What are you playing right now?

[The Shoemaker]

Super Mario Odyssey: This has been taking up the majority of my time, really a fantastic game. It's really nice to play another game in the Mario 64 style, but with that said Odyssey's gameplay is still quite different. It's much more about exploration this time, really searching every corner of these beautiful worlds.

The game also has more of a narrative focus this time around, which helps to make everything feel connected rather than just separate levels. Each kingdom has a central conflict, and after you beat the game you get to see all the conflicts resolved which is a nice touch.

Splatoon 2: Still playing this one occasionally. I was playing it a lot before odyssey when I had not much to play. Made it to S+ in Splat Zones, and A+ in both rain maker and tower control.

Since my last post I also finished Stardew Valley, and even played and beat Mario 64 in time for Odyssey's release.

[The Shoemaker]

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - I expected to quickly play through Skyrim on Switch, but it's really sucking me in. After two weeks I've already put down 60 hours! I played so little of Skyrim back when it first came out that for the most part the discoveries this time feel unique. It sort of feels like a sequel, where the mechanics and features feel familiar, but everything else feels new. Playing it on Switch is great as well, I've probably played 75% in portable mode. The game feels a bit dated, but it still looks good for what it is. Not sure how much longer I'll be playing it but for the time being I'm hooked.

[Kong Wen]

I expected to quickly play through Skyrim

[The Shoemaker]

I expected to quickly play through Skyrim

Relatively quickly considering I've played it before, I did not expect to be full on sucked into it.

Just found the Zelda gear in the game. Master sword might be decent once i put a good enchantment on it. Looking forward to the level 100 enchanting perk where you can put two enchantments on an item.

[The Shoemaker]

December has been a great month for games!

Skyrim - finished up my play through earlier on in the month. Great game as expected, really made better by playing on Switch.

Overcooked - been playing on Switch here and there. Very frantic local multiplayer game. I really like it, but some people I've played with just find it to be too stressful I'm on world 4 now.

My only complaint is the star requirement to progress. Playing with my niece it's tough getting more than 2 stars on a level and it seems like you need to get three stars a lot to progress.

Rocket League - this game is the definition of easy to pick up and difficult to master. Tough competition online, but I had fun with Kreegs and even played some local multiplayer once.

Fire Emblem Warriors - this one has been a good time waster over the Christmas break. Finished the main story and started history mode. I like that you can order your unit to go to different locations, feels a bit more like strategy. Multiplayer is fun too.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - just started this one, only a few hours in. So far, I'm intrigued. I was worried this one would adopt a more anime trope story, but so far the tone is very similar to the original. I'm also digging the art style, it all looks very nice. I was also worried the game would look awful in handheld mode like I heard, but it's fine. You can tell it's a significant resolution drop, but it still looks good and is leaps and bounds clearer than Xenoblade 3D.

[The Shoemaker]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Previously I was just barely starting this game, but now I'm well into the meat of the game with 47 hours down. I think it was around the 20 hour mark the combat really started to click for me. But to be fair, it probably should have clicked 5-10 hours earlier but I didn't realize I unequipped a topple move on the only character that had topple, so I wasn't preforming driver combos. Now everything is coming together nicely. I have a lot of rare core crystals I want to use but I'm waiting to get a new party member because Rex and Nia have plenty of blades already.

Splatoon 2 - Still playing this quite regularly, especially now that my SO has a switch with Splatoon 2 as well. Been trying out the splat roller over the past few days. I think I'm finally getting used to this type of weapon, and using splashdown effectively.

Fire Emblem Warriors - Done the story mode and worked my way through 3 of the History mode chapters. I think there are 5 total unless more unlock later.

Rayman Legends - Borrowing from a friend, so far I've beat the first world. I never did finish this one on Wii U, not sure yet if I will on Switch either!

I've also been playing a healthy dose of Picross S and Puyo Puyo Tetris

[Jordan]

I'm back to an old favorite of mine: Labyrinth of Touhou 2.

Simply put, this is one of the best turn-based "DRPGs" of all time. This is not because of its story. I feel like this is an important caveat to throw out there from the start. Video games are a form of entertainment and people ultimately seek them out for different reasons. For some people, story matters the most and determines whether an RPG is good or shit. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 does not have a good story (ironically, though, the first Labyrinth of Touhou had a much better story despite crappier gameplay and art). Fortunately, Labyrinth of Touhou 2 does everything right outside of the story. Here are some examples:

-Labyrinth of Touhou 2 features a party that is both fully customizable and fully unique. This is an almost impossible balance to reach, but Labyrinth of Touhou 2 somehow does it. In most RPGs, the party members sometimes are fully customizable, but in such cases they end up feeling kind of "samey" since you can upgrade them the same ways. Alternatively, in some RPGs the party members are fully unique but there is not much customization. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 does a few brilliant things to make every character idiosyncratic while giving them "options." Most importantly, the game allows you to reassign stat and skill points at any time. Here's an example of the UI on the skills screen:

https://i.imgur.com/iBtizKp.png

Commander Naz here has points in two abilities which are her bread and butter most of the time. Dowsing increases the item drop rate for the party, especially when Nazrin is in the frontline instead of the reserve party. Extra Steps allows Nazrin to gain an extra move if she kills an enemy with an attack. This turns Nazrin into an ideal character for racking up tons of treasure, which is reinforced by her role in battles: Nazrin's core battle skills are Gold Rush, Rare Metal Detector and Nazrin Pendulum. Each of these has a different element and serves a different purpose for the Commander. Gold Rush increases the gold yield of a defeated enemy and does stronger damage against enemies with high defense. Rare Metal Detector has a low delay in battle (the game uses an ATB system) and increases item drop rate. Nazrin Pendulum deals good damage against enemies with low mind and who are weak to the "cold" element, but it also simultaneously improves a battle's exp yield. Nazrin can learn other skills through subclasses, but these three skills are her default kit in battle.

Dowsing and Extra Steps give Nazrin a high priority for inclusion while I explore the dungeon. Against boss battles, however, Extra Steps is almost always useless. This does not make Nazrin herself useless, however. In the last boss battle, she was quite effective for me. I simply reassigned points from Extra Attack and dumped them into "Eyes that Perceive Reality" instead. Eyes that Perceive Reality is a skill which ignores enemy buffs when calculating damage to or from Nazrin. The last enemy boss I fought loved to debuff everybody on screen and then use a skill which reversed debuffs on herself, turning them into buffs. Commander Naz saw through her bullshit and proceeded to give her a tactical pounding. Nazrin's other skills have some specific usage. Bishamonten Blessing increases the entire party's damage against "Divine" enemies. Myouren Temple Personnel is useless at this time, but it apparently allows Naz to copy any buffs from another character who I might obtain later named Byakuren Hijiri. Many characters have skills of this sort which increases their synergy with other characters. I could also eschew all of these options and simply funnel points into Nazrin's speed, mind (magic defense) or evasion. I could even give Nazrin a subclass and teach her skills related to that class. Lastly, Nazrin gets some bonus points on level up as well as four equipment slots; I can change out all of this at any time depending on if I want better resistances, more speed or more power. Nazrin is mostly a quick little powerhouse, but sometimes some added resistance can allow her to do a lot more in a boss fight or against faster enemies that spam aoe attacks.

Despite this high degree of customization, Nazrin differs from other characters because of her overall purpose. Nazrin is never going to be a first party slot "tank" as her skills are geared toward high damage against weak enemies and increasing your party's treasure. She differs from other mages because she lacks skills that completely penetrate a portion of an enemy's mind or defense. She also lacks any kind of utility outside of her passive skill which increases damage against divine foes. Nazrin serves a very specific role in a party, but can still be tailored for certain battles so she can do her job better. Nazrin is also a character who you might choose to bring with you on dungeon explorations then bench against bosses, but she can do well against boss battles too if her skills are readjusted.

-Labyrinth of Touhou 2 is a brutally hard game, but gives you some leeway. Every boss has a recommended level for your party. This is always deliberately lower than the boss' actual level. Defeating a boss at the recommended level, however, results in better reward yields. You can choose to follow the recommended level or ignore it. If you follow it, you will often have to figure out the boss' strengths and weaknesses, adjust your party and come up with a strategy and team composition that is effective.

-Labyrinth of Touhou 2 has a lot of mechanical depth. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 bills itself as an Etrian Odyssey style of game, but this is way too humble of a designation. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 is actually significantly better as an RPG than Etrian Odyssey despite its niche appeal. Etrian Odyssey's battle system was rather simple, featuring a few buffs and debuffs, a few elements and a few classes with growth trees. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 forces you to pay attention to a lot of different stats, elemental resistances, individual ailment resistances and in-game battle skills. Elemental resistances matter a lot and can be bolstered through equipment; unlike in most rpgs, many enemies like to use attacks that ignore defenses (defense and mind) and target your elemental resistance directly. These enemies almost always require you to equip some kind of elemental resistance boosting gear or you will get rekt. Ailment resistance can help a lot too. Some bosses may inflict a certain status ailment such as silence, and some gear or characters with naturally high silence resistance may help mitigate that. Many RPGs also have bosses which can be beaten with a similar strategy, which tends to boil down to a combination of buffs and debuffs. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 can be similar in this regard, but does not allow the player to get comfortable with a single strategy like this. Buffing up your defense and mind is useless when the enemy uses an attack which ignores those attacks. Debuffing an enemy's stats can be useless if they have high "debuff" resistance or if they have skills which turn the tables on you for using debuffs in the first place (Hina for example can turn all of her debuffs into buffs and will do so every time she gets a turn). Labyrinth of Touhou 2 is a game which constantly keeps you on your toes and forces you to recustomize your party loadout to fit the situation. It is not a game in which you can throw together a random party and breeze through everything.

-Labyrinth of Touhou 2 is a fun game to explore. You don't have to explore an entire floor to progress, but doing so can be beneficial to your overall party. Some recruitable characters also require specific conditions for recruitment, or might be recruited later on in the game after meeting certain conditions.

[SkyPikachu]

Knack - I really don't understand the hate for this game I'm really enjoying it I'm up to 10-1 the post twist was pretty predictable however that didn't bother me much. Will be playing Knack II at some stage.

LittleBigPlanet Vita - This game is a blast really fun however the tilt and back touchscreen controls are really annoying. The drop in and out online co-op is also amazing.

Suikoden - I originally started this on the PS3 but considering I rarely touch my PS3 I decided to play it on Vita I'm enjoying it however I dislike not being able to save as often as I like I'd like to be able to just stop playing when I want to. It's no where near as bad as person 5 though.

Persona 5 - The lack of saving again is a real pain I hate feeling the need to keep playing until the save point but more so reaching a save point and having to decide if I want to continue to play or if I want to stop then and there as I don't know if I'll be able to play for another 30-45 minutes.

I think I've been spoiled with saving features like level games like LBP, Super Mario where it auto saves after every level or like Pokemon/Animal Crossing where I can save pretty much any time outside of talking/battle and as of late most games just have auto save or manual save (like pokemon).

With persona I kind of understand why they can't do auto saves during everything but it would be nicer to have more save points so i have more options to be able to stop playing. Suikoden on the other hand I guess is an older game so can be excused however Pokemon is an old game and can save anytime so isn't much of an excuse either. It's not the end of the world but it does effect how often I play a game as I know with say LBP I can just blast through a level quickly then stop.

I just want to be able to have fun until I choose I want to stop and not have to be told where and where I should decide to stop playing or not.

[Kong Wen]

Labyrinth of Touhou 2 does a few brilliant things to make every character idiosyncratic while giving them "options." Most importantly, the game allows you to reassign stat and skill points at any time. Here's an example of the UI on the skills screen:

https://i.imgur.com/iBtizKp.png

-Labyrinth of Touhou 2 has a lot of mechanical depth. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 bills itself as an Etrian Odyssey style of game, but this is way too humble of a designation. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 is actually significantly better as an RPG than Etrian Odyssey despite its niche appeal. Etrian Odyssey's battle system was rather simple, featuring a few buffs and debuffs, a few elements and a few classes with growth trees. Labyrinth of Touhou 2 forces you to pay attention to a lot of different stats, elemental resistances, individual ailment resistances and in-game battle skills.

Sounds interesting! That screenshot definitely looks like it would be satisfying to folks who enjoy mechanical micromanaging. I wonder if Kiwi has tried this game, or would enjoy it, given your comparison against EO.

I have one episode of Telltale's Batman left, and then I'm moving onto Celeste. I'll also start playing Monster Hunter World as soon as it's delivered.

On portable, I'm working towards completion of Picross e8 (about half the Mega puzzles and the Micro puzzles left) and still chugging away in Fire Emblem Heroes.

[The Shoemaker]

Update!

Xenoblade 2 - Been slowly cranking through this one. I believe I'm on chapter 7 now. Been really invested in all the different side quests and leveling up the affinity charts for all the blades. I'm about 85 hours in now, will likely extend past 100!

Monster Hunter World - Took a while but I've now gotten into the groove of the game. Just entered high rank. I'm loving the flexible way multiplayer quests now, as well as all the monster to monster interactions.

Super Meat Boy - Another game I'm slowing working through, I'm just about through World 4 now. So far the game has great personality and music. I'm liking it, but not loving it. I think I've gotten pretty used to the controls now, but I'm not a huge fan of how floaty the jumping is. The physics are really different, so I never feel totally comfortable controlling meat boy. I'm hoping to finish the main game though.

Celeste - This is my preferred genre of Super Meat Boy, even though I think the games are pretty different despite the comparisons. I've finished the main game and it was fantastic, really just a great melding of gameplay and story. I've collected all regular strawberries and I just need to beat the last B-side.

Golf Story - Picked it up on sale the other day. Not really sure how to measure progress, but I'm a few hours in and I've done the first two Golf Courses. It's fun so far, waiting for it to pick up a bit, but I'm enjoying it.

Rayman Legends Definitive Edition - Another game with slow and steady progress. Right now I'm just trying to get enough teensies to unlock what seems to be the final world, I think I need about 50 more. The music levels continue to be a highlight. I also appreciate all the extra ways you can collect teensies like the Ryman Origins levels, challenge levels, and even touch screen exclusive levels from the Wii U version of the game.