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Holy shit at Square gating behind ads the missing Octopath:CotC 4 star units. I've enjoyed the game's story, even when disliking its model as I've amply stated already, but that's a major, major turn off, just a step too far. Might be time to uninstall and delete my saves.

EDIT: I didn't post this yesterday, but after thinking about it a little more I'm definitely out. Don't know if they're doing it because they're desperate for some additional revenue and the game is headed for EOS or what, but that, coupled with some additional self-reflection tells me all I need to know.

In hindsight I imagine I should add some context to the "controversy", so here's the best summary I could find.

On the other hand I've recently picked up Genshin and I have to say, it's weird how much it feels like a "traditional" game. Not that it doesn't show the usual pitfalls of other Gacha live-service RPGs (it absolutely does), but at the same time its production values and just sheer amount of content make it feel different (the trade off being that said side-content is mostly mediocre). Even having dailies cycle through a set of (relatively) diverse activities in the open world helps majorly. I suppose that's why the average gacha player dislikes the game: awful rates + the required attention when playing (it honestly feels difficult to imagine playing the game while doing something else, for that sweet multi-tasking hell gachas throw you into). It might be just the honeymoon phase, but so far it does feel like an actual game more than an account management sim.

I'll see if it will stay that way or not, I guess. At this point I know that I'm not willing to compromise too much on how I enjoy games, and I'll begrudgingly write it off if I must.
 
PSA for EU players: Trails from Zero just hit an all-time low, so if you were waiting for a discount or are on the fence, well, now is as good a time as any.

As for me, I'm excited to finally pick Zero and start it in the next week or two, maybe? Still gotta decide whether I want to play SV's The Teal Mask day 1 or not.

Oh, look. After Ys VIII and IX, NISA's porting CS3+4 to PS5.

NISA has been so low with their PS5 ports that I shouldn't be surprised; the amount of milking they've been doing is hilarious. I'm 100% expecting the same thing to happen once Switch 2 releases, haha.
 
And that's a wrap on the DLC for FF7 Remake.

That was short but very entertaining. Loved Yuffie as a character, she's just an adorable chuuni ninja girl that's somehow way in over her head but still manages to actually accomplish things. Her dynamic with Sonon is fantastic and a highlight throughout the... 12ish hours it took me to complete. Can't wait to see how she interacts with the rest of the party. Also man, that ending... poor girl.

The whole Zack stuff is still a giant question mark for me but from what I can gather, even people that know the original and the guy are similarly confused. It's a big "Who the hell are you and why are you even here?" :LOL:

Looking forward to play more of this eventually, whenever they decide to release it on a platform I own. (Here's hoping the rumors are true and Square brings Remake to the next Switch)
 
NISA has been so low with their PS5 ports that I shouldn't be surprised; the amount of milking they've been doing is hilarious. I'm 100% expecting the same thing to happen once Switch 2 releases, haha.
Switch 2 versions will come, you can bet on that. And I wouldn't be too mad If Xseed did the same with their Falcom games.
 
Switch 2 versions will come, you can bet on that. And I wouldn't be too mad If Xseed did the same with their Falcom games.
Yeah, Sky Trilogy console ports and CS I&II Switch ports would be great in removing pretty much any barrier of entry for the series (ignoring the arguably unmanageable amount of entries). I know for a fact that the Zero+Azure localization announcement is what made me start Trails.

That said, Falcom's relationship with XSEED doesn't seem particularly stellar.
 

  • 15:15 – SaGa Series Tokyo Game Show 2023 Specail Stage – Get ready for the latest updates on the SaGa franchise! Don’t miss the chance to catch a special mini-live event exclusively at Tokyo Game Show 2023, featuring a stage filled with rich information from SaGa! Featuring host Nobuo (of the comic duo PENGUINS), Akitoshi Kawazu (SaGa series general director), Masanori Ichikawa (SaGa series producer), Kazuma Oushu (Imperial SaGa Eclipse producer), and Kenji Ito (composer).

I reckon we shall see a SaGa announcement here. Whether it be a new remaster or a teaser trailer for the new SaGa console game teased in the past.
 

  • 15:15 – SaGa Series Tokyo Game Show 2023 Specail Stage – Get ready for the latest updates on the SaGa franchise! Don’t miss the chance to catch a special mini-live event exclusively at Tokyo Game Show 2023, featuring a stage filled with rich information from SaGa! Featuring host Nobuo (of the comic duo PENGUINS), Akitoshi Kawazu (SaGa series general director), Masanori Ichikawa (SaGa series producer), Kazuma Oushu (Imperial SaGa Eclipse producer), and Kenji Ito (composer).

I reckon we shall see a SaGa announcement here. Whether it be a new remaster or a teaser trailer for the new SaGa console game teased in the past.
SaGa Emerald Beyond and DQ III Remake at this September Direct, book it! I might have said the exact same thing for some past Direct prediction but let's ignore that. It's time!

Seriously, if they don't show DQ3 @ermitron2 is gonna lose it, and I'd have to think that what they showed years ago was either a vertical slice or a pre-rendered video. The LaL remake might have taken less time from pre-production to release that DQ 3 has had from announcement to today!
The lack of FF7: Rebirth here is surprising. Gives some credence to the State of Play idea, I guess?
Could definitely be a thing, yeah. SIE has had some sort of presentation in September for the past 4(?) years. Rise of the Ronin should be a lock as well.
You think they'll show off the PC-Version of FF16 at TGS or is that still too early?
Way too early I'd say. The game's not even out of its exclusivity window.
 
Seriously, if they don't show DQ3 @ermitron2 is gonna lose it, and I'd have to think that what they showed years ago was either a vertical slice or a pre-rendered video. The LaL remake might have taken less time from pre-production to release that DQ 3 has had from announcement to today!
I'm like this when I saw the schedule and no goddam mention of dq3 HD!!!!
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I didn’t get to play games much this week so it took longer than I anticipated to finish This Way Madness Lies, but I wrapped it up tonight after roughly eight hours. I definitely came away liking the combat the most as picking your traits and finding the best combos for your characters and parties was definitely the strongest part of the game. Some of the characters kits were really interesting too. Miranda’s was one of the standouts as her abilities would flip between two completely different effects as she quickly alternated between normal and hyper states. One of her traits and one of her abilities could accelerate the flips further which made her really interesting to use effectively. Coming up with gameplans for each character was great too which would change as their moves and trait pool expanded. By the end with Imogen for example, I’d usually buff on turn one, react to whatever happened on turns two and three, would make the most of my hyper by saving the right attack or Unite move for it, and then work to clear out my abilities to power up her final super attack. When I finally could swap my party freely, I gravitated toward Imogen, Rosalind, Viola, and Kate so a very damaged focused party.

I mentioned in my last post I did like the characters, but I wasn’t too won over by how fast paced the story moved. I don’t think that core opinion really changed as I still would have liked longer periods of downtime and wished there were more opportunities to get to better know the characters (there’s not really any character arcs here), but it worked out well enough ultimately as the characters did get a lot of group hang outs in particular (like camping, going to regionals, a slumber party, etc.). I wonder for the general structure here since it already resembled it, if I would have dug it a bit more if instead of a play structure with intermission periods if it was presented more like a TV show since it largely leans into a monster of the week formula anyway. It takes until the final battle ultimately to tie the story together which isn’t ideal.

Regardless it was a good time and I enjoyed the fun mix of magical girls and Shakespeare. The presentation elements are solid, the music is great, and again the combat is excellent, interesting fun. Probably will be a while until I play my next Zeboyd game, but I would like to finally finish Cthulu Saves The World one day soon. Even having not finished it, that was probably my favorite Zeboyd game.

I’m playing Rain Code finally next, but after that my next RPG should be a replay of Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga!
 
My daughter startet Sea of Stars. I wasn't thinking of starting it myself yet. She choose the girl and played for a bit. Really beautiful spritewirk and colouring.
 
My daughter startet Sea of Stars. I wasn't thinking of starting it myself yet. She choose the girl and played for a bit. Really beautiful spritewirk and colouring.
It blew me away the first time I saw realtime shadows coming off the sprites and the environmental assets. There's some graphical wizardry in this game, I swear.
 
Managed to play the demo of granblue fantasy relink and the action is very good and each character has very varied movesets, but most important is it actually exists
 
Starter Chained Echoes as I hadn't gotten around to playing it and it was on sale. It's solid though I find the combat to be kinda bland so far. Game has the FFXIII problem of taking forever to fully open up the whole combat system which makes early battles kinda mindless.

Rhapsode PSX is my current Miyoo Mini game of choice. Game is mindlessly easy, but the musical aeatheric and 90's shojo vibe do a lot of the heavy lifting.
 
Speaking of Sea of Stars Easter eggs.

I played Trails into Reverie for several weeks after it came out until I beat it. It was a great big JRPG and I really enjoyed it, but it sure is nice to slip back into a smaller JRPG. Like a bit of comfort food that I'm already ready to indulge in. I only started Sea of Stars yesterday, and even then I played for less than an hour. I played a bit more today, and less than two hours in I decide to save the game, and what do I see as the name of my save file? Trails in the Mist. At first I wondered if it's a reference to Trails in the Sky. A part of me even doubted it, but it definitely is a reference. They did that on purpose. Every other save file name is just the name of the place you're in. The next save file name is Trials in the Mist, which is a bit more evidence of them being playful with the file names at this section of the game. I just can't escape the Trails series no matter where I go. I'm minding my own business cooking dinner or folding laundry and I'll hear Rean shouting "Second Form Gale" off in the distance. I like to think it's just my imagination, but if my mind is able to unconsciously think Rean into existence, does that not make him real?
 
I finished Super Mario RPG! I’ll write up a post with some thoughts later. But I’ll say for now that I really liked it! And I now understand why folks want Geno in Smash.
 
Final Fantasy 16 is on sale but they have yet to put the Pixel Remasters on sale on consoles. Come on Square. I know you don't want people remembering how fun it is to have other playable party members but just

batista-give-me-what-i-want.gif
 
How did the Ni No Kuni games fare on Switch? I remember the second one was divisive at launch years back on PS4. But both are on sale and while I know I shouldn't be adding more things to my backlog, they're incredibly temping right now.
 


So umm this game came out today on PS. Still wondering why Aquaplus has not ported the Utawarerumono to consoles lol
 
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I'm now 10 hours in and I'm loving Sea of Stars, but I wouldn't even be playing this game without Game Pass because it has everything that I don't like in JRPGs, but I'm still digging it.

Low numbers and slow leveling? ✅ The numbers aren't Paper Mario levels of low, but I'm a simple person. I like big numbers and I like seeing them get even bigger. Final Fantasy games were not my first JRPGs, but they were my formative ones and that's definitely where my fondness for big numbers comes from.

Slow battles with long animations? ✅ Some people might debate me on whether Sea of Stars' battles are slow, but I like battles to be really fast. When I'm playing a Trails game, they exist in a constant state of either being in Turbo Mode or about to be in Turbo Mode, and their animations exist to be skipped.

Action commands? ✅ I like to sit back and watch the battles play out. The more that a JRPG is essentially just a bunch of menus with a fancy coat of paint, the happier I am.

A break system in the form of locks? ✅ I feel like I've been lighthearted with the rest of this, and I hope it has come across that way because I am not judging anyone for liking any of this, and at the end of the day we're all on #TeamJPRGs (and are invited to #TeamJanuary), and I'm still not judging and I do not consider myself better than anyone else nor my opinions more refined and tasteful, but I sincerely believe that break mechanics are the worst thing to ever happen to JRPGs. Even worse than companies turning their backs on turn-based battles because we're still getting great games with turn-based combat, like Sea of Stars.

Of course, there are asterisks next to all of this. Low numbers and slow leveling aren't deal-breakers as I love Dragon Quest games even with their numbers well lower than Final Fantasy games and the games before VIII always having a point where leveling slows to a crawl. There aren't enough battles in Sea of Stars to make the slow battles an issue. I don't like action commands, but I can deal with them and Yakuza: Like a Dragon was a 10/10 game that I got the platinum trophy in despite its action commands (no, I will not turn off action commands if it means doing less damage, even if it's higher than the damage I would do failing the action commands). And the break mechanic in Sea of Stars isn't a constant system and it's not the kind of break mechanic I dislike the most, which is when you can barely damage enemies until they are broken and then you have to pile on in hopes of defeating it or else you need to go through all that trouble again.

Yes, there's a demo that could have taught me that already, but I'm never able to enjoy game demos. Instead of just playing them like a normal game, I'm always wondering when they're going to end, even if I already know the answer. It's a mental hurdle I can't get over. I really didn't like the demo for Metroid Dread because of that, and I ended up loving the full game.

So what's the point of this message? Well for one, I just really like talking about JRPGs. Also, I wanted to praise Sea of Stars, which is kind of awkward with how I've gone about doing that. It's so good that it's able to rise above these personal issues I have. I'll have to buy the physical version because I will feel bad having only played this game on Game Pass. I simply must give them my money!

Or maybe the rest of the game is going to be terrible. I'm only 10 hours in.
 
How did the Ni No Kuni games fare on Switch? I remember the second one was divisive at launch years back on PS4. But both are on sale and while I know I shouldn't be adding more things to my backlog, they're incredibly temping right now.
I loved Ni No Kuni II, have it on PC (haven't played the first one though) but from what I understand the Switch version runs really poorly :( Which is a shame because I was tempted to double-dip on it so I could play it on the go.
 
How did the Ni No Kuni games fare on Switch? I remember the second one was divisive at launch years back on PS4. But both are on sale and while I know I shouldn't be adding more things to my backlog, they're incredibly temping right now.
I can't speak to Switch performance, but I really do not recommend the first Ni No Kuni. The game is so simplistic, both in its combat (it largely feels like it plays itself) and story that really drag it down heavily in my eyes. The presentation, at least in the original version, is excellent but that can't carry a full game.

I've heard much better things about the sequel and I won a free copy in a contest, so I do plan to play it one day.
 
How did the Ni No Kuni games fare on Switch? I remember the second one was divisive at launch years back on PS4. But both are on sale and while I know I shouldn't be adding more things to my backlog, they're incredibly temping right now.
I haven't played them but if it's helpful I've heard the same as xghost. First one was lovely but overly simplistic, more of a novelty, then the second was a big improvement.

Edit: responded to the wrong post, oops! 😅
 
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I haven't played them but if it's helpful I've heard the same as xghost. First one was lovely but overly simplistic, more of a novelty, then the second was a big improvement.
I still have an old copy of the PS3 release of NNK that I might play some day just for the novelty, but yeah that's what I've heard as well.

I can't speak to Switch performance, but I really do not recommend the first Ni No Kuni. The game is so simplistic, both in its combat (it largely feels like it plays itself) and story that really drag it down heavily in my eyes. The presentation, at least in the original version, is excellent but that can't carry a full game.

I've heard much better things about the sequel and I won a free copy in a contest, so I do plan to play it one day.
Yeah, NNK2 is really fun and I really enjoyed playing through it. It's visually really nice, the story is cute, and I loved the kingdom-building mechanics.
 
I can't speak to Switch performance, but I really do not recommend the first Ni No Kuni. The game is so simplistic, both in its combat (it largely feels like it plays itself) and story that really drag it down heavily in my eyes. The presentation, at least in the original version, is excellent but that can't carry a full game.

I've heard much better things about the sequel and I won a free copy in a contest, so I do plan to play it one day.
I really didn't like the combat in the original NNK, even if it had the bones of a fun system. I remember it being oddly difficult in places and I was constantly running out of MP and having other problems. Always possible I was just bad and didn't get it, though!

But it did have a hell of a gut-punch opening, I remember not being at all prepared for how you get thrown into your adventure.
 
Interested to see some impressions of Infinity Strash: Adventures of Dai when it’s out. My kid has got into the cartoon and is eyeing it up as a potential Christmas present
If you want a physical copy for your kid, you may have to order off Play Asia which will have the English version of DQ Dai. I don’t think GameStop Best Buy etc have physical copies. It’s a digital only title so far
 


Devs are going to talk about Scarlet Nexus. Maybe there is some hope for a successor.

Here is the interview:



Not much info, an interesting topic on "new ips". While he wants to make a sequel, it seems that is not in the cards right now.
 
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I really didn't like the combat in the original NNK, even if it had the bones of a fun system. I remember it being oddly difficult in places and I was constantly running out of MP and having other problems. Always possible I was just bad and didn't get it, though!

But it did have a hell of a gut-punch opening, I remember not being at all prepared for how you get thrown into your adventure.
Oh yeah the combat was bad. If you had a solid enough team the game basically played itself, the newest spell was basically always your most powerful, and all you had to do was hit the block button in bosses when they did their big telegraphed wind up attacks.

I'm glad the game spoke to a lot of people, especially lapsed JRPG fans at the time, but oof that game was rough.
 
Sounds like I'll pass on both for now, I've got plenty in the backlog and neither sound particularly essential. Thanks all!
 
If you're looking for some free mobile gacha nonsense, Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis launches tomorrow.

I've got it pre-downloaded and will give it a shot.
 
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Alright, Mario RPG thoughts!

SMRPG is fantastic. It’s a joy from start to finish, honestly. It does pretty much everything right.

I really liked the characters, with special shout-outs to Peach and Bowser. It was so awesome to see Peach have a sense of agency and independence; and Bowser was so freaking likeable the entire time. The side characters got to shine too! I really liked Booster, for example. The writing was just as funny and endearing as all the later Mario RPGs have been. A+ on this front.

The gameplay works well. Combat starts simple, but builds well over time and becomes a ton of fun. The overworld exploration is actually pretty fun, especially when you come across little platforming challenges. Level design can be a little confusing at times, though; and moving around the world map is also kinda strange. It feels really disjointed. Hopefully this is something that can be improved with the remake?

If I had to point to a couple things I didn’t like all that much, I’d have to say it’s inventory management, and the music. The music felt very lackluster to me. The battle theme seemed like it was the same throughout the entire game, and it got old eventually. The boss battle theme also never changed if i’m not mistaken? Some remixes and just more variety would help a lot. For the inventory, I really didn’t like how items didn’t stack, which just made the entire system messy and stressful. Again, this is something that I hope is improved in the remake.

All in all, I really liked Super Mario RPG. I think a lot of people who pick up the remake later this year who have never played it are gonna be in for a treat. But if you don’t want to wait that long, and you have access to the game, I’d really recommend playing the SNES original. It’s great!
 
Alright, Mario RPG thoughts!

SMRPG is fantastic. It’s a joy from start to finish, honestly. It does pretty much everything right.

I really liked the characters, with special shout-outs to Peach and Bowser. It was so awesome to see Peach have a sense of agency and independence; and Bowser was so freaking likeable the entire time. The side characters got to shine too! I really liked Booster, for example. The writing was just as funny and endearing as all the later Mario RPGs have been. A+ on this front.

The gameplay works well. Combat starts simple, but builds well over time and becomes a ton of fun. The overworld exploration is actually pretty fun, especially when you come across little platforming challenges. Level design can be a little confusing at times, though; and moving around the world map is also kinda strange. It feels really disjointed. Hopefully this is something that can be improved with the remake?

If I had to point to a couple things I didn’t like all that much, I’d have to say it’s inventory management, and the music. The music felt very lackluster to me. The battle theme seemed like it was the same throughout the entire game, and it got old eventually. The boss battle theme also never changed if i’m not mistaken? Some remixes and just more variety would help a lot. For the inventory, I really didn’t like how items didn’t stack, which just made the entire system messy and stressful. Again, this is something that I hope is improved in the remake.

All in all, I really liked Super Mario RPG. I think a lot of people who pick up the remake later this year who have never played it are gonna be in for a treat. But if you don’t want to wait that long, and you have access to the game, I’d really recommend playing the SNES original. It’s great!
Glad you loved Super Mario RPG Red! It’s one of my all time favorite games and along with Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger inspired a live long love of the genre. While I can’t agree on the music as a huge fan of Yoko Shimomura, the inventory management is definitely clunky in a regular playthrough. I always end up tossing a ton of good items which stinks!

I have to ask did you try taking on the super boss? It’s a little out of the way in the locked door in Monstro Town. That one certainly has a different boss battle theme :)
 
Glad you loved Super Mario RPG Red! It’s one of my all time favorite games and along with Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger inspired a live long love of the genre. While I can’t agree on the music as a huge fan of Yoko Shimomura, the inventory management is definitely clunky in a regular playthrough. I always end up tossing a ton of good items which stinks!

I have to ask did you try taking on the super boss? It’s a little out of the way in the locked door in Monstro Town. That one certainly has a different boss battle theme :)
there’s a super boss? 😳 gonna have to check that out on youtube at least! lol
 
Alright, Mario RPG thoughts!

SMRPG is fantastic. It’s a joy from start to finish, honestly. It does pretty much everything right.

I really liked the characters, with special shout-outs to Peach and Bowser. It was so awesome to see Peach have a sense of agency and independence; and Bowser was so freaking likeable the entire time. The side characters got to shine too! I really liked Booster, for example. The writing was just as funny and endearing as all the later Mario RPGs have been. A+ on this front.

The gameplay works well. Combat starts simple, but builds well over time and becomes a ton of fun. The overworld exploration is actually pretty fun, especially when you come across little platforming challenges. Level design can be a little confusing at times, though; and moving around the world map is also kinda strange. It feels really disjointed. Hopefully this is something that can be improved with the remake?

If I had to point to a couple things I didn’t like all that much, I’d have to say it’s inventory management, and the music. The music felt very lackluster to me. The battle theme seemed like it was the same throughout the entire game, and it got old eventually. The boss battle theme also never changed if i’m not mistaken? Some remixes and just more variety would help a lot. For the inventory, I really didn’t like how items didn’t stack, which just made the entire system messy and stressful. Again, this is something that I hope is improved in the remake.

All in all, I really liked Super Mario RPG. I think a lot of people who pick up the remake later this year who have never played it are gonna be in for a treat. But if you don’t want to wait that long, and you have access to the game, I’d really recommend playing the SNES original. It’s great!
SMRPG is such a classic, and I'm looking forward to revisiting it this fall. Inventory management is one of my biggest complaints, too, I remember it being tiresome for sure.

Music-wise, I really love it, it has a very unique feel to it that I think really shines. But, it does get a bit repetitive at times: The main battle theme I think is always the same, and for bosses there's only the main theme, the "weapon" more powerful theme, and then the final boss. Well, and the hidden boss, which rules. I think the soundtrack is going to benefit a lot from the new arrangements, just judging by what we've already heard (which is like two tracks :p)
 
feel like i've accidentally stumbled onto one of Octopath 2's most unique fun traits. the "mug" option with Osvald, which is essentially "duel a townperson to steal all their shit" is such an absurd amount of fun i don't even understand it.

i already enjoyed dueling in Octo 1 just for the fun of taking on strong opponents, but a lot of the time it was a little meaningless cause it just faints the person and doesn't accomplish much. here, it always feels worthwhile cus it's like im getting this awesome ass shit in return for this awesome ass duel. ive fully looted the big guns in like 5 separate towns and had a blast doing it.
 


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