I finished Trinity Trigger on Nintendo Switch today. It was a nice action JRPG paying homage to games of ye olde times. The story started off slow but improved towards the end. My immediate feelings after rolling the end credits are positive and I can confidently say I enjoyed the game.
Katamari Forever (2009)
One of my favorite games ever.
I finished Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective on Nintendo 3DS a week ago. I had a great time with Capcom’s classic creation which is a combination of a mystery, logic puzzles and a supernatural thriller adventure.
Sissel appears to have lost his memory and if that weren’t enough he rather appears to have been murdered too. He has no memory of who he is (or to be more exact, was) and zero clue why he was done away with. Only a few hours remains until dawn breaks and his soul will vanish forever. Sissel must solve his own murder and discover his identity.
Ghost Trick’s gameplay and concept is very unique, I can’t remember seeing any other game like this. Gameplay consists of solving tricky logic puzzles in order to avert mortal fates of other people who serve as vital clues of Sissel’s past. As Sissel, a spirit caught between the worlds of the dead and living, you’re expected to cause chain reactions of sorts by possessing and manipulating objects in the environments and evoking reactions from living people. Conveniently Sissel also has the power to travel back in time to 4 minutes prior to a person’s death to see what happened and to change the course of their fate. You reach out to nearby objects with stylus on touch screen or by using the control stick and perform “ghost tricks” to get closer to the truth.
Even though the theme revolves around death, the game has a light and humorous take on the subject - you won’t have to worry about getting depressed over the game’s events. The story is rather interesting and the characters are just brilliantly designed. Inspector Cabanela was an especially memorable character with his extravagant flair, and another favorite of mine was the brave little doggo called Missile. Dialogue is funny and a lot of surprising events happen during the course of the game. You start from a junkyard and end up going to pretty wild places! Even though my hunch about Sissel’s identity was right, the ending is quite a brain twister and I’m not exactly sure if I understood everything. It was a satisfying ending to the mystery nevertheless.
The game’s length is good and there’s no unnecessary filler content to bore you. It takes about 12 hours to finish the story according to HowLongToBeat.
The game’s audiovisual presentation is distinct and stylish. The pixel graphics are detailed and character portraits use sharp, chunky outlines. The real eyecatcher here are the animations though. It’s rare to see such impressive, fluid, detailed and entertaining animation even in today’s big budget games created with high tech motion capture. Yet this game from 13 years ago (2010), crafted for the small screen of Nintendo DS (that many people consider antique hardware), exceeds all my expectations that I place on motion in games.
Ghost Trick’s music is very good and fits the events like a glove. Many characters have their own catchy theme when they appear on the screen.
There’s a remaster of Ghost Trick coming soon to modern platforms such as Nintendo Switch and PC. If the remaster manages to retain the original’s spirit (heh) you can expect an entertaining package. I recommend checking the game out on the platform of your choice if you’re into mysteries and/or puzzles.
“I don’t set limits, I set expectations. And then I go further.”
–
Zofia Bosak (Rainbow Six Extraction)
I found a pre-owned copy of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for Nintendo DS quite recently. It was only the game cartridge without the box and manual though. So I decided to design a replacement box art for the game as a nice pastime activity. I tried to recreate the feel of the actual European box art using some higher quality assets I was able to find on the internet.
Once I’m happy enough with the results, I might try to print it out. I don’t own a printer though, and I’m not sure how to print it in the actual required measurements so that it would fit a Nintendo DS game case. I also need to find a spare case for it. Now I feel so stupid for throwing away our extra spare cases for Pokémon Black/White…
I attended a funeral yesterday and in the church I started thinking that I want to be buried with my Nintendo 3DS, preferrably my limited edition Animal Crossing: New Leaf 3DS XL. I want the final music of my memorial service ceremony to be the Looney Tunes ending (”That’s all Folks!”). Not sure how that would sound like played on an organ though… The dialog box “The vampire is in another coffin!” from Vampire Survivors would be a nice touch next to my coffin.
Umurangi Generation (2020)
It was time to move my Animal Crossing: New Leaf Nintendo 3DS XL to greener pastures. I’ve had the console since summer 2013 and I love it dearly. The right hinge has had a small hairline crack on it for a couple of years at least. It has slowly expanded to a point where the hinge is about snap and fall apart completely. The device still works just fine, the only problem being slightly shortened battery life that isn’t an issue for me.
This console has been accompanying me for nearly 10 years, for over 6000 hours of playtime (124 titles) and 9 515 263 steps - it was with me in the hospital too when I got a blood transfusion.
The ACNL 3DS XL is the favorite out of my consoles, the other Animal Crossing editions I own aren’t as nice visually and they don’t feel as good when using them so I was hesitant to move on.
The last game I finished on it was Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney a couple of weeks ago.
So a week ago on Sunday I did a system transfer to my Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer New 3DS XL before it’s too late. I had a bad feeling before starting the system transfer process - if something can go wrong with technology, it usually happens to me. My gut feeling was right. It was a system transfer from hell. Fasten your seatbealts and get ready for an epic story of drama and suspense.
First I was about to get a heart attack when the new console took several minutes in “connecting to the internet” near the end of the system transfer process. This is the part where the source system had just formatted itself to factory settings and the target system had probably received the Nintendo Network ID related data from the source system and was maybe checking it against Nintendo’s servers. I was really worried something went wrong and I’d be left with two devices that neither have access to my Nintendo account. I was so relieved it finally connected and proceeded to the next step.
The next step was shutting down both systems and copying the source system’s memory card data to PC. That went without a hitch. But then it was time to copy the source system’s memory card data to a new Micro SD card that would go into the target system to finalize the process. The old system had a 32 GB SDHC and I had a 32 GB Micro SDHC for the new system. I had formatted the new memory card as per Nintendo’s instructions and suddenly Windows tells me the card doesn’t have enough capacity to copy the contents of the old memory card onto it. What???! That’s when I realize the files on the old card took 29.7 GB and the new so-called 32 GB card’s capacity was only 28.8 GB. No one told me this could happen!
Oh my effing god! I’m in the middle of a system transfer where I have 10 years worth of save data, a good amount of eShop and 3DS Theme Shop purchases and now I’m unable to finalize the system transfer! I can’t go back to the old console and I can’t start using the new one. It was Sunday and I couldn’t go buy a new memory card anymore in the evening when this occurred.
I was so devastated and stressed out about this incidence that I couldn’t even sleep that night (had 2-3 hours of sleep). I went through all the worst case scenarios in my head at night and had no appetite the next day.
Nintendo’s own documentation states 3DS is only compatible with SDHC of up to 32 GB. So if all memory cards I can get do not have enough capacity, how will I be able to finish the system transfer? We did some research with my husband and found out that Micro SDXC cards of larger capacity would also work on a 3DS as long as you manage to format it to FAT32. So on Monday we bought a new 32 GB Micro SDHC and a 64 GB Micro SDXC to try our luck with. Turns out the 32 GB card’s actual capacity was even smaller than the earlier card’s, so no go with that. Btw, it should be illegal to state a card’s capacity is 32 GB when it’s nearly 4 gigs less in reality.
We found a guide on how to format the 64 GB card to the correct file system format on Windows and my husband did it for me on his PC. Ok, so far so good. Fingers crossed…
I copied the required files to the new formatted card on my PC and it was time to insert it to the New 3DS XL. Would it work? I was so afraid and at the same time hopeful. I booted the console and it appeared to be connecting to the internet again to verify something. And it was a success! I saw the Legend of Legacy theme and heard its music, saw all the software icons, Badge Arcade badges on the home screen - just like they had been on the old console. I was so happy I almost cried!
So after some complications and immense stress the system transfer was successful and the story got a happy ending. My life expectancy was probably reduced by 10 years though. I still feel sad about the fate of my trusty 3DS XL but I’m sure I’ll learn to like the New 3DS XL over time.
I finished Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney on Nintendo 3DS a couple of weeks ago. I saw both the good and bad ending in 33 hours.
The game tells the story of Apollo Justice, a fresh defence attorney just starting his career. We also get a look into the past and learn how the famous Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright lost his lawyer license.
The investigation and courtroom sections follow the familiar Ace Attorney pattern. You get a client who is accused of a crime and you must prove their innocence. You do this by investigating crime scenes, gathering evidence, questioning people and cross examining witnesses in court. You also get to use Apollo’s unique ability to sense and perceive the tension of people who aren’t telling the truth. The game’s story is built over four cases, each offering a new defendant for Apollo.
The cases are entertaining but marred by some inconsistencies and leaps of logic. I’ve played a couple of other Ace Attorney games before and they all seem to have this same issue but in Apollo Justice this was especially prominent. The third case had some glaring issues with far-fetched conclusions and I apologize if I’m spoiling something for you with the following.
Apollo had to prove the innocence of a blind person who was accused of murder. Incredibly any of the evidence or just common sense wasn’t brought up here. The crime scene was littered with all kinds of clutter like boxes blocking the way to the only possible exit of the room - how could a blind person quickly escape in this kind of environment? Killer was claimed to have moved the body to match something in a song’s lyrics - how could a blind person have read the lyrics written on a paper and how could he understand the song’s meaning when he didn’t know the language? None of this mattered! The deduction here was that the killer couldn’t actually be blind because the victim had written something on the floor with blood and the writing was smudged, as if someone had tried to erase it. Okay. As if it couldn’t have accidentally gotten smudged by the victim who was struggling to stay alive on the floor.
I also didn’t like how the logic of the game mechanics seemed to change at points. Normally when you yell “objection!” at something, you need to prove there is an inconsistency in the witness’s statement. Here you suddenly had to object to something and then present evidence that supports the witness’s statement. What? That was so confusing and a reason why I started looking at a guide at some point.
The localization was also slightly embarrassing, referring to a Japanese crime family with Italian mafia terms and talking about a pasta restaurant when the context seemed to refer to noodles.
The game serves a good portion of humor again. I got a good laugh out of the judge when he apparently heard of nail polish for the first time - and realized his wife’s red nails had been painted and weren’t like that naturally. Good god that man is so gullible it’s almost endearing, haha.
I felt the game wasn’t as interesting or well-written as the other Ace Attorney games I’ve played (Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice). The game offered some good “a-ha!” moments, interesting turns of events and I liked the last case’s way of wrapping everything up. And I’ll never stop enjoying the wacky characters, name puns, hilarious expressive animations and super good music! Even though it may sound like the game is full of negatives, I’d recommend playing it anyway as it’s decently good and enjoyable, and it reveals valuable information on recurring characters in the series. Just keep your expectations in check and you might very well have a good time with Apollo Justice.
I tried out Rainbow Six Extraction before it leaves PC Game Pass. It’s the first Rainbow Six game I’ve played. My first impression wasn’t the best as the game seemed to assume that players are familiar with the controls and systems - as a beginner I could have used a little more hand holding. I got the hang of the game soon though and found it quite a fun and challenging FPS.
The game has a well realized high risk high reward concept where you are assigned 3 random tasks to carry out each time you pick a location to play in. As you move to the next subzone and the next task it gets a bit more difficult than the earlier and you decide whether you’re willing to take the risk and go after the higher rewards or whether you’ll exfiltrate from the mission and return to the base. There is a variety of tasks from target stealth takedowns to defending an explosive you’ve placed to capturing a target by luring it into a trap.
Your operative you’re playing as can get captured and injured on the missions if you take a lot of damage. This makes gameplay exciting and puts you under pressure. You can’t go in guns blazing or you’ll risk getting MIA - the game requires tactical approach and planning to have your operatives survive. What I really liked was that you need to go in and rescue your captured operative from the hostile life forms with another operative!
There’s a good amount of playable operatives to choose from and each of them have unique abilities that can be helpful in certain kind of scenarios. My favorite operatives were probably Jäger who has handy turrets and Zofia who had great primary and secondary weapons. The operatives are nicely designed and you can improve them by getting them levels. The enemy designs I found unimaginative and generic.
Unfortunately progress in the game is gated behind grinding exp by redoing the same locations to reach milestones that unlock more locations, equipment and operatives. This caused repetition to kick in as there are 12 different locations in total and a handful of different tasks on the lower difficulty levels. The levels look great though and the enemy kept me on my toes at all times.
I played the solo excursions only and would have appreciated a better, clearer single player campaign. Ultimately the game is a multiplayer affair so my expectations and reality didn’t quite meet here. Still I enjoyed the high production value and quality of Rainbow Six Extraction. My husband tried the game too after seeing me play it and he got really excited about it.
Variable Barricade (2019 PS Vita, 2020 Nintendo Switch)
Happy Easter!
I’ll be on a mini vacation for 6 days and hopefully will have more time to play videogames now. I’ve been busy at work during spring, writing technical solution descriptions for multiple offers in addition to other work and my work days have been quite long at times due to this. Feels good to get a little breather and dig to the game backlog I’ve accumulated due to many interesting releases and the 3DS / Wii U eShop closure forcing me to buy lots of games within a short time span. I bought 15 games during March…
Currently I’m playing Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney on Nintendo 3DS where I’ve advanced to 4th case. Enjoyable game even though the 3rd case had pretty weird leaps of logic.
I’m also playing Octopath Traveler II on Switch in the evenings but I’ve usually been so tired that I fall asleep before making any significant progress. I have 5 characters recruited at the moment, the latest addition to party being Ochette.
Yesterday I tried out Rainbow Six Extraction on PC before it leaves Game Pass. It’s the first Rainbow Six game I’ve played and I found it pretty challenging for a beginner, especially as the game seems to assume that of course everybody knows the controls and systems - not the best first impression due to lack of proper tutorial. I managed to clear a few solo missions so far but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish the game before it leaves the service.
I’ve put a few games on hold for now and I mean to return to them after I manage to finish some others. Examples of these are Piofiore: Fated Memories (Switch), Easy Come Easy Golf (Switch), Zwei: The Arges Adventure (PC) and Pokémon Art Academy (3DS).
I hope you’ll find your Easter filled with enjoyable activities. Not that long until summer vacation!
I purchased Hatsune Miku: Carton Box 3DS home menu theme about a week ago. The top screen features a static wallpaper with Miku in Project Mirai DX chibi art style and the bottom screen has a panoramic wallpaper with silhouettes of various Vocaloid characters.
The combo of carton box brown and soft white of the user interface elements is a pretty classy and soothing look. I like the details that mimic a carton packaging. There’s nice custom music included as well.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana Steam trading cards
Badge Arcade Bunny is alive and well! 1000 days of Jump Rope Challenge on Nintendo Switch. Total jump count for the last 100-day cycle was 112238 jumps.
I’ve been super busy at work lately so I always haven’t had time for a jump rope break in the middle of my work day. But I’ve stilll diligently gone for my daily 1000+ session.
