September Progress Report
This month I tried to tackle some longer games. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew, I didn’t really finish any of the 3 I would consider ‘long’. But I did make some significant progress beating them, so that was nice :D I also went back and finished some games I touched many months ago.
Games I made some progress on:
My plan was to finish Arise this month. Unfortunately, I like to rotate between playing a bunch of games at once so that proved to be practically impossible. Not a big problem for me though… since the game is pretty amazing and I really wish to take my time doing everything in the game without rushing it. So far, I'd say this is my second favorite JRPG I played in 2021, after NieR: Replicant. The story is interesting and combat is really fun. The artstyle makes it look just as good as concept art in some places (check my screenshots). I really like the watercolor aesthetic of the environments. While the writing can be a bit tropey, it's generally good. This will probably the first game I finish in October.
Unlike Arise, I have no illusions of finishing D5 soon. There's just so much content here. The real game practically begins after you finish the story, and I haven't even gotten around to completing that. Disgaea 1 was the only other game I played in the series. 5 is significantly better than 1 in the gameplay front… there are so many systems built upon systems that it's really fun to explore each of them. The PC version runs pretty well and looks pretty. So far, story-wise 5 isn't as good as 1 though. I do like how dark and tragic the story gets but not all characters grabbed my attention the same way as 1 did. Except Killia. Killia is awesome.
This month seemed to be the perfect time to revisit a game I enjoyed so much a decade ago on my X360. Surprisingly, JC2 has aged nicely. Gameplay is just as fun as I remember (it's a bit clunky compared to modern AAA open world games though). The art direction is still amazing. I'd often pause to see the sunsets, sunrises or even the sky in the game. It looks that good. Plus it's just super fun to play and a great way to chill after a hectic day.
Games completed:
This game is fun, fun, fun! I utterly adore the artstyle and the zany humor sprinkled everywhere. While it's short, I really enjoyed every second of that time. My review on Steam.
I played TWD quite a bit back in December last year, but kinda got sidetracked to playing other stuff once I built my new PC. Finally revisited it and finished it. The journey as a whole was rather depressingly bleak, but at least it's very well written with characters that behave quite realistically (given their… unusual circumstances). It was also pretty neat to see the statistics of each choices after you finish them. I made some unusual ones 😅
Ah, Trine. It still looks just as amazing even though it was released more than a decade ago. The platforming is quite fun, the combat unfortunately less so. As a whole I really enjoyed 100%ing it, although some cheevos were downright sadistic. The consensus seems to be that Trine 2 is just as good, 3 is horrible, and 4 is a return to form for the series. I might play 2 someday.
Just as weird as the other Rusty Lake games. Maybe even weirder than the rest. I enjoyed the whole family tree aspect and following those strange people throughout their lives. There's a very interesting puzzle near the end that was quite impressive in its depth and scope.
I liked this first game much more than the sequel, story-wise. It tackles a very interesting subject that very few games ever do, and asks some interesting questions.
Compared to the first game, this one is much more introspective in exploring the consequences of the main characters actions. I didn't like this direction that much but at least it had a satisfying conclusion. Gameplay wise, 2 is much much better though. Since this is a direct sequel to the first game, I recommend playing both in one go for maximum impact.
This was… alright? I loved the stylistic presentation. The writing was good too… but I didn't enjoy it that much for some reason. Plus there's a lot of backtracking (although I imagine real detective work does involve that a lot).
Games bought this month:
Tales of Arise
Eastward
Disgaea 5 Complete
Loop Hero
Impostor Factory
AI: The Somnium Files
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
The Talos Principle
The Magic Circle
428: Shibuya Scramble
Beyond: Two Souls
1bitHeart
Alicemare
Sumire
Manifold Garden
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Florence
The Gardens Between
Overall progress:
Games completed this month: 7
Games bought this month: 18
Achievements: 4003 (+200)
Perfect games: 121 (+7)
AGC: 73% (+3%)
Woah, you were busy this month! Congrats on all of your assassinations! I’m so looking forward to playing Tales of Arise, but I got a couple long games to play before then. Baby steps.
Thanks! Baby steps are better than no steps. Good luck to all your assassinations too :D