What video games are you playing now?

[Okido]

Bloons TD6 right now. I'd been perfectly content playing TD5 for the past ten years lol, but a friend convinced me recently to give it a shot and I'm enjoying it quite a bit!

Having three tower upgrade paths instead of just two has been tripping me up slightly, but it definitely makes you strategize a little more.

 

[Arceusgjengen]

Finally got to beat that oversized motorhead yesterday. Still on Splatoon 2, jumping between salmon runs, turf wars and hero mode.

 

[ReturnofMCH]

great ace attorney: adventure

beat case 2.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Digimon Survive: Cleared Chapter 4 in Truthful. I'll be honest it's kinda weird, since Ryo was supposed to die in the previous chapter, the entire scenario was written to work with no involvement from him whatsoever, so he doesn't really have a lot to contribute to most scenes aside from a few side-remarks here and there. He'll drop a few new points that I don't remember anybody else making last time, but he's mostly just vibes. He does still have some good character moments that give you a good look into what kind of state he's in post-near-death experience, but they're basically completely divorced from pushing the plot forward.

I think playing through with only story characters would make an interesting challenge run, something I've already read some people do.

I'll be honest, it's not really that much of a challenge. Partners are just objectively stronger than free Digimon thanks to the talk buffs they bring with them. The only reason I advise not to neglect them is because there's, like, two or three fights where you really need that backup to fill up the space that the partners don't. Honestly I feel like the real challenge would be using only free Digimon as much as possible.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Played more Breath of Fire 3. See blog for further details. Gained a few more Dragon Genes, solved the problems at Rhapala, helped the fairies deal with their dolphin problem, gained a new Master, and ventured through the volcano to the next area.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Forgive the double post but got a lot more done in Breath of Fire 3. See blog for further details. Did the events in Angel Tower, Ryu and Nina are now adolescents, Garr is searching for answers and redemption, and Rei has been located at long last.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Forgive the now triple post (thought it's been a while since then) but got more done in Breath of Fire 3. Momo and Peco rejoined the party, solved the problem at the Plant and stopped Palet's horrible experiments, got a new Passport from the King of Wyndia, Nina ran away again, and now it's time to head to the eastern lands again.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Digimon Survive: Reached the branch point in final run. Not that that's really an important description here, since as I understand, once Ryo survives then it doesn't matter what you say here. You're on Truthful whether you like it or not. The overall events up to now have been, unsurprisingly, pretty much identical to a first playthrough, aside from the presence of Ryo and Shuji, since they're not dead this time. It has been really nice having them around for it, too. Since like I said they're not really changing much of the story just by being here, but they give input for decent character moments here and there, and when you take the time to talk to them during roaming sections their characters have actually been developing quite nicely, and I enjoy the rapport they've developed with each other. Eager to see where things go on the Truthful route now that it's really allowed to diverge from the other routes.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Continuing my Breath of Fire 3 playthrough. See blog for further details. We freed Deis, know that God is across the ocean, helped Beyd again by repairing the ship, and now it's time to set sail to the Outer Sea.

 

[Daren]

Digimon Survive--reached part 11.

Spoiler

I'm on the "Moral" path. I was a bit unsure if I should do the "real" story next, but I've read a post or two suggesting it's balanced behind the idea that the player cleared all three regular routes first, so I guess I'll do that.
I was actually leaning on Harmony early game so I'll probably do that second and Wrath third.

Game has been rather more bloody than I expected. We are the worst Digidestined.

I've been using too many different Digimon and I'm falling badly behind the enemy in levels--I've got enemies at high 40s to low 50s and a number of my non-partners are in the mid or low 30s (partners seem to level up fast, as I've read they get the "Rookie" xp chart despite being able to fight at higher levels), so I might have to figure out a team and stick with them.

 

[Ryoma Maser]

About 120 hours in I finished XenoBlade Chronicles 3 today. Man that was one Wild Ride, this passage of fate. Going to do post game stuff tomorrow and looking forward to the DLC in the coming months, can wait to see what the Torna-like expansion is going to be like and the new Hero Please be Poppi please be Poppi please be Poppi is going to be like.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Still playing Breath of Fire 3. See blog for further details. Hijacked the Black Ship and made it to the other side. Activated the Portal Drives so the party can now teleport anywhere on the map with a Portal Drive. Did a hell of a lot of grinding and collected all but one Dragon Gene (which is story-related).

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Digimon Survive:

Spoiler: Spoilers up to mid-Chapter 11 (Truthful)

So, turns out that the cornerstone of the Truthful route is the four Sovereigns. Which makes sense. Fanglongmon was in the mural in the shrine since the start, and the other four were on the third floor murals you see in later chapters. The four Sovereigns, enshrined in the four cardinal directions as always, have been using their power to suppress the Master, true name Haruchika, for the past several hundred years at least. But their power's starting to weaken which is why the Master is more able to act directly. Which is in fact the entire reason why the Kenzoku attacked the amusement during Chapter 9, to find and destroy Baihumon to weaken the seal. Unfortunately we chanced into the first Sovereign Baihumon completely by accident, in a way that doesn't really have a reason not to happen in the other routes, which is pretty unfortunate from a writing perspective. But anyway we beat up Baihumon, he and his partner agreed to help, granted Labramon the power to evolve into Baihumon, and advised us on finding the others. Next up was Ebonwumon in the abandoned city to the north, which Renamon was trying to destroy for the Master, rather than trying to capture us as in the other routes. Though he did attack and try to capture us as well when we showed up. We talked him down though, and he helped us win over Ebonwumon's favour and joined up with us to help get Miyuki back. Next up is the dam in the east, corresponding with Azulongmon. Garurumon's also knocking around somewhere nearby, whom the Professor has expressed interest in reconnecting with, so we'll probably bump into him on the way, too.

Digimon Survive--reached part 11.

Spoiler

I'm on the "Moral" path. I was a bit unsure if I should do the "real" story next, but I've read a post or two suggesting it's balanced behind the idea that the player cleared all three regular routes first, so I guess I'll do that.
I was actually leaning on Harmony early game so I'll probably do that second and Wrath third.

Game has been rather more bloody than I expected. We are the worst Digidestined.

I've been using too many different Digimon and I'm falling badly behind the enemy in levels--I've got enemies at high 40s to low 50s and a number of my non-partners are in the mid or low 30s (partners seem to level up fast, as I've read they get the "Rookie" xp chart despite being able to fight at higher levels), so I might have to figure out a team and stick with them.

No, yeah, definitely do all three initial routes before trying Truthful. The enemies scale way the fuck up, and you'll really want the additional evolution options to hot-swap between for better battle effectiveness. Also try and stockpile a few learning crystals. Believe me Lopmon and Kunemon are gonna need them.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I've been on a Mario kick lately, so I've been playing through the original Paper Mario on Switch. Unfortunately, both of my JoyCons have mild stick drift and unresponsive buttons, so it's becoming almost unplayable. I also started replaying New Super Mario Bros yesterday for old time's sake.

 

[TheCapsFan]

Since the last time I posted here, I've finished Stray! It was a nice romp through a very well-designed world and was an incredibly charming little title to hold me over until Xenoblade 3 released.

And man, I'm mixed on that one to be honest. I'm so torn because I felt like the game didn't grip me as easily as the original and 2 did, but now that I'm into the meat of the story it's starting to get really interesting. I have more complaints with 3 overall than I did with either 1 or 2, but I do think the combat is the best in the series, for sure. And being my least favorite Xenoblade game is still a top-20, top-25 game overall in my opinion.

Aside from that, I picked up the HeartGold Nuzlocke I had been working on for a while a bit ago, been continuing Monster Hunter Rise when I'm up to it with friends, and continuing my Pokemon Colosseum run as well!

 

[CynthiaLover]

Still playing Breath of Fire 3. See blog for further details. Made it to Dragonier, got the last Dragon Gene, ventured through the Desert of Death, saved Nina by sacrificing the rakda, made it to the Oasis, and finally found my way to Caer Xhan.

 

[Daren]

Cleared the Moral route of Digimon Survive.

Spoiler

The Master wasn't too hard though I think it would have been agony if I hadn't gotten everyone to Ultimate level because I suspect Champions would go down in one hit, at least on Hard. As is Omegamon was able to hit him hard enough to bring it down, though he got frozen at one point which was...not great. The only non-partner Mega I have is Metalseadramon (though I'm sitting on a number of slabs), who is so hilariously tanky even the Master had trouble hurting them. I suspect giving them a Taunt item and an Achromatic Crystal will be a good way to get enemies to clump up so I can drop artillery on them with Wargreymon and other AOE Megas (I understand Machinedramon is great for long range bombarding and I have an Andromon begging to turn into one).
Minoru and Kaito were able to get their Mega forms--if I'd known ahead of time how it worked and started save scumming earlier I think I could have gotten Aoi's, too. Ah well, I'll get her and Saki next time through and maybe Miu if I can wing it.

It feels like a few things were being hinted at that the game never fully spelled out that I wonder if will be detailed more in the other routes. Specifically what awful thing happened to Miu in the past and what's going on with Saki--a few comments from her made me believe she has a serious illness of some sort.

I've decided to plunge forward because experience says if I try to put off doing the other routes I'll never get around to them. plan to do Harmony next, then Wrath, and finally the final ending.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

It's been a literal month. I've finally finished Digimon Survive.

Spoiler: Spoilers to the end of Truthful

Garurumon did indeed make up with the Professor after we saved him from some of Piemon's old cronies down in the sewers. At first he was kinda tentative to the idea, but he warmed up during the encounter with Azulongmon, who demanded that Garurumon battle him alone. He could sense the blessings of the first two Sovereigns on us, so he knew we were good for it, but Garurumon, having just joined us, was an unknown quantity, so he wanted to see if he was up to it. With the burning desire to save Miyuki in their hearts, they catalysed evolution to MetalGarurumon and proved their resolve to Azulongmon, who gave his blessing.
We then made our way back to the school for a break before continuing, where the partners all just went completely blanked and walked off, not responding to anybody. Turns out Zhuqaiomon was enshrined directly under the school, and drew them down to it and mind-controlled them to act out its own trauma at the Sovereign's old partners, who lacked the resolve to deal the final blow to Haruchika at his turn to darkness, and instead chose to seal their Digimon in shrines for hundreds of years to restrain him. The betrayal turning Zhuqaiomon away from the bonds of partners, and believed us no different, if not right now, then eventually. We drew our partners back to us though, and through the power of our bonds defeated Zuqiaomon, and with a little help from the spirit of its partner, at least accepted that we couldn't be held accountable for the betrayal it felt, and gave us its blessing.
The blessings of all four Sovereigns at our backs, we moved on to the Master's shrine. After rescuing Miyuki, already basically breaking out on her own, we moved on to battle the Master. This fight was actually super cool, because he's backed by two Super-Ultimate level Kenzoku who replicate the attacks and abilities of Plutomon and Boltboutamon, which when combined with the Master literally just makes this a combination of the final bosses of all three initial routes. After the Master is defeated, Haruchika calls his partner, Fanglongmon, corrupted by Haruchika's hate and sorrow into its Ruin Mode. Which looks fucking awesome by the way. Looks like it's covered in blood, it's wild. After a boss battle that began with disappointment as it arbitrarily locks you into only 5 Digimon on side, despite the Master fights from other routes showing that it can handle giving you access to 10 slots to allow all the partners into the final battle, and does ramp up into awesome because it's just such a cool spectacle, Haruchika's sister possessed Miyuki's body, allowing her to purify Fanglongmon and talk Haruchika down from his fury, and they both move onto the afterlife question mark.
The two worlds are, just like in the Harmonious and Wrathful routes, merged back into one, as they were in the beginning of the two. However this time it's a much smoother transition, with people rather quickly growing to accept the monsters, as the scene shifts to a new generation of children visiting the shrine and meeting a DemiVeemon.

Overall this was a pretty good game. The translation was pretty bad, and there was one moment of absolutely fucking terrible game design that could literally soft-lock a player into not being able to progress if they come into it in a particularly unfortunate situation. But the story and characters were pretty good, which is honestly the main point for a visual novel like this, so I'm pretty satisfied. But for real after playing the same thing for a month straight I am honestly very glad to be able to take my Platinum trophy and start playing something else because god did I need that change.

Mega Man X4: Started the first run as X, cleared my first four stages, Dragoon, Spider, Mushroom, and Walrus, in that order, as well as the Memorial Hall boss. All collectables obtained so far except the armour in Magma Dragoon's stage, which requires the weapon from Slash Beast, so I won't be picking that up until the end of the game.

 

[wanderist]

Returned to Xenoblade 3 last night. There was still a lot to do, including whole colonies and hero quests you can completely miss. Thankfully now that some time has passed there are more complete and accurate walkthroughs, which is part of why I decided to take a break and wait in the first place. Also playing around with classes more and gosh that's fun.

Thankfully after clearing the game you get the ability to level down so I can just level down to each quest's recommended level and play without being overleveled. And if I find myself underleveled, I can just level back up. A bit of a pain to go back and forth like that, but it's more fun than being overleveled for all these quests I missed.

Definitely gonna wanna do a new game+ down the line where I take my time more and actually get these heroes during the main game.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Still playing Breath of Fire 3. Haven't made any progress story-wise, as I've been grinding for levels, items, and making use of the Fairy Village Copy Shop to make duplicates of rare items like the Elemental Rings, Cupid's Lyre, and a handful of other such valuable items.