<–The State of the Gamer: 4/17/18            The State of the Gamer: 5/15/18–>

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!

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What I Finished

Title: Thimbleweed Park
Developer: Terrible Toybox
System: Nintendo Switch
Genre: Point & Click/Puzzle – Mystery

Date Started: February 25. 2018
Date Finished: April 23, 2018
Play Duration: 57 days

It only took me three months to finish my second game of 2018!  it was fun, witty, and extremely self-aware.  Like self-aware to the point that it was an integral plot device.  My favorite character is definitely Delores, though I do love Agent Ray’s snark.  Delores is completely genuine and nice, as well as a game programmer.

The critiques I have center around some of the puzzles being too obscure to figure out without some help, and even with the in-game Help Line, I found myself turning to the Google for succor.  Now of course that could just be me, and it’s been a long time since I’ve played a point & click adventure (King’s Quest anyone?) so I’m not used to the intricacies of the genre.  I know there were a lot of references to other games like Day of the Tentacle and Maniac Mansion, but since I’ve never played those, the little shout outs were lost on me.  I’d definitely play another Terrible Toybox/Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick point & click title.  This was a lot of fun, and I’ll be reviewing it at some point in the future.

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What I Played

Title: Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius
Series: Final Fantasy
System: Android (Kindle)

I did a few vortex missions and I think one world one.  It would be much easier if I booted it up at least once a day, but the problem is I have it on my Kindle, which means I can only play it at home or where I have wifi.  I really need to catch up to the story, because there are all these characters I think I’m supposed to have.

Title: Final Fantasy V
Series: Final Fantasy
System: PlayStation 3 (port)

It’s a miracle!  I finally went back to FFV, completed Karnak Castle (though I was too worried about time running out again to get all the treasure), finished the Ancient Library mission and now I’m on Crescent Island.  Something huge was just revealed completely out of left field, and it solidified something I’d been thinking about the majority of early Final Fantasies.  It’s a spoiler and even though the game is quite old, I still don’t want to mention it.  I’m going to try to play this at least once a week, but it would be so much easier if I had it on a handheld.  If I wasn’t quite a few hours in, I’d probably purchase a copy on a portable system and go from there, but I’ve already made my bed with the PS3, so I might as well lie in it.

Demos

• Rainbow Moon – I think I’m going to pass on this one.  You’re given a little bit of story before you’re thrown into the game, but it’s a bit too thin for me.  Of course it might be more expanded as it goes along.  I’m good with the battle mechanics.  It reminds me of what little I played of Disgaea 5 where you fight on a battle grid and can move your character, but it just didn’t hold my interest.
• Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony – This is really interesting.  For some reason I thought it was a rhythm music game, but it appears to be a murder mystery in purgatory (seriously…that’s what it seems like).  There’s a bunch of kids in a foliage overrun school with barred doors, barbed wire on the windows and an evil teddy bear headmaster with one half white and one half black.  The only way to graduate is to kill another student, and as soon as Kaede finds this out, she discovers a body in her dorm room’s shower.  Now she and her fellow students have to gather evidence for the class trial.  There’s also some interesting fourth wall breaking where Mikoto refers to her as the “protagonist,” and the teddy bear said something about how the victim has been “killed before,” which really makes me suspect this is a type of purgatory.  The last thing Kaede remembers before waking up here was walking to school, and she’s never heard of this academy before.  Everyone has an “Ultimate” tag except for one student whose ultimate skill remains unknown.  I think I might have to download this one, though I was informed that I should play them in order since they build off of each other.
• Disgaea 4 – I like it as much as Disgaea 5.  It has that silly humor.
• Project Diva f – WTF do the stars mean???  I kept missing those because I have no idea what button that’s supposed to be.  I love rhythm games, but I wish this one had had a better demo tutorial.

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What I Watched

Title: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Series: Mario, Mario & Luigi, Mario RPG
Let’s Player: Olizandri

I finished watching this a few days ago.  I really love the Mario & Luigi RPGs.  I like that the brothers work together, and Luigi is finally given at least some opportunity to shine (even though there are still some not so subtle digs on the green garbed, mustachioed brother, grrrr).  The Let’s Player Olizandri is a delight as always.  His enthusiasm and talented voice acting always make me smile.

Title: Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Series: Ultima
Let’s Player: Hungry Goriya

I remembered that no one cares if I watch YouTube videos at work so long as I get my work done, which I do 🙂  So I’ve managed to catch up on this.  HG uploaded quite a lot of videos in a very brief amount of time.  I’m currently in the midst of 19 while she’s in the midst of a dungeon.  I hope she doesn’t run into any reapers o.O

Title: God of War
Series Title: God of War
Let’s Player: ChristopherOdd

At least two people have told me I need to either watch or play this.  I thought I recalled Mr. Odd had an LP of it, so I looked it up and discovered it’s his current one.  I don’t usually catch Let’s Plays while they’re current (Ultima IV is an exception!), so I’m happy to go along for the ride.  The game is…stunning, and from the selection screen, I think I might be able to play it myself.  You can pick difficulty, and while I don’t want to do just story alone (hey, I want to kill stuff.  It looks cool), I can at least not have it be overly challenging like Chris Odd opted for.  I love Atreus already, and I’m anxious to find out how his relationship with Kratos evolves.

Title: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Series: Mario, Mario & Luigi, Mario RPG
Let’s Player: Olizandri

I just couldn’t resist watching another Mario & Luigi RPG.  I love God of War, but I needed something with more levity and fun, and that’s what this Let’s Play is.  GOW is a one video a day LP because it’s heavy stuff, but I can breeze through two of three of these.  Nor do I have to worry about watching it before bed, although the invading shroobs are literally described as “creepy” lol.

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What I Bought

• Actual Sunlight – $5.00 @ PSN Store

I’ve had this foray into depression on my backlog for a while.  $5 is a small price to pay for a game that delves into all too familiar territory.

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What I Received

• Radiant Historia (Nintendo 3DS)
• Atelier Iris (PlayStation 2)
• The Last Remnant (Xbox 360)
• Record of Agarest War (Xbox 360)
• Record of Agarest War: Zero (Xbox 360)
• Enchanted Arms (Xbox 360)
• Spectral Force 3 (Xbox 360)

I received these seven games from my awesome friend Cheap Boss Attack.  He insists I’m helping him out, but he’s giving me video games.  VIDEO GAMES.  And books and tea (there were four books and a bag of tea in the box as well.  Fucking score).  I probably have over 20 games for my 360 now, so I really need to fire that thing up.  I have enough RPGs to keep me tidy for quite a long time, and I really appreciate it 🙂

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This past weekend was my birthday, which doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with gaming, but we did go to this place called Round One, which is a gigantic gaming complex.  It’s like Dave ‘n Busters on steroids with more of an emphasis on games and less on a sit down meal.  You can get food, but it’s more of the order and pick up type with tables in the back.  They have rows and rows of those claw games that you can actually win (albeit after a few tries)!  Between all of us, we managed to get me this adorable stuffed whale shark whom I’ve decided to name Finn, because why wouldn’t I?

I found my way over to the rhythm games and did a set of DDR.  Boy am I out of shape with bad knees!  It was a lot of fun though and reminded me I need to fire it up at home more often…if I can figure out how to fix the timing.  When I had an older TV, it wasn’t a problem, but now that I have a flat screen in the bedroom, the pad timing doesn’t match up.  

A lot of their games were imported directly from Japan and were therefore in Japanese, sooooo it was quite fun figuring out how to pick a song in Final Fantasy Theatrhythm hehe.  That wasn’t the only reason it was harder than my 3DS version.  There were two sets of controls…and you had to use both of them o.O  Still fun though!

What cracks me up is that mall used to have an arcade, which closed a few years ago.  Now they closed the J.C. Penney in order to open a huge gaming plaza.  What a world.

What have you been up to with gaming the past few weeks?  Are there any gaming hangouts you frequent?  Did you freaking know that Amazon had some random sale on board games??!  It probably doesn’t count as such, but I still want that Final Fantasy trading card game.

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<–The State of the Gamer: 4/17/18            The State of the Gamer: 5/15/18–>