Backlog 2022

Bluie · Post Posted: Jan 17, 2022 5:07 am

yzafre wrote:You have Sylvando now! My darling, I love him so much.

Saaaame. Such a fantastic character who steals the show in every scene he's in.

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I made a mistake of looking at the sales on the eShop. Samurai Warriors 5 complete was extremely affordable and I pulled the trigger. WHEN will I play it? Who knows. It doesn't have a conquest mode like 4 so I doubt it'll have my attention as long, but still, I have a soft spot for this series and it's grindy as heck.

I also bought Nioh 2 Complete on PS4 but I immediately threw that into the rainy day pile. My brain is way too smooth for a soulslike right now.

Harvest Moon kawaii · Post Posted: Jan 17, 2022 10:26 am

Currently playing:

Danganronpa Decadence (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc) (Switch)

Recently beat:

Pokemon Shining Pearl (Switch)

Hey, everyone. Sorry for my long absence. I can't believe it's a new year already.

I got Danganronpa Decadence for Christmas, and I've been trying to get the first game beat by the time Pokemon Legends: Arceus comes out, but I don't think that's going to happen. The visual novel's longer than I expected. I'm 20+ hours into Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

I haven't played any more Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, but I plan to. I like what I've played so far.

I bought a lot of games for the 2021 Christmas e-shop sale (like 17 games). But, I won't list them all here.

And, I recently bought Go Vacation and Go Minimal (Go is a board game) on the Switch as well.

As for my forecast for the upcoming year, here are the games I'm excited for/plan to get as soon as possible:

1) Pokemon Legends Arceus (January 28, 2022)
2) Life is Strange: Remastered Collection (February 1, 2022)
3) Egglia Rebirth (February 10, 2022)
4) Rune Factory 5 (March 22, 2022)
5) Kirby and the Forgotten Land (March 25, 2022)
6) Peachleaf Valley: Seeds of Love - a farming inspired otome (on Steam) (Spring 2022)

No idea how I'm going to get/if I'll get both Rune Factory 5 and Kirby and the Forgotten Land both in March, since they'll both be releasing 3 days apart.

Ronin19 · Post Posted: Jan 17, 2022 2:37 pm

I completed a couple of short games: Chicory and The Crown of Leaves (which has more chapters in development, but I'll consider it complete for now).

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 17, 2022 2:40 pm

Man, I HATE this stupid crossbow thing in DQXI. I hate it! It's ruining grinding. :/ I really liked going up and slashing monsters in the field to instantly start a battle (with a tiny bonus of shaving off 15 HP or so). But I've been cursed with this crossbow that seems to have shortened the distance from which I can slash with my sword. I can be pretty close to a monster and Lev still gets that damned crossbow out and does that @*$%! crossbow animation to make the monster turn around and lumber (slowly!) over and I haaaaaaaaate it.

I keep thinking I'm plenty close enough to slash at a monster in the field and repeatedly turning out that I was like an inch too far away or something and *screams* crossbow. Argh. WHY did they think this was a good feature to add?? (I've seen people complain that they hit it accidentally and find it frustrating for that reason, but that's not my issue...I have never hit it accidentally. But it shortens my field attack distance! I have to practically press myself right up against a monster before I can slash at it, now.)

I've been looking for a way to disable it, but that doesn't appear to be a thing. What a dumb and needless thing to spoil the fun.

It's taken away the mindless grinding I was enjoying. Now I have to focus on running up an exact distance...very close, to avoid the crossbow, but not TOO close to run right into them and initiate battle without getting the slash bonus, which I WANT, dang it. I LIKE slashing! Also, I really like Jade, but her 'Hip Drop' attack is moronic. It's like she's applying her butt like a powder puff to 'poff' the enemies in the face (the way her butt hits the camera makes it look like it's coming right for your face, imo). Fanservice for the fellas yet again, it seems. I don't like it. Which sucks since Jade's my favourite. Her Pep thing with Lev and Serena is really sweet, though.

Well, at least things are good in DQB2. I could tootle about more in BotW, too, if DQXI has become annoying. I kind of feel lke doing a few shrines. Link is so fragile with only 3 hearts.

greensara · Post Posted: Jan 17, 2022 3:55 pm

Jade was my favorite too, and I loathed every time they felt they needed to do tropes with her.

I ignored boosting her fanservice branch in favor of her awesome fighting related branches. Why have a branch for that? Yuck.

Got to chapter 13 in Xenoblade Chronicles. Wowee, it has gotten a lot, lot better with all the new developments, and additional gorgeous areas. I hope the artists/ designers that did all these beautiful and detailed regions got paid well, because they did an amazing job! One humorous moment I will put in a spoiler just in case:

Spoiler:

I am actually looking forward to see where the story goes.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 17, 2022 4:45 pm

That's cute, greensara; your daughter is a shipper as soon as she's getting started. I'm in total agreement with her! The other ship was never of any interest to me at all. The latter half of Xenoblade is where all the hard-hitting plot is, so enjoy!

~

I complained before, and I meant my complaints (I also don't want to develop any skills for Jade that will result in her doing things like poffing her « Mr.Gourmet's hat » on the screen with a misty pink

. CRINGE. But some of them look really useful; I'll have to be careful developing her to try to minimize the cringe. I've been focusing on claw, for now.) but the AI for auto-battle in DQXI is great. They actually use their brains! I don't know if it makes much difference, but I auto-battle with 'Fight Wisely', and they really do. Lev uses his Dragon Slash a lot if he's fighting a dragon. He uses the multi fire attack only when there's 3 or more enemies to hit with it and doesn't waste MP otherwise. Things like that. Actual smart use of MP and attacks. That's rare, so I've been impressed. It makes grinding a lot more fun.

And speaking of grinding, I 'ground' my characters up 7 levels...half of them have hit 30, now. I wanted to get everyone 2 more skills each, and with the exception of the last stragglers stuck at level 29, I have. I can start on Lev's Luminary skills now, as I got him Miracle Slash and Falcon Slash and Dual Wielding. I'll grab the other 3 sword skills I've yet to unlock, too, but for now I'm going to start on the other branch. I'll get 3 or 4 of those skills then swap back and get the remaining sword skills. I think. My party is Lev and all the girls...left the boys out. They're really smackin' the enemies down, so I'm content to leave it like this for as long as we keep steamrollering the mobs.

EDIT: The Tentacular is cute. I kind of want one.

Simply Unknown · Post Posted: Jan 17, 2022 6:38 pm

I love Jade as a character, I really do. But when they decided to make her the designated fan-service girl...Why couldn't they just let her be the awesome martial-artist? It really sucks.

Still making my way through SMT V and I think I accidentally cheesed the last boss? I knew he had an electric move and a lot of physical attacks so I shored up my team with electric resistances and popped an item that blocked physical attacks for the team. I only had three, but the fight lasted only 4 turns! I literally took no damage because I blocked it all and he never went for his electric move. Considering the first time I attempted the fight, he wiped me out, I'm not too mad about it. But still, it was kind of funny.

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jan 17, 2022 7:55 pm

That's good to see your daughter taking interest in a new game, greensara!

Maybe she'll be playing RPGs before you know it.

I think my watching Xenoblade be played when I did colored my view of the whole thing. So it's especially nice to see a kid stand their ground on their opinions. Spoiler tag just in case.

Spoiler:

--
Aaah I didn't even realize how much I missed this game. Builders 2 is so lovely. The surprise of the night is APPARENTLY my save file got downloaded at some point! I assumed it got deleted because I hadn't downloaded the game since getting my current Switch and I've been off of a Switch Online plan for a while. But lo and behold CONTINUE was on the home screen! Even if I don't spend much time in it it's really nice to have my original file still.

I'm just barely started into the Furrowfield section of the plot, and honestly I think this is the only area I legitimately want to build up properly. None of the other major islands or their casts appealed to me at all, but Furrowfield is lovely. I don't wanna half « Mr.Gourmet's hat » it this time.

My only complaint is the rigidity of the plot. EVERYTHING you break gets ignored. But I guess in the long run I'm happier that more time was spent on systems than plot. Most of the plot isn't very good anyway.

greensara · Post Posted: Jan 18, 2022 5:02 am

Lol, yes I think this is the most hardcore she's gotten for a game since DQXI. That one's still her favorite I think as I will still occasionally come across her playing with her toys as characters from the game, lol. We had different opinions about who we thought the hero should be with as I was on Team Gemma (childhood friend) and she was and still is a firm Team Serena member, lol!

I think I am on track to finish Xenoblade before Arceus comes out, that's my goal anyway.

yzafre · Post Posted: Jan 18, 2022 7:30 am

greensara wrote:We had different opinions about who we thought the hero should be with as I was on Team Gemma (childhood friend) and she was and still is a firm Team Serena member, lol!

Spoiler:

So. Apparently I missed the "read more" on the list of Captain Toad levels I was looking at, and there are 46 levels, not 32. No issue, they're still really short, but I wasn't expecting it.

For DQXI, I'm all set to finish off Act 1 the next time I open the game! Need to make sure I've got all the equipment I want on everyone...

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 18, 2022 9:58 am

I don't have a team in DQXI...I don't really see much romance to it. Though I guess if I had to pick a romance then it'd be Gemma. I prefer my couples to have known each other a long time and be really good friends. And Melia in Xenoblade...with half the fans on her side, I can't see her as an underdog...she's a full-fledged contender with as much support as any other option (plus she got her own entire bonus story...more than anybody else got; the lack of other party members in the Definitive content was a big disappointment for me.) I'm rather indifferent to her, myself...I don't find she has much personality beyond 'quiet dignity' and 'reserved'.

I kind of suspect the rumours about Xenoblade 3 and ... Well I'd better not say, right? Not everyone likes to know about rumours! ... But I suspect the rumours are true, particularly because of that after story.

Um, where am I in DQXI? Oh yeah, I used the harp. I'm in that area. I think that means end of Chapter 8 (of 12), though from what I half-understand, those 12 chapters may just be the first segment of the game. Not clear on that. The story seems pretty standard stuff, so far, though what's his name...purple hair right-hand-man of hte King...he's a more decent fellow than I thought? I figured he had no conscience, being on the side of someone who seems rather demented and unfair, but he doesn't seem crazy, himself...just a bit excessively loyal to someone who appears unworthy. (From what I know so far.) But people are talking about Xenoblade, which makes me want to play it again. I've never done a run of the game where I just streak through the plot, ignoring the side quests...I always do ALL of the 400+ side quests. Every time! But I COULD. I'm already max level in NG+...I could completely ignore everything but the main story if I just wanted to experience that in one heavy stream.

Or I could do some sprucing of the mountain-top temple area in DQB2. Do I want to play a cute creative game without any story left, or concentrate entirely on a story? Only I know...except, actually, even I do NOT know. I kind of randomly choose games, these days. Whatever I click A on first.

Ronin19 · Post Posted: Jan 18, 2022 6:27 pm

So I've effectively eliminated all but one PC game from my backlog. Waylanders can't run on my beefy computer (and I'm not a fan of the tone it's going for and I vaguely remember hating the combat system) and I'm just not feeling Disco Elysium no matter how many times I try. It's a shame since Waylanders is inspired by Dragon Age and Disco Elysium is text-heavy and I love story games.

That just leaves Kynseed, which should leave early access this year, hopefully.

The only other games I have access to on my backlog are all Final Fantasy games. 5 and 6 on my Vita and 7 and 8 on my Switch. I don't have a PS5 anymore, so I've gotta work on that once the post-holiday retail season is over.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jan 19, 2022 11:12 am

I left DQXI off last night after I gathered all the dragon balls and had placed them on the altar, summoning snake way. But then it was time for bed. I opened the game again today...and just closed it again immediately, cuz I don't feel like it. With this, I think I'm done 10 of 12 chapters, of what must be 'Act I', though honestly, I don't think I've seen the game mark either chapters or acts. But while avoiding spoilers, that seems to be where I am. At the beginning of the 10th of 12 segments of the first act.

I already made pickles after getting back from grandma (the pink pickled turnips you see in shawarma wraps) but the kitchen is in quite a state...I definitely need an hour or two in there to scrub. Maybe today's not a gaming day. But if it is later on, I think I feel more like messing around casually with BotW or DQB2. Or I could grind in Arboria...I was getting good XP there, and easily. DQXI is nice for mindless yet entertaining zone-out material. I leveled my party up 7 levels without getting tired of it in the swordrust ruins area (not what it was called...started with a z, but I can't remember how it was spelled. Looked/sounded like sword rust or sword thrust, though.) but they mobs are starting to catch up. The ones in Arboria didn't run away from Lev's party any more.

I looked up the hero's official name when I started the game, and I can't believe it's Eleven. -___- I prefer to use their proper name in games like this. I don't like to make up one of my own, because Lev isn't an avatar of ME, nor is he a child or a pet of mine...he's his own person who should have been given a name of his own when he was born. I'm not okay with calling him Hero, either. Lev had to do. It looks like a name to me, even if it's short for Eleven.

I more-or-less like the game, but I don't feel any attachment to it. I really like Veronica, though; she's a really canny and capable woman, even if she looks like a grade-schooler. All the characters are okay...not annoying at all. Serena's a bit of a non-entity to me but I don't have anything I particularly dislike about her, kind of like Melia from XC1. I do hate that they turned a wickedly skilled and talented woman like Jade into a humorous « Chicken Hugging » object, but I don't want to blame HER for that. It's really sweet that she instantly took to Lev that way. Both times.

It's funny to me that I legitimately bought the game by merit of it's zone-able turn-based combat. Grinding is my thing, with this, haha.

greensara · Post Posted: Jan 20, 2022 7:43 am

Kind of put Xenoblade on hold for the time being since I have been feeling so crummy the last couple of days. I did play around in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire here and there when I felt like it, as the DS is still much easier to use in bed than the Switch, in my opinion. Apparently Covid has decided to visit our house, but I guess I should be thankful it's not worse. I don't know if I will feel up to playing on the Switch today or not, but I'm not in a rush.

In light of all this I made the decision to preorder Arceus on Amazon for the $5 off. It was between that or digital and I really wanted the physical copy.

Harvest Moon kawaii · Post Posted: Jan 20, 2022 1:05 pm

Currently playing:

Danganronpa Decadence (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc) (Switch)
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (Switch)
The Expression Amrilato (Steam)

Recently beat:

Pokemon Shining Pearl (Switch)

Hey, everyone. So, Pokemon Legends Arceus releases in 8 more days. I...don't think I'll be able to finish all of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc in time for Pokemon.

But, I'll get as far as I can.

I recently bought Staxel on the Switch and pre-ordered Egglia Rebirth on the Switch as well.

I played a bit of Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town today. It was really fun. I'm still really early in the game, as in still on Spring, Year 1, before the first egg hunt. But, I'm progressing quickly.

On Steam, I bought The Expression Amrilato and Distant Memorajo, which are visual novels that teach you Esperanto.

Also, Variable Barricade comes out Febuary 24, 2022 and will cost $50 US. I'm pretty excited for that, too.