#it's just the toggle on my Ds

[wires-and-butt0ns]

Xigbar? You good?

[maladaptivedaydreamsx]

and he probably still burnt it....... again 😞

[daydreaming-scheming-demon]

i remember when i was still a part of the minor community i was playing the ds version of sonic colours and there was a part for the final boss where you needed to button mash. keep in mind that button mashing hasnt been a thing youve ever had to do in this game before this point, it just appears out of nowhere. and my tiny prepubescent fingers could not for the life of me button mash enough to win. so i had to ask my mum for help. and i remember how bad that felt.

i may not be disabled… or well… at least not disabled in any way that makes playing video games any harder for me. but i keep thinking back to this moment when the topic of accessibility options in video games comes up. it feels really fucking bad having to ask someone else to do one part of a game for you because you’re physically unable to do it, ESPECIALLY when that part of the game differs from the usual gameplay. and some people might not even have anyone they can ask. im happy it’s becoming more standard to include accessibility options in games. im seeing more and more modern games where button mashing segments can be toggled off so you just have to hold the button down. if only little me had that when i played sonic colours ds.

[aqueousablution]

Welp, I swallowed my pride and turned on save assist in ZX Advent¹ just long enough to get my first subtank and wouldn't ya know it, I'm enjoying the game a lot more now that I don't feel like I'm made out of wet paper!² I still really miss using Model ZX (and Zero, of course), which I've realized isn't just because of the melee attack but because it can switch freely between ranged and melee attacks (sorry Model H, I love the sabers but I needs me a buster). That being said, Ashe's Model A has been growing on me - her reflect laser charge attack is real nifty!

I was kinda surprised by how quickly you get your first two Mega Man copy transformations, and by how quickly after that you can get the other two (if you pick the right areas to go to once the game starts opening up more). On a related note, I do find it kinda annoying how two of the first three Pseudoroid copy transformations are super clunky to use outside of their specific purpose, and even Buckfire's a bit clunky (though he's at least good for mowing down certain midbosses). Hopefully the later ones are better, but I kinda suspect I'll end up doing what I did in MMZX and mostly just use the protagonist's biometal instead of the ones you unlock³, excluding when the game forces me to do otherwise (which ZXA seems more willing to do than ZX). Which honestly I think I'm fine with at this point, considering how Ashe's playstyle has grown on me.

--------

There's not really any shame in using it - it's basically just a toggle for the lives system - but I'd sworn to myself that I wouldn't use it because I wanted to play the games as I would have on the DS, since I own the original Zero Collection and the ZX games physically, I just never got around to beating ZX or playing ZXA. Ah well, at least I got through all of the Zero series and the first MMZX game without it. I didn't even end up needing it for the Ice Floe area, but it was nice to have as a safety net nonetheless.

... which admittedly tends to be the case for all the handheld Inti Mega Man games, not just this one.

3. ... Model ZX notwithstanding, of course. Once I fight Vent I might be hard pressed to go back to Model A, even if I do like Ashe's charge attack. There's a reason⁴ Zero 3 and 4 are in my top 3 favorite games of all time, and a reason I still like Zero 1 and am willing to put up with Zero 2 despite all their warts, and that's how fucking fun Zero is to control. And since Model ZX is basically just Zero (albeit with no EX-skills and the spinning air slash available from the start), my love for his playstyle extends to that, too.

4. Well, a few reasons, but Zero's playstyle is among the big ones.

[gentle-hero-blog]

Thoughts about Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (pt. 3/3)

Um. The Neutral?

the gunship was really exciting but did surprisingly little

When I first played MP3 I was CONVINCED we were going to fight a boss from inside the ship only to be kind of disappointed when it didn't happen. i feel like i've heard they were going to include a gunship battle and just ran out of time BUT idk where i heard this. dunno if it's true. anyway Gunship is my baby i love Gunship

the part where she just stares into the camera after throwing up blue goop is really funny to me

phazon barf cutscene is my favorite in the game. phazon barf cutscene changed my life. it's also really really funny how she gets up afterward and looks dead into the camera like "ok 👍 back to business"

it's also really funny how everyone just goes with the nickname "Dark Samus". like god how embarrassing. do you think samus just cringes every time

it almost brings me out of the story i will not lie*. it just feels so unprofessional like why not continue calling her Metroid Prime. but whatever i think it's funny

*ok upon further thought it is probably to help drive home the idea that samus is being corrupted/slowly turning into DS. like oh....it's only a matter of time.....

i kind of feel like the order of the final bosses should have been reversed?

the AU followed by DS would have felt more impactful i think. idk

beam stacking

aauuuhhmmmmm. my preference would have been the choice to toggle between beams like in MP1 + 2 but i do respect that the stacking makes the game more accessible. not a bad choice but i know many were disappointed

ok i didn't know where else to put this. um. listen. i love the grapple transfer

i REALLY REALLY wish it was a bigger deal in-game. the idea of having to use your life energy to bypass certain obstacles a) has a lot of puzzle potential, i.e. having to manage your resources while figuring out how to progress, and b) ties into one of the major character themes for samus in this game. WILLINGLY giving up your literal life energy in order to progress is kindof awesome and idkkkkkk it's a fun game mechanic that acts as symbolism for what samus is voluntarily doing to herself throughout this game. wish we got to use it more/in more drastic ways but i guess balancing the difficulty with the hypermode mechanic was an issue

[andthebubbles]

the voron D does it again!

i like it so much that i even put some stickers on it (also to differentiate between my... five voron Ds...)

after driving the voron grad earlier tonight though, i think that when it eventually has the best engine and a higher snorkel... it might give the voron D a run for its money. the 330L fuel tank is really nice. the voron D has 270L and it's a bit thirsty. then again, the voron grad's top engine might be really thirsty. (now i don't mind so much having to toggle the AWD and diff lock on/off, because since last playing this game, i've gotten myself a 4wd and now i know exactly what diff lock is and why the game complains when you leave it on when you're driving on bitumen 😂)

another thing i noticed with the voron D is that with the raised suspension it gets a bit bouncy. to fix this i just put it on low+. aaand the other thing i noticed is that... i keep turning too much with it, probably because the steering is very slightly delayed. so driving it is more finger-tappy, whereas the voron grad is more finger-mashing.

the voron D engine has plenty enough of power to get through those bog holes even while carrying a load, and i can get the best snorkel on it, so.

i suppose a better comparison will be done when i fully upgrade the voron grad. whenever the fuck that'll be. i'll have to venture into cosmodrome 😭

anyway i'm gonna look up how to get the zikz 605r (apparently there's a quicker way) and then i'm going to bed. orrrr i'm going to bed and watching the vid tomorrow. idk

i was gonna make simon/anthony gifs tonight 😭😂

[ntrlily]

I want to play some of the Fire Emblem games from before Awakening. Do you have any recommendations? (I know how to use emulation)

So my top two recommendations to start off with would be Sacred Stones (FE8) and Path of Radiance (FE9)

Path of Radiance is all around a solid game, some of the best writing in Fire Emblem, good map design, and fairly well-balanced. Its big two issues are being hard to emulate on a potato, and having super slow enemy phases. If you have a decent PC and don't mind sitting through long enemy phases (or have enough power to run it at double or triple speed when enemy phase hits) this one is a solid pick, and it's very approachable both for beginners and for fans used to newer games.

Sacred Stones is a much faster game, both in the sense of "how fast your computer can run it" and "how fast combat and turns go". It's GBA Emblem which has some of the most gorgeous animation in the series if you're the kind of person who toggles those on, and the writing is solid— not the most unique plot but it does a good execution of a fairly standard FE setup. It does have infinite grinding, which I recommend trying to not use since most older FEs lack this. Overall a very good game to break into FE generally, or classic FE specifically with.

Some I didn't include here and why:

FE7/Blazing Sword is also an approachable, fast-paced, and beautiful game. It also has the world's longest Fire Emblem tutorial (Lyn mode) unless you just start it in hard mode. FE8's tutorial is much shorter, less railroady, and if you don't want to play it, you don't have to go for hard mode, you can just select normal mode. However if you either feel up to a longer tutorial or up to playing hard mode, it would be a good pick to start as well! And if you don't feel either of those now, it's worth saving for when you feel like jumping into hard mode (or like doing the long tutorial XD)

FE4/Genealogy of the Holy War: It's hard for me to recommend since I haven't played it very far, but it is a beloved title among classic fans for a reason. The battle scale is unlike any other Fire Emblem, and works very well to establish the epic tale it's got going. Screwing up can be a bit more punishing here though since chapters are longer (although you *can* save mid-chapter, so if you have saved properly this isn't as much of an issue.) and the fan tl is kinda grating if you're very familiar with various European mythologies. It's another "very recommended, but maybe not as a first classic emblem!" title (and again, other people who have played it through can rec it better than me! This is partially from playing it myself, and partially from watching the girlthing play)

FE5 is a midquel and I haven't played it at all, and FE10 is a sequel to FE9.

DS Emblem is a mixed bag. It's lacking in QoL that GBA and Tellius Emblem have, it's not very pretty, and overall they're not the most impressive remakes. This isn't to say they're *bad*, they can still be pretty fun, but they're games to save for when you look at the Marth games and go "I wanna play Marth game remakes" That said, I do recommend them over the originals, so if you wanna play Marth games, play these.

Okay nobody would question why DS Emblem isn't there but I wanted to share my "Here is when you should consider trying them" thoughts since they're not discussed a lot >w<

[momentomori24]

zero escape fan here:

if you want to play it yourself, i recommend playing 999 first on an emulator and using the ds version. 999 has a remaster that is sold with vlr and cant be bought seperately, so i like to think of it as a sort of "test run", and then you can get vlr on steam or whatever.

additionally, in the remaster they screw with the writing a bit? like, they change it from 2 screens at once to 2 screens you have to toggle. a LOT of letsplayers play on adventure mode, which ONLY has them talking and none of the important details present, so they have to make characters point out the obvious and it just sorta ruins the flow. if they play novel mode [which has both dialouge and the narration], it comes off as just constantly repeating itself. the worst part is that youll most likely have to look for playthroughs that are almost a decade old if you want to watch the original ds version as a playthrough— so i think its best to play that one yourself.

vlr and ztd dont have these issues, however, so feel free to watch those as playthroughs :) im new to your blog, so i dont know where you stand on the "ill only buy a game if i REALLY wanna play it and ill usually just watch a playthrough" to "if im interested in a game, ill buy it myself and play it and use letsplayers for recommendations" scale, but it seems like youre on the "only buy if necessary" end from what ive seen so far. im just trying to give advice :)

[and if youre iffy about emulating or dont want to "pirate" a game, nintendo has stopped production of this game and the consoles it plays on, so this is the only way to play this game unless you want to shell out at least 800 bucks for a new ds/3ds and a legit cartridge. the remaster takes 999 from what id call a masterpiece to just a good game, and ive played through both versions of the game 100% and the remaster got me LAUGHING in serious situations just because of the writing. the ds version is definitely the way to go for a first playthrough, at least in my opinion.]

anyways, from one zero escape fan to hopefully another one in the future, i hope you enjoy! play/watch a letsplay however you want, this is just one stranger's suggestion. having fun is the important part, and if you want any clarification tell me and ill send in another ask 👍

Thanks very much for the advice! And yeah, you've absolutely hit the nail on the head with the ''only buy if necessary'' XD I don't exactly come from a place with the income buy video games or the consoles needed to play them myself so easily, so Let's Plays it is! Which isn't too bad since I really like reacting to the game along with others, so I guess there's a silver lining there. Although I did hear about some issues with 999. Something about being sorta lost in translation too? NicoB's videos are exactly a decade old and the original ds version if memory serves, so I should be in clear with most of these issues. Good to know that the other two games are free to watch without difficulty at least.

I'm currently at the point where Akane and Junpei are investigating door 4 (with Lotus and Santa) and it's definitely super engaging at the moment. The investigation style really reminds me of DRA2 chapter 4's one, which was my absolute favourite investigation in the entire series (along with V3 chapter 4), so I'm super excited to see more of it! I love how the characters bounce off each other so well. I LIVE for Snake's snark and Akane's nerdiness, they're so lovely. And Nico's commentary during the more serious situations had me CACKLING so bad, especially how dirty he does the 9th dude every time it's amazing.

Stranger's suggestion or not, I very much appreciate the sentiment! I definitely feel like this will be a game I'll be stuck with for a while, but if it's already this fun now I think I'll be happy to stay ^-^ I'll be sure to keep this in mind! From one potential Zero Escape Fan to an already one, thanks and take care 👍

[crystalelemental]

I have finished all of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. That was pretty fun! Honest to god my initial reaction is to replay some of them immediately but I should probably put some distance on that. No promises. The last time I played most of these was...the GBA/DS remakes. So a while ago. Thoughts on each below.

Final Fantasy 1 Easily my favorite iteration of the game. I'm going to be honest with you, FF1 doesn't have a ton in its favor, but the game is simplified enough that, with the new mechanics, I can turn off all encounters, hit 4x EXP, just do boss fights, trapped chests, and forced encounters, and be done with the game in like 3 hours. If I'm ever just craving a quick thing, this is as quick as it gets, with none of the frustration.

Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, this is a common theme so to avoid repeating myself I'll say it once here: random encounters suck. It's why FF12 has been my favorite since it came out; I can just see where enemies are and explore how I wish, without getting bombarded by bullshit and back attacks and whatever else is going on. Turning those off as needed is divine. The tradeoff is that for some games, you then lose sense of progression and what level you are "supposed" to be at for what you're doing, and in those situations the 4x EXP is nice for quick grinding to catch you up. I will admit, however, that this can completely break the flow of the game, so I did try to keep encounters on at all times for most games, but I am more than satisfied going "fuck I'm lost again" and just turning off encounters for a minute while I get my bearings. This game just doesn't broadly appeal beyond its quick nature, so I'm more than satisfied just doing the boss run.

Final Fantasy 2 To avoid talking about the random chance level ups, I'm instead going to talk about two other things that make this my least favorite in the set: dungeon layout, and why you can't let me have things.

Dungeon layout is the fair criticism. Dungeons are overly complex and a pain in my ass to navigate. This is another I eventually broke and just turned off encounters while exploring, just because it was too many of them. Get the fuck out of my face, man, I'm trying to backtrack seven different staircases. Also the rooms. Almost all of them are empty, but you gotta check in case there's treasure, but if it is empty enjoy higher encounter rates for no real reason other than punishing your curiosity, you fool. It's just an overall frustrating experience with the randomness of stat boosts, and the pitifully slow grind of leveling spells.

The other is my own fault. Yeah, if there's one thing I remembered about this game from the Dawn of Souls era, it was the post-game heaven dungeon where you start as Minwu, and really want to be prepared. Early Mysidia felt like a must, and I decided fuck it, I remember how to do this, and prepared myself accordingly. Long story short, don't do this. You'll set yourself up for a position of being wildly overpowered the entire game, especially if you're an idiot, break after directions were given, forget where you're going and wind up going north to another high level area that gets you even more powerful, and now the whole thing is shot to shit. I like sequence breaking games, but I feel like this one is way more severe with any understanding of what you can get away with. And I will always optimize the fun out of my experience. Never let me do things.

Final Fantasy 3 This was my favorite experience. I played damn near the entire game without even touching the toggle for encounters. FF3 is a ton of fun. I enjoy getting to mess with customization options like the classes, and the lack of JP (ABP, whatever) makes it a lot more fluid. Sure, there's job level, but job level amounts to nothing. It's minor increases for the longer you work as that class, and it's nice but insubstantial. Which means it's fluid and engaging, because I can fun around and never find out anything too bad. Which is what I want; free flowing experimentation. I understand the original had some kind of penalty for job switching too often? Glad they got rid of that garbage.

If there's any strikes against it, it's class balance and the final dungeon. Crystal Tower into World of Darkness is like a 2+ hour affair, without save points, and Autosave doesn't carry over if you turn the game off. Do not do as I did and go in like an hour and a half before your usual winding down before bed time. You will not make it. Class balance is a bit of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, compared to 5, 3's classes tend to overlap a lot. The Earth Crystal is literally nothing but pure upgrades on early classes. Black/White Mage become Wizards gaining better offensive stats and more spell slots for higher tier spells, while Summoner is just Evoker with competence. Knight is just Fighter but better. Black Belt is just Monk but better. As a result, it distills into only a handful of meaningful distinctions anyway, with a couple offshoot classes that...suck. They suck. Ranger has no good weapons for late-game, Geomancer is a great mage alternative until endgame when everything's single-target, I have no idea what the point of Scholar is but I don't agree with it. I don't consider this a truly hideous detriment, but it lacks the same level of shenanigans 5 gets up to.

Final Fantasy 4 Fun fact: before 12 came out, this was my favorite, because I found it easy enough to be engaging, including the GBA superdungeon which was the only one I could beat, and Rydia was my baby child favorite. That last part is still true. The thing I didn't seem to remember is how...weird the story actually was. Like it's not particularly great. I don't think it's terrible, but it's not great. Mostly Kain's whole deal irritates me now.

But it is still fun! I think it's a much different experience. The moon still took forever to explore, but thanks to save points actually existing, you can break between things. Boss fights feel appropriately more difficult than most random encounters, with a decent number of gimmick bosses that require a bit more know-how to handle, and a few dungeons you can do out of sequence in the underground if you're ambitious. I think it's a very simple game to understand, with a pretty clear-cut approach to success. That said, there's like no customization. Characters are as they are, there's really nothing to consider aside from level. And your party is set, so there's no variation on what you can do.

Final Fantasy 5 5 was another really fun experience, though I cushion that with a major caveat. 5 was fun because of the toggle for 4x ABP, which made leveling jobs to find out what they did actually tolerable. Without this, job levels are unbearably hard to level up, with no indication of what you actually learn per level, that you may as well be shooting in the dark.

See, the fun of 5 is that you have your class, and you have one extra ability slot, taken from other class skills unlocked by leveling them up. For magic classes, that's "Magic Type Lv X," up to 6, where you can cast everything in that category. For physical classes, this is usually some form of "Equip my weapon type," alongside generalist skills. Some are better than others, and some are action commands that are much, much stronger, and are the basis for making really strong outcomes.

This is why I don't love the system as much as 3. To find out what you even have access to, you're made to slog through the physical classes to find out what other skills they're offering. Which takes somewhere around literally forever. Bosses will hand you like 5BP, for classes that need like 700 to max. If you don't know in advance where the good stuff is, there's a chance you've walked into options you don't need.

Granted, 5 is lax enough broadly that you can still make use of classes. Unlike 3's direct upgrades over time, 5 gives you almost all classes early, and all of them have interesting options for utility. So you can make use of anything. I think for my completionist ass, I'm looking at Omega and Shinryu and going fuck dude, how are you supposed to beat that without foreknowledge of some of the skills available? Wildly over-leveling? In a game with fairly poor EXP yields where I think I ended at around level 40? Not happening. Otherwise, the class imbalance isn't too bad, and is in some cases hysterical. You know there's a setting to toggle 4x gil received? Zeninagi on Samurai was already an instant-kill button half the time, and now you've made it a free action. Meanwhile summon magic late game feels kinda garbage. Flare and Holy outdamaged Bahamut no problem. It is really funny to see this reversal from 4. From Rydia's summons being bad all game because they're just overpriced spells on your Black Mage but endgame Bahamut being defining, to excellent low-cost AoE spells with good damage early and mid-game into kinda useless by endgame. It's just funny to see systems like these change over time, and how they try to adjust for balance.

I do think this was a surprisingly strong story and cast, too. I only remembered it being kinda goofy compared to the others as a kid, but having re-visited, I think it's a lot more earnest and impactful than I gave it credit for.

Final Fantasy 6 I'll be honest, it's very good, but depending on my mood, I'd say I like 3 and 5 better. I like being able to customize, and I think I actually like FF5's cast and story better than 6.

6 succeeds on being competent at everything, even if it's not the strongest in everything. Its story is well told and it sticks to its general themes of love and loss, and finding meaning in a bleak world. But I also think 5 did the "Defeat Nihilism through the Power of Connection" thing with a more diverse cast and emphasis on friendships and general human spirit, while 6 seems to focus more on romance and family in a way that makes a lot of character histories sound very same-y, in that a big chunk is "and then they died." There's a bit of customization, as far as selecting which members to bring along and how you distribute magicite for learning magic, but nowhere near the level of complexity you can find in 5. I'd also say the AP system in 6 is wildly slow, but at least there it's more concentrated to "just learn the spells you need" and you actually know exactly what you're signing up for. Though I personally don't care for making decisions between good spells or good stats early on, my min-maxing ass is bad with these kinds of things. I know it's a problem.

I do think it has an inverse problem to 5, where the random encounters feel devastating in several locations, but only one boss ever gave me any difficulty, and it was because I was suffering from success (It was the tunnel digger in Locke's route early game; turns out if you have the Hermes Sandals on him or Celes the Runic timing gets thrown off and it cooks you, but without that it's super easily won; my bad but for stupid reasons, I feel). Almost every game over was due to back attacks, which are damn near constant in this game. Some areas I counted and literally had more sneak attacks on me than regular encounters. Meanwhile, bosses go down like sacks of shit, because magic is hysterically overpowered. Yeah yeah, Kefka's god now or whatever, but can he survive Relm Dualcasting Flare for max damage twice per round? No, he's just going to eat shit from this level 40 ten-year-old? Radical. This may be personal preference, but if FF1's blurb wasn't an indication, I much prefer "easy encounters, difficult bosses." Ideally, no encounters. Just ping-pong me from boss to boss. I feel like I could actually do that in 6 if it wasn't for AP needed to learn spells.

Future Plans I'm thinking of getting 7 and 9 if they ever go on sale again. I really don't want to play 8. I remember playing 8, my wife had commented on it being a formative game for her so I played it long, long ago before we were even dating, but it was so bad I can't do it again. 10 I'm on the fence about, because I do like the gameplay for 10, but we tried watching a playthrough of 10 and she couldn't stand it so maybe not. My laptop is dying, and so is my wife's, so we've tossed around finally getting a proper PC that can like...play games and shit. So who knows, maybe I'll finally play past 12 in this series. Miracles do happen.

[game-boy-pocket]

The next issue of Nintendo Power was not an ordinary issue, it was a Player's Guide for Super Mario Bros 3... however, I actually played SMB3 very recently, in fact, I bought a physical copy from a thrift store because it had my name on it, before I even got my NES.

So instead of playing vanilla SMB3, I played Super Mario Bros 3+, by Infidelity, who's shaping up to be one of the most impressive rom hackers.

If you don't know, SMB3+ is a massive overhaul of SMB3. The levels are all exaclty the same. But there are QOL hacks all around. A save feature for starters. Then you have the ability to choose from four characters, Mario, who plays as usual, Luigi, who jumps high but has low traction, Toad, who can throw a kick when he's big, and Princess Toadstool who is able to hover just like in SMB2. The game also remembers what power up each character has. If you used a hammer bros suit, but don't want to risk losing it on the next level, swap that character out! Some power ups even have new abilities, like the Hammer Bros Suit having an attack like the blue shell from New Super Mario Bros. DS Then, you have the wall jump and ground pound from later games. Infidelity gave you the option to toggle ground pound off, as it's easy to activate by accident, though it's also easy to cancel in the air, like in later games... you can also activate wall jumps by accident, but no option to turn that off. Oh, and you can toss Shells upward, like Super Mario World, though I never really found a use for that.

This also has a new intro cut scene using text from the Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3 cartoon show, and a new ending alluding to Super Mario World, the story is slightly re-written so that the Princess is not kidnapped after world 7, and it's more of Bowser challenging Mario and co. to come to him after his Koopalings were all beaten.

This is without a doubt the definitive way to play Super Mario Bros 3...... if you're emulating.

Unfortunately... there was a lot of slowdown when I played, and it even crashed my game twice. And I am pretty sure this is because I played on a real NES using the N8 pro. So I an easily reccommend this to anyone who loves the game and wants to play it as other characters with a few QOL improvements that don't break the spirit of the game... but for me, I'll probably stick to regular SMB3 unless infidelity optimizes it for real hardware.

[transgirl-gaming-thoughts]

My Thoughts On: Apollo Justice, Ace Attorney

Hey folks! The Ace Attorney franchise is one of my favorite game series, if not my favorite of all time! I've been playing through the latter half of the series post-Trilogy lately, and just finished Apollo Justice and wanted to write some thoughts on it!

No worries, this will stay spoiler-free for the plot!

As the title suggests, the protagonist of this game is Apollo Justice, a rookie defense attorney fresh off the bar. Apollo has to learn what it means to truly defend someone, and along the way he gets tangled up in the woes of another ace defense attorney, and a troupe of stage magicians.

Again, keeping the plot a secret here, this game is incredible! Obviously there's no Psyche Locks in the game's main investigations, as Phoenix isn't there to throw his magatama at everything that seems suspicious. Instead, Apollo discovers a new ability in court that allows him to perceive the body language of a witness and tell when they're lying on the stand! It's a very original concept for the series, but like most of Apollo Justice, I'd say it's interesting and original, but not as good as the Trilogy. In the Ace Attorney Trilogy, Wright's magatama gives a more engaging gameplay aspect to the investigation chapters and helps really tie together the game's theme of evidence and contradictions. While Apollo's perception ability is interesting, they added it to the part of the game that is already the most interesting. I think it might have played out better if the perceive ability fully replaced the Psyche Locks in the investigations so that Apollo had a neat engaging gameplay mechanic when he's out of court.

That aside, the cases are very well-written, as always with these games! Particularly the final case has twists that are just so far and above the kind of twists thrown out in the Trilogy, and while I still think the Trilogy were better games overall, Apollo Justice has a lot of value in this sense! The ending left me absolutely breathless, and I was grasping at every little detail shared in the credits sequence!

This game was originally made for the DS, but I played the remake for the 3DS and it was great! It works pretty much like the Ace Attorney Trilogy remakes, and was also released internationally via the 3DS eShop. However, because the game has an English/Japanese toggle on the main menu like the Trilogy does, you can also buy the physical retail version from Japan and still play in English! (The 3DS is regionlocked, but is easy to homebrew to unlock or there's lots of Japanese consoles around.)

Overall, you can't go wrong with an Ace Attorney game, and Apollo Justice keeps that trend going! I can't wait to see what they did with AA 5 & 6, but I don't think they can ever top the nostalgia and impact of the original three Phoenix Wright games.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to ask questions and suggest new post ideas in my ask box! Stay safe, stay hydrated, and God bless! Happy gaming to ya!

~ Alex

[app-oh-sigh-oh-pieces]

there is no perfect version of 999

I originally played 999 as part of the Nonary Games edition on Steam. I really enjoyed it, but I found the Adventure / Novel distinction annoying. In Adventure mode, you can see the art better and almost all text is voiced, but you're going to miss a lot of context. In Novel mode, you get more context, but you're going to be sitting there reading in silence a long while.

The port of VLR handled this better by deciding how the game would display for every line of dialogue in advance.

I tried to watch a playthrough a voice actor did, hoping the narration would help the experience, but they turned on Adventure mode immediately and their cohost kept stumbling on puzzles in a way that was painful to watch. But in the comments I saw someone say that the DS version handles this split better, with one screen being Adventure and the other being Novel.

And checking out the DS version, it is a lot more straightforward to follow in that aspect! No worrying that I'm missing something important, no text covering up the picture, no... voice acting, no... checkpoints, no... auto-advance...

Okay, seems like there are some tradeoffs.

My ideal version of 999 would have:

High-def text for ease of reading

Flowchart unlocked only after you've reached an ending—it would show branch points off of what you've currently seen, but not where that branch point goes until you've gotten there

Auto-advance toggle (holding down a button does not count, that's physical work)

Adventure and Novel either displayed simultaneously or swapped intelligently

FULL voice acting. Narrator too.

The narrator being voiced is important to me because this game has a lot of wordy exposition and frankly, if I wanted to read a novel, I would prefer to read a novel—the ink and paper type. I found it legitimately difficult to stay engaged for the long stretches of time between escape rooms, even though I cared about the plot, because my options were to click a button every time I finished reading a line (oof ouch my hand) or to hope that I processed the text in the time it was on the screen.

But wait, isn't there a good reason in-game that the narrator isn't voiced?

Yes, there is. And I know that reason. But I think I have a solution.

Major spoilers under the cut for the true endings of Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors and Virtue's Last Reward.

The reason the narrator in 999 isn't voiced is because the voice itself would be a spoiler for a major twist. The game is narrated by the child version of Akane Kurashiki, and even if a player didn't work out that it was the same voice actress, it would still be deeply odd, not knowing the twist, that it was being narrated by any child.

But my solution bypasses that entirely: Recast old Akane from VLR with an actual older woman using a naturalistic voice, and use the new actress for both 999's narration and old Akane's VLR dialogue.

Why old Akane? Well, time is already screwy, so why would an older version of her be any stranger than a younger one? An older person sounds like a suitable narrator in a way that a child doesn't, and it would be easy for players to assume the devs just wanted someone who wouldn't be mistaken for a member of the cast—Lotus, the oldest woman, is in her 30s-40s.

Why recast? Because a narrator needs to sound like they aren't putting on a voice, and no shade to Cindy Robinson, this wasn't the direction she was given, but I can tell she doesn't naturally sound like an old lady. And you'd want to give people the closure of hearing the same voice in the next game to cement that it really was Akane.

But what about the reveal? Excellent question. When the reveal happens, the voice acting switches to child Akane and continues for the rest of the game. In my dream version, upon clearing the game you'd unlock spoiler narration and could replay with child Akane the whole time.

A similar thing in reverse could be used to voice Sigma in VLR, though you'd only need to swap his dialogue voice and not his narration (because he still is mentally a young man).

[pokilicious]

I finished the game!! My team completely destroyed the Elite Four and Iris, I'm so proud of my little guys 🥹 Here are they btw, did you like the nicknames?

Also, on how I got Argenti the Escavalier, I had to cheat unfortunately, I'm using an emulator since I lost my DS last year and it had some built-in cheats that I could toggle, I used an encounter one that basically summoned the pokemon I wanted at level 1, that's how I got them. I tried to see if there was another way to get them but to no avail. There was this ROM that basically made trade evolution Pokemon evolve through leveling up, but I wasn't playing that one so cheating it was, I don't really like to cheat but since it just summoned the pokemon at a very low level I figured why not. I'm debating if I'm going to play the post game since I never did that before.

I'm playing Pokemon Black 2 again and this time I'm doing a Bug monotype and boy did I discover some shit:

1) There's less bugs in Unova than I imagined, there's enough of them to make a team, sure, but I wish there was more

2) I've never bought/used so many potions and itens in a playthrough before, they hit hard but are made of paper, I'm single-handedly financially supporting the Driftveil market with the amount of Moomoo Milk and Revival Herbs I buy

3) The best way to farm most of the things I need is give Exp. Share to a pokemon, Amulet coin to the first one and continually challenge the pokebreeders, now my pokemon can be over level and I can be rich

4) I hate the train station with a burning passion, I tried to collect 18 BP to buy the Hidden Power TM and give it to my Heracross, since I needed a Ice-type attack against Drayden, BUT IT TAKES SO LONG AND IT GIVES SO LITTLE BP!! 7 wagons in the double battle train gives you only 3 BP :,) So I just brute forced with my Volcarona and surprisingly won. Also during one run, three of my pokemon fainted and I got soft locked because apparently I can't use only one pokemon in a double battle, even though there was only one enemy in the field, so I had to restart the game and lose a 12 streak :,) So yeah, I hate Battle Train

5) No one likes evolutions through trading, right? What do you mean I can't get a Escavalier just because I don't know anyone that plays this game??

6) I was not familiar with Galvantula's game, to be honest I thought it was going to be a mid pokemon, but that thing is so strong?? Hit-KO is their middle name

7) ALWAYS BE OVER LEVEL ALWAYS BE OVER LEVEL ALWAYS BE OVER LEV-

I'll probably edit or repost this if I find more interesting stuff, right now I just destroyed the Water Gym with my Galvantula and Leavanny and I'm going to farm instead of progressing the story :D

[zosonils]

ouwuhrhhgh man i somehow only just saw the sonic colours ultimate comparison video and it looks SO GOOD

[bteezxyewriter12]

Chain and Sweat

Pairing- Namjoon x Named Reader

Includes- sex, riding, missionary oral, pussy eating, cum eating, multiple orgasms, light bdsm, SWEATY NAMJOON!!!!, COLLAR AND NECK CHAIN NAMJOON!!!!

Masterlists- check out for more fics

📝Masterlists 📝 BTS Masterlist

📝 Namjoon Masterlist

J POV

Namjoon smiles at the camera and poses, moving his hand, winking, making little movements every few clicks of the camera

I take him in and god my boyfriend is so fucking hot. I just want to take him and fuck his brains out all the time. But he's been very busy and he's exhausted every night. Like today, he has this photo shoot, then a performance after

So I take care of him, make sure he eats, give him massages and put him to bed. Then when I'm ready to sleep, I cuddle him. He loves cuddles. He's a huge baby but he thinks he's tiny with the way he holds on to me and lays on top of me. Sometimes he crushes me and I have to wake him up to get him in a more comfortable position. I love him more than anything and I'll always take care of my sexy dork

His hair is dark brown now, styled off his forehead. God I love forehead hairstyles on him. White button up, black pants, black suit jacket with safety pins on it, black choker around his pretty neck

But the thing that is making me all hot and bothered is the fucking chain around his neck

Silver and chunky, fastened by a toggle that goes in a hole. And a long chain hanging down to his chest. Good for pulling. I just imagining riding him and pulling that fucking chain, hearing his low moans and growls. Fuck me I'm horny

"Babe?" I snap out of my horny thoughts and focus on Namjoon. "You ok baby?", he asks

I nod. What's happening? Why is he standing here? Shouldn't he be posing? I look to the set but the camera men aren't there

"Where is everyone?"

"Oh. We're done over babe. We're gonna wait in the dressing room until we have to go to the venue. There's food and you know they want to eat"

I nod. The guys love food. They're all huge pigs. "Ok"

"Yeah. C'mon. You can wait with me. No cameras are there"

I nod, take his hand, letting him lead me to the room. He still hasn't announced our relationship yet. Three years of hiding but I'm used to it. I know how it can affect his career, so I don't say anything

Sometimes it sucks. We can't go on dates unless he's wearing the whole get up of sun glasses, mask and hat. And that looks stupid inside a restaurant or theater. But I love him so I suck it up

He opens the door and all the guys are there already

"Hey Jo", Yoongi greets

"Jo! What's up?", Hobi asks

"Nothing much"

Jungkook is playing a Nintendo DS and he just lifts his hand in a wave. Jimin and Tae are absorbed in their phones, muttering a "hey". And Jin is eating. As usual

Namjoon pulls me to the couch that is occupied by Tae and Jimin, with one seat left. He sits down, then pulls my arm, getting me in his lap

"Baby", he whispers, hugging me tightly

He's cranky. It was hard getting him up this morning . He hides it well in front of people. When he has to be the leader. But alone or when it's just all of us, he becomes a cute needy whiny baby

"Tired Joonie?", I ask softly. He nods. "I'm sorry baby. Maybe you can take a short nap before the performance?"

"Want you", he murmurs

I giggle, "I'm right here cranky baby. Just lay your head back ok"

He whines and it's cute. I kiss his cheek, then push his head back against the soft back cushion. Moving my fingers in his hair, I play with the strands, telling him to close his eyes. He fights it but as soon as I kiss his lips softly, his eyes close. I continue to run my fingers in his hair, putting him to sleep

"Wow you're like the Namjoon whisperer", Hobi laughs

I shrug, "I know how to make him relax and put the big baby to sleep"

"You got the big baby thing right. He's annoying when he's cranky and you're not there", Jin informs me

"Yeah I know. He just wants cuddles and you guys aren't going to cuddle him", Iaugh

"Ha no", Yoongi shakes his head

I roll my eyes and just watch Namjoon sleep. He is fucking gorgeous. He gets down sometimes when assholes still call him ugly or untalented. It's not true and I make sure he knows it. How anyone can say he's ugly is an idiot.

Must suck to be blind

I can stare at this man for hours. I love his beauty marks all over his face. He loves when I kiss them and his dimples. He's just my everything and I'll do anything for him

--------------------------------------------------

Watching Namjoon through the monitor back stage, I affirm that my boyfriend is hot. I love watching him perform. So many people talk about how he can't dance but he can. Sure he's not the main dancer but he's good

And so fucking sexy

He's working up a sweat and it's turning me on. He always sweats through his clothes during performances. Yet he doesn't smell bad. He just smells like Joonie

The performance ends and I wait til he comes off the stage. He smiles as soon as he sees me, coming over

I just stare at the sweat that's dripping off him, the silver collar shining against his wet skin. And my panties get flooded. Fuck

"Baby? Was the performance good?"

"Huh?", I ask, looking up at him, "Oh yeah. Amazing as always"

He raises his eyebrow, "Jo what's wrong? You were out of it before and now. Are you ok?"

I just answer him honestly, "No"

Alarm fills his eyes, "What baby? What happened?"

I can't fucking take it. I grab the chain and pull him to me, crashing my lips against his, my tongue in his mouth in a second. He kisses me back although I know he's confused

Pulling away, I look into his confused eyes, "Need you. Now."

His eyebrows raise, "Now?"

"Right now", I affirm

"But I'm sweaty-"

"Don't care. It's hot. Want you now"

He smirks, "Ok baby. You can have me"

"Good. Let's go"

I pull on the chain, then let go and he follows me. After a few minutes of looking around, I find an empty dressing room. Grabbing the chain again, I drag him inside and lock the door

Leading him to the couch, I push him down and he sits. Then I climb in his lap and attach my mouth to his. He responds right away kissing me back desperately. My hands moved to his jacket, pushing it off his body, then start undoing his button up shirt

Pulling away from his lips, I get the shirt off him, then slide my hand in his hair at the back of his head, pulling his head back. I press kisses to each of the adorable beauty marks on his face- the ones on his cheeks, the side of his eye, his nose, by his hair line and under his lips

Then I move down, my lips landing on his neck, kissing the spot he loves. He moans and fuck it makes me more wet

I move back for a second, then run my tongue along his neck, tasting his sweat. It fucking tastes so good

"Fuck baby, do that again", he whines. Smirking, I lick up his neck again and then a third time. "Fuck", he wheezes, his hands pulling my shirt up, throwing it in the room, then unhooking my bra

It too joins our other clothes on the ground. I get up pulling at his belt and pants. Getting it open, he lifts himself up so I can pull everything down. He kicks his shoes off then gets his clothes off. His grabs my jeans, almost ripping it open, pulling them down

He gets me to lay on the couch, turing to me and lifting my legs up, taking my shoes off, throwing them across the room, getting my jeans completely off

He looks at my panties groaning, "Why do you wear this when you know I'm just going to rip it off you?", he growls, his hand tugging and tearing the lace panties off my body. He opens my legs, touching me, making me shiver

"So pretty baby. So fucking wet. All this is mine?"

I nod, letting out a whine. I'm so horny and I want him right now. He moves his head, his tongue against my pussy, licking up slowly

"Oh god", I moan, pleasure finally hitting me

"Fuck baby just got more wet. Like my tongue baby?", he asks licking again

"Yes Joonie"

"Aww baby. I haven't fucked you or ate you out in awhile. My princess hasn't cum in a long time", he says, the tip of his tongue running between my lips and flicking my clit

"Fuck", I yell, trembling

"You've been such a good girl, taking care of me, cooking for me, cuddling me, making me feel better every night."

His tongue moves agonizingly slow up and down. I can feel all of his tongue, feel when he presses it against me

"I'm gonna take care of my baby ok? Make you cum over and over, in my mouth and on my cock. Make you squirt and soak me". I moan loudly, wanting that right now.

"Then after the show's over, I'm gonna take you home and fuck you good and hard until your sore and you won't be able to walk tomorrow"

"Yes Joonie"

"Good girl. Now. Let me hear you scream"

He buries his tongue in my pussy, tongue swirling around so fast and I scream in pleasure, "Namjoon! Oh god baby yes"

Burying my hands in his soaking wet hair, I pull hard. His tongue is fucking amazing. His lips wrap around my clit and he sucks on me nice and fast, pleasure making my brain short circuit

I'm gonna cum. I've been so sexually deprived that I'm ready so fast. His tongue plays with my clit when he sucks and I'm done

"Fuck!", I cry, exploding pleasure hitting me so hard

"Mmmm fuck. So goddamn good baby", he moans. He doesn't stop, his tongue sliding inside me, licking

"Oh fuck!"

"Yea princess. My baby tastes so fucking good. I need more. God I missed your cum"

I hear him but it's so hard to process what he's saying. He fucks his tongue inside me, sliding in and out over and over, my pussy clenches his tongue involuntarily. I want to keep his tongue inside. It feels so good. He keeps eating me hard and I'm ready again

"Namjoon!", I cry, stars bursting in my vision as I cum hard around his tongue. He moans so loudly, licking furiously. When I finish, he kisses my pussy, then lifts his head, smirking, my cum and juice all over his face

"Tastes amazing baby"

Jesus Christ, he's so fucking hot. Taking my hands, he pulls me up, putting me on his lap, his lips against my neck

"Ride me baby", he whispers

I lift myself up as he holds up his cock. Positioning myself, I sink down on his massive cock, feeling him open my cunt wide. I grab the chain, pulling hard as I force myself down his length, bottoming him out

"Yes baby, fuck. You take my cock so well, every time"

I nod. I fucking do. He's big for me, but I stretch around him, forcing him in because I want him so much. His huge cock, fills me perfectly, touching all the right places, his head against my spot. I love him inside

"Bounce baby girl"

I start off slow, bouncing lightly, only taking half his cock in until I get used to him. His head presses hard inside, making me drip around him

"Yes good girl"

I pull on the chain and he comes forward, his mouth against my chest where he automatically kisses and bites my skin. God I love this fucking chain

I take in more of his cock as I keep moving. I move my hand into his hair, playing with the wet strands. His hands reaches up, holding my breasts, squeezing, his thumbs flicking my nipples

"Oh f...", I whimper, drenching his cock more

I start to bounce faster, taking his whole cock now, my spot smashing against his head. His arm moves behind my back as he tilts me back, supporting me. He lifts my breast up, his pretty lips wrapping around my nipple. I wait for the pleasure, then scream when he starts sucking

I move my fingers to the part of the chain around his neck, hooking them around it and pulling, keeping him on my nipple. He fucks his cock up into me, meeting my bounces, pure pleasure smacking my body. I can't...it's too much

"NAMJOON!", I scream, coming, my body shaking uncontrollably. I feel his cock continue to smash against me, fucking me through my orgasm

"That's it princess. My good girl", he murmurs, "Again baby girl"

My bounces stop but he keeps jackhammering his cock into me, his mouth around my other nipple. My fingers are still wrapped around the chain, holding him on me, the other hand gripping the loose part of the chain

His hand moves down my body, squeezing hard until her gets to my clit.Then he puts his fingers on me, rubbing in a circular motion. Ecstacy takes over and I can't think, just feel

"Come on baby girl. Cum for me. God I want it so bad". And I want to give it to him. "Please baby. Gimme your cum"

I shout wordlessly, bliss taking over and I explode on his cock, squirting all over

"There we go. Yeah baby, good girl. Wetting me so much. I love it"

I feel myself being moved onto the couch but I can't comprehend anything. His cock slides back in and once again pleasure fills me as he fucks into me

I pull the chain, wanting to feel his sweaty body on me. He moves forward a little, but I tug hard and he comes where I want him to. Wrapping my arms and legs around him, I hold him, feeling his sweat on me and completely loving it

I move my fingers slowly up and down his back, feeling his muscles tense and move as his hips hit mine, burying his cock inside over and over. God I love feeling him move inside me. He belongs inside me, I belong with him

"My baby feels so good", he murmurs against my neck, "So tight for me, such a good girl. I love you so much"

"I love you Joonie", I whimper

"Please baby, cum one more time for me. I need it baby"

"Joonie", I whimper, my fingers going between his neck and the chain, gripping it hard again

"Yes baby girl", he moans. He slams my spot three times and I scream, my orgasm so fucking intense

"Baby fuck yes JOANNE", he yells, shaking on me, his warm cum filling me up

I love feeling him cum in me and I absolutely love feeling it leak onto my thighs. I feel him pull out, his face burying in my neck, kissing me softly. Each kiss sends a shiver through me, making him laugh

"I love you baby", he whispers

"I love you Joonie"

"Baby?", he asks

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna need you to let go of the chain ok?

Oh yeah. I'm still holding it. I unwrap my hand from the chain and lower it

He lifts his head, smirking at me, "Like the chain huh?"

"Www...what?"

"You were pulling it the whole time, pulling me to right where you wanted me. Holding me there"

I blush, looking away

"Hey baby", he says, touching my cheek softly, "Look at me"

I do and he smiles. "I liked it too"

"Yeah?", I ask genuinely surprised

He nods, "Yeah, I like you pulling me around, taking over and making me stay where you want me."

My eyes widen. He likes it just as much as I did

"I can keep this you know"

"Huh?"

"The chain", he says, "I can keep it and we can play with it whenever you want"

"Really?", I ask in disbelief

He nods, "I like you riding me and pulling on it. And you can pull on it when I have you on your back too. Or when I hold you against the wall. Or when I eat your pussy. Or-"

"I got it baby", I giggle

"Oh yeah", he says, blushing

"Yeah Joonie. Keep it."

He nods, "Ok. We uh we can play again tonight?"

I smirk, "Oh yeah baby. We definitely can"

He smiles widely, then presses a kiss to my lips. He moves back and helps me up. We both walk around the room, grabbing our clothes and putting them back on. I help him fix his clothes as best I can

"I look ok?", he asks

"Absolutely sexy"

He laughs, his dimples on full display. I tug on the chain, signaling him to bend down. I meet him for a kiss, wrapping my arms around his neck as his goes around my waist

I love him so much

When we pull away, I smirk, tugging on the chain as I walk to the door, "C'mon baby. Follow me"

"Anywhere princess"

Leaving the room, he takes my hand and leads me back to the guys

[miloscat]

[Review] The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (PS3)

A waggle-optional wonder.

I played the DS version of this ages ago. Made by TT Fusion, who usually handle the portable Lego games, it was a decent top-down brawler type (also ported to PSP and PS2(!)). This version for Wii and PS3 is by Headstrong Games, who are known now for the Art Academy games but previous to this on the Wii made a House of the Dead rail shooter and Battalion Wars 2. This one’s got ambitions, packing a lot of mechanics in plus a big framing device that really sells the story.

Let’s get to the framing story first because it might be my favourite aspect of this game. It’s all based around Sam in his middle age, retelling the story of the War of the Ring from Aragorn’s perspective to his kids as they prepare for the king to visit the Shire (an event described briefly in the appendices to LotR). Not only does this give context to the levels played as Aragorn and purpose for Sean Astin’s copious new voiceover narration, it has a whole playable hub in the Shire where you can romp around as the kids.

Sam’s son Frodo Gamgee (should be Gardner but w/e) does odd jobs for hobbits preparing the party, treasure hunts, and learns game mechanics to be used in the levels while play-acting as Aragorn. Part of this is recreating scenes that aren’t covered in the levels themselves with other kids playing parts and see-through imaginary baddies to battle. It’s all immensely charming and  captures the feel of a pastoral peace in a world of legendary conflicts. The levels recapping the movie plots do a good job at that and feel like a good proper adventure, plus I liked new additions like helping Elder the Ent dismantle siege weapons in Fangorn Forest, or doing errands in the areas around Rivendell.

Some of the levels are also hub-like with wide open spaces, sidequests, and collectibles, and I loved roaming around them and discovering stuff. Even the more linear levels still have a lot of side paths and optional stuff. A lot of the gameplay is combat of course, and this is where things can get hairy. Originally this game was a Wii wagglefest; when ported to PS3 Move controllers are supported but thankfully a regular Dualshock 3 with traditional controls is also an option. The legacy of the motion scheme can still be felt with the awkward aiming and necessity for directional attacks, especially the small windows for particular attacks to hit the tougher enemies for big damage.

It’s more comfortable with a normal controller, but there’s still contextual stuff that needs doing by toggling between weapon types that feels like it could have been streamlined. It feels like a game targeted at kids, but may be a bit complex. There is a concession in the form of player two, who can jump in at any time as an invincible Gandalf to perform buffs, heals, and powerful attacks (and in the Shire story as Frodo’s sister Elanor with an over-large wizard’s hat). Sadly their presence locks the camera perspective in a clumsy way, and their movement has an odd momentum to it that player one’s doesn’t. I tried to convince my spouse to play with me but she opted out in part thanks to that; the few Gandalf/Elanor-locked bits of content I did in the style of Brothers or Nintendo Land’s Animal Crossing Sweet Day, moving two characters at once. An interesting challenge!

I started this playthrough on the Wii before discovering that I could opt out of waggle if I jumped ship to PS3. In doing so I also discovered that in the HD transition they’d removed the heavy motion blur when you start running fast. Good move! On top of this the PS3 version just looks much better in general, the extra resolution helping the colourful, stylised look to pop even more. The bloom lighting is a bit heavy at times, through. Overall with the gameplay style and slightly cartoony designs, this felt like a successor to the Hobbit game on the previous console generation, but without the constant instant death traps. I had a nice time with it.

Now having covered the LotR and Hobbit adaptations to my satisfaction, next on my quest through Tolkien-derived games is the original sidestories, including The Third Age, Online, War in the North, and the Shadow games. Note that I won’t be playing any older works or strategy/tactics games. But first, I’m taking a little break to play Elden Ring and maybe some other stuff. It won’t be long before I’m back in Middle-Earth though!