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Still working on RE7. I really like it. It mixes together combat, item management, exploration and puzzle-solving well. There are some cool bosses too. I'm a bit burnt out on inventory management at this point after this, Zelda and Horizon, but I'm still impressed with RE7 despite that. I am not enjoying the more recent location I have made it too as much as the first areas though.

GameFly is sending me Yooka-Laylee and that should be a nice change of pace for me game-wise. I'm looking forward to it.

I got Mario Kart 8 Deluxe since a couple friends who are moving away picked up a Switch with that game so we can all play that while they're away. Played a bit and it's more or less exactly how it was on Wii U. But Battle Mode is pretty awesome now. Really love all the different game types and the new space map.

Mariokart 8 is almost more tempting than Zelda for getting a Switch, because I could get my wife to play that with me, and for those that don't know she's not into games at all besides Animal Crossing and FarmVille, but I've been able to get her to play some Wii Mariokart and on the DS in the past. Someday I'll get one, but I might wait until they eventually remodel it like Nintendo always does with their handheld systems.

After finally beating Dragon Quest VII, I'm moving onto another JRPG, Tales of Hearts R. I've only played one Tales game, and that was Xilia, and I really really liked that game. Would have been one of my favorite games that year if it wasn't for Ni no Kuni and The Last of Us. So far I've only played for a half an hour, but I can already tell this game is going to be a lot more fun than DQ7. This isn't even a mind blowing graphics game on the Vita, but damn I almost forgot how much better that screen is than the 3DS. Also way better to hold too.

I mainly use my portables for RPG gaming, after this I'll probably play Yo-Kai Watch 2 that I bought during the holidays, and after that Breath of Fire III. Also might retry Persona 4 Golden and Freedom Wars again. Handhelds really are the home for the JRPG I grew up on.

I honestly thought the 3DS was more comfortable than the Vita. You have to hold that thing in an awkward way to not use the rear touchpad, makes my hands cramp quick. I'd take Switch over either any day though. Has those nice grooves on the joycons and the screen makes the Vitas look like a 3DS.
I always preferred RPGs on a handheld. Makes grinding so less frustrating when I can take it and go watch TV. Plus I can play them at my convenience because of turn based combat, don't need to worry about reacting to anything.

Yeah for games where you have to worry about touching the rear pad, I'd say 3DS feels better. That thing should've been smaller. Otherwise I prefer the feel of the vita. Luckily, few games seem to use that rear pad

Yeah the rear pad can make things uncomfortable but like he said, rarely used. I didn't even mention that horrible analog stick and horrible speakers.

The Vita will go down as my personal saddest video game hardware. So much potential but no first party game support.

Most handhelds are uncomfortable for me to play for long periods. That certainly applies to my 3DS and Vita. I think the Vita is more comfortable though. I still have issues with the Switch as well. Mostly the right stick positioning. I also have a hard time playing on it in handheld form when I know I could get a better experience on the console, but that is just because I only play it at home. Obviously to be able to play it on the go would be different. I think the lack of a d-pad will really hurt the Switch in handheld form for certain genres like sidescrollers when they pop up.

I've posted about it a bit on Twitter, but I'm playing A Link to the Past to try and finish some of my gaming goals. Made it all the way to Turtle Rock. I really like Zelda games, but I'm always really glad to be finished with them when I'm done. Not sure if it's because of the puzzle aspect and that you have to think more when playing them, but typically when I finish Zelda games I'm more relieved than sad that they're finished. Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish it up since I have the day off, but I'll probably take a little break until I start up whatever the third one will be.

Also, as far as comparing the similar ones, I like Link's Awakening more than A Link to the Past.

Started playing Yooka-Laylee. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect. A spot-on spiritual successor to Banjo for better or worse. I do think I'm enjoying the platforming more here, but it has been a while since I have played Banjo.

70 hours into Persona 3 and am only now in what I think is the last dungeon. Might be another twist soon with a bigger villain like 4, but this guy is the ringleader of evil dudes. I'm so torn on whether I like or dislike it. On one hand these are the best dungeons in any RPG I've played. Runner up wouldn't even be close. And I really love pretty much every character you do a confidant with except Mishima.

But this might be a perfect example of too much of a good thing. There's nothing I dislike and the game isn't losing steam, but I also want to see the end of the game. And I don't like how it ties confidants into your stats. I want to hang with Makoto more, but it takes a really long time to build your Charm that high. Feel I'd need to do NG+ to see everything which I'm definitely not doing any time soon. But still, really really great RPG just be prepared for a lot of game.

Really want to dig into the goals I made for myself this year, and I'm working on the 5 games that I bought digitally but never played. Playing Tales of Hearts R on Vita, and started up the first Darksiders game.

Tales of Hearts R is really great, I really love the interaction between the characters. I'll always love Final Fantasy games, but that's something they don't do well that Tales and Persona (I only played a little bit of 4, but I'm sure the rest are all like it) destroy Final Fantasy on. I can't believe I waited so long to get into these games, because it should have been a series I should have been loving for a long time.

Only played about 20-30 minutes of Darksiders, but I remember Matt saying it was like a mix of Zelda and God of War, and that just sounds really cool. I will say I have the art of the game though, just looks so dumb, probably why I never played it when it originally released.

I couldn't get into Darksiders. The combat felt decent, but the puzzles were mostly about moving through the dungeon and they'll solve themselves rather than trying to stump the player. Maybe it got better later, but didn't work for me. Also hated the art style but there was something else it was missing that kept everything from coming together.

That said 3 looks pretty sweet. Hope it's good

The game's art looks like death metal, and I hate death metal.

See I liked death metal when this game came out and I still thought DS was ugly. The main character looks like they didn't stop drawing on him. Have the same issue with a lot of FF characters

Played for about an hour today, seems fun. You can definitely see the God of War inspirations, but haven't noticed any Zelda ones yet. I'm assuming it will be getting new items specific to a dungeon. God of War did that too, but I'm guessing the sections revolve around the newly acquired item more like they do in Zelda dungeons? All just guesses as of now.

Yeah I really dislike the art too. The games are pretty fun though. Not great but I enjoyed them. The dungeons feel ripped straight out of a 3D Zelda in structure. That is why I mentioned Zelda when describing it. Darksiders isn't on the level of either of those series obviously but I was just trying to describe its influences/similarities.

You're not the only person I heard comparing it to those two games. I'm only an hour and a half into it, but I plan on playing it a lot more tonight and tomorrow if I get time. Push mowing yards sucks when you should be laying video games instead.

I played through the first one (got it on a Steam sale I think) and didn't really like it. I mean, I finished it so I didn't hate it but everything felt like it was playing it safe. The combat was...okay, the exploration was okay, the puzzles were okay.

Maybe the third one will be better?

I started Prey. The story seemed really neat, but once I realized there was going to be more fun with inventories and crafting, I wasn't too keen on playing it at the moment. I'm going to work on finishing some other stuff before I give that one a go.

I bought Axiom Verge on the PSN Flash Sale. It is very cool. Like it is a straight up Metroid ripoff or homage or whatever you want to say, but it is fun and controls well. I'm enjoying it thus far.

Yooka-Laylee has been okay. As fun as the game can be, I'd say a third of the pagies (this game's main progression collectible) are annoying to get. I guess I feel similarly to how I did about Banjo about this. There are just so many series of this ilk I enjoy more.

I finally beat Persona 5 and started Nier Automata. It's really cool how this game will often switch between a regular action game, 2D beat em up, twin stick shooter, rails shooter, and shoot em up. Side quests are kind of meh so far especially after loving BotW's less is more approach to side content. But the combat's Platinum at it's finest so I'm enjoying it.

The side quests themselves are meh but sometimes (I won't say always) the story payoffs are really interesting.

I beat Doom yesterday. Really great game. My main complaint after beating it is just the weapon upgrades. Too many that just made me think "meh." Looking forward to the inevitable sequel

Just pushing into October in Persona 5. The latest boss and plot twist have me hooked again but I'm still kinda bummed about it. They improved the RPG mechanics SO much but everything I loved about Persona 4 seems to be my least favorite thing in this one. Sometimes I wish it was just a traditional JRPG, to be honest.

The second half definitely loses steam and there's some pretty serious pacing and dungeon design issues in the final 1/3rd or so (far as I can tell, not sure how much more is left).

I think my big issue is that Persona 5 feels a LOT like Persona 4 down to the types of characters in the party, the way the mystery reveals itself, the way time management works and in tone. It's still a great game, but it feels more like a Persona 4 refinement instead of a proper sequel but without the strength of characters 4 had. That said, that's a lot of personal preference. Some people might love the characters of 5 over 4.

It feels like the theme deserved a different treatment than the modern Persona formula could give it. P4's theme had a lot more potential for characters and this one has a lot of potential for plot, but they played it like the characters could still keep the story engaging while the plot develops at the same slllooooowwww pace as in 4. I don't think they can. Many of the mandatory hangout scenes in particular feel downright pointless to me.

Made a thread for Persona 5 if you guys want to get more in depth

I think I'm going to send Yooka-Laylee back to GameFly so I can try and get Rime. I enjoyed the first world of Yooka-Laylee a lot, but not as much after that. Maybe I will come back to it some time later or maybe not. Much like when I cut back on TV, I don't want to try and finish games I'm not enjoying just for the sake of it anymore. Playing it really reminded me why Banjo was never my thing and I preferred other platformers of the time so much more.

TripOpt55 wrote:Much like when I cut back on TV, I don't want to try and finish games I'm not enjoying just for the sake of it anymore.

God I wish I could live by this rule.  It's so much harder finding time to play games as you get older, so it would be nice to just focus on what you really enjoy. Honestly, most of the time all I want to do is just play Final Fantasy and Metal Gear games over and over.

I know that feeling. And yet, I keep leaving behind RPGs that I really enjoy :\

I picked up Flywrench on Steam for under $4. It's a pretty good, tough little arcade game about flying a wrench named Dude (I guess. The story is full of stuff that makes no sense) around obstacle courses that seems to have gone under the radar. Even as a fan of Messhof's other work, I didn't hear about it until it was already out for a while. Following the action is harder than it needs to be but the awesome soundtrack makes up for that. It's got that "one more try" factor

I tried a bit of the Everybody's Golf beta on PS4. They only let you play nine holes, but it is a lot of fun. I forgot how much I enjoyed golf games.

Is it similar to Hot Shots Golf? Realistic golf games are a little too much for me, but I enjoy some arcade golf action.