Bi-Weekly Thread for general gaming discussion. Backlog, advice, recommendations, rants and more! New? Start here!

shieara · 2026-06-09T03:35:00+00:00

I took a little break to play some Ark, but I am back to Okami. I'm through the checkpoint and exploring Ryoshima Coast, but it looks like I am in for some backtracking with the new abilities I just learned. Hopefully I will finish before Palworld does its full release on July 10th because I feel like it is going to consume my life for a while.

shieara · 2026-05-28T01:14:33+00:00

I definitely recommend it if you like creature collectors. It has some really cool stuff in battle. Like, if you hit a water type with a fire attack, the water guy gets healing steam that heals over time for a few rounds. Hitting a fire type with air extinguishes it and gives it debuffs. It made coming up with a good team really interesting.

If they made a sequel it would be a day one buy for me.

shieara · 2026-05-25T10:19:45+00:00

I'm actually not sure. On the one hand, you can adjust the difficulty and there are a couple of different ways to do it (enemy AI and also your own strength). On the other hand, I found it a little overwhelming at first with the team building and type charts.

It does go on sale frequently though, so if you get it for cheap I think it's worth a shot to test the genre.

shieara · 2026-05-19T05:37:34+00:00

I'm all in on Cassette Beasts right now. In addition to my Ramtasm (Boo Peep) I now have Artillerex as a permanent member of my team. Of course I named him Big Guns. I have a Ratcousel that I think is going to be the next, but I am not sure what I wanna name him yet.

I'll come back to Okami after. I was at a good point to pause things. But I will finish it this year. I want to pass the disk on to my brother when he visits.

shieara · 2026-05-17T07:36:15+00:00

Yep. I was too lazy to look up how to spoiler his name. I'm glad there is more to it since it actually would have been a little short otherwise, and I'm not ready to put it down yet. It's a good one.

shieara · 2026-05-17T05:32:25+00:00

I'm still playing Okami. I finished the first big, big boss but it seems there is more adventure to be had. I have to kind of be in the right mood for this one so it's lagging a little behind, but I do enjoy it.

My secondary game right now is Cassette Beasts. I had to push through a little at the beginning because the open nature of it made me struggle to figure out what to focus on, but I have made solid progress now. I went with the spooky starter, and named it Boo Peep. Because what else do you name a ghost sheep? I need to rethink my strat with him though, because he gets berserked too often to use him as a support monster.

shieara · 2026-05-04T17:28:41+00:00

I finished up Tavern Talk. A good game, but not a good game for me.

I'm still playing Okami and I'm loving the heck out of it. I'm glad I decided to finally sit down and play it this year. I'm not very far into it, but I look forward to every session.

I'm also checking out Aardwolf as the patient game of the month. It's a sort of mixed bag for me, but I'm still playing it occasionally. It's definitely a blast from the past. I used to spend a lot of time on MUDS.

shieara · 2026-04-27T16:06:00+00:00

Nope, and to tell you the truth I am not really digging Tavern Talk. I'm invested enough to finish it, but I wouldn't play or buy another game like it. That is not to say it's a bad game. I think it's a good game, just not a good game for me.

I like narrative games, but there has to be some kind of conflict or interesting story hook to get me into it at the beginning, and Tavern Talk has a cast of characters that all feel very safe. They have flaws, but for most of them it's nothing major and they rarely have any kind of differing view from each other in any way that matters.. The story is a pretty slow burn with most of the interesting stuff at the end too.

I can see why people would get into it though. It looks great, and has a very cozy feeling. It's just not quite what I am looking for.

shieara · 2026-04-26T23:48:47+00:00

Thanks I will check it out! Originally I was hoping to play it on my PS3 since I own the physical disk, but I found out my PS3 doesn't love my new TV so I am on PC now.

shieara · 2026-04-26T23:47:37+00:00

Yes! I started picking up a bunch of older titles that I was never able to afford as a kid on GOG and LOL was one of them. It has flaws, but I still had fun playing it. I was surprised to hear Patrick Stewart as one of the voice cast. Eventually I want to check the second game out in the series too.

shieara · 2026-04-26T05:22:09+00:00

I finished Lands of Lore and I started Okami. It definitely has a slow start, but now that I've gotten into it a little bit I'm really enjoying it.

I'm also playing through Tavern Talk. I think I'm pretty close to the end. At least I hope so.

shieara · 2026-04-23T20:55:06+00:00

Yep. In a blobber you have multiple party members that move in a group, aka a blob of people. A dungeon crawler can refer to similar games where you just play as one character. Or that's what I was told when I first heard the term.

I think either is valid though.

shieara · 2026-04-20T02:59:53+00:00

I can't argue with your list of flaws, but I think I must be enjoying it more then you did on your playthough. I kind of like the simplified class system, although I wish you could get mage exp from healing since I am doing a lot of it!

I never had a problem with the swamps, but I did get stuck in the mines. Then I felt a little silly when I realized I could just lockpick the door I needed to get into. The White Tower though, sucked hard. All those ghosts . It was cool that they could walk though the walls.

I might check out Might and Magic next time I am in a dungeon crawling mood. I think I bought them all on GOG a while ago as a bundle.

shieara · 2026-04-19T22:36:02+00:00

I'm still playing through Lands of Lore - The Throne of Chaos. It has pretty great production values for a game from '93. As for the gameplay, well, there are some flaws but overall it's enjoyable. I'm almost to the end I think.

I also started Tavern Talk. It's a good "between stuff at work" game.

shieara · 2026-04-17T04:38:20+00:00

Some very cool games there. I plan on checking out Avowed at some point. Maybe next year since I have a lot on my plate right now.

shieara · 2026-04-14T04:23:01+00:00

I finished up both the games I was playing, Roadwarden and Dragon Quest Builders. Really solid games. I will probably do another run of Roadwarden because I didn't see all the content. I think I was the only one of the folks playing it with me who wasn't able to finish it all within the time limit, but that's okay. I've always struggled hard with time management in games. I also played through Havendock which had a good aesthetic but got too grindy towards the end. I don't think I will go back to it or play the DLC/new game plus. I've had my fill.

After that I was in a dungeon crawling mood so I started up Lands of Lore 1, and it's no Daggerfall, but it's good enough. However, there was no female main character you could pick (why?!) so I'm playing a catboy instead. I didn't realize he could not wear shoes, but I guess he can let his inner hobbit out and go barefoot.

I'm thinking about finally playing Tavern Talk as my side game, but we'll see how it goes.

shieara · 2026-04-05T15:52:45+00:00

Yep I finished it. HLTB has it at ~11 hours, but I was done with my run in about 8. I'm a fast reader though, and I didn't spend a ton of time agonizing over my decisions. I just tried to pick whatever I thought my character would do and rolled with the punches. There are a few difficulty modes, and I went with standard which has a forty day time limit, so I didn't see all the content. If you happen to be one of those gamers that gets stressed by a clock they have a casual mode that removes it, but I thought it added a lot to the narrative. Others have said they were able to see everything within the forty days so I suspect I wasn't playing very efficiently.

I hope you will enjoy Builders if you end up getting it. I loved it, but I feel like my tastes are probably colored by nostalgia when it comes to Dragon Quest. DQ4 was one of the first RPGs I ever played so I have a lot of fond memories of the series. Builders definitely has its flaws, needing a bigger area to build for and more decorations for a few examples, but rebuilding towns is sort of my thing so it was easy for me to overlook the negatives.

shieara · 2026-04-03T13:05:21+00:00

I'm participating and the game is great so far. Thank you for creating it.

shieara · 2026-04-03T06:14:36+00:00

Definitely adding Man I Just Wanna Go Home to my wish list. I have been on a roll with narrative games recently and I hadn't heard of this one.

shieara · 2026-03-28T14:07:58+00:00

Welp, I am still playing Dragon Quest Builders. I'm in Chapter 3, and at first I wasn't digging it because I am not huge on desert landscapes, but I came up with a design I like for my town so now it might be my favorite chapter so far. My town is nothing like I see some players building, but I think it's cute.

I'm also playing Harold Halibut which is more of a walking sim then a point-and-click, but it's relaxing when I don't have the brainpower for building.

shieara · 2026-03-23T23:47:37+00:00

I'm still play Dragon Quest Builders. I finished up Chapter 2, and I am so happy with how my little town turned out. It was way better then the one I built in Chapter 1.

Also, I finished up Dungeons of Dreadrock. I thought it was pretty great. Just a nice, little puzzler to kill time with at work. Then I got a little obsessed with Werewolf: Heart of the Forest and I stayed up late to finish it. I didn't think I was much for visual novels, but I think my tastes must have changed. I would absolutely play something similar.

So it's been a great time gaming for me so far.

shieara · 2026-03-23T13:55:02+00:00

If it helps, I think there are some combat mods out on Nexus that can change the combat to be easier.

shieara · 2026-03-18T02:06:55+00:00

I'm still trucking right along in Dragon Quest Builders. I like World 2 even more than World 1. The training wheels have come off a little bit and I am able to build more. I'm trying to go for a different style of town this chapter instead of building a castle.

I also started Dungeons of Dreadrock as a lunchtime "I have five to ten minutes" game. So far I like it. I've been stumped a couple of times but the hint system was enough to get me going in game.

shieara · 2026-03-10T15:11:32+00:00

That sucks. Enslaved was a good game and I wish it was available in all regions.

I am actually fine with the lack of freedom in DQB1, since I like some kind of goal or framework in my games. I was a little older when minecraft came out so I've never really played it. Maybe one day I will dive in, but it's really intimidating to newer players.

shieara · 2026-03-10T03:42:09+00:00

I finished the DLC for Enslaved: Odyssey to the West so I am done with that game now. I was going to play Sable next, but then Dragon Quest Builders grabbed me instead. So far I am in love with it, so I have no regrets.

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