Playing Octopath Traveler II!

Lots of progress. I’m working the final chapter for each of the protagonists, finished Scholar and Thief yesterday and will do Cleric next. I’m rather overleved/overgeared since I did a LOT of exploration, so I didn’t have any trouble at all with the bosses so far.

It’s a “TP-less” system using a new resource called CC (“Chain Capacity”).

Different attacks or skills use different amounts of CC, and it recharges naturally after standing still or blocking for a short time. However… there’s different actions that also recharge CC such as sidestepping enemy attacks, meaning that if you’re playing properly you get the chance to attack again faster or extend your combo. The combo system is also more flexible with less strict ordering of skills, you can even chain combos into spells to reduce casting time. Overall it feels more like a traditional fighting game than your usual Tales battle system.

Also, there’s some very unique characters to play. Like Pascal, which is a mage with a gun-staff with most of her spells being AOE around her. Combos with her involve melee into ranged, into dashing and casting short-range spells. If you don’t mind spoilers here’s a video showing a complex late-game combo using her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtfWlLga20k

One important thing to mention is that the game has a very slow start, the first couple hours have you play an extended prologue of sorts during the main cast’s childhood, and the battle system only starts unlocking past that.

I still have a few Tales games to play before Aris

My usual recommendation for Tales games is Graces F. Story is standard “power of friendship”, but has the best battle gameplay in the series and a great cast with hilarious interactions (in particular in the “Lineage & Legacies” extended epilogue).

I also have to include some praise for Berseria, the gameplay is not as good (very “button mashy”) but the cast is amazing, honestly one of the all-time best “band of misfits” teams in gaming.

Some of my friends (not big JRPG fans) had issues with pacing in the second half of the game, and ended up dropping the game.

I’m a both a JRPG fan and and huge Tales fanboy (played all games, even the ones that never got officially localized) and I agree 100%. Game starts great but loses a lot of steam midway, plus it has the fairly common Tales issue of a rushed final act where you see obvious cuts due to time or budget constraints.

Also has one of the most boring final dungeons in recent JRPG history with a ton of incredibly annoying damage sponge enemies.

so maybe it’s just me who has changed.

Always possible, but a lot of friends of mine said similar things about RDR2.

Playing Octopath Traveler II!

Played a lot of this game and the main conclusion is that I absolutely love the exploration and combat, but don’t care much about the story.

I spent most of the week going around the world, opening new paths, killing monsters, unlocking jobs and robbing people of their belongings. Only started moving with the plot again yesterday and I’m massively overleveled (30-40 when the current story quests are 15-18), which helps make these parts go fast.

Also did my first few “Crossed Paths” chapters, and they’re quite good, but it’s sad they only cover 4 “pairs” of characters. Would definitely enjoy seeing more combinations in future games.

And it felt like 8 solo adventures, instead of a single campaign.

The main stories are still like this, though now we have additional stories called “Crossed Paths” focused on pairs of characters to give them more interaction. I also heard the final chapter has the stories coming together decently, but I’m still very far from that so I’ll comment when I’m done with the game.

Not sure if that’s enough to get you interested but it’s a nice improvement.

I’ve only played it on PC and Switch, but Into the Breach is one of my favorite strategy games and the interface is excellent on touch. The randomized campaigns of short turn-based maps is excellent for short play sessions, and has a ton of replayability with a lot of unlockable squads.

Sadly AFAIK it’s only available in mobile for Netflix subscribers. But if you are one it’s free.

Finished Opus: Echo of Starsong !

Fantastic atmosphere and worldbuilding, strong start and a decent ending, but gets held back by its weak and repetitive middle and very limited exploration/resource management gameplay.

Playing Octopath Traveler II!

When I played the first Octopath game I was really enjoying the general gameplay, but gave up midway because it was just too goddamn grindy.

After a lot of research I decided to give the second game a shot, and so far it’s much better. Very similar in structure and gameplay to the first game, but the non-boss battles are easier and quicker, money isn’t as much of an issue, and the cast is more enjoyable.

Hoping it stays this way till the end. I’ve recruited 5/8 charaters and I’m now working on getting the full party before proceeeding.

Playing Super Robot Wars Y Anniversary Expansion Pack!

Yay, one final DLC pack for this one. English trailer is here, looks like this time we’re getting “Witch from Mercury” Season 2 units and what appears to be an alternate version of Chapter 7.

They also brought back Crow and the Librasta, one of my favorite protagonists in the series! It’s obviously to draw hype for the SRWZ2 remake they just announced, but I’m happy to see him again.

Got my first Switch 2 game (Star Fox), now I just need the console. 😆 Should be getting it in a week or two.

Finished Majogami!

The “post-game” ending was a lot more satisfying. If you play this game make sure to go through the “Encore” chapter and the extra boss. Overall a fine, 7/10 game. Nothing amazing, but I had a good time.

Playing Opus: Echo of Starsong !

A story-focused game with an odd mix of gameplay elements, combining point-and-click adventure with space exploration and resource management. But I think the gameplay parts are rather basic leaving most of the focus on the story, so it’s best to approach this one as a “visual novel with more interactive elements”.

And… the story has been underwhelming so far. Maybe because I’ve seen so much praise for this game before and I came with high hopes, but I’m really getting annoyed on how “static” the main cast is - Jun gets some strong development early on, but after that it doesn’t feel like the characters are changing at all, their behavior (including some very annoying issues) is the same even after several adventures and even a time skip of a few years.

But one thing I’m loving is the worldbuilding. There’s a lot of backstory for the “Thousand Peaks” star system, both in the ancient ruins left by a long-lost ancient civilization and the constant tension between the different groups due to the scars left by a war only a few years back.

I don’t think I have much left on this one, will probably finish it over the weekend.

What are your overall thoughts on Majogami? Or is that for next week when you have fully finished it?

Honest review: “It’s OK”. 😆

Bosses are good, stages could use more variety. Overall there’s nothing really bad in the package, but also nothing that makes me say “this is awesome”.

AWS having issues + the billion dollar company pushing for a digital-only future not knowing concepts like “cloud redundancy”.

Hilarious timing for a 6h+ downtime/instability, with all the controversy about them killing physical games and lack of response from Sony.

I used to love GTA and other games in the genre like Saints Row, Sleeping Dogs and so on, but now that I think about it, I didn’t like GTA 5 to that degree either, so maybe this genre isn’t for me anymore.

I’ve always had a weird relationship with the “Open World” genre, most of the genre bores me to tears, but the few games I like? They go straight into my “10/10 all-time favorites” list (all Xenoblade games, RDR1, Bully, AC2).

Playing Majogami!

I reached the ending of the “main story” but it was very underwhelming, the game clearly expects you to play the post-game content if you want proper closure.

So I’m doing the “Encore” post-game chapter, which involves a lot of rematches with bosses. They are significantly buffed, but so is the main character and combined with prior knowledge of their attack patterns I’m having an easy time with these. I think there’s one more boss left before I finish this section.

but what made you finally take the plunge?

StarFox, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade basically. Getting it before the price increase in September also matters.

Which other Compile Heart / Idea Factory games do you think are worth playing?

So far only this and Mary Skelter (in particular the second game).

Congrats on finishing Star Fox! I’ve decided to finally get a Switch 2 (probably this month or the next one) and it’ll be one of the first games I’ll purchase.

This was another busy week with limited time for gaming, so I’ve been focusing on action games I can play in short sessions.

Finished Ariana and the Elder Codex!

This game joins the small list of “Compile Hearts/Idea Factory games that are actually good”. It’s not perfect, movement is bit stiff and some bosses have so much stuff going on in the screen that you can even lose track of your character (!), but overall this was a solid Action RPG.

Positives include gorgeous art, many options for attacks/spells and generally fun gameplay. Negatives include really basic story and lack of enemy diversity.

Playing Majogami!

When I saw the videos of this new Inti Creates creates game I thought “this reminds me of Muramasa: The Demon Blade”, a game I absolutely love (and it’s getting is getting a Swich port, buy it when it’s out), so there was no way I was going to pass this.

So far it’s quite good. I was a bit afraid from the videos it would be a visual “overload” with too many flashy animations, but nothing about that has bothered me so far. Comboing is fun, new abilities are getting unlocked all the time, bosses are challenging without being oppressive.

One thing worth mentioning is that the game is way more “wordy” than I expected, lots of cutscenes and dialogue. Not a problem for me, but might bother people who prefer less taking in action games.

No upgrade path.

No save transfer.

$60 each if bought individually.

WTF SquareEnix. Even if you’re being greedy there’s no excuse for skipping even the save transfer.

The bundle price is more “reasonable” at $75 but you can still get the physical Switch 1 double pack for $63 on VGP, so unless there’s some crazy good visual upgrades I question who is the target audience for it.

Looks like performance is much better now, but the visual look odd depending on the configuration, with “Borderlands-style” thick black borders on the characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khtkVb2118s

Busy days, only managed to play some hours of Ariana during last weekend.

Playing Ariana and the Elder Codex!

Went back and got 100% completion in the first three books (Wind, Earth, Water), though I still need to go back and see if I can get A Ranks in a few challenges for those nice stat boosts.

As for overall progress, I’m currently at the first checkpoint in the Fire book. With three more books to go (and possibly a final stage or two after) I imagine I’m around 40% of the game.

Should have more free time starting today, so hopefully I can move more quickly with this game as well as resume FSN.

Interesting, I think the Gen 4 mechs were the ones I used the least. Well, except for Yuki, as you also noticed she’s a monster that combines Gen 4 mobility with Gen 1 raw damage.

My usual strategy was to have Gen 2s and Gen 3s focused on defense (the former spamming sentry guns, the latter spamming missiles and railguns) to wipe out smaller guys while the Gen 1s would run around killing the bigger dudes, with the Gen 4s acting as backup when there were stragglers or enemies spawning in awkward positions.

Would’ve loved to see a S1 with an easily replaceable battery, but I guess it doesn’t make sense for them to spend resources creating a new revision for a console that’s being phased out.