Yes, I did get myself a PS4! I was enjoying it, until Animal Crossing ended up in my Switch. Even that lately has been neglected... Not sure why, but I haven’t been gaming much other than my tower defense on the phone - Crazy Defense Heroes.

I have bought so many games from PSN already... I’m never sure of what to play now!

I hope you are well. I’m as slow as ever with these responses...

Hey, so I just 'd Ryza and here's my verdict..... It's ok.

/start ramble
Some of the character designs are truly atrocious, fanservice tripe, but I (mostly) sort of forgot about them while playing the game.

Story is pretty shallow, with only a single ending (no friendship points/endings like before), but it's serviceable for the most part, if not a little hand-holdy early on (you can't explore/do anything that you're not supposed to for the first several hours without the game walling if off behind invisible walls and "I shouldn't go this way" dialogue).

The environments are nice, but as with all the other modern entries are oversized & thus largely empty. No time limits at all, but the day/night system is pretty fun changing how locations look/feel depending on the time of day (though materials & enemies stay the same). A sunset on the beach, or starry nights in the ruined castle are a nice touch as you backtrack for quests/items/exploration.

A new game means they've completely changed the alchemy & combat systems again. Combat is real-time (AI partners auto-attack on their turn) and doesn't really leave room for strategic use of skills or items, but becomes trivial late-game when you break the system with overpowered gear & items.
Alchemy, which once again starts out confusing, ends up being so easy to break by mid/late game. They introduce a garden (like in RoronaPlus) where you can make/grow seeds. Make a 999 quality seed through alchemy loops, duplicate it (which you do an infinite amount of times by trading in crappy materials!) and watch it grow an infinite amount of lvl 500-999 items with all the best traits.

It might sound really negative (and some is ) but the game is one of the better modern entries, it's just in my opinion (which many Atelier fans disagree with) so inconsequential & mediocre compared to older games. It's nowhere near as bad as it looks from the outside, but it's definitely not terrible.

/end ramble

Thanks!

It is definitely rare these days for me to have a game (though I've since & it today ). Kind of fitting it was a remake/remaster of one of the first games I ever owned too.

Happy 10th Ring Day Noir!

'Enjoying' is more of a relative term now, especially after the last few lacking Atelier titles (Sophie, Lydie/Suelle), which is a shame
I really do hope they improve again, as I love the franchise (on the whole), but would much prefer if they were more obscure & infrequent again as they are definitely being churned out, and nowhere near as good as previous entries.
Lulua is alright, but the return to the Arland setting (the heyday) definitely feels like pandering to fans & an attempt to milk nostalgia of better games. The returning locations & characters feel like bad cameos meant to distract, like "Hey player, remember this...?!" It just makes me sad and yearn to replay Totori & Meruru for the umpteenth time as a reminder of how good the Atelier can be.

I did indeed recently play "My Time at Portia", and did have an overall good time with it. It had only just come out of Early Access, and still had A LOT of QoL and bug problems, but it was a fun little builder/sim game. Dodgy audio/dialogue, some of the environments felt empty, character quests were lacking for a few people and there was definitely room for improvement, as evident by the constant updates/patches since I played, but I enjoyed my time with it.
Recommend it if it's cheap/on sale, otherwise wait a little longer for more content/updates to polish it up

Absolutely! If you like SotN or any Igavania, you will love this to pieces. It's been a long time coming but it was so worth the wait.

Thanks! Here's to hoping for 10 more years

Time sure flies, it hardly feels like a decade ago since I first started logging all my /s. The games may have lessened in number (at least for me), but there always seems to be another on the horizon

It looks like The Yakuza took care of your Sims problem...

The only Sims title that ever took a hold of me was the one for Gameboy Advance. It was a more “compact” version of the game. Sims 3 seemed like too much, I guess. It did make me laugh and I do have some amusing screenshots from the game!

How was the Batman Telltales and Wolf Among Us? I have been considering them for a while, but more so now that the game series is done. The Batman titles sound more appealing... The Walking Dead Telltales were great!

Oh my mistake, he does have a name almost identical to you! Sorry about that.

EDIT: Btw! What server do you play on? If your on Hyperion, I'm Azure Duskbringer. Would be cool to play together. We also have a small FC if you ever need one to join.

Saw that you completed your first Eureka weapons on Twitter. Would you recommend its worth it? I've completed an anima weapon and even an original relic weapon and always wondered if it was worth the time for the new ones.

I've only been to Eureka once or twice and got sick of it pretty fast. That was on launch though so hoping it possibly got better.

Indeed, so true.

Hah, damn Sims! Good luck with that.

No problem! Welcome back, again. It's hard to stay away from here no matter how hard you try.

I'm back (again)
This time in actuality I hope.

Totally! If you like Castlevania, you will love Curse of the Moon. It's made by IGA of course so naturally it's a perfect fit. This one specifically is akin to the classic series of Castlevania and not the Metroidvania style. I like both styles but the latter is my favorite. Still, this is the classic style but perfected in every aspect. It still has the limitations of the older games such as not being able to control your jump mid-air, but everything is designed around that and by intention. It's genius game design and returning to this formula once again is a breath of fresh air. You can switch between four characters too (similar to Castlevania III) so if your in a tough spot can always save your hearts and fly through a challenging part.

That brings me to the difficulty. One of the only aspects its lacking is it is far easier than older Castlevania games, but the game gives you the option of casual and veteran. Veteran definitely steps things up if you are seeking that challenge, but even so its not unforgivably difficult like the older games. It does have some good challenge on Nightmare mode though. This is a retro style prequel to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night so it's not a full fledged adventure like say, Shovel Knight, so it's rather short and you can get through it in nearly one sitting. It's meant for multiple playthroughs however, and there are multiple different endings so worth playing different modes. You can also get through a stage multiple ways so on each playthrough try a different path and experience the game a new way each time.

I highly recommend this game! The music especially blew me away and combined with the visual style it's truly a nostalgia trip. Castlevania is one of my favorite series' of all time so I am utterly thrilled that IGA is continuing the legacy.

WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE.

Welcome back Noir! Hey I remember you.

i was just browsing dA and saw this and was like "OMG ITS ONIX!!" [Link]

Such an awesome piece, I'm half tempted to commission one myself!

Welcome back as well! You can't escape the Backlog no matter how hard you try!

Welcome back! I've been out of commission for a while too.

*Blows dust of the backlog*

Looks like I finally made it back here. Hey, everyone who even still remembers me.
And hey, everyone who doesn't.

And I raise your late reply with a two month late reply. Sorry to hear that you were sick and I hope you are feeling better.

Oh man, I know what you mean. Being interrupted in the middle of a long RPG is the worst. I usually have to start over, but Earthbound was the exception. I don’t think that will happen with Final Fantasy 4, at least not in the short term. I’m able to play that game is short bursts and its been working well so far. I’m not too versed in the armor/weapons upgrades yet, but that does not seem to be hurting me much yet, with the exception of that magnetic cave, but once I got to the boss, I re enable my normal weapons when allowed and cleaned up.

Huh, I didn’t know that GBA FF1 is easier. I do intend to play it some day, but I would most likely play FF2 on that cart before. I also recently picked up my own copy of FF1 for the NES, so I want to re-beat the game, this time with my own cart. I personally found the early part of FF1 difficult, but much easier as the game went along, with a few exceptions like the WarMech and the final dungeon where you can’t escape if your Mages/Wizards die.

Thank you! I enjoyed it a lot and that game was almost restarted as well. I was about halfway through the game and I stopped for a few years, just to finish it later. I have the same issue with Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.