Durinthal's recent activity
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap in ~games
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentBefore this event I was aiming for one Final Fantasy entry a month so I think I'll stick to that schedule. A number of the other planned games I wanted to get through sooner rather than later so...Before this event I was aiming for one Final Fantasy entry a month so I think I'll stick to that schedule. A number of the other planned games I wanted to get through sooner rather than later so I'll also aim for most of those, though at a slower pace than what I went with this month.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentSlay the Princess uses "light and dark" in a literal sense, as the game's mostly monochromatic. It's also a thematic thing as you're tasked with saving with world via the titular action of killing...Slay the Princess uses "light and dark" in a literal sense, as the game's mostly monochromatic. It's also a thematic thing as you're tasked with saving with world via the titular action of killing a princess, but things are more complicated than that and there are both lighter and nightmarish paths to take along the way. I got to the credits once after about 3.5 hours but it's a game that's designed to be replayed quite a bit and I'm looking forward to exploring other routes soon. I'm not saying much more about it since I think it's a good kind of game to go into blind, but it has some quirks about it that I quite enjoy.
While I had a SNES when I was younger, I was more into Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana so I missed out on some of the other "classic" JRPGs of the era. Final Fantasy IV is one of them and even if I didn't play it then and it wasn't as big as VI or VII, it was still a good part of online discussions in the late '90s/early '00s to the point where FF4's main/overworld theme is one of the first that comes to mind for me in the franchise because of how much I listened to MIDIs of that and other themes from the game back then.
Compared to FF3's realization of the job system acting as the capstone for the NES era of the franchise while the main characters themselves remained interchangeable, FF4 decided to take a very different approach in locking each playable character to a single class while giving them full story arcs. Putting narrative first is clear from the start where you begin with Cecil the Dark Knight questioning if they're the baddies after he's ordered to kill a town of innocent people. While it trades flexibility in party composition for well-defined characters I don't think that's much of a downside and it makes some of the fights a little more tactical, particularly with the change to a semi-real-time battle system rather than it being fully turn-based.
Overall it's a great ride if still rather cliché in its story and FF4 is the earliest entry in the franchise that I'd say is worth playing in its own right outside of a historical curiosity in the franchise.
I figured a good pick for the wildcard would be a game that wasn't even available at the start of the month but it's still the one I've put more time into than any one other entry on my board. Hades II hit early access and I just couldn't resist.
After 100+ hours in the first Hades I'd be happy with just more in the same vein as the original and it delivers there while tweaking things enough for Melinoë's play style to feel fresh. 25 hours in I've gotten to the limits of what's currently available a few times and I think I'm good to put it back on the shelf for now until it's complete.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
Durinthal LinkDurinthal's bingo card (15/25, winner!) Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 15/25 ✔ Frostpunk ✔ Final Fantasy IV ✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical ✔ A Year of Springs ✔ Final Fantasy III...Durinthal's bingo card (15/25, winner!)
Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 15/25 Has survival mechanics
✔ FrostpunkConsidered a classic
✔ Final Fantasy IVMusic/rhythm-focused
✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying MusicalYou can complete it in one sitting
✔ A Year of SpringsFrom a series you have played
✔ Final Fantasy IIIUses a unique control scheme Has a campaign longer than 8 hours
✔ Super Robot Wars 30Has gravity manipulation Light and dark play a role
✔ Slay the PrincessIs mostly text-based
✔ a new life.Uses procedural generation
✔ Death Must DiePopular game you never got around to playing ★ Wildcard
✔ Hades IIYou wanted it when you were younger Known for its difficulty
✔ CupheadSet in a dungeon You chose it based on title alone
✔ 2064: Read Only MemoriesHas a review score below 64 Recommended by someone IRL It’s already installed
✔ StorytellerHas a lives system You can create your own character You don't think you'll enjoy it
✔ LoveChoiceHas both combat and puzzles
✔ Blossom Tales 2Has environmental storytelling I think I'll call it there with one bingo (2/5 of those being Final Fantasy games which is my current bigger backlog target) and more than half the board covered overall. Many thanks to @kfwyre for hosting and @Wes for creating the very nice bingo card site, it made approaching this and deciding what to play a lot of fun.
Definitely didn't have enough time for everything but I did have an idea for what I wanted to do for every square:
Hypothetical blackout card
Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 25/25 Has survival mechanics
✔ FrostpunkConsidered a classic
✔ Final Fantasy IVMusic/rhythm-focused
✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying MusicalYou can complete it in one sitting
✔ A Year of SpringsFrom a series you have played
✔ Final Fantasy IIIUses a unique control scheme
✔ PyreHas a campaign longer than 8 hours
✔ Super Robot Wars 30Has gravity manipulation
✔ Outer WildsLight and dark play a role
✔ Slay the PrincessIs mostly text-based
✔ a new life.Uses procedural generation
✔ Death Must DiePopular game you never got around to playing
✔ Final Fantasy VII★ Wildcard
✔ Hades IIYou wanted it when you were younger
✔ Final Fantasy VIKnown for its difficulty
✔ CupheadSet in a dungeon
✔ Obsidian PrinceYou chose it based on title alone
✔ 2064: Read Only MemoriesHas a review score below 64
✔ Analogue: A Hate StoryRecommended by someone IRL
✔ To the MoonIt’s already installed
✔ StorytellerHas a lives system
✔ Zelda II: The Adventure of LinkYou can create your own character
✔ Pathfinder: KingmakerYou don't think you'll enjoy it
✔ LoveChoiceHas both combat and puzzles
✔ Blossom Tales 2Has environmental storytelling
✔ In Stars and Time -
Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentStoryteller is a puzzle game that was "already installed" on my Steam Deck so a quick check for that square. It has a dynamic comic style where you build out a scene over multiple panels with a...Storyteller is a puzzle game that was "already installed" on my Steam Deck so a quick check for that square. It has a dynamic comic style where you build out a scene over multiple panels with a setting and characters in each to solve each puzzle, e.g. one objective could be "the murderer is haunted by their victim" which would require giving one character a gun in the first panel, making them shoot someone in the second, then having the other character return as a ghost in the third. It's a fun mechanic and a few of the scenarios made me chuckle (one is titled "Godot" with a very straightforward goal).
I got to the main credits at 66% complete in just over two hours so it's quite short, and while I enjoyed what I did I don't have much of an urge to go for 100% right now.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentA few years ago I played Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King, a 2D action-adventure game heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past which is one of my all-time favorites. I quite...A few years ago I played Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King, a 2D action-adventure game heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past which is one of my all-time favorites. I quite enjoyed it and last year discovered that the sequel, Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince, had come out so I picked that up too but didn't immediately play it. This is a perfect candidate for a game that "has both combat and puzzles" so I played through it over the past few days.
While the sequel doesn't have much of a direct story tie-in to the first game, they're both framed as stories being told to a couple of kids by their grandfather with him providing narration and the kids occasionally interjecting. They also offer choices that don't affect the overall story but are there for flavor, like what enemy you might encounter in a fight or which musical instrument you pick up. If you die in combat that might be cited as grandpa getting distracted for a moment before resuming the story or him trying to trick the kids before telling them what really happened. It's all cute and a great setup for a kid-friendly adventure story.
It's also generous with quality of life improvements compared to A Link to the Past, like the grandpa reminding you what your next objective is when you load a save and the fast travel system being available early on. There's minimal backtracking in dungeons with a lot of shortcuts available once you've advanced through rooms and the dungeon layouts are straightforward enough that it's usually fairly obvious where you need to go next. Health refills are plentiful outside of boss battles if you're low and even dying just resets the room so being bad at combat doesn't have much of a downside until you get stuck on a boss for a few tries.
The first time I came across a new type of puzzle it might have taken me a few minutes to figure out what the objective was and how to properly interact with it, but once that's down there was nothing terribly difficult and the introductory puzzle of its kind was always pretty simple which is good to ease you in. They're mostly standard types of things that I've seen in 2D Pokémon and Zelda like block pushing and a couple of variations on walking a path in a specific pattern.
I was able to breeze through the story in ~6.5 hours and I'm quite happy with that, I wanted something like A Link to the Past with a little novelty to it and that's exactly what I got. There are a lot of optional bits that I skipped out on so I think a completionist time would be closer to double that, though some of them seemed rather tedious like a lot of back-and-forth for mail delivery.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal (edited )Link ParentCuphead jumped onto my wishlist as soon as I saw its initial trailer nearly a decade ago. I have a great fondness of cartoons from the early 20th century (and it was clear its creators did as...Cuphead jumped onto my wishlist as soon as I saw its initial trailer nearly a decade ago. I have a great fondness of cartoons from the early 20th century (and it was clear its creators did as well) and I wanted to support anything that used that kind of aesthetic on principle alone, so I've owned it on Switch and Steam for years without touching it before now. Fortunately it's also a good game, though not an easy one by any means; the choice to focus on a classic run and gun experience ended up giving it the "difficult" tag on Steam and an easy pick for the related square on my card since I don't have anything in the Dark Souls franchise or the like in my library yet.
For me it scratches the same kind of itch as playing uncleared Mario Maker levels: it's a lot of fun when I want to grind at a 2D side scrolling game for a few hours, learning patterns and getting good so to speak, but I need to be in the mood for it so it's just going to be something I pluck away at from time to time.
Super Robot Wars 30 — "Has a campaign longer than 8 hours?" I had 35 hours in my save when I last touched it about a year ago. I've put another 15 hours into it in the past week and I'm still not close to completing the main story.
The franchise is essentially Kingdom Hearts for mecha anime and it plays out as a turn-based tactical strategy game, with more than a dozen different anime series involved with this game alone. This particular entry from 2021 celebrates the 30th anniversary of the franchise but it's the first to be released in the west; I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to earlier but ran into licensing issues with all the different series that they include (Macross in particular which isn't present in this one), though I imagine it's just as likely they didn't think there would be as much of an audience for it.
The latter's true regardless, this is the kind of game where it's total fanservice if you've seen the anime included and almost impenetrable if you haven't. I've only watched about half of the entries and for some of the ones I haven't I just bounce off their plots because I'm not all that interested in them, but for the ones I have it's a lot of fun to see crossover conversations between characters. For example, McGillis (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) wants to take lessons from Lelouch (Code Geass) and Char (Mobile Suit Gundam) for reasons that make sense if you've seen all three but you can only somewhat infer if you haven't. It's fun to watch Ernie (Knight's & Magic and yes that's the correct punctuation in the title and it bothers me) team up with the girls from Magic Knight Rayearth as a group of people who went from Japan to fantasy worlds with magic.
For every protagonist in this game it also feels like they have their antagonists around, so there isn't one main plot but rather more than half a dozen with different villain team-ups happening as well. Somehow the writing fits all of this into one world where things don't necessarily make sense compared to the canon of their original series but you just roll with it.
Plot aside, I think there's a decent amount of tactical depth to the game but I'm also playing it relatively easy rather than taking it as a challenge on higher difficulty levels. Pilots and mecha both have their own stats and abilities and can be switched around if you so desire, but so far I've mostly been sticking with the original pairings and rolling across maps that way.
Is it a good game if you aren't intimately familiar with a dozen different mecha series? Eh... probably not. Am I going to continue having fun sending Chirico in his 4m tall Scopedog to take down super robots more than ten times larger? Absolutely.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal (edited )LinkAt this point I'm dodging getting a bingo while filling out other squares. I'll get at least one before I'm done, I promise. Wanted to get a blackout but don't think I'll have enough time for it....At this point I'm dodging getting a bingo while filling out other squares. I'll get at least one before I'm done, I promise. Wanted to get a blackout but don't think I'll have enough time for it.
Durinthal's bingo card (12/25 but still no bingo)
Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 12/25 Has survival mechanics
✔ FrostpunkConsidered a classic Music/rhythm-focused
✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying MusicalYou can complete it in one sitting
✔ A Year of SpringsFrom a series you have played
✔ Final Fantasy IIIUses a unique control scheme Has a campaign longer than 8 hours
✔ Super Robot Wars 30Has gravity manipulation Light and dark play a role Is mostly text-based
✔ a new life.Uses procedural generation
✔ Death Must DiePopular game you never got around to playing ★ Wildcard You wanted it when you were younger Known for its difficulty
✔ CupheadSet in a dungeon You chose it based on title alone
✔ 2064: Read Only MemoriesHas a review score below 64 Recommended by someone IRL It’s already installed
✔ StorytellerHas a lives system You can create your own character You don't think you'll enjoy it
✔ LoveChoiceHas both combat and puzzles
✔ Blossom Tales 2Has environmental storytelling -
Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentI initially looked at LoveChoice as a potential entry for my mostly text-based square but nope, turns out there's a bit more interactivity with various objects in each scene. However, before I...I initially looked at LoveChoice as a potential entry for my mostly text-based square but nope, turns out there's a bit more interactivity with various objects in each scene. However, before I quit a few minutes in I found a couple of reasons to put it under "you don't think you'll enjoy it" instead so that's where it ended up. Last night I came back to it and I ended up making it through 2/3 of the routes in about an hour before deciding I had enough even though it wouldn't take much longer to complete the entire thing with all the endings.
First, the writing. The first route starts off at a game jam with a girl being left alone at a table and the (point of view) main character's thoughts being "This is my chance to talk to her," as if he's immediately going to start hitting on a stranger a minute into the game. It pretty quickly jumps to them dating and having rather simple dialogue the entire time through their relationship. Since it appears to be made by a Chinese studio my assumption is that at least part of my qualms are coming from a translation/localization standpoint, but it's still not great overall.
Second, it's very much designed for mouse (or maybe touchscreen, I didn't try) controls and using a joystick just moves a mouse cursor around outside of the menus, not a great interface on the Switch or Steam Deck. Most of the time it's just kind of an annoyance, but there is one minigame that requires you to click on moving objects on the screen. While they're not moving particularly quickly, I couldn't get a perfect score on one occasion unless I knew ahead of time where they would enter the screen (since it seemed to be random) so I'd have enough time to chase after them with the cursor.
Overall I can see it being appealing to some people but it didn't really work for me.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentNever played anything in the series but it's great that these open source projects for classic games exist. Now you have me wanting to try Ship of Harkinian as it's been ages since I've played...Never played anything in the series but it's great that these open source projects for classic games exist. Now you have me wanting to try Ship of Harkinian as it's been ages since I've played Ocarina of Time.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link Parent"Survival mechanics?" How about trying to keep a settlement from freezing over in an absurdly cold climate? I gave Frostpunk a shot last night and while I can see the appeal, I don't think it's..."Survival mechanics?" How about trying to keep a settlement from freezing over in an absurdly cold climate? I gave Frostpunk a shot last night and while I can see the appeal, I don't think it's going to be something I'll put a lot of time into. I came within less than a day of surviving the storm before losing despite not knowing how to do anything at the start; maybe I'll give it one more go to see if I can succeed but it's not necessarily a gameplay loop that I find all that compelling if (from what I saw at a glance) each scenario is fairly static from one game to the next. I tend to be more interested in seeing new patterns rather than trying to optimize something I've been through before, so once or twice is generally enough for me here.
I also played the newer survival city-builder Against the Storm late last year so I was comparing the two a bit as I was going along here. The atmosphere of Frostpunk is an aspect that I enjoy, giving you some moral choices where you'll likely sacrifice some people along the way to ensuring the settlement continues as one of the last bastions of humanity, but it's also rather impersonal compared to something like Papers, Please as ultimately the people are just more resources even if they have individual names. The stakes feel higher than in Against the Storm as the latter has a safe haven that you retreat to once the storm does arrive so the settlements there feel more like temporary playgrounds, but those also ended up being more entertaining for me with providing more variety each time.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentI considered picking up something like Dwarf Fortress or NetHack as a cheeky option for "mostly text-based" since they use ASCII for everything in their unmodded forms but I definitely don't have...I considered picking up something like Dwarf Fortress or NetHack as a cheeky option for "mostly text-based" since they use ASCII for everything in their unmodded forms but I definitely don't have the time to dive into those. a new life. was even shorter than my "complete in one sitting" entry at about an hour to get through all the endings but as it's another visual novel it fits the text-based theme well enough to me. I didn't like it quite as much as A Year of Springs but it's still a nice little story that hurt a bit to read when I got some of the bad endings.
Death Must Die is my "uses procedural generation" pick (hey, Dwarf Fortress and NetHack would also fit that...), not my first time playing the game but it had a major update last month and I wanted to check that out. In simple terms it's Vampire Survivors gameplay crossed with Hades style god lore/boons and as someone else put it, if you're going to copy other games you might as well copy the best. The procedural generation comes into play with you existing on an infinite plane with different interactive features popping up at random that might give you short-term benefits like invulnerability or a speed boost. The loops are fairly short with the final boss of the act appearing after 20 minutes, so it quickly feeds into a "just one more run" mentality that drains a lot of free time.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal (edited )LinkSlacked off a bit last week but also got a couple more done in the past couple of days. Bingo card (8/25) Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 8/25 ✔ Frostpunk Considered a classic ✔ Stray Gods: The...Slacked off a bit last week but also got a couple more done in the past couple of days.
Bingo card (8/25)
Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 8/25 Has survival mechanics
✔ FrostpunkConsidered a classic Music/rhythm-focused
✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying MusicalYou can complete it in one sitting
✔ A Year of SpringsFrom a series you have played
✔ Final Fantasy IIIUses a unique control scheme Has a campaign longer than 8 hours Has gravity manipulation Light and dark play a role Is mostly text-based
✔ a new life.Uses procedural generation
✔ Death Must DiePopular game you never got around to playing ★ Wildcard You wanted it when you were younger Known for its difficulty Set in a dungeon You chose it based on title alone
✔ 2064: Read Only MemoriesHas a review score below 64 Recommended by someone IRL It’s already installed Has a lives system You can create your own character You don't think you'll enjoy it
✔ LoveChoiceHas both combat and puzzles Has environmental storytelling Aside from the couple of new entries here I'm in the middle of a couple of longer games which will get added to the board eventually (and the game known for its difficulty is difficult, go figure).
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentSince I've never played anything in the franchise I had no idea the Dark Souls modding community was that robust, that's cool to see!Since I've never played anything in the franchise I had no idea the Dark Souls modding community was that robust, that's cool to see!
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link Parent"You chose it based on title alone" was an easy one. I've had 2064: Read Only Memories for several years on both Steam and Switch, bought just for that title, but I hadn't gotten around to it..."You chose it based on title alone" was an easy one. I've had 2064: Read Only Memories for several years on both Steam and Switch, bought just for that title, but I hadn't gotten around to it until now.
As a cyberpunk adventure game it has your character, a journalist, investigating the mysterious disappearance of a colleague with the help of their newly built robotic assistant. While I'm not a fan of classic adventure games that require finding the exact right item and using it on the right object, those elements aren't overwhelming here and it's mostly another visual novel (not my first and probably not my last one this month). A lot of the recurring characters are almost fully voiced which is more than I was expecting and I enjoy their performances.
I read a couple of negative comments about the game calling its messaging too direct, but that just gave me a chuckle. Since when was anything punk trying to be subtle? To me, a cyberpunk setting that isn't in your face about current societal issues is just a
sparklingvaporwave-flavored dystopia.Currently I'm about a third of the way into the game and while I've found myself drawn in by the characters and soundtrack, I think I want to take this one more slowly so I'm going to put it aside for now. Might not finish it this month but I'm curious enough to want to return sooner rather than later.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal LinkGood first week, wondering where to go next on my board. Bingo card (4/25) Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 4/25 Has survival mechanics Considered a classic ✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical ✔ A...Good first week, wondering where to go next on my board.
Bingo card (4/25)
Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 4/25 Has survival mechanics Considered a classic Music/rhythm-focused
✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying MusicalYou can complete it in one sitting
✔ A Year of SpringsFrom a series you have played
✔ Final Fantasy IIIUses a unique control scheme Has a campaign longer than 8 hours Has gravity manipulation Light and dark play a role Is mostly text-based Uses procedural generation Popular game you never got around to playing ★ Wildcard You wanted it when you were younger Known for its difficulty Set in a dungeon You chose it based on title alone
✔ 2064: Read Only MemoriesHas a review score below 64 Recommended by someone IRL It’s already installed Has a lives system You can create your own character You don't think you'll enjoy it Has both combat and puzzles Has environmental storytelling I already have an idea of what I want to use for most squares but not enough time to hit all of them, I think I only have one more Final Fantasy in me this month.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentI had plenty of options for a "music/rhythm-focused" game that I still need to play through but I went with Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical which I had played a few hours of when it came out...I had plenty of options for a "music/rhythm-focused" game that I still need to play through but I went with Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical which I had played a few hours of when it came out last year but never finished.
The concept of "musical where you choose the direction the song goes" is something I loved from the second I heard about it and while it's an ambitious feat that requires a lot of work to be put into it, I think they landed a bit off-key with the execution. Not literally, but I have some nitpicks as an amateur musician that's done some composing in the past where I'm not sure if I'm less tolerant for noticing things that the average person might not care about or more tolerant for things that an average person might not think sounds good but I can see where what they were going for.
There are still several alternate paths I want to go through so I'm not dissatisfied, but they don't hit the high notes I was hoping to hear so I'm good with putting this aside for another few months or more before I do.
I could jump straight to finishing the row for a bingo (already have the last two in mind) but next up is a detour to a different part of my board.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal Link ParentFor "from a series you have played" I'm continuing my Final Fantasy journey and I blitzed through the pixel remaster of Final Fantasy III in three days, about 11 hours of play time. Much like with...For "from a series you have played" I'm continuing my Final Fantasy journey and I blitzed through the pixel remaster of Final Fantasy III in three days, about 11 hours of play time.
Much like with Final Fantasy II I ended up taking advantage of the quality of life features in the remasters to minimize grinding and the war of attrition that later dungeons turn into, which I wouldn't have minded as a kid with time to spare though we never got this one in the US until 2006. The introduction of the job system here isn't perfect but I think it's good for its time and made for a solid foundation that later entries would build upon.
The story here is again nothing much to write about, still a basic "save the world from darkness" plot with the playable characters having next to no personality of their own, but I appreciate it as a stepping stone toward greater things.
I've already started on my music/rhythm-focused pick as well as I'm now going for the top row on my card, but more on that once I'm done with it in presumably a few more days.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal (edited )Link ParentI considered picking up Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Final Bar Line for the Switch and using that for the "music/rhythm-focused" square since I enjoyed playing the earlier 3DS entry but that would go...I considered picking up Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Final Bar Line for the Switch and using that for the "music/rhythm-focused" square since I enjoyed playing the earlier 3DS entry but that would go against the spirit of the event by adding another game to my collection rather than going through what I already have.
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Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Durinthal (edited )LinkMy first time joining, I've been wanting to play more games recently so this is a great way to start diving in. Bingo card (3/25) Mode: Standard(ish) Bingo! Finished 3/25 Has survival mechanics...My first time joining, I've been wanting to play more games recently so this is a great way to start diving in.
Bingo card (3/25)
Mode: Standard(ish) Bingo! Finished 3/25 Has survival mechanics Considered a classic Music/rhythm-focused
✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying MusicalYou can complete it in one sitting
✔ A Year of SpringsFrom a series you have played
✔ Final Fantasy IIIUses a unique control scheme Has a campaign longer than 8 hours Has gravity manipulation Light and dark play a role Is mostly text-based Uses procedural generation Popular game you never got around to playing ★ Wildcard You wanted it when you were younger Known for its difficulty Set in a dungeon You chose it based on title alone Has a review score below 64 Recommended by someone IRL It’s already installed Has a lives system You can create your own character You don't think you'll enjoy it Has both combat and puzzles Has environmental storytelling Well I figured the "one sitting" square would be a good way to start, and A Year of Springs was a lovely little VN that I finished in a couple of hours. There's still one alternate route I need to go back and get but I'm quite happy with it, I can't remember the last time a game made me cry but this made me tear up a couple of times.
I'm currently also on a mission to play through the mainline Final Fantasy games (finished II a couple of months ago, been busy since), I'm kind of curious how many of them I can use to fit different entries. They're also not short games so I don't think I could just run through III-VII in a month even if they all managed to fit in one line.
No new additions so just copying my card over:
Durinthal's bingo card (15/25, 1x win)
Has survival mechanics✔ Frostpunk
Considered a classic✔ Final Fantasy IV
Music/rhythm-focused✔ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
You can complete it in one sitting✔ A Year of Springs
From a series you have played✔ Final Fantasy III
Has a campaign longer than 8 hours✔ Super Robot Wars 30
Light and dark play a role✔ Slay the Princess
Is mostly text-based✔ a new life.
Uses procedural generation✔ Death Must Die
★ Wildcard✔ Hades II
Known for its difficulty✔ Cuphead
You chose it based on title alone✔ 2064: Read Only Memories
It’s already installed✔ Storyteller
You don't think you'll enjoy it✔ LoveChoice
Has both combat and puzzles✔ Blossom Tales 2
I've played a handful of games in the past year (more than in the past several years before that) but this was still the most in a while. Only a few I'm completely done with but I'm fine going at a more relaxed pace for a while.
Most Time: Hades II (25 hours) — In early access but already with more combat content than all of the first game, I could keep picking away at it now to start unlocking/upgrading some aspects but I think I'm happy waiting for the full release now that I've gotten a taste and have some other things to keep me occupied and I'll probably start again from the beginning then since I find it just plain fun to play.
Most Surprising: Slay the Princess — I'm not really a fan of horror as a genre in any medium so I wasn't that sure if I'd like this in the first place, but this is more to my taste with an eerie psychological bent rather than something that gets the adrenaline going. I returned for another full round in the past couple of days and was delightfully surprised by some of the outcomes while continuing to love the writing and visuals all along the way. I'm still shy of halfway through all 97 achievements but this is one where I want to keep diving in until I find all the nooks and crannies.
Overall I think it was a great success for me and I played a lot of things I definitely wouldn't have gotten to any time soon. I really enjoyed the bingo card format since that made me take a look at my library in ways I haven't before (never sorted by score, for example) and pick at things that I never gave much consideration to prior to this. Still have hundreds of other games that I haven't touched/finished yet so hopefully I'll be back for the next time now that I've participated once.