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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

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

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 VII -Remake-
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV MSQ & Side Quests
7:30pm - 10:30pm Central or thereabouts

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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Arts

Farts

Twarts

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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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

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 VII -Remake-
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV MSQ & Side Quests
7:30pm - 10:30pm Central or thereabouts

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

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 VII -Remake-
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV MSQ & Side Quests
7:30pm - 10:30pm Central or thereabouts