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Went through Lost Dimension on a second playthrough and lucked out SO MUCH by a) having the three characters whose profiles I couldn't complete last time NOT betray me before I could complete them this time and b) having all the characters that suck in combat but whose story I had completed betray me right off the bat! Given how the betrayals are randomized in this game, it was a pretty damn near perfect set up for a second playthrough, so I am quite pleased. This also meant that I got to see the true ending, hooray!

Now I am playing Valkyria Chronicles Remastered on PS4 (where the load times are good). I feel like I realize my main problem with why I don't like SRPGs much compared to action or traditional ones, and that is the nature of trial and error in your combat missions. It's like "ok, NOW I know there's 3 snipers there and two tanks", but yeah, the trial and error is annoying. I also think the game should've told me a few things that would've been very helpful (things like I can clear away certain debris using hand grenades or if I don't fill all my spots at the start of a mission, I can call in reinforcements later from any flag I've occupied), things I kind of ended up looking up online. But I am still having fun with the game. Although at one point, it did this hard "video game logic" thing that was supposed to be a serious moment, but unexpectedly made me laugh a little. Just the basic video game rule of spoiler[if you die in a cutscene, you die for real], which is just silly when my soldiers take ten shots to the head before they'll go down.

I bought Fire Emblem Warriors for the Switch a while ago when I found the limited edition selling for less than the original price of the base game. I guess it didn't sell that well. I gave it a try today and played through the prologue and first 3 chapters. I played on normal difficulty and I would hate to see what easy difficulty is as even though I suck at games generally I only lost once, which was only due to my own stupidity in fighting a boss with the wrong character. I am enjoying the game but It could become boring if played too much due to being so repetitive. I'll have to see if I do want to play more before investing in the DLC. I was also trying this game to see if maybe I want to get the upcoming Switch port of Hyrule Warriors.

Finished up Valkyria Chronicles, it was fun! But of course, I had to go watch a speedrun and see the whole game ruined for me, lol, glad I didn't see it before. Being strategy game, a large part of it is knowing what's coming in the level, but still.

As intended, I did indeed start Skies of Arcadia: Legends (after remembering it exists because Vyse, Aika, and Fina all make cameos in Valkyria with the first two being potential team members. According to the internet, their bio states that they get on a ship at the end of Valkyria and are never seen again!) Of course, I must also thank teenage me for getting this at Gamestop eons ago for like $20 or so (and I thought it was a pricier game then! I only got the disc, but even that alone goes for $70 these days) I also bought a few things to make playing the game more enjoyable, for $10 total, I got a component cable (good luck finding a Gamecube one for cheap, this is a Wii/PS2 combo one) so that it won't look completely blurry and like garbage and a Gamecube controller extension cable so I can play the game more comfortably (why didn't teenage me know about Gamecube controller extension cords? Gamecube always had the shortest controller cords! And the Wavebird didn't have rumble so it wasn't the same! And for the record, I still think the Gamecube is one of the most comfortable controllers ever made)
The funny thing is that I don't recall this game looking that blocky and chunky and a bit ugly, but clearly I have been spoiled by more modern games. Also, this was a Dreamcast game that basically got ported, so that's not helping. Another holdover from the Dreamcast is clearly the lack of voice over with the kind of low quality sound clips characters might say during battle and stuff at times (and it's kind of dated/bad voice acting that was more common back then). Oh well, it's kind of charming, though I certainly wish the draw distance could be longer at times (like on the world map). I also totally forgot old-school RPGs tendency to just not explain anything about their mechanics. I don't need my hand held, but damn, modern JRPGs at least give you some glossary to look up stuff in case you might have any questions (but that's what the internet is for now). And also old-school JRPG tendency to have you run at one kind of slowish speed, but I guess I've gotten used to that with this game at least.
But for all of my complaints so far (which basically boil down to "wow, old early 3D JRPGs were weird! How did I put up with that sort of stuff back then?!"), I am quite enjoying the story and gameplay and although dated today, you can tell a lot of heart and soul was put into the graphics and characters (although, I must admit, the way Vyse holds his left sword? He holds his right sword normal, and I've certainly seen plenty of other JRPG characters hold the sword back hand, but he's holding the left sword by the short part of the "t" handle on the left/right side! You can see it on the boxart or other official art, if you're curious, wtf?) I'm over 11 hours in at this point too and I'm looking forward to beating it!

Beat Skies of Arcadia: Legends! Not 100% though. Kept wanting to have little trophies show up, but that was well before that time, lol.
While there are some annoying gameplay artifacts from a lost time (and good ridance to those, btw), I overall really did enjoy the game. I was always pleasantly surprised when the "correct" answer to things was often to fall back and regroup, when in so many RPGs, the answer tends to be "run ahead, even though we know this is a trap and no one in their right mind would actually do this!". So this did make me like Vyse a lot more. Vyse, Aika, and Fina also had good chemistry together. The world building was also quite enjoyable and I liked the time I spent in their world, overall. I definitely think this game needs a good remake though, it's still held in high regard for good reason, but you also definitely need to be able to overlook some old timey RPG annoyances that, several times, made me go "yep, using a guide here". Though, impressive for its time, it's not automatic game over on boss death, it does give you an immediate "try again" option, which is always nice (though deaths outside of bosses? That's still instant game over. Usually, this would only be the result of those jerks spamming instant death spells that I swear are 75-95% hit rate when used by an enemy on you, and like 5-10% the other way around)
That said, there are some clear improvements a remake would need. Some of it, I'm sure was system limitations at the time, but the draw distance is so damn tiny! I had to constantly double check my map! And the air shop battles were like molasses. And while you could skip your super attack animations, you couldn't skip an enemies, so that got annoying when some of them are like, 45-60 seconds long. And while you could skip super attack animations, not so for spell animations. I'd also probably just make the battle system overall a little more engaging, it was fairly standard RPG, at least by today's standards. And would it kill you to give me a repel? Running, even from common battles, negatively affects your "Swashbuckler rating", which is annoying. Also, the voice acting, what little there is, has just aged so damn poorly. The funny thing is, I think Vyse and Aika had more voice acting lines in their Valkyria Chronicles cameo than this game (age product, once again) A fresh coat of paint, maybe some more side quests, and this game could definitely get love again today, easily, imo. Also, I heard on the Dreamcast version, since it loads before a battle, if the system makes the disc whirr, then you go into menu and swap out a weapon or something, it just cancels the random encounter! HA!

So yeah, I quite enjoyed it! If you'll be ok with some of the antique JRPG standards, I'd definitely suggest playing this one!
story/characters-4/5
gameplay 2.5/5

I got a little crazy at the end of last weekend. I started playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sunday evening only planning to scan in Amiibos and go hunting around Hebra for meat, chests and Korok seeds. I finally got all my inventory slots upgraded (I will never get all 900 seeds) and found a hidden shrine. After midnight I scanned the Amiibos again but instead of quitting and going to bed I decided to tour Hyrule Castle for the first time. I know they change the map due to the 3-dimensionality of the castle but it made me keep getting lost. I did manage to get the Hylian shield and found the last memory but I also wasted a lot of time. Even then I still couldn't stop playing so I went and "cleansed" Vah Naboris (after raiding the Yiga hideout and beating Master Koga). So I did make a lot of progress in the story, which is a good thing as I am now over 305 hours of gameplay.

I decided to try out Prototype on PS4 for a while. I got through the tutorial missions and into "free roam" mode, then ran into an "impossible" mission. Although I am out of the tutorial the game still is telling me where to go and what to do, unfortunately I am at a point where when I do what the game tells me to do I die almost immediately. I was trying to do this game without looking stuff up online but I guess I'll have to look this one up. Not a great game but I was having some fun with it.

I had a lot of fun with Prototype 1 and 2 a couple of years ago. Can't say I remember what tutorial mission you're talking about, but I hope you get through it - the game is really fun especially in the 'sneaking' (if you can call them that) parts where you just whittle down little by little every single soldier without them ever knowing.

I tried Bayonetta out the other day on the Switch expecting I would really suck at it but I didn't. I played on normal mode and got a silver medal on the first battle. I messed up the second battle the first time because I didn't know there was a time limit, second try I got a gold medal and took no damage somehow. It is a fun game but I can't play to long as all the button mashing makes my fingers hurt. Also, I wish I got to play the cool battles in the cut scenes.

I played Horizon Zero Dawn for about an hour and a half today so I got through a lot of the opening cut scenes and the first 2 (training) quests. Looks good but I decided to stop as I have leveled up and I need to figure out what skills I want to learn.

Playing the new 2018 God of War!

Bit of history of me and GoW series though, PS2 was kind of my jam, and I played the ever loving hell out of PS2. And I definitely played GoW 1 around when it was released and loved it! And then GoW 2 came out and it was even better! But I WAS rather slow with getting the PS3, so I never really played GoW 3 or Ascension. While now I remember a few things about the classic series that makes me go "wow, was that a poorly dated decision" (mostly with things like the sex minigames and topless women being frequent), I do still recall the fighting and combo-ing being hella fun. There were also a ton of really enjoyable set pieces that you moved to. It's was overall pretty linear, but fun. Of course, this series also popularized the plague that became "quick time events" (or QTE), which it definitely could get out of hand with (just constant O button mashing on every damn door or chest you tried to open! It seemed ok back then, but I bet that many QTEs would infuriate me today)

So, classic GoW series is all about Greek mythology wherein Kratos becomes the God of War (kind of because he wants to and he has no problem just straight up killing the gods of Greek mythology, because it's cool and makes for great set pieces). Having never beaten GoW 3, and forgetting to look up a plot synopsis until after this session just now, GoW 2018 seems to be starting a new arc. It seems to also realize that GoW 3 came out in 2010 and expects that maybe not everyone has played 1-3, so while seasoned players might know that Kratos is the GREEK GoW, this game seems to imply it pretty heavily in case you don't know. What I'll admit I wasn't expecting when going in to the game was that this involves NORSE mythology, yet Kratos is still GREEK, so I am curious how this is going to have come to be. Also new is that Kratos has a companion, whom you thankfully don't need to watch their health or anything like that (seriously, I have seen that kid thrown against the floor and slammed, and he's still somehow ok).

But I will say that the gameplay itself? It's pretty much completely different from the classic games and the environments are built completely different as well. The environments remind me a lot more of something like Last Guardian or Shadow of the Colossus or something. Not the epic set piece set up from the old game. I also really wish the camera could pull back, it would make combat a lot more enjoyable, I must admit. I also really wish I could customize the controls, but at least I could change a few things here and there. But the new camera, being really close to Kratos, means that dodging can't really be mapped to the right analog stick (which I had really liked in classic. With the camera pulled back enough, I basically recall it never giving me any real trouble during the whole game, it just sometimes made hidden paths with secret goodies harder to see). But the combat just isn't as much fun for me this time around, seems a bit more generic, it works fine, but doesn't seem as special as classic's did.

The story, while interesting, is kind of making me wonder why this had to be a God of War game though. Sure, it gets the name recognition, but it honestly feels more like a new IP than anything else. I am looking forward to how the story will end though. The classic story, while it was praised at the time, is kind of basic revenge, but this one has some intrigue to it and mystery that I want to know. Maybe it will even ex

Also, just an aside, but I am NOT a big fan of reboots and stuff of series just using the same name as the first entry. First Ratchet & Clank, and now GoW? This is going to make things incredibly confusing!

I played Bravely Default for a while on my 3DS yesterday. I really need to make use of that console more. It's pretty much a traditional turn-based JRPG with the "innovation" of the Brave/Default mechanic (attack twice and skip a turn/skip a turn taking lower damage and attack twice next turn). Of course, this game also has microtransactions (buy "sleep points" for real money) but since I can get those for free I don't care. Like most JRPGs the beginning is a lot of cut scenes but there was also a bit more combat than I expected. I've only got 2 in my party so far so I know there's a long way to go.

@classicalzawa: Some people are very upset with the changes to the new God of War with a few critics saying it is too much like other games now. My only history with the series is playing God of War III a little on PS4. Personally, I like what I have seen of the new one so I will probably buy it sometime. I suspect there may be some DLC coming so maybe I'll wait to see if I can get a complete edition (like I did with Horizon Zero Dawn)

Oh I am definitely expecting DLC, because (without getting spoilery here, I'll be vague) there's this one point in the game where you can travel to different areas, and some of the areas go "need to find X to unlock this area" while others just straight up say something like "Odin didn't put this in the game", which just reeks of DLC to me.

I'm just kind of curious why this can't just be a new IP. I personally do like this style of game (minus the camera being too damn close, though at least it's not Senua's Sacrifice close, though SS did it on purpose to make things feel uneasy), but when I think "God of War", I think of a 90s anime OVA hyper-violent action/gore/sex flick. The new game, while really good with a lot of fun places to explore, is not 90s anime OVA. It's why I'm questioning why this can't be just a new IP or, I dunno, at least declare it a spinoff or something. The direction that, say, Breath of the Wild took for Zelda was a more logical step in Zelda's case because the Zelda games have always been pretty big on hiding things like heart pieces and other collectibles about that encourage more exploration. God of War classic has always been pretty linear, so this change is so big it feels like a new IP that's taking advantage of the GoW name recognition. It's hard to be mad though, since they've clearly still made a good game, but you could always say things like 'from the GoW team" or stuff like that. Right now I'm kind of wondering why this guy has to be Kratos and why he can't be some other overly strong angry dude who's not that good at parenting. I'm hoping the story will explain why this HAS to be Kratos eventually though.
I'm about halfway through the game now, though, btw.

So yes, do play the game, just think of it as a new IP. Also right now, those two dwarf brothers are aiming for my "game character of the year" spot!

I played Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle for the second time and finished the first world. I mostly got perfect except for a couple of battles including the final boss battle (mainly because I could not figure out the "trick" at first). I also tried an easy "challenge" which I could not do as I cannot figure out how to "kill" multiple enemies on each turn (14 in 3 turns with only 3 characters on my team). I am probably missing something stupid. I am still having a good time with the game.

The Adventures of Willy Beamish was the most painfully 90s thing I've ever experienced. I liked it, but that was in spite of its aggressive 90s-ness. It's like the unholy union of The Simpsons, Married with Children, and Dennis the Menace. There were "women be shoppin'!" jokes, the stereotypical airhead teenage daughter, your frog pal is named Horny, there is a long fart joke puzzle that can end with you getting knocked through a wall, anti-union plot points that could have only come on the heels of the 1980s, Willy starts the game after he finished detention by putting on outdated aviator sunglasses, ect. I get why it's a cult hit, though, because a lot of people discovered it as kids, thinking it was a kids game, only to find sexual innuendo and a grown man having an existential crisis about his identity without a job to give him purpose.

Police Quest 3 is better, but it had some serious bugs that really brought it down for me. Despite that, I was impressed by how reserved the original trilogy was for a game about law enforcement. Before Ken Williams hired the man who did Rodney King to make a racist, homophobic pile of garbage, he had old California ranger Jim Walls designing these, resulting in games that would punish you for not following proper procedure with instant firing or even death. To get the best endings in all three games, you had to follow the rules and only use force when absolutely necessary, and even then solely to keep a situation under control. 3 does have problems, especially with ridiculous nonsense like the satan crime cult (which has Ken Williams desire for shock publicity all over it), but it mostly stands on its own. Walls isn't perfect, though. It's clear he doesn't have much experience with psychology and social issues that create criminal activity, and there's a sexist undercurrent with the whole story with his wife in all three games, but these are thankfully small issues in a mostly strong series.

Armed & Dangerous was an experience. Kind of a shame Planet Moon didn't get a better deal, because while their shooting mechanics were just okay, they made some games with a mess of personality and creativity. This was basically a combination of all things nerdy or British, a nonsensical shooter where you fight a revolution with shark guns and mole men. Even the less savory jokes that haven't aged well with the changing times manage to get laughs from how good the timing is.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a mixed bag for me so far. Design wise, it's a masterwork. There are so many ways to solve a problem, and there's always more to discover in the process. On the other hand, the writing kinda sucks. The character dialog is great, but the thematic meat is that very tired cyberpunk topic of transhumanism while refusing to engage with properly, turning into a confused commentary on the wealth gap. Knowing what happens in Mankind Divided is painting all this in a worse light for me because I know it becomes the most ass backwards race allegory later, but Human Revolution never reaches stupidity of those levels. Will have more thoughts the further I get.

Lastly, Pillars of Eternity is AMAZING. So glad I finally got around to this one, Obsidian makes damn impressive RPGs, and the web of cause and effect here is extremely impressive (though not Alpha Protocol impressive). The social reputation system was a brilliant design choice, and I just love talking with characters and exploring every nook and cranny of a map. My only major issue so far is that the white march stuff might actually make too much game, which is a problem for completionist me. Thankfully, I'm nearly through that section.

I played Horizon Zero Dawn again for a few hours yesterday. I still have not completed the opening section as I spent a lot of time doing side quests and killing stuff for fun and profit. I did manage to move the main story forward a bit by somehow killing the sawtooth on the first try. Seriously, at one point in the battle I tried to get some distance then turned around and it was gone and I got notified I had got a trophy for killing it. I guess the fire arrows got to it eventually. I also managed to level up to level 7. I am starting to suck a bit less when it comes to shooting animals which is important for upgrading carrying capacity and making health potions which I definitely need.

I just got Octopath Traveler for Switch today from Amazon and decided to try playing it a bit. I went in pretty much blind. I chose to play as the hunter. The writing is a bit silly as it is done in a faux-olde English style that looks like it was written by someone in Japan who read a couple of Shakespeare plays and thinks they know all about how ancient English works. It just comes off as silly and pretentious. The English voice acting is OK. The game is pretty good though I don't think it rates some of the super high praise it seems to be getting from some people online. One of the reasons I was interested in this game was that it was developed by some of the people who did Bravely Default. I have to say that after playing a bit of both games Bravely Default is definitely the better of the two. I don't have any regrets about buying Octopath Traveler though.

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