Posted: 25th June 2024 21:34
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Engineer Posts: 351 Joined: 25/1/2014 Awards: |
DAWNTRAIL THIS WEEK! I am excited and looking forward to it! In the meantime, after not really touching FFXIV for a bit, I fell into it again this weekend so I could try to cap currencies before the servers go down tonight. I have successfully capped Bicolor Gems, but the rest probably won't be capped...
...but as part of the process, I ran The Dead Ends a bunch of times. That's a level 90 dungeon that drops a particular minion that is VERY popular and is VERY hard to get. I've probably soloed the dungeon with Trusts or Duty Support over 100 times, trying to get the minion. TODAY SHE FINALLY DROPPED! What a perfect ending to the Endwalker era. In other news, I am streaming FFVII Rebirth. For a while I was a bit meh on it, because I didn't really understand what motivation the characters had for driving them forward, but I've gotten pretty far into the game now and it's definitely picked up. I'm more invested now! I stream it again Thursday evening, but then I am taking a week or so off to focus on FFXIV and complete my first play of Dawntrail. -------------------- Watch me play games on Twitch! Schedule: Mondays & Thursdays: Final Fantasy VII -Rebirth- Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail |
Post #217334
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Posted: 29th June 2024 18:47
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Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 15th May 2024 04:22) Unfortunately, they stopped working with Visa/Mastercard/American Express recently, probably due to the spate of silly attempts to ban internet porn on the part of some U.S. state legislators. (DLsite has a lot of adult content, though it does have a whole sector of its store website for non-NSFW stuff; the "home" part of the URL indicates it goes to a non-smut page.) But they currently say Paypal will still work. Quick follow-up: This was solved very simply, actually. You can just buy DLsite points on a third-party website. It costs one Japanese yen per point, and you can buy in increments of 1000 yen (or 1000 points). DLsite even links the site, helpfully. That site uses Paypal to handle payments, but you can pay there using your own credit card on Paypal. So basically this is like if you didn't have a credit card but had to buy Steam gift cards. Which I used to do before I could use my own credit card. An added bonus is that the U.S. dollar is rather high relative to the Japanese yen in recent times. So, like, 1000 yen costs like US$6 and change (US$6.21 at the time I'm writing this message). Now, if you're spending points on DLsite, you can't get points for your purchases. Points were basically meant to work as something of a store credit bonus for buying from them. But you could only get points on items you aren't buying with a coupon anyway...and if you're like me, you'll have noticed that DLsite showers coupons on you all the time and you'd pick up the games for cheaper by using the coupons, which means you're generally getting 18% off or more even on games that are already on sale!. So you wouldn't be getting points anyway lol. Points expire after a year so don't buy too many at once. But if you're buying games online you know you can expect big sales at least like twice a year anyway. This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 29th June 2024 18:49 -------------------- Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing. You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey ) |
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Post #217340
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Posted: 9th July 2024 02:37
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Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. This has always been a fave of mine since I began playing back in 2000. Up until now, though, I hadn't really touched the game in about five years. Then I started get'n YT vids on it recently, and realized it began seeing a resurgence in popularity over the last few years. So I bought some new parts for my fightstick, slapped one of R51's nifty CoN stickers under a plexiglass plate (see here), and dusted off my Fightcade account. Good times!
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Post #217352
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Posted: 11th July 2024 14:18
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Engineer Posts: 351 Joined: 25/1/2014 Awards: |
I am still doing Dawntrail MSQ on my main character in FFXIV - getting close to the final zone, I feel!
I had postponed streaming while I played through Dawntrail but I'm starting to really miss it, so tonight I'll be doing Pictomancer job quests and starting Dawntrail on my alt, Windy Storm. Link's in my signature, if anyone wants to drop by! Dawntrail has been fun! I'll have more to say about it after I finish, but for now here's my first impressions: Possible spoilers: highlight to view Up to about MSQ level 97, I felt the story was quite fun but VERY predictable, which soured me a bit on it because I really love those "HOLY SHIT!" moments of the game. It picks up after the level 97 quests as the story takes a dramatic turn. The gifts for pre-ordering the game including Zidane and Dagger minions, so I knew there'd be some FFIX influences. When those influences first entered the story, I was confused as to what they had to do with FFIX other than place names. But going on in Dawntrail's MSQ, I could feel some of the themes from FFIX trickle in. It's QUITE different from FFIX in feel though! It's an interesting take on a callback to a previous game while still remaining fresh and true to FFXIV. -------------------- Watch me play games on Twitch! Schedule: Mondays & Thursdays: Final Fantasy VII -Rebirth- Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail |
Post #217358
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Posted: 23rd July 2024 15:20
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I had Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force on my "current games" for like half a year (7 months, my Galaxy client says) without touching it.
...but I did just get back into it! Also, I need to pay someone for some stickers, but wild stuff keeps happening and I keep forgetting... This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 23rd July 2024 15:22 -------------------- Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing. You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey ) |
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Post #217368
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Posted: 30th July 2024 14:41
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Engineer Posts: 351 Joined: 25/1/2014 Awards: |
Still streaming Final Fantasy VII -Rebirth- which I talked about in the Remake thread elsewhere. Nutshell: enjoying it, but starting to wonder if I will *ever* finish it.
I did finish my first play of FFXIV: Dawntrail about two weeks ago! I really liked it. My initial impression (a few posts up) still stands, but I will say the second half of the expac kicked things up and gave me the experience I was looking for. Spoilers for second half: Possible spoilers: highlight to view Endwalker had a "twist" in its story, but it happened pretty early, around level 83 or 84, IIRC. Dawntrail's twist was later - I was level 97 - and I think that weakened the storytelling a bit because SO MUCH is packed in the last few levels (the expac caps at level 100). Also, Dawntrail is essentially two different stories tied together. A friend said "well, so was Stormblood but Dawntrail did it better" but I personally feel that Stormblood weaved the two stories better together. Dawntrail very much is "here's the journey for Wuk Lamat to become Dawnservant", then is "oh, and here's a whole bunch of other stuff based on Final Fantasy IX" About the FFIX references: at first, I felt the only references were place names and I didn't get why they used them other than to use them, but as you play further into the expac, the influence of FFIX was definitely apparent. Dawntrail's second half is VERY different in feel to FFIX, but the themes of the games are similar. I liked what they did with Dawntrail, and I successfully felt moved by certain parts of the last zone... ...which reminds me of someone on Twitter who posted a meme that said: "How I play FFXIV: Watch how hard I can CRY" with a stick figure drawing crying buckets of tears. This is one of the reasons I keep playing this game: because it DOES make me feel things! You really do get invested in the story and characters, and yes, I cried in the last zone (not as hard as Endwalker made me cry, but cry I did.) All in all, I'd say this is a successful expansion. I do have my quibbles about it, but I largely enjoyed it, and am interested to see how they build onto this, ESPECIALLY Possible spoilers: highlight to view if we figure out how to travel to other shards/worlds. I want to see Y'shtola meet Runar again, and Thancred/Urianger be reunited with Ryne and Gaia! I do want to say that FOR ME, the revelation of Possible spoilers: highlight to view as a place we'd be visiting during the lead-up to launch didn't work, because Solution 9 Possible spoilers: highlight to view .I assumed it was another world, and wondered how we would be getting there. So the "shock" of the dome over the town was greatly diminished... I was like "Oh. This is how it happens." I really wish they had chosen to keep that hidden. But that's just my personal preference. Okay enough blathering about FFXIV, I need to go pretend to be productive now. -------------------- Watch me play games on Twitch! Schedule: Mondays & Thursdays: Final Fantasy VII -Rebirth- Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail |
Post #217375
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Posted: 18th August 2024 23:40
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Been looking through my backlog, both on Steam and GoG, and I fell on WitchSpring R. Been pretty engrossed in it for the last few weeks, although I'm still fitting in some time for SFIII:3S.
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Post #217387
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Posted: 24th August 2024 04:22
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Just beat a game from my backlog -- Tower Hunter: Erza's Trial.
I did buy it within the last few years, so it's not from too long ago; it's one of the many games on GOG I've gotten since I stopped using Steam a few years ago. Roguelite action platformer. The levels actually don't change *that* much, but the exact placement of the level elements is slightly randomized. The equipment you get definitely is. Also there's permadeath. Oh, equipment. You randomly pick up weapons, but most of the action is picking up "chips", which give stat/ability enhancements. You can't have an unlimited number of them, though -- there's a hex-grid-style list of the ones you have (the grid order doesn't actually matter), and that grid has a limited capacity for the "energy" each chip needs. You'll get far more than chips than you can hold, but you can grind them into crystals, a sort of in-game currency that you can use to upgrade your capacity, your skill with different weapon types, your aptitude for each type of chip, and your other abilities, like special attacks and a multiple jump and a healing injection. I heard that this game is like Dead Cells, but I've never played Dead Cells. Also I've heard that there's a setting that lets you play with normal saves and no permadeath, but I can't find it. Oh well, I beat it with permadeath (including losing to the final boss a few times, yes) anyway. EDIT: You have to choose it when starting a new game. Game is slightly buggy (in amusing ways) but definitely playable and fun. Also, the translation is iffy at times (which I attribute to the Chinese devteam not being great at English), but the story is straightforward, and if anything, the flubs just add humor. This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 15th September 2024 19:38 -------------------- Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing. You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey ) |
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Post #217393
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Posted: 15th September 2024 17:02
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Since the announcement of Echoes of Wisdom, I'd been having the urge to finally play Link's Awakening on the Switch - my daughter got it for Christmas the year she got her Switch and never really got into it, so it had been laying around unplayed for years.
It's my favorite Zelda of the ones I've played, and I haven't played it in 30 years, so I'm really enjoying it. It has performance issues and despite being arguably the easiest game in the series, it feels like the controls have gotten less precise and therefore many of the miniboss and boss battles have gotten more frustrating. That said, I am having a really fun time with it and my daughter loves the story and the style, despite still not wanting to play it herself. I'm really looking forward to her seeing the ending. -------------------- "To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN? |
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Post #217413
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Posted: 16th September 2024 06:13
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I should start putting the stuff I've played here. My signature sometimes doesn't hold it all.
Anyway, I was looking for something to play after finishing Tower Hunter: Erza's Trial, and I gave Tonight We Riot a try. This is an action game where you control a...literal mob of player-characters, who the workers leading a revolution against the evil capitalists in charge of the place. And yes, the game has an explicitly Marxist theming to it. Amusingly, but perhaps fittingly, it's also a free game. Basically, you control one specific member of a crowd, and everyone else follows you around, roaming around somewhat near you, and automatically meleeing enemies and obstacles they come across. They'll also duplicate any ranged attacks you do, such as throwing bricks or molotov cocktails, supplies of which you can collect while moving through each level. Occasionally, at predetermined locations, you can also rally more workers to join your cause, which means more of these computer-controlled units to help you, which is always a good thing, as you'll be fighting a variety of enemies who are of course out to kill you (all of you). A neat thing is that if your player-controlled character dies in combat (each unit has its own HP bar), your control is automatically switched to another member of your squad, as long as there's at least one other person still alive -- as the game tells you, the revolution lives on as long as at least one of you survives to the end of the level. But, if you can keep more of your comrades alive, the game will reward you with perks, like extra weapon options and equipment, which you can toggle on/off (this is a good design decision). The game basically works like a beat-em-up, but with relatively small sprites. I finished the first set of levels, and even got the highest rank (i.e. most of your fellow workers survived) on each level (thus getting the unlock), but I lost interest by the second area, partly because I felt the controls were a little loose, and the AI is occasionally a little suicidal e.g. not standing far enough away from exploding fuel tanks. Anyway, I was back to choosing a game...so I gave Way of the Red a try. This is a metroidvania-ish 2D action platformer, about a warrior from a race of anthromorphic bird-people, who wanders into lands that are controlled by a human kingdom that enslaves them. He is captured by them, and has to fight his way out of captivity, and there's other plot lines that I won't spoil. Pretty decent little game -- it took me about 6 hours to get to an ending, and there are actually multiple endings. The controls are nice, and while the combat is a little on the difficult side (which isn't necessarily a bad thing itself), there's a lot of exploration the player can do, including a variety of secrets with gameplay and/or story significance. The story is reasonably interesting, and there's multiple endings (and even some different bosses) depending on whether one finds certain hidden items and what one does with them. The spritework is simple, but effective. And the music is some satisfying chiptune. Not necessarily the best game in any particular aspect, but it's a work well put together, and it's also only like US$4, or half that or less when on sale. Anyhow, after finishing that, I was again looking for something to play. Was thinking of playing Dex but I think I've kinda lost track of the fifty or so quests I had opened up. Was also thinking of familiarizing myself with Gauntlet (Slayer Edition), i.e. not any of the arcade games, but the more modern PC game in the series. But then I started another game...and I'm absolutely loving it. Wonder Boy: the Dragon's Trap is a remake of the third game in the Wonder Boy series, whose legacy is...surprisingly complicated. There's the mainline Wonder Boy games, then there's the spinoff/reskin of the first game that spawned its own series called Adventure Island, which is arguably ironically more faithful to the very first game of the series -- linear action platforming with tight time limits and fruit collecting and skateboard-riding, whereas the actual Wonder Boy flagship veered toward a more fantasy bent and eventually spawned the Monster World subseries, with what's basically the fourth mainline game being just Monster World IV and starring a different (and female) protagonist instead (probably why it doesn't have the Wonder Boy label). And this whole Monster Land/Monster World side of things is where Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is as well, which was remade in 2017 by the French developer Lizardcube, with help from the original developers. The remake drops the "III" in the title. Eventually, this side of the franchise also produced a whole new game in recent years, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. (And then there's even a Brazil-specific rebrand of some of the games, using the locally-famous comic book series Monica's Gang.) In The Dragon's Trap (both versions, as well as the more recent Monster Boy game, from what I've heard), you have the ability to transform into various animals -- or, more accurately, you're transformed into them involuntarily, because you start off fighting the final boss of Wonder Boy II, the Meka Dragon (or Mecha Dragon, according to some translations, and this is frankly a more accurately descriptive name, lol, but the official canon name seems to be "Meka")...whose defeat puts a curse on the protagonist, turning him into a lizard (well, one inspired by dragons, because it can breath fire, but yeah). So now he's gotta figure out how to turn himself back...so he eventually finds another dragon!...whose defeat curses him and transforms him a mouse. This keeps happening, of course, with each new transformation being a case of "cursed with awesome" that allows the protagonist to access new areas of the game -- Mouse-Man, for example, can crawl around small spaces and even stick to certain walls and ceilings. The result is a non-linear 2D platformer adventure, or what we'd today call a "metroidvania", with an ample variety of areas, features, secrets, and easter eggs, more and more of which become accessible the further you get into the game. And the game is chock full of fun things, especially given that this is a remake -- and one that's somehow simultaneously quite faithful to the original yet also puts a fresh coat of paint on everything, in addition to improving a handful of gameplay features. The game distinctively offers the players the option to switch -- at will! -- between modern and retro graphics (with further optional CRT effects), as well as modern and retro audio (including a second toggle for the FM sound chip, thus effectively offering three soundtracks!). The game world's layout, and most mechanics (including the physics), have been meticulously reverse-engineered from the original game and ported to the new game -- this even includes the password system, as the new game (which autosaves the game) can register "retro passwords" on starting a new file, allowing people to continue their progress if they happen to have an old password on hand, and can even produce new passwords compatible with the old game! (If you listen to the developer commentary during a speedrun of the game at one of the GDQ events a few years back, you'll learn that the remake's devs even discovered secrets never known before in the original game, and preserved them in the remake.) Meanwhile, the modern graphics offer a delightfully charming comic-book-style aesthetic, with the chibi cuteness of the original, but adding in a variety of thoughtful new touches, such as far more fleshed-out setting details as well as new (and frequently humorous) dialogue for NPCs -- all of which are faithfully tucked away if you switch to retro graphics. And the remixed soundtrack, recorded in studio, adds a touch of jazz or other genres to the music, with some tracks getting multiple remixes, each for different applications (e.g. shops with their dinky radio, vs. clinics with smooth jazz), further adding new dimensions to the presentation. Oh, and you also get a nice gallery of concept art and recording sessions, which is gradually unlocked as you play through the game. Basically everything about this game is so delightful. I never played the original before, having never grown up with a Sega Master System, but I thoroughly enjoyed this game, which I actually just beat a few minutes ago (I took a break from writing this giant post to finish the final dungeon lol). It has a similarly charming nature to it like that of DuckTales Remastered, and it's certainly there even for someone like me who didn't experience it as a kid, so it's not just the nostalgia talking -- this really is a great game. --- Games finished this year so far: Wonder Boy: the Dragon's Trap Way of the Red Tower Hunter: Erza's Trial Giral Aggelos Gato Roboto drowning, drowning New Super Mario Bros. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Radical Rescue Games in progress: Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force, Pokemon Perfect Crystal Tabled: Lost Ruins, Dark Devotion, Dex, Tonight We Riot This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 16th September 2024 06:33 -------------------- Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing. You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey ) |
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Post #217415
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Posted: 25th September 2024 21:30
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Cactuar Posts: 233 Joined: 19/6/2012 Awards: |
Just finished The Pale Reach expansion for Dredge. Loved it and looking forward to grabbing the next dlc on pay day. Finishing up The Secrets of the Obscure expansion in Guild Wars 2 soon and playing Secret of Evermore on stream.
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Post #217421
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Posted: 2nd October 2024 18:00
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Rosenkreuzstilette is a game that's been around for quite a while now. It's a "Mega Man clone", made by doujin circle [erka:es], and it plays basically like a classic Mega Man game but with anime girls, lots of references to Mega Man and other games, and various other unique features, including its own unique plot and setting -- a drama involving humans with supernatural abilities. And lots of gratuitous German, with many characters named after German board game designers for some reason.
It's been circulated on the English-speaking internet for a while via a fan-translation, though eventually Playism picked it up for official publication. I bought it from Playism's store a few years ago, back when they closed down, because that was basically the last place to pick up an official copy of the translated version DRM-free. (It's still on Steam, but I personally recommend against buying things on Steam.) I first played it a couple years ago or so, and beat four of the Yeah, this game definitely takes after very classic Mega Man games, especially 2 and 4. And it has the stiff difficulty of those earlier Mega Man games, such as to a stage with Quick-Man-style lasers, a cap of 9 lives and 9 In addition, there are references to other games. Zorne's bombs act like Bomberman bombs; Scwher-Muta Casasola Merkle's stage has obvious Mario references, and Count Zeppelin's character and castle as well as Grolla Seyfarth's stage both invoke the gothic horror of Castlevania games, taking direct inspiration from some of its most iconic bosses. And then there's the game over screens -- a unique one for every single stage, each referencing a different videogame, from Final Fantasy Legend to Shadowgate to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Anyway, this time around, I started playing it on a whim, and this time, I managed to actually finish it. I've arguably been playing it a little harder than I needed to, since I've actually largely tried to fight the bosses using buster only rather than exploiting weaknesses (though, to be fair, some of their weaknesses are for weapons that are rather close-range, so...). I've been able to beat six of the bosses with buster only and without needing E-tanks, albeit needing water to fight Trauare Wrede effectively. Last time I played, I got stuck fighting Trauare; this time, I had a better expectation of the difficulty, as well as a slightly better keyboard, and I pushed all the way to the end of the game. Now that I've beaten it...there are some extra modes, most notably playing as one of the other major characters, but I don't think I'll be trying them anytime soon. I'm a little disappointed that the password system doesn't store number of E-tanks collected, not to mention that I can't revisit stages and re-collect E-tanks easily, making it kinda demand that I keep playing until I'm done. But, if you like classic Mega Man games and go in with these limitations in mind, you'll probably enjoy it. Also there's a sequel, Rosenkreuzstilette Freudenstachel, which stars another of the major characters, in a whole new game. --- Games finished this year so far: Rosenkreuzstilette Wonder Boy: the Dragon's Trap Way of the Red Tower Hunter: Erza's Trial Giral Aggelos Gato Roboto drowning, drowning New Super Mario Bros. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Radical Rescue Games in progress: Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force, Pokemon Perfect Crystal This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 2nd October 2024 18:01 -------------------- Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing. You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey ) |
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Post #217422
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