<–The State of the Gamer: 9/7/17         The State of the Gamer: 9/19/17–>

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!

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Currently Playing: 2

Title: Final Fantasy Type-0
Series: Final Fantasy/Fabula Nova Crystallis
Genre: Action RPG – Fantasy
Developer: Square Enix
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release Date: October 27, 2011
Date Purchased: May 18, 2017
Date Started: June 18, 2017

Progress: Chapter 2 – All the leveling

The coliseum finally opened, and I’ve been doing nothing but level my characters thanks to a tip from Cheap Boss Attack.  It’s extremely easy once you know what to do, but a bit tedious, so I typically turn down the TV’s volume and listen to a podcast or YouTube.  As of a few minutes ago, half my characters are on Level 99.   It takes about a half hour for each character.  My husband thinks it’s cheating, but I couldn’t care less.  One of the obstacles to my playing action RPGs is the action part.  It’s well known that I prefer turn based games, so anything I can do to make an ARPG easier is a positive in my book.  This way I can enjoy the puzzle and story aspects, though I did breed a pair of chocobos who produced an egg before I started messing around with time, and that little chick is going to be SO confused.

Title: Final Fantasy V
Series: Final Fantasy
Genre: RPG – Fantasy
Developer: Square
Platform: PlayStation
Release Date: December 6, 1992
Date Purchased: Unknown
Date Started: June 17, 2017

Progress: Fire Ship/Karnak Castle

We need to talk about the fact that I got “trapped” in the vents on the Fire Ship, and we need to talk about this because I am a gigantic ding-dong (don’t be pervs).  I walked back and forth for like five minutes, eventually running from enemies, because I really thought I was trapped. Turns out where the game often positions your character is right over the stairs you need to take, but it looks like that’s where you came from.

I was so close to hitting reset because I thought the game had glitched, but nope…it was my brain.  I eventually figured it out and made it to the save point, fought the Liquid Fire boss, which *spoiler* triggered the Fire Crystal to explode.  *end spoiler* A friend from Galuf’s past *spoiler* who unfortunately died before he could disclose who the hell Galuf is *end spoiler* bought my party some time to escape.  So I had ten minutes to get through Karnak Castle, collect all the treasure, and defeat another boss.  If I don’t do all of these things in that time limit, it’s game over.

First, you have to understand something.  I’m terrible at direction, and there’s no way to pause FFV unless you’re in the midst of battle.  So I wasted a good amount of time standing there reading where the hell I was supposed to go.  You have to get all of the treasure before leaving, because after this point, you won’t be able to come back.  There are also random battles, and most of the treasure chests have monsters in them you have to defeat before you receive your reward.  Was I just complaining about action RPGs above?  Old school RPGs do not play.  Suffice it to say I died in the midst of the last boss battle on the steps of the castle, because time ran out.

I haven’t attempted it again, but I have a (hopefully) better hunt plan.  I’m going to run from any random battle, because there’s just no time to fight them.  I’ll make sure I read the directions to the first treasure chest with a monster in it.  Then in the midst of the battle, I’ll pause to read the directions to the next treasure chest with a monster in it, continuing on until I get to the boss battle.  If necessary, I’ll write down the instructions myself so that it’s more concise and direct than what I’m reading on GameFAQs.

I’ll probably give this a try tomorrow, so wish me luck!

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Ongoing Games: 2

Title: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Series: Mario Kart
Genre: Racing/Driving
Developer: Nintendo
Platform(s): Wii U, Nintendo Switch
Release Dates: April 28, 2017 (Switch), May 29, 2014 (Wii U)
Date Purchased: August 21, 2017
Date Started: August 26 2017

Progress: 150cc

Well peeps, I did lose to my friends eight-year-old son, and I have no shame.  That kid is going places: Rainbow Road for starters.  I didn’t hang out at the diner tonight, since I have a shit ton of things to catch up on, but I am planning on playing with LightningEllen tomorrow around 7!

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

Progress: Rank 32

Well it happened…I ran into a boss I not only couldn’t beat, but was completely blindsided by.  When you reach the Village of Ambel, there’s a little side area that I told myself not to go to until I’d explored the rest of the town, but I thought it just contained the rest of the Chocobo Farm or a field with chocobos.  Nope.  I ran into the Veritas of the Heavens who handed me my ass.  If you’ve been relying on the 6th/Friend Unit throughout the game, that battle is a rude awakening.  Because you’re not technically in a dungeon, but rather ambushed by a baddie, it’s only the five characters you bring with you.

I did some googling and the fight doesn’t seem impossible.  I’ll just need to do some leveling, possible item grinding for Awakening materials.  I already have a spreadsheet set up for that.  The Expeditions are actually excellent sources of exp.  Even if you don’t find anything, you’re characters still gain a ton of levels.

Some of the entries I read had people bemoaning the fact that you could spend money.  I’ve already put at least $30 into this game, which is less than your average Final Fantasy game, so I’m not too upset about it.  It’s entirely optional (from what I’ve seen), and only serves to speed things up where it might otherwise take much longer.

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Currently Watching: 1

Title: BioShock
Series: BioShock
Genre: First Person Shooter – Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Developers: Irrational Games & 2K Australia
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, iOS
Original Release Date: August 21, 2007
Let’s Player: Christopher Odd
Total Number of Videos: 33
Date Started: August 28, 2017

Progress: 48%

I never realized that the Big Daddies are in dive suits…you’d think after watching SOMA, that would be something I’d easily recognize, and it makes sense since BioShock also takes place under the sea (really want to make a Little Mermaid pun).  Now I’m really wondering who or more like what the hell is inside of them.  The entire story seems to hinge on the Little Sisters, and I’m glad Chris is choosing to save instead of harvest them. He’s currently gathering ingredients for Lazarus Vector.

What I find interesting is if you don’t pay attention to the recordings, you’ll miss the entire story.  Since the game doesn’t stop for them, it’s very easy to, but that’s where the whole narrative is.  I’m probably going to hunt down the wiki for this after I’m done watching it to make sure I don’t miss any details.

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Games Added to Backlog:

1. Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realms Reborn – It’s a well known fact that I don’t play well with others…okay BEFORE Mario Kart 8, which is more of a competitive game anyway, and I do enjoy playing card games, board games et al with other people, but when it comes to video games, I like to go solo, and yes, this even extends to Final Fantasy.  My hatred of collaborative play overrides my love for the series.  It just makes me grumpy that I can’t play it how I want.  You see, deep down I’m really a spoiled child.  You should’ve seen the tantrum I threw when I found out the FFVII Remake was going to to have active combat.  It’s one of the reasons I pushed through with Type-0 and I plan to play FFXV.  I need to get used to that dynamic before the Remake arrives.  Active combat is grudgingly acceptable, but being forced to interact with other humans in the gaming world is right out.  I’ve never played Final Fantasy XI, and I avoided Final Fantasy XIV for the same reason, but the Evil Wizard has persuaded me (which I suppose is what evil lawyers do) with promises that the majority of the game doesn’t require collaboration unlike XI which was a “play with me!!!” fest and that it was the best Final Fantasy he ever played o.O  We can differ on that and not mutually destroy one another, but that’s enough for me to give it a go.
2. Last Day of June – Recommended to me by The Otaku Judge with the warning to keep a box of tissues handy because the tears will be a-flowing.  He initially suggested I add it to my watch list, but I looked at the trailer and specs, and I think I could play this one.  The characters are kind of creepy cute, and the story reminds me of Up. 
3. Sonic Mania – If you haven’t watched Mr. Panda’s review of this yet, go do that now.  I’ll wait…did you watch it?  Good!  So while I have to give credit to all the people who’ve been talking about it for the past month or so, it was Mr. P’s review that got me to add it (I’m still laughing at the “Sega” thing).  I had no idea the game looked this good.  I enjoyed Sonic the Hedgehog as much as I loved Super Mario.  They’re each a different kind of platformer, and that’s okay.  I am quite amused by the fact that Sonic Mania, a game that features Sega’s competitive response to Mario is on the Nintendo Switch.  I suppose that’s the definition of irony :p

Total Games in Backlog: 140
Change from Last Week: +3

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Games Added to Watch List: 1

1. The Last of Us Part II – I watched a preview of this yesterday, and holy shit.  I want to know why Ellie is covered in blood in a house full of people she clearly killed (or it’s highly suggested she did.  It could be a red herring), and who’s the source of her wrath.  I have For Fods Sake (formerly Pixel Dump) to thank for reminding me of this and providing a link to the trailer!

Total Games on Watch List: 36
Change from Last Week: +1

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Games Purchased This Week: 0

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Miscellaneous

Nothing going on but a growing wish list, but no growing wallet to match it.

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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: 9/7/17         The State of the Gamer: 9/19/17–>

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