Friday! Video games! Let’s talk!
My weekend started off with a vet trip for our youngest kitty. She had some tenderness in her left shoulder, which we got supplements for, but our oldest cat needs to go in next Friday to have a lump on her tummy further examined. We had it looked at about a month ago and the vet said it’s normal aging stuff and nothing to be overly concerned about, but it’s now doubled in size and needs to be further examined. Being a pet owner can be tough sometimes.
As for games, I’ve been juggling World of Warcraft’s new expansion with Fire Pro Wrestling World and the 2D fighter Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late(st). That name is fucking ridiculous so everyone just calls it UNIEL or UNIST. The game, however, is super good.
It has one of the best, most in-depth tutorials I’ve ever seen in a fighting game — so good, in fact, that a pro-level UNIST player said it even taught them a few new things. That’s impressive. UNIST is accessible, with its auto combo system, but has a ton of depth and nuances that have been an absolute blast to learn. I’ve barely dipped my toes into the 10-hour story mode and character-specific combo challenges.
The roster is full of rad, unique fighters as well, with Phonon and Merkava being my favorites so far. I saw that Merkava is being added to BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, which makes me want that game even more now.
Fire Pro Wrestling World has its flaws, but I’m digging its visual novel-style NJPW branded story mode, its character creator, and overall gameplay. It’s refreshing to finally play a wrestling game that isn’t complete garbage. The WWE 2K games just don’t understand what makes wrestling fun, with their stick-waggling and button prompt mini-games. Fire Pro is just a rad, different experience.
On the WoW front, I’ve done very little on my 120 Shadow Priest but I’ve been leveling two other characters with my girlfriend. WoW is always fun and I really enjoy the new expansion. I have a Frost Mage and a Moonkin Druid at 112, then it’s on to the Warlock and maybe Rogue. LEVELING!
Monday was my 37th birthday and a friend (and podcast buddy) gifted me Hollow Knight on Switch. I also picked up the aforementioned UNIST, along with JRPGs Shining Resonance Refrain and Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom. I’m stoked to play both of them, but Octopath is my current JRPG. However, with WoW taking up most of my game time and having a short-burst 2D fighter and wrestling game on deck, I haven’t touched Octopath in about two weeks. So I may just start over later and jump into one of the others.
What about you, folks? Any gaming plans this weekend?
Cheap Boss Attack 
Ahhh you’re making me want Under Night so bad! It’s my birthday next month so maybe I’ll cave and end up treating myself.
As for my weekend, I’ll probably end up playing more Hakuoki Edo Blossoms since that’s all I seem to be investing any time into at the moment. 40 hours in and still 5 routes left to go!
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Sorry! Haha. It’s really good, though! I also had a good time with both Hakuoki games on Vita. Really strong storytelling.
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Football (or as you lot say: soccer), only I won’t be playing it, I’ll be watching the game my son plays. And I ought to be writing, but you know how that is. lol
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Yeah, our name for American football makes no sense lol. Enjoy the game and maybe find some writing time!
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Happy belated Birthday man! Glad to see you’re enjoying the fighter. Arc System Works always seems to have some of the best animation in its fighters. Guilty Gear, Persona, Blazblue, all amazing. Hope all goes well with the pets. My Sister’s Yorkie is getting old, at almost 13 years of age he’s developed bad hips, and he can’t hear like he used to. Still, he views himself as a protector, and will play tug of war like he did when he was 1. Brownie is something else. Where was I?
Oh yeah, weekend gaming. With another Splatfest underway, I’ll be playing a bunch of Splatoon 2. But I also hope to stream some more RAGING JUSTICE, an awesome game I recently reviewed. It combines the awesome combat of Final Fight, with the morality system of NARC, and the digital animation of PIT-FIGHTER. It’s amazing. So I hope to do that a bit on Sunday. Hope you have a great weekend man!
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UNIST was actually developed by French Bread (developers of another 2d fighter called Melty Blood) and just published by Arc, but I 100% agree. Their games animate incredibly and have set the standard for 2d fighters. Now I can’t wait to grab BBTag!
I watched Giant Bomb play that (RJ) and it looked pretty rad. Enjoy the Splatfest!
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I assume Under Night isn’t on Switch!
I’m on holiday this week so I won’t be playing much. Maybe a little Jackbox with everyone and some Pic-cross if I’m lucky.
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Nah, just ps4 and pc. Pc version just released the other day.
Enjoy the holiday!
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I’ll take a look at the PC release then. Fighters on PC are much better than they used to be!
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Definitely worth looking into if anime fighters are your jam.
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That fighting game looks neat. That name tho :). I’ve been really sick this month (which sucks because I was sick on my B-day) and haven’t done much gaming. I’ve watched a LOT of TV though. It sounds like you’re going to be in JRPG heaven for awhile with all those games. Octopath Traveler is great. I have almost 50 hours in it. I’m playing it slowly and I’m no near done with anyone’s story.
The only game I’ve played this weekend is Ni No Kuni 2 and it’s amazing. I love it and it plays well with M&KB and a controller. I plan on sitting back and watching the NFL all day today and I might play some more Ni No Kuni 2 tonight.
Happy belated Birthday dude! And I hope you cats are okay. My new cat… got hit by a car and died the other day :(.
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I’m really sorry to hear about your kitten =(
UNIST is really good if you’re into stuff like BlazBlue or Guilty Gear. It has some technical stuff to learn but it’s not as overwhelming as other, more hardcore 2D anime fighters. It just hit PC the other day too!
I liked Octopath a lot, I just completely stopped playing it once the new WoW expansion came out and haven’t gone back. I have 15 hours invested, though, and thankfully it’s more episodic than one, big story, so it should be fairly easy to pick it back up. I did start Shining Resonance Refrain, so it might be a few weeks before that actually happens.
I picked up Ni no Kuni 2 for my birthday. I never played the original (I have it on PS3) but 2 looked rad. Glad you’re digging it.
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I hope both your cats are okay. When it rains, it pours eh?
I know it’s not the weekend anymore, but I did some good gaming nonetheless. I’ve been playing Final Fantasy VI and a variety of other games lately, mostly ones that have some form of meatsticks in them (yes I’m serious). It’s making me play games in my backlog I probably wouldn’t get around to normally. I’m loving FFVI though and am sad that it’s likely drawing to a close. I hate finishing games and putting a good story to bed.
Hope your birthday was great. Happy belated!
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Thanks! It was good! As for the cats, our youngest has some form of arthritis in her shoulder, but the oldest has a lump on her tummy that we had checked out about a month ago. The vet was 100% sure it was just aging skin and nothing to worry about, but it’s grown since then… which it shouldn’t have. At least, not that fast. So we have to take her in on Friday to have it looked at further. It’s tough.
I know the feeling of finishing off a good RPG. You’re not ready to be done with it, but it does make for a good enough reason to revisit it later on. I really need to replay IV and VI. I have IV on PSP and VI on the SNES Classic, so I have no excuse other than using my time to play other things. Being an MMO person doesn’t help lol.
I’m glad you replied, though! I was just thinking about you two days ago when I wanted to watch an LP of Secret of Mana and you were the first person that came to mind. I wasn’t sure what you’d been up to lately since it’s been hectic here, but I must have confused Secret of Mana with Illusion of Gaia, but that works too lol. Looking forward to starting that LP here today or tomorrow.
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I’m sending all my good vibes your way for you and your kitties. I wish I could do more.
I’m honestly blown away by how good FFVI is. I’ve had other games hyped up a ton by people and they fell flat for me, but FFVI has lived up to and surpassed all my expectations. It’s quickly becoming one of my favourites, if not one of my favourite overall RPGs. I can totally understand why MMOs can be time vampires. There’s always so much to do!
I’ve been thinking about you a lot too lately to be honest. I was glad I popped on and was able to touch base with you. I haven’t been as active here since game collecting has really died down for me and I’ve had other things on the go. I hope you like the Gaia LP. It’s a good example of a game that was hyped at me and landed well below my expectations.
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I finally leveled all of my characters up to their Chapter 2 recs in Octopath an went to Quarrycrest since two of them continue the story there. I just looked around the town first before starting anything. I freaking loved the part of Olberic, Tressa, Ophilia, and Alfyn in the Carrion Caves. They were wrecking shit like there was no tomorrow. I wanted someone with a wind spell, which Tressa has, and it caused them all to break EVERY time. Glorious. I also finally defeated one of those Caits and received mad XP for it. You have to use a Soulstone (M) to take off enough, but I think Alfyn can concoct something that will do the trick, too.I wish I could concentrate on more than one game at once, but when it’s something really involved, I just kind of push everything else to the back burner. Poor FFVI…
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Happy belated birthday. Hollow Knight is a great gift. All the reviews I have read are positive.
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Thanks! Not sure where I’ll fit it into my list of games, but looking forward to it whenever that happens.
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