My list would be too long, so I’ll just mention the most recent one: Expedition 33.

I think it has a fantastic intro and decent ending, but I found the story to be kinda weak and it lost me at the Gestral village, and never really recovered. I still finished it as I knew it was pretty short and I was hoping for it to get better.

The gameplay tho is what I really can’t tolerate. I think both dodge and parry are overpowered, as they completely negate damage, making the rpg part weaker - healing becomes useless, turn order is less significant, there’s less stats. It ends up encouraging you to build for damage, making everyone a glass cannon. This is made worse by the fact that the equipment is focused mostly on boosting damage (often with multiplicative effects).

Finished Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. It was pretty decent, unfortunately not particularly scary. Most of the times it felt it was going more for ‘horny’ than ‘horror’.

Played a few rhythm games, mainly Arcaea and Spin Rhythm XD.

I really like Arcaea, I used to play it a lot years ago. I think the lasers are a pretty good way to feel the music. It can get really cramped on a phone tho.

On the other hand, Spin Rhythm has good ideas, but I really really don’t like the song selection. Out of the around 80 songs, I enjoyed only 3 or 4, among which only on I’d say I liked. The mapping is generally good and consistent, but the gameplay feels really simple and gimmicky. I haven’t tried many custom charts, but the ones I did try didn’t feel particularly good.

I tired the demo for Milion Depth because it looked nice and the premise was interesting, but I really can’t understand the appeal of roguelikes.

I also started Fatal Frame (the first Ps2 game). From the first two hours, I already like it more than Maiden of Black Water. The atmosphere feels scarier and the gameplay is closer to survival horror than action.

Continuing Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, but mostly playing Ender Magnolia.

I played a bit of Resonance of Fate, but after realizing how repetitive the combat is, I kinda dropped it. I’m probably a bit burnt out on JRPGs too.

I too am in the mood for horror, so I’m playing Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water

Mostly played Resonance of Fate. The story is surprisingly slice-of-lifey and the character interactions are pretty charming. The gameplay tho is a bit dull. I’m 15 hours in and more or less have been repeating the same thing for each battle, so I’m not sure how long I’m gonna play.

Also just started Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon.

Finished Xenosaga Episode I. I enjoyed it, even if the combat started to grate on me towards the end.

Started Resonance of Fate. Combat and controls are a bit confusing, but it seems interesting. Unfortunately there’s a lot of annoying visual glitches when playing on my PC.

I’ve been jumping a bit between games.

I tired playing again a bit of No Man’s Sky, because of the new update and expedition, but it didn’t keep my attention.

I mostly ended up playing Phantasy Star Online, but suddenly stopped when I noticed how repetitive it was (after around 30 hours of playtime) and started questioning the point of playing it (I wasn’t not having fun, but it did feel a bit empty), and couldn’t get back to it.

I was still looking for a similar Sci-Fi+Fantasy setting so i just started playing Xenosaga.

Finished Persona 3 Reload. Overall it’s a good remake, although it’s not necessarily better than FES.

Started Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I don’t particularly like the combat system, I think the ones in the other games were more interesting, but I’m interested in the story.

Played Slay the Princess. I liked the idea and what it was trying to do, but never really vibed with it. Without spoilers, I have some issues with how you progress the game which made me feel detached from the characters.

Playing Citizen Sleeper. Haven’t finished it yet but I’m liking the stories.

Also playing a bit of Phantasy Star Online on the Ephinea server. Playing as HUnewearl, no idea what I’m doing but it’s fun.

Finishing Persona 3 Reload. Story-wise it’s still my favourite among the (modern, at least) Persona games and I liked the new additional events. For the gameplay, I’m disappointed that it’s P5 system again and the new mechanics (theurgies) are overpowered. The game is a bit too easy, even on merciless.

Played a bit of Trails of Cold Steel III, but it feels more of the same of CS1. I’m considering dropping the series, as I can’t imagine it’s ever going back to Sky/Crossbell quality.

Still playing Persona 3 Reload.

I also played Devotion. I’m not really used to horror so I struggled a bit starting it, but the story was good.

Thanks. I didn’t know about Bottles, that seems useful (mostly for non game software I guess).

Finished Final Fantasy XVI. I liked the story. The gameplay tho was serviceable at best and started getting really boring for the last 20 hours.

Started Persona 3 Reload. Played FES a few years ago and loved it. I like the new additions like Linked Episodes and the fully voiced Social Links. I kinda wish the combat kept the “tactics” from the PS2 games, but instead it’s just P5’s with a few things from SMTV. Also some of the cutscenes are a downgrade from the original, as I think they based them on the Portable version.

Finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and found it really disappointing.

I did like the idea of the whole story, but overall I didn’t really care about anything. The prologue and the initial parts of act 1 where really strong, but after a while it wasn’t really doing it for me. It picks back up right at the end, but the events there feel rushed, and while I do like where it goes, it didn’t really vibe with me.

The combat on the other hand is a mess. The real time defensive actions are overpowered, as they completely prevent damage, so the only meaningful stats and equipment become the ones that increase the damage you deal. Before the end of act 1, I reached the damage cap on single hits and very quickly after that I reached it on multi hit moves. The enemies also follow the nonsensical animation design of Elden Ring where they hold a pose, twitch and feint, trying to get you to react earlier, which I just don’t find fun.

Music was great tho, and I like the aesthetic even if after a while the environments got samey.

I’m occasionally playing Fantasy Life i, but mostly played Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s DLC. I think I liked it more than the original game, although it could not exist without it.

I started Claire Obscur: Expedition 33. I really like the setting, presentation and aesthetics. I’m not entirely sold on the real-time defensive mechanics in combat, I think they remove more than they add, but I do really like how each character has their own unique gimmick, which is something that’s sorely lacking in JRPGs.

Finished playing the Futures Connected extra story of Xenoblade Chronicles. It was OK as a short epilogue, but I wish the story explored more of

I’ve started the Torna DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I’m not sure sure if I wanna play it right now as it looks really bad in handheld, especially on Switch 2, where there’s both the bad resolution (I think it’s like 540p or less?) and the colors are fucked. I might wait a bit hoping a patch is released.

I’ve also started Fantasy Life i. It’s pretty fun, it kinda reminds me of FFXIV with how the job system works. I do wish there was a bit more complexity in crafting, but it’s still fun and there seems to be a lot to do.

That’s true! I hadn’t though about it, but it does feel a lot like when I tried optimising City Escape in Generations. Probably even faster paced since, you rarely need to slow down when driving.

Finished Xenoblade Chronicles, I’m playing the extra story now. I enjoyed it this time around. It’s nowhere close to a masterpiece, but the setting is pretty unique and the gameplay is rather satisfying. Especially since every character plays differently from the others.

Playing a bit of Mario Kart World. The new systems (rails, wall riding) seem fun, but I’m not a fan of the constant straight roads. Grand Prix is not great and Knockout Tour is fun but is starting to get stale. The most fun I’m having is in Time Trial, as it seems like the best way to play with the new mechanics.

I’m playing Xenoblade Chronicles. I started it years ago and dropped because I was disappointed by the writing. Now I’ve been playing the other games in the series and gave it another shot. I am enjoying it now - the combat is more interesting than the one in 2 or X and the world is fun to explore. I do still find the characters a bit shallow tho and the story fails to create mysteries, as it spoils them immediately in an attempt to do foreshadowing.

I’ve had fun playing it with friends, especially Knockout Tour, but I’m not really sold on it: I’m not sure if it’s because of the increased player count, but items feel overtuned to the point that getting to first place seems meaningless or even detrimental to winning the race, as you’ll often get thrown back 10 places. Besides that, there is too much time spent driving on the roads between tracks, which are not as fun as the actual tracks.

Haven’t played Free Roam since I mostly played with friends and I don’t find it interesting, but it seems like a decent extra mode.

Also yea obviously it’s overpriced and not worth 80 €.

A friend got a Switch 2 with Mario Kart World, so we too played that for a bit. Knockout Tour is really fun, while I didn’t like that Grand Prix races have only one lap. I think the highways are better for KT since there’s 6 tracks and there’s more risk due to the elimination. Fun game tho not worth 80 € (or 90), nor a system seller for me.

The Switch 2 feels like a huge improvement over the original, the new joycons are much nicer and the 1080p screen looks much better. My only complaints are that the screen is an LCD without HDR (not a dealbreaker since it’s good enough, but still disappointing when considering the price). The other complaint I have is the battery, as it’s too small for the system. Playing Mario Kart in portable drained at least 50 % in around an hour.

I’ve finished Xenoblade Chronicles X DE and I kinda wish I didn’t. The chapter added with the remaster was terrible, it was completely unnecessary, a waste of potential and ruined everything the original story did. It felt like the writers didn’t have a plan so they just forced these 3 quests because they had to.

Still tho, the Wii U part of the game was good, as were the other DE changes, so I enjoyed it.