamboree last night and it was our favorite out of all the ones we've ever played, so we can't wait to get back into it! 🤎

I'm also head deep in the semi final case of Great Ace attorney 2. It's a real head scratcher, love it!

I'll probably be playing Suoer Mario Party Jamboree, of course. It's one of my dad's favorite games to play with me since there's luck involved, so he still has a chance even if he's not the best at the minigames.

I also downloaded Nikoderiko, being the platforming enthusiast that I am, and will probably start playing that game this weekend. Looking forward to hearing David Wise's soundtrack. I might do a video of my first impressions of the game.

I'm also playing through Super Mario Galaxy on my YouTube channel, so I may record a few episodes of that this weekend as well. I'd honestly like to do an episode playing each of the 7 Mario Party boards online, so maybe I'll get to work on that too.

People are probably getting sick of me plugging my channel, but it's called "Nintentrovert," if anyone is interested. I feel very self-conscious about putting myself out there, but I recently quit a job where I felt constantly harassed and scrutinized. I was always too scared to be a content creator because of the harassment that can come from making yourself known. But, I decided I'd rather get harassed doing something I love and am passionate about than at a job where I feel unfulfilled.

Yusss. Time to kill some time in Killing Time:Remastered. Let’s get weird. And i do got time to kill as this week i am on housesitting duty.
After this stint, i will only have a week back at my beloved and cosy lair, after which i’ll be housesitting for 21 grueling days. They’re going to Chile. I wish i had copies of Zenoclash and Abyss Odyssey to send with to be signed. Two games that should be on Switch.
I had my hairs cut yesterday. It was a new lady and in post, i thought i had been violated, but after a trip to google, i realized scalp massages are a common thing.
I’m trying to get back to spring in Moonstone Island so that i can participate in the Spring Festival. I’m always playing that game. This is known.
I’m very excited for Kate’s new project and am heartened to know she’s enjoying Hello Kitty’s Island Adventure as i have high hopes for that game.
I still need to play Peglin. Maybe later this week.
My partner is in Japan with her mom. I’m always a wreck until she touches down but she arrived safe and unharmed, so that is good.
That’s enough drivel for this week.
Take care and game well!

My ambition to finish Grounded last weekend was a little overoptimistic - I spent the hours Iput in just building out more ziplines (like a DIY fast-travel system!) and uncovering more areas to explore, new gear, and some supremely tough new enemies. I guess this game’s not done with me yet!

Also I just picked up TMNT: Mutants Unleashed last night, so I have to try that out this weekend. I’m not sure what kind of quality to expect from this latest Turtles physical game (where’s that review, NL?) but hopefully it’ll be decent.

Wishing everyone a fun weekend! 🕹🕷️💫

I played Youtubers Life 2 PS4 on my PS5 machine. 🤠

I met LaurenZide in YouTubers Life 2 as the part of mini quest.

She asked me to prepare the prank video of alien invasion by using Brioche bread, Exothic bread and Alien mask to make Vlog video.
By finishing that mini quest, I got her cartoon card You Act Like Bread Queen for reacting in the game.

I'm still working on meeting with other famous YouTubers in the game such as Inoxtag, GermanLetsPlay, Rubius, Vegetta, Willyrex, etc.

Wargroove 2!!! powered through the first one and had a lot of fun. What i did not expect was to jump into 2 and find myself moved by the story!! I really love the main character, and Romb the giant rat man with the heart of gold.
I’ll likely play this off and on until the 25th when I can drop everything for Ys X. (Game of the year)
I was playing Echoes of Wisdom but it’s too good, and too pure a Zelda experience that I have yearned for over a decade. I can’t rush it. I’ll come back to it after Ys… it’s just incredible

Playing and loving Echoes of Wisdom! It doesn’t feel like I’m playing long, but the hours rack up somehow! At one point I had acquired a few echoes too powerful for me to cast, which felt like a cool reward for exploring off-beat areas.

I had just finished Oracle of Seasons before my copy of EoW arrived, so I’ll probably continue on with Oracle of Ages whenever I finish it.

@LikelySatan @JohnnyMind Wishing you both a swift recovery from illness!

@Diogmites
Ooo a scalp massage is a rare treat I relish. Lucky you!
I hope all your housesitting goes well and you have a relaxing weekend!

@Diogmites I appreciate that. I ended up calling out from work tonight. Sure to make me popular. Meh. I'm gonna get some pho tonight. Gotta incentivize waking up later. Looks like it's just me and Parvati for a while today. Seems fine.

Sadly, nothing. Again.
Luckily, I'll be able to play a lot for around ten days starting on wednesday. I'd need to use that time well to make up for the last weeks.

I wonder what those who got into the playtest will be playing next weekend…

I may play some Super Kirby Clash and possibly a bit of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door this weekend.

Mostly planning on playing Echoes of Wisdom, Wild World, and Phantom Hourglass. But will maybe play Cars Race-o-Rama for the Wii, which still isn’t an option. Please add it.

@Teksetter Thank you!
I had never had one before and initially thought she was desperate for a large tip. I was quite uncomfortable. It didn’t help that she had her own room as it exacerbated the intimacy.
Otherwise, she was great and i’ll probably go back, but might have to politely decline all the noggin play.
Thank you for the well wishes and i wish you luck in finishing Grounded and i hope the new Turtles game is fun!

This is not a Zelda:EoW thread, but anyway, here's some criticism after playing 15-20 hours:

It's certainly good, but it's not great. In the end the fact that it was outsourced shows more than I had expected. It's in the intricacy of the world design - not up to first party Zelda standards. Too much emptyness and meaninglessness. In a classic Zelda every bush is placed with intent, which gives the games such a dense clockwork character. Here it's more like a generic JRPG. I've stopped turning every stone and trying to get to every bit of grass or cloud, because there's likely nothing there.

Or maybe it's an aspect of BOTW and TOTK they carried over, but I don't like it.

Echoes of Wisdom, near the end. But I am still trying to limit media to avoid spoilers.

Happy gaming everyone!

@JohnnyMind You’re welcome!

@LikelySatan I hope the Pho is tasty! And brings some enjoyment to your illness-induced night off.

I finished my first playthrough in Silent Hill 2 Remake several days ago. I managed to get the “In Water” ending my first go-around. It was quite fantastic, and easily one of my favorite games of the year, if not my favorite. After I completed it, I subsequently reloaded my save and got the two additional mainline endings, which added a lot of context to a powerful story. I’m looking forward to getting the three remaining endings only obtainable by NG+, and hopefully get the platinum trophy while I’m at it.

I also just started Metaphor: Refantazio two days ago. I’m only seven hours in, reaching the completing the Nord Mines and even tested my mettle against the dragon—an optional boss fight—and won. I’m now met Hulkenberg and am trekking under the cathedral. With that said, being as I’m early on, I’m unable to give a proper review. However; I’m extremely impressed by nearly every aspect of this game.

The one thing that immediately stood out to me was its pacing—it doesn’t waste time throwing you into its world, characters, story and combat. I appreciate this approach more than Persona 5, a game I adore, but can never replay due to its long tutorial.

I also love how much artistic expression there is. In clever ways, too. The game has a ton of loading screens but you’re practically oblivious to it because each transitioning screen has cutscene elements that flow naturally with what you’re doing—combat encounters, walking into a new area, and even the pause menu. This might be the most stylish game I’ve ever played.

I’m looking forward to seeing the game evolve over time. This game is shaping up to be a special JRPG, and I believe Atlus is becoming the king of RPGs in the west. Bring on Persona 6, or whatever else they are cooking up; I’ll be here for the journey.

Princess Closet for me still (I'm such a slow reader 😭); hoping to finish Ayasaki's route this weekend though (my second, of four). And then I'll be into the third route of Hanaemu, Kare to & Bloom [Eng: Him, the Smile & Bloom] after that (I'm doing these two back and forth).
Maybe also some Arcade Archives games as per usual (not sure what yet), and lately I've been going back to Shmup Collection (giving Armed 7 DX another try and I am finding I really enjoy it!)

@Not_Soos Hey, I can tell you're anxious about this, so I just wanted to chime in for what it's worth in my view as a longtime NL user who has seen you around.
Like yes, some of the anxiety is valid; channel spam is annoying, and it's good to be aware of that. But I want to say that you also seem to conduct yourself as a reasonable person who has always made the effort to engage with people respectfully even if you do not agree with them, so I would assume that people would at least be open to you sharing your new projects with us.
I'm not at all a YouTube person, but I did check out the channel and you do seem to have a comfort in front of the camera and an easy dry humour that is hopefully a good sign for your channel! Best of luck with it! 💖

My weekend is delayed as working today, but once I have some time am currently playing Crow Country which I am really enjoying, even if getting your health drained by mini monsters you can barely see in portable mode is a bit frustrating.

After a very weird week of school I'll be playing:
world of tanks console: trying to earn a Halloween tank.
destiny 2: as per the norm
animal crossing new leaf: been having the urge to pull this out and play it.

Rocket League, and Salmon Run(Spaltoon 3)

@JohnnyMind how... How do you rotate through so many game playthroughs?! I usually have one for story, MAYBE two if the second's story is light. If I add any other story/playthrough games I will absolutely forget what I was doing in one of them lol

I'm playing through Dragon Age 2 on my XBox (sorry Nintendo!) in the run up to Dragon Age The Veilguard. Saving Echoes of Wisdom and the new Mario Party for the holidays

@JohnnyMind hope you feel better soon!

Finally beat the stupid super boss in Octopath traveler 2. Man what a hard fight. Had to cheese it a little to beat it. There is that update patch/dlc that gives you more super bosses to fight on the start screen but they are way harder for some reason 😅. I decided not to do it for now. Beating the super boss was enough.

I have moved on to playing voice of cards forsaken maiden. Played the first game a while ago and loved it a lot. Love that they mirror the Nier games and that you can get the music from them too which makes the game even more awesome.

Started Alan wake too but my friend who I am supposed to be playing it with is procrastinating so I am doing the beginning on my own. He will have to catch up later lol.

Also just got super Mario party Jamboree. So far it’s a bit mixed with me. I like some things of it and I hate some about it. I will still keep playing it though. Hopefully it gets better

@Diogmites
“Noggin play!” 😂 You’re too much!
I get you, though, it is more than a little invasive. As in acalp massages should be consensual, because wowee they tingle!
Admittedly, the only stylist to give me one is my cousin who has her own salon, and someone I trust intrinsically and it was never awkward. More like, holy crap - what are you doing!? I didn’t know whether to purr or melt right out of the chair. Now I look forward to it - such an indulgence! ☺️

Incidentally, how could you resist going to Japan with your partner?? The fall foliage is spectacular this time of year, though maybe it’s a little early in the season still. Maybe you’ve been there often, or you’re saving money (airfare ain’t cheap) or just taking one for the team and housesitting?
Either way, you better get a heck of an o-miyage (souvenir). 😁

Not much time this weekend, as family stuff and sports are taking priority. I downloaded Mario Party Jamboree but spent about five hours on Balatro last night, so it looks like Mario Party will have to wait until next week.

F-Zero 99 and some Extreme G on the N64 app. I've just renewed my 1 year + expansion sub, so I'm looking to get my money's worth.. 😆 (Although I did manage to get it heavily discounted)

Ace Attorney Investigations for the most part. I’m on the second game.

This weekend it's Metaphor: ReFantazio (Fantastic), Diablo 4 (Ok) and Broken Sword: Reforged (Great)

Surprise surprise, I'm still not done with Echoes of Wisdom. I've been really busy, but I've got one more week of college until half term, so I'll hopefully get it done then.
Mario Party Jamboree has been distracting me from booting up EOW a lot. I wrapped up Party Planner Trek yesterday, and I'm currently playing a 15 turn game of Mega Wiggler's Tree Party against the CPU as I speak. As well as that, I wanted to maybe do a few troubles and badge hunt in TTYD. Also I might boot Skylanders Swap Force as I never got around to getting 3 stars on the adventure pack levels. I haven't played those levels in years and barely remember Sheep Wreck Island, so that'll just be something for me to do after a game of Mario Party.

Crow country and gt7

@Not_Soos Good for you man! Really happy you don't have to put up with those ** bad people ** at your previous job. I can't imagine you would deserve something like that.

Sorry that I'm not into Youtube to check your channel regularly, but I think you should definitely keep talking about it here, that's one of the nice things about this feature, what are people playing, how, progress, what they're doing around games etc... It makes reading all the comments so interesting!

I'm curious about Nikoderiko and will be looking forward to your next posts in the coming weekends to get an idea if that's something for me or not. I saw on Play-Asia a physical version coming sometimes in the future ...

@Diogmites Interesting to read about your haircut experience.
I'm learning to become a masseur and discovered recently people who had never been massaged. I can only recommend you try a full body massage. It's so delightful, and after you've gone through one, you will maybe realize that there are more nice people on this planet that you maybe imagine. People who massage/touch others professionaly view bodies differently, and it's actually a very positive exchange of energy. Whatever you look like/your body, really doesn't matter.
There are also classes where couples can learn to massage each other. That could also be a first step.

Anyways, felt like sharing this after reading your post 😅

@Duck_Farmer I've been wanting to ask, how are you enjoying Bayonetta, you've been mentioning it the last weeks. I'm such a fan 😍
And how is Sekiro, I love a good stealth game, and looking forward to this one coming to Switch 2.

I've been getting a little more serious with Pizza Tower lately, after playing it on and off for over a month. I'm now on the 4th world and just unlocked the boss. I'm loving it the more I play. Hopefully it won't get too difficult the further I get in. I also really want to start Resident Evil before Halloween hits, but it really depends on how busy I get. I've got to throw a birthday party for my daughter, so there will be 7 girls running around the house and screaming...that's gonna be a lot of chaos to reign in and clean up after.

I just finished playing Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. This Nintendo DS remake is my first Fire Emblem game, but I have to accredit Awakening for actually getting me into this franchise. Back then I didn't know the difference between Defense and Resistance until I realized that my cleric could somehow tank Gharnef's Imhullu spell better than my knight could. Now that I have more experience, I revisited this game only to find it better than I had remembered. It may lack a lot of staple mechanics such as skills or canto, but it still retains its appeal with a simpler yet solid gameplay. I set the difficulty on Hard 1, and while my heart isn't used to permadeath there's a sense of liberation for not getting so tied down to a unit's death. I pushed through and experienced many casualties due to my mistakes, but not enough for me to play any of optional side (Gaiden) chapters.

RIP: Gordin, Navarre, Ogma, Darros, Hardin, Bord, Caesar, Samson, and Minerva (revived)

It was only until I reached the Endgame chapter that I suffered the most casualties. I was woefully unprepared against the traps and reinforcements, and I paid dearly for it with the lives of my elite units.

RIP: Lena (killed by a ballistician), Julian (careless positioning), Cain, Draug (trapped by a Magestone Manakete), Abel (killed by a Manakete), Jake (cornered by a Manakete), Radd, and Merric (got doubled by a Manakete)

At this point, things were looking grim and I was contemplating on restarting the map. However, I decided to just keep pushing forward to the end. I have Caeda flying around taking out long range artillery ballisticians, Marth and Tiki are to rush towards the final boss to kill Medeus, while Jeorge, Elice, Gotoh, Barst, and Linde are to set up a defensive line to stop reinforcements. Things were starting to look up, but the enemy reinforcements was proving to be too much for my defenders to handle. In a last ditch effort, I had Elice warp Linde to safety before she was slain alongside with Jeorge by the onslaught waves of enemies.

Marth (Mars): ELIIIIIIIIIIIICE!

RIP: Jeorge and Elice (defensive position was overwhelmed)

Only the archsage Gotoh and my berserker Barst were the last two defenders barely hanging on, and it was at this moment that both Tiki and Linde killed off the last remaining defenders for Marth to safely reach the final boss. Marth could not survive two hits from Medeus, so the boss had to be one to initiate the attack. Marth missed the first attack (FFFFFFFFfffffffffffffffffuuuuu...), but luckily he did manage to hit him the second time bringing Medeus HP below half. I was getting nervous from the first missed attack, but I took my chances by having Marth initiate the attack on Medeus and he strike him down with the Falchion. It was a hard fought battle that left me both devastated by my losses yet fulfilled with my accomplishment. I wish that I could've beaten this game on a happier note, but I still had a great time despite the costly victory.

@Teksetter I do recall tingling! Also i recall the lump of coal that i keep in my sphincter had turned into a diamond. It was an experience!
It’s cool you had the benefit of a trusted individual to guide you through your first go.
I didn’t go to Japan for many reasons including some you mentioned. I’m sure i will get a souvenir. Her family is from there and they go annually! I will join her one of these years.

Thank you for your reply!

Going to be playing Sonic 1 and maybe CD via Origins Plus while waiting for Sonic X Shadow Generations later this week. I will also be continuing my adventure in the Link’s Awakening remake. I got the second instrument needed to wake the Wind Fish.

I’ll also maybe check out some games that came out this week, like Blazing Strike and Neva.

@Yalloo Ah, lol no thank you for the full body massage. I’d rather be set on fire, kicked off a cliff, and used as target practice for javeliniers.
I do respect your dedication and passion for your profession, and i understand there are people who like being groped by strangers. I’m ,of course, not one of these people and never will be.
I hope you have a happy career with happy clients, though!

Phantom Breaker: Omnia – played VS Mode as L. Fought almost all characters. Haven't had enough time to fight against Ren and Shin-Waka. Her win quotes surprised me.
Guilty Gear XX ΛCore Plus R – played VS Mode for some practice. After all, Faust is the most hardest character to play as, imo.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition – replayed through stages 1-5. Encountered Mr. Chau again and fought him. And thus, I finally unlocked him as a Striker, after more than 2 years.
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes] – played in Ranked. Fought some C3 Hyde player (I was D+4 back then), and won twice in a row. Ranked up to D+3 rank.
Hyper Light Drifter – Special Edition – tried to play Boss Rush Mode. Too much hard for me.
For now, it's all what I've played on this week... Have a nice gaming weekend, everyone.
@JohnnyMind @LikelySatan I hope you'll get better soon.

@Diogmites Aha! I very much appreciate your honest feedback though. And just to clarify, there is absolutely nothing sexual about it.
Thanks for your kind wishes.
Never say never 😉

Finishing up the Ys X: Nordics demo. This game went from "Hmm, maybe I'll buy it later" to "Okay, I'll pre-order but play it after finish some other stuff" and finally "I'm continuing as soon as my copy arrives next week."

Aside from that:

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - I didn't play this past week to give myself a break from the puzzles, but I think I'm ready to jump back in. I'm right after you complete The Hyrule Castle rift, and I got my horse!

Final Fantasy IX - Currently at the first Treno visit. I'm gonna try and priorize this game since I've been neglecting it the past week or two.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance - At the Demon King's Castle/the first dungeon after 50 hours in lol. I had assumed the big zones were supposed to be the "dungeons" of this game.

Trials of Mana (remake) - Got the ice mana stone. Need to get the fire one next. My party is Duran, Angela and Reisz. I beat this once in 2020 but decided to start over and hopefully I'll make it through all three playthroughs this time.

Tales of Symphonia: Remastered - This is my first Tales of game and I'm mostly having fun with it. The combat is slowly getting better and the story is nice. (Reminds me of XC2 in some ways with the story and characters too)

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Randomly had the urge to play the game again, but I don't want to commit to NG+ yet. So instead, I've just been doing sidequests and completing affinity charts in post game.

@Yalloo I appreciate your comments as well! I know there’s nothing sexual, i was just being silly and a little flippant, largely for my own amusement. I meant no actual disrespect and i’m sorry if any was inflicted.
You’re welcome for the wishes!
Yeah, “never” means nothing, really. And i promise if i ever find myself in a positive transfer of energy between me and a well-meaning professional, you’ll be the first to hear about it!

I plan to get a little more Metaphor: Refantazio in on PS4, as well as play a bit of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot if I get the chance. No Sparking Zero for me quite yet, but hopefully sometime soon!

@Diogmites I didn't get any disrespect from your comment! I also had to laugh about the way that you turned it. It's all good fun and exchanges 🙏🏻
Keep the spirit alive 🧡

Currently playing sword art online fractured dreams.

Having now beaten Miitopia, it’s time to return to Danganronpa with its final main installment: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony! This one is…quite different from the previous two games. There’s a major early-game plot twist that came completely out of left field, and nothing at all could have prepared me for it. I’m now on chapter 2…only time will tell if they carry that momentum, but I have a feeling I’m in for quite a ride with this one.

But wait: you might be here for the season finale of my Miitopia saga. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you. Obviously, major Miitopia spoilers follow:

In this issue of Gamer Gluttony Biweekly, not long after vocally doubting my prospects of inflating Switch backlog any further for some time, I find myself juggling the funds and plans into several more eShop investments, most notably Cult of the Lamb and - franchise binge queues be damned on par with Tales and Xenoblade by now - even Persona 5 Royal which raised the overall hybrid library total to the approximate number of 1616 (yup, fewer than 400 titles before the risk of no longer being able to keep all of the icons "archived" unless there's still room for a future Switch system update to address that🙀😅) while yet another new recruit, Sky Caravan, became the 193rd icon in the respective letter folder which will most likely be the first one I'll have to split in two...

What? Oh, right, weekend gaming plans, not first world problems. Well, Cult and P5R are boarding the Switch storage as we speak, and joining them among the typically abundant itches will be both the usuals (Xenoblades, Portia, Isaac, GTA III, P3P, Tallowmere 2, RE0) and the newer playthroughs (EoW, Tinykin, Hero's Hour, Hogwarts, Cursed to Golf, Dust & Neon). The rest of the hardware may see more Dishonored and Nights of Azure, Valentia and Chase Begins, Eternia and Persona Revelations (yeah😆), RE3R and SR22... the typical testimony to "ennui" probably meaning something edible. And let's leave it at that before the latter joke makes me add Epic Chef or Dungeon Munchies to the pile.

In terms of actual gaming time this weekend (and into next week) it will be complicated. I'm getting married today in about 6 hours so I gotta get my @ss moving soon to shower up and shave, get back to the hotel, get half ready, get to the venue on time for the getting ready pictures, first look, pictures, private vows, etc., yada yada yada an "I do" somewhere in there, more pictures and then boozing into the night and hopefully not wake up dead tomorrow

We're taking off to Maui for the week afterward, so the new wife gave permission (or encouraged me) to bring the Switch for the flight and any relaxing downtime while we're there. I've been debating back and forth a lot about bringing it since I'm supposed to be "honeymooning" and not gaming. If I do end up taking it, I'll continue my addiction to Snowrunner (Switch). I just 100% Michigan and started to explore Alaska and holy sh#t even with snow tires the terrain there is rough! I can tell this will make anything in Michigan look like a child's sandbox. Hopefully it's not too much of a difficulty spike to where it becomes less fun and more frustrating. I'm all for challenge but there always has to be a balance of a fun challenge instead of just straight up time consuming brutal trolling. We'll see but I'm looking forward to the new areas and setting.

@Ganner enjoy your wedding and have a great honeymoon. I also went to Maui for my honeymoon and had an incredible time!

@Ganner Congratulations.

Ring Fit Adventure

I have some interest in both Yakuza Kiwami and Super XYX releasing on the eshop next week.

@Ooyah Aww I for sure would miss your friendly presence here, so why not hang around? Even if you do feel like raving about PC or Sony games or whatever, I wouldn’t mind at all since (hopefully) half those games may someday reach a Nintendo platform I own. Plus I can learn and stay somewhat informed about those high-spec titles the cool kids are playing. Games are games, after all!

Plus then maybe we could tempt you back to the dark Kyoto side again someday mwuh huh huh 😈

@Vyacheslav333 @JCWrites @MarioVillager92 Thank you!

@Ganner Congratulations!! I live there and I highly recommend doing a hike at Haleakalā Crater. Or driving up there and checking it out at least. Enjoy your time on Maui with your partner!

This week, I watched The Wild Robot. Pretty good, really good-looking film. I also watched a bunch of bits of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish that I didn't see the first time I watched it. Don't know if I would ENTIRELY recommend it... but I have to admit, it's pretty cool. Any scene with Death in it is awesome.

This weekend when I can, I got Partners in Time, a little Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, MAYBE Kirby and the Forgotten Land(?), and A Little to the Left on Game Pass.

Next week, I should be watching Transformers One on streaming, and I think I'll be getting Sonic x Shadow Generations on Xbox Series S. Have a good weekend!

@FishyS I'm not sure what you are looking for really, but I'll give you a couple of personal recomendations here below:

• Since you like Zelda, maybe you've not played the Hyrule Warriors games yet.. I enjoyed both a lot. Less content in Age of Calamity, but still very fun and loved the story. Spent over 100h on it and planning to play it again in the future.
• Ender Lilies is a nice metroidvania, music and visuals are gorgeous, and you can personalize your experience with all the different spirits you acquire throughout the game. Also it's short, I 100%'ed it in 30h.
• Mark of the Ninja is an easy recomendation if you enjoy stealth games. Simple 2D game, also short (20h including NG+), lots of things to love about it.
• Finally Vectronom is a really cool puzzle/memory/rythm game if you like electro music. I'm not a big fan myself, but I did love this game. Also quite short, I think I 100%'ed it within 5h "or more".

Aside from that, I was wondering how were you still enjoying Fitness Circuit?
I found that after over a year playing a lot of it, it was giving me lots of the same exercises all the time, and I've now moved to my own routines to try and get all of the titles. The "30 perfect" can get quite challenging for some of the exercises were the motion recognition is a bit ... let's say loose 😅

@FishyS - I’M happy to read you recovered ! I’m not really sure what to recommend I hope you fInd a super game to play, friend! 😀

@JohnnyMind notice every week you mention whether you’re seeing your friends or not. Nothing but love brother, but we don’t mind if you’re seeing your friends or not. Your list is always comprehensive and engaging, you don’t have to feel the need to let us internet strangers know if you’re hanging with buds or not. Your list is enough — and we appreciate you for that.

I've made it to the last world of Penny's Big Breakaway on PC, gonna try to finish that today. If my girlfriend's down for it, I might boot up Mario Party 2 on NSO and play on Horror Land to encourage the light spooky vibes.

I beat The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom during the week (lovely game), and I'm home at last, which means I'm booting up Metaphor.
Loving it so far! Atlus RPGs are a cut above.

I played the demo for Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, and now I'm even more excited for when it will go on sale. I'm going to return to Tears of the Kingdom today, as well. I'm also still grinding in Fire Emblem Awakening, and playing Book I on the Lunatic difficulty in Fire Emblem Heroes.

@FishyS You’re welcome! There’s a 25% off sale now, but maybe you are waiting for an even sweeter sale which i totally understand! I hope you love it if and when you get to it!

I stayed up late last night to finish Echoes of Wisdom. The game certainly isn’t perfect, but wow, was that second half fantastic. It’s hard to have complaints when everything else about the game is so good.

Now that I’m finished with that, I’ll be starting Dark Souls for the first time. It’s the closest thing I can get to Elden Ring right now, and it sounds so fun. Seems fittingly spooky for this time of year, too.

This weekend will see me playing....

Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Time to route the rogues. I'm kinda in between on how I feel about this game. I love the FE fighting, and I like the whole school thing, but the exposition kinda annoys me too. I shall persevere though.

F-Zero 99
Gotta get the rest of the anniversary goodies.

Rocket League
Gotta keep the skills up.

8-Bit Adventures 2 demo
It's pretty much what I suspected. Captures that old school RPG feeling well. I can see myself playing this when I can clear my plate a bit.

SaGa Emerald Beyond demo
Meh... I don't like it. I did like the Romancing SaGa 2 remake demo, but I can't swing this one.

F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
I'm going to try to at least finish all of the Expert level and save Master for another day. Once I'm done with MV, I'll get more serious with GP Legend, then Climax one day. This will be my retro weekend throwback.

Drova: Forsaken Kin & Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are my two goto games right now, I'm in a very medieval gaming mood.

Painting and decorating but hoping to finish up EOW.

I've started buying old copies of ONM on eBay so might read a few of those. Dang, I really miss new magazine day in a month.

Very tempted at the moment on a Quest 3s. Big screen Switch on a capture card sounds good 👍...... Also, I could do with an excuse for some fitness over the winter. Getting fit playing games, what's not to like.

Mario Party will likely be the joint Xmas gift this year as I tend to get a family board game for us during the holidays. I've just fixed our spare joycons that had drift and they work like a dream. £9 set of tri wing screwdrivers off Amazon, small bit of cardboard and a bit of YouTube.

Metaphor Re Fantazio!

Fired up some Gravity Circuit for the first time today! I'm enjoying it so far.

@JohnnyMind not really, it’s because I noticed it every single week, and felt sorry that you feel the need to justify yourself to the internet: you don’t, but you do you. Whatever makes you happy.

@Mrkittyhead Best of luck on Dark Souls!

Alien Isolation! I’ve just got the flamethrower @oorwullie…

@AmplifyMJ Nice one. How you getting on with the game this time? Be careful with the flamethrower, ammo is sparse.

@ibookboyuk You've just reminded I have that in my backlog. I played it for a few hours and got stuck but I want to go back and start over again. Might do so tonight.

@OorWullie much better! My goodness, playing it in handheld with AirPods in is something else 👌 I’m already thinking I wanna play through it again when I’m done on Hard mode 😅

@AmplifyMJ My play though was on hard mode. There were times I thought about lowering it in the medical facility but I persisted. The tension is off the charts.

To be fair i haven't played my Switch for a while, not for lack of games though, i actually have a ton of games, quite a few i haven't even played. I'll get back to it after my current adventure elsewhere.

Right now I'm fully invested in Elden Ring. Started a new play through after getting the DLC and oh boy am i loving it.

On that note i would absolutely LOVE to see more FromSoft games on the Switch, Dark Souls 1 is legitimately one of my favourite ports on the Switch alongside Witcher 3, Skyrim and Hogwarts Legacy, im sure if Witcher 3 can work good on the Switch, DS3 and possibly Sekiro would be fine, hopefully we get Elden Ring on the Switch 2 in the same way we got Skyrim on the Switch when that came out.

Yesterday I was egging on NL to review TMNT: Mutants Unleashed, but having played this broken snoozefest of a game now, I would not inflict that kind of mental anguish on anyone.

Don’t review the game. It’s a lemon.

If you do review the game, do so only as a public service to hopefully spare people the kind of disappointment I’m feeling!

@Teksetter Bummer! I wish it would’ve been better. Thanks for the PSA!

@Diogmites
Maybe without the atrocious load times I could endure the numbing blandness, but as it is, no way. And there was even a lengthy day one patch!
After Shredder’s Revenge and Cowabunga Collection, this is a big letdown.

Well here we go with another magnificent WAYP. Been an absolutely cool week around here. Most of the week was just the usual games like Silent Hill 2 and Star Wars and Dragon Ball Sparking Zero. Played a brand new simply amazing game known as Metaphor Refantazio. Ain’t put too much time into it but I can already tell from art style and other things that this may just be the GOTY easy I absolutely love it and can’t wait to play more of it. Didn’t game much this weekend outside of some Ace Attorney Investigations 2 and The Plucky Squire but that’s because yep I was in the city again. This time it was for my grandmas belated birthday and it was loads of fun I love NYC and had some great food and great times with her in Chinatown and her apartment but as I was heading home I got to stop at Nintendo NY and got a copy of Super Mario Party Jamboree there. The vibes were immaculate and lovely and I’m very happy and excited to crack into that game on my day off this week probably alongside Sonic X Shadow Generations now that I think on it. This weeks also when Black Ops 6 and Ys X come out too so busy week ehehehe. Thinking the rest of the weekend will be some Metaphor depending on when I get home from the city again. Yes that’s right back to back trips to NYC. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Ace Attorney, Trails Through Daybreak, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Paper Mario, Bakeru, Dawntrail, Astro Bot, Emio, Star Wars Outlaws, Silent Hill 2, DB Sparking and Visions of Mana. Only wrestling thing this week is that this week I go on Friday to see Friday Night SMACKDOWN live from Brooklyn at the Barclays Center and aside from wanting to get some sweet merch from the merch store there it’s gonna be a double taping meaning I get two shows for the price of one and I’m just so happy and excited for a great time with my friends. Anime of the week gotta go to Nokotan, Dandadan, Alya, Oshi and Ranma 1/2. Yep as you can see I did add two new shows in Dandadan and Ranma and honestly both are absolutely peak I loved them both so much easily best shows of the year contender right there. Podcasts of this week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast, Minnmax, Jeff Gerstmann, Kit and Krysta, Last Stand Media, Easy Allies, Second Wind, Nextlander, Cultaholic Wrestling, Weapon Wheel, Aetheryte Radio and Remap Radio. As always yall stay safe, be extremely magnificent to each other. Have a totally magnificent weekend and of course Happy Gaming.

@Teksetter Long load times really hurt when one is waiting to play a less than stellar experience! Shredder’s Revenge was so good. It was the first modern beat-em up i played and it sits up there with classics like Streets of Rage 2 and Capcom’s DnD outings, Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara for me.
I played it until i got all the achievements i could... Anyways, it sucks Mutants Unleashed doesn’t live up to some of the great Turtles games we’ve been graced with lately!

Very late to the party, but finally playing Zelda: TotK.

@JohnnyMind I love puzzle games. I was just concerned it'd be a bit easy, but you're right that it's worth trying at such a low price. I went back and it was still available, so that'll be nice next time I want something gentle. Thanks

@FishyS I also think I'll keep on playing Fitness Circuit the coming years, but I also imagine getting tired of it after achieving all titles, I thinking especially reaching rank 300 😅
Like you, I've also been looking for nice complementing routines, and that's one thing I've loved with F.C. and Ring Fit, is that it gave me the will/interest to go further with home exercises.

It's good that you mentioned the playtime, maybe I've been playing a bit too much ... but what can I say 😅 If the game is good, I like to see my investment worth it!

Curious what you though of Vectronom and actually forgot about the demo, which is what really sold the game to me after reading about it in the comments here on NL. Looking forward to reading your notes in the next WAYP 😉

@Diogmites Thanks!

@Duck_Farmer Cool, thanks for your feedback.
I'm a big fan of the series and always love to hear other people also enjoying it.
The main campaign probably sits around the 20h mark. In case you don't get enough, there's two extra challenges, but they unlock at a cost. Don't read further if you want to disover these on your own.
One is a fight against Rodin himself, but it's quite some work just to unlock it, I think you need to have collected 10 million halos (doesn't matter if you have spent them or not). It's a nice challenge.
The other one, and I think that's my favourite in all three games, is an enemy gauntlet that you unlock by finding and clearing all of the Alfheim challenges.
And otherwise, Bayonetta 2 & 3 are imo just as good as #1, and each are a little different as well.
Cheers!