I didn't mind it, but you know I'm fairly biased in favour of the series. My assumption is that since it's very much linked to Suikoden IV, it shares its poor reputation. It also didn't help that some people called it "a Final Fantasy Tactics clone with elemental stuff", either.
I guess the fact that it helps to more specifically discuss other worlds/dimensions (than the Pale Gate and Gate Rune themselves) doesn't help its case narratively, either. Especially considering Konami did the "million worlds" thing with Suikoden Tierkreis and Suikoden: Woven Web years later.
I've been clearing games left and right over here now that I'm on vacation. It's pretty crazy!
80 Days: Think I played this maybe 9-10 times, each time getting a different outcome. Not only does the decision-making make the game incredibly interesting enough to play through multiple times, but the dialogue and narrative and the fact that the player can shape his or her own story makes it enjoyable. The prose throughout the narratives make the read-throughs bearable, and the music is pretty good too.
Captain Toad: I like this game a lot. I think the animations are adorable, and it looks really good. I think the problem is that it makes the second and third books feel like padding, and by virtue of using a 3D World save to include levels where your slow-ass Captain Toad romps through 3D World levels that look a little nicer than they do in regular 3D World... well, I couldn't help but to come out feeling like it should've been a 20-dollar expansion to 3D World. I guess playing Pushmo World earlier this year spoiled me a bit; that game was $15 and I had more than enough content to last me for months. Not to say that the two are equivalent since from a presentation and overall package standpoint, I liked Captain Toad more, but I felt like Pushmo World was more bang for my buck, content-wise.
The Sailor's Dream: I'm trying to do this game legitimately instead of fast-forwarding my phone's clock to speed up the game. I'm not "done" yet, but I liked the storytelling so far. I get the feeling that it's going to be my least-liked of Simogo's games, though. I really really liked Device 6 last year, so I was hoping that Sailor's Dream would turn out that way.
Fairune: I usually keep tabs on what I play during the year in a spreadsheet or document, saved up for GotY season (which I don't think I'll partake in this time around), and what I wrote for this game while playing it was "this should've been a mobile game". And when I finished the 3DS version, I did a little research and found out that it was originally a mobile game, ported to the 3DS with an additional dungeon. It's quirky enough, and it works within the confines of the 3DS until the final battle (where a lack of separation of dual screens would have been appreciated), but I just couldn't help but to feel like the game would've worked better on mobile. I could see the touch controls since the game is literally "bump into enemies and grind for XP before moving on" sometimes. It doesn't require intricate control, either. It was one of those games that was just "there". Not much else to say on this one.
Desert Golfing: God this game is so addictive.
Dust: An Elysian Tail: I started it, but now I need to restart it since someone else took over my file and decided to play pretty far into it. Oh well.
I started Pier Solar and Transistor too, but I'm going to sit on those for a bit since my Vita's occupied with playing something else now.
Divinity: Original Sin: GotY contender if I ever saw one, and the music is amazing to boot. I used to play a lot of CRPGs when I was younger, and D:OS basically makes me feel like I'm brought back. I was holding out on it getting cheaper, and I decided to buy it when it was slightly cheaper instead. It even runs on my shitty laptop! The lore is pretty decent, the worldbuilding's good, the combat's good, the class distribution/skill distribution is pretty damn good, and it has a tendency to be a little addictive.
The Floor is Jelly: I don't think I progressed too far in this one, but the physics are... interesting. The soundtrack is flippin' amazing.
Bird Story: From the creator of To The Moon. It's not really a video game, though it's like... you have some interaction, but more often than not, you're mostly watching a story play out, and the music is really good. The sprites are better than To The Moon's, and they're more expressive. I ended up enjoying it for what it is, even if it was 1 hour long.
Sen no Kiseki II: This is mostly what's occupying my time lately since it's Kiseki game, and letting those games sit for weeks at a time is a crappy idea for me (had to start Sora FC and SC over because I did that and I vowed to never do that again). The pacing is godly in this one, and way better than Sen I's pacing. Though its pacing is a bit of an outlier, like Sora 3rd's, imo. Kiseki games are really slow, so Sen II being pretty fast and not making you fall into the same routine is welcome. I like the double-premise of the game, too. And the soundtrack is much much much better and more polished than Sen I's. I remember struggling a bit on how to wax poetic about Sen I's soundtrack last year, but I feel like it's not going to be much of a problem this year.
