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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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infel wrote: Aug 10, 2022 8:46 pmSadly, I'm still feeling a bit worse than okay, and find it hard to stay awake often. I'm still alright from time to time, but it's been hard to find much joy in things. I've also been in some pain lately physically wise due to some back pain. This has actually made it hard to game for me due to sitting being painful at times.
Hey infel...I'm in the same situation. It's very difficult to enjoy any of your hobbies when you're so tired you can't think, and it becomes a rut you sink into if the fatigue won't clear no matter how much you sleep, and then it gets really difficult. :( Though I'm quite used to chronic pain and fatigue, I have a LOT of coping methods and therapies. Maybe you do, too, but if this is new to you, I have some suggestions. Long (I really do have a lot of experience, lol...been having chronic health problems since I was a toddler.) so spoiler-cut. Would send it to you in PM but not sure if you'd find that creepy, so...here it is.
Spoiler:
I have no idea if you're new to this or not. You may not need any advice! But I'd hate to leave you floundering on your own if you feel helpless, not knowing what to do, or if there is anything you can do, so I'm going to write as though you do. If you don't, then please just ignore me :)

First of all...document ALL your health issues...a bullet-point list is fine to start with. Sometimes things you don't expect can be contributing to your main problems...like unattended allergies can add to fatigue, for example. Anyway, once you have your list, take the main ones (I assume back pain and fatigue) and detail them as much as you can. Make note of when your pain is the worst (and when it's at it's best, if you've noticed it being notably better at any time). When you wake up? After you mow the lawn? At bedtime? In the night? When you're at your desk? Etc. Is your mattress firm? Are you a back/side/stomach sleeper? Do you move much in your sleep? Do you sleep well? How many pillows do you use? Do you use a body pillow? If you're a side-sleeper, do you put anything between your knees to keep your hips aligned properly? Many of these things can affect both your back and your fatigue.

Once you have a clear picture of your back pain and your fatigue, see an accredited health care professional, whether mainstream (such as a doctor or physical therapist) or alternative (like a registered herbalist or accupuncturist, etc.) or someone in-between, like a chiropractor or massage therapist. Ah, btw...the hospital emerg department seemed to take me more seriously when I said my chiropractor told me to go to the hospital, last week, due to a pinched sciatic nerve. They got me seen fairly quickly and even gave me a shot of industrial-strength anti-inflammatory...like turbo-charged Advil...to squash the acute attack immediately so that I could get on with rest and therapy. So that was helpful for me, too. But anyway! Go see as many health care professionals as you can and get their advice on things you should do or not do. They often have product recommendations, too. Things like posture-correcting items, ergonomic chairs or seat cushions for back or bottom, exercises to strengthen weak areas of your back, stretches to loosen tight spots, etc.

So, soak up every bit of advice you can get and try it out. Doctors are NOT always right. I find it's pretty much 50/50, tbh. I always end up having to take charge of my own issues, but seeing a professional is a necessary first step. If you can even get a name for your problem (like piriformis syndrome, in my case, and MS-fatigue) that's very helpful in finding more info on your own.

Once you've got your problem identified, do your best to implement the best advice you've managed to gather. Really do the stretches and exercises a doc, therapist or chiro has recommended for you. Do them religiously! Imagine you're gonna get a big prize for best-taker-of-advice, lol. (I literally just went and did mine again when I wrote this, lol.) I have most of my life been concentrating mostly on stretches, but am so naturally flexible that I find they don't work that well...I have to OVER-stretch to feel anything, which can cause problems instead of helping. I thought exercises might make it worse since some of my muscles were being troublesome, but I was desperate, so tried them anyway, and they actually help more than the stretches!

If you already know what your issue is, like I know I have piriformis syndrome, then the internet can become quite helpful, if you're judicious. The doctor I saw at the hospital recommended 'Dr. Jo' on YouTube for me...told me to search 'Dr. Jo Piriformis Syndrome' and to do the stretches and exercises in the video that'd pop up, which I have done, and it HAS been quite helpful. Oh, and she said to use ice a lot, and heat if it was helpful (heat can make things worse, depending. Heat relaxes and expands, ice contracts. If you're already swollen or inflamed, heat is bad! But if my muscles start spasming in response to the nerve being pinched, ice on the sciatic nerve area and heat on my leg where the muscle is spasming is a good combo.

Uh, word of warning, though. You may already know well, but if you don't...researching things like diet and supplements for health online is a minefield of the absurd and sometimes even the dangerous. Supplements in particular. I'm not saying don't do it...simple though it is, peppermint is the best thing I have ever found for IBS symptoms, and I first read that online 20 years ago...but be very suspicious of everything you read. Always check the source of the information. NEVER trust someone who is selling something or in any way getting money out of you taking their advice. So if ABCsupplements.com is telling you that shark liver oil will cure your migraines, fix your back, make you sleep well, and give you beautiful skin to boot...run away. They just want your money, and it's complete hogwash. At best: useless. At worst: harmful. I'm not saying following a specific diet or taking certain supplements is wrong or bad...in fact I know first-hand that they can be very important...just that it's one of the most dubious things you can possibly search the internet for, so you have to make sure of your sources and only go with what you can find multiple reliable ones for. Like if Harvard Medical, John Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic are all recommending, say, olive oil and salmon for your heart problem, then you can take that as good advice.

Anyway, my summary is that in my nearly 40 years of experience at dealing with chronic health problems, I've found that you have to aggressively fix yourself. Health care professionals should be treated as valuable resources, but ime, you can't rely on them to fix you...they never will. They just provide a helping hand and a bit of guidance, and once in a rare while, you may even get a helpful prescription out of them. But unless you have a broken bone, or need surgery, or have something a pill can fix, all the actual work is on you. (It'd be so nice if this wasn't true!) I'm sorry if this was annoying rather than helpful. Though if it was, you definitely should have stopped reading before now, lol.
WAH, I wrote that three times and it's taken me two hours, lol. I just couldn't help but remember a friend of mine who was in horrible pain for months with her health issues, she even had to put a halt to her career, but she hadn't done a single thing to help herself because she didn't know she COULD. She thought she had to just wait helplessly for a doctor to swoop in with the solution. I, who had been dealing with some of the same things all my life, was so horrified that she was going through that when she didn't have to...I just couldn't help myself. I just have to make sure that people know they always have options. Dunno if that applies to you or not, infel! You may already be doing every possible thing.

~

I'm now at the start of Chapter 4. I did all the quests that can reasonably be done in Chapter 3 (meaning I left out the ones that are technically available, but that you need to be level 50+ to tackle.) and it took FOREVER. I guess chapter 1 and 2 were so short because basically the only thing you could do was follow the main story. Only tiny hints of exploration and questing were available, then. Anyway, its' really fun now that I can explore the majority of the areas I'm in. I finished chapter 3 at level 40, and judging by boss battle levels and the average monster level in the quest areas, I'd say is about 12-15 levels above where I need to be, though I like being able to just walk past the majority of monsters without them attacking me (because they know my party can curbstomp 'em.)

I have a bunch to do today and I have to proceed very carefully. Since not stressing or overstimulating my sciatic is still necessary, that means I still require a lot of still-time, which means that I may not be able to do everything and no matter what will likely end up with plenty of game time. My waffle cushion remains comfy, so gaming is no longer worsening my problem. Glad I've got something to do when I can't move around any more!
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infel
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Kikki wrote: Aug 11, 2022 6:46 am
Hey infel...I'm in the same situation. It's very difficult to enjoy any of your hobbies when you're so tired you can't think, and it becomes a rut you sink into if the fatigue won't clear no matter how much you sleep, and then it gets really difficult. :( Though I'm quite used to chronic pain and fatigue, I have a LOT of coping methods and therapies. Maybe you do, too, but if this is new to you, I have some suggestions. Long (I really do have a lot of experience, lol...been having chronic health problems since I was a toddler.) so spoiler-cut. Would send it to you in PM but not sure if you'd find that creepy, so...here it is.

Hi Kikki,
Spoiler:
Thank you so much for the info. It would've been fine if you wanted to send me a message by the way. Anyway, I read everything you said and found it helpful. I'm sorry you have to go through this as well. It really does suck. For me, the back pain isn't new. I've had it for a while. It's my lower back (above my bottom) and it's usually the right side. I sadly may have sort of permanently damaged it a couple of years back. What happened was I was helping my mom with picking up dirt and stupidly picked up the bag in the wrong way. At first I was okay, but quickly began to feel this intense pain. I had to lay down for the rest of the day and couldn't even stand. When I did I felt like I was going to throw up. When the day came to an end, I still couldn't stand and had to literally crawl to bed. Luckily I somehow managed to make it onto my bed, but ended spending the next day entirely in bed. Severe pain stayed with me for about two weeks, but eventually went away. Sadly though, it's come back from time to time, sometimes due to to weather while other times it's because of how I get up. I think my height plays into it because I'm tall and sometimes sitting on things that are too low can hurt it. Same with my weight as I'm on the big side. Recently though, it really feels like weather might have something to do with it, but I don't get why summer would tense up my muscles. Anyway, it's a pain that comes back.

Reading what your wrote has helped me think. I think maybe I should try different people when it comes to the chronic pain and see what I can do. I agree that for the most part I'm the only one who can likely make it better, as you said. It can just be hard when it feels like I have no direction in how to do that. I will try Dr Jo though. Maybe they can help. As for the whole supplement thing, I can actually always ask my sister about what to take. She's good with things like this, especially if the medicine is more natural. I admit, I'm not a fan of pain killers, but sometimes they really are needed. I do want to say though you make a very interesting point with how I sleep. I actually do sleep on my sides, and sometimes have to switch them or my arms start hurting. Maybe that has something to do with it? Thanks for the idea. Also, I will keep tabs on the pain and when it hurts. I have an idea, but am not entirely sure. Thanks again for more good things to do.

Anyway, thanks so much for the advice. I think it's really helpful and has open my eyes to what I likely need to do. I am a little like your friend and believed a doctor could swoop in and help me, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. I think it's cause chronic pain can be hard to diagnose because it's usually in the muscle tissue. I am so grateful you took the time to give me advice on it though. I'll try some of these this month and next and see how it goes. I do hope you're doing okay though as well and hope we can both overcome this :)

PS-I forgot to mention my sleep. My sleep is also not good. This though is mainly due to my depression and anxiety, the latter which has caused me to have panic attacks about life. I find it hard to sleep normally and even have my computer on in the background when trying to sleep. It can get bad times. I wills ay may chronic pain doesn't affect my sleep, but my sleeping posture may be cause some of the additional pain.
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Kikki
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Infel: glad you found it helpful! And since you don't mind if I PM you, anything else I have to say, I will send that way. :)

~

Monosoft is teasing me in an unpleasant way. They're putting so much XCX in XC3, reminding me that they've still got it in their heads, when I dont' know if that means anything hopeful for me or not. They've even stuck a side quest in here modelled after one of the most irritating and troublesome, yet lovable and worthwhile quest chains of X. Though I don't think 3's results will be as worthwhile as X's. I also keep seeing landscapes a lot like bits and pieces of the different continents of X. I also felt a bit toyed with when the soundtrack suddenly sounded like it was taken straight out of the ether mines, though that, at least, was from XC1.

Well, 3 is great, anyway. But please stop teasing me, Monosoft. I already want an X port and a sequel as much as I possibly CAN want it.

I have multiple suspicions about the true reality of Aionios and its people. Both of my main theories are unpleasant. I hope some twist turns it in a direction I'm not anticipating at all. Please don't ruin the ending of XC1 retroactively, okay? If this is the end of this storyline, make it really satisfying!

I thought I was going to be able to get all nopon stone things available in Chapter 3, but uh...this one is surrounded by 7 level 60 bird monsters. I think I'm gonna have to wait.

~

EDIT: I'm a bit confused about why XC3's combat is so easy. I'm playing on normal, but it's like I'm invincible...and that's when I'm dealing with elite and unique monsters of the same level as my party. It's like they can't hurt me at all. And the last big story boss battle I did...I got over 800,000 points of damage in one chain. What's going on? I mean, I get that it's amplified when I'm way over the level of my enemy, but even with enemies of the same level? They're going down like they're made of spun glass. I don't mind, since I don't actually enjoy difficult battling (I find it tedious) but it's confusing. I have not yet ONCE had to redo a boss battle. In XC1 and XCX I have had to redo boss battles MANY times because they were just so crazy difficult to beat. I even had to do that a few times in XC2 (though it was also largely pretty easy.)

Weird though it may sound, I feel like I've somehow gotten something wrong, lol, cuz the ease of battle seems like an error. Though I've just confirmed that I do still die if I get myself into battle with five enemies that over-level me by more than 5 levels, so at least THAT is still normal. Though even with that, I manage to kill two of them before I'm killed, which in previous games just wouldn't have happened. Well, guess I'll just have to enjoy easy victory!

~

EDIT 2: Got to Ch 5 and got some big reveals, to which I mostly say 'yep, that's what I thought'. HOWEVER...this game is doing a good job of making it feel like you're SUPPOSED to have figured it out, rather than it being too predictable. It feels like they planted all the facts to let us figure things out on our own, so that when the reveal comes, it's really not that much of a surprise. A bit, since small details are unexpected and it comes together a bit differently than you might anticipate, but not out of the blue. But plot twists that are really out-of-the-blue are generally the product of poor writing. Once a big reveal comes, if you look back, you SHOULD be able to spot hints of it. Imo! So that it's mostly as I thought isn't really a complaint, this time. I am confused on a few points, though! Particularly ones that I'm not sure are ever going to be explained.

~

Getting some really great, meaningful side quests in Ch5. There are two things about the plot/world I'm still really curious about, though. I hope they are resolved at least by the very end.
Spoiler:
Firstly is WHAT THE SOLDIERS ARE. From the very start...the very first few minutes and hours of the game, I knew these kids were unnatural...NOT real humans, or whatever I should say. Obviously. They only live 10 years. They call bodies 'husks'. They disappear into a cloud of electrical-looking motes when they die and are released by the off-seeing (which I assume is sending their essence back to...I don't know! Some kind of genetic repository that spins them out again, into the growth modules?) And I was weirded out by them all taking baths together, clearly standing up and showing their entire bodies to both genders as though it were the most natural thing in the world. That, along with Eunie mentioning that they were 'hatched' rather than 'born', means they have no parents, which means they aren't naturally born...they're CREATED. There is no procreation. I knew that from the very beginning, I just didn't know WHY. In spite of the many revelations in Ch 5, including about babies and how they're 'made'...I still don't know exactly what Noah & Co are. They're not robots or holograms, but are they somehow digital? Quite sure they're based on people who were normal humans to begin with (was always so, SO obvious who the Golden Consul was, btw...I hope they meant for it to be that obvious) but what are they NOW? Why are they only a ten year slice of a normal human life? What makes them die at ten years? Are they...time-coded clones or something? I don't get it!

That's one thing. The other thing I don't care as much about now, as I know it's going to be very-end-game is...Klaus. Freaking Klaus and his stupid, megalomaniacal 'experiment' with the Conduit/the Zohar. Klaus and the previous two worlds, and the many obvious signs that Aionios is both worlds combined, somehow. How did this third world/reality end up happening? How are Nia and Melia still alive? Are they in stasis somewhere? Were the endings of the past two games undone by this third branch of reality? Or did those two endings create this third route?

Oh and 2.5...what the heck is with the nopon? Riku and Manana acted as shocked by babies as our soldier kids were. WHY? Aren't the nopon natural? They're not soldiers contributing to flame clocks. I don't get it!
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Bluie
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It dawned on me today how much I have on my plate at once after next week. I have no idea how I'm going to balance all of this. Is this the price I pay for being more interested in online experiences these days? Ughghghghhhhh.

Final Fantasy XIV 6.2 - August 23rd

Genshin Impact 3.0 - August 24th

Phantasy Star Online 2 PS4 ver. - August 31st

Splatoon 3 - September 9th

I'm still wickedly excited for them all regardless, but goodbye any free time I thought I'd have. I NEED to finish Digimon Survive asap. I've made it to Chapter 7, so I'm over halfway, but I don't think I'm going to doing another playthrough any time soon. Currently backlog of JRPGs and VNs is canceled until I can get caught up on all this. Hoo boy.
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Kikki
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Having a LOT of pain, so gaming is quite difficult. Still in Ch 5 as this area is enormous and I'm cleaning up all the quests, even though I don't need to (no quests in XC3 are time-sensitive or missable.) Pretty sure I need to go back to the hospital and get a CAT or MRI, though. Will contact my neuro first to find out how possible it is for any of this to be MS's doing.

So the Xenoblade dude says "I think that everyone who played this title and the additional stories in the Expansion Pass can imagine what lies in the future for Xenoblade.” HMM? So then, I suspect that the bit we have to wait a YEAR AND A HALF for will basically introduce us, somehow, to the next story they're planning to go to, with 3 ending this game universe's story.

For a bit I thought that that meant it couldn't refer to X, because that's a VERY different world/universe. But if this universe's story has been told, then the extra story, if it refers to the future, MUST show a new universe.

So, so many bits in XC3 that felt like they came out of X. It feels like they're easing people into it. X was a failure. Firstly because it was exclusive to Wii U...that's a death sentence in itself, since so few people ever owned one in the first place. It sold just over half what GameCube did, and that was back when gaming as a whole was still a niche hobby in much of the world! It was pathetic. So yeah, X was doomed to failure to begin. Plus it was released before 2 or the remake of 1...before Xenoblade was pushed into the mainstream, that is.

Plus people didn't WANT a new story from X. They wanted more XC1. So even the people who tried X didn't give it a fair shot. They were angry that it wasn't more XC1 and called it a bad game because of that. (I have seen a lot of people who didn't even bother going much past the first chapter when they realized how incredibly different the story was.)

Basically, XCX had everything going against it. It could never have been a success at that time...wasn't possible. HOWEVER...people are now getting ready for a new Xenoblade universe. They're READY to see a new story. And the Switch is a massive seller, and Xenoblade is now mainstream. The stage is set. And they've been putting all these bits of X into 3...3 will probably feel more 'homey' and 'Xenoblade-like' to newcomers, now. I'm starting to think it's really possible they'll reboot X now. I don't want them to remake it, as I think it's the most visually beautiful of all the games already, but I think they may. It does have to be altered to work with only one screen, and I suspect they may try to add more ties to make existing Xenoblade fans feel more of a connection to past games...so the content could get a bit of a tweak or addition. They did put Elma in XC2, as well.

I dunno what the chances are, but it's kind of torture. Especially since we have to wait until the very end of next year to see this 'new original story' they're adding. GRUMP.
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yzafre
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Kikki wrote: Aug 14, 2022 7:28 am Still in Ch 5 as this area is enormous and I'm cleaning up all the quests, even though I don't need to (no quests in XC3 are time-sensitive or missable.)
It is SO big??? Honestly I was looking at the world map, thinking "wow, there can't be that much map left to go over", and then. AND THEN.

Geez.

I honestly had to take a day off just to like... prep my mind for painstakingly covering every inch of this place. It's not an area where I can be meticulous about the map data, but just... even trying to make sure I didn't miss a single area of interest is going to take some concentration. There's just SO MUCH.
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Kikki
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yzafre wrote: Aug 14, 2022 10:44 am It is SO big??? Honestly I was looking at the world map, thinking "wow, there can't be that much map left to go over", and then. AND THEN.
Yeah, I'd say it's pretty big, but simpler since it doesn't have nearly as much twisting and turning and altitudes. It might be as big as Fornis? But again, simpler, though the navigations is really irritating. You can always just do your best mapping the bulk of it and then look up a map to see if you missed any niggly bits. :)

It amazes me now that I do all 450+ quests in XC1 every time I play. This game has far less than that, but it feels like so many. But they're much meatier. Very few quests that you can complete the second you receive the quest. Probably because very few of them are fetch quests.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot. I stumbled across Potion Permit (due out September 22) in physical when I was placing an order for physical therapy stuff. Decided to buy it. I did kinda want the game, but this seems a bit impulsive since it's not cheap. Not as much as AAA, but expensive for a no-name indie at $50. (*I* don't know the name MassHive Media, anyway.) I could still cancel it and get my money back, but...my baby sis would like this game. So even if I don't, no loss...I'll pass it on to her.
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XxWizardxMollyxX14
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ACNH:
~Lots to do; island is still very barren.
~Gotta try and kick out an uggo so I can have a cat villager move in
~Next Nook Miles goal is to make an amusement park area
~Redesign all the villager houses
~Still need oranges and peach trees (if anyone has a moment/fruit to spare it would be greatly appreciated. I need five peaches and five oranges. Am willing to pay at asking price)
~Must find Tiffany at all costs; the universe will perish if I do not.
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simside
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Bluie wrote: Aug 13, 2022 3:10 pm Phantasy Star Online 2 PS4 ver. - August 31st
Aahhh, enjoy it!!! I was so pumped it finally came out, but I don't have a good enough PC setup to play it. Though, I'd probably jump into the bad back/carpal tunnel if my partner would agreed to play. I keep hoping that the Switch cloud version will become available, it's the one game I'd play in the cloud. I miss PSO so much, I still get out the GC version sometimes.

---

I played a big chunk of House of Fata Morgana today, currently in the 6th door. I like it, the stories are good, and they are suitably goth and tragic for my tastes, lol. It's a little slow, but not as bad as some others. I'm not sure how I feel about the... framing device? Main story? It just started to get into that, so maybe I'll fall in love soon.

Also played a bit of DQ11 this week, currently in... Octagonia? The fighting tournament town. Level 25. I got to the first big ocean exploration part this week, so I did a lot of grinding. Still loving it. I'm not entirely sure I'm keeping up with the weapon/armor crafting like I should be (haven't been going back and grinding mats for stuff I can't craft), though I'm still doing okay in battles. Possibly because I'm overleveled. XD

Otherwise, been dipping in and out of Enter the Gungeon with my partner. We're pretty consistently getting to the end of the 4th area, so maybe we'll be able to beat it within the next couple weeks. It's so weird. We've also been playing through Novena Diabolos together, which I haven't been enjoying much. Very, VERY "40 cakes! Forty cakes! Four tens!" over-explained, and the first few hours is almost entirely the main character's inner monologue running in circles. But I do like werewolf games. This one has a long round, but I'm pretty sure you can skip quite a bit of it after the first time.
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Reyvin
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Haha, I feel the Xenoblade chapter 5 talk... that's also where I'm at. Been doing side quests for hours now because so many kept popping up all over the place. But they're so good that I don't even mind it.

I am so frickin curious about some reveals from chapter 4, I mean...
Spoiler:
I did NOT expect Melia to be a robot, lol. I knew sth was off about her, but this was just baffling.
I really enjoy all the characters as well, they all bring something different to the table. And I like a lot of the side characters. The affection chart is always so intriguing to monitor because I can recall a lot of memorable minor characters. They all have their stories. And of course there's the heroes. My favourites are probably - unless I forgot one from those I unlocked so far:
Spoiler:
Zeon, Alexandria, Monica and Valdi.
---
In order to not only talk about Xeno, I finished my 2nd route in Birushana, Benkei. I didn't really feel it because I like the character, but not the love story. But it's really just my personal feeling :) overall I think the game is great though, and maybe Benkei just couldn't do it for me when Noritsune was my first route. He was just too good for me.
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Kikki
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I don't remember if I just thought this to myself, or if I've already said it. The side quests of XC3 are wonderful. Stellar quality...it's extraordinary. It rarely feels like you're just being sent out on fetch and bounty quests over and over. Stories about the people and the world are the norm, here, where in other games they're the exception. And even though the game occasionally reminds you that Mio and Noah are the main characters, a lot of the time you forget and the main crew feels like a true ensemble.

Finished all the quests but there were so many I was starting to get sick of it cuz I wanted to progress the story, lol. I'm finished Ch. 5 now, and wow, that was a load of intense stuff. But that's Xenoblade for ya. Wasn't expecting one twist, but otherwise it's not been surprising...yet that hasn't prevented it from being meaningful. Kind of like I said before...if you're able to figure things out in advance, it feels like you were SUPPOSED to, in this game, not that it's just too predictable. That's kind of rare. Normally when I'm able to predict much of the plot, it feels tired and overused, but that's not the case, here.

IT's a great game. But it's also easy to get burned out on. I've wasted a lot of time while playing, too, so I'm gonna end up hitting 100 hours. About 10 of them already were actually spend staring into space or talking to my family or etc, so it's a little padded.

EDIT: Oh man, Ch 6 also has a load of quests (though still way fewer than XC1, but so much MEATIER that I'm not sure the time spent questing is any less even though there's like, a quarter the volume.) I think for now I'm just going to go around picking them all up and not worry about doing them immediately. Actually since supposedly no quests are missable/time-sensitive, it'd be interesting to do all quests post-game on some play-through. Wonder if that'd make them feel less relevant, though.
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yzafre
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Finished Chapter 5! Holy « Cow Poopoo ».
Spoiler:
Goooooood N is such a « Sheep Squeezer ». Holy cow, I don't think I've wanted to punch a character this badly in a long time. I got behind Noah's freak out wayyyy more than I ever got behind Shulk's revenge screaming. I want to grab that guy by the throat, shake him around a bit, dog and a squeaky toy. Jeez.
I need to go to bed, but like... what the. ??? Chapter six intro hello.
Spoiler:
Boy do I have some questions about their exact ages now. I was assuming they run 10-20, but now with the kid... I get the feeling that's a bit off.

I will say - I actually guessed at the body swap thing, that that might be how Mio gets to live on! I had even wondered if the two Mio's had had a private conversation when the first pulse went off. I wondered if that's how it was going to go down!

Oh « Cow Poopoo » N is not doing well, though. Yiiiiiikes.
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Ronin19
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I've finished Chapter 3 myself and I'm letting my roommate borrow my copy while I finish up Cyberpunk 2077 and My Sims.
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Kikki
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I am SICK of quests. I don't even want to play anymore because of the quests. I'm not the type who can ignore them, but enough is enough, particularly with Ch 6 opening a lot of important ones that actually have permanent bonuses of a sort for your party. (That's not a very accurate way to put it, but...)

Plus I'm so over-levelled. Just by doing all the quests, I'm about 20 levels over the main story bosses. I suppose that doesn't really matter. You could just keep accumulating your bonus EXP if you wanted, too (though it bugs me, sitting there.) I really just want to finish the story, now. Bad place for burnout. It would have been better to skip most of the quests in chapter 5 than to miss the ones in 6 since they're more important for party development, in several fairly major ways...though perhaps it doesn't even matter unless you're gonna be big into post-game content?

So either I have to just stop doing quests for now and go through the main story, or I have to stop playing entirely for a while. Xenoblade and Trails are both like this. They overload you with content to the point you just want to get away from it for long enough for it to settle. I had lots of fun yesterday, though...time ran by at a crazy rate, yesterday. May also be because I was in less pain, since the chiro managed to shift things upward a bit, more to where the problem really is. Which means it hurts more, but is far more treatable.

Well, for now I'm just quitting. But...even though I have nothing else to do right now? Hmm. I'm planning to do a 'cook your way through' challenge with Longevity Kitchen since it perfectly suits my needs right now and is the kind of cooking I prefer (I really don't admire the froo-froo « Puppy Doodoo » of popular cook-your-way-through books like Six Seasons. I also particularly dislike food that is so pretty it looks more like art than FOOD. It very much makes me want to eat it about as much as I want to eat the paintings hanging on my wall. I want cozy, comfortable food, thanks, not painfully stylish nonsense.) Maybe I can quit with games and try to organize that.

Guess I should stick to just yellow quests when I go back...forget the rest and do it in post game, whenever.

EDIT: Have passed into Ch 7 without even realizing it. Gonna go straight for the end, now! Might as well leave a few quests for post-game and DLC update time(s). I HAVE BIG THOUGHTS NOW. If I could go back and restart, knowing what I know now, I'd choose to follow the main story directly and ONLY do hero/class/ascension quests and no others. I'd save all the other stuff for post-game, to extend playtime as long as possible past the story itself. Well, at least I'll have all of Ch. 7's quests left for later, when the DLC stuff is dribbling out.

EDIT 2: All done. JEEZ. But uh...what they ended up doing is actually the reverse of what I thought they were trying to do, so I'm a bit confused how it ended up with that as the ultimate end. Also...I personally don't feel that this ending made it in any way clear what the next game will be, in spite of what Mr. Xenoblade said. I sure hope there's a better hint in the DLC content. Was there even a hint in this? If there was, I didn't catch it.
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Bluie
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I finished the Harmony route in Digimon Survive. It was pretty brutal overall, but a good story nonetheless. You'd definitely need to see the other endings if you want all the answers, but I both don't have time and also don't really care atm. I did like the game, but some chapters are needlessly bogged down by either too much VN exploration or too many SRPG battles. By the final three chapters, I just wanted the story and nothing else, but it had to keep taking breaks to throw me into battle like it was padding the game for a few more hours. If one route was this exhausting, then 3 more will drain me to death.

The game's balancing in the battles is also weird. I was playing alongside a good friend of mine and we both noticed that on normal mode, no matter how overleveled and powerful your team is, bosses will still one/two-shot you. You can choose the battle's difficulty level just before initiating it, so it's technically a non issue, but it seemed really unfair. My friend stuck it out, but once I saw my first game over screen, I switched it to 'very easy' and never looked back. Hell, I just put most of my battles on auto due to how abundant they became late game.

With that all being said, the game is still good, especially if you're into VNs, Digimon, and choices that actually change the story. The music in Digimon Survive is incredible, especially the tracks when you're in exploration segments. My husband watched me play a bit and we both agreed that many of the tracks sound like they came right out of a Ghibli film. Characters are well written and easy to love (or hate), visuals in the VN sections are very pretty and animated well (battle animations are serviceable, but not incredible), and you can tell that a lot of love went into this game during it's 3 year development hell. I'd say if you even have a passing interest in it, it's worth your time. It's certainly a game I wont forget anytime soon. 1 blind playthrough took me 30 hours.

---

And now I am free to get back to the grind that will be my life until whenever. I finished Genshin's teapot grind last night and got Tubby to level 10. I'm still going to go in every other day to get my friendship boost and currency, but no need to be so on top of it any more. While I really wanted to finish all of Inazuma's world quests before Sumeru dropped, it's just not possible at this point. Honestly though, it's fine. I didn't finish Mondstadt+Liyue all at once, but rather picked at them over time (and I'm still working on getting the Mondstadt glider). I'm sure once I hit the first wall in Sumeru or once it's new and shiny wears off I'll go back to Inazuma and work on it more.

My main concern right now is grinding the event in FFXIV before it disappears because I want the top prize for glams. It's 100% doable, just exhausting to keep doing the same dungeons/raids over and over and over again for a tiny amount of currency. My plan is to do one alliance raid, then a bunch of normal raids, and then rise repeat so I don't go insane. I used to just do the Praetorium and read a book while waiting for the unskippable cutscenes to play out, but they reworked it so it's quicker and you have to actually pay attention now. I might do it once for the luls, but it's no longer viable. I also know that the quickest way to get the currency is Blue Mage one of the dungeons with three other Blue Mages, but I do not have three Blue Mage battle ready friends, so raids it is.
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