sdcSpade

I reached the second half of Echoes of Wisdom. I didn't expect it, but for some reason it feels like the game has actually begun now. Maybe I'm imagining it. Haven't played much since then though, but will continue tomorrow.

I finished the second main quest in Lightning Returns. The fight against

It's kinda fitting that I found such a good time to pause on both games, because it's time for the monthly game of Civ 5! I'm going down the list to play every civilization and the Huns are up this time. I'm not a fan of domination victories, so I keep the map smaller. Usually, I out-tech my opponents at some point on the normal difficulty, but something went really wrong and we're actually all on equal footing. We're down to three players and just as my warmonger penalty has worn off and I'm starting to be on good terms with everyone, both of my opponents declared war on me at the same time! They were at each other's throats for a long time themselves. I fended them off, but I got some rebuilding to do now...

I also dug out Snowboard Kids for the N64 again. Quicksand Valley is really walling me right now.

And a special shoutout to the Beta of Monster Hunter Wilds that dropped all of a sudden. I had no idea! I just wanted to see if my PC can handle the game but ended up playing for three hours. I haven't played World, so it's my first time in this more realistic art direction. I miss the colors Rise had, but I'll get used to it. I wanted to try out a new weapon for this game, but I think I'm too old to learn new tricks. I went back to my trusty Switch Axe within minutes. Everything feels a bit more sluggish, but I'm not so rusty that I couldn't beat all the monsters in the beta by myself. The Magnamalo from the Rise demo way back when did not leave me with such confidence...

As long as there's still a chance this loops around to Agatha becoming Franklin Reed's nanny, anything is fine. We got the grey hair at least, that's one step!

I have everything for Civ V. Old Civs tend to go on sale for 90% and less, so there was no reason to pick and choose.

I finished the desert dungeon in Echoes of Wisdom. I liked it! I thought the water dungeon was kinda boring, so I was a little worried. The list of echoes is getting a little full though. I wish I could blacklist some of them so they don't clog up the list.

Most of my time was spent starting Lightning Returns. It says a lot about Final Fantasy XIII's lack of popularity that I haven't even heard about the third game in the trilogy being very reminiscent of Majora's Mask of all games! I really should have heard about that...

The biggest difference is that you don't live through a 3-day cycle multiple times but a 13-day cycle ONCE. You get one chance and if you fail, you lose. I have read that you don't need nearly that much time for the main quest, but I'm a completionist at heart, so I'm still constantly on edge. They tell you very early on that you can't save everyone, but so far I like the game enough to plan for a New Game Plus with a 100% guide to make the game eat those words! With some side quests being very specific about their time, this will probably be a lot like that time I used a guide for Final Fantasy 9 to race to the final dungeon in under 12 hours to get Excalibur II while staying on level 1 and getting all missables to create the perfect starting point for a 100% completion (which admittedly ended as soon as I got to that point because that was the most interesting part of it).

I also like that the combat is its own beast and not a rehash of the past, like XIII-2 was. It still feels very challenging though. Unless an enemy is exceptionally weak, you really have to pay attention.

I'm also very close to finishing Wild Arms. I know now why that nostalgia is not the reason why I didn't enjoy it as much as I remember. The game expects you to explore. Nobody really tells you where to go and what to do and when I play a game for the first time, that's perfectly fine. I don't explore a game the second time around, though. At that point, I prefer having a brief guide nearby to make sure I don't miss anything and so I came into this game with false expectations, mostly because I really didn't remember nearly as much about it as I thought.

The desire to start a new game of Civ V haunts me every day. I said once a month! Just one more week of patience...

Played more Echoes of Wisdom. I haven't done much, though. My motivation took a nosedive when I explored around the southwestern parts of Hyrule Field. The open world aspect really doesn't work for me in 2D, the area just felt too big and empty.

I'm putting the brakes on Civ 5, not because I want to, but because I have to. I finished another game today and I'm henceforth limiting myself to one game per month. I'm really just trying to win one match per civilization for now, so I'll be done with that in a few years at this rate.

So in its place, it's finally time to tackle Lightning Returns, the third game in the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy. I'm not sure what to expect. Though most points of criticism are absolutely valid, I thought the first game was much better than people say. The second one is exactly as bad as people say, though. It had some good ideas, but it just didn't feel right.

I can imagine him being tough if you're going in blind, but Link does the exact same thing in his game. The 'Cane of Somaria' is literally a magic staff that creates blocks, so that boss was a perfect fit for this game.

I dropped Baten Kaitos Origins. I hate to do it, but as I tweaked my deck more, combat just got more boring. I was curious, so I did some research: Apparently, the fanbase is split right down the middle. You'll either say the combat is better than the first game's in every single way or you'll hate it. I cannot say anything good about it...

It also doesn't help that the game quadrupled down on Quest Magnus, my least favorite part of the original game. Just lugging random things around that you think you might need when you can only carry a very limited amount of them annoyed me, but at least you mostly needed them for side quests. In the prequel, you also upgrade other cards with them, mix them together to get new ones and they affect your stats? Stop, I'm already dead!

I've been wanting to play this game for almost 20 years...

So I started Echoes of Wisdom instead. I didn't think I'd play it so close to release, I wasn't too hyped for it. But I quickly remembered that I absolutely love making enemies fight each other in any video game, so that's a part I enjoy! I'm slightly disappointed at how much it's taking from the modern Open World formula, I was hoping the 2D side of the franchise would keep things traditional.

I'm not too far in yet, but I have come across my favorite boss from Oracle of Ages! What a deep cut, I did NOT expect to see him ever again! But it makes sense, with a basic block your wand essentially becomes the Staff of Somaria.

I'm still playing Civ 5. I understand now why the game is still being played today. I had no problems playing Civ 1 a few years ago, I would have problems now. It's simple balancing decisions like large empires having both up- and downsides that impress me. The Civ I know was all about settling like mad.

I may have made a huge mistake.

I started playing Civ 5. I bought it a long time ago when the whole package was 90% off and finally decided to play it. And that's all I did. I knew this wasn't going to be a casual experience. I played Civ 3 when it was the most recent game in the series my old Laptop was able to play and the SNES version of Civ 1 a couple of years later (because apparently, I only play the odd-numbered ones). I knew the risks.

But I also have a bunch of vacation days to use up, so I took a week off from work to just let this happen. Get it out of my system and hopefully move on from there. Don't bother holding my beer, it'll be stale by the time I come back out of this rabbit hole.

That's the thing though, I know it's not required because I've done it. And it took less than 24 hours after beating the game for my anxiety to become nostalgia.

I'm looking forward to the expanded story, I'm not looking forward to subjecting myself to the anxiety again. If I didn't know what this game was, I'd probably just play it on Normal difficulty, thinking that's the intended experience and be none the wiser. But I reject the lower difficulty levels! I've beaten the remaster of the original and I will not settle for less. My pride won't allow it and I hate it. Stupid pride...

I have started my playthrough of Baten Kaitos Origins. I did lose my first three hours of gameplay because I had an apparently rare glitch that resets the card collection when you turn off the game and the only way to fix it is a specific save/load setup done on a brand new file. It's weird finally playing the sequel to a game I know so well for the first time. It almost feels like a Romhack since it looks almost identical.

The differences do come in fast and hard when it comes to combat though and I have to say I am not happy with it. What made combat in the first game so exciting was the split-second decision you had to make. Do you take the risk and chase that straight or do you play it safe and start forming pairs with the cards you already used? In the sequel, every card has a predetermined role in the one combo you are able to play and you do that over and over again. On top of that, it's not as strictly turn-based anymore. Combat keeps going while you're setting up your own turn and once I had a full party of three characters, I no longer see 90% of combat even happening. I sometimes notice one of my characters being poisoned and I don't even know which enemy did that. I'll give it to the game that combat gets fast paced a lot earlier than in the first game, where combat is honestly quite boring for the first 10 hours, but it's just such a mess. And it doesn't help that all three characters have to share the same deck!

Meanwhile, I'm about 90% done with Tomb Raider (2013). It's shorter than I thought, but it's nice to play something that doesn't drag its feet all the time. It's got all the doodad-collecting I need and you can get all of it in 20 hours, as opposed to other games where it takes 200 hours to realize you don't actually care about getting everything.

Overall, I like the game. It doesn't stand out (anymore?) but it also doesn't really do anything wrong. It does get unintentionally funny how Lara keeps taking the worst falls and horrific injuries and just walks them off. The percentage of voice acting that is just 'pained grunts' has to be unusually high! It's a shame the game has multiplayer achievements though. I like completing games, but when I can't get all achievements, I can't care about any of them.

Usually I have more time to get in the mood for a new game, now I'll have to actually look for something.