DemonKow

I'm maybe halfway into Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and getting into Blade quests. I rather enjoy the mannequin witch with what could reasonably be described as an unhealthy attachment style. Loads of fun if you don't take it terribly seriously.

Also, I've been playing Vampire Survivors and figured out how to stay alive for reasonable amounts of time and I'm now addicted. Please send help.

Brilliant. I was looking at all my old Square classics and thought "but couldn't I have something more derivative and worse?"

Main game is Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which is proving to be cringy with a dense and endlessly fiddly blade system that I am thoroughly enjoying. I'm going back to school in January and may not have time to finish before that starts between that, work, and family, because there's just too much to do.

Also playing AI: The Somnium Files and finally checked in on the hype for Vampire Survivors, for which my first thought was "O no. This is brilliant and will take over my life."

I gotta say, I'm still working on it. But the first chapters are so much better than the original - OT1 was one of the best games I couldn't recommend because it's difficult to tell someone "you just gotta play 30+ hours and it gets good!" Especially when the stories play out with inconsistent quality and you gotta do an endgame grind and a series of side quests to get the full story.

Looking pretty set with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Its story can be a bit cringy and there are layers of near impenetrable systems but I'm really enjoying it so far. With all that going, the big sales are drawing my eye, and I may pick up something shorter like Oxenfree II: The Lost Signals or Kentucky Route Zero.

Happy gaming everyone!

I do appreciate the game design that goes into intuitive learning of the systems without tons of reading. While MMX wasn't super complicated, I do agree it was user friendly NM in ways the original never was.

And the soundtrack was a banger start to finish too. I still get the Armored Armadillo song stuck in my head.

@BodkinDQ I feel you on Triangle Strategy. I loved the story and the game play overall, but it doesn't really get out of its own way at times. When it gets grating, I usually switch the voice acting to Japanese (as with Octopath Traveler). For all I know, it's equally stilted, but I don't have any way to pick up on that so it seems easier to deal with.

After finally completing Tears of the Kingdom at a whopping 150 hours, 148 shrines, 110 light roots, and 297 Korok seeds, I closed the book on it and said I needed another 100+ hour game tomake my life feel complete, so I got underway with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I'm going in fairly blind beyond knowing the battle systems are ridiculous and the character models are... interesting. And it's big.

My big counts were TotK, Triangle Strategy, and Trails to Azure. Pretty good year, but my backlog is Neverending. That's not a bad problem to have.

@awaltzforvenus I remember updating the MIDI player and the music absolutely blew me away - I could tell exactly which songs they were riffing on and it could get you pumped to wade through Hell's legions. It was a magical moment in gaming that I don't think I ever really recaptured.

And I remember the stern warning that those pirating the game would go directly to Hell 😅. I've purchased it no fewer than three times now so I'm probably safe.

As more and more money gathers in the C suites of major gaming companies, it almost seems like they want to be doing anything but making video games. It's almost like the other execs will mock them unless it's "but we've got a movie coming out, that's REAL media!" Or NFTs. Or the next not games thing.

I get it, they've got a big non union workforce of people who do require some pretty intensive skills. But that's another reckoning they should know is coming. It's hard to accept that your pay is weak compared to other industries and you've been laid off when you're hearing about record profits and an amazing year in the quality of gaming.

Bring back Altered Beast you cowards!!!

...kidding. It was a game that worked in its time but probably has past. Golden Axe may fit that bill tòo...

Tears of the Kingdom! Over 140 shrines and upgraded my armor to the point I'm nigh unkillable. I should probably finish up since im basically at the endgame and there isn't much new to see. It's been a great ride, and I loved beating challenges in ways the designers clearly didn't intend, but I don't need to get into finding every korok and such nonsense.

I'd be thrilled with Zelda, especially if they gave her completely different mechanics. Considering the new direction seems to be about the way you interact with the world, that seems like a really interesting prospect.

If it's just a gender swap, Link always seemed pretty neutral anyway, so Linkle seemed like a redundant concept.

Continued exploration in Tears of the Kingdom, plinking off individual shrines still hanging out there. Decided to pull the trigger on This Way Madness Lies, something about a short magical girl RPG based on Shakespeare feels ridiculous enough to give a chance, especially on sale.

@mudkipfan217 CrisTales is absolutely gorgeous and has a rather charming plot in a short run time (if you're used to 60+ hours from many games, it's almost refreshing). It's not flawless (load time performance drags) but I'm really excited to see more from that studio. I hope you enjoy it.

Getting through Tears of the Kingdom. Two temples down, ~120 shrines, and more caves than I can count. I am feeling a bit of fatigue and may just go ahead and finish it next week or so. Going back to school next semester so it may be a good idea to tie things up 😁

Also Mario Kart with the kids when not out touching some grass. Reviews of the last wave are middling but Wii Rainbow Road was one of my favorite tracks so I'm happy with it

As great as this looks, I may have hit the saturation point of what I can reasonably play in 2023, and my SNES Mini, which is an almost perfect collection of games of the era, already has it.

@The-Chosen-one it shows your shrines, light roots, and other such info on the loading screen when you fast travel

Probably keep the original for travel, I don't think I'll complete my Switch backlog before I die, so I can reserve some for that. I imagine some growth in the transition period too.

Playing Tears of the Kingdom this weekend. I'm about 100 shrines in and dealt with the regional phenomena in Hebra. Still having a blast, although very easily distracted.

Also started Octopath Traveler II while on business travel, turn based is usually easier for me undocked. Really enjoying that so far too.

And final Mario Kart 8 booster pass!!!

I had hope hearing about Embracer buying IPs/studios years ago with the expectation that games would be made again, naively forgetting that equity groups exist to strip things for any value that can be extracted and write the rest off. There was never any credible intent to produce anything.

Of course I could say a lot of corporate folks in the video game industry seem to want to be doing anything but be involved with games, so it's hard to say that there was much to gain otherwise.

@russell-marlow i would piledrive a shark if they announced a new Final Fight

Still playing Tears of the Kingdom and still haven't gotten to any of the Regional Phenomena. I went looking for an upgrade ingredient while starting one and got distracted and found a dozen shrines on the way (I'm up to 3 of noted plant ingredient). I might get back to the real quest two hearts and a stamina vessel up 😅

@LadyCharlie right? This isn't even a $70 game if you actually wanted the content released on day 1.

I mean if you're a physical only kinda person who only resisted Annapurna because they're mostly digital this is good, right?! There are a lot of fantastic games on this cart.

...which are usually on sale at a steep discount and don't take a lot of SD card space...

@Teksetter I feel you on the kid rut. Aside from Mariokart, it's been hard to keep them together when the weather isn't good enough to go out. My oldest came up with Boomerang Fu and an occasional other B Tier game that you can get on the cheap for quick plays, sometimes it helps to know what the kids are streaming 😀

Further on my Tears of the Kingdom exploration and having a grand time. I've done virtually nothing asked of me on the main quest aside from the Tears themselves (I don't know how to do the spoiler mask, hopefully that's innocuous) and somehow just came up with the Master Sword.

@fenlix it is kinda a win, but Kotick is without a doubt departing with a nine-figure sum and no real accountability for what happened on his watch (or directly by his own hand). We'll see if Microsoft guts their entire C-suite for cause, but I don't hold a lot of hope.

Some more Tears of the Kingdom, altho probably not a lot. I haven't put that much time into it but my wife claims she will be starting a Zelda Widows support group.

Also some Boomerang Fu with the kids. I hadn't heard of it before my daughter and her friends wanted to download it. It's a charming little party game..

A shout out to the person playing the SNES Addams Family. Fantastic little game forgotten from its time.

It took me a couple tries to get into it, but What Remains of Edith Finch is a fantastic story to experience, although there is no way you come away from it feeling great.

My son had an absolute blast with Donut County

I would think if Switch 2 Successor TBD is only recently being privately demoed to developers, we likely don't see any substantive third party support until at least the back half of 2025 unless it's just crossgen/backwards compatible. I agree the announcement of Switch support isn't anything we didn't already know, but it's good they're saying it.

Second week on the Tears of the Kingdom quest, realizing the game is worth every bit of hype it gets. I'm bouncing around from things over the next hill, in that next chasm, taking quests, and just getting lost in an ADHD kid's playground.

Side pitch, my daughter just got thru Harvestella, which got mixed reviews but if you're into farm Sims and ARPGs (which she very much is) it delivers on exactly what it says it is.

I (unwisely) favor RPGs, so I'm usually working a 60+ hour game. I do like to break up with short indies that end up in my backlog due to sales, like Gris, What Remains of Edith Finch, Inscryption, or something similar. It really breaks up the time commitments and keeps gaming from feeling like a job 😅

100% agree. You get to oversaturation and iyour hobby feels like a job just to make it thru, and you drop a game.

Altho I did just start it and am really enjoying it disconnected from everything. All I know about it is a large contingent of folks thirsting for Purah and/or Ganondorf and you can basically get anywhere without necessarily having the expected solution (a few examples I stumbled on before getting off Time Island). Makes it fun to just get lost without expectations or pacing.

It looked interesting, I pretty much expected a cross between He-Man and OG Gauntlet, which paired with Iron Maiden and Mountain Dew would effectively create my earliest fondest memories of the 80s as a wee lad.

The performance is a bummer and given cutbacks at the studio, I don't expect it will ever be good, so I guess I'll just have to accept that those days are very long gone. Saw Iron Maiden last year tho, they still got it 😁

Only 3 more games to get through before next Summer and then I can understand what the hell is going on in this one 😅

Planning to finally finish Chained Echoes this weekend.

Overall enjoyed the game, but the Sky Armor battles are wearing thin. It just seems like there are way fewer directions combat can take and it's become a slog, especially banging my head on spoiler and spoiler

LET ZELDA DRIVE YOU COWARDS.

Still super stoked.

You could say the same about the mafia 😉

Seriously though, I've done hiring in a technical field, and even if Japan is different, those numbers are absurd. These people, are employable elsewhere, so that speaks to a level of job satisfaction that is unheard of.

More than fine, my backlog is so filled with 40+ hour games that it's rare that I get to something on release day. I'm more than supportive of taking a few more months to make it right and let your developers get a little sleep. We'll still be here.

One of few games I'm not waiting for a sale for. I am the target audience and a sucker for everything they're selling. And I'm very happy with that.

I really dug him geeking out over the mechanics, there's something about you realizing there are ways you interact with the world that fundamentally change the "feel" of the game. I think it shows an understanding of game design and how you get introduced to those mechanics and how you build (reference SMB level 1-1 for perhaps the best example of in the industry). If you can do that, you can design the puzzles that interact with the world that don't pull you out of the story.

A second order of that would be Chrono Trigger cause and effect that's pretty much baked into the core concept of the game. Sea of Stars won't have to (and probably shouldnt) lean into the same mechanics, but can still use the same understanding to create something unique out of it.

Have I mentioned I'm super into the hype on this one??? 😁

I love DekuDeals as much as anyone here, but it takes a fair amount of curating to not be a flood of garbage games on perpetual sale.

Bringing back the Seal of Quality would help, even if not required to list a game. We could at least filter them out if someone didn't get Big N to vouch that it's a real game. You're always free to play a garbage game, but it shouldn't drown all the little and niche games made in good faith by indies.

Chained Echoes! A couple hours in and enjoying it a lot so far, waiting to get completely blindsided like every RPG when I finally figure out the systems and realize I've been doing it wrong the whole time.

Plus some Smash Ultimate and Mario Kart with the kids.

Late comment here because I rage quit due to frustration with the controls. To be very direct, the gameplay borders on awful at times. However this almost made me miss one of the most fantastic stories I've seen in a game.

It is dark, and you don't come away feeling good about a lot of the stories. But it's heartfelt and strange and in some cases, presented in a very unique and interesting way. There may be complaints for short runtime, but it will stay with you after the credits roll.

I loved the mood this game set and remember it fondly, but I have to agree the gameplay didn't age all that well. The cool down, charging, and leveling are tedious, especially after playing the Trials remake.

Also the music in that cave leading to the dwarf village really reminds me of Opeth's "Hours of Wealth." It's strange how some things can stick with you.

@CharlieGirl Serious Sam is a fantastic series that I don't think ever got the love it deserves. It's so fantastically nonsensical and over the top and its something the rest of the gaming world needed to take note of, especially in the early oughts.

Aside from Doom and Wolfenstein in the 90s I never really got much into FPS games, they frequently seem so joyless (as opposed to mowing down mutant nazis).

@Definitely-Not-Leon it can definitely be called out of hand when a sequel comes out for a game in your backlog that you've had since it came out.

It is really out of hand when the remake comes out 😅

Expecting to Triangle Strategy this weekend. Maybe onto Chained Echoes?

I also got Three Hopes on deep discount, so some stupid fun there too.