I played another short indie game from itchio. Yurei Station (by Atelier Sento). Horror themed, about half an hour long.

Legend of Mana (XSX Game Pass)

This is the first Mana game I've ever played. I had a choice of two of the series on Xbox Game Pass, Legend or the remake of Trials. Both are highly rated; I went with Legend first because it is the more traditional old-school game of the two options.

It's a really good game, I may even say that this could be my favorite Japanese action RPG- as opposed to turn based ones. Too many action JRPG's end up with frantic button mashing DMC style combat- like the modern Tales games and others. Legend of Mana is way slower and more deliberate...it actually reminds me more of Streets of Rage than anything- right down to be able to move around in the Y axis and only able to strike sideways in line with the enemies. I came to really like it- the only problem being that the first play through is rather easy if you are doing all the side quests and levelling up. The game has no difficulty levels until you get to NG+.

The game also looks really good. It is a soft remaster from a PS1 game. The painted backgrounds are reproduced to widescreen and the music is rearranged (you can select the original style as well). The remaster also has some quality-of-life improvements like saving anytime rather than only at the save statues.

Of course it can't all be rosy. The game is sometimes criticized for the story being disjointed and very nonlinear. It's a bit like the Octopath Traveler in the way that the main story threads revolve around side characters. The game was originally developed by Square's SaGa team and the multiple character story paths is their style. I actually liked the nonlinear style, but story is not a high priority to me anyway. What I did not like was some of the quests themselves...it was often very hard to know where you are meant to be going and who you're looking for- made worse by the maze-like maps. Often, I just progressed by stumbling randomly upon someone and realizing that's who I was looking for. The vast majority of quests are optional, as long as you find your way through the three main quest chains then you're good.

If the rest of the Mana series is near as good as this one, then I look forward to them. Trials of Mana remake is on Game Pass, so I should get to it soon. Another thing worth mentioning, is that I completed 76 out of Legend's 78 quests and the game took me 31 hours, apparently the series is mostly around that length instead of the usual JRPG 60-100 hour length.

I've been interested in this but I was really confused by the Land Make system and what that even means.

The overworld map is made by the player. You get artifacts from completing quests and then plant the artifacts on the map to "grow" the dungeons and towns that you then go to for more quests. So, if you play the game and do the same quests as me you will end up with the exact same locations on your map, but you could plant them in all different parts of the map. I read somewhere, that the distance you plant the dungeons from your home, the more difficult the enemies for that dungeon- of course the longer the game goes the further from home the dungeons get as you run out of locations close to home. The game is still pretty easy anyway.

Limbo (Steam)

This is the third time I've finished it. First time was on Xbox 360. Then it was a free giveaway on Xbox One. At some point I bought a physical boxed version from EB for a couple of dollars on a clearance sale. The physical disc version has no DRM (doesn't even need the disc after install), but it also came with a Steam key as well as physical extras- like 3D glasses. To enable stereoscopic 3D in Limbo type shift+3+d

Playing this again after all these years makes me wonder how I beat this with no walkthrough on the 360 originally. It does get hard. It's trial and error, but the game never sets you back far after failing, so it's right back into to it to work out what you did wrong.

Dragon Age Origins DLCs, Nov 27 (GOG)-Finished all the DLC campaigns including Awakening. Awakening was the high point and Darkspawn Chronicles was the low point. Actually all the of mini 1-2 hour campaigns weren't great. Awakening was fun but it all kind of paled in comparison to the main game. All of them were unfortunately still buggy, Witch Hunt was the worst sometimes crashing every 5 minutes. Hopefully Dragon Age 2 is a little more stable.

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Tomb Raider: Legend (Steam)

First game in the rebooted middle trilogy of the 00's. This is the weaker of the trilogy, but still okay. It looks decent for a 2006 game and is only around 10 hours long. I've played it before on Xbox 360, the PC game is better now because of much higher frame rate...though the PC port isn't perfect. The game only shows keyboard prompts, so you have to remember the applicable controller prompts if you're using one- and controller is the better way to play this game.

There was one modern GPU bug that is known and has an easy fix. When I got to the Kazakhstan level the game crashed continuously. The fix is to turn off "next gen content" in the graphics settings menu. The game came out right on a new generation of GPU's and the Xbox 360- the setting was to allow the 360 and new GPU's to use some features not available on older GPU's. Well, now it seems that some modern GPU's don't like that setting as well. In the game I believe it is the tessellation effect on the snowflakes that is the problem in the winter levels- maybe newer GPU's do it differently...anyway the game runs stable as long as you turn it off.

After the Inferno (Steam)

It's a 5-6 hour (depending on how diligently you read everything) VN made by just one person and is free on Steam (maybe elsewhere too?). It's set in a fantasy world and has optional NSFW scenes. The pacing can be a bit slow, but it's not too bad overall- especially for free.

This year was the year I finished a lot of games since a very long time. I finished like 12 games or so. Granted, quite a few of them were indie games but still. Finished the we were here series. It was a good puzzle solving games. I enjoyed the co op aspect of it more tbh. I bought this game on GOG called 1984 Alcatraz. Played a point and click game after very long time and it was great. I was having an itch for playing a prison escape game as well for a long time. Only after playing that game I realized that there are not a lot of prison escape games for PC. I also played a platformer after a long time too. I tried Pumpkin Jack and the game was very well made. Really great art style and design. You would be surprised to know that the game was made by just one guy (for the most part) after playing the game. Other than that, the AAA games I played, only Ghost of Tsushima stands out. Had great fun with it. I had to change my top 5 GOAT games list after I played that one. Phenomenal story, incredible art style, gorgeous open world and fantastic combat. One surprising game I had a lot of fun with was Callisto Protocol. I remember reading so many bad reviews of the game. I just wanted to give it a shot to see how bad it is but I was taken a back. It delivered pretty good. Maybe since I havent played dead space franchise, I didnt have that much to compare it to and besides I went in with zero expectations. Game was genuinely good in every aspect. No masterpiece by any measure but it does a great job to keep you immersed and entertained.

I also thought 1954 Alcatraz and The Callisto Protocol were pretty good.

Quickie- Fantasy Adventure (Steam)

A really short, and free, NSFW VN. It takes less than an hour and has a very simple story- go from point A to point B and try to have sex with everything along the way. So, just like real life.

I beat this game, its called Strange Horticulture. I liked it quite a bit. Also GOG's forum sucks.

Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm, Nov 30 (Xbox Game Pass)-I had been wanting to play this for awhile and I had fun with it. It was a little short and a little easy. But it was fun ripping through enemy units and structures with a massive zerg swarm.

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Phoenix Point (PC Game Pass)

Disappointing Xcom or XCOM style of game by one of the original Xcom creators apparently. Somehow, after a strong start, it ended up being worse than the old Xcom series played using OpenXcom or the more modern XCOM games. In its favor the game does have a few more tactical options and a wider range of weaponry. Ultimately though I found the game campaign to be far from its competitors. After around 25 hours, all I could think about was how I'd like to replay XCOM: Enemy Unkown again.

Shadow Empire

One of the better 4x games out there. I've been playing on and off since release. The game has made quite a few steps since that day. Overall, granting a better experience.

This last map took me 27 hours to finish, which is actually quite fast. I Barely made it out of the 2d research tier before I managed to gain the upper hand. It was a harsh planet and for once the AI did not manage its self very well.

Compared to its peers, Shadow Empire's military focus really stands out, as does the way how you communicate your position onto the empire. You will be involved into several decision-making processes that even reach into the personal level at times. Other items of note are its UI that is aimed more at practicality than ease of use, and of course the 'dated' graphical presentation.

Solid recommendation for anyone looking for 4x challenge

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