Playing Xenoblade X!
Finished Chapter 6.
Got two Skells so far, the one that you get for free after getting the pilot license, and another from the "New Skell on the Block" mission... but that's only because I need to get to Level 30 before I can buy more of them. I've got something like 3.5M sitting in the bank due to all the passive income from FrontierNav so I'm ready to spend big bucks into buying+upgrading mechs once I get there.
Have been focusing mostly on Primordia and Oblivia, though I also got some reasonable progress exploring the goddamn labyrinth called Noctilum. I took a quick trip to Sylvalum and Cauldros but only unlocked a fast travel point on each to make life easier, haven't really started exploring those yet.
Currently doing sidequests and leveling up, will probably move on with the story once I get everyone past 30. Might try to unlock a few more characters too, I there's 2 or 3 available and just waiting for me to do their recruitment mission.
Not OP, but dropping my $0.02: In terms of map design and gameplay Engage is Top Tier in the franchise. Story is mediocre, though I did enjoy the cast way more than I expected.
I think the only FE game I've played that I rank higher on gameplay is Fates: Conquest.
I played it earlier this year. It's Persona with a fantasy setting and the SMT battle system.
I came here to suggest that exact image. 😀
Shield Hero as well. And his music is definitely the highlight of that series.
I've read the manga adaptation.
The first arc is extremely formulaic and kinda boring, but the second arc is awesome. At the current pacing both should be covered with a 12 episode season.
Second arc spoilers
It focuses on Mia as she tries to get revenge on the people who wronged her sister while also trying to avoid the kingdom being destroyed due to a monster invasion.
Played Rabi-Ribi earlier this year and it was an incredibly pleasant surprise, so much that it got me to look into other games from the same developer.
After finishing Tevi I'm definitely recommending both, though I prefer Rabi-Ribi for its more unique aspects (extreme non-linearity, crazy amount of bosses and higher challenge).
although Tevi isn’t nearly as hard lol
I'm still trying to beat Rabi-Ribi's post game. 😆
Finished Tevi!
Another excellent metroidvania.
It's a on the easier side compared to others I've played recently (Ender Magnolia and Rabi-Ribi), so if you want a challenge you should play it on hard, but other than that the only thing I have to complain is some occasional slowdowns on hectic moments, but they weren't too bad and didn't that hurt my enjoyment of the game.
And it looks like there's some Story DLC being developed for this, so I'll probably pick it up again in the future.
Playing Xenoblade X!
This is slightly improved port of a 10 year old WiiU game and it still looks fantastic. And I had forgotten how massive this world is until I spent close to 2h just exploring the city. 😆
Still fairly early in the story (Chapter 3), but I spent quite a bit of time going around the region near the city adding probes for FrontierNav and completing some quests. Will move on with the story now since I want to unlock more characters and better gear.
Pretty sure they aren't. Seems like there's 3 "tiers" of upgrades from Nintendo:
One of the weaker games in the series, mainly due to the storyline.
Still had a lot of fun playing it.
What were your Top 3 most played games this year? Here's mine:
Harvestella was a really good surprise for me this year. It felt really unimpressive to me at first, but kept growing on me as I played and I ended up with a quite positive opinion of the game at the end.
I definitely recommend a second try at an Old Fashioned, our tastes seem to have quite a bit of overlap and it's by far the drink I make the most - just start with the the IBA recipe since most you find around the web add way too much sugar. Also, you may want to test different types of whisky, I prefer mine with Scotch instead of Bourbon, and I also suggest adding a couple drops of Orange Bitters if you have them.
Since you mentioned Sazerac I imagine you already have some Absinthe, so maybe try a Monkey Gland? It's by far my favorite Gin drink, the balance between sweet (from the Grenadine) and sour/herbal (from the Absinthe) is fantastic.
A friend of mine who is a huge fan of Negroni also loves the Teresa. It's an interesting one to taste since it feels very sweet at first due to the Cassis... but then the Campari hits and overpowers that with its sour flavor.