I just feel like all of the systems in the first Xenoblade on Wii came together in such a cohesive package. They really thought those systems through before shipping the game. I don’t think they had as much development time to do the same for the other two games.
Finished tlou2 recently and have been doing a replay of Halo Wars 2 with a friend of mine. I wanna remember all the campaign details before infinite is revealed soon. Once we finish the campaign we are going to do the DLC campaign as well which I never had a chance to play before
I just finished Paper Mario: The Origami King! I enjoyed most of what I played, and it’s lovely to see another new approach taken to the long-running series, but it’s certainly a shallower game compared with the last one. It’s still an adventure-RPG hybrid but they’ve dumbed-down the more obtuse puzzle elements where you often had to consider events and items in relation to the whole world. Now the puzzles are isolated to the areas you are currently in, and they are, most of the time, very simplistic to figure out, almost as if they were designed to minimise frustration.
The combat is a similar example - engaging during at-the-moment battles and during the highly creative boss battles, but it lost its long-term strategic challenge of the deck-of-cards system the previous game brought to the table.
Still, overall I think Origami King is a win, and I’m impressed by Intelligent System’s ability to reinvent the formula again and make it work.
I’m about to finish Triforce Heroes as well - I’ll wait until I clear that final temple before posting more about it. But it does continue to be a highly engaging and challenging co-operative game.
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It took me a while to really wrap my head around XC2 but once I got it I really loved it and put over 100 hours into it.
I dropped Trails of Cold Steel III around chapter 3, the series just has so much excess built up behind it at this point and the writers can’t help but put in event scenes with literally every character from previous games, presumably to tick all the boxes with all the fans.
But instead you’re left with a game that could have done with some much needed editing, built around a structure that’s painfully predictable despite a story which isn’t.
None of it is bad, but I wouldn’t want to play through any of it again.
I’m playing on Hard difficulty for a challenge too, yet even the combat and boss designs often force you to focus on a specific strategy despite the wealth of options available to you.
The Last of Part II and Yakuza Zero via GamePass. Enjoying both a lot. Yakuza’s quirkiness is a nice contrast to the grounded depressive nature of TLOUII lol.
Been playing the hell of out Animal Crossing New Leaf for the 3DS. It’s my first Animal Crossing and i’m addicted! I honestly have been ignoring this game for so long thinking I wouldn’t like it. Boy was I wrong!
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Just got a Platinum trophy in Ghost of Tsushima. Really enjoyed it. The combat was excellent and the world was fun to explore. As open worlds go it was pretty by the numbers but solid. The story was engaging if very serious. Overall great game!
Latest mix:
Dragon Quest XI S
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Link’s Awakening GB
Metal Slug X (ACA on Switch, picked up on sale recently for only $3.99)
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Played Fall Guys for a couple of evenings, definitely a game that’s more fun to watch snippets of than actually play.
The problem is the simplistic controls leave little room to play the game differently, so for the PvP events it quickly gets stale once you’ve learned the fastest routes, which really doesn’t take long.
Team-based events are maddening because the game just isn’t set up for coordination, so you’re at the mercy of the rest of your team. Unlike the best battle royale-style games there’s far too much reliance on random luck, which again, makes for great shares on streaming sites and social media, but it’s not all that exciting to play 99% of the time.
I played yesterday for the first time. It’s fun with friends. The initial obstacle course is the best thing for me. It just needs a lot more of that.
I had a ton of fun with Fall Guys, but I’ve been taking turns with my 5yr old, and it’s hilarious.
I’ve only played a few games alone, definitely better with a kid. 
It’s one of those games that I can play for 20 minutes max before getting bored. I do wish the controls felt better.
But I like the silly concept. It’s enjoyable. I hope they add more to it and remove the team based challenges completely.
That’s how I feel. I am still playing it about once a week but it doesn’t hold my attention since your chance of victory very often feels out of your control.
As others have pointed out I can see it being a lot of fun when played with someone else, and to be fair it is great fun if you’re not playing to win, haha.
Super Bomberman R Online is really, really, good. The new BATTLE 64 rules are well thought out and honestly the whole thing feels like the logical direction for the series to take with online multiplayer.
While it’s only available via streaming on Stadia for now, this sort of large player-count multiplayer online game is a great fit for the service, and Konami has improved the netcode considerably from Super Bomberman R. It’s significantly more responsive (and playable) than playing that game locally, despite it being streamed. The beefier CPUs in Google’s datacenters probably helped to reduce the input lag that was notorious in the last game on console - like that game this one is also on Unity engine, for better and worse.
When it comes to more platforms I hope it has cross-play.
Hopefully this trailer explains the rules a bit better than I managed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc-8n0Ql-p4
I’ve been paying a ton of Trackmania 2020 and Diabotical. Diabotical is an arena FPS very much like Quake 3 in all the good ways. As a veteran Quake 3 player, it hits all the right spots.
I also put a bunch of time into Blazing Beaks. It’s a really cool little twin stick shooter/rogue like, and I finally beat it on hard mode with the egg character.
Mad Rat Dead really surprised me even though I kind of expected it to be interesting since it’s from the director of Yomawari.
Basically, it’s a rhythm action platformer where you perform every action to the beat - dashing, jumping, and stomping. But there’s a surprisingly heartfelt story within it all and the original compositions fit the gameplay and theme to a tee.
Here’s some gameplay:
I love how Nippon Ichi Software are never afraid to try new things, sure they can be hit and miss with their new ideas but it’s rarely uninteresting. Mad Rat Dead is definitely a “hit” for me, so far it’s surpassed all my expectations. And I wasn’t expecting the narrative to be one of my favourite things, it’s the perfect complement to break up the intense rhythm levels.
I’ve started a game of Fallout 4.
Don’t sleep on Mad Rat Dead if you’re looking for an innovative take on the rhythm game, I finished it today and it surprised me on several fronts how well thought out every aspect of it was. And it’s one of the few games where the use of the rewind mechanic actually makes sense both in how its integrated into the narrative, but also in familiarising you with the intricacies of the music.
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