Backlog 2019

[Samansu]

@kikki and all others interested!

I just used Ring Fit Adventure for the first time and it was SO FUN! I am definitely out of shape because it was set to intensity level 2 of 30 and I was still sweating and getting my heart rate into 'Energetic Exercise' level.

I really like that there is other stuff to focus on while running in place and I found it a bit hectic to try and remember to do everything at once. I like the coin collecting to keep me engaged. I didn't try any exercises that require getting up and down off the floor because I tend to get light headed and dizzy too if I have to go up and down to much. I'll test it out on yellow enemies when I run into them lol.

Hopefully I won't be sore tomorrow and I don't have to take a break, but I definitely like it! From the perspective of someone who usually hates exercise and is really out of shape and overweight, it was fun!

[Kikki]

I think after Cold Steel III, one has to move on to something fluffy. Something cute or silly. Or just a very different genre. Nothing story-driven. Of games I already own, I may play Wandersong in this big gap I've got that's probably going to last 3 months, unless I find something I want to buy in the meanwhile, from the list of games I skipped over in the past year, which I posted a couple of days ago.

Of games I could buy by the end of the year, maybe Pokemon Shield or Astronaut, but neither are games I want urgently. PINE is my other option but it's not a different enough genre, so right now, there's nothing. I don't even want to play, really. You kind of need to recover, after playing a Kiseki game.

That's okay. I need to build a bed frame, wrap 5 canvases, and I want to get back into paper and textural art, so I may just coast on gaming for a few months and get back into it when RF4S comes out. My next day-one must-have game is Animal Crossing New Horizons, and probably Final Fantasy VII, a few weeks before that.

~

EDIT: That's great, Samansu! I'm skipping a day because I went a little too hard the first day and have a lot of pinching above the knees, now, but I thought it was quite fun, too. Kind of lovable I also will be avoiding exercises that lower me to the floor, at least for a while. And I think I will lower the difficulty, because 10 was probably a bit too high to start with considering my current circumstances. I'm not really advised to exercise vigorously...it's better to stay a bit lower within my range.

I usually forgot to suck up some coins and break some crates along the path as I went. I was already passing them when I realized they were there, lol.

[Bluie]

I did it! I finished Atelier Ryza. It took me around 35 hours to finish, though I did all the village quests so that might have padded it a bit. There isn't much post game besides a boss, so i'm done! Here's a mini review:

The Good:

- The game looks and sounds gorgeous
- Fast travel is a godsend
- VA do a great job (JPN only audio)
- The battle and synthesizing system have been greatly improved

The Decent:

- The storyline has some sense of urgency, but it's over 10 hours before you get there
- Gathering is more fleshed out, though it can be seen as cumbersome
- Beating the game unlocks extras which is a CG viewer, model viewer, and translated interviews for each VA

The Bad:

- Gust STILL hasn't stopped placing invisible walls and objects that block paths, some of which are in the worst places in dungeons. Stopping in my tracks because a BRICK or a BUSH is slightly in my path is lazy. Let me jump over obstacles.
- Certain character relationships never get resolved and it sucks (more on that below in the spoiler)
- Lila's body proportions
- No character endings and no big character growth

Spoiler:

So, Lent's dad is the town drunk and he beats Lent regularly. The only one who shows concern is Ryza. No one in the village tries to help and Lent brushes is off, deciding he'll become stronger than him. This 'arc' ends with Lent realizing his dad doesn't hit him as hard any more + his punches stopped hurting. Lent leaves to be a knight and he and his dad share a quick moment like everything is hunky dory. Um??? What the hell??? Really not a good way to handle an abusive relationship. So...ugh.

Also, the villagers are such jerks to Ryza and co for no reason. And when she saves their « Mr.Gourmet's shoes », several times, they never apologize for how poorly they treated them. Really frustrating.

Overall; good. It's a step in the right direction and I think the lack of character endings is meant to be a hook for the next entry. Gust has said they're considering Ryza to continuing being the protagonist, and it'd work. We'll just have to see though!

[Secret Agent Bunny]

Now this thread is a good idea. I have so many games I need to finish.

[Bluie]

Now this thread is a good idea. I have so many games I need to finish.

Welcome! It seems we all have a pile or are getting ready for one.

II may play Wandersong in this big gap I've got that's probably going to last 3 months, unless I find something I want to buy in the meanwhile, from the list of games I skipped over in the past year, which I posted a couple of days ago.

I LOVED Wandersong, still do! It's got a lot a heart and it's not particularly difficult. It'll take around 10ish hours to beat, so yeah, you'll probably need something else.


-----

So, in beating Ryza, I went back to SAO Fatal Bullets annnnnnd, It's boring now. It's overly repetitive and not in a good way. I'm dropping it, but now I was at a loss as to what I should play. None of my buffer games are tempting in the least. But, I looked back at a few other games that I deemed finished, but still have stuff to do in them. Therefore, to keep me sane until Pokemon, I'll be playing the following:

Fire Emblem Three Houses - I'm missing an ending + the new DLC just dropped, so I should get on that
Dragon Quest XIS - I haven't seen the second ending yet because it's super grindy to get to, so i'll do that next
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Literally the only thing I haven't done is get all the costumes, which I do want for an eventual 3rd playthrough, so I'll work on getting those if I'm truly desperate

[Kikki]

Welcome to the backlog thread, Secret Agent Bunny No matter how dead the overall forum gets, the backlog thread continues on...we've all got lots of games to play. (Usually.)

I figured Wandersong would probably work for a post-CS III game since it seems relatively fluffy and cute...not at all in the same genre. I think I might read today, though, since the type of game I REALLY want right now is a Bokumono-type, and there are none available atm. Like many people on the extremely introverted end of the spectrum of personalities, I'm oversensitive to other people's emotions, and there are some people in my life right now who are just giant balls of angry tension and stress. Just being around them for half an hour has my stomach knotted up.

This is why I don't really leave the house, lol. I'm always in a good mood when I'm by myself. Being alone is so lovely and floaty...

Anyway, gaming seems like too much of an energy investment right now, and my brain is too scattered for art, so even though I really want to play with lots of brilliant colours of paper, I'm thinking I need a reading phase. No big deal, since I don't really have anything on the horizon. Still haven't decided on Pokemon Shield but I won't be buying it on release, at least. And I'd like to see some reviews for the PS4 version of Astroneer before I decide wither to buy it or not.

Glad you mostly like Ryza, Bluie. Some of that sounds like it'd frustrate me to no end.

[Night Owl]

Whoa, sure has been a while. But I think I added more games to my backlog than I beat, so oh well. This is what happens when you don't unpack for 4 months after moving.
Games Beaten:
-ToCS1 PS4
-I did all the main routes on London Detective Mysteria, I need to grind out bad endings and other routes to get the "true" ending, but the game's just so long. I really liked Watson, Jack, and Lupin's routes. Holmes' route annoyed me, and Akechi's route was fun, but I like other characters more than him. They were all good though.
-I beat Blue Lions and Golden Deer for Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Currently in the middle of one of my Black Eagles runs, but I just got so burnt out that I don't even know if the DLC helps. It really doesn't help that I don't like Edelgard.

Currently playing:
-Code Vein. This one's fun to play honestly. I got thrown off a cliff like a baseball by an enemy once and I wasn't even mad. It was hilarious.
-ToCSII PS4. This one's off and on. I jumped in right after 1 and was like: Oh my « Harvest Goddess », I'm so burnt out.

To Get Back to Later:
-Dragon Quest Builders 2 - Stopped playing because of Fire Emblem
-Dragon Quest XI S - This and Code Vein came out on the same day. I picked Code Vein.
-The two Fire Emblem Three Houses runs I have left. - I don't even want to anymore,
-I started a Pokemon Ultra Sun run a few days ago but didn't even get to the first trial. It's so tutorial and cut-scene heavy at the start and there's no skip function.

Games I bought but didn't play:
-Persona Q2. I want to beat PQ1 before I start this one. And I dropped PQ1 because I got stuck, so that'll be an adventure to get back to at some point.
-Trails of Cold Steel 3. I uh... Need to beat 2.

Really at this point, I'm just waiting for Pokemon Sword and Shield. I'll be getting Shield.

[Kikki]

-I did all the main routes on London Detective Mysteria, I need to grind out bad endings and other routes to get the "true" ending, but the game's just so long. I really liked Watson, Jack, and Lupin's routes. Holmes' route annoyed me, and Akechi's route was fun, but I like other characters more than him. They were all good though.

(...)

-ToCSII PS4. This one's off and on. I jumped in right after 1 and was like: Oh my « Harvest Goddess », I'm so burnt out.

I did all the guys good endings in Mysteria, I think I got Marple's, as well, but I don't think I ever did Kobayashi's (if that was even his name...it's been a while!) and I didn't do most of the bad endings, so I haven't yet gotten the true ending at all. Completing it in that way at the time wasn't important to me but I'll go back some day and do them all.

Cold Steel...yeah, for sure. I mean, CS I makes you really neeeeeed CS II, but trying to play two full Cold Steel games on end is just painful. There's too much to take in, and too much drama to process. For your mental/emotional health, you tend to need a break.

Code Vein is fun, huh? Is it the combat you like?

[Night Owl]

I did all the guys good endings in Mysteria, I think I got Marple's, as well, but I don't think I ever did Kobayashi's (if that was even his name...it's been a while!) and I didn't do most of the bad endings, so I haven't yet gotten the true ending at all. Completing it in that way at the time wasn't important to me but I'll go back some day and do them all.

Cold Steel...yeah, for sure. I mean, CS I makes you really neeeeeed CS II, but trying to play two full Cold Steel games on end is just painful. There's too much to take in, and too much drama to process. For your mental/emotional health, you tend to need a break.

Code Vein is fun, huh? Is it the combat you like?

Mysteria was so much fun. I did get one of the hidden endings, just not Marple or Kobayashi's. The game's just so long that getting the bad endings and the true ending is something I'd need to either do all at once or a little at a time. Even just skipping to the next questions took me a while. I'm content where I stopped with the game, I'll probably pick it back up to get the Platinum trophy one of these days, but that's for later.

In CS2, I think I completed the first major story beat. I'm still in Act 1 and I just looked at all I had to do and went: yeah, break time. I'll get back to it sometime soon though. I wanna play 3, but at the same time I do sorta wanna wait for the 4th game to get announced for localization.

Code Vein on the other hand is a lot of fun and also something I've been chipping away at. The combat is super flexible and allows you to play how you want to although they encourage experimentation. You can mix and match almost any abilities; and while certain abilities are locked to weapon types, it never feels restrictive. Your AI party member is really competent, so even if you're not too good at the combat, someone like Yakumo or Louis CAN carry you through some more difficult fights. Although I think Yakumo is the stronger party member when it comes to boss fights. I like Louis though. The biggest gripe I had with the game was something they fixed in their Halloween update, so I was super happy with it. They also encourage a lot of exploration and even return trips to areas you've been to. I accidentally did a lot of things out of order at the start because you have a choice between two areas, and I fell down a pit to the other area. So I did that area before returning to the 1st which I think threw my levels off. But even then, the game was still rather challenging. There's a demo out for the game on the PlayStation Store I believe if you wanna get a feel for the game.
The story so far isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's still interesting. I really like collecting Vestiges and getting glimpses back into the past for certain characters and trying to piece the backstory together. Also the character creator for the game is just amazing and REALLY extensive. They made it so any characters you create in the demo can be brought into the full game too. The MC so far is a mute protagonist which sorta makes sense in the context of the game.

[Kikki]

Yeah, Mysteria was crazy long; I really don't understand why all otoges don't simply include a full skip option after you've completed a route once. Let us skip directly from one choice to the next if we've already read all that text once! I had a huge amount of fun the first time I played, though. Emily is just packed with character and her interactions with Pendleton were always fun. (It was really funny when he was bemoaning what ever he would do if her dear delicate body was all minced up and etc, going into detail describing all the gory things that might happen if she wasn't careful, lol.)

Pendleton really should have been at least a secret route, even if it wasn't romantic, but they always do that in otoges, don't they? They always have at least ONE guy who you really, really wish had a route, and he doesn't. :/ Not much hope for a sequel, either, considering this is a game from 2013. Even though there was some material in there that I felt left some mystery in some cases. Well, imo, anyway.

Is there any difference in which gender you choose for your MC in Code Vein, content-wise? It's not a game with romance options, is it? (Cuz if there is nothing gender-specific, I tend to choose male avatars, but if there is, then I want female ones.)

If there's a demo, that's great; I'll try it. I assume it's a bit bloody for me but a demo should be helpful

[Samansu]

Continued on to my 2nd day of Ring Fit Adventure today! Did 3 more levels and a minigame. I am definitely still enjoying it! I played for a bit longer today (9 minutes instead of 6 minutes of 'Active Time') and I now have a bit of soreness to show for it. I'm feeling a bit of tightness/soreness in my lats, triceps, biceps, calves, and thighs. Most of the soreness is in my lats though. Even still it definitely isn't bad and I should be able to do some tomorrow as well! \o.o/

I did do one little time of getting on the floor today and it was ok. Fortunately I unlocked a new Yellow Exercise which keeps you standing! \o.o/ I also unlocked another Red Exercise and got 1 more heart to help with battles!

I don't regret my purchase so far at all, and I hope this keeps me motivated and gets me back into shape! o.o/

[Night Owl]

@Kikki: Oh yeah, there really wasn't a secret character in Mysteria was there? Huh, that's funny in hindsight, but I guess they packed the game with so much other story they couldn't figure out how to add another. Pendleton would've been nice as an option, but so long as it was familial. Too bad there wasn't a fandisk to wrap some stuff up because I do agree that some routes have more mysteries left than others. But what I'm really looking forward to is Collar x Malice's Switch port with the fandisk.

In Code Vein, the protagonist is very much a blank slate that it doesn't matter which gender you pick really. The writing treats the player as either gender so it all ends up very gender-neutral. You end up getting referred to as "our friend" a lot, which I don't mind. As for romance options, there aren't any. There are just multiple endings to the game. So feel free to pick whichever designs you like the best. Playing around with the character creator is so much fun. I spent a lot of time getting things right and just seeing what I could do. You can make your clothes actually glow using some of the color options they give you. It's very eye searing, but it amuses me that they have that option. I don't play the game with that clothing option though. As for blood... I don't really notice any? It's really not any bloodier than your standard anime. Or if there is blood, I don't notice it too much because I'm busy concentrating on the gameplay to notice it. It's not a gory game in my book, but I know people have different tolerance levels for that stuff. The demo's pretty indicative of what to expect in the game, so you can try it and see. I've very much enjoyed my time with it so far.

[cinnamon_yuki]

I'm done with Blue Lions playthrough way back late September! And then played When the Night Comes, a visual novel (which I recommend, love all the cast).

I got Astral Chain and recently Code Vein. With Black Friday coming up, I hope to limit my spending though and finish some of my backlogs. I'm planning to do a replay of my Blue Lions run with the new features leading up to the last DLC wave, I'll probably start around February.

[Code_Name_Geek]

I finished Chapter 7 of Bravely Default and got a good start on Chapter 8 tonight, so I’m hoping to finish it this coming week as it’s the fall semester reading week. I’m not taking as much time with these later chapters but I think that’s intended, and I was going pretty slow before so it’s not like I’m rushing too much.

Not sure what I’ll play next after this, but probably something light since it’s coming up on the end of the semester. Then after classes end I plan to buy a Switch Lite and one of the new Pokémon games so I’m excited for that! I haven’t touched a main series Pokémon game since Sun and Moon came out, which is crazy if you consider that I pretty much continually played Pokémon from the time I got Emerald when I was 10 years old until then (I even completed the National Dex in ORAS!).

[Kikki]

Just my second Ring Fit workout today, and I told the game to lower my difficulty. So it decreased me from a 10 to a 7. I don't know if it was the decrease in difficulty, or if it's my freakish ability to gain cardiovascular conditioning at high speed (lengthy speed cycling is one of the most cardiovascularly demanding activities in the world, and I did it for years, over hilly roads, and even if you lose your fitness your body has a memory...it's like once you remind it, it's says 'Oh yeah, I remember how to use these bits! We usedta do this all the time!') but I'll probably only do one more workout at this level and then return to 10, because...

Last time I completed 2.5 levels and had to quit, and my heart rate went over 156. Today I did 4 levels and my heartrate never went about 140. (Apparently those 4 levels equalled 10 minutes of 'active' time. Hmm.) So yeah, one more session at level 7 difficulty, and then I'll return to a 10. Look, Mom, I'm being reasonable! I unlocked one more exercise but it was teal...I wanted a yellow one. Oh well! I wonder if it's random, or if it's based on how much you've done each of the other types of exercises.

Oh well, with my HR not going up that high, doing the yellow floor exercise didn't make me dizzy anyway, so I guess it's fine to keep using that one

I figure I'll do 6 levels of Ring Fit tomorrow. Not sure what'll happen when I switch back to 10 on difficulty (it makes you do more reps to complete everything). I wish the obstacles in the game were brighter. I keep running into logs because I don't even see them in my path, or running past crates because I don't notice them, either. I do get to go collect my first treasure right away tomorrow, and I think I also get to visit my first village. Not sure what that'll be like.

That might be all my gaming for today. I've got to finish prepping the hot and sour soup and the potato wedges (don't worry...they're not meant to go together!) and make some deliveries before noon, but the grocery shopping and tofu prep is done, and the little workout is done, so things are going pretty okay.

Dunno what I'll be doing for fun today, but I think it'll probably be reading more than gaming.