CoN 25th Anniversary: 1997-2022
What have you played in 2023?

Posted: 19th December 2023 18:43

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Third place in CoNCAA, 2019. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2015. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2014. 
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lol, i still see the thread from last year. whatever.


Here's a rundown of what I've played this year. As usual, it's dominated by fantasy settings, though a slightly unusual thing seems to be that I played more RPGs than platformers this year, though some of these are action RPGs. Also did a good deal of exploration (mainly metroidvania-style or adjacent), and poked around sci-fi settings and the visual novel format. And as usual, most of my games are not recent.


Games I've finished this year:

* Tokyo Xanadu eX+ - a Falcom action RPG. Basically urban fantasy x Trails storytelling x Ys combat. I actually played most of this the year before, but still had the Epilogue left, which I finished early this year. This first playthrough is as complete as a first playthrough can be; I'll replay it later, with higher difficulty, more affinity shards, and probably some silly costumes.
* Just Deserts - a dating sim visual novel by Indonesian devs Vifth Floor, set in a desert with a military premise about fighting aliens. With some savescumming and guide-following, I got all the endings (except the worst). And I also read the extra chapter featuring Valerya.
* Metroid Prime - This well-known 3D Metroid adventure is something I'd started years ago, but I restarted it this time, streaming it for friends, and getting 100% of items and scans. (Funny how Metroid Dread came out this year...who knows when I'll get around to that.)
* Take a Hike! - a short visual novel by Jane Titor, a western dev. It's a nice story, and it's set in a real-life location -- check it out if you want to learn about a place to go camping in Ontario!
* Ys VI: the Ark of Napishtim - the first of the three Napishtim engine Ys games, though it came out in the west after the other two (Ys: the Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin) and I bought it last and played it last too. Falcom took charge of the worldbuilding starting with this, and it shows. The game is good, even if a little rougher than Oath or Origin.
* Makhna Gramura & Fairy Bell - a spinoff from the *fault* series, and basically an in-universe fairy tale, about an orphan, a fairy, and a magical land that they go to. Not long, but definitely well-made.
* Ys Origin - I did some UI testing for GOG Galaxy and ended up playing YsO anyway. I replayed my favorite character, Yunica, on Hard mode, then started playing (but haven't finished) Hugo on Hard as well. I'll get to the third character after Hugo.
* HoloCure - I played a bunch of this, since it's something I can finish within about 20 minutes and change. Beat most stages with most characters and cleaned out most of the shop. But this is version 0.5; a friend wants me to stream v0.6 at some point.
* Phoenotopia: Awakening - Sifting through my library for metroidvania games, I picked this up. And it turned out to be one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. The controls took some time to get used to at first, but the result was an engaging story, appropriately challenging gameplay, beautiful soundtrack, and heartwarmingly memorable moments. Probably the highlight of my year, and reminds me of how cool Timespinner is, albeit different.
* Shantae - A friend wanted me to stream the original GBC Shantae, which I had started many years ago but never finished. So I did. Enjoyed the great music and worldbuilding, and 100%'d it, despite the wonky controls. (Again, there's gonna be a new Shantae game soon...and I only just now finished the first. Taking bets on when I'll get around to the yet-to-be-released GBA game. Though I *have* played Risky's Revenge already.)
* Metal Unit - An action platformer with randomly-selected (though pregenerated) level segments and lots of crafting. (I've heard it's similar to Dead Cells, which I haven't played.) Bumbled through the start of the game (not unlike the protagonist Joanna), but eventually obtained/crafted and mastered almost all the items, except for the stuff from special challenge modes.
* Mini Ghost - A short and humorous prequel to Ghost 1.0, one of the few Galious-style metroidvanias. A sci-fi thing starring an android protag. Authentic MSX-style graphics!
* Soaring Machinariae - One of the first games I bought on DLsite, this doujin action RPG (made in RPG Maker) delivers solid gameplay, an interesting story, and a beautiful soundtrack (which can be bought separately too). I beat this game, albeit not 100%.


Other games I've played this year:

* Attacker-chan! - another DLsite purchase. Action platformer that plays out in little scenes, separated by moving around on a map with an advancing enemy force (a la FTL).
* Absented Age: Squarebound - yet another DLsite purchase. Seems to be a mix of action and turn-based RPG. I only played the beginning.
* Empire Earth (all three games) - I bought the first game years ago and then the other two games more recently. Special thanks to GOG for making these work on newer computers (albeit somewhat buggily, but better than nothing!). I was in the mood for Age of Empires, and these games were made by some devs who actually worked on AoE. Interestingly, the more simplified mechanics of EE3 were decried by some fans but I found that a Skirmish was a good way to satisfy my craving for steamrolling over the computer in an RTS match without taking up too much time (unlike AoE matches that could take over an hour).
* Xanadu Next - Every decade, Falcom releases a game with "Xanadu" in the title. Tokyo Xanadu came out in 2015; Xanadu Next (which is basically unrelated) came out in 2005. I only really opened it up to check how well it worked; never got into the actual game.
* Dragon Age: Origins - I made yet another attempt to actually get somewhere in this game, but my desire for fantasy RPG action was eventually sated by actually GMing a Pathfinder campaign.
* Tangledeep - This roguelike has been in my GOG library for a while now, but despite its nice music and pretty art, I have yet to break into it. I tried again this year but the time wasn't quite right.
* Alba: a Wildlife Adventure - Made minor progress in this wildlife observation sim.
* Tower Hunter: Erza's Trial - I think I made minor progress in this action platformer. Can't remember though. Could just be a brief startup.
* Symphonic Rain - I picked up a DRM-free copy of it on DLsite this year. I opened up this VN, with its magnificent music, just to make sure it worked, but I wasn't ready to jump in yet.


Ongoing games:

* Pokémon Perfect Crystal (2020 Update) - My progress through the game is continuing, and I've gotten farther than my earlier playthroughs of Crystal got. I now have five badges; working on the last of the Johto badges and also plot advancement. I also have more than half the pokédex entries I need for a full dex!
* Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force - Compile Heart's and Idea Factory's games have a reputation for being very weeb, and this is no exception, though the story was traditional-fantasy enough for me to take an interest in it. The fact that the soundtrack was written in part by Nobuo Uematsu (of Final Fantasy fame) helps. I'm not that far into it, but it's so far pretty good, with reasonably engaging storyline and a battle system that's not bad either.
* Lost Ruins - a game I started after I wrote up this big list. It's currently a freebie on GOG, but I actually bought it some months ago. Horror metroidvania with a noticeable amount of fanservice for people who like girls. I might be about halfway or more through this game at this point?

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins
Post #217241
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Posted: 19th December 2023 20:44

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Magitek Soldier
Posts: 339

Joined: 25/1/2014

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Member of more than five years. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. 
Wow, you've played a lot of different games this year! Me, not so much, but then I *am* an MMO player... that takes a lot of my gaming time. Plus it was a shitty year for me so I gamed less in some months than I normally do.

Games I've played this year:

Final Fantasy XIV - always and forever. wub.gif This year has mostly been side quests, though I stay on top of the Main Scenario Quests on my main character when they drop. I'm slowly clearing out all the side quests and completed them in numerous areas. I'm continuing to work on Endwalker/Manderville relics when I can. I'm 300/500 vouchers towards the Wivre mount! But mostly: EUREKA! This is older content but I started it earlier this year just to see its story and immediately fell in love. Eureka is the method to get Stormblood relics, and my plan is to get them ALL, not so much because I want the end result but because I love the content so much.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius - still poking at this, how many years later? For about 2.5 months I did nothing other than log in for daily rewards and pulling on banners, but yesterday I did some content again. Hey, life was stressful! It makes sense that some gaming would go to the wayside, and this is one of them.

Final Fantasy IX (via PS4) - I streamed this! Started in 2022 and finished in early 2023. I really adore this game. As my friends say, it is a perfect game EXCEPT it is missing a "hug Vivi" button. I had great fun playing it again, though the final boss gave me some fits... but I eventually got it.

Crisis Core -Reunion- - I streamed this! I had played the PSP game before and loved it, and was very sad when my PSP died because that meant I wouldn't be able to play Crisis Core ever again... so I was greatly pleased when they re-released it. It's been long enough since I played the PSP version that I can't say for certain if anything was added, but I think there were some small differences. I was surprised at how much I *did* remember. Also Zack >>> Cloud, in my opinion (though I still do enjoy Cloud).

Final Fantasy VII -Remake- - I streamed this! Now, I do not really consider myself a fan of the original FFVII; I found it too confusing for my tastes. Remake, though, was great fun and I really enjoyed it, so much that I'm planning on buying Rebirth right when it drops.

Final Fantasy XVI - I played this on my own. I did have problems getting into it, but I think part of that was still subconcious grief from losing my dad at the beginning of the year... a dark game just wasn't what I needed, I feel. I did enjoy the game, and greatly loved the characters (Dion is best dragoon!). I'm planning a replay soon, this time on stream.

Final Fantasy Type-0 - I was streaming this and enjoying it, but then my mom had a health crisis and I had to quit streaming for a while, and oops there when my momentum/motivation. So I haven't returned to it, and don't plan on doing so soon. I'll finish it eventually.

Stray - wowsers, the only non-SE game on this list! I'm streaming this currently and having great fun. I can't have a real cat for Reasons, but this game scratches that "must have kitty!" itch for me. I do struggle with some of the more action sequences, but those are so short that I don't get frustrated really, even if it takes upwards of twenty attempts.

That's it from me this year! Because I'm having so much fun with Stray, I'm on the lookout for other indie PlayStation 4/5 games to potentially stream. If anyone has any suggestions, I"m all ears!

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Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays & Thursdays: Final Fantasy XVI
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV MSQ & Side Quests
7:30pm - 10:30pm Central or thereabouts
Post #217242
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Posted: 20th December 2023 16:28

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Maniacal Clown
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Third place in CoNCAA, 2019. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2015. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2014. 
User has rated 75 fanarts in the CoN galleries. Member of more than ten years. Contributed to the Final Fantasy VI section of CoN. User has rated 25 fanarts in the CoN galleries. 
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Quote (AltheaValara @ 19th December 2023 15:44)
Wow, you've played a lot of different games this year! Me, not so much, but then I *am* an MMO player... that takes a lot of my gaming time. Plus it was a shitty year for me so I gamed less in some months than I normally do.

Wow, you're basically making up for my complete lack of Squenix brand loyalty, haha.

Sorry to hear that some parts of your year were less fun. I hope the better parts helped smooth things out.

And yeah, I tend not to play games of an "endless" sort, like MMOs or other multiplayer games, but rather games with more defined endpoints of some sort. So it's a little different.

Also, I have been trying to finish more games. Games I played this past year that Ive long wanted to finish include Pokémon Crystal, Metroid Prime, Shantae, and Dragon Age: Origins; ones I've long wanted to start include Fairy Fencer F and Symphonic Rain. And then there's others (Just Deserts, Phoenotopia: Awakening, Take a Hike, Xanadu Next, Tower Hunter, Tangledeep, Lost Ruins, Metal Unit) which are more recent acquisitions but also stuff I want to play through.

On the other hand, I forgot to mention, I got into Weiss Schwarz Simulator. Not the actual Weiss Schwarz game, since I lack physical cards, but I wanted to learn the game mechanics anyway. I had recently attended an anime convention where I played another card game with some people (specifically Danmaku!!, a Touhou card game), then I was like, wait, what about the actual literally anime card game, Weiss Schwarz? Turns out there's a fan-made simulator on itch.io which has many of the cards and basically implemented the mechanics card by card.

WS is a pretty interesting game, with very tight mechanics and a surprising depth of strategy. A frequent theme in WS mechanics is that cards often serve multiple purposes -- for example, the damage each player takes is counted in-game via flipping over cards from one's deck, but the cards thus flipped are also what allows higher-level cards to be played so long as they're the same color, and this mechanic also enables a damage-canceling mechanic via flipping over certain cards (which have different benefits when you draw and play them from hand).

So that's an "endless" game I might get more into.

Meanwhile, I also spent a good chunk of time in the latter half of the year getting more involved in puzzlehunts again. There was a shake-up in the leadership of the puzzlehunt team I've long been a part of, so I retook the reins, and coincidentially there's been more recent smaller puzzlehunt events (e.g. Galactic Puzzle Hunt, Huntinality, CMU Puzzle Hunt, etc.) compared to years past. So I was doing more organizing and also solving. That took some time too.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 20th December 2023 18:17

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins
Post #217243
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Posted: 20th December 2023 17:06

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Totes Adorbs
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Second place in the CoN World Cup soccer competition, 2018. First place in CoNCAA, 2018. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. Vital involvement in the Final Fantasy IX section of CoN. 
First place in the CoN Euro Cup soccer competition, 2016. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2015. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2014. Third place in the CoN World Cup fantasy game for 2014. 
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I did not play that many different games this year, or at least not to write home about, and the ones I did were mostly Squenix because they take up a ton of time and I don't have much of it.
  • Horizon: Forbidden West (I still plan to go back to this to finish collectibles)
  • Crisis Core
  • Final Fantasy XVI (didn't quite get done with my replay on "Final Fantasy" mode before the DLC came out, so that's going on still)
  • Ever Crisis (much better on Steam than on mobile, so I'm actually playing it some)
  • Various small bites of Switch games that I've had forever.


I can already tell that next year's list will be roughly the same tone as this one, since I'm certainly getting more big games in the near future. FF16 DLC will take up quite a bit of time, and I'm expecting to get either Jedi: Survivor or Spiderman 2 at Christmas, and then of course once I have my preorder of Rebirth that will likely be the only thing I play for months.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?
Post #217244
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Posted: 20th December 2023 18:50

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Magitek Soldier
Posts: 339

Joined: 25/1/2014

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Member of more than five years. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. 
Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 20th December 2023 10:28)
Wow, you're basically making up for my complete lack of Squenix brand loyalty, haha.

You see "brand loyalty", I see a metaphor for how small my life has become these past 15 years or so. I don't often venture outside my comfort zone, which makes for a sad existence. I'm trying to make changes to have a fuller life, but it's going to be a long, difficult process.

...but this is perhaps too much for a video games site, lol. So let's get back to games! I'm hoping to stream Star Ocean: First Departure R next year. Yeah okay, it's still a Square Enix RPG, but at least it's not Final Fantasy, and that's something! I'm slightly familiar with the characters and worlds from playing Star Ocean: Anamnesis (RIP, that mobile game) but the bulk of it will be new to me.

Also looking forward to FFVII: Rebirth, and of course FFXIV: Dawntrail in the summer!

Otherwise, I don't have any games on my radar. What are you all looking forward to? I'd be interested to hear! I'm especially on the lookout for more PS4/5 games that I can stream.

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Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays & Thursdays: Final Fantasy XVI
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV MSQ & Side Quests
7:30pm - 10:30pm Central or thereabouts
Post #217245
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Posted: 21st December 2023 02:22

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Chimera
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Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2015. User has rated 300 fanarts in the CoN galleries. Member of more than ten years. 
Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2014. User has rated 150 fanarts in the CoN galleries. Participated at the forums for the CoN's 15th birthday! User has rated 75 fanarts in the CoN galleries. 
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Interestingly, nothing but GOG fare this year. In fact, been trying to get through a decent haul from an earlier GOG seasonal sale. And, for the record, I rarely 100% anything. Just don't have the patience for it.

Rance VI Status: finished - I had been curious about the Rance series of H-games for a long while, and took the opportunity to grab the ones available on GOG during an earlier sale. They all play partly as VNs with the rest of the gameplay being markedly different from entry to entry. Rance VI has first-person dungeon crawling with turn-based party battles. Perhaps surprisingly, I found the adult content less compelling than the rest of the game's content, but it does add to the overall tone of the narrative, especially since the constant *ahem* "hand-holding" is the thing that most defines and motivates the title character.

Sengoku Rance Status: finished - Featured here is strategy gameplay with territory conquest and management, and turn-based army battles. This one made more of an impact on me as the gameplay here was more involved than more traditional RPG gameplay in VI.

Rance Quest Status: demoed - I had no intention to commit to a full playthrough with this one (at least not right now), and was merely curious to see how it played before I moved on to something else. Only played for a couple of hours, but from what I gather, it plays more closely to VI with some significant differences. Will get back to it at some point, especially as subsequent entries in the series become available to me.

Ys Seven Status: finished - I played Oath in Felgana and Origin some years back, and felt like continuing with the series. Like the Rance titles above, got this one, VIII, and IX during that same GOG sale. The action RPG combat was quite fun; it's what mainly kept me engaged in the game. The narrative was fine, too, but I guess it was a bit too derivative of other stories I've experienced (gotta collect the [x] elements to save the world from certain doom) to make a lasting impression on me. That said, it did provide a refreshing twist with the main antagonist.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Status: finished - Not only did this one improve on the combat mechanics of Seven, but the narrative actually made a lasting impact on me, with the other title character, Dana, being an immensely engaging character with a bittersweet story. I also preferred the other supporting characters here to the ones in Seven. Hands down my fave game in the series so far.

Previously owned titles:

Witcher 3 Status: current playthrough delayed - After the last major patch, and knowing there was still some unexplored material left for me to see, I thought I'd give it another whirl. That playthrough remains unfinished, however, as I got the itch to try out my new GOG acquisitions.

Cyberpunk 2077 Status: current playthrough ongoing - I actually finished a previous playthrough a couple years ago, but with the last patches an the release of the Phantom Liberty expansion, I figured it was time to replay. And I'm pretty sure I'm going to end the year with this one.

Heroes of Might and Magic III Status: always ongoing - Ah, a perennial favorite of mine. Hadn't played it for some years, so I decided to install it for a few single scenario sessions. Might consider doing the campaigns at some point as I don't think I've ever finished them. Regardless, this game never gets old for me.

As a side note, one may note that I didn't mention Ys: Memories of Celceta. When I was reading reviews of Ys titles, the thing that really stuck out at me was how awkward a certain mechanic in Celceta (an air dash, I believe) was to perform. And apparently it was necessary for certain platforming areas, which sounded like a recipe for constant frustration for me. Completely turned me off from buying the game, haha.



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Post #217247
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Posted: 26th December 2023 00:21

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Maniacal Clown
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Third place in CoNCAA, 2019. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2015. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2014. 
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Oh, one more game I totally forgot about but I just sped through a good chunk of it today to finish it:

The Adventures of Wolf and Hood. It's a set of virtual jigsaw puzzles, that when solved reveal a story that remixes some classic fairy tale characters. The game is on itch. (If you got the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid (one of the giant charity bundles), you have it already.) It seems pretty well-made, can zoom in and zoom out, can check the whole picture (or choose not to if you prefer), and can split the puzzles into different numbers of pieces. The story is reasonably interesting as well.

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins
Post #217252
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Posted: 30th December 2023 02:10

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Holy Swordsman
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Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. Member of more than ten years. User has rated 300 fanarts in the CoN galleries. Participated at the forums for the CoN's 15th birthday! 
User has rated 150 fanarts in the CoN galleries. User has rated 75 fanarts in the CoN galleries. User has rated 25 fanarts in the CoN galleries. Member of more than five years. 
I don't even remember if I started playing it this year, or if it was last year, but I played Triangle Strategy [great interface, QoL elements for tactical combat--but a simplistic story and not enough options or characteristics for my taste], Bravely Default II [another simplistic story, but tons of customizations options, and even though there's a part of me that really hates the non-diegetic fact of the whole Default/Brave system/mechanics, I won't bother denying I think they're fun], Final Fantasy IX, Shining Force, and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. You can see that I'm on the cutting edge of gaming these days.
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Posted: 2nd January 2024 06:35

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Maniacal Clown
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Third place in CoNCAA, 2019. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2015. Voted for all the fanart in the CoNvent Calendar 2014. 
User has rated 75 fanarts in the CoN galleries. Member of more than ten years. Contributed to the Final Fantasy VI section of CoN. User has rated 25 fanarts in the CoN galleries. 
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Oh I started playing one more game in the few days before the year expired. It's New Super Mario Bros., which probably needs no introduction. Yes, it's the DS game. I got to the point of opening up worlds 3 and 4 before the year expired.

Quote
Bravely Default II
Do you need to play Bravely Default 1 before playing BD2?

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 2nd January 2024 06:36

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins
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