Lately, I’ve been playing a ton of mahjong and hopping between a couple of other games. A few weeks ago was the Whale Cup tournament in Riichi City, which I joined last year and yet again signed up for this year. I feel like I possibly did even worse than last year. However, Riichi City‘s helpful tip features, dora tile highlights, winning tile wait hints, etc., being turned off for the tournament, I didn’t find much of an inconvenience at all this year. Last year, that was a bit odd for me and I more significantly felt that change from how I usually play. This year, it didn’t really matter to me much at all. So I suppose in some ways I’ve improved. Although, I have been having horrendous luck in mahjong overall, all year.

Not only did I do miserably in that tournament for the second year in a row, but I’ve also managed to recently lose my rank in Mahjong Soul. I went from an Adept 3 star rank, back down to 2 star. I wasn’t even a high rank to begin with, but I just haven’t had much luck lately. Some of it is my own fault. Nonetheless, these last couple weeks I’ve been using the efficient discard method to try and rank back up and I haven’t been making significant progress without eventually losing it all simply due to bad luck. Sure, occasionally I’ve taken a risk or two and those losses have been my fault, but in the majority of my matches I’ve been making myself play efficiently and it’s been going extremely slow. I already felt like Expert 1 star and the gold ranked rooms were quite far away, now I feel like I won’t even ever rank back up to where I was. I’ve pretty much been losing all my points this year in both Mahjong Soul and Riichi City.

Other than mahjong, I’ve done a smidgen of console gaming here and there, but not a lot lately. Finishing up Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, has been going a bit slow. I’m nearing the end, but also trying to finish up various side adventures. I’m attempting to not simply rush through the end like I did Gaiden, back when I wanted to finish it and be ready for Infinite Wealth right at launch. I mostly want to finish Infinite Wealth simply because it’s been months now, in addition to the fact that I finally got my hands on Persona 3 Reload a while ago during a sale and have been anxious to start that. Persona 3 was always my favorite Persona. Also, this past week I managed to get my hands on Endless Ocean Luminous as well, thanks to Nintendo. I’m playing that with the purpose of reviewing it, so I won’t say too much about it now. I’ve gone on some solo dives, made a bit of story progress and have done some online dives as well, plus I checked out the first online event this past weekend. But once again, if you want to hear more about my thoughts on Endless Ocean, you’ll have to wait for my future review. – Jenae

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: May 5 – 11 appeared first on oprainfall.

It’s been a while since I’ve gamed, as the urge to play just hasn’t been there for me lately. I’ve been reading less manga too, but have read a few more LNs here and there. However, I had a chunk of time this weekend and decided to replay Aria of Sorrow. I really needed to just turn my brain off and I know I can easily blitz through this game in a sitting or two effortlessly.

Hardly any story to be had, Aria of Sorrow follows exchange student Soma Cruz as he finds himself transported from Japan to Dracula’s Castle, which is currently bound within an eclipse. To find a way out, he must traverse the castle and reach the throne room, utilizing his newly awakened ability to collect the souls and copying the abilities of enemies.

Anyway, having replayed this many times, I know which weapons and souls to go after to mow down everything in the least amount of time. And, well, it’s kinda satisfying, in that it’s a game I can quickly get into, while also being quick for me to complete without feeling guilty for playing it over something in my ever-growing backlog.

After this, I may revisit Dawn of Sorrow, as I’ve only played that twice or thrice, though I distinctly remember enjoying it far less than Aria due to gimmicky touch-screen nonsense and powers that felt lame. Thinking about it as I write this, maybe I’ll do the Julius mode for that so I can play as Alucard instead. – Drew D.

So I’ve been waiting ages for The Alliance Alive HD Remastered to go back on sale in the eShop. I loved the game on 3DS and have been wanting to replay it on Switch. Unfortunately, I missed out on the Switch physical copy before it went out of print and I also missed out on the last eShop sale over 10 months ago, not realizing it would be so long before it went on sale again. Anyway, it finally went on sale again a few days ago and I’ve spent this past weekend beginning my replay. I always loved The Alliance Alive. Back when it came out on 3DS, I do believe I had already bought my PS4 and played a little bit of some more recent console games I missed out on for years. But it really hadn’t been that long since the newest RPGs I played and had access to, were all on the 3DS. I was still pretty behind on current console stuff and hadn’t played all that many modern games. I spent so much time on the most wonderful 3DS games for years, which I might not have even noticed if I was distracted by a bunch of fancier and larger console titles at the time.

Replaying it again for the first time in years, now having played tons of flashier RPGs and other games on both Switch and PS4, I see now how simple The Alliance Alive is. The visuals are very basic and the cinematic scenes almost seem like they couldn’t make them quite as HD as the rest of the game in this port, they’re somewhat more blurry. Also, there is no voice acting. However, despite all this, I still find it to be an extremely charming little RPG so far. I don’t think I would pay full price for it today, but I still think it’s a fantastic game to pick-up and get into during a sale.

The Alliance Alive has always felt like it was the answer to the various complaints people had about The Legend of Legacy, its predecessor. Now, I personally enjoyed the time I spent with The Legend of Legacy, but thinking back, it was definitely an even simpler game and the story was something subtle you had to piece together for yourself. Nonetheless, Cattle Call seemed to add all of the features “missing” from The Legend of Legacy when they came up with The Alliance Alive. You’ve got charming characters, a much more present and significant story and a whole world to explore in typical RPG fashion. I’m quite enjoying the time I’ve spent so far replaying the game. I do think they could’ve added a speed toggle on cinematic scene dialogue, it skips ahead a bit quick sometimes. But other than that, I like the simple charm of the game and it’s still a pretty great game. I definitely think it’s an underrated gem a lot of people missed out on, possibly due in part to people’s fear of it being just like The Legend of Legacy and also simply because many people haven’t heard of it before.

Before The Alliance Alive finally went back on sale, I also checked out the Switch version of the SaGa Emerald Beyond demo. Honestly, I didn’t find myself eager to finish it after playing for about an hour or two. My main issue with the game, is it seemed ridiculously cheesy. I think a significant part of what makes it feel so cheesy, is the English dub. For example, in the early game this narrator voice is constantly cutting in during battle to explain basic mechanics, and the way they voice their lines makes it sound like they’re trying to explain to a child how awesome and exciting all of the game’s basic battle features are. Also, the overall game seemed very simple and like it didn’t have a lot going on. Although, it is the very early game, so maybe I judged it too quickly. But typically if it’s a game I would normally play and is actually good, the demo sucks me in relatively quickly and I find myself impatiently anxious to experience the full game. SaGa Emerald‘s Switch demo did not do that for me, at all. Plus, I felt like battles moved a bit slow and I just really didn’t enjoy my time with it. – Jenae

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Mar 31 – Apr 6 appeared first on oprainfall.

I spent most of this week finishing up Unicorn Overlord. I will have a full review coming very soon, and despite the last battle being a bit crazy it was still pretty fun. I’m playing one very familiar game for review on a console I never thought I would see it on. It feels very strange, and I’ll have more to say on this one shortly as well.

I started playing Azur Lane again as well this week. I left cause I felt the designs were getting very boring with every boat being huge tiddy bunny girls, but they added some fantasy skins and new girls to the mix I thought looked very nice. I mean she’s a cute maid, it’s like a moth to a flame! I’m hoping to dig into Yohane the Parhelion – NUMAZU in the MIRAGE later this week. I do love a good card game and Yohane as well so I think I’ll really love it! – Steve 

Last week I finished Stranger of Paradise and had a great time with it but wanted to follow it up with something lighter. Princess Peach Showtime! fit that bill perfectly. This game was oozing with charm and creativity with every level featuring Princess Peach as the lead actor in a play. From decorating cakes to becoming a martial arts master or saving the world from an alien invasion, Peach was allowed to express herself in ways we rarely get to see. The variety here was incredibly welcome even though I can see some of the slower paced plays like the detective one not being as engaging on a replay. Still, it’s refreshing to see her exist without Mario or even Bowser for that matter. They even managed to throw in some platforming sections so the game can still feel like it belongs in the greater Mario series. Princess Peach Showtime! was not an especially long or challenging game, but it was one that had me hooked from start to finish and left me wanting more. Despite there being some decent post game challenges, I do wish there a couple extra unlockable plays or a two player mode as I can see this game being a great one to play with friends or kids. – Justin

This week I dug my teeth in the Stellar Blade demo for the PlayStation 5. The first thing that hit me when booting it up was how Nier: Automata it felt, to the point I started naming all the similarities that cropped up in just the opening sequence to my husband. Scantily-clad female androids? Check. Disastrous decent that leaves most of your squad dead? Check. Trying to reclaim Earth from an alien threat so that humanity can return? Check. Floating drone sidekick? Check. Music? Check. This is not in and of itself a problem – lots of games lean into their inspirations, and Shift Up was pretty open about Nier being one of several influences for this game. But it did end up veering just this side of derivative. The caveat here, of course, is that the demo is just a slice of the game so how derivative it pans out to be remains to be seen, but it constantly tickled the back of my thoughts as I played.

That being said, I found the character and enemy designs quite appealing. EVE is lovely, and I’m a fan of the blend of human skin and cybernetic prosthetics. The fanservice itself isn’t even all that in-your-face, at least during gameplay (unless you want it to be), though I did find it borderline distracting during a couple cutscenes. I don’t necessarily need to see an android’s ass jiggle while she’s being impaled, that just comes across as silly and undercuts the horror of what’s going on. It’s not deal breaking or anything, but I do find it a touch crass. (Ogling EVE’s ass while she swings from an overpass is whatever, you do you fellow nerds. Goodness knows I had fun with the camera.) EVE feels great when she’s running around and swinging over obstacles, but water sections were a chore. She’s difficult to redirect when swimming and because she does not latch onto items you need to move in the water, directing them is a struggle. EVE also feels super sluggish in combat, at least when it comes to parrying and perfect dodging. I am not going to completely rule out user error here, but inputs felt incredibly laggy, and Shift Up’s cheeky Tweet about making sure your TV is set to Game Mode was unhelpful. (Mine is, and it didn’t help.)

Overall I enjoyed what I played of the Stellar Blade demo, though I still haven’t done everything it has to offer. I’m concerned about input lag and the game borrowing too heavily from other titles, but I’m also excited to see how the total package comes together. The monster designs are fantastic and I think there’s some really neat worldbuilding to be had here. The lack of a Japanese voice track in the American demo is annoying, but you can download the JP version and not have an issue. Imports of the game will also include English text so if you want the entire package there are options. I’ll be playing the game with Korean VO so it’s not a particular issue for me outside principle, but JP VA contracts are weird.  If you’ve got a PS5 this one is at least worth checking out the demo for. – Leah

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Mar 24 – 30 appeared first on oprainfall.

I was planning on having something to say for a Week in Gaming article last week, but my copy of Unicorn Overlord came late. I was quite annoyed I pre-ordered in advance with 1-day shipping which should’ve shown up on release day, but I had to wait until last Monday to finally get my copy. Anyway, after the game came I finally went and spent the full amount of time allowed in the demo, before transferring my progress and continuing on in the full game. I think my game clock says I’ve spent around 20 hours or so total, playing Unicorn Overlord. I cleared out most of the early game Cornia battles and built up my army. There are a few leftover battles there still which I’ve been periodically going through and a couple much higher leveled ones I can’t touch until later game.

But now I’m just trying to grind to start getting further into Drakenhold. I decided it made more sense to go there first than straight to Elheim. Elheim, story wise at least, sounded like it continues the main story. Drakenhold sounded more like a good preparation detour, so that’s what I went with. I’m really glad I went there and picked up Virginia. Her little party I put together absolutely destroys enemies. I’ve got her paired with her Drakenhold Swordfighter friend, one of the Warrior class girls and I believe I put a healer of some kind on her team as well. I’ve got a couple units that have worked out really nicely. In the early game, I found I relied on Josef a lot, being that he’s higher leveled. But now I’m finding I’ve got even better units put together and don’t need to rely as heavily on him. I’ve barely gotten into Drakenhold yet, I went back to leftover Cornia battles for grinding, but I think I’ll be ready soon to get further.

I’m enjoying Unicorn Overlord quite a bit so far. I am realizing however, that I need mini breaks during SRPGs more often than other games. Nonetheless, overall I’m having fun with the game. It’s a nice change having an SRPG with an actual overworld map to explore. I don’t know if any SRPG has done it before because obviously, I haven’t played every strategy RPG that exists. But it’s my first time playing one set-up like this. It’s nice being able to explore and collect stuff, not simply go straight from story, to a battle stage and then back to another story bit. It did take some getting used to the battle system at first though. I had a hard time in the demo trying to get multiple parties to move at once. The demo insists on teaching you how to, but I find I don’t even use it anymore since I like to check on my individual units and send a lot of them after different enemies or to alternate spots. I also turned on the setting to automatically pause at the start of battles so I can look around and plan things out, and have thus left it like that ever since. I’m looking forward to getting further, seeing where the story goes, exploring new places and getting to know some of the characters better. – Jenae

I spent most of this week playing Unicorn Overlord, and I’m pretty much addicted to it at this point. The story is your typical prince escapes a hostile takeover of his lands, but there are plenty of plot twists along the way to keep it fresh. Characters get a lot of development as you play through the story, so whenever I get a new companion its great getting to know more about them.

You expect great artwork from any Vanillaware title and Unicorn Overlord delivers. Every character has a ton of details and each area looks as good as any top tier fantasy movie you will ever watch. The gameplay is great as well with a mix of unit positioning, formation balance and skills. I love finding new ways to take on each different obstacle I have encountered. – Steve

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Mar 10 – 16 appeared first on oprainfall.

This week in gaming I played around with some of my backlog. I didn’t want to start anything too big with Unicorn Overlord coming at the end of this week but I did spend some time with two games I liked quite a bit.

The first one was Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. I love a good Musou game and these are good titles that if you have to take a break from for a long period of time you don’t forget many of the details about them. This game is packed with content, lots of maps to explore, plenty of side modes and other content to unlock as well. I played several maps on story mode, and while I don’t like the amount of running around you do on each map, the puzzle elements they added in really do make it feel like a Zelda title.

The other game I spent some time with this week was Record of Lodoss War -Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-. I’ve wanted to try this one out for a while, and I wish I had gotten to it sooner. I love the gameplay here, solid Metroidvania action. I played through the first chapter last night and it went by like a flash. I love that you can get Deedlit all sorts of new weapons, and the each one of them is slightly different than the others. Throw in the bow action and magic and it’s no wonder why everyone loved this one. I hope I can finish it by Friday, and seeing I’m addicted to the gameplay it’s very likely I will. – Steve

At the beginning of the week, I continued on with Piofiore: Episodio 1926. I’ve now gone through each individual guy’s route that’s available at the start. I also did all the little advent calendar scenes which take place after Fated Memories‘ final happy ending route, where you don’t end up with anyone and doing those has unlocked the main sequel, Alternativa route. After unlocking it, I miraculously managed to pull myself away from the otome addiction. Like Steve, I’m also waiting for and excited to play Unicorn Overlord. I’ve honestly never really gotten into Vanillaware games before, though I do have a copy of 13 Sentinels I plan to play eventually. But I enjoy the occasional SRPG and I had fun with the couple hours I’ve spent on the demo so far. It’s definitely unique, being this overworld strategy system, rather than on grid based stages, but it seems like there will be a lot to do and it should be worth getting into. The unit groupings, where you put a few characters together and they move as one, reminds me a bit of Soul Nomad.

I didn’t spend long on the Unicorn Overlord demo because I didn’t want to get too sucked in and then have to wait to keep going. In the end, I’m quite looking forward to that one. Until it comes out, I think I may be spending some time on Smash Bros. Ultimate. I was playing with my nephews over the weekend and I definitely need to practice for the next time I hang out with them. My older nephew was spamming Link’s remote control bombs on me and the younger one kept sending me off a cliff with Steve’s minecart attack. I’m able to keep up because I spent a ton of time as a teenager playing Melee, yet I find that Ultimate feels quite a bit more stiff. I almost feel like the Nintendo brand pro controller has too much stick range, which makes quick movements more difficult and clunky. Thus, mostly I’m using my 8bitdo SN30 pro instead. Overall I’ve spent 60 hours on SSBU, but my in game stats menu says I’ve only spent 28 hours actually in battle. So I definitely still need some practice to get the hang of the newer, more stiff mechanics. I’m also about to finally get the second fighter’s pass which will be another reason to play some more while I wait for Unicorn Overlord to arrive. – Jenae

I finally wrapped up my time with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth after about 120 hours. I’m working on a complete review of Ryu Ga Gotoku’s newest entry in the franchise, but figured I’d give some quick thoughts here anyway. In a nutshell, I adored my time with RGG8, but it does not reach the heights of RGG7. The gameplay is solid and a cut above its predecessor with some welcome quality of life tweaks and additions, but the story lacks the emotional payoff I got from Ichiban’s introduction. That’s not to say Infinite Wealth lacks in the story or emotional investment departments: It’s quite good! But I admit I’m very biased in RGG7‘s favor, seeing as it’s my favorite game in the franchise, and no small part due to Ichiban himself. Infinite Wealth‘s standout moments are definitely in its Bucket List substory for Kiryu and the expanded Walk & Talks and Table Talks that let each party member’s personality shine in ways the main narrative doesn’t really have the space for. I highly recommend picking this one up if you haven’t yet!

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is out and I’ve been digging into this title as well. I’m about 10 or so hours in and have been enjoying faffing about in the Grasslands just outside Kalm. So far the open world elements of the game have been great, if somewhat bog standard. The area is gorgeous, both visually and melodically, with tons to find while exploring. It doesn’t feel empty the way some open worlds do, with points of interest to investigate, neat little hideaways tucked into off-the-trail locations, and a decent smattering of NPCs to chat with as you explore. The dreaded towers are here, but they’re integrated into the gameplay in at least a somewhat sensible fashion, so I can’t complain too much. Taking a much-needed page from the Star Ocean book of gameplay, Rebirth adds little party chat moments in town where you can build up your friendships with everyone on an individual level. Private Actions are one of the mainstays of the SO series and something I think most RPGs could benefit from incorporating, so I was thrilled to see it rolled out in Square Enix’ flagship series. I’ve been playing on Performance Mode and the game holds up really well, with smooth movement and snappy combat. The pop-in is aggravating, though, and probably the worst I’ve seen since Elden Ring. It’s not game breaking and nothing I would swap out of Performance Mode for, but man is it distracting. I know there’s a patch coming to address some Performance Mode graphical issues, but it definitely speaks to a wider problem with big budget games that we still have to sacrifice graphics for a solid framerate despite the increased technical capabilities of consoles. I’m looking forward to seeing what else the game has in store as I progress, and I’ll hopefully have a proper review of this title in a couple weeks. – Leah

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Feb 25 – Mar 2 appeared first on oprainfall.

After playing through and reviewing Sympathy Kiss recently, I found myself starting to slip back into a slump and wasn’t sure what I would even enjoy next. It’s part of the reason I play otome so sparingly. Like I mentioned in my review, I tend to get extremely absorbed into otome and have a hard time stepping away. But also, once I’m done with a good one, I typically just don’t know what to do afterwards, or what actually sounds fun. And thus, rather than stew in that slump forever, I decided to play even more otome. Probably not the wisest decision, but I ended up in the mood for more and I had one on hand that I needed to finish, Piofiore: Fated Memories. When I first played and eventually put down Fated Memories, I had done all but two routes, Gilbert’s and the happy ending no specific guy route. Plus there were a handful of extras I hadn’t checked out.

Gilbert was my favorite of all the choices at the start just based on his design. However, he is also a forced last choice and I was anxious to finally play his route. It turns out, after going through his path and seeing more of him, he is definitely my favorite Piofiore guy. Recently, I also picked up a copy of Piofiore: Episodio 1926 as well. I wasn’t planning on buying it just yet, but it seemed like physical copies were starting to disappear, so I went ahead and bought it before it was too late. After finishing the last two routes and some extras in Fated Memories, I finally started Episodio. Episodio 1926 lets you choose any guy’s route to start and they play as direct sequels to Fated Memories‘ best endings. So far I’ve played Gilbert’s, Orlok’s and Nicola’s route. Gilbert and Orlok I’ve already blindly run into the bad endings first and went back with a guide to get the good endings. Nicola’s, I only just finished last night and haven’t gone back through for the good ending yet. Gilbert’s new route made me love him even more than I already did. In Fated Memories his path was pretty short and tame, so I enjoyed that you got to hang out with him a lot more as a couple with the main girl in Episodio. His sequel route is everything I wanted, he’s simply the best guy in the whole game in my opinion.

The only thing about Piofiore I haven’t enjoyed, is the sheer amount of grammar issues, typos and just overall unfixed mistakes which are all over the place. I’m happy so much otome is localized these days and that the Switch has no shortage of it to enjoy. But, I really wish more time was spent on each one and they were put out without such a ridiculous barrage of typos and incorrect, never fixed grammar. I thought Fated Memories was bad enough as is, but at least that game isn’t version 1.0.0 like the sequel, so something was fixed. Not to mention, every sentence was complete. Thus far in Episodio 1926, I’ve run into quite a few lines where it just cuts off. No sentence ender with punctuation, only a cliffhanger of a line. And sometimes the main character’s speech box will cut off where she’s talking to someone and then continue into a thought bubble next. Or, she’s talking to someone and then thinking to herself partially in the speaking text box, only for it to cut off and continue in the thinking more narrative style box. Plus, I ran into one line (pictured above) where parts of the sentence were repeated multiple times so it says a whole lot of nothing, which left me quite confused. Not only that, but like I mentioned before, Episodio is still version 1.0.0 and didn’t have a single patch. Which means, no one went back to fix even a fraction of the issues after launch. It’d be nice if these otome games had significantly better quality control and editing, or that anyone even tried to fix them after launch and didn’t forever leave them so horrendously bad. – Jenae

With Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth right around the corner, it was finally time to tackle a game that has been in my backlog for over a decade: Crisis Core. Thankfully I didn’t have to drag out a PSP for this one, as the remaster is readily available, so my sister and I spent a little over a week blowing through the story of Zack Fair and his merry band of visual kei wannabes. Actually I’m sorry, I’m being a little harsh and a bit unfair. But to say this entry into the VII franchise left me underwhelmed and disappointed would be an understatement.

First, though, the good. Visually, the game is quite gorgeous, with some particularly stunning locales and set pieces, great lighting and cutscene choreography, and the models all look expressive and lively, especially Zack. The music is great, but that should go without saying. I didn’t mind the combat overall, or the way the Digital Mind Wave (DMW) reels played into the actual story. If anything, that was a master stroke of genius. The RNG elements to literally everything else, including leveling, I could have done without, though. Zack himself was likeable and fun, and his puppy dog attitude and fish out of water responses to the more outrageous stuff happening around him made him relatable when everything else started going off the rails. His budding relationship with Aerith was cute, and the little we got between him and the Turks was a nice bit of characterization for a group of antagonists I really had no previous investment in. Cadet Cloud was refreshingly stupid, and I liked Tifa’s attempts to ask about the “blond SOLIDER” without giving away who she was asking about. All very adorable and well done. The final setpiece of the game was legitimately amazing and such a brilliant blend of narrative and gameplay that it actually pulled at my heart strings. It’s hard to overstate how well that sequence was done.

Unfortunately, the rest of the narrative up to that point fell incredibly flat for me. I hated everything to do with Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth. I don’t fault the game for wanting to introduce new elements to the world, or even a self-contained villain, but I could not get behind this plot at all. We didn’t spend enough time with Angeal to care about him before he left, nor did we see nearly enough of the three of them together to believe they had any real connection. I think the idea of a failed experiment before Sephiroth could have been really interesting, but I disliked the way this game handled that, and it felt far too derivative. In the end, rather than being a foil for Sephiroth, Genesis undermined what little I actually liked about his story. And all this was happening while the game actively did not do the one thing I wanted from it – give me Zack and Cloud bonding. I am not a big FFVII fan. I do not stan this game. I’m not particularly fond of the OG. But “we’re friends, right?” has lived rent free in my head for over two decades, and all I wanted from Crisis Core was to give me a reason to believe that line. And I never got it. We spent so much time with Angeal and Genesis and Sephiroth but not enough building the emotional core of Zack and Cloud, and when I finally put the game down I just felt like I’d wasted my time. Glad I played it so I have the context, and again, that final setpiece was worth going through everything else for, but the emotional and narrative throughline that I wanted never came to fruition, and that’s a shame.

Looking forward to Rebirth, though. – Leah

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Feb 18 – 24 appeared first on oprainfall.

I made a lot of progress in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth this past week. I’ve been absolutely glued and loving the game so far. It’s nice finally being sucked into something again. I go for so long, somewhat burnt out, not really feeling like anything, and then a new Yakuza game comes out and I’m completely glued again. I’ve done a ton of stuff in the game at this point and I’m in the middle of Chapter 9 now. I spent a long time in the beginning of the game, checking out Hawaii, doing some substories, getting important things unlocked like the Street Surfer and various jobs, etc.

It took me a while to get going, making money at the start was pretty difficult. First, I worked on getting my Sujimon team put together and tried to get into that a little bit. I figure any big side thing like that will eventually lead to a lot of money if you just spend some time on it. After that, I also spent quite a bit of time on Dondoko Island. You unlock Dondoko through the story, but you only have to spend 3 fictional days there before you can move on. I spent a good two weeks there and made the place a 1-star resort before I left. Dondoko Island is great for making money and that’s what really got me going. After I got cash from making the place a 1-star resort, I went back and raised a few personality stats to unlock all of the available jobs at the time. I’m now in Chapter 9, about to go back there and make some more money.

See where I’m at now, Kiryu headed back to Japan and has his own party and Ichiban is in Hawaii with his still. Chapter 9 got a little hectic, so I stole some equipment from my Kiryu team temporarily. It’s really nice that you just have access to all your stuff no matter which party you’re currently with. Unlike Yakuza 0, where whenever you switched between Majima and Kiryu, they each had their own inventories and cash on hand and you had to transfer money through an NPC and put items in a shared storage. So yeah, I temporarily stole some equipment off my inactive party. Now that I’m past the hectic beginning part of this chapter however, I’m getting ready to head back to Dondoko Island and do some sidequesting stuff again so I can make the necessary money to get the whole gang all properly equipped.

I’m loving all the main characters in Infinite Wealth. I feel like the new characters have so much more personality than a lot of Yakuza 7‘s party characters did. Plus, I feel like you get to know certain returning party members quite a bit better. Also, in the past I was always partial to Majima and Akiyama a little more than Kiryu. I mean, after the seventh game, I liked Kiryu much more than Ichiban, yet he still wasn’t my fave among the series. But there’s just something about Kiryu in Infinite Wealth, the way he acts and the things he says. I’m quite amused with this latest iteration of Kiryu and I think he’s the best he’s been in any Yakuza game ever. Overall, I’m having a blast with Infinite Wealth and can’t wait to play some more. – Jenae

I spent most of this week playing Persona 3 Reload. I’ve gotten about 23 hours in and so far there hasn’t been a lot changed story wise from the previous releases. There are some changes to the story I’ve seen posted from later on, but I’ll reserve judgment for those when I see them in context.

The gameplay and graphical style have been vastly upgraded, and honestly I love how most of it has turned out so far. Tartarus has been redone in a more 3D style and honestly the three sections I’ve been in look fantastic. They have added some new items to find and some new chests that require you to find Twilight Fragments. I would suggest anyone playing hold on to these until you see a chest that requires three of them to open, you get much better items out of these.

I think removing the fatigue mechanic has made the game a bit easier, and throwing in the baton pass from Persona 5 and some new super moves has further made the difficulty here a non issue. If you want a more true experience to the original Persona 3 or FES, I’d suggest starting on a difficulty of hard or greater. That said, I’m enjoying my time so far and we’ll see how I feel when I reach the end of this journey. – Steve

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Jan 28 – Feb 3 appeared first on oprainfall.

At the start of this past week I finally went ahead and finished up Like a Dragon Gaiden. It was Infinite Wealth launch week and I wanted to be ready. There was still some leftover side stuff I would’ve liked to do first, but it was more important for me to finish up the main story and see how things go for Kiryu leading up to the latest game. I really enjoyed Gaiden overall. It was short, but it was a nice little entry and I had a lot of fun playing it. I definitely think it’s something fans of the series should check out before the eighth mainline game.

My copy of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth showed up a bit late on Friday, but it got there in time to start that night. I was also pleasantly surprised that it came with a small double-sided poster, which I didn’t see mentioned in any promotional info beforehand. I went through all of the early game Yokohama stuff and have only just begun exploring Hawaii. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Ichiban. I didn’t find myself as enthralled with Yakuza 7 as the rest of the Yakuza series, the story just wasn’t quite as exciting for me. At least not until certain returning characters showed up. It’s also a little surprising that despite RPGs being my absolute favorite game genre, I find myself preferring Yakuza‘s original gameplay style. It simply seems to suit it better in my opinion.

However, thus far I feel like Infinite Wealth will be much better. Having Kiryu in the game helps and overall the big trip to Hawaii is making things a lot more exciting for me. I’m looking forward to checking out all the new minigames and side content, not to mention seeing where the story goes. Battles still aren’t the most exciting compared to some other RPGs, but there do seem to be improvements, such as with there being more nearby scenery interaction than before and the ability to manually move around during battles. I’m still not very far, I believe I’m about to head back to the house Ichiban was at before from the return address on the envelope, this time with Kiryu. I was checking out some substories in the area before heading off. – Jenae

On the road leading up to Infinite Wealth‘s launch, my sister and I continued our retro game replays, this time visiting a couple SNES classics. First on the docket was Lagoon, a favorite of my husband’s that I never played as a child. In the same vein as Ys, Lagoon is an Action RPG that clearly started life as bump combat but was changed to manual slashing when ported to the Super Nintendo. Unlike Ys, Lagoon did not age as well – at least in my opinion. The story here is similarly refreshingly straightforward with an attempt at a twist and a moral at the end, but it’s basically just chosen hero go out in the world narrative, and that’s fine. There’s plenty of locales to explore and I actually liked Lagoon‘s multiple races more than Ys‘ standard towns. It’s all aesthetic, but I’m a fan of fantasy races so it was nice seeing a smattering of them here. Unfortunately, it’s probably the only thing Lagoon has going for it when compared to other old ARPGs. The music was fine (I’m a huge fan of the start screen tune, for instance), but it’s hard to compare to Nihon Falcom. There’s plenty of variety in locations, but you spend so little time in them they feel like you blink and miss them. There’s little quality of life tweaks you don’t realize how much they add to the experience until they’re not there. For instance, you have almost no feedback when you take damage. Nasir’s sprite will flash, but there’s no audible indication you’ve been hit, and there were times I found myself not realizing I’d taken damage because I thought the sprite flickering was the enemy. Your NPC companion moves so slow as to be a hindrance the few times he joins up with you. Nasir can learn multiple elemental spells and obtains multiple rods that power up those spells, but I found no real reason to engage with the magic system outside using a simple fireball or wind strike. I forgive it a lot for how old it is, but considering Lagoon was contemporaneous with Final Fantasy IV, I can’t give it too much of a pass. That being said, I had a lot of fun with this game even with its frustrating difficulty curves and off-center combat. This is a classic RPG for a reason and I’m glad I played it.

After Lagoon, we started up Lufia 2. I’ve never played Lufia, but this is one of the few games I’m willing to play out of order on the suggestion of my husband, who feels the games work better this way. So far it’s incredibly fun – much more so than Lagoon. A more traditional RPG with turn-based combat and parties, Lufia 2 is a gorgeous game with fantastic music. It’s difficult but not unfair (so far) and I love the presentation. The sprite work is particularly gorgeous. We’ve only completed the first real dungeon and are heading to our third town after defeating a giant catfish, but I’m curious to see how the very basic narrative hook is going to build into something larger.

Now for the meat of my week: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. I’ll be writing up a much more complete review once I finish the game, but I’ve got some thoughts based on my first 20 hours with this eighth mainline Yakuza title. Unlike Jenae, Ichiban is my favorite franchise character, so I was incredibly happy to have him back and catch back up after the events of Like a Dragon, which I adored. (I was also a huge fan of Gaiden.) It’s been three years since the events of Yakuza 7 and Ichiban’s having a bit of a rough time. His prospects pick up a bit and he finds himself heading to Hawaii, where circumstances force him and the Dragon of Dojima himself into a mutual partnership.

Exploring Honolulu City has been a blast. I love the detail Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio puts in its locations, and Aloha Beach is no different. Not only are the locations gorgeously rendered, but the team tackles the same down and dirty issues and themes the Yakuza series is known for: homelessness, police corruption, gang warfare, social disparities, family – it’s all here. The Like a Dragon series is one of the best at taking a deep dive into the human condition, and Infinite Wealth is no exception.

Battles have also been lovingly updated with some nice quality of life features. You can now move around freely within a specific range, giving you the option to set up attack combos with your friends. Your attacks can shove enemies in a specific direction, and shoving them into your teammates will cause your teammates to join in the attack for extra damage. You can also knock enemies into the environment for additional damage, or into other bad guys to deal damage to other baddies. If you attack an enemy from close enough, you also get a proximity bonus. Attacking from behind deals higher damage and can circumvent shields. It’s a small addition, but the movement adds a lot of consideration for how to handle battles. One of my absolute favorite additions is the Smackdown. If Ichiban and company engage in combat with blue icon’d enemies, they will immediately win the battle. This removes the tedium of fighting low-level enemies while providing the money and experience you’d get otherwise. Star Ocean The Second Story R implemented something similar with its Bodyguard ability, and I think it’s the single best QoL feature for RPGs and should be standard.

I do have some quibbles with the game, though. You can access a podcast early on in the game that is not subtitled nor translated, so unless you can understand Japanese you won’t be following along. There’s an English language version podcast once you hit Hawaii that is also not subtitled, so I supposed RGG was going for authenticity and both languages miss out on something. The podcast also pauses whenever you open your menu or the map, and every time you get into battles – and there are a LOT of battles – leading to me just not even bothering trying to listen to the English podcast either. It’s too hard to follow along. While in Hawaii you can also access a scooter to zoom around Honolulu City, but you can’t interact with anything while on it, so if you’re trying to collect the items scattered around the region, or greeting anyone on the street, you’re better off walking.

Overall I’m having a blast with Infinite Wealth and can’t wait to jump back into it. The game plays beautifully on PS5, Xbox Series S and PC, so you can’t really go wrong with any platform of your choice. I’ll have a full review later but until then, this is definitely worth checking out. – Leah

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Jan 21 – 27 appeared first on oprainfall.

It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve added to a Week in Gaming article. We skipped a couple weeks around the holidays and then last week, well I was at the very beginning of a not so great cold. Not to mention, honestly I haven’t been doing a ton of gaming lately in general. I was getting into other stuff before I was sick and having a hard time getting really absorbed back into any one game. Being that I’ve been sick this past week, I still haven’t actually played much, but I do have a smidgen to discuss. First of all, I never really put down and stop playing mahjong phone games for any extended periods of time. I’ve been playing a lot of Riichi City as always. Recently, I’m on a pretty significant losing streak which has been frustrating. However, it’s Riichi City‘s second anniversary and I got some of my yearly stats. They’re a lot better looking than the overall results of my most recent ten matches, and I found out that I played even more mahjong than I thought last year. In addition to Riichi City, I’ve also been slowly getting back into Stardew Valley. I got back into my very early game, beach farm path. I plan for it to be my very first Joja path. Later this upcoming week, I’m hoping to finish up Like a Dragon Gaiden finally so I’m ready for Infinite Wealth on launch day. I had been holding off near the very end of the game because I still wanted to do more sidequests. Now I don’t really have time to run around doing side stuff anymore. – Jenae

I was all over the place gaming this week. I started the week off checking out the JAST release of Goblins on the March: Breed all Humans. This one is a very simple title, but the artwork here is top tier. I’ll have a full review coming this week for those interested in taking your horde and conquering some maidens.

A good part of the week was spent playing Blue Archive as well. I skipped through some story I will have to go back and read to get more rolls on Swimsuit Hina, which I had to get off of pity this time. Kinda sucked that I had to use that many resources for this, but I got a few other three star girls along the way who I love as well, Reisa is just adorable as hell! I’m pretty stoked for the upcoming events and the anime. Blue Archive has one of the best stories of any gacha game, so this should turn out really well.

The rest of the time was spent with the Switch release of Neptunia: Sisters vs. Sisters. I’ll have a review posted this week for this one as well. -Steve

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Jan 14 – 20 appeared first on oprainfall.

It’s been a while but we’re back from the holidays, and with it some ponderings on a slew of games played during the end of the year!

My sister and I spent the holiday playing the first three Ys games on the Turbografx CD, courtesy of the new Analogue Duo I bought for my husband. Ys is a series I’ve often said I wanted to check out but never bothered because there are so many games and the continuity was slightly confusing. The first three games are ones my husband played a long time ago and remembers fondly, so we finally just said screw it and started from the beginning (without owning an actual PC88, that is.) I can definitively say I do not like bump combat, so I let my sister play the majority of Ys I and II. I appreciate the simplicity of that game design, I’m just far too impatient for it. Ys II‘s addition of magic helped, but it was still overall not my cup of tea. Bump combat aside, the first two Ys games were incredibly charming in their presentation, with lovely sprite work and portraits that felt nostalgic despite me never having played them in the past. They definitely evoked that sense of 80s aesthetic I grew up with though, and the straightforward story only added to that feeling. There was no grand sweeping narrative, no major plot twists, no deep and misunderstood villain. It was just Adol the adventurer, doing his best to save the folks who needed his help. That’s not to say Ys I and II lacked a story or didn’t have anything to say about the fallibility of humans and the ways hubris can fracture otherwise utopian worlds, but compared to modern standards, it’s pretty quaint.

Ys III was a major departure from Ys I and II, both in story and gameplay. I played the majority of this one, since I preferred the side-scrolling action compared to the overhead bump combat, and I’ve gotta say it was both incredibly fun and incredibly infuriating at times. Some of the boss designs were just flat out unfair for the style of combat, and I banged my head against it longer than I would like (I’m looking at you, hidden cave boss with the bullshit teleporting crystals).  Having rescued Ys from evil, Adol and Dogi continue their adventures, this time heading to Dogi’s homeland after hearing of nefarious things happening there. An ancient evil is being resurrected (as you do) and Adol takes it upon himself to help Dogi’s village. This will take him through mines, up a mountain, into the pit of a volcano, and deep into the heart of a corrupt empire. Again, not the most convoluted story, but a satisfying one in its simplicity. The characters are silly and suffer from some particularly bad voice acting, especially compared to Ys I and II, but the gameplay is solid and responsive. I had a blast with this one, and it’s definitely the kind of game I’m glad I played with others around so I could kvetch and laugh in equal parts with everyone else.

I would be remiss not to touch on how phenomenal the music was in all three of these games. Straight bangers the whole way through, and I can see why Nihon Falcom has the reputation it does for producing games with magnificent soundtracks. I’m looking forward to advancing through the rest of the series soon.

Continuing with the Analogue Duo, we also spent an hour or so with the charming Dragon Half board game on the Turbo CD. Seeing as the game does not have an English patch, we fumbled through to the best of our ability, but even not knowing what we were doing, the game was a lot of fun. Dragon Half features an eclectic cast of characters, and each of them break off to form four different teams that players control. You roll dice to advance around the board, which is just an arrangement of towns and castles, where you can buy items, get into fights, or take on quests, depending on the color square you land on. Blue tiles are shops and quests; yellow tiles are events – both good and bad – and red tiles are battles. Battles are played out using RNG, with the enemy and player taking turns. At the start of each round, there’s a character screen with the enemy and your team, under which is a power bar that ebbs and flows. You determine how well your team will do by timing pressing Button I such that the enemy has fewer bars and you have more bars under your character. Once that’s decided, the battle plays out automatically. If you have less power than the enemy, your team will often make mistakes, either falling down and missing the enemy, or sometimes damaging your own party instead. This mechanic can also work in your favor if the enemy has less power than you on its turn. Once you win, you earn money and experience. You’ll need money to buy the items quest givers ask for, so it’s a fun gameplay loop regardless of your level of Japanese understanding. I’d love to see an English patch of this so I can better know what I’m doing, but it was a ton of fun even with my beginner-level Japanese thanks to the animations and voice acting. If you’re a fan of Dragon Half, this game’s a hoot. – Leah

Super Mario Bros. 3

Before the holiday week, I had continued my slow and steady foray through SMB 3, crashing and burning plenty, yet it was a fun bit of gaming. Mostly fun, thankfully, however moments of actual frustration did pop up from time to time. I have to say, some of the stage designs are particularly obnoxious, probably on purpose too, having taken me several tries to figure out the necessary timing or platforming sequence to successfully get through. The forts in Worlds 4 and 5 were the main culprits of my difficulties then. I’m glad stockpiling lives is fairly easy, so far at least. Anyway, I managed to complete World 4 and make it through both of World 5’s maps as well.

I also wish to share, what has impressed me from the start are the graphics. I had forgotten how good this game can look. It’s no Kirby’s Adventure, yet SMB 3 has its moments where I can’t help but to appreciate the thought that went into particular designs. And with the cleverness and creativity of the world themes, stage designs, and enemy designs, you have a notable visual achievement here.

Another observation, it was at this point when the game started to distinctly feel more challenging. Fewer easy stages in which I could complete without taking a hit, more stages and forts where I’ll fail several times before making it through. Worlds 7 and 8, I’m fearing, will be a nightmare for me.

Unfortunately, once the holidays came about, my playthrough came to a halt. Not because of a lack of time, but because I couldn’t muster the want to do so. For several years now the holidays haven’t felt like they used to. I no longer look forward to them and the resultant depression is real. I can only hope the scales tip for the better sooner rather than later, as I would very much like to game, but at the same time, I don’t feel like it, and that feeling is currently the greater of the clashing two. – Drew D.

This week in gaming I finally finished up the very first Ys title. I decided to play the Chronicles version on Steam and I had a lot of fun with it. Though that last tower was a real pain in the ass with all the backtracking and such. Looking forward to digging into Ys II when I get a chance.

The other game I played last week was AEW: Fight Forever. I ended up getting a very late review copy of this and I have to say the game overall is pretty fun. It plays a lot like the N64 wrestling games such as WCW vs. nWo: World Tour, but has been greatly modernized. There are a good number of customization options and the story mode here is pretty fun as well. There are something I’ve found lacking here but I will go into more of that when I write up the full review this week.

Also on tap this week, Goblins! I guess Goblin Slayer lost in this world! – Steve

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Jan 7 – 13 appeared first on oprainfall.

Currently Airing:

Sasaki and Peeps

The series is the based off of a light novel that I honestly never heard of before. I read the description of it and decided it might be something worth trying. After watching the first two episodes (the first episode which is longer than a normal one) I think that the description doesn’t really do it justice. To be fair there is a lot going on in this one. It follows an almost 40 year old average office worker named Sasaki. On a whim he decides to get a pet and ends up taking home a bird he finds cute. From there things start getting crazy with his new pet being more than a normal bird. Being able to go into another world, Sasaki finds success trading things from home to this new world. He takes advantage and becomes quite the businessman there and learns some magic. While things are going smooth for Sasaki in his new life he ends up seeing an attack in our world by a killer and decides to intervene. From there Sasaki’s life takes another turn.

As a character I like Sasaki and identify with him at times. He would rather have a relaxed slow life and follow others, but things change quite a bit. The series has some good humorous moments in it so far. It’s something that I have to say is interesting which all the angles there are to it. This is will definitely be something I’m going to follow this season. – Walter

— You can watch Sasaki and Peeps on Crunchyroll.

Urusei Yatsura

Lum is back, hooray! Season 2 kicks off with a silly gimmick episode. Ten is playing with chewing gum that, when blown into a bubble, will recreate anything you think of. Ataru of course steals the gum for nefarious purposes – namely recreating the women in his life so he can ogle them. Lum, understandably, does not take kindly to this idea and hatches a plan to get back at him. It backfires in typical Urusei Yatsura fashion. I love these kinds of hijinks and they’re what make the show such a joy to watch, especially when paired with david productions’ stellar use of color and texture. The second half of the episode sees Lum suffering from temporary language loss after Ataru hits her in the head with a rice cooker. She can’t remember Japanese, and so can’t communicate with anyone. This upsets everyone at school except Ataru, who of course tries taking advantage of his interstellar girlfriend’s amnesia to try and hook up with other girls. Despite the circumstances of the episode and the heavy comedic bend, there were some genuinely tender moments here. One of my favorite things about Takahashi properties is the way she can so seamlessly blend comedy and romance, and that’s on display here. I’m really looking forward to what’s in store for the rest of this season. – Leah

You can watch Urusei Yatsura on HIDIVE.

What anime are you watching? What manga and light novels are you reading? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Anime & Manga entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Anime & Manga: Jan 7 – 13 appeared first on oprainfall.

Super Mario Bros. 3

This week, I didn’t get to play too much, but I did complete World 3 and some of 4. I should have mentioned last week; I’m playing through this by completing every stage without the use of warping or P Wings. My hopes with this playthrough are to appreciate every stage’s design, secrets, and challenge, and to gain a renewed awe for a game that provided so much fun in my childhood.

I continue to be pretty terrible at it, though. My rusted skills don’t seem to be improving, most likely due to my inability to commit serious time to the game. Or I’m just getting older. Nonetheless, I’m enjoying all of the pleasant reminders of why I loved this game so much. That nostalgia factor is just one reason why I also love retro gaming in general.

A slight tangent now, earlier this week I was casually looking at my collection of Game Boy games and something came over me. I was remembering when I had gotten several of the games I was looking at and realized that I would never get to experience the feeling of purchasing or receiving a new Game Boy cartridge ever again. Yes I know, this isn’t quite a unique feeling, as systems have come and gone, but the Game Boy’s lifespan was quite long and was a large part of my young gaming life. It was a moment of…sadness? Loss? Longing, I think is the best way to describe it, though I did feel hints of those other feelings, too. It was strange, knowing I would never again get to look forward to the release of a new, physical Game Boy game. Nor opening the box, popping open the plastic case, or, as I often did, read the instruction booklet.

Just another indication that I’m getting older and time goes on. – Drew D.

This week in gaming I split my time between a couple of interesting titles. The first was YS 1 & 2 Chronicles. I’d never played a version of this despite playing other entries in the series, so I thought I’d give it a go. The bump mechanic is a little strange at first but it does work well overall. The game isn’t overly difficult, though there was one boss battle that gave me fits for a few minutes til I figured out exactly how to handle him. I’m just about to wrap-up the first game here, and I look forward to getting back to this later in the week.

The other game I’ve been into, Custom Mech Wars from D3 Publisher. I decided to take this one on for review cause I love mechs and EDF, so I figured this would be a mix of the two. It sorta is, but I think the mission structure could be a bit a better. I do love the almost infinite amount of ways you can customize your mechs, and the gameplay is pretty decent so far. I’ll hopefully have a full review of this one next week. -Steve

River City Rival Showdown

It’s not a secret that I have a huge soft spot for Kunio and Kunio-related games, so when the River City Rival Showdown remaster was announced for the Switch, naturally, I was interested and I picked up a copy. I loved the original version on the 3DS and I am happy to report that the game still plays well on the Switch. This game is just a real vibe with a very simple yet addicting gameplay loop. You have three days to explore town, complete quests and level up your character by beating up other gang members and delinquents. The sprites look more crisp than on the 3DS and the relatively lowpoly look works for the game giving it a rather distinct style compared to other modern beat em ups. What I forgot was just how much lore and worldbuilding is buried in this game. Just about every NPC has something to say and a lot of it further fleshes out the characters and the setting they’re in. It can be a lot to take in especially on a first playthrough, as you are trying to keep track of who is who. Still, the game lends itself quite nicely to replays as you likely won’t find or experience every event in one playthrough. There are even multiple endings based on your decisions throughout your journey. It’s a rather unique title overall and I was happy to revisit it. I’ll probably stream this one of these days. – Justin

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve added to one of these. Honestly, I’m somewhat back in one of my gaming slumps, or at least I had been most of these last few weeks, but I’ve been playing little bits here and there. A week or two ago, I was playing various Tetris games I have on Switch simply to pass a little time when I wasn’t sure what else I felt like. And of course I’ve still been keeping up with mahjong on my phone. I actually just got a great achievement the other day in Riichi City. I got their The Path to God achievement after coming in 1st and/or 2nd place for ten 4-player matches in a row. I was one win away from the next ranked room after that, but I had two losses and now I’m not quite there yet. In addition to this, most recently I’ve been trying to get back into Atelier Ryza 2. I’ve been playing Ryza 2 on and off for the last few years. I’m not sure why I can’t seem to ever finish it, but I’m enjoying playing it again. However, I’ve realized that all of my current character sidequests, which show up in the main story tab, are quite a bit further ahead than the actual main story. A couple of these sidequests require me to craft certain things through alchemy which require materials I’m not even far enough in the story to gather yet. Ultimately, I’m not super sucked into anything right now, but I’ve been cutting back enough on games during this latest slump, I should be playing a little bit more now. I’ve enjoyed getting back into Ryza 2 again. – Jenae

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Dec 10 – 16 appeared first on oprainfall.

Currently Airing:

Dark Gathering

I got a little behind so I had to catch myself up with the series. The last few episodes really began to tell us more about the new antagonists and along with them becoming known to Yayoi and the others. If you like back stories of the spirits, the graduate and the spirit at the water gate were just as dark as should be expected by this point. The battle was pretty intense and the abilities of the graduate were interesting. I did like that they showed that even though captured by Yayoi, the graduates are still very dangerous and not easy to control. I was happy seeing the castle ghost make an appearance again. While the show usually focuses on Keitaro, the newest episode instead follows Yayoi instead and without Eiko too. I kind of liked that it follows her going to school and seeing her classmates, who not surprisingly think she’s kind of odd. Things are not going to be calm though, as we get introduced to a girl at her school who has been plotting something with one of the spirits at the school. The back story on that one is dark of course too. I did like the situation with this one since it reminded me a bit of Corpse Party. I hope that we do see more of Yayoi and her classmates in the future, depending on how many make it. – Walter

— You can watch Dark Gathering on HIDIVE.

What anime are you watching? What manga and light novels are you reading? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Anime & Manga entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Anime & Manga: Dec 10 – 16 appeared first on oprainfall.

Super Mario Bros. 3

It’s been ages since I last played any of the NES Super Mario titles, as I’d sooner reach for Kirby’s Adventure when feeling the urge for a retro romp, yet I’ve had the want to revisit SMB 3 for some time now. I honestly can’t remember the last time I played it, but it was definitely on my NES rather than any kind of eShop offering, as they weren’t yet available, so, yeah, it’s been a long time.

And as I expected, I’m pretty terrible at it. While I do remember the layouts of several of the stages in World 1, that’s about all I remember. Sure, I can also tell you where the pink note blocks are, as well as the two warp whistles, but I’ve forgotten what you have to do in stage 4 to get the white mushroom house. Nor do I remember the requirements to get the N Cards to appear (though one did show up). I can also vaguely remember that you can get a white coin boat to appear in World 1, but also that the requirements are pretty ridiculous.

Maybe I’ll look at a walkthrough or something over on gamefaqs at a later time. For now, I’ll slowly make my way through this with rusted skills and gratitude for a save ability in these newer renditions, all the while remembering the fun I had from what feels like a lifetime ago. – Drew D.

I spent most of this week finishing up Yohane the Parhelion: -BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE-. I’ll have a full review coming shortly, but I played enough of it to 100% the map if that says anything about how I felt about it.

After that I decided to go back to past and check out Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. I own this in the collection they put on the PlayStation a few years ago, but I wanted to see how the PC-Engine release was since I was never able to play this as kid. I did own Cosmic Fantasy 2 though, which is still one of my favorite games of all time. Anyways, when I started this out I forgot just how hard OG Castlevania was; I died quite a few times until I got used to attack ranges and how the enemies moved.

I played through the first four stages so far, and I was told I could unlock Maria as a playable character and she was very overpowered. I had to see this for myself, and I can confirm she is very much that. A better ranged attack, better sub weapons, double jump and she can even heal herself. I’m pretty hooked on this and I’ll probably play the PlayStation 4 collection after this to see what changes were made. – Steve

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Dec 3 – 9 appeared first on oprainfall.

After finishing up Gears of Dragoon I decided to move on to VenusBlood GAIA. I loved the previous two releases, so I had pretty high expectations going into this one and so far I’m pretty pleased. The story here follows Archduke Theofrad who has discovered a new energy source to help bring back his dying world. The Holy Dragon Empire Granleyd doesn’t like this and has declared war on him and the Sorcerous City of Energeia. Theofrad is willing to take on the empire and the rest of the world if it means he can save them from certain doom!

While I am loving the story and characters, there has been a huge change in the gameplay here as well. In the previous games you would move squads and formations around on a map taking nodes on it. VenusBlood GAIA changes this up to be more of a tower defense type of game that is turn based. You will have to defeat would-be invaders in the labyrinth under the city. This is done by placing units and traps to slow their progress and planning out how to deal with surface units as well.

I’m still pretty early on in the game, and I’m doing the Law Route first, so we’ll see if my feeling change on this by the end of both routes. – Steve

So I’m back to Star Ocean: The Second Story R now that I’ve wrapped up Like a Dragon Gaiden. I finally advanced the story to the second continent despite only levelling up to around 45 or so, but I was eager to get to the Laceur tournament sequence and recruiting Precis in Linga. Booting up this game seriously feels like coming home. It’s comfy and familiar and everything I remember from the PS1 days, but with really welcome quality of life changes that my 20-plus year older self appreciates immensely. I just don’t have the time to grind in the Lasgus Mountains like I did when I was 17. The Bodyguard skill has been a godsend, and is honestly one of the best features in SO2R that I think other RPGs with world maps should adopt. It’s the only game other than Earthbound I’ve seen that lets you immediately win fights without entering battle and I cannot fathom how this has never become standard fare after all these years. I’m also head over heels in love with the fact I can see my relationship status with my team now, so I don’t have to wait until the end of the game to know what character ending I’m actually going to get. Right now I’m on an Ashton/Rena trajectory, but knowing I can course correct at any time because I can see where my relationships all stand is spectacular. There is something to be said for the original PS1 version’s opaque systems, but again, I just don’t have the time I used to to have for needless fiddling and bullshit. I’ll still likely end up using love potions near the end just to see other character endings but knowing where I’m at is wonderful.

In the real world, I also got to visit a neat arcade! It’s called Robot City and is a comfy little store-plus-arcade setup in Binghamton, N.Y. with an assortment of pinball machines and classic arcade titles. It’s also the only place I’ve ever seen a Baby Pac-Man exist. I’ve never seen one in person, let alone played one, so having the chance to was neat. The game itself was mediocre (and I’m crap at Pac-Man to begin with), but the novelty of it was worthwhile and a nice surprise. My son thought it was the coolest thing. It’s nice being able to visit hole-in-the-wall arcades still, and this place had a very nice vibe. The store was well-kept with a decent stock of games from Atari up through PS5, while the arcade was dimly lit and a little crowded, so it gave off a really comfy atmosphere. If you’re ever in the Southern Tier region, it’s worth checking out. – Leah

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Nov 19 – 25 appeared first on oprainfall.

Currently Airing:

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off!

I finally got around to finishing the Netflix Scott Pilgrim anime and as a longtime fan of the series, it was great! Science Saru really knocked it out of the park capturing the comic’s look and translating that into gorgeous fight scenes and set pieces. The show is absolutely a love letter to this story, told in a way that I found incredibly refreshing. I would say that if you’re unfamiliar with the Scott Pilgrim comics or movie, you can absolutely jump in here and still get the full story, but I think it benefits from having previous knowledge of the canon. That being said, the animation on display here is some of the best, with a blend of styles and techniques that I expect from a cutting-edge studio like Science Saru. The fight scenes especially have some fantastic choreography and staging, and the way the team uses lighting to establish mood is beautiful. If I have one complaint it’s the forced focus effect they use, since it can sometimes be a bit nauseating how quickly a scene goes in and out of focus. As an experimental technique, though, I have to give Science Saru props. At any rate, this show was a ton of fun and I’m itching to give it a rewatch. I highly recommend it for old fans and even new ones, with the caveat that you should definitely at least watch the movie to get the full perspective on these characters and story. – Leah

— You can watch Scott Pilgrim Takes Off! on Netflix.

Anime of the Past:

Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island

This was one movie that I’ve been wanting to watch but didn’t have a chance to see until just now. The movie is set during the One Year War in the original series, and is a remake of an episode that became somewhat infamous. I have never seen the original, but having seen some screens of it, you can tell it was one of the times in the series that quality really dropped. With that being said, this movie is definitely for those who are fans of the original series. It does not really take any time to explain anything and more or less goes off that you already know about the characters and story, which is something that I kind of like. The animation for this looks great and does give the feel of the original, with the battles being quite good. The character of Doan was pretty interesting with the life he lives when we meet him and the conflict he has with his past unit. While I liked it, it is kind of weird to me that they turned a 20-something minute episode into a movie; especially one that of doesn’t really have any real connection to the main plot. That being said, I did think it was a pretty decent movie. – Walter

— You can watch Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island on Crunchyroll.

Manga and LNs:

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun

Since having caught up with the Japanese raws/ fan-translation, I’ve been doing a better job of keeping up with Iruma-kun. Things have certainly been happening, however most events, I feel, would have been difficult to talk about or go into detail here on our Week in Anime recaps. That is until this past week’s chapter, in which we get an Amelie focused chapter. Every so often, we get a chapter starring Iruma’s primary love interest from his harem/ not harem. These are always a fun read, as we get to see the normally straight-laced student council present show a wider range of emotions, especially when she has her moments with Iruma.

This chapter is a bit different from the other Amelie centered chapters, though, as this one actually stars her father, Henri, as he sneaks into the school and follows his daughter throughout her day. While doing so, he also reflects on Iruma’s achievements, wondering how in the Netherworld this seemingly innocuous boy, possibly a human as Henri suspects, has captured the attention of so many influential individuals. Having played a hand in many of the major events that have recently occurred in the Netherworld, the chapter ends on a cliffhanger, where Henri corners Iruma and Amelie and asks him…how Iruma feels about his daughter. Yup, that’s not awkward at all. – Drew D.

The Demon King’s Daughter is too Kind

This is a series I had come across over the summer and was hooked from the first chapter. The Demon King’s Daughter is too Kind is pure charm; a story that follows the demon king’s cute daughter, Dou, who is nothing like a demon at all. Dou seems to have the power to melt even the hardest of stone hearts, charming everyone she meets with her adorableness, as well as her genuine kindness to everyone she meets. There is never a dull moment with Dou, as she gets herself and her caretaker, Jahy, into perilous situations, only to delightfully use her altruism and lovable nature to comedically remedy any conflicts.

Lighthearted and uplifting, this is an easy recommendation for anyone looking for big doses of good nature and adorable humor. – Drew D.

The official English translation of Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is provided by Kodansha US
Japanese volumes of The Demon King’s Daughter is too Kind available on amazon.co.jp, fan- translation can be found on Mangadex

What anime are you watching? What manga and light novels are you reading? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Anime & Manga entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Anime & Manga: Nov 19 – 25 appeared first on oprainfall.

Currently Airing:
Dark Gathering

Having secured a home to keep their graduates and a new target, the gang decided to go pick up a graduate in hiding. This one was placed by Yayoi in a haunted love hotel, which is fitting for what we learn about this new graduate. One thing I have liked about the series is the set up of the haunted places and of the spirits themselves. I will say as bad as what happened at the hotel, I think it’s still not as terrible as what was shown to have happened at the house Yayoi and Eiko went to before this. Not surprisingly, Keitaro was the target, but I did like that he did most of the confrontation by himself. I am excited to see this new graduate in action, and liked its dialogue/threats with Keitaro. While I don’t think it really was a surprise when you have a series about the supernatural, the discussion at the end of the episode I think will bring some interesting stuff in the future. – Walter

— You can watch Dark Gathering on HIDIVE.

Goblin Slayer

I had to get caught up with this one after watching the season premiere. While I’m not up to date I’ve read quite a few of the light novels so I kind of knew of some of the moments to see this season. One thing that I do like about this part of the story is that other characters get their time in, and we see Goblin Slayer interacting more with others. Little things such as some of the previous seen rookies returning and getting some time was nice. One of my favorite scenes was seeing Goblin Slayer out with some other adventurers for a boy’s night. For this season, while I understand the point of the character, I will say the wizard boy is probably the character I like the least in the series. Even with the reveal of his backstory, I still couldn’t care less about him. That being said, the storyline in the elves, territory was one I was interested in seeing this season. While I am not surprised by it they did remember to include the swimsuit scene. As someone with deep interest in Fortean topics, I was also excited to see “the one who stops the river flow.” That and also the fact they ended an episode on Goblin Slayer’s question about elephants. I am liking the new themes, but I am usually a fan of Mili songs so I guess that’s not a surprise. I am interested to see how they finish off the season. – Walter

— You can watch Goblin Slayer on Crunchyroll.

Manga and LNs:

Ume and Momo’s Everyday Life

It’s been a while since the last one, so I was pleased to see a new chapter of Ume and Momo translated and made available this week. Chapter 19 sees Momo catching a cold and Ume being the loving big sister that she is. This one is pure charm, as we see Ume making sure Ume is properly eating and getting plenty of rest, though we do see a moment of hesitation when Ume is checking the prices of cold medicines. We hear you Ume, everything is more expensive everywhere… – Drew D.

Hitomi-chan Is Shy with Strangers

The last several chapters of Hitomi-chan have been quite the ride, pretty much since our heroine and Usami became an official couple. Firstly, I’m impressed that this didn’t take three-hundred chapters to get to this point and, secondly, the progression has been believable and immersive. One effect, however, is that the events and stories have been less about shyness and more about awkward situations. Perhaps now that Hitomi has grown into a more outgoing individual, and in a relationship with the person who has been with her along her journey, we’ll be seeing less of her shyness. And instead, we’ll have more in the ways of the two being put in ridiculous situations. A change, yes, though I have a feeling this shift in themes will work out just fine.

And despite having shared an onsen and, more recently, a bathtub together, the new couple finally had their actual big moment. No, nothing dirty, as this manga is appreciably all ages (sort of). Cliché summer festival, yukata, fireworks and all. – Drew D.

My Dog Becomes a Human (or, Ponta Becomes a Human)

Then there’s this nonsense again. The most recent chapter follows an afghan hound named Hibari with a dual-personality owner. A demon manager at work, she’s a swooner and completely at her dog’s mercy, as Hibari is fully self-absorbed and doesn’t like to interact with anyone. Though, even a dog like this needs attentions once in a while.

Yep, I’ll probably read the next one or two, but whether I’ll waste my words discussing it here is another question entirely… – Drew D.

Ume and Momo fan-translation can be found on Mangadex
The official English publication of Hitomi-chan is Shy with Strangers licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment. Fan-translations can be found on Mangadex.
My Dog Becomes a Human fan-translation can be found on Mangadex

What anime are you watching? What manga and light novels are you reading? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Anime & Manga entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Anime & Manga: Nov 12 – 18 appeared first on oprainfall.

This past week I’ve mostly been playing Fashion Dreamer and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Fashion Dreamer I don’t want to talk about yet because I’m going to be writing a review on that in the future. What I do wanna talk a bit about, is Like a Dragon Gaiden. Back when the next three, upcoming at the time, Yakuza / Like a Dragon games were announced, I think Gaiden was the one I was most looking forward to. Yakuza 7 I didn’t enjoy as much as the rest of the series, so at the time I wasn’t super excited about Infinite Wealth and for whatever reason, Ishin just wasn’t as exciting to me as Gaiden.

Now that the game is out, I’m having a lot of fun playing Gaiden. It is a little disappointing realizing it’s somewhat of a short in between game, it’s not a full sized Yakuza. But honestly, it doesn’t seem too much smaller than some prior mainline entries in the series, seeing as there have been a few shorter titles. Anyway, currently I believe I’m nearing the end of Chapter 2. I’ve been running around Sotenbori doing some side stuff for Akame and I just finished up my first trip to the Castle. I’m about to unlock the Coliseum as an extra thing to do on the side. I only visited for the story before and wasn’t able to do any more than that. It’s been extremely enjoyable having a brand new, more traditional Yakuza game to play again. Now I am looking forward to Infinite Wealth however, since it seems significantly larger than Yakuza 7 was and looks a lot more exciting than I previously thought it would be, especially because it has important returning characters. I like that they made the RPG battles a little more interactive as well and added in some of that old style. I absolutely adore RPGs, but strangely enough, I prefer the classic gameplay style when it comes to Yakuza.

One last thing I should mention about Like a Dragon Gaiden, is that I’m playing on a regular old slim PS4. I’m not reviewing this one but thought maybe you’d all like to know how it runs on PS4. Thus far, I haven’t run into any major issues playing recent Like a Dragon games on my system. There was one late game story event/situation in Ishin that sounded rough on my PS4, but other than that, I haven’t been having any issues. Occasionally when I walk up to and activate the next story scene in Gaiden, it will freeze for a few seconds and take a bit to get going, but that’s about it. Honestly, I don’t even know if that’s a slow PS4 performance thing and not just normal game functioning. For the most part I’ve had no issues. I’m excited to eventually try out the Infinite Wealth trial later on. – Jenae

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Gaming: Nov 5 – 11 appeared first on oprainfall.

Manga and LNs:

My Dog Becomes a Human (or, Ponta Becomes a Human)

Earlier this week, I made the grave mistake of reading the fan-translated chapters of My Dog Becomes a Human. Lured by striking details and a limited, yet intense color palette, I soon found myself reading what I can only describe as an aesthetically baited ongoing car crash. You know, when you see a car wreck, you can’t help but look, either drawn by the wreck itself or by the flashing lights of police, fire, and ambulance vehicles. Imagine that, but for every chapter, wanting to see the new wreck, how bad it is, and how many flashing lights showed up and what new circumstances arose this time.

As one could guess, My Dog Becomes a Human is about how all of the dogs in a city have somehow become humans, yet act exactly the same as they did. Owners must now contend with their newly humanized pets, with all of their unique eccentricities. Also, all of the dogs are depicted as incredibly handsome, beautiful, or cute, blatantly drawing humor from the terribly uncomfortable tones of physical attraction between actual human owners and their once dogs.

Most chapters focus on the everyday lives of a husky, Ponta, and his schoolgirl owner. As a husky, Ponta’s personality is like a switch; cool and calm one moment, a complete goofball nutcase the next. And his owner suffers Ponta’s emotional whims, all the while trying to rein him in without getting a swoon-induced bloody nose.

Funny? Yes. Entertaining? Sure. Uncomfortable? Undoubtedly, as female owners swoon for their male dogs/not dogs, but totally still dogs. And yet, then there are chapters like chapter 11, which explores the loss of a loved one and how caring for an adopted canine can bring much needed companionship and love in an otherwise bleak and bitter existence.

So yeah, I’ll keep making the mistake of reading for now, looking forward to the next wreck. – Drew D.

Fan-translations can be found on Mangadex

What anime are you watching? What manga and light novels are you reading? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Anime & Manga entries here!

The post oprainfall Week in Anime & Manga: Nov 5 – 11 appeared first on oprainfall.

I’ve been up to a few things this week, but most of it has been Star Ocean: The Second Story R, which has been everything I could have wanted in a remake of this classic title for modern consoles. I have made no secret that SO2 is my favorite Star Ocean game, and one of my favorite RPGs of all time, so I have been waiting for this game for years. I played the demo last month in anticipation, and all of my thoughts from that time continue into the full release, but there’s definitely much more to discuss.

I mentioned briefly in that previous Week in Gaming write-up that you can use Assault Actions to call forth protagonists from the other Star Ocean games if you find their corresponding gem. Right now, I only have Laeticia, as you are given her early on in Krosse Cave as part of the story, but the heroes aren’t the only ones you can use as Assaults. All characters not currently in your active party can be assigned to one of four spots, which gives you a lot of customizability to enhance or balance your personal playstyle. For instance, Laeticia performs a point blank physical AOE. For the SO2 characters, you can choose which Assault action they perform, and those actions can be what makes or breaks a battle. You can have Rena as an AA and have her come in and heal the entire party. Or maybe you want to hold back Celine and use her AA to cast Southern Cross. Each Assault Action is on a 60 second timer, so you never have to wait too long to use them, but they aren’t an action you can necessarily use as a crutch, either, since battles move quickly.

Battles aren’t the only things that move quickly in SO2R. One of the new features in this remake is the ability to fast travel to places you’ve visited in the past, circumventing the often tedious backtracking the Star Ocean games are known to have. You can also see which towns have active Private Actions available, removing the guessing game of where and when some of these missable moments between characters occur. As a veteran Star Ocean player, this is one of the most welcome QoL changes Gemdrops added to the remake. The original Star Ocean 2 often had inscrutable requirements for character recruitment, sometimes requiring multiple previous PAs and chance encounters in out of the way locations, and with 11 characters to choose from, the constant backtracking to find their PAs – arguably the series’ most important feature – would often grind the story to a standstill. That guesswork is mostly gone now, which for me is a welcome change. SO2 is designed to be played twice, and the original game was already time-intensive because of backtracking, so SO2R feels like it hits that sweet spot where it respects my time while also keeping to the spirit of the original by maintaining where and when all these PAs occur. On top of fast travel, the lack of random battles and speed-up function for dialogue help shave down time, and getting the skill Bodyguard has been a godsend for passive leveling. None of these changes have detracted from the appeal of this game, and even with the streamlining, it still feels like I’m playing the game I’ve loved so dearly for over 20 years.

At any rate, I’m about 10 hours into the game and still haven’t left the first continent because I’m having so much fun running around leveling up, exploring regions I remember fondly from the original to see their new glowups, and recruiting characters/seeing their PAs. I’ve just recruited my boy Ashton and am working on his subquest, then I’ll probably move the story forward to Laceur, but in the meantime I’m just enjoying this delightfully updated game. Really wish Square Enix would send me my Collector’s Edition at some point so I can enjoy that aspect of the remake, too.

When I’m able to pull myself away from SO2R, I’ve been keeping up with FFXIV, which just released its crossover with Fall Guys. I have to say, I’m impressed with how well the devs were able to translate that experience into an MMO – including rage-inducing lag and frustration. I’m only half joking, but there are definitely some issues with timing. That being said, it’s also been a lot of fun, and the event is surprisingly cute and addictive. I doubt I’ll ever reach the 100 wins, but I’m having fun banging my head against this. I think the best thing the XIV devs decided to do was to keep this a limited time event so folks don’t burn out on it and there’s always a healthy playerbase to make each race an exciting time. – Leah

I spent most of this week playing Gears of Dragoon. I’m getting close to the end with about 60 hours in this. I finally hit the story branch and decided to go the machine route, cause Ashley is amazing and clearly the best girl here! Also, the other route requires more crystals to see all the events so it’s best to start with this one. The dungeon crawling is very basic, but fun. The game really shines in its story and character writing, which I will go into more in my full review.

Outside of that I spent some time with Blue Archive. It’s been a while since I had time to play, but with all the anniversary events coming up and the current ones running I thought I’d jump in. I mean I had to get the free maid Yuzu, she’s too cute. Hopefully the Gatcha Gods will be on my side and I can roll Maid Alice before this event ends. – Steve

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!

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