Backlog 2023
WHELP. 3.6 Genshin livestream helped settle my itchy gamba trigger finger. No Ayaka or Mika for me. PROBABLY no Nilou, either, since it's looking basically guaranteed Baizhu/Kavhe are second half of 3.6. They both look great! Do want those passive skills. Probably will only wish on Raiden between now and Fontaine after that. I'm neither here nor there on her character, but the power scaling is undeniable. Plus the ongoing archon collect-a-thon.
New bosses look great too. I think everybody is cheering the lack of a flying boss for Abyss. Though they could easily chuck both in there, just for the big « Snuggly Bunny » you.
My eye is still bothering me so I've been doing a lot of TCG while watching streams. Last night was TCG + Netflix... not the BEST idea though since I was watching a Korean show and had to lean in to read subs. Got to level 6, started Inazuma battles. Need to go back and do my challenge fights still. And try to focus down some of the achievement challenges for that namecard. The worst is probably that 'KO two or more characters in the same attack' bit... Got about half to go of that.
I want me a cat namecard, though. It's cute. *grabby hands*
New bosses look great too. I think everybody is cheering the lack of a flying boss for Abyss. Though they could easily chuck both in there, just for the big « Snuggly Bunny » you.
My eye is still bothering me so I've been doing a lot of TCG while watching streams. Last night was TCG + Netflix... not the BEST idea though since I was watching a Korean show and had to lean in to read subs. Got to level 6, started Inazuma battles. Need to go back and do my challenge fights still. And try to focus down some of the achievement challenges for that namecard. The worst is probably that 'KO two or more characters in the same attack' bit... Got about half to go of that.
I want me a cat namecard, though. It's cute. *grabby hands*
- Shan O 123
- UNoT Extreme Mooomber
- Posts: 7942
- Joined: May 04, 2013 11:01 am
Ah, okay, I didn't know you had, though I was hoping that was the case.Shan O 123 wrote: ↑Mar 31, 2023 7:47 am @Kikki: it was the end of February when mom first went to the hospital. I’m living with my sister.
It’s okay. The 3DS is pretty much dead.
I still use my 3DS a fair bit for Fantasy Life and mostly for Bokumono (Trio, SoS and ANB, mainly, which I'll probably continue to replay every so often until the 3DS breaks down.) but I have entirely forgotten how New Leaf even worked. I don't remember the name of my town or towns (I think I had one on each of my 2 3DSes) nor the name of the mayor character or anything else. I stopped playing New Leaf a year or two before the Switch even came out, iirc. I just get tired of AC relatively quickly. I was only interested in NH for about the first year and then it was just random stuff to see if I could trigger a little more interest, which I mostly couldn't. The lack of story, in-game goals, actual individual character and character stories...I think it's always a series that's gonna be super fun at first, but then become irredeemably boring to me.
I'm a little curious if I actually did have two towns, now, and what they were called...
I'm free from Live A Live, finally. It took my 25 hours to beat which doesn't sound super long, but it felt like it. I think my patience for turn based JRPGs that aren't Pokemon has waned... a lot. That being said, it was a great game. I got the true ending and have no desire to try and get any of the other ones, so it's done-done in my books. That's five games finished this year. Onto Xenoblade 3 which I plan to chip away at for awhile, but the Fire Emblem Engage DLC comes out in four days so uhhh, it'll be sidelined until I get that polished off too. Ah well, again, not rushing my backlog, just trying to get most if not all of it done before Tears of the Kingdom. I'll probably start Xeno3 tomorrow regardless, but tonight I want to play the Splatfest. I didn't get to participate in the last one due to an unfortunate work schedule, so I'd like to actually get some sea snails this time around. Tempted to buy the expansion pass to go hang out in Callie and Marie, but I'll probably refrain, for now.
Big sad that Baizhu isn't coming out til May. It does give me time to farm his mats more (including the boss mats which will be the new dragon boss if the leaks are right), but I am tired of waitinggggggg. Ah well, the rest of the patch looks great. Wonderful to see Wanderer again so soon!
Big sad that Baizhu isn't coming out til May. It does give me time to farm his mats more (including the boss mats which will be the new dragon boss if the leaks are right), but I am tired of waitinggggggg. Ah well, the rest of the patch looks great. Wonderful to see Wanderer again so soon!
*I* wished I knew this, so I'll tell you. These things have nothing at all to do with the story, they're more...gameplay facts? Two things you may want to know about how the game works that I personally wished I'd known before they came up. Dunno if you'll care, but since I did on one count and I know others did on the other count...
Spoiler:
Woof. It's 1am and I'm making a snack to recover a bit of stamina from starting Outer Wilds. My cat is rolling on the floor, trying to look cute, asking for his own snack. He knows no other way.
Outer Wilds is incredibly special, but it's so weird and different that it's kind of hard to come to grips with. Even with all the effort the devs put into helping facilitate that. I think I waited long enough to play it though because I only remember bits and pieces of everything. Things that stuck out in my mind, I guess. There is one major puzzle I remember how to cheat my way through, but not the way to the end. Not exactly, anyway. Just bits and pieces of it. I spent a couple hours tonight just starting to get to grips with the mechanics of flying the ship. And I'm barely starting to.
I kinda need to... I can't bring myself to go to Dark Bramble before that. Ugh. It's not even THAT bad I just don't wanna.
Not as bad as the DLC, I guess. You get this pop up for the DLC as SOON as you boot up the game warning that there's something in it that scares players so much that they added some sort of option that they claim helps make it a little better. Not looking forward to that, for sure. I just so happened to be listening to a stream this week that brought that up, and apparently the option the devs claim helps, streamer did not agree. Great. So it's sus if I'll even finish it. Jump scares are the only thing that scare me...but I hate jump scares. (I've heard people say jump scares are 'startling' not 'scary', but that's a potayto, potahto scenario if you ask me.)
If it's reeeal bad I'll just bail and watch a stream of that part. That's a long way off, though. I've got a lot to relearn.
Funny thing about performance, it's better optimized than I expected (there's actually a lot in the game that needs to be calculated because it's simulating multiple planets revolving in real time around a star, and they're all spherical objects with a center of gravity. WAY different from traditional games). And it didn't even use enough RAM to get the light to turn on, but there were some weird lag spikes at points. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Outer Wilds is incredibly special, but it's so weird and different that it's kind of hard to come to grips with. Even with all the effort the devs put into helping facilitate that. I think I waited long enough to play it though because I only remember bits and pieces of everything. Things that stuck out in my mind, I guess. There is one major puzzle I remember how to cheat my way through, but not the way to the end. Not exactly, anyway. Just bits and pieces of it. I spent a couple hours tonight just starting to get to grips with the mechanics of flying the ship. And I'm barely starting to.
I kinda need to... I can't bring myself to go to Dark Bramble before that. Ugh. It's not even THAT bad I just don't wanna.
Not as bad as the DLC, I guess. You get this pop up for the DLC as SOON as you boot up the game warning that there's something in it that scares players so much that they added some sort of option that they claim helps make it a little better. Not looking forward to that, for sure. I just so happened to be listening to a stream this week that brought that up, and apparently the option the devs claim helps, streamer did not agree. Great. So it's sus if I'll even finish it. Jump scares are the only thing that scare me...but I hate jump scares. (I've heard people say jump scares are 'startling' not 'scary', but that's a potayto, potahto scenario if you ask me.)
If it's reeeal bad I'll just bail and watch a stream of that part. That's a long way off, though. I've got a lot to relearn.
Funny thing about performance, it's better optimized than I expected (there's actually a lot in the game that needs to be calculated because it's simulating multiple planets revolving in real time around a star, and they're all spherical objects with a center of gravity. WAY different from traditional games). And it didn't even use enough RAM to get the light to turn on, but there were some weird lag spikes at points. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I hope it's fun for you, though at this point I figure any huge JRPG may not manage to fight its way onto your list of GotY contenders, though XC3 has a good story and great characters. Still, you could probably do with a new addition to your all time favourite games list. I know I could! So many games that I try keep failing to capture my interest and are very 'meh' experiences.
Though I've decided TotK is already a very good possibility for that, because I watched the video and rehashed clips of it enough times for everything to sink in, including the bits that were there but unmentioned.
Spoiler:
Haven't had enough leeway to get back to No Place Like Home, yet. I like it, but it's not a priority. Energy right now will go to real world tasks first and Azure second, and everything else seems like it will continue to go to extra sleep, for now. There's still over two feet of snow blanketing the entire front lawn, though! Still, my babies indoors have gotten big enough that I had to transplant my peppers and tomatoes from 6-packs to pots today. No time to play between cooking, sleeping, and planting. And sleeping.
I had to break out my snowshoes to wade across the snow to the garden shed at the back of the yard to find the pots I needed, but I retrieved them, so at least that's done. I was afraid they wouldn't hold me up above the increasingly squashy deep snow, but luckily, they worked.
NEXT DAY EDIT: Oh yeah, game related festivities are to take place.
Spoiler:
- midnighttherabbit
- Carrots... yum
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Finally finished Divinity: Original Sin 2. It was good but it was LONG, I ended up just struggling through the final battle severely underleveled because I wanted to get it over with and didn't have the patience to go and find more sidequests. It was very good and I get why it was reccomended so much, but I do think the writing/story was a little overhyped, especially with that vaguely annoying fantasy purple prose. I know that comes with the genre, but the way people talked about it, I was expecting some kind of masterpiece. The best parts of the game were definitely how intricate the areas were, and how rewarding it actually was to figure something out / find a giant hidden cave and 10 different quests in there. I also got a bunch of other isometric rpg games from the Steam sale a few weeks ago and they're my current guilty pleasure lol, so I guess we'll see how it stands up compared to the rest of them.
I'm still trying to play more old games so I'm playing the first Metal Gear. It's really hard, I'm on easy and I'm constantly struggling and having to Google « What The Eggplant » to do, but I do think I'm getting the hang of it a little. Last night I left off trying to get a sniper rifle because I was getting too stressed out... It's fairly short and I think I'm about halfway through, so I'll probably finish it slowly this week and tell myself no more games until I hand in all my homework.
I'm still trying to play more old games so I'm playing the first Metal Gear. It's really hard, I'm on easy and I'm constantly struggling and having to Google « What The Eggplant » to do, but I do think I'm getting the hang of it a little. Last night I left off trying to get a sniper rifle because I was getting too stressed out... It's fairly short and I think I'm about halfway through, so I'll probably finish it slowly this week and tell myself no more games until I hand in all my homework.
Two days later and I'm already hitting puzzle solving walls. I'm not sure I have the patience to beat Outer Wilds without a guide. Played for a while tonight, and now I'm reading spoiler free guides.
I'd like to say I'm a 'game must respect my time' kind of gamer, but I play Genshin Impact. That's probably got me to the point of sunk cost fallacy, though, cause beyond that I want to move through my media at a reasonable clip. Unless I have a period where I'm ill enough not to work or leave the house but well enough to feel like playing a game...my MMO days are probably behind me.
It's kind of amazing that there's so much to do in such a small space (there's not that many planets), but it's definitely obtuse. To be fair I've played about 5 hours total of the game, and you can't know everything you need to know in 5 hours.
The more I thought about my first time playing, I imagine that's what it must be like...playing a 3D game for the first time. There's so much going on that you're almost overwhelmed, exhausted even though you're having fun. I got over it by the time I picked up the game a second time, but the memory is still there.
For now I need to just chill, and let things happen. Might let myself rewatch the first couple hours of the stream I'd already spoiled myself on, and see how the streamer started to puzzle things out. They played with chat turned off, so it was somebody both smarter and more patient than I am.
I realized this morning that I never did main quest in Genshin and we've got a week until more « Cow Poopoo » hits the fan. Maybe over next weekend I'll knock it out. I ALSO realized that I never posted the Ayaka art I did to the contest before that closed, and I'm kinda mad because it turned out well. Kinda considering just sitting on it, since those contests have a "made in the last 30 days" clause, but if I don't post it anywhere, who's gonna know?
I'd like to say I'm a 'game must respect my time' kind of gamer, but I play Genshin Impact. That's probably got me to the point of sunk cost fallacy, though, cause beyond that I want to move through my media at a reasonable clip. Unless I have a period where I'm ill enough not to work or leave the house but well enough to feel like playing a game...my MMO days are probably behind me.
It's kind of amazing that there's so much to do in such a small space (there's not that many planets), but it's definitely obtuse. To be fair I've played about 5 hours total of the game, and you can't know everything you need to know in 5 hours.
The more I thought about my first time playing, I imagine that's what it must be like...playing a 3D game for the first time. There's so much going on that you're almost overwhelmed, exhausted even though you're having fun. I got over it by the time I picked up the game a second time, but the memory is still there.
For now I need to just chill, and let things happen. Might let myself rewatch the first couple hours of the stream I'd already spoiled myself on, and see how the streamer started to puzzle things out. They played with chat turned off, so it was somebody both smarter and more patient than I am.
I realized this morning that I never did main quest in Genshin and we've got a week until more « Cow Poopoo » hits the fan. Maybe over next weekend I'll knock it out. I ALSO realized that I never posted the Ayaka art I did to the contest before that closed, and I'm kinda mad because it turned out well. Kinda considering just sitting on it, since those contests have a "made in the last 30 days" clause, but if I don't post it anywhere, who's gonna know?
Lmao, do it. She's the company's favorite so there's bound to be another contest for her. My lips are sealed. I'm debating on entering the two upcoming ones, but idk, my motivation wanes too much.Mikodesu wrote: ↑Apr 02, 2023 8:43 pmI ALSO realized that I never posted the Ayaka art I did to the contest before that closed, and I'm kinda mad because it turned out well. Kinda considering just sitting on it, since those contests have a "made in the last 30 days" clause, but if I don't post it anywhere, who's gonna know?
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I've made it to chapter 3 in Xenoblade 3. I like it so far and I'm enjoying the combat a lot (it's very Xenoblade 2, which feels like home). The cast is very likeable right off the bat and I have an extreme soft spot for youths in unfortunate circumstances becoming found family. The game itself (so far) feels like Xenoblade french fries dipped in an Eighty-Six (the light novel / anime series) ketchup, and I dig it. The rest of my thoughts I'll put in spoilers.
Spoiler:
On Genshin, I made it to floor 12-3 again in the Abyss, still couldn't kill the worm. I did more damage this time and I bloody swear, if it'd just STAY STILL, I would have actually killed it, but alas, it's downtime is barely anything and I'm tired of struggling against it. I should probably just wait until the next patch's dealing and hope it's a stationary boss. But for now, it's reset day! Here I come, dream solvent!
- Code_Name_Geek
- Tubular Turnip Farmer
- Posts: 341
- Joined: Mar 13, 2017 7:14 pm
@Kikki That Tears of the Kingdom party plan sounds like a blast! Playing new games alongside family is so fun, I usually play new Pokémon games with two of my siblings and my mom and I always start Story of Seasons together.
~
Love Live: School Idol Festival closed down on the 31st (well late on the 30th for me) and I managed to finish the story as well as clear all of the main roster of songs on Easy. I would have liked to clear on higher difficulties as well but ran out of time to do it. Ah well, I'm glad I was able to spend some time with it before it closed down and now I can cross it off my list permanently. Forever. That's a weird feeling to have a game you won't ever be able to go back to. But on to new horizons and find some new games to play, I guess.
Last Friday, Sega shadow-dropped a short free game called The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and a friend and I decided to play through it at the same time. It was only a couple of hours long but I really enjoyed it, it reminded me of the point-and-click games I used to play when I was a little kid. I rarely play games on release unless they're from one of my all-time favourite series, but this wasn't a huge commitment and I had a good time.
Since then, I've gone back to my 3DS since my siblings have been playing theirs a lot since picking up a few things before the store closure. So far I've mainly gone back to a few long-running games like Pokémon Picross, Pokémon Shuffle, and Tomodachi Life, but I've also started Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop. I don't think it will take me very long to get through it and it's best in short bursts so I'll probably save it for when I don't have time to get into anything longer. I want to pick up a more involved game as well, but debating on adding another 3DS game to the line-up or choosing something from another platform to complement it... I'm already going between two cartridges there, but a digital game wouldn't be so bad. I have Earthbound on the virtual console which I've never played before, or I could go back to finish the third game in the Phoenix Wright trilogy. It's something I want to decide on before the end of the week anyways (if I don't give myself these arbitrary deadlines I end up dragging out the decision for way too long lol).
~
Love Live: School Idol Festival closed down on the 31st (well late on the 30th for me) and I managed to finish the story as well as clear all of the main roster of songs on Easy. I would have liked to clear on higher difficulties as well but ran out of time to do it. Ah well, I'm glad I was able to spend some time with it before it closed down and now I can cross it off my list permanently. Forever. That's a weird feeling to have a game you won't ever be able to go back to. But on to new horizons and find some new games to play, I guess.
Last Friday, Sega shadow-dropped a short free game called The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and a friend and I decided to play through it at the same time. It was only a couple of hours long but I really enjoyed it, it reminded me of the point-and-click games I used to play when I was a little kid. I rarely play games on release unless they're from one of my all-time favourite series, but this wasn't a huge commitment and I had a good time.
Since then, I've gone back to my 3DS since my siblings have been playing theirs a lot since picking up a few things before the store closure. So far I've mainly gone back to a few long-running games like Pokémon Picross, Pokémon Shuffle, and Tomodachi Life, but I've also started Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop. I don't think it will take me very long to get through it and it's best in short bursts so I'll probably save it for when I don't have time to get into anything longer. I want to pick up a more involved game as well, but debating on adding another 3DS game to the line-up or choosing something from another platform to complement it... I'm already going between two cartridges there, but a digital game wouldn't be so bad. I have Earthbound on the virtual console which I've never played before, or I could go back to finish the third game in the Phoenix Wright trilogy. It's something I want to decide on before the end of the week anyways (if I don't give myself these arbitrary deadlines I end up dragging out the decision for way too long lol).
I was going to mention it at one point, that the combat was very similar to XC2, and since you liked XC2 where you weren't crazy about XC1, I figured the combat was probably a part of it. I vastly prefer the combat of 1 since I hate the timed strikes of 2 and 3, and the auto-attacks that are dependent on you staying still...but I don't actually need to like the combat to love a Xenoblade game. Figured I'd better not mention it, though, cuz just because I think the combat is similar, doesn't mean anyone else does, and I've never looked around to see what the consensus is. Glad you're finding them similar in a way you like!
I used to play games with my two siblings beside me from 8 to about 14. That's how we played the King's Quest games, and even earlier stuff like Bubble Ghost, as well. One would play and the others would watch and continually throw in suggestions (or orders!) about what to do, while occasionally complaining for their turn. Never really played games with family beyond that, though! I discuss a few series with my siblings, but we don't play together. At least, not until BotW, which was just so much fun to watch someone else play...almost as much fun as playing yourself, as long as the player doesn't spin the camera around too much and make me nauseated. Only game I've ever been able to say that about! Ever other game is way, WAY more fun to play yourself and just tiresome to watch someone else play. (Probably why I've never been able to get into watching gaming streamers and YouTubers. If it's interesting enough to watch, then I want to PLAY...forget the watching!)Code_Name_Geek wrote: ↑Apr 03, 2023 1:38 pm @Kikki That Tears of the Kingdom party plan sounds like a blast! Playing new games alongside family is so fun, I usually play new Pokémon games with two of my siblings and my mom and I always start Story of Seasons together.
This'll be the first time we've ever tried something like this. We've had a couple of game nights where I get them all to try several of my games so they can have a first-hand experience with stuff I think they'd like, but other than that, we've tried just Mario Kart together, and I don't like Mario Kart at all. *shrug* Multiplayer isn't for me, either. I like playing alone.
I've no idea what this'll be like, especially since we're playing in the same room, but each of us has our own game to play...we're not watching each other. Really wonder how that's going to work out, but I guess we'll see. It'll be fun anyway as the food will be tasty and my sisters and cousin are all cute little pumpkins that I like. Plus my cousin hangs around us more than anyone her own age, and I don't want to forget that kids need some memorable occasions. Middle-aged folks tend to settle into comfortable ruts, but we've gotta try something special once in a while, for the kiddo.
~
Trails to Azure is going well, but I'm not sure there's a point in discussing my progress. It's so story-driven, everything I could say would be a spoiler, and I don't think anyone else is playing it at the moment anyway. Not sure how many played it in the past, before its official English release, either.
Kinda thinking I will! Now to not forget I made it whenever she gets a rerun... *sweats*
You definitely should try making stuff for the contests! Patches go so fast they come and go before you know it...maybe it would be easier to sketch out ideas for characters you like and wait for the rumor mill to hint at a rerun before starting? So long as you don't overwork yourself, it's fun. Art contests have been a weirdly great boon to my creativity. I'm bad at setting my own limits for things, but pretty good at following somebody else's rules.
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More Outer Wilds. Am I getting the hang of flying the space ship? Not really! I did land on a little slow orbiting space station though? So that's a thing.
The more I remember by playing this game...it's probably not for somebody who can't handle spooks or stress in their games. There's...a lot of it. A lot of variety in spooks though, which maybe helps to minimize things, depending on your taste in spook.
Spoiler:
I am still at a total loss for WHY you need quantum knowledge. Got to one of the big learning spots and spent a whole loop beating my head against a puzzle. In fairness to me while the (yes I cheated and looked it up) solution made sense, the puzzle objects acted randomly while I was repeating the same motion trying to understand them, which is... a choice.
Spoiler:
I never mentioned this, but I finished Cat Quest 1 and 2 on my Switch. I played these two games around mid March. They are really fun games to play if one is looking for a shorter RPG. I played them myself because I needed a break from the longer games I've been playing. Even though they have action combat, I found them fun. Love the art and gameplay, and the side quests were okay. Though two is better story wise, I think Cat Quest 1 has the better world. Anyway, these games helped me really appreciate shorter games more and even helped get rid of the burn out I was feeling from Octopath Traveler 2.
Speaking of Octopath Traveler, I just beat the main story of Octopath Traveler 1 last night. Well, sort of. See, I got the credit sequence once I finished my chosen protagonist's story. His route was the second to last one and it was really weird to see the credits when I still had one route left. Honestly, whoever chose where the credits go didn't pick a very good spot. Anyway, I'm just happy I finished the main game (sort of). Like Dragon Quest 11, I still need to beat the true boss and get the true ending. Weird thing with this game is that while I beat the eight routes, I'm not sure I can really say I beat the main story since I didn't beat the true bad guy. It's not like Dragon Quest 11 where it's pretty obvious where the post game is. Still, I beat all the routes and that's good. Overall, Octopath Traveler 1 is a pretty good game. It does a few things better than Octopath Traveler 2, but I do think the sequel is the better game. Octopath Traveler was still fun though. Good combat (though it lags at times), good towns, and beautiful music. Where it suffers for me are the characters a bit and stories. The stories in this game are somewhat lackluster compared to the sequel, and I didn't love the characters. I still liked everyone, but I think the sequel has the better characters and story. Overall it was a nice experience and I really hope I can finish the true boss in the game.
As for Octopath Traveler 2, I'm gonna go back to it sometime. Not now though. I'm burnt out a bit by these games. Both are very long and grindy, so I need some time away from them. With Octopath Traveler 2 though, I'll have to go back and redo the game because I need to play it better. I feel like in my first play through I botched some of the gameplay mechanics.
I also need to go back to Dragon Quest 11 and beat the third act along with my second play-through. I'm playing on a harder mode on my second try and am already thirty hours in. I don't know when I'll go back to it because I'm trying to beat other games. I might just play it on and off.
Outside of these games, I've been dabbling in Atelier Ryza. I know I said I would likely not go back to this series, but I decided to give it another chance. They are more calming rpg's, and I need that right now. I'm 11 hours in with Ryza 1, so I'll see how that goes.
As for what I might add onto my list of playing, I'm not sure. I really need to focus on SheCodes, but playing these games have helped me cope a bit with my anxiety. Right now I'm thinking of either trying to play Xenoblade 1 again or one of the Trails games. I'm either going to go back to Sky or just jump into Zero since it's on my Switch (I know I should start with Sky, but the Switch is the only system I feel comfortable on playing on right now). I also may try Persona 4 or 5 again (both on Switch) and see if they can click with me better. If none of this stuff pans out, I'll likely just go back to Dragon Quest 11, Digimon, or Octopath Traveler 1/2 since I'm playing them on and off and stick with playing Ryza as my main game now.
Speaking of Octopath Traveler, I just beat the main story of Octopath Traveler 1 last night. Well, sort of. See, I got the credit sequence once I finished my chosen protagonist's story. His route was the second to last one and it was really weird to see the credits when I still had one route left. Honestly, whoever chose where the credits go didn't pick a very good spot. Anyway, I'm just happy I finished the main game (sort of). Like Dragon Quest 11, I still need to beat the true boss and get the true ending. Weird thing with this game is that while I beat the eight routes, I'm not sure I can really say I beat the main story since I didn't beat the true bad guy. It's not like Dragon Quest 11 where it's pretty obvious where the post game is. Still, I beat all the routes and that's good. Overall, Octopath Traveler 1 is a pretty good game. It does a few things better than Octopath Traveler 2, but I do think the sequel is the better game. Octopath Traveler was still fun though. Good combat (though it lags at times), good towns, and beautiful music. Where it suffers for me are the characters a bit and stories. The stories in this game are somewhat lackluster compared to the sequel, and I didn't love the characters. I still liked everyone, but I think the sequel has the better characters and story. Overall it was a nice experience and I really hope I can finish the true boss in the game.
As for Octopath Traveler 2, I'm gonna go back to it sometime. Not now though. I'm burnt out a bit by these games. Both are very long and grindy, so I need some time away from them. With Octopath Traveler 2 though, I'll have to go back and redo the game because I need to play it better. I feel like in my first play through I botched some of the gameplay mechanics.
I also need to go back to Dragon Quest 11 and beat the third act along with my second play-through. I'm playing on a harder mode on my second try and am already thirty hours in. I don't know when I'll go back to it because I'm trying to beat other games. I might just play it on and off.
Outside of these games, I've been dabbling in Atelier Ryza. I know I said I would likely not go back to this series, but I decided to give it another chance. They are more calming rpg's, and I need that right now. I'm 11 hours in with Ryza 1, so I'll see how that goes.
As for what I might add onto my list of playing, I'm not sure. I really need to focus on SheCodes, but playing these games have helped me cope a bit with my anxiety. Right now I'm thinking of either trying to play Xenoblade 1 again or one of the Trails games. I'm either going to go back to Sky or just jump into Zero since it's on my Switch (I know I should start with Sky, but the Switch is the only system I feel comfortable on playing on right now). I also may try Persona 4 or 5 again (both on Switch) and see if they can click with me better. If none of this stuff pans out, I'll likely just go back to Dragon Quest 11, Digimon, or Octopath Traveler 1/2 since I'm playing them on and off and stick with playing Ryza as my main game now.