The Backlog Check-in Vol. 178: 5/29/21: Memorial Day Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Finished: Nothing

Playing: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Added: Nothing

Games releasing this week
Alphadia Genesis 2
Astalon: Tears of the Earth
Astro Aqua Kitty
Bunny Factory
Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunt
DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power
Everyday Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family
Family Mysteries 3: Criminal Mindset
Going Medieval
Gold Rush: The Game
Griftlands
Hokko Life
The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom
The Last Spell
Mighty Goose
Necromunda: Hired Gun
Off and On Again
Operation: Tango
The Persistence
Sludge Life
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2
Spirit: Lucky’s Big Adventure
Stonefly
Sunblaze
Tour de France 2021
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown
Warhammer: Vermintide II - Chaos Wastes
Wing of Darkness

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Immortals: Fenyx Rising PS5, Final Fantasy VII Remake

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 39 games

About 28 hours into Immortals and I've just completed the first chapter in FF7 Remake.

Phase, where are you at in Valhalla now?

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

[Phaseknox]

Phase, where are you at in Valhalla now?

I think that I’m on the last story quest, the one where Sigurd wants to go back to Norway with Eivor. But I’m going to play the Wrath of the Druids expansion content before doing it.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Same to you.

[jfissel]

Cool, let me know your thoughts on the DLC.

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Kingdom Come: Deliverance, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Golf with Your Friends

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Marvel's Spider-Man

Current backlog: 13 (9 PS4, 1 Vita, 3 Switch)


I played a few hours of KCD, and while I was getting into the story and other aspects, I found some of the mechanics just unfun. For example, my dude fell down a hill and got injured... I had to use all 8 of my bandages to stop the bleeding and then limp all the way back to camp. Even after resting he was still crippled. I guess he would get better over several nights, but dang, I have enough trouble hobbling around in real life with my bad knee and whatnot. But what ended it for me was the lockpicking tutorial. I tried dozens of times and couldn't get it to work. I just found myself running into walls with the game over and over and said, "Nope, not for me right now."

I then played a little Golf with Your Friends, which I grabbed on sale for Switch thinking it could be something to play with the family. It's a fairly fun mini-golf game with one ridiculous flaw: you can't set it up where you can use more than one controller in multiplayer. You literally have to pass the same controller around the room. Can you imagine releasing a game in that state? RIDICULOUS.

Finally, I fired up Breath of the Wild. It's not clicking with me perfectly but at least it's not as messed up as the previous two games, so I'm sticking with it.

[isthatallyougot]

I'm enjoying Shadowgate. I haven't been playing much, but I've made (what seems to be) fairly good progress after getting a bit stuck at one point. Great atmosphere and art in this Point 'n click.

[canedaddy]

Finally, I fired up Breath of the Wild. It's not clicking with me perfectly but at least it's not as messed up as the previous two games, so I'm sticking with it.

Nope, lost interest in that one too. I'll go through the backlog this weekend and see if anything hits the spot.

[crimson_tide]

Played: DQ11S (SO...*******...PLEASANT AND ENDEARING >_<!!!!!), House Hunters XI: Infinity War...again...BUT only the end credits stinger wherein Nick Fury clicks the pager before being...well you know and whatnot...oh and like a race in the story mode of Sonic Team Racing. It has an actual story. For some reason. Whatever...

Bought: Yakuza 2 Kiwami (somehow I just didn't with the Majima stuff??? Weird.) , Yakuza...6? I think? Or did I buy Kiwami again? I thought I needed 6 digital since I am going to just go ahead and tear through the Yakuza for comfort gaming before tackling the big boss replay comfort gaming...Kingdom Hearts! I miss it and there's nothing like it...oh wait, I bought Puzzle Quest and 8bit Adventure Collection too! Comfort ass comfort gaming fam, all day 'ery day ova here...oh speaking of which I renewed PS Now because Sonic Generations boss fights and Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Edition. Seriously...

This week: Hopefully some more DQ11S (like seriously...is EVERY DQ game this dang charming? j...bruh, you should have been selling this DQ thing HARD, I really, really like it )

Ok, after hail Mary antics, I think the house hunt is almost over! I hope. Dear God I hope...I already packed up my wife's 500+ book collection and broke down the bookcases . Shooting for Endgame by the end of the month, for real this time!

DQ11S is just gosh dang delightful fam!!! I am about 40 hours in. I even gambled in the casino on slots for like 90 minutes because it was so charming! I got 3 of the Macguffins elemental crystal...orb...key...things? Whatever, the best part was they were like go to this place. So I went and was expecting a couple hours of fetch questing but no! They just gave me the thing because they were grateful I had helped someone else in a previous quest! I was like "WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?" I can't think of another game where you just go and tell them 'I am here for the Macguffin' and they just go 'Here, you're welcome' without at least a boss fight of some sort. It caught me entirely off guard. I will continue soldiering on but if you just want some quaint, well done, strong JRPG questing, there is zero reason not to get this game. I leave it for months at a time and come back to a recap and note telling me exactly where to go and what to do. It's really, really refreshing to play a game that takes a lot of time but understands you can't just be tied to it fully. A+ stuff thus far.

[jfissel]

This week: Hopefully some more DQ11S (like seriously...is EVERY DQ game this dang charming? j...bruh, you should have been selling this DQ thing HARD, I really, really like it )

Yes, they are all charming, except for maybe the original versions of the first few games.

Ok, after hail Mary antics, I think the house hunt is almost over! I hope. Dear God I hope...I already packed up my wife's 500+ book collection and broke down the bookcases . Shooting for Endgame by the end of the month, for real this time!

And I thought I had a lot of books...

DQ11S is just gosh dang delightful fam!!! I am about 40 hours in. I even gambled in the casino on slots for like 90 minutes because it was so charming! I got 3 of the Macguffins elemental crystal...orb...key...things? Whatever, the best part was they were like go to this place. So I went and was expecting a couple hours of fetch questing but no! They just gave me the thing because they were grateful I had helped someone else in a previous quest! I was like "WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?" I can't think of another game where you just go and tell them 'I am here for the Macguffin' and they just go 'Here, you're welcome' without at least a boss fight of some sort. It caught me entirely off guard. I will continue soldiering on but if you just want some quaint, well done, strong JRPG questing, there is zero reason not to get this game. I leave it for months at a time and come back to a recap and note telling me exactly where to go and what to do. It's really, really refreshing to play a game that takes a lot of time but understands you can't just be tied to it fully. A+ stuff thus far.

There are some times where they string you along and the original item you needed takes 4 quests to actually get it - "I have the thing you need, but you need to do me a favor first". But yeah, there are also times like you mention.

[crimson_tide]

I still have DQ8 for the 3DS...I remember getting really annoyed at the upgrade paths in that one, but I may go back to it because maybe I was just being extra. I think Jessica had just joined my party in that one when I put it down...

And yes, the wife is a voracious reader. It's awesome ...until I have to move the books .

And I was shocked it even happened once, j . I am just used to being strung along. I mean...I play Kingdom Hearts games and nearly 20 years later can't actually tell you what Kingdom Hearts actually is yet. So even just the slightest whiff of not being strung along in an RPG makes me fall in love. It's halfway to being the jilted lover trope and any RPG that even remotely respects my time wins my heart .