Backlog 2024

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jul 22, 2024 11:28 pm

I did it! Finally made myself play some more Elden Ring! Redid my build for a stronger bleed build and took down a few remembrance bosses. (Iirc there's 4 left, including the final boss.) MOST of the work for that was figuring out the right summon for an individual boss. Tanky summon worked sometimes, high damage others (one of the bosses, I ended up doing all of the aggro drawing while my summon took down the boss, another would not pay ANY attention to me until I procced bleed, so role reversal).

Got to complete the weirdest quest in the game... Very much looking forward to the lore videos on that. Also, unlocked the final area, and considering what a « Baaaa *glomp* » the final boss is, the final area being a « Baaaa *glomp* » is fitting. It's really interesting looking, has a big Farum Azula vibe (in its construction, at least). I got caught out during a REALLY long run to another grace... The messages before the guy who killed me "strong foe ahead, try fleeing". I did, and because he uses storm magic he kept pulling me back until he finally pinned me against a wall and I just died. >:| Game design.

Will likely play more, but I've beaten the advert boss, so I'm pretty satisfied. Dunno what possessed me, but I looked at achievements after I quit the game, and 2+ years later, only 40% of the player base has gotten to the final boss. Fascinating. I am NOT a good action game player, so I dunno what that means. Maybe popular game brings in lots of people new to games?

ZZZ...there is more story than I thought, but I've slowed down playing a lot since I hit the point where you unlock event stuff. At this point I kinda just need to make my characters more powerful. I don't intend to wish until there's a very weird/unique looking or weird/unique playing character.

Chapter 3 character spoilers?

Spoiler:

All I really hope is that Hoyo gets braver with their limited character designs... There's some really awesome characters in ZZZ; they're not playable, but they give me hope. (Most of all the record store owner, and then the masseur in the harbor area. I love them. <3)

Daikon boy · Post Posted: Jul 23, 2024 3:51 am

Since the last time I've posted...I'm now midway through chapter 4 of cold steel III, with IV still not purchased and reverie AND daybreak both waiting for me.

Got to oasis level 12? I think? In ever oasis. I still have a long way to go, but I mostly just play it in the car. It's a great game for car drives. I often can't focus well on games, can't hear over the sound of a highway enough well enough to want to play some of them too much, and yet still get incredibly bored when I'm not playing games or doing something. I didn't used to have this problem, but I also didn't get car sick and now I do. (Most games-that are not breath of the wild-don't make me car sick. So it's not a car sickness avoidance tactic.)

Can't play it when the sun is up though. So it's great for car rides but only playable at night time. I only play it a little bit otherwise.

Also purchased and started playing fate samurai remnant when it was on sale. Got 15 hours in so far. Never played a fate game before. Definitely enjoying my time with this one. I'm on chapter ii or III I think? Not sure exactly where.

I'm at the end of tales of abyss too. Just trying to get around to clearing up the last of the side quests. Might give up on a few of those so I can finish the game faster. Otherwise it's done. Extra exp really helped me be able to actually finish the game, even running around beating stuff on hard to try to get a sidequest to activate was do able. (I did not succeed with getting the sidequest to trigger.)

Kikki · Post Posted: Jul 23, 2024 7:28 am

I was last here three or so weeks ago, so I may have missed some, but I did spot a new-ish person. Welcome to this crazy mega-thread, PsychGamer, whether you're brand new or an old-time lurker.

I am reducing the amount of myself I put into anything that doesn't give something back. I only plan to be on Fogu one or two days a month from now on.

I've done a lot of gaming since I was last here, but the only thing worth saying is that I completed Trails through Daybreak last week. It's great! And it's crappy...mostly because Falcom managed to change up the mood a lot, but still reuses the same tropes and formulas in every game. So it has a different feel while still being enormously predictable. I don't think I can say much else because it is still brand new, and almost anything I'd want to say would be a spoiler at a time when I think there are a bunch of people here who may still wish to play, but won't have done so, yet.

Apparently Daybreak 2 (releasing for us in early 2025) is very disappointing in that it doesn't progress the overarching plot at all. It concentrates only on the shallower plot points that don't involve any of The Lore. Like, you don't learn more about Ouroboros or the Gralsritter or...whatever. I don't know any details, just that those who play for The Lore (which is apparently almost all Trails fans) were very disappointed in it, saying it felt more like one of the clean-up-the-loose-ends games (like 3rd or Reverie) than like a mainline game. The most common complaint I see is that it feels like filler, like a DLC chapter for the first game rather than a full game on its own.

I'm probably fine with that, though, since I have never been a follower of The Lore, and Daybreak's characters are lovable.

I have not made a decision on Echoes of Wisdom, yet. I'm pleased Nintendo is making it, as it shows that they've been listening to the fans at least in part, but...it's definitely not a game that was made with me as the target market. I will 100% be getting Ys IX: Nordics (October 25) and Fantasy Life i (October 10). And that's it for planned purchases for 2024.

I still need to complete Pikmin 4. I've left it at 50% for months. I don't feel like it, though. There's nothing compelling story- or character-wise, to draw me back. Pikmin 4 is all about the gameplay, and that never hooks me hard enough to keep me reeled in.

Glad everyone looks to be having fun with their games right now.

midnighttherabbit · Post Posted: Jul 24, 2024 5:54 pm

I'm very busy with my Master's dissertation right now. I keep getting stuck in a loop of trying to write a few words and then feeling I need to do some research to justify it then spending an entire afternoon reading. Only one month and (if I do manage it) I'll have completed my MA. Funny to think I joined this forum at the beginning of secondary school and tried posting fanfic on the writing forum despite not being able to spell and now I'm considering a PhD in English literature.

Anyway, my brother got a PS5 (not sure if I mentioned this) and I promised I'd buy him a game of his choice if he let me use it. He wanted Elden Ring and I got it on sale - possibly the worst decision of my life. He's away for a week and earlier I spent four hours trying to kill the same mini-boss. I'm terrible at these games but it's SO addictive.

Also, I've started a very heavily modded Skyrim save and I'm treating it kind of like Animal Crossing. I have lots of modded followers to be my friends and I'm doing pretty much an in-game day each day, doing on quest or just picking flowers for alchemy. Very relaxing and nice.

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jul 24, 2024 11:35 pm

Kikki wrote: ↑Jul 23, 2024 7:28 am I was last here three or so weeks ago, so I may have missed some, but I did spot a new-ish person. Welcome to this crazy mega-thread, PsychGamer, whether you're brand new or an old-time lurker.

I am reducing the amount of myself I put into anything that doesn't give something back. I only plan to be on Fogu one or two days a month from now on.

Good to see you pop in!

And glad you're having fun! I was honestly getting a little worried. Though I completely understand taking time for what you find more meaningful, I've had to limit myself on FOGU time a bit because writing posts takes up so much time, even if you don't go back and edit yourself...

midnighttherabbit wrote: ↑Jul 24, 2024 5:54 pm Anyway, my brother got a PS5 (not sure if I mentioned this) and I promised I'd buy him a game of his choice if he let me use it. He wanted Elden Ring and I got it on sale - possibly the worst decision of my life. He's away for a week and earlier I spent four hours trying to kill the same mini-boss. I'm terrible at these games but it's SO addictive.

Yaaay, welcome in to the Elden Ring player base.

If you plan on coming back to it don't be afraid to drop things when they're too tough and go find something more level appropriate (the game is VERY much designed around that). And there's a lot to explore.

--
It's PROBABLY my insomnia more than my sinus problems, but I've been getting dizzy more often...and all of it is making me very irritable. The major thing I have to share is I finally have something about ZZZ that annoys me to no end. It's (I guess?) a Hoyo staple since Genshin has the same problem, but it's exponentially worse in ZZZ....... getting attacked from off screen.

It's obnoxious in most games, but with ZZZ's combat being built around seeing/hearing triggers to perfect dodge/counter/swap characters, that is next to impossible while being attacked off screen. Also not a huge problem for trash mobs, but for the rogue lite mode that makes boss fights actually difficult, when you get to that point and something attacks you off screen and does a CHUNK of your HP, it makes you mad. Really mad. Or at least it does me.

Side note: I forgot to check exactly, but I was looking for a work file a couple of days ago and found my Hoyo games folders and for whatever reason looked at the sizes... Genshin is over 100GB, and Star Rail and ZZZ are each over 50GB. How do people put these things on phones? The file sizes aren't reduced that much, I tried putting Star Rail on my iPad and after one update I was close to not having enough storage to properly run iOS...

Bluie · Post Posted: Jul 25, 2024 3:19 am

Spent the majority of the day yesterday doing Genshin's current summer event. Very cute, interesting lore bomb, and finally some more Wanderer content. I'll probably take one of my days off next week to fully explore the area, but I've got over 30 days left to do it, so I'm not in any rush. I also FINALLY got the last two world quests done in Fontaine. They were locked behind Sumeru daily commissions that were close to driving me mad, but it's finally all over. I've switched my daily commissions back to Mondstadt to get the 'Whispers of the Wind' achievement, but something tells me that Natlan is going to have MORE stupid daily commission locked world quests tied to Fontaine. Ugh. Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Currently working on my weeklies in FFXIV before jumping into that Astlibra game my friend wants me to play so much. I like the new raids in FFXIV, they're fun and challenging like the Shadowbringers ones. The Endwalker ones had a lot of 'get hit once and you die' mechanics that made them feel like a chore memory game rather than something fun to look forward to every week. Dawntrail's raids feel like dying is an earned buildup, because you really only need to pay attention to where the boss is / what it's doing rather than figure out the mathematical tiny spot where you wont get hit in less than 5 seconds. It seems a lot of people don't like these raids, especially the second bee one, but eh, it's a nice change of pace imo.

Oh yeah, also pulled Zhu Yuan in ZZZ. It's like they slapped Billy and Nicole together playstyle-wise. I was saving for her regardless as there's always one character pre-release I end up liking design-wise, and she was it. I wanted to play more ZZZ yesterday, because I'm trying to get caught up to level 30 whatever so I can do certain events, but alas, I was taken by a headache and went to bed early.

simside · Post Posted: Jul 28, 2024 9:19 pm

Kikki wrote: ↑Jul 23, 2024 7:28 am I am reducing the amount of myself I put into anything that doesn't give something back. I only plan to be on Fogu one or two days a month from now on.

I was also a little worried! Glad you've been well. Totally understandable to budget your time. Have fun!

---

I finally started I Am Setsuna, after having it in my "next game" spot in my Switch case for at least three years. I like it so far! I was expecting it to be a pretty standard-flavor JRPG, which it is (almost too much, it has one of those systems which is turn-based, but feels like it should be action-based). I picked this up ages ago because the winter theme and melancholy aesthetic was ridiculously appealing, and it's even better during play. It's very charming, and I like the little peg legs on the character models, lol. Nothing too deep to report yet. I don't think it's very long, and I've played through... two-ish story events, everyone has a better weapon, I'm just getting the hang of the magic/move system.

Starting this, I probably should have waited a little longer after Asdivine Hearts. Or, actually, played this one instead, which I knew at the time, but I have a ton of Kemco RPGs backlogged. I'm worried I'll get a little burned out before the end, but it should be short and simple enough to prevent that.

Still plowing through SoS:AWL. On summer of chapter 4. Still not enough money for Daa-chan. ;_; I keep spending pretty good chunks on things that seem like I should have them now (so far, the golden watering can and fishing pole, and two pricey breedings for the best cows, because the ram I bought was filling the barn expansion with sheep at an outrageous rate, lol). I don't think I'll benefit from any of the other golden tools right away, and my barn will be full after this, so hopefully I'll have that million dollars by the end of the year, lol. I've built up my seed reserves for the tier 2 hybrids, and am starting to stockpile the veggies themselves, so I should be able to begin tier three in fall. Hooray! I'm wondering if what I thought was a Wonderfuls glitch are the Wonderfuls for tier 3 hybrids. So far I've only grown one, so I'll find out.

I've been uncharacteristically jumping around puzzle games. I'm still doing dailies in Pocket Card Jockey and advancing career mode when I get the right items (really hoping a number of wins will finally open the last race), and working my way through Picross X. This is quite fun, and has lots of things to play and collect, so is very satisfying. But since you aren't making pictures, I impulse-bought and started stitch., which is an embroidery-themed number puzzle. It's incredibly cute, and so far the number puzzles have been very easy. It got me with weekly puzzle content, which wound up being totally worth it. I sat down and cleared puzzles until I unlocked the ability to play the weekly one, which was (I assume) chosen to theme to the French Olympics, a portrait of Alexandre Dumas. It was huge! It also has dailies that unlock different puzzles, which I haven't tried. I've only done 20 of (allegedly) 200, though I suspect there are way more and I may not have access to them all yet.

Bluie · Post Posted: Jul 30, 2024 9:27 am

Kikki wrote: ↑Jul 23, 2024 7:28 amI am reducing the amount of myself I put into anything that doesn't give something back. I only plan to be on Fogu one or two days a month from now on.

I shall miss you, but take care of yourself!

simside wrote: ↑Jul 28, 2024 9:19 pmI finally started I Am Setsuna, after having it in my "next game" spot in my Switch case for at least three years. I like it so far! I was expecting it to be a pretty standard-flavor JRPG, which it is (almost too much, it has one of those systems which is turn-based, but feels like it should be action-based). I picked this up ages ago because the winter theme and melancholy aesthetic was ridiculously appealing, and it's even better during play. It's very charming, and I like the little peg legs on the character models, lol. Nothing too deep to report yet. I don't think it's very long, and I've played through... two-ish story events, everyone has a better weapon, I'm just getting the hang of the magic/move system.

I'm one of the few people who really, REALLY likes I am Setsuna. It's not a phenomenal game by any means, but I think it came to me in at a very specific time in my life and it just... clicked. My only advice is (because the game really doesn't explain it well enough) is that when you're in battle and you see the little blue flashes by your character portraits, usually when you're about to attack/use a skill, press the action button (A, X, whatever) to boost it/strengthen it. I played like, half of the freaking game before figuring this out.

---

Welp, once again, my friend recommended and absolute banger of an indie game. Astlibra is fantastic in its entirety. The presentation, music, combat, story - it's all here. Like, what the heck, why did this game fly so under so many people's radars!? I'm not really into metroidvanias outside a handful of games, and this is top tier. It feels like they took a classic Ys game and smooshed it together with Castlevania SotN and it's filling the Silksong shaped hole in my heart. « Harvest Goddess » bless you, Rowan. I'll have known this wonderful person for 10 years next year and they really know my tastes like we've been friends for life. I had no intention of adding another game to the backlog, but for Rowan, I trust them, and ffs, they're right, as always lol. Astlibra has become my main focus until further notice. Octopath II can wait a little longer and ZZZ has my attention for a few hours a day if I can spare it.

FarmingForDaysMan · Post Posted: Jul 30, 2024 3:08 pm

Hello all, I hope everyone’s been well. Here’s a quick recap of the gaming I’ve been doing recently:

—SoS:AWL— After taking quite a long break from this game (because I got burnt out last summer), I’m currently in fall of Chapter 3, and I have finally purchased all of the facilities. I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll never be able to afford Daachan (which is absolutely ludicrous that they did that to us) until the Beyond chapter, so my currently in-the-works plan is to reduce army of sheep by 90% and replace them with a goat and the different female cows you can buy. I also plan on finally trying my hand at hybrid crops. As I’m starting to slow down and take it easy now that I have all of the facilities (I say that, though every day I wake up at 5:00, take care of the animals and birds and let all of them out into the pasture, water my crops, work in the digsite from 10-5, give Murrey his 100G if he happens to be on the bridge, milk my cow, and water my crops once more before going to bed around 9), I’ve been working on befriending the people who will gift me Goddess Tools and other things in Chapter 4. I already have high friendship with Romana, Sebastian, and Lumina (because I was trying to influence my child towards the musician route, but alas), so I’m focusing on Tei, Kate, and Galen as of right now.

—Pokemon Sword— I finally finished the post game, have finished the main story of Island Armor, and have kinda just started the Crown Tundra storyline. I love Hop so much. He and my gal are the cutest

Edit: Forgot to mention that I’m selling all of my male sheep first in SoS:AWL because I can’t stop my females from getting pregnant and taking up more space in the barn!

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jul 31, 2024 6:18 pm

Have a lot of house stuff going on this week and I'm feeling more down than usual these days, so it's been 'oops all Hoyo games' time. Also have house/pet sitting next week, so I'd like to wrap up as much as I can before then. Not sure what I'd like to play in that 'meantime', either. I've got games I need to start, but all I wanna do is play old stuff.

Genshin:

Spoiler:

Star Rail:

Spoiler:

ZZZ:

Spoiler:

Bluie · Post Posted: Aug 01, 2024 4:53 am

Mmmm, I think I'll be taking a break from Star Rail until further notice. Since the beginning of my journey with this game, I've been playing with the English dub. There has been some weird « Cow Poopoo » happening with the dub for months now - mainly a character known as Argenti had been muted in the most recent patches despite being part of the story. Jarring, but didn't take me out of it too much. Then they revealed that a new character, Moze, was set to voice acted by a known abuser, backed by the VA of a character named Sunday. Moze's VA stepped down and Sunday's VA made a fool of himself, but still, I was set to enjoy the next patch. However, yesterday I woke up to the news that one of my favorite characters had a complete VA change - no warning, just shadowdropped with the patch. Huohuo (and Tail, because he shares the same VA as Argenti) are completely recast in English now, and I kinda hate that this happened like this. I paid actual money to get Huohuo to a place where I use her in literally every team comp unless I need to use another healer. I've become so used to her VA that it's a part of her I associate with the character. You can't just change « Cow Poopoo » with no explanation and expect me to just sit there and take it.

On top of the fact that the current story is filler for the Luofu, a part of the game I'm not particularly fond of due to the fact that we literally just left it story wise, only to be yanked back to it, my motivation for the game at the moment is dying. Like, who's to say that another character I love wont get butchered next? The easiest solution to this is to simply change the voice language to Japanese, because they don't « Snuggly Bunny » around with VA in Japan unless they did something absolutely heinous - because they're like celebrities in their country of origin. Whatever the hell is going on with the English VA agency, holy « Snuggly Bunny », get your « Cow Poopoo » together.

I think what I'll end up doing is either eventually replaying with the Japanese VA so I can get used to them, or just letting this fizzle out until this filler arc in the story is done. The only character I give a damn about pulling in the future is Screwlum, and they're pulling a Baizhu with him, so I'll just continue to wait instead of being stringed along. Besides, the FOMO in Star Rail is pretty much only light cones and limited events that really don't do anything besides rain resources for building characters. Like, I love Star Rail, I have a little Welt figure and a 3D printed Warp Trotter in front of my TV, but I need a break to stew. I have other games to play anyways.

I expressed these thoughts to my husband and joked 'more time to play ZZZ!', so I guess that'll be that lol. I'm making decent progress, just dipped my toes into chapter 3.

Harvest Moon kawaii · Post Posted: Aug 02, 2024 2:48 pm

Currently Playing:

1) The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (duology)

2) Stitch.

Finished:

1) Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons (Nintendo Switch)

2) (Special Mention) Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Beta Demo (Story mode) (special mention since it to me 8 hours to beat the Story Mode in this demo in one sitting)

3) Pokemon Violet DLC (both parts of the DLC and Mochi Mayhem/The Hidden Treasure Area Zero epilogue)

4) Virche Evermore: Error Salvation (Nintendo Switch) (Major Content warnings and Trigger Warnings for this) (also its Fandisc/Sequel game is coming West this Fall) (The Fandisc/sequel is called Virche Evermore: -EpiC:lycoris-)

Spoiler:

Kikki · Post Posted: Aug 03, 2024 12:20 pm

EDIT: Thanks, guys.

~

Beginning of a new month, okay.

There's a lot of truth to the saying that you learn a lot more from failure than success, y'know? Lately, I've learned this: there is no point in trying to change/eliminate an existing habit if you haven't planned out what you want to have replace that habit. Like...don't even bother to aim to stop beginning your day with an hour of doom-scrolling on social media if you haven't figured out what you want to do instead of that. Like, have tea and read an hour of *insert wholesome or upbuilding reading material here*, or go for a photography walk, or do tai chi.

If you've got really high willpower, you'll succeed at it. For a short time, while you are exercising that willpower. But the moment you unclench even a little, you'll fall straight back to old habits, because you didn't build a new habit to take its place. The new habit would have freed you from most of the need for willpower.

*shrug* Easier said than done? Well, almost everything is easier said than done.

~

Anyway, I got Coral Island and Sun Haven. CI was on a good sale and SH was on a great sale, because I realized I was even more under-budget than I thought and had that extra room and even with those two games, can STILL get Ys IX Nordics AND Fantasy Life i AND, if I want it (I don't think I do, within 2024) Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

I've almost completely made up my mind on that last one, finally. I'm just not into it. I'll get it eventually, but why do that in a year with a budget this low?

I haven't tried Sun Haven yet. My opinion (and general progress) on Coral Island is in the thread ryume began. Summary: it's very fun, even though it's very unoriginal. Maybe even because it's so unoriginal. As for what's next...I don't know. I'm not sure how much I've got left in CI. I'm at least 75% done the story/plot, with just the temple (community centre!) stuff left, but the last parts are the hardest, requiring the most work...getting very rare items and expensive things and so on.

Not sure what I'll be in the mood for, after this. Probably a JRPG. Good thing I've got Nordics on the way! (Though not until October.)

midnighttherabbit · Post Posted: Aug 07, 2024 5:33 am

Mikodesu wrote: ↑Jul 24, 2024 11:35 pm Yaaay, welcome in to the Elden Ring player base. If you plan on coming back to it don't be afraid to drop things when they're too tough and go find something more level appropriate (the game is VERY much designed around that). And there's a lot to explore.

Haha yeah after a few hours of trying to beat the Tree Sentinel I figured this out and decided to just explore, it's REALLY fun.

-

I'm back in my uni town for one more month now and should probably not be gaming with all the diss work I have to do, so I've just been playing the SoS picross game. It's fine but for a puzzle game it's WAY too hard on my laptop, there was no reason for them to need super high quality 3DS models moving in the background constantly... I had to upgrade my drivers to make it work and it STILL crashes all the time.

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Aug 10, 2024 7:32 pm

midnighttherabbit wrote: ↑Aug 07, 2024 5:33 amHaha yeah after a few hours of trying to beat the Tree Sentinel I figured this out and decided to just explore, it's REALLY fun.

Aaah yeah. Tree Sentinel is there to slap you around a little if you haven't already been spoiled on him like I was.

You can get it if you're patient enough (once you've played enough it's fun to watch people do level 1 challenge runs of ER). But as long as you had fun that's the important bit.

Bluie wrote: ↑Aug 01, 2024 4:53 am Mmmm, I think I'll be taking a break from Star Rail until further notice... snip.

:/ I'm so sorry, Bluie. As if it isn't bad enough, having one of your favorite characters changed so drastically, Hoyo is VERY disrespectful of its playerbase in how they've handled this sort of thing.

With predators, I get it, I wouldn't mind seeing more of that in the other language base, but these other weird situations they need to handle better. It's a slap in the face to people who not only put their money, but their time and love into these universes they've built. There may be others but I remember Barbara's English VA getting up and replaced out of nowhere, and only knowing about it from some English Youtubers... And even if she isn't the most popular character out there, surely she was somebody's favorite, and her change was pretty jarring, even as somebody who has primarily listened to the JP VO.

Hope you're able to salvage some amount of love for Star Rail in the future. Maybe when they get off their rumps and release Screwlum.

--
Pet sitting week is over, and I'm caught up on Hoyo games. Been fighting a cold all week and I think it's finally starting to take me down. I'm also in a bit of a mood these days. Got a bit of a 'nobody really gives a « Cow Poopoo » about the hours you waste on the graphic design we demand of you for work' slap in the face this week, which is impacting my already flagging interest in my personal art. I'm barely able to get things completed these days, but I have no interest in posting them. Even fanart feels 'why bother?'

The only silver lining is it's translating into more time/effort on my writing. So it's not going nowhere. For this evening's game time I've got my 3DS about charged up and I think I'm gonna sink back into Trio for a couple of hours, see how that goes. I enjoy Hoyo games, but I don't want them to be all I play. And I don't have the strength right now to play something new, so replays it is!

Genshin:

Spoiler:

ZZZ:

Spoiler: