Last Game You Played

[Dragon Lord]

@Moonface - It has nothing to do with me not being a fan of Honkai Impact 3rd. I just didn't know about the game until many years after its release, and I tend not to play gacha games unless I'm a day 1 player, because there's just way too much content I would have missed. Sadly Honkai Impact falls into that category.

Hogwarts Legacy (PS5)

Been making steady progress through the main quest. One of my next main quests is the Beasts class, so I'm assuming that means I'm very close to finally getting to use my flying mount, which I am looking forward to. I'm still absolutely loving this game so far. Lots to do in the world, combat is extremely fun, and overall this game is just turning out to be absolutely amazing.

Fire Emblem Engage (NS)

Very torn on this game right now. On one hand, I like that there's aspects of it that feel like classic FE again, and not what Awakening/Fates was turning the series into. On the other hand, there's so many design choices that just leave me scratching my head and trying to figure out who thought they were a good idea. My biggest gripe with the game right now is their horrendous nerfing of movement. In a typical FE game, ground units have 5 Move (or 6 for promoted classes) and mounted units have 7 (8 for promoted units). Well, for some reason they decided to give ground units 4 move in Engage, and then they also decided to completely fuck mounted units by giving them a whopping 5 Movement. This especially fucks over the Pegasus Knight class, because being a flying mounted unit, their whole purpose was to be able to get around fast, but now they can't.

I also don't like what they did with some of the classes in terms of how they work. Knights have so much defense now that only mages can kill them. In the past, Axes were highly effective against Knights due to their high damage and having weapon triangle advantage over Spears. Now axes have lost that usefulness, which is a huge blow to them because now they're just highly inaccurate pieces of garbage, with their only use to "break" lance units.

Ah, the break system. As I feared, it really drags the game down. The weapon triangle in this game serves no purpose other than for breaking an enemy unit. In past FE games, having the weapon advantage would mean a higher hit chance for you and a much lower hit chance for your opponent. It doesn't do that any more. I constantly have enemies wielding Axes attacking Alear with 80-90% hit chances. There is no reason why an Axe should be that accurate against a Sword unit. Though of course when it comes to your axe user, he's got the absolute worst hit chance against enemies with swords ever, so perhaps it's just a "enemies don't have this disadvantage" issue with the game.

Speaking of your units as well, I don't think I've ever seen a Fire Emblem game that starts you out with the absolute most garbage units ever. It seems in addition to neutering your movement, they also decided to give every character unbelievably low speed. Going back to Pegasus Knights as an example, traditionally in the series they always have extremely high Speed, but low Strength. Not in Engage though. In Engage, they have pathetically low strength AND pathetically low speed. At least the first one you get is like that. I think she starts with something absolutely abysmal like 7 speed.

That long rant probably gives a good enough idea on just how torn I am on this game so far. Really loving a lot things about it, but there's other aspects that are just driving me crazy about it and I just don't understand a lot choices they made with this one.

Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)

And we go directly into talking about another Fire Emblem game that drives me crazy! I actually restarted in Fates because I wanted to do something different with my Corrin, and also because I bought the DLCs and wanted to be able to make use of some of them earlier in the game so that I could set up child units to have certain skills. My Corrin is on steroids or something, because she's absolutely bonkers and I haven't even used any stat enhancers on her. I plan to make her a Master Ninja because I read she's stupidly broken as one, mainly with Shurikens being 1-2 range weapons so you can attack at range, but still be able to counter attack enemies that come up to you. She's sitting at 26 Strength as a 20/3 Promoted unit right now, which is insane. Even though Shurikens have the lowest damage output of any weapon type in Fates, her high strength is going to make up for that and she's going to dish out some serious pain once I get her into Master Ninja. As for the rest of my team, I'm still planning what their final jobs will be. Not sure how much re-classing I want to do.

Genshin Impact (PC)

Haven't been up to much on here lately, just doing the usual daily farming and such. Don't have anything to look forward to in version 3.5, so I'm just waiting to see if Nilou is going to re-run in 3.6, and if not, if the rumors of a new catgirl character coming in 3.7 end up being true.

Azur Lane (Android)

We're currently having our next UR event in the game, so I've just been grinding away event stages to earn shop points. Got all of the new girls in... 82 pulls, I think it was, which is pretty decent (actually ended up getting two copies of the UR girl). The only one I need now is the girl who is in the event shop, but also drops from the B3 and D3 stages in the event, so I've just been grinding away on D3 trying to get her. So far no luck, but still lots of time to go.

Arknights (Android)

Nothing much going on here either. Today starts the re-run of our second anniversary event from Jan 2022, so I'll just be farming materials from the good farming stages in that. I will have to re-clear some stages for the event missions, but I can just use my auto-clear from the first run of the event to do that, and I only have to manual the Challenge Mode clear of the final stage, so it doesn't take too much time to clear out everything again.

Neural Cloud (Android)

I've just been hopelessly trying to figure out how to properly build my characters in this game.

[Mr EliteL]

Octopath Traveler II

As I needed to get to a harbour to have access to the island Ochette is on, and there was no way down past the Delta underground area that looks like it has access to the islands below near Ochette on the map but didn't, I went and got Oswald. Did his Chapter 1 then making my way to the Habour, but knew there was a village nearby called Cape Cold, ran into a bear enemy that seemed far stronger than the area suggested, which was also like a pixel off from entering Cape Cold. The area was Danger Level 8 where my Temenos was Lv 11, Throné and Osvald Lv 9 so assumed I'd be fine but have a hard fight, but the bear two-shot Throné, one-shot Osvald, two-shot Temenos but not before I got Temenos to revive Throné the have her Break the bear then successfully fled. Sometime after I got a chance encounter with the rare Cait enemy, defeated it as it had something like 3HP but it didn't escape as I thought it would once it's turn came around, all three characters got boosted to Lv 15. Nice I guess, but now going through Ochette's Chapter 1 so I would need to grind a bit for her to catch up in levels then, perhaps later when I can remove members from the active party to have her level up and whoever else, likely Castti as she'd be next to get.

Genshin Impact

Updated to 3.5. On my Main, did the Archon Quest with Dainsleif, already completed it. Kaeya got his moment early on but wasn't that noteworthy other than what we already know about his name which had some relevance to what happens after we encounter him. Wish they didn't got "lol Kaeya will be here" when he himself doesn't do much. Unless...there's a second part to it later. Can't remember if the previous times with Dainsleif had parts or not.

I...also did what most people advising not to do, but I don't care, I have two/three teams that deal with mostly anything already, got Dehya and her weapon. Didn't have to spend anything, just using the 80 or so wishes I had for both (not each). Yeah I am disappointed by how they made her be, already knew that going in, I'm just happy I have her and will use her for odd things.

For my EU * NA F2Ps I have no intention of wishing for anything these banners so will do whatever until 3.6, which I also have no plans for them. Gotta build up them primos and save 'em.

[Moonface]

Resident Evil 4 Remake - Chainsaw Demo (PS5)
Aww man if you have the ability to try this demo, I highly recommend it! I gave it a go last night and Capcom have done such a good job at refreshing and enhancing the experience of RE4 while retaining a lot of the feel of the original at the same time. What I appreciated most though was how tense and atmospheric everything was, and the village fight scene is actually scary because the AI is better than in the original game, so they'll easily flank you and go different ways to cut you off. It's also way harder than the original game too, and if this is what Normal difficulty is like in the final game I dread to imagine how hard the harder difficulties are actually going to be.

Horizon Forbidden West (PS5)
I've done 2/3 of the main story quests that become the focus of the game once you do the quest that unlocks the entire open world to you, and the one that focuses around Vegas is absolutely superb. I love the story that unfolds for the Vegas area that weaves both the past and current events together that really makes the area almost a character in and of itself. I just hope it doesn't make whatever the area is for the remaining main quest I have to do at this point in the game feel underwhelming in comparison and that whatever that area is gets to shine on its own merits too.

[Mr EliteL]

Octopath Traveler 2

Got all 8 characters and completed all their Chapter 1, plus Throne's Chapter 2 just before meeting Partitio (he was standing in the area, just chose to ignore him first) which ended up being short with no battles, which was fine really so I could get on with Partitio's and Agnea's.

Haven't been playing this everyday though so haven't gotten further than that so far.

Genshin Impact

Just dailies across all three accounts really, nothing much else.

[Dragon Lord]

Little Witch Nobeta (PS4)

Got through this game in a little over 14 hours total (some idle time, so not completely accurate). Very fun little game. I had a few gripes with it here and there, but overall it was worth the wait to play it. Adorable protagonist, gigachad devs, nice story/music. Very cute and funny/10.

Fire Emblem Engage (NS)

Why do I live, just to suffer?

[Kyng]

The Sims 4

After re-creating the Sims I lost when my computer broke, I built them a small temporary house with the Simoleons I had. Now, I've made a start on building their permanent house... but it's nowhere near ready to be lived in!

[Dragon Lord]

Little Witch Nobeta (PS4)

Finished up the platinum for this now. Didn't take long, though I did have to do an extra third run through the game because I messed up getting a trophy that requires you do defeat a boss during their second fight without dying (but it's not hinted at that you can't heal at a goddess statue between the first and second fights either). Pretty easily platinum and a wonderful little game. Like I said before, cute and funny/10, would uohhhhh again.

If they make a second game (which I hope they do), I'd really like to see them polish up some of those rough edges a little bit. If they go with the same genre, that is. Would be kinda neat to see them make a spin-off turn-based RPG where the game's bosses join you as party members or something. Could have a lot of fun interactions between the characters like they do in the non-game media for LWN.

Hogwarts Legacy (PS5)

Finally getting back to working seriously on this game again. Gonna unlock my flying mount and then see what kind of chaos I can create. Need to unlock some more spells as well so I can do more of the puzzles that grant me additional room in my equipment inventory so I don't have to make so many trips back to a town to sell shit.

Fire Emblem Engage (NS)

Pain peko.

[Mr EliteL]

Genshin Impact

Dailies, did the Spiral Abyss before the reset last night across each account, and Windblume event on my main.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Finally started this game, purely because of the eShop closing down and was hoping to get the DLC as it's the only thing I'm interested in but yay the eShop is/was down. True I should've got in this a lot long ago but still. Srsly, f u big N.

Anyway liking Echoes so far albeit feeling it's lesser than Awakening/Three Houses but I just need to get into it more.

Octopath Traveler II

Did Agnea's Chapter 2 then stopped but will continue some more tonight.

[Moonface]

What's wrong with FE: Engage @Dragon Lord?

Save Room - Organization Puzzle (PC)
Neat little game that only took me about 1.5 hours to get every achievement on. It had a few interesting ideas towards the end but the limitations of the concept are constantly prevalent. Any time a new mechanic is introduced it makes for a little head scratching, but only for learning purposes; once I figured out how to handle the mechanic levels immediately go back to feeling the same as they did before the mechanic so the game wore thin on me by the halfway mark. If you want something quick and cheap to play to kill an hour or get an easy 100% achievement rating then I guess consider it, but otherwise it doesn't really do much to warrant a recommendation when the puzzle genre has a significantly larger number of games that can do a lot more with a simple concept than what this game does.

[ShiraNoMai]

Pokémon Black/White 3: Genesis

Man, if any of y'all found Black and White's world/Pokémon cool, but love the feel/aesthetics of Pokémon Crystal, this fan mod is for you. Definitely for me, cuz those are my favorite two gens meshed into one. It's a sequel to Black2/White2 with an all-original new story; all the songs are re-arranged to fit the GBC chiptune style, along with the character artworks, overworld sprites; they even recorded new cries for the gen 5 Pokémon to fit the WAV-form of the GBC style. It's a proper "de-make" as it were and it's SO good. Only made it to the second gym so far and I'm just absolutely adoring it. It's definitely throwing me a little cuz while it doesn't have a lot of the mechanics from Gen 5 games (abilities, double battles, etc.) it does keep move-sets and typing, including Fairy.

[Mr EliteL]

That Black/White 3 sounds pretty neat but not for me, unfortunately. I barely played and need to complete BW2 (both), and so much into Pokémon anymore so don't want any more to play than what I already own.  

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Defeated the next Brigand area before the fort ahead. Decided to go back and try and reclass Lukas to a Mercenary because I dislike Knight lines, I found a new enemy in that area called Terrors, no wonder they were behind the boxes because they were far stronger than my party. Tried to stall for turn 3, but they killed Lukas so I decided not losing a unit like that, so quit without saving.  I...could go back and avoid the Terrors but might just keep Lukas as a Knight after all. Would've played more, but...


Genshin Impact

Dailies again, NA F2P did Albedo's quest as I had Sucrose standing around by the craft table in Mondstadt for a long while, and that'll block Mond events/quest needing Albedo's group. Also, going through Sumeru archon quest on EU F2P account, still need to do Windblume on both EU and NA though, frick and have just today/tomorrow early morning for NA to do that.

[Maniakkid25]

Resident Evil 4: Chainsaw Demo

Didn't play a whole lot of it; just played it a bit to test out the new graphics card. It worked wonderfully, and I'm very pleased with it. Still, the small amount I did play left me impressed in how it felt familiar, and yet still different. It actually feels like it embraces its horror roots quite a bit more than the original. Maybe it's the graphics, maybe it's the atmosphere, but if the rest of the game plays as well as this, it is a worthy replacement of a great game.

[Mr EliteL]

Genshin Impact

Got the Windblume event done on my F2P accounts in time, finished up NA's in bed this morning on my phone, which I thought I may have to get up for my laptop but didn't need to. Had to stop on my EU just before starting Act 3 of the Sumeru Archon Quest as I knew I had not much time for that(I wanted to avoid Quick Start for Windblume but decided to just do it). So, I'll finish Act 3 another time.

[Dragon Lord]

@Moonface Just a lot of stupid mechanics and design decisions with the game. 

Genshin Impact (PC)

Finished up the last stages for the current event going on. Pretty much decided to ignore the event mechanics and say, "Screw your rules! I have a hyper invested Noelle!" My team of Noelle/Gorou/Yun Jin/Albedo was able to consistently score 3,000-4,000 points on their half of each stage, despite not benefiting from any of the buffs from the mechanics of the events. The only team that was able to outscore them was my Keqing team on the very final stage. They scored 3,800 points compared to my Noelle's team 3,500 points. 

Now just back to the daily grind until the next thing comes around. I've also recently finally got my ass in gear and finished a lot of quests I had been putting off, finally catching up in the main quest storyline. 

Hogwarts Legacy (PS5)

Been making a lot of good progress in this game again. Been exploring around the world and just doing random side quests that I find and clearing out a lot of the puzzles around the world. Still having an absolute blast with the game and enjoying my attempts to run a species of giant spiders into extinction.

[Monocle]

Final Fantasy VII

steam version with tons of mods but one mod that added voice acting and a day and night system to the game. It was tons of fun and the voice acting gives me 90s dub feels and I'm all for it. other mods added new textures all around. I'll try to get comparison pictures when I'm back on my pc later. It feels like a better remake than FF7R.