What video games are you playing now?

[Lone_Garurumon]

Tails' Adventure: Completed the game with 100% item completion. Honestly I'm kinda proud of clearing this with minimal Googly assistance. Just that one section where I missed the path upwards, and another little bit where I had no idea how I was supposed to reach the Battle Fortress after it flew into the sky (since it turns out you just equip the relevant part and you can get there on the map, you don't need to, like, do anything special in a stage).

Muppets Party Cruise: Unlocked up to the 3rd deck. It's actually pretty fun so far, I think moreso than I was expecting. Probably because doing well is almost entirely banked on being good at the minigames, rather than the aggressive RNG inherent to something like, say, Mario Party.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Since I got the replacement copy today I've been playing MegaMan Battle Network 5 Double Team DS. I'm playing Team Colonel because it has better Navis, better Souls, and is the canon version (as evident by events in BN6). Anyway, I'm not very far, only up to the point where Lan and MegaMan have just joined Colonel's Anti-Nebula Corps, meaning I completed the SciLab computer areas. I actually jacked in and out of it many, many times to farm Mystery Data to get chips and Zenny (and I still intend to do so once after recharging the game tomorrow so I can get more goodies). I also bought out all the HP Memories in the Net Dealer in ACDC Area 2 prior to it, along with collecting everything I could afford at the time. Oh, also, I plugged in my Boktai 2 game into my DS Lite's GBA slot to unlock Sol Cross MegaMan for an early power-up, only to learn that the "tutorial" at the start of the game can't be altered, so Mega was stuck in his base form for those practice battles. But the form still takes effect afterward, so Mega got outfitted with 300 HP instead of 100, SuperArmor, and a Gun del Sol Charge Shot right away, making many early battles a breeze. And thanks to the Mystery Data in the SciLab computer I managed to complete and launch the GigaCannon1 and HyperBurst PAs (the latter of which I had bought a Spreader * at the Net Dealer prior to fill in the code I didn't have yet). I've since taken out GigaCannon1, as it's not very useful, but I've replaced all the Cannons A and B with Cannon * for easy chip streaming in the upcoming Liberation Mission. At the moment Mega has 440 HP, more than the upcoming Darkloid. Had to stop for now as I need to recharge the DS Lite and will continue tomorrow.

 

[Lylian]

New Pokemon Snap. Trying to unlock the new areas.

 

[Neyo]

Cuphead. Oh my lord it’s so hard.

 

[Galactic_V]

Noｗ that I'm done with P5 Strikers, I'm back to Persona 4: the Golden. Just defeated Mitsuo and classes just resumed (btw why the Persona series have to be so time-consuming? lol I want so bad to go back to the main story, yet couldn't get there even after playing for over an hour after the Mitsuo dungeon)

I also purchased and started playing Shin Megami Tensei III, but I am only in the start of the game.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Since I had a migraine most of yesterday I couldn't do any game time. So I did a lot today in MegaMan Battle Network 5 Double Team DS. I completed my first Liberation Mission with ease, even doing it multiple times to build up chips and Zenny. Then I did the Oran Isle chapter. I spent a LOT of time hunting down Battle Green Mystery Data so I could get a full set of AirHockey S chips. Took forever but worth it. Then I met my favorite Battle Network female: Princess Pride, and did the various Drill Computers to stop Mayl, Dex, and Yai from an early burial, duking it out with KnightMan. Then it was time for the second Liberation Mission with KnightMan in tow. I was doing so well in the Liberation Mission that I took an extra turn to pick up a few items, mainly a few Bonus Panels and an AirHockey R chip. Then I clobbered ShadeMan with just KnightMan alone, ending the Liberation Mission and gaining Knight Soul. Then I met Dusk and ShadowMan, did the Squirrel Computer bit, followed by getting KnightMan's battle data for the Party Battle System. Now I'm off to Higsby's to do some chip buying, trading, and using lotto codes, along with buying the Dark Sonic Dark Chip (I had already bought the Dark Sword Dark Chip prior to going to Oran Isle). I also completed another PA: InfiniteVulcan1, which I have currently kept for now as some of its codes work with Team Colonel (mainly the C code parts), while having gathered all the components for LifeSword thanks to the Drill Computers.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Muppets Party Cruise: Unlocked all minigames, which is effectively just 100%ing the game. Surprisingly I didn't get anything for it. I honestly expected to at least unlock, like, an extra little gag video or something. But nope, nothing special for it.

SSX Tricky: Playing through with Elise. Did the first few slopes without much problem, but the fourth one's pretty rough actually. Lots of places to fall or stumble and lose speed, especially since I don't seem to be able to properly figure out how to get more speed for the bigger jumps that're actually kinda critical to getting good times. I'm sure I'll get it though.

 

[TheCapsFan]

Almost almost almost almost ALMOST finished with Final Fantasy VII.

Also playing Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Pokemon Conquest on the side. It's RPG hours over here.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

SSX Ticky: Finally got Masablanca down, even if I did have to settle for bronze, and practically flew through Mercury City. Also managed to clear out chapter 3 of Elise's trick book, and these are getting real rough, since rotating more than the book demands doesn't count. A 720 spin does not count for the 440 entry, even though you did technically spin 440 degrees. The real crazy part is that chapters 4 and 5 have high-rotation flips and spins with two stages of board grabs, but then chapter 6 is just performing your ubers. Y'know, the tricks with inputs so hilariously simple that I do them by accident on jumps that're far too short for them. Fuck, I'm pretty sure some of the more freestyle tricks will actually take more airtime to execute than some of the ubers.

 

[Chidamari Sketch]

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.

In hindsight, I probably should've went for a Palamute egg the earliest chance I gotten; the fact that it carries two Field moves (and really necessary ones at that; Jump and Ivy Climb) rather than one means that it would've freed up slots to make my Monstie choices in my party more preferential.

 

[Pyrax]

Finished Tales of Vesperia DE last night! Fun game, holds up very well despite being a 12 year old game. And the OST is amazing, not a single boring track imo.
Will be playing Sakuna of Rice and Ruin next, I've seen mostly positive reviews so it's definitely piqued my interest.
Both on Switch.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

SSX Tricky: Cleared all World Circuit race events with the gold medal, cleared all World Circuit showoff events, as well as 100%ing Elise's trick book. Still have 3 showoff events that I've only beaten on silver: Mesablanca, Aloha Ice Jam, and Alaska, which I'll have to try again with to clear to the gold standard. Not tried Untracked or Pipedream yet, since they're single event only and I've been focusing on World Circuit, but I'll give 'em a shot eventually.

 

[wanderist]

After putting almost 200 hours into Monster Hunter Stories 2, I decided to go back and try the first game on 3DS. It's been really good, a bit of a rough start because it really made me see how much Stories 2 improved on, but it's still a really good game once I got used to it. Some things that are pretty painless in Stories 2 are really slow in this game and the game in general runs a bit slow at times I feel, but still.

One really basic thing that the first game has over the second one is the armor color options. Why basic black and white are apparently not options in Stories 2 is beyond me. There are so many armor sets that I would love so much more if I could just use those colors. It's a very small complaint, just a bit sad.

Spoiler: Story spoilers for both games

Seeing how different Cheval is between games is crazy. He's such a good boy in the second game and then you go to the first game and he's basically an antagonist. I understand why he was like that but dang.

Also, I've seen some people complain about Navirou in the second game, but he really doesn't annoy me in Stories 2. Maybe it's his English voice for people or something. But in the original Stories, he's a bit annoying. Just...that ego. "Victooory! I'm the best!" Still don't find him that bad, just a bit much.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

SSX Tricky: Gold ranked all race and showoff World Circuit events. I'm honestly kinda disappointed that Untracked and Pipedream are only available in free event. For Untracked it's not really that bad, but it is incredibly strange that Pipedream, the venue designed specifically to provide countless opportunities for insane high-scoring tricks, is only available in the game mode that completely removes all score visualisations. It's just kinda strange.

Crash Twinsanity: Ah yes, Twinsanity, my favourite Crash game from my childhood. It holds up... Interestingly. The game itself ranges from "mediocre" to "this game had development troubles, didn't it?". The gameplay is decent but not overly polished, the camera is hot garbage, and certain animations are rather bugged, of note being N. Tropy spending an extended period of time T-posing during his boss fight. The story is practically the definition of "random events plot". But the music is boppin', and the writing is absolutely delightful. Just a bunch of incredibly well-written comedy. So, like, I'm having a good time, even if the game can get a little frustrating sometimes.

 

[Galactic_V]

I think I may be in the final boss in Persona 4. At least according to Rise "This's your final battle". I've heard it before in P5 and Strikers when it actually wasn't the case, so I don't really believe it but it's a fight against the "God" of this world it seems.

Story-wise P4 is much better than P5, it might be because I'm a fan of the mystery murder detective genre, but I never expected the murderer to be who it was, came out as a surprise to me. P5's revelation of who was the person behind all the mental breakdowns was sorta boring and totally expected, as well as the revelation of who the traitor was (pretty obvious if you ask me), thus I didn't expect much from its predecessor. Glad I was wrong. Really hope Steam\PSN releases the earlier Personas, now I really wanna play them.

 

[TheCapsFan]

The big news is that I recently finished Final Fantasy VII for the first time. I have a lot of mixed thoughts about the game which I will reveal in a blog post in the near future.

Now that it's done, I've moved on with my JRPG backlog to Bravely Default. I put about eight hours into the game earlier this year, but I'm still on Chapter 1, so I'm excited to see how the story develops going forward. I remember thinking that the story was pretty barebones on my initial impressions.

I'm also about halfway through a run of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. I wanted to play a Fire Emblem title and after a few days of asking around, I decided on Path of Radiance. I've never actually completed the game, despite its sequel Radiant Dawn being my favorite in the series. Experiencing Path of Radiance has helped me become even more impressed with how Radiant Dawn stands as separate from its sequel, and how it doesn't really require previous knowledge of Path of Radiance for it to be a good game. I'm on Chapter 18 right now (one of the harder chapters in the game) with only two deaths: Rolf (sad) and Ilyanna (also sad, but a little less). Losing Rolf early led me to develop Astrid as my primary bow user, which is notable because I've always kind of put Astrid to the side! With a little care, I was surprised at how quality her stats became, in part thanks to her Paragon skill.

In terms of Pokemon, I've just finished my casual replay of Pokemon Black, with a final team of Samurott, Darmanitan, Haxorous, Ferrothorn, Archeops, and Galvantula. I'm also in the middle of a replay of Pokemon Conquest, which I am enjoying for the most part, and finishing up the nuzlocke of Pokemon Sapphire which I started about nine months ago. I've also been playing Pokemon Unite, but I can feel myself gradually losing interest in the gameplay. I do appreciate that the team continues to update the game with more additional content; hopefully I can stick with the game for a bit longer.

Aside from that, I'll occasionally step into Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate now and again.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Crash Twinsanity: Cleared the game. As I said it's very much a middling experience start to finish. Can definitely tell that there was development troubles and things did not get done as well as the devs would've liked.

The Simpsons Road Rage: Ah yes, Road Rage, another classic of the childhood. This is actually legitimately delightful. It's strange because it's literally just Crazy Taxi, but it's got me a lot more interested than Crazy Taxi ever did. I think part of it is the Simpsons skin, and part of it is the unlock system. When I played Crazy Taxi I felt like I'd seen everything the game had to offer after just one session, whereas the regular unlocks help keep Road Rage fresh, whether it's actually unlocking a new place to play, or just changing which vehicle you're driving and getting fun new voice lines for each character.

 

[Tactician Karina]

Played a bit of Cattails which I got last night on sale in the Switch eShop. It's cute so far, though that opening made me tear up when the cat you make gets abandoned on the side of the road over a small, no big deal accident while playing (side rant: I hate anyone that thinks it's okay to just abandon a pet like that). It does remind me a bit of the Warriors Cats series, mainly with the clans, hunting, patrolling, and fights; but it's surprisingly a good relaxing game so far. There are three clans you can choose to join: Forest, Mountain, and Mystic, decided to go with Forest first since they're apparently pretty strong (and I chose Normal mode first, so I think some good backup in fights can make some of them more fair, as the fights are surprisingly hard at times). You can also make your own clan apparently, but I think that's later on in the game. I also like how there are skills and you can make them stronger/better, I'm happy for that since I suck at hunting so far lol, gonna put most of my skill points into that first so I'm not always hungry and wasting daylight constantly hunting.

 

[Chevywolf30]

Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. That's the only one right now.

 

[Ryoma Maser]

My family and I left on a trip to our small little camp house we own in Maine this past week (which returned yesterday from), which lacks Wifi. So in preparation of the trip, I went and bought a physical copy of Cris Tales for my Switch Lite.

Last I went off, I finished everything in the fourth continent of the game and got the best ending for the area. Now currently trying to level up the party members who had to sit out two dungeons luckily they're not that far behind but you level up slow in this game and the whole party doesn't gain experience.

Hope to get back into tomorrow and finish it before university starts for me again.