The State of the Gamer: 4/11/17

/ The Shameful Narcissist

<–The State of the Gamer: 4/4/17          The State of the Gamer: 4/18/17–>

A weekly post updated every Tuesday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have quite a backlog of games to either play or watch, and I’m hoping a weekly article will assist with my progress as my other accountable posts have done with reading and writing.
I have an account at Grouvee, which is a essentially Goodreads for gamers, so please feel free to friend me there!
Original source of the banner art is located here.

Currently Playing: 2

Title: World of Final Fantasy
Series: Final Fantasy
Genre: RPG – Fantasy
Developer: Square Enix
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
Release Date: October 25, 2016
Date Bought: October 21, 2016
Date Started: November 5, 2016
Date Finished(?): February 19, 2017

world-of-final-fantasy

I didn’t get any time last week to play WOFF, but it’s still on my radar.  To be honest, this is the kind of game that you don’t really have a definitive “finished date.”  You just kind of stop playing once you run out of things to do or don’t feel like doing anymore.  If a month passes without me picking it up, then I’ll remove it from my Currently Playing list (it’s already off of there on Grouvee).

Title: Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius
Series: Final Fantasy
Genre: RPG – Fantasy
Developer: Square Enix
Platform(s): iOS, Android
Release Date: June 29, 2016
Date Purchased: March 21, 2017
Date Started: March 27, 2017

So I made the sort of “mistake” of telling one of my old friends I was playing this.  He’s…extroverted and apparently thought I needed lessons on how to play (wtf?).  I’d mentioned I was playing in passing, and he kind of happily freaked out.  Let me just say I’m glad we were separated by text, because TSN does not have the energy to deal with hyperactive extrovert freak outs #nope  He then decided to sporadically text me unsolicited novels on how to play.  Now this is the thing.  If I ask you a specific question or we’re talking about something and exchanging tips/information that’s all cool and fun.  If I wake up to see paragraphs and paragraphs about shit I didn’t ask you about and probably won’t remember, that’s kind of patronizing and annoying (though I know the former wasn’t meant to be).  I had to be kind of mean and ask him to cut it out.  One, I’m more than likely not going to remember any of the stuff he’s telling me; and two, I have the Google, which I’ve been using.  The Brave Exvius Wiki is actually quite comprehensive and informative.  I still felt bad about having to say that though.  I don’t like to shut down exuberance, but it was just really out of left field to have someone text you what they literally call “your next lesson,” when I didn’t ask for it.

So, I have a whole bunch of Ifrit raid coins I can’t use, because I missed the event where you can cash them in.  I’m probably just going to sell them.  The Egg Hunters event is what’s happening now, but it’s really difficult to obtain Rainbow Eggs, and I’m still trying to pull Fryevia whom I have a Trust Moogle for.  I did get Garnet yesterday, which is awesome.  She’s really tiny.  Like her sprite is just little and cute.

Tiny Garnet is tiny.

I still want to make a chart of the characters I have with their stats so I can decide whom I’m going to keep.  I currently have 26 characters, and I’d like to say around 25 even though you can have 50.  Since you can make up five teams of five, it’s just much easier to put everyone on a team in order to procure weapons and armor for them.  I wish they’d change that and allow you to buy them in one fell swoop for everyone.  I suppose I could write it down, but that would be a bit time consuming.

Games Currently Watching

Title: Phantasy Star
Series: Phantasy Star
Genre: RPG – Fantasy/Science Fiction
Developer: Sega
Original Platforms: Sega Master System
Other Platforms: Sega Genesis, Wii Virtual Console
Original Release Date: December 20, 1987
Let’s Player: Hungry Goriya
Date Started: March 24, 2017

I think HG updates every Tuesday hehe.  I’ve been getting notifications in my email usually before I post this, and it just makes my evening so much better.  I managed to catch her Twitch stream twice this weekend, though I could only stick around for a little bit for the second one on Sunday.  They’re always so much fun.  Everyone who joins in is as much of a goofball as me, and it’s fantastic to be among your own people.  Even though I don’t really use Twitch on my phone, downloading the app means I get notifications when people I follow go live, so it was worth it just for that.

Title: Mass Effect III
Series: Mass Effect
Genre: Action RPG – Sci-Fi
Developer: BioWare
Original Platform(s): Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3
Original Release Date: March 6, 2012
Let’s Player: Olizandri
Date Started: January 23, 2017

I’m still in the midst of the Omega DLC or rather I’m still in the midst of watching Olizandri do the Omega DLC.  The third Mass Effect is much more combat heavy than the first two.  I’ve taken to skipping through the combat sections to the cut scenes just so I can fast track to what’s going on.  I think I’m still not even halfway finished.  I want to watch the ending again before I check out Athena’s video on the indoctrination theory, so that I have the entire story under my belt.

Thanks to her, I do now have an idea for a comparative essay that examines indoctrination in ME and Jenova’s mental manipulation in FFVII.  Maybe JRPGs and WRPGs aren’t so different.

Games Added to Playlist: 4

  1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Do I even need to say anything about why I’m adding this?  No, I don’t think so.  Okay, I’ll say one thing.  Initially, I was just going to watch a let’s play, but numerous people (The Well-Red Mage, Cheap Boss Attack, Mr. Panda, LightningEllen, and others) indirectly and directly convinced me I should play this masterpiece, because I’d get more out of it by doing that as opposed to just watching.  Since it’s an open world game where your successes and failures are highly up to your skill level and choices, much of it depends on what you do and when you do it in addition to the story of the game.  Besides, it’s another excuse for me to own a Switch.
  2. Super Bomberman R – This is another excuse for me to own a Switch.  I loved the original Bomberman and subsequent iterations.  While there are some foibles in terms of them trying to do more with the game than they should (per this excellent review by Mr. Well-Red Mage), the core of the gameplay seems untarnished, and that’s what I’m in it for.
  3. Persona 4 Golden – I’ve had two people tell me I should play this: Cheap Boss Attack and there was someone in the comments I haven’t checked yet.  I just know about it because it was in my email, but alas I don’t remember whom it was.  I really hope it wasn’t iplayedthegame, because I forgot about him before, and I don’t want him to think I don’t like him.  That would be HORRIBLE D:  It was The Otaku Judge!  Just checked the comments.
  4. The Talos Principle – Look at Grouvee making me add games on my own based on what’s in my newsfeed!  I’d never heard of this, but I can’t look away from an adorable kitten, and the fact it looks like he’s sitting in Death’s lap?  Definitely intriguing.  The game is described as “a ‘philosophical puzzler,'” and it has an average rating of 4.30 based on 191 reviews.  It seems to not only be an excellent puzzle game, but there’s apparently an awesome story to it as well.  It’s for PS4, and the reviews are saying it’s like Portal…but better.  Quite a lofty claim.

Total Games in Backlog: 101
Change from Last Week: +4

Games Added to Watch List: 0

Total Games on Watch List: 21
Change from Last Week: -1

Er, I guess I removed BOTW from my Watch List?  Yup, that’s it!  I knew I’d make sense of things eventually.

Miscellaneous

Last week I regaled you with sad epic of my failed hunt for a working PS3.  It was returned to GameStop with no issue and no hard feelings.  I will certainly patronize them again, though I’m more excited so shop at Best Buy now that I know about the $30 GCU that is good for two years and gives you 20% off new games (thanks CBA!).

Anyway, the PS3 was scheduled to arrive last Friday so I worked from home in anticipation of its coming.  It showed up around 5:30, so hypothetically, I could’ve gone to work after all, though I often don’t get home until closer to 6:00.  They just knocked and left it, which is annoying, but it was delivered by USPS, so no signature was required.  This means anyone could’ve just strolled by and walked off with my stuff.  Though this is pretty rare for my apartment complex, nothing is out of the realm of possibility.

I was mildly surprised to see another box along with the PS3 one, though not severely so.  I’d preordered something back in December, remembered it in February, went hunting for my preorder information, and planned to lay waste to Squeenix if I didn’t get it.

Thankfully, nobody had to die.

But of course Cid had to get in on the action.

We paid $207 for the PS3 on Amazon, and I believe Sephiroth was $150.  I still haven’t unboxed him.  I’ve been…weird lately.  There’s this interesting concept about acquisition where what you really want is the chase and not the result.  I have definitely experienced that before.  I was once obsessed with finding this umbrella with a a handle that mimicked a sword hilt, but once I had it, I really couldn’t care less.  Oh it was cool and all that and came with a carried that strapped to your back (I wound up punching a hole in the bottom of that and using it for one of my actual Masamunes), but when the button stopped working, I wasn’t too upset about it and had already started to grow bored with it.

That is not the case with Sephiroth.  I should be excited, but I get into these phases where not even my most fangirl obsessions will move me.  I’m just in a meh mood.  I’m glad I have it obviously (I mean, I was going to go to war if I didn’t, so yeah), and I’m sure eventually I’ll crack open the box and it’ll be like I received it all over again.  It’s like I have one Christmas Morning saved up for just the right time.

I haven’t opened the PS3 box yet either, but that’s more of a time thing.  I can now play FFXIII, Mass Effect, and a slew of other games I downloaded through the PSN that I didn’t realize were for PS3 only.  I’m pretty stoked about that.

Opinion/Suggestions

Here are the ones I’d love to hear.

  • I’m trying to think of a better name for the miscellaneous section above.  I seem to post about other purchases that are game related, but not games.  Game Related Purchases, Other Purchases, something else?
  • Do you want a more expansive Games Added to Playlist section?  I’m not going to go back to posting pictures, because that’s a bit time consuming, but I could put prices.  This would be useful to me and I’m assuming some people.  Let me know!

What are you currently playing and/or watching? Is it something new or old?  Is it a first time run or a replay?  What’s the genre?  Would you recommend it?  What’s on your radar to play next?

<–The State of the Gamer: 4/4/17          The State of the Gamer: 4/18/17–>

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36 thoughts on “The State of the Gamer: 4/11/17”

  1. Pingback: The State of the Gamer: 4/4/17 | The Shameful Narcissist Speaks

  3. Is it really always a Tuesday update? Damn. I’m going to have to be less predictable in the future! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the LP, and I’m so glad we’ve gotten to spend some time in real time together in the streams. I am always super excited to see your name pop up!

    Tiny Garnet is super cute and adorable. I love her too.

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. Congrats on a nice PS3 and Sephiroth! Hope you enjoy both of them! That Sephiroth looks pretty nice. I’ve always wanted a FF figurine, but they’re always so expensive for me. I will finally be getting my first FFVII figurines when the two Cloud amiibo come out soon, so I’m excited!

    Thanks for the shoutout by the way! I recently beat I Am Setsuna, yay! But I wasn’t satisfied with the videos so my wife and I going back to the drawing board and redoing that series. Ah well, haha, live and learn. In its stead, we’re playing through a different Switch game that has been really fun for us, Snake Pass. Except we’re playing it in a totally unique way that, I think fits the way we play, hehe.

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    • They are so expensive. The cheapest one I’ve bought has been around $20, and he’s barely bigger than key chain size. The most expensive one was $299 and I had to drive two hours nearly to New York. Worth it though, but yeah, it is no cheap hobby to collect figurines. One day they’ll adorn my gaming room though. There’s going to be a Cloud amiibo? Hm, I may have to break my rule and buy a Cloud hehe. He can be angry and jealous about Sephiroth and Aeris’s relationship on my bookshelf *evil laughter*

      Just the thumbnail of the Snake Pass video shows how much fun you’re having 😀

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      • Haha yea, we are! 😀 Also, yes there will be two Cloud amiibo! One classic Cloud and Advent Children Cloud, because why not, haha. My wife is a Cloud fangirl (especially AC Cloud) so she’s been waiting forever for that amiibo.

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  6. There is such a thing as too much information. It’s sometimes part of the fun to figure out mechanics on your own, and Google always has your back, haha. This Final Fantasy noob has no idea who Garnet is, but I have her too. I’m going with my heart instead of my brain when I decide to keep characters. If I know who they are, I’ll keep them. If not they are getting sold or fused without remorse, haha. Oh and I spent all my Ifrit raid coins during the event, but they were all in my inventory still. I sold them for a whopping 85,000 gil! 😀

    That Sephiroth figure is magnificent! I know you’ll fully enjoy his awesomeness soon. I can relate to the mood thing for sure.

    Hm. I’m trying to come up with a suggestion for your Misc. section name… Uh, Gaming Goodies? I’ll stop trying now, lol. As for the Games Added to Playlist section, I say do whatever you feel works best for you 🙂

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    • That’s how I feel, even though I’m currently delving into *some* minutiae for WOFF in my review. Most of it is to save the next player some of my growing pains. Garnet is the princess in IX, but she’s a bit more than that of course since it’s Final Fantasy. She looks so cute and tiny in BE, and I would definitely keep her. She has some excellent spells! I’m keeping all of the known characters, well, except for Edward/Gilbert. I immediately fused him with someone else so at least he’d be useful in some way. That’s exactly how I feel! If they’re a known character that I like and who’s useful, I’ll keep them. But if they’re lower level and I don’t know/like them, buh-bye :p

      I need to sell mine! I think I’d just started playing when that event was going on so I had no idea what I was doing. At least I can make some money.

      Ahh, I just found another! I was replying to Hungry Goriya’s comment on this post and she mentioned how much she loves Vivi, so I googled a figurine for him and one of Sephiroth popped up, too. It’s a mini trading figure, but unfortunately he’s sold out everywhere. I emailed the main site I found him on, but I’m not expecting much.

      Gaming Goodies sounds good actually! I like alliteration 😀

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      • It’s definitely a good idea to include that info in your review! I will likely gain some important knowledge by reading it, and a review should be your opinions/tips for playing a game. I can see how unsolicited “lessons” from people would be incredibly annoying. That’s probably the most useful thing Edward will ever do. Edge occupied one of my precious unit spots very briefly, lol. I just figured out why I couldn’t sell/fuse some units too. I’m always learning.

        Oh and I saved up 5,000 Lapis and 3 Rare summon tickets for a certain increased drop rate event today. The RNG God truly hates me. I just ended up with a bunch of people I don’t know, duplicates of 4 Star Snow and Garnet, and squeaky Vanille from XIII… I did a bit of research and Lightning is a minimum 5 Star character so that’s why she’s super rare. Vanille is actually useful though (she’s just not my badass idol 😦 ). She’s a great healer and her Limit ability has a 50-70% chance to instantly kill everything. I’m using her as my main healer now. I hope lightning strikes before the end of the event, but I’m not holding my breath.

        I think the Trading Arts line is what the Cecil figure I have is from. I would like to own a figure of every main Final Fantasy character someday. I’m praying Squeenix does a 3rd party Amiibo line soon 😀

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        • And I learned a lot by checking the google. It’s pretty much using the internet as it should and contributing to collective knowledge lol. I figure me putting information out there on my blog isn’t forcing people to read it, and you can skim past the stuff you know if you want. Way different from receiving a direct text or message. I was just like, “Um what? Did I ask for this?”

          I was working on a spreadsheet for characters last night, but I got too tired, so I’ll have to continue it later. I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot less in a few days because I’m really only using Rain, Lasswell, Kuja, Cecil, and one of the white magus/mage characters. I’m going to keep Garnet and anyone who’s 4 stars or above, but I may use the others to fuse.

          I need to save up my Lapis and Rare Summons. I’ve just been spending them like water. I think I *maybe* have 100 Lapis right now. It’s so meager. I’ve noticed there are a LOT of healer characters, so I’m going to decide which ones I want to keep. I currently have Leah, that first white mage, and now Fina is in my party. I also have a Red Mage who has a lot of use abilities, a white magus, and a water priestess who I think is 4 stars.

          Omg that should be a life goal, a figure of every main FF character. I could put them in order. I’m not sure which Cecil figure I have. I remember I bought him along with Sephiroth for around $20. They’re about six inches in height, but really detailed for being smaller figurines.

          Squeenix would be very foolish NOT to do a third party Amiibo line. I really hope I hear back from that website I emailed about that Sephiroth mini trading figure. He’s so gorgeous *swoon*

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          • I hope you share your spreadsheet when its finished! 🙂 I’ve been using 4 Star Rain, Laswell, Fina, Snow, and Vanille. Snow and Vanille are ready to Awaken to 5 star, but I don’t have enough of the required items.

            That’s how freeimium games are. They make the paid currency do so many things. You almost have to buy Lapis if you’re an item pack rat like me, haha.

            I hope that website gets back to you! The mini Great General sounds awesome 🙂

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            • I’ll share it through Google Docs! That’s making me want to not half ass it lol.

              I awakened Lasswell and I can’t remember who else. I don’t have the materials for it nor to awaken abilities. I’m currently on the hunt for White Magicite. You have to collect it from that one pass on the first continent. I forget its name, but you only get one every time. I’ve gotten three, and I’ll go after more later. I was trying to defeat those 8 Bloody Eyes, but after two times none appeared I gave up on that for a while. I FINALLY defeated the five sergeants, but I’m going to wait until later for the Hill Gigas’ You really do have to buy Lapis, and I’m about to bite the bullet and do so. I really want Fryevia, and I wouldn’t cry if I managed to get Lightning either.

              I’m really wondering what the hell do I do with the perfume and lipstick I’m getting from this Arianna Grande thing lol.

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              • No pressure, put as much effort into this spreadsheet as you want 🙂

                I remember doing the Fulan Pass Magicite farming thing. I’m pretty far in the story now (I need Lapis for Lightning chances and I’m too cheap to spend IRL money, lol). I’ve yet to see a Hill Gigas that wasn’t in the Throne Room so I don’t know what to tell you there… *shrugs* If you pull a Lightning I’ll be incredibly happy for you, and also extremely jealous, lol.

                I’m still wondering why the hell Squeenix is making pop stars into Final Fantasy characters now. If Final Fantasy XVI has Nicki Minaj or Justin Bieber in it, I think I’m done with the series.

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                • You only get one at a time, ugh. I don’t want to spend too much NRG every day for it. At least it’s guaranteed though. I still haven’t seen a Hill Gigas at all, and I’ve run through the throne room a few times. They just must be really rare. According to the wiki, there are other places that have them, I want to say the Lanzelt Highlands, but I’m not 100% sure.

                  They must have some deal with her, but if I see/hear anything about Justin Bieber, I am SO out. Though Lance Bass did voice Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts, and he did a really good job lol.

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                  • They want you to waste precious NRG on these side quests. It’s all a giant conspiracy to get people to buy Lapis I tells ya! *runs around with a tinfoil hat on*

                    Lance Bass pulled off a good Great General? I’m truly shocked! I really need to play Kingdom Hearts someday too.

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                    • I’m wearing a tinfoil hat right with you! A friend of mine said that he thinks your rare summon drop rate goes up if you spend money, which is why he thinks he hasn’t gotten anyone really. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s possible. I think there’s only two days left for me to get Fryevia, so if I don’t I guess I’ll just sell that Trust Moogle and make a fortune. I made over 150k gil on those Ifrit coins!

                      I was seriously shocked, too! But yeah, he did a good job. I’m sure there are videos galore on YouTube with that scene. He’s waiting for Cloud in, er, I think it’s called the Radiant Garden or something like that, which I think is kind of hilarious, because I’m pretty sure it’s a Paradise Lost reference :p I haven’t played KH because it’s more action-y, but I may give it a try some day. Disney and Squeenix. Geez, what a power couple.

                      Liked by 1 person

                    • I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there was something coded to increase drop rates based on $$$ spent. Those freemium designers are pure evil!

                      Disney and Squeenix are the perfect couple, haha. I just don’t have time to bump it up on the old backlog list.

                      Liked by 1 person

  7. The collector inside of me would probably want to stop a game if i could not keep the things i wanted to keep lol XD even if i would never use a character, being able to collect and then not being allowed to keep is noooot nice!

    As for giving tips, see your point here!

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    • It’s why I have as many characters as I have lol. Some of them are super common so whenever you summon someone, you’re very likely to get them. I may clear out my roster in a bit, but when it comes to items I’m a total hoarder in games. I hate to use anything just on the off chance I might need it later. Then I get to the end of the game, and I realized I have all of these things I never used.

      Yeah, I felt really bad, but it was just ridiculous. Like I didn’t sign up for these classes lol.

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  8. Pingback: The State of the Gamer: 4/18/17 | The Shameful Narcissist Speaks

  10. Pingback: Reviews of April (2017) |

  11. Pingback: Reviews of April (2017) | Long-form Gaming Journalism

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