I’ll probably play these games with basic knowledge of a couple of animes I have watched

Knowing/liking the original anime series helps, but it’s not mandatory. You may get a bit overloaded due to the huge amount of characters, but they are introduced gradually and the game has a big encyclopedia to help remember who is who.

Do you think they will still be fun for me?

Will you like it for the first 10-20h? Almost certainly yes if you like strategy games and big robots.

Will you like it enough to play the whole 80h+ (assuming you go for Y)? That’s a much harder question to answer, it will depend a lot on how much you enjoy the gameplay loop.

Started Ys IX: Monstrum Nox on PS5. Switch is generally my preferred platform for all RPGs but all reviews recommend to play it on another platform, if you have access to it.

Monstrum Nox performance is quite bad on the Switch. It’s “playable” but there’s some nasty framerate drops in some parts, in particular during the tower defense segments, though according to this video this is fixed if you’re playing on a Switch 2.

At least the they moved to a new engine in the following game, which runs miles better even on Switch 1.

Finished Super Robot Taisen Y!

The previous game in the series (SRT30) is seen by most as the weakest entry on recent years. It had some interesting ideas, in particular with its approach with the mission structure - older games had linear missions with occasional “branches”, while 30 (and now Y) give you a big list of mandatory and optional missions and you can tackle them in any order you want. However, the first attempt at this structure in 30 turned out bad - story felt disjointed, character interactions were limited, and they completely failed in balancing difficulty, that game was so ridiculously easy that it became mind-numbing boring. It also had some other issues (like weak story and uninspired “original” characters/mechs), but I think the ones I mentioned above are the biggest problems.

So I’m happy to say that Y drastically improved in almost all aspects over its predecessor. Story is much better, provides enough challenge to make veterans like me play carefully, “original” units are great. I have a ton of praise for the characters interactions, they really nailed them in this game - having the story revolve around a “flying city” was a brilliant touch, the characters are no longer just members of the same army but also neighbors and friends living in the same city. This added a lot of options for cross-series interactions and they made good use of it.

As for negatives, there’s two: First is the the UI - it’s not bad, and if this is your first game in the series you might not even notice it, but they re-did it for this game and it’s significantly lacking compared to the old ones. I heard they migrated just to a new engine so this may be a temporary setback, but I really hope they do review and improve it for future games.

The second is the big one, and it’s one of the issues from 30 that Y didn’t fix: The ballooning amount of missions. A play through of 30 or Y is at least double the length of older games, and this makes one of the biggest weaknesses of the series very visible: The lack of mission diversity. The large majority is simply “defeat all enemies” or “defeat the boss”, and with this many missions it’s easy to get bored or burned out from this game. Since I’m familiar with most of the anime series present the character interactions helped “carry” the game, but if you’re not in the same position you should consider playing it slowly to avoid this burnout.

Overall I had a ton of fun with the game and it got me a lot more hopeful about the future of the series after 30. I’ll also be coming back to it in the future when DLC2 is released since I already preordered it.

Finished Sheepo!

This was the first game released by Kyle Thompson, and the most unique of the three. It’s a “no weapons” metroidvania where you play as a small alien who goes around collecting eggs of different species and gains the ability to shapeshift into different forms. It’s more puzzle and platform focused than the other two and also significantly shorter (but also cheaper), taking less than 5h to finish.

Overall I prefer the other two (my ranking is Islets > Crypt Custodian > Sheepo), but I had a good time with all of his games and I’m now anxiously waiting for the release of Well Dweller.

Playing Witch on the Holy Night!

With SRTY finally done I’m now focusing more on this one, currently midway through Chapter 7. This chapter and the previous one slow down after the big battle and go back to more slice-of-life content as the three leads have to adjust to a new lifestyle.

Are there other games like this?

The first thing to come to mind is the Zero Escape series, which are older (and much darker) games from the same author as AI. They mix VN-like sections with “Escape the Room” puzzles.

Kinda? I feel a “downgrade” when going back to Hades 1, but the game is still good and fun to play. But it definitely takes some time adjusting.

Did you drop Hades after completing one escape? I think you need to escape about 8 times to get the credits, and then about 20 or so for the true ending. I only escaped twice and then watched the endings on YouTube.

No, I still plan to keep rotating between it and the sequel.

Finished Crypt Custodian!

Another fun and wholesome metroidvania from Kyle Thompson, I loved how the goal you need to complete to unlock the final part of the game is simply “make ten friends”.

I liked Islets a bit more but both games are excellent.

First successful escape in Hades!

I haven’t mentioned it in these threads but I’ve been doing quick sessions of this game for a while, usually 1-2 escape attempts per sitting.

Last week I got my first success on attempt #40, and to my surprise it was using the Adamant Rail which is the weapon I like the least.

Playing Hades 2!

This game is amazing. It builds up on its predecessor while adding a lot of new mechanics, content and polish. Animations have improved even further, performance is excellent and I think it even also loads faster than the first game. Progress and unlocking feels much faster and natural as well.

A real contender for GOTY 2025. Right now I’d still pick Ender Magnolia, but if I had gotten it earlier with more time to explore it my opinion might have been different.

I won’t be commenting about this during weekly discussions, but I’ll drop a note if I get to any interesting milestones.

Playing Super Robot Taisen Y!

Finally done with the DLC1 content. Overall I was quite impressed with the way they developers integrated the new series, it felt very natural and I really enjoyed the new storyline. I wasn’t very hyped with DLC2 due to the selection of series, but seeing what they did with DLC1 definitely raised my expectations.

As for negatives, there’s two big ones: I’d really like to see more attacks for the DLC units (like Season 2 attacks for Big O and the upgraded forms for the Kamen Riders), and the lack of enemy diversity - I enjoyed having a new set of antagonists for the DLC, but they reused the new enemy units way too much.

I’m now doing a push to complete the game, according to the wiki there’s only 7 stages left. Last one I did was the Godzilla battle, and the development team treated with it all due respect - it’s a terrifying boss with brutal attacks, three actions per turn and a huge MAP attack. I also loved how it was integrated in the lore of other series, in particular the connection they did with Getter Robo Arc.

No progress on Witch on the Holy Night because I’m focused on SRWY, but I’ll get my attention once I’m done with it. I’m between jobs right now and have a “free” week so I hope I can finally get both of these games done.

It’s both an expansion (similar to Royal) with more demons, quests and QOL improvements for the base game and a brand-new “alternate” storyline.

Wow, that’s long. And I can’t even imagine what 80 hours of VN will have in it. That’ll be equivalent to a 1000 page novel or something?

Apparently even longer. I was checking some stats, Fate/Stay Night has roughly the same size as the King James Bible ( ~750k words), which typically is printed in ~1500 pages.

Umineko which is a famous for being a ridiculously long VN is is 50% longer than that (~1150k words). That’s more than the entire Harry Potter series with seven books.

Is Witch of the Holy Night long or are you just playing slowly, cause usually you don’t take this much time with VNs.

I am playing slowly, but most of the VNs I played recently were on the short side (~10h or so according to VNDB), with WotHN being triple of that.

There are much longer VNs though. 😀 I have Little Busters or Fate/Stay Night in my backlog that are listed on VNDB as being 80h+.

@[email protected] congrats on finishing Dark Souls!

For me the last weekend was crazy busy and slowed down gaming progress, and also meant no time for Super Robot Taisen Y again. 🙁

Finished Islets!

Really fun and cute game. It’s on the short side, the in-game clock unfortunately counts the time I left it on “sleep” so it’s hard to give accurate numbers but probably took me 8h or so.

One surprise was the difficulty, from the visuals I was expecting an easy game but most bosses took me a few tries to defeat and I died quite a few times while transversing the map. It’s still a chill game though, you don’t lose any progress when you die, save games are plentiful, and you are constantly opening shortcuts so getting back to the spot you died is usually quick.

I also like the upgrade system, besides the mandatory story upgrades you’re constantly finding smaller upgrades that give you three options each time, so you have a lot of flexibility on what to prioritize. The fact that these are very abundant (looks like there’s 60 of these overall) helps keep a constant sense of progression.

Playing Crypt Custodian!

Another metroidvania from the same developer as Islets, but with a top-down perspective reminiscent of old-school Zelda games. The game stars a cat who ends up having to work as a janitor in the afterlife, using his trusty broom to beat down monsters and clean up dirt everywhere.

The mood is more melancholic than Islets, but still on the “cute” side. It has an equipment system similar to Hollow Knight with “upgrade slots” where each equipment uses a certain number of them, but slots are very plentyful which gives you more options on how to assign things

Still fairly early in this one, just defeated the second boss.

Playing Witch on the Holy Night!

Both parts of Chapter 5 were amazing battles, really impressed by how much they got me hyped. Felt like the “mid-game climax”, and also got the main POV characters (Aoko and Shizuki) working together at last.

Just started Chapter 6 and it looks like this one will be a more chill chapter showing how things settled after that battle.

I agree, there’s a lot of good ideas in Prime 4 that could turn into cool things if developed properly in a future game. Bike is a good example, it’s very fun to ride but also tied to some of the worst aspects of the game like the empty desert and the crystal collection.

The tutorial for the bike felt so disconnected, why am I playing F-Zero in Metroid now?

I forgot to mention but that section felt really out of place. Why the hell does Samus need a driver’s license for a bike in a post-apocalyptic world?

Well, 8 is good. As long as game is fun some flaws can be ignored. Though hope the take the feedback and improve it in next game. Did you use amiibo? Miss anything?

Didn’t use amiibos, though I’ll admit that some good music would’ve made the desert portions less boring. Ended up with 100% items and 92% scans, which almost certainly is my highest collection rate for any Metroid game. There’s some “Scout Bots” that you can activate late-game that will tell you the locations of items you missed, which is a really nice QOL feature.

Haven’t checked the spoiler, but should I play Tsukihime before Witch on the Holy Night? The latter is on my wishlist on your recommendation, but not the former.

Nah, Witch on the Holy Night chronologically takes place before Tsukihime so it’s a good starting point.

Finished Metroid Prime 4: Beyond!

It was nice having a fully free weekend to play this game right after launch. 😀

This is almost certainly going to be a controversial game - it as ton of flaws, everything people are saying about linear dungeons, empty desert, annoying chatty NPC and padding is real. I also agree with most people that this feels more like Zelda than Metroid, with isolated dungeons connected by a big overworld. But you know what? I had a ton of fun with this game and it left me wanting more, which I think is a good indicator the game is still great despite those problems.

I must include some praise for the technical aspects - asides from some occasional long loading times the games runs flawlessly even on Switch 1 and it’s possibly the best looking game in the system. Controls are also spotless, and I love the huge amount of customization options Retro Studios added, from button remapping to allowing motion controls and inverted axis setup independently for different situations (like “regular” aiming, using the control beam, or when riding the bike).

I’d say the 8 rating most sites are giving it is fair. This is not a masterpiece-level game like Prime 1, but is still solid and worth playing.

Playing Islets!

A game announcement a few months back got me to learn about Kyle Thompson, an indie developer who has worked on a few metroidvanias with really good reviews. Since I’m a fan of the genre I wishlisted his games on the eShop and got Islets and Crypt Custodian during a recent sale.

So far I’m loving it, it’s fun, charming, looks and plays great. I also love the concept of this world, there’s five islands in the sky who used to be one but broke apart, and people are trying to get them to become one again. In gameplay terms this means that you start exploring each island as an isolated map, but eventually they connect with the others and become a bigger unified map which opens more paths to exploration.

The game is not too challenging, but a few bosses still took a few tries to beat. The bullet hell bosses fought while flying in the sky have been generally harder than the ones on-foot, but there’s not a lot of them.

Playing Witch on the Holy Night!

After a long break I finally resumed this game, managing to finish Chapter 4 and first part of Chapter 5. This last stretch of the story was an action-focused part which once again highlights how good the presentation for this VN is, and it finally started to connect the stories between the two main POV characters (Aoko and Shizuki). I ended up my last play session yesterday on a big cliffhanger, so really looking forward to playing more today.

On a related topic, I knew this game takes place in the same universe as Tsukihime and the Fate series, but had not realized until yesterday a certain connection which had me stunned for a minute.

Didn’t have time for Super Robot Taisen Y this week, but will continue with it soon.

Minor Metroid 4 spoilers.

Yes, it’s mind-blowing. It’s likely the best looking game on the Switch 1 and it somehow still manages to keep a stable 60 FPS

I saw a few reviews and comparison videos for Prime 4 on the Switch 1 and it seems to run extremely well! Here’s one of those: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMc1oik78Vc

60FPS locked most of the time with very small dips in the “open world” sections which is the same behavior as the Switch 2.

Finished Nine Sols!

I know was being stubborn in finishing the game without lowering difficulty, but holy crap that final boss was hard, likely the hardest story boss I’ve fought in a game in this genre. And I went for the “Normal” ending, which gives you the easier version of that battle!

Took me a few hours of practice and experimentation with different setups until I succeeded, what worked for me was playing very safe with attacks and relying on equipment that makes parries do damage, talismans and arrows to kill it. Using the talisman mode that lets you recharge arrows was great since it let me keep using them to stop annoying attacks.

Anyway, this game was fantastic and is absolutely worth it for fans of the genre. And don’t let my talk of difficulty scare you, it has settings that let you adjust the challenge to your tastes.

Finished Super Mario Galaxy 2!

Cleared the main story. Right now I want to move to other games but will probably pick it up for short play sessions from time to time since there’s plenty left to do. The gyro-based pointer controls are a bit awkward but that aside it’s still a great game.

Finished Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk!

The second game is longer, has better production values and multiple endings. It continues from where the first game left off, with the girl arriving at her home after buying milk, and once again you play as her “voice in the head” while exploring a bit more of her life and traumas.

I think I prefer the first game, but both were quite unique and interesting.

Playing Danmaku Unlimited 3, Caladrius Blaze and Cotton Fantasy!

A comment in last week’s thread got me to dig into the ongoing deals and I found out there were three recommended shoot-em-up/bullet hell games on sale for ~$3 each. So I just went and bought them all. 😄

Danmaku Unlimited 3 is IMO the best of the three and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorites of the genre.

Playing Super Robot Taisen Y!

Was busy with other games so only did a couple missions. Still working on the DLC content before resuming the main story.

Playing Metroid Prime 4: Beyond!

My copy got here right before the end of the day yesterday (23:40 according to the tracking system), so I only managed to start it today during lunchtime.

First impression is “holy crap this looks way too crisp for Switch 1 game”, Retro Studio is really doing miracles with this old hardware. But not a lot of progress yet, just completed the brief prologue and arrived at the alien world we’ll be exploring this time.

Good to know. Though for some reason it’s still listed as “unsupported” in the eShop. https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-nintendo-switch-edition-switch/

Luckly I finished my “git good” game (Nine Sols). :) More info on tomorrow’s thread.

Mine should arrive between today and tomorrow. But I want to finish a game or two more before I start it, so probably will only do it during the weekend.