What are you playing on your Switch 2: Play Harder

I just looked at the thread and must have misremembered - you said you'd have felt unsatisfied at leaving it at the first successful run, which I 100% agree with. Sorry! Muss also said he felt like he was grinding to get to the credits, so I agree with him too. Should have double checked the Hades thread before making that post!

Rum wrote:

IXC2 I started a few years ago and then fell off after a few hours, so I restarted it. I've gotten further - to Garfont - but it just hasn't hooked me in the way the original did. It's good, but it feels more generic, I think - it feels like it's leaning into more typical JRPG storytelling tropes and characterisation. And I know I've mentioned this before but the female characters so far are just so bland. You're basically introduced to Pyra from a camera shot beneath her huge bouncing jugs (and her outfit is tantamount to lingerie), and there's a whole scene joking about how Poppi is a robot servant made to dress up as an anime maid. In the original, Sharla was a bit 2D because her whole personality was about her relationships with men (her late ex-boyfriend, her brother, and her affection for Reyn) but at least she didn't have her tits out all the time.

Sharla:

I mean, she literally did!  It's just that the less anime art style made it less noticeable. Also you could dress her up in bikinis and stuff for defence stat boosts.  Also also, you say "the female characters so far are just so bland" and then don't mention one of the best female characters in all gaming!

Sigh.  Trouble is the rest is accurate.  XC2 is one of my favourite games ever, making my top 25 of all time where the original doesn't; and yet I really struggle to recommend it, and have to constantly caveat that opinion of mine, because Pyra (not only Pyra but primarily Pyra) is such an atrocious bit of character design, personality and appearance.  (And dress sense.  Oh God and dress sense.)  The exploration and battling are so good though, and I will defend Nia until I turn blue in the face and until you reach the late game.

I like Nia, but so far she hasn't convinced me she's anything more than 'scrappy young lass with a Welsh accent'. Happy to be proven wrong!

Also, that picture isn't exactly "tits out". Not compared to this, which made me do the biggest eyeroll I've done in a while...

A Welsh accent can elevate any JRPG character to greatness, and you'd have to be d(r)ippy to think otherwise.

Don't get me wrong, Pyra is worse. Pyra is much worse. And the camera's definitely pervier. Why do I prefer 2 again? (Don't answer that.)

Least it's not just a naked blue woman, ohh hi SMTV.

I have that to 'look forward to', do I? Great.

Cat Deeley was never blue what are you talking about

Rum wrote:

I just looked at the thread and must have misremembered - you said you'd have felt unsatisfied at leaving it at the first successful run, which I 100% agree with. Sorry! Muss also said he felt like he was grinding to get to the credits, so I agree with him too. Should have double checked the Hades thread before making that post!

I definitely didn't feel like I was grinding to get the credits as experimenting with different weapons and builds was a treat and that naturally led me to get the requisite number of clears for the credits rolling. Going for the true ending though... definitely a grind that is not for everyone by any means.

Been playing some Kingdom Hearts MoM in portable mode for that Theatrhythm experience. So far done the Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories tracks, KHII seems to have quite a few tracks to go, have now unlocked 358/2 Days tracks in the story mode which is canon.

For anyone wondering (or caring!) where I've been lately, I made the mistake of getting Pokémon Legends: Arceus after seriously considering whether I was done with the franchise after Sword and Shield.

I haven't left Obsidian Fieldlands yet, though somehow I have managed to spend 90 hours in the game, have 90 Pokémon in the PokéDex, and be rank 9 in the Search Corps.

In other words, this game has destroyed me.

I really enjoyed MoM, but it is a huge game I think I finished the story mode, but I think there are still so many extras in the free play mode.

stu_the_great wrote:

For anyone wondering (or caring!) where I've been lately, I made the mistake of getting Pokémon Legends: Arceus after seriously considering whether I was done with the franchise after Sword and Shield.

I haven't left Obsidian Fieldlands yet, though somehow I have managed to spend 90 hours in the game, have 90 Pokémon in the PokéDex, and be rank 9 in the Search Corps.

In other words, this game has destroyed me.

...I just don't understand how you do this. How do you do this? I didn't get rank ten all game. Including post-game. And I only spent 70 hours total. What is there to do for ninety hours!?

Anyway, better get a move on, there's more Pokémon on the way soon!

And I thought I moved through it at a snail's pace, I'd noticed your playtime Stu but assumed you'd at least finished the story. I totally get it though, there was a point early on where I was just trying to complete every task in the Pokédex for every Pokémon but that soon just got narrowed down to my party Pokémon.

I managed to reach the end of the story at 70 hours but still have the post-game stuff to do and now the update has come along that'll only increase my playtime.

Let us know how the updates fares Smurf, I'm not currently intending to go back to the game but I'd be keen to read your thoughts.

I'm playing a bunch of stuff at the moment, but somehow I've ended up with a bunch of very weighty games. Ender Lilies (i.e. Castlevania without a sense of humour), SMT5, The Other Game... as a result of which I've ended up playing a whole bunch of Voez, the rhythm-action Switch launch game I got last year. It's a simple pleasure. I've also picked up Danganronpa v3 to lighten my current playing collection, which shows where I am right now...

I don't know exactly what the update added I should say as it's probably blended in with post game stuff although one thing I did try that was added is Massive Mass Outbreaks (great name) which is basically what you'd think, loads of mass outbreaks on one map at a time but what Pokémon will be there is kept secret until you get there, could definitely change the shiny hunting game.

Ah yes, the most important part of the series... I've got to admit that it's never bothered me.  Outside of that Ponyta I caught one shiny during my time with PLA, and immediately traded it away for a chunky Buizel.  (Which of course then immediately went to that annoying guard.) Fair play to those who do enjoy it, mind!

Balladeer wrote:

What is there to do for ninety hours!?

Treesmurf has hit the nail on the head here...

Treesmurf wrote:

there was a point early on where I was just trying to complete every task in the Pokédex for every Pokémon but that soon just got narrowed down to my party Pokémon.

I've been going through each Pokémon in the Dex and doing everything that's possible at this point in the game. For context, I have all the Eeveelutions except for Glaceon (due to their being no icy rock yet) and have almost finished all their Pokédex tasks. Multiply this by every other Pokémon I've encountered so far and you have 90+ hours.

Oh, and thanks to Treesmurf for locating one of my bags the other day. I walked straight into a Hyper Beam and for some reason my Pokémon didn't dispatch in a suitable part of the terrain, thus I took it in the face.

In short, I'm enjoying this game a lot at the moment, though I'm not sure how many games this would sustain for me. Great diversion from the usual thus far, though.

As long as you've been having fun my man! I don't think I completed a single Pokémon's entry utterly, getting the 10 points was enough for me. Then again I've never completed a Pokédex before.

Balladeer wrote:

As long as you've been having fun my man!  I don't think I completed a single Pokémon's entry utterly, getting the 10 points was enough for me.  Then again I've never completed a Pokédex before.

I do like me some checkboxes in games.

On the other hand, I am kind of itching to start Monster Hunter up some time soon, but I know that doing so before finishing Arceus will yield unproductive results.

I don't think I'll have it in me to do every single task for every Pokémon but I'm probably up for getting level 10 for each one I think.

Balladeer wrote:

Ah yes, the most important part of the series... I've got to admit that it's never bothered me.  Outside of that Ponyta I caught one shiny during my time with PLA, and immediately traded it away for a chunky Buizel.  (Which of course then immediately went to that annoying guard.)  Fair play to those who do enjoy it, mind!

I have had my moments where I got a bit obsessive with shiny hunting, my 500 odd hours on Sun/Moon is testament to that but I've definitely passed the point of going out of my way for them, that being said I still get very excited when I hear that noise. This could all be entirely random but of the 3 non Ponyta shinies I've found on Legends, 2 of them were in these massive mass outbreaks.

I don't think it is, I think that's meant to increase the shiny chances!

Danganronpa v3 has been started. Hello gratuitous male gaze shots, it's been a while. Sigh. Still, no characters thus far (nobody's died yet, so it is very early days) that are Pervert Chef levels of awful.

Balladeer wrote:

Danganronpa v3 has been started.  Hello gratuitous male gaze shots, it's been a while.  Sigh.  Still, no characters thus far (nobody's died yet, so it is very early days) that are Pervert Chef levels of awful.

You'll be glad to know that nobody reaches that level of awful. There's one character who gets close, mind you. I think the cast as a whole are better than DR1 and DR2's cast with one character in V3 being one of the most interestingly written characters in the series in my eyes.

Treesmurf wrote:

I don't think I'll have it in me to do every single task for every Pokémon but I'm probably up for getting level 10 for each one I think.

Balladeer wrote:

Ah yes, the most important part of the series... I've got to admit that it's never bothered me.  Outside of that Ponyta I caught one shiny during my time with PLA, and immediately traded it away for a chunky Buizel.  (Which of course then immediately went to that annoying guard.)  Fair play to those who do enjoy it, mind!

I have had my moments where I got a bit obsessive with shiny hunting, my 500 odd hours on Sun/Moon is testament to that but I've definitely passed the point of going out of my way for them, that being said I still get very excited when I hear that noise. This could all be entirely random but of the 3 non Ponyta shinies I've found on Legends, 2 of them were in these massive mass outbreaks.

Might be the perverse amount of time I've spent traipsing the opening area so far, but I've done bery well for shinies and I'm not even looking for them!

Apart from Ponyta I have Luxio, Luxray, two Wurmple, three Bidoof (one Alpha), Kricketot, Scyther, Gastrodon, Starly and probably a couple of others I've forgotten. Would've had three Wurmple, but one of them buggered off.

That's an impressive amount, I probably shouldn't be surprised by the amount of time you've spent on it though they do seem to have gone the route of Pokémon Go with Legends in that it's not a case of if you'll get one, it's a case of when which is nice as it might give me an incentive to go back every now and then when I've done the Pokédex.

JayMoyles wrote:

Balladeer wrote:

Danganronpa v3 has been started.  Hello gratuitous male gaze shots, it's been a while.  Sigh.  Still, no characters thus far (nobody's died yet, so it is very early days) that are Pervert Chef levels of awful.

You'll be glad to know that nobody reaches that level of awful. There's one character who gets close, mind you. I think the cast as a whole are better than DR1 and DR2's cast with one character in V3 being one of the most interestingly written characters in the series in my eyes.

The artist? Because she's getting right on my wick. Everyone else is decent though. Although, the end of the first trial already has me deeply irritated.

Spoiler: