How's your backlog?

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.
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Pachi
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Currently playing ANB rn, about 6-7hrs in. Some thoughts:
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1. I'm kinda bugged that the villagers 'teleport' to places lol I'm so used to seeing everyone walk to their destinations and chasing them if I have to talk or give them gifts. I thought it was a bug at first, but I read a discussion here on fogu that it's completely normal, along with some other HM games. I guess it's coincidence that I've never played those games. I'm still getting used to the teleporting :lol:

2. I've always been aware at how people say that ANB has a slow start and all, but hoo boy, aside from that, I find the initial state of the village really sad. I mean, there was only like 3 of them in town before the MC moved in and there's nothing there aside from the plaza, their houses, and a couple of trees ;n;

3. I'm amazed at how ridiculously easy it is to chop off the hardwood trees. I only need to hack my axe twice!! compared to SoS and ToT where it takes ages. So easy to clear the farm.
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Kikki
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Weeeuurggh....

Finally on the top floor of the laaaaast element shrine in Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny. AND I'm level 50 (still very hard with 3 or more dragons spawning in a room with a whole bunch of horrible wind elements and top level wizards...a dozen of very powerful enemies while you have to smash up THREE tough orbs before you can hit the lever to unlock one little part of the bridge...good luck doing that three more times to finally get through!) It's harder than fighting the boss fights, by far.

Anyway, all my marriage candidates are finally at 6, I'm a decent level, and I'm ready for the last shrine boss, which I'll do tomorrow. There should be another section after that, too, that ties everything all together and finally wraps up the storyline. Looks like I should be done by mid-December as hoped, at least.

I like the game but man, the challenges get...not exactly difficult, but really thick.
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Bluie
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My Switch profile finally let me check the hours played on Ys8, and i'm 20 hours in, so i've got quite aways to go. GRIS comes out tomorrow so i'll be play it to completion before going back to Ys8. I'm also very tempted Phantasy Star (Sega Ages), but if I do pick it up as well, it'll be on the back burner for awhile.
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ryume
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I've cracked open the Kingdom Hearts compilation for PS4. It looks just as colorful and charming now as it did 14 years ago when it first came out. If you've never played any or even only played one in the series, and want more, $40 for every single game to date is a darn good deal. Decided I'm going to attempt to at least replay KH 1 & 2 before the third is released. Between these games and « Harvest Goddess » of War, I should be plenty preoccupied before the next wave of things I actually care about is released.
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Kikki
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I tried Kingdom Hearts once (I don't remember which one, I think...dream drop something?) but I couldn't get the hang of the controls. I had friends back then who LOVED it, though, or one of the ones before it. (Which is why I tried it in the first place, of course.)

I'm finished Tides of Destiny! Well, the main part. The end was actually really good :) I mean, I probably should have been able to predict it, but for whatever reason, this time I didn't, even though afterwards I thought "Oh...duh. Of course, that makes sense." Lol.

Though...I know why it has to be this way given how they made the story, but the fact that you can't start any of the marriage stuff before the game ENDS is...sub-optimal, imo. I think I can play long enough to get Sonja hitched to James, but without a story to play along at the same time, it's gonna be kind of dull.
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ryume
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EDIT: Congrats on finishing! Hopefully you can hang in long enough to get married lol

Dream Drop Distance was definitely one of my least favorites. Honestly, with the exception of Birth by Sleep, I didn't love any of the portable KH games. The main 2 are much better and are pretty straightforward action RPGs, IMO. The style is fairly reminiscent of Secret of Mana, not as polished as Ys VIII, but again, they both came out more than 10 years ago.

If you're interested in giving it another shot, I would recommend playing the original Kingdom Hearts, which has been re-released as Final Mix 1.5, either standalone for a ridiculous $50 on the PSN store, or as part of a used copy for about $25 on Amazon, which also includes Kingdom Hearts II, re-released as KH 2.5 (seriously, the nomenclature and numbering in this franchise is ridiculous).

It's been like 13 years since KH2 was released. I really hope they wrap it up completely in the third game. I still want to see what happens to Sora, but a 13 year gap really makes things lose their luster sometimes :lol:
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Kikki
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Thanks. I should be almost to the part where I need to make a file just in case I change my mind about who to play as for the post game section. :)

I think the one my friend loved must have been one of the first ones, not one of the handheld ones. She was very into the...er...Sora...nope. Can't remember the names of the other two. But the friendship between I believe three main characters?

I see it's on amazon.ca for $37, for a compilation of both 1.5 and 2.5. They appear to be long games, 50+ hours each, so under $20 per game seems okay, if they've held up well. I haven't really seen how they look or play, other than that one I tried a demo of and just couldn't wrap my head around the combat, lol. Mind you, I kind of don't like Disney characters very much. Mickey, Goofy and so on. Though I have no idea how that all works in the game anyway.
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ryume
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Holy crow, the Canadian price for the story so far collection on PS4 is nearly $25 USD more than it is stateside! $84.99 CDN = OUCH. I was almost going to post that what you found is how much the mega collection costs, but clearly that is not the case lol

Goofy and Donald are EXTREMELY prominent. If you don't like Disney, I would steer away from this for sure. It's extremely intertwined and plays an integral part to the story and gameplay. You visit different worlds based on various Disney movies, Donald and Goofy are two of your primary traveling companions... definitely not a good buy if you aren't even a semi-Disney fan lol.
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Kikki
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Kingdom Hearts stuff
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Hmm? It's $37, CAD, for this. That's not what you meant when you were talking about 1.5 and 2.5? I didn't find any games that cost $85. Oh...with 2.8 added in there's one that price. But you could buy the 1.5 + 2.5 collection and buy 2.8 separately (costs $34) and it'd come to $71, so a bit cheaper.

Yah, I'd have to say I basically don't like the classic Disney characters. I'm okay with ones like the little mermaid and so on, but not so much the classic gang. Even as a child I didn't find them very interesting, lol. Oh well, I was really only mildly curious about Kingdom Hearts because my friend was so nuts about it...I didn't have any interest in it on my own. (Except Donald, whom I do actually somewhat like. The way he get so spitting mad...kind of literally...about EVERYTHING...I don't know, I just love that angry duck tirade.)
EDIT: Playing as Sonja now, and boy...they make Aden really tempting, as he's SO easy to secure, since you very nearly start with 9 hearts with him. At least, when I first checked, I was at a full bar on 8 so all I needed to do was trigger the event to reach 9. And also, now that I'm not controlling him, I kind of miss him, even though I found him rather cold and generally a bit impolite before. I may end up going for him instead of James, now, when I hadn't had any doubts before. Well, I'll save before I make a decision like that, obviously...then I can see both :)

I love Sonja, though...she's the cutest girl on the island, her clothes are great, and I love the way she runs. She looks more heroic and dashing than Aden did, imo. :)

EDIT 2: Got Aden to 10 Hearts...answering the 10th heart event correctly seems to automatically make it so you're dating? Good thing you're allowed to date everyone with no consequences, I guess. Sonja has her first date on Fall 28. All the others are at 9, so I'll keep stuffing gifts into them until then and see how that goes. I think all I have to do is save before going on the date (the second date rather than the first?) because as the girl, if you ask why they're fidgeting after the date ends, they propose. So if I save right before that I should be able to change my mind and go with any of the others. I think, anyway.

EDIT 3: Dating all 4 guys now. Feels really wrong, lol. Feels like there MUST be consequences. But apparently not unless you try dating someone when you're *married*.
Last edited by Kikki on Dec 12, 2018 3:53 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Ronin19
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I've been busy with Smash Bros. and Dragon Age Origins lately. I unlocked all the fighters and 100% adventure mode for Smash Bros. Ultimate and I'm about to finish the main story for Dragon Age Origins again. Once I'm done with Origins, I'm going to do my canon run of Dragon Age 2. I bought Omensight for Switch as soon as I saw it. I'm glad I waited on it; I was waiting for a Switch port.
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Kikki
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I think I'm done. Got Sonja married to Aden (James' events are sadly all of him either being a stupidly doting brother, or a passionate but rather inept merchant...even the last one, which I felt should have leaned a little more to the romantic.) but it takes 2 seasons to have a child and there is nothing else to do. I've slept through two weeks already but it feels really pointless, so...I'm done.

This means I can move my PS3 down to the basement and bring my Wii U back up. I might even do that this morning before I head out. Even if I do nothing else, I am so looking forward to getting into XCX and just walking around that gorgeous world to listen to those soundtracks.

All I've got left this month (this year!) is Mysteria on the 18th, which will probably only take 2-3 days. And then it'll be 2018 summary time for me. :)
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Ronin19
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Just about done with Dragon Age Origins. I just need to go through the final quest in Awakening and play Golems of Amgarrack and Witch Hunt before moving on to Dragon Age 2. Afterward, I'm going to play my last three files for Mass Effect Andromeda and then play Omensight. Depending on time though, I may be playing games I may or may not get for Christmas. I think this is my way of taking a break from completing my backlog and just playing what I want for now.
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Kikki
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Ronin19 wrote:Depending on time though, I may be playing games I may or may not get for Christmas. I think this is my way of taking a break from completing my backlog and just playing what I want for now.
Yeah, I feel like bringing the Wii U back up and starting a new file of XCX (which I did yesterday), just so that I can explore around with all those new location discoveries popping up and so on, is kind of like a year-end reward, too :) I just love finding stuff in this game, and this is how I want to spend all this free gaming time left in 2018, rather than buying one more new game or trying to complete one more backlog game. I could easily complete one more this year I'm sure, possibly two, and end the year at (+12), but I'm happy with (+10) and I just want to stroll around XCX again and place all the probes, find all the scattered debris, locate all the scenic viewpoints, and etc. :)
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Bluie
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I beat GRIS, It's a 3-4 hour game. It's very pretty, I honestly don't know what game to compare it to artwise (maybe Child of Light?). It's like you're literally playing a painting. It's just a platformer though with some puzzle elements. Being the studio's first game, I'd say it's very impressive. I'd love to see them use the same engine/style in another genre. I'm off to go find the OST because it'd be great to chill/write to.

With that done, back to Ys8 until I finish it. Then i'll start Hyper Light Drifter. I also bought Phantasy Star, but it'll be on the back burner for awhile.
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ryume
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I've given up on Kingdom Hearts because I am simply way too nauseous when playing. Three something about games on the PS4 Pro that makes the motion blur effect that much worse when you're moving around. It happened to me with DQXI, but thankfully that was minimal because the camera angle was wider and after a couple days, I got used to it.

I picked up Mana Khemia Student Alliance for $5 on my Vita. It says it's the fourth entry, but as it's the ONLY one available on the PSN, I figured eh, why not. It's cute; the academy music drives me and my husband a little nuts, but otherwise I find it to be enjoyable. The leveling up system is a bit odd, but I guess if you're an alchemist, it sort of makes sense to have stat increases linked to crafting a specific item. The battle system also reminded me a lot of Grandia. I'm only a couple hours in, but even if I don't finish, it was $5 well spent if it's anything like an intro to the Atelier franchise overall.
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