I’ve mostly been playing Arknights Endfield. After a while I got my team set up and it’s become a bit too repetitive. For some reason I expected better from this one than other gachas but it ended up being as shallow and boring as all others.

I’ve played a bit of Deadlock, I couldn’t try any of the new characters tho. I’m trying to get back into Rabbit&Steel. I haven’t played in a while so it feels like starting from zero.

I’ve also tried the demo for Magenta Horizon. It’s not my style of game, it feels inspired a lot by Ninja Gaiden, which I can’t get into, but it seems really well made and the artstyle is pretty interesting.

Oh yea, I forgot about that series. I have the first two games, but haven’t really played much. I remember trying the first one a few years ago looking for something to play after MHW, but I think I dismissed them because of the higher speed and less weight in combat. I’ll have to try them again.

Another Monster Hunter “clone” I should probably try is Toukiden.

That said, it’s possible I misunderstood what you mean because I haven’t played older MH games or Xenoblade.

I realize I’m being a bit too vague, as I’m not sure how to describe clearly what I’m thinking about.

You mentioned both DMC3 and Dark Souls and while I don’t remember very well either fight, I do think that DMC3-5 (and Bayonetta too sometimes) allow you to do what I’m thinking about with most bosses, while normal encounters I feel are more about crowd control. On the other hand, Dark Souls and the other soulslike I played feel more focused on reacting to attacks, like the newer MH games.

It’s less important in the newer games, since the monsters are less predictable and their attacks track a lot, and the hunters get parries or other options (in GU and Rise in particular), but you often need to position yourself defensively to preemptively avoid attacks and usually keep attacking. For example: the Rathian charge is instant, so you should keep to her side to avoid it and her other frontal attacks like the fireballs.

Pretty often you could just walk out of attacks if you knew they were coming.

Not really what I’m looking for, but I do remember having fun with the original Mount & Blade when I played it ages ago so I’ll check it out!

Haven’t played it yet, but I was planning on playing the first one. It does look fun, so I might try it sooner rather than later.

I’ve been slowly finishing Xenosaga 3, I think I’m nearing the end. I’ll hold my judgement for when I actually finish it, but I mostly enjoyed the series even if I’m a bit mixed on it.

I saw Haste while scrolling through Steam and decided to try it. I was sold on it from the demo, it looks and sounds really good and the movement is a lot of fun. The full game tho was quite the disappointment. It feels incomplete like a vertical slice, more than a full release.

The main game is composed of different levels, but each of them is structured as a roguelike and you don’t keep items you buy between each level except upgrades you can buy (a la Hades). The items themselves change very little and the stages are fully randomly generated so they get repetitive very quickly. There’s also an endless mode which is more fun to play, as you keep stacking items, but it suffers from the same lack of level design.

Now I’m playing Arknights Endfield and I’m enjoying it. I hate that it’s a gacha, but it’s pretty fun. The combat isn’t the deepest but it’s enjoyable; it kinda reminds me of Xenoblade. The same goes for the base/factory building: it’s a very simple implementation of the system, but it’s fun to set it up. Storywise, the writing isn’t great and the translation is at times of dubious quality, but I wasn’t expecting much.

Couldn’t play much this week, but I got an invite to Deadlock and have been playing that. I’m having fun with it, but I have very little experience with hero shooters and even less with MOBAs, so it’s really confusing at times and feels kind of unlearnable.

I’ve picked up a few games with the sales, among which Atelier Yumia and Star Ocean: Second Story R. Atelier Yumia is pretty decent, it has the usual issues of open world games, but the crafting is fun (although I think it’s a bit less interesting than in previous games, but I haven’t played them enough to judge). On the other hand I found Star Ocean to have incredibly dull combat, so I’ve dropped it after a few hours.

I’ve also been playing Xenosaga Episode II and Episode III. Episode II was disappointing, it’s clearly unfinished and rushed. I think the story had potential, the plot and characters could have been interesting, but the execution is lacking. The combat system is interesting and you can start seeing ideas that will later reappear in the blade games, but the implementation is really slow and repetitive. I’m currently mid-way through Episode III (just finished disc 1), which is a clear improvement, although it plays it a bit safer with more conventional combat. The story is good so far and I’m curious about how it’s gonna evolve.

I did end up trying it for a few days, but it doesn’t seem to be what I was looking for.

Other players don’t seem to be interested in the progression (which is understandable and expected due to the age of the game), but I don’t want to invest the time to reach level 99 just to then risk not enjoying it (looking at videos I don’t think the combat is what I was expecting, as I thought the mechanics would be closer to what XIV is now).

I found that there’s a free login campaign now, so I’m trying it out. If we were in the same time zone and I was sure I’d continue playing, I’d offer to join you.

I got to chapter 12 of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and can’t be bothered to finish it. I really don’t like how so much of the game feels like padding. There are parts that flow naturally, but they get interrupted by long wastes of time that usually force you to play really bad minigames. At some point the dungeons too started to feel samey. The open world is also Ubisoft-level bad, so I’ve been ignoring it.

The story also feels like a downgrade from the original version in some ways. I though some sequences had less impact (specifically Dyne’s story and Red’s trial. Shinra Mansion too I thought was ruined).

I’m not really a fan of remakes in general. I think they are usually unnecessary and a wasted opportunity to do something new, and it bothers me how they often try to “erase” the original’s gameplay. This one in particular feels like an excuse to sell a single game split in three parts. I doubt I’ll be playing the third one.

I’ve been trying The Last Remnant. Its gameplay is kinda weird and unique, although a bit too opaque. Not sure if it’s good, but it’s at least interesting.

I did play for a bit in HorizonXI and liked it, but couldn’t find many players around (which made it even grindier than it should be), which is why I was wondering about retail.

I don’t mind the difficulty, that’s kinda why I’m tired of FFXIV. Outside of the endgame “high-end” trials/raids, I find its gameplay a bit too easy to the point of being boring. The jobs in XI also look more interesting and varied, instead of FFXIV’s that feel too samey.

I’ve been continuing Pokemon X.

I also decided to give Final Fantasy VII Rebirth another chance, this time going only for the story. It’s a much better game this way even if it still feels a bit bloated. It does feel wrong tho to just ignore most of the map, even if I know it’s empty.

I was trying to finish the post Endwalker quests in Final Fantasy XIV to get to Dawntrail, but I’m not really feeling it. I’m probably burnt out on the game due to playing it for 500 hours last year.

Thanks. I do understand types (although can’t remember some combinations). I was trying to understand strategies to use when using a neutral or disadvantaged type (using buffs/debuff for example) but couldn’t find any (I don’t think I understand the combat system overall that much).

I’m currently just going through the story trying to make a more or less balanced team. I’m just past the electric gym.

I’m playing Pokemon X on 3DS. I haven’t played much of the series, I’ve only finished Pearl on DS ages ago, but I’m having fun with this one. I’m a bit confused about the combat, I don’t really understand what options I have in battle or if the outcome is predetermined by the teams.

I’m trying the demo for Raidou. Seems like an interesting setting and the combat is pretty fun.

Re-subbed to FFXIV, I’m playing the post-Endwalker MSQ.

I couldn’t play much Sound Voltex as I didn’t have my controller with me and Demonschool, while fun, has been getting a little repetitive, so I went looking for other games.

I played 1000xRESIST during the weekend and loved it. I don’t know how to talk about it since it’s mostly story, so I’ll just say that I thought it was really well written.

Now a bit of a rant (or two): I played Ratatan and was really disappointed. I was looking forward to the game, since I fondly remember playing Patapon when I was younger, but this just isn’t good. I don’t think the roguelike/lite model fits the game (to be honest, I generally don’t like the genre and don’t understand how to have fun with it), especially how it’s implemented here: you always go through the same identical levels without any variety, fighting always the same boss at the end of each “world”. Combat against bosses is fine, but normal encounters feel entirely out of your control and just rely on stats. I know it’s an early access game, but I don’t expect these issues to be fixed, as they seem to be core to the design of the game.

Another game I played was Soulstice. This one was so average it kinda made me have a small existential crisis about how art and capitalism can’t really coexist. I heard that the story is good, although I didn’t get far enough to be able to judge it, and the core gameplay is fine but not particularly interesting, although ruined by a terrible fixed camera. I might be over thinking this, and it’s probably a bias of mine, but knowing who the developer is, I can’t help but feel like the game is more product than art. Overall the game feels soulless, it doesn’t have any original idea and what’s there is just bland. It gives me similar vibes to gacha games that uncreatively copy another game’s gameplay.

I’ve restarted Yakuza Kiwami 2 after dropping it a few years ago, but neither the story/sidequests nor the gameplay don’t feel as good as 0 or Kiwami 1.

Demonschool released a few days ago, so I’ve been playing that. It’s pretty good, I was expecting more of an RPG but it’s actually more like a puzzle game. The writing is charming and the art looks great.

This week I’ve been mostly playing Sound Voltex tho, as I finally got the controller. It took me a while to get used to the actual layout, and I’m still having troubles understanding the lasers’ timing. It feels much more fun with the proper inputs. I’m currently trying level 13 songs and clearing them with a bit of trouble.

Very interested in the controller, I might get it day one.

Kind of curious about the Frame. I’m not really convinced VR is going anywhere, but a fully wireless setup that can run PCVR games seems interesting, if it’s not ridiculously expensive like the Index. Also Valve contributing to FEX could be useful for playing games on those Android emulators like Retroid’s, AYN’s etc.

Mainly played Project Diva and a bit of Sound Voltex on keyboard while I’m waiting for my controller.

Was hoping to play Unbeatable but unfortunately it got delayed last minute. Ended up starting Harvestella.