What are you playing this weekend? 2023-09-09

My Dual Sense (PS5 controller) got drift again, so no Monster Hunter this week.

Half-way through Soda Jungle in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (one good thing about Super Mario Wonder, is it's smaller name)
Didn't play much Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, want to fix that this week.
Not much to say about Dragon Quest XI, it's trudging along.
Started Deathloop as it's leaving PS+ Extra, but couldn't get into it, so dropped it.
After Deathloop, I wanted to play some kind of shooting game, so stared Remnant: From the Ashes. Loving the game, it's not as hard souls-like, but it's still a tough game, I guess more of a souls-lite. Loving the game, and that's taking most of my time now.

What about you guys? What have you been playing?

50 comments

Playing Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. It's sad, though. I've noticed my urge to play the game slowly drop more and more once I realized how much of the map, weapons, and music is borrowed from BotW. Sometimes, it feels like I'm just playing BotW 2.0 instead of a proper sequel. Still, I keep making progress.
Replaying Paper Mario TTYD. I really love this RPG and the Paper Mario series as a whole. Really hope we get a proper RPG for the next game in the series, with partners, badges and all that stuff.
I'm also replaying Mirror's Edge. One of my favorite games, thanks to the setting and soundtrack. It still looks beautiful, despite it coming out in 2008.
- it feels like I’m just playing BotW 2.0 instead of a proper sequel
  Really? Sure, they carried over some assets and the shape of the overworld map is the same... but most of the stuff ON the map, the chasm map, the sky map, cave systems, new abilities, a crafting system that makes the durability mechanic suck less, new characters, new ways of earning korok seeds, the president hudson puzzles, the shrines are all different (and overall more difficult, thankfully) ... there's so much new, unique stuff in this game that it's sometimes overwhelming to me, and I 100%ed BOTW twice. I think you're over-fixating on the fact that the games have the same engine.
  
  My problem was that it had the same gameplay loop. Find shrines to upgrade your health and stamina. Find Koroks to upgrade inventory space. Many of the Koroks were even in the same place as the previous game. I didn't do any Koroks that required more that 2 seconds of effort because in the time it took to carry a guy to his friend, I could have got 10 more by picking up suspicious rocks. So it really just felt more of the same in that regard.
  And honestly, I hated shrines in BotW, so I was very disappointed to not only see them come back, but for them to be the main part of the gameplay loop once again. And just the fact that so many things were in the same places as in BotW felt lazy imo. I had to get all the same outfits again with the same perks.
  It's a weird feeling. I simultaneously felt like TotK was much better than BotW, but also I didn't enjoy it as much, I think because I felt like I was just playing the same game again with a few new mechanics. It felt more like an expansion to me than a whole new game.
  
  Yeah but some of that stuff doesn't really do anything for me. The depths are alright, the sky map is too empty, with most of the islands looking nearly the exact same, the caves all have the same look. The abilities are cool, crafting is cool, new characters are nice. I hate everything about korok seeds, and the Hudson puzzles can easily be cheesed to the point that you can use the same solution for almost all of them.
- Thankfully I have very short memory, and I played BOTW on launch, so didn't had any issue with that. Maybe you should take a break, and come back to it later?
  Well, whatever new Paper Mario we get, it will be on Switch 2. Let's see what they do that with it.
  Mirror's Edged is that parkour game, right? Where you are running around on rooftops?
  
  I replayed BotW just before TotK came out, and it really just felt like I was rehashing the same stuff. Playing them back to back definitely took away from how much I might have enjoyed the game.
  
  I only played BotW back in 2021, so that's why I remember so much haha. I guess a break wouldn't hurt.
  Yeah, Mirror's Edge is that first person parkour game. If you haven't played it yet, I definitely recommend giving it a shot. I love how the levels flow, and I find myself getting a lot better every time I run through the game.
- I agree. I played the heck out of it and really got my money's worth, but much of that time spent playing I couldn't help but feel it would have been better if
  A) I hadn't played BotW
  B) I had skipped most of the side questing (except for the sky which was the best parts of the game imo) and just powered through the main story beats.
  I felt like I had done all the sky content in my first 1/4 of the game except for the [Spoiler Area] which was a real shame.

This weekend I'll focus on splatoon as there is a splatfest going on. And that was most of my week as well, as I always boot splatoon a few days ago to derust myself. Also been playing vampire survivors and I have to say that it's an awesome game and very fun. Might do that in between splatoon
- Who have you chosen in splatfest?
  
  My man big man

Having gotten it in the Steam Summer Sale, I'm on the verge of achievement completion for Hades - just reached the epilogue of the story after my 100th run, so I only need to get the last Cthonic Companion to get my last achievement.
On the side of the future, I've been thinking of replaying New Super Mario Bros. 2 for a few weeks now. Not because of Wonder's fairly imminent release; I just feel like revisiting the game again. Pretty sure I never even saw all the game's levels despite getting through the post-game World Star when I first played through the game, so that's probably a goal I could aim for if and when I finally decide to start this replay.
- Wow, 100th run, and achievement completion, good luck!
  With such a huge backlog I don't often return to older games, but I can understand going back and clearing everything. Have fun!

Not on Nintendo Switch, but i decided to give no man's sky a third (or fourth) chance, and this time it's actually working!
- I have heard great things about NMS, but I like generally games with ending, even with arcade game, I enjoy them more if there is some goal you can work towards. So, I feel maybe I won't like it much.
  I'll still give it a try someday.

I'm going the nostalgia route and playing Bioshock
- Love me some Bioshock. I was in the middle of a replay of Bioshock 2 when Armored Core 6 came out and got sucked into that. Will definitely go back and finish it after I beat AC6

I’m about halfway through FF5 (Pixel Remaster).
Once this game is done, I’ll have finished all the main line games except for 11. I’m planning on just doin the main quest line until where ever that ends in the base game (I already have a level 20 something character from the trial). I’ve been playing 14 for ten years so I’ve already counted that one.
Just has been a personal goal of mine to complete all of them, and I’m finally close. It’s just funny it’s taken this long. I finished 4 back when it came out in the 90s as 2 here. I still have my ff2 and ff3 SNES carts in the other room here.
- Wow, nice!
  I have only played 7, 9, 12, 13 and 15. I reached around level 20-25 in FF 14, but that isn't even halfway into base game, so not counting that. I dropped it because of the huge time sink it is.
  As for older ones, while I don't mind retro games, they feel a bit too retro. How would you say those older games are, if you don't have any nostalgia for it?
  
  As for older ones, while I don’t mind retro games, they feel a bit too retro. How would you say those older games are, if you don’t have any nostalgia for it?
  I'd say 5 and 6 are worth playing even without the nostalgia factor. The job system in 5 is really fun to play with and the plot is solid, and 6 is one of the classics everyone should play once.
  As for the earlier games, they are surprisingly decent despite their age but I'd say they are best played as a history lesson to the genre.
  
  6 is my favorite of the entire series so I might be too partial to it, but I do really feel like 6 is the their first big step into a somewhat modern/more mature storytelling. 4 also has a good story, but it’s still kinda tied into this idea of the main characters dealing with crystals and whatnot, and that never really resonated with me that much.
  6, on the other hand, has a narrative beyond that. You don’t worry about silly crystals at all, and instead of some vague evil plaguing the world because the crystals got broken or out of alignment or whatever, you have real threats from a nation that’s using magitek technology, then later on even worse threats (and the best main antagonist of the series). I also think 6 has the most interesting characters, and even though there are a lot, almost all of them have interesting back stories you can explore. And many of those stories are tragic. You may have heard about suplexing the ghost train, but the story around the ghost train is heartbreaking. This is the first of the series where I cared about all these characters because they are written well.
  It’s just a game that feels whole. Things that happen feel correct for the setting they have set up. 6 and Chrono Trigger are the absolute apex of 2D RPGs before the world jumped to 3D. And another big plus is that these games still look gorgeous because the sprites never get old unlike the boxy, ugly humanoid figures of 7.
  As for the others, 1-5. They are alright. 4 is the most important of that group. It’s got a good story, though it’s not my favorite. I think the Pixel Remaster versions are pretty nice because you can set the xp gains to 4x, cutting out a TON of grinding in the older ones. And you can turn off random battles if you just want to get through a dungeon. I’ve played 2, 3, and now 5 this way. I think it’s neat to see how the series has evolved, but if you aren’t too worried about playing them yourself you could surely get by by watching some video synopses online. That said, with the 4x bump, I got through 2 and 3 each in about 10 hours. So not bad at all.

Finished Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury!
Needed a break from story-focused games so I decided to pick this one.
Considering it's originally a WiiU game it's surprising how well 3D World fits in the Switch - the ~5min levels are very friendly to short playing sessions, so you can just pick it up and get a couple stars whenever you stop for a coffee break. I only played it casually until I finished the main story with ~210 stars, but will probably to back go it from time to time to get the remaining stars and the work on the post-game content.
Also had a ton of fun with Bowser's Fury, which I think has more in common with Odyssey than 3D World due to its more open-world nature. It's fairly short and not as polished as the usual Mario games, in particular when talking about the camera work, but definitely worth playing.
Started Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg!
I don't think I've mentioned this on Lemmy before, but I'm a huge fan of the Atelier games, having finished all that were released in the west. For those unfamiliar with the series, it's a long-running JRPG franchise centered around slice-of-life stories, with a huge focus on crafting - I've spend countless hours in these games just playing in the workshop trying to get the perfect bomb, or optimizing iron ingots to make stronger gear.
This one is a remake of the very first game in the series, from 1997. It's a fairly simple game compared to the recent entries, but has the same relaxing feel, and the remade visuals are adorable, looks like they tried to keep the same "chibi" look as the original PS1 version.
Like most of the older games in the series, this one features a time limit - you have 5 years to complete assignments, explore the world and make friends, at which point you get an ending based on your achievements. Exploring, crafting and battling constantly move the clock forward, making "time" one of the resources you have to manage. This mechanic was always divisive and has been largely abandoned in recent entries of the series, but it's never really bothered me.
The main thing preventing me from recommending this game is the price tag - at its core it's a 25-year-old game, and while the improved graphics and QOL changes are quite good, it's fairly short (I expect to finish it in 10h or so), and it's too simple in both story and mechanics to justify the $50 they are asking on the eShop. That being said, if there's a good sale it might be a fun game to pick up.
- I have come to realise I like 3D Mario games much more than 2D ones. If they want to make different style of Mario games, I would choose 3D game and then instead of 2D Mario I would go with 3D world style games. Though, there are chances Wonder will change my mind.
  I have been following Atelier games for quite a while now, but haven't played any yet. Though Atelier Ryza is on very top of my wishlist.
  I was also interested in playing the Marie Remake, but I didn't know it has time limits. How forgiving are these limits? And what do you suggest I play first Marie Remake or Ryza?
  
  How forgiving are these limits?
  On Marie they are very, very forgiving. I have more than one year left with Marie at almost max level, max knowledge and reputation, only one item left to craft (the Philosopher's stone, which requires an item that I can only get in one specific day later this year), already killed two special bosses, already made an Elixir to cure Schea.... I haven't checked the ending requirements but I'm pretty sure I already fulfill some of them.
  Generally speaking from my experience with Atelier the time limits are only a problem in two situations:
  You want to 100% the games, in particular if you don't want to use a guide or go into NG+
  You are playing Atelier Totori
  Time limits in Totori are rough, the only game I had to reload an earlier save because I ran out of time and could not get at least a "good" ending. It's still one of my favorite games in the series though.
  Worth mentioning that Marie also does have an "unlimited" mode you can choose at the beginning, but given how forvinging the limit is it's probably not necessary.
  And what do you suggest I play first Marie Remake or Ryza?
  Between those two, Ryza.
  Marie is cute and fun game, but it's lacking in depth compared to other entries in the series. If it was $20 it could be an interesting entry point to the series, but for $10 more than what they're asking for that game you can get a far more complete experience by going with one of the recent games like Ryza or Sophie 2.

I'm currently away from home and I've downloaded Resident Evil 2 (remake) onto my Steam Deck. I'm an hour or so in loving it so far! I've only ever played RE4 (the original version) before and it feels quite different - less incentive to shoot enemies.
- I have played most of the originals, but haven't played any of the remake yet. I have heard great things about the remakes though, so may go through all of them sometime.
  Do share you opinions once you have finished the game.
  
  So I finished Leon's 'half' of the story yesterday. It was great! Loved all the puzzles (which had a classic videogame feel to them) as well as the various settings. It's a beautiful looking game and the gunplay is very satisfying.
  I was a bit disappointed to learn that playing as Claire is just the same thing again, although it does have a few different story beats. I don't mind too much though as it seems like a fun game to play through multiple times.
  This seems like a great way to remake an old game. Reminds me of FF7 remake in some respects.

Pokemon dlc!
- Oh yeah, Scarlet & Violet DLC is coming out. Or is it already out?
  How are you liking it so far?
  
  It went out like 8 hours ago. It came out during midnight in Germany, and I came to work, so I haven't played it yet. I heard is quite good

Finnished Call of Cthulhu the past week, finally finished Prey this one (I've abandoned it for about a year), and between all of this I'm playing Baldur's Gate 3. Now I want to play again the System Shock remake, I'm far in the game and I think I can finish it without much time.
- Nice list of games. How are you liking System Shock remake? I have played Bioshock, so wanted to try System Shock too, but never got around to it.
  What class are you using in BG 3?
  
  I'm liking it a lot. I've never finished Bioshock, but I've played a few hours of it, so it may not be a fair comparison, but the environment feels bigger and more convoluted, everything is less linear. It's more similar to Prey than Bioshock.
  Also, the progression of the player is based on gadgets and weapons, there are no powers to level up by using points.
  And with Baldur's Gate I'm playing a thief which a master on almost every skill, but not the best in combat jajajaja.

Obviously Splatoon 3, I'm going all out for Team Shiver!
Might play some Super Mario Odyssey in between since I recently completed it.
- When Big Man was first shown, it felt like he was the fan favourite, but since then it seems like Shiver is people's favourite. What do you think?
  
  To be honest, I'm kinda expecting Big Man to be the favourite still, there's a lot of Big Man players.
  I'm thankful that I've only had 2 mirror matches so far and neither of the other teams are rare to find

I grabbed Death's Door on a whim for $8 and I'm blown away. It has so much charm, the music and atmosphere are amazing and it feels great to play. If you like the old top-down Zelda games, don't sleep on this one.
- I have heard great things about the game. It's on my backlog, but with all the games I am playing don't want to start another one before finishing at least one or two of these.

Still working on preparing for the "final push" in TotK, didn't play a whole lot again this week. When you only have around 25 shrines to go, finding them on a map that big without a guide can get really tedious, especially when most of the ones I'm finding now are in caves. They really like putting them in caves in this game, I'm noticing.
I may also start up one of the strategy RPGs I bought in Steam's little strategy game sale the other week. I bought a bundle that includes Symphony of War, Dark Deity and Tyrant's Blessing. Not sure which to try first, though. I had Symphony of War and Dark Deity on my wishlist already, but Tyrant's Blessing also seems interesting.
- Oh yeah, that can be tough. The ones in the caves gave me trouble too, but I didn't do all th shrines, so it wasn't that big of an issue. Good luck!
  I haven't heard of any of these strategy RPGs, though if they are PC only, it makes sense. Will check them out.

50 comments