I think I’ve sussed out the most likely titles. @Death_Strandicoot got one, but these are the rest:
Final Fantasy 7: Reply Girls
Final Fantasy 7: Regift
Final Fantasy 7: Refund
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Final Fantasy 7: Relapse
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I appreciate the detailed response! That’s a lot of good reasons for me to skip open world stuff. 60 hours is already more than I can handle most games. If there’s that much mainline game, then I’d really struggle to finish if I did the side content.
Can’t do that one unfortunately because they already have Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7: Prolapse
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these are all late career eminem album titles
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Final Fantasy 7: Real Housewives of Midgar
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I finally bought the Super Mario RPG remake after some hesitation. I didn’t like the screenshots and how the game looked but seeing it in motion works for me. I haven’t played it since probaly 1999 or so. I have since heavily fallen off of turned based RPGs and I probably only ever played them because action RPGs were so rare and great ones were nearly nonexistent until the ps1 generation of games. I’m typically too impatient to wait on my turn to attack and wade through slow ass dialog sections for a middling story.
Given all that baggage I’m shocked to discover that I’m loving this game. The timing on the bonus damage is just tight enough to make it achievable but not so loose that I still miss around the 14 streak as my attention flags. It remains such a great way to keep me engaged in the battle system. The sound effects and heavier rumble for getting your timing just right only ads to the satisfaction. it makes me want to play The Legend of Dragoon when I’m done with this one.
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I’m playing Super Monkey Ball Jr of course! This shit sucks! It’s impressive to look at until you realize this 10 frame per second game requires micro adjustments. I can’t even get through like six levels.
Also took a pretty serious stab at Fire Emblem IV. Compared to the NES fire emblems, my boys aren’t cute enough. This feels like if they made the GBA ones completely gigantic, and I don’t think that necessarily works? I understand this is one the fans like, but I don’t necessarily want a giant sweeping vista to conquer in these, rather than a smaller focused effort of a battlefield. I might poke around with it more but I might go play advance wars or something.
In the market for a game to love right now.
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May I suggest Psuedoregalia
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i have been thinking about this one
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I’m going to play Pseudoregalia soonish (when I finish a few other things).
It was already on my list, but it’s moved up in priority after reading what has been said about it recently here.
As for what I am playing, I’m continuing to catch up on the masterpieces of the sixth generation that I missed in their heyday. After God Hand and Ninja Gaiden Black, I’m now playing Silent Hill 2. I’m playing the enhanced edition version on PC. I’m really liking it so far. I think I’m about halfway through. I still have Raw Danger, Boku no Natsuyasumi 2, and Killer7 on my list. (EDIT: oh, and also Half-Life 2, which is not really a console game, but it’s contemporary)
I also started :The Longing:, which is really captivating. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a game that takes place over 400 real world days. You have to wait 400 days to wake up the sleeping king. Time progresses even when the game is off, so you can ostensibly finish just buy starting, waiting 400 days, and coming back. But you can also explore this vast network of caves, gather supplies, and improve the little protagonist creator’s home to make time pass faster. It’s a perfect game to put as much offer little as you want into. The graphics are delightfully hand-drawn, and the music is full of these smooth synth tunes that sound fantastic. Your creature moves at an absolute snail’s pace. We’re talking the speed of dark. But I’ve you’ve been somewhere, you can save the destination and you can have him set off and go somewhere while you’re not playing (he’ll walk whole the game is off). It is enthralling, and I’m excited to see in a year how it ends, and how much I have put into it. I’m hoping for an hour or so per week of actual play, but even if I lose interest, the game will progress.
The whole thing is completely carried by its vibes, which are immaculate.
My partner and I finally rolled credits on The Thaumaturge. We watched all three endings, but only once of them was satisfying. The other two felt like selling out. Overall, the game was not fantastic. It’s probably a solid IC 7/10, but playing a game a little at a time with your non-gaming partner is an 11/10 experience.
Before Pseudoregalia, I might also play Guns of Fury, that “Metal Slug meets Metroid” game that comes out tomorrow. This would be my first new game of 2025.
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cracked open DQ5 again (did i mention i’m playing the ds version now instead of ps2?), just got a crucial party member and i think love is in the air??? 
stalled out on re7 lol have watched some madhouse runs and it looks like hell.
@Death_Strandicoot sounds like you are having an awesome year for gaming!
@Chekhonte SMRPG is such a delightful game glad you are enjoying it. Legend of Dragoon rules too! great choice!!
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Soon we will all know what kind of person BigHatPaul truly is…
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This is the second time this week I’ve heard of someone picking up The Longing and it pleases me so much. There is often talk about hang out games here, and this is one of my favorites. I played this with my two young daughters. We would check in on this little guy all the time and find stuff for him to do. I loved having a little simple world to check in on. You really do get a much out of it as you put in. Please let us know when you see the end!
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I just looked up the pricing of Dragoon, it’s all over the place. I thought this game was practically free like 5 years ago. Did it suddenly have a resurgence?
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retro gaming in general right now just seems to be all over the place. i don’t do physical copies for that reason.
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Well, usually my Jan/Feb are full of catching up on older stuff, and then I start getting distracted by shiny new games. I’m trying to cut back this year to maybe under a dozen new games, but I don’t know how successful my discipline will be over my impulsiveness.
That is to say, a lot of new games kind of suck, but I don’t know that until I play. The time-tested certified classics are usually more fun, but leave me with less to discuss as everyone already knows them and has heard every take.
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I feel like I’m alone here, but I didn’t think Citizen Sleeper 2 lived up to Citizen Sleeper 1. The fact that it all leads to one path really took away something that made the first one so special and really diminished the experience. I also feel that the game has some strong ludo-narrative dissonance (and also narrative-narrative dissonance). The world is constantly described as hard to eke out an existence in (and ludically, it is, at least until you get your feet under you0, and that everyone is out to get you, and yet every single crewmate you find (and many, many other characters) are the kindest, most open, warm people to have ever existed. It just sort of feels like, “If these are the types of people I encounter, why exactly is this world so awful”. On the other end, the villain is so mustache-twirlingly evil so as to tip over into cartoon villain territory. It just doesn’t feel like narrative really holds together in terms of describing a self-consistent world, and the world it does describe is definitely at odds with the mechanics.
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Well, makes sense. I don’t think the characters are that nice, but they are catered to be that way at times in fear they would be unlikable.
Also, I’ve been thinking for a while, as I’ve been here and in other videogame circles, that writing may be more difficult than I thought, and, at the same time, maybe I’m truly not looking at some of those details and how some parts worked or not worked for me.
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I’m still drawing maps and smacking monsters in Etrian Odyssey and really having a good time. I’ve always been a little wary of giving the series a try due to the reputation that seems to proceed it.
The impression that I’ve always gotten is that it’s a brutal dungeon crawlers that expects you to be very familiar with the genre and to go out of your way to find help outside of the game; either by way of guides or forums.
So far, it’s been kind of the opposite. The game doesn’t share a lot of information with the player, this is true, but it’s very honest and fair in it’s difficulty curve. Is a floor kicking your ass? Go back, grind, mine, make some cash and get better gear, then try again. That being said, it’s also not a total grind fest like it’s been made out to be either. Yes, there’s some grinding, but not to a degree that I find it a chore.
Honestly, a really pleasant game, and emulating on the phone so I can easily play in bed while snuggling my cat makes it even better.
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