#ive been playing the remaster that just came out

[saprozoicworm]

experimenting w/ my art

[puppyeared]

if you're walking at 5mph, but your feet are on sideways, and the sky turns green at 2:53, and Keanu Reeves has been sent to Neptune, what's your favorite video game

i cant walk 5mph in the first place, im only 5'4 and i have to walk like marvin the fucking martian everywhere i go

if my feet were on sideways i would still manage to get my shoes on wrong because i cant tell my left from my right

if the sky turns green that means every single car on the road is allowed to go at the same time

keanu reeves cant be sent to neptune with an expired passport

my favorite videogame MIGHT be professor layton and the diabolical box just because ive never been able to get over the ending, but mario galaxy and deltarune also come to mind

[sonknuxadow]

im fully aware that i need to stop forcing myself to engage with every new sonic thing immediately and finish it as quickly as possible . im working on that. but why did my first time having to actively practice being okay with being a little late to a major new sonic thing end up being a game i was looking forward to way more than any of the other new or upcoming sonic projects from the past year or so . tragic

[wickedghxst]

im starting to think the switch might just be the worst nintendo console.

[wanderingmoonmen]

Maybe hearing about the new trailer of the silent hill 2 remake will put my mind in gear to keep writing (a recent comment motivated me to write most of a next chapter at least), but hate this remake more than any other. I've avoided hearing or seeing anything about it because it makes me so upset and angry. I hate the trend of remaking these games. It's so shallow and a passionless money making scheme bc companies are too scared to do anything original so they go and fuck up a perfectly good game instead. From the little I've seen I'm amazed they've somehow made it look worse than the original. Sure the in game model James looks pretty busted in the original but all the prerendered cutscenes are great and then they put out this crisp ugly shit instead?? Being able to see characters' pores and having "good graphics" means fuck all if you miss the point of the story. You know why the originals were good? Because people had an idea and a passion and they had to put together something that didn't need good graphics to sell.

If anyone comes here from a03 I just want to emphasize that everything has been written and inspired from the original games. I despise the remakes and how they've butchered the original material. Everytime I see something else from the remakes I hate it more. There was nothing wrong with the original. Just fucking remaster it ffs.

Half Doomed and Semi Sweet Collection - Leon S. Kennedy/James Sunderland

When Leon and James stumbled into each other in a backwater town of Spain, they didn’t realize how close they would become over a couple harrowing days together. After narrowly escaping with their lives, they discover how they can rebuild and grow together and find themselves finding peace and comfort neither of them thought they would ever have. There’s still more adventures for them both to experience and plenty of friends to make along the way, but in they end they’ll, hopefully, get their happily ever after.

Half Doomed and Semi Sweet Collection contains Promise, Pianissimo Epilogue, and @fly-rye‘s one shots in one easy location.

Keep reading

[demdozeguys]

Strap in for a long one, because it's time for:

REVIEWING AND RANKING EVERY GAME I GOT FROM THE STEAM SUMMER SALE

ramblings under the cut:

UNRANKED: ULTRA STREET FIGHTER IV

okay look I know I said I'd be ranking all of these but putting a fighting game up against six linear-progression single-player adventure type games feels a bit unfair.

as for whether I liked it: yeah it's alright. it's street fighter, it's fun. only time will tell how much my brother and I will get out of it, but I'm already feeling like I don't like it quite as much as 5. how much of that is due to 4 not having Urien is anyone's guess.

#6: CROW COUNTRY

I'm gonna be honest I didn't fuck with this game nearly as much as I thought I would.

maybe it's because I'm new to the genre. maybe it's because I've been spoiled by autosave. or maybe it's just because I can't aim to save my life. but losing upwards of 20 minutes of progress every time some creature I failed to hit or juke tagged me one too many times got frustrating pretty fast.

I didn't hate my time with Crow Country. the environments are gorgeous, the story kept me intrigued, and filling out my mental list of "oh shit I can go here now"s was still satisfying. if this is your thing don't let me dissuade you, I just wasn't built for it.

#5: KAMIKO

Kamiko is decent fun, but there's not really a whole lot to say about it. It's a short and sweet zelda-esque game where the meat of the playtime comes from trying to go through it as fast as possible, and as you'll see later I happen to enjoy going fast. enjoyable, but not super meaty. if you like routing and time management give it a shot.

#4: PONY ISLAND

Alright, this is where we get into the Good Shit.

Pony Island is a game in which you play a game called Pony Island made by The Devil From The Bible. every few minutes there's some new weird meta setpiece to keep you on your toes, plus the code puzzles and pony sections between are solid fun on their own. it's a great time. and if you're interested, there's a pretty solid reward for getting 100%.

if I had to dock points, it didn't seem to have much in the way of replayability, but that's not a huge dealbreaker. I really need to get my hands on Inscryption now.....

#3: SPOOKY'S JUMPSCARE MANSION REMASTERED

I'm not normally big on horror but Spooky's kept me coming back. despite going into it already knowing what all the specimens did, they managed to keep me on the edge of my seat because you never know when they're going to show up. combine the legitimate building terror with an offbeat and self-aware sense of humor and you have a damn fun package.

it's worth noting that as of writing this, I've only completed the main story. the DLC campaigns probably won't affect the final ranking? but I have a feeling they'll make me appreciate the game more.

#2: PEPPER GRINDER

Pepper Grinder is fucking awesome.

The level design is great, the soundtrack rips, and just moving around with the core gimmick of "what if you could drill and then jump out" is so good. I just really wish there was more of it.

I was able to get all the major in-level collectibles and reach the end in under 3 hours. the bulk of my playtime came from the time trials, which do manage to hit a sweet spot of encouraging you to push yourself without requiring CBT perfection. demolishing the gold medal on the final boss took me well over an hour's worth of attempts and may have been one of the most viscerally satisfying challenges I've ever completed in a game.

Pepper Grinder is really, really cool. But if it had another world's worth of levels it would be even cooler.

#1: CHICORY: A COLORFUL TALE

Man. I fucking love Chicory.

The vibes are immacculate. The story made me really feel for these gay little animals. The soundtrack is delightful (Lena Raine, everybody!). The exploration is rewarding. The painting mechanics made me actively want to go back to areas I'd already been to and recolor them better than I did originally, which is like. not something most games do. You can even draw penises everywhere if you want. There's something for everybody.

I'm having a hard time putting down exactly what made me fall head over heels for this game as much as I did - especially when I wasn't expecting to going into it. Maybe it was just in the right place at the right time. No matter how it cheated the system, Chicory is easily the best game I picked up.

And that's that. this was my first time doing something like this (especially on tumblr) so it felt kinda weird but idk lmk if I planted any seeds in your brain

[thegreatklaid]

Welcome to Klaid's Awful Idea of Playing Every Numbered Final Fantasy in Order!!

So, to make a long story short, the Pixel Remasters were on sale. With that I realized, I had every one of the numbered games minus XVI on the Steam Deck. So, I decided, I hate myself. Thus, we are gonna play all of them.

I am pretty excited, I have been wanting to replay some of these games again. I've done this before, many many years ago, before FFXIII even came out. And nowhere near in order. (FFVIII was my first game and the last one that I managed to beat). But, I've always told myself that I can't beat FFVII for a 33rd time, and that I should play a new game for once. But now I have an excuse, and I hope you all join me in this one.

I'm gonna use this space to keep track of my thoughts, even more than that I plan on organizing them into a before and after. Like I've said, I've beaten the first twelve, so we're gonna talk about how I remember them, what I want to do this playthrough, and how I expect to like it after the fact. Then we'll do another post on how that all came out, and where I think it goes in order after everything. Which means I should put my current list

XII > X > VII > IV > IX > I > VIII > V > XI > VI > III > II

Now we're wiping that away. Because I actually already beat I. I didn't want to start this whole thing if I couldn't even get through one game. And now I'm committed to the idea. In short, I liked FFI. I made some weird mistakes, completely forgot that you can just buy 99 potions, so the first few dungeons were way harder and getting bullshit hits was way meaner than I remember it being. I made a lot of notes on that I didn't like the dungeons in the first game. Too many blind dead ends with them. But I really liked the bosses.

Also these pixel remasters are the weirdest collection of changes that have happened to FF1. They use the old class change styles where they get all skinny. But it uses mostly the Origins stats. Although I learned after the fact that it uses changes made to Red Mage, Monk, and Thief from Dawn of Souls, but it keeps the MP system. It was bizarre.

Which makes me wonder how FFII will work out. But that's for the next day.

[doodleduds]

YOU !!!! I WAS HOPING I’D SEE YOU IN MY NOTES !!!! YOU’RE MY SONIC MUTUAL !!!!

hi 🥺👉👈 hello i think i would like 2 enter the sonic fandom. how do i partake in sonic. i dont know where 2 start 😢 ive been vaguely watching some of the fandubs and i just played the murder mystery steam game and !!!! i didn’t grow up with it bc i was a pokemon and mario baby but yea [: ALSO if you see me perusing your art that is why [:< !!!! (and because you are very talented and a beloved bestie mutual)

HI!!!!! Always love seeing u beanie I hope you’re good!! This might be a long response so I’m preemptively putting a cut lol

HI AGAIN BEANIE!!! Disclaimer I’m certainly not an expert BUT i’ll try my best 💙💙💙🫡🫡🫡

The murder of sonic the hedgehog is REALLY good. Its definitely got a lot of love packed into it and it shines through the whole thing. Its a favorite because its a little silly but they still work to take the characters seriously (idk. U can tell the devs really loved doing it. I think its all around a fantastic introduction to the series!)

I’ve been hooked on Sonic from a SUPER early age. Like playing on hand me down consoles and stuff. My favorite game ever was sonic and knuckles or sonic 3 and then it was sonic the fighters. And then every game after that until Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) for the xbox 360 came out and despite the glitches and everything else im sure anyone could tell you about it younger me just found it SO striking. Everything about it. I used to sit and watch all the cutscenes on youtube on the family computer like it was my JOB. Idk where the turning point was I’ve played all the other titles except for a couple here and there more recently but I def think you could start where-ever you want!!!

Theres some games I think most people in the fandom would agree are unplayable or just Bad (for any number of reasons, everyone has their opinions! But think like notoriously bad like sonic boom..or specifically sonic colors nintendo ds version) BUT I’m a firm believer that if Sonic 06 specifically didnt have game breaking issues it would have been a masterpiece (look up project 06…! its a labor of love and it made that game feel like what I thought it did when I was itty bitty and more. Beyond my expectations. Genuinely impressive and really shows how much could have been fixed/polished for gameplay/overall) obviously I’m very biased but 06 is something I’ll never get over and I think more people should see Project 06 because the work put into it is immaculate and really showcases what I loved and still love about that game

The fandubs are good! If you’re looking for more watching stuff instead of playing stuff the original remastered Sonic OVA movie is up on YouTube for free and I think you’d really enjoy that too! There’s some design choices (like knuckles just flying for half the movie/not gliding like he would in later titles) that are more timeline based (like they hadnt gotten a firm grasp in franchise what was what yet etc etc) but it really sticks to that charm that drew me in to begin with so its a 10/10 in my book.

Games I think you could start anywhere you’d like (even if people say you’ve GOTTA play x or y or z or whatever you do what you think you’d like) but as a die hard fan you know I’ve got to mention Sonic Adventure 2 or Heroes or one of those. More ‘recent’ games I’ve really enjoyed that didn’t feel rushed/scrapped halfway through.. Sonic Generations is good, Sonic Unleashed is good (and theres a short film called night of the werehog thats official you could watch!) Frontiers obviously is the best I think we’ve gotten in a while narratively.

And im biased but I really. REALLY like sonic and the black knight. I think it being on the wii was a little bad controls wise but it has some charm! The storybook ones (Sonic & The Secret Rings and Sonic & The Black Knight) were super interesting to me when they came out just because it was a fresh art style lol.. Still very charming to me

The Shadow The Hedgehog game will always hold a special place in my heart and I know you like that guy so if you haven’t checked out that game (it has so many endings.) I think you’d personally love it!!

Other than that I think IDW comics are really great if you can get your hands on em! I don’t read them very often if at all anymore but I keep up to date on new characters in gen (more out of interest for the designs and direction theyre going) but if you EVER get the chance to read the arc with the metal virus you absolutely should. All the comics are great but I think you especially would think that arc in particular is incredible

I’ll link the ova and the werehog animation below but every games cutscene you can find on youtube if you’re ever interested! I can always find more stuff and link you if you want : - )

ONE FINAL NOTE IS THAT SONIC GAMES SOUNDTRACKS DO NOT EVER MISS A CHANCE TO GO HARD AS FUCK FOR NO REASON!!!! All of the games OST’s EVER have at least one song for everybody on planet earth and I will not retract that statement ever. If u havent listened to any I highly recommend it

THANK U FOR THE ASK!!!! Always love to talk about whatever so holler if you want!!!

LINKS FOR U:

SONIC OVA:

NIGHT OF THE WEREHOG:

[everygame]

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux (Nintendo 3DS)

Developed/Published by: Atlus, Lancarse / Atlus Released: 15/05/2018 Completed: 13/09/2022 Completion: Finished it with the new chaos ending. Did barely any of the side quests, admittedly. Trophies / Achievements: n/a

Hmm. Might sound surprising, but Strange Journey has always been the Shin Megami Tensei game I’ve been the most interested in. Something about the setting–a scientific team investigating a world-threatening anomaly at the south pole–really intrigued me.

(I tend to wonder if it also really intrigued Jeff VanderMeer, considering Annihilation is pretty similar, if not actionably so, and the book came out about four years after this.)

After playing Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, I have to admit I was pretty jazzed to finally play this! And you know what–when it started, I was having a pretty good time! The setting was what I hoped, the first few levels were entertaining first person dungeon fun… but then the problems started to mount up. And quickly.

First things first: the whole demon fusion system in this game is completely wack. Now, I know that I played a remaster of Nocturne, so it was definitely made a bit easier to cook up exactly what you’d like, but Strange Journey saddles the players with demons who don’t learn anything when levelling up, and who instead give you their “demon source” after a few battles with them. This source, which is extremely hard to collect more than once per demon, is the only way to get to choose what skills a demon inherits, by which I mean “you can give it the skills attached to the source.” (Meaning that if you’ve got two low-level demons with great skills who turn into a much higher-level demon with crappy skills, uh… you’re stuck. Hope the source you use has good skills.)

You might think this doesn’t sound totally ruinous, but it all incentivises which is what I would call “completely the wrong way to play the game.”

What it means is that as any time spent with a demon that has given you its source feels like wasted time, you’ll be fusing them at an absolutely insane pace. And, because you’re using demons for, like, five to ten battles, it feels like a waste to use your sources on them, especially when you can’t guarantee that a future demon will inherit those skills without you pouring over online fusion tools to try and get the best outcome (on a demon you’ll use for twenty minutes.)

It creates a pretty tedious cycle, which is made even worse by the fact that the game doesn’t use the Press Turn system in a real “let’s re-invent the wheel” move, and instead gives you free almighty damage follow-up attacks from team members with the same alignment. Considering you’re (probably) cycling demons like a maniac, this can be insanely annoying to sort out and is.. only mildly rewarding.

So if I’m going to advise anyone on playing this, I’d say “don’t be trying to fill out your demon list and/or collect all the sources.” Instead, just try and sort out a team in each new dungeon that’s your alignment, give them the needed elemental attacks etc. via sources (just use ‘em up, you’ll get more) and only fiddle about in the periphery with fusion when it’s going to pay off or it’s demons you’ll never use. You will have a much better time.

But I think this problem fades into insignificance, honestly, compared to problem number one. The dungeons. Now, I don’t want to get ahead of myself here. It’s not like Strange Journey is Wizardry IV or anything. But it does, very quickly, reveal itself to be for CRPG experts… by which I mean insane masochists. The game might auto map, it’s true, and they can’t get away with the old trick of spinners as a result, but every other dirty trick in the book is used here. You’ve got warp mazes, invisible walls, hidden paths, dungeons layered on top of dungeons that you need to switch between to navigate… oh, did I mention that the warp dungeons sometimes need you to do the warps in specific orders? And they never label which warp takes you where on the automap?

It is… miserable. There are huge segments of this game that are tedious beyond belief I think unless you absolutely adore this kind of dungeon design. I’m the kind of guy who just wants to walk down corridors and punch things, filling out a map. This game’s maps turned me off from that so much that by the end I was literally just looking up the maps online and going the fastest way from point A to B not even filling in all the squares of rooms I was going in. That’s completely contrary to my beliefs!!!

SEVENTY SEVEN HOURS. Seventy seven hours is how long I spent playing this even resorting to such cheap tricks and avoiding most of the side quests!

And three hours of those seventy seven were just trying to beat the final boss!

Let’s talk that final boss. It’s probably the hardest boss in any video game I’ve ever played–certainly any RPG that I’ve committed to finishing. Fair play to it for being thematically appropriate, I guess, but it’s designed in a couple of ways: one, it reaches a point where you can only damage it through same-alignment follow-up attacks. Two, it casts a spell reflecting all damage from the predominant alignment in your party for several turns. 

Can you work out why that’s unbelievably cruel? Yes, because if any player hasn’t made sure to have literally three, top-level demons that aren’t of their alignment available, they’re fully fucked. Meaning that advice I gave you about using up your sources on same-alignment demons actually means you might not be able to finish the game without some insane grinding.

Here’s the weird thing though… it was a bit exhilarating, though, beating this boss. I’d probably have snapped my 3DS completely in half if I had died in my final run considering it alone took about an hour, but if you can survive the first time it reflects an entire alignment, you can swap your “good” demons out and put them back in once she sets up the wrong alignment protection.

I literally had to set up my party with sources to make sure I had three demons with the ability to resurrect and most of them offering healing and I barely survived it, with my MC dying at least six or seven times (including one particularly hairy moment when only one demon was alive and in the party.)

Once I’d won… I dunno if I felt anything but relief, to be honest, but it was definitely one of those moments you only get from video games.

But right, uh, do I recommend this or not? I think you can have a lot more fun with this if you let yourself get more attached to your party of demons than collecting sources, but you really need to love just the most horrible dungeon design to bear this at all, and an enjoyably brutal final boss doesn’t pay it back at all. I can’t say I regret playing this–it’s on 3DS, you pick it up and play it when you’ve got some downtime, there’s telly on in the background, you’re on a plane, etc.--but I don’t think I would knowing what I know now.

Will I ever play it again? It’s absolutely wild to me that these games track which endings you’ve got like you’re going to play them from scratch every time to see them all. Who on earth has time for that? Six endings in a game you could maybe speedrun in… 20 hours if you knew it inside out (yes, speedrun.com has several at about half that, but those are serious outliers.) Anyway, no.

Final Thought: However, speaking of endings, I will say that I appreciated that this game pushed me into a position that I didn’t expect, which was choosing to go Chaos. Without going into too much of spoiler territory, I think this manages to nail the ol’ “maybe man is the real monster” trope and offer the player the choice of forgiveness (or not). I took not, saw it through to the end, and really did feel like I got the best, most fitting ending. Thankfully. Did I mention I played this for seventy seven bloody hours???

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi, either via a one-off donation (pay what you like) or by joining as a supporter at just $1 a month.

[neomedievalist]

how to get into smt

digital devil saga is such an easy answer for your tastes but ive been saying that for everyone so ill give you an alternate answer which is i think youd love nocturne. hd remaster just came out a bit ago you can usually grab it on sale for like $15. but i can guarantee either one is going to be something you'd love, i think smt in general is really suited to your tastes tbh. ...man have you played nier automata yet? it feels like you should probably play nier automata.

[theadventurerslog]

King’s Quest: Quest for the Crown | Part 1

The Adventurer’s Log

King’s Quest I: Quest for the Crown Part 1

Release Date: 1984 (original version)

Introduction

Ahh, King’s Quest, the well-known series from Sierra, but while it’s a series I’ve known of for a long time, it’s a series I had never played nor even seen played until these past couple months.

I came across the Youtube channel, Such Minutiae, and started watching their Lets Plays of the series. Come King’s Quest V and VI I decided I was interested in at least giving those two a play. On GOG they come bundled with KQIV and I figured, why not? I could give IV a shot too. Then this idea to start blogging my efforts struck and I thought, you know what? Why not start right from the beginning and grab the first three games after all, too? Throw in them being on sale and here we are.

Now, as noted, I watched a Let’s Play, so this won’t be a blind play. However, this particular game is a different version from what I watched. They played the Sierra Creative Interpreter (SCI) version which was a sort of remake/remaster. I’m playing the older AGI game and aside from graphical differences there are other differences as well. I probably won’t be able to spot a lot of them, but there is one different puzzle solution I’m aware of and I’ll make note of it when I come to it along with anything else that sticks out to me.

Having already watched the games be played I expect this will go a lot smoother than it otherwise would, but that I will still have some hangups. There is some real bullshit in these games, so it’s nice to go in prepared, accept that and enjoy the ride. And die a lot. I intend to keep a death counter. That will be noted at the end of the posts.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

The first thing I noticed when I loaded it for a simple quick test, was that unlike the SCI version there is no intro scene. It dumps you right into the game and you gotta go into the castle yourself and talk to the King yourself to know what you’re doing.

So the first step is to go see the king and so the quest begins.

And so the quest ends

Come on now, I couldn’t not throw him in the moat. Also, the death music! It’s different in the SCI version. I know this music because it was also used in KQ II. It starts sombre with Chopin’s Death March and then… oh and then it transitions to I don’t actually know what it’s called, but it sure clowns on you. Please just go to this link https://youtu.be/AWvZNAv4_B8?t=527 I have it timestamped to the right place already and know my suffering. The most taunting thing ever. I love hate it.

Okay back to it for real. Go see the king and be told what your quest actually is:

If you want further backstory and more details, you better read that manual.

From the manual in summary:

The kingdom of Daventry was ruled over by King Edward and his nameless, but lovely! Queen. They held three magic treasures that served to help Daventry maintain its peace and prosperity:

A Magic Mirror that reads the future so they were able to use it to stave off disasters and avoid things like planting crops right before frosts.

A Magic Shield that is supposed to make the bearer invincible and his army always victorious.

A Magic Chest that always remained full of gold.

Then disasters start striking. They want an heir but haven’t been able to have a child. A sorcerer comes and offers a solution but wants the mirror in return. They consult the mirror and see what they think will be their future prince (spoiler alert: It’ll be Sir Graham). They agree. No child is ever born. The Sorcerer ran off with mirror and placed it under guard by a beast.

Later the Queen falls ill. A dwarf offers a remedy that looks like it’ll work but wants the shield in return. The King agrees. The dwarf runs off with the shield. The Queen dies.

The King grows lonely as more years pass, but eventually Edward comes across a beautiful lady, the Princess Dahlia (she gets a name) in need of help. He saves her. They plan to wed and now it’s the night before the wedding except whoops. She was actually a witch and planned to steal the chest all along which she successfully does and off she goes too.

More years pass with the King and Daventry falling into despair and disrepair. King Edward realizes he may die soon and summons his knight, Sir Graham, realizing it was him he saw in the mirror. If Graham can gather back Daventry’s three treasures he’ll prove himself worthy of the crown and become the King foreseen in the mirror. Time to go Questing.

--

Once you see the king it’s time to set out and start exploring. I set out, I pushed a rock and died because I pushed it from the wrong side and got crushed. And I forgot to save, so I basically had to start again, although ScummVM autosaved me in the hallway in the castle, so I got to skip entering the castle.

Then I set out again and remembered to save this time. Save regularly and keep multiple saves. Now something cool that King’s Quest does is having some puzzles with multiple solutions. There is a points system and to get the highest points you need to do the optimal solutions. If you don’t care about points you’ve potentially got other options.

After finding a dagger and a pouch of diamonds I quickly encountered a flying condor. This condor is mandatory but unfortunately it’s random as to when and where it will show up. I managed to jump and catch the ride while I could, except I ended up in a dead end because I didn’t have what was needed to get past a big mean ol’ rat. I did try offering it the diamonds, which worked, except I think it actually lost me points and I would have ended up stuck again anyway. I reloaded a previous save.

Thanks for the dead-end, condor, but fly on majestically.

My other activities included more exploration and finding more items, getting mauled by an ogre at least once or twice and managing to run away another time, some sorcerer encounters one of which left me frozen in place and essentially dead, got flown off by a witch and eaten, stolen from by a dwarf a couple times and got some temporary protection from a fairy.

I found a four-leaf clover and a walnut. I climbed a huge tree and found a golden egg. Surprisingly for how easy it is to die in other ways, falling off the tree doesn’t kill you. The egg doesn’t break either. Shockingly nice of them.

Moving on, I helped a starving woodcutter husband and his wife and got a fiddle in return. I got lucky in doing those two activities, and along with finding one other item, I earned everything I needed to deal with the rat and the rest of that area and shortly after getting those needed goods the condor showed up again. So, this time I was able to handle everything there and got my first treasure: the Magic Shield.

I was able to find the witch’s house, a gingerbread house naturally, and deal with her accordingly. Actually, I had to do it twice, because fumble fingers for me killed me again oops. This place was another big difference from the SCI version. In the SCI version there are gingerbread figures outside the house and of course the house just looks better. If she catches you Graham gets turned into gingerbread and she puts you outside with a punny Graham cracker death message. In this version you just get put in a cell and know you’re about to get eaten and that’s that. I did miss that in this version.

Not exactly gingerbread-y on the inside. In the SCI version that oven is a cauldron.

I still have a bridge troll to deal with, but I have the means to do so and that’ll open up more areas to explore. I also found a well I haven’t checked out yet as well. I’ll probably try for the well first then go for the troll.

I’m coming for you, troll.

I’ve been mapping as I go and I’m very glad I’m doing so. I’m sure I’d be getting lost if I hadn’t. There are many screens and quite a few are pretty nondescript.

With the huge caveat that I’ve watched this played before, I’m having a pretty good time. Sure, it’s primitive. It’s easy to die, ridiculously so at times. It can be easy to screw yourself over into an unwinnable state in these games, but if you go in with that knowledge and stay on top of your saves, it’s entertaining.

With deaths by: moat alligators, falling into unswimmable water, ogre, sorcerer, witch, rock crushing I am currently sitting a death counter of 15. I’m a little worried I may have forgotten to update it a couple times so it may be a death or two higher than 15. Three of those were deliberate.

I probably only have one, maaaybe two sessions left.

Death Counter: 15

Time Played: 1hr 35min

Current Points Score: 86/158

[gwenthebard]

I think it's interesting that it's taken me a long time to get into Pathfinder 2e, and I couldn't really figure out why. I LOVED Pathfinder 1e, it clicked for me immediately, but 2e didnt't click with me at first and felt a lot less.... something

Recently though I've been reading the core book again in preperation for running it, and it clicked: the reasons I got into Pathfinder 1e werent the reasons Pathfinder 2e are good

My interest in Pathfinder originally came as someone that liked dnd 5e, but wanted a more in depth experience. A lot of older people at my lgs played 3.5, and I was interested in it, but its not a game you can just find the game books. As well, it was old and even just reading on lore and stuff of older dnd I knew it was kinda just outdated and cishet

Pathfinder 1e was an old rpg experience; it was crunchy and had what felt like an ifinite amoint of tweaks and combinations. There wasnt a lot of focus on balance compared to cool and weird options, when it did add options for old classes they tended ti be something surprising or out there. It was also an old fashioned rpg that was undeniably queer, added a bit more nuance than dnd, and felt like an interesting alternative to dnd

Pathfinder 2e is a really well made rpg, but its also meant to be a different experience. Its a more undeniably modern rpg experience, theres a big focus on balance with a bit more pullback on flashy or weird options. The combination of archetypes and prestige classes, while removing traditional multiclassing, means that while you can still make complicated or unique class experiences you are a little more limited and are kept a little more in thepurpose of your class or from becomming skilled in more than 1.5 fields. In general the way rolls are managed and combat plays out is a bit more modern in terms of game design, even while some roots remain

Likewise, while often to play withnideas or to remove problematic elements, pathfinder 2es setting feels just a little less like an alternative to dnd. Usually for the better, and often with good reasoning, but something that can be felt rather often. Ive phrased it this way before, but Pathfinder in terms of more dnd specific stuff often has a "you can get close to what you want, but nothing will have the same feel"

Which, honestly I think Pathfinder 2e getting a remaster is going to help with a LOT. Divorcing itself further from dnd is likely going to help. While small at first, I feel like long term introducing new monsters and having more voids to fill will let the game create more of its own niche

Pathfinder 1e was a crunchy old fashioned rpg that had a gritty feel that felt like a dnd alternative. Pathfinder 2e, while brought up a lot as a dnd alternative, really isnt more so than SWADE Fantasy or Fantasy Age except for the fact its d20 and uses the same terms. The lores increasingly different, it no longer plays like old dnd editions but has a modern feel thats its own, and its weird and unique options are now becomming the mainstream in the remaster

Which I love

Its not the game I wanted when I first played Pathfinder, and I miss a lot of the old design principles around mechanics, but it does what it does and it does it really well. I think my old beef with Pathfinder was I wanted an old rpg experience, I wanted crunchy and too many options etc. 2e is a lot more structured, a lot more focused, it requires running the game with a different principle in mind

I think 2e, especially with the changing focuses in the remaster, has seemed to found a new place for itself. When I reccomend Pathfinder to someone I hesitate to compare it to dnd because it feels like a completely different system. It feels like comparing d20 starwars and starfinder and reccomending them as alternatived to eachother, and I hope that feeling continues

Tldr: Pathfinder 2e took a long time for me to get into, and its largely because I couldnt appreciate the fact it was built with different principles than what originally got me into 1e

[n7punk]

Since you mentioned Zelda do you have a favorite Zelda game? Mine is skyward sword!

gonna get a bit controversal here probably XD

i was literally just talking about my ranking earlier today with a friend, so here's my personal take. keep in mind, some of these games i haven't played since i was a small kid, and like... i know i played phantom hourglass but i cant remember a damn thing about it so i wont be including it. ive got some stuff like that. i've played like nine zelda games or something but these are the only ones i feel like i remember/experienced enough to rank.

twilight princess and breath of the wild are nearly tied for me. they're different kinds of games, so which one is "better" really depends on what im in the mood for (and what your particular style of gaming is), but i think they're two of the best games of all time and would recommend them to just about anybody who is open to that genre of game.

then honestly i would probably put spirit tracks or skyward sword after those two. its been a long time since i played spirit tracks but i remember really liking it as a kid. conversely, i was just replaying skyward sword in the hd remaster and while i remember loving it the first time i played it as a kid (not considering it as good as twilight princess, but still good), i didnt enjoy it nearly as much on this playthrough. i think the gameplay just isn't fun enough to carry the whole thing for me when i already know the story, but the first time i played it i was clinging onto every line so i loved it. like, i remember when i finished the scorpion fight and the sand drained away being like omg!! it looks like the hub from spirit tracks i wonder how it all fits!! so i'd definitely recommend skyward sword to a zelda fan, but probably not to someone who has never played the series before. i think the back half of the dungeons are distinctly more fun than the first half, which is kind of the opposite of what you want because i was like "come on, just get through sky view, and eldin, and the mining facility, and then you'll get to do the dragons." (flooded faron is my favorite level btw).

next is probably link's awakening. i played the remaster (never the original) and enjoyed it. i thought the remaster was INCREDIBLY done, such a cute and fun and high quality style with a beautiful result, all while preserving a lot of the original look and probably some of the feel too (at least from what ive played of the original zelda, which isn't much).

next is probably a link between worlds (on 3DS). i got pretty far and i think i stopped just because i started feeling lukewarm on it due to the difficulty curve (i have a lot tougher time with handheld games than controllers, and consoles are already harder for me than mouse and keyboard in general) and the story wasn't interesting enough to pull me back in. because of that, i wouldn't really Recommend a link between worlds unless you're already a zelda fan and have played the others above.

here's the controversial part, but i put ocarina of time at the bottom. i know so many people love it, so i was really excited to play it when it came out for the 3DS, but... that game was such a slog. i stopped about halfway through the game not because i was stuck, but because i wasn't having any fun. i think part of it was the low res art (the game was visually muddy, unengaging, and just kind of hard to discern), but ive played a lot of low res or even 8bit art games (my first video game ever was super mario bros for the NES, which came out 14 years before ocarina and obviously has much worse graphics), so part of it has to be the game, and visuals alone dont make a game boring. like i said, i was kinda bored at parts of skyward sword this playthrough and it's such a gorgeous game. being unengaging visually made it harder to get into the gameplay, but that wasn't all it was for me.

[breezeinmonochromenight]

okay maybe you can help me out, so if i was to get into nier , which one should i get/play first? automata or replicant? or does the order not matter? 🤔 ive been meaning to get them for a while idk if theres an order.

Nier came first and gets referenced slightly in Nier: Automata, and they are technically sequels, but they also stand fine on their own. You honestly don’t have to play them in order to understand either.

Both are really good, but Nier: Automata is an absolute masterpiece. It’s one of my top 10 (probably 5) games ever. I’d personally highly recommend playing that one first because the first one isn’t always everyone’s cup of tea like Automata tends to be. Just know that one playthrough of Automata is like… less than half the game, and it takes 3 playthroughs to see the real ending (ending E).

Also this part is going to sound super weird, but bear with me lol: There are two versions of the original Nier — Nier: Replicant and Nier: Gestalt. Gestalt is the western release; Replicant was (originally) the Japan-only release. They are the exact same game, with the only differences being the main character’s appearance and his familial relationship to the little girl he’s trying to save. In Gestalt, the protag is a jacked guy in his mid-40’s or so and the little girl is his ~10 y/o daughter. In Replicant, the protag is a mgs raiden knockoff an androgynous male in his late teens or early 20’s; the girl is aged up slightly (to like ~12) and is the protag’s baby sister. The swap was done solely to boost sales in the west at the time — probably because of the superhero boom — and the remaster of Nier that came out in like April of this year is of the Replicant version of the game.

Sorry for the length btw lol. I’ve just seen a lot of people track down a copy of Gestalt after playing Replicant and then get disappointed because it’s the same game lol.

[repentantsky]

5 Companies That Have Too Much Hype Around Them

Look, we all love our favorite games with a passion, and to an extent that’s fine, but when that passion becomes obsession and that obsession becomes forgetting our own moral compass for the sake of entertainment, it does feel like it’s gone too far. It’s one thing to love what a company releases, it’s completely another to ignore every problem they’ve ever had. Not all of the companies on this list have done horribly un-ethical things, but they’ve at least been anti-consumer, and the fact that people don’t question that enough has led to them sometimes, making horrible mistakes. I am RepentantSky, I love making lists that trash on things that are popular, and these are 5 companies, that have too much hype around them.

5. Nintendo

Already I can hear people getting angry, and in a way I get it. Nintendo is for many people the place where they either begin to play games, or the place they go to keep on playing them when everything else let’s them down, and of course, they put an end to the flipping video game crash of 1983, and no one else will ever be able to claim that from them. That’s all wonderful, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be critical of them. I’ve talked about a number of things they’ve done wrong before, so let me quickly run down the list of some of their anti-consumer practices. They, charge too much for remasters and ports, they don’t drop prices in games, they used to charge for fixing Joy-Cons and now completely deny it’s a problem for legal reasons, despite everyone pretty much having experienced drift, they haven’t been good at getting stock for their items in at least 20 years, and oh yeah, they sell all the content for a remake for $115 on the 3DS, the system and the fans that helped them get by while the Wii U was massively underperforming, all while handing owners of the, at the time, unproven Switch, free content. Nintendo has a tendency to still think like a toy company, and they even used that idea to present the Nintendo Entertainment System as a toy instead of a console when they first game to the West with it, but they aren’t a toy company, their a gaming company that also sells toys, just like everyone else. I get they’ve done amazing things, I own over 150 physical handheld games from them, and a ton of digital games besides, but when they start charging twice what they are worth for SD cards, while releasing games that absolutely won’t fit on the limited space of the Switch, and they simply don’t care when costumers complain, it’s time to at least question their motives.  

4. Bethesda

Boy I used to really rip on this company back when I posted lists on Facebook, but I haven’t done it in a while, so let’s do it again. Bethesda has absolutely spent at least the last 10 years lying to people, Todd Howard, has become famous for it, but I think I might have been the only person who wasn’t shocked when Fallout 76 was the disaster that it was. There were so many things wrong with that game, that I don’t even have time to go over every little thing, but lying, you know the thing that will get another company on this list very soon, was a big thing they did with the game. They promised at one point that they weren’t ever going to charge for items in the game that gave in-game benefits, and they did, allowing ammo and other items to be bought with real money for a time, they promised new, specialized servers if you paid for a yearly service that was way too expensive, and that wasn’t true because people found proof of things missing from what would have been a freshly made, private server, and there’s no excuse for that, games in early access do that correctly, and they aren’t, at least supposedly, even finished yet. I wish I could say that’s all they’ve done, but they also bullied an indie developer over their game Prey, a game they may have bullied the original developer for so they could get cheaper, but we’ll never know because they refused to comment on that when asked, they also refused to update their outdated game engine for years, which caused something they spent over a decade fixing, games releasing with glitches, some of them game breaking. Yet somehow, they have such a fan base that those who love their games will claim the glitches are just part of the charm. That kind of fierce loyalty led to Fallout 76, and even though we make jokes about it even now, the horse DLC from way back in the day, was an indication of everything they’ve done, including trying to charge for mods made for free, meant to be consumed for free, twice. Bethesda is a bad company and they do not care. 

3. Activision/Blizzard

You know one of the worst things Nintendo does that I didn’t really mention directly in the first entry, is limit the amount of time a product is available, instead of just letting it be there for consumption as long as it’s selling (that was what the toy company reference was about if it wasn’t clear). However, Activision/Blizzard are the Kings of doing this, as they not only limited things while they were in control of Destiny 2 to the point where you pretty much had to use real money to get everything, and never mind everything else they did to it, because we’d be here all day going through it all, but they also don’t support games as a service titles long enough for dedicated fans. Crash Team Racing Nitro fueled, is a prime example of this. People weren’t done with that game, and when fans thought for even a split second that an update was going to come to fix an issue, their hype (mine to) was so explosive, it was almost like we were getting a new game, but then nothing happened, because they didn’t care. A lot of companies that do yearly release titles as a service have this problem and nothing exemplified that more for Activision, than Skylanders, a series originally made off the back of Spyro, who didn’t even wait for a year to release new games, as technically between October 21st and November 20th of the year the first game came out, they released three of them, and I’m not even kidding. Two of them, were mobile games! You might have thought I was going to go after Call of Duty, for this, but that horse has been beaten to ground, somehow, more than Skylanders was. They also, for whatever reason, released each expansion on different generations console generations, at different months throughout Fall, like somehow the season of Fall, they needed a release every month, if not two, and so off they went. I didn’t even get into Blizzard, but all I need to say is “Blitzchung” and all the memories will likely come flooding back. There’s also the fact that in two separate years, after gaining massive profits, they dropped hundreds of employees, and hired more than they’d let go, but I guess that doesn’t really matter to some of you, because when they did it this year, with so little warning, most employees found out via the news articles about it, but we all made such a little stink this time around, it didn’t create any media buzz, so I guess that doesn’t matter, you’d all rather play flipping World of Warcraft, like better MMO’s don’t exist. 

2. CD Projekt Red

I know this one comes off a little more fresh in the mind, and they technically only lied about one game, but man, what a series of lies it was. Also, let’s be honest, one major game, does not a great developer always make. CDPR’s previous two Witcher games did exactly what the author of the books thought they would, and that was almost nothing in terms of making a serious impact, and the reason is, they are kind of bad. They aren’t the worst games out there, but there is a good reason why The Witcher 1 and 2 haven’t been ported and/or remastered, despite how important they are to the story of Witcher 3, and that’s because they both suck. Cyperpunk 2077, was in a lot of ways, them just going back to being the developer they were before, the BIG ONE happened. They lied about nearly everything in regards to the game, including how the main platforms where consumers were going to buy it, were actually running well. I made those references to Witcher 1 and  2 for a reason, although if I’m being honest, they actually look better than Cyberpunk did on day 0, and that’s completely unacceptable. The budget for CDPR was basically nothing for Witcher 1 and 2 combined to what Cyberpunk got, but they were so focused on the PC versions because PC ran the game better, somehow (like maybe because they didn’t try with consoles) and they missed glitches that were so bad, the game felt like it was still in beta, if not alpha upon release. The fact that they’ve only released eleven games in twenty-three years, and only two of them didn’t have The Witcher on them, should have told us all we need to know, and yet the game, even after returns, which was another massive screw-job that led to Cyberpunk being removed from the PlayStation store, still sold Sixteen million units, all because of hype, and because apparently, some people don’t care if they’re lied to. Do you want to know what the other game they released is besides a Witcher title? It was flipping Saints Row 2, a fun game, but also one that’s too goofy for it’s own good, and yet suddenly makes Cyberpunk’s release, make sense, because it was all a massive joke, and a parody of good, well running, open world games. CDPR needs to seriously do something, anything different, and never release a game in this poor of a state ever again.

1. Ubisoft

I put Ubisoft at number one for a damn good reason, and that reason is, that everyone seems to hate the company, but loves their games, and I don’t know why. They haven’t been the overall worst company on this list, although they are pretty bad, but the major problem they have, and have had for at least a decade is that none of their games have any identity, they are literally all the same game, with different coats of paint. Sure, an occasional gem sneaks through like Assassin’s Creed IV, but all of the rest of their games have the same visual style (although ACII does seem to be the base for which they create their art let’s be honest), the shooting mechanics they have in all the games that have guns, all feel exactly the same, which is something even Call of Duty manages to avoid most years (guess I took a shot at them anyways) and yet somehow, someway, I keep seeing people getting excited for their releases, and it doesn’t make any sense. Sure, they throw a celebrity actor in from time to time, and the artistic style they use does look pretty cool, but everything is always the same with them, every single time, no matter what it is, and they still keep making money. It doesn’t really make sense either, because a lot of developers do make games that are very similar feeling, see the Life is Strange team or much as well all loved them, Telltale Games, but at least those titles told extremely interesting stories, and developed their mechanics at least a little, which is something most companies do just on principal, but not Ubisoft. They throw out a few Tom Clancy games every time they talk about what their releasing, the Trials and AC games are still mostly a yearly experience, and I’ll say it again, their entire list of releases since at least 2013, the year the previous generation kicked off, have pretty much all been the same. It would be nice if they made more games like Child of Light, but despite the fact that their games will likely never be as popular as Call of Duty, they keep churning out same-y shooters hoping that one day, maybe just one day, they’ll create their own CoD, and it’s just not gonna happen. The saddest part of all is that when they announce something different, something fans have wanted for years, we get The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, which was literally delayed because fans said they wouldn’t buy it unless some actual effort was put into making it, why is this company so popular that it can keep doing this, someone please explain it to me. 

And that’s my list, can you think of any other companies that are too hyped? Let me know in the notes below, hit me up with a follow if you like my content, and give me a reblog, I’d really appreciate it. Have a wonderful life!  

[zerochanges]

2020 Favorite Video Games

I don’t know if I am an outlier or if this is the same for everyone else but I really did not play a lot of games this year. 2020 was a very harsh year for all of us, especially for me for some personal reasons. So to get to the chase, I am just gonna say it left me not doing much in what little free time I did have, and I didn’t play much either. Usually I try to keep my lists for ‘favorite of the year’ to only titles released that year but since I played so little this year, screw it. I am gonna include any game I played this year regardless of release date.

Collection of SaGa

By far a flawed rerelease. It’s bare bones: there are no advance features you would usually expect out of these kinds of emulated rereleases like save states, fast forward, or rewind, and there was no real effort made to touch up almost 30 year old localizations that had to meet Nintendo of America’s then harsh standards. This really is just 3 roms slapped into a nice looking interface with an option to increase the game speed (which by the way you better use, the characters walk very slow in these old games). 

I am bit harsh here, but only because I thought the Romancing SaGa remasters and the upcoming SaGa Frontier remaster all looked like they got a great budget and a lot of love while this is just another Collection of Mana situation (moreso specifically talking about Seiken Densetsu 1/Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana part of that collection). I would have loved to see Square Enix do a bit more for these older games. Or at least include the remakes. Seiken Densetsu 1 had two great remakes, both unused in Collection of Mana, and all three of these original SaGa titles have remakes that have never seen the light of day outside of Japan. How great would it have been to get the Wonderswan remake of SaGa 1, as well as the Nintendo DS remakes of Saga 2 and SaGa 3? 

But my gripes aside, these games are still fun as they ever were. Replaying SaGa 1 specifically during the holiday season really helped calm me down and made me feel at ease. It’s easy to forget but even in their Gameboy roots there are a lot of funky and weird experimental choices being made in these games. They aren’t your run-of-the-mil dragon quest (or considering the gameboy, maybe pokemon would be more apt) clones. 

Raging Loop

Perhaps my favorite game of the year, Raging Loop is one of the best visual novels I have ever played hands down. The level of creativity and splitting story paths that went into it is simply mind blowing. The basic premise is both a wonderful throwback to the old days of Chunsoft sound novels while still modern and somewhat reminiscent of both Higurashi and Danganronpa. Essentially you play as Haruaki, a poor slub that got lost in the mountains with no clue where to go until you stumble upon an old rural village with a strange history and even stranger superstitions. Before you know it there has been a murder and the Feast is now afoot.

The less said about Raging Loop the better, although I do want to say a lot about it one day if I ever can write a proper review of it. This is a gripping game that will take hold of you once you get into it though and never let go. I actually 100%-ed this and I very rarely do that. I got every ending, every bonus hidden ending, played the entire game twice to hear all the hidden details it purposely hides on your first play through, played all the bonus epilogue chapters, unlocked all the hidden voice actor interviews, collected all the art work, etc, etc. I was just obsessed with this game, it’s that damn good! And the main character is maybe the best troll in all of video games, god bless Haruaki. 

Root Double

From Takumi Nakazawa, long time contributor to Kotaro Uchikoshi’s work comes a game any fan of Zero Escape or Uchikoshi in general will probably enjoy. Root Double, like its name suggests is a visual novel with two different routes, hence Root Double. The first route stars Watase Kasasagi, the leader of an elite rescue team in the midst of their greatest crisis yet that could lead to nuclear devastation as they try to evacuate a nuclear research facility that has gone awry. 

The other route stars Natsuhiko Tenkawa, an everyday high schooler whose peaceful life is thrown into turmoil when he stumbles upon a terrorist plot to destroy the nuclear facility in the city and his attempts to stop them. Together the two separate plots weave into one and creates a really crazy ride. Part Chernobyl, part science fiction, any fan of the genre will easily enjoy it. And hey it’s kind of relevant to include on this list too since it just got a Switch port this year (I played it on steam though).  

Snack World

I was shocked upon starting Snack World as it is instantly incredibly charming, witty, and downright hilarious at times yet I heard almost zero people talk about it. EVER. This game is Dragon Quest levels of quirky though, and the localization is incredible. The game has such an oddball sense of humor that works really well with its presentation right down to the anime opening video that sings about the most bizarre things. Instead of the usual pump up song about the cool adventure ahead we get stuff like wanting to go out to a restaurant and eat pork chops. 

The self aware/fourth wall breaking humor is just enough to be really funny, but doesn't overstay its welcome and always makes it work right in the context of the dialogue. And finally, just everything; with the menus, the name of side quests and missions, and the character dialogue -- are all just so witty and full of quirky humor. This is one hell of a charming and funny game and addictive to boot.

Trials of Mana

Trials of Mana has gone from one of those legendary unlocalized games, to one of the first major breakthroughs in fan translation, to finally getting an official English release complete with a fully 3D remake. In a lot of ways from a western perspective this game has had an incredible journey. As for this remake itself, I really found myself having tons of fun with it. I loved the graphics, and the voice acting while a bit on the cheaper side almost kind of adds to the charm since both the graphics and acting really give it an old PS2 vibe. I know that is probably just more me being weird but yeah, I had to say it. 

I really hope Square Enix sticks to this style of remake more often, instead of just doing Final Fantasy VII Remakes that break the bank and involve extensive tweaking to both plot and game play. I’ll take smaller budget projects that play more like the original game any day personally. I wouldn’t mind if they also deliver a brand new Mana game all together in this engine either. 

Utawarerumono Trilogy

This year saw the release of the first entry in the series, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen--and thus finally after three years since the sequels Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth came out in 2017 the trilogy is now complete in English. I ended up binging through Prelude to the Fallen very fast shortly after it came out and immediately jumped on to the sequels. Perhaps the best part of 2020 was that I finally played all three of these fantastic games, and did so back-to-back-to-back. Playing the first Utawarerumono was an experience I will never forget, it was like visiting old friends again that I haven’t seen in ages, by and large thanks to the fact that I saw the anime adaption of the game when I was much younger, nearly a decade ago. Back then I would have never of dreamed that I would get to play the actual game and get the real experience. 

And it only got better from here, as all three games are such wonderful experiences from start to finish. The stories are all so deep, and by the time you get to the third entry, Mask of Truth, it’s crazy to see how they all connected over so many years and weaved together into a plot much bigger than they ever were. What carries it beyond all that though has to be the fun and addicting strategy role playing game aspect, which while a bit on the easy side, is still so much fun and helps make the game feel better paced since you get to play the conquests your characters go on and not just read about all the battles they fight. Beyond that the games are packed full of awesome characters, and I know I’ll never forget the amazing leads in all of them. Hakuowlo, Haku, and Oshtor will all go down as some of the greats to me. 

Ys: Memories of Celceta

Ys: Memories of Celceta is a full 3D remake of Ys IV, a rather infamous game in Falcom’s Ys series. Not to get bogged down too much into the history of Falcom but by this point they were facing a lot of hardship and had to outsource this entry to other developers, and thus passed it on to two particular developers they had a business relationship with, creating two unique versions of Ys IV. Tonkin House who had worked on Super Famicom port of Ys III with Falcom ended up creating their own YS IV entry, Mask of the Sun for the very same system, where Hudson soft who had produced the much beloved Ys Books I & II remakes for the Turbografix (PC Engine) CD add-on created their own Ys IV entry Dawn of Ys for that console. Both games followed guidelines and ideas outlined from Falcom themselves but both radically diverged from each other and turned into completely different games. 

Falcom finally putting an end to this debate on which version of Ys IV you should play have gone and created their own definitive Ys IV in 2012 for the Playstation Vita. I played the 2020 remastered version of this remake on my PS4. I even bought this on the Vita when it first came out but I am horrible and only horde games, never play them. So it was a lot of fun to finally play this. 

Memories of Celceta is probably one of the best starting points for anyone looking to get into Ys, especially if you only want to stay with the 3D titles as out of all the 3D entries this explains the most about the world and series protagonist Adol Christian. Beyond that it’s just another fantastic entry in a wonderful series that has a few good twists hidden behind it, especially for long time fans of the series. 

Random Video Game Console Stuff

Xbox Has Blue Dragon: I actually got an Xbox One this year for free from my brother. Because of that I started to play Blue Dragon again and there’s a lot I would love to say about this game. I don’t know if I am fully committed to replaying it all the way through however but I find myself putting in a couple hours every few days and enjoying myself again. Does anyone else remember Blue Dragon? I feel like it really missed its audience and had it come out nowadays and probably for the Switch it would have really resonated with the Dragon Quest fandom a lot more instead of being thrown out to die on Xbox and constantly compared to Final Fantasy VII and the like which it had nothing at all similar with. 

The Turbografx 16 Mini: This was probably one of the best mini consoles that have come out and I feel like thanks to the whole 2020 pandemic thing it was largely forgotten about. That’s a shame, it has a wonderful variety of great games, especially if you count the Japanese ones (god I wish I could play the Japanese version of Snatcher included), and a wonderful interface with fantastic music. One of these days I would really like to be able to play around with the console more seriously than I have already. 

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon Never Existed: So Nintendo localized the first ever Fire Emblem game on Nintendo Switch which is awesome to see them touching Famicom games again--I haven’t seen Nintendo of America rerelease old Famicom titles since Mysterious Murasame Castle on the 3DS, but their trailer hilariously made it seem like this is the first time ever they released Fire Emblem when in fact they had already localized the remake Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS nearly 10 or 11 years ago. I and many other fans I talked to all found this really hilarious, probably solely because of how much they kept repeating the fact that this is the first time you will ever be able to experience Marth’s story.

All that aside though I have to say the collector edition for this newly localized Famicom game is probably the most gorgeous retro reproduction I have seen in a long time, and I really spent many many hours just staring at the all clear glass mock cartridge. I have found myself really obsessing over retro reproductions during 2020, and obtained quite a few this year. I really hope this trend continues to go on in 2021 as recreating classic console packaging and cartridges is a lot of fun.