The Gaming Diary: Chapter 3

[Disposed Hero]

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - I finally finished this. It was alright, but it's going down as my least favorite of the GBA/DS titles for now. I still need to play Harmony of Dissonance, Dawn of Sorrow, and Portrait of Ruin.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - I finally finished this and really enjoyed it. I'd like to give it another playthrough sometime with one of the other houses, but I'm going to move on to something else for now.

Final Fantasy V - Speaking of which, I decided to pick up FFV on the GBA to fill the handheld void. I played this back on the PS1 many years ago and don't remember much about the game. So far, I'm really enjoying it. This game's implementation of the job system is great. The game has been really easy so far, and I'm wondering if that's just the GBA version or if it was always easy.

Shenmue III - It has its ups and downs, but I like it well enough so far. It really feels like there's a lot of padding and pointless fetch quests, but it's pretty satisfying when the important stuff happens. I still don't really like some of the new mechanics though. Truthfully, I think the game is a bit unfinished.

RAGE 2 - I played this for a little bit but wasn't really feeling it. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to keep going with it.

[shaggy]

Playing me some Brain Lord on the SNES.

[Link41]

Twisted Metal 2 (PS) - Beaten with Axel and Sweet Tooth.

[Disposed Hero]

Final Fantasy V - Still going with this and having a good time with it.

Shenmue III - I have a lot of mixed feelings about this game, but I do find the second half to be better than the first. I think I'm getting pretty close to the end now.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - I technically haven't started this game yet, but I picked it up for a good price during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shenanigans and plan on starting it immediately after finishing Shenmue III. I've been watching some reviews and tips videos in anticipation and am really looking forward to diving into it.

[Seno]

Nova Drift - geometry wars meets a roguelike with a load customization options, it becoming one of my favourite games

https://store.steampowere...om/app/858210/Nova_Drift/

[Link41]

Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - Taking turns with the kids when we each lose a life.

[Disposed Hero]

Final Fantasy V - Still going with this and having a good time with it.

Shenmue III - I finished this, and, as much as I hate to say it, I found it really disappointing. Mechanically, the game felt like a step back from the original Shenmue in many ways if you can believe it. There's also way too much padding. It's a ~20 hour game that barely moves the overall story forward, so you spend most of the game jumping through hoops just to accomplish seemingly simple objectives. It just felt unfinished to me. However, I'm way too invested in Ryo Hazuki's story to just give up on the franchise, so I still hope a Shenmue IV happens and it's a lot better than this, but, although I can see myself replaying Shenmue I & II again in anticipation of a new sequel, I'll just watch an abridged synopsis of III.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - I'm a few hours into this and am kind of having a hard time with it. It's actually quite different from Dark Souls, and it seems to require constant mindfulness of all of its mechanics and split-second precision with timing counters/deflections. I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around it all, but I'm going to stick with it for now.

[Link41]

As my brothers will be arriving tomorrow, I'm preparing for a bonanza of N64/SNES multiplayer madness. So I'm cleaning all the carts to make sure everything runs smoothly. Ended up booting up Street Fighter II and playing for over two hours and not even noticing.

[shaggy]

Brain Lord still keeping me busy.

[Ghost Soldier]

The Black Bass NES, and Final Fantasy III SNES have been keeping me busy.

[Mr_Stubbes]

I started playing Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle again. This has been on my list of games to complete for a while now, but I really want to see it through and finish it.

[MetalFRO]

After having not played it for a couple years, I picked Xenoblade Chronicles X back up, in hopes to finish the last 2-3 story chapters, and have become engrossed in it again. I know why I put it down, because I got my Switch, and became obsessed with Breath of the Wild, but playing this again, I'm reminded of how good it looks, and how much I enjoyed the battle system, despite still not understanding it fully. I've clocked over 100 hours with the game, and I foresee many more before I'm done, because I need to grind up more levels to get past 50, not only to be able to take on some of the more feisty unique large enemies, but also to more safely take on the boss encounter I'm stuck at right now. Plus, I want to outfit my entire team with heavy Skells, and that's super expensive. The salvage fees for those, if they get destroyed in battle, is also terribly expensive, so I want to make sure I'm flush with cash in-game.

[Disposed Hero]

Final Fantasy V - I'm nearing the finish line with this game and have enjoyed it quite a bit overall. It's not perfect, and a sharp difficulty spike at the end means I'll probably have to spend an hour or two grinding some job levels before I'm done, but it's been a fun ride overall.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - I've been having a hard time with this game and have put it down temporarily while I play the next game in this post.

Death Stranding - I didn't have high expectations going into this one, but I've really gotten into it and find it very addicting. I don't think it's a game for everybody, but it's definitely interesting.

Golf Story - I started this since I've been interested in it for a long time but only played a small portion of it. It hasn't really grabbed me so far, but I need to spend some more time with it.

Valfaris - I played a bit of this indie run & gun, and it seemed pretty good. Hoping to come back to this one soon.

Mortal Kombat 11 - I played this with a friend for a couple of hours, and I think we both agreed that it's a little bit of a disappointment. I don't think there's anything specifically wrong with it, it just feels a bit off. I think the 2011 MK reboot was pretty much the perfect modern MK game, and I've enjoyed each release since then a little bit less than the last.

[MetalFRO]

I need to check out Valfaris. Looks right up my alley.

[Disposed Hero]

Final Fantasy V - Finished this and really enjoyed it overall.

Death Stranding - I'm 30+ hours into this one now, and while I have really enjoyed it, I think I'm getting ready to wrap this one up. I really don't know how much more I have left though.

Golf Story - Spent some more time with this, and it's grown on me a lot.

Dragon Quest IV - I haven't started this yet, but after finishing FFV, I was looking for another classic JRPG to play on a handheld and decided to go with this.