There’s a nice Steam sale going on this week from XSEED and Marvelous! games. I’ve also seen a number of Bandai Namco games on sale, so I grabbed Code Vein and Tales of Arise while I was at it. They have been on sale for some time now. Time means days in Steam time. I’ve seen both games on PS+ for ages and never played them. Under the XSEED/Marvelous! banner, I bought something else.
I reacted so strongly against Trails in the Sky that I decided the best way to move on was buying another Trails game (right?!). This time, I decided to be careful. I would buy it, install it, and see if I liked it as soon as possible. We only have two hours to play and test a game before we either decide to ask for a refund or keep the game. When we run a Trails game for the first time, it displays a configuration tool, and the timer starts even when we’re only trying to figure out the appropriate config for our setup. My setup is not like a setup. It’s a laptop, so it was set up for me, which I am very grateful for. That didn’t discourage me from prying it open and upgrading my RAM because, for some reason, I decided it had to be a weekend project. Imagine the nerves. I never did that before in my life. This must be nothing to you but to me it was dangerous! You can’t imagine the obsessive preparation I did before to make up for my lack of experience. Now, I can proudly say that I’ve gained 500 XP, 100 Knowledge, 50 Endurance, and 1000 Faith.
But back to Trails. Trails in the Sky can pretty much be played in a calculator. I’m sure my Casio fx-991EX Classwiz could play the game if it wanted to. That little config tool was easy to set up, and the game was pretty much ready to go on my very old laptop, where I played it for the first time. I don’t know what I was expecting from a 2004 game. I’ve written somewhere in my first posts that I didn’t grow up playing these games. I don’t know how I should put this, but I do enjoy older games in general. I’m by no means a retro gamer, but I’m curious, and I want to learn about the millions of games I’ve overlooked. However, sometimes my body decides to reject some games, and it so happened that Trails in the Sky was one of those games.
The pastel colors and textures didn’t do any good for my sight, as I couldn’t identify many elements in the open world. During the exploration in the first town, I tried panning the camera, although the way it moved as well as the perspective gave me nausea. Traversing the town was painful, to say the least, and I was constantly losing my sense of direction because I wanted the camera to stay static, except I had to move it, either left or right, to see my characters. I tried the map, maybe it could help me, yet I found it very hard to read. I barely used it, but of course, I had to in order to complete the first quests. Navigating the dungeon (sewers?) was easy, but the combat appeared to be very convoluted. I didn’t enjoy navigating the menus, and at a certain point, I had loads of crap I didn’t know what to do with. The thing is, this was not like Shin Megami Tensei or Persona, where I didn’t know what to do, but I wanted to learn it so badly. In Sky, I just wanted it to be over with. -400 Willpower.
I pressed on and completed the quest where we had to save two or three kids. Then we had to go all the way back to the village and then home. I found my way back home (took me a while) and read the conversation between Estelle, Joshua, and their father. It was a cozy moment of respite. Our father had to depart somewhere, and we would be on our own from then on, completing quests to get stronger and wiser. I’d love to see the story through, but I decided to say my goodbyes to our father at the station before closing the game for good. It was the least I could do. I cared about those characters, but I cared more about myself. +100 Dodge.
I even read some guides without spoilers and intended to put my experience out there. I’m glad I didn’t because the Trails community can be very… passionate, especially when there’s conflict of opinions, and I didn’t have the time nor energy to deal with the consequences of my ramblings. Some kind souls on Reddit expressed the need for a full-on remake of the Sky trilogy to accommodate new players. You can only imagine the backlash. It wasn’t violent, but if you’re any good at reading between the lines, there were layers there. It’s like saying in public that you’re happy with the implementation of casual mode in Fire Emblem. Layers.
You could ask me why you want to like a game so badly? Because I lack a personality of my own. It’s because I’ve read countless words of love about the series. I wanted to partake in that love and sense of discovery and adventure. Trails games are known for their long and riveting story arcs. I don’t think it’s wrong to at least experience one of those arcs, even if it’s not the best one. Thus, I decided to dig further, comparing games, taking a closer look at screenshots, and finally going for Trails of Cold Steel on this week’s sale.
Before launching the game, I had to go through the config tool. I enjoy testing different types of settings, but I didn’t have much time. The 2 hours mark, remember? I launched the game. The first cutscene was stuttering at times. Something went wrong, the clock was ticking, I had to quit the game, enter the config tool again, and lower the MSAA. It got better with no visible loss. I just wanted to try the game to see if it was playable or if it had buildings trying to aim at my jaw. And, Seiros in heaven, it was! It’s a 3D game. I’m inside the environment with no camera or angle issues. I was never so happy to experience such an evolution! The map was readable, with zoom in/out and camera angles. The textures were fine, and due to the lighting and sharpness, I didn’t even have to squint!
I’d like to play more but it was too late yesterday. Estelle isn’t there, nor is the rural setting from Sky. I’m at a military academy, in a special class with commoners and nobles, a bit like in Three Houses. I’d like to have time to try the combat at my level. The game started some months after the initial events, so the first fight went smoothly with no issues. I tried crafts, attacks, and arts. I think it’s possible to build a nice variety of characters with buffs, debuffs, and magic attacks without freaking out about the menu navigation. Making plans is always a good sign. I’m still on the fence, though, but I found this first experience very promising.
I’ve played a bit more today and decided to keep the game. There’s only so much we can do on a Trails game before the timer runs out. There’s a lot of dialogue, and I didn’t find it necessary to skip anything. The game shows its age in terms of graphics, but everything else seems to be working just fine. Occasionally, I experienced some minor issues with character movement when I break objects, but it’s nothing serious, at least so far. I’m curious about some characters and what they have in store for our group. I only went through the normal introductions and inside the first dungeon. I experimented with the combat and familiarized myself with the ARCUS combat orbment. I’ll learn as I go, as I always do. This can be the beginning of a love story or just a good time! I’m good with either! In the end, I forgot to ask myself if I had the time to play it.
I'm really not convinced it does anything particularly well, but it also isn't bad. It hits the "one more turn" feeling, but it's also off. The art and music direction just doesn't hit the right tones with me.
This is Vai, adoptive mother to the main character of my #indiegame 'Future Ghost', as she appears later in life. Vai is an esteemed technobiologist who keeps active in her field well into her 70s.
'Future Ghost', currently a work in progress, will be a narrative-focused blend of #pointandclick with #RPG elements such as #turnbased combat.
Star Traders: Frontiers is going 5+ years strong; update #335 for it brings improved enemy ship-building AI, revised early-combat engine damage rules to allow for more aggressive player strategies, and more.
This is the type of support drone the player will have a chance to build in the later stages of #pointandclick / #RPG#indiegame 'Future Ghost', playfully named the Battle Assist Tech System. Their functionality will be customisable, but the parts will have to be earned the hard way!
Images like this of the game's various combatants will appear in splash screens during #turnbased battles.
Here she is. It's Eloiz, a key ally in the metaphysical scifi point & click / RPG I'm working on, 'Future Ghost'.
As a first generation Marsborn, Eloiz has high parental expectations to live up to. With a sense of justice that could get her in trouble though, she has to keep many of her wins a secret from her folks.
I'm not one for "New Year's resolutions", but I am one for overly ambitious projects.
For 2023, Project365 is "One New Game Per Day".
Given that I have 634 unplayed games in my Steam account and {mumble} unredeemed bundle Steam keys, there's a reason my unplayed collection is tagged "Pile of Shame".
I'll pin this to my profile, and give a brief summary here each day (or x, if I miss x days due to work or stuff).
I'll play 15-30 minutes of (at least) one new game I've never played before (or played less than 15 minutes of). I'll give every game at least 15 minutes, even if I hate every minute of it.
I'm also open to suggestions; if you reply to this thread with a game, I'll schedule it, or tell you what I thought of it.
One of the things that's come up is that I have a bunch of games that I've played once, and not touched again.
December 8, 2023 - Day 341 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 361
Game: Expeditions: Rome
Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jan 21, 2022
Installation Date: Dec 8, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 25m
Expeditions: Rome is an isometric turn-based RPG, which I think is a combination I haven't played this year, or possibly at all.
This is the first game in the December Humble Choice bundle.
[next morning, coffee in hand]
So, where were we?
I started up the game, and was faced with a character creation screen. The game is set in Rome, circa 80 BCE (I'm estimating the date based on the age of one of your in-game companions; some guy named Gaius Julius Caesar. Yes, that one.)
The framing is that you're the youngest child of a senator who's just been murdered, and your mother has spirited you out of Rome.
You can choose the gender and name of your character - at which point the game explains the structure of Roman names; First name, Family Name, Nickname.
If you choose to play a female character, the game prevents you from choosing a first name, explaining that women in Rome did not have a given name, just a family name, and nickname.
Playing as a female, the NPCs within the game reflect the patriarchal attitudes of the setting, reminding you of your "place" in society, and the expectations upon you.
You're fairly quickly thrust into battle, at which point I was disoriented. I was faced with hex tiles, and choices on how to move the characters in my party.
"This is a turn-based tactics strategy game?"
Throughout the year I've found myself caught out trying to categorise some games.
I have no experience with table-top RPGs; I grew up in the middle of the "Satanic panic", and was taught that D&D was evil; when my only friend at high school was spending his lunch breaks playing D&D, I was on my own elsewhere, reading.
If I had any experience with TTRPGs, I would have immediately recognised it as a turn-based RPG; instead, with my history with first- & third-person action RPGs, I just didn't recognise it as an RPG, and it felt unique to me.
Even in reading up this morning, and having that "a-ha" moment, I recognised that I have played another turn-based RPG this year—Honkai Star Rail—but didn't connect the two, due to Honkai being third-person.
If I'd played the official Game Of The Year, I also might have recognised the gameplay (Santa, please leave Baldur's Gate 3 under the tree).
As such, it's hard to rate Rome: Expeditions comparatively; I can only really judge it on whether I enjoyed it, and... kind of? The graphics are very pretty, the voice acting is OK. I found the combat a little clunky, but maybe that was my lack of experience.
I'll probably give it another shot, (at least until I get BG3), so I'll say Rome: Expeditions is:
January 10, 2024 - Day 375 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 411
Game: Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Platform: Steam
Released: May 1, 2019
Installed: Jan 10, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 32m
Rating: 1 - Nope
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is a fantasy-oriented isometric turn-based tactical RPG.
It mixes different art styles, which the characters being almost an anime style, while character portraits appear hand-painted.
It would have been a hard sell at the best of times, but compared to some of the tactical RPGs I've played in the last month, the game didn't have a chance.
Will Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark get to stay on my PC?
January 11, 2024 - Day 376 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 412
Game: Chess Ultra
Platform: Steam
Released: Jun 21, 2017
Installed: Jan 11, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 21m
Rating: 4 - Good
Chess Ultra is a 3D turn-based strategy... chess game.
With a name like that, you'd expect it to have gun battles and all kinds of extreme weapons and it's just a very good 3D chess game with online multiplayer, and reasonably good bots to play offline.
It has several different options for the location of your game, with appropriate sound effects, as well as several difference chess sets you can choose between.
Given my complete lack of chess games on Steam, it was nice to just kick back and play chess for a while. Chess Ultra is:
Alpha Release 6 OpenCiv1 Project (forums.civfanatics.com)
Open source rewrite of Civilization 1 Source Code...
Signus Release v1.96.1 (github.com)
Bugfix patch for Signus: The Artefact Wars v1.96.0...