CoN 25th Anniversary: 1997-2022
What games are you playing at the moment?

Posted: 28th February 2023 16:42

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Totes Adorbs
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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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Huh, it's really been a long time since I posted in this thread. I finished four playthroughs of Triangle Strategy, but I haven't finished the fifth yet to pick up my last character (you don't have to do that many, but I didn't really try to optimize). I did finish Spider-Man, and I've also played all the way through Horizon: Zero Dawn.

I got my hands on a PS5 a few weeks before Christmas, so I immediately got the Yuffie DLC for Final Fantasy VII Remake and have played it through about one and a half times - it's harder than Remake so I haven't finished it on Hard Mode yet. I also played through Crisis Core Reunion, finishing that last week, and I'll be starting on Forbidden West next. I also have Stray on order, arriving I think tomorrow.

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

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Posted: 28th February 2023 18:34

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Magitek Soldier
Posts: 339

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Might as well update, too....

I finished Final Fantasy IX on stream a few weeks ago. What a perfect game. Though I forgot what the final boss was like, so it took me three streams to beat it. Had to back out and do more grinding -- I was just too low to survive all the boss's moves at first.

I traded in some games to a particular merchant and used their store credit to order Crisis Core, but that was over a month ago and it STILL has yet to be shipped. Not impressed. Life imploded on me last Wednesday so I haven't had a chance to follow up again this past week, but I'll try to do so tomorrow. My plan was to stream Crisis Core as my next game, but obviously I can't do that since I DON'T HAVE IT YET! But it's okay I guess, as I had to cancel streaming for a while due to life imploding.

I found a job, so with my first paycheck I bought Theatrhythm. Haven't played TOO much but I am enjoying it. Otherwise, I'm still kinda poking at FFXIV and FFBE, but even those I don't have much time for right now.

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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 #217071
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Posted: 10th March 2023 09:24
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Behemoth
Posts: 2,835

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Just a few minutes ago, I finished a 100% run of Psychonauts. I first got the game on steam back in the 'aughts while I was still using windows XP and it ran fine enough that I beat it. At some point I tried playing it again on Win 7 and it was basically unplayable, crashing to desktop seemingly at random. Now I got 10 and it's playable again (after installing a widescreen fix natch) and I can play it with a controller. It's a very interesting experience because it very VERY janky as a platformer to the point where one of the last platforming challenges before beating the game is infamous for being straight up broken.

And yet, I cannot think of any other platformer, then or since, that has explored the possibility space of the genre more than this game. There are levels in this game that feel almost like Lucasarts style item puzzle games. There's a level when you're a Godzilla and a level where you shrink inside the level itself on three different scales. There's so many different ideas being explored in the play space that it can be a bit overwhelming, and the overall jank doesn't help, but the ambition is just too intriguing to ignore.

100% the thing is a chore though. It's no Donkey Kong 64, but it's no slouch in the collect-a-thon either. The figments are the biggest hassle, with numbers well over a hundred to collect in most levels and are deliberately designed to frustrate. They're semi-transparent 2d textures that overwhelm the landscape of the different levels, making them easy to miss, even when you do see one as its easy to misjudge their depth in comparison to your position, and a slog to find stragglers. I used a gamefaqs chart to complete their collection and I don't regret that decision one single iota.

The other game I've been playing is Dead Space. No, not the remake. I reinstalled the OG '08 version. Aside from getting the mouse to work properly, it was a relatively painless install for such an old game. Having not played it since it first came out, I decided to stick to medium difficulty and I shouldn't have. The game was a breeze to get through, but I found out it's new game plus didn't include the option to change the difficulty. Instead, I've just been breezing through separate playthroughs using different load outs.

Prior to these, I was going through a run of RE4 with the HD textures mod. The naturally faster mouse aiming and turning basically broke the game, but I was fine with that. Ive always found the game's tank-based movement extremely obnoxious even for its time, so mitigating that was fine by me! Otherwise, it's...well, it's RE4, one of the most well paced games in a series of games famous for their fantastic progression. The terrible and campy dialogue are as endearing as it's always been, with special note being given to the absolute buck wild sniping Leon and Salazar get into with each other.

I eventually dropped it as it too was a game that would not bump it's new game+ into another difficulty option and when I tried to play vanilla mode on hard, it crashed. Oh well.

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Posted: 8th April 2023 05:24

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Cactuar
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Mario Kart Wii. I completed 32/32 single segment course race with Mario. If you want to see the result it is on my YouTube channel. Done a day before this post.

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Terra - LV 99 - HP 9999 - MP 999

Equipment - - - Abilities

Illumina - - - - - Fight
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Posted: 8th April 2023 14:27

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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. 
My life implosion has come to its natural conclusion, so my routine is returning back to normal...

FFXIV: I did some gathering and crafting during the last weeks of implosion. I now have finished the Skysteel Hatchet. Hey, it was the right kind of soothing experience I needed at the time. Since then, I'm slowly getting back into doing dungeons. Did a few more tries for the Starbird minion and failed to get it, alas. I've done the special events (Little Ladies Day, Hatchingtide) and am now working again towards the Wivre mount, and the next stage of Manderville relics.

FFBE: I've returned to doing events instead of just logging in for daily rewards. The game has been very kind to me and I've gotten a lot of new NV units that I didn't have. Hooray!

Crisis Core: It's finally arrived! I am streaming this on Mondays and Thursdays, and we've done four streams so far. It's as fun as I remembered from the PSP.

Theatrhythm: to be honest, I regret buying this when I did. I'm still trying to save up for a PlayStation 5 & FFXVI, so this was a huge hit to my bank account (I bought the ultra deluxe version) that I didn't need. But it's a fun game, and there's nothing WRONG with the game, just... I could have spent money more wisely, and waited to get it. Ah well.

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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 #217092
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Posted: 24th April 2023 23:31

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Cactuar
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Joined: 4/3/2007

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Perfect Chess games.

Perfect Resistance Avalon games.

Perfect 480 Mario Kart Wii 150cc Race as Waluigi.

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https://www.youtube.com/user/Greatermaxim

Terra - LV 99 - HP 9999 - MP 999

Equipment - - - Abilities

Illumina - - - - - Fight
Genji Shield - - Morph
Oath Veil - - - - Magic
Minerva - - - - - Item
Ribbon
Economizer
Post #217097
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Posted: 9th May 2023 18:01

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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. 
On last night's stream we finished Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII -Reunion-! It's been long enough since I played the original that I can't say for sure whether anything has changed. I *think* there's been a few extra bits of dialogue but I'm really not sure. Anyway, it was very enjoyable to play this on stream, though I kept forgetting that there was more story to do before you could build the flower wagon(s)...

I did not, in fact, build all three wagons, even though I really wanted to. I just couldn't beat the last two stages of the squats contest. Oh well, I did try, and I kept a save point file so I can go back and attempt the squats again.

Mild spoiler for a boss in the last dungeon:
Possible spoilers: highlight to view
We explored enough that we unlocked the path to King Behemoth, so fought him. I was handling the fight okay, but settled in for a long battle when GUESS WHAT? Odin popped up on the DMW. Summoned him, thinking he'd either miss or just do some damage but nope, Odin outright killed King Behemoth. Both me an my viewer were shocked.


This Thursday I am going to start streaming FFVII Remake. I've played some of it before, enough to know that I really enjoy the extra screen time with Jessie, but I didn't get very far into the game, I don't think. This will be the first time I am playing a game I hadn't finished in its entirety beforehand. Well, okay, I hadn't played the Reunion version of Crisis Core before, but I felt it was close enough to the original that it didn't matter. I'm a little nervous about flailing on stream with not knowing what to do, but hey, it will be fun to explore.

I'm still playing FFXIV of course, but getting annoyed with the load times on the PS4. They never bothered me before but now it's getting to me. Happily, I should be acquiring a PS5 soonish, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it handles FFXIV.

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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 #217098
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Posted: 7th June 2023 06:09

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Maniacal Clown
Posts: 5,394

Joined: 31/10/2003

Awards:
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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Wow it's been a while since I last posted here.

Games I've played so far this year:

Tokyo Xanadu eX+
This is the same action JRPG I was playing last year. This year, I finished the pretty substantive After Story and prepped for a "New Game +" second playthrough. I had finished the rest of the game before this, last year.

Just Deserts
This is a visual novel dating sim about fighting aliens in the desert. I read all of it, getting all the endings except the mediocre one (the one where the lead character doesn't find love).

Metroid Prime
Having restarted this last year, I finished the game with 100% scans and items this year.

Take a Hike!
I read through this pretty short kinetic novel (i.e. a visual novel with no choices that lead to alternate endings) one evening.

Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell
This is also a short kinetic novel, but not quite as short (it's like a couple hours long). It also represents a fictional story (I think? it's something of a fairy tale, from what I remember) within the universe of the fault series, a series of VNs with both fantasy and sci-fi elements, from a developer named Alice in Dissonance, of which I'd previously (years ago) read the very first one, fault milestone one.

Ys VI: the Ark of Napishtim
This is the first of a trilogy of action RPGs made by Falcom using the same engine (which I call the Napishtim engine but I'm not actually sure what it's officially called). It feels a little less polished than its successors, Ys: the Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin, but still a very interesting game in its own right. It's also the point at which Falcom started really taking control of the series lore and planning things out long term. I did everything in the game except beat the (extraordinarily difficult) superboss Majunun, or do the boss rush and other extra modes.

Shantae
Restarted playing this long-unfinished game in my backlog -- the first Shantae game. I've actually already beaten the second one. This game is very gorgeous-looking and has lots of neat design elements, both as a brilliant technical feat and also as a piece of art -- though some things could stand to be smoother. For example, it has a surprisingly complex map...but no in-game mapping system.

Ara Fell
I started playing this indie (and western-made) JRPG. This game reportedly started life as an RPG Maker title, but was later remade, and it looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous. I haven't gotten that far in it, and I put it down for reasons unrelated to the game.

Ys Origin
I first played this game many years ago, and beat it playing as Yunica on Normal difficulty. But the game actually has three playable characters, each with their own stories, and I've been meaning to play through this game again. So...I went back and played Yunica again, just because I love Yunica's story so much and so dearly, but this time on Hard difficulty, which made it worth it despite my being quite familiar with the bosses. After finishing that, I started playing Hugo, on Hard difficulty as well just for the sake of having a comparable experience. I'll play the third character when I'm done with my Hugo playthrough.

HoloCure
This is a rather trending game in the rather recent "survivors" genre, which I think is named after Vampire Survivors, a game that seems to have popularized the formula. In it, you control a character who is fending off basically endless waves of enemies, on a 2D top-down playing field. Your player-character attacks automatically, and all you do is aim, though attacks have their own cooldowns. As you progress through a stage, the enemies get harder and bosses also appear from time to time, but from beating them you also get XP to level up, which functionally means getting or upgrading a weapon or item that makes your character stronger. HoloCure, specifically, is themed on the Hololive vtubers and their fandoms, and the excuse plot is framed as out-of-control fans trying to overwhelm and smother the vtubers, or something like that. I've so far unlocked all characters and items, and beat at least one stage with all characters, and have lately been trying to beat Stage 2 Hard (the hardest difficulty stage) with all characters. It just takes a while, since there are 29 different playable characters, each with their unique strengths. (The current version of this game is 0.5; I hear 0.6 is coming soon...)

The Commander Keen games
I bought the Commander Keen Complete Pack, which isn't technically complete, since it only has episodes (or games, depending on how you count them) 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, but not 3.5 (Keen Dreams) or 6 (Aliens Ate My Babysitter), likely due to those games having different publishers. I played these all as a kid, and I've beaten them all before, and so I just messed around in them, though the most I did this time around was using cheats while playing Keen 4 in order to try to get all the items, including the ones not normally accessible in the game.

Dragon Age: Origins
I started this a while ago, and I've been thinking of finishing it, due to an itch of wanting to play some high fantasy stuff.

Tower Hunter: Erza's Trial
This procedurally-generated, metroidvania-ish game was made by a four-person devteam based in Chongqing, China, from what I can tell. It's a hack-and-slash 2.5D platformer where the main character is an anime girl, basically. It's also not really a metroidvania (not that I mind), as you don't really get progression unlocks in a large map; it's just that there's a mv-style map and layout to its different parts, but you can't bactrack anyway. The game's divided into sections of the tower, and you have to make your way up the tower, though I haven't gotten through the first section yet.

Alba: a Wildlife Adventure
Yes, I'm still playing this game on and off. This will continue until I finish it.

The Empire Earth series
Empire Earth is a series of three RTS games made by some of the developers of the far better known Age of Empires series. It does share some similarities, especially in the early games, though the civlizations and tech trees differ, and you can advance well past a Renaissance-like age and actually make it as far as an age of futuristic sci-fi technologies. The third game, which seems to have gathered a somewhat less positive reception, turns out to have simplified and further altered the AoE-style RTS gameplay (now called a "Skirmish") but also introduced turn-based grand strategy gameplay (called "World Domination") where conflicts over particular territories can be played out in Skirmishes. Despite its less stellar reception, I feel like the Skirmish mode in EE3 seems to be a nice shorter way to scratch my RTS itch.

Phoenotopia: Awakening
Phoenotopia is...something of a metroidvania/RPG hybrid. There are many separate areas in the game, which have metroidvania-like elements, such as paths you can't get to yet because you're lacking the requisite abilities, but you have to go to other areas to find those abilities, making the game something of a split-level metroidvania. Except you also have an overworld where you can get battle-swirled into area with random enemies (though they do appear as roaming monsters on the world map), and you have multiple towns with lots of NPCs, overall giving an RPG-ish vibe, though it lacks RPG elements like leveling (and instead opts for mv-style, or Zelda-style, upgrade hunting). It's not quite like any specific other game that I've played, though I've found myself thinking of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Fortune Summoners. I mention Fortune Summoners not just because it's a metroidvania/RPG hybrid but also because it has similarly punishing combat controls, though unlike FS, Phoenotopia has a stamina meter, probably inspired in part by CvOoE's use of the MP bar as a stamina bar. But Phoenotopia doesn't just have that -- it also requires that you eat food outside of your menu (you equip the food item then press the item use button, vaguely similar to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night), with a few exceptions. That said, while the combat was intended to be punishing, the game comes with a lot of quality-of-life features, including the ability to turn off/on certain limitations or "cheats" (e.g. earlier stamina regen, eat healing items in menu, and whether regular attacks expend stamina), which are an interesting way of more transparently implementing difficulty settings.

Now that I think of it, it was probably rather Zelda-inspired, especially Zelda II (which I've never played lol), though there's obviously other Zelda-related inspirations, such as a mechanic obviously taken from Ocarina of Time.

BTW, the "Awakening" is there to signify that this is the remake. There's an original Phoenotopia that exists as a Flash game; it has a somewhat different story.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 7th June 2023 06:52

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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 #217102
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Posted: 17th June 2023 22:24

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Holy Swordsman
Posts: 2,083

Joined: 18/7/2004

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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'm revisiting FFT:WotL and also revisiting Mario Kart 8. Two mainstays.
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Posted: 19th June 2023 03:10

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Chimera
Posts: 1,095

Joined: 15/8/2005

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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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Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 7th June 2023 01:09)
Ys Origin

This is a game that takes less than 10 hours to finish a single playthrough. And yet I put in nearly 100 hours into it. I played all three characters through normal mode, all of them again through hard mode, then attempted nightmare (or whatever this mode is called in this game) with the third character. Couldn't get past the centipede boss. And since grinding became excessive at this point, I finally quit. But I had a blast with this game. And I f@%king love that soundtrack.

Since my last post, I finished Cross Code, but got hung up on Nier Automata for some reason. It remains unfinished to this day, but I do intend to return to it eventually. Same with Shovel Knight. I think finishing Ori and the Blind Forest is hopeless, though...

Meanwhile, I've begun playing through the Rance series (starting with VI), cuz, y'know, I'm a man of culture cool.gif . With that said, the Rance series has a surprisingly well developed lore, with gameplay and narrative elements that I find much more compelling than the adult content, which involves nothing more than still illustrations. I finished VI, then VII (known as Sengoku Rance), then started VIII (known as Rance Quest), before moving on to...

A second playthrough of Witcher 3. My one playthrough was a few years ago, and since there was still plenty of material I've yet to experience, I figured why not. I've also been interspersing that with a bit of Heroes of Might and Magic III, cuz that game never gets old.

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Posted: 6th July 2023 23:43

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Maniacal Clown
Posts: 5,394

Joined: 31/10/2003

Awards:
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 (Galsic @ 18th June 2023 22:10)
Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 7th June 2023 01:09)
Ys Origin

This is a game that takes less than 10 hours to finish a single playthrough. And yet I put in nearly 100 hours into it. I played all three characters through normal mode, all of them again through hard mode, then attempted nightmare (or whatever this mode is called in this game) with the third character. Couldn't get past the centipede boss. And since grinding became excessive at this point, I finally quit. But I had a blast with this game. And I f@%king love that soundtrack.

Since my last post, I finished Cross Code, but got hung up on Nier Automata for some reason. It remains unfinished to this day, but I do intend to return to it eventually. Same with Shovel Knight. I think finishing Ori and the Blind Forest is hopeless, though...

Meanwhile, I've begun playing through the Rance series (starting with VI), cuz, y'know, I'm a man of culture cool.gif . With that said, the Rance series has a surprisingly well developed lore, with gameplay and narrative elements that I find much more compelling than the adult content, which involves nothing more than still illustrations. I finished VI, then VII (known as Sengoku Rance), then started VIII (known as Rance Quest), before moving on to...

A second playthrough of Witcher 3. My one playthrough was a few years ago, and since there was still plenty of material I've yet to experience, I figured why not. I've also been interspersing that with a bit of Heroes of Might and Magic III, cuz that game never gets old.

Ah, Nygtilger, the centipede boss. It's one of my favorite bosses of all time. I must have fought it so many times, even on Nightmare difficulty, though as Yunica, rather than The Claw. And this was in boss time attack, rather than the regular game, so I don't actually know how difficult it is to get to level "par" with the boss in the regular game.



Also, a thought on H-games and their ilk...I get the feeling that some of them have interesting stories not necessarily in spite of titillation being their main draw, but in some ways because of it. That aspect alone can only carry a work so far, so it makes sense for a work to have other aspects to pleasure other parts of the brain.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 6th July 2023 23:44

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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 #217128
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Posted: 7th July 2023 03:46

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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. 
I am nearing the end of streaming Final Fantasy VII Remake. It's been a pretty enjoyable experience, and I can say I definitely appreciate this version of the game a lot more than the original game. I imagine we might be able to finish it on the next stream on Monday, and if not, then next Thursday.

My plan was to stream Final Fantasy XVI next, but as I said elsewhere, I've been playing that off-stream and have lost my interest in it. I definitely am NOT up to streaming it at this time. So instead the plan is to stream Final Fantasy Type-0 HD next. I've played a bit of the game, enough to know that I liked some of the characters and am intrigued by its world, but am a bit uncertain on its gameplay. Still, I'd like to give it a chance. I have a good friend who has played it in its entirety so I'm sure I'll be peppering her with questions.

In FFXIV I've been exploring Eureka. That content is divisive; many people dislike it. But, it has more people in it that Bozja, so it must be doing SOMETHING right. For those who don't know, Eureka is the area associated with Stormblood relic making, but it also has its own story that goes all the way back to something that happened in A Realm Reborn that I've been curious about for ages. It's been interesting to see that story! And I found Anemos quite chill and soothing. Pagos, not so much.

In mobile gaming news, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is celebrating its seventh anniversary, and I am STILL playing it, though not nearly as dedicated as I have been in the past. Still, it's one of the reasons I'm interested in streaming Type-0 next (FFBE just had a Type-0 event with a shiny new Ace, who I pulled multiple copies of). It's a shame we'll probably never hear FFBE music at Distant Worlds or A New World, because the composer has been doing some excellent work.

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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 #217130
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Posted: 10th July 2023 03:36

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Maniacal Clown
Posts: 5,394

Joined: 31/10/2003

Awards:
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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I'd like to stream but the problem is that makes my gaming a stiffer time commitment.

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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 #217134
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Posted: 10th July 2023 05:20

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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 @ 9th July 2023 21:36)
I'd like to stream but the problem is that makes my gaming a stiffer time commitment.

I stick to a schedule with my streaming, but I know several streamers who don't and just stream whenever they are free. It works for them! I say that because the ones I can think of all have bigger audiences than I do. So I say go for it, if you think it'll be something you enjoy.

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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 #217135
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Posted: 10th September 2023 10:09

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Maniacal Clown
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Joined: 31/10/2003

Awards:
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. 
See More (Total 9)
Finished three games in the past couple weeks.

The first is Shantae. Released very late in the lifetime of the GBC, the very first Shantae game introduced the iconic half-genie of Scuttle Town, with her signature hair-whipping and belly-dancing abilities. The game has a ton of neat stuff, including excellent sprite art (especially for the GBC), a fun script, a rather distinctive world layout (Sequin Land is actually something of a ring, for starters), and last but not least, Jake "virt" Kaufman's amazing music. It's also got its frustrations, such as enemies with irritating attack patterns and wonky hitboxes, as well as a lack of in-game map (particularly given its complexities), which put together make traversal somewhat annoying and probably explains why despite the game seeming so fun (at least early on) I took my sweet time to finish it. But I did 100% it in the end.

I've already played the sequel, Shantae: Risky's Revenge, which honestly feels like the first half of a story, but I semi-recently picked up its sequel, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. There's another two more games after that, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero and Shantae and the Seven Sirens, and furthermore, a couple months ago Wayforward (the developer) announced that they'd revisited and would soon (next year) be releasing Shantae Advanced: Risky Revolution, the previously-cancelled GBA sequel to the first game. I'll get around to Pirate's Curse at some point but I dunno about the others yet lol.

---

Meanwhile, within the past few months, I'd also picked up a bunch of games on DLsite. It's a Japanese web store that sells a ton of (mainly) doujin stuff, including games, manga, music, and...ASMR recordings lol. There's also subsections of the site for more commercial games, for otome games, and for porn (though the main site is thankfully SFW, well, as much as a game site can be, so perhaps the Japanese term "all-ages" might be more appropriate, heh). So one can regard this as something like itch.io but Japanese (and a little less heavily indie). A lot of the games are unsurprisingly Japanese-only, but still a good proportion of them do have English translations, albeit sometimes sold separately. And a lot of games are DRM-free, too! -- though certainly not all (PlayDRM is semi-common there for example). I picked up a haul of English-translated DRM-free games and music; given my taste for 2D platformers and JRPGs, it was pretty much a matter of time before I patronized this store.

One of them, and probably the highlight of what I purchased, is Soaring Machinariae. This is an action JRPG that I'm pretty sure runs on a probably newer version of the RPG Maker engine. It's also quite smooth and a pleasure to play, and seems a bit reminiscent of some Ys games (Ys I for the short and sweet story, Ys VI for the gameplay). The story is about a duo of main characters pursuing a legend on an island; the main characters are an automaton mechanic and her "Machinariae", something of a magitech machine that's gained sentience (in this case, manifesting as a young lady with the look of a knight). While not too long, the game has a good amount of story depth and gameplay challenge, as well as a variety of quality-of-life features, including tutorial information that's non-intrusive (the game displays tips in the corner of the screen, which can be easily ignored) and multiple difficulty settings. (The game is available on both DLsite, itch.io, and Steam, but DLsite lets you use coupons on top of discounts.)

---

Fast-forward about a week, and one evening I decided on a whim to try out Mini Ghost. This is a short prequel for the game Ghost 1.0, from the Barcelona-based developer of Unepic (and, as I just learned, a more recent game called UnMetal). Unepic, Ghost 1.0, and Mini Ghost are all metroidvanias that take inspiration from the MSX game Maze of Galious -- a relatively rare lineage in the genre; La-Mulana is the most famous such game, Anyhow, Mini Ghost is a short adventure that's clearly styled (graphically and aurally) to look like an MSX game (the intro and epiloque comic strips notwithstanding), and while the game can get pretty challenging later on, I'd say it doesn't overstay its welcome thanks to its short length (I beat it in a few hours).

I have yet to play Ghost 1.0, which stars the same protagonist but is presumably a more substantive game. (Seems like it based on the TV Tropes article.)

---

Also, at some point in the past few months I played through the first dungeon of Frane: Dragon's Odyssey. As I mentioned before, it's an action JRPG by EXE-Create and published by Kemco, and I'm still on the hook to review this game at some point. I've gained attacks with different elemental affinities, which are needed to clear out some enemies. Enemies respawn very quickly but you can also fight them very quickly, and there's something of a fun button-mashing session I do to clear out a crowd of enemies and build up my limit break which then lets me zoom around and dispatch even more of them at once. The first boss, on the other hand, was surprisingly difficult.

Other stuff I played in the past few months:
* Tested out Absented Age: Squarebound. It's the first game in the Absented Age series, published by the same publisher as Soaring Machinariae (so you can get Iris as a bonus character in this game), and it's another game in my DLsite haul. It plays as a hybrid of an action RPG and a turn-based roguelike-inspired RPG on a square grid (though I don't think it's randomly-generated? not sure).
* Another game from my DLsite haul that I tried out is Attacker-chan. This is just an military-themed 2D action platformer which plays out in a series of mini-stages where you fight enemies (and sometimes, try to save people from being attacked by enemies), and as you advance past them on a grid of nodes connected by a network of lines, you approach a boss at the end of each set of mini-stages while you also need to outrun an advancing wave of enemy control which gradually controls more and more nodes (like in FTL: Faster Than Light).
* I opened up Symphonic Rain to make sure it worked and is DRM-free. It is! I bought it on DLsite and it's the only place to get it outside of Steam. (Even if you buy it on Humble it's still just a Steam key.) This is a visual novel with music by Ritsuko Okazaki.
* Some folks online were putting together a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition campaign. I made a character, but it has yet to get started (even after a couple months). I got bored and started looking into Pathfinder 2nd edition as well (especially because it's got a much friendlier OGL policy), spending some time reading up on that and starting to create that same character concept (as well as another one) in PF2e. For anyone wondering, the general gist of the difference between these two systems (both of which are descended from earlier editions of D&D) is D&D5e is simpler while PF2e is has more character building options.
* Meanwhile, this gave me a fantasy RPG hankering that led me to look back at trying to finally get somewhere with Dragon Age: Origins.
* Also made some progress planning my next moves in Pokémon Perfect Crystal (2020 Update). Specifically, I planned out a bunch of movesets but now I'm deciding what pokémon to teach what TM moves.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 18th October 2023 03:14

--------------------
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 #217183
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Posted: 20th September 2023 20:35

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Holy Swordsman
Posts: 2,083

Joined: 18/7/2004

Awards:
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. 
FFIX. A couple of friends and I are replaying FFIX alongside a friend who hasn't played it before, and I like it a fair bit more than I did in the last millennium--thanks in part to the speed boost making Chocobo Hot & Cold significantly easier, far less of a time investment.

Bravely Default II. I'm not entirely sold on the Brave/Default systems; I've learned that I really want the systems of a video game to match the lore of the setting. That said, it's a blast, and it's got a great mix of job class options [Beastmaster is brokenly good, but there are plenty of non-game-breaking options that aren't obviously better than all the others]. I can't say how it compares to Bravely Default or Bravely Second, but I've just reached the false ending and look forward to getting through the continuation of the story and a true ending.
Post #217187
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Posted: 21st September 2023 02:40

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Magitek Soldier
Posts: 339

Joined: 25/1/2014

Awards:
Member of more than five years. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. 
My FFXIV anniversary was on the 18th! I started in 2019, so four years: long enough that I feel like I've been playing forever while also being surprised it's been four years already. I continue to love this game, and have been playing heavily lately, trying (and succeeding!) to get all the Shadowbringers-and-earlier jobs to 80 so I can get the Amaro mount. I got my mount earlier today and I couldn't be more delighted.

I still mostly play solo, though I'll join hunt trains, FATE parties, and World Boss FATE parties. Most of my leveling was doing with Duty Support/Trusts, though recently I got brave enough to try running Alliance roulette and doing the highest level dungeon for my level with other players. I think I've finally become comfortable enough with most MSQ dungeons so that being nervous about playing with others isn't so strong. I still refuse to tank in a real party, though. tongue.gif (FATE parties don't count - I ran a FATE party as Warrior and was only half-assing it but still managed to keep hate over the Dark Knight in the party.)

I'm also still playing FFBE, but the latest banners haven't excited me, so I'm sitting on 30,000 lapis which is a LOT for a totally free-to-play person. Tomorrow's banner is a cross-over with Parasite Eve, which also makes me yawn since I'm not familiar with that game other than the name of it, so I should have plenty of lapis by the time Halloween units drop.

Finally, I'm streaming Type-0 HD. It feels slow going: I'm already up to 14 streams and only in chapter 7. I am not sure how many chapters there are, but my best characters are around level 36. Need to level some before next mission, or so I was told.

I'm beginning to get annoyed at the game a bit: it's meant to be replayed, which okay is GREAT but there are so many things you can't do on the first playthrough, not unless you spent a lot of time grinding. Like, my characters were in their early 30s and I kept being offered tasks that required Level 55, and I had to keep turning them down. I'm liking the game enough that I will definitely finish it, but will I replay it? I'm not sure. So all these things that I CAN'T DO is really getting on my nerves.

My Twitch viewer was commenting the other night about how the popular walkthrough suggested King was a horrible character, but he's my most used! I really am a ranged DPS gal at heart. I bought his Death Penalty guns which have Instant Death, which is NICE. I was grinding SPP tonight and he was one-shotting everything. wub.gif Alas, I didn't quite finish my SPP grind, but perhaps I can do some more tomorrow before stream.

--------------------
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 #217189
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Posted: 16th October 2023 17:15

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Engineer
Posts: 354

Joined: 11/10/2006

Awards:
Member of more than ten years. Member of more than five years. 
Really enjoying the latest update to 7 Days to Die. Playing loads of this with my friend at the moment.
I'm spamming New Game +1 in Elden Ring. I'm trying not to miss anything this time so using a YouTube Guide.
Also playing plenty of Outlast Trials and Phasmophobia with friends because of spoopy season!
Post #217192
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Posted: 18th October 2023 04:25

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Maniacal Clown
Posts: 5,394

Joined: 31/10/2003

Awards:
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. 
See More (Total 9)
Recently beat Metal Unit, and currently in progress cleaning up some postgame stuff therein).

This game is an action platformer with a...I guess what they call a "roguelite" presentation? Besides the opening chapter, which serves as a tutorial, every time you enter a chapter you pass through a series of mini-stages, about 16 of them per stage, where your objective is to defeat all enemies then reach the exit. These mini-stages are randomly-selected from just under thirty possible choices for each chapter. Your progress through them is not saved if you die, and you'd also lose whatever items you found on the way. Though if you manage to complete the chapter, progress is saved. (There are five chapters total, but the first and last of them don't work this way.)

More notably, though, the game has a huge variety of items -- melee weapons, and ranged weapons, and subweapons, and accessories, and ultimate skills (in addition to several consumable healing items). You get to equip one of each of these at a time, for a total of six pieces of equipment, and these things vary in their attack patterns, clip size, reload time, damage types, duration, and other aspects, giving a huge number of play styles to choose from. You can discover these items as you adventure, and even if you die, you retain "discovery" of them, meaning that you can then take a personal copy of them out with you on a subsequent adventure. And items that you find can be used in crafting -- combining items via recipes to make specific results -- and synthesis -- combining items to produce a random result. Meanwhile, your weapons can be "mastered", by using them in battle. Mastering enough weapons allows your repository at home base to let you bring personal copies of higher-tier items into the field, whether you want to practice using them or just find them especially useful for battle. But whether you bring them yourself or find/make them along the way, you'll need these higher-tier items to fight more powerful opponents.

As for the story, it's sci-fi, with some vaguely dystopian themes, but in an action anime presentation, with a bunch of bishoujo (i.e. "pretty anime girl") characters, including the protagonist (who gets a...rather cheesecakey menu portrait, which I'm not that much of a fan of despite my liking for anime art, but this is probably a minor complaint for most people who'd be interested in this sort of game). The game has some voicework in Korean (it was made by a Korean devteam), though this is only for a few voice lines that occasionally show up during the action; cutscenes are unvoiced. (Not that I mind, though, as I'm perfectly fine with games that have zero voicework anyway.) The story does involve some degree of tragedy, but I feel like it sorta takes a back seat to the gameplay.

In addition to the main game and the deep pool of item, there are also some optional dungeons you may run across in your travels, which may challenge you heavily if you're not prepared for them. At least one of them expects you to wait until endgame or postgame to be able to tackle it effectively, though you retain the option to escape from it if you feel unprepared for it (as long as you can find your way back out, heh heh heh!). On top of that, there are also some extra challenge modes, such as playing on only one life or having no healing items. There's also a New Game Plus feature. And furthermore, similar to Phoenotopia: Awakening (as I described earlier), the devs included a set of Assist Mode options, that allow making the game easier in various ways, and do so without removing access to achievements.

The game is available DRM-free from GOG.

---

That fantasy RPG hankering unfortunately has yet to get me the momentum to make actual progress in Dragon Age: Origins, but has instead gotten me to volunteer to GM (i.e. "game master") a Pathfinder 2nd edition adventure for some friends. I'm currently running "Menace Under Otari", a premade adventure that comes with the Beginner's Box for PF2e. As such, it's meant for beginner players and beginner GMs, with everything from pregen characters to a dungeon designed to present a variety of game mechanics.

(I've played D&D3.5e and Pathfinder 1e before and some of my players have played other systems before this is a collective first experience we're all having with PF2e.)

Dealing with all the unexpected courses of action my players have come up with has gotten me some interesting experiences, sometimes in real-time, with GMing a tabletop RPG, especially with improvising everything from in-character role-playing to managing metagame aspects such as when to level up. Separately, I also went and made a druid, a fighter, and a cleric, partly to learn about PF2e and partly in case I needed to provide a GMPC to the party or welcome another player to the group. Been thinking of making a barbarian, alchemist, witch, and champion (i.e. what used to be called "paladin") at some point, though this is really a back burner thing that I just do whenever...partly "whenever I find inspiring art on Pixiv" or something lol.

Incidentally this means I've gotten characters ready if you want to run a campaign and are looking for players. tongue.gif Same goes for D&D 5e, for that matter -- I still have a character ready for that. But Pathfinder 2e is more convenient, in my opinion, because of the strong support for open gaming standards from the publisher Paizo, which has meant that there's a very robust scene of third-party websites and tool for game rules, character creation, GM screens, and more.

It's also a particularly exciting time to get into PF2e. Paizo has recently been working on a "remaster" of PF2e, with various tweaks to the system that are non-disruptive to the current mechanics but are meant to improve things here and there, while also allowing the system to move away from potential legal issues that were hinted at during the major controversy earlier this year with Wizards of the Coast (the owners of D&D, which Pathfinder is essentially a fork of). Based on the stuff I've heard, the changes seem to be pretty neat, and address some qualms I've always had about D&D (e.g. why do we call them spell levels when they're not the same as character levels?).

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 18th October 2023 07:11

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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 #217193
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Posted: 27th October 2023 23:03

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Cactuar
Posts: 245

Joined: 4/3/2007

Awards:
Member of more than ten years. Member of more than five years. 
My own game. Naturally I have made a physical copy. When it does well in real life online versions can become available. Great reviews. I designed it for everyone to enjoy.

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https://www.youtube.com/user/Greatermaxim

Terra - LV 99 - HP 9999 - MP 999

Equipment - - - Abilities

Illumina - - - - - Fight
Genji Shield - - Morph
Oath Veil - - - - Magic
Minerva - - - - - Item
Ribbon
Economizer
Post #217201
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Posted: 5th January 2024 04:50

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Magitek Soldier
Posts: 339

Joined: 25/1/2014

Awards:
Member of more than five years. Celebrated the CoN 20th Anniversary at the forums. 
So last I posted, I had been playing Final Fantasy Type-0 HD on stream. Unfortunately, my streaming got interrupted for about six weeks due to a family illness (they're better now!) and that killed my momentum with the game. When I finally was able to stream again, I just stuck to FFXIV for a while, because it was comfortable and easy to quit from, for the most part.

I recently received a small inheritance, and that allowed me to buy Stray, which I was really looking forward to for quite some time! We've been streaming that on Mondays and Thursdays, and just completed the story tonight, though I haven't 100% it. I might work on that off stream. Anyway, it was a delightful game that I really enjoyed. The story is decent, not very original EXCEPT for the fact that you are a cat. One thing I really appreciated is that the harder sequences were all short, so I didn't get super frustrated even if I had to do them 20 times to pass the sequence. Would definitely recommend this game to others! ESPECIALLY if, like me, you can't have a real cat in your life at the moment. This game really scratched the "need a kitty!" itch.

I continue to play FFXIV, and continue to love it. Really looking forward to Dawntrail this summer!

Starting with Monday's stream, we'll be playing Final Fantasy XVI! I've already played it once, but there were a LOT of sidequests I missed, and I have not done the DLC yet. I'm looking forward to revisiting the game. While I did enjoy it the first time, I'm hoping it resonates with me better this time around. At the very least, it should be fun seeing it from my regular viewer's standpoint, as he has not played the game himself.

I also have a plan to stream Star Ocean: First Departure R later this year. CoN chat has been saying that SO2 is excellent, so I'll probably buy that soon, too, but I definitely want to play the first one first. Because I already own it, mostly, but also to refamiliarize myself with its universe. I've never played the single-player games, but I did play Anamnesis, the Star Ocean gacha game, while it was available in the US (played from day after launch until the day they announced it was shutting down). I did enjoy the game a lot, and even made amigurumis of Coro and Maria! So yes, most definitely want to play the single-player games.

But before Star Ocean will be FFVII:Rebirth, which I play after FFXVI. Might take a short breather between them to play Journey; we'll see. But I do definitely want to stream Rebirth, because I had fun streaming Remake mostly blind last year.

--------------------
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 #217263
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Posted: 12th January 2024 08:00

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Maniacal Clown
Posts: 5,394

Joined: 31/10/2003

Awards:
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. 
See More (Total 9)
I just beat New Super Mario Bros. for the first time!

--------------------
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 #217264
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Posted: 12th January 2024 19:54

Group Icon
Totes Adorbs
Posts: 9,222

Joined: 31/7/1997

Awards:
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. 
See More (Total 29)
I finished my run of Final Fantasy XVI on Final Fantasy mode earlier this week, as well as a run through the first DLC as part of that playthrough. Time to put that aside until the second DLC drops. Despite it being the "Hard Mode," I found Final Fantasy mode to be generally much less punishing than my recollection of doing FF7 Remake on Hard Mode, for whatever that's worth.

I started up Jedi: Survivor last night, as I got that for Christmas. So far it's following its predecessor in terms of being a great Star Wars story, but man, is it way harder than all of the other action games I've played recently. I forgot how unforgiving that series can be even on medium difficulty.

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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 #217265
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Posted: 19th February 2024 14:21

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Maniacal Clown
Posts: 5,394

Joined: 31/10/2003

Awards:
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. 
See More (Total 9)
Spent some more time with Pokémon Perfect Crystal (i.e. the full-dex hack I've been playing). I'm in that mid-game funk but I'm currently sorta going around collecting berries and apricorns and training up the rest of my team to be level 30-ish, in preparation for the Lake of Rage incident and aftermath, Jasmine, and Pryce. (I have what I call "the rounds" where I just go around Johto harvesting berries and apricorns from every fruit tree. I have over 80 berries in my inventory at this point...I'll stop when I hit like 99 lol.) Thanks to some level evolutions, I got a few new pokédex entries and I'm now at 156 of 276 pokédex entries (including Unown variants).

Meanwhile, I did beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue for the first time! The game is pretty surprisingly difficult -- gotta put in a lot of work to learn boss patterns and survive the game world! Though it's certainly possible to beat the bosses without even taking damage, as some YouTube videos demonstrate. Anyway, the game is best known for being a non-linear exploration game, or as other people call it, a "metroidvania", unlike most of the other TMNT games which are mainly action platformers or beat-em-ups. Dating from 1993, it's one of the earlier such games. (Though, to be fair, the very first NES game did have some elements of this already.)

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 19th February 2024 14:29

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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 #217275
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