It’s the Freakin’ Weekend! So What are You Playing?

Friday! Video games! Let’s talk!

Friendly reminder that my girlfriend and I updated our list of video games that we’re looking to sell. There are PSP, PS2, PS4, 360, Xbox One, Gamecube, and Wii games on the list, and if there’s anything in there you’re interested in just let me know here or on Twitter. Not looking for eBay prices. We’re moving across the United States in October and this not only helps us cut down on what we have to ship but also helps fund the move as a whole.

On the games front, I finished up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 earlier in the week and really enjoyed it. Some weird story lulls and skill-check nodes got in the way a little, but I definitely had a great time. I loved the combat system (once it opened up more) and Blade mechanics and was never at a loss for things to do. I’ll be going back to finish up side-quests and farm for the rest of these rare Blades, but I’ll probably chip away at them during my morning bike exercise.

Afterward, I started playing Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon on Switch. It’s a hack-and-slash action game with light RPG elements, where you level up yourself and your party members, collect monsters to fight alongside, and take on various side quests. It plays very similarly to an Omega Force musou, though without as much polish.

You play as Aluche, a Holy Knight in the Curia agency, who is tasked with protecting her childhood friend Liliana. However, when she learns that Liliana is the Bride of Time and she’s to be sacrificed to the Moon Queen in order to stop the flow of monsters, Aluche is determined to find another way. She’s then promptly slain by the Moon Queen and wakes up a half-demon, with newfound strength and powers to boot. You can offer up the blood of your slain enemies to empower Aluche, strengthening her attacks, unlocking new equipment slots, or extending the game’s somewhat unique time mechanic.

As a half-demon, Aluche can only be outside for a specific amount of time — 10 minutes, without any of the aforementioned time upgrades. The world of Nights of Azure exists in perpetual night as well, and each day sees the moon grow darker and darker. You have to plan your days accordingly, setting aside one or two for side-quests and others for story progression. Otherwise, if you fail to complete the chapter’s objective in time, it’s game over and you’re forced to start the chapter over without any of the XP and items you’ve collected along the way.

The time mechanic sounds harsh, but after a few time upgrades, I’ve yet to encounter a game over screen. ~15 minutes is more than enough time to complete an entire area’s side-quests.

The story is kind of interesting and I’m curious to see where it’s headed, but the game itself doesn’t play very well (in terms of performance — especially in handheld mode).

You can recruit new party members (called Lilys) and bring one along with you on missions. Each has their own special abilities, affinity ranks, and side-quests, and leveling them up unlocks new attacks and the like. Pairing Aluche with one may offer a protective shield ability, while another attacks and disorients enemies in front of her. It’s kind of neat. You can also track down friendly demons called Servans that help unlock new pathways or transform into new weapons. Two Servans can be brought along to battle and each can be upgraded independently, so there’s definitely a lot to do.

Otherwise, I’ve just been playing World of Warcraft again. After finishing a meaty RPG like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, my girlfriend and I wanted to jump into an MMO since that’s kind of our couples thing. We tossed around the idea of rolling new toons in Elder Scrolls Online, but with WoW’s new expansion (Battle for Azeroth) coming in August, we decided to resubscribe and catch up on the current expansion’s content. We’re both after the fishing artifact and we’d like to have Legion flying unlocked sooner rather than later.

I have a level 110 Mage and Priest on our Alliance server, but we want to play Horde in Battle for Azeroth. I started leveling my Warlock, who is currently 105. I dropped 25,000G upgrading the cloth heirloom gear for its XP bonus, got my fishing up to ~500, finished all of her artifact weapon quests, and finally got Kael’thas to drop the Ashes of Al’ar rare mount.

What about you, folks? Any gaming plans this weekend?