2021 GAMING DIARY

Posts

Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Want to keep track of all the games you've played this year? Look no further! This thread is for you!

I kinda want to direct the thread into making a "main post" like this one, while making commentary every so often either about what others are playing, or a comment about a thing you've done in whatever you've got cooking.

Previous Gaming History threads:
2018
2019
2020

*Edit:
Marrend's diary.
Cap_H's diary
Backwards_Coyboy's diary
AtiyaTheSeeker's diary
Vaccaria's diary
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
just reserving my spot here for later. I'm not a very active player of games nowadays and I don't have any ambitions set for this year, but I put together a short bucket list.

Bucket List
Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass
Luxaren Allure
Disrupted Monarchs

We Met in May

Banner's Saga (note: It crashes on my lappy)
Banner's Saga 2
Banner's Saga 3
Ultima III
Ultima IV
Ys: Origin

And I would like to return to Civ V.

2021 recommendations:
1. Signs of the Sojourner
2. Simmiland
3. Cuckoo Castle
4. Bleakshore
5. Auto Museum 64
6. Iketsuki
7. No Players Online
8. Roborazzi
9. Stillness of the Wind
10. Westerado
11. Heat Signature
12. Echo Beach
13. Cat Quest
14. Quadrilateral Cowboy
15. Northgard
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I'm not sure if I have a "bucket list" of games to play, per say. My laptop is a good five years old now, and I'm kinda thinking I need an upgrade at some point. Hell, even getting Beyond Good and Evil to emulate properly on PCX2 (currently, it's either effectively playing with black screen at 60 FPS, or I can actually see the game at, like, 10 FPS) would be great.

If there is one game I still wanna play from last year, it's Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Saying that, I might be getting rid of the PS4 come spring-ish. Still, I am inclined to believe that a PC version is coming at some point. I dunno if that point would be this year, though!
Backwards_Cowboy
owned a Vita and WiiU. I know failure
1737
Currently working on:

God Wars: Future Past
Fallout 4
Rogue Galaxy (PS4 Enhanced)
Trails of Cold Steel IV
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (I've technically never beaten the game, since I never killed the main dragon)
Final Fantasy XII
Caligula Effect: Overdose
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster

Completed:
Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu
Nicktoons Kart Racers 2 Grand Prix
Katamari Damacy: Reroll
SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (1990)

Not Yet Started/On Hold:
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS4)
Atelier Ryza 2 (PS4)
Trials of Mana (PS4)

I've got about another 20 or so games in the backlog, or that were started years ago and never finished. Then there are a few coming out that I am definitely buying, like the SMT3: Nocturne remaster and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2.
AtiyaTheSeeker
In all fairness, bird shrapnel isn't as deadly as wood shrapnel
5424
Last year didn't go so well for tracking it. Let's run it back, shall we? Here's what I've got. I'll keep tabs on my progress thus far, too; little snippets of my progress between more dedicated posts.

Rachel The Seeker
Completed
- Dragon Quest 3: Cleared on March 20th
- Heroic Tale VALUE!: Cleared on May 7th
- Escape the Haunted Forest!: Cleared on June 10th
- Wasteland 3: Cleared on July 16th
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night: Cleared on August 10th
- Final Fantasy Tactics: Cleared on August 21st
- Final Fantasy 3 Pixel Remaster: Cleared on October 9th

In Progress
- Wasteland 2: Director's Cut
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (HardType)
- Chroma Squad

On Hold
- Door of Shadows, Demo v0.3 (June 11th)
- Fallout (August 31st)

Cancelled
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Last played on February 15th
- La-Mulana 2: Last played on May 15th
- Dark Cloud: Last played on May 15th
- Soul Calibur 6: Last played on June 3rd
- Final Fantasy 14: Last played on June 7th
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Last played on July 5th
- Fallout 4: Last played on July 8th
- Dragon Quest 8: Last played on July 9th
- Digimon World 3: Last played on August 26th
Vaccaria
You'd think MZ would use a dictionary for switches/variables by now?
4936
You know what, I might as well try this as well.
LEGEND:
RMN GAME


Vaccaria


Completed:

Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus(Finished at Jan 8, 10:23)
Wolfenstein: The New Order(Finished at Jan 11, 23:07)
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition(Dante Only, Will Try Vergil)
Weird and Unfortunate Things Are Happening(Finished at Jan 17, 18:57)
Devil May Cry 1(Finished at January 23, 23:11)
Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson(Finished at February 14, 10:09)
Senran Kagura: Reflexions(Finished at February 17, 20:32, other routes soon™)
Devil May Cry 2(Finished at February 19, 17:49, Lucia route unfinished)
Assault Spy(Finished at March 29, 15:32, Both routes at highest difficulty as well as other modes)
One of You(Finished at April 1, 00:45, all endings)
Tomb Raider (2013)(Finished at April 26, 10:17, 100%)
Black Mesa(Finished at May 6, 01:24)
Helltaker(Finished at May 14, 21:50, 100% including Examtaker)
Half-Life: Episode 1(Finished at May 22, 22:16)
Half-Life: Episode 2(Finished at May 23, 15:48)
Resident Evil 7(Finished at June 23, 18:22, DLCs yet to be finished)
Lunch Lady(Finished at June 24, 00:44)
Aveyond 4 Series(Finished at July 7, 20:08)
Seen(Finished at July 14, 16:31)
Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal(Finished at July 19, 20:08)



In Progress:

Devil May Cry 4Ongoing
SanitariumOn Hold
Senran Kagura Peach Beach SplashOn Hold


Bucket List:

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
The Coma
Monster Hunter: World
Senran Kagura Estival Versus
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Outlast 2



Dumped:

Hitman: Absolution
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Progress update!

Xenogears
Plot-wise, I am to return to Nisan, and acquire the Andvari. In reality, I'm still in the middle of acquiring the 7AP deathblows for my party. This means I'm most of the way through Disk 1. I fully intend to play to the end, even if the onslaught of Disk 2's cut-scenes are hard to get through.

Fate/Extella - The Umbral Star
As far as the main story goes, I'm in chapter 3 (out of 6?) of the "Orchid Worlds" arc. Side-story wise, I've completed Cu Chulainn's story, and Medusa's story. As a sub-note, I think I hit my stride with Medusa. Like, maybe it was the skills I attached to her, but, I started using the running-dash attack with Medusa, and hers was absolutely bonkers for raising my Musou EM meter to max.

The game pulls the the "MC has amnesia" trick, which was a little groan-inducing. Still, as I've never played a Fate game before, I'm pretty sure I'd be lost on all the terminology the game was throwing at me. Well, okay, I'm still kind shaky on some of the terms, but, I feel the game does try to ease players in. The in-game encyclopedia helps too.

The Outer Worlds
I'm trying to pace myself with this one. With previous LPs, I insisted on playing every single day, and posting updates as often. It was likely wearing me down to the point that I just wanted the game to be over without really enjoying myself.
AtiyaTheSeeker
In all fairness, bird shrapnel isn't as deadly as wood shrapnel
5424
Didn't wanna double-post, so I'm glad that Vaccarina had posted (in addition to joining) as well as you had, Marrend. :3

Dragon Quest 3
My party, as of this update...

RAZIYA (Lv 20 Hero)
Equipment: Orochi Sword, Terra Armor, Ortega's Helmet, Smart Glasses
I swear, Raziya in my game / prose canon is inspired by Ortega's heroic child, among other things. The hero/ine in DQ3 may have a few pick-and-choose spells and some exclusive ones, but they're a fighter through-and-through. Definitely a glass cannon compared to a Warrior though, at least for a while. I'd been fortunate enough to get the Bladerang from the second Pachisi Track, and she'd been using it till Maia became a Sage. Heck, it's still in my lioness' inventory!

JENGO (Lv 20 Warrior)
Equipment: Battle Axe, Magic Armor, Expel Shield, Iron Helmet, Strength Ring
Slow and steady, Jengo's been a stalwart companion to Raziya. He was sorely missed when I tried to grind Zander some time after I got... a brand new ship~! Since then, he's never left my party. Sure, he can't rack up critical hits or move as swift as a Martial Artist (or Fighter, as if to confuse players in the Dragon Warrior days). But his awesome arsenal and armor more than make up for it. He takes the brunt of the damage and absolutely dishes it out. Spells? Skills? Back in my day, Warriors and MAs didn't need no stinkin' spells or skills!

MAIA (Lv 10 Thief -> Sage)
Equipment: Bolt Staff, Magic Armor, Magic Shield, Silver Barrette, Hero Ring
For a long time, in many abandoned runs, Maia had been a Mage and not a Thief. While I prefer Mage-to-Sage instead of Priest-to-Sage, I wanted to do differently this time. Thief is a surprisingly solid vocation! Nice Strength, obscene Agility, the ability to sometimes snatch items post-battle, and some useful dungeon-crawling spells... my word, it wasn't easy to change Maia's class to Sage. In D&D terms, my OC that I based this Thief off is closer to an "Arcane Trickster" than a pure-blooded Rogue or Wizard, so Thief-to-Sage made sense to me. But still wasn't easy.

Then I realized that her learned Thief Skills spells would carry over to Sage, and beelined to Dharma when she hit Level 20. She was already a competent combatant before; starting over at Level 1 didn't slow her down much. She's squishy for now, but the Mage spells she's gained have filled the gaps in Nazreen's playbook. Don't get me started on having another healer, too! As mentioned in the recap proper, I made sure to build her Wisdom up throughout play. The sheer potential she has is already evident.

NAZREEN (Lv 19, Priest)
Equipment: Staff of Judgment, Magic Armor, Magic Shield, Horned Hat, Garter Belt
As Goof-Off / Jester / Gadabout still feels like a liability at my skill level, my murderyena bard was closest to a Priest in DQ3. Naz has healing and support spells and can fight decently, so close enough. More and more, the similarities between Dragon Quest and AD&D grow more and more evident as the days go by. For the longest time, stupid sexy Nazreen has had that Garter on her thighs -- the Sexy personality it offers gives above-average, balanced stat growth. A jill of all trades is still a mistress of none, however... but is often better than a mistress of one.

Before Maia's vocation change, Nazreen had actually been the most squishy member of my party. I'd ordered the party Jengo-Maia-Raziya-Nazreen for a long while, as Maia's HP and Defense were surprisingly good for what I'd usually see from Thieves in RPGs. Even now, Naz's status spells and especially HealMore have carried me. I feel it's a bold move to play this game without a Priest; there's no HP healing other than ~30 HP from a Medicinal Herb, or an inn stay / sleepovers at mom's, otherwise.

I appreciate how Priests get all the ailment spells in classic Dragon Quest along with the most reliable healing. Does anyone ever use a Black Mage's status spells in Final Fantasy? ...and no, the original FF doesn't count.

ZANDER (Lv ?? Merchant)
Equipment: None now lol Used to be Iron Axe, Iron Apron, Iron Shield, Turban, and I think the Hero Ring
To found a settlement where Jamestown would be on Earth, you need a Merchant. Zander, named after the son of a cook dad and shopkeep mom among my OCs, was that Merchant. I got him to about Level 6 or 7 soon after I got the ship. I benched him after. When I decided to sail to said settlement-to-be, I benched Nazreen instead of Jengo to have him come along in their stead.

I don't know if the game gives you your Merchant back in the original DQ3. However, I highly doubt this B-list party member, named after a B-list OC of mine, is really cut out for adventuring. I say that for both the DQ3verse and my Raziyaverse.


I've been playing this game every night for maybe the past week. After I'd shared defeating Kandar's first battle without a casualty on the Discord's Videogames channel, I had been spurned to finally beat this game. I have no idea if I'm doing the post-game dungeon or not from the remakes.

What I do know is that the first time I fought Orochi this file, it was my first total party wipe in said file. c:

From my original journal post's first update, I had prepped myself to battle Orochi. I guess I hadn't prepped enough. I helped Raziya, my Hero(ine), clear the Navel of the Earth's trials. I'd also said my farewells to Zander, my Merchant who will help found Jamestown-But-Not. I then made my way to Soo and got myself a Bolt Staff, and pondering if I wanted to grab the Echo Flute (which seems optional)?

...hitting 20th level it was time for Maia, my Thief, to become a Sage. Everyone is the party is decked out in Magic Armor save for Raziya, who found a better Terra Armor in the Navel to replace her suit. Razzy gave her armor as a hand-me-down to Maia (whose Black Suit no longer fit her from the vocation change), and Maia passed on her Spiked Steel Whip to her girlfriend in turn.

Maia was 9th or 10th Level when I did a rematch against Orochi. Already she was powerful. As a Thief, she had a good base Strength and crazy-good Agility, leading to high ATK and DEF. Throughout the game, I'd given her personalities that also boosted her Wisdom (which affects MP growth and how soon one learns spells), let alone Wisdom Seed. Though she had the lowest HP out of the party, she could hold her own compared to my Level 19s and 20s. Too bad Maia also gave her life to let her mate, her mate's bestie and their bard buddy defeat the bad snek.

After abandoning a bloodied "Himiko" to resurrect Maia, my hero and her pals returned to settle the score. Between Maia's Upper and SpeedUp spells, Nazreen's HealMore and Sap spells, Jengo's sheer damage with his Battle Axe, and Raziya's ability to cast Heal and hack Orochi's heads off with this cool sword he dropped before? All fit a tight role. While DQ3 has few boss fights and saves its boss music for Baramos (let alone the true final boss), each boss battle is a test of skill and wits. You can't flail with weapon attacks, let alone arcane WMDs, and expect to survive. I'm still surprised Surround worked against the baddy in his "phase one" encounter.

But the day is won, and that's where I'd left off last night. Am prepping for another session tonight. Three orbs down; three orbs left to awaken the fenghuang Ramia, and take the fight to Baramos in his mountain-surrounded castle. He thought he was safe in a place you cannot enter without the holy birb. He thinks his labyrinthine keep and his elite monster security will kill heroic vermin. He thinks his spike in difficulty will let him envelop the world in terror and chaos.

I intend to prove him dead wrong. The first and only time I'd ever fought Baramos was on the GBC port, and it was the first save file I'd ever had. It's been fifteen long years with my beloved JRPG, my pinnacle of the DQ series, and I'm fifteen years wiser. Time to bring this quest a happy ending after so long. After all, it is a goal of mine for 2021, and one within reach.


EDIT: Added a quip about my Merchant character, and a shoutout to my Goaling It '21 post. Also, I now realize why the legal RM2k places Helmets under Armor and Shield. It's not to mess with my OCD (as a helmet is worn higher on the body than a suit of armor); it's because this game did it first.
Vaccaria
You'd think MZ would use a dictionary for switches/variables by now?
4936
Update:

Wolfenstein: The New Order is easy when you have solid aim. Too bad I can't see some stuff most of the time and that my aim can die due to this weird issue I have with my wrist. Nonetheless, it was a banger to just headshot some N-n- (bleh), you know. Imagine having that as your dystopian world. Can't get any worse than that.

Next up will be finishing WaUTaH and Amnesia.

Addendum:
Someone pls stop me from getting Senran Kagura Reflexions my want for Yumi is becoming hardcore that I think I cant live without her aaAAAAAAAAAAa—

Addendum 2:
God has spoken. My motivation is necessary. Time to play the entirety of DMC.

Addendum 3:
DMC3 Done. Next up, WaUTaH and DMC1.
AtiyaTheSeeker
In all fairness, bird shrapnel isn't as deadly as wood shrapnel
5424
Dragon Quest 3
Since last time, a few things have happened. Managed to muck through the Cave of Ra and get his mirror. Exposed the Boss Troll at Samanao with said mirror, and slew him. Jengo fell in the fight, but saved the city by beating him the first time. Ventured into the Ghost Ship by trading away his nifty Change Staff for a bone to find it... but not before I bought a Wizard Ring from elves by turning my party into Slimes. ;)

Found the Loving Memories, gave rest to the souls of Olivia and Eric so I could get past the promontory, found the Sword of Gaia, chucked it into the volcano and survived the Necrogond. I feel that dungeon tests the player's resourcefulness as well as their clever dungeoneering, thanks to the tricky layout and harrowing enemies within. All but Nazreen were at 0 MP by the end. Thank goodness the Wizard Ring didn't disintegrate from using it so much. RobMagic from Maia was also a boon.

Thankfully, Naz learned Vivify by the end. Sadly, a Yggdrasil Leaf I had needs to be replaced, let alone her Life Stone being sacrificed. Seems I got hoisted by my petard through my hubris -- I got a little too eager to cast Beat, and it ricocheted off a Tortragon's Bounce spell that they cast first turn.

I went back to Zanderburg, got to see the revolt happen, and got his Yellow Orb to match the Silver one from clearing the Necrogond Cave. With all six orbs obtained, the phoenix Ramia has awoken once again. And the next time I play?



It'll be time once more for a Hero to finish what their father started.

Other Notes
Seems my gaming desktop shall be coming in sooner than expected! Dell aimed for it being shipped by the 27th, but may just be here the 19th. Next Tuesday. After Fomar's copy of La-Mulana 2 chugged on my budget computer, I decided enough was enough. Using my stimulus check, I went ahead and purchased the much-needed upgrade to my system: a new system.

As much as my budget desktop worked alright... well, it stopped working alright. I can hardly play any games beyond the early 2010s. Even streaming is sluggish and eats processing power on this thing. All but my RAM card are integrated on this desktop; even then, about the only compatible upgrade was a 8GB RAM. I would go with a video game console, except those tend to collect dust and get resold by me. The PS4 that I got last year barely lasted two months before I resold it.

I know I practically live off my computer in my spare time, and the entry-level gaming desktop can be upgraded later on. Even so, I picked parts that should line up with newer games I wanna play -- Soul Calibur 6 (had loved it on the PS4), Wasteland 2, and so on.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Progress update!

Xenogears
The Solarian Gates at Nisan and the Ethos HQ have been decimated. The only one left should be, if memory serves me right, the one at the Sargasso Point. After which, I'll be recruiting Emeralda. After that would be the invasion into Solaris, proper, and the end of Disk 1.

Fate/Extella - The Umbral Star
Started the third main story-arc yesterday. I wasn't quite prepared for that story-arc to have three (or maybe it was only two?) back-to-back battles with no real breaks in between. Still, the game seems to have returned to it's usual pace. I've no side-stories from the new arc, but, I've completed the entire Orchid Worlds arc, and it's associated side-stories. Maxed out the bond-rating for Medusa, Lu Bu, Tamano-Mae, and Karma, in that approximate order.

The Outer Worlds
I was talking yesterday with my brother about this game. Apparently, he only went as far as Monarch before putting the game down, and that's pretty much were I am right now in the LP. I don't necessarily have plans to play it today, but, probably tomorrow.
Vaccaria
You'd think MZ would use a dictionary for switches/variables by now?
4936
Progress Update:

WaUTaH wants my soul. I'll be playing Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson, especially if WaUTaH surpasses my playtime in SK:SV.



Addendum 1: If you're wondering why I'm at 30 hours in, it's because I am playing it on Nightmare! And I'm still at Level 30.

Addendum 2: After 40 hours, I have finally finished the game. Huzzah!
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
I can confirm that WaUTaH is addicting.

I've been playing some Crusader Kings 2 and I need to stop because you can easily sink weeks in that game. I started as an Estonian chief and created several kingdom, all ruled by my bloodline, before becoming a republic. Ofc these kingdoms started fighting each other and having multiple internal struggles instead of focusing on outwards expansion. I even had to recapture weak Suomi. Lithuania ate a third of promising and stable Novgorod because a strong high chief from the latter kingdom inherited the former. Meanwhile Ruthenia got half of its territory eaten by its neighbors. I myself expanded to Sweden to further expand my religion and bloodline and to prevent filthy Norse warmongers from attacking my lands. I think it worked out quite well, especially with Denmark being under a Polish dynasty now. Aztecs and Mongols invaded extremely early and Catholicism is struggling with christian kingdoms being full of heretics. Meanwhile Sunni Muslims are really strong and expanding both west and east.
This is a playthrough I started once or twice before, but only now I'm enjoying it and I had several fairly successful conquerors too and I managed to reform Suomenko faith super early on, while exploring some mechanics I haven't used before. Now, I need to take a break and work on other things before sinking more hours in and expanding my trading network. Hopefully, I'll take this game into Europa Universalis 4 and maybe even Victoria 2 one day.



If I play indie games later in the year I return to my usual format of listing them with a short summary.
Vaccaria
You'd think MZ would use a dictionary for switches/variables by now?
4936
Progress Update:

Going to start doing Devil May Cry as well as Senran Kagura. Next thing up on that list would be Amnesia, The Coma: Recut and Sanitarium.

As for WaUTaH's side dungeon, I'll just think of it as a side-job.

And I think I'll have to take a week off so I can finish some of my work.
AtiyaTheSeeker
In all fairness, bird shrapnel isn't as deadly as wood shrapnel
5424
Dragon Quest 3
Held off again, to avoid double-posting and to actually get farther. I managed to find my way through Baramos' Castle. I like how the dungeon is designed, where the main way inside isn't obvious and it appears that the Archfiend took the joint over. I remembered it was a veritable maze, so I even drew my own map on scrap paper. I had another page, but entering from the front or side-cellar is a newbie trap.

First time I got there I was probably Level 25-ish. Had to grind to Level 30 to get Nazreen HealAll because holy cow, I got curbstomped the first time. Three more losses would be scratched onto Baramos' wall after I hit Level 30 for Raziya / Jengo / Nazreen (and 26 for Maia), somewhere behind his barrier of hellfire. But on the fifth attempt...



folks I did it

I stopped for a moment or two when I got the victory pop-up. Slaying Baramos caught me off-guard. I had a great rhythm going and RNG was being nice; I didn't think he'd fall so soon. For those who've played through the game, the adventure's not over yet. That said, this was the highlight of this session. I actually passed the point that stopped me so many years ago. I actually slew Baramos, the boss who pretended to be the final boss for this game.

For the final stretches, I'm tempted to grab the Siren Sword from Portoga and turn Nazreen into a Thief. Sadly, she cannot use this Chaos-sowing scimitar as a Priest. She has Vivify and HealAll, and could probably use better fighting capabilities for the finale. HealUs and anything else isn't as important to me; a full-heal for one's HP and a revival spell will do, especially as HealUs only recovers ~50 to each member. Besides, she is a bard outside of DQ3.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Call me crazy, but I randomly picked up Kirby's Dreamland 3 on ZSNES. Before I knew it, I was clearing a bunch of stages with Hearts from doing whatever extra thing the stage was asking. The stages I wasn't getting a Heart from, I eventually looked up a walkthrough for them because, apparently, why not. For what it's worth, my save-state is just before going into Stage 4-6.

I just find this weird because I almost never open ZSNES. Even when I do open it, it's either Shanghai 2, Run Saber, or Power Instinct.
AtiyaTheSeeker
In all fairness, bird shrapnel isn't as deadly as wood shrapnel
5424
Wasteland 3
New gaming desktop came in from Dell on Tuesday. This thing is awesome. Basic apps from my budget desktop have ran like greased lightning on this new computer. Getting Wasteland 3 to work is a dream come true. I feel the official subreddit for Wasteland bitches way too much about the bugs. Yeah sure, the systems are quirky here and there. That said, I haven't run into any real game-breaking issues myself.

Thus far, I've been addicted. According to Steam I'm ~14 hours in, and I'd marathoned it since I'd gotten the game running. They tightened the gameplay since WL2, and made energy weapons much less gimmicky and useless (and a lot more powerful) this time around. However, I now see what r/Wasteland meant when they said assault rifles are nerfed to high hell. They shoot a three-round burst and have good range, but each round isn't great and even all three hitting feels... lackluster. At least heavy machine guns are brutal for the same reasons assault rifles aren't completely useless: multiple hits, and each round from a HMG is potent.

A shame shotguns still aren't that useful, that the Weird Science weapons are gimmicky at best, and that flamethrowers are best suited toward busting vehicles. Like Dragon Quest, I'm finding focused single-fired weapons are king: revolvers, energy pistols, and sniper rifles. I also know that r/Wasteland meant by only investing in one weapon type too; Dana's rarely used a blade after I found a laser pistol, let alone the NES-Zapper-esque phase blaster.

Right now, I'm at the snow-buried mall known as the Bizarre. I always liked the idea of a post-apocalyptic shopping mall. Fights are getting brutal lately. I don't think I've endured a single one for a while where someone didn't drop. Not unlike Final Fantasy Tactics, there's a turn counter over KO'd characters' bodies to show how long they've got before death. Reviving a character is free if you're adjacent to them; they return with 3 AP, just enough to heal themselves with an item, but a random injury. Each injury lowers the starting turn timer when they get KO'd again, and must be removed with an item or by visiting a medic. As far as I can tell, AoE attacks can't hurt a downed character.

This entry's been long enough as-is, so I'll throw my party's current stats in a spoiler tag below.

DANA, Lv 9 Trooper
Skills: Small Arms 6, Weird Science 6, First Aid 3, Melee Combat 3, Survival 3, Sneaky Shit 1
One of my two starting characters for the game. She's both a dabbling scout, as well as a front-line shock troop. Both her aforementioned phase blaster, let alone the Microwave Research perk, have made her a terror to behold. Right now, she can shoot at most thrice a turn, if she has an AP boost and I only blast stuff.

Mic-Research works how energy weapons did in Wasteland 2, prior to the Director's Cut tweaks. When using an energy-damage weapon, it deals additional damage based on how high a foe's armor rating is. It's akin to cooking someone alive in their own gear. Paired with the usual energy damage from WL2:DC (organic enemies take less damage, but machines take more), the potent blaster and this perk more than compensate for this drawback. I have no idea how I haven't melted anyone with her scary laser yet.

ERIC, Lv 10 Trooper
Skills: Armor Modding 5, Automatic Weapons 5, Hard Ass 4 (5), Leadership 5, Mechanics 4, Barter 3, Melee Combat 2
The second of my two starting characters. He's got the second-best CON (HP with a different name) out of my squad, and likely the best armor rating. However, his assault rifles have indeed been lacking. In WL2 I'd started him with a shotgun; I may do the same, if I can find a decent scatter-gun. Pretty straight-forward guy, though I want his Mechanics to be high enough to shut down generators to turrets mid-fight. His Rally skill from Leadership is pretty useful to start fights, or otherwise make clutch comebacks; it gives the whole squad an extra 2 AP on the round it's used.

PROWLER, Lv 10 Sniper
Skills: Lockpicking 6, Sniper Rifles 6, Explosives 4, Sneaky Shit 4, Nerd Stuff 3, Big Guns 2
My sniper, my sneak, my apocalyptic rogue. Even if his rifles cost a lot of AP to fire, they also make him my biggest damage-dealer from across a room. While rockets to fire from his launcher are pricey, they're good to start clearing a room with in big and dangerous fights. I absolutely need to keep him in the back; he may have less health than even Lucia, my pistoleer NPC pal. Like Eric, his strategy isn't too complex: fall behind cover if in the open, shoot dangerous targets from across the room, conserve unspent AP with the Prepare action to end his part of my turn.

ALLEYCAT, Lv 9 Combat Medic
Skills: Brawling 5, First Aid 5, Kiss Ass 5, Animal Whisperer 3 (4), Toaster Repair 4, Small Arms 1
Back in Wasteland 2, Alleycat (or Paige) seemed a fun build. I gave her the biggest Strength score among my team (so the most CON / HP as well as melee damage) and the best Speed. What this means in WL3 is that she's both a highly-mobile medic as well as my biggest tank, both for sheer health paired with evasion. Also my most min-maxed character for her stats!

An overhaul for Brawling in WL3 was the inclusion of the Combo System. While each punch is weak, Alleycat will build up a "combo" with consecutive hits. This boosts the damage, and builds up for a perk-given skill called "Shaolin Surprise". Said skill uses all her built combo points to add Penetration and bonus damage(?) to the attack. What's more, all of her punching weapons are cheap to attack with.

MARSHAL KWON (NPC), Lv 10 Lawkeeper
Skills: Automatic Weapons 7, Big Guns 6, Kiss Ass 3, Sneaky Shit 3, First Aid 2
For someone trying to be a hard-ass cop of sorts, it's weird that mister Darius Kwon has the "Kiss Ass" skill . That's for diplomacy, not intimidation like "Hard Ass". Oh well. He seems a dece jack-of-all-trades, and this HMG I looted off one of the Dorseys has been a thrill to unload. Both his signature assault rifle and this HMG use the same ammo type, so kind of a pain to restock. That said, he's a pretty good dude.

LUCIA WESSON (NPC), Lv 10 Gunslinger
Skills: Small Arms 7, Barter 5, Weapon Modding 5, Survival 4, First Aid 1
Sort of a glass cannon, but my word can she shoot. With both her signature revolver and an eight-shooter I dug up from her dad's estate, she gets in close and pops for heavy damage apiece. Seems perfect for this gunfighter to swap between the two revolvers when one's out of ammo, lest I have to waste AP reloading. Lucia, Dana and Prowler are my main damage-dealers; Kwon is an honorary strike squad member when he's packing The Coming Storm, Erastus Dorsey's ruthless weapon.


La-Mulana 2
Finally able to play this game that Fomar gifted me. It's a real treat! I've never beaten the original La-Mulana (both its MSX-inspired freeware version and its remake. With that said, I appreciate the shout-outs to the original game and the new innovations to the gameplay.

In peak La-Mulana fashion, I'm stuck in the first true area of the game's new ruins. I've explored most of it, and I'm almost sure I need to find and kill the first boss to proceed. I'll figure it out. I was kinda surprised when a late-game mini-boss I've been interested in was referenced this early, given her mythic inspiration being one I adore.

Also in peak La-Mulana fashion? My first death wasn't from any enemy, nor the first mini-boss. Nope, I got instakilled by a trap I incorrectly assessed. XD

Soul Calibur 6
Also played this some. Not adding it to the list, as I'm not doing any solo campaigns nor getting serious with ranked matches yet. I really enjoyed the light RPG elements to Libra of Souls from playing it on the PS4. Just wish more players would show up for online matches, but that's always been an issue. I have no idea why SC6 likes to pair me up with opponents with much higher ranks, who tend to curbstomp me each time I fight them. Rude, Namco.
Vaccaria
You'd think MZ would use a dictionary for switches/variables by now?
4936
author=AtiyaTheSeeker
New gaming desktop came in from Dell on Tuesday. This thing is awesome.

Gib specs plox.

Also, progress update.

I'm playing horny game. I have a lot of regrets right now, including carpal. The most embarrassing way to get carpal.

Addendum 1:
Finished Devil May Cry 1. No, the horny game is a different story. Besides, I kinda finished DMC1 in just one sitting.


Playing DMC 3 actually changed the way I played the game. Supposedly, I should have play DMC 1 first despite chronological reasons. However, I decided to do it chronologically and found out that DMC 1 is easier compared to the nightmares my hand has to face in DMC 3. It felt like the shift of action was drastic. Especially that I started to cheese on opponents I shouldn't cheese on (looking at you final boss and before-final-boss boss). Despite DMC 3 being lackluster on some areas, the fact that I replayed the final boss of DMC 3 more than 1 can say a lot.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Update time!

Xenogears
Just got the prompt to insert disk 2. I'm fully aware the game goes downhill from here, and even when I do get out of the insanely large story-block, my entire party is level 99 with all deathblows learned. I still kinda want to get the event to have Emeralda 'grow up', but, yeah, I have very little that I actually want to do on disk 2 before going to Deus.

Fate/Extella - The Umbral Star
I've been taking a huge break from going through my current main-line story (Dawn Arc) to increase the bond levels of various characters. Plus the odd task of unlocking Atoria Pendragon as a playable character. I considered selecting "New Game" on a Side Story might reset a character's level, and what maps are available in that Side Story, yet still retain bond levels. As far as I can tell, though, I see no real difference between selecting "New Game" versus "Continue".

The Outer Worlds
Still chugging along! Saying that, the last session I wrote, I could fell myself being drained a tad quicker than usual. So, the next session might take me a touch longer to get to.