Backlog 2020

Bluie · Post Posted: Jan 23, 2020 6:09 am

Is it all right if I still keep posting updates here despite the fact that I'm abandoning my backlog until I finish FFXIV's storyline? I mean, kinda in a sense each expansion is it's own monster and a backlog in itself. I'm pretty much only running white mage (with a lil fishing in the background now and then) and not intending to make secondary characters. I'm currently in Heavensward, level 60, and I've just gotten the ability to fly in one of the areas. MAN is flying fun and makes traversal much less of a chore. Can't wait to unlock it everywhere else!

Meanwhile, I've also had fun playing with the markets and my Free Company. Until the next patch rolls out, I've found a great money making method that's hilariously broken, but again, its going to be patched out, so better make my fat stacks while I can. Also, my FC decided to play hide and seek last night - winners got 1 million gil and a rare minion. I won, got 1 million richer, and then spent most of it on glamours (FASHION!) I'd been eyeing for awhile. Though, the Valentines day outfits are so incredibly cute that I'm defs gonna switch over to them once they release. My storage is overflowing with outfits....

I'm also playing a little bit of Tokyo Mirage Sessions in the morning If I feel like it. I tend to wake up from anywhere between 4am-6am, and I don't turn on the TV/PS4 until atleast 10am out of respect to everyone else in the house. I've made it to the second dungeon so far, but I'm not going to be rushing through it.

I honestly think most of my gaming this year is going to be related to DLC expansions. I was all gung-ho to be getting all these JRPGs coming out in 2020, but as of right now, I don't have the time/mind for them. What I've already put money and time into I have no problem revisiting, but I don't wanna jump into new stuff right yet (except Animal Crossing LOL). So I guess my 'backlog' is:

- Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers
- Fire Emblem Three Houses Cindered Shadows
- Pokemon Shield Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra

And I'll have to see what I can manage beyond that.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 23, 2020 6:28 am

Sure, it's alright.

The backlog thread is really just all of us discussing what we're playing. (Or maybe just talking about it...I guess it's not usually a 'discussion' unless someone is curious about one of the games we're playing.) I mean, if you think it's not quite backlog material, you can just put it under a cut or something, but I don't see how it's different to talk about FFXIV than anything else. It's a game, too. I keep bringing up Ring Fit! (Still 'playing' it regularly and holy, this arm-centric world nearly killed me yesterday, my arms were burning so much! Surprised me. Those tricep kickbacks LOOKED like a joke, but nope! As long as you lift the ring high enough on every rep, it's a fair strain! I don't know what world I'm in, but my character level is 83, now.)

I'm half done 7th Dragon III, as far as I can tell, and it looks like I'm on track to finish it (possibly even at 100%, with all side quests and all possible rescues of humans, lucier and cats) for the average basic play time for this game on howlongtobeat.com. I've unlocked the ability to invite non-team members to socialize that at the Skylounge.

I'm pretty certain now that I will actually complete this in January, which will give me +4 for the month. YAY. I hope to get +2 in February. These are the benefits of having nothing high-priority on the horizon for a few months at a time, I guess. Though I do keep going back to build more in DQB2. I can't help it! DQB2 is my only gardening option, during winter.

Harvest Moon kawaii · Post Posted: Jan 23, 2020 11:42 am

Spoiler:

I played more of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth yesterday and am now 5 hours in.

I bought a new pair of joy cons today for my Switch (Purple and Orange pair). I plan on sending in my old pair to Nintendo for repair.

I just pre-ordered my copy (the archival edition) of Rune Factory 4 Special. I hope I like it/am good at it/can play it because my last Rune Factory was the first Rune Factory on DS when I was like 11. So, hopefully I'm better at it now.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 23, 2020 2:59 pm

I finished chapter 4, but chapter 5 is going to be a...troublesome thing. You keep 2 back-up teams at this point, and I NEVER use them. They level up along with you, but since the ability to have other teams unlocks later, the 2nd team is about 3 levels lower than you, and the 3rd team will always be about 3 levels lower than them.

In this chapter's dungeon, you have to split into the three teams and take your own path, but all fighting the same level monsters, so it'll be harder for the 2nd team, and a lot harder for the 3rd. And there's nothing I can do about it. I can reshuffle the teams to put one 1st team member, one 2nd, and one 3rd on each team, to try to balance out the power, but I'm not familiar with how the other ones work, so much. 'S gonna be a pain. I also still need to clear 9 dragons out of the last region, and theyi're FLYING dragons who don't go on your walking path, so you never run into them to trigger battle. The only way I can figure out how to get to them is to trigger a regular battle NEAR the dragon, and waste turns guarding until the dragon interferes in my fight. Which would take a lot of doing. I wonder if that is how I have to do it, or if there's another way. I can't find an answer on the net and I don't want to do it if I don't have to, because that would be so tedious.

Of course, I'm not sure I HAVE to clear all dragons. But...

Bluie · Post Posted: Jan 24, 2020 6:02 am

I decided yesterday to take a chunk out of my day and watch the rest of Ni No Kuni II's cutscenes. I ended up trading in the game a day or so ago towards an eShop card (for Animal Crossing) because I couldn't get back into it, but I was still curious about the plot. It was kind've a 'eh' feeling compared to the warm fuzzies the previous game gave me. Incoming Ni No Kuni II Rant below (with spoilers):

Spoiler:

I mean, it was all around fine, but I think my biggest issue is that the party besides Roland and Evan (and Lofty) really didn't need to stick around after their story arcs. They're all reduced to Evan's royal peanut gallery - like spectators in a shounen anime. It's just kinda irritating that they could all be potentially written out into either staying in their kingdoms or just be normal NPCs in Evermore. It would change nothing about their characters or the narrative, and that really bothers me.

It's important (to me) in JRPGs that the core party have their own ambitions and reasons for joining and not just 'oh, yeah, i'll take a break from my kingdom for awhile and hang out in yours instead'. If the party members had decided to be in the strike force against the pillars instead of with Rowan and Evan, again, nothing would have changed for their characters or the narrative. Like, I'm OK with gag party members or extras here and there, but not the majority of the cast I'm supposed to get attached to and care for. The story dissolved to only focus on Roland and Evan in the end anyways, so everyone else was just there for the ride essentially.

In the first game, Esther and Swaine join Oliver because he saves them + they have connections to important plot points which means they need to stick around. While doing so, they all become genuine friends and keep sticking around because they're a genuine team. There's unity there, and even when Marcassin joins in the last arc, it's not unnatural due to his connections with the party and the fact he's been super plot important.

With Ni No Kuni II, it felt like Evan would arrive to get the declaration stamped, be along for the ride of whatever is going on, get his stamp, then gain a party member that was pretty much only joining him for business reasons. Tani and Batu join after pledging allegiance, but then do nothing in the plot afterwards. Leander literally does « Snuggly Bunny » all after his arc - the 'traitor' thing with Roland could have been easily filled in by anyone else who can wear a cloak. Bracken helps make Mornstar, which I suppose only she can do, but she had little to no reason to be in the party, especially when the kingdom she belongs to could REALLY use her help after it took a ton of damage and most of the citizens are exhausted. Nope, Evermore needs to be more steam punk asap, forget about how unstable the kingdom is rn and go help the cat boi!

I just... *sigh* there was a lot of potential in this game and it missed the mark for me. It looks beautiful, it plays fantastically, but it's lacking the heart from the previous game. There were good parts I enjoyed, like learning about Braken's prosthetic leg, Aranella's death was powerful, and Mausinger's redemption was heartfelt (though, this dude did a murder, several actually, he should really be punished and not just accepted because the previous king's ghost said it's OK). It was overall fine, but felt like it was meant to be much more.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 24, 2020 10:18 am

I finished chapter 5, but it's got an extra bit because my characters are all now past level 50, which means I can learn EX skills, each of which is like their own quest, and big pain in the butt! It's going to take a while to do all 8+ of them, and I like this game, but I don't love it, so...I need a little break. Mind you, it can only be a little one if I want to finish 7th Dragon III Code: VFD (which I still think is a horrible name) in one more week. Which I do. Boss battles are getting pretty difficult, now, too, even when I'm levelled up and stocked and equipped with the best. Still, no more of this game today, at the least! I may just tootle around with DQB2. Or not play anything at all, lol.

I also think Ring Fit today was maybe overdoing it. Not by a lot, but I recently went up to level 15, which basically DOUBLED the reps I have to do for everything, plus I've been doing somewhat longer sessions every day, and I was tired already. Normally a bit of exercise gives me a tiny boost, but today I think it just made me tireder, so...I may have to scale back a wee bit. Put the sessions back a few minutes, or something. I was really tired yesterday and the day before, too, so...not sure if I want to try scaling back a tad or not. (No, I don't want to, but it might be for the best.)

RF4S in one month, and Animal Crossing one month after that! (And about a month after AC, spring will properly have come in my town. Whew!)

Code_Name_Geek · Post Posted: Jan 24, 2020 10:35 pm

I finally started Bravely Second! I haven’t been feeling very motivated about gaming lately, but today I felt a sudden urge to immerse myself in the world of an RPG and Bravely Second was next on my list. It’s good so far, I’m still getting a feel for the story but the gameplay is as good as ever. It’s fun to start at level one with no money or jobs again

As for Pokémon, I’m waiting on my brother for the last few Pokémon I have left in the Pokédex and then I’ll probably take a break from that game until the DLC comes out.

Edit: The Pokédex is completed!

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jan 25, 2020 6:54 pm

It's been like...3 weeks since I've played anything other than Ring Fit and after getting my replacement WiiU adapter in the mail I got it in my head to play Animal Crossing: City Folk, which was my evening today.

It's interesting in this really weird way to go back and play old versions of games like Animal Crossing. I like the design of the 'city' area in City Folk so much better than the downtown in New Leaf, but...let's be real, I get it. A minute load screen to get to and then back from the city is not fun. I did get bored eventually so I'm not sure I'll go back to the game, but...it was a fun jaunt at least.

Kinda thinking about doing a 3D Zelda marathon for the same reason.

As for Ring Fit I'm still just...plugging along. I'm up to the boss battle in World 7 - really wanted to finish it before I quit for the week but I was just too tired. I am impressed with the game's ability to keep my interest. It's so easy with exercise to just be 'too busy'...and to play another game I'm not 'too busy' for instead.

Oh yeah, unless you have an interest in tech stuff it's not THAT interesting, but I did just watch a tear-down of the ring-con on Spawn Wave if you were curious how the game actually works!

Pretty cool.

Ronin19 · Post Posted: Jan 25, 2020 10:27 pm

I just finished Tokyo Mirage Sessions! Still a great game.

Now my plan is to finish up Wandersong and Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind and then starting up Harvest Moon Tale of Two Towns.

Animal Crossing Wild World is going well. I only owe a little under 250K bells left. At this rate, I should finish within 12 or 13 days. Still can't wait for New Horizons!

Edit: Just finished Re:Mind too.

Pachi · Post Posted: Jan 26, 2020 5:12 pm

I've played a bit of Octopath Traveler and I'm almost done recruiting my 6th party member (Alfyn). I'm enjoying it so far! It reminds me so much of my fave FFVI, which is a good thing haha <3 My only gripe is that the screen transition to battles is too fast for me. I'm used to games with random battles but even those have a small screen pause/freeze before transitioning to battle, and I feel like Octopath's black screen pause is too fast that it catches me off guard/by surprise.

I'm loving the music as well; for an RPG, they're very soothing! I think the cave music is overused but I can live with it.

Also, wow, Primrose's story (background + chapter 1 at least) is... very heavy, compared to the others' :c

Ronin19 · Post Posted: Jan 26, 2020 5:17 pm

Pachi wrote:Also, wow, Primrose's story (background + chapter 1 at least) is... very heavy, compared to the others' :c

Primrose is my favorite hero! She's amazing and I love her story the most.

I just finished Wandersong! This weekend has been a lot about finishing games and diminishing my backlog. Now I can focus on Animal Crossing Wild World and Tale of Two Towns now. I'm hoping to finish ToTT and MAYBE GB1 before all these games come out in March and Rune Factory on February 25.

Checklist:
ToTT
Marry Mikhail
Finish the story
Find out the gender of my kid

Wild World
Finish my last debt

Wild World should be finished before ToTT though.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2020 4:45 am

Took a little break from 7th Dragon but am now back to it. And just realized that it's not that you CAN date basically anyone, from your own teammates to all the main NPCs, it's that you MUST date them, lol. Once you unlock the ability to date an NPC (after doing enough of the quests related to them, you'll get their ID and be able to call them to the Sky Lounge), you have to go on three dates with them. On the third date, a suggestive blackout screen will happen, and in the end, you'll get the best weapon or a high-level item from them for a specific character class. So yeah...gotta date 'em all!

My favourite NPC is Yuma. (Though I also like Eigur.) Which make me wonder what the heck is with me and very emotionally-controlled characters. They can be the voluntary self-control type (like any really good butler) or an involuntary type (like Data from ST:TNG, or like Yuma himself) or some crossbreed (like any Vulcan.)

I don't get it. What's so great about this type, that I can never resist them? But those two are really the only ones I personally would choose to go after if this were an actual dating sim instead of you just flirting about to get all the best weapons/items, lol. Eigur has just a touch of tsundere or young rival about him, which make him kinda fun. But Julietta, Allie and Nagamimi all gross me out a bit, Mio is too young and innocent, and I'm just not into pink-haired, cat-eared elf women with enormous boobs and openly visible bikini panties, I guess, so Ulania's not of interest to me, either. I can't call Yoritomo yet but I think that option may open up. Not into heavily scarred bald war vets, though, tbh.

Got my main party EX skills, and some of the backup party ones, too. Also have rescued all 50 humanoids and all 30 cats, so I think no extra dungeon exploring is necessary any more and I can just plough through to the end.

Code_Name_Geek · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2020 7:57 am

I tend to gravitate towards emotionally controlled characters too, Kikki, and here’s my thoughts on why that might be the case for me.

Spoiler:

In other news, I’m about 9 hours into Bravely Second and enjoying it a lot so far! Gonna have to do some grinding for this first side quest though

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2020 9:08 am

Well, there's that. I don't like mushy stuff or grand gestures or anything flashily romantic, that's for sure.

Spoiler:

Anyway, I think I have two more characters that can be unlocked for dating (and the goodies they give out after the third date) but I just want to say that Sailas, who I wasn't overly interested in, probably had the most fun writing for his. And one of the dates ended shockingly! I mean, they all have a fade-to-black-with-suggestive-dialogue moment, but I think one of the characters DIES in the fade out moment on the third date! I mean, I can't be certain, but...that's how it seemed!

I can't tell how long the final bit of this game is. Given how much has been wrapped up by the end of Chapter 5, I feel like the remaining sections may be shorter. But they may throw a twist in and have them be even longer, so I can't tell, but I should at least be able to wrap things up before the month is out, at least.

EDIT: There could be a deus ex machina turnaround in here somewhere, but that's what it would take, because man, late game does NOT go light on the twists and tragedy! Finished Chapter 6 and should be able to wrap it all up (Ch7 and a short epilogue) tomorrow, and that'll be +4 for January! Whew. I really want to get +2 for Feb, which means completing 3 backlog games by the 25th, since I definitely won't be able to complete RF4S in 3 days. (Especially not if I end up playing it twice to get both Vishnal and Dylas, the final two I still wanted to do routes for. Never cared about Doug or Kiel. I still don't know why I ended up going for Arthur first...I wasn't interested in him, to start with!)

greensara · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2020 1:16 pm

I cleared DQB2 again yesterday after taking my time and building a lot more pretty rooms and buildings first. I think I am in a good place to take a break from building for a while and play some other stuff now, at least until I get an itch to build again, lol.

I also played Mushroom Quest for the first time today and ended up clearing it too. It was a lot shorter than I expected, but it was a fun little puzzle game. It would have been nice if it were longer and gradually harder, but since I got it with gold points and on sale I guess I can't complain.