Hello everyone!
Another very busy week, didn’t really play much at all. And recently my DualSense (PS5 controller) started drifting and options button stopped working, so sent it for repairs, which means no PS5 games for few days. Which leaves:
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Still in water level, I paused the game and left it in sleep mode, which one of my kid closed, so I lost all progress since last castle. Had to replay all that. Now at the final castle of Water level.
- Dragon Quest XI Played some more, killed a boss, and finished all the open available side quests. Now to next main quest.
What about you all? What are all of you playing? Or planning to play next?
I was quite stressed this week, and one thing that helps when I’m like this is playing games where I can just shut down my brain and play purely on reflex. So I went back to Theatrhythm Final Bar Line for a few days.
I’m a huge fan of rhythm games in general and this series in particular, even got the fancy overpriced premium version with all DLCs at launch and have been playing on and off since then. I caught up to the DLCs by playing the latest pack focused on Romancing Saga 2 and 3, which brought some of my favorites from that series like Seven Heroes Battle from RS2 and both of the Sinistral themes from RS3.
I also achived two milestones in this game this week: Over 100h or play time, and finally completed all tracks in the “hard” difficulty (Ultimate). Some of the tracks also have a “very hard” difficulty (Supreme), and I started playing them but the jump in difficulty is crazy - I’m managing to finish those just because I have a party with a ton of HP and defensive skills keeping me alive despite all my mistakes.
As mentioned last week I’m also playing Grisaia Phantom Trigger 5.5 to 08, the second and final batch of chapters for this episodic VN.
Finished chapter 5.5 which was about Shiori’s past - she’s the new civilian teacher that joins near the beginning of the story, and the second “focus character” in th VN alongside Haruto. As per Grisaia standards it’s a pretty sad backstory, but makes it much easier to understand some of the things about the way she acts, and also why she fits well with the others.
I also started chapter 06, which is another flashback story - this time about the previous generation of agents (the titular “Phantom Triggers”), and also about Haruto’s (the main “focus character”) origins. Everything with the Phantom Triggers has been fun so far, they are a very entertaining bunch and it’s pretty cool to see how some of them were in the past.
Haruto’s backstory however is so goddamn crazy that I’m not sure I like or not. I am however having a lot of fun reading about the hijinks of a bunch of assassins trying to raise a baby.
There’s also couple new characters - Aoi, one of the agents and someone Haruto refers to as his “master”, and Enishi, another of the Phantom Triggers and some kind of father figure to him. Given that the chapter starts with them gathering for a grave visit (implied to be Aoi’s) and that Enishi also hasn’t shown up yet in the present I’m curious to see what happened to the two of them.
Hey! It’s Phelpssan! I love reading these posts of yours.
You gave me some very good recommendations for VNs (which I unfortunately haven’t gotten around to playing yet), and now I want some recommendations for rhythm games, since you love them so much. I have tried getting into them, but haven’t had much luck. I tried Superbeat: Xonic but couldn’t get the hang of controls. I remember liking Aviici Invector, don’t remember why I stopped playing it, maybe got busy or something, should give it another try. I also tried Patapon, but kept failing second or third level, though I have heard there is some lag in PS4 remake, so maybe that’s the issue, not sure.
With all this, which ones do you think I should try? Or if I should try any at all.
BTW I have Theatrhythm Final Bar Line on my wishlist, it looks interesting.
I tend to prefer the simpler, arcade-style rhythm games. Think of stuff like Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution.
Definitely try Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. It’s very fun gameplay-wise, has a ridiculous amount of content (something like 380 tracks on the base game, with 100+ extras as DLC if you get the premium version), the RPG elements are interesting, and if you are a fan of FF games it’s also a huge nostalgia trip. There’s even a free demo with 30 songs which lets you get a good taste of the game.
Project Diva Megamix is my favorite “no frills” game in this genre - just choose a song and start playing. Tons of tracks, gets crazy intense on the higher difficulties. But it’s a vocaloid game, and not everyone will enjoy this type of music. There’s also a PS4 version which is essentially the same game with better graphics but no option to use motion controls.
Taiko Drum Master games are generally fun, in particular if you can get your hands on a physical drum, but even on a regular controller I have a good time with these.
There’s Old School Musical which is a hilarious indie rhythm game with chiptune tracks inspired by 8-bit and 16-bit classics. Doesn’t have as much content as some of the games above, but it’s also fairly cheap and fun.
As for more “unique” rhythm games, I enjoy Thumper, which is kinda hard to describe but it’s a metal rhythm game on a racing track of sorts, and Crypt of the Necrodancer which is a rhythm-based roguelike. There’s also a Zelda crossover for this last one called Cadence of Hyrule , but I haven’t played it yet.