CrimsonMoonMist

I've been mulling over these news and I finally decided to cancel my order for the Limited Edition. I've already supported the genuinely passionate folk over at the company by buying the basic digital edition, so it just didn't feel right to shower the shady execs with even more money. It's not as though I'm trying to encourage others to do the same, just do what feels right to you.

This sort of frugal reallocation of staff members onto other projects on short notice depending on their performance to the point where the workers felt uncertain and isolated is certainly something that points to a rather nasty general disregard for their workers. Granted, being too hands-on with resource management isn't a crime (though that does not excuse the unneeded stress it causes), and these same devs specifically stated that there were no crunch or payment disputes.
Nonetheless, these reports, in combination with the recent credits debate paints a picture of a company that may not necessarily be overtly malicious, but is most certainly mismanaged and suffers from a worrying lack of respect for the safety of their employees. The game might be excellent, but I'm very hesitant to recommend it to others by this point.

I took advantage of the recent sale and bought myself Mighty Gunvolt Burst on my Switch. Thus far, I've beaten the game with Gunvolt, Copen and Joule.

Considering how short and simple the original game was, I was quite surprised by the immense customizability of the special weapon creator and I also found myself enjoying the far more challenging and varied level design. The original game was little more than a fun little time-waster, but this sequel certainly feels more like a proper spiritual successor to Mega Man 9 and 10.

I got around to beating Luminous Avenger iX this week now that I've got the two main entries out of the way. While it was quite short even with the special missions, the gameplay was just so much fun that I'm still fighting the urge to replay it all over again. Granted, the game doesn't technically do anything the second game didn't do and outright removed a bunch of systems in the name of streamlining the experience, but the more cramped level design that makes refilling the bullit gauge without stopping to use the manual reload nearly effortless combined with the really clever and risky new Devil Trigger-esque mechanic really does make a significant difference. Not having a second playable character does feel like a pretty big step down, though. Sure, it allowed the stages and bosses to be more focused around Copen's abilities, but I still enjoyed having the option of playing as someone else. Eh, maybe we'll get a sequel in the future with Blade as the Gunvolt replacement.

Oh, and I also played through the original Mighty Gunvolt on my 3DS. Not a bad waste of a few minutes, I suppose.
I also took advantage of all of the sales going around to upgrade my untouched digital copy of Mighty Gunvolt Burst from the 3DS version to the Switch one and started playing that. I was thinking of picking up the PC port, but given the rather sorry state of that version, I figured supporting the version of the game that actually works as intended was the better move even though the issues are largely localized to AMD users (which I am not). The special weapon creation mechanic really caught me off guard by how customizable it is and the tight difficulty level really puts the game Burst was supposed to advertise to shame. Looking forward to continuing my playthrough later today.

I finished off my planned Halloween playthroughs by beating Castlevania Bloodlines this week (better late than never).
It took a bit longer than I expected because of the game's limited continues, but I finally got good enough to pull through.

I also beat the Link's Awakening remake. Playing a top-down Zelda game without screen transitions in the overworld was kind of a trip.

I got around to trying out Azure Striker Gunvolt 2. The original had a neat twist that made it a lot of fun, but it didn't really feel like something you could build an entire franchise on given that the appeal of an action game with a super high focus on building your high-score is kind of niche these days. Imagine my surprise when I instantly fell in love the moment I gained control of the previously extremely unlikable Copen.

Like, wow! This was such an unexpectedly great sequel. The original had an unique score-focused hook that made it stand out if you gave it a chance, but the refined difficulty balance all across the board combined with Copen's amazingly kinetic high-flying combat style that manages to capture the high-speed action of the Mega Man Zero series in a way that GV's own slower, more calculated gameplay system couldn't while still keeping the kind of unique score-based approach that made the original stand out... It just completely caught me off guard.

I sat down and replayed Castlevania Aria of Sorrow for the first time in over a decade (once on normal, once on hard and once on Julius mode), so I can now finally say that I have no regrets once my GB Player equipped GC finally dies on me.

I was curious to see how my impressions of the game would change now that I have experienced the games that came before it. I'd still say that I prefer it over Symphony, but not for the reasons that I expected.

In my mind, I remember Aria being great because of your customizable movesets, but I've come to realize that a lot of souls just aren't that practical, especially when compared against those that actually are. That said, those that aren''t at least makes up for it with their comedic touches, so the mechanic has plenty of charm. No, what really impressed me with Aria was how it essentially feels like the Chrono Trigger of Metroidvanias in that it's a very short and concise journey that doesn't pad itself out even when you're going for full map completion (souls are another matter, unfortunately). My last playthrough of Symphony where I was going by my childhood memory of the game took me around 8 hours while going for the best ending. Aria only took 3, and that's with 100% map completion. Julius mode took me under an hour even though I went after every boss. Thing is, I was never bored or felt like I weren't making meaningful progress. And as a grown man, I love games that can offer that kind of short yet satisfying experience.

I beat the original Azure Striker Gunvolt earlier this week.
The score-focused tagging mechanic took some getting used to, but once I did, it made the game feel like so much more than just a spiritual retread of Inti's past Mega Man titles. Part of me still kind of wish that it was just a rebranded Mega Man Zero 5, but it was certainly refreshing to get a successor that was very much its own thing. From what I've heard, the sequel is even better, so I'm looking forward to getting to that one eventually.

Oh no, I need both that Richter and Dark Samus...
I thought I swore off getting Amiibo day-one to avoid the eternal race against scalpers, but here I am, getting pulled back in!

I finished off my playthrough of Bloodstained COTM by beating it on the "maximum douchebag Zangetsu" route.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much it made the game feel more like the tense type of experience that Classicvanias usually are compared to the excessive versatility of a full team. It really puts the title's impressive dynamic difficulty system into perspective. Good stuff!

I also beat Symphony of The Night for the first time. I've played it on and off for decades, but the inverted castle tended to be where my enthusiasm fell short. Still, I'm older and way more stubborn, so it really didn't put a damper on things this time around. I'm excited to replay Aria of Sorrow again now that I have experienced the entirety of its inspiration to see if I still prefer it today.

Moving away from the spooky titles, I also finally sat down and began playing Azure Striker Gunvolt. The super score-focused gimmick of tagging as many enemies as possible without getting hit before destroying 'em all at once feels kind of counter-intuitive to the ruthlessly efficient gameplan of Mega Man Zero, so it'll take some getting used to.

Neato. I buckled down with the PC version instead, but if they keep improving on this version, its portability might make it my prefered way to play it in time. All the same, it's nice to see that the devs are sticking to their word of fixing the port the mainstream has already written off as an unsalvageable failure.

Given that this is the spooky month of October, I've been enjoying me some Castlevania.
I went trough good ol' Rondo of Blood again now that I've finally got access to the title once more courtesy of the Requiem collection (I didn't redownload it off of the Wii VC before it went down, so I've been without options before I got this new collection).

I'm the kind of guy who treasures smooth and precise controls above anything else, so I tend to forget what makes the Classicvanias great when I go a long while without playing one. Limitations breed creativity after all, and I really love the feeling of triumphing over your infinitely faster and stronger adversaries by making deliberate use of the few options you do have. They're sort of like puzzle games in that regard.

I also replayed Bloodstained ROTN on Nightmare difficulty. I quite enjoyed how taking away the ability to level up makes you see the stats that your equipment provides in a completely different light. It helps that the crafting doesn't bog you down with trial-and-error-type busywork so having to rely on it wasn't a bother.

I started and finished playing through Bloodstained ROTN.
I've always been more hesitant with the IGA-style Castlevania series since, as much as I like them, I still prefer to play the Metroid series whenever I get the urge to play a Metroidvania title.
Still, this game really was a wonderful return-to-form, even if it doesn't do a whole lot to stick out from its inspiration.

I've begun my playthrough of Metroid Prime 3, I just finished off Elysia, which I guess means I'm about halfway through.
I didn't expect to like the planet-traversal system, but it does help give the game a feeling of being on a grander scale than the previous titles (even if I still feel that the different portions of the same planet should've been connected in one continuous world). The motion controls are a neat novelty, the Wii's pointer controls were always the most accurate out of all the motion features after all. I still prefer using a proper controller, but that's more out of habit than anything else.

I also went back and finished Heaven or Hell mode in Devil May Cry 5 just to get it out of the way. I decided to give the rather monotonous mode some extra flair by turning on the option that replaces most cutscenes with the version of the scenes from back when they were still in the choreography planning stages, and those scenes were certainly... different to say the least. It's nice to see that the devs had fun while making the game, especially within the context of all of the issues surrounding overworked staff in game development that gets unearthed these days.

I also finally got around to watching the first two parts of the Persona 3 movie adaptation.
I really enjoyed how well the writers managed to elaborate on the MC's implied personality in the original game from stuff like his poor posture and comparatively scrawny physique in a way that felt natural while giving him a character arc that matches the tone of the ones that already existed for his teammates pretty well. That said, the combat was unfortunately pretty poor in the first movie. All it boiled down to were scenes where the heroes stood safely at a distance while their Persona repeated the same attacks over and over until Makoto finally switched to a new Persona and finished the fight in one strike. Luckily, the second movie was a lot more dynamic in this regard despite being animated by a studio that's known for lazy fight scenes.

I finally finished my first playthrough of Persona 5, so I'll be returning to the world of Nintendo once again to play Metroid Prime 3 once I have the time.

It's funny, when I started P5 I felt somewhat tepid in regards to finishing it since it kind of felt like just another Persona game despite the interesting thematic hook. Now that I'm done, I realize that my initial impression wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as the game made me realize why I loved this series to begin with.

Still nothing Nintendo related, but I did buy Link's Awakening, Jedi Knight 2 and Dragon Quest III.

I'm still going through Persona 5. I just got to the part where everything's going to poo, which I'm pretty stoked about since the plot up until now has felt kind of disjointed in that every target up til now felt pretty much unrelated to the bigger picture or each other, sort of like standalone episodes in an anime.

As someone on the autistic spectrum, I must say I was pretty surprised with Futaba's character. When you get these kinds of characters in fiction, they're usually played exclusively for laughs because of their eccentricity or become a walking plot-device that can magically fix every issue because of their one-track mind. The latter trope is certainly present in Futaba, but it was incredibly refreshing to see a character like her actually work on improving her social condition while portraying the nasty set-backs that occasionally occurs when such people go out of their comfort zone, especially when separated from people they trust. In one way, it's extremely uncomfortable because I see myself in her uglier situations like whenever she has a sudden nervous breakdown despite her intial bravado, but on the other hand, it's pretty incredible that this kind of honest character depiction actually exists in mainstream media.

Well, I'm getting XI S eventually. But since I've already beaten the original, I'm jumping on III first.

I can't remember the last time there were so many great games on offer at once.

I've been clamoring for Adachi since day one but it seemed like a pipe-dream since he was simply DLC in P4AU.
This certainly makes picking the game up again seem even more tempting.

Nothing Nintendo-themed this week. There's a big RPG that's taking up all my game-time right now.

I'm around 30 hours into my first Playthrough of Persona 5. The whole Medjed plotline just started up.
The game didn't initially click entirely for me despite the unique premise and just sort of felt like just another Persona game, then I discovered that Demon Negotiations were brought back from the P2 days, and my investment in the game just sort of snowballed from there.

While I didn't expect to like the character much from their introduction, I was surprised to find that Makoto has quickly become one of my favorite characters in the franchise. As a compulsive yes-man who dedicated my life to studying simply because I was good at it and because it was expected of me, only to then realize that I had no semblance of a social life outside of academics or any real meaningful personal agency by the time I reached adulthood... Well, to say that the character hit a chord with me would be an understatement.

I... I'll consider buying DMC2 again as a long-term investment to ensure that DMC3 comes to the Switch in the future...

That's awesome! I was actually debating giving in and playing the mobile version of III.

@Pirlo_ze_sniper DMC5 is sort of like the Metal Gear Solid 4 of DMC in that it actively revels in paying lip-service to every corner of the franchise, from the games themselves to even stuff like the non-canon prequel novel to the first game and the animated series.
Luckily, unlike MGS4, DMC5's cutscene-to-gameplay ratio is much better. The game does contain a summary of each game's plot, but I haven't checked up on how detailed it is.

Personally, I'd recommend at least checking out DMC4 beforehand since the big emotional crux of the final act of the game lies in Nero's personal development, but I'm sure that the summary in the game does a good enough job in catching you up to speed. Either way, I'd say DMC5 is the only game in the franchise that truly feels like it can go toe-to-toe with DMC3 in every aspect, so going straight from 3 to 5 won't feel like the comparatively incomplete package that 4 provided.

You don't have to butter me up, Capcom. I already knew I was getting this the moment it was announced... But the effort is very much appreciated all the same.

Nothing Nintendo themed since I just got my PS4.
I finally finished off my first time with Devil May Cry 5 by finishing the game on DMD (which in turn means that I've finally succeded in my quest to finish every game in the series on DMD). It was actually a rather pleasant and fair challenge, all things considered.

I also picked up Persona 5, Kingdom Hearts 3 and the Castlevania Rondo/Symphony collection on sale. I just started up P5 and the beginning hook is certainly eye-catchingly different compared to the rest of the series. Looking forward to see where it goes from there.

While everyone else is enjoying Astral Chain, I finally caved in and bought a PS4 Pro to finally play Devil May Cry 5.

I recently beat Devil Hunter and had an absolute blast. I was worried that all the expectations that had been put on Itsuno along with the practical deityfication of the guy in light of the reboot's failings would be too unreasonable a task for him to live up to.
But I'll be damned, as someone who's been fantasizing about the potential of a true sequel ever since DMC4 was released, this totally exceeded my expectations and then some. I was trying to keep my hopes in check and was pretty much just hoping that Nero's co-stars would get their own levels and bosses this time around, but this... I need to beat the game on DMD before I can pass final judgement, but right now, it's up there with DMC3, my fourth favorite video game of all time.

Kamiya certainly does have a... straight-forward way with words that you wouldn't expect out of a game developer. It's kind of refreshing in small doses.

I was expecting someone like Capcom or Koei when I heard about there being a suspicious copyright-reveal. Turns out I was completely wrong. And I'm very much okay with that.

I've gone through a bout of Surgery, so there hasn't been much time for the vidya games.
I still managed to beat the Switch version of Devil May Cry on DMD in spite of my drifting joy-cons.

The review bombing the game gets on online sites for being the HD Collection version without the other games attached really depresses me. DMC1 hasn't exactly aged like fine-wine with its clunky controls and comparatively limited combat, sure. But the Resident Evil-style atmosphere (complete with eerie apocalyptic logs strewn about) is still as strong as ever and gives the title a distinct tone that makes it worth experiencing in a world where the likes of DMC3 exists. Most importantly, however, is the unique way the game handles combat on higher difficulties. Unlike DMC3 and beyond where you get a boatload of tools that allows each player to express themselves with their own unique playstyles, DMC1 has a very limited selection of abilities wherein each has a very deliberate usage that seems to be designed specifically to counter certain enemies and attacks if the player is willing to experiment. That is why Nightmare is one of my favorite bosses in the franchise, you can practically counter everything the creature throws at you as long as you keep your head in the game and observes how it moves. As a fighting game player, I do ultimately prefer the way the later games allow for player expression, but I also really respect how tightly designed the combat in the original is.

On another note, the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection was announced while I was undergoing surgery, so it felt like the universe was rewarding me when I woke up and saw the news.
It kind of makes my recent 100%, all-A-Rank run of Zero 3 on my GB Player seem redundant, though...

Finally! Our patience has paid off.
There's going to be an up-hill battle for us online warriors, though, seeing as the rest of the playerbase has already had their hands on the game for months.

This is the exact thing I've been clamoring for since the Legacy Collection series started! You bet I'll be there day-one!

But can you turn off the vaseline-esque "HD" filter?

I hope they can work out a deal with Capcom and release a Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection. It would be nice to get to play those games on the Switch.

@nofriendo The damsel doesn't stick around past the prologue save for a few scenes. Even the "chosen hero" schtick ends up being played with and the post-game completely deconstructs the idea of a new game + feature in a really refreshing way.

I finished off last week's nostalgia-fueled GB Player marathon by doing a 100% run of Zelda The Minish Cap.
Right now I'm playing through the first Devil May Cry on the Switch. I just beat normal and hard mode so I'm going to move on to DMD later today.

I've been having a blast going through my GBA collection on my newly aquired GB Player.
Thus far I've done a 100% run of Mega Man Zero 3 and got the best (non-item based) ending in Metroid Zero Mission's hard mode.

Something that is rather strange is that even after beating MZM's hard mode, I still got the same ending picture that you get on normal mode even though the sound-test unlocked like it should when you beat hard mode. Is my copy a bootleg or are there versions of the game out there without hard-exclusive endings?

Edit: It turns out that hard mode only has unique endings for 100% sub-2 hour speedruns and 15% runs, so that's why my any% run didn't net me a different image. So I guess that I unboxed my new copy to see if it was any different for no reason. Oh well, at least I got to improve on my speedrun times...

I'm pretty lucky since the titles I'm most concerned about are all mostly shoe-ins (Super Metroid, Mega Man X and A Link to The Past). The only ones I'm nervous about are Chrono Trigger and the other Mega Man games (I know MM&B in particular is rough around the edges and then some, but I still enjoyed my time with it and would love a rerelease of the definitive version).

Crossing my fingers that this means that an official alternative is in the works.

@echoplex It's definitely my favorite in the Prime series today in spite of my complicated feelings for it during my childhood.

The unique, oppressive atmosphere (especially compared to the more by-the-numbers video game-y areas of its predecessor), the engaging desperate plight of the Luminoth, the exciting combat difficulty, the unique structure of the world, the uplifting resolution that makes all the struggles and darkness you went through feel justified... It's a wonderful title that sadly got overshadowed by being compared to a predecessor that completely changed the public perception of what a Metroid game could be.

@Valdney The bar is set quite high, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. I just prefer the "connected singular world" structure of the first two. Prime 3 is still an outstanding action adventure title.

I finished the GC version of Metroid Prime 2 Echoes for the first time this week. I was unsure of what to expect going in since my childhood experiences with the title were rough and I had only heard grueling tales of the difficulty of this particular entry since then.

Turns out it actually went really smoothly. I only ever died against the spider guardian and the final Dark Samus encounter and I never really got lost for long despite my insistence to not use the hint system, mostly because I always took my time to explore every time I got an upgrade that I remembered seeing a use for in previous areas.

Admittedly, Now that I have most of the franchise under my belt, I may actually like Echoes more than the original Prime simply because it feels more unique compared to other Metroid titles in regards to how you traverse its world and the visual and tonal themes it follows. Plus the combat difficulty level is pretty much exactly where I want it to be at, around the same level as something like Fusion and Samus Returns, just tough enough to not feel completely supplementary to the exploration. Though I will freely admit that the rushed development cycle certainly makes this installment far less polished compared to its predecessor, just not to the point where it outweighs the novelty of the uniqueness of what it tries to do.

By that point, why not just sell or donate the console to hospitals?
You get the satisfaction of not owning the console and somebody else that wants it gets one.

I just finished Metroid Zero Mission for the first time and then immediately jumped back in and got the best (non item-completion based) speedrun ending.

This title probably comes close to being the most straight-up perfect and faithful remake of a game that I've ever played. I wish you could skip the cutscenes that tell you where to go, but beyond that, I've really got no complaints regarding the changes and additions they made.

As a Metroid title in general, I've only really got a couple minor complaints. The returning areas from Metroid 1 aren't all that memorable in terms of their visual themes compared to the other post-8-bit Metroid titles, which is understandable given what the devs had to work with. The bosses aren't particularly threatening either (poor Ridley) in spite of their imposing presence. Plus there's the aforementioned handholding that can only be skipped occasionally. Still, that's pretty much it when it comes to any beefs I had with this game. So the good definitely far outweighs the bad.

Ridley's taking flight it seems.

@RupeeClock And even then, Erdrick/Loto isn't even a name, it's a title given to exceptional heroes.

I just realized that I don't actually own the SNK 40th Anniversary collection for some reason. Time to rectify that!

I'm finally getting around to playing through Metroid Prime 2 Echoes again. I remember the title being a real pain growing up so I'm curious to see what I'll think of the game as an adult. One thing is for sure, it's got a really distinctive atmosphere even if the lack of vibrancy is a bit of a bummer.

ASW aren't actually the developers on this one, they're publishing A-Plus' game.

Ouch. That's kind of a harsh thing to have to report on...

I might just get one to have lying around as a replacement in case my Switch ever dies out on me if the price is right.
Not having a kickstand and separable controllers is kind of a bummer since stuff like playing the thing in tabletop mode or not having to drag around extra controllers when you want to play multiplayer are pretty useful features for handheld play.