Nintendo

I somehow remembered that FFVII was out yesterday and dropped everything to go to GameStop and buy it. Part way there, my son looked up that it was a game-key card only so we turned around and I bought it on the eShop.

I played through Chapter One, sharing the experience with my wife (her comment: “you’re okay with all this cursing?”). I was really excited by all the “make this game not a chore” options available. Oh, and it’s beautiful.

Did the final colliseum battle of Kirby (NS2 upgrade) in co-op mode. It's really difficult. Managed it on the second try, but failed at the last hurdle on the first attempt, and the second attempt took >50 mins. We only managed it because Kirby had the ice ability and guarded almost the whole time and Waddle-dee was dealing most of the damage. I can't imagine doing it single player.

Started Tunic but I've been deceived; the combat is souls-like. And I despise that.

A bit slower with games these last couple weeks since I started on a new job and I'm still adjusting to the new routine.

Playing Hades 2!

I've gotten used to the "underworld" path and I'm succeeding more than I fail now, even managed three wins in a row.

The "surface" path is much harder, I got to the final boss a few times but haven't beaten him yet. I'd like to practice this path more, but I'm trying to unlock the remaining aspects of the weapons and the items I need are all from the "underworld" path so I still have to do a couple more runs there before I can move on.

Playing Witch on the Holy Night!

Slowed down a bit in Hades 2 in the last couple days and put more time on this one again. Reached Chapter 8.

Playing Earthion and R-Type Delta!

I got a couple old-style shmups in my mailbox recently. Earthion is a game from Yuzo Koshiro, the composer of classic soundtracks like Streets of Rage, and it's a love letter to the Mega Drive/Genesis era of this genre. It's on the easy side due to its very forgiving shield system so might be a good pick for people who don't have much experience with these games, I got a clear on the Easy difficulty on my first attempt.

R-Type Delta is a game that is seen as one of the best in the series but only had only a PS1 release until now. I briefly tried it on an emulator a long time ago and enjoyed, so I'm happy to finally own a proper copy. First impression after a long time without playing it is "this game is hard". It's a very unforgiving, old-school arcade, and even on the easier "Kids" difficulty I've only gotten to Stage 3. But it feels like I just need a bit more practice, like learning some tricky spots where you have enemies coming from multiple directions and you need to shift the force device to the back of the ship to help.