If I ever find the game on the cheap ($35 is still rich for my blood), maybe I'll give Haru a shot on NG+. Really haven't had much time to work on her trying to max my other confidants (and social skill necessary to do so), outside of the actual team (I've got Ann, Ryuji, and Makoto finished), Tower, Sun, Death, and especially Star seemed the most useful to MAX thanks to their battle perks.

Fortune and Temperence were my picks.

Fortune since you can boost social links and ensure each catch-up will result in a level up.

Temperence so she can make coffees, wash clothes, allow you to progress confidants after palace visits etc.

Strength is also very useful since maxing it out will ensure you can fuse any Persona, no matter the level.

There really isn't a right or wrong way, but anything I could do to create opportunities was prioritised. For the most part though, I usually strengthened what was available, so the Sun & Death confidants were relatively easy to get through.

Couldn't sleep at all last night, so I binged the hell out of P5 to push to the end, was further than I thought, finally quit just before the final boss (after the whole jail break bru-ha-ha).

I actually did end up finding use for Haru in the depths, there were a plethora of powerful enemies with no weaknesses, and the One Shot Kill came in real handy for dealing real damage to 'em. Also Mona came in real handy too, practically carried me through the final palace thanks to Mediarahan, until Makoto unlocked it, Morgana then became a steady part of my team. So, while I didn't much care for them all around, they still had their uses in the end. Need either Mona or Makato to use Haru though, that bitch just can't take a hit, need some strong healing on tap.

Pick up and finish tomorrow.

Aaand, I finished. I'm really glad the final fight restarts from God-mode if you lose, there's one move he does that you have to buff your defense, because just blocking with a full life bar still kills you; would have been annoying have to fight the grail again. The gauntlet leading up to boss was pretty tough, granted I didn't HAVE to fight every enemy, I just did, even the ones I could sneak pass. The final team I settled on for the last stretch was Haru, Makoto, and Mona, ironic considering I almost never used Mona and Haru for most of the game. But the final enemies were too tough, so I had Makoto and Mona for Mediarahan (just in case one went down), and Haru for One Shot kill (with Mona's Critical Punch coming in real handy except for the final boss, since it almost always downs the enemy).

And while I was able to find some enjoyment with the turnbased combat once I got a plethora of personas, abilities, and allies, it still wasn't entirely engaging. This was most evident in the longer boss fights, it was basically a long rinse and repeat cycle, with me just kind of sitting causally back waiting to whittle down the last of their life.

And a major annoyance for the entire game, the turns aren't always fair, which drastically emphasizes the lack of control turn-based has for me. I can't count how many times I got taken out just because enemies get extra turns, without "1 MORE," something that NEVER happens for your party. And it isn't even about evening it out when meeting smaller parties like I thought the first time it happened, you meet a party with your exact numbers (more even), and strong enemies, they still get an extra turns. So many times I lost because an enemy did a lot of damage, but with no criticals or weak spots, and then would immediately be granted another turn anyway, and take Joker out. Lack of input is already tedious, if there's gonna be turns, they should be held to the exact rules of your party. Random turns for them is just cheap, and since you can only look at the "Next turn," you only tell if they're going to be granted another attack after you attack once despite them just attacking, but not if they're going to get 2 attacks in a row for no apparent reason. And that's an every enemy ability, not just bosses. That's one thing the South Park games got right as far as turns are concerned, you always knew whose turn it was going to be, and that they weren't going to get any extra shots.


Kinda wish I woulda known about Fortune early on, she helps with confidants, and without her you don't really have enough time to max all confidants in one play through, so I missed a few of the sub-plots.


All and all though, I'd still give it an 8, which is pretty impressive considering the core gameplay mechanic isn't my cup of tea, imagine if I found the combat engaging rather than just somewhat enjoyable. When I can catch it for $20 or lower, I might even buy it.

Turn order isn't random, it's influenced by the speed stat. Some enemies (usually the ones who are on fire) are faster than your characters, which means if you didn't put them away after an ambush, they'll get two turns to attack. Which is why speed is such an important stat in any JRPG. I can understand the frustration and some JRPGs do a better job of presenting a turn-order, but the majority just leave it. Sometimes it's never consistent either like in Dragon Quest where it's RNG based, so even if you have a much higher speed stat, there's a chance the enemy can get four attacks on you. It may sound unfair, but DQ was an extension of Wizardy, which was Dungeons and Dragons where everything is luck based.

Strangely despite being against the genre, we actually ended up on the same numerical score. I played 160 hours of Persona 5, I really got my fill of the game but felt it was weak in some areas. For an 80 hour game, the writing wasn't particularly strong through out and didn't live up to it's potential. I don't think it really explored juvenile justice all that well and most of the characters were shallow. I'm surprised you didn't bring up how annoying it was for Mona to tell you to go to bed. You couldn't do anything on certain nights, even though the game gives you the illusion of choice. On those days where it's nothing but story, it would have been nice to take care of some chores or build up some social skills. And yeah for an SMT game, it wasn't all that strategic. Most JRPGs are kind of like that where you've got to whittle down an enemy's health and stick to the same routines. What the SMT games usually do well is set up an enemy's AI where you've got to be proactive and reactive. It's almost like a chess game where you've got to have the right demons, otherwise they'll nearly wipe you out. Persona has always been a bit more user-friendly compared to other SMT games so I can live with it.

What was your favourite palace in the end? Did you enjoy any of the music and have a particular track you enjoyed? Also who was your favourite character?

Yeah, that was definitely annoyance, especially because sometimes you'd only get "Evening" and it would let you do things, but others you'd have an identically uneventful day and it wouldn't. No reason it couldn't let you get all those free night times, I'd have definitely maxed Fortune then. Just didn't occur to me as much as something as legitimately frustrating as dying when turn-orders would completely change, in the process of one match you'd get: you attack all, they attack all. Then they attack every other attack. Then it's back to all. Then they get 2 attacks in row. If it's going to do things like that, it needs to show you at least 2 turns in advance, and let you know that one thing is about to double up on ya.


I did enjoy the music, but I think it would have been better without the vocal tracks, while pretty, they kind of highlighted the repetitiveness of it. Just the music had a great rhythm to it, didn't really note it enough to grasp tracks. My favorite conflict was Kamoshida, even though each boss escalated in social stature, felt like you started on the scummiest of them, that one definitely felt the most personal to me. Don't know if I Can really pick a favorite palace, the were different enough to set apart, but not so different to really stand out to me, it was really more about the villains. I guess Egyptian was my favorite theme (though the last section was a bitch because Anubis had no weakness, had multiple 1 shot kills, and I forgot about Mona's "Critical Punch"). Character wise, I'm probably closest to Ryuji, he was almost always in my team until the end when his sleep stick didn't do much good, and he's not too far off of me personality wise.


A small note, I did find it funny how some of the stuff is entirely lost in translation. Like characters not being able to speak English...they say in perfect English. That is the one scenario where something like Yakuza being subbed over dubbed definitely works better.

Recently beat Bayonetta 1, and the fuck if I didn't understand much of that story. I think the concept of Angels vs Witches had promise but the story telling was simply all over the place. The combat was good if not a tad bit chaotic and tough for me to follow up but the implement of QTE and giving you hardly 2 seconds to respond is asinine, we are talking Krauser in RE4 sort of bad. Mind you, I played this game on NORMAL and the QTE were harsh to say the least.The boss fights were pretty good in Bayonetta 1 and one of the best things about the ame though the last boss simply dragged on and on and on, it's like a clingy lover not wanting to give you up and doing everything to keep your attention before you let em go. The black hole 1 hit KO was just fucking obnoxious, it's like I have FOUR Red Hot Shots that revive you, tell me again why they don't come into play or did that mechanic just go out the window just because? I think the nonsensical characters in the game actually add to it almost in a SWERY/Suda 51 sort of LOL but I wasn't sure if this game was meant to be taken seriously or this was actually meant to be a light hearted game that sort of mocks Witchcraft in it's own way? The amount of buttshots, the random dancing during portions, the shit was hilarious. The main antagonist looked like a prime David Bowie though I love that music and think it's the best in the OST personally speaking. I was laughing more at the game than anything else, it was so over the top and has a certain charm to it that I get why Sony nor MS nor any major 3rd party company took a chance on a sequel besides Nintendo but I am also glad there are followup games because the lure, the overall themes of the game do deserve followup games because it's that sort of zaniness that not many games focus these days. The variety the game had from cannon shooting to motorcycle fighting was great and a very much needed change of pace from the action the game constantly had. 

I think it's an alright game, I just don't see the hooplah over it being GREAT. Now Bayonetta 2 is held in higher regard so we will see how good it is....I think I will play it maybe April if not May? Besides Bayonetta 1 absolutely hurt my hands at times where I admittedly was button mashing when multiple enemies were on the screen so I had to take breaks and not have super long game sessions for the game. 

Also beat Zone of the Enders HD yesterday, game ran about five hours which is ridiculously short but the action/combat and particularly the bosses are fantastic. High pace, high intensity, each boss has a different gimmick to them for the most part which for a game that came out about sixteen years ago is rather good. Shame the mission structure is where the game suffers as it falls towards being repetitive having to go back to towns to obtain one necessary item to progress and the game if anything ambiguously mentions about this so admittedly I had to rely on a guide to tell me where to go in certain parts because otherwise you'd be wondering around towns not knowing what you are exactly finding. This could have been implemented MUCH Better even if the game is old because it felt like for such a short game that there wasn't much exploration and different locations to go to. The voice acting is really bad, to the point that EVA the automated machine was the best voice actor/actress in the game  . But hey I played Mega Man Legends and Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 recently so I sort of know that timeline of gaming was notoriously bad for the voice acting and I find bad voice acting to be hilarious anyhow so it added to the experience. If you have never played ZOE, you really aren't missing much as it's a game that does not hold well in 2018 and doesn't necessarily leave a mark on the gamer. It has a storyline that you've seen countless times and experienced countless times. The enemy variation could have been much better, you are facing the same 3 types of enemies only in swarms throughout the game excluding bosses which make the boss fights all the more refreshing in a game that can and will get very repetitive often at times. 

That being said, I have heard Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is much better and improves on the shortfallings of the first game so I am looking forward to spending my Sunday on that. 

Bayonetta is like Kingdom Hearts. It has pretty cut scenes, but I'm just zoning out until I get control of my character.

Boyonetta's un-skippable cutscenes are the main reason I take so long in revisiting it.

Onimusha 3: Demon's Siege (Capcom; 2004)

When I originally played through Onimusha, I didn't envision myself beating the trilogy. If anything, I just wanted to familiarise myself with an early 2001 PS2 game for that write-up I was working on, but ended up getting hooked. I enjoyed the blend of Japanese gothic horror and action-adventure Capcom gameplay. So much so, I was surprised the series fell off the face of the earth after the PS2 generation. However, after playing through the third game, it probably should have called time earlier.

By the third game, it seemed like Capcom had run out of ideas. The original game seemed like a fantastic base for a series and while the second improved on it nicely, the third jumped the shark and on the whole felt a lot slower. In Onimusha 3, you control 2 different MCs, and there's a few sections through out where you're constantly alternating between the characters. What this means is a lot of back-tracking, making an already repetitive game feel even more tedious. In past Onimusha games, health items were so rare that it gave the game a sense of skill and attrition. Dealing critical damage would allow you to regain health and there were large gaps in the game where you'd have to survive on only two hits. In the third game, they alleviate this tension by incorporating a piece of armour that regenerates HP. The only price is that the character has to remain still and HP takes such a long time to regrow. Of course the item is optional, but you'd only be challenging yourself if you weren't willing to use it properly.

Boss fights by and large remained the same from the first game. Spam magic attacks and when you're through with them, each boss should only take a couple of hits. It really doesn't matter what the enemy is capable of, each fight ends up being the same, with the player spamming triangle and square a few times before it goes down.

A lot of features make their return in the third installment, including the maze like dark realms. This time they do include a training mode which rewards the players and teaches the players about basic mechanics whenever they wish to learn about it.

Onimusha 3 isn't a game that's concerned about changing the face of the genre. It's merely a crazy follow-up to what was already a bloated sequel. As a fan of the series, there was still plenty of satisfaction out of executing an Issen on a barrage of enemies, but by the end of it, I felt like I had seen everything the series had to offer.

Mar 26, 2018 12:42:52 GMT RagnarokMike said:

Boyonetta's un-skippable cutscenes are the main reason I take so long in revisiting it.

The version I played has the option to skip cutscenes(Played this on the Nintendo Switch). That was a relief not having to sit through each visit to the Gates of Hell given the dialogue gets old when it repeats the same 3 or 4 lines.

Whenever I get a switch I'll check it out, in it's original form, they were unskippable. Which was even more egregious because I know at least once in a the game, a long enough cutscene was followed instantly by a super quick QTE, which of course I missed, and had to watch the whole thing again, I missed twice.

Finally got to Gold Rank on SFV, 2 more trophies and I’ve got the platinum trophy. Such a frustrating game :lol:

Also beat all the Hitman levels on Silent Assassin. I bought the Goty edition and I can’t play the Paris level? (I bought the level when it came out) if anyone has it let me know if it’s fixable.

I bought Kingdom Come: Deliverance, simply to support a company that stood up to SJW nonsense. Really enjoying it so far, haven’t played much but it’s cool how things that seem trivial make a big impact on the story.

Started in on Far Cry 5, is exactly what you'd expect from Far Cry, with a few changes for the better. So far been grinding for perks (as I always do with Far Cry), so haven't touched much of the actual story yet, but good fun.

Looking at footage of Far Cry 5, it looks like it's returning to form. Haven't been looking forward to one since Far Cry 3 (and Blood Dragon). I'll be waiting till the Gold Edition drops in price so I can nab Far Cry 3 too.

Since the Onimusha trilogy, I've been directionless.

Every now and then if I want to listen to a podcast, I'll boot up Mario Kart 8 just to keep myself preoccupied. I have most of the default tracks down, but I suck at a lot of the DLC stages. So lately I've just been playing the same track over and over again as Morton trying to get that perfect run. So far I'm stuck at 6/8, I've yet to really perfect the cornering of the track to really take the odd blue shell out of the equation.

Also have Overwatch running on my laptop. It's nice to play it on a bigger screen, but I really need to get around to buying a new desktop. This thing wasn't even supposed to run games from 2010, let alone 2016, so I'm barely getting 25 FPS on my rig. After spending hundreds of hours on TF2, it's so difficult starting from the bottom again.

Anybody else got Far Cry 5 on PS4 and wanna help me clear my 60 minute co-op perk?

Finished ZOE: The 2nd Runner HD the other day and it really picks up on what Zone of the Enders didn't do and the bosses require strategy of using your surroundings to your advantage. I prefer the protagonist of this one as the 1st one was super whiny(Though he is better in the sequel) and I like the fact that they do a better job of enemy variety which was a major problem in the first game. It is still somewhat short and the final boss was pretty much "Mash square the video game" where between Bayonetta 1 hurting my hand, Zone of the Enders: 2nd runner hurting my finger and the next game I listed hurting my eyes, my body has taken a toll this week alone from these damn video games The anime segments are pretty bad(The voices move so funny in the speaking portions, it makes Star Fox's image voice moving look revolutionary) and again the voice acting is rather lacking but it came out 2003 so you can mark that one on the era it came from. The combat is so damn good in this game and makes up for a story that is really all over the place and a story that you can get lost easily, I think Kojima spent more time and effort in Metal Gear Solid series story more than anything. The combat felt really ahead of its time and both games from a gameplay perspective still hold up well, it is easily the series selling point. The 2nd runner is getting a remaster this September so it would be in good interest to wait for it because the 1st ZOE is something you can miss as the sequel leaves the game in the dust, although if you at all care about the series story, the 1st game does come into the 2nd game's story quite a bit with a boatload of characters returning and mentioning what happened in the 1st game quite often.

Beyond the Bounds is such a dope ass song btw, so I understand why the game flaunts that track quite a bit. I will say from an HD Collection perspective, it is painful when this game dips under 30 FPS especially in a game that is so action paced that when multiple enemies(And take it from me there is a Dynasty Wariors styled sequence in the game) that this game is like slow mo at given points so the remaster should save the day in this regard. 

and I finished Housemarque's Nex Machina the other day, what a dope arcade game. Every few months I find myself gravitating towards these futuristic arcade games. I wish the game's arcade mode was longer but I get that this is meant to be a multiple replays sort of deal with the game. The chaoticness is the selling point here as it runs sort of similar to a game I played last year, Assault Andorid Cactus with the bullet hell, fast pace moving and destroy everything on your screen to progress and I am such a sucker for these type of games. You can do so much worse spending an evening on Nex Machina, it ran me a little under two hours but those two hours were full of fun, rage and overall intensity. None of my deaths were cheap or unearned, I felt like I got my mistake on each death. I will say that this game hurt my eyes, particularly the final two bosses because the flashing lights during the final phase were fucking straining my eyes as I was laser focused on dodging everything and hitting the bosses so for people who suffer epilepsy or whose eyes strain easily, I would be cautious towards playing this game because damn I had to keep shutting my eyes after a boss fight. Music fits right in with the battles in this game with the futuristic theme and the ending credits music was pretty darn good and worth beating the game to hear! I kinda wish there was a tutorial in this game so I cannot stress to immediately when playing this game to go to options and check what buttons mean what. I didn't know how to dash until the 3rd level in! When I was forced to go through a one hit KO lazer! You get 99 continues on the game's normal mode so I only burnt about 30 or so and you have about 4 or 5 lives before needing to use a continue so the game is very beatable! Other modes include 10 continues or 5 continues so NOPE on that one You gotta be damn good to go through that. 

Game is on sale for under 6 bucks on NA PSN so treat yourself to a kickass game from 2017. I had a good experience for a few hours on it! Damn shame Housemarque isn't backed by Sony anymore because I appreciate their arcade style games and I like how they focus more on gameplay over story and let the game do the talking per say.

Hotline Miami series, Furi, RUINER, Assault Android Cactus and these Housemarque games are vital in the video game industry of just being quick games to pick up that don't focus on story as much as the chaotic gameplay of do or die game mechanics that you need to use skill and strategy to succeed. I will always find myself gravitating towards these relentless timesinks. AND I GET GOOD MUSIC to go along with this? Oh yes! 

Onto God of War II and soon GOW III as we prepare for GOW PS4. 

Dragon Quest VIII
Although this is universally regarded as one of the best JRPGs ever made, I wasn't all that optimistic to start judging by my previous DQ experiences (I, II, and IV). I'm 2-3 hours in, and so far the eighth instalment hasn't diverted too heavily from the standard formula. Large maps and dungeons, standard turn-based battles, grinding right from the start. This formula quickly grated on me in the older games, but I can't see this happening for DQVIII. While DQIV was the first of the series to have a vibrant story and multiple interesting personalities, it was still a slog to get through for the most part. What makes this game so much more engrossing? It's the voice acting, the improved graphics, and the gorgeous environments/animations. It's essentially DQIV brought to life, including the various representations of modern day nations. Even with all that in its favour, I can see it getting boring if it sticks to the generic JRPG formula and nothing else throughout its duration (as DQIV did). But from what I've heard, there are plenty of minigames to keep the variety intact, and the skill points system suggests a depth in character development not existent in the aforementioned titles. So far I'm loving this game, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds.

While I'm making comparisons to older games, I'm curious as to the progression between IV and VIII. VIII is the god tier game, the magnum opus, and none of the previous games are ever mentioned. I can imagine there being a gradual increase in quality leading up to VIII, but perhaps it's more the case that V-VII were all mediocre and VIII did a bunch of new stuff and blew everyone's minds.

Mar 31, 2018 21:33:57 GMT Emperor said:

Dragon Quest VIII
Although this is universally regarded as one of the best JRPGs ever made, I wasn't all that optimistic to start judging by my previous DQ experiences (I, II, and IV). I'm 2-3 hours in, and so far the eighth instalment hasn't diverted too heavily from the standard formula. Large maps and dungeons, standard turn-based battles, grinding right from the start. This formula quickly grated on me in the older games, but I can't see this happening for DQVIII. While DQIV was the first of the series to have a vibrant story and multiple interesting personalities, it was still a slog to get through for the most part. What makes this game so much more engrossing? It's the voice acting, the improved graphics, and the gorgeous environments/animations. It's essentially DQIV brought to life, including the various representations of modern day nations. Even with all that in its favour, I can see it getting boring if it sticks to the generic JRPG formula and nothing else throughout its duration (as DQIV did). But from what I've heard, there are plenty of minigames to keep the variety intact, and the skill points system suggests a depth in character development not existent in the aforementioned titles. So far I'm loving this game, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds.

While I'm making comparisons to older games, I'm curious as to the progression between IV and VIII. VIII is the god tier game, the magnum opus, and none of the previous games are ever mentioned. I can imagine there being a gradual increase in quality leading up to VIII, but perhaps it's more the case that V-VII were all mediocre and VIII did a bunch of new stuff and blew everyone's minds.

Any reason you skipped III? I *think* before 8 it was regarded as the best in the series. Only someone like HF will be able to correct me on that.

I honestly can't remember if I played III or not. I feel like I did, but I'm not confident enough in that belief to include it. It might be that I started it, saw it was exactly like I and II, then gave it up after under an hour. The first two I at least gave a fairer shake.

HF regards V as the best in the series before VIII.

I'm considering plonking down the cash for FarCry 5 but there's one question that i've got after watching a video last night. Apparently if you grind for a bit and unlock the 2 animal bonus, if you just use the bear and mountain lion, it's an overpowered combo. Is this close to accurate?

Dragon Quest III, V & VIII are generally considered the best of the series, with the other games coming down to personal preferences.

What I enjoyed most about DQ8 was the sense of exploration. Coming across a new town always felt rewarding because it was an opportunity to pillage through all the pots, plants, treasure chests what have you for the next lot of gear. You could save a lot of money by simply going through the scraps and getting the ingredients for a powerful weapon or piece of armour. Then there's the thrill of going back and taking on infamous monsters who operate like mini-bosses and once you unlock the monster arena actually become useful side characters. No matter what you did, as long as you were willing to explore, you were often rewarded whereas most JRPGs tend to be lazy in this department.

I really enjoyed my time with it back in 2016 and found it was the perfect game to play while listening to a podcast or watching YouTube videos.

I love exploring in games, so I love the fact that DQVIII goes out of its way to reward it. I particularly like the world map exploration. You literally have to explore every nook and cranny of the world map, because there's often a treasure chest tucked in a place you can't see from even a medium distance away. A great way to facilitate grinding without forcing the player to run around in circles and feel like they're wasting their time.

Have you played V, VI, or VII? Has anyone?

I've played 1-4 and 8. I started with 8 when it was first released and in many ways it's the FF7 of Dragon Quest. I like to think it really put it on the map because of that sexy look, much like 7. I eventually got around to playing the first 3 on GBC and then 4 when it was released on the DS. V I didn't get very far as I just didn't feel like sinking 50+ hours into it. Never touched 6 because why would I? 7 when it got the 3DS remake I figured hey might as well... same situation. JRPGs just don't do it for my anymore, with few exceptions like Bravely Default and Pokemon.

DQVIII is the only game I've put considerable time into. I've dipped into the original, V & VII but haven't played more than a couple of hours in any of them. I really need to, but after putting 160 hours into Persona 5 and a 100+ hours into Xenoblade Chronicles 2, my appetite for JRPGs wasn't that high.

A lot of my impressions of the series come from other publications. One review in particular got me interested in the series, an old YouTube series called 16 Bit Gems.



At a time where everybody was copying the Angry Video Game Nerd, Roo was a breath of fresh air.

I'm not sure if I'll dive into a DQ game before XI. Like Persona 5, I don't want to ruin my appetite before the next release.

In the mean-time...

Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir (Vanillaware; 2016) - I bought this game on a whim last year after a physical copies came hard to come by and at $30 it seemed like a good deal. I originally had the PS2 copy before my brother lent it out and had a falling out with a friend. However, between all the big releases, it's only been in recent weeks I've given it my full attention. It's a shame, because Odin Sphere is an enjoyable beat-em up with good production values and surprising amounts of depth. You play as 1 of 6 characters, each with their own unique playstyles and play through their separate campaigns. While each story converges, it's interesting to see the overall narrative play out from six unique perspectives. At least, I'd imagine so since I've been skipping over story segments whenever I'm presented the opportunity. I'm not sure about you guys, but when I sit and play a game, the last thing I want to do is sit through a bunch of cut-scenes.

The game can be broken down to three categories. Combat for the most part is standard beat-em up affair. You start off by mashing the attack button and as you progress through the journey you learn skills and magic attacks that make enemies easier to deal with. As you complete each stage, you're graded on a set of criteria which basically boils down to combos and damaged receive. If you do well in this area, you're rewarded with more loot which makes progressing through the game easier. Cooking is the best way to gain experience points with tasty dishes netting high amounts of EXP points and HP upgrades. Through out the game you will acquire more recipes and ingredients which will make your growth that much easier. Finally there's Alchemy which can assist you in combat. By finding the right ingredients you can create powerful bombs that will target all the enemies on the map, or concoct potions that will regenerate large sums of health or protect you from damage. Like cooking, you unlock recipes through out your journey and unlike character progression, all these recipes remain on your save. So you don't have to go through the same motions waiting for each individual character to learn how to put together a basic health potion.

Interestingly, a lot of these tweaks were only introduced in the Leifthrasir edition of the game. While the core of the game remains the same, Leifthrasir makes the overall experience more pleasant. For instance, the combat in the original could be cumbersome as players could only use basic combat, alchemy and magic attacks to deal damage. Furthermore, character development was relatively difficult in the original, with the implementation of the risk/reward system. Players would have to choose between their attack or their HP on any given stage. If they chose attack, they would have to dispatch enemies as quickly as possible and open themselves to enemy attacks as they absord lingering souls. The latter was somewhat more forgiving. The player could plant a seed that would automatically absorb the lingering souls and grow fruit. The risk would be in choosing the right seed, as the better fruit would require more souls than others. If you failed to meet the quota of souls, the plant would never grow any fruit, causing the endeavour to be useless. While it made for more strategic play, considering the sheer size of the game, it also made large sections of the game feel more tedious than it ought to have been. Fortunately for traditionalists, the original version of the game is playable.

Right now I'm up to the third character's campaign. Her stages are designed more like a shoot em up, with a twist. Where as in most shoot em ups you can spam bullets, in Odin Sphere you have to return to the group to reload your ammo.

Splatoon (Nintendo; 2015) - I still had some unfinished business with the original. While my internet connection is as terrible as anything, I still had yet to purchase all the weapons. I believe I had around 200,000 worth to get, which came out to around 50 wins on ranked. Usually you rank up after 7 wins and in my time, I could not break through the A+ barrier.

Splatoon 2 (Nintendo; 2017) - The recent splatfest Baseball vs. Soccer was recently, with Baseball taking it out. Unfortunately I chose Soccer since I'm far more familiar with it and came out with 3 less prizes as a result. Fortunately I had a much better round this time around. I made sure to get my gear ready for this round of Splatfest, and leveled up the customary splatfest T ahead of time. This gave my character more of an edge in battles and allowed me to finish with my highest score of 2100.

I adore Leifthrasir, it's one of the gold standard games for how to do a remake, did nothing worse, did many things better...I couldn't even touch the original after playing it. Instantly jumped into my top 50 games of all time. Wish they'd do something like that for Muramasa, it's a great game at it's core, but I really couldn't stand the Wii controls.

I'm currently playing Skies of Arcadia - Legends on the Gamecube! I really love this game. It's very old-school with the turn-based battle system and the admittedly slow random battles. Thankfully this improved port from the DC version has some nice new additions with new sidequests and a better random battle frequency.

And it's definitely one of those games that just keeps an upbeat feeling all the way through. Vyse and Aika are both very likable protagonists. And the tone is just easy to get into: nothing overly grimdark. I'm already at Yafutoma, so excited to just go through the rest of the game now.

Ok Far Cry 5, I'll give you that ending.

SPOILER: Click to show

I know it'll be divisive, but sometimes I appreciate a good "Fuck you" ending. After all is said and done, you wage that war on Project Eden's gate, you kill all of those people...and Joseph was right. Their tactics were horrible, but god damned if they weren't going to save lives. By winning...you lose. You got me good there, caught me with my mouth open.

Dragon Quest VIII
I'm breezing through this game. I haven't been engrossed in a JRPG in this way for a very long time. In my previous post I had some reservations about the game becoming monotonous, since the gameplay is just turn-based combat 101, but so far that hasn't been the case. I'm struggling to think why. There's not an overabundance on minigames. I guess the long exploration periods and frequent cutscene/story breaks do enough to stem the tide, despite the world map itself being monotonous. I grinded the slime bingo at the casino while watching Thor: Ragnarok. I got a ton of tokens well before the movie ended and spent them on some cool items for alchemy (yeah I'm using an alchemy guide, sue me). Right now I've just acquired the ship after having a tough battle against the charismatic Don Mole. Here exploration is biting me in the ass because I'm sailing to all these new locations only to face super tough monsters that can wipe me out in a few hits. Fortunately the evasion mechanic is very generous. I'm basically forced to go to the continent I have to go to which is a shame.

People talk up the Monster Arena on the internet but so far I'm not blown away. Then again, I haven't had much chance to see its potential depth yet. After unlocking it I teleported around and re-defeated the three world map monsters I had previously found, stuck them in a team, and beat the first three ranks in one sitting. The fourth rank proved too challenging but since then I have a few new monsters so maybe I can tackle it.

Stranger Things
This is a mobile game my friend has on her tablet. It's a blatant 2D Zelda ripoff, but an extremely well-done one, and a real treat for fans of the show. It's been adapted very well for touchscreen controls. The reason I played it is because my friend got stuck a bunch of times and I bailed her out. She also didn't mind me playing for a while. It's very addictive. Link uses items to access new areas. Stranger Things uses unlockable characters for the same purpose. They have unique navigation abilities and can be switched in and out instantaneously. Will can crawl through narrow gaps. Nancy can smash things with a baseball bat. Etc. It's really fun and worth seeking out.

Cuphead
I can't find fault with this game. It's perfect. Flawless game design, simple mechanics, plays extremely smoothly, and the art is sublime. It's difficult, but never unfair or unbeatable. Enough practice and you'll beat a level in a reasonable time. It's clear the game underwent significant playtesting. Single player and co-op are two different experiences. For example, a lot of bosses use targeted attacks. In single player you know where the projectile will go so you can plan in advance. In two player you're not sure which player will be targeted which can trip you up.

I first played Cuphead local co-op with Lionheart. Using some techno-wizardry I remote connected to his computer and we have slowly worked through the game. Currently stuck at the final boss. The problem is I experienced input delay and occasional lag spikes. It didn't make the game unplayable, but much more difficult than it otherwise would be. Any dodging that requires precise small-step movement was pretty much impossible for me to sustain. However you can revive each other in 2-player so it wasn't a huge deal. It would be much more fun to co-op Cuphead in person, but our setup isn't bad at all.