The Gaming Diary: Chapter 3

[Disposed Hero]

I haven't checked in in a while, but I've been feeling kind of overwhelmed from a combination of working much more on music projects and dividing the rest of my time between WAY too many games. Here's what I've been playing lately:

Chrono Cross - I played this when it was new but remember practically nothing from it. I wanted to revisit it when we were putting together our Top 20 PS1 games lists, so I started it up and have several hours in it. Really enjoying it so far!

Final Fantasy Tactics - Same deal as with Chrono Cross. I used to consider this game the gold standard of strategy RPGs, but revisiting it now, it feels pretty cumbersome and unbalanced at times. Still a good game though with a lot of interesting ideas. About 3/4 of the way through it, I think.

Control - I started this back in April to play along with the RFGen Playcast. I only put a couple of hours in before I got distracted by other things. I wasn't really that into it, but I liked it well enough and wanted to see how it plays out, so I'm still hoping to come back to it.

Earthbound - Haven't started this yet, but I have it on deck to start for this month's RFGen Playcast. Never played this one before.

Yoshi's Island - Also on deck to play for this month's Cartridge Club GOTM. I stated on Twitter that I've never been a huge fan of this game, but I wanted to give it another shot and see if it clicks this time. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened. I played halfway through World 1 so far.

The Last of Us Part II - I recently finished this and really enjoyed it. I thought about doing some cleaning up on the trophies and possibly going for the platinum, but after spending about 35 hours with it, I think I'm ready to move on to other things.

Persona 5 Royal - I started this about a month ago but put it on hold to play TLOU2. The original P5 is one of my all-time favorite games, and Royal is pretty much a bigger and better version of it. I've got about 40 hours in it and have been having a hard time putting this down over the last week or so.

Timespinner - I wanted to play this before it left Game Pass since I've heard good things about it. I recently finished it and really enjoyed it. Highly recommended for SOTN fans.

Resident Evil 6 - I played through a couple of times with friends back when it was new. A friend of mine and I recently played through RE5 for the umpteenth time and decided giving 6 another shot might not be a bad idea. It's really dumb and a step back from RE5 in almost every way in my opinion, but you know what, it's kind of fun for a silly action game. Just keep your expectations in check.

I've also had Trials of Mana and Xenoblade Chronicles on deck for a while now and hope to be able to start them soon. I also just bought Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 which I really want to play, but I'll probably wait until this weekend and play through it with a friend. I should also have Ghost of Tsushima and Paper Mario: The Origami King coming in soon as well. I kind of went nuts locking in last minute preorders when my Best Buy GCU membership was expiring, hehe.

I'm going to do something I rarely do and just purge my list of what I'm currently playing. I'm trying to make time for some of this other stuff, but I just find myself wanting to play Persona most of the time anyway, so I'm just going to savor the remaining 100 or so hours I have left of that. I'm also going to stick with Final Fantasy Tactics to the end since I'm pretty close and have been enjoying it quite a bit lately, and because I've been playing it on the Vita which essentially makes it a handheld game, and I tend to play handheld stuff under different circumstances than console anyway. But I'm probably just going to let everything else fall to the wayside for now and hopefully restart the ones I was enjoying sometime later when I have less going on.

[Link41]

Star Fox 64 (N64) - Playing some versus with the kids.

[MaterialHandlerMike]

Finished Earthbound today, and started the new Paper Mario. Pretty good so far.

[MetalFRO]

Over the weekend, I put some time into Rigid Force Redux on the Switch, and reached the final boss. I was close to taking it out, but didn't manage to do so. Hoping to take it down before too long.

[Disposed Hero]

Final Fantasy Tactics - Just finished this the other day. I still think it has some cumbersome mechanics compared to many other strategy RPGs I've played, and the difficulty can be all over the place at times, but I still really enjoyed. This game's implementation of the Job system is great and allows for a ton of flexibility and customization for your characters.

Persona 5 Royal - Still chipping away at this. About 55 hours in I think.

Ghost of Tsushima - I've put a couple of hours into this. I'm kind of lukewarm on it so far. The general gameplay is fun enough, but I think I'm fatigued of this style of open-world game at this point. Plus, when it comes to open-world game design, I think RDR 2 really raised the bar and spoiled me on the genre. Gonna give it some more time though since I think it has the potential to really grab me.

Paper Mario: The Origami King - I started this to fill the handheld void after I finished FFT and have a couple of hours in it. I actually like it quite a bit so far, but I can see the combat getting pretty old after a while unless they find more ways to shake it up.

[Link41]

Mario Tennis (GBC) - Running the wife around town, so this will see some playtime today.

[MetalFRO]

Had a fun stream last night, playing a whole bunch of Sega Genesis games. I played Mystic Defender Fire Shark, Bio-Hazard Battle, Shinobi III, and Streets of Rage 2.

[shaggy]

Oh man, Mystic Defender, I want to see that.  Wish I caught it.  How is it?

[Corkman]

Had a fun stream last night, playing a whole bunch of Sega Genesis games. I played Mystic Defender Fire Shark, Bio-Hazard Battle, Shinobi III, and Streets of Rage 2.

Fire Shark...such a typical Toaplan game and I love it!

[Link41]

Super Smash Bros. (N64) - I'm getting the hang of using Ness. He might join Donkey Kong and Link as my mains on this game.

[Link41]

Banjo-Kazooie (N64) - Just starting out in Mumbo's Mountain.

[Seno]

Ridge Racer (PSP) - Funnily enough the last time I really played my PSP was while my wife was in labour 8 years ago and I think kid number 2 is on the way now

[MetalFRO]

Started with the latest Shmup Club game, Zer0Ranger, last night, and played both the main model Green Orange, and the new arrange mode, White Vanilla. Pretty cool game so far.

[slackur]

Really enjoying Ghosts of Tsushima, and Xeno Crisis on the Genesis.

[slackur]

Er, Ghost, just one. Would be a great co-op game though!