Currently Playing

[Nester the Lark]

Over a year ago, I bought The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky on GOG. I've been playing it on and off since then, and I finally finished it last night.

I kinda knew going into it that it might not be for me, but I wanted to give it a chance anyway. It was a slow burn, and felt like a bit of a slog at points. The story was convoluted, and I didn't really care about it too much. The battle system is mechanically interesting, but a bit slow and tedious.

I did like the characters a lot, though.

It does end on a pretty big cliffhanger, and I can see why fans hated having to wait four years for the sequel to get localized, but I don't plan on jumping into it anytime soon.

Still, I'm glad I got through it.

[nocturnal YL]

I'm close to finishing what's perhaps the shortest Nintendo-published RPG I've seen.

It's Paper Mario: Color Splash. It's not exactly a bad game, and it does have a promising start. But you'd expect most RPGs and adventure games to feature longer chapters or harder fights as the story goes on. It's not quite the case here. You have to visit 6 locations until you get the red Big Paint Star, but each subsequent chapter adds just 3 or 4 locations. And there are only 6 chapters instead of the usual 7 or 8. Battles also get easier over time; does Mario need more max HP than 100? It took me about 20 hours to reach to the end, and that's a blind playthrough not done with speed in mind.

Also, welcome to the shortest final level. If you've played the first three games, you should remember the long final chapters there. It's not the case here at all.

And it's not like this game has some super-tough extras to get, either. 100% colorization isn't exactly a hard task if you have a keen eye. I got stuck for some 4 or 5 times in Thing-related puzzles. The only hard thing here is to collect the enemy cards, which does require some grinding and luck.

Oh, and there's no way to start a new playthrough other than deleting the entire save file. And it doesn't feature multiple save slots. Have fun with that.

The story is good (and it has good humour), but it lacks explanations. Like why is Bowser there in the first place, and why do certain Toads possess extraordinary powers. And the ending… isn't what I wanted. The extensive use of generic Toads isn't bad though; the game is aware of this and managed to turn it into part of its humour.

The battle system isn't bad at all. If you think it's a hassle dealing with cards and paint, well, why didn't you complain about badges and FP? Having limited resources is part of what makes RPGs fun, people. But it does have its weakness (kind of): there is an option that allows the player to use buttons instead of the touch screen during battles, but it doesn't extend to other parts that uses the same battle cards UI. It's confusing. And it doesn't help that this game is a classic case of forcing the use of the Wii U GamePad when it's not needed at all.

I do like this game, but it does leave me unsatisfied at some points. Especially since it's so short. Not sure if it's a good way to "ënd" the Wii U, especially since I've played an excellent Wii U RPG less than a year ago and, before that, a decent freeware RPG with a better story and battle system than this (which I paid for).

[Nester the Lark]

Been playing Xanadu Next since it came out last Thursday, and I'm quite enjoying it so far.

It does bear some resemblance to a dungeon crawler like Diablo or Torchlight (and you can even play it keyboard and mouse-style somewhat like those games, although it does support controllers), but the dungeons are not randomly generated (except for one optional dungeon), so it feels a lot more structured and metroidvania-like.

I can also see the comparisons with Pandora's Tower (minus the dating sim part), but it also reminds me a little of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

It also has great atmosphere, as well as, of course, amazing music.

[Nester the Lark]

A couple of years ago, I got The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap on Virtual Console. I played most of the way through the game, then got stuck and drifted to other games. (Probably Hyrule Warriors.)

A few days ago, I picked it up again. I barely remembered anything about it, but since I was near the end of the game anyway, I figured it would be quicker to reorient myself rather than start over from the beginning. I manged to get past the part I was stuck on, and I finished it last night.

[Nester the Lark]

Yesterday, I finally managed to get 200% in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze!

[Manspeed]

[Nester the Lark]

I've been playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. I'm almost at the end, but I'm doing a little sightseeing and tying up some loose ends. I also want to do the Cave of Shadows so the Wolf Link amiibo is ready for Breath of the Wild. (I might need to buy a Zelda amiibo so I can cheat and get full health at the end.)

I think Twilight Princess might actually be my second favorite Zelda game after Majora's Mask. I always have such a great time playing it.

I'm also playing Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. It's a little different from the other Shantae games in that it's not really a pure metroidvania, but rather a series of linear levels that you can replay to find new areas and secrets when you have more abilities. It's still really fun, tho.

[nocturnal YL]

I had a pile of unopened 3DS games: Project mirai DX, Picross 3D 2 and Sayonara Umihara Kawase. I just started the first; don't know when will I ever get to the other two. And I still play FE14 and Band Brothers P regularly.

Project mirai DX is more fun than I expected, although I don't think it'll last long with a library of 48 songs, unexpandable. As with everything else SEGA does, this game gives me a slight "Nintendo users are second-class citizens" feel despite using more 3DS features than Nintendo ever would.

I also want to finally start my 3rd run of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, but I don't feel like using my Wii U right now. I'm so spoiled by the sleep modes of my computers and 3DS that apparently, a proper system shutdown is too much work for me.

Please tell me Nintendo Switch has a proper sleep mode.

[Nester the Lark]

Technically, I've finished Twilight Princess, but I'm still kinda playing around with it for fun. There are a few Miiverse stamps I haven't found yet, and I'm enjoying fishing.

I also beat the Cave of Shadows. As it turns out, I may have accidentally cheated a little bit. I didn't try the Cave of Shadows until I was near the end of the game and had a full 20 heart containers. But the way it works is that the first time you play it, you only have to go five levels deep before it saves your health to the Wolf Link amiibo, and I only lost 1.5 hearts by that point. That means I have 18.5 hearts stored in the amiibo, and that should be what gets transferred to Wolf Link in Breath of the Wild.

So, yeah, I'm in pretty good shape in that regard. (And honestly, that's kinda why I got Twilight Princess HD.)

I did finish the cave proper, though, and got the giant wallet that holds 9,999 rupees. (Only had half a heart left my first time, tho.)

I also beat Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. I got 100% in less than 9 hours, so it was a surprisingly short game. (I think even Shantae and the Pirate's Curse took longer than that.) And none of the extra playable characters are available yet, but are supposed to be free DLC sometime in the future. (I hope the Wii U version doesn't get stiffed.) I did start a "Hero Mode" playthrough, which is like a New Game+ that gives you most of the transformations right off the bat. Haven't finished it, yet, tho.

I feel like I should move on to other games, but I'm not sure what. Might go back to playing Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.

[nocturnal YL]

Getting a different game to unlock something? Reminds me of when I bought Path of Radiance partially because it unlocks stuff in Radiant Dawn. Also, I just realised that they're using amiibo as a way to facilitate Wii U-Switch data transfer, which is otherwise unfeasible.

Is that 18.5-heart Wolf Link usable only once, or can you summon him for as long as you don't overwrite the amiibo? Did Nintendo ever say anything on that? Hopefully, it's the latter.


I want to elaborate a bit on Project mirai DX. Despite my complaint, SEGA actually did a good job making that game and had good consideration that they're now on a Nintendo platform and not PlayStation. My complaint was mainly on (1) the button colouring matched PlaySation in mirai 1 and 2 (ABXY), and changed to the Nintendo scheme (ABXY) only in DX, and (2) a number of mirai songs ended up in Future Tone. I still say (1) is inexcusable, but they also did a good job in (a) not just tried to get CERO A but actually making it a low-age-friendly game, (b) putting in as many songs as they could (48), beating the other games if you don't count DLC, (c) still have a few songs that remain mirai-exclusive, and (d) make one of the music videos an unmissable Famicom reference, which is impossible to do on PlayStation.

TL;DR: mirai DX is still an excellent game despite my complaint; the "Nintendo users are second-class citizens" thing is not that bad.

[Nester the Lark]

Jan 19, 2017 12:42:12 GMT -5 nocturnal YL said:

Getting a different game to unlock something? Reminds me of when I bought Path of Radiance partially because it unlocks stuff in Radiant Dawn. Also, I just realised that they're using amiibo as a way to facilitate Wii U-Switch data transfer, which is otherwise unfeasible.

It's not the first time I got extra stuff for a Zelda game. I got the N64 Expansion Pak for Majora's Mask, and Skyward Sword came with a Wii Remote Plus. Also, I kinda wanted to revisit Twilight Princess anyway, so I treated myself.

Jan 19, 2017 12:42:12 GMT -5 nocturnal YL said:

Is that 18.5-heart Wolf Link usable only once, or can you summon him for as long as you don't overwrite the amiibo? Did Nintendo ever say anything on that? Hopefully, it's the latter.

It's permanent. It stores the highest number of hearts you've been able to finish the Cave of Shadows with, and you can't overwrite it with any less. (It's also used for restoring your health during the Cave of Shadows, but only once per try.)

[nocturnal YL]

I'm playing the third Fire Emblem game on the same handheld system, which features a dual protagonist system, a diversed variety of monsters, ruins grinding, a male protagonist reliant on power, a female protagonist who seems too naive to rule a nation, and 33 playable units. The game is rather short, and despite the generally good quality, it feels like a stopgap game before the next home console game that is also being developed at the time. Am I talking about The Sacred Stones or Shadows of Valentia?

I just encountered a bug involving the Mila's Turnwheel. If crashes the 3DS (making it stop and silent for 2 seconds before ejecting the player to the 3DS Menu) when it's being used, under unknown conditions. There is also this DLC bug where viewing DLC support conversations in a certain DLC map will make the conversations silent. Quite some quality QA there. Too eager to complete this game to meet the 20 April date* and to work on the Switch game ASAP, I guess?

I'm also still playing Project mirai DX and Fire Emblem Fates. Mostly Project mirai DX; the first half of 2017 is an interesting period for me because I spent more time on SEGA games than Nintendo ones.

I think I don't need a Switch at all when the 3DS is more than enough to entertain me for a good while.

* 20 April: The JP release date of FE1, FE9 and FE15. Lucina's birthday. Also, FE13 was released one day prior, on 19 April 2012.


EDIT - Aaaand I just got Puyo Puyo Chronicle for the 3DS. Really, why would I want the Switch right now?

[nocturnal YL]

I just played all my 3 of my previously unopened 3DS games that I got for very little cost. Can't say I like them a lot, but I didn't expect much to begin with.

Early impressions:

Puyo Puyo Chronicles (SONIC TEAM / SEGA)

SEGA has always been a hit-or-miss publisher, and I'd say it's a miss this time, unlike most other Puyo Puyo games out there. The game doesn't even support stereoscopic 3D! The graphics aren't very good at all (who thought it's a good idea to use 3D models anyway?), the RPG mode feels forced (plain maps and dull NPCs), and it overall feels like a mobile game that's on the 3DS only because it still requres button input. And SEGA had the guts to call this the series' 25th anniversary game.

It's not all bad though. Actually, this is probably my favorite of the three here. The Puyo Puyo-style humour is stilll intact, and you do get to play a bunch of different Puyo Puyo rules in the same package. If you already have Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary, this one isn't worth it. Otherwise, well, I got it for HK$80 (US$10.26), so I can't complain.


Sayonara Umihara Kawase (Studio Saizensen / Agatsuma Entertainment)

High-difficulty platformer. It started as a hobbyist game even back in the Super Famicom version, so I didn't expect much here. I've never actually played any of the previous games, and bought it out of curiosity. And the control really takes some getting used to.

It has death counters (which I generally hate) for all levels. I wonder if I can avoid triggering them by resetting the game whenever I lose (the same way I achieve 0 deaths in 3D Mario)?


Picross 3D: Round 2 (HAL Laboratory, Inc. / Nintendo)

The overall atmosphere feels like one of those Japanese escape games you can find on the web. A café theme with soothing music and all that. It feels nothing like Picross 3D 1 at all in terms of presentation. It takes a bit of getting used to; my Picross 3D 1 muscle memory kicks in and I'd paint orange blocks blue, making a miss.

The game so very helpfully guided me through a tutorial. I already know how to play Picross 3D, and I think the game should have asked first. Also, this game uses Kirby's system sound effects for some reason.

[Nester the Lark]

I've been hyped for Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, so I've been playing a bunch of Sonic games lately. I've also streamed the main 2D series on Twitch, including Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3&K, and 4-I. (4-II is next.)

[nocturnal YL]

I didn't even realise you have a Twitch account. Also, Sonic 4 looks even worse than what I've heard (mostly Sonic's speed and the dull music).