1/19: Picross E (3DS DL)
1/23: Baroque (Wii)
Total: 3 games
Man I really need to learn to not put off doing this till the last minute. I'm a bit sick right now so forgive me if a few things are a little off or if I skim over some things.
Diablo III
I honestly had no intention of playing this for a long while (just didn't seem that interesting to me), but my boyfriend wanted me to try it out so he got the game for me. While I did have fun playing with him and his friends, outside of that I find it's only ok.
The story is really forgettable and short, and after that you're kind of expected to just continue going through the dungeons getting better and better loot. I was fine with that for a little while, but once I got pretty good gear, a majority of the new stuff you get will be not as good. Since there isn't really any other goals outside of that I find I get really bored with that very quickly. Don't get me wrong, I feel like it's pretty well made but it's just not the kind of game I can really enjoy for long periods at a time.
The story is really forgettable and short, and after that you're kind of expected to just continue going through the dungeons getting better and better loot. I was fine with that for a little while, but once I got pretty good gear, a majority of the new stuff you get will be not as good. Since there isn't really any other goals outside of that I find I get really bored with that very quickly. Don't get me wrong, I feel like it's pretty well made but it's just not the kind of game I can really enjoy for long periods at a time.
Picross E
Before playing Picross E, I was playing a lot of the new Pokemon Picross. The problem with Pokemon Picross is that it's free to play and it gives out it's paid currency suuuuuper slowly. I like to do multiple puzzles in one sitting, but no way I could do that with Pokemon Picross (unless I paid $30 I think it was?).
But then I found Picross E. Much cheaper than $30, plenty of puzzles, nice difficulty ramp up, and has a few things to help you out just in case a certain puzzle is being a pain (like blue numbers that let you know which rows you can work on). Obviously it doesn't have Pokemon in it, but I don't care. I just wanted to scratch my Picross itch and this did that very well.
But then I found Picross E. Much cheaper than $30, plenty of puzzles, nice difficulty ramp up, and has a few things to help you out just in case a certain puzzle is being a pain (like blue numbers that let you know which rows you can work on). Obviously it doesn't have Pokemon in it, but I don't care. I just wanted to scratch my Picross itch and this did that very well.
Baroque
Baroque is one of those games where I played a long while ago, didn't beat it, and has been sitting on the shelf for years and years, left unbeaten. Well not my shelf since my sister owns the copy I played originally, but whatever same idea. But it feels really great to finally beat this after at least five or six years (according to my old save file). What's even better is that it's better than I remember it being, or perhaps I've just learned how to appreciate this sort of game a little more.
I'll start off with my only negative: the story. It's not really a big negative, since I didn't really go into it expecting a great narrative but I kind of wish I could understand it a bit more. It starts off with the main character being sent off by the Archangel to the Neuro Tower to purify the "deranged" Absolute God at the bottom floor. Throughout the game you sort of learn why we wants you do that, why other DON'T want you do that, and the main character's past but a lot of it is told in this very cryptic way. Perhaps I missed some cutscenes that would of cleared a few things up for me, or perhaps I'm just really bad at deciphering these sorts of things. Either way, I came out of it thinking "What??". I did have to end of using a guide because of this, but I think that helped me enjoy it more so I could focus more on the game and less on being confused.
Everything else I either liked or it didn't detract from the game that much. Like the voice acting is only alright, but the characters were so weird and/or interesting that I didn't care about that. Another thing is that the dungeons tend to look a bit bland, but I didn't care since I was often busy enjoying the gameplay. It's very similar to a normal rogue-like (procedurally-generated floors, lots of different items to pick up, your level and items are cleared after you exit) but the biggest difference is that it's all real-time instead of turn-based. Now that kind of works against it a little bit, since I generally ended up button mashing my way through enemies but this does make it pretty tense at times. This was especially true near the end of the final dungeon run-through, where there would be a ton of enemies that are essentially running around with rocket launchers.
So all in all, while this might be a little bit too odd for many people to enjoy, I'm really glad Exhuminator gave me a copy so I could give it another chance
I'll start off with my only negative: the story. It's not really a big negative, since I didn't really go into it expecting a great narrative but I kind of wish I could understand it a bit more. It starts off with the main character being sent off by the Archangel to the Neuro Tower to purify the "deranged" Absolute God at the bottom floor. Throughout the game you sort of learn why we wants you do that, why other DON'T want you do that, and the main character's past but a lot of it is told in this very cryptic way. Perhaps I missed some cutscenes that would of cleared a few things up for me, or perhaps I'm just really bad at deciphering these sorts of things. Either way, I came out of it thinking "What??". I did have to end of using a guide because of this, but I think that helped me enjoy it more so I could focus more on the game and less on being confused.
Everything else I either liked or it didn't detract from the game that much. Like the voice acting is only alright, but the characters were so weird and/or interesting that I didn't care about that. Another thing is that the dungeons tend to look a bit bland, but I didn't care since I was often busy enjoying the gameplay. It's very similar to a normal rogue-like (procedurally-generated floors, lots of different items to pick up, your level and items are cleared after you exit) but the biggest difference is that it's all real-time instead of turn-based. Now that kind of works against it a little bit, since I generally ended up button mashing my way through enemies but this does make it pretty tense at times. This was especially true near the end of the final dungeon run-through, where there would be a ton of enemies that are essentially running around with rocket launchers.
So all in all, while this might be a little bit too odd for many people to enjoy, I'm really glad Exhuminator gave me a copy so I could give it another chance
Also that's two RPGs down, ten more to go! Next up is Etrian Odyssey IV, which I hope I can get back into. I'm already pretty far into it, but I stopped playing a while ago since I got really stuck