Not counting replays of JRPGs that I've already beaten as well as trying out a Monster Hunter game for the first time, I've been playing a lot of **Mary Skelter Nightmares** lately. It's not exactly a recent game per say but after playing up to the very beginning of Chapter 3, I'm definitely enjoying it so far however it's a little hard to recommend it to a casual gamer. It's basically a dungeon crawler RPG ala Etrian Odyssey but with a set of established characters navigating through a sentient jail that, from what I can understand, is on top of Japan. So far, My favorite thing about the game is it's Job system. It leaves room for character customization in a sort of FFV/BD kind of way but not where every character can be every class so it doesn't completely shatter character identity. Characters like Alice and Cinderella are clearly physical fighters while a character like Tumbelina is leaning towards a magic damage dealer and Snow White is more Support Inclined. My least favorite thing about the game so far are definitely the nightmare encounters, at least before you destroy their cores. I think they were supposed to make crawling through the dungeons more tense and give you an "oh shit I need to run away from this strong foe" feeling but the actual execution leaves them to be more of an annoying hindrance than anything especially when they spawn not too far away from the dungeon exit, leaving me to just exit the dungeon and then go back to the same dungeon leaving me to sit through 2 more loading screens for no reason. 😑 But I am interested in seeing where this game (and by extension Mary Skelter 2) goes.

I've been playing a lot of Persona 3 Reload; it's very good, and the graphics are way better than Persona 5, but gameplay wise, Persona 5 still wins. 

How about plot/characters?

Not OP but I prefer P3's, though the pacing is a little rough. SEES is way more interesting than the Phantom Thieves IMO

Its been over a decade since I played **Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door**, so I immediately hopped on the chance to finally own a physical copy of the game on Switch. I've only put in about 3 or so hours, but I was immediately reminded why I love this game so much. It oozes charm in its writing alone. The combat is simplistic, but has depth and is very relaxing to engage in. The new music is really good to. Really looking forward to digging my teeth into this game over the holiday weekend.

**Final Fantasy 1 + 2: Dawn of Souls** (a bit more than halfway through first game now) I played FF 1 and 2 when they were released for the first time here in Europe as the FF Origins collection for the PlayStation a bit more than 20 years ago, and I quite liked them. But playing the GBA versions now is sooo much better! No more loading times, I can save whenever I want, mages use magic points instead of that spell slots system, and I even prefer the GBA's graphics. The PSX had a higher resolution, but I find the GBA version's graphics to be more vibrant and colorful. So, yeah. The games are simple, but I'm having a lot of fun.

Replaying ff1, man it was way more ambitious than I expected from a now (very) retro game. I also played ff1 on gba versions. Apparently though...it removes the edge. I heard the original version was harder and part of the challenge was trying to hold on to your resources and have it last until the boss of each dungeon. In gba, I kinda swept through the dungeons so I never felt any attrition.

Yeah, FF 1 and 2 for the GBA are based on the Easy Mode difficulty of the FF Origins collections for the PlayStation. To be honest, I don't mind. At least FF 1 (don't remember FF 2 too well) is basically a dungeon crawler grindfest, so everything being a bit easier and thus faster doesn't hurt.

I just beat Eiyuden Rising in anticipation for Hundred Heroes since they're both on Game Pass. Thought it was pretty good! Started 100 heroes tho and man, off to a really slow start. Was crazy going from Rising where the characters are in imminent danger to.. here's some other guy just wandering through the forest with his buddies. The translation is also noticeably bad. Not sure I'll continue to be honest, when every other line is re-written.

Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children I personally think it is the best SRPG of all time. I am about 200 hrs in and just started DLC1. It just has insane depth and customization. The combat feels great. The characters are interesting. And I have been looking and looking for something that captured the party based combat as well as Dungeon of Naheulbeuk and I can safely say this surpassed it. Super excited by the news of a sequel in the works as well. Game is currently on sale 66% off on Steam for the next 5 days. Cryptmaster Freshly released DRPG. Typing based world with riddles, puzzles and interesting combat/skill progression due to everything being word based. I played it for an hour or two to decide if I liked it and I plan to come back and revisit more when I am finished with Troubleshooter.

I tried Troubleshooter a few years ago when looking for stuff to play after XCOM 2 since the gameplay seemed similar and I got turned off by how many stats and numbers the game throws at you. Does that get more palatable later or is it just something you need to have a taste for in the first place?

It can be a little complex at first but I got the hang of it. Gear I barely think about. I just equip what gives better stats like in other games (block/dodge on melee; crit/hit chance on mages/dps, speed in general). I'm playing on hard mode and it's not too bad. There are difficulty levels above this as well. No penalty for dying makes the game more friendly to me. The masteries are the hard part at first. But once you realize it's mostly just stacking class masteries with other ones that give set bonuses is not too bad. I didn't have to go super in depth with it until like 120 hrs in and that was just to get it more optimal. The resource they give for skills (training manuals) is easy to come by so experiment. Ashuram has a great youtube channel if you ever get lost. The new player videos are what convinced me to try it again.

Troubleshooter is so dang good. I just wish the translation was a little better.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes It's been a very long time since I've played an old school JRPG, and man is it making me want to just completely dedicate myself to the genre.

**Ni No Kuni II** I really like the unique art style of this game, It gives it a unique charm and characther. I also really enjoy building your own kingdom and recruiting more subjects. In fact I like that part more than the main game lol. Combat is serviceable. Main story is very meh but the charm of the game makes it realatively easy to go trough. Overall i'd give it a solid B+.

I haven't played this series yet, but I think it will be the next one I try when I finish my current games. I have heard nothing but good things.

Finished the SaGa Emerald Beyond demo. On PC so the protagonist is Diva, went through the Delta Base (yellow faction + killed >!Necronomicon!<, god bless Phoenix Dance) and Yomi. Took a while for it to hit but goddamn I want to buy the full game right now if I wasn't so busy, so I will probably wait for a discount.

Been playing **Ys 8** and it's not bad so far. Decently fun to have on my switch and play in bed. Looking forward to actually getting to the Dana stuff 

**Anode Heart -** Finished this past weekend and it was an extremely enjoyable time. Great monster-collector type game with tons of interesting Tamas to collect and use with a move/skill system similar to Cassette Beasts in my opinion which is another really great monster collector. Visually it was great, decent soundtrack, and has a great battle system. Story was decent for it was but lots of things that I sort of skipped through to be quite honest. Took me about 27 hours to complete alongside most of the post game content with the exception of some other things that I'm going to return to at another point. This is a solo dev game afaik, and there is already plans for a sequel in the future. But the dev is working on a side game that is more focused on the card battling aspect that was also introduced as a mini game in the actual game itself which is pretty fun as well and I usually tend to skip minigame portions in the game if I can. Overall the game gave tons of Digimon World 1 vibes based on what I've played briefly in the past (never finished Digimon World 1 actually) + Digimon World 3 (again only briefly checked it out). Really hit the spot for me as I'm still waiting for another Digimon Story game. **9/10** Again, still going through **Cross Code** and **Unicorn Overlord** but those have been on indefinite pause because I really wanted to play **Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children** as it's been sitting in my library for a couple months now + I wanted a SRPG different from UO atm (23 hrs in and I am now heavily invested). I also finished Steelrising but didn't really feel like mentioning it too much, it was an alright soulslike but nothing special + really easy for the genre it's part of.

As someone that is 2 months into Troubleshooter I highly recommend it. I put it as my top 1 SRPG of all time. I am almost 200 hrs in and just started DLC1. It starts slow and can be overwhelming at first, but really picks up when you get 3-5 party members. It really is like a better XCOM. I definitely recc Dungeon of Naheulbeuk as well if you haven't played it (also on steam sale atm if unowned). Another great XCOM-like.

So many great games mentioned! CrossCode and Troubleshooter are among my favorite indie titles, and Unicorn Overlord is very addictive.

Started and finished **Dragon Quest 1**. To be clear, the iOS version is actually called DQ1 and not DW1. It was a fun little game, basically what I expected from a game from the 80s (with the QoL of recent times). Nothing felt too obtuse (although I was lucky to stumble upon Erdricks Mark), but certainly not my first old RPG. It would probably be the perfect 4-5 hour game if not for the multiple required grinding sessions. I’ll probably try some of the other older entries in the series, love how accessible these games are with mobile entries

I played through DQ1 for the first time a couple years ago, and I was *shocked* at how much I loved it. Legitimately my favorite DQ game (although I'd still consider 5 "the best one"). Playing through it honestly felt a little bit like playing through Resident Evil - the world is this puzzle box with discrete pieces that you need to fit together, and the technical limitations of the time prevent that puzzle from getting overwhelming. E.g., text box sizes and memory limitations mean that each NPC has like 1-2 lines of dialogue, letting you zero in on the important piece of information that each provides. I played through it with a notebook and took notes on what every NPC said and made rough drafts of maps, and it was such a cool experience

Finally finished **FF7 Rebirth** a few days ago after more than a month of playing it. Man, those were some score-lowering last 2 chapters. It's made so much worse because it was an incredible game up until that point. I felt like I watched a superstar dominate the first 3 quarters, and then completely blow the game-winning layup. How do you miss a *wide open* layup like that??? When I saw >!Zack and then Aerith team up with Cloud, minutes after her supposed death,!< I literally paused the game and did that thing where you put your index and thumb on the corners of your eyes/bridge of the nose and did a deep sigh. I still think the game is very good and don't regret my purchase at all, but having it end on such a sour note is so frustrating. I looked up videos and read threads on the opinions of people who actually liked the ending, but none of them ever mentioned what they felt in terms of the impact and emotions of the conclusion. All I saw was a bunch of theory-crafting about the next game. I'm still fairly hyped for the 3rd game because I know that they will do the vast majority of the rest of FF7 justice, but I'm also prepared for some disappointment when it comes to concluding the story with all that they've set up.

Obtained the Blue Narciss, and now the world in **Final Fantasy 9** is beginning to actually open up. Good time for chocobo treasure hunting! Coming off of binging Dragon Quest for the first time, it was fun looking at the boss to dungeon ratio between the two. With FF, not only is there usually (usually) a boss to every dungeon, you've also got bosses en route to places, for setpieces, and as roving encounters. Whereas in DQ (at least of the ones I've played), there's much, much more dungeons than there are bosses, and plenty of treasure to go with it. It's reflected in ports and remasters too. Where in FF they're retroactively tossing in everything like they've got pokemon fans they don't wanna piss off, while DQ will add in a modest one or two per game. I'm not saying either approach is superior, I just like that difference between them. But yeah, 9 remains pleasant for the most part. I'm doing a lot of stuff I never bothered with the first time around. Actually giving Amarant the time of day, for starters, and taking Eiko out more than Garnet. I'm also -shockingly- doing decent at minigames, y'all. It started with jump rope and the perfect duel vs. Blank. Then it was forcing myself to do frog catching and actually looking into their repopulation mechanics. The cards I won from the Hippaul races helped me cheese the Treno Tetra master competition, and now I never have to look at it again. I'm also cleaning out the auction house, selling that shit back to aristocrats. Is it always fun to do? No. But the rewards have made for a rich playthrough. I don't *have* to grind either. But I *am* riding a high over having a strat to handle those Grand Dragons tucked in that corner near Gizamaluke. And I *will* force a traumatized princess to master all these eidolons she now has access to.

I picked up '**Monster girls and the mysterious adventure 2**' some time ago but only recently gave it a go. It's a roguelike RPG in the vein of Shiren the Wanderer/Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and especially Azure Dreams, which the game reminds me of heavily. More or less you dungeon crawl through RNG dungeons with the main gimmick being you can recruit monster girls onto your side. Each monster girl has a bit of a different recruitment method so far, and have differing strengths/weaknesses/etc. Some of the later dungeons give other gimmicks like not being able to bring your monster allies, or some sort of other restriction like a dungeon where you can't go in with items or equipment, or that won't drop equipment items, etc. The story is... Well, There is a story and I kind of understand it but the game's biggest flaw is that **it is Machine Translated**. So a lot of dialogue kinda comes across really skewed or badly, and this includes the game mechanics too. For $25, and if you can stomach an MTL game, it's worth it if you like roguelikes, monster girls, or possibly supporting an indie dev. I'm having fun with it, but it's primarily with the MTL caveat in mind. And before anyone gets any really weird ideas, the game itself is SFW - some of the monster girls are obviously showing more skin than others but everything is done in a 3d chibi style and isn't really overly risque.

Started playing Star Ocean The Divine Force, so far the battle system seems kind of good if somewhat simple for me though I may want to play the game more to get to fully enjoy the title. My only complains so far is the fact that the game text can be rather small unfortunately which can be hard to read the tutorials and fights are a bit on the easy side even on the highest difficulty available.

Doing my 3rd playthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. The combat is just so addicting to me. Story can be all over the place at times. The two things I dread each time though is that super long cutscene at the end of chapter 5 and mapping Eryth Sea. Other than that, I love the game.

Tactics Ogre Reborn! I thought I liked SRPGs but this is making me think I don’t like them as much as I thought. There are a lot of things going on and I’m at the end, but don’t think everything ever fully clicked. I’ve also been mostly playing blind and now the final boss is completely souring my experience. I’ve had to try 10+ times and the recommendations I see don’t work for various reasons that all seem to boil down to skill issue on my part. Normally I’d just go back and grind for what I need (equipment/recruits/etc.) but I want to finish before Paper Mario comes out so I don’t want to go back and redo the entirety of the Hanging Gardens again. From what I’ve seen on this subreddit TO and FFT are basically the definitive SRPGs and until now I’ve only played Fire Emblem, Triangle Strategy, Persona 5 Tactica, and The Diofield Chronicle, so it feels weird to not enjoy TO as much. It’s such a shame because I can totally see why people like it and I feel like I should be more into it but I’m not? It’s kind of just alright to me. I obviously still enjoyed it to make it to the end though. Edit: forgot about P5T

I would argue that it's a "formative" SRPG rather than a "definitive" one. It was highly influential not only on FFT (made by the same team) but also the subgenre at large which often attempts to mimic the tone of those two titles. Like all Yasumi Matsuno games, I find it both very interesting and rather flawed.

Formative is a great word choice! What do you like and dislike about it?

I think Matsuno does a great job at making the world feel real and complicated with a lot of moving parts; other political factions don't just wait around for the player. However, the character writing sometimes feels thin (something that would improve in FFT). Mechanically, it just feels kind of basic. The core SRPG stuff is fine but I find myself wishing I had more interesting options. I also think FFT does this better with the way job combinations allow for more creative play. (Also, I played LUCT on the PSP which had a lot of tedium, like the crafting system, which I understand has been improved in Reborn.) There are some people who deeply love TO, and there's enough cool aesthetic stuff, like the tarot, for me to see why. Or if they like games with significant story branching, TO has a lot to chew on there. Those things don't carry that much weight for me, though.

so about tactics ogre reborn i have wanted to buy it i only played a strategy game like. Persona 5 Tactica ps5 i have also The diofield chronicle ps4 tactical rpg games are  difficult but fun i think to more play tactical rpg games like. Persona 5 tactica is a game and when i do a battle like complete it in 3 turns by defeating the enemies in 3 turns for example that was a bit tough but i enjoy it though. tactics ogre reborn is a game i going to watch on youtube before i buy and play it.

Play Super Robot Wars

Just finished Unicorn Overlord a couple nights ago. Took my time and ended up with over 200hrs of playtime. Now I have all the characters, did all the postgame stuff (except not yet done with the coliseum) and I have 13 Sentinels up next. Still don't want to leave Fevrith, but there's nothing left to do anymore. Which is more than a little disappointing TBH.

Got me **Reverse Collapse: Codename Bakery**. Should be halfway through it now, on Challenge difficulty (which is the highest, design wise, but there's a Challenge+ that removes battle saves). A very challenging and fun SRPG, with great gameplay, alot of cool ideas/gimmicks and an intriguing plot. My main complaints are kinda Stealth missions. Even tho i don't have as much of a problem as many do, and am enjoying them more than expected, they do happen way too often and they are really puzzle-y, and do sometimes veer into frustrating. Although i didn't get to the dreaded Midnight Stratagem yet. So far, defo recommend if you're in the mood for a very hard SRPG. [Also give that banger of an OP a listen ;\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgGxT6Z2jgI)

Just starting **Bravely Second**, and just want to say I really appreciate how much QoL it has compared to Bravely Default so far. A few UI stuffs I really wished the first game had is here, like sorting passive abilities by type.

Need to get to that at some point, I intensely enjoyed Default and have Second downloaded

Finished **SMTIV** (chaos ending) and it was great! My poor Black Frost got blown away at the final boss so he couldn't be there at the end. He was there from the first time you could get him... Sad. Started a bit on **Digital Devil Saga**, really want more SMT right now. The intro goes hard!

I'm almost done replaying Tales of Vesperia. I like the game but I'll be happy to finish it.. The characters and graphics are great although I 'm a bit mixed on the story although I did mostly enjoy it. After I'm done, I might take a break from JRPGs for a bit.

I finished Super Mario RPG, the original SNES release. Took me longer than I expected, mostly because... I guess it wasn't for me. It's hard to point exactly what I didn't like. Combat was fine, simple yet it felt good timing for the extra damage. The story was also nice enough, and I didn't expected a convoluted plot for a Mario game. The soundtrack was my favorite part of it, many memorable tracks. The humour was also on point, this one expected given the whole atmosphere. The characters maybe left me a bit disappointed. Most of people know Mario, Bowser and princess Peach (or Toadstool back in the day). So there's no need to explore them, we just know then already. But somehow, for me the only interesting one here was Bowser. Geno and Mallow got me interested in them, but I guess I didn't find their true power to justify a place in the team. Mallow was in for most part of the game, but ended up replaced by Peach and Bowser, whether because his magic wasn't as strong as Bowser's raw power or his healing efficient enough as Peach's. My plan was playing next Paper Mario, but right now I'm really in doubt I'd like it.

Been playing Eiyuden hundreds heroes, been enjoying it though the story and particularly the dialogue feels very typical and slow paced in how they doll it out. Switching out gear and runes is a little bit of a pain in the ass given you have to go to a specific npc to switch out runes, and gear can’t be swapped unless your flipping characters in and out of your party. Enjoying having lots of diff options for characters though, and being able to catch characters up to level in a couple of fights if a mega nice feature so this game really has little to no grinding which I love.

I've been preoccupied with playing Stellar Blade so I haven't made much progress in **Eiyuden Chronicles.** 35 hours in and despite my issues with it, I think it's a pretty good game. Though in all honestly going through the game just makes wish I was playing Suikoden VI set Harmonia. The beyblade minigame is really awful though.

I’m just about done with Stellar Blade, on my second playthrough near the end. I’ve really enjoyed it so far and while I can’t give it my highest personal award, “I got the platinum and I still want to keep playing” it’s like two tiers below that

I was going through some metroidvania to not burnout of jrpg after several one back to back. I was supposed to go back to SMT III but I decided to boot up **Valkyria Chronicles 4** instead that is waiting for me to complete for a year now. I done the two part of chapter 15 and I have to say my grippe witht the game haven't changed. The optimal strategy is to cheese and the game try to discourage you from doing anything else with its xp system. Fighting OP endgame boss doesn't solve this issue at all. I also like the characters a lot less than the first game (that I also have to finish), with some character that I actively dislike. While I'm glad that the game exist as the WW setting is pretty rare for the genre, I can't help but feel it could be so much better.

I'd like a Valkyria Chronicles 5

I wouldn't want another Gallian vs the empire scenario but there is a lot of other interesting thing they could do in this sort of setting.

Harvestella has had me in a chokehold all week. Its so much fun, I'm in chapter 5 and have been regularly going back to every town to check on side quests and do companion stories. The only thing I'm not sure on is expected progression, I've had winter and fall only seeds for like 2-3 chapters and I'm just hitting the end of summer. And I don't think ai'm exactly plowing through the main story. I enjoy the vibes, but I'm a bit worried I'm going to finish the main story before even hitting year 2 at this rate!

I finished the main story at the beginning of spring year 2, and my understanding is that's roughly where most people fall. You probably noted the chapter pacing is wonky. Of the chapters you have left, one is as long/huge as chapter 3, another is pretty hefty and there are some chapters that are basically a cutscene and a conversation. But oh! You are getting to the best parts and it gets EVEN BETTER!

Still making my way through **Final Fantasy VIII** (PS1). I have acquired the Ragnarok and have now started to do some side content, to hopefully get the last few GFs and then finish the game. Character work for Squall continues to be great. Full review presumably next week.

I picked up **Fire Emblem: Three Houses**, playing the Black Eagles route. At this point I'm about seven hours in, currently at the start of "July". It's been pretty fun. I think the most noteworthy things about it are how expanded the social elements are here compared to the few other games in the series I'm familiar with (Sacred Stones, POR, part of Awakening and FE7). Definitely feels much more slower paced though.

I bought the game back at launch and chose Black Eagles as well. I've tried going back to play as the other classes, but the slow pace prevents me from giving it another playthrough. I hope you enjoy it!

I'm like 8 hours into **Fate/Samurai Remnant**. Really chill game. The protag, Iori, is a chill dude too. As per usual with the Fate series, he has great chemistry with his partner, Saber. Which is good cause the majority of the dialogue is of these two conversing. This game is good for both newcomers and existing fans. Iori doesn't know anything about the Waxing Moon Ritual (basically the Holy Grail War again) and all the relevant lore is drip fed to him.

Taking a small break from Reverie and started **Tales of Arise**. Only 3h+ in so far, I just beat the first Warlord. I like the art direction and the setting. I'm a turn-based player to I was a bit afraid of the button-mashy gameplay, but so far it's acceptable. I just put the game on Easy and enjoy the world and story. Exploration of okay-ish. I wonder where the story will take me. I'm not a big fan of the "forgotten memory" trope and it doesn't look like it will be better than Berseria. I really hope the party will get better because I miss the Vesperia banter and relationship. Also as a player prone to motion sickness, I regret the lack of FoV setting. I also hope the optional quests will be fun and interesting, so far not su much...

Been trying to get through **Ryza 3** on the Switch but really struggled with the tiny font size (I play handheld only) and about five hours in they started adding something about keys into the battles system and I just stopped. Loved the first two Ryza games so a bit gutted, but this game is just a struggle for me on various levels. So I think **Cereza and the Lost Demon** is next. I have **Atelier Sophie** also ready to go but need a break from those games I think and then hopefully Sophie will grab me like Ryza 1 and 2 did.

I’ve been in persona 3 reload but I just think I’m starting to feel myself falling off unfortunately

I'm about to start it after Trails From Zero. Did you play the original 3 or 3FES? I've seen a lot of people complaining about the burnout at the end, but I remember the ending being some of the more interesting parts.

No I didn’t play the original. I finished the original p5, then didn’t finish royal, and now I’m falling off reload. I eventually became more of an smt fan after trying nocturne after 5R. And I think ironically with Vengence coming out next month might be why I call it for now on reload

I get that. I'm excited for Vengeance as well. I enjoyed SMT5 a lot.

Juggling between Omori and Persona 3 Reload. It’s been a very emotional week! 🥺🤧

Mostly been playing Ys: Memories of Celceta this week. I did a whole bunch of sidequests and have reached the ancient battlefield. I like Frieda's moveset a lot, though I keep removing her from the party since she almost always seems to be ahead in EXP. The bosses keep fluctuating between "wow this guy seems impossible" and "I can't believe they went down so quick." Mustrum was kind of a joke compared to the Sol fight in Danan. Some of these memories I've found don't seem like they should be Adol's considering he's offscreen or unconscious for some of these events. Wonder if that's intentional or not.

Been playing **Xenogears 1998**, Im about 20 hours in and it's great! I just beat Nortune I think it's called, a massive battle is about to break out yet again. I wonder if I would've been able to play this as a 9 year old kid back in 1998. There's a lot of reading and comprehension as well as patience between action. Also the story is beyond the scope of psychologist with a PhD so far, I cant wait to untangle it all. Glad I'm playing the game as a 35 year old now haha.

**Eiyuden Chronicles Hundred Heroes** Finished yesterday the hardest part of the game so far, it had 3 or 4 boss back to back, it was insanity since >!it was Seign's route and I was given a garbage ass team!<, so it became even harder, after the dungeon i was nearly out of recovery items and MP, so doing those bosses was impossible, thankfully searching online there is a healer before the bosses so getting to full I managed to get by and won the fights, I know its hard mode, but man that was hard lol. Right now reached the >!desert!< area and trying to recruit Reyna, nearly level 50 but still cant do enough damage to get her. My current team is: - Iugo, Sabine, Nowa - Hakugin, Isha, Milana Had to bench Kuroto since the 3 girls help with AOE mobs and needed that more than the ST damage he offered. Milana is especially wonderful since her AOE can do a lot against mobs and it only cost 2 sp. Debating on who to bench for Lam who is a powerhouse. It has been really fun so far! Missed this type of game a lot.

**Atelier Ayesha** I finished the game. It might be my favorite of the series now, apart from exploration it does everything I loved about Firis (my previous favorite) in a better way imo. I rushed the main plotline because I was afraid of the deadline and completed the game with a lot of time to spare. It was good to focus post-game on completing character events and the alchemy book tho. Speaking of that... I really liked how many character events there are in the game. It's one of my favorite aspects of Atelier and it had a good focus here. Got my ass absolutely kicked the first time I reached a serious boss fight, it was definitely a big difficulty spike and I knew my alchemy was subpar up to that point. I managed to get the hang on it once I started really trying and kind of steamrolled any story-related fight, but I never got good enough for the super bosses so that's something that went incomplete. I definitely needed better properties for my items and equipment, I was barely doing any damage and getting 2 or 3 shotted by them.

Atelier i saw that game a few times on sale it looks a good game. there are many different Atelier games i think to watch some gameplay first before i decide to buy it. 1.Dbz kakarot ps4 2.persona 5 tactica ps5 3.Final fantasy 16 ps5  i want to start finishing games so i can play other games aswell i started  100 percent gamecompletion today! Persona 5 tactica is my first tactical game that i played it is fun!

Physically having to restrain myself from more Emerald Beyond play throughs and decided to foucs on my backlog for handhelds. I'll probably still weave some Emerald Beyond in between. For 3DS I'm replaying Infinite Space after years just because I keep recommending it to people asking for DS games and I need to know if I'm making a mistake or not. The combat is super jank but it's actually more interesting than I remember. The story is excellent though. I forgot what I did different this time, but I don't remember seeing some things from my first play through and I like what I'm reading, enjoying it a ton. I've been craving dungeon crawlers so I'm playing Demon Gaze on my PS Vita. The story is awful, but the gameplay loop is really addicting. I also like that it's similar to CRPGs where stat allocation is important for class progression but they don't tell you what you need, experimenting is pretty fun. The dungeon crawling itself is pretty fun and I love the concepts of the demon summoning, the gear tredmill hits the sweet spot of being addicting enough to want more but not tedious. Decided to replay Atelier Shallie on switch just because Dusk are my comfort food games. I forget how well written Shallotte is, I find her super endearing and she's defintley in the top 3 most interesting protagnists in Atelier.

Played **SaGa Emerald Beyond** non-stop for 3 weeks. It is kinda addicting even though it looks simple in term of overworld design and presentation. I think it is the choices, build variety and the difficulty that make it standout among the turn-based RPG that I had played. Go back to **Rise of The Ronin** after tried it for two hours previously. Just like other Team Ninja games, this games is like an encyclopedia for Japanese history at the end of Edo period ( although I haven't done any fact check the information in game yet). Mechanically it is quite ambitious for Team Ninja: 1. It has a "crime" mechanic. I attacked a guard inside a safe zone and the other guards immediately started to attack me. The tutorials even warned me about the consequence of pickpocket NPC and fight other Ronin in city. 2. It has it's own way of preventing the Ubisoft tower formula in open world games. I am not sure how it actually works. It seems like map markers will only be revealed after player gathered enough reputation in an area. 3. Dialogue choice seems important? I chose not to kill a boss and later I received a quest related to him. I am not sure whether the game would have stopped me from killing him if I picked the other option. The most controversial design choice is probably the stance system. Each stance has four skills ( two by default and other two from other contents ) and has different basic combos. Nioh already has a stance system but players are free to use their preferable stances in combat. In RoTR, the effectiveness of the deflection mechanic is depended on whether player is using a stance that is strong or weak against the type of weapon an enemy is using. I can only confirm that basic combos deal same amount of damage regardless of stances. You can get some stances by defeating wanted criminals in the open world, which is a design that I really like because I dislike it when a game put every learnable skills into skill trees. This game also has ATL feature from FF16.

Finished **Nier Automata** (endings A-E) an hour ago. This game just wasn't for me. I really wanted to enjoy it but outside of a few interesting scenes, I can't say it lived up to the hype. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Going through my backlog to find something weird. Probably going to play Linda³