Topic: What Game(s) are You Currently Playing?

@Ralizah It's great to hear that it shares similarities to T&T in terms of wrapping up stories and characters. I'll never forget that moment in the final case of T&T where it's like "Oh wait, everything is connected!" I'm also interested to hear SoJ's soundtrack and how it compares to DD's. I've been liking DD's so far but from what I've heard, SoJ packs a bit more of a punch with its soundtrack.

Haha I'm constantly going back and forth as to whether I like T&T or Resolve more. I consider both games to be masterpieces, but for a few different reasons. T&T has a lot of surprise factors with what I mentioned earlier, along with some extremely emotional moments that caught me completely off-guard. Godot seeing Mia's spirit in Phoenix with the classic Pursuit theme playing gave me more chills than I think I've ever experienced in a game before. Whereas Resolve has a much more cohesive story throughout with no real "filler" cases, with some absolutely remarkable character development and out-of-this-world plot revelations. Sholmes' character revelation was so unexpected for me that I still find myself thinking about it sometimes. "Partners - The Game is Afoot!" is also my favorite song in the entire series, so I gotta give Resolve props for that.

The moral of the story is: I really love Ace Attorney. So far I've played games 1-4, currently playing 5, played the Great Duology, and played Investigations 1. Every game I've played has had something new to offer and something to appreciate about it, even if some of them aren't as strong as others. When I picked up the Trilogy on sale last year, I genuinely did not expect to find myself as invested in the series as I am. I'd never played a visual novel before and I didn't tend to play story-focused games much at all. But something about Ace Attorney just clicks for me in ways very few other series do. Get along with AA7 already, Capcom!

Started Mega Man 3 on the Legacy Collection today and hoo BOY I've got some thoughts.

Starting things off, I absolutely adore the increased speed of everything. 1 and 2 were very methodical platformers, but did feel a lot on the plodding side of things (especially exacerbated when a single wrong move could send you tumbling back to the last checkpoint). 3 keeps this intact while ratcheting up the pace considerably, with additions like better physics and the slide making Rock an utter joy to control compared to the previous two entries. Another major improvement is definitely seen in the spritework: whereas 1 and 2 definitely felt very plain looks-wise, 3 is a gigantic improvement. I've only gone through Needle, Snake and Top Man's stages so far but the detail in them is jaw-dropping at points for a NES game. And, of course, who could forget about the music? This is something every game has done well so it's not all too surprising that 3 would follow suit but WOW dude: these songs are absolutely bonkers. Needle Man's especially like holy mother of Metal Man IT'S SO GOOD.

Despite all of that though....I've never wanted to keep going with a Mega Man game quite like 3 so far. It's brutal as sin and it's probably going to take a LOOOONG while before I'm even close to beating it....but goddamnit is it still so, SO fun despite it all.

So in short? Yeah I'm having a good time.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Switch) - A highly acclaimed game I picked up on sale over the holidays. The paint mechanics are fun and remind me of Splatoon in a few ways, though the top-down style and progression also remind me of The Legend of Zelda at times as well. That said, the game does have its own identity. Beautiful art style too. It also isn't afraid to tackle some real world themes. Some genuinely freaky boss fights too.

Mole Mania (3DS VC) - I'm on level 7. This one has been slow going, partially because I wasn't expecting it to be as challenging as it is (not a bad thing) and because it's also my side game. The digging and push-pull mechanics are fairly unique, essentially giving the player two stages in one to deal with at once depending on the layout. There are 7 levels/worlds total - at least to start with. They can be played in any order after the first, though I've been playing them sequentially.

@Fizza Mega Man 3 is my favorite of the series. It still felt fresh especially with adding the slide mechanic and Rush. Later games in the series especially 5 and 6 just felt the same. The Robit Master's are some of my favorites in the series. And yes the music, I especially liked Spark Man's theme.

Just like any Mega Man game the trick is figuring out what order to take the Robot Master's on, once you figure that out the game is nothing.

Glad to hear your enjoying it, just keep at it and you will get through it.

@Tasuki Just went back on it there half an hour ago (took down Magnet Man and Hard Man respectively) and I can definitely concur with your opinion so far. It just feels a lot more fun to run and gun compared to the previous two entries and, while I think 2 still has a better difficulty balance as of now, 3 is just so infectiously addicting to run through that I don't really care. Literally about to hop on again as we speak, it's just so damn good

@Fizza Sounds like you got a good start there by beating Magnet Man and Hard Man. The game can be quite addicting especially once you down a few of the bosses.

Whoever on the dev team for Mega Man 3 decided on both the level design for the stage replays and the fact that if you die to the first Copy Bot you go all the way back to the beginning, I just want to talk to them.

@Fizza Sorry to break it to you, but that GIF or whatever seems to be lagging and slowing down page loading.

@TeaCatherine Thanks for letting me know, just subbed it out for an image there 👍

I think I'm about halfway through Danganronpa 2, maybe a little farther. I'm not sure what to make of this game, and I probably won't be sure until it's over. Sometimes the story is great and the twists are amazing. Sometimes the story just drags and the new things it tries to do don't go over as well I don't think. I thought my favorite new character was about to die, too, but a twist I did not see coming appears to be taking place and it will be someone else, which is good as I do not like most of the new characters and really didn't want the one I do like to be killed.

FE:3Houses and FE:Engage.

Pokemon Violet.
I have obtained 1 badge gym from beating Katy.
Ironically I played this game despite I already knew the graphic was really terrible and unacceptable.

After finishing Kirby: Planet Robobot, I'm gonna try to find the time to play Xenoblade Chronicles 3. And I'll also be playing Splatoon 3 next weekend since the next Splatfest will be happening then.

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages.

I know a few reviews said it was heavily puzzle based, but I'm feeling like a true dum-dum stumbling around every dungeon.

And when it gets to be too much, I hop on over to the Louvre Guide. That game is fantastic!

I am saddened. My favorite new character in Danganronpa 2 survived when I thought they were going to die, but then they died the very next chapter. Guess I should just quit now (just kidding). The characters are getting kind of strange now (those who are left). We shall see where this is going.

Paper Mario: Origami King
This game gets a lot of hate, but I am actually thoroughly enjoying my time with it. People seem to focus on what the game isn't (a traditional RPG) instead of what it is (an adventure game with puzzle combat). The story is interesting enough and the writing is absolutely fantastic. I am really happy I decided to check this out and form my own opinion of it.

Undertale.

Doing a neutral route at the moment.

If you haven't played it already, please, please do.

Pokemon Violet.
Currently have obtained 6 Gym leader badges, 3 team Star badges, 3rd upgrade from Legend Path.

Started up the original Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga today through GBA NSO (have made it up to the point where you cure Queen Bean) and I'm having an absolutely wonderful time. SS' remake was the game that actually got me into Mario & Luigi so being able to finally play the original some 5-6 years later was massively vindicating and boy has it not let me down so far. The battles are still infectiously engaging, the Beanbean Kingdom is an immensely fun region to explore and the spritework and music on display is absolutely fantastic. My only slight gripes so far is that it feels a lot harder to perform Bros. Attacks compared to the remake, having to constantly hit the START and L/R buttons to swap around jumps/hammers is pretty annoying at points (especially in tight spaces like Chucklehuck Woods) and the beginning is pretty slow. But that's literally it so far and when everything else is so memorably charming and whimsical? I can easily look past those little nitpicks. Played for 4 hours+ so far and I can't wait to carry on tomorrow

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (3DS) - Just started this one yesterday (Had the day off work) and have already sunk about eight hours into the game. Which I know is barely scratching the surface. XD Very slow start, but the plot is interesting and I'm quite enjoying the characters and proceedings. So far the gameplay is classic Dragon Quest, though I know a job/vocation system will unlock at some point. Quite a beautiful 3D environment too; it's for games like this that I've stuck with 3D-capable units. The game is starting to exhibit a certain gameplay loop as I continue (currently working my way through Burnmont in the past), but that isn't a bad thing; in fact, this may work quite well with the system's pick-up-and-play nature.

Super Mario 64 (Switch via Super Mario 3D All-Stars) - This is currently my side game. I actually played this 2-3 years ago on the Wii U, so I'm mostly doing the bare minimum. I'm favoring the worlds I do like and barely touching the others. This is still an enjoyable game despite its age, though the camera controls and slippery physics have never sat quite right with me.

I'll be playing the SM3DAS games in release order. After SM64, I'll move on to Super Mario Sunshine. THAT should be an interesting one since I've heard a lot about it but have never played the game.