Of course there’s no right or wrong. Playing at launch can be weirdly manic.
But at least waiting for DLC is a sort of natural progression. But you could also self impose it upon yourself after the fact!
Just like I’ve done with FFVIIR Episode Intermission. What a perfect intermission, apparently only 4-6 hours long. Perfect for before ACVI.
The music is _so gooood_ this jazz is hittin.
It’s cute they chose to do this. Playing a new character with new music and stuff just feels so cool and next gen, a great FFVIIRb teaser.
@“Karasu”#p129869 ah, thanks for reporting back. I still have some sort of place for those cheesy character action games (or at least I think I do), but hearing your revisited take is enough for me to at least quell the “maybe I should give it another chance” thought that pops up occasionally. Also appreciate the heads up about Blasphemous, I‘ve been slightly curious about those lately but ain’t got the time or drive to chip away at a wall like that these days, despite how cool both of them look
I don't have anything new to add to the FFVIIR INTERmission conversation, but considering I played through it for the first time literally earlier this week I feel the need to say “yeah, that was pretty good stuff.”
So uh, yeah, that was pretty good stuff.
I enjoyed having the perfect snack size Final Fantasy treat, especially after bouncing off of the FFXVI demo. I guess I have a bit more to say than I thought so light spoilers ahead but >!every scene with the damn Wutai beans killed me. And then halfway through the Shinra HQ I got surprised with *another* bean scene. Incredible! Something about taking a little break with Yuffie and Sonon to lay the snackdown on some beans made me smile like a big idiot.!<
ok I know this is a sequel, it‘s literally mother Three but like, the way that it is just a whole thing on its own while slowly adding the references to previous games feels real nice, and not fan service-y, like, it’s like I somehow thought that was final fantasy numbering and not a few interconnected games. idk it's nicely done! Mr Saturn is like…imminent I guess???
Currently playing Even the Ocean, by the team who made Anodyne. It‘s like a dialogue-heavy, combat-free RPG–complete with a traversable world map–where entering a town or dungeon switches your perspective, Zelda II style, and sets you loose on a breezy, semi-linear platformer stage. I really like it! The thoughtful writing and ease of play have made it hard for me to put down. (Sidenote: I find this game’s ambient soundtrack so soothing that on two occasions I have literally fallen asleep while playing it late at night.)
Formerly playing [_Titan Quest_](https://store.steampowered.com/app/475150/Titan_Quest_Anniversary_Edition/). Probably once a year I try to crack the ARPG code: what makes these games fun??? And after yet another attempt I still don't know. I dropped _Titan Quest_ five hours in, out of boredom. I've tried _Diablo_, _Torchlight_, _Dungeon Siege_, even _Phantasy Star Online_, all to no avail. The action in these games never evolves enough for me, which is bizarre considering I sincerely enjoy incremental games with zero action like _Cookie Clicker_. What's wrong with me? Should I give up? (I won't!) Should I readjust my expectations? Should I consult build guides? Should I _not_ consult build guides?
Maybe the discussion I want to have belongs in a new thread, but I would love for someone smarter than me to share their thoughts on the genre, even if their thoughts are "just play _Path of Exile,_ dude."
@“Bbtone”#p130108 You might not like it for the same reasons you don‘t like the other games you listed, but I want to recommend .Hack if you’ve never played it before.
https://youtu.be/CXQW4e5Wzyw
You might find it interesting as a sort of pastiche of ARPGs (most directly Phantasy Star and to some degree Diablo), that uses the mechanics and conventions of the genre in service of its story and world-building (the game mostly takes place in an imaginary Phantasy-Star-esque MMO). While there's some anime-nonsense, I think it does have some of the best and most subtle writing you can find in non-indie/artsy games -- so I wonder if simply having a good story and world-building will make the genre less boring to you. The main criticism of the game at the time if its release was that you have to buy 4 discs to get one complete game, though if you just emulate it, that's not really a problem.
But seriously Path of Exile is the one. Diversity of builds and classes, various kinds of action, and perfect sound design. And as Andy B wrote, having a partner helps these games a lot. A good amount of my 850 hours in PoE was spent with a friend.
Probably sounds ridiculous but I’ve always assumed (maybe cuz of games like Kingdoms of Amalur) that single player is the “intended experience” in these sorts of games, and that multiplayer functionality is never more than an afterthought. Not even when I unlocked a skill in Titan Quest said to buff my and my allies’ crit chance did I think “oh, maybe I should invite a friend.”
Now I feel like I owe every game I listed a major reassessment lmao. Especially _PSO_. “Online” is literally in the title!! And (edit) oh my god two-player _Dungeon Siege_ would be wild
@“tokucowboy”#p130071 I think I wouldn‘t mind the cheesiness (and in fact I am 100% here for it in many many cases) if it didn’t a little bit feel like it‘s somehow both taking itself too seriously and mindlessly dumping in the cheese because that’s what Platinum thinks players want. It‘s like that creeping feeling you get when you realize a bunch of other people love a thing that you love but for completely different reasons. I’m not saying that‘s bad, it’s just disappointing. But I‘ve also changed a lot in all kinds of ways since Bayo2, so it’s all good.
Speaking of Blasphemous 2, I played about an hour last night and I want to report that while it still doesn't have a difficulty slider, it's MUCH easier than the first game, so I enjoyed it quite a bit more. I had quite a bit of fun with it, but I'm still baffled by the choice to include no difficulty settings at all, and I suspect making it easier will only make a _certain type of fan_ big mad. But it's still got that signature bizarre, extremely lavish art, which is nice!
Finished Anodyne 2 last night(>!both endings!<) and damn that’s a special game! So under looked.
It’s immediately really engaging and that feeling stayed the whole way through. I really appreciate some of the difficulty modifiers it has as well. The writing is good, it’s mostly quite fun to play(some of the 2D sections don’t feel particularly good), it is absolutely rad to look at, it does meta commentary without being grating, and it has something that really makes it stand apart:
It has absolute best little freaks I’ve seen in years. Especially in the 3D sections the NPCs are just incredible.
Couldn’t recommend it more! Had a wonderful time with this one.
I’ve been playing Misericorde and the writing and music is so bloody good, sleeper hit of the year imo.
It doesn’t seemingly have any choices but would strongly recommend to the VN crew in here. Great little mystery and excellently researched! https://xeecee.itch.io/misericorde
Have been in the middle of moving across the country for the last 8 days. I downloaded ePSXe on my phone and it is the best $3.50 I've spent in a long time. Perfect for some casual RPG-ing in the motel during downtime.
Played about 3 hours of Chrono Cross. This game is something like my nostalgic white whale. I think I bought it the day it came out and played a bunch of it. I was one of those contrarian kids who insisted it was better than Chrono Trigger. However I never finished it.
Since then the beautiful music is like a siren song that keeps drawing me back. Every few years I will think about that main theme and go "That game rules. I should finish it this time" but then I start it up and bounce off after a few hours.
It's a game that feels like it has TOO MUCH secret stuff. This time around I made it to Termina and recruited Kid and Guile and was trying to figure out how to get to Viper Manor when I felt like I had missed out on something kinda major. FOMO got its envious hooks in me and I took a look at a walkthrough. I had missed SO MUCH STUFF! Like, maybe more stuff than I didn't miss. So I basically started the whole game over using the walkthrough to make sure I didn't miss anything, especially any recruitable characters.
But because I also have weird resentment about being told what to do, usually as soon as I start using a walkthrough in a game I get bored almost immediately. It starts to feel like if I'm gonna do that I may as well just watch a Let's Play instead. So I went from excited about the game as a nostalgic experience to determined to make the most of my playthrough to total disinterest.
Also there's something about it being so easy to miss a seemingly major character (>!Leena!<) that made the whole thing feel a little empty. Like if almost every person playing would most likely fail to recruit that character on their first playthrough I guess they must not be that important anyway. This created a spiral where I was like "well then maybe none of the characters are important and maybe going through all this extra effort to get them is just turning the game into a glorified collectathon" and that bummed me out.
But I'm sure I will try it again in a few years when I think about that music again!
@“Coffinwarehouses”#p130302 i have the same problem. it‘s cool that there are so many different paths through the game but it makes me want to find the Optimal one. which i think is the point, and why i think it’s a great game, but it‘s also so difficult to get wrapped up in it when it’s telling you one way or another that you're doing something wrong
