Mento

@arbitrarywater: I look forward to playing it. The game you gifted me, I mean, not more CrossCode.

@nodima: I've had little luck with the gachas, and the resources to make them happen are starting to get thin on the ground. I've just hit AR25 myself, since I wanted to get to the casual playstyle you're talking about - drop in briefly every so often for dailies and weeklies until I feel like focusing on it again and/or a big new content update hits - and unlocking the whole bounty/request/reputation system seemed like a good destination to hit. Plus I've noticed you get a bunch of collectible-hunter gizmos that way and I'm weirdly into running around open-world maps looking for icons. I've already found all the Anemoculi, so I'm about ready to hit Liyue when I have time.

My draws so far (besides story characters, and Noelle since she's a freebie): Xiangling, who I was almost about ready to go fetch from the Spiral Pit anyway; Bennett; Sucrose; and Ningguang. The problem with those four is that they're fire, fire, wind, and earth respectively, and I'm good for all of those: Amber's my only archer so she's stuck in my party, the Traveller is Anemo (and will eventually be Geo), and Noelle's Geo too and my only claymore user for those pesky ores. Haven't really used any of these random draws much as a result, but I might boost them to 20ish (should do that anyway for the free wish materials) and take them out on the commissions to see what they're like. At least Bennett's good for expeditions?

@spiketail: Yeah, I underestimated the size of the content they were about to add (like you said, I didn't want to spoil myself with too many emerging details). Then again, there's so much in Genshin already and I've yet to hit the major part of the game (Liyue) so I'm not exactly lacking for anything to do.

@atheistpreacher: @arbitrarywater: I don't think I'll be playing through this multiple times or bother with any DLC - I've got like 70 hours clocked in and I'm only in the fifth chapter - but the Platinum grind is within reach so I'm going to go for that. I recently switched weapons and it's been building proficiency like crazy so grinding them all shouldn't take too long, and I wanted to give them all a serious trial (and defeat their respective Dojo challenges) regardless.

The Nioh 2 PC/PS5 news was auspicious timing. Happened mere days after this went up. I'm definitely taking credit.

@therealturk: For sure, there's more features I couldn't get into because the blog was already getting long, but those skill modifiers are wild and I've got a few of them equipped on my heavy-duty attack skills (since they're already fairly draining on the Ki already). I've just unlocked the Hidden Tea Room, but I haven't found any tea utensils besides the one they give you as a tutorial so I couldn't get too in-depth there yet. The rest of the Tea Room's options look like online clan battle stuff that I have little to no access to. I'm also saving the Twilight missions for later, since they're main mission-sized and I only needed the one for the trophy; I suspect once I'm done with all the main and side missions I might be tapped out.

I love that I'm finding out new stuff all the time, like how there's hidden items on the country map or sapient weapons that talk to you the more you use them. The list in the blog above is just the tip of the iceberg, really. In fact, the amount of content can be a little overwhelming, though you can't argue that you don't get your money's worth.

@sparky_buzzsaw: I really need to stop making the title the last part I write. Then again, bad things tend to happen if I have a pun title before I've even written anything else.

@sparky_buzzsaw: Given how focused they've been on "promoting" Wii U games to the Switch, I'm not sure why the same hasn't happened for DS/3DS yet. The Wii U saw a few DS virtual console games, so I know they figured out how to do two screens on one interface (or maybe move one to the TV while docked). That said, there was that The World Ends With You remaster for Switch a few months back, so maybe more could follow? (Though granted, that was third-party.) I think people (i.e. me) would love to see a Radiant Historia Switch port or a Golden Sun trilogy pack, to say nothing of the non-RPGs for those systems. Imagine Konami getting their shit together and putting all the GBA/DS IGAvanias in one compilation...

@arbitrarywater: I just started Tyranny. Feels weirdly like Gothic in a way, in that you're trapped in a place, all the faction choices are bad, and it seems the best course is to play all sides against the middle for your own benefit. I'm sincerely hoping this Edict's time limit isn't going to be an issue for too much longer. (I really think Obsidian's got a talent for crafting their own modernized "video game ready" spins on the 2nd/3rd AD&D rulesets of the Infinity Engine era, so I hope they get back to all that after they've had fun being Wayne Szalinski for a spell. Given that Deadfire didn't set the world alight, which was disappointing news given it was my GOTY for 2018, I can appreciate why they felt the need to switch it up a little.)

This reminds me of those prediction threads a few of our bloggers tend to make around E3 or the end of the year. Half plausible predictions based on current trends, half outlandish wishes that those writers are hoping may come true if they were to simply put the suggestion out there into the universe.

The only concrete thing I've been able to gather about Sony's strategy for the PS5 is "we're already the market leaders, so let's just wing it and it'll be fine." Worked wonders for them during the PS3 era.

@zombiepie: Nothing too extravagant. No regional rules to worry about spreading and there's just the one side-quest chain (so far) concerning a tournament that gets you some cash and a rare card, and most cards are won or bought (the economy's a little odd: all you need money for is to buy sets of items for upgrading purposes, since there's no equipment, and occasionally cards will show up in the purchase list too). It's entirely optional as far as the main plot goes, as you don't absolutely need the rewards.

They changed how the game works just enough to not be infringing, by putting the digits on the corners instead of the cardinals. You need to surpass an adjacent card with both numbers to flip it. I will say I like this knock-off Triple Triad a lot more than the Shovel Knight: King of Cards one, even if that one's a bit more involved.

Going out on a limb to suggest there probably won't be any major changes to the staff.

The mod team, however...

I have fond memories of both these games, but it has been a very long time since I last played either.

The Bard's Tale had an unexpected amount of environmental puzzles for a top-down hack-and-slash type of affair, so I appreciated that and the fact that vendor trash magically transferred into gold instead of forcing you to warp back to town to hock it all: it was a tonic after one too many Diablo clones. The humor is hit and miss, granted, but stuff like the narrator's utter disdain for how a wolf drops an entire vault's worth of treasure or the whole episode with the Nuckelavee were pretty amusing.

Stonekeep's another I appreciated for smoothing the rough edges of its particular genre, specifically how the "magic scroll" inventory system was endless so you never had to tinker around with tossing potentially vital items away to make space. The FMV comes to a head with "the Wahooka song," if you ever decide to look that up at your peril, but is a low-key delight throughout. Definitely a Betrayal of Krondor, "let's all buy our costumes from the local Party City or failing that check the Medieval Times dumpster after it closes" sort of vibe. (For some reason, I also recall that it pulls off a Granstream Saga by hiding one of the most powerful weapons in the early game behind a secret wall in one of the first few rooms? I guess maybe it was a leftover dev tool to help them test the opening areas easier?)

@jeslie: Done.