I mentioned weak combat last week, but I have gotten used to it now. My companions keep dying though, they kill a few but often end up dead, specially my tank. But with some upgrades, I can just dodge around and keep attacking with my magic missile, so not too bad.
One good thing about the game is, when you are switching from one region to next, you end up in a campsite (which work as a hidden loading screen), allowing you to update equipment of all your companions (even the one not in party), put away anything good, and sell everything else. Means you don't have to worry about not getting over-encumbered before you reach another town.
Finished Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All. That last episode was something else. Probably the strongest one in the series yet. It was also great to see the character progression. Still have one game left in the trilogy, but will play it later.
Played and finished Raging Justice. A side scroller brawler. I liked the art style, though the moving animation is bit weird, but nothing too bad. It was a fun game, though a bit difficult at times, as you get tons of enemies at once. Had to use 3-4 continues, but finished the game.
You can replay using different characters or play the "Brawl" mode, which is basically an Arcade mode where enemies keep coming in waves. This was released before the current resurgence of brawlers like Street of Rage 4 or TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, and frankly isn't as good as those, but if you have already played those and want to try another side-scroller, it's a pretty good one.
Played and finished Ape Out. Like Raging Justice this has been on my wishlist for quite a while, so just picked it up. It's a bit like Hotline Miami, but you are an ape, so you can't use weapons. You can only attack, or hold the people as shield. The visuals are really gerat, very minimal but very impactful. Trailers don't do justice to the game. Same goes with the sound, it's Jazz-ish, I think. Highly recommended to every one to at least try the demo.
Currently playing Earthlock. It's a JRPG, but with modern visuals. I have only played it a little bit yet, so can't say much about it. The games has a demo that carry overs the save, so if you want, you can check it out.
With all those games, didn't get much time for Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter , but I think I am very close to end of the first chapter. It's nice to see meet the people from first game, and visit those locations again. But not much to say about this either. Will try to focus on this one this week. Though I do want to finish my current Switch game (Earthlock) before the release of Zelda. So let's see.
What about all of you? What have you been playing?
Yeah, drift can be really annoying. Hopefully the next iteration of JoyCon with Switch 2 will be better. There are some rumours to the effect, but we won't know anything until they officially announce it, and we get them in our hands.
I got AstroBot yesterday, so I started that. I also stared a seasonal Druid in d4 that I am working on leveling. Plus the new NMS expedition (I do them on both ps5 and steam). And I need to do the Emboar teraraid in pokemon violet today. And I am running d&d tomorrow.
How are you liking AstroBot? I had high hopes for it, but I am very surprised with the scores it has been getting. Some people are also comparing it with Mario Odyssey, which is a very high praise in my good. Also, a really good thing, if true. We need more games like that.
I have only played 3 levels so far, but it was a lot of fun. There are some neat mechanics in it.
I have let WoW dominate my life for many years and missed out on a lot of other games. So I have never played Mario Odyssey. My brother and his son have played nothing but AstroBot since it released.
His review of it:
Ahhh lol kk, yea cant help it, this platformer is truely badass
Best one in series so far
I've been working my way through unlocking all the charters in Smash Ultimate. Otherwise, I'm playing Another Crabs Tresure and Xdefient on XBox. I really don't get alot of time to play in the week anymore
In Smash Ultimate, do you mean the playable characters or the spirits? I've been grinding away at the spirits still, and I've got about 175 still to go. The spirit board is almost clear I think, so I'm guessing there's loads (like most of the DLC ones) that I still have to buy using gold.
Playable. I swear I had them mostly unlocked before having a kid, but they seemed to have disappeared. I know I definitely had Luigi unlocked at some point, but I just refought him
Finished Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All. That last episode was something else. Probably the strongest one in the series yet. It was also great to see the character progression. Still have one game left in the trilogy, but will play it later.
I think JFA is overall the weakest game in that trilogy, but that last case more than makes up for it. It's an S-Tier case and one of the most memorable in the series.
Side game #1. Played mostly with Link and enjoyed it, but not as much as the original Crypt of the Necrodancer.
I think what annoyed me most was the uneven difficulty - it's really hard at first, then you get a good weapon and a couple heart upgrades and breeze through most of the game, only for the difficulty to spike up again in a nasty final dungeon before the final boss.
Chapter 1 was stupidly long, by the time I finished it the in-game progress display was at 24%!
It focused on the beastman tribe and the second heroine Alilah, and overall was a good section. Highlights were the side-characters, which I liked way more than the main heroines so far - Lyth, Fal, Curio and even the three beastman warriors were great.
Also hoping we get less sections where it shifts the POV to the villains, because even though those sections were short they still managed to bore me to tears.
Anyway, Chapter 2 is looking like it's going to be a breather episode focused on the resistance with more worldbuilding. Current progress is 18% into Chapter 2, 26% overall.
Hmm... I think I can agree that overall it's weaker than the first one. If it's the weakest game, then I can hope for a better next game, sound great.
The Messenger is REALLY good. I wasn't much interested in the game initially, but loved the tight gameplay when I got into it. I finished the game, but didn't 100% everything. I think it was some collectibles or something, don't remember. Other than the gameplay, it even has good humour.
Hmm… I think I can agree that overall it’s weaker than the first one. If it’s the weakest game, then I can hope for a better next game, sound great.
If you ask 10 people "rank the Ace Attorney games" you'll get 10 very different answers (which IMO shows how consistently good the series tends to be), but there's three games that tend to hang near the top of most lists:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations
This last one is the only AA game I haven't played yet, but I can definitely say that the first two are my favorites so far.
Really hyped to get the Investigations bundle, will probably be the next "main" game I play once I finish Hatsumira.
The Messenger is REALLY good. I wasn’t much interested in the game initially, but loved the tight gameplay when I got into it.
I'm getting a bit frustrated with some aspects of the game (mainly the excess of cheap deaths), but overall it's really good. I got to the part where it turns "metroidvania" and it was a really cool change.
I'm still addicted to Dead Cells. I got Balatro and a bunch of ROMs recently, but Dead Cells keeps calling me back. I've beaten it on the first two difficulties, but very hard is kicking my ass
Aside from Balatro, I downloaded the first four Tony Hawk games for PSX, both Crazy Taxis and Sega Bass fishing games for Dreamcast. I also got Gauntlet Legends to play with my partner
I grabbed some of the Pokemon games for DS since I didn't really get to them. Got Pokemon Pinball for GBA as well. So much nostalgia. Maybe I can stop playing Dead Cells long enough to get to these others
Cassette Beasts. Man what a game, it's like Pokémon but everything's better. I almost can't believe that's an indie game (it's not perfect obv, but still)
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Friend came to visit from out of town, played some casual 3S for a little while. Also managed to rope him into trying out Waku Waku 7 and Twinkle Star Sprites as I wanted to show off some fun hidden gems in my collection.
Splatoon 3 - Haven't touched Salmon Run since the last Big Run. Was able to put up a 154 right away, but I know that gold target isn't actually much. Still can't kill a damn Triumvirate.
Switching between Horizon Forbidden West and The Planet Crafter.
Horizon I've meant to play for a while, and finally got stuck into it. Most of the way through, but like all these open world games there's a ton to do, so I've got a bit to go.
Planet Crafter I haven't played for the last few updates, so I'm enjoying exploring the new biomes and getting a sweet base built in a new file.
If you loved the first one, you'll love the second. They really didn't make any huge changes so you have something to look forward to when you do bite the bullet. Most of the changes are QoL improvements and a new story in a new map with new groups. A good scratch for my AAA itch.
And playing solo. This is actually the first time I've played after the multiplater update, so I've always played solo. The few gaming people I know would probably rather play CoD or Helldivers, so I don't expect to try mp for a while. Still fun solo though. Recommend if you like open world survival craft. It's a bit unpolished due to a tiny dev team (I want to say they are all the way to 6 devs now, started as 2) but fun nonetheless.
Been back into Honkai Star Rail, bur I'm really seeing things petering out for F2P, (pull funny money sources drying up,) so I've been slowing down on it.
Kinda wallowing around with what to play after that, but I think I decided on The Last Guardian. Never got very far and the giant hurt cat is fun to interact with.