He chooses to beat Elden Ring in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of his energies and skills, because that challenge is one that he is willing to accept, one he is unwilling to postpone, and one he intends to win, and the others, too.
Non traditional input devices are fascinating, so thanks for posting your research. In your precise situation though, my advice would be to put down the baby.
Still playing Final Fantasy XV. I still think it’s weird, but I’m having so much fun! I have found the catboi outfit.
I started playing Star of Providence. What cool shmup roguelite! My hand eye coordination is mediocre, so I predictably suck. There’s so much charm in it that I want to endure though.
Final Fantasy XV (Windows edition): What a strange experience so far. I don’t see myself as a fan of the franchise, but I’ve played many of its titles over the years, starting with the first one as a child.
The opening title mentions the game has been made for “fans and first timers”, so I expected some degree of nostalgia, despite it looking so different from its predecessors. I was served some… but in such weird ways. Let’s start with the composition of the Four Warriors of Light:
The brat: Noctis, emo prince of teen attitude, as well as protagonist.
The urban dad: Ignis, cooks elaborate meals and drives (always responsibly) the brat around.
The country dad: Gladio, went to the school of life, must protecc the brat.
The brat’s best friend that eats and sleeps at home so often he kind of becomes family: Prompto.
As Ignis was driving the warriors around in a fantasy rural North America, a desolate car centric landscape in which each road’s main destination is the next gas station, Prompto was making comments about playing video games. The car’s radio was playing FFIV’s Main Theme over and over again. Then it hit me: the nostalgia trip was not limiting itself to referencing lore from previous games, it was aiming to remind older gamers of how it was being a kid infatuated with classic RPGs. (A side note on the embarrassing haircuts the warriors are rockin’: back in the 90’s there were posters of these all over hair salons despite nobody ever getting one, but I guess this is really about modern jpop/kpop boy bands or something.)
It’s like FFXV is aiming for the worst possible kind of nostalgia: the kind that makes you glorify past experiences out of regret for the time when you were a pampered selfish kid.
Anyways I’m probably way off, but that’s my thoughts on FFXV. Oh also there’s chocobos so it’s not all bad. Thanks for reading.
I have a 3DS but it’s broken in various ways. Besides I always found the 3DS too top heavy. On the other hand my trusty 2DS is still fine. Nevertheless I’m getting old and my eyes aren’t what they used to be. These screens are so tiny… What are these, TVs for ants?!
Bahamut Lagoon is a cool JRPG for the SNES that sadly never was released for the west. You can get your hands on the ROM and some fan translation though. I’ve played it many years ago, so my memory’s a bit iffy, but I do remember having a good time.
Front Mission is another good JRPG entry from the 90’s. I loved the SNES version, but apparently the DS version boasts extra features and content, making it the superior choice.
I commend you for your thorough and informative response! Just a nitpick: imho it’s not really correct to present Mindustry as a Factorio clone. Mindustry is its own thing, with a smaller scale approach, an heavier emphasis on tower defence and a cool campaign feature. Factorio-like would be more fair.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War: Good old open world action fun. Kill countless mobs, gather countless collectables. A bit annoyed that subtitles are only implemented on some voice acting. Slightly indisposed that the protagonist (Talion) looks too much like an unkempt Ron Desantis.
Currently into Triangle Strategy’s New Game+. I’m enjoying that game way more than I thought I would. It’s a fun, charming successor to the strategy JRPG. It has few tropes and the mechanics have been streamlined while maintaining challenge. Surprisingly low magic as well. I mean there are plenty of magic users, but no monster, no supernatural armageddon and the end game is not “kill god”. It does have that peculiar JPRG theatricality, so you need to be fine with that.
I’ve gotten a few emulated titles on Wii and WiiU in the past. I preferred the Virtual Console collection from those consoles. You’d pay a few dollars for the title you wanted and you had it forever. I’m not a fan of the strange bundling of online services + retro gaming with Nintendo Switch Online… not to mention the expansion pack. I just don’t do enough retro gaming to justify it.
As much as I prefer going legit for gaming, if I get a retro craving I’ll probably just set sail on a trusty PC.