Ah, yes: Tears of Guts Man's Ass... Well, if they want me to stop making that kind of reference, they're going to have to stop capitalizing DANA in the official spelling. I can tentatively recommend it; the button mapping (at least for the PC version) is fucking BONKERS, and there are really weird things you can't remap, like how the menu is the R2 button, and you can't change it to Start. After I got that all sorted out, it's not without its occasional frustrations, and there's certainly a bit of bloat, but it's otherwise enjoyable. This one's a little tropey at first, but don't let Laxia turn you off from the rest of the game, because most of the other characters are good. Also, I don't know how much I can recommend it if you're super focused on story, because it is Wild-Arms-level batshit crazy, but the series is more about screaming through a field, exploding monsters with your sword to the tune of squealing electric guitars.

As for the rest of the series, 3 is this freakish black sheep of a game, because it's probably still my favorite, but aside from that, the series doesn't get any good until 6 (Ark of Naphistim); 5 is the QUINTESSENTIAL 5 out of... 10 game; very middling. 6, Oath in Felghana (remake of 3), and Origin are a trilogy of sorts, since they all look and play very similarly, but I wouldn't recommend Oath in Felghana unless you REALLY like the other 2, since the SNES version is better. 7 is pretty good, but if you want to max out ever skill, expect to put in something like 50-60 hours just grinding; it's otherwise about a 20-30-hour game, and I put in 86. 4 goes back to that stupid bump system, but Memories of Celceta is a remake of that, which plays a bit more like 7 and 8, so it's 3D, and has skills and party members that can't die even when they're being stupid, or so I'm told; I haven't played that one yet. So, best way to enjoy the series?

Origin - Prequel to the series; I think all versions are pretty much the same
1 - Just watch the anime
2 - See above
3 - SNES is best, but I hear Genesis is interesting; haven't played that one yet
4 - Probably Memories of Celceta; I haven't played the Turbo CD version, but the SNES version is HORRID; the sound effects are more ear-damaging than Ninja Gaiden Trilogy
5 - SNES is the only option
6 - Probably the PC port; I hear it has improvements over the PS2 version
7 - PC; the original was on PSP
8 - PC/PS4; the original was on Vita

Yeah it was once my goal to beat every single Mega Man title.

A mobile gacha though? I don't think I'll ever play Dive.

The first thing Mega Man X Dive did on my steam deck was fill up the rest of m system memory (despite it being on the SD card) because after the intro stage it tried to download nearly 2GB of assets

if i had let it finish my deck would brick due to the nature of linux OS when the space gets full. So I erased it! I feel your pain immensely, it just isn't fun and not worth the space hogging

Sexism? In MY Japanese RPG? It's much more likely than you think!

Cold Steel gameplay good, but lots of padding and wandering because it also wants to be like Persona. Not every game needs to be Persona.

Dangit! Why can't Jill and Jazz (and Xargon) come to Nintendo Switch? Come on, guys! (Yeah I could go through the trouble of getting GOG but I still want Switch releases.)

What's Mega Man Cross DIVE? Honestly I like the classic series best! I can't seem to get too into Mega Man X. I've played 1, got far in 2, haven't checked the rest out yet. I like classic best! Or at least, it's more straightforward.

Quick question if you don't mind.

Does the new Monkey Island "retcon" any of the games, or does it take place after all of them (including the Telltale ones).

I want to check it out, but I've only played the first two games.

Thanks!

Da only Lucasfilm Games point n click adventure game was Maniac Mansion NES. I had the opportunity to get the Limited Run Games rerelease of Secret of Monkey Island, but passed on it! So it's too bad I'll have to pass up on brand spankin' new Monkey Island. I did play Thimbleweed Park!

I know the spiritual successors were the Telltale Sam & Max and Strong Bad games. Couldn't really get into Sam, but the Strong Bad games were great! I'm sure Sam is too if I can get into them.

Agree with you. Extremely mixed feelings. With Trails, it hits a weird middle zone. I spent the money on the first Cold Steel game only to find out it's best to start with another series that intertwines via the net - so I bought them too for cheap (Trails, SC, and 3rd). So for Trails I felt obligated to play and finish at the least.

I can honestly say I wouldn't recommend Trails. I think its good now.... but it took me 25 hours to get to a "this is pretty good" point. And about an extra 10 hours to feel like I'm completely in the story with a "I'm into this" feeling. I'm 50 hours in now, and wouldn't go back.

That said, I'm committed to the thought that if I have to say "the game gets good 10+ hours in" then it's not worth recommending, because most will never get to that point.

Now that I'm nearing the end, I can say I'm in it and look forward to the 2nd chapter. But damn... it took too long to hook and it feels like a giant trope fest.