Finished AI: The Somnium Files ! Things became really weird for a bit, but I liked the ending.

While I have shared my feelings previously, but some final thoughts:

Even though there are multiple routes, you can jump straight to the diverging point, and other than playing that “somnium” again and selecting the other route, you don’t have to replay anything else, which was a big plus for me.

And for someone new to the genre, these routes aren’t optional or side-content, you only get the full picture after playing all the routes, which then opens the “true” route.

Visuals are really good. Someone whose experience of VN / adventure games is limited to Phoenix Wright and Hatoful Boyfriend, this game looks absolutely gorgeous.

Performance is fine for most of the game, but near the end, I started noticing that there was sometimes a delay when showing a video etc. (when talking with people, if they refer to something that happened before, it plays a small clip, kinda like picture in picture mode as a quick reminder). It used to be instant in the start, but near the end, it would often take couple of seconds. Not a major issue, but noticeable. Other than that, don’t recall any other performance issues.

Finally, the characters and the story was interesting, and while the overall story and character feels very sombre, there is lots of whimsy and fun in it too. I am looking forward to playing next games in the series.

On PlayStation side, I am still focusing only on Final Fantasy XIV.

Still playing the trial, and have reached level 50. Though main quests are around level 30 and they sync my level to that, so can’t use my OP level 50 powers. So I have stopped doing all the side quests, if I ever try another class, can use those to level them up quickly. Still the “blue” ones, which are used to introduce / open a new feature, but ignoring all the other side stuff.

As for the main quests, while the story isn’t bad, the quests themselves are very fetch quest heavy, and while I am still enjoying the game, I can understand why some people call the base game to be slog, they also say the expansions are some of the best Final Fantasy stories ever, so hopefully things will improve for better.

As I am still on free trial, hoping for a sale to buy the game. Their last sale ended just before I started the game, so don’t think it will go on sale again before my free trial is up, may just have to buy the game at full price…

For my next game on Switch, I have been wanting to play some cozy game, took a look at a few farming games, short listed some of them, but wasn’t sure about what to start. So I went back to Tiny Lands, it’s a “spot the differences” game, with low-poly 3D dioramas. Very chill and cozy, no time limit, no counter of any kind, just light music with sound effects (like birds sound, or tree cutting sound) based on the diorama.

I started this game in 2021, and would play it for 10-15 mins after every 3-4 months when I finish whatever else I was playing, so out of roughly 100 levels (10 worlds, each with 10 levels) I had done only about 25 or so. Now I am doing the rest and plan to finish it.

I have already cleared the 2nd and 3rd world, and have just started the 4th one.

I also got couple of indie games on sale, but will start them after Tiny Lands.

What about all of you? What have you been playing and/or plan to play?

  • De_Narm@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    4 days ago

    Got into Baten Kaitos Origins this week. With no work or other obligations this week, I clocked in about 10 hours - which is about a fourth of the way through the game.

    Overall, I’m unsure about the game. They revamped the whole system from the first game and heavily streamlined it. Too much, I’d say. Let’s start with some generally good things:

    • Battles are much faster
    • Stats actually matter (In the first game, a max level character doing the same thing as a level 1 character does about twice its damage, this time around, your basic attack deals your atk stat.)
    • Quest items are used more often and in better ways (You can trap things around you in cards and use them when needed, same as the first game.)
    • The story is interesting thus far - it actually takes place before the first game

    As for the battle system, this changed:

    • There’s no more crafting system
    • Everyone uses the same deck - basic attack are usable by all, stronger attacks and items are only usable by one of the three characters
    • There are no poker-like combos anymore, instead all cards only have a single number, and you can play any number of them as long as they are in ascending order
    • There are special combos if you play certain cards together, but that mostly amounts to not skipping numbers
    • There’s no defensive turn anymore, you can equip armour to guard for a certain amount of attacks and that’s it
    • I don’t think cards age anymore, I’ve only seen quest items age
    • You can discard a certain amount of cards before using your turn
    • There’s no shuffle mechanic anymore, all cards go straight back into your deck after usage

    In combination, the battles kinda play themselves. It’s optimal to play a small deck with mostly basic attacks and basically only a weapon and 1-2 strong attacks for each character. Then you endlessly chain combos together. Just like in the original, guarding is a waste of deck space since you can only equip a weapon or an armour. For bosses only, you might add healing items.

    After finishing our Monster Hunter Rise challenge run, my partner wanted to play Hello Kitty Island Adventure. There isn’t too much to say about it - it’s cute, simple fun. Doing some light puzzles, mostly collecting items, and befriending villagers. Clearly inspired by Animal Crossing, but outside of quests, the villagers don’t actually interact with you or each others. Works great for goofing around and taking lots of silly photos together - just don’t expect much depth.

    • slimerancher@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Origins sounds like a simpler game, something that someone like me can try. Would love to see what you think about it as the game progresses.

      I should add Hello Kitty Island Adventures to my list, have been looking for some nice cozy game to start. Will look at some trailers.