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  • Jade Empire, baby! Finally got back around to it. I usually return to this game every so often but this is my first time playing it on a steam deck. Pretty easy control customization straight out of the box in the game itself. Also the first time playing it with gamepad in a while so lots of nostalgia from my old Xbox days.

    • Since it's been a week, I thought I'd ask: how're you enjoying your FemC run of P3?

      • I'm progressing pretty slowly at the moment but I really like Kotone. I enjoy her cheerful front mixed with less happy emotions bubbling beneath and expect (or at least hope) for this to progress with the story. I also like that she can be played as a weirdo.

        Her new events are pretty fun though they suffer from the same issue as the original route, i.e. you have to agree with people make the most of social links. I'm used to it from the first playthrough so it's not a huge deal.
        The biggest surprise so far was Saori's (health committee) social link as that's not something I expected to see in the game and I'm really curious where it goes.

        As mentioned in my previous post, I'm really glad I'm playing this as NG+ since it allows me to focus on the differences which are mostly present in writing. I like it.

        That's pretty much all I have for now. I'll be making more posts as I progress with the game with possible longer write up at the end if I have some time (and enough thoughts for that). Playing this route makes me even more annoyed Atlus for not bothering with including it in P3 Reload but they famously hate money so it's not like one can expect much from them on that front.

  • I'm playing Ninja Gaiden 2 (Xbox 360 version) this week. It was a little fiddlier to set up emulation for but it does run well in Xenia Canary albeit with some minor graphical glitches. I'm playing on "Path of the Warrior", the harder of the two modes available to a new player.

    I have mixed feelings about it so far, 9 chapters in out of 14. I can see why people call Ninja Gaiden Black a masterpiece and this game a "flawed gem". They're also surprisingly different: NGB was an adventure game with great combat - it had exploration, puzzles, platforming and even an almost Metroidvania-like hub area you backtracked back and forth through. Ninja Gaiden 2 feels like Itagaki watched a Best Action Movie Hallway Fight Scenes compilation DVD, snorted a humongous line and said "watch this drive". It's just linear murder hallway after murder hallway in a story that doesn't even pretend to make sense or have chapter-to-chapter coherence anymore.

    It does have some really good design ideas though - I love the way health works in the game for example. Taking damage also reduces your maximum health, but after each combat you're healed up to your reduced maximum. The first time you interact with a Save Point restores and fully heals you, which encourages aggression and creates a similar feeling of "gotta push to the next bonfire" and imminent relief when you do find it that you get in Souls games. The rare item that increases your Max HP also fully restores and heals you, which creates an interesting decision point: can you afford to wait to cash in the HP increase in order to effectively have an extra Max Potion for a tough battle?

    There is also definitely something to be said for the frenetic combat, for better or worse. NGB was still fast, but always remained measured and deliberate. NG2 combat is just pure amphetamine-fuelled rabid frenzy. When it works right it's amazing - the first chapter for example is pretty much perfection. Fighting human enemies like ninjas that let you use your whole toolkit of techniques and dismemberment strategically is where NG2 shines. However, you can see the game's famously unfinished and rushed state pretty much everywhere. Lots of fights and chapter stages feel unfun in an untested way.

    Some bosses - like Genshin and Volf - are pretty good, but lots of bosses are downright bad even for a series famous for bad bosses. Gigadeath and Water Dragon are among the worst bosses I've ever had the displeasure to fight in all of gaming.

    The best way to describe it then is this: 50% of the time it feels like the best action game ever made, and 50% of the time it feels like the worst action game ever made. Is that tradeoff worth it? I don't know, but the highs are damn high and getting into the combat flow in a fun fight and seeing the carnage after is something special.

  • I decided to reinstall Cult of the Lamb since the new expansion was announced. There's a lot of stuff in that game that I straight up forgot existed lol.

  • I started Crying Suns and have been very impressed with the art and the story, both the greater narrative and the script. Not sure about the combat just yet, maybe my tactics are just bad.

    Overall though, I don't know how how the hell this one passed me by. Commanding a spaceship and roguelite gameplay, it's exactly the sort of thing I love.

  • I've recently got a new Retroid Pocket 5 and I've finished setting up all the emulators. Now I'm playing bits of all sorts of games trying them out on this amazing screen.

    PSP is a particular highlight on this console and my regular games currently are Rock Band Unplugged, Blast Off and Tony Hawks Underground 2.

  • I am almost done with Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. It's weird, but I'm enjoying it.

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