Pretty busy week.
I have realised I have too many games going on right now. It was kinda simple with just PS5 and Switch, but by adding PC in the mix, and starting a game on all 3 is a bit too overwhelming for my busy schedule. It’s one thing to have a smaller game going on with a big one, but I ended up starting pretty long game on all of them. So, would have to do something about it.
Just played some Spider-man 2 and few matches of WWE 2K24.
Plan to continue with Spider-man 2 and finish the first, before switching to PC / Switch game. WWE 2K is just some fighting so may continue it for a while.
What about all of you? What have you been playing?
Finished My Girlfriend is a Mermaid!?!
Of the three VNs I played from COSEN this is definitely the weakest. It’s not terrible, but also doesn’t have any particularly strong or memorable points.
It was also another fairly obscure game with no english-language guides, so I once again ended up writing one myself so others will be spared the trouble of going through korean guides using Google Translate to find out how to unlock all endings. 😅
Playing Ys X: Nordics!
So far this game is great. It’s cool to see an adventure set early the Ys chronology (this one takes place right after Ys 2), and I’m loving Karja’s relationship with Adol, they’re pushing towards a more sibling-like relationship instead of a romantic one and it works really well with the themes of the game.
The combat is fun and fast-paced, with two “styles” - solo and duo. The former gives you more movement and evasion, while the latter has the two characters working together to block strong attacks and dish serious damage. However, I feel the balancing between modes is kinda off, there’s almost no reason to use solo mode on bosses as duo mode auto-blocks most of their attacks and makes those battle a breeze. Though solo is still quite useful while exploring or fighting a lot of enemies.
Speaking of exploration, the overworld of the game is a large ocean you transverse with a ship, with several islands you can explore. Exploration on foot is really fun, even more after you unlock some skills like the grappling hook and the hoverboard. However, the ocean part is easily the worst part of the game, and for a very simple reason: The boat is way too slow! If there’s one thing I want from a patch to this game is a drastic improvement of the initial speed, or at least a much faster recharge for the ability to “ride the wind” that gives you a short speed up. This does improve as you get some boat upgrades, but it’s still a major oversight in a game as fast-paced as this one.
Performance on Switch is a huge improvement over Ys 9. I think this is running on the same engine as Trails through Daybreak, and framerate is very stable without any significant hiccups so far. The only issue I have is that some areas have significant object and texture pop-in, which can be distracting but that doesn’t cause any gameplay issues.
Playing Vampire Survivors!
Still playing this as a side-game. Not much to add to the, still unlocking new weapons/stages/characters.
Nice work on the guide! Very succinct and to the point. Exactly what I look for when I just want to see specific ending (or get specific trophy).
Hope they fix the sea exploration, but the game has been out in Japan for a while, so I doubt there would be any changes to gameplay now.
How was Ys IX’s performance? I played VIII on switch and loved it, but I was wondering if I should get IX on PS5 instead, to get better performance, though I like to play longer / JRPG-ish games on Switch, can play more that way.
Been a long time since I finished the game, but from what I recall it’s “definitely playable, but has issues”.
Most areas including dungeons run fairly well with a stable framerante, but there’s a lot of fluctuation when exploring the main “hub” which is this huge open-world city. Since you don’t do a lot of fighting in the city this doesn’t hurt gameplay too much, but it’s definitely annoying.
But there are some “tower defense” stages similar to Ys 8, and and performance can tank hard there. It doesn’t happen very often, and usually only lasts a few seconds, but it’s another thing to keep in mind.
They probably expect you to stick to the main story for the early parts of the game and go exploring the map later, when you have enough boat upgrades to make it less frustrating… but my OCD doesn’t let me progress without checking every corner of the map first. 😅