Ashtear

@Ashtear@lemm.ee

Getting it done with the power of friendship since 1991.

🔥💨💧💎 🌒🌕🌘 ✨

Some suggested Lemmy communities:

!patientgamers

!jrpg

!letstalkaboutgames

Discord for Japanese-style role-playing game (JRPG) discussion: discord.gg/vHXCjzf2ex

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Reflections on Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles has been one of the broadly popular JRPG series as of late, particularly within my own social circles. I have heard mostly good things about the games, and some vocal criticisms about the second game in particular. After finally picking up a Switch last year, I have now made my way through most of the...

Ashtear,

I finished a replay of Xenogears last year myself. Really surprised myself with how much more I liked the trimmed-down disc 2 this time around. That first scene in the chair is so touching. Love the romance in that game. And as much as I dislike early 3D, some of the scene composition is timeless.

I hear that a lot about Xenoblade’s combat. I think a lot of my enjoyment (or tolerance, in the second game’s case) of it comes from my MMO background.

Ashtear, (edited )

Yeah, I’m for sure interested in Metaphor, SMTV, Elden Ring DLC, and Suikoden remasters. Eiyuden is scratching the Suiko itch so it can wait, but Metaphor is likely day one for me. I’ve just loved what Hashino’s put out.

Ashtear,

2023 was a bit slow for me in the genre, which is wild considering I think it might have been the best year in video games since 1998.

My favorites last year were the Trails releases, which both ended up being replays for me because I’d played the fan TLs. 🤷‍♀️

Ashtear,

Seems things have shaken out (for now) regarding defederation, including less chatter about Threads than there was. I don’t anticipate much change on that until the next big influx of users, whether it’s people coming in directly through Lemmy/Kbin/Mbin or a new player joining the Fediverse.

Other than that, I’ve just seen steady growth in my communities.

Ashtear,

I can’t speak to Helldivers, but pinning Baldur’s Gate 3’s success on the recent growing popularity of the D&D franchise is beyond reductive. There’s no huge publisher for Baldur’s Gate 3; Larian’s a licensee and an independent studio to boot, and Hasbro’s not running massive marketing campaigns for them any more than Disney is for the typical licensed Star Wars game. There’s also the game’s pay-once sales model, which is something else you get when you’re not beholden to publishers or public shareholders.

BG3 was the culmination of decades of iteration by Larian and was the studio’s first attempt with a AAA budget. The game has more in common with Divinity: Original Sin 2 than it does Baldur’s Gate 2, as the Baldur’s Gate die-hards would be happy to tell you.

Calling CRPGs a popular genre is also going to get some laughs. Sure, we might be able to look on this point now in a few years as when CRPGs went mainstream (or maybe not, as the insane amount of choice built into the game set the bar so high that it’s possible no one’s going to bother with that kind of risky content-making). But by the time Larian started development on BG3, the genre had just risen from the dead after some successful Kickstarter campaigns and was still very niche.

Ashtear,

Could be wrong, but I have a hunch this is going to be one of those situations where they are showing way more action elements than are going to be in the actual moment-to-moment gameplay. Trails through Daybreak did something similar with early marketing.

It’ll probably be something that comes up more on the sidequests and occasionally in the dungeons.

Ashtear,

I struggled with it a bit at first, probably because I hadn’t spent a ton of time in Tactician, so I was learning multiple layers of things in some encounters. With my current run, I’ve got all of the Act 2 map open but I haven’t started delving other than the Meenlock fight. Came very, very close to ending my run in the Owlbear Cave and with Grym.

At this point I’m running into the same issue I always have on hardcore/ironman/nuzlocke-style runs; I’ve passed the initial touch-and-go stage and reached the point where I’m confident in taking on fights, but I feel compelled to grind on lesser stuff before I proceed in order to give myself the best chance for the bigger stuff. I haven’t even done all of the Creche yet. I haven’t touched the run in weeks because it feels like work at this point.

Ashtear,

Seems a big chunk of the negative scores are for how bad the Switch port is. I’m guessing the load times will probably never get fixed, but it’s wild to me there isn’t a toggle for the depth of field on Switch (I had to turn it off, it’s definitely aggressive).

Ashtear,

A few hours in, I’m not very high or low on the game just yet. I’m a big fan of most of Suikoden so I’m mildly concerned I’m not quite enthralled with this game yet considering how much of the old series is in here.

That said, if I were facing the tech issues that Switch players seem to be having, I’d be pissed off. I think this game’s rightfully getting panned for the state it was released in on that system. That raises some other questions about the overall project but I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve finished the game.

Ashtear,

Not Wrath or Legion good, if the numbers are any indication. While the community has generally been positive, Dragonflight simply hasn’t sold very well.

The expansion’s over, anyway. They have officially moved the expansion cadence to only two major patches from three.

Ashtear, (edited )

I’d call this more of a loose confirmation that a sequel is coming given the original Japanese text. More of a “we’re going in that direction.”

Hopefully the game does well enough to get it there.

Ashtear,

Rising had an entirely different developer and approach.

Although this is exactly why I wonder if it was a mistake to try to fund late-stage development with a companion game.

Ashtear,

Yep! Steam and GOG (and maybe elsewhere?) on 4/23.

Ashtear,

We’re doing our best!

If you’re in a niche community, don’t be afraid to put some content out there. Niche communities are generally so happy to see any conversation. The amount of criticism/downvoting I’ve seen on topics in slow communities has been very low.

Ashtear,

I’m not sure why, but there’s always been a cadre in the JRPG community that excludes tactics/strategy games from the genre.

Ashtear,

Rude sisters!

My most replayed one is probably Final Fantasy VI, although I think as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to love FFX just as much. Four replays later, the game still makes me super emotional.

If I could put Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure into one mega-game, that would definitely be a candidate, too.

Ashtear,

The base game having less content than its predecessor isn’t the greedy part. It’s the fact that taking advantage of that market inelasticity wasn’t enough for Paradox and judging it acceptable to release a product in this state on top of that.

Ashtear,

Paradox and Colossal Order have said they literally ran out of cash?

Ashtear,

Paradox is https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/investors/financial-reports/year-end-report-january-december-2023.

If we’re both going to be speculating here, I’m going with the more likely consideration for a publisher with record performance. In early August, they saw an early access game get its full release in an unfinished state to massive acclaim and sales (along with similar, larger trends) and decided to test their market with the same.

I don’t even have a dog in this fight; I’m not a city management sim fan. I’m just calling it like it is.

Ashtear,

Ya, Nintendo first-party was certainly one of the exceptions. Benefits of your games having ridiculously long tails.

Ashtear,

Picked up Midnight Suns. Having a blast with it, though this is the first Marvel property I’ve played/watched/etc. that mimics the MCU, so that’s a little weird. Mixed bag so far on that; whoever’s playing Iron Man is doing a solid RDJ impression while Erica Lindbeck as Captain Marvel (my favorite superhero) is going to be distracting. I’ll probably end up randomly hearing Misty or Futaba as I go.

I’m loving the writing so far, though. I actually stepped out to catch up on a couple of the movies but I’ll be jumping back in tonight.

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