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Post by Solana on May 28, 2023 13:31:47 GMT -5
You saying that reminds me of a surgery/medical simulation game I heard about where they purposely have things shaking like you're riding in the back of an ambulance. ...Yeah, definitely not type of challenge. (Laughs) But it would be accurate when trying to give rats or pigs shots. The rats will scream dramatically, like, "Why are you trying to KILL me?" "OMG, I haven't even restrained you yet." Luckily they're not as bitey as mice. Or for the pigs, it was being wrongfully told that I had to give an IM shot in the neck. My buddy in that arena had advised me to give him the treat first, then move in with the butterfly catheter. Yes, I slashed myself with it the first time, but I'm much better with it now. Funny how stabbing cross-stitch fabric how many hundreds of thousands of times helps your dexterity. The pig pulled it out and ran screaming around his pen, all seven hundred pounds of him, leaving me with a partially full syringe of pain meds that needed to be in him. I chased him and finally got it in. Then I find out that we're supposed to use a buddy system, or check in with someone before and after going in the pen because they can kill you. They just keep raising the bar for training there. (Rolls eyes.) Still making my way through Okamiden. The fighting style is very different in that the beads are nerfed, and you get points for partner help and can't just go crazy with the brush. I'm continually impressed at how well the new music/remixes were done and the graphics to fit well on a DS after the PS2. And Kurow makes me laugh a lot- he's probably my favorite partner.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jun 18, 2023 1:21:38 GMT -5
Since the Apollo Justice trilogy for Ace Attorney got announced that reminded me that I hadn't gotten around to the final AA6 DLC case Turnabout Time Traveler that I bought during my "Nintendo's closing the 3DS eshop!" binge. Figured now is as soon as any to play one more round of AA until whenever they get around to AA7 (or an Ace Attorney Investigations remaster duology... please... I would buy the first game all over again if it meant I could have the second). I've been waffling on what to play since wrapping up Frostpunk (which is currently in the running against OPUS: Echo of Starsong for my favorite game of the year), and the reason for that is my most anticipated title of the year is coming out at the end of July, so I'm trying to figure out what will land comfortably in the space in between. I still have a little over a month, but I tend to take longer with games than I expect, so I don't really want to dive into a game and find out that I'm 40 hours into a 80 hour RPG when my pre-order arrives. Compounding that is the large number of games I want that are all releasing in June. Only Jack Jeanne has a reasonable chance of being finished in time since my pre-order already arrived, and I'm definitely curious about a crossdressing otome rhythm game from the mind of Sui Ishida, the creator of Tokyo Ghoul. I like Tokyo Ghoul and I like most otome, so in theory this should work? He did all the character designs which is really cool. But from what I read about how the game's laid out it's rather long (60 hours for all routes) and you have to redo the common route every time because it's like Hatoful Boyfriend where you need to allocate yours stats as you go. I assume you get to fastforward any dialogue you've already seen, but you cannot skip the rhythm game portions and I'm not terribly good at rhythm games. So playing the last AA DLC is also me stalling for a little more time to figure out what's next.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jun 20, 2023 22:12:20 GMT -5
Finished Turnabout Time Traveler. It was a pretty good capstone to the second AA trilogy. Spirit of Justice brought back Maya and Pearl, and with them all the major characters except Gumshoe, have made post-timeskip appearances, but even though he's not quite a major character so much as a recurring one, it was nice to see Larry return in Turnabout Time Traveler. With Edgeworth as prosecutor and Larry making the mess he does with every appearance, it was a solid fan service trial with a fairly decent criminal investigation. I just wish the villain wasn't so obvious. It wasn't as bad as to have the villain parade about in the case's opening cutscene, but it was pretty easy to rule out just about everyone else. It didn't help that villain exuded suspicion every time he showed up.
I guess I'm just a little hungry for cases with unexpected culprits rather than simply figuring out how the shady guy pulled it off.
While I didn't like how the "time travel" happened, I liked the metaphorical sense of multiple characters being trapped in time. It was a nice way to make the case about the time travelers rather than the travel itself.
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Post by Solana on Jun 22, 2023 15:17:12 GMT -5
Yeah, it was definitely focused more on having almost everyone back compared to how deep some of the other cases went. It was fun fluff and kind of nice after how hardcore that last case was.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jun 22, 2023 21:57:10 GMT -5
Yeah, Spirit of Justice's last case was so long since it was really two trials and then soooooo much plot and backstory. I was initially disappointed that Athena's rakugo case was so short, but once I got to the last case I could see what the devs were saving all their effort for. I didn't time my playthrough, but I suspect it's the longest case in the entire series.
I feel a little like I want to go back to Ace Attorney Investigations for a replay, but I've got more unfinished games to go, so I went back to Piofiore:Fated Memories since it's on my "should finish" list of games this year. Last year I got interrupted because AI: Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative showed up and sucked away the most of the second half of 2022. I thought I'd finished all of Nicola's unlocks (only guy I did) since this was a pre-planned stopping point (that just ended up being longer than expected), but it turns out that even though I'd gotten both the best ending and the bad ending, I didn't get the good ending (which has unlockable artwork and I'm all about the CGs) and it seems I forgot one of his epilogues.
With Nicola wrapped up, and now mentally prepared to be surrounded by awful people with dubious morals (as fitting for a mafia story) there's five more routes to wrap this up. If I manage one a week I'll finish just as Radiant Tale arrives at the end of next month, though I'll try to be faster.
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Post by Ambrienne on Jul 4, 2023 21:01:16 GMT -5
Recently the game Love Spell: Written in the Stars got a Starlight update that not only consolidated Aslan's route into the main game (though still as DLC) but also added additional dialogue in the other four routes as well as side/slightly AU stories and interactive profiles that unlock after some or all of the first four routes are done. The side stories especially had me laughing with the additional interactions between the LIs, not just with the MC but with each other. The side story involving a magical transformation, though... that was something else. It's amazing which LIs don't come out looking so good in that one. And after I got through with that, I went for Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane. I picked this up right after it was released on Steam, because I couldn't get through the trailer without cackling. Yes, it's like Ace Attorney with magic. There's plenty of fun dialog and nutty characters throughout the five cases. It was well worth the playthrough... including the 'during the credits' moment when someone finally beats Tyrion at chess.
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Post by northlander on Jul 12, 2023 17:59:36 GMT -5
Diablo 4. So far, I can definitely say it's a bit of a step up from Diablo 3, if by "step up", I mean the kind of steps one of Askeladden's helper could take when he ran to the world's end to find water for tea.
I've been trying a few character types, but the one I've used the most is a werebear druid made after a build that does shockwave slams, and it's just such a room clearer. Even better, the game has an ingame chat that works really really well even cross platform.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jul 17, 2023 15:04:44 GMT -5
I was going to buy Diablo 4 since I have a friend playing and they have druid again (I have fond memories of wolf-ing it up in D2), but apparently my computer is just one video card generation too old and I'm not buying either a new computer or a new card for a single game, so it's going on the wishlist until a later date. There are a couple other games that have higher graphics card requirements that I'm tracking, but nothing must-play given my existing backlog. I suppose when Path of Exile 2 or the next Dragon Age game gets out of development hell will be what pushes me to upgrade. My last two computers were bought specifically for Dragon Age Origins and Inquisition respectively, but it's been a loooong time that Dreadwolf has been in development and my current comp is able to handle all the indie fluff and strategy games I put on it so I just haven't had the incentive.
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Post by Ambrienne on Jul 21, 2023 12:30:40 GMT -5
Well, Voltage finally released Nomura's 24 Hours and Counting story from Metro PD: Close to You. So, I can finally give my opinion on who's the greatest (though I like the banter and cases overall regardless of the LI in both the Main stories and most of the side stories). Unsurprisingly, it's Kirisawa for me. I just like the dynamic between them so well along with the quality of the cases. Not that Nomura's ending story was bad. I did think they tried a little too hard to tie off the villain in this one to being somehow tangentially responsible for a lot of the major cases in ALL of the LIs' plotlines. Yes, really. What were they thinking? Oh, well.
It was worth saving up my daily login coins since I quit being a VIP member a while back. Interestingly enough, I noticed that Voltage started releasing some of the other stories on Steam. Given that they're doing it for the complete main storylines in most cases so far, it's actually a substantial bargain, especially during a sale season.
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Post by Ambrienne on Jul 31, 2023 16:04:12 GMT -5
I just recently played through a game called Crime O' Clock. I normally avoid anything hidden object related like the plague. This one is a bit special, though. Think Where's Waldo with time travel, crime, and funny little easter eggs thrown in for giggles (a couple of them include obvious Ninja Turtles and One Piece crew parodies). Most parts of the main storyline have hints available, and there's a guide on Steam that covers the optional Fulcrum stories and some endgame stuff where the hints aren't available. I managed to do a fair amount of the Fulcrum stories without needing help, but there is one particular character... ha, ha... I think they invented the braid girl for the sole purpose of making you want to tear your hair out in frustration. I did not feel the least bit guilty about using the guide for that as she was especially obscured the majority of her 10 'find me' instances. Other than that, it was a pretty decent game. There were a couple of places where I would have liked to have 'words' with them for their directional hints, though. West and south are not the same thing.
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Post by Rune Lai on Aug 1, 2023 18:00:07 GMT -5
Well, Voltage finally released Nomura's 24 Hours and Counting story from Metro PD: Close to You. So, I can finally give my opinion on who's the greatest (though I like the banter and cases overall regardless of the LI in both the Main stories and most of the side stories). Unsurprisingly, it's Kirisawa for me. I just like the dynamic between them so well along with the quality of the cases. Not that Nomura's ending story was bad. I did think they tried a little too hard to tie off the villain in this one to being somehow tangentially responsible for a lot of the major cases in ALL of the LIs' plotlines. Yes, really. What were they thinking? Oh, well. It was worth saving up my daily login coins since I quit being a VIP member a while back. Interestingly enough, I noticed that Voltage started releasing some of the other stories on Steam. Given that they're doing it for the complete main storylines in most cases so far, it's actually a substantial bargain, especially during a sale season. Is Nomura's 24 Hours and Counting the last of the main stories to be translated? I saw that came out, but with everything else I'm backlogged on, I'm not remotely close to reading it. I liked both him and Kirisawa when I read their first season main stories (though Kirisawa won out when I finally checked out the VIP room and was forced to choose a guy). It looks like Voltage is more interested in ports these days. They've already put out a bunch on Switch, and it looks like new ports going forward are going to be both on Switch and Steam since Masquerade Kiss is getting released on both within a month of each other. And since MK is part of the blech-worthy Love Choice system, it feels even better seeing it as a pay-one-price bundle. The only thing that's a bit annoying is that when they bundle stories for another system they don't always get all the love interests or even all the main stories past a certain season. A couple Switch titles have added future seasons as DLC, but that's been the exception rather than the rule. I was actually surprised they chose MK as their latest port since it is a Love Choice title and at least 4-5 years newer than the other titles they've ported. It makes me wonder if the mobile well is drying up or they're just trying to reach potentially untapped markets since there are a lot of indies on Steam and little in the way of major commercial projects.
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Post by Ambrienne on Aug 1, 2023 20:56:45 GMT -5
I think it is. However, I did notice that they have a new story for Hanai coming out in the next month, so I don't know if they are, in fact, deciding to continue the main storylines past the 24 Hours point or if this is just a side story (I'm betting on the latter since people have been begging for Nomura's 24 story for over a year now). Admittedly, though, a lot of the side stories in that title are pretty good. Not too many of the other titles can say the same.
::twitches:: Seriously? They're choosing Masquerade Kiss to push? Past the first season or 2 (depending on which guy) it's kind of... mediocre to irredeemable trash storyline quality-wise. If they're pushing it because of the more blatant steaminess, then that seems to be a rather dumb move on their part as I don't think it would do much good for their reputation. Bleh.
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Post by Rune Lai on Aug 1, 2023 21:54:36 GMT -5
I didn't want to say anything about the quality of Masquerade Kiss lol. When I opened the app for the first time it suggested a few stories to start off with and I chose Masquerade Kiss assuming it would be entertaining trash... but I found the opening kinda "meh" and backed out in search of something better after a minute or two. I did read one of the side stories when it came up as one of the free daily reads, but it just kinda confirmed that it wasn't for me. I wanted a femme fatale, but it seems more like she's the one being seduced rather than doing the seducing. I wish they would go back to Tokyo Love Hustle, since it's the only love choice title where I really liked the cast, but they only released two routes and then it seems to have been put on the backburner so I guess that's not what the Voltage market wants. I love my found family band of miscreants. All the rich alpha males can go sit in the toilet.
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Post by Rune Lai on Aug 1, 2023 22:47:17 GMT -5
Finished Piofiore: Fated Memories. I have to say that I never thought I'd get so much entertainment value out of an otome that has its love interests murdering each other. It makes sense because most of them are mafia from rival gangs, but I didn't think the game would get so brutal about it. Barring the mostly non-romantic Finale route, there isn't a single good ending that ends with all five men standing. I got to the final love interest in the game who is locked until you complete all the other routes, and as he tried to be charming by telling the protagonist the safest place in the city was next to him, the first thing I thought of was how funny it was that I've seen him killed by every other love interest in the game. Might have spoiled the mood a bit. In fact I think he's the only love interest to have been killed by everybody else. Because every single love interest is a dude willing to get his hands dirty, the climax of a route usually ends up being a showdown between Lili's current squeeze and one of the other potential love interests who ends up getting killed. And other guys may have died along the way. But most of the face-offs result in people flailing around in poorly choreographed combat sequences because it's a visual novel so they're working with a limited amount of text and sprite movement to convincingly portray a duel, and the designers didn't make it any easier on themselves by having sword/dagger vs pistol fights. Blocking blades with guns and/or kicking away blades with one's leg both sound like terrible defensive options for the gun guys, and somehow the sword/dagger guys are great at not taking any lethal damage from range despite never taking cover. Yang at least has a narrative excuse in that he has trouble feeling pain so sometimes he doesn't notice he's injured, but Orlok is the dodge bullets guy, which usually looks fine in anime, but sounds really dumb in text form when the protagonist's narration literally says he's faster than the bullets. Overall I think it was a good, but not great game. Great art, great music, entertaining characters, but subpar writing and some of the most obtuse decision-making I've ever seen in an otome. There are decisions where both options sound equally viable, but one of them is a "bad choice and now you die" involving a danger you have no reason to believe will occur. I was laughing a lot, but I think a lot of those moments weren't intended to be funny (like the guy bragging about how safe it is to be around him). Sometimes that included the random ways the protagonist would end up dying. I suppose it's telling that my favorite route and my favorite character are not the same, when they usually are. There's also a secret love interest that is kind of half a route, but I didn't like him much. While the secret dude is yet another guy with lots of blood on his hands, he's not mafia and his motivations are quite different from everyone else. Because I did not feel the ends justified the means, and I didn't think the protagonist had particularly good chemistry with him, I just wasn't feeling it. His place in the story was nice, and I liked the extra detail he brought to the world building. I just didn't want to romance him.
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Post by Ambrienne on Aug 2, 2023 14:20:24 GMT -5
What do you mean that various ways of dying aren't meant to be fu... oh wait, this is no longer the golden age of Sierra games. Of course, death can no longer be quite that full of purposeful humor. Anyway, with Tokyo Love Hustle, I also agree that I would rather have more from them as opposed to the other LC stories. I do think the 2nd route they released, though, kind of harmed things, because it seemed like he was not as central as he should have been in his own route. Not that it wasn't good, but it just seemed odd. I recently replayed the original Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and found that a smartphone is an excellent substitute for ye old travel almanac. ...And I also wondered why in the world I ever thought that getting to see a few seconds worth of a guy doing the 'one man marching band' thing was a worthy reward for finally nabbing the big cheese... even if one of the instruments he was playing was a pink accordion/concertina thing. I don't miss the days of having to write down passwords to continue my place in games either. Now, I'm staring at my small games backlog (small in number, not the size of the games themselves) wondering what in the world I'm going to move onto next. I may give it a day or two before I start off on one, though. I knocked off a bunch of books on my 'definitely not a small' pile, so I may keep working on them instead.
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