I’ve been playing Etrian Odyssey 3 HD and I’m enjoying it. It’s a lovely blobber with an interesting take on mapping. You can choose between full, minimal or no automapping. I’m playing with minimal automapping and I’m rediscovering the joys of mapping a dungeon crawl, a thing which I thought I was officially done with. At “normal” the difficulty is just right for me. I’m particularly enjoying the total absence of brutally obtuse puzzles, a staple of western RPGs for some reason. Only downside is the fan service some of the art suffers from, a staple of JRPGs for some reason.
Siralim Ultimate is a very special monster collector. The sheer amount of everything is delightfully overwhelming, the depth is nonsensical and the grind is real. I love it.
I have played some of the Avernum games. In my opinion it’s peak Jeff Vogel. If you’re fine with the graphics, you’re in for excellent writing, nicely done non linear exploration and original world building.
Right?! I freaked on the same paragraph. Most depressing thing ever said about game dev. These suits would rather fire everyone and play stonks all day if it earned a dime more. I’m so mad for the massive creative force being crushed by this broken system.
Just be careful not to idealize the past as some golden age of gaming. During the SNES era, worthwhile titles were few and far between on top of spotty regional availability on account of profitability (supposedly). The bar to entry for gamedevs was huge: the dev tools were obtuse and the distribution methods were shit and centralized (toy stores, computer stores, magazines). The offer was also ridiculously sanitized, at least on consoles.
It’s great that we can still enjoy the good games of the past, but I absolutely love what indies come up with nowadays. There are so many and they’re so creative! ❤️ Some talented big studio devs even manage to release something nice once in a while despite the organizational structure they work in. I never want to go back to gaming in the 90’s. Furthermore, I’m of the opinion that there are many past titles being hailed as classics solely based on some unconscious nostalgia for youth (I’m looking at you GOG).
I really liked the original 2DS personally. The announcement left everyone incredulous as the device sounded and looked like a dumb downgrade. I mean, it was hard to tell if it was joke or not. In the end though it’s light, cheap, tough and surprisingly comfortable.
To be fair when it came out seven years ago it really shook up the portable gaming scene. Every portable console coming out since is an iteration on that design. The joycons can go to hell though. And those weird ass online plans.
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.