Finished Borderlands 3. Still have quite a few side quests left, but have played it enough. Was thinking about Platinum previously, but don’t want to play 20-30 more hours just for trophies. Maybe if it had a really good narrative, which it doesn’t.
Started Greedfall. It’s a AA-ish RPG by Spider. The world building is interesting, and story and quests aren’t bad. There are different factions and how you do the quest you can improve or worsen your relations with them. You can use stealth, or direct combat, or even talk your way through them.
Where I am currently, I haven’t gotten any quest that will improve my relation with faction at the cost of worsening it with another (though there were ones where I could choose different faction, and improve my relation with them), but I am still very early in the game.
The weakest part is the combat. You have 3 classes, and you can select upto 2 companions, all of who are of different factions and different classes. The combat itself isn’t that great though. While it is serviceable it would’ve been pretty much unacceptable if it was released today. Have played some 5-6 hours yet, so things may open up a more.
Reached Episode 4 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All.
Episode 3/4 spoiler
It was really cool to see Edgeworth again. I mean I knew he wasn’t dead because there are games released after this one that has him, but still it was nice to see him again.
Didn’t get to play Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter last week, but will give it some time this one. On a related note, really excited about the remake! Still going to finish it, but going to play the remake too. Probably not at launch, but soon-ish.
What about all of you? What have you been playing?
Finished The Fox Awaits Me HANA! (Link to Japanese eShop)
Easily the most obscure visual novel I’ve ever played - the VNDB page has zero reviews, a total of 3 ratings including my own, and even had a hilariously incorrect plot summary before I fixed it.
But this was an excellent story. It makes good use of having a cast already developed by the first game to stick to a faster and tighter pacing, there’s some really good twists, in particular in the nature of the “groundhog day” loop that you spend a good portion of the game, and the climax of the story offers strong emotional moments.
I did have some trouble with the game though, could not find any english-language guides and it took me a while to get “unstuck” in one part of the story, but I eventually got past that with some help from a korean wiki and Google Translate. I’ve submitted a guide to GameFAQs based on my playthrough, so if someone sees this post and gets motivated to try this game they won’t run into the same problems. 🙂
Finished Cat Quest 2!
Needed a short breather from VNs and remembered I had not finished this one. A simple hack-and-slash with a lot cat puns, very fun and highly recommended. It’s on sale (-75%) right now and even has a demo, so go try it out!
I’m starting some longer VNs and will probably need breaks from time to time so I think I’ll also play the sequel as a “side game”.
Playing Hatsumira: From the Future Undying!
This is an Isekai visual novel - a genre about people getting transported to a different world, typically with a fantasy/magic setting. This genre has been extremely popular in anime/manga/light novels for a decade or so, but oddly enough it’s quite rare to see it in visual novels.
First impressions have been mostly positive - production values are solid, the pacing has been good, and I’m enjoying the MC - he’s a capable and sharp-tongued adult, and his interactions with the rest of the cast have been hilarious.
Definitely not a fan of the heroine character designs, the the first time I saw Yukikaze I thought “wait, isn’t that just Yumiko from Grisaia in a bad cosplay?” 😆, but I think my biggest issue so far with the game is the localization - I don’t mind when the translator tries to make the dialogue more colorful, but I think they overdid it with this one - the MC uses way too much (british?) military slang and his dialogue feels very out-of-place for a japanese soldier.
According to the rather nice in-game progress display I’m currently at 6% of the game. This is going to be a long one.
I love the Cat Quest games. The games themselves are simple, but still pretty fun, not to mention the humour and all the cat (and dog for Cat Quest 2) puns.
I see you are still dealing with the consequences of your VN Madness Month. Good luck!
They are so good. Extremely simple but so fun, everyone I know who tries those can’t stop playing.
Definitely paying for my sins here. 😅 But at least it came in a good time, I’ve been in a good mood for playing VNs these past few weeks.