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

was a lot more fun than 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…

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.

Finished Paper Mario TTYD. I’ve done pretty much everything except all recipes with my 10HP. For some reason Bonetail felt easier than Gloomtail and I couldn’t tell you why or how that even makes sense. There was just a certain rhythm that worked out perfectly. Prince Mush turned out to be a really stupid fight, turning himself invincible in the second phase unless you perfect guard him. So much for preparations, I guess! I cheesed him with a huge stack of Charges to defeat him before he can switch to phase 2. If he cheats, I cheat!

So next, I’m finally going to start Baten Kaitos 2. Since the game was never released in Europe before, it’ll be my first time playing it. I did my research, there’s no need to leave the system running for two weeks, or any unreasonable amount of time in the sequel!

And, then… there’s my mystery game. It’s done and it was Danganronpa V3. I kept it a secret because I didn’t want to risk anybody saying anything. It’s the kind of game you don’t want to hear anything about before playing. Until recently, my spoiler-free verdict was as follows:

The visuals are by far the best in the series, I especially like the overgrown look of the school. And even though it’s neat that everything slowly changes overtime, it’s a shame it changes to be much less interesting. Don’t cut down all the greenery! But overall, I wasn’t too fond of the game. A lot of the killings were very gimmicky and some elements were just left completely unused. Like that one murder motive nobody understood, nobody used and was ultimately taken away and never brought up again. I think the game’s biggest handicap is essentially trying to tell the same story for the third time.

The above was my verdict… but then I beat the game. Oh, boy… that… was the worst ending I have ever seen in a game. I’m a “the journey is more important than the destination” kind of guy, so I never really understood how an ending can ruin someone’s entire experience. I get it now. I understand why people get so upset because it truly feels bad. I have completed the first two games 100% because I just enjoyed them so much, but I didn’t even look at the post game content because I did not want to spend another second with any of these characters. I hate them now. Them and everything that happened. In a messed up way, the ending explains some of my earlier complaints and I actually really liked that, but that doesn’t change how stupid the ending is. The only thing more stupid is the fact that I lost sleep over this. Luckily, it was only that one immediate night.

And since I cut the game off here, I am once again in the situation of having finished both of my current games at the same time! How does this keep happening? I’ll be filling this slot with the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider. The original series never really interested me, but the reboot has been on my radar for a very long time.

I’m in the final dungeon of Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door and I will probably beat it this weekend, after a quick backtrack to the bottom of the Pit of Trials. Gloomtail was almost a problem, but I had just enough defense badges to survive his best attack with 1HP. I’m a little worried about Bonetail now. I’ve done a 10HP run on the Gamecube and beaten him first try a long time ago, but I forgot exactly how I did that.

I’m also about 75% done with my mystery game that I’m not going to name until it’s done. Right now, I’m rather disappointed with it.

Making steady progress in Wild Arms, too. Recently got access to the ship to explore the first part of the sea. I may have fallen victim to nostalgia; I still think it’s a good game, but I remember it being better. Maybe I remember the later parts more.

I don’t know what happened in the rest of the world, but MTV Germany started showing the kind of Anime that didn’t fit the children’s afternoon program of other stations in the early 2000s. That’s how I got to know things like Ghost in the Shell.

I completed Yakuza Kiwami 2 today. When I was done with all the side content, I realized there weren’t any awful achievements to stop me from completing it, so I ran through a New Game Plus on the highest difficulty with the overpowered infinite ammo gun from postgame. Turns out, skipping all optional content and cutscenes, you can beat the game in a couple of hours. I don’t understand why the gun makes enemies ragdoll as much as it does, but that was part of the fun for sure. Not truly completing the previous two games was a bummer because I really liked them, but it was just too much.

And all respect to anyone who can beat Jo Amon legitimately. I was never that great at Yakuza combat to begin with, but that guy does way too much damage! He’s the reason I learned about that gun to begin with.

The next game I am replacing this with… is a game I’m not going to talk about much. It’s the kind of game you can’t even begin to talk about without spoiler tags, so I just won’t even mention it until it’s done. And briefly at that.

Played a little more of Paper Mario, I took a peek at the Prince Mush fight. I didn’t expect to win, but I also didn’t expect to run from the fight after his first attack. I tossed out the protect shell just to scout what he would even do and let’s just say I’ll have to do some preparations to make this work in a 10HP run. Let’s see what badges I end up with at the end of the game, I won’t try this again a second earlier!

Beat chapter 5 in Paper Mario. One of the new bosses added in the remake has opened up and I’ll just try it soon. I probably won’t win yet, but I’m curious.

Finished the main story of Yakuza Kiwami 2. The final battle ends with a quick time event that, if you lose, kills you. I wish I hadn’t found out about that, but XBox controller inputs always take an extra second to process in my brain because they’re so backwards. At least the fight is fun, so it wasn’t too bad doing it twice. The hardest fight was the pen-pen-penultimate boss, some nameless guy who had no right being that tough. Now to clean up some leftover side content, which isn’t too daunting. This should be the first time I finish the Completion List, the previous games both had something to make it stupid, but this one is very realistic.

I also dug out Wild Arms again for a third playthrough. It’s been over a decade since I last played it. That’s a series that could do with an HD Collection.

For what it’s worth, being stuck in Kakariko is the reason I bought the player’s guide in 1998. I knew what I was looking for and where it’s supposed to be, I just didn’t understand what to do. 😅 _{But I was also twelve}

I’ve mostly played more Yakuza Kiwami 2. I thought the whole Korean Mafia bit was just a side story at first, but it’s been the main focus for a while and completely pushed the main antagonist out of the picture. But that whole thing has concluded now and I think I’m nearing the climax soon.

I always thought Nintendo had an internal team of translators, at least for their big titles.

The key to a 10HP run is honestly not to waste your turns. When you can end combat in one attack and have both Mario and his partner’s turn, use the extra turn to top off your HP/FP with Sweet Treat or Appeal to get the Star Power back. Also, know your Stylish Moves for extra Star Power. It fills up so fast that you can regularly toss out the quite OP Earth Tremor whenever you’re full on everything. No need to run around with full resources. I also like the Badges that randomly regenerate you and the defense increases are also very important.

Muto and Chono are retired wrestlers from Japan (the former being more famous in the West as The Great Muta). An in-game they also use their real names. Yakuza tends to have real people make cameo apperances, but most of them wouldn’t be well known outside of Japan. Some characters appearing in side quest feel like they would be based on real people based on the way they talk about being famous, but I wouldn’t know.

I’m about halfway through Paper Mario at this point. I remember the 10HP run being a bit more difficult, I don’t even find myself using Sweet Treat on the occasional free turn anymore. And I only use items once in a blue moon, too.

What I like most about the remake so far is the battle music getting a different remix for every area.

Played a lot more Yakuza Kiwami 2. Had some issues with the game crashing, but a fresh install fixed that. Unlocked the Majima Construction game, which I’m not a huge fan of. I’d like it more if it was turn based or if you could pause and look around the field. Or just a way to zoom out at least, I tend to lose sight of my units. But yo, I had no idea Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono were the main villains of that story! I freaked out when they first walked into the scene (and kudos to the people who modeled the faces, I recognized Muto immediately!). And then other New Japan Wrestlers join my side as well? I know they appear in a later Yakuza title, but I had no idea they got recycled into this one.

I also have yet to see anything on the Completion List that stops me from completing it. The previous games always had something that was just stupidly tedious.