Topic: What Game(s) are You Currently Playing?

I finally finished Super Mario Wonder, so I've moved on to Final Fantasy VII. I got a hankering to play it again after I had a long conversation about it with one of my son's teenage friends who's played through FF7 Rebirth and didn't understand some stuff that happened. I haven't played through FF7 since the 90's when it was Cutting Edge Technology, so I'm looking forward to revisiting Cloud and Friends.

Perfect Dark - I’ve still been playing this on the Xbox and I’ve made more progress on it and I think I’m midway through the game. I am getting somewhat stuck on a few levels and they are getting a bit difficult, but I’m still determined to complete them. I’ve been getting used to the games mechanics and the gadgetry involved in the gameplay, so PD is getting easier for me, though I think I wasted 12 or so minutes in a level I played recently, and my only issue with the game so far is that it sometimes does not make a few of its objectives clearer or goes into detail about them. I have not played this game for maybe a week or two, since I’ve sometimes been playing Rare Replay on some occasions.

Diddy Kong Racing - I actually started this game for the first time a month or two ago but dropped it for a while after I got stuck on the first boss, but today I was able to win the boss race. I’m actually playing the game through an emulator since I don’t have an N64, so it’s significantly harder to control and master its mechanics since I don’t have the actual controller or hardware it was released on, though that’s more on me and not the game. I don’t expect to complete it unfortunately, but I love the characters, music, and visuals so much. Conker is so cute in this game compared to how he became after lol.

Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage! - Compared to the previous two games, I’ve actually played this for almost two years, so it’s not new to me and I’m far more skilled in playing it, though I’ve been playing it significantly less and only in short sessions and my skills have gotten somewhat worse. It’s a pretty fun but difficult rhythm game that I absolutely love since I am a huge Vocaloid fan. It has bad lagging sometimes (especially when you have a music video play in the background of gameplay), an annoying as heck gacha system alongside occasionally bad calibration and tap registering, but a lot of those are minor issues and I think it’s a pretty solid rhythm game and is a good for passing time if you are bored, and I might add that there are five different song difficulties, including ones geared more toward beginners, so you could play it for fun rather than seriously like me. The game also has a story for its five different musical groups, though I don’t actually consume the story content since it’s not really what I came to the game for, plus I dislike it when a game requires me to stop and read and tap screens repeatedly to continue.

Just started Sifu (Switch). Man is this game hard yet freaking dope at the same time. I could immediately tell this will be one of those games that require some investment into its mechanics. I have no problem with that as long as the gameplay is fun so I'm looking forward to digging in deep. It could take a while though cause my gaming time is so limited. I've already watched some YouTube videos and damn I feel like I might as well take a real kung fu class LOL. Got the game on sale 60% off.

Surprisingly, I was get into Stranded Sails PS4 after I neglected the game since year 2019 after I played on PS5 machine and the game got 60 fps boost support so it gave me some pleasure to continue the game.

The performance on PS4 machine itself was poor, 30 fps. That's why I played this game on PS5 machine.
Can't imagine the Switch version with worse performance even with the patches / updates.

@mjharper If you get the chance, Final Fantasy VII Remake still feels cutting edge!

About that other game you talked, I just started Super Mario Wonder. Expected not to care for it too much, got it because I got an eShop voucher left and... the game is amazing. Perfect controls, great atmosphere, creative, interesting ideas. I didn't expect to like it this much!

I officially started Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. I’m doing the canon of vengeance story route. I played the base game and loved it, so I’m looking forward to diving deep into this new content. It’s been a fun and hellish experience so far!

Been playing the Disney Speedstorm Inside Out season, even decided to get the Golden Pass for the extra rewards and Joy. Progressing through it a lot better than the last time I tried a free-to-play game's battle pass (that was Paladins, felt like a chore to do). So far the season is great, love the Inside Out track, and I already unlocked Joy, Disgust, and Fear. This is holding me over until I'm able to go see Inside Out 2.

Also, because of GOG's summer sale, been playing the classic game, Moto Racer 2. I bought the first Moto Racer last summer, but its sequel is so much better. More tracks to race on, and an easy to use track editor to make my own tracks up.

A lot of racing lately between these two games.

Finally started my first ever playthrough of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on Switch today! (god it feels so good to finally be able to say that XD)

If you've seen me anywhere online for the past couple months, you will be extremely aware of how badly I've wanted to play TTYD from the moment it was first announced back in September of last year. After falling in love with the original PM when it released on NSO EP way back in December 2021, I've been fiendishly itching to get my hands on the game that almost everyone says is somehow even better than the first. So, after nearly an entire year of waiting, is the end product as good as I was hoping?
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of course it is why wouldn't it be its Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door goddamnit

Right off the bat, the presentation on display in the relatively little I've played so far has been utterly phenomenal. Paper Mario is already a series that made the jump to HD remarkably well in titles like Colour Splash and Origami King but god it really doesn't hit you just how much they've improved until you see the work put into TTYD on Switch. All the little reflections, lighting details and camerawork adds up to an insane level of polish and this isn't even to mention all the extra animation flourishes for every single character in the game; from main party members to generic NPCs, everyone in TTYD just oozes personality and life and it makes me want to talk to as many of them as I can whenever I reach a new area (helped doubly so by the eternally witty and charming writing on display as well).

Of course, the glue that holds all of this together is the returning battle mechanics and my god: they managed to take an already fantastic system and make it even better. So many little improvements/additions across the board make the battles feel far more interactive, attentive and overall enjoyable than they were in PM64 (and they were already great to begin with!): partners are now treated as proper additional party members rather than the sidekick-esque halfstep they were in PM64 (complete with their own health bars and everything), the live-theatre theming not only adds a lovely bit of recontextualisation to the battles taking place but also drives home a bunch of new mechanics like the audience and all the fun quirks associated with them and dude: the level of unbridled satisfaction you get from landing a Super Guard is UNPARALLELED.

I could genuinely keep going with all the praise I have for TTYD so far; the writing is as eternally witty and charming as ever, the characters all feel so unique in both their designs and personalities and THE MUSIC OH MY GOD DUDE THE MUSIC. Alas, this post is getting long enough as is so I'll stop here for now. I've played for just under 4 hours total, completing both the Prologue and Chapter 1 in the process and am going to hop onto Chapter 2 the moment I wake up tomorrow, this genuinely might just end up being a Top 5 game of all-time for me and I couldn't be happier about it 😭

I am now playing through Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts on the Xbox. It’s the only mainline Banjo game that I haven’t completed, not because of how hated it is among fans, but because I found the construction mechanics and introduction of cars in the series difficult to get used to and it’s the one Banjo game I actually suck at since it really isn’t a platformer anymore, so I’ll have to unfortunately use a playthrough until I get used to it. It’s a bit janky and I actually sort of don’t like riding vehicles in the game, though they are necessary to completing the game. Video games are really unfun when you stink at them (especially with a new genre) but I think it’s more on me for why I can’t enjoy it at its fullest right now, but I think I’ll like it later on. It is pretty decent as it retains the same charm and goofy writing the previous games had (besides the infamous and somewhat ignorant opening sequence that took a dump on the N64 games and flipped off its fanbase) and the characters are still enjoyable, even if they are a tad bit more jaded here.

EDIT: Alongside that, I am also playing Perfect Dark Zero. I think it’s better than the first one in terms of its layout and mechanics, though it is hilariously cheesier compared to the first Perfect Dark, since that had a more darker and serious tone. The intro song, the game aesthetic, and the way the protagonist dresses give off hilarious 2000s Disney Channel vibes and I love it.

On xbox I am playing fallout 4. Just completed a playthough and am doing another playthough again this time with mods.
On switch I am playing though fire emblem three houses.

Finishing Persona 5 Royal for the second time (one of my absolute favourites.)
Finishing Zelda: TOTK (one more dungeon left!)
Working through Paper Mario: TTYD. I adored the N64 original so this sequel has been great.
Lastly, I'm about halfway through Persona 3 Reload on PS5.

Can you tell I like to juggle simultaneous rpgs?

Jubilee - this is the best feeling precision platformer I've played in ages. It feels like a metroidvania but it's not - you can go lots of different directions in a huge map and find different areas and checkpoints. However, there are no power-ups or new abilities or things blocking your progress. There are simply platforming challenges no matter what direction you go — rotating spinning saws here, conveyor belts alternating directions and floating over a spike pit there, decsending platforms you have to quickly ascend or die horribly. Some of the sections are ridiculous, but there are enough checkpoints it all feels really fair. It's the type of game where you can die 20 times in one minute and want more. And the platforming just feels good.

On Switch, keeping retro alive.
A link to the past
Live a Live

On xbox, I'll be starting still wakes the deep fairly soon here.

Switch: Zelda: The Minish Cap

PS5: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Gran Turismo 7

Steam Deck: Balatro

Good times

Monster Hunter Stories 2 - I recently finished Dragon Quest Treasures and am in the mood for another pet-collecting game. Sunce there is no new Pokemon this year, I am taking a Pokemon break.

Currently playing Animal Crossing New Horizons and Beacon Pines. I really like Beacon Pines more than I thought I would.

I don’t mind the crafting for AC, but it’s really annoying on basic tools. I wish those didn’t break as it fouls my enjoyment a little bit.

Super Smash TV Game Gear (on Analogue Pocket). Takes a bit of getting used to the controls going from a twin-sticks in the arcade version to controlling with D-Pad and 2 buttons here, but still great fun (and still very hard).

I’m still playing Beyond Good and Evil, but I have The Legend of Heroes Trails from Zero next in line!

Went back to using the Switch and I am now playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate again for the first time in a year! I was pretty obsessed with this game back in 2021, but I wasn’t able to play it until now since the Switch with my account and the game transferred households, but I got it back! Forgot how much I loved the game…it still really is the best fighting game I’ve ever played and looking back at it now, it’s still insane how big this game became over time and how many awesome characters they got to have in their roster. I associate the game with so many good memories and a ton of memorable moments that came from the internet…I miss those times a lot. With how big the game became, it really does make me curious what the direction for the next entry will be…it will be interesting to see when it eventually comes.

I did play a couple CPU matches to get used to it again, and the game still plays well, and I am surprisingly still ok at playing it. However, I am trying to get used to the button placements on the Pro Controller, since they somewhat throw me off after I used an Xbox controller for a good while. I kept accidentally hitting the B button instead of the A button. I do want to do online matches, but my internet is awful and I am afraid that I’ll screw up the controls while playing, so I’ll probably only do that when I am more comfortable playing it.

I’m trying to also get a complete spirit collection (or at least an almost complete collection) since I read months ago that they added new spirits in December for the game’s anniversary. If I recall, my spirit collection is currently at 1510 out of 1517, and today I was able to get three new spirits without any trouble! I made a lot of effort and progress with the spirits when I was so hyperfixated on this game years ago. I think three of the missing spirits are DLC fighters, so I might need to buy those at some point to get a nearly finished collection, though I am not going for 100% completion. World of Light honestly wasn’t bad and the Spirits weren’t either (in fact I love collecting them) but I do think the story mode could have been a bit more exciting and fun, though I can’t compare it to Brawl’s Subspace Emissary since I never played Brawl before, though I think a lot of people liked Subspace more than World of Light.

Thanks to the Steam Summer Sale, I decided to pick up Moto Racer 4. I got Moto Racer 2 during GOG's summer sale, and wanted to try a more modern Moto Racer game. Honestly, I like it. Fun arcade-style racing and works great with my gamepad.

Also, my friend gifted me ATV Drift and Tricks when we were playing Moto Racer 4 online one night. I notice something... this game reused the dirt tracks from Moto Racer 4. Basically the same game, but with ATVs. Knowing the tracks made this one easier, but it feels more like an ATV DLC for Moto Racer, but it's sold as a separate game. Still had fun with it.

As for Switch, I did recently complete the Inside Out Golden Pass on Disney Speedstorm and unlocked all the tiers of the pass. Have to say, definitely better than Paladins' own pass. I progressed through it in two weeks.