What are you playing right now?

[Niahak]

Gross in the usual Vanillaware way? I haven't booted up the demo yet. All I know is Ogre Battle good, gambit system good, Vanillaware usually good, so I would be shocked if I don't enjoy it.

Yeah, it's not nearly as bad as some of their other games, but there are definitely girls that have 50% of their body weight in their chest and the physics are tweaked to show it off.

I've been enjoying the demo more than expected otherwise - it's got a fair bit of standard-JRPG mixed into Ogre Battle, with a world map that opens up after the first real demo battle, lots of sidequests and even some resource gathering a la Dragon Quest 9.

[Niahak]

I'm still chipping away at Tears of the Kingdom.

Spoiler

I've finished the fourth Regional Phenomena quest and I'm assuming I have at least another similar-sized chunk left (based mostly on my empty middle finger, and the fact I couldn't do anything with Kakariko Village when I tried earlier).
I've got about 14-15 hearts, 5 or so extra Stamina gauge bits.
I've found I think 7 tears? Most out of order, I found a few in the Southeast before the ones in the north/northwest.
I've fought and defeated two Lynels, although I never did find that lady asking me to show her a weapon with Lynel parts after our first encounter...

Things got quite a bit easier once I figured out how (and where) to catch fairies, as a revive or two is enough to make it through most encounters. And fairies seem to regenerate on a regular cadence, so the main limit (as with most materials in the game) is my patience with gathering.

Overall I've enjoyed things, although I'm disappointed by a few things:

• For how often you have to cook, the menu/interface for it could be better. Feels awkward to load them into arms, then drop into a place, then animation skip takes a few seconds, etc. Like this could all just be a simple menu + result, including a "make X of these" option.
• Weapons seem a little too disposable. For a lot of the time that's fine, but I've had a Biggoron sword I randomly found sitting in my inventory because it never seems like the right time to use it.
• It's not clear how effective armor actually is (I dislike this about Souls games too), and it's also hard to find pieces I'd really like to have (like more climbing gear). I think I should be wandering the roads more to meet random people who give you hints on stuff, but I've been mostly off-roading.
• I'm not sure how the Depths is supposed to figure into the gameplay loop. The sky meshes really well - find a new Tower, launch up, find goodies in the Sky, and fly down towards the next objective while watching for cool things on the ground level. So far the main reason to go into the depths is for Muddle Buds or Zonaite.

I also picked up Unicorn Overlord and I've been enjoying it. I'm probably ~5 hours past the demo cutoff. Difficulty of stages seems kind of lopsided, but I'm probably suboptimal on builds. Storywise it's very by-the-book, like early Fire Emblem level storytelling.

[The Shoemaker]

I'm still chipping away at Tears of the Kingdom.

Spoiler

I've finished the fourth Regional Phenomena quest and I'm assuming I have at least another similar-sized chunk left (based mostly on my empty middle finger, and the fact I couldn't do anything with Kakariko Village when I tried earlier).
I've got about 14-15 hearts, 5 or so extra Stamina gauge bits.
I've found I think 7 tears? Most out of order, I found a few in the Southeast before the ones in the north/northwest.
I've fought and defeated two Lynels, although I never did find that lady asking me to show her a weapon with Lynel parts after our first encounter...

Things got quite a bit easier once I figured out how (and where) to catch fairies, as a revive or two is enough to make it through most encounters. And fairies seem to regenerate on a regular cadence, so the main limit (as with most materials in the game) is my patience with gathering.

Overall I've enjoyed things, although I'm disappointed by a few things:

• For how often you have to cook, the menu/interface for it could be better. Feels awkward to load them into arms, then drop into a place, then animation skip takes a few seconds, etc. Like this could all just be a simple menu + result, including a "make X of these" option.
• Weapons seem a little too disposable. For a lot of the time that's fine, but I've had a Biggoron sword I randomly found sitting in my inventory because it never seems like the right time to use it.
• It's not clear how effective armor actually is (I dislike this about Souls games too), and it's also hard to find pieces I'd really like to have (like more climbing gear). I think I should be wandering the roads more to meet random people who give you hints on stuff, but I've been mostly off-roading.
• I'm not sure how the Depths is supposed to figure into the gameplay loop. The sky meshes really well - find a new Tower, launch up, find goodies in the Sky, and fly down towards the next objective while watching for cool things on the ground level. So far the main reason to go into the depths is for Muddle Buds or Zonaite.

I also picked up Unicorn Overlord and I've been enjoying it. I'm probably ~5 hours past the demo cutoff. Difficulty of stages seems kind of lopsided, but I'm probably suboptimal on builds. Storywise it's very by-the-book, like early Fire Emblem level storytelling.

Interesting mentioning Depths and the gameplay loop - that's something I found fascinating about the game, how amazing (imo) the three layers mesh together. Build flying contraptions on the surface to go into the sky, collect sundelions and fairies in the sky so you can survive longer in the depths, as well as treasure maps that lead you to the Depths, go into the Depths to collect zonite, battery upgrades, etc to make it easier to explore the surface and get to higher sky islands, while also collecting rare resources like bombs which make it easier to explore caves on the surface. Go into caves on the surface to find glowing materials to light up the depths, as well as hearty food and armor to survive the bosses. It all felt very interconnected in my playthrough.

Agreed that the inventory is still a bit clunky. When making food - there is a button you can press to open a recipe book - select the dish you want and it will grab all the materials for you. But you can still only make one at a time.

Not sure how much you've explored the Depths, but you can use the poes to re-purchase any unique weapons like the Bigorron Sword. So I'd say fuse a high quality enemy part to it and use it as much as you want. I usually just refill on those types of weapons when I head back into the Depths.

[Niahak]

Interesting mentioning Depths and the gameplay loop - that's something I found fascinating about the game, how amazing (imo) the three layers mesh together. Build flying contraptions on the surface to go into the sky, collect sundelions and fairies in the sky so you can survive longer in the depths, as well as treasure maps that lead you to the Depths, go into the Depths to collect zonite, battery upgrades, etc to make it easier to explore the surface and get to higher sky islands, while also collecting rare resources like bombs which make it easier to explore caves on the surface. Go into caves on the surface to find glowing materials to light up the depths, as well as hearty food and armor to survive the bosses. It all felt very interconnected in my playthrough.

Agreed that the inventory is still a bit clunky. When making food - there is a button you can press to open a recipe book - select the dish you want and it will grab all the materials for you. But you can still only make one at a time.

Not sure how much you've explored the Depths, but you can use the poes to re-purchase any unique weapons like the Bigorron Sword. So I'd say fuse a high quality enemy part to it and use it as much as you want. I usually just refill on those types of weapons when I head back into the Depths.

I've found the Sky towers (with a little extra stamina) are usually enough to get to most sky islands - at least the ones mapped by attached towers - so I haven't needed that much extra battery. I finished the Auto-build quest, and I have about 2 + 2/3 batteries now - which has been more than enough for most purposes. I have a bunch of spare batteries + big batteries if I need them, but in my limited experience contraptions from auto-build (or cobbled together from local parts) fall apart before I run out of battery - the game hasn't explained why zonaite stuff vaporizes after a bit, I should probably look that up.

The main times I've run out of batteries have been when I created attack bots to help out in a particularly rough encounter, so while more battery is generally helpful it doesn't feel essential. Agreed that resource-wise they mesh pretty well together, though.

I've explored maybe 6-7 light-roots, not counting the ones required by associated / regional quests. Although I have like 10 treasure map spots marked, so it's probably worth scouting out a cluster or two.

[The Shoemaker]

Interesting mentioning Depths and the gameplay loop - that's something I found fascinating about the game, how amazing (imo) the three layers mesh together. Build flying contraptions on the surface to go into the sky, collect sundelions and fairies in the sky so you can survive longer in the depths, as well as treasure maps that lead you to the Depths, go into the Depths to collect zonite, battery upgrades, etc to make it easier to explore the surface and get to higher sky islands, while also collecting rare resources like bombs which make it easier to explore caves on the surface. Go into caves on the surface to find glowing materials to light up the depths, as well as hearty food and armor to survive the bosses. It all felt very interconnected in my playthrough.

Agreed that the inventory is still a bit clunky. When making food - there is a button you can press to open a recipe book - select the dish you want and it will grab all the materials for you. But you can still only make one at a time.

Not sure how much you've explored the Depths, but you can use the poes to re-purchase any unique weapons like the Bigorron Sword. So I'd say fuse a high quality enemy part to it and use it as much as you want. I usually just refill on those types of weapons when I head back into the Depths.

I've found the Sky towers (with a little extra stamina) are usually enough to get to most sky islands - at least the ones mapped by attached towers - so I haven't needed that much extra battery. I finished the Auto-build quest, and I have about 2 + 2/3 batteries now - which has been more than enough for most purposes. I have a bunch of spare batteries + big batteries if I need them, but in my limited experience contraptions from auto-build (or cobbled together from local parts) fall apart before I run out of battery - the game hasn't explained why zonaite stuff vaporizes after a bit, I should probably look that up.

The main times I've run out of batteries have been when I created attack bots to help out in a particularly rough encounter, so while more battery is generally helpful it doesn't feel essential. Agreed that resource-wise they mesh pretty well together, though.

I've explored maybe 6-7 light-roots, not counting the ones required by associated / regional quests. Although I have like 10 treasure map spots marked, so it's probably worth scouting out a cluster or two.

Totally fair! It's nice that the game is pretty much always willing to meet you where you're at. I didn't have a whole lot of use for the disposable batteries because I had so many myself, so that's a nice failsafe.

I believe every Zonai device has a set amount of time before it breaks. The glider is unfortunately short, but if you're quick you can pull out a nice glider while you're on one and hop off to a new one. For long distances, a hot air balloon with a few fans, or a metal grate with fans facing down and a steering wheel can get you quite far!

Didn't mention it but I also found vehicles to be essential in the Depths. Lots of long stretches of darkness and it helps to have a vehicle with a light on it that can fly over certain obstacles. You'll find lots of autobuild designs in the Depths as well.

[Niahak]

Continued progress on Tears of the Kingdom:

Spoiler

• Found the final round of Tears, got the Master Sword
• Went through a bunch of encounters in Hyrule Castle with "fake Zelda" including the many-phantom-ganons
• Still no idea what's going on with Kakariko Village yet
• Explored a fair bit of the depths, upgraded some armor sets to level 3 or so; my best has 12 def per piece

I've been leaving a bunch of minor tasks undone simply because they don't feel important.

In Unicorn Overlord, 100% finished Drakenhold and Elfheim. While it's fun to unlock new classes (as I've been doing in the Bestral kingdom) frankly the number of them is overwhelming now. Some seem like straight upgrades (Gladiator -> Lion) while others are harder to figure out in existing units. I'm on Tactical, and it feels maybe a touch easy, but I'm also not that inclined to spend more time tweaking units so I'll leave it where it is (I've already beaten the Lv40 encounter in the Coliseum at around Lv24, so I've done plenty of tweaking to units there).

I have 6 fully-unlocked, 5 unit formations. That seems like plenty for now, so I'll probably hoard Honors until I can unlock a 7th or 8th unit and stack it with support-capable characters (currently have a support-oriented Archer unit with 3 different archer types; it works reasonably well since the archer varieties are pretty different).

Spoiler

I'm not sure who to give the Ring to; none of the relationships in the game feel particularly great, not that I'd expect them to be that developed. It's not really the focus of the game. Melisandre is at least entertaining, but I may end up going with the random gryphon rider you get in Elfheim.

[Sharecrow]

I’ve been playing Tales of Arise still, AssCreed Black Flag sometimes, and Etrian Odyssey even more rarely. All great games though. Everything else is on the back burner. I didn’t start Persona 5 and don’t think I will for quite awhile. Didn’t have the time to add another JRPG, really. Oh well. I’ll get to it whenever I get to it.

I think I’m further in Black Flag than I was last time I played it and then bailed. Am not sure how far I am in Arise…but have a good bit of time in it. Etrian Odyssey I’m only on level 2.

[Niahak]

Beat Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. Enjoyed it.

Also picked up and beat 1000xResist, sci-fi walking sim. Enjoyed it a lot although it was very intense in places. It's the first game to make me cry in at least a decade, so there's that.

I'm currently partway through Shining Force 2 on Switch Genesis Classics. I'm not really expecting to finish it.

I saw Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia was on sale, picked up the demo and I'm enjoying it but I suspect it will get old pretty fast, so I don't think I will end up biting. Specifically it seems really combat focused, and the whole thing seems very micromanagey with little in the way of chill. The Search function seems like it would be fun, but then you realize all these knights (which you start with a lot of already) have equipment and promotion trees to manage... and so do all their monsters. A merger of Dragon Force and Master of Monsters seemed like it would be really fun though. I'm not connecting with any of the factions either, so I think it will end up in the bucket of games like Culdcept where I enjoy the idea but not the execution.

I'll probably go for a lower-intensity game (maybe back to Chaos Galaxy for bit) if I do play a grand strategy at all.

[Sharecrow]

I’ve been primarily playing two things: Circle of the Moon on PS4 and Rise of the Ronin on PS5. The Castlevania game is good and I’m near the end. I got to Dracula but can’t kill him. Looking online I’m a solid five levels low to be fighting him *sigh*. I’m collecting cards and upgrades while I fight monsters. I had this game on GBA I think but never played it.

Rise of the Ronin is gorgeous and fun. I still suck at fighting but I’m getting better. Can’t wait until I can fight like a Rambo beast. I’m quite early in this game. I keep getting distracted….mostly by cats lol

[Niahak]

I got a Steam Deck for Father's Day, so I've been playing several Steam games I hadn't played in a bit to try it out.

I replayed Recettear start to story-end (not going crazy with dungeons/adventurers - didn't even beat Jade Way) and enjoyed most of it. It was slightly easier than I remembered, but then I got lucky with early dungeon-dives and had a really good idea of what I should be doing to take advantage of market trends.

I picked up and tried Fallout 4 and Terraria for a little bit and neither really gripped me. While FO4 is okay, I don't really like some of the combat changes (lots more enemies, more shooty-bang than its predecessors) and I decided I wasn't really in the mood for such a dark game. Terraria's control scheme on Deck just doesn't feel great, I think it's a game that really works better with keyboard/mouse for easier navigation.

I finally played a Civilization VI game end-to-end on Deck after many false starts, and while I appreciate what it's trying to do it is positively glacial in pace.

So naturally what I've landed on for now is a game that's arguably glacial-er, Stellaris. My empire of egalitarian materialist foxes is currently focused on self-genetic modification, trying to get a Federation past the launch-pad, and working to figure out why my fleet always seems behind my neighbors' - although thankfully none of the strongest have declared war on me, and I managed to eke out an alliance with one of the bigger ones. (I did win one war, because my enemy split their fleet - dangerous mistake in this stack-of-doom game)

For current game-with-family, I picked up LEGO Lord of the Rings (playing on Steam deck, docked with two controllers) and it's honestly a lot of fun. I'd played through it on Wii and it really benefits from the resolution/load-time upgrades.