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

So I am still trudging along through Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. I'm honestly kind of surprised that I've stuck for this one as long as I did since I typically really dislike RPGs. But something about this one just speaks to me a bit more than others, I guess. I think the combat is pretty engaging, and I love Chain Attacks especially. I also think the soundtrack is phenomenal, and honestly, it's probably what's pushing me forward more than anything else at this point.

This game is certainly not without its downsides, though. For one, I think the story is incredibly tedious. I'm on chapter 11 of 17 and there still has been like zero payoff storywise. It is so annoying how often you almost reach your goal, but then, oh no! Something happens at the last second that prevents you from reaching it and it forces you to get through more chapters to progress onwards. I just find it extremely repetitive, and as a result, I've found the story to be pretty uninteresting. It's fine, it has some fine characters, and a good premise, but the pacing is just terrible. I also think the overworld traversal is ridiculously boring. Half the time, if you're not fighting enemies, you're just running in a straight line. It's a slog to get through overworld sections sometimes, especially if the game prevents you from fast traveling.

Overall, though, I'm still enjoying this game. I can see why so many people love it, and I think it has a lot of great ideas, many of which were executed well. However, when I eventually get around to Xenoblade 2, I really hope it refines a lot of stuff relating to pacing and traversal, as those are probably my two biggest issues with the game. It's still fun, though, and as of now, I'd probably give it a 7/10. I'm hoping to finish it within the next month or two, ideally before TOTK, but we'll see how that goes, I guess.

Just came back to Breath of the Wild last night, and I think I'm close to the homestretch in finishing the main story. The upcoming release of Tears of the Kingdom encouraged me to come back to BotW!

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (PS5) - I'm in the middle of Chapter 7. just escaped from a bunch of endlessly spawning ghosts after grabbing a reel of film in the graveyard It's kinda clunky & it creeps me out, but I can't help but go back to it, lol.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) - I haven't yet played the last 2 DLC waves, so I'm going to play around with the 4 newest cups before I dive into my next game (just finished Prime Remastered & will probably pick up Return to Dreamland Deluxe soon). Maybe it's just because I haven't played it in awhile, but it seems like item frequency has gone up. Probably just got unlucky, but I did a Grand Prix of the Rock Mushroom Cup & got Blue Shelled like 6-8 times.

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (3DS) - ~78 hours in, and I finally just finished fixing the past of the last pedestal available in the Shrine of Mysteries (the Buccanham scenario). I just need to visit that island's present day now. If I know Dragon Quest however, I'm not in the home stretch quite yet; there are at least a couple of tasks I can think of to tackle next via visual cues and plot drops. I'm still having fun with this one - messing with the vocation system is particularly fun - though I admit I'm starting to get the feeling to move on. Buuuut not when I'm so. Close. To. Finishing....

Super Mario Galaxy (Switch/SM3DAS) - My current side game since I'm trying to finish DQ VII soon. 33 Power Stars in. A revisit that's been well worth it since I believe it's been about a decade since I last played the Wii entry; it's been long enough that, while some places are jogging my memory, others are not. I'm mostly playing with my pro controller, which works pretty well...though part of me misses the Wiimote + Nunchuck controls lol.

I gotta say, this is by far my favorite game out of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars bunch. Especially now that I've played Sunshine.

@Tyranexx I still haven’t gotten a chance to try out Galaxy without a Wiimote + Nunchuck. I’ve replayed that game so many times on the Wii that the controls are practically burned into my brain, though. I think I would have some problems adjusting to playing with a ProCon for sure.

Nexomon PS4.
The "Pokemon" games on my PS4.

StarCraft 64 and StarCraft 2 Legacy of the Void.

I'm officially back on the Mother 3 grind. I took a break from it over a year ago at this point and just never had a chance to pick it up again. That and I may have forgotten about it as other games came out. But now's the perfect time for me to finish it up, as I had gotten about halfway through chapter 5, and this game only has 8 chapters in it. I absolutely love this game; I had just previously gotten tired of the battle system and some difficult bosses. But I think I've taken a long enough break at this point for me to be able to stick with it, and finally see it through to the end. Hopefully I can finish it before TOTK comes out, but we'll have to see I guess.

@StarPoint It certainly feels very different, but for the most part the control scheme works. I just need to quit mixing up the ZL/ZR actions and accidentally wasting star bits lol. I've been playing it docked, so I can't currently comment on the handheld controls...and might keep it that way. I've read firing star bits requires using the touch screen, which I'd rather not do.

I redownloaded the N64 app, after minimal use. Pokémon Stadium bored me, so I went back to Super Mario 64. Still a solid game, but I’m also just as terrible at it. Played portal 1 and 2 for a while until I beat them both. Both are really fun and hurt my brain. Probably just going to continue either another N64 game or Fire Emblem Engage

After taking a much-needed break from the series after beating 3 back in late January (my thumbs....they metaphorically BLED), I've booted up Mega Man Legacy Collection once again and started Mega Man 4!

Currently beat 5 Robot Masters so far (Toad, Dust, Skull, Bright and Pharaoh Man respectively) and am about to take on the rest. While I wouldn't say it's blown me away so far in quite the same way 3 did when I first started it, I'm definitely starting to get into the MM groove once again between the fun level themes, enjoyable boss weapons and the wonderful addition of the charge shot. It's currently sitting between 2 and 3 in terms of how much I enjoy it and I'm excited to keep going and see what else it's about to throw at me!

Also the intro is INCREDIBLE:

Woke up this morning and played through all of Portal 1. Still a great game, and now that I know what I’m doing, I can breeze through it in just over an hour. I have now switched (no pun intended) over to Splatoon 3.

@TheBigBlue I’m amazed at how well Portal 1 holds up for being an early 2000s PC game. It’s still phenomenal and some of my friends actually prefer it over the second one. I still think 2 is better since it has more of a story and some great characters, but the creepy atmosphere and short playtime of the first game is definitely something it masters

@StarPoint Portal 1 came out in 2007 if I remember correctly. It’s so strange how I went so many years without playing all these classic games like Portal 1 and 2 and Metroid Prime. It shocks me just how well those three games hold up so many years later

Started playing Link's Awakening remake. I'm not surprised that a remake of one of my favorite games is great but this sure is great. If only more classic game revivals with 3d graphics looked even remotely as good as this.

Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival
Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp
Miitopia
Doraemon: Nobita's Brain Exercise Adventure (also known as Dora Think)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Picross S5

And a few other odds and ends.

High on Life and Advance Wars 1

Tron: Identity, it's really well written but it's really short.

Replaying the chapter 5 escape from Portal 2. I don’t really like the 1950s aperature chapters as much as I should, I pretty much like all the chapters where I team up with Wheatley/Glados.

Looks like I'm almost done with Minish Cap so I wanna try and finish it pretty soon. I also want to practice for Splatoon 3's next Splatfest.