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Cake day: March 2nd, 2024

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  • I’m closing in on what was originally the end of Xenoblade X on the Wii U. I still have a bunch of side missions to do, but now that I have all but one character unlocked, I will probably rush to the new part of the story that gets me that last one so he can start collecting BP for his skills. I haven’t picked up any treasures in a while to save the BP for the final characters so it doesn’t become a stupid grind at the end. I need to play more though, I need to finish this so I can play Metroid Prime 4. I prefer to only play one Switch game at a time, because I really don’t like removing and inserting tiny cartridges with my gigantic hands.


    …but I’ve started Metroid Prime 4 anyway. I couldn’t resist! I love hoe much you can configure your controls. I’ve spent quite a bit trying to recreate the controls of the Wii versions. I tried playing twinstick for the first Prime’s remaster, but it never felt right to me. I’ve never played the games on the GameCube, the Wii Trilogy version is all I know, so I need pointer controls! I can’t play for very long though, after about an hour my hand almost falls asleep and it’s probably because the JoyCons are so much smaller than a WiiMote. That’s fine though, Metroid is never a long game anyway, so this keeps it going for longer!

    I have to say though, the game starts very, VERY slow. I thought the game would open up after the prologue, but there was more prologue with Lieutenant Tim Talksalot (who doesn’t stay with you all the time, thank GOD!). I thought the game would open up after that second prologue, but that’s when the game really wants you to get your motorcycle. That was about 2 hours of very linear gameplay that’s probably going to stop now, but I’m not going to count my Metroid babies before they hatch.


    I have reached Disc 2 of Wild Arms 2. It genuinely feels like season 2 of an Anime, I did not remember every villain introduced on Disc 1 to be defeated by the end of it, leaving us with something completely different to do now. And the game finally upped the damage numbers by the end of Disc 1, it was about time I had to try a little harder!




  • Still playing Xenoblade X. Finally reached level 50 to upgrade to stronger Skells, the old ones started to feel weak. And at this point I can definitely confirm that I appreciate the game more than I did on the Wii U. I passed the 100 hour mark, which is usually where I start getting tired of a game, but it hasn’t happened yet. On the Wii U, I had a much worse time because I front-loaded all the exploration as soon as I got the flight module. Patience is the way to go!


    I’m adequately deep into Wild Arms 2 now and I have to say that this game is surprisingly easy. It already has a very low encounter rate for this era of RPGs and you can ‘cancel’ them if you’re a higher level than the enemy. I do that 95% of the time and I’m still strong enough to one-shot enemies with magic they resist. Even the bosses barely pose a challenge, especially when they have an elemental weakness. I wonder if that’s ever going to change?


    I also picked up Pokemon Lazarus after some idiots gave it unintended publicity and it’s pretty good. I like how it’s a Gen3 romhack using Gen2 visuals, that’s very different from anything I’ve seen before! But I’m also learning that I can’t play normal Pokemon games the intended way anymore. If I don’t nuzlocke them, I have to pre-select a team of six and get them as soon as possible, and with the built-in cheat codes I was at least able to do that. I tried to play the vanilla way until the second gym, but I just can’t do patchwork teams anymore. And as an Infinite Fusion player, not having access to over 200.000 Pokemon just doesn’t feel right anymore. I’ve been spoiled, I can’t help it!







  • Still working through Xenoblade X. Finally got the ability to fly! I remember when this happened on the Wii U, I was so excited I took the test robot you’re just supposed to fly out to a rock and back around the entire world instead. It’s one of the reasons why I love this game, how many big open world games allow you to fly freely like that? Though I definitely overdid it and made myself run out of world to explore back then, so I’m taking it slow this time. Just patched up the holes in my satellite system for now.

    Wild Arms 2 is also progressing smoothly. It’s weird how many small things I remember, but important events feel completely new to me!

    Monster Hunter Wilds introduced Arch Tempered Nu Udra recently and once again, it hits pretty damn hard! The Switch Axe’s most powerful attack gives you Super Armor and that’s actually causing problems here! One of his attacks will just flat-out kill me because it doesn’t knock me back and thus hits me multiple times! And if he winds up that attack after I’ve already started charging mine, I’m just stuck anticipating a death I know I can no longer avoid. Which means I need to exercise restraint, a word that doesn’t exist in the brain of a Switch Axe user!






  • Mostly Xenoblade X this week. I forgot most alien races that come to your city, but I remembered every single one of them and what they were all about the second I saw them. I definitely forgot that pretty much all of them join at almost the same time. That was a veritable explosion of side quests!

    Wild Arms 2 is progressing steadily, too. Contrary to Xenoblade X, I absolutely do not remember most of what is happening in this game. I remembered the duo of comic relief villains and their theme song, but some very important story beats feel like I’m seeing them for the first time.