Games I’m playing in April

My video game sessions have been all over the place lately. This text will be less about overarching themes and more down to earth, including what I’ve been playing in the last weeks or so.

Cyberpunk

** Spoilers only for Cyberpunk **

I have been exploring all main endings in Cyberpunk. By main ending I mean the main choices we have to pick to reach Mikoshi inside Arasaka Tower. I’ve been choosing to always go back to my body. I did two missions so far and unlocked the Aldecaldos ending, which was very good and promising for V. It was the ending where I got to maintain Judy as my romance option without having weird things happening. I romanced her more for the story development than for the vibe I got from her. It’s not a character I’m very attracted to. I think Panam’s friendship is much more valuable in the game than any romance. In hindsight, I could have gone without romancing anyone in the game.

After unlocking the ending and watching the last scenes as well as the credit scenes I got the feeling that there was hope for V and that Panam wouldn’t easily give up on V and would try to save her by any means necessary. That’s the value of a good friend. From Judy, I got the same feeling as I always did. She wanted to run away to “find herself” and I happened to be in the right place at the right time, getting away from Night City, and she took the ride. Me being there or not was just a detail. That’s the Aldecaldos ending, not Judy’s, which makes me think romancing/befriending Panam is some sort of a canon.

After that ending I unlocked the Rogue/Silverhand ending. I enjoyed it and it was a bit easier to reach Mikoshi than with the Aldecaldos. Once again I defeated Smasher in a fight I wasn’t ready for because I’m playing a type of blade/shotgun glass cannon, and once again returned to my body. The ending was very anticlimactic because I was beyond help. I didn’t have a family to support me even though I was the queen of The Afterlife. More people surrounded me and applauded my feats but less people did actually show the drive to help with my short lifespan. Of course, Judy was the first to jump ship on her quest to find her place in the world. Why waste any time in the company of a terminally ill person, right? Judy isn’t the kind of person you’d want at your side if you’d find yourself in a similar situation, but the odds of finding someone like her in real life aren’t slim. After a nice mission in space and an ending clearly open to interpretation, the credits roll and we find our closest acquaintances wanting to know how V is doing.

My last ending will be accepting Hanako’s deal, but I don’t remember much of what the deal was. I decided to level up a bit more and do some jobs and gigs before trying the last mission. I finished all of Regina’s requests and visited some more places in Night City while taking NCPD side jobs. Once again I plan to return to V’s body if the ending allows it. From what I’ve seen there’s variations to the endings if we choose to give V’s body to Johnny but there’s only so many times I can kill Smasher without getting bored.

Valkyrie Elysium

One weekend, I was exploring my collection of Playstation games and noticed I still had Valkyrie Elysium installed. I checked it and my save was from almost a year ago. I decided to give it another try. I wasn’t that far from the end-game, but still had a good portion of side-quests to complete. I may have abandoned the game because the colour palette was very pastel and not in the most pleasing way, the colours and volumes had very similar tonalities, the landscapes looked a bit flat, and my eyes got tired from the scenery. However, the combat is good and fun and it’s where the game really shines both for new and experienced players. After re-learning how to use magic, combos and my einherjer, I adapted myself to a number of combat situations, used elemental advantages and finished regular enemies and bosses alike.

I went through all side quests and unlocked some progress and combat trophies in the process. Since I was having fun, I tried to complete everything before the last chapter, but I didn’t collect absolutely everything, only prioritising the side quests and the flowers. When I was ready to enter the last chapter I was meant to choose a path. I used a guide and saw that my progress would naturally land on the true ending. I wanted the trophy for all four endings, so I took the easiest one out of the way. Then, reloaded the save and went for the true and arguably the most difficult ending while I still had the energy. It was difficult and during the fight with the last boss my Playstation crashed. Fortunately it wasn’t on the second phase and thank the gods (and the devs) for checkpoints. Using my rage as fuel, I finished everything and watched the ending that tied everything up.

On the next day, I unlocked the normal ending, which is the one we get if we play the main story from start to finish without detours. It wasn’t what I was expecting if I was expecting anything at all. It felt just like an ending. After that, at last, the alternative ending to the normal one was an endurance trial of many bosses and my hands weren’t collaborating at all. I died once but in the end I won the fight and unlocked an ending that, even though it wasn’t on the same positive tone as the true ending, still felt very satisfying.

I enjoyed some of the other game modes but didn’t stick around. I wasn’t interested in getting the platinum because I had to play the game all over again on hard, grind a lot for the SSS weapons, have S-rank in everything and I wasn’t really feeling it. Moving on, I continued playing Cyberpunk and installed Valkyrie Profile Lenneth. The latter has a very interesting story from the get-go; there’s absolutely no doubt it’s a game I’m going to enjoy. However, it’s a traditional jrpg, and since there’s a learning curve I decided to wait for a time when I had the good energy to dedicate.

The House in Fata Morgana

Then, I got sick. It wasn’t anything serious but I just couldn’t be playing in my living room and had to lie down. It’s where the Nintendo Switch came into play, pun intended. I didn’t want to play anything in particular, just a little help to fall asleep. Some games just find their way into our hearts and more often than not those games are visual novels.

The House in Fata Morgana (THiFM) was sitting in my downloaded games for ages now. I don’t have a physical edition because importing Limited Run games to where I live is a fortune in shipping and taxes, not to mention the rarity tax. I found a nice sale and bought the game for a price I felt was very fair and within my budget. Also, the most complete version of the game is on the Switch, Vita, and Playstation 4, if I’m not mistaken. 

The game was exactly what I needed. It started slow; it’s not heavily choice-based, apart from the last half and endings, and it’s as dark as only some visual novels can be. It tells a gothic story with the romanticised flair of mediaeval times, cursed witches, haunted mansions, ruined families, tragic relationships, mysterious characters and many, many secrets. There’s no over-the-top anime banter, even when reading lighter conversations. After all, we really need those moments of respite in order to survive the story, trust me. I’m playing it first without a guide, but I think that if I’m not right at the true ending I may be very close.

Nobles, commoners, human nature, superstitions, fear, poverty, abuse, power, faith, sexuality, love – everything constitutes the mould from which THiFM came into existence, bringing life to a story full of horrors and despair spanning different generations. Maybe I’ll write a bit about the story, but I think it’s such a great game to play/read without reading anything about it first. It’s what I’m doing – just enjoying the surprises I find and the shocking revelations from the witch.

Games I’m playing in January

I feel like I’m drowning in an ocean of games. This weekend has been prolific in terms of new additions to my backlog and new games I started to play. First, I tried Super Mario RPG. I’ve never played it before so I couldn’t take the nostalgia factor into account. There was an element which was a bit concerning to me about the combat mechanics. I heard that Sea of Stars got some inspiration from SMRPG by introducing timed inputs and other elements in combat. When I tried the game I didn’t vibe with the combat at all. Moreover, everything in a fight took far too long and my brain was starting to decay with the pacing of combat animations. I was killing all enemies that could heal themselves and their party first, not because it was strategically relevant, but because it was faster to finish the encounter. I eventually decided I didn’t want more hours of something that was clearly getting into my nerves, despite being remarkable in everything else.

I eventually tried SMRPG and my experience was something else altogether. First, attack and defense inputs weren’t a problem. I felt like I was very in tune with the attack rhythm and I still rarely fail a critical. I can read my party’s movements and react accordingly. At defending I’m not as fast at reading the variety of enemy attacks but I’ve been doing fine. Attack, buffs or defense animations flow seamlessly. I’m really enjoying the game and I see myself engaging more with the combat system instead of going to great lengths to avoid it. Even though I feel that Super Mario was funnier when I was younger, I often find myself chuckling at some dialogues and scenes.

Super Mario RPG: A fight against King Calamari

A few days later I tried a visual novel recommended by a YouTuber I enjoy very much. Her channel is called Milla’s Game Room and she absolutely deserves more followers. One of the visual novels she recommended was Virche Evermore. She created an excellent video about it. I enjoyed the atmosphere a lot and the character art is very pretty. I don’t know how I’ll fare with an otome though. In visual novels I like to immerse myself and reach for some connection with the romanceable characters. There’s no same-sex relationships going on, although I think the story has punch and that shouldn’t be a problem. I want to know the stories of our main character and her love interests all the same, and I think I have enough curiosity to dive into it. The fact that the setting is not in high school is also very refreshing.

Virche Evermore: Our main character in a very dramatic scene right at the start

I’m continuing my playthrough of Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen with many breaks in between. I adore the combat, Aruruu (especially when she says Gachatara!) and Karulau! The story is gripping and the art is beautiful to look at. I already have a collection of screenshots I intend to keep. Every time there’s a new CG I grab it for my collection. I also spend my time repeating some battles in hopes of unlocking achievements.

This weekend I played Cocoon, a game created by Jeppe Carlsen (Limbo/Inside) and published by Annapurna Interactive. I’ve tried a good amount of games published by Annapurna and all gave me unique experiences. Cocoon wasn’t an exception. The puzzle design is god-tier and I can only warmly recommend it. I found it available on PC Game Pass, installed it, and only stopped at the credits. The art is clean and the game plays and runs so well with no issues whatsoever. The puzzle difficulty was balanced with some late sections a bit trickier than others. No boss encounter was approached the same way, but the action perfectly communicated the strategy.

Cocoon: Carrying orbs back and forth between dimensions

After playing Cocoon, I decided to try Sword and Fairy Together Forever. I’ve never played a game in the series and still need to read a bit more about it. The graphics left a strong impression in me, as they are sharp and detailed. With the settings I was running the game at, I got extreme lag in the equipment menu, but only there. I’ve played the first and second chapter until I saved a child from a giant eagle. I’ll continue the playthrough but things are getting a bit out of hand with so many games. I can’t complain!

I got my first Nintendo Switch at the end of an era

Last year, I was casually chatting with a colleague and she told me she was looking forward to playing the new Zelda game that would come out in 2023. I was completely in the dark about Nintendo or Zelda since Zelda Ocarina of Time. Many years had passed and I wasn’t that much into Zelda anyway. Then, a friend mentioned Breath of the Wild. I looked up some screenshots and thought the game looked beautiful and very advanced for what I’ve seen Nintendo doing before.

After my last Nintendo console, the Wii, I wasn’t much interested in buying a Nintendo console anymore. At the time, I had money for the consoles but very little money left for the games. My experiences were always very limited. I had very little access to JRPGs. I’ll come back to this later.

Fortunately my financial situation got much better. I planned a course of action and the safest bet would be to buy a Nintendo Switch lite and the new Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom. It looked absolutely stunning and I was looking forward to playing handheld again, for nostalgia’s sake.

After finally buying the console you can only imagine how confused I was with Nintendo’s controller layout, after so many years playing with the Xbox/Playstation layout. It was so hard getting used to. My first experience with Tears of the Kingdom was thorny to say the least. The Switch lite sits very well in my hands, but the thumbsticks were not the right size and the buttons were so small. I also struggled with reading some of the in-game text.

Naturally, after some time in Tears of the Kingdom I thought about buying a Switch OLED to use at home and using the Switch lite on the bus and/or as a second console. It was a good decision. The colors in Tears of the Kingdom popped, however I had the same problem with the joycons. It took me a while to find a good replacement and I only did it further down the line. I spent many hours playing with the joycons, just not Tears of the Kingdom.

I came to the conclusion that every action game would have to wait until I got a good controller to play. I’d have to find something else, less 3D, to play. At the time I also bought Bayonetta 3 as per suggestion of another friend but the controllers were still bugging me. I wasn’t yet familiar with the layout and it seemed that the trigger buttons were assigned to the wrong functions. It was so overwhelming that I had to try something else.

I played on my Playstation for a while and kept finding people in my local second-hand market selling Nintendo Switch games. I bought some exclusives I was curious about. Shin Megami Tensei V comes to mind but I bought many more. I kept playing and getting used to the controllers little by little.

I wanted to know more about current-day Nintendo and the Nintendo Switch. What have people been playing in the last 6 years? What about 10 years? What have I been missing? My next stop was YouTube. If there’s something I love is lists. Lists of books, games, music. If I have a list, I’m happy and I feel in control. The 20 best RPGs on Nintendo Switch, the 10 best Switch exclusives as of 2023, 10 Nintendo Switch games to look forward to, 10 best strategy RPGs on Nintendo Switch, and so on. I watched everything and made my own lists according to my personal taste.

I have never played a strategy RPG before. I heard high praise for a game called Triangle Strategy. I loved the name, it sounded so good. The artwork was like something I’d find in a game 20 years ago, but now it looked even better, much more refined. The colorwork was beautiful and the combat seemed a bit out of my league but I was willing to try. I did and I absolutely loved it.

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For a bit of context, I’m not new to gaming. I started playing games when I was a teenager with a Macintosh dungeon crawler called Scarab of Ra, with Doom and Prince of Persia on PC, Mario games on Game Boy, weird games on Game Gear, more Mario games on a console that was supposed to be a copy of a SNES with about 100 games, Mario Bros. included. I spent hours playing everything. When I was older, my passion was point&click adventure games like The Longest Journey, Grim Fandango, Siberia, The Secret of Monkey Island, etc. Then, my parents bought me a PS3 and I had a GameStop close by so I could buy, sell and trade games like The Last of Us, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, God of War and others. When I got another PC I played Morrowind, Oblivion, Dungeon Siege, Need for Speed, Silent Hill 2, Dead Space, Sierra games and many more. However, there’s a pattern here if you haven’t noticed. No turn-based or strategy RPGs.

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You can imagine how puzzled I was when I saw that people were still into turn-based RPGs, of the anime sort nonetheless, and that strategy RPGs played on a grid were still getting made and weren’t a thing from the past. They were on the Switch and they did a deep, satisfying dive into my list. There was a particular youtuber that often mentioned Fire Emblem. It was at about the same time that Fire Emblem Engage was released. He was constantly comparing it to Fire Emblem Three Houses and I remember I found the name a bit silly. So Nintendo wasn’t only about Mario, Zelda and Pokémon. It was a relief. I kept digging.

There was a lady on YouTube who was absolutely fascinated by Xenoblade Chronicles, the Atelier series and JRPGs in general. Some of those tittles were added to my list too. I remember she is a big fan of Steins;Gate. As you can guess, I had no idea what a visual novel game was, even though I’ve played games with intense narrative but not at the point of not having any gameplay at all. This was completely new to me. I’d be so happy if I was still 14. I loved anime and manga but everything was so hard to come by. I still remember Ramna 1/2, Saint Seiya, Ghost in the Shell, Evangelion, A.D. Police from when I was a teenager and very actively looking for anything coming from Japan.

Now we had visual novels on the Switch. Not only on the Switch but also on other platforms. The thing is that reading a visual novel on a TV screen is next to impossible to me due to my eyestrain. I can read them comfortably on a smaller screen, therefore more games were added to the list. By this time I wasn’t only focused on exclusive titles but also third-party titles available on the Switch.

I still have my Playstation with a subscription, and I found the remaining titles there. I don’t derive the same pleasure from playing some RPG titles on Playstation than I do on the Switch, but having them on my PS+ helps me spare some money to buy more physical games for my new system.

When I was at the end of my first Triangle Strategy playthrough I took a peek at Fire Emblem Three Houses. After the first cutscene and the little initial dialogue with Sothis I closed the game and decided to finish Triangle Strategy first because I knew I was in for a treat.

Meanwhile Tears of the Kingdom is still stuck at 10h of gameplay and now without the controller hindrance I could maybe go back and resume my progress. I can’t say that I’ll finish the game because the combat is unapproachable to me and the traversal has many annoyances I don’t have the energy to deal with. It’s still the game that got me into the Switch at the end of an era (according to recent rumors), and for that, it deserves all the credit.

Sits perfectly in my hands 🙂