Kawa's recent activity
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Comment on Devil May Fly - WIP fighter jet parry in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Kawa Link ParentThe new Arkveld Extreme trial turned out to be quite easy for what it was. Cleared it in the morning in PF in a couple lockouts. I had a lot of fun but it's probably the easiest Extreme trial so...The new Arkveld Extreme trial turned out to be quite easy for what it was. Cleared it in the morning in PF in a couple lockouts. I had a lot of fun but it's probably the easiest Extreme trial so far in Dawntrail and probably also easier than any Endwalker extreme trial. Very low on coordination and higher on boss animation based tells. Still, I liked it a lot.
Didn't happen to step foot into the deep dungeon at all yet.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Kawa (edited )Link ParentI'm a huge criterion fan. If you've heard the complaints I'm sure you're aware people have complained that specifically the first two Criterion (Savage) dungeons have no reason to be repeated, and...I'm a huge criterion fan. If you've heard the complaints I'm sure you're aware people have complained that specifically the first two Criterion (Savage) dungeons have no reason to be repeated, and yet I've done each of them multiple times.
Generally speaking though, yeah the community has always been a bit neglectful of content off the beaten path. I really love that kind of stuff too. Delubrum Reginae is a good shout, the Savage version will always be one of my favourites. Trinity Avowed's hot and cold mechanics, Stygimoloch Lord's doom stack autoattacks, Queen's superchess are all very fun mechanics.
Regarding Deep Dungeon, I've had pretty similar experiences, never had a group who wanted to go all the way, so I've never seen the top floor of any of them. I assume the first three I'll never see until I step up and grind it out solo for the titles/achievements. This new one with the "Quantum" mode boss at the very end may improve interest levels among my raider friends though, hopefully I can get a group for that going soon.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Kawa LinkAside from Chrono Trigger for CGA, I also have Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on the go. It's my first time with DQ3 in any form and it's definitely interesting. There's clearly loads of QoL and...Aside from Chrono Trigger for CGA, I also have Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on the go. It's my first time with DQ3 in any form and it's definitely interesting. There's clearly loads of QoL and features built up upon the game and yet it still feels like it can't get away from the low complexity of its NES roots.
That said, ironically the class system feels almost too complex... well, not really. It's stupidly simple but because it's so simple and low on restrictions it becomes complex because it's almost too open.
When the servers come up in a few hours, Final Fantasy XIV will be releasing a patch containing a Monster Hunter crossover trial, which as usual with Extreme trials, I'll be trying to clear in the morning. I'm not really into Monster Hunter so my hopes are mixed; for the MH fans I want it to lean on MH inspired mechanics to make them happy, but I'm also worried it could end up being a trial I hate as a consequence. I didn't like the potion mechanic of the Rathalos EX trial from Stormblood.
The other big piece of battle content this sub-patch is Pilgrim's Traverse, a deep dungeon with the final boss separated into its own instance with scaling difficulty. I've never been a big deep dungeon guy, usually not finding people to clear them as a group, leaving clearing them at all to be assumed to be part of eventual solo attempts in the "someday" bucket. We'll see if the changes to this one attract more groups to it and if that means I find a place in one.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa Link ParentI haven't played it but I have heard it described as feeling like basically Sakaguchi's take on a Dragon Quest type of game, but I don't know how fair that is, at surface level it sounds kind of...Blue Dragon
I haven't played it but I have heard it described as feeling like basically Sakaguchi's take on a Dragon Quest type of game, but I don't know how fair that is, at surface level it sounds kind of reductive.
Looking at the big name staff of both games I guess probably significant differences from Chrono Trigger going into Blue Dragon are Yuji Horii isn't present, Yoshinori Kitase isn't present, and Sakaguchi is writing on Blue Dragon while for CT he was credited as a game designer, which could account for differences in how the games turned out and were received - I know it was less well-received though I don't know much about why. Always been interested in trying it out some day.
Looking at footage of it my gut reaction is that aside from looking dated cause of when it came out, it also happens to look sort of cheap, like some kind of unity engine indie kickstarter rpg that barely got across the finish line. The hud especially gives me that vibe.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa Link ParentIt's a piece of art by Akira Toriyama that was made in a concept art stage and the common assumption is that characters' spells were not set in stone at the point in development when it was drawn,...The American one is all about action. Also, what's up with Marle in that US cover? At least so far, I haven't seen her wearing a bathrobe or using fire spells in the game. Still, it's of course all marketing, and the US cover certainly is eye catching.
It's a piece of art by Akira Toriyama that was made in a concept art stage and the common assumption is that characters' spells were not set in stone at the point in development when it was drawn, as it is indeed correct that Marle does not do fire spells and does not do any fire based combo techs with Crono. I think since it was most likely drawn during development, it's probably also a safe assumption that it was never intended to be a box cover image but rather was chosen afterward by marketing and localization teams for the usual appealing to Americans reasons.
As for her outfit, we can only guess. Maybe it's just supposed to be representative of equipping stuff? There's at least one other Toriyama art piece for the game where Lucca is depicted without her yellow vest and some other outer layers, wearing only a brown shirt and black shorts, but those are elements visible under the yellow vest in all the other art of her so it comes off less as "different equipment" and more "the vest was taken off temporarily" so I don't know if it's really the same thing.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa (edited )Link ParentHope it's not too annoying but I'm gonna give you a secondary reply for this chunk just cause it's off the topic of P3 a bit: I actually think in some ways it's kind of unfortunate that you said...Hope it's not too annoying but I'm gonna give you a secondary reply for this chunk just cause it's off the topic of P3 a bit:
I actually think in some ways it's kind of unfortunate that you said you care most about gameplay and story but feel disinterested in Metaphor's setting. It's understandable, quite like how I dislike P4's small-town setting.
That said, I believe Metaphor absolutely does go toe-to-toe with Persona games narratively (though I find P3 more emotionally charged/touching, but Metaphor is pretty heartfelt when it needs to be), and I think it might straight up have a better combat system than P3/4/5. As such I think there's a world where if a different mood strikes you some day and you can stomach the medieval fantasy, it's quite possible it could fit you better gameplay-wise than any Persona game. Especially because you said P5 combat felt repetitive. I think to some extent turn-based JRPG combat in games as long as Atlus titles might always feel repetitive to you but Metaphor has a few advantages in how its combat and progression works to keep things fresher throughout the lengthy runtime than Persona.
In my opinion the press-turn system Metaphor inherits from Shin Megami Tensei is a lot more engaging than Persona's "1-more" stuff. Both systems reward you for hitting weaknesses, but Metaphor's doesn't go infinite, which gives you way less advantage for going first in battle. The game also allowing you to pass a turn at cost of .5 of an action at any time compared to P3's shift/P5's baton pass being only after hitting a weakness is way more flexible and an option I took much more than I thought I would when I started the game. Press-turn also makes enemies vastly more threatening, cause they're way more likely to survive your opening salvo since you don't knock them down by hitting weaknesses and there's no all-out-attack, so they're far more likely to get turns of their own and start getting their own press-turn system gains from hitting your weaknesses, landing crits, or whatever else.
I had a lot of fun with Metaphor combat, especially in the lategame. I've definitely thought carefully in Persona, but In Persona I've never thought as carefully as many steps ahead as I was doing in Metaphor and that's kind of awesome. Like counting how many actions I would have to see if I could get another action with my character that could hit a weakness by passing the turn of a character who couldn't, etc. That's a very different feeling than just swapping the Persona you have out to always have every element on hand, on demand.
Another difference is that in Persona you have that imbalance of the main character's multiple personas and the fusion system making them the flexible and dynamic character while the rest of the party can be sort of one-note with their builds. On the other hand, Metaphor gives every party member the ability to change their archetypes (classes, basically) and learn abilities from all different ones. Admittedly, your build freedom does get railroaded into pretty clearly intended roles/paths for each character, but personally I'm okay with it. I think it's because I accept this in contrast to a game like vanilla Final Fantasy XII where every character loses their identity as the license board progression system turns them into ultimate jack-of-all-trades clones of each other.
Anyway sorry for talking your ear off but I hope you (or onlookers) found all this info helpful in some way.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa (edited )Link ParentOK I think I'm done editing... is this post longer than the last one? I'm so sorry... anyway: I would recommend Persona 3 Reload to most people interested in P3 in general, but also specifically...My power went out and I had to type this on my phone, I can't tell how big and rambly the paragraphs are. I'm about to hop back on the PC and edit the heck out of this, please hold...OK I think I'm done editing... is this post longer than the last one? I'm so sorry... anyway:
I would recommend Persona 3 Reload to most people interested in P3 in general, but also specifically according to some of the details you've given, like that you have tried out P5, are more new to JRPGs finally getting their hooks into you, etc. But I'll still go over the versions so you can be informed.
First on the PS2 there was the vanilla release, simply called Persona 3. It's universally considered replaced by it's successor FES, so you can pretty much forget it exists like everyone else has.
Second is Persona 3 FES which was a re-release on the PS2 that has some tweaks to the original storyline and gameplay, but the added content of serious substance here comes from a separately added episode.
So the original game story gets renamed in FES to "The Journey" and the new campaign gets named "The Answer." They're not integrated together, rather they're separately selectable from the main menu like having 2 different "campaigns" so to speak.
The Answer is a lengthy epilogue scenario picking up after the end of the original story which I'm going to hereafter call The Journey. The Answer doesn't carry over levels or anything, starts you off at level 1 again but with a different main character, doesn't have Social Links (Confidants in P5 language) and in FES it doesn't have a difficulty selection, playing out like The Journey on Hard mode. It is lighter on story scenes though it does have plenty, and heavier on combat for most of its runtime.
Some of the fans like The Answer a lot while some others to wave it off as unnecessary. While I agree that The Journey is a complete enough experience to call it a stopping point, I think if the player really liked the game and wants more, I encourage playing it as well. It is canon and interesting both on it's own merit as well as introduces an idea for a side plotline that is continued in the Persona 4 Arena fighting games and which I would really like to see continued even further some day. Meta-narrative stuff between Persona games is rare but there is an implied continuity in the P345 era to which The Answer has some importance. The Answer also puts my favourite Persona character in the protagonist role so I love it for that.
There are some quirks to the PS2 editions of the game: first, you control only the protagonist, and your allies are controlled by the CPU. It can be pretty brutal sometimes with them doing things that just aren't useful or contextually appropriate. They can even remark that they're getting tired and leave the dungeon to go back to the dorm for the night, becoming unavailable for the rest of that Dark Hour. Some might argue there was some artistic intention for this but I honestly find that take questionable. In summary, there are some real weird mechanics in vanilla P3 and FES.
Third release was Persona 3 Portable on PSP, and a PC port of this on steam is the one always included in relatively frequent Persona triple pack sales.
I should be able to get this right off memory but I haven't played this version myself yet but I know it's cut back in a lot of ways.
It contains only The Journey, and in it's version of The Journey, there are some writing and dialogue differences which FES fans tend to dislike but would go unnoticed by any newcomers.
Portable does not include The Answer in any form.
Some animated cutscenes are cut down to in engine dialogue scenes and the 3D free roaming around the dorm, school, and places in town are cut down to a visual novel-like presentation.
Portable is the first version of P3 that includes control of party members who are not the protagonist.
The big new feature here was the introduction of an alternative playthrough as a female version of the protagonist instead of the male one all other versions have. She has different dialogue options in the same scenes and the options imply a moderately different personality. She has some completely different social links as well.
Overall though I would only recommend this version to players who became a fan of the game through FES or Reload and have appetite enough for another playthrough to play the female main character's route. Too many cutbacks for a first-time experience.
Lastly Persona 3 Reload on PC and modern consoles. It's a post-P5 remake and it shows but in largely good ways. The whole UI across the board is overhauled and looks fantastic, very in line with what people expect from Atlus after P5 and with Metaphor Re:Fantazio that released the same year as Reload. It's not all just aesthetics either, some of the UI adjustments include QoL like minimap and objective displays, and plenty of smaller detail adjustments throughout various menus.
Reload's dialogue for The Journey is based on Portable so the very same critiques that fans from FES have once again apply here, but are also once again the kinds of things newcomers will not be aware of whatsoever.
In combat it plays a bit more like P5 as well. Of course it has a fully controllable party. There's basically a version of P5's Baton Pass but without the overpowered buffs BP had, called "Shift."
A new mechanic called Theurgy is added too but I won't be specific about it, just that I like it. Some of these mechanics contribute to lowering the difficulty if you compare normal-to-normal modes between Reload and past releases, but Reload has 5 difficulty modes with normal in the middle so it's pretty flexible. Normal in Reload is similar to normal mode in Persona 5 Royal.
Reload also does replace some cutscenes that are animated in FES with in-engine scenes but the rendering and overall look of the 3D models is so good at this point that unlike Portable, it really isn't a cut-back any more. In most cases, I'm more of a fan of what Reload did with these scenes. The animation quality of anime cutscenes in FES looks very cheap, including shots where there isn't even any background scenery, but should be. FES fans sometimes say that was artistic intent. Still, there are anime cutscenes throughout Reload and about as often as a player coming from P5 would expect. Such a player would not think there was anything unusually low about the amount of anime cutscenes in Reload so I think it's really nothing to worry about.
Reload introduces quite a few more tracks to the OST and reworks just about all of them. Instrumental tracks get some slight mixing and mastering adjustments at most while vocal tracks are significantly redone including new vocal performances. The original singer Yumi Kawamura's role in these songs was taken over by Azumi Takahashi, which has been controversial among fans, but if I'm being brutally honest, I think Yumi was kind of pitchy at times and not my favourite vocalist. Azumi sounds more polished and contemporary, which I think I can understand not liking but for my tastes I'd rather listen to her performances. Lotus Juice, the rapper involved, is still involved on all the tracks he did before plus several new ones. One of the new songs, Color Your Night is a contender to be my favourite song on any version of the P3 OST.
Finally, and once again controversially, The Answer does return for Reload as a sold-separately, paid DLC called "Episode Aigis" (a more direct translation of the Japanese name for The Answer - if you're wondering, The Journey was "Episode Yourself" or something along those lines in the JP FES release.)
Atlus states they didn't originally plan to release The Answer for Reload but decided to after how much demand there was and how well the game was received. Fans were disappointed it was sold separately because of how it was included in FES. It increases the total cost of buying Reload and the DLC to be like the price of 1.5 games. It is by far the best way to play The Answer, however because of all the QoL Reload introduces to it. Remember that The Answer previously only existed in FES so this is the first time The Answer has had fully controllable party members. Unlike FES it also comes with difficulty options this time. Lastly, a new intro movie and a new battle track were added to its OST both of which are also very good tracks.
Anyway in your case I would like to express some concern about what you said with battles feeling repetitive. In some ways, Persona 3 is actually worse for someone who felt that way about P5, I think.
The battle system in Reload works in pretty much the same way as P5, but you will experience longer uninterrupted stretches of dungeon crawling exploration in less curated, and less stylistically varied environments than P5.
Persona 3 comes from a time when many of Atlus' games were kind of dungeon crawler RPGs, don't forget Shin Megami Tensei started out as these like first-person perspective tile-based dungeon crawling JRPGs, the kind of thing you might pencil out on graph paper as you play (indeed Etrian Odyssey by Atlus on the DS basically gave you the equivalent of in-game graph paper to do this very thing on the touch screen!) and while P3 has never felt that old school, without spoiling much, I have to tell you to expect a style of randomized dungeon floors more like P4's dungeons and not at all like P5's palaces, and that might rub you the wrong way.
Also worth mentioning Persona 3 Reload is on what I think is its all time lowest sale price on Steam right now, for 60% off both the base game and Episode Aigis ("The Answer")
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa (edited )Link ParentI'm about to drop a massive essay on Persona in a Chrono Trigger thread aren't I...? God damn it sorry about this, but anyway here I go: Don't be afraid to consider the option of playing some...- Exemplary
Persona 5
I'm about to drop a massive essay on Persona in a Chrono Trigger thread aren't I...? God damn it sorry about this, but anyway here I go:
Don't be afraid to consider the option of playing some version of P3 or P4 (or indeed 5) first instead.
Broadly speaking I'd recommend both Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Royal to anybody (and P4 Golden I guess but I'm negative on P4 if I'm being candid), but the Persona fandom has a bit of a habit of just rawdogging P5R recommendations as anyone's first Persona game.
I feel that how players will react to each will depend heavily on their personality and tastes so players should consider being open to starting with any of the three, whichever one appeals most!
The simple way to go about it that I would recommend a newcomer to the franchise do is watch the animated opening intro for 3 Reload, 4 Golden, and 5 Royal (these intros basically tell you nothing concrete about anything plot-wise but are really good at communicating the "vibes" of the game through musical language, aesthetics, and visual language), and read the most very basic like introductory premise of each, the same kind of information you'd see on the back of the box. I'll take a stab at it:
"Back of the box" style descriptions and links to the intro animations, no spoilers unless anyone reading this literally wanted to be completely blind to the basic themes or something:
Persona 3: (Reload intro) All three games strike their own mix of serious moments and levity, but this one tilts towards seriousness the most of the three. Every night at midnight there's a "hidden hour" called the Dark Hour that the general public does not perceive but our protagonist and friends do, so the player explores the Dark Hour and a giant tower that appears during it where dangerous shadows roam. Main themes are like life and death, finding meaning in life, depression and stuff like that.
Persona 4: (Golden intro) This one has its dark serious moments but tilts towards levity the most of the three. The story is basically a murder-mystery in a small town involving a parallel reality that exists by literally crawling through the TV screen. It's popular in the fandom to joke that this is the "scooby-doo" of Persona, which carries a nugget of truth while being probably unfairly reductive overall. Themes include pursuit of truth, some elements of family, and some minor exploration of the ways the media and TV (at the time) affects us.
Persona 5: (Royal intro) This one strikes a balance between serious and levity that is between the other two games. It doesn't try as hard to be as deep as P3 but takes itself more seriously more often than P4 does. The protagonist gets in some legal trouble and has to move cities/schools. Accidentally discovers a cognitive alternate reality through a phone app and discovers they can change the evil ways of key bad guys in reality through this parallel world. Being set in Tokyo did this game a lot of favours. Themes include vigilantism, defining your own concept of justice, rebellion. Main characters stylize themselves as honorable "phantom thieves" but are functionally more like slightly edgy secret superheroes.
All three are also quite long games that have pretty big differences in pacing to one another that might matter if finishing games tests your endurance. Broad strokes about narrative pacing with no specific details:
P3: Middle length of the three if including the DLC. Aside from a breezy introduction, slows down for the first half of the game, building upon its mysteries slowly. Rest assured this time is not wasted, the game is showing you important groundwork for bigger payoffs in the second half. My favourite Atlus game full stop and like one of my top 5 JRPGs.
P4: Shortest of these three games. I don't know lol this whole game feels like a drag to me apart from just the really pivotal cutscenes. It doesn't help that I don't like the characters, setting, or subject matter (I even like the soundtrack least, though it's still full of bangers) so I spend the entire game waiting for something interesting to happen. I think I just honestly hate this game too much to understand what the pacing would feel like to a player who actually likes it, I'm basically just writing a segment about it here in a futile attempt for "completeness" yet my lack of anything valuable to say leaves this "incomplete" as a consequence anyway.
P5: The longest one for sure. The very intro is really exposition and tutorial heavy but once it finally lets go of your hand, the opening third of the game is actually pretty explosive. The game has two valleys with a peak in the middle in the midgame, and then picks up again in the lategame through to the end.
Of course, Persona 1 and the Persona 2 duology exist, and are considerably more retro. Appeals more broadly to retro JRPG fans or Shin Megami Tensei (persona's original parent franchise) fans more than P3/P4/P5 fans these days.
I also of course love Metaphor ReFantazio which shares a lot of Persona 3-5 DNA (and development staff) and think it got weirdly kinda disregarded and disrespected by both the Persona fandom and JRPG fans in general. I like it more than P4 or P5 to be honest!
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa Link ParentSame. A lot of my CT history differs from yours as I played it quite a bit later and all, but I 100% have the exact experience of dipping my toes into a translation of Radical Dreamers but failing...At one point I downloaded a fan translation patch for Radical Dreamers since it was supposed to connect Chrono Trigger to Chrono Cross (a fun era of not having exhaustive authoritative information on games) but didn't get very far into that one and I never got to Chrono Cross as I stuck to Nintendo consoles.
Same. A lot of my CT history differs from yours as I played it quite a bit later and all, but I 100% have the exact experience of dipping my toes into a translation of Radical Dreamers but failing to commit myself to it fully, and never playing Chrono Cross. I even own a PS1 disc copy of Chrono Cross like, today, and still have yet to play it. Oops!
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa Link ParentI'm a bit avoidant of auto-battling systems personally. My personal experience is that when I've used them, I begin to just tune out what's happening at all in combat, because not engaging...It also has a nice QoL addition where I can toggle on auto-battling. As much as I like turn-based menu crawlers, they can get tedious. Popping on the auto-battle for simple fights lets me speed through them, and then I turn it off for “meaningful” fights where I want to make more complicated decisions than just repeatedly attacking.
I'm a bit avoidant of auto-battling systems personally. My personal experience is that when I've used them, I begin to just tune out what's happening at all in combat, because not engaging directly will cause me to tune out or get distracted, and what tends to happen is new abilities and stuff go untested and get overlooked, and when I do try to take over for bosses and stuff, I've become unprepared and unfamiliar with my options.
A friend of mine thought I was a maniac for playing through the entirety of Dragon Quest 11 my first time (and first DQ game somehow) without ever increasing the combat speed or using auto-battling, he was insistent that those features were specifically intended and expected to be used, and I just didn't hahaha...
None of that means "don't use it" if it works for anyone reading this, purely just sharing an experience.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa Link ParentSpoilery yap about getting lost. Having watched a few playthroughs, it seems the prehistoric era, especially the first visit, is the most likely time for players to get lost. Primarily I've seen...I remember at some point I was getting lost though, but don't hesitate to leave a comment.
Spoilery yap about getting lost.
Having watched a few playthroughs, it seems the prehistoric era, especially the first visit, is the most likely time for players to get lost. Primarily I've seen players forget the cliff thing they came down to the world map from on their first visit to this time period and not visually identify the trail tile as a zone entrance on the mountain tiles on the world map that represents the entrance back, and I've also seen players get lost in the prehistoric forest/jungle area you go to after waking up from the party, if I remember correctly there's a couple paths obscured by the canopy layering in that area that sometimes get missed.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games
Kawa (edited )LinkI started this game without progressing several times in my childhood, but didn't properly commit and finish it until a playthrough in 2013. Love it and am fully in agreement with its universal...I started this game without progressing several times in my childhood, but didn't properly commit and finish it until a playthrough in 2013.
Love it and am fully in agreement with its universal acclaim.
For CGA of course I will be replaying the game with y'all. I will be playing it on Analogue Pocket using the agg23 OpenFPGA SNES core.
There's a couple reasons for this, biggest one is I want to play handheld. It matters quite a bit that I can play comfortably in bed for this one because a decent chunk of playtime will come from playing before bed and first thing in the morning if I want to get through this game without making it my sole purpose for the month.
First, I feel no need to experience the PS1-or-newer versons' animated cutscenes, I've seen them enough times from watching others play the Steam version that I just don't really need them to be there on a future playthrough, and besides they weren't present in the OG anyway.
I do quite like the DS version but I don't like playing DS games on a 3DS (the stretch looks awful and the holding Start on launch for pixel perfect looks better but feels awkward) or Steam Deck (no good 2 screen layouts in that form factor IMO) which are my only handhelds technically capable of playing a DS game.
I could play the Steam version on my Steam Deck, but Analogue Pocket wins here on ergonomics. I don't think the Steam Deck is uncomfortable to use in a sitting position, especially on like a chair or a couch, but it's not as good for playing in bed. I still do it, but I feel like I have to be propped up to use it, or can only use it on my back, but not on my side, which feels limiting. The Analogue Pocket's "vertical" form factor is just that much more usable cause it's comfy lying on either side.
These considerations will definitely come up for some future CGA games as well.
EDIT: Didn't talk about the game much. Don't really know what to say that isn't being said elsewhere in the thread I guess.
I could share that my favourite character is:
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Comment on The video-game industry has a problem: there are too many games in ~games
Kawa (edited )Link ParentThis is a problem that I think most players don't directly experience, it affects developers more than it affects players, I think, unless there are gamers out there who are unsatisfied by the...This is a problem that I think most players don't directly experience, it affects developers more than it affects players, I think, unless there are gamers out there who are unsatisfied by the offerings they can find and might really enjoy something they can't find. Personally though, I can't remember the last time I truly had nothing I was excited to play or felt like there were no games available to me that met my tastes. There are times when I've opened up my game library and thought, "I don't feel like playing any of these" but I have come to believe this problem actually has nothing to do with the available selection and wouldn't be solved by having some other, "just right" game, it's a psychological one related to burning out on the activity as a whole, from time to time, and a natural experience I go through cyclically with all my hobbies and interests.
Anyway, I don't have a specific desired solution and my experience with this topic is all the secondhand "oh yeah I've heard indie devs talk about this" type of experience.
That part of my comment was more meant to express in shorter form that I noticed the article touches upon discoverability and I've heard before that it can be a challenge, and that I wanted to indicate not being ideologically opposed to it. In other words more an expression of empathy and solidarity with the notion and desire for discoverability, but no firsthand experience. I'm taking indie devs' word of the problem's existence in good faith because, probably by it's very nature, I can't tell if it's observable by an end user such as myself.
I can tell something is up because several of the lesser-known indies I find out about are ones that I found out about through word of mouth or social media, and not on platforms such as Steam which feels to me like the only evidence of the problem I can observe firsthand. But I typically find out about games by being terminally online and discussing with other gamers, and I do think my tastes are honed enough to find unknown games in a style I like through direct research if I really want to play something new. In the past for instance I have very deliberately searched specific itch.io tags and categories, but I know that's not the norm for the mainstream who kinda need something to show up at a trailer showcase to know it exists.
Edit: I have edited this message like 139204872390847 times since posting it, I think I'm done editing it now, sorry.
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Comment on The video-game industry has a problem: there are too many games in ~games
Kawa LinkThe part of the article that implies that discoverability needs improving in the industry is a part I'm on board with. As the end-user though I have no qualms about being spoiled for choice. I...The part of the article that implies that discoverability needs improving in the industry is a part I'm on board with.
As the end-user though I have no qualms about being spoiled for choice. I feel like games could permanently stop releasing today and I'd probably still be gaming for the rest of my life.
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Comment on Motion inputs in ~games
Kawa Link ParentI can't help but feel like @Eji1700 's top level comment and replies in this thread kinda "sucked all the air out of the room" if I'm using the idiom right. I even replied to the first comment I...I can't help but feel like @Eji1700 's top level comment and replies in this thread kinda "sucked all the air out of the room" if I'm using the idiom right. I even replied to the first comment I read in here and then after reading the rest of the thread I thought the vibes had gone really sour and decided to delete my comment as I did not want it to invite a response if it's going to be like the rest of the thread.
It just feels a lot like the expert has arrived and would like the rest of us to quietly defer to them
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Kawa (edited )Link ParentRemember that the letters are tied to endings, not "routes." "Spoiler" - Structural only, no narrative details It seems clear that you understand that after ending A you play the same events that...Remember that the letters are tied to endings, not "routes."
"Spoiler" - Structural only, no narrative details
It seems clear that you understand that after ending A you play the same events that occurred concurrently with the prior "route" from a different PoV until ending B, but it seems like some clarification is needed for endings C, D, and E.
After ending B, the third "route" is not covering the same span of time and events, it's entirely new. Furthermore, endings C, D, and E are not representative of playing this segment 3 times, you really only play this portion once, and the typical play experience will involve the player unlocking C, D, and E all in pretty quick succession. Like all 3 within an hour or so.
Generally speaking, the 2nd "route" to ending B usually goes by much faster than A for a few reasons as well, so I would say that if you've finished route A you're probably actually closer to like 45%-ish progressed through the game's runtime, not the 33% or less it might sound like.
I would even go as far as to push back on the notion that any of this is "multiple playthroughs" at all, it's just a game with an experimental structure that involves a segment of the timeline getting 2 passes. Don't forget that as you would know based on where you've progressed to, these characters do get separated late in this segment as well.
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Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games
Kawa Link Parentdisc images of the original release, via DOSBox on a desktop PC (did not finish the game)disc images of the original release, via DOSBox on a desktop PC (did not finish the game)
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Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games
Kawa Link ParentThe remove cartridge thread comes in advance of the end of the month to leave room for discussion before next month's game, but I don't perceive it as a deadline and since there's no requirement...I thought we had another week.
The remove cartridge thread comes in advance of the end of the month to leave room for discussion before next month's game, but I don't perceive it as a deadline and since there's no requirement to contribute a top-level comment in this thread (I dropped out of TLE so early I won't be posting one, for instance) it'd be totally valid to hold off on this thread until beating the game on the 29th and then post thoughts on the 30th, or not beat the game and post on the thread, or beat the game and not post in the thread, or whatever other outcome is necessary for a participant to engage with CGA on their terms.
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Comment on I'm Not a Robot in ~games
Kawa Link ParentIt's alot like the password game by the same creator. I'm also tapping out on 34. I don't know all of this stuff completely on my own though with a bit of reminder-research I'm sure I could figure...It's alot like the password game by the same creator. I'm also tapping out on 34. I don't know all of this stuff completely on my own though with a bit of reminder-research I'm sure I could figure it out, I've hit the limit of how much time I want to spend on this.
I don't think I understand the pun in "delivery must complete"
What am I overlooking?