Finished Azure Striker Gunvolt, but since it ended in a cliff hanger, started (and finished) Azure Stricker Gunvolt 2 (both comes in same bundle). The second game is very similar to the first one, but with some more powers, another playable character, and QoL features.
Power ups also work a bit differently. Though I preferred the original one for that. Other than that, it felt like an improvement over every aspect.
After that, started Octopath Traveller. The game is so beautiful. This is my first 2D-HD game, and while I have seen many trailers of different games that use this visual style, actually playing the game made me fell in love with it.
Game is a pure JRPG, loving everything about it, except that each characters are completely separate, even when they are in party there is no interactions between them, it’s like others don’t exist. It’s basically story of 8 different characters, that just happen to be traveling together, without ever talking to each other.
I am still in early game though. Have just recruited my 5th character, but haven’t cleared their initial story yet. Difficulty seems to be increasing with each new character recruited, but haven’t had much trouble with it yet.
Last, but not least, still playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and will probably be playing this for many months. On paper, it didn’t seem like a game I would enjoy too much, I am generally not a fan of too much realism in games, but I am really enjoying it. As you repeatedly do something, you get better in it, and the difference is very obvious, so it makes the “grind” worthwhile, though that doesn’t mean the game isn’t fun when you are learning stuff.
Well, that’s all about me, what about all of you? What have you been playing lately?
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Astral Ascent.
It’s two player side scrolling Hades with four different characters you can play.
I expect it to be my personal game of the year. But I’m a big rogue like fan and enjoy couch co-op with my son.
So it hits all the right buttons for me.
It’s on my wish list, but more of a ‘maybe’ game, since I am not much of a rogue like fan. Hades is going to be my final test, if I end up not liking Hades, I’ll just start ignoring all rogue-likes. Though, I have started two pretty long games, so it’s going to be a little while before I even get around to Hades…
How much have you played the game? Finished it? If not, would love to hear your feedback once you have played more of it.
Well I haven’t finished it completely. Like Hades once you beat it you can just keep going up in difficulty and as you do you keep on unlocking new stuff.
But I’ve now beat the final boss twice.
In my opinion it’s better than Hades if you have any interest in co-op. Even playing single player I’m enjoying it more than Hades but I prefer side scrolling games over top down. And I feel like astral ascent has more depth to it, which makes sense because they cribbed from Hades and improved upon it you know.
Makes sense, games coming later can learn from the ones before them. Thanks for the info!
Oh boy, have fun with Octopath! The main criticism is absolutely valid, but to me it and the sequel are the New Age Retro JRPGs that actually nail that old school feeling.
So I’ve played and beaten the first DLC for Sparks of Hope, Tower of Doom. It’s a roguelike mode, which is a genre I generally don’t enjoy too much, so reaching the end of the story once is all I need. It’s 33% completion, but that just denotes the characters and Sparks you’ve gotten at least one and individual enemies encountered, so true completion is nothing but grinding until you fill out that list. Not thanks! I don’t know how random the first playthrough is, but I essentially got my main game setup on a silver platter within the first few floors, so I’m not complaining!
Then I started the second DLC, The Last Spark Hunter. I haven’t played much yet, but It’s essentially just one more world of main game, but it looks really nice. I haven’t really been a fan of most overworld environments, but this one is really dense and nice to look at. Also, you basically start at level 30 and get to grow from there, so that’s one of my previous gripes adressed, even if it’s a little late.
In Arkham Knight, I finished off the Catwoman challenges. A lot of repressed memories from Arkham City came back… I really hate playing her. You can stand under a vantage point, looking straight at it, and not get a prompt to whip up there. Now I’m doing Azrael and he’s basically Batman with a few gadgets missing, so it’s a nice breather. He can even glide! I don’t think his cape-strips should allow him to do that though… That’s where my suspension of disbelief gets shaky.
And I finished Antichamber. It was kinda funny, in my first plathrough years ago I was stuck in a dead-end, looking at progress through a window for a long time. This time, even though I really didn’t remember much about the puzzles, I made that progress quite naturally and I found myself unable to find my way into that dead-end!
Yeah, I am New Age Retro JRPG is a good way to define it. And I am loving that old school feeling.
I understand your feeling about Tower of Doom, this is how I am with rogue likes too, but it’s interesting to see your journey of Sparks of Hope, as it seemed in the start that you didn’t like this game at all.
How many more characters are left after Azrael? And what’s left after challenges?
Man, Antichamber is such a confusing game. I don’t remember if mentioned it last time, but I looked it after you mentioned it last time and found that I have game on steam from some old humble bundle. I have played a bit of it, and I am not sure what’s happening. I ran around for a while, then died, then was in start again, then ran around some more. I think I progressed a bit, but I am not even sure what I am doing or how. 😀 Haven’t even touched it after playing it that one day, you just reminded me of it again.
There are still 3 more characters after Azrael. Arkham Knight really upped the ante here. City had 4 playable characters total, Knight has 8! If I wasn’t such a big fan of Predator Maps, I would say it’s too many. After the challenges, I’m technically done, though there’s one more achievement in the main mode I’ve been too lazy to get, so I’m saving it for last. Nothing difficult, just something that never occurred naturally.
And to make sense of Antichamber, you need to drop your expectations of things making sense. This is the type of game where jumping over a pit makes you fall and walking into it lets you cross. Where the upstairs is next door. Just let the currents carry you and don’t try to understand why the water is dry.
Hmm… that is interesting about Antichamber, will give it another try.
Good luck with your last challenges!
Finished Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge!
Another old-school beat’em up I picked up alongside SOR4, and another great one. Kinda easy compared to other games in the genre, but I still had a lot of fun and it’s going to be a good option to play with more casual friends.
Did a single-player run and will play again in coop when opportunity appears.
Finished LUNARiA -Virtualized Moonchild-!
This game’s biggest weakness is it’s first half - it starts as a fairly generic romance story between a brooding boy and a happy girl, with only a little sci-fi and action mixed in to spice things up. The e-sports segments were definitely my favorite parts in this half of the game.
However, once I reached the second half and the main plot started rolling I could not stop reading. It went in a very different direction from what I expected, and the main twist hit me hard and got me fully invested in the story.
Overall a good and short kinetic novel, but don’t go into this expecting a lot of focus on sci-fi - that element of the story is mostly a backdrop for the romance and action.
Playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice, part of the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy!
Finally being able to get the 5th and 6th games physically in english was a nice motivation for me to pick up this bundle, and I decided to go straight for the last game, since it’s the only Ace Attorney game available in english I had never finished.
So far I finished the first case, the new “Divination” is a nice twist on the previous formula. From the looks of the second case we’ll be going back and forth between cases with Phoenix using this new mechanic and more traditional case Apollo/Athena, sounds like a good way to keep things interesting.
I have yet to play Streets of Rage 4, but I played Shredder’s Revenge and loved it. Played it solo and in co-op with my kid.
I still haven’t finished the Phoenix Wright trilogy, finished the first game and then took a break, need to get back to it… maybe after Octopath Traveler.
