We've talked about Saya and several other VNs this year. So I'm sure you're well aware of my feelings on it. Thanks again for the recommendation; I'm really looking forward to whatever you've got on your mind for 2024.

I don't know if you're able to visit home for the holidays (or if you'd even want to. I know some people wouldn't ), so I hope whatever your plans are wind up bringing you peace.

PS - Thank you again for the thing you've been helping me with recently. I genuinely could not have done that without your help.

Hey, no worries. We all get busy Sometimes I'll pop on here to add a game or 7, see a comment or 7, think "I should reply to that...", then something else needs my immediate attention irl. So I totally understand.

Who knows? Maybe it'll be on the backburner long enough that we'll finally get a remastered trilogy

That's Miyamoto, down to his core, unfortunately. I can't remember who did the interview, but he did one after Pikmin 3 that was basically like "Why would we do another one? There's nothing left to explore." It can be construed as either commendable or extremely irritating depending on how you look at it. I, personally, fall into the latter camp.

I finished the first ending of 999, but that's about it. I plan to return to it before the end of the year though. I can totally see that though. I looked at some footage of the DS version, and the ADV vs VN dual display is such a unique idea.

If you have the Untold versions, then it may be worth it to skip those 2. You'd be getting a slightly different gameplay experience, sure, but I think going into 3 after those first two would be a much more valuable experience overall.

Since my last comment, I've also finished Planetarian and started Summer Pockets. Now I know true pain.

Honestly, seeing Xenosaga in the copyright info for Future Redeemed was the kick in the ass I needed to finally get on with my XS1 playthrough. It was an excellent experience, but I did get fed up with some missed accessories and low level at one point, so I edited my save to have some EP/SP/TP boosting items in order to get myself back to an appropriate level quickly. Highly recommended if you have the patience for a "death = title screen" style JRPG.

Star Fox Zero could've been so good if they didn't force that asinine control scheme onto the player.

I showed my brother the 999 portion of your last comment since he finished before me, and he kind of agrees. I have no idea what the DS version looks or plays like so hopefully I can continue to enjoy it on Deck without having that thought in the back of my mind the whole time.

Well, now the EOOC is out, and it's pretty stellar from what I hear. Full automap doesn't get everything, but what you *do* have to place manually isn't tedious at all. Pretty much the best situation they could've went with when porting.

Kanon is definitely wrecking me now. I've finished 3 routes now, and the bigger picture is starting to reveal itself. [Link]

That's pretty much how I beat the game too. It was a lot tougher than I thought and the PaRappa-esque mechanic of improvising didn't help all that much. It's a small but fun time tho. Gives your arms a real workout too.

K-on with aliens is a very good description of Gal Metal. I also didn't expect to see anyone else give it a shot too. It's a silly game but I hope you have fun.

I really hope we see an X port at some point. It really is the last remaining Wii U exclusive that matters. While I did wind up getting the WU for smash, I wound up absolutely loving XCX and got totally engrossed in that world for quite a long time. What were the 2 kusoge you wanted? One of my guesses would probably be Devil’s Third but I have no idea what the second could be.

Yeah I’d definitely say the EO ports make others more likely. I just hope they don’t have to make a bunch of compromises to get the games working on other platforms.

That Sonic VN really caught me off guard. It’s such a charming little game considering the pricetag (or lack thereof). Also, I wound up reading two more of the routes in Kanon before putting it down temporarily. I’m really hoping for a translation of the switch version, but I still plan to read the last two routes this year regardless of which version that ends up being :p

Oh, I'm the same don't worry. I had one *specifically* for Smash when that came out, and basically nothing else. Sold it when I played S4WU and just decided to go back to Melee Wasn't until like 2018 ish when I bought my brother's one and really started getting into the library.

Atlus is easily *THE* star of the show if you're an RPG fan. Them, Sega by extension, and NISA all put out bangers left and right. Let's hope some of their exclusives find their way to other platforms in the future.

Unfortunately, I didn't play much else until after the Switch, so I didn't get to experience any of those beloved series, but reading everyones' memories has been so delightful. I'm glad homebrew is keeping this console alive, because these games are special and deserve to be experienced.

--ps, I hope things are going well for ya. Sorry I haven't touched base in a while. Have you been reading any good VNs lately?

Definitely. Leaving the main development of the characters to the beginning and the end of their antagonists' palaces leaves a lot to be desired. It ends up mostly fleshing out why they're such a twisted person (in a very simplified way more often than not) instead of being a bit of a half and half between antagonist and new party member. P5's arcs being far more disjointed than P4's arcs really hurts its cast. I'm also not the biggest fan of how the game insists they're such good friends when they feel more so like acquaintances with a common goal. I actually like them as individuals due to their confidants, but they have barely any chemistry as a party. I also much prefer P3 and P4's parties for similar reasons. I'll keep those in mind when I'm able to start them this year.
A massive prick that has extreme social anxiety yet makes tons of jabs at others the more comfortable she gets. Honestly one of my least favorite RPG party members.

Whaddya think of that new Square Enix VN? It seems to be developed in-house which is a little strange. It definitely looks like it could've been a project they would normally outsource to one of their subsidiaries.

The press release says their goal is to subvert readers' expectations, so I'm a little curious.

I do get that it's difficult to fit more character moments into a story with very high stakes and dungeons centered around an antagonist instead of the main party. But it just hurts all the more when the game tells you that they're the closest of friends. I'm at least excited to playing P5S and P5R to see Haru get more time and what Sumire is like. Yeah, I'm not a fan of how it depicts both Futaba and Morgana like that. Morgana at least gets a little better after the beginning of Okumura, but Futaba falls off super hard and never comes back. You'd think a hikikomori would be more sympathetic towards someone similar to her. It feels like the party changing her heart just gave her a massive ego boost.