Backlog 2024

Bluie · Post Posted: Jun 26, 2024 7:05 am

Preload for Dawtrail is up. Over 50 gigs. I'm starting to sweat nervously over my remaining memory lol.

Not much to report, but I have been doing a little bit of gaming. I got Kaveh's namecard in Genshin (and did all the currently available content), I fully built Arlan and Guinaifen in Star Rail (going to work on Dan Heng and Lynx next because I already was working on them), and I finished the first chapter in Rhapsody 3.

Soon, so very SOON I will be juggling ZZZ and Dawntrail while enjoying my 2 week vacation! It's going to be glorious...! I cannot wait to just eat/sleep/video games like I'm a teenager lmao.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jun 28, 2024 5:00 am

Hmm, hmm, hmm...

Been playing a LOT of Cold Steel. Managed to get where I wanted in CSIV, but now I have about 75% of the game left and I sort of want to keep playing, and yet I'm burnt out. Well, I did complete the second half of CSII as well as all of CSIII in the last month-ish. That's a HUGE load of Trails.

I think I just want to spend more time with Rean. I don't necessarily need to play the game to do that. I could try writing some loosely-based, introspective fan-fiction. That might scratch that weird itch better than playing, since what I really want to do is think about certain things, since I find myself anticipating certain scenes and lines rather than the gameplay or story as a whole.

Problem is, I still can't type for long. (This post was spread out over an hour.) Using a controller is way less demanding of the hands and forearms. I do think writing would be more satisfying than playing right now, though. I've got to strategize, lol. Once I get going, I write for HOURS and don't want to stop. I've never tried writing in little spurts. It sounds torturous. But perhaps I should give it a try.

I think I'm actually tired of playing for now and only keep doing it because I'm trying to think something out very ineffectively. (Though I DO need to finish CSIV on 'nightmare' to get the trophy within 2024.)

EDIT: Just has to be said again! I've played all 4 games multiple times, and I hate Osborne. I hate hate hate him. Revelations of CSIV that were probably meant to make you hate him less just made it worse.

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jun 28, 2024 11:41 pm

I think I've played about...25 hours of Shadow of the Erdtree (estimating, didn't keep proper track), and I've got 4/5 map sections unlocked, though I don't have ANY access to 2 complete areas of the game. This really is a huge game for 40 USD. It's such a Fromsoft way of doing things, locking what is essentially a complete game behind the hardest content of another game.

I've beaten another Remembrance boss since my last post. All I can say is "Woof". Boss is WAY too fast for magic users, hits REALLY hard, and unless you stay on top of her she will DEMOLISH your spirit summons. And then she has moves that span the entire arena that actually force you to learn them (and also tend to demolish your summons). Some you have to roll through, another you have to jump over. I've FOUND the dragon super boss, and I dunno if I'll go back to it. I don't see the incentive. The DLC has brought DS1 dragon form back, and I'm...not into it. If it was a Radahn style fight where you take him on as a group, quite possibly. Radahn was awesome EXACTLY for that. This is just...pain.

Exploration is still incredible though. I'm making myself go through some of the caves ever so often so they don't pile up on me. Tonight's was long. LOTS of jump scares from the jar innards enemies. Interesting boss at the end, and I found the ice perfume bottle! Seems very fun, would like to try.

Also started the biggest legacy dungeon in the DLC. Miraculously, there is more than one entrance. And a number of exits. The section I went in through had a jumping gauntlet. And a giant creature in the water...that I bet can be fought at some point. It's Fromsoft, of course it can.

Their version of multiplayer is weirdly comforting in such an eerie setting. Being warned of jump scares and necessary items and dead ends. And then you get odd stuff like the spirit of a guy in the same dungeon you are attacking the summoning statue over and over again until he disappears.

I already feel pretty satisfied with the amount of content I've experienced, but it's especially nice to have something to look forward to these days. Days are really long right now. Probably putting ZZZ off until I finish up DLC. From then...I dunno! We'll see. (Side note: not a huge fan of giving ZA/UM money, after the whole rights debacle, but Disco Elysium is 75% off on GOG, and 90% off on Steam... Don't think I've ever seen it that low.)

Kikki · Post Posted: Jun 29, 2024 4:20 am

Well, I suppose you'd be giving them very little of your money, at just $4.54 (CAD) on Steam. Disco Elysium seems like an interesting game, but the main character has such an unappealing design that I find myself repelled by him. I don't want to know about his life. I also don't love 'cop' stories, and noir fiction repulses me. But it's certainly a good price right now!

Working bit by bit on getting in some thinking-about-Rean time via writing rather than playing, for the time being. Time away from the game itself is quickly repairing burn-out on it, so I'll probably go back to actually playing CSIV in just another day or two. Gotta say: sometimes I get confused about the order of events. Trails leaps around in time between games, and often even within the same game, and then I have to sit down and figure out what happened when. The bigger the roster of characters gets, the harder a time I have sorting out how their stories lined up, time-wise.

The recent trailer for Farewell O Zemuria seems to be about...beginning space exploration? Could that be so? I saw what looked like a rocket launch in the trailer, is THAT the farewell to Zemuria? I thought it was going to be something catastrophic, to do with the...let's go with the Beyond. Well, I know nothing about the Calvard arc, yet.

Echoes of Wisdom really threw a wrench into my gaming plans, budget-wise. That's an AAA-priced game I wasn't planning on getting! I suppose I could just wait to get it next year. I'm buying it out of obligation rather than desire, since I don't really like the cute LoZ games, and I've never liked top-down perspective (it makes me feel alienated when I want to feel in the game with the characters, not peering down at them from above like a distant observer.)

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jun 29, 2024 10:22 am

Giving them as little money as possible is probably the best I can do. (If I ever buy an Ubisoft game again...that will probably be how. I can't STAND the corporation.) I've seen a playthrough of the original release of Disco Elysium, watched all the way through because I found the main character so repellent (the livestream itself was fun). But it's just...that kind of fiction. And the appeal of Disco Elysium is the fiction.

I guess the biggest thing I could say in its defense, is it's like... experiencing a classic piece of fiction? You may not like it, but you can at least appreciate it. I'm curious to go back to it without the extra layer of a stream in the way. The writing was always good--genuinely good, not videogame good. And that's probably enough on its own for me.

In the case of Echoes of Wisdom, maybe it would be worthwhile if you could use a Switch Online voucher on it? If not, I wouldn't worry. I would bet being both a top down game and at the end of the Switch's life cycle will make it more likely to go on sale. Once the Switch 2 releases, especially. Gotta do what makes you happy.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jun 29, 2024 4:39 pm

Mikodesu wrote: ↑Jun 29, 2024 10:22 amIn the case of Echoes of Wisdom, maybe it would be worthwhile if you could use a Switch Online voucher on it? If not, I wouldn't worry. I would bet being both a top down game and at the end of the Switch's life cycle will make it more likely to go on sale. Once the Switch 2 releases, especially. Gotta do what makes you happy.

Yes, that was the plan, but...I'm really wondering if game vouchers will carry over. Like, will game vouchers you bought on the Switch also be eligible on your Switch 2? I figure games on Switch 2 will all be $90, like the 'test pricing' of Tears of the Kingdom and most new games on PS5 and probably Xbox series.

Not that it'd be a disaster even if they weren't carried over. Of all the games you can get via vouchers, I'm considering Echoes of Wisdom, Mario Odyssey, Skyward Sword, Arceus, Pokemon Snap, and Astral Chain. So I'd be able to use two, no problem, even with what's just on the original Switch. But you have to buy vouchers in pairs. I'd be over budget if I bought a pair of vouchers and all three games I want in the remainder of 2024.

I'm quite a bit under budget (my entire year's budget is $480) for the first half of the year so far, but for the second half, I have Trails through Daybreak, Fantasy Life i, and Ys IX: Nordics. Those are all day-one games for me that will almost without fail have full AAA prices on launch, so that uses up the entire second half of my budget. If I squeeze Echoes of Wisdom in on launch, that will take up every penny of what's allotted for the year. Which is okay, but...I don't even want the game that much, lol. I just think you have to put your money where your mouth is. Nintendo FINALLY gave us Zelda as playable main, most likely for the entire game, since it's clearly based on her. They even centered her gameplay around Wisdom, which is something I believe we talked about right here on Fogu, that they should get their butts around to letting us do, even if they don't want Zelda horning in on Link's Courage by being a fighter. And I don't like top-down, but I'm pleased that they're continuing to make them. They should NOT, imo, put everything into the new open-world formula they started with BotW. I love it, but LoZ should innovate, and I loved Tears and firmly believe it to be the better game (compared to BotW) but even so, it felt stale because it was too similar.

I get that it was a direct continuation, so I was largely okay with it, but even so, it didn't feel creative, the way BotW did, and I think LoZ needs that feeling of creativity and surprise. So I want them to keep on with making more than just BotW-types. Basically, I feel like I owe them my money on EoW.

My arms are halfway better, I think

(Sorry to those who like shorter posts, lol.)

NEXT DAY EDIT: Hey hey, what a silly goose I am, not noticing that Trails through Daybreak had a DEMO. I was wondering if it would, too, because CS III did! So I went to check to see if it had a demo, and there it was. It's been out a couple of weeks already, since June 11 or something like that. I've downloaded it on both Switch and PS4, now. (But I like having an external achievements system, so I'd get the game on PS4 unless Switch had a huge discount.)

Have to alert my bro-in-law! (I'm very proud to say that I'm the one who turned him onto Trails, Tales, AND Xenoblade. Sis is always asking me for recommendations when he runs out of game content. It's really nice to have such a cute family, you know? Even my solitary in-law is a peach.)

Harvest Moon kawaii · Post Posted: Jun 30, 2024 1:24 pm

Currently Playing:

1) 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-)

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 (Mochi Mayhem/The Hidden Treasure Area Zero epilogue)

So, now Virche Evermore: Error Salvation has hit 115+ total hours and I'm actually almost done with. I have just 2 endings left, then I get to see if the question marks in the Scene List for various routes will disappear somehow. (they look like this: ?????) (I'm going for 100% completion because even with the Salvation endings for the first 4 love interests, I'm still getting new information revealed to me)

I beat the DLC epilogue for Pokemon Violet. I still have stuff to do, but since the main story and DLC's story and epilogue are beat now, I'm putting it under "finished".

Edit: I forgot to say I recently bought Planetarian Snow Globe (prequel to Planetarian: Reverie of a Little Panet) on Nintendo Switch, Kanon (on Steam; first time in English ever; first release outside of Japan as well, I believe), and the first DLC for Stitch. (an embroidery themed Picross-like puzzle game)

simside · Post Posted: Jun 30, 2024 8:02 pm

Stitch looks good! It's going on my list. I love picross-type puzzles.

---

Tsukihime is allegedly coming in the mail tomorrow. Unsure whether to start it immediately or not. I (think?) I'm getting a 3-day weekend this week, but I'm debating whether to start my trip through Phoenix Wright again first. I could probably play through the first one pretty fast, then switch to Tsukihime, which will... not be fast.

I think I'm near the end of Hollow Knight. I've got all the Nail Arts, and... possibly most of the items/moves? I think the two blank spots in my inventory are for keys (one definitely was). I got the double jump last weekend, and was clearing out map sections this weekend. I think I still need a set each of mask and vessel shards. I know there are pieces of iron I can earn in the arena, but I've upgraded the sword three times, and the description says it's the final version? I do still need some badges. I stopped before... whatever the little masks are on the map, the one inside the Fog area. I assume those are the last round of bosses. There's an infection below Dirtmouth now, and a weird circus.

Did make some progress in Pocket Card Jockey, whoo-hoo! The horse I'm raising right now is kinda useless stamina-wise, but he did win the 2-year-old champion race that's been bugging me. I'm hoping I can get the glasses owner's story off this horse's career, but it will have to get very good very fast to manage it, and I've already burned through all my stamina carrots.

Started playing the DLC in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, and am playing through Chapter 2 of SoS:AWL. Vinnie FTW!

Code_Name_Geek · Post Posted: Jun 30, 2024 11:23 pm

I'm having such a great time with the Shadow the Hedgehog game, it's basically the activity I'm looking forward to most right now. I've completed three out of the ten endings now, and I'm close to a fourth (though I'm stuck on a somewhat difficult level that I just couldn't get last time I played). The first route I did was one of the easier ones apparently, so I haven't gotten much faster at finishing them yet - some have even taken me longer. But I'm still figuring out new levels so I think I still have a lot of room to improve once I've played them all a few times. For the most part the levels don't drag on as long as Sonic Heroes, and it feels pretty good to be able to get through all or most of a story route in one sitting.

In Stardew Valley, I got the rabbit's foot today so once my red cabbages are done growing I'll be done with the bundles. I also had a really funny experience with one of Sam's events, where mayor Lewis was complaining about him skateboarding and "the youth these days" and then my character walked onscreen wearing the cat ear hat I got at the desert festival... that made me laugh a lot, anyways.

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jun 30, 2024 11:40 pm

simside wrote: ↑Jun 30, 2024 8:02 pmI think I'm near the end of Hollow Knight. I've got all the Nail Arts, and... possibly most of the items/moves? I think the two blank spots in my inventory are for keys (one definitely was).

BIG congrats on making it that far in Hollow Knight!

You're getting close to done (excepting the free DLC content---the circus is one of those--but as a warning DLC is largely the game's most difficult combat.) Heck of a feat to get through such an intricate world. Hollow Knight is pretty rewarding though, except for a couple of ugly, Dark Souls style walks back to bosses.

--
I was too exhausted for most of the weekend to Elden Ring (may be getting sick, not completely sure) so I worked my way through the Star Rail story instead. Could have completely skipped the entire ship story and absolutely nothing of value would have been lost. Jade is a nothing character, I was expecting more from her. (The real ending--post ship, wasn't bad, though. And it does leave a bit of intrigue for the next story segment.)

It's hard for me to connect with a story when characters are written that way, as though the player SHOULD be connected to them, without any real effort being put into justifying it. Even the Watchmaker stuff I felt disconnected from. If we were being guided by one of the fellow Trailblazers who personally knew someone from Penacony, or maybe someone they knew was on the train when Penacony was founded, that would have helped. Or at least if the whole factions squaring off against each other nonsense had come to anything. I dunno. It felt like they were building up to something that amounted to little more than a wet fart (story wise--can't fault the animations or music).

There are parts (like the ship) that are obviously built solely to sell characters, but the rest tends to leave me wondering how much is gameplay/sales constraints and how much is just bad writing. It's hard to say for sure that Penacony is my favorite anymore, though, just because it has so much lost potential.

Elden Ring I think I'm close to another brick wall. I'm having trouble unlocking the final areas of the game, and I'm kinda nervous progressing the main legacy dungeon of the DLC because all signs point to it being where the title villain/boss is at. And on top of him being too hard for some games journalists, I have heard he also has some severe technical issues in his fight... May need to cross fingers and pray for a patch.

Playing more Fromsoft content makes me curious to take some of my own writing and attempt to give it the Miyazaki treatment. My first novel would probably be perfect. Take high fantasy and turn it dark. Not a terrible concept, just...too Tolkien. But it was forgivable, I was in high school.

Kikki · Post Posted: Jul 01, 2024 6:44 pm

The demo of Trails through Daybreak appears to be HUGE. Not just the prologue, which is what I thought it'd be, but all of Chapter 1, as well. The chapters are smaller in Daybreak than Cold Steel, but still, it might be as much as 10 hours of gameplay even if you don't spend excessive time on menus/reading or level grinding in combat areas. Progress supposedly carries over to the full game.

It's...interesting. I liked the intro a lot. But the motion in the game is very weird (Van moves like he's running, but he's very SLOW and he takes tiny strides. It's bizarre in an uncomfortable way.) and the holo core voices are SO SO SO ANNOYING. And I can't find any way to shut them off! (Holo cores are...let's see. Basically, they're sort of like your master quartz in previous games? Maybe? or just the VOICE of your master quartz. Not sure how to put it. But they talk CONSTANTLY in battle. They chime in with every menu option you check. "Certain artes are more effective. Certain artes are more effective. Certain artes are more effective." It's driving me batty!

I hate it so much that it's added a severe weight to the 'don't buy' side of the scale, which I hadn't even considered before. Plus the combat is new and over-complicated. You now have a live-action mode and a turn-based mode that you can change at will and different features are available in each and I can't remember any of them. Plus even the turn-based mode is different.

I dunno. The story beats feel very samey while the combat system feels needlessly complicated and the voices and motions are both so irritating as to make me reconsider buying. And Van's kind of a jerk. Which is a change from Rean for sure, but I really like polite MCs. (I didn't like Estelle much at all, tbh, even though she appears to be the fandom darling, MC-wise.) I can probably get used to Van. Agnes (French pronunciation...in other words, do not pronounce the G. AH-nyez.) is a sweetie. She'll probably wear Van down.

I have very mixed feelings. I'm done the prologue and I started Chapter 1, but barely, and I'm at something like...I think it was 2 hr 47 minutes. I think I can finish the whole thing in...perhaps 6-8 hours?

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jul 02, 2024 10:24 pm

1 more day to ZZZ. Unless the game has been changed a lot from beta tests, I don't see myself keeping up with it... It's supposed to be very grindy, lots of high HP trash mobs in every dungeon. The sound of it fills me with dread. On top of the 100 GB initial download. WHO can fit this game on their phone? Especially if they have ANY other Hoyo game already downloaded? It's not even open world, WHY would it be 100 GB?! It's likely worth playing for a bit, but then I have to decide. One gacha game has to go. 3 is NOT happening.

Caved and got Disco Elysium while it's still on sale. 4 USD is too cheap to turn down... Celeste is apparently on the same sale, also 90% off, which makes it 2 USD. Heard about that during its SGDQ run.

Elden Ring is still going. Mostly been wandering around trying to find caves and get to the last region of the game. I'm a LITTLE sick, low enough fever to manage with pain meds, I just don't feel up to the dexterity required for boss fights. I did crack and look up how to unlock the final area, and it is as I suspected...

Spoiler:

My trouble with Fromsoft games is not knowing when you're going to end up screwing up a questline. I wouldn't mind if it were the kind of thing where you consider yourself to have messed up because you don't like the outcome of your choices, but when you miss out on the whole thing because you did main quest, or walked into the wrong area, that hurts. DLC even moreso because you have to beat a large portion of the base game again to even get back to where you start the DLC...

Now to go chill and draw a bit. I don't have the energy to tempt trying Disco Elysium, probably shouldn't until Elden Ring and maybe ZZZ are out of the way.

Bluie · Post Posted: Jul 04, 2024 2:56 pm

Finished the MSQ in Dawntrail. I ended up having early access so I've been chipping away at it since then and not since the official release two days ago. It's funny, the fandom is very split on this expansion, but it delivered exactly what was promised. Shadowbringers and Endwalker were big to-dos about your main character, very epic and frankly exhausting. Meanwhile Dawntrail sidelines you to follow two characters and their journey instead. Yoshi-P advertised it as a 'Summer Vacation Arc', and it did feel that way until the last chunk of the expansion. And even in that last chunk, it's STILL not about you - it's about the two characters you've been helping and continue to. Honestly, it was refreshing as heck for me. I distinctly remember saying when I finished Endwalker that I wanted our character to catch a freaking break for once - and this expansion gave it to them. Not every story has to be about us and throwing us into life or death situations.

As for the gameplay, almost nothing changed in my main job (White Mage) which is fine, muscle memory and all that. I had trouble with only two bosses, but they weren't impossible. They really upped the boss mechanics this time around and I can be very smooth brained at times. The new zones are all great too, some working my PS5 really hard. I even encountered my PS5 overheating once which seems to be a semi-wide spread issue with FFXIV since the graphics update. I ended up cleaning my PS5 and didn't have another issue since then.

I'll be transitioning over to ZZZ now, but I still have a lot of content to do in Dawntrail. Role Quests, basic quest clean up, bicolor gem farming, and more - but I'll get back to it whenever.

Mikodesu · Post Posted: Jul 05, 2024 10:45 pm

I think I'm taking an Elden Ring DLC break. Having quite a bit of fun with it, beaten 4 remembrance bosses (difficult bosses) so far. I THINK Miyazaki said in an interview that there are 10 "bosses" in the DLC... which I assume that's what he means. I've already encountered 3 more I either know or am sure are remembrance bosses (they're too difficult not to be), and haven't/can't beat any of them. One of which being the title character!

Title lad gets such an odd intro. I've seen people complain that when they've found him they had no idea he would be there and it was such a shock... THAT is the shock to me. It was IMMEDIATELY obvious wandering around this dungeon that it was HIS dungeon. 9/10 enemies are HIS soldiers. The intro is a bit...Ganondorf at the end of TP, though. Why is he just...sitting there? Especially when he's supposed to be out razing the land.

I was considering bum rushing the end of the game (not sure I can beat the final boss, I have heard bad things) just to be done with the whole thing. But I think I'd rather just take a break. Do whatever I feel like after I've played ZZZ for a while, not worry about the rest.

Speaking of which, ZZZ is an interesting game. The intro was ALMOST good (opening slide show should have been half as long, maybe a third as long, and they would have had me). Gameplay is very fun, frenetic. WAY too easy on easy mode, but that's my bad. (I wanted a break after ER.) So far it feels more about reactivity than anything else. I like that you have the option of skipping any/all dialogue in conversations, but WHY does that not extend to the TV? Drives me NUTS.

World/characters are absolutely Hoyo's highest quality yet. (Designs are subjective, quality is really not.) I dunno if I'll keep up with it, but maybe. Might be worthwhile to swap to ZZZ for a bit, maybe until Natlan is out. (Part of me doesn't want to miss a free summer skin, but the other part of me doesn't give a rats « Mr.Gourmet's hat » about the between regions stuff again.) I'll pop in to pick up my monthly wishes from the store, and...maybe that's it.

Side note: it is FASCINATING how much mainstream coverage ZZZ is getting. Several outlets I know of but don't follow are covering it, and the one I do as well. They've known about Hoyo since the Jenshin Impact incident however many years ago, and its just took this style of game to pique enough interest. Curious how that review will turn out.

Harvest Moon kawaii · Post Posted: Jul 07, 2024 12:24 pm

simside wrote: ↑Jun 30, 2024 8:02 pm Stitch looks good! It's going on my list. I love picross-type puzzles.

Hey, Simside. I thought I'd specify that the picross-puzzle -like game is called "Stitch." with a period at the end of the word, for some reason.

Spoiler: