The State of the Gamer: 12/12/17

/ The Shameful Narcissist

<–The State of the Gamer: 10/31/17            The State of the Gamer: 12/26/17–>

A weekly post updated every other Tuesday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

Story Based/Definitive Ending Games

Title: Final Fantasy V
Series: Final Fantasy
Genre: RPG – Fantasy
Developer: Square
Release Date: December 6, 1992

Date Started: June 17, 2017

I still haven’t done Karnak Castle.  Really what it is is picking this back up again would be a production.  I need to set up the table for my laptop, because the instructions I wrote for myself are in OneNote.  I seriously hate timing things in games.  It ramps up my anxiety tenfold because I know I have to rush, which amps up the chances of me messing up or missing something.  I know some people work well/better under pressure, but I am not one of those people.

Owing to the hectic nature of the season, I may not be playing this again until the new year.  I’m actually now wondering if it’s on a handheld system.  Due to their convenience (I can literally just pick one up), I find myself more prone to play games like that.

Title: Super Mario Odyssey
Series: Super Mario
Genre: Platformer/Puzzle – Adventure
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: October 27, 2017
Date Started: October 29, 2017

I still freaking love this game so hard, even though I haven’t played it in a few days.  I’m having some trouble defeating the Lord of Lightning (which is a very presumptuous name if you ask me, and I think LightningEllen would have some words for that hehe), and I may switch to the game’s easy mode #noshame in order to accomplish it. Or, I might get my brother to do it lol.  He beat Bowser (the first time you fight him) for me, while I was in the hospital 😀  Did my heart good.

Apparently, I’m very close to the end, which is one of the (few) complaints I’ve heard about Odyssey: it’s too short.  I’m not sure if I agree since each Kingdom is so extensive, and I haven’t even found half the Power Moons.  I’ll reserve judgment until I see the end, and I can’t wait to find out what’s going on with those weird metal blocks.

Title: Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth
Series: Etrian Odyssey
Genre: RPG/JRPG – Fantasy
Developer: Atlus
Release Date: August 4, 2016

Date Started: Unknown

I’ve been spending most of my time playing this, and I’m frankly surprised at how much I like it!  I usually play heavily story based RPGs like Final Fantasy where characters are well defined with their own personalities and character arcs, but there’s something about this that’s just overwhelmingly fun.  I was actually quite close to giving up on the demo when I found out one of your main goals is to map each floor and strata of Yggdrasil, but since it’s based on square spaces, it’s actually not difficult and quite fulfilling.  You can set the map to automatically update your steps including walls/borders, and the game marks special/dangerous enemies and their movements for you.  Characters will sometimes mark places on your map for you to find them in the labyrinth later where you can interact and exchange goods.

I’ll admit, the first time I attempted to play, I got my ass handed to me on the first floor, but now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, it’s so much fun to explore, fish, harvest, gather, mine, and beat the tar out of monsters all the while mapping the World Tree.  There are also these two add ons that essentially grant you unlimited cash and a shit ton of experience.  I feel a little bit bad using them, and I’m wondering if this is going to continue for the rest of the game, because if it does, it’s going to make it hella easy.

My group  is called Seraphim Guild (of course), and I gave the names like Adriel, Uriel, Seth, Irinel, Imlarel, and Helea just to name a few.  If you’re playing or wind up doing so in the future, look me up!  I think there’s some kind of interaction you can have with other players through StreePass.

The voice acting isn’t terrible, and the only quasi-annoying character is Jenetta the innkeeper, and even her voice is more cartoonishly bubbly, not Tama-I-wanna-murder-your-face.  This is definitely a franchise I’d continue, especially since I hear the latest one, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl has named characters with a more focused, fleshed out story.  So Cheap Boss Attack, that one might hold your interest more!  I remember you saying the others really didn’t due to their lack of story.  Again, I’m shocked I’m as into as I am, since I’m a story fiend, but I think I like the puzzle and direct goal-oriented action of the game where each floor holds a different challenge with both enemies and map obstacles.

Title: Assassin’s Creed: Origins
Series: Assassin’s Creed
Genre: Action/Stealth – Drama
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Studios
Release Date: October 27, 2017

Date Started: November 28, 2017

I keep saying “Assassin’s Cred!” because I’m a weird ass who (sometimes purposely) messes up words.  I mean, it makes some semblance of sense.  You want to get your assassin’s cred don’t you 😀

Anyway…I’ve only played this once, but I really like it.  The combat isn’t too difficult, and this is me saying it: TSN, the gamer who is terrible at action-y combat.  I have it on easy, and I’m just enjoying myself…or I would be if my stupid motion sickness didn’t kick in.  Ughhh (that’s both due to the motion sickness and my annoyance to the same).  Well, I bought some ginger pills for the next time I can pick up the sticks (or sword).  I just finished a stealth part…which I wasn’t very good at lol.  I got NO head shots whatsoever, but it’s time to go into town to purchase supplies, so I’m looking forward to that.

I can’t finish without saying that I love that there’s no whitewashing of the characters in this game!  It takes place in Egypt, and the people look Egyptian, which I know should go without saying…but Gods of Egypt.  That’s really all I need to say about that.  Also, word on the street (as in something I heard from CBA who always has all the info) is that there’s a patch coming out sometime next year that will allow “educational” mode?  I’m not sure what it’s called, but you can pretty much not have combat at all and just enjoy the information about Ancient Egypt.  I think I’m going to keep the combat in for my first play through, since it hasn’t been that bad, but I’ll remember this for later!

Ongoing, Non-Story Based, and Demos Played This Week

Nintendo 3DS

Theatrythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call – I finally figured out what the hell I was doing wrong on the Field Music quests lol.  You have to follow the line of the music when it’s a held note.

I thought I needed to hit the control pad whenever there was a little green mark.  Nope!  I kept getting “Bads,” and could not figure it out for the life of me, but now I know.

The game is incredibly cute with little, chibi characters.  I’m pretty sure Sephiroth is one of the ones you can unlock if you get six Black Shards (which makes perfect sense), but I won’t be able to confirm that until I do, since all you see is a silhouette, but I KNOW that silhouette ♥

There are a couple of quests that play a movie in the background of the music, and the notes show up differently: Advent Children’s “One Winged Angel” and the fight music from Final Fantasy XIIi, but I can’t remember what it’s called! D:  It was really pretty though (Lightning don’t strike me down…)

If you’re a fan of rhythm games, I’d highly recommend!

Android/Kindle

Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius – I’m trying to play a little bit of this every day so that I can try to catch up.  There’s just so much to do between collecting daily prizes, leveling up characters, doing Vortex missions, doing expeditions, and this isn’t even including continuing the story, which I haven’t done in months.  There’s some deal where if you spend $7 (or $6.99, let’s be accurate lol), you get like over 5000 lapis in the next 30 days.  I’m thinking about doing it, but I have to make a decision soon since the deal expires in three days or so.

Oh, and I saw these on Deviant Art the other day…

…and needless to say I (not so quietly) lost my mind.  According to the description, these are just his poses from FFBE, but I don’ t know if the artist (Zerolypiustrife) made them himself.  I asked, and I’m hoping I receive an answer.  Depending on what that is, I might be playing FFBE…forever.

Update:  While I was proofreading this the artist replied to my comment.  He doesn’t know :p

Gif 1 is located here.  Gif 2 is right here.

Let’s Plays Finished

Ori and the Blind Forest by Cryaotic – The ending is so bittersweet.  I definitely got a little misty eyed.  This game is absolutely beautiful.  It’s an atmospheric Metroidvania with a gorgeous soundtrack, Miyazaki-like characters, and platformer obstacles that you need to sacrifice your first born to accomplish.  When I first started watching, I added it to my backlog, but as I continued, I quietly took it off, secure in the knowledge that it is beyond my skill level.  Cry is a great Let’s Player though who knows how to entertain and edit his videos damn near perfectly.  He has the best outros of anyone I’ve ever watched.  His voice is super chill, and he’s hysterical without even trying.

SpellCaster by Hungrygoriya – The final stage was completely different from the rest of the game, but there was definitely a gigantic monster that had to be vanquished.  I’ve never seen a game quite like this that combined the elements it did: platformer, RPG, and puzzle.  There was some backtracking, but that mostly came in later stages.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War by Cryaotic – Do you want to ugly cry?  Because if you want to ugly cry, WATCH OR PLAY THIS GAME.  Usually, I’ll get misty or have silent tears running down my face, but I was making noises.  I was loud enough that my husband stopped playing Destiny 2 to see if I was okay, and the friend he was playing with asked what was going on.  I had no idea what I was getting into when I started watching this one…like literally.  I thought this was Vandal Hearts, but I’m happy I stuck with it.  I learned more about the first World War than I ever did in school.  Like, though I’m not shocked by it, I didn’t know that France kicked out its German citizens, which is not only absolutely terrible, but not a good strategic move.  I’m sure they thought that if it came down to it and they were faced with the enemy, they’d defect, not considering that they’d consider France their homeland or at the very least be more patriotic to it.  This is especially true of Karl, one of the main characters who’s forced to leave his wife Marie and infant son Victor behind when he’s deported.  Once he’s back in Germany, he’s drafted and forced to fight.  The game does what no amount of statistics can: it shows you the human side of war.  After Karl leaves, Marie’s elderly father Emile is also pressed into service, so she’s left alone on their farm with their son.  Emile befriends Freddie, a black US soldier, and their relationship consists of them constantly saving each others lives.  Later, we meet Anna, the vet who volunteered to taxi soldiers to the front lines (something else I’d never heard about), who winds up staying because she’s desperately needed, plus she’s trying to find her father.  Then there’s Walt, the German medic dog who is an invaluable member of the team.  I’ve watched so many amazing games this year, but this one is going to win my award for “Game That Made Me Ugly Cry.”

Games Added to Backlog

  1. Deemo – Piano based rhythm game?  Yes please.  As reviewed by Drakulus!
  2. The Darkside Detective – As reviewed by CBA!
  3. Yono and the Celestial Elephants – A recommendation from CBA.
  4. Super Princess Peach
  5. Lost Sphear – Squeenix keeps emailing me about this one.  They want me to preorder it bad.
  6. Xenoblade Chronicles – Not the second one…not yet per The Well-Red Mage.
  7. A Hat in Time – As Reviewed by Mr. Panda!
  8. Star Ocean: Second Evolution
  9. South Park: The Stick of Truth – A gift from Cheap Boss Attack!  Like literally, he sent me the game 😀
  10. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – There it is 🙂  Another Mr. Panda review.
  11. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – I had no idea he wasn’t just a one off Mario Odyssey character, but Defy the Majority set me straight 🙂
  12. OPUS: The Day We Found Earth

Total Games in Backlog: 167
Change from Last Week: +5

Games Added to Watch List

  1. Rule of Rose – I started watching Cryaotic’s LP of this, but I’m not sure if I’m going to continue.  I’m curious, but there are so many others I’m more interested in.
  2. Ori and the Will of the Wisps – This can’t come out soon enough.
  3. The 7th Saga – I…kind of don’t recall when or why I added this lol.  I’ve tried to watch it before, but I got bored, though that might have been due to the Let’s Player.  If Cry, HG, or Mr. Odd played it, I’d be hooked.
  4. Corpse Party: Book of Shadows – Reviewed by Lost to the Aether!  Sounds like something I would’ve loved to watched during Halloween.
  5. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons – I think I saw that Cry had done an LP of this, so I added it.

Total Games on Watch List: 56
Change from Last Week: +2

Miscellaneous

I already mentioned that Cheap Boss Attack sent me his copy of South Park: The Stick of Truth, which has a rating much higher than I’d expect on Grouvee!  I really appreciate when my friends take the time to not only give me good recommendations, but send me stuff in the mail!  I’m sending him Super Paper Mario by request, and I’m still looking for homes for Rock Band 2 (for PS3), Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (for Wii), The Black-Eyed Peas Experience (for Wii), and Final Fantasy Type-0 (for PS4).  You can DM me on Twitter (@ash1rose) or just use the contact sheet here!

I’ve been working on putting my backlog onto Backloggery, even though I know I have it on Grouvee.  I’m going to see which one I like better.  Backloggery seems to be more of the list whereas Grouvee has more social media and review/commentary basis.

Hopefully the next update won’t be as long.  I suppose catching up after more than a month is gong to be more extensive.   Let me know what games you have on your wishlist for the holidays!

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: 10/31/17            The State of the Gamer: 12/26/17–>

35 thoughts on “The State of the Gamer: 12/12/17”

  1. Pingback: The State of the Gamer: 10/31/17 | The Shameful Narcissist Speaks

  2. I wasn’t expecting something like the Lord of Lightning in a Mario game – even with the various art styles present in this installment. It makes Charles Martinet voicing a certain character in Skyrim hilarious with the power of hindsight.

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    • Me neither! Especially since when I first played SMB I thought Bowser was a dragon lol. But he breathes fire whereas LOL uses lightning. It’s definitely something different I’ll say that.

      You’ll have to elaborate on that Skyrim thing. Besides the music I know little to nothing about it 😳

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      • Dragons feature quite prominently in Skyrim, and the Lord of Lightning wouldn’t seem out of place in that game. Indeed, the art style of the Ruined Kingdom itself is very reminiscent of Skyrim, though I could see a Dark Souls influence as well. Pretty impressive for such a short stage. Mario’s voice actor provides the voice for a character in Skyrim, though I had no it was him until a bit later.

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        • I agree! That Ruined Kingdom is actually quite creepy. I know that much about Skyrim hehe. I love Malukah’s covers of the songs from it, but beyond dragons, Alduin, “thoom,” and “dovakin,” (which I’m probably misspelling), I’m quite clueless! I believe it’s one of the games offered on PlayStation VR.

          THAT makes a lot more sense now. I get the connection 🙂

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  3. Awww thank you so much for the shoutouts!!! 😀 I’m so excited about all of your new games! Theatrhyrhm is one of my favorite games on 3DS period, and Etrian Odyssey V is so addicting. And that dragon boss? Epic. It’s so out of place in Mario and I love it so much for that! By the way, I’m so excited about the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT trailer that showed off all the characters! It’s going to be so epic! We have it preordered!! 😀

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  4. Glad to see you added Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker to your list! 🙂 What a fun, adorable game. I bought Theatrhythm a little while back and haven’t played it yet (story of my life) but it looks so fun!

    Also, I know I mentioned this to you before, but I really do like Backloggery! I like its simplicity, and since I’m a huge fan of making lists, this really works for me. You can add comments and rate games to help you organize too, so that helps. 🙂

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  5. I loved Odyssey but then, bam, it ends and… what? There are only 14 proper stages?! I’m going to revisit it at some point soon, after the Zelda DLC has been COMPLETED, but this is the first time I’ve been disappointed by a Mario game. I mean it’s great, but really you can complete it quickly and then it turns into a star collecting-athon over some very small courses. This bit is either fantastic or a chore, depending on your outlook. I just think there should have been 20+ more stages.

    Anyway, I adore Ori and the Blind Forest. Can’t wait for the sequel. Duuuh huh huh huh huuuuh!

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  6. Enjoy South Park! I’m glad it found a good home, haha. I look forward to playing through Super Paper Mario next year!

    In AC Origins, I abused the dumb AI. Find some tall grass to hang out in, whistle dudes over, and stealth kill them. Their friends will be oblivious and you can pick entire camps off one at a time because they’re all idiots lol.

    Rule of Rose is super interesting, but not a great game. It garnered fame because it has underage romance in it, so it was given an incredibly small release. We paid nearly $100 for our copy 6 years ago. I saw Cry played through Rakuen, which is a super depressing RPG Maker game. I need to check that out because being depressed makes me want to watch equally depressing games, apparently.

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    • I’m so glad I’m not the only one who was kinda iffy on ROR. Yeah what the hell is with having depression and loving the shit out of depressing stuff?? I mean I know why psychologically but come on! Adding Rakuen to my list. Oh and watch Valiant Hearts: The Great War is you want to have your heart ripped out.

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      • I think it’s just reassuring to know that others out there know what depression feels like. Like, I can tell when someone has no history with depression but tries to incorporate it into a story. So finding these accurate portrayals is like “yay, there’s someone else out there that fucking understands!”

        I actually played VH on PS4. The feeeeeeels.

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        • Dude…this right here. I’ve read things from people who don’t have depression who attempt to write about depression, and you can tell. I actually just realized that I’m *always* writing about depression with all of my stories. At least one character manifests it. Laypeople/those without it think it’s that you’re sad and morose all the time. There’s that stock image of the person siting by a wall with their knees pulled up and their head buried in them, but that is NOT what depression looks like (at least not all the time). They showed a picture of Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) hours before he committed suicide. He was laughing and playing cards or something with his friends. People who just know me casually say how super outgoing I am, and one of the former chefs in the caf at my job used to call me “Happy,” because when you’ve dealt with the depths you often want to portray and project positivity towards people, because one, you don’t want anyone to feel like that, and two, god forbid they *suspect* anything, plus (this is going to sound like I’m a feelings vampire) I feed off energy so if people are happy, I’m more likely to be in their presence. Same goes for most any emotion. You’d think I’d like being around people all the time them. Absolute nope hehe. Introvert all the way, just good at playing extroverted. But online friends don’t drain the energy nearly as much if at all. I guess because there’s no “face” to put on.

          I just started watching Rakuen tonight. I have theories, but I’m keeping them to myself. Also, I love Cry’s voice lol.

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          • Exactly. People who think depression is just a “case of the sads” will never understand the way it consumes you with a complete lack of self worth. I’ve suffered from it since I was in middle school and I’m 36 now. I’ve had to hide it at work my entire adult life, so like you, I’ve gotten good and playing the lively extrovert card, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s why it’s so reassuring when I play these games and I can just tell the writer has been through some shit in their life. Undertale and NieR Automata especially.

            It’s certainly easier to cope with depression when interacting with people online. I think it’s the lack of accompanied anxiety of meeting someone new face to face. But I can hold a conversation online FAR better than I ever could in person.

            And yeah, Cry is a damn treasure.

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            • It’s ridiculous how good we become at acting. It’s why I sort of lolsob when people say that some people “act” sick, when in reality they more than likely acting well. You put on that face to get through the day, and there are only a few people you can drop the wall around, because otherwise you have to deal with awkward explanations about how you feel, and there’s a huge chance people who aren’t in the know will understand. It’s exhausting, which is one of the reasons people with depression tend to sleep a lot.

              That is one thing I absolutely love. The fact that games are becoming blatant with their depictions of mental health. TBH I think Final Fantasy was doing it on the subtle note years ago (or not so subtle in some cases), but now we have the two you mentioned and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, all of which I have on my backlog.

              Definitely. You don’t have to worry about blurting out the wrong thing because you can proofread it before you send it, and not having to come up with something on the fly takes away a lot of the anxiety that can be associated with personal interaction. I am so much better at expressing myself in writing than I am verbally. I’ll sometimes stumble over my words or get flustered, because there are so many thoughts in my head, and I have to funnel on a few of them into verbal communication.

              I’m watching Rakuen now! I have some ideas about what’s going on, but I’m reserving judgment. Also, the voices he does are amazing.

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              • FF has definitely been on the ball when presenting casts with mental health issues. Prompto was a fucking treasure in XV, particularly in his DLC episode.

                I’ll be starting Rakuen as soon as I get back from vacation, so we’ll have to compare notes lol.

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                • I almost want to say it was the first series I ever played to do so. VI had attempted suicide and teen pregnancy. I think the Philosophy of Final Fantasy summed it up the best: Final Fantasy is about the right and wrong ways people deal with trauma. I was like “Holy shit…” when the video said that.

                  Ah yes! But enjoy your vacay. You deserve it 🙂

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  8. This Lord of Lightning person sounds like trouble… Honestly, I haven’t touched SMO in weeks. I’m only at the get the power plant running for Mayor Pauline part. I plan to jump back into it when I’m home for the holidays next week (2 weeks off starting next Wed. Woot!!). Lightning will never strike you down, my friend 🙂

    BioWare will be getting the lion’s share of my attention for the foreseeable future. I’m still working on my 4th playthrough of Dragon Age II. Almost done though.

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    • Ah you’re in my favorite part of the game! I LOVE Metro City. I think the outfit there is my favorite, though I do (a little ironically) love what I’m dubbing Mario’s “dudebro” ensemble lol. It took me a few days to realize that Pauline is supposed to be Mario’s ex-girlfriend! That’s the name of the girl you’re trying to rescue in Donkey Kong. I won’t give anything else away, but after you get the power plant back online, there’s a part that just makes the game ♥

      I’ve been working on Creative Christmas from Later Levels. It’s been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see everyone else’s responses!

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  9. I was pretty satisfied with Mario’s length. I’ve been having a good time going back to what I missed, and finding that there’s still a looooot to do after the game is technically beaten. Harder versions of the bosses, new and interesting costumes, a certain classic character that hadn’t made an appearance in the main game, it really opens up.

    Glad to see I got you interested in Corpse Party as well. But the one I reviewed wasn’t Book of Shadows, I think that’s actually the third game in the series. It’s just called Corpse Party on the PC, but I believe the first game is Corpse Party: Blood Covered. Probably an easier starting point.

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    • I’ve heard there’s a HUGE after game. Like I said, I haven’t even collected half of the Power Moons. I don’t know if I’ll like harder versions of the bosses lol. I’m already having quite a time defeating the Lightning Lord D:

      Oh really? I think that was the most recent one, and it looked the most like the screen shots you provided so it’s the one I added. I’ll go back and switch it around.

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  10. Valiant Hearts made my top five games of 2015. A great tribute to those who gave their lives in the war. Ubisoft should make more games like it. The finale is certainly emotional and like you said the game is quite educational too.

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  11. Pingback: The State of the Gamer: 12/26/17 | The Shameful Narcissist Speaks

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