What video games are you playing now?

[wanderist]

Got to probably the half way-ish point on Hacker's Memory. Almost the half-way point, anyway.

Spoiler: Story spoilers for HM and CS chapter 10ish

I knew it was probably gonna be emotional just because I know how it all went down from Cyber Sleuth, but my gosh I'm emotionally drained. Not Chitose. ):

And considering the whole EDEN Syndrome thing doesn't really get resolved until the end, I'm guessing Chitose's out of the picture for the rest of the game (unless....?). That makes me sad, I really warmed up to him. The fact that he sacrificed himself for Ryuji right after they fought made it even worse.

And Ryuji having a whole emotional breakdown... poor guy. I was irritated with him, but mainly because I've already lived through the story so I already knew Rei was a witch. Now I just feel horrible for him. All that and he still has to worry about his sister dying on him too.

In other news I spent way too much effort and research getting a digievolution I really wanted, but did get it and love it.

Also domination battles are so fun and infuriating and sometimes boringly long at the same time. One quest gave me a choice (I actually think I could have avoided it, oops) of what side to pick and then I ended up in a nearly hour-long battle. That was interesting.

 

[Lanstar]

Just got all the hard mode Bonus rounds done in Dicey Dungeons, and beat Lady Luck as well.

Also am playing more Baba is You. Might soon get to the extra level packs, as I'm stuck on the brutally hard levels right now.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Devil May Cry V: Cleared the game on Devil Hunter. Vergil was hard! Took a good bit of time to learn how to avoid him well enough to make it through without dying. Turns out the easiest way is to just switch to Trickster and stay in the air when he pulls his Devil Trigger instead of just staying on the ground and try to dodge normally. Started a new run down on Human difficulty, where I first accidentally defeated Urizen and triggered the secret ending, before starting on the rest, making a point to use a guide to grab all the orb fragments and secret missions through this run, just so I know I've got them and don't have to go scrounging through every level later to find that last one or two because the game doesn't track these things for you.

Slay the Spire: Just started, unlocked both Silent and Defect after one run each. I've only done a few runs so far, and I'm pretty consistently able to reach Act 2 at least, but whether I reach Act 3 is a bit iffier, and I've only reached the boss of Act 3 once (died).

 

[CynthiaLover]

Taking a break from the past two games I was playing and rebooted Trials of Mana (PS4) for the first time in a while.

Started a new file with my favorite trio: Kevin, Angela, and Riesz. I just escaped Jadd while the beastmen were attacking Wendel, recruiting Riesz and I'm now in Maia heading toward the bridge from Golden Road. I'm spending some time grinding for levels and items while on the Golden Road as it's a good place to find Item Seeds (mostly from the Rabites) so I can start raising the Item Pot more, which is currently at Level 2. I'm also about to face a pretty big boss battle so I want to have my levels up high enough so dealing with those magical golems will be easier (hopefully I can get a perfect by not taking any damage during that fight, as it gives 10% more EXP when you do, especially since I've done it before in that boss fight). And maybe I'll try to see if I can make it nighttime when I fight them, as Kevin gets a big boost in stats due to becoming his werewolf form during the night. And I want to get a few more Faerie Walnuts for Angela before the fight. Kevin is Level 8, Angela is Level 8, and Riesz is Level 7.

 

[Lanstar]

Slay the Spire: Just started, unlocked both Silent and Defect after one run each. I've only done a few runs so far, and I'm pretty consistently able to reach Act 2 at least, but whether I reach Act 3 is a bit iffier, and I've only reached the boss of Act 3 once (died).

I have that game, and it can get really addictive. Good luck reaching the final ending!

 

[CynthiaLover]

Got more done in Trials of Mana. First off I just went ahead and fought the Altenish magic golems on the bridge. Despite it not being night (it was sunset in-game) I not only beat them but got a perfect (as in the character I was controlling took no damage), giving me 300 more EXP and getting everyone up to Level 11. Then it was time to head into Dwarf Tunnel to get the Nitromyte for Bon Voyage's cannon (that he keeps renaming). I had enough lucre to buy the Nitromyte (well, the 3,000 price tag one) but I had to help find Gnome. Which lead to the battle with Jewel Eater. And, surprisingly, I managed to net a perfect in that one, too, something that I haven't done before. And since it turned to night just before the battle I got Kevin's werewolf form, which really went to town on the overgrown mole, giving me that extra kick to win the fight faster.

With Nitromyte in hand the party heads for Bon Voyage's to use his (again) renamed cannon... only to be shot short and land in Molebear Moors. But it was worth it as I got my party up a few more levels, gathered some more items, and found Li'l Cactus a few times, giving me my first prize of being able to see undiscovered treasure chests. But now it was time to save Valsena from Altena's invasion. After chasing out the Crimson Mage and busting the magical creatures he used it was time to head back to Maia so I could go to Beiser to take a boat to find the wind elemental. After much running around the Golden Road, fishing for lucre, items, EXP, and Item Seeds I got to Beiser. Just in time for the Night Market to open up, where I got several new items and a few new abilities, including a lead on Riezs' brother. And a bit of trivia I used this very same concept of a night market that hosts rare items in my story series "Dawn of Courage" (though that chapter hasn't been posted yet). Anyway, all three party members are Level 18.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Slay the Spire: Got my first clear last night! A Defect deck designed to spam powers, particularly Storm, Defragment, and Electrodynamics to cycle high-powered lightning orbs as quickly and repeatedly as physically possible. And it fucking rocked.
I'd post the full build but the forums are being kinda weird about posting images right now, maybe later.
Got the Watcher after that first clear of course, and I tried a couple runs with them. Not really clicking with her yet though. Stances are weird and I'm definitely not doing well with it.

 

[Pyrax]

Completed Future Connected back on Friday. Just casually playing Bravely Default 2 at work. After buying it all the way back in January
The plot isn't anything special in my opinion, but the gameplay is as fun as the first two games. Currently at Chapter 1 right now, so maybe it'll pick up later.

 

[wanderist]

Just finished Hacker's Memory.

Spoiler: endgame spoilers (probably for Cyber Sleuth too)

That ending almost made me cry man. Potentially even more emotional than Cyber Sleuth's. I'm glad Erika is still alive in the Digital World and saved from her fate, but seeing Ryuji forget about her, her room gone, and the protag crying hurt my soul. Protag sending his Digimon off with her too was sad.

Endgame itself was honestly exhausting. Domination battle full of Eaters who won't die and the first endgame battle wasn't horrible but all the pictures and visions of Erika's life honestly made it really hard to see and bothered my eyes a bit.

The final battle was just a bit annoying. Not ridiculously hard, just exhausting with it going back to full health two times in a row. Of course at that point I had already gone through like a good hour worth of gameplay between the domination battle and the first endgame boss. At least there was only one target unlike the Erika battle and the final battle in CS. Overall I think the domination battles were the hardest part for me. Took me three tries to beat the last one against Fei.

Now to decide what to play until my copy of Xenoblade 3 gets here. Dunno if it'll actually get here by release day but still getting really excited now that the date's actually close and I have it preordered.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Kirby's Avalanche is hard. I can't get past stage 6 in normal mode, and I've played Puyo Puyo before.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Slay the Spire: Got a bit better with Watcher. Managed to reach Act 2 with them, but got vibe-checked hard by Bronze Automaton. I did have a lot of fun with one of the Daily Climbs with Defect, too. Lot of curses, but also lot of buffs for each curse. Plus Silent cards were in the pool so shivs were the flavour of the day. Tore right the fuck through Deca and Donu.

Devil May Cry V: Got further through the Human run. Mission 13 kinda sucks I've realised. Like compared to mission 7 it just feels really bare-bones and underwhelming as a mission with all 3 characters as character options.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Got a lot more done in Trials of Mana. I took the ship to Port Palo and met up with the surviving Amazon forces in their hidden base, to Riesz's relief. The party has to go seek advice from the sage Domperi, who is a koropokkur (I hope I spelled that right), but we need the Minor Mallet first in order to pass off as koropokkurs, since they don't like big folk. This is one of the more annoying segments of the game. Went back to Beiser and got the Minor Mallet at the Night Market then made my way back to Jadd so I could access Rabite Forest where the koropokkur village resides. Met with Domperi and my god is he annoying. I really don't like him, and none of the characters do, either, so I'm not alone. Anyway, now it's time to seek out the wind elemental so we can help the Amazons take back Laurent from Nevarl, which means going to Gusthall. After fighting through the monsters and solving the various wind puzzles the party reaches the Windstone, which allowed everyone to perform a class-up. I chose the Dark paths for all three, as those are better geared for aggressive play, which Trials of Mana is better designed for, compared to the more "team style" Light classes. Plus the Dark classes look cooler and have better power. But now it's time to face Harcypete with our brand new classes and attacks. Kevin is Level 23 while Angela and Riesz are Level 22.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I'm addicted to the various block puzzle games on I Can't Believe It's Not Virtual Console now. Help.

(Seriously, Kirby's Avalanche has one of the most brutal difficulty spikes I've ever played, and I've played Puyo Puyo before.)

 

[CynthiaLover]

Still playing Digimon Survive. I dealt with the events following Dokugumon's defeat, which resulted in Falcomon Digivolving into Diatrymon (I hope I spelled that right). In the process I actually failed an objective, as the Professor got killed. Though, fortunately, you can reset a challenge, so I played much, much smarter the second go-around and completed that objective. The AI is pretty smart even on Normal setting, I'll give it that. Plus I'm not an expert at tactical games like this so everything is trial-and-error for me. After that I managed to rescue Shuuji and Saki from Fangmon at the cost of the Professor (assuming he is dead), with Labramon becoming Dobermon, and defeat Fangmon and his henchmen. Which resulted in Fangmon getting gulped by that black fog.

Follow those events, including recruiting a Gomamon and getting the Month 1 Guilmon DLC (I almost threw out the download code on my Gamestop receipt before finding it at the last second) I'm now on the way to the radio tower that Falcomon found. I have to say Shuuji could very well be the first causality in the game (outside of the Professor, as it's not entirely known if he is dead or not), but not to the local Mons. Given how he's treating Lopmon, if I know my Digimon lore well enough, then I've got a bad feeling that Lopmon is gonna go Dark Digivolution on him like how Tai's Agumon became SkullGreymon. That's just the sense I'm getting, as I'm going in this game completely blind, but knowing Digimon lore it's possible a Dark Digivolution is on the horizon. Which could both be irony and laser-guided karma, depending on how you look at it. Anyway, met back up with Kaito and met his partner Dracmon and this mysterious woman before taking a break. Most of my Digimon are in the teens now in terms of levels, and my affinities are as followed: Aoi (18), Minoru (24), Shuuji (5), Ryo (17), Saki (0), Kaito (0).

 

[Archsage]

I finally got Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes so I'm playing that right now. I'm not gonna spoil anything, but I will say that I'm doing the Empire's path first.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Digimon Survive: I've been playing quite a lot of this. I've played up to the end of Chapter 4, which has included my first character death, which honestly did not fuck around. It knows exactly how to punch you in the gut about it and make you feel sad. The gameplay is pretty fun, but I am honestly a little disappointed by how heavily it's leaning into the visual novel side of it at the expense of the tactical RPG gameplay. I'm still having a good time, but I do wish the balance was better.

Still playing Digimon Survive. I dealt with the events following Dokugumon's defeat, which resulted in Falcomon Digivolving into Diatrymon (I hope I spelled that right). In the process I actually failed an objective, as the Professor got killed. Though, fortunately, you can reset a challenge, so I played much, much smarter the second go-around and completed that objective. The AI is pretty smart even on Normal setting, I'll give it that. Plus I'm not an expert at tactical games like this so everything is trial-and-error for me. After that I managed to rescue Shuuji and Saki from Fangmon at the cost of the Professor (assuming he is dead), with Labramon becoming Dobermon, and defeat Fangmon and his henchmen. Which resulted in Fangmon getting gulped by that black fog.

Follow those events, including recruiting a Gomamon and getting the Month 1 Guilmon DLC (I almost threw out the download code on my Gamestop receipt before finding it at the last second) I'm now on the way to the radio tower that Falcomon found. I have to say Shuuji could very well be the first causality in the game (outside of the Professor, as it's not entirely known if he is dead or not), but not to the local Mons. Given how he's treating Lopmon, if I know my Digimon lore well enough, then I've got a bad feeling that Lopmon is gonna go Dark Digivolution on him like how Tai's Agumon became SkullGreymon. That's just the sense I'm getting, as I'm going in this game completely blind, but knowing Digimon lore it's possible a Dark Digivolution is on the horizon. Which could both be irony and laser-guided karma, depending on how you look at it. Anyway, met back up with Kaito and met his partner Dracmon and this mysterious woman before taking a break. Most of my Digimon are in the teens now in terms of levels, and my affinities are as followed: Aoi (18), Minoru (24), Shuuji (5), Ryo (17), Saki (0), Kaito (0).

Curious, when you reach your first death (I personally am also not convinced that The Professor is one of them), could you please tell me who it was, when it happened, and how your karma values were ranked at the time? I'm trying to figure out exactly what causes these, since I'm honestly not really sure what I, as the player, could have done to avoid it, and I'm trying to gather up data since it also seems to be a very common first death for most of the people I'm seeing play it. (Also could you please either be vague in your descriptions of the game or just throw them under spoiler tags. I'm not super bothered at the moment since I'm further then you so I already know all this stuff, but I do feel like personally I'd prefer to not run the risk if you do overtake me?)

 

[CynthiaLover]

Did a bit more Digimon Survive. I'm actually glad I took Kaito's side of the argument as that woman turned out to be Arukenimon. I had a hunch she was that particular Digimon, mainly thanks to having watch Digimon Adventure 02 years ago, as her "human" form was strikingly similar to the Arukenimon of that series. And my god was she a tough nut to crack. She single-handedly took out Tyrannomon, Diatrymon, and Guilmon, leaving only Dobermon and Sangloupmon, though they managed to defeat her. Then after freeing Tentomon and learning of Miu's whereabouts the party learned that this area is an island... before Ryo went totally mad. Followed by the fight with Cyclonemon and Floramon becoming Vegiemon. And it turned out that Ryo was the first casualty of the main cast, alongside Kunemon, taken by the black fog. Wow, what that rather gruesome. I can only imagine what some of the other deaths might be like. After that saw the events with Arukenimon and her "associates" before moving onto the next chapter and starting the next free time event. Most of the partner Digimon are in the 20's now and my affinities haven't changed since last time.

@Lone_Garurumon From what I've observed it appears that Ryo's death is story-based, so the PC's karma meter and whatnot don't seem to apply to certain characters. As my karma shows 24 Moral, 1 Wrath, and 14 Harmony. So because there may be one or two story-related deaths it might only affect certain characters or possibly only after a certain point. I'm not super far as I've been taking my time, trying to learn the ins-and-outs of this tactical game, so I don't know for sure, but that's what my observation is.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Digimon Survive: Digging through chapter 5. Currently searching through the waterways for everybody after we all got separated and fake Digimon started insulting us. I am in general tremendously concerned about Shuuji. He's so high-strung and I can 100% see him fucking up and dying because he just keeps screaming at everyone and flat-out refusing to open up to Lopmon.

@Lone_Garurumon From what I've observed it appears that Ryo's death is story-based, so the PC's karma meter and whatnot don't seem to apply to certain characters. As my karma shows 24 Moral, 1 Wrath, and 14 Harmony. So because there may be one or two story-related deaths it might only affect certain characters or possibly only after a certain point. I'm not super far as I've been taking my time, trying to learn the ins-and-outs of this tactical game, so I don't know for sure, but that's what my observation is.

I dunno, it doesn't feel right to me for any given death to be 100% scripted and unavoidable like that. This kind of game shouldn't have completely scripted deaths like that. Even if somebody has to die in that scene, it shouldn't have to be Ryo. Based on my own karma, combined with yours and those of another person I've been chatting with, my current hypothesis is that our wrath values are too low to keep him alive. Because while your Moral value is on top, where mine and the other person's was Harmony, but one common thread between the three of us has been low Wrath values. I suspect that if the Wrath value is on top, or even just not last, Ryo might be able to come out of that scene alive.
Of course I'd need to go through a second playthrough to verify this, but that's my current running theory until new evidence presents itself.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Haven't gotten much further in Digimon Survive, as I've been grinding in Free Battle for EXP and recruit able Digimon. I managed to get a Deltamon despite only having a 43% chance to recruit it (compared to two Gazimon I tried once before, failing both despite having a higher chance than Deltamon). I also took care of a few chats with the various characters, increasing my Affinity with everyone. I also finally figured out how to Digivolve non-partner related Digimon like Guilmon and he's now a Growlmon, which has proven to be a sigificant upgrade.

I dunno, it doesn't feel right to me for any given death to be 100% scripted and unavoidable like that. This kind of game shouldn't have completely scripted deaths like that. Even if somebody has to die in that scene, it shouldn't have to be Ryo. Based on my own karma, combined with yours and those of another person I've been chatting with, my current hypothesis is that our wrath values are too low to keep him alive. Because while your Moral value is on top, where mine and the other person's was Harmony, but one common thread between the three of us has been low Wrath values. I suspect that if the Wrath value is on top, or even just not last, Ryo might be able to come out of that scene alive.
Of course I'd need to go through a second playthrough to verify this, but that's my current running theory until new evidence presents itself.

I'm with you on that but from what I've observed and from I've talked about with some others who have the game it seems that Ryo's death is sort of a sacrificial lion scenario (that, for once, it's Leomon or another lion-like Digimon getting sacrificed). Basically to show the player (and the characters) what could happen to the other characters if you don't take the necessary precautions or make the right decisions. A set by example situation, so to speak. I've also checked out another playthrough up to that point (stopping it when it gets beyond that part) and it seems that Ryo's death is, in fact, scripted into the story, as that playthrough had high Wrath yet he died regardless. And from what I've heard there may be a second scripted death in the game. Granted, it may be possible to change it in a New Game+ mode (if this game has it, that is, as I'm not sure) but, at least for the first run, it seems to be a guarantee that he bites it. That's what myself and other friends I have on other sites I hang out on have observed.

 

[prog rocker]

Just a question, but how many endings does Digimon Survive have? Just asking because I'm a completionist and I want to get the worst endings first so the best one feels better.