[Weekly - W] Now Playing

Still Puzzle & Dragons.

Smash Bros. Ultimate's World of Light mode has been a chill and therapeutic single-player gaming experience and I appreciate it very much right now.

Started playing Yakuza 0 again. At least for about an hour total in the last week.

Played some Kirby Star Allies with the kiddos earlier this week. Much fun (though there was a 3-day lag between starting the level and finishing it, which meant my Switch stayed at home instead of traveling with me to work for lunch breaks for most of this week).

Been having a blast playing more Deep Rock Galactic with folks on the CGA Discord. Good times.
 
I was playing more Crusader Kings 2 this week. Thought I had gotten a pretty good thing going with it in trying out a game starting with Cherson in the Iron Century. It was considered part of the Byzantine Empire so I didn't have to deal with being harassed by neighbors who wouldn't want to risk becoming a target of the whole imperial army, but just a small province all by itself situated on the Crimean peninsula across the sea from the Empire's mainland, so self-sufficiency, diplomacy, and planned growth were still important.

It was great, I was getting a lot of enjoyment from it, and then suddenly I started getting lots of messages that the other Byzantine rulers were voting me in to be the next Emperor, and that was not really the gameplay I was hoping for. #MedievalFirstWorldProblems
 
Welp, it do be like this sometimes: Marvel's Avengers is the only game I've played in the last week despite finishing up all the main story content prior to last Wednesday.

That said, had to put in a bunch of Side Hustle which cut into time I could have played games. Still, pretty sure Avengers is what I would have played.

New content being shown off in about two weeks, hopefully with an imminent release. On the one hand, I have so much backlog to get to that it feels silly to keep playing Avengers. On the other hand, gaming should be about enjoyment, so dropping something I'm enjoying in the name of a task list feels counter-intuitive if not outright missing the point?

Avengers definitely sits right with me, and I will shill it to anyone willing to listen to my raving about it. lol
 
By force of will, I've largely stayed off Marvel's Avengers to play other games (though will be back when new story content comes out next month!). Been reading more manga than gaming, but have been playing Jump Force. Not a game worthy of critical acclaim, but I'm having fun with it. Fast paced battles between countless favorite characters is hard to complain about.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons.

Still Smash Bros. Ultimate World of Light mode and Spirit Board. Been focusing on Legend spirits on Spirit Board.

Still Team Fortress 2 for Tribe of Judah's TF2sday game nights.

Recently completed my Scout promotion assignment in Deep Rock Galactic. Hoping to play my first deep dive some time this coming week.

Played a few rounds of Overwatch with CGA folks last night and Guns of Icarus Alliance with the CGA Friday night game night crew the night before that.

Hoping to get back to other single-player games soon, including Yakuza 0 on PC, Persona 5 on PS3, and Bravely Default on 3DS.
 
Played a bit more Jump Force, and it's been a fun time. Not sure there's much more to say about it than that. lol

Mostly been back to trying to pull off my first successful run in Hades. I'm at 30 attempts at this point and still haven't gotten past Elysium. Have gotten to that boss. Putting more thought into builds and boons, as well as unlocking more stuff in the mirror, are helping me do better. I'm still prone to dying at the hydra and am only proficient with spear. So, I think that means I'm just going to own that and stick with spear for the foreseeable future.
 
Mostly been playing Crusader Kings 2, Stardew Valley, and Surviving Mars lately.

Feeling a strong pull to try out Medieval Dynasty, but I'll probably put off purchasing it for another paycheck or two and might content myself with already-owned and muchly loved favorites like Stronghold, Mount & Blade: Warband, and Daggerfall for a while instead.
 
Have been doing more comics than games lately, but I have tried to get in a little time with Valheim. My workbros got a server up, but I haven't been on it a ton lately.

Also back in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 on Switch. It's still a good time.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons and Wordscapes on mobile. Monogatari collab ends in PAD tonight. Random chance was unkind to my main account when it came to the REM (rare egg machine, PAD's gacha) but kinder to my alt.

Continuing to make progress in World of Light in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Had some good times playing Deep Rock Galactic, Overwatch, and Team Fortress 2 recently with my fellow CGA and ToJ members.

Hoping to dust off Persona 5 and get back to it soon.
 
Impulse bought Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S when a friend introduced me to it. I tried web picross after hearing about the game, my first experience with picross, and was immediately hooked. Picross is all kinds of my jam, and I regret never getting a picross game before.

Also got to play the first mission of the new Marvel's Avengers content feature Clint/Hawkeye. Enjoying it so far!
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons. Random chance continues to be unkind.

Still Overwatch, Deep Rock Galactic, Team Fortress 2, and Guns of Icarus Alliance for online multiplayer fun.

Played some Super Mario Bros. 35 this last week to celebrate/mourn the end of the game's availability. Made it to second place in a match then fell in lava. T_T RIP Mario.

Finally decided to buy the March Humble Monthly bundle to get the base edition of Control for $8. (I had a $4 coupon.) Installed and played the first 15-20 minutes of the game, enjoyed what I played ("Metroidvania with a female protagonist" has been a very reliable gaming niche for me), and decided to shelf the game until I build a new computer--which I hope to do some time this spring or summer.

Bought Lego City Undercover for $6 on the Switch to play with my younger child, but haven't started it yet. While showing her videos of Lego City Undercover co-op gameplay, I asked what kind of game she'd like to play. After listening to her answers (which included a focus on causing chaos, which was not surprising at all), I realized that she was describing Just Cause 3. Now don't worry. I'm not going to let my child play a M-rated game. But the conversation inspired me to reinstall JC3 and pick up where I left off liberating provinces after previously completing the main campaign.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons. Built a team for optimized event farming then used it far less than originally planned.

Still Smash Bros. Ultimate, too. Made my way to what I think (?) is the final boss in World of Light, but I'm waiting until the younger child can watch before tackling the fight.

Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, and Deep Rock Galactic remain my games of choice for online multiplayer with CGA and ToJ folks.

Recently cheesed 5 remaining optional bosses in Bravely Default (GO NINJA GO NINJA GO) to unlock an optional dungeon and made my way to the last floor.

Also picked Persona 5 back up and reached my first "romance or friendship" junction. I opted for friendship. Slowly, ever so slowly, working my way through the gap (chasm?) between clearing a Palace and the next major plot point. There's a lot I like about this gaming, but the pacing definitely feels awkward if you optimize your dungeon runs so you clear a Palace in the fewest nights possible. Maybe Atlus resolved the pacing issues in Persona 5 Royal, but it's looking less and less likely that I'll ever pick up a PS4 or PS5 at this point.

Made a little progress in Ori and the Will of the Wisps as well. Loving what I've played so far.
 
There is only Monster Hunter Rise. I have finished all the available single-player content (I believe new content exists from latest update, but I haven't unlocked it through the made-for-multiplayer progression yet). I've made a dent in that made-for-multiplayer content. Have clocked over 30 hours into the game since release which--when you factor in full-time work, wife, three younglings, and homeowner projects left and right--is actually really good for me and my ADD. Nowhere near done playing the game.

But I've still taken brief breaks to play Va-11 Hall-A. Game is definitely not for everyone, both on gameplay design levels and language/adult topics, but it's hitting a lot of right notes for me. Very appealing presentation and characters that I may not like but cannot help but want to know more about.
 
My son got me Stronghold Warlords for Mother's Day, and liking it quite a bit so far. Same basic fundamentals as the previous games in the Stronghold series for the most part, but with some additional elements of variety since it features Asian rather than European warfare.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons, though not as much.

Recently purchased Celeste on the Switch, cleared the main objective, then went back for more collectibles:


There's still plenty of content left to explore, but I only paid $5 for the game, I feel like I got my money's worth, and the remaining content is very, very difficult. The one exception is playing a "bonus" chapter that was added to the game after release as a free update, but I plan to set Celeste aside for now to focus on other games.

Speaking of other games, I've picked up where I left off in Ori and the Will of the Wisps and it's still great.

Haven't gotten to play as much Deep Rock Galactic or Overwatch lately and skipped this week's TF2sday because I was a responsible adult and took that time to write a letter (that I'd been meaning to write for a while) instead. I'm looking forward to getting back to multiplayer games!

Playing A Hat in Time sporadically. Played for a little while with my younger child recently. The co-op experience is a little awkward because each player has limited screen real estate, but we had fun together and that's what matters. <3
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons. Taking it easy right now because I just don't have the patience for grindfest events.

Thoroughly enjoying Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The movement, which is an essential part of the greatest exploration action games, feels great.

Started playing Trine 2 with my younger daughter. We cleared a level yesterday and I'm not sure we solved any of the puzzles in the intended way, which is one of my favorite things about that game (that is, there are multiple ways to solve most of the puzzles).

On the 3DS, I've stalled out on Bravely Default once again and picked New Super Mario Bros. 2 back up.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons. Dragon Quest collab rerun starts today.

Signed up for one month of Xbox Game Pass Unlimited for $1 recently. Sampled several games, including Psychonauts 2. Enjoying what I've played so far.

Making sporadic progress in Death's Door on the Switch.
 
Still playing Star Citizen. Gave up on Eve - the community is pretty toxic

Gave up on Guild Wars 2, New World, and Lost Ark. Tried playing No Man's Sky.
 
Still Puzzle & Dragons.

Finished Psychonauts 2 on Saturday. Thoroughly enjoyed the game and saved $30 by playing it on a "$1 for 3 months" Xbox Game Pass Ultimate promo. It's a win-win!

Planning to pick up where I left off in Ys VIII now that I finished Psychonauts 2.

Making steady progress in Death's Door on Switch as well.

I haven't had many opportunities to play multiplayer games recently, but I did manage to play a few levels of TMNT Shredder's Revenge (also on XGPU!) and a few races in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with my older children tonight. <3

For multiplayer PC gaming, it's been Team Fortress 2 every Tuesday and Deep Rock Galactic sporadically (I missed the entire Space Beach Party event :(). Feeling the itch to play something different in multiplayer, but online gaming time is so limited lately that I'm just happy to play something with other people when I can.
 
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