I had a Sega GameGear as a kid. Yeah it was a Sega system, which Sega was major back then, but the GameGear was nothing compared to the Gameboy. Very cool system, in that it had a full color screen and was backlit.

Now that was at the expense of being heavy as all hell and a monster eater of AA batteries. 6 of them at at time!

I think that was basically the only non-major system I had.

My first DS was the DS Lite. I bought it when the game “Contact” came out. Played various JRPGs on it, as I’m wont to do with handhelds. IIRC, the DS Lite was backwards compatible with GBA carts, which was great. I loved the look, feel, and size of it. Honestly, DS Lite is probably my favorite Nintendo handheld, with the Switch a close second.

After that, I think the next DS that I had was the 3DS. Which I still have; I even booted it up earlier this year to try to play “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice.” I didn’t end up playing it on the 3DS, since I have that anthology on Steam, but I wanted to see where I was.

Games or series that I played a lot on the DS line were practically all of the mainline Ace Attorney games, and even some of the spin offs like the Professor Layton crossover and AA:Investigations. Fire Emblem was another. I think I played Awakening, Fates, and Echoes. I played at least one Pokemon game, too.

Huh didn’t know P1 and P2 were SMT games. Good to know. I’ve tried at least one entry in the SMT side and just could not get into it. Don’t even remember which it was. I get they’re both dungeon crawlers, but I don’t think I’m a fan of the more old-school SMT-style games.

I’ve only played P3 Portable and Persona 4, on PSP and Vita respectively (though I also have these on Steam now). I have Persona 5 (also Steam), but I’ve yet to start it, since I have quite the backlog to get through. Including P3 and P4!

I got fairly far into P3P before stopping, while I didn’t get as far into P4 before stopping, then restarting, then stopping again (though I got a little further than the first time). My last attempt must’ve been during the pandemic, so not that long ago. It’s not necessarily that I didn’t enjoy them; I just have a thing with JRPGs where I intend to take a short break…which often turns into years-long breaks.

P3P was more enjoyable than P4, IMO. P4 just seemed really slow at the start, while P3, I felt had much better pacing. If I’m remembering the correctly, the latter just dropped you straight in to the weirdness, and it just kept going, where I felt like P4 had more lulls in the action.

I don’t mind the school stuff, though I’ll admit it’s not my favorite thing in the world. I do try to make an effort, rather than just breeze through it. I do hope to one day complete both of them and then get to P5. I very much enjoy their visual styles and music. I also like games that take place in the modern world, so the series is right up my alley.

For something like Civ or Stellaris, I’d count “completion” once I’ve won at least one game. Because, ideally, I’ve shown some mastery of knowledge, skills, and mechanics that allowed me to win. I don’t need to play and win as each leader in Civ or every race/trait and combo in Stellaris to say I’ve completed it.

This is similar to how I’d view “completion” in open-ended games like Cities:Skylines or Banished. Having played a city or town for several hours, was I able to keep the residents alive, stabilize the city if there were any issues, and also grow and develop the settlement for a significant, though arbitrary, length of in-game time? If the answer is Yes to all of these, then I’ve “completed” the game. I’ve understood how things work in the game. Doesn’t mean I have to understand every nuance or know every little trick. But I know enough that things are going well and largely continue to go well. And every time I start a new map, things tend to always go well.

Earlier this year, I stopped playing Eve Online for the nth time after mostly playing straight through since 2019. Because I viewed my time during this last 4-5yr stint as “complete.” I achieved practically all the goals I set out to do: join a major alliance, join massive PVP fights, engage in smaller PVP fights, make money that I ever had before, buy and fly ships I’d never used before, learn how to explore and navigate wormholes, try out specific types of industry, play with IRL friends, own and run my/our own station, and more.

In all of these, “completion” obviously doesn’t mean I’ll never go back. There’s always more to do, new things to see. But for now, I am satisfied with my progress, experience, and understanding. I’m no longer a noob.

My work is in the process of hiring someone to replace me since I’m headed to a new job. After a recent interview, a co-worker on the hiring committee made a comment on Teams, “His age seems OK.”

Uhhh, maybe we shouldn’t be talking about age in hiring decisions. Especially on a written medium. Pretty sure that in the US, age discrimination laws starts at like 40yo, including hiring and firing. That interviewee seemed to be over 40yo, which is probably what prompted that comment.

Not that I think the candidate will sue us if we don’t hire him, but it’s just unnecessary risk. And I don’t even work in HR or legal; rather I’m in IT. Surprised HR didn’t say anything about that comment.

It’s certainly a fan theory, but that’s not a confirmed thing by any means. The location of the last battles does look the inside of a vagina, looking towards the cervix, but that’s supposedly only a coincidence.

Earthbound was probably the first game I was ever really enamored with. Even today, it’s definitely one of my favorite games ever. And it’s probably the first JRPG I ever played, and it’s what started me down a long path of JRPGs.

My parents got me a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine, and I remember reading about the game there and wanting to play it. They didn’t buy it for me when it came out, but I did rent it from Blockbluster a few times. And they did eventually buy it for me for Christmas. It even came with the strategy guide!

Everything about the game was great. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but it was insanely accessible, even to a then 7-8yo kid like me. JRPGs tend to be darker and complex (though not always). But Earthbound still had complexity, but it wasn’t darker. Yes these kids were having to save the world from destruction, but the story was told in an upbeat, fun way. And it was just the right amount of complexity.

Earthbound is also probably the first game I ever beat. Certainly the first JRPG.

I did try the fan-translation of Mother 3. I didn’t end up finishing it. I got close, but it was far too depressing and different from EB. The game was beautifully done (as was the player-made strategy guide!), but I just couldn’t really get into the story and characters. Just wasn’t for me.

Mainly playing Rimworld, FF7 Rebirth, and a little bit of the Ace Attorney Apollo Justice Trilogy. Also finished the visual Coffee Talk last night.

Final Fantasy XIII had Sazh Katzroy. He’s not the main character (that’d be Lightning), but he is an important playable character right from the get-go. He has his own storylines as well.

You can use Nitter.net to help “expose” the tweets and threads. Here’s this one: https://nitter.net/CeciliaFae/status/1749183059877085396

Same tbh. Been playing for over a decade. I’m an Infil main, so I got that down in its various forms (as VS). I’m alright with Engi and Medic. And that’s about it. I’m bad at LA and I definitely can’t play Heavy. Weird, I know.

Busses I’m fine with, Gals and Harasser I’m OK. Skyguard lightning I’m pretty decent at though.

• Barotrauma. Game can be challenging and serious, but also ridiculously hilarious and off the walls, often in the same playthrough.
• Valheim.
• Project Zomboid. You might want to consider upping some of the difficulty with more players, though. More zombies, for example.
• Minecraft.
• Planetside 2. Squad/platoon up and just roll around together. The learning curve, however, can be surprisingly high.
• Battlebit Remastered.

I picked up Cobalt Core on a whim during this current Steam sale. I don’t really play deckbuilders, but this is a super fun game. It’s a roguelike with heavy FTL vibes. I have yet to get that far in it because…

I’ve been playing tons of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. I bought it during the summer sale on Steam, but only started playing it now. It’s a mystery game similar to the Phoenix Wright/Ace Attorney games (probably because it’s made by Shu Takumi, who also made PW/AA), but instead of investigations and court cases, the main gameplay revolves around limited time travel and then trying to make Rube Goldberg machine-style scenarios to prevent people from dying. And some of the challenges are, well, challenging to figure out how things work together and in what order to use or manipulate items. It’s fun.

Project Zomboid, hands down. Valheim is good, too.

But only with friends. And that’s case with pretty much all survival games; I won’t play by myself.

I guess Minecraft, as well, but I mostly play Creative. So to me, it’s hardly a survival game.

FYI, you’re on a Beehaw community right now. This type of needless aggression may be acceptable elsewhere, but not on Beehaw.

I’m a pretty hardcore FF fan who bought FF16 Day 1. I enjoyed it enough. Enough that I finished it, when I’ve only finished two other entries: FF6 and FF10. Neither here nor there, but I usually get pretty close to finishing the games…but then take a break, for like years. Yeah, I have a problem.

Anyway, it’s not like 16 was my favorite FF ever. Nor the worst; just middle of the pack.

I don’t play a lot of active battle games; I like FFs and other JRPGs for the traditional turn-based combat, which 16 did not have. But I also get that that’s a niche market these days and consumer tastes change. I actually like that SE has been experimenting with different combat systems over the years in FFs.

Either way, the fighting system was easy enough for a bad like me to enjoy. But I will also say that the game still felt overly simplistic. A lot of big fights had “cutscene fights,” where you had QTEs; simple QTEs where you literally just have to mash X or something.

The accessories/equipment system was super simplified down to weapon and 3 accessories. Of course you should upgrade your weapon, so there’s no customization there. And most of the accessories were worthless, IMO. There were only a few that really stood out so I used those for most of my run.

Even learning the various summons and their powers was basic. Like it seemed like the system was in place to allow people to choose their own combat style, but that also largely meant that once you settled on a style, there was no reason change unless a stronger summon/power for that style came up. I never felt forced to learn and use a specific summon for a certain fights or anything.

In a way, because SE tried to cater to both the JRPG crowd and the non-JRPG crowd, they ended up with a somewhat mediocre game, that disappointed both groups. Again, FF16’s not a bad game, but it’s not great. Like you said, it’s just “meh.”

I picked up Starfield on Friday. I’m not very far into it after 12hrs. Been doing side quests and such around New Atlantis and exploring. So far, it’s fun enough. This is the first Bethesda game I’ve played since Fallout 3 (which I didn’t finish). So I’ve kinda come into this mostly blind, which I think is a good thing. It reminds me a bit of Deus Ex: HR/MD, probably because of all sidequest and explo that I’m doing.

Also restarted Triangle Strategy last week or so, after putting it down for a year or two. Had it for the Switch, but then picked it up for the Steam Deck. Been taking my time with that as well.

In FFXIV, I’m in the post-Shadowbringers DLC content. I’ve taken a bit of a break from the MSQ to get the Nier-themed alliance raids, along with the “Eden” full-party raids. I’ve so far only opened two of the three Nier alliance raids, and god are they difficult. But that difficulty means they’re tons of fun. I think I’ve got the first one down pretty well, though I’ve yet to complete it without dying at least twice due to not paying attention to boss telegraphs. The second one is gonna take me a bit more to get through without dying left and right. Prioritizing these over the “Eden” full-party raids at the moment. Did get my MCH to 90 during all the raiding, which means I now my second Lvl 90 class, the first being RDM. Think I might try a healer class next, just not sure which one.

So many of those old adventure games were hilarious. The Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest. But I was also a kid back then (probably shouldn’t have been playing Leisure Suit Larry…). I wonder if they’d still hold up for me today.