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  • For the first week in almost a month I'm taking a break from Blue Prince. I'm still enamored with it and am watching a couple or let's plays of it still, but I'm now at the very end-endgame and I have probably only the final puzzle left and I'm stumped. My brain is fried and I'm taking a breather and hoping my sister and her fiancé catch up to me so we can all have a crack at the last puzzle together potentially.

    In the meantime I'm continuing my extremely impatient gaming by jumping on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I promise I will get back to my backlog soon and do this sub justice. I have F.E.A.R. installed and everything.

    Anyway, Clair Obscur is amazingly good. Actually worth paying full price for and I don't mind supporting small developers either. Could this be the best AA game of all time? I honestly can't believe a small studio pulled this off. The gameplay feels like a fresh take on turn based while still giving Souls-like satisfaction at beating a tough boss. The story has been stellar so far and the voice acting is phenomenal. I'm playing with French VAs because it just feels right for this game and this setting. If you don't mind reading subtitles I highly recommend it, the french voices are fantastic and Maelle in particular is stealing the show. I actually prefer her to the English one.

    • blue prince frustrates me so much because it just won't let me play. people keep saying you can bypass the rng with things you find but the game still has to let you find the things. it took me almost 40 days to first roll credits despite getting the initial basement stuff done on day 16 because i just keep. getting. shafted.

      i have pages and pages of notes and nowhere to use them.

      • I had the same issue in the late game of Blue Prince.

        The RNG is pretty fun at first but it quickly becomes frustrating when you have specific layouts in your mind. You gain some control but not enough to make it fun to restart over and over again until you don't get shafted.

        My solution was simple: I cheated. I gave myself infinite dice and rerolled the rooms until I got the layout I was looking for. Much more enjoyable that way.

      • You do get RNG control eventually, but like everything in Blue Prince it's locked behind a puzzle. Well, that and certain room upgrades like taking any upgrade that gives you +2 Dice.

        It takes some time, but you have tools to mould the house however you want. However, RNG is definitely a factor there is no denying that. In the beginning though I didn't mind so much as there are so many mysteries to investigate that no run ever feels "dead" - you always learn something or progress somewhere. It's mostly towards the end where it can get frustrating as you're looking for for example specific room combinations, but as I said - by then you have the tools to control it somewhat.

        I also never really got frustrated because there is no time limit and no penalty to calling it a day. If a run doesn't work out it's so quick and easy to just go again.

    • I’ll definitely have to give Clair Obscur a look. Sounds promising!

      • It'll be all over the Game Awards this year, I think. It's sold 2 million copies for a reason. Absolutely gorgeous music too. Heavily recommended!

  • I've gone back to Ostriv since there have been some nice updates since I last played. It's such a beautiful game and I always end up spending most of the time makeing it look nice. LINK

    Edit: added some pictures :)

  • Breath of Fire IV. A nice pixel art RPG I never played this when it was new. A few hours in currently and enjoying it quite a bit!

    • Played the original PSX release as a kid, its a story that goes places, hope you enjoy it. Also, this is one of the original "you'll get addicted to fishing" jRPGs so brace for that

  • it's been mostly "Unnamed Space Idle" (idle/autoplay game with some interactivity), recently opened a new gameplay part in it and, well, it's slow and idle waiting and few tactical decision making here and there. According to steam I've wasted like 1200 hours on it... which is kinda wild.

    I also played and 100%'d "Exit 8", it's one of those anomaly spotting games. Not difficult at all, nor does it really have a failstate either. You just go on in a looping liminal subway hallway and turn back if there's something out of ordinary. Dunno really if it's something I'd recommend it or not, it's about an hour (give or take) worth of gameplay if you're into those kind of games.

    • I've been digging into USI for the past few months, what section are you in right now? I'm at Sector 100, and this is probably one - if not the - best idle games I've experimented, as someone who plays them regularly

      • clawing my way back to 100 after R5. Got some sweet fleet bonuses waiting for yet another reinforce-reset.

        And, yea, USI is one of the better ones in the genre, I just keep coming back.

  • The Great Ace Attorney! Just finished the third adventure. I'm a huge fan of the original trilogy and was skeptical this would measure up, but it's been a brilliant evolution of the series so far.

  • Linda Cubed Again, for the Playstation 1. It's a Japanese RPG released in 1997, with an English fan translation released last year (after 10 years of work!)

    I was surprised by some of the systems implemented in the game: a working bank system, some locations change over time, dynamic weather with effects on the environment (i.e. rainfall can flood lower levels of caves), and more.

    There's a youtube video that goes over the story, but overall I'd say it's a pretty solid pokemon-like that deserves more attention. I should mention that the game is pretty dark and features a lot of taboos. The github link describes them in a content warning section, in case you want to try it for yourself

  • I've been playing a little bit of final fantasy tactics on the PS1 on my little RG34XX (The GBA looking one)

  • I've finished Subnautica: Below Zero, and while I do appreciate the few QoL it introduces, overall I'd just stick with the original games. Too many surface sections, too much NPCs voice logs, plot isn't that engaging, the research and building is generally more of the same

    Began Saga Scarlet Grace: Ambitions, one of the first remakes/remasters of the SaGa jRPG series made exclusively for perverts who want to be punished. Getting the hang of the game and its battles, its a fascinating system were you don't have levels, but rather your stats go up as you use them, and your techs also get less costly the more you attack; There's a huge focus on delaying or cancelling enemy actions, as well as speeding up or slowing your own, so you can land United Attacks where several members of your party wham on a single for, and can use more actions on the following turn. Also, a huge plus for any jRPG: You can apply negative statuses on bosses.

  • i've been playing Fuser. i'm only a little late; the servers only shut down three years ago. not that it matters to me, i'm using it as a mashup toy. you can get it on archive.org and there is a vibrant modding community now.

57 comments