After getting close to the end of Unicorn Overlord, I have been itching to play more Fire Emblem. I was thinking about replaying Three Houses or Engage because they are readily available on my Switch, but I've played Three Houses a few times already and I didn't really love Engage. As such, I decided to go a bit further afield.
It seems like common consensus online is the entry point is either Blazing Blade or Awakening if you want to jump into the modern era.
I checked out Blazing Blade first and I was surprised by how well it holds up well given its like twenty years old? I don't know if it makes Blazing Blade more impressive or the modern games just less impressive that so much of what you think of as a Fire Emblem title was still present all those years ago.
I then tried Awakening to see which one I wanted to stick with, and this one I definitely enjoyed out of the gate more. Both games front load you with a bombardment of new characters which I didn't love, but this has a much more interesting story right out of the gate and the cutscenes still remain pretty impressive even while compressed down onto that horrible 3DS screen. The "cutscenes" in Blazing Blade are basically low quality static images. I don't fully understand the pros and cons of pairing or not pairing units yet, but maybe the knowledge will come with time.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5) - Currently (stuck) on the final boss. I've genuinely loved the game until now in spite of many things to nitpick about, however this final boss has to have the most disrespect of the player's time I've about ever experienced in a modern game. This thing is 10 phases long (with unskippable cutscenes), takes about 2 hours just to get to the end (even if you don't die on an earlier phase), with no option to save between any of it, and then once you get it's health down to about 10% in the last phase you have to finish it off in about 10 seconds before it charges an unavoidable OHKO move (all the while it spews this purple crap all over the place that flings you to the edge of the arena if it hits you).
No matter what I do I just can't deal enough damage in the absurdly short timeframe you have to finish it off (I even tried summoning Odin right before that final bit, but he seemed to be removed from the equation as soon as it started, which is BS. Also remembered that I had Limit Syphon on Cloud, so I was able to fire off two Limit Breaks during one run, however the game interrupted the second Limit Break's animation in order to trigger the OHKO animation which seriously ticked me off).
Sure, as long as you're still playing the game you can retry from that phase as many times as you want, however forgive me for not having the time to do so after spending 2 hours to get there in the first place (I tried about 5 times before having to put the game up). So now next weekend I'll have to start the whole thing over again from the beginning (I'll try doing it on Normal again this weekend with a few strategies I've read up on, but if that fails I'm not too proud to drop it to Easy the time after. If the game is going to BS me, I'll BS it).
Onechanbara Origin (Steam) - Years ago I grabbed a bunch of these low budget fan service games on PC in support after the "Sony Censorship" debacle first really started breaking. I'll pull one up occasionally and admittedly most of them end up being pretty mediocre at best, however as it turns out this one is better than most.
Sure, I probably still wouldn't give it much more than a 6/10, but it's fun. It's not terribly deep (or difficult), but the gameplay loop is fun, it throws new enemy types often enough (including frequent bosses) & only takes about 5 or 6 hours to work through the story mode so it doesn't overstay it's welcome.
Also not quite as pervy as many of the other games in this niche. Sure the leading ladies jiggle & don't wear very much, but it doesn't seem to have any modes that are voyeuristic for the sake of it (no "touching" mini games or the like) that you'd usually see in a release like this. The sexiness is just one element of the schlocky B movie horror vibe it has going on. Enemies dismember easily & pop like pressurized blood fountains dousing your player characters (& is part of a power up mechanic) as well as the screen, and one of the bosses is even a giant demon baby that uses it's umbilical cord like a whip. It's pretty twisted stuff, but fun.
Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door (Switch) - Just retrieved the Sun & Moon stones & am headed to Hooktail's Castle, so I'm not too far in yet, but it's been fun so far. Never played it before, so it's nice to finally be able to experience something considered a classic.
Stellar Blade (PS5) - Started this a couple weeks ago as well, just finished off the 3rd or 4th boss, and it's honestly the most fun I'm having at the moment. If you've played the Star Wars Jedi games, this is pretty much those (now with copious amounts of jiggle), and those were some pretty darn fine games.
It's maybe not quite as ambitious in scope, but it still looks & feels very premium, and at least so far doesn't come with any of the performance hiccups or bugs present in the SW games, so I'd say it's a winner overall.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
I started again Ratchet & Clank PS4 on my PS5 machine and it felt like playing new games despite I have ever played on my PS4 machine before.
60 fps boost on PS5 machine looks very sweet.
I've been playing Omori for the past couple days, and there's a lot things in the game that blow me away! The beautiful art style, the killer soundtrack, the tonal whiplash of this pastel-colored world and horrendously dark themes, the likeable characters, etc. There's a LOT of things I'm loving about this game...however, I'd be lying if I felt like the game wasn't padded. I'm about 13 hours in and it feels like it's been at least double that. The story has it's moments where it goes into some REALLY great places, and I even found myself feeling choked up at some events that hit really close to home. But then those moments pass and I find myself back into what really feels like filler. I really don't want to use that word, a ton of stuff happens in the various different worlds you travel to, but by the time you're done there's barely any feeling of accomplishment. I've been told by a fair amount of people to keep going and stick it out to the end, as it makes the whole experience worth it. I want to as well, it just feels like everything that doesn't happen involving...certain events...just feels aimless. If any of you reading this have played Omori, have you felt this way? There isn't anything wrong or even bad I can say about this game, it just feels like I'm really having a hard time motivating myself to get to the awesome stuff when the stuff in-between feels a bit longwinded. I'm really invested in the game's story, but in terms of actual "game", I'm sort of struggling to stay motivated.
Never heard of Omori, @Novamii - looks interesting. Not really interested in, nor do I have time for games with a heavy grind factor. Please share if it gets better
I just started and finished .cat milk, a precision cat platformer with humorously jank hit boxes and lots of balloons for some reason. The 50 levels didn't last long but they were entertaining. Plus the game was on sale for less than a dollar.
Currently playing through Perfect Dark on the Xbox after getting it via Rare Replay and enjoying it despite not making a lot of progress on it. After the Sunday Xbox showcase showed more footage of the upcoming reboot they went radio silent on for a few years, it inspired me to try the original game. I actually tried to play it back in December, but I dropped it because I had little interest in it at the time and couldn’t get used to it at first.
I am more used to playing faster paced first-person multiplayer shooters like Overwatch, so what Perfect Dark does by being a single-player experience involving gadgets, different sets of objectives to complete, alongside the ability to wield different guns in its gameplay is really different to me! I didn’t read much about the game before starting it aside from some small plot details, so my initial expectation was that it was going to be like the shooters I have played before. There’s charm in it despite being a more serious shooter game, and the protagonist is so cool and amazing. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Once I complete the game, I’ll likely play its prequel or Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. However, I heard the former is underwhelming and worse than the first Perfect Dark.
Currently playing: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,Rare Replay,Conker: Live and Reloaded and Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage!
Current obsession: Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Xbox Gamertag: VividSkies1778
Bought Paper Mario Thousand Year Door yesterday and I found Xenoblade 3 on clearance which pretty much never happens where I live so I bought that too. Both games are really amazing. The music in both games are phenomenal. The gameplay is simple in paper Mario, which I thought would make the game really easy, but the difficulty is actually pretty balanced, so I can’t dominate every fight! Xenoblade is interesting because you’ve got this huge open world, but all you have to do is tap one button and immediately start battling. The AI teammates are really good at their roles. I wish I found these games sooner!
Wait, why do we need a signature? Eh, I don’t know. Here’s your signature.
Playing Xenoblade Chronicles definitive edition for the second time as I didn't get far in my first playthrough mainly because I was distracted by other games at the time but I love it so much. I already played 2 and 3. The whole trilogy is just so damn good but I'm really feeling it with the first mainly because I like the characters more
Switch: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. This is the first time I've played it since elementary school and I actually got past the part I was previously stuck on indefinitely and made it to Glitzville. I'm really enjoying the game and wish they'd make modern Mario RPGs like this. The characters are great, it's humorous without being cringey, and like..how did Nintendo get away with the entirety of Madame Flurrie?
PS5: Unicorn Overlord. As a huge Fire Emblem fan, I had to pick this one up. I'm really enjoying the way you can explore the map and build your units however you want to. Maybe I just haven't gotten far enough yet (about 5.5 hours in) but I wish I had more control over the actual battles. I think eventually I'll be able to select my moves? But the voice acting is fantastic and Vanillaware never misses a beat with their animations.
@TheBigBlue Can't speak for Xenoblade 3 since I haven't played it yet but if you love open and beautiful areas I recommend looking into Xenoblade 2 as well.
Xenoblade 2 has a beautiful environment. Uraya gotta be my favorite with it's cherry blossom aesthetic.
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