Topic: What (Non-PS4) game are you playing??

@kyleforrester87 Xen is exactly what I thought of when I saw the odd neon colours and black void!

this weekend im playing star wars knights of the old republic and zelda skyward sword and ni no kuni II for my nintendo switch lite while im out of town

@RogerRoger Yeah, I’ve been playing on my Vita in bed and the slightest loss of concentration results in death. Sleepiness is not a good mix with Tomb Raider.

Going on a vacation tomorrow for a couple of weeks. Since the sequel is coming out soon, I'm going to use this opportunity to play through the Nintendo Switch copy of AI: The Somnium Files I've neglected for years now.

Also on the Switch Lite.

My Sims Kingdom Wii

Tomb Raider III’s a bit brutal isn’t it? I’m using save states to essentially save anywhere and it’s still bloody hard. I’m only on the second level which is insanely long and you can’t walk 5 feet without a boulder squashing Lara.

@nessisonett I really like 3 but it is a bit tough in places. No idea how I finished it when I was 13 lol. I always remember the South Pacific area being really hard.

You could try the Japanese version, it's easier - for example the first section they removed the majority of the spikes from the slope you slide down Also it has more items scattered about, save anywhere, less enemy health and the crystals are used to fully restore health.

@RogerRoger As far as I am aware the PC version is the same as the Japanese PS1 version, I think the Japanese PS1 version came with 2 discs actually - the straight western version (without any translation at all, written or verbal) and the easier Japanese version.

I reckon her box art pose is a bit cooler than the PAL version too. I am not sure lights ever beam out the windows of St Pauls like that though lol.

@RogerRoger Hmm, generally, as I understand, games were actually easier in Japan than the west at least in part since renting is/was illegal there. Where as here they had to be difficult enough to put people off just doing a weekend rental, and get them to go out and buy it instead. I don't know, it's a weird one and you can read a lot of opinions on how/why this sort of stuff happened but I guess some people (including me here) are just regurgitating the same incorrect "facts".

@kyleforrester87 Now I wish I had the Japanese version!

My Sims Kingdom Wii
I didn't realize if I still haven't touch the Uncharted Island in My Sims Kingdom since years ago.
I thought I have done all the mission and already reached level 5 stars.

@RogerRoger I think(!) perhaps for Japanese games like Mario, they were released with limited playtesting before an entire country got to do that for them. So by the time they come to release in the West they realised they needed to tune down some of the brutal difficulty that the developers didn't notice... while still ensuring you don't see the credits after a weekend rental. It seems to me that these differences are often attributed to the "taste" of each market, but I dunno, I think that's a bit romantic and the reasoning could be more mundane.

I am sure there is a well researched article all about this somewhere on the net lol.

lately i have been getting back into escape from tarkov, love the hardcore-ness of it it doesnt mess around or hold your hand and i love it

After finishing up Judgment, I've been looking to play a JRPG and I decided to resume my playthrough of the first Persona on PSP. I'm playing it on the easiest difficulty setting as it's a challenging game and I'd like to just experience it once since I love the Persona series but I don't really have the patience for these old JRPGs. Anyway, I'm enjoying it so far even though it's not the most exciting JRPG game I've played. It has some interesting themes and a decent story but it's definitely not on the same level as the later Persona games, which is understandable. I just like JRPGs with high school settings in general, so this game is a good fit for me. The music is really good as well. If there's anything about this game that makes it clear that it's a Persona title, it's the unique and catchy tunes which are present in all the later games. So yeah, I'm looking forward to experiencing more of this game.

@RogerRoger @LN78 In a bizarre coincidence, look what I found out of its box in a cupboard!

Sushi Striker 3DS

@LN78 I could always give it a whirl in my 2000-ish disc cleaner that never actually helped. Besides, all my discs have been backed up onto a hard drive by now!

Persona 4 Golden (PS Vita). I'm early on in it, but so far it seems like another great Persona game. The main characters are good, and Teddie is utterly adorable. And it's cool to be situated at a smaller town this time around instead of a usual big city.

@RogerRoger I can’t tell if ‘adjoining levels’ excites me or fills me with dread!

I’ve now beaten India in Tomb Raider 3. It was brutal, especially the boss at the end. And apparently it only gets harder! I’ve picked Nevada next so Lara has a different outfit which is a nice touch.

So I've been trying out the life sim games I've bought earlier in the week. I first gave Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns on 3DS a try and to be frank, it wasn't gripping to play at all. The first issue is that the game's map is way too huge and you get access to a lot of areas right from the start, which is overwhelming. The second issue is that the requests are not straight-forward. I took some where you're supposed to learn how to catch bugs and fish but I couldn't find a bug net or fishing rod anywhere. The people who gave the requests didn't provide any of that. The third issue is that the game just isn't streamlined. You don't have a specific land to farm, you can pretty much grow crops anywhere around your house, which is weird to me. I also had a hard time getting into the gameplay loop. So in conclusion, the game isn't doing it for me. Getting confused and stressed out is the complete opposite of what I want to feel while playing a life sim game.

Then I got Rune Factory 4 Special on Switch in the mail yesterday and this game is so much better. The map is much smaller than the one in Harvest Moon so it's not overwhelming at all. Furthermore, the requests are much more straight-forward. In fact, I can tell they're tutorials but cleverly integrated into the story and that makes them more interesting rather than tedious. On top of this, you get the necessary items to complete the requests from the person who made the request, so there's no confusion at all of where to go and what to do. And finally, you have a huge patch of land where you're clearly supposed to grow your crops and not just anywhere like in Harvest Moon. In other words, I had a much easier time getting into the gameplay loop in this game compared to Harvest Moon. In fact, I'm absolutely hooked by Rune Factory now, it's really good!