[Weekly - W] Now Playing

Still Puzzle & Dragons, though not much. Waiting until Tuesday (1/22) for the 16.1 update, which adds enhance material stacking and should free up a decent amount of box space. Those familiar with gacha games know the box space struggle is real.

On the verge of quitting Dragalia Lost after FIVE tenfold summons yielded nothing of significant value but a dupe 5* dragon. I had hoped to play the game with my wife and other ToJ and CGA folks, but I think everyone else on the CGA Discord who was playing DL before has already quit.

So remember when I said that I would never spend $60 on a game after StarCraft II? Then I bought Breath of the Wild PLUS the DLC? Well, I should just discard any "I won't spend x dollars on a game again" promises because I bought Super Smash Bros Ultimate on the Switch a week and a half ago. Thanks to some helpful information from @Kendrik and fortuitous timing, I was able to get the base game and the DLC pack for $72. It still stings typing that number after a dollar sign, but I really have enjoyed the game, both solo (wow, it's hard to believe I'm saying that about a Smash game) and with my girls. The little even scored a few wins playing as Ganondorf.

I haven't signed up for Switch Online because reviews of Smash's online play are, well, exactly what I would expect them to be for a first-party Nintendo game on a Nintendo online service. (I <3 Nintendo games, but, wow, are they behind the curve when it comes to online.)

Finally caved and installed the Twitch desktop app and discovered that I had free copies of games I'd eyed for "I might get this some day if there's a crazy good sale" purchases, including Steamworld Dig 2, The Messenger, and Hyper Light Drifter.

Despite my "Hollow Knight will be my last Nintendo hard game ever" claim, I started playing The Messenger and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game has a very slow and steady difficulty curve--something I didn't expect from a game that's a loving tribute to Ninja Gaiden, which I will always remember as, "That game where I kept getting hit by flying enemies and knocked in to the very pit I was trying to avoid."

Also fired up Steamworld Dig 2 to check it out last night and enjoyed it much more than the first game, though it's hard to pinpoint exactly why.

I'd planned to check out the gameplay in Hyper Light Drifter as well, but the little found the intro scary (with good cause), so I had to postpone that.

TL;DR: On semi-hiatus in PAD, about to drop Dragalia Lost, bought Smash Ultimate and loving it, and surprise free games in Twitch desktop app.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons.

Close to dropping Dragalia Lost, especially after wrestling with getting the latest version of Magisk to hide itself so DL would still launch.

Played a few rounds of Smash Bros with the fam (including @Ember!) this week. Good times. :)

Got in a few rounds of Team Fortress 2 during TF2sday earlier this week and really enjoyed a rare round with alltalk turned off. I love the open chat, but it was a nice change of pace to coordinate team tactics over voice comm.
 
Still Warframe. By far my numero uno game.

But have made time to get through the first act of Wargroove, and it's pretty much exactly what I hoped for. No complaints there. :D
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons. More than usual this week since I finally backed up Dragalia Lost using Titanium Backup. All that's left is to uninstall DL.

Played some quick sessions in some free-to-play games on my computer to decide what to uninstall to clear drive space. Did the same thing on my Switch. Nuked Brawlhalla on both devices and Warframe on my Switch and there were probably others, too, I forget. I think I uninstalled Path of Exile previously. (Sorry. Diablo-likes = wrist pain for me.)

Played some Switch demos this week, including Daemon x Machina and Let's Go Pikachu. DxM is pretty fun, but I can't see the full game justifying a $60 for me (but could definitely understand it being worth $60 for others). Let's Go Pikachu was pretty, but didn't sway me from my original, "Skip Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee and pre-order Pokemon 2019 when a release date is announced" plan.

Still stalled on Yakuza 5 and Persona 5.

Recently made it to the final boss for the good ending in Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight. Took 7-10 minutes to clear the first 2 phases of the boss with relative ease then got crushed by the third phase. No thanks. I'm out. Discovered 98-99% of the map, so I'm good. No sense putting myself through another Hollow Knight-esque final boss fight.

Speaking of Hollow Knight, I'm more hyped than I should be about Hollow Knight Silksong. I've already abandoned my previous claim that Hollow Knight would be my last "Nintendo hard" game. (Seriously, that boss battle for the true ending was an awful experience.)

Going to get back to Axiom Verge on the Switch eventually. Probably.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons.

Finally uninstalled Dragalia Lost. It was a fun run, but the core gameplay just couldn't keep me interested.

Installed Deep Rock Galactic for the free weekend. I played through the tutorial and one mission in co-op with random players and I enjoyed it! I doubt I'll spend $18.74 on it, but I'll probably throw it on the wish list and wait for a better sale. Maybe by then more CGA folks will pick it up and we can play some co-op (where, so far as I can tell, is really where the game shines) some time. If anyone owns DRG or installed it for the free weekend, message me on Steam! I'm hoping to play a little more before tomorrow morning.

Got back in to Axiom Verge and cleared some progression hurdles. Still not as fun or engaging as Hollow Knight, but it seems unfair to make the comparison because HK is widely regarded as one of the greatest Metroidvania games ever. I think I'm approaching the halfway point in the game, so I'm hoping I can keep momentum until I finish it.

Fired up Quake Champions in my continuing effort to tidy up my Steam game installs and decided to keep it--for now. I'll probably end up uninstalling it and keep Quake Live before too long.

No progress on Ori and the Blind Forest, Yakuza 5, The Talos Principle, and a bunch of other games I started but haven't finished. I'm still on hiatus from Persona 5 on the PS3 until there's definitive word whether P5 is coming to the Switch or not.
 
Warframe continues to be number one. Big updates just dropped across the board, and Switch is now more or less has parity with the other consoles. Stoked for that.

Mostly been stuck on the game of life, buying a house, prepping to move, doing my best to help my wife with our sick kids but also being an hour and a half away the whole work week. Has made it hard to get much more game time in.

But looking forward to more gaming options once we move in. Gonna work on getting toons in Elder Scrolls Online (PS4) up to snuff for Elsweyr so I can play with work friends when it comes out. And scooped up Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PS4) for a fiver so I can finally play through its campaign. Not a big fan of CoD multiplayer or its multiplayer fanbase, but fond memories of Modern Warfrae had me wanting to get IW a go. And at five bucks, seemed like the right price.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons.

Bought New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for $40 after getting over some hurdles with yesterday's Mario Day (March 10 = Mar10) sale. Like Smash Bros., I bought it in part for myself, but more to have another game to play with my girls. They don't know that I bought NSMBUD yet, but I'll probably tell them tonight. Got the game installed last night and played through the first 3 levels. Love the sugar glider (or whatever he's supposed to be) power-up already.

Beat Axiom Verge on the Switch last Wednesday. Woo woo! I don't plan to 100% the game like I did with Metroid: Samus Returns, but I feel like I got my money's worth (though the back half of the game was much more backtracking-heavy than I like, even recognizing that such efforts are part and parcel of Metroidvania games).

Played one puzzle in The Talos Principle. It's not much in the way of progression, but it still counts!

I missed the sale on Deep Rock Galactic (by about 5 minutes, I think). :( It's on my wish list and I plan to buy it next time it goes on sale for $18.74 (the previous sale price) or less.
 
NSMBUD is great. I actually had vanilla on Wii U back when I had one, and I have no regrets about buying again on Switch. It's good stuff. :D

A day early, but I've played all of about ten, maybe fifteen minutes of Elder Scrolls Online this week. With the move, sick kid, and everything else. Game time has had no time. Expecting more time in the week or so to come. Looking forward to playing more ESO and Warframe. So much exciting content dropping right now.
 
we might have bought a 55" tv on sale....... so that we could play Switch better.... that and admittedly my eyes have been more difficult to read things on the 32" screen without being super close to the screen.
 
Finally got to play some Elder Scrolls Online. Been too long. Game still great. Looking forward to playing more.

Booted up but barely started on Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Admittedly pretty excited to play more of this.

And, of course, what would a week be without at least getting a login reward from Warframe? New frame dropped on Switch today that I'm super excited about. So planning to play tonight.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons. Mostly farming drops for the current event.

More New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. Keeping separate game files for solo play and co-op play with my daughters. Enjoyed what I played so far.

Downloaded and played the Splatoon 2 special demo and discovered I prefer the Wii U controls to the Switch Joy-Con controls.

Since the Splatoon 2 special demo came with a free 7-day Switch Online trial, I downloaded Tetris 99, too. Placed 12th in my first match, then 11th, then 2nd. Goofed on a hard drop early in my fourth match and placed 84th. Ouch. Redeemed myself in my fifth match by placing...drumroll...FIRST. Yes, FIRST. Huzzah! Wondering if I should just quit the game now because I may have just peaked. :D
 
Ring of Elysium

And adjusted my mods on Skyrim (SkyRe now instead of Requiem) and started another playthrough.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons.

Some New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with my girls. <3

Tetris 99 until my free 7-day trial of Switch Online ends.

Bought a key for Tabletop Simulator from the Humble Store for @Ember for $10 last night. Now she just has to get her dusty Steam account sorted and she'll be able to redeem the key.

Had a great time playing Team Fortress 2 during TF2sday last night. Woo woo!

Intermittently working on clearing hard drive space so I can install Slime Rancher for some chill gaming on my PC.

Looking forward to The Witness going free for 2 weeks on the Epic Games Store on April 4!
 
Mostly Elder Scrolls Online. I booted up Warframe, but have played very little. This week has had a couple of nights in which I couldn't game when I usually would. But the others, I found out that I can use even my subpar netbook as a front end for PS4 Remote Play, and that's enabled ESO play.

Hooboy. ESO has felt so good to play again.

Edit: Also playing async games of Wargroove, Ascension, and Lords of Waterdeep. Asynchronous multiplayer is such a good thing for me. :D
 
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Still Puzzle & Dragons.

Back to playing the Wordscapes daily puzzle with the start of the new month.

Bought Blaster Master Zero 2 and Deep Rock Galactic recently. Haven't had many opportunities to play either yet.

Excited to join Tribe of Judah's Warframe clan, Heralds of the Sanctuary, and visit the clan dojo with @Soulivium last night! Soulivium has done a great job with the dojo so far and I'm excited to see what's next. Also excited that ToJ is establishing a new chapter for the first time in a long time. (Side note: Check out the ToJ Warframe chapter forum if you're interested!)

Started playing The Witness (currently free on the Epic Games store) last night. Enjoyed what little I've played so far!
 
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