What are you playing on your Switch 2: Play Harder

Chained Echoes then.  For the five of us who like JRPGs, this was low-key raved about at the end of last year.  Even beyond those five actually: a lot of favourable comparisons were made with the likes of Chrono Trigger, as a love letter to an age of videogames before JRPGs went fully anime nonsense.  I can't quite get past how much it looks like CrossCode, a game by the same outfit that others loved (82 Metascore) and that I was cold on.  The narrative is much better at least, and I am enjoying the tricks it plays with normal turn-based battling to prevent a 'solved system'.  

Anybody else had a look at this?  It's on GamePass I believe.

Should look at it, but this type JRPG doesn't anything for me.

Downloads Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster right away.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I’ve started Bayonetta 3 as well and I’ve just finished Chapter 4, but I can’t make any sense of what’s going on. It’s all gone a bit Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers –

Did someone listen to the Game Game Show GOTY episode, by any chance?

masofdas wrote:

Should look at it, but this type JRPG doesn't anything for me.

It doesn't for me really either - and yet I'm hooked. Really nice battle system in this. The new mechanic, keeping the meter in the Overdrive bar by judicious use of arts, makes this feel a lot more dynamic than your average takey-turny JRPG.

I'd actually say that the game doesn't have all that much else going for it. Bobbins art style, an epic plot let down by slightly odd writing, a strange level of divorce from the characters due to unexpressive art... and yet the battling has me absolutely hooked. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a great game, just an addictive one - but I reckon that, for those with a passing interest in RPGs of yesteryear, it's a no-brainer to wishlist or play off GamePass.

I got Kirby Return to Dreamland, only done the first World. Seems your typical Kirby adventure, which is a fine experience between bigger titles.

After Kirby. I have started Theatrhythm which is much of the same as the 3DS ones, just it looks better on the OLED than the 3DS screen. A lot of content it seems, as I've done FF, FFII and FIII then after that be the rest of the core games, but ones like FFVII has three entries the core game, series (thinking Crisis Core, Advent is here) and remake.

Though I played on PS4 the demo of GrimGrimoire OnceMore which is an odd one as I like the art because Vanillaware, has the visual novel part like 13S had, then the combat is a Tower Defence type RPG thing which is fine just not really my thing and got hard pretty quick even sort being in the tutorial still.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 has completely taken over my time on the Switch like the first one did all those years ago, similar to that it's addictive and satisfying seeing your builds progress only with a more coherent story this time around. I'm sure it's not for everyone but when it hits it really hits.

I watched an ex play a lot of DQB. She was into it but it wasn't for me.

Cappa, this is your "a bit like Little King's Story" game, now that I think about it.

Having finished Octopath 2, it's now time for me to choose my next adventure!
- Tunic
- Nier Automata
- Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance
- Persona 3 Portable
- Subnautica (new!)
- Floppy Knights (new and unfortunately titled! Anybody even looked at this?)

Of those Tunic is the most likely to be dropped soon in a Jimbob-infuriating manoeuvre. Ah well, at least he'll be happy that I just got off playing a JRPG for 90 hours, right?

I would maybe go for Subnautica, as I don't think you'll like it all, so should just get it out of the way.

You're probably right, but it was on sale and I was coming off a Metroid Prime kick so I was willing to try something spacey and first-person and focussed on solitude. Not much lost if it doesn't work out.

From the Yesterday I Bought thread

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on Bayonetta Origins whenever you get round to it. I finished Bayonetta 3 a few weeks ago and it sapped a lot of my energy for the whole series - I absolutely cannot take playing another story-focused Bayonetta right now.

I started BayOrigins tonight, and I'm partially through Chapter 3 with my save saying 19% complete. At the moment, it feels a mix of Child of Light, Okami (or Zelda, though Okami is more apt) and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons than a Bayonetta game.

This means it has had a lot of cutscenes told via a story book
Puzzles where you have to use Cereza to do X which allows Cheshire to do Y and something happens that let you move on
You get dungeons kinda at the end of the chapters, however you can find some smaller ones in the world as well that give you a petal to gain more health or open a path to some collectable
Lovely art and music

I'm enjoying it, only thing is in combat I forget I move Cheshire with the right stick and I move the left stick instead & end up putting Cereza in a bit of danger.

I could see it being the Bayonetta game you don't like Cappa as not sure on your thoughts of the games it feels a mix off
Yet a Bayonetta someone like Balla might enjoy, as I think he likes the games I mention.

I didn't notice that was out, I need to pick it up!

Don't get me wrong, Bayorigins is far and away the Bayo game I think I'd like the most.  At the same time I'm very wary of that Nintendo Life review, which said that after a belter of a beginning the game never really got going.  The number of games I've been sucked into where that has happened, and it's a case of play to the sunk cost fallacy at the expense of my enjoyment or feel the dissatisfaction of breaking off from a part-finished mostly-enjoyed game, is high already.  It's probably one for a wishlist if that.


Instead I've lashed out at five of the six games above since finishing Octopath 2 - I've only really had the one session to sit down before the telly and dig in, which means NieR missed out to Tunic for that.  The game I'm most likely to give up on next has switched from that to Persona 3, with the VN side striking me with choice paralysis, the dungeon being dull, the simplified nature of the game doing the ambience a nasty, and Personas 4 and 5 waiting in the wings for me to have the same problems with them.

I've started playing Subnautica in full survival mode, but it's a pain that you can't switch modes mid-game.  Between various meters going down all the time, crafting, and the fact that the game feels a lot like it was made for the precision of a mouse, Mas is looking to have read that one correctly.  Meanwhile I remember why I got Floppy Knights: it's a deck-builder!  That isn't a roguelike!  I like deck-builders!  Ah, but wait: it's also a strategy game.  And I'm already bad at it.  Hrrm.

masofdas wrote:

I started BayOrigins tonight

Cheers for that. I’ve not played Child of Light, Okami or Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons but I know they’re all very well regarded. I’m quite prepared to give Bayonetta Origins a go, but when you say that “it has a lot of cutscenes told via a story book” then that just plummets it down to the bottom of my to-play list. I can’t stress enough how mince Bayonetta 3’s cutscenes and story were, they ruined my life.

~

Right now I’m playing Wreckfest, a spiritual successor to FlatOut that I understand did the rounds on Xbox and PlayStation a few years back before getting a Switch port about six months ago. I think it’s pretty good when it’s being played for laughs. There’s demolition derbies where you have to destroy Reliant Robins while driving a MegaBus Gold and another where you have to wreck other farmers on your combine harvester – stuff like that is great fun. The racing and track design isn’t all that exciting but to be fair I’m early in the game and still driving around in slow-moving vehicles. I’ll stick with it for sure, I’ve not played anything like it on Switch.

Balla scrap everything else and just play Persona 5, it's the best JRPG I've ever played and arguably (based on my Top 100) the best game actually on Switch.

I thought Bayo 3 was decent.

Persona 5R is not as good as any of the Xenoblade games imo. As a Switch port it's also kind of disappointing - I don't know why a game that is a PS3 game at its core is 540p in handheld mode. It's a bit blurry. Shame as it easily could have been the best version of the game.

Started Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore, since I got Soul Hackers 2 out of the way, and since I paid a pretty penny for a physical copy of this.

Did actually play a tiny bit of the Wii U version but decided I'd get it on Switch for the comfy portable play and much faster loading times.

Weirdly this game is 720p docked - same as Wii U, and it looks pretty much identical - but also 720p in handheld mode. I'm just playing it handheld though, so I'll take it.

I've always been pretty curious about this game as a fan of Fire Emblem and Megami Tensei games by way of Persona mostly (and SMT games-proper recently), because it's a weird crossover done in a weird way, and on top of that there's the idol stuff that ties it all together.

The idol stuff. A thoroughly cursed game. Maybe not a bad one, just... a bit grubby feeling. Oh and the battle system is pants. Given that that's a series constant I wouldn't be surprised at all if your first sentence was correct Kriken. Speaking of:

masofdas wrote:

Balla scrap everything else and just play Persona 5, it's the best JRPG I've ever played and arguably (based on my Top 100) the best game actually on Switch.

Calm your jets, it'll happen. It'll definitely happen because I've got the retail copy under my telly, a Christmas present from a woman who prefers Persona 3. Only, if I go to that now there's no way I'll be able to deal with the step back to Persona 4. ProcGen dungeons and all that. So, it'll happen after I've tried Persona 4.

Which won't be for a little while, since I need a break between Persona games. Instead I've picked up:
- Drainus! It's a shmup! It's bloody ages since I've played a shmup! Unless... does Gunman Clive count? If not the previous one would be Geometry Wars on Wii I think. Anyway, this is a little bit of fun. I like that you can flip up your shield to absorb and return energy projectiles, like a much much (MUCH) easier Ikaruga. I don't like how holding fire down all level absolutely burns my thumb.
- Meg's Monster! It's an RPG! Wait, no - battles are so scripted that I feel like it's more of a visual novel kinda thing, where you're a monster protecting a girl who fell from the sky, because if she starts crying the world comes to an end. It's a wholesome vibe that has big Monsters Inc. energy, right down to the appearance of the monster himself, but the writing doesn't quite gel with the energy: too much 'piss' and 'ass'. Less sure about this one.

How far did you get into Tokyo Mirage Sessions?

Not very, granted. Three dungeons? I played up to the photographer dungeon, and found that very creepy focussing on Mrs. Jiggle like it was (and this is in the UK non-gravure version of that level). Mas has been moaning about Tiki somewhere else, but God knows she's awful in TMS.

Ah okay. That's about where I am on it too. I've actually been quite enjoying the battle system. I like linking session attacks together and having Overkill move it on to other enemies.

That said the game hasn't exactly gripped me. I'm enjoying it enough but haven't been too interested in the prattle during side quests, or even in the main story at points. It'll be one I dip into every now and then while I play other stuff, I think.

Started SIGNALIS last night, and it's such as odd game with its German Survival Horror-ness in a homage to PS1 era though I can't remember playing many with a top-down view like this. And then the graphics are trying to be PS1 style, though the cutscenes etc are all very nice.

Then the gameplay I had one part where it was make a weird butterfly key which opens a weird box, all very classic puzzles in survival horror and much more my thing from the genre then stuff you see from the AAA ones out now.

Not tried on the OLED itself, though I can see it looking great due to its style.

I've heard very mixed things, but your description makes me wonder if it's a case of how much nostalgia one has for that era.

My pal Rob is a big fan of the OG Resis. Do you think this would be a solid recommendation?

Played more last night and very much old-school and having to think about the puzzles etc more so then shoot enemies. Musical cues all very good. Surprised you've heard mixed things, as only seen positive though could see some like CW a modern RE fan, trying this and hating it.

Most of what I've been playing I've finished, such as Road 96 Mile 0, Metroid Fusion.

However, I started this week A Space for the Unbound which Balla has finished and recommend to me as he thought it was a Mas game.

He'll be pleased to hear that it is a Mas game and I am enjoying it very much, though is something a tad off, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I feel I mostly playing it due to the story and not lot else about the game.

As I did think I'd be playing handheld, why I got on Switch not PS5 due to the art style, yet mostly been on the TV as I don't want to miss some dialogue between the characters where take Fusion I could just run around as Samus and watch something.