Backlog 2022

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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Kikki
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Well, I'm back to being between games. 30 days to XC3, which is the same day as Digimon Survive (which I'll be overlooking for a while to come back and look at afterwards, see if I want it when XC3 is finished.) I downloaded the Fallen Legon: Revenants demo again, and I do vaguely remember playing it. The characters are cool and the art is cool and the story is cool...that's probably why I want it? The gameplay doesn't really suit me, though, since it's fighty, and the reviews are pretty bad...apparently the story, while good in theory, is delivered poorly and possibly...incomplete, in some places? But this game along with Void Terrarium are two games I KNOW don't suit me, yet for some reason I still really want them. (-___-) Lapis Labyrinth, too, but to a much lesser degree...I only barely want LL, and the desire clears up when I go take a look at it and see again that it's very much a roguelike. Truth is, weirdly: I like dungeon crawlers. But NOT the roguelikes. ("But no elephants!")

Remembered that I have a second ACNH town...there's one on my Lite! Which means I don't really need to worry about selling turnips at a loss; it'd be pretty rare that I can't at least get my money back, with a second town to use. Also my cousin now has two towns, as well, so...four turnip prices to choose from, if I'm desperate. Though her second town probably isn't at a stage where turnip trading is possible. (My mom gave her a Switch O-LED for how great she was during the crunch with grandma, dad, and insane levels of business at the greenhouse in April and May. It arrived two days ago. I ordered it on mom's behalf since mom is terrible with the internet, and that passive cousin of mine was excited enough to ASK if it had been delivered yet, so yay, she's happy!)

Well, time to tootle about with my backlog, I guess, though I've no motivation for it. RF5 is at the top of the list, but I just can't get into it. Argh, gotta have another try at it, though! Gotta, gotta, GOTTA. It's not like it's BAD, it's just so much of a repeat, and I like the characters, the story and the town less than 4's. I'm really hoping that 6 will have more of its own identity within the series. Oh well, farming sims abound now (though so, SO many are still in development with no way to know if they'll actually make it to full release) so once I have a Steam Deck I should have lots of choice. And Harvestella even does the farming + RPG thing. Fingers crossed! (Though I'll still be sad if Olive Town and RF5 are the end and Bokumono and I really are parting ways instead of merely in a rough patch. But it's been a long time since the reveal of Olive Town, now, and I'm mostly comfortable with the disappointment of my alienation from the series and its spin-offs. At least I can keep playing ANB and Trio on 3DS!)

IRL I'm too tired to actually do anything, lol. Well, gonna try to gulp some caffeine, turn up some energetic music, and get things done this morning anyway.
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FarmingForDaysMan
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I just finished taking a DIY Covid test, and I’m waiting on the results. I’ll be surprised if the results are positive. I keep telling myself I can’t buy any more games, but I bought SSBU last Saturday. I started playing the adventure mode with the normal difficulty, but yesterday I changed the difficulty setting to very easy. All I care about is getting all of the characters, and I want to achieve that goal as soon as possible. Peach is epic :>
I finished the Lamiroir case in Apollo Justice last week(?), and I’ve started the last case. I think it’s the last case, anyways. I’m hoping it’s not. I’ve really enjoyed this game :lol:

Edit: Oh, my cousin was telling me about Harvestella. He said that it looked like Rune Factory. Maybe it will be a good game?

Edit 2: My test results are negative! Yay :D I think I just have a sinus infection or something.
Last edited by FarmingForDaysMan on Jun 30, 2022 5:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
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FarmingForDaysMan
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I was trying to edit my post, not quote myself. Apologies for the spam :lol:
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yzafre
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Ronin19 wrote: Jun 29, 2022 1:57 am Hello all!

I've combated food poisoning soon after beating Neo TWEWY.
Oooh, what did you think of that one? I absolutely adored the game, but haven't gotten to speak with anyone else that played it.



Kikki, if I might venture a suggestion re:Automata - it's coming out in October, if I remember correctly? Maybe wait till spring to play it. I know you have SAD issues similar to my own, if not worse, and the NieR games are... not happy. They're really good! But mood-wise the best I can say is that ending E turns out to be vaguely hopeful. Everything else tends to make you ache. If you're like me, where SAD makes negative emotions hit harder and linger far longer than is in any way reasonable... the dark half of the year might not be the best time to play it. I played them mid-summer last year and that was probably for the best.


Reyvin wrote: Jun 28, 2022 8:56 am I played a bit of Three Hopes though and am now in chapter 6 of Verdant Wildfire (was that the name? Lol). Gotta say, I actually feel like the dialogue is more strategic than the main game, Three Houses. Did not expect that, since I felt like the first FE Warriors game was in a bit of an odd place regarding the story and characters. Really liking Three Hopes so far!
Yes! I'm on the same page with the dialogue! I think the way I put it to a friends is that it all feels even more political.

I just finished the Scarlet Blaze Route last night! I then proceeded to go track down a video of the "alt route" you can get if you don't recruit Byleth. It was very flashy, but I have questions. A lot of questions. Here's hoping Claude's route is the "lore route", like it was in Three Houses.

Spoiler:
Because I recruited Byleth, Arval turned on me. Sort of. They seem to be a different person than Epimenides. An off-shoot of Epimendes? TWSITD are obviously evil, but I really want to know more about what went down between Sothis and their people when she landed (from space? Are we ever going to get clarification on if Sothis is actually for real from space?). Given the whole... making weapons out of bones thing (that was them and not Nemesis, right? Or them working with Namesis?), they probably always had some evil leanings, but. I feel like we've only gotten one side of the story.

Another take on Sothis in this game, too! One with her memories who is... honestly kinda scary! She comes at you with intent to kill early on, obviously pissed about Arval. Also, the way she's kind of... manipulative to get Byleth to give up their body is. Hm.

If I took the Shez v Byleth completely out of the greater lore's context I wouldn't feel to bad about killing Byleth, given they're just mercs hired on different sides of the war, and like. Sothis and Arval/Epimenides are kinda the same level of suddenly murderous. But when you add on that Epimendies are associated with TWSITD, and that killing Byleth seems to give you the "worse" ending... I think I'll continue recruiting Byleth and watching the alt endings online for my other two runs.
I think it would be cool if there was a secret fourth ending once you completed all routes, given there were four(-ish) in the original game and this ending seemed kinda... I don't know, it feels like there was something left out?

Don't get me wrong, I am Absolutely Not Expecting It. I am 99% sure what you see is what you get, here. But. Fun to imagine.

EDIT: Actually, I just opened up my game for a little bit of play-time before work. My NG+ file has a little sprite of Edelgard off to the side, I assumed to show her route. So, maybe there will be some kind or reward for finishing all of them. Probably still not a new route! But. Something.
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Kikki
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yzafre wrote: Jun 30, 2022 5:50 amKikki, if I might venture a suggestion re:Automata - it's coming out in October, if I remember correctly? Maybe wait till spring to play it. I know you have SAD issues similar to my own, if not worse, and the NieR games are... not happy. They're really good! But mood-wise the best I can say is that ending E turns out to be vaguely hopeful. Everything else tends to make you ache. If you're like me, where SAD makes negative emotions hit harder and linger far longer than is in any way reasonable... the dark half of the year might not be the best time to play it. I played them mid-summer last year and that was probably for the best.
Sure :) Honestly, I suspected. The world and the characters in the demo alone give off the feeling of tragedy. That adorable little...9S? I was going to call him HB, but then I remembered that that's a pencil, not a character. 9S may be wrong, too, but you know the one...he's one of only two characters who appeared in the demo. He makes me want to give him cookies, and maybe a puppy. Characters that make me want to give them cookies always end up being tragic, so almost as soon as I met him, I felt like he was somehow doomed by his very adorableness. Or at least, his adorableness to ME...but he's so cute, I can't imagine that everyone else doesn't find him adorable, too! But I'm a sucker for naturally, almost excessively-polite characters. I don't know what gets me going about politeness, but just check my history via Sanjay, for example, or Rean, or Jude. Perhaps it's the sense of reserve and self-control that I like. It doesn't work for me in girls, though. What I love in a female MC is comedy...I want a girl who's so outrageously entertaining that she has little to no dignity, lol, ala Kyoko Mogami. I like my guys very controlled, and my girls out-of-control, lol.

I don't know if tragedy has any more effect on me in winter than any other time...I suspect it doesn't. I don't find my version of SAD has much to do with emotion, just sheer exhaustion...an inability to do or think much of anything. But it's not like I need to risk it :) Thanks for taking the time to read and respond for my benefit! :)

EDIT: I'm still in the mood for more VN, and it turns out that Birushana was released two days ago. At first I didn't think I'd be interested since it seems like it might be romance heavy (I prefer story-heavy, while not completely ignoring romance). The thing is...I have a HUGE love of stories where the main character is a woman pretending to be a man. I don't know why. I'm fairly self-aware when it comes to recognizing my own traits, but if you need me to dig further down, to the WHY...then things get a little more uncertain. I looked up reviews...and tehy're practically glowing. I think the closest one to a negative ranked it a 7 out of 10 (I've seen about half a dozen reviews so far, and carefully skipped to the end to the spoiler-free 'overall thoughts' sections.) And apparently it is crazy long, at least as long as the original Hakuoki. One reviewer said it took them well over 60 hours, which is a LOT for an otoge...and it probably means that the story is fairly deep, because you can't drag pure romances out that long. (At least not without killing your entire audience from sheer cringe.)

And it's on sale, and not a piddly 10% new-release discount. A slightly-less-piddly 20%, yay. :) The original price is about 20% lower than a AAA game to begin with. So anyway...I got it. It's still downloading, though, but I'm so draggy today, I feel no impatience at all when waiting on things, lol...too zoned out! I slept two hours after lunch today, after putting my YouTube playlist on ridiculously loud this morning to clear my head and give myself some energy to clean the place up a bit with. I still have a lot to do, but the counters are cleared! I can cook dinner comfortably. :)

Time for stretching and if the stretching works to loosen these knots, then a walk, though I want another two-hour nap, lol. (Seriously, what is UP with me, it is JUNE!) Then time to make dinner. Then I can try my new game...I hope it's at least mostly as good as many seem to think.
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So I’m finally finished with Rune Factory 5, yay! TBH, I loved the last town event scene with your kids and thought it was really cute. But was putting many hours into the game worth it to see this event? Probably not. Oh well, It’s off my to do list!

I played the demo of Live A Live and I loved it. I honestly wanted to play more of it, I enjoyed it that much.

That mini Direct a couple days ago was amazing, the new Mario Rabbids game, a PAC world remake and Harvestella really excited me! Harvestella in particular though. It’s not a must buy for me at the mo, but if it isn’t too dark, I think I will give it a try. Also, is it just me, but the Doraemon SoS sequel looks so good, it makes me wish they asked Bandai Namco to help make the mainline titles instead of three rings!

I started Stardew Valley the other day and I appreciate that one person created a game as good as it is… but that becomes quite apparent when you look at the bachelors. I know some people might like them, but I personally don’t find any of them appealing at all. In fact the problem with most of the candidates in Stardew I found is that you have to “fix” a lot of them. After playing I found that PoOT took a lot of things from Stardew Valley, including a few things I flat out didn’t like in PoOT, heck that is even apparent with the UI. It makes me think that story of seasons should be it’s own thing and not copy Stardew Valley, not because I think Stardew Valley is bad (I am actually enjoying the gameplay) but because each farming series has its own vibe, strengths and weaknesses.
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Bluie
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I've had zero motivation to start MHR Sunbreak or continue FE 3 Hopes since my last post, and I think it's because I'm still sick? IDK but, before covid hit me, I was suuuuper excited for both, then I was really sick and upset that I was missing out on my new release highs, and now that I'm in recovery mode I just have no desire to touch either of them. I feel like maybe once my head stops feeling like an over inflated balloon my mood might shift, but right now I don't even want to boot my Switch at all. I'm not really into playing FFXIV either unless it's my dallies too. Thing is, time feels like it's crawling, and it's irritating me because the faster time goes the quicker I'll get better. So, I ended up going back to a game I thought I never would: Genshin Impact.

I'm still not a fan of the Chinese government having so much sway over a game I've put time and money into, but there is something comfy about Genshin that felt like home booting it up again (also, it runs like a DREAM on PS5). It's been apparently around 6 months since I last played because my wishing history is completely empty and there's an absolute crapton of things to do. I can't progress the main story until I do a bunch of character quests and fully unlock the Chasam area, so that's what I'm working on right now. I also went and did the whole drum event (and the Oni dude is treating me like a bff when I never have event met him yet lol). So yeah, just wandering around and finding treasure is really helping the time pass and I'll keep on playing until I don't want to anymore I guess? I was able to do the Divine Damsel of Devastation storyline and IDK if it's because I'm sick or because music moves me easily, but the song sang by Yun Jin just about made me bawl. A little sad I missed out on my fave Albedo's events, but at least YT has those covered.
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Kikki
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Somerandom wrote: Jun 30, 2022 8:46 pmI started Stardew Valley the other day and I appreciate that one person created a game as good as it is… but that becomes quite apparent when you look at the bachelors. I know some people might like them, but I personally don’t find any of them appealing at all. In fact the problem with most of the candidates in Stardew I found is that you have to “fix” a lot of them. After playing I found that PoOT took a lot of things from Stardew Valley, including a few things I flat out didn’t like in PoOT, heck that is even apparent with the UI. It makes me think that story of seasons should be it’s own thing and not copy Stardew Valley, not because I think Stardew Valley is bad (I am actually enjoying the gameplay) but because each farming series has its own vibe, strengths and weaknesses.
I agree that each company should do their own thing. The bachelors thing is kinda true, too, but Elliot was always my favourite, in spite of the horrible disadvantage of looking like Fabio, and he doesn't need any fixing at all, he's a dolly :) But I hope to one day play this on SteamDeck where I'll be able to mod it, and make poor Elliot less gorilla-like in looks. (And make the earth less ORANGE, which has always been a huge turn-off for me about Stardew's overall appearance.)
Bluie wrote: Jul 01, 2022 2:34 am I've had zero motivation to start MHR Sunbreak or continue FE 3 Hopes since my last post, and I think it's because I'm still sick? IDK but, before covid hit me, I was suuuuper excited for both, then I was really sick and upset that I was missing out on my new release highs, and now that I'm in recovery mode I just have no desire to touch either of them.
Aww :( :( :( I felt this so much, it broke my heart a little! Hugs and cookies for Bluie. I really hope the desire to play those games returns.

~

Birushana is good. The common route is surprisingly short...many Otomate games have the common route being half or more than half of the entire game, but in Birushana it's a quarter at most. I've only done one route...the simple starter guy, Noritsune. And only the happy route. (Everyone has at least one bad ending, and a bittersweet 'tragic' ending, plus their good 'love' ending. And I think four of the routes unlock alternate 'IF' routes with side characters, though I haven't run into that yet since I don't think Noritsune unlocks anything.) Unlike other gender-benders, the disguised-female character does NOT get revealed early. (Or didn't in the first route, anyway...I suspect it'll be different with each route. Noritsune isn't all that observant.) I prefer that. Though interestingly, in the first route at least, her being disguised as a man never really means much. She's Shanao, regardless of gender.

Interested to see how those things will change in other routes! And it's not romance heavy at all. A review I saw was wrong, imo, that it's always there...the romance IS quite far on the back-burner and doesn't really get focused on until quite late in the game.
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FarmingForDaysMan
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I played SSBU with two of my coworkers last night. It was very fun and amusing. I’ve been making extremely slow progress in Apollo Justice this week. My headaches haven’t been too bad, but having them for four days in a row has been annoying. I had one earlier in the day, but it seems to have gone away :shifty: I have the Ace Attorney trilogy on both my 3DS and my Switch. I’ve started playing the Switch edition of the trilogy just for kicks and giggles. I regret my decision to buy Story of Seasons instead of the two Ace Attorney games for the 3DS :’)

I hope that everyone has been well :)
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Bluie wrote: Jul 01, 2022 2:34 amI can't progress the main story until I do a bunch of character quests and fully unlock the Chasam area, so that's what I'm working on right now. I also went and did the whole drum event (and the Oni dude is treating me like a bff when I never have event met him yet lol). So yeah, just wandering around and finding treasure is really helping the time pass and I'll keep on playing until I don't want to anymore I guess? I was able to do the Divine Damsel of Devastation storyline and IDK if it's because I'm sick or because music moves me easily, but the song sang by Yun Jin just about made me bawl. A little sad I missed out on my fave Albedo's events, but at least YT has those covered.
I definitely got very teary eyed listening to Yun Jin's singer. :) It's a sweet sequence, and it probably doesn't help that the game is gobbling up all your nostalgia feels for it. Hope you're feeling back to normal soon! And with no side effects.



Had SGDQ on all night tonight, and it's been really lovely. They did an Ocarina of Time showcase tonight, showed a lot of content that never made it into the final game--some stuff I've heard of, other stuff I haven't. Highly recommend for long time Zelda fans. I watch a little bit every GDQ and that's been one of the neatest things I've ever seen.

Not too much Professor Layton: Azran Legacy progress. I'm cutting back on my game time since I stopped playing Elden Ring. Hoping to finish the game this weekend though. It's a holiday weekend in the US, and apparently in spite of all the whining about gas prices supposedly about DOUBLE of normal people are going to be on the road. My grandma was going to visit, but she doesn't feel comfortable being on the road with all of it, and I can't blame her. :/

Guess I'll use the extra time to knock another game out.

Edit: This morning's Genshin stream has been a « Snuggly Bunny » « Cow Poopoo » show. Kept lagging, skipping, going back. The good news! The islands are back, and it looks like next update is Sumeru! Had to go to Twitter for the preview. It's so pretty.
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Bluie
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Kikki wrote: Jul 01, 2022 5:14 amAww :( :( :( I felt this so much, it broke my heart a little! Hugs and cookies for Bluie. I really hope the desire to play those games returns.
Thanks, Kiki. On the plus side the games aren't going anywhere. I could always get back to them later. I'm not entirely sure why excitement/motivation has been sapped, but it'll come back eventually. Sometimes I buy games and don't play them for years, so maybe it'll end up being like that, or maybe I'll feel up to it next week, who knows? I guess I am missing out on the fandom release highs, but I somehow couldn't care less at the moment. For the plus side of things, I am still finding love in gaming, just not in two dauntingly large games I have little time/patience for.
Mikodesu wrote: Jul 01, 2022 10:16 pm I definitely got very teary eyed listening to Yun Jin's singer. :) It's a sweet sequence, and it probably doesn't help that the game is gobbling up all your nostalgia feels for it. Hope you're feeling back to normal soon! And with no side effects.
Haha, it's still affecting me. I think about the climax of the song and still get a little teary eyed. Thanks for the well wishes.

----

I had to be at work for the past two days and it was a mix of miserable and OK. All of my coworkers think I shouldn't be there except my manager, who treated me with kiddie gloves the first day and normally on the second. Like, buddy, pal, I'm still sick and I have to stand in a cooled room for 8 hours. I'm not back to normal. Accept that I'm going to slow for awhile or let me keep recovering at home. There is no in between.

On the gaming side of things, still just bumming around FFXIV and Genshin. I basically go onto FFXIV and do a beast tribe, then log off, get on Genshin and work on story content for awhile, then log off. It's helping pass time and aiding in my recovery. I can stop and blow my nose or have a coughing fit without worrying about dying when I'm just wandering or watching cutscenes.

Speaking of, I've been watching a large chunk of FFXIV's playerbase lose their MINDS over the requirements for the new relic weapon. Instead of having to do grindy instanced areas or difficult raid series, you now just have to watch cutscenes of the slapstick sidequests. The horror, right? There are three trials attached to it, but you can unsync the first two and instakill while the 3rd one is really fun and has highly coveted rewards. It's a win-win in my book as I love the quest series and have had it all done for awhile now, but people are acting like this is the worst thing that has ever happened to them. Slapstick humor isn't for everyone, but alternatively you can just press the skip cutscene button and you'll be Endwalker relic weapon ready in 4ish hours. I swear this fandom is full of « Baaaa *glomp* » babies with nothing better to do than be negative. Relics are optional anyways, no one is FORCING you to get the shiny weapon that'll be irrelevant in combat the moment the next expansion drops. Good lord.

ANYWAYS, I think most of my gaming excitement is stuck on Splatoon 3 and Pokemon S&V (and a little side of Harvestella). I also would like Nintendo to just have a direct focused on their games so we can finally get confirmation on the new mainline Fire Emblem that had a leakfest a weekish ago. Unfortunately, it's unlikely we'll get one until after Splatoon 3 releases, so I guess I'll try to be patient until the end of year Direct we usually get.
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So it hasn't been that long since my last update, but here we go!
yzafre wrote: Jun 30, 2022 5:50 am
Ronin19 wrote: Jun 29, 2022 1:57 am Hello all!

I've combated food poisoning soon after beating Neo TWEWY.
Oooh, what did you think of that one? I absolutely adored the game, but haven't gotten to speak with anyone else that played it.
Oh I loved it! I played the original a long time ago, but I wasn't a fan of the combat. I'm glad the sequel's combat is better and that there was an anime adaptation of the first game so I didn't have to play it. Nagi is hilarious and I loved the leaders of the other groups. The twist was great and I enjoyed beating the game.

I tried starting up Final Fantasy 5 again, but I don't know if it's because I'd rather play on a TV or my computer, but I can't just get into it after going to the Wind Shrine. It could also be the Final Fantasy name has left a sour taste in my mouth after what happened with FF15.

I moved on to My Time at Sandrock, which is in early access. I loved every second of it! I finished all the main missions available and I'm in love with all the characters, especially Owen. I can't wait for marriage to be implemented and marry that man.

After that, I tried my last game again: Kynseed. I played it and for whatever reason I just can't get into it. I uninstalled it.

With that, my backlog is empty! I'm done! I didn't think it was possible, but after deleting games I didn't click with and finishing games I did and just keeping at it I am done! My next game is Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which will be out in 27 days. In the mean time, I'll be replaying Mass Effect Trilogy once again to keep myself busy. If I can do this, I know all of you can; I believe in you.
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I want to post this before I actually begin the final route of Birushana. I went with the developer's suggested route order, and I can say it's definitely the right one if you care about how the story/history of the heroine is revealed...the suggested order feeds it to you in the slowest and most sensible order, imo.

I thought I'd like the starter route the least because I always do, but this time I actually like the 2nd and 3rd routes less than the 1st. I do like the 4th route most so far. I was bothered by the 4th guy in the previous routes and was afraid his route was going to be aggravating, but it was by far the best, and had all the best CGs, too...and more of them, to boot. I've only been doing the happy/love endings and the 'if' endings and skipping each character's bad/game over endings and the tragic love endings, as well, as I now always do with otoges. (Though I need to go back and do the neutral endings for Cupid Parasite, as I've heard many of them are way more appropriate and satisfying and interesting than the 'happy/ideal' endings.)

Anyway, I am now coming up to the final route of the game, as far as I know, and I'm worried about it. Mr #5 is a CREEP. He's beautiful, beautiful...but so skin-shivery. (In a BAD way.) At first I just wanted to eject him from the game, but what happened to him in route #2 made me realize that he's so very broken (for a reason I still don't quite understand) that I actually get what's behind most of the bizarre way he is, and it's actually really sad. But the thing is, there's another aspect to his personality that is so loathsome, I'm not sure I'll be able to deal with it, because he basically believes women are property. Now, he doesn't respect ANYONE, or life in general, so it's not like he's only horrible to women, but that one fact alone makes the thought of seeing him pursued romantically (by a woman) repulsive to me. But I am super curious about the big reveals I know I'm going to get.

I really wonder if this route can make me actually like this blobfish in unicorn skin. He's going to have to have one crazy and painful backstory, to be able to do that. (Amnesia never managed to make me like Toma, for example, and he's way milder than #5.) I'm afraid his route is going to be the 'well, some women LIKE domineering and/or outright abusive men!' route. I'll be really unhappy if I have to end the game on that note...it'd be a terrible final impression.

Just wanted to post that before I actually see it and know the answer, cuz once you see it, sometimes it's hard to remember what you thought before you knew the truth.
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I love Three Hopes so much. I just finished chapter 8 of Verdant Wildfire and...
Spoiler:
that cutscene of Claude shooting Shahid was amazing. I feel like Claude is very different in this game, maybe from the lack of having Byleth around as a guiding hand as he did in Three Houses during academy time. I can't speak too much about the other lords yet as this is still my first playthrough but I really like that the game feels decisively different from Three Hopes' story.
I heard that Sunbreak released and originally, I had wanted to get it but covid has kind of put a damper on me and games that require skill. As I'm still in quarantine, I mostly want to play familiar games that I enjoy - hence why I started replaying Bustafellows - or games that just aren't very difficult. I made some progress in Atelier Ayesha and it's enjoyable. Not the most exciting game I ever played, but it keeps me sane while I'm sitting inside. :lol: Visited the library and got some new quests from there, so I'm curious how it's gonna progress. But I can say that I'm not very deep into the alchemy system. It's probably a core aspect of the game, but I was never truly a gameplay person and just can't wrap my head around it. Which seems to be fine so far, since I'm not aiming for a full completion this time anyway.
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Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
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Joined: Apr 14, 2015 6:01 am

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Holy cronk...#5 route is so entertaining! I love him. Against all expectations, was the cutest and funniest route of all, for me. My one complaint is that the story became needlessly weird and overdramatic at one point, like a TV show that's been extended one or two seasons past its high point and the writers are grasping at the bizarre and sensational just to inflate things. Well, that didn't last too long, though, and the resolution was very nice.

Do NOT read this if you plan to play Birushana, cuz I'm organizing my thoughts on why #5 is the way he is. I don't talk about the plot, but it's a definite spoiler for the final route character.
Spoiler:
Tomomori is very intelligent, and experienced in life, too...which is deeply misleading. Because he froze his emotions as a small child. In spite of all his intelligence and other forms of maturity, he's experienced no emotional growth after the age of 5. He stopped all his emotions and was left only with feelings of being either disconnected, or connected. Becoming connected is warm and exciting, and he desperately wants more when he gets it, but he misidentifies his own feelings and desires because he doesn't actually recognize them. He's excited by emotion in others he sees as similar to himself because he wants to feel them, too, but doesn't know where to find them on his own. Wanting to see the heroine cry isn't even creepy in this context...of COURSE he did! Identifying her as someone who was or could be just like himself, he was excited to see her experiencing an emotion he didn't even know how to feel. He wanted to know about it...to absorb it. But he quickly realized after seeing a broader range of emotion that it was more enjoyable to see her smile or laugh, and that seeing her cry was painful rather than exciting, let alone fun. He just had no idea until he finally saw that even someone like himself could be and do all the things the heroine was. In that way, he was like a child, which was why his elegant, intelligent initial impression was so misleading. It wasn't wrong, but it was just the surface.

EDIT: Route 5.5, as I call it...Shigehira's 'if' ending. Shigehira is like Tomomori, but lacking his older brother's high intelligence and greater life experience. Shigehira is a spoiled young master who is very powerful and has been catered to in every way. He doesn't actually understand anything. Tomomori has one child-like aspect, but Shigehira is basically a child entirely, in my view. Sure, he gets drunk all the time and is rather wanton (in both senses) but it doesn't make him mature...he hasn't learned anything from it. In that way, he's CUTE, and you want to help him grow up properly and reach the good things about an adult mind, but it makes him unappealing as a romance option, imo.
I haven't decided yet if I'll go back and see the Tragic Love endings for each character. Each one unlocks a CG (the 'bad' endings unlock nothing at all, so there's no point in them, imo) but I don't like tragedy. Using the flowchart it's very quick and easy to do so, though. Oh, and the alternate 'IF' endings are an awesome idea that I hope they put into more otoges. It's like including a tiny fandisc in the game itself, though they're only a single chapter each, so not satisfying if one of the 'if' endings is your favourite outcome.

I also really like that this heroine is actually quite powerful. There have been other otoge heroines with supposedly astonishing supernatural powers, yet they're all pathetic helpless little ladies, constantly at the whim of every man around them. Not Shanao! She is Japanese, so she's kind of compliant, to my way of seeing it, but still...she's no pushover, and she does have masses of actual ability. If she chooses to push her limits all the way out, not even the most powerful of the male leads can constrain her. (Though she will never use her abilities to that level for her own benefit, so that level is usually not available to her....it's not like the story doesn't force her into plenty of situations she'd rather not be in.)

Well, that makes 13 games completed so far in 2022, if I include my full replay of Ni No Kuni II, which I decided I would since I did a bunch of extra things over the first play. Now, will I ever manage to inspire myself to complete RF5, I wonder...? Nearly 4 weeks left until XC3...I've gotta fill the time with something, and I need the non-strenuous option of gaming right now, so I'm gonna have to plumb my (still relatively small) backlog again, and look into things I left incomplete in otherwise completed games, like the 'normal' endings in Cupid Parasite.

Next Day EDIT: Cherubae posted about Worth Life, and it also has an website available in English, and it miiiiight be worthwhile? It feels like a combination of Fantasy Life and Little King's Story, with some Little Dragon's Cafe thrown in. The premise...that you're being given a million gold to invest in the kingdom, to learn and hopefully solve its problems...is kind of cool. I don't know of another game that gives you a million to start with and asks you what you can do with it...just games that tell you go start with nothing and scrape your way up. I'm intrigued, though not in love with the graphics. Still, while it does involve Matsuyama and Hashimoto, it does NOT involve Wada, and Wada is the kiss of death for a video game, for me. If he's involved, I won't like it: I will find it boring. The only game left of his that I'd still be willing to try is Avalon Code, though its too far past its prime, now, so it's a no, too, even if I could get my hands on it...I can't deal with grungy old graphics, since I was built faulty from the start, having apparently no nostalgia mode. (Even my own favourite childhood games, I cannot return to. They look terrible to me, now, and are so clunky compared to modern games. My bridges are burned! I didn't choose to burn them, they just went up in flames all by themselves.)

Worth Life releases in 10 days. I may try it. Haven't decided yet. I do have enough money to spare this month to buy an extra game or two beyond what I had already planned for. (Though I should really put that toward an e-bike conversion kit, since I think that is my last shot at ever being a cyclist again, since though I actually enjoyed exercise in general when I could go hard into it, cycling remains the only type of exercise I truly love and crave and missmissmiss.) Well, I've resisted Fallen Legion and the Dusk Trilogy, so I'm doing okay so far.
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