<–The State of the Gamer: 8/7/18            The State of the Gamer: 9/4/18–>

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 Played

Title: Octopath Traveler
System: Nintendo Switch

Date Started: August 11, 2018

Well…I gave into peer pressure, summoned my magical credit card, and bought Octopath Traveler a few weeks ago.  I…regret…NOTHING.  This game is amazing and worth the high price of new Nintendo Switch releases.  The sprite graphics are perfect for an old head like me, but I’m shocked at how much I love the English voice acting.  Usually, I opt for Japanese with subtitles if I have the choice, but something told me to give the English a try, and I’m glad I did.  It’s not fully voiced, only certain scenes, but nearly early line has some sort of vocalization in at the start.

I began with Olberic, the warrior, because that’s who I went with in the demo.  I’m glad I picked him, because he’s my tank.  I grabbed Primrose next, and holy shit, is her story line not for children.  She is a freaking bad ass though in terms of character, and her whole raison d’etre is about vengeance.  She’s willing to do anything for it.

I’m currently going around the world gathering characters.  I just scooped up Cyrus who has the quaintest accent.  Not only like, I like the majority of the characters.  The only two I’m iffy on are Therion (don’t like the arrogance; it reminds me too much of Edge) and Tressa is a little bit annoying, but they’re both useful, which is sometimes lacking when a game has a large cast.  Tressa has been making me money as a good friend told me she would.  I also like that characters have similar but comparable skills.  Like Therion and Tressa can both obtain goods from townspeople just in different ways, though the latter has a tendency to just find money while you’re roaming the world.  Then Olberic and H’aanit can challenge people to fights but your rep will suffer if you lose with H’annit, similar to how it can take a beating if you fail to steal with Therion.  I’m really curious if there’s some sort of morality system in the game, because I felt really bad when I stole from that pauper girl in Therion’s hometown and the fisherman’s widow in Rippletide.  Also, how is it cool to beat up on old people with Olberic/H’aanit even if they accept your challenge?

I just finished Cyrus’ first chapter and I now have to search the basement of the library for a book thief.  I’ve played Squeenix games for too long to not know how libraries can be horror’s catalyst so we’ll see how this goes.

Title: Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius
Series: Final Fantasy
System: iPhone (8)

Date Started: March 27, 2017

If by playing you mean I log on every night to get my daily reward then yes, I’ve been playing.  Once my fervor for Octopath Traveler dies down (like when I finish it), I’ll pay more attention to this one.

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What I Demoed

• Kirby Star Allies – Omg yes.  This is the cutest things I’ve ever seen, and my very first Kirby game so be gentle with me lol.  You can make friends out of enemies and they’ll fight alongside you.  Kirby also has abilities he can gain and apparently share among his companions.  I had some trouble figuring out exactly what some of the moves did, but I’m sure it’s not that difficult.  This is definitely going on my backlog and wish list.  It also seems like you can also play with your own friends!  I think this would be a great game for kids 🙂

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What I Watched

Title: The Illusion of Gaia
Series Title: Soul Blazer
Let’s Player: Hungry Goriya

HG just posted the part in the pyramid where you meet the Jackal, and he goes down faster than Boba Fett.  Also,  his death is disturbing AF.  For an SNES game with limited graphic capabilities, they still managed to show the harrowing sight of a man burning to death before your eyes.  I watched it at least ten times, because I’m that kind of person.  The game’s translation is so weird though.  Kara barely comments on the fact that she was just kidnapped by this assassin and then he’s immolated after Will’s flute playing sets off the trap.  She talks about how she wanted to find her father?  Like, what?

Oh!  And I saw what happens if you collect all of the 50 Red Jewels for Jeweler Jem.  It’s…fucking…wild, and I didn’t expect it to have such intricate ties with one of the game’s major plot points.  The video popped up in my suggestions after one of HG’s.  I’m just going to leave it here with no comment.

Title: Alan Wake
Series: Alan Wake
Let’s Player: ChristopherOdd

I have one more video of this to watch.  I could’ve finished it last night, but I wanted to be awake enough to write about it.  This game sure knows how to play its cards close, because I’m still not entirely unconvinced that this isn’t all a nightmare.

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You’ll notice I do not have FFVI on my played list this week.  I haven’t given up on it; I’m just way too involved in Octopath right now.  I spend my evenings playing that instead of firing up my PS3.  I’ll get back to VI soon enough since it’s still part of my FF project, but…new hotness first 🙂

Have you played Octopath Traveler?  What do you think of it?  Who did you start with?  How far along are you?  I’m still gathering all of my characters so no one is above their Chapter 1.  What’s been taking up your leisure time?

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<–The State of the Gamer: 8/7/18            The State of the Gamer: 9/4/18–>