Ten games I played on the Switch.
It's been an entire year since my last gaming update!
I've played more than 10 titles since, but I didn't stick with all of them for long. Here are the ones I have screenshots for, starting with . . .
Breath of the Wild. Which I actually finished! And felt sad when it was over. When I consider moving on to its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, I feel like replaying BotW instead and soaking in all that (artificial) Nature again.
Time for something old but gold. I first played Planescape: Torment about 20 years ago. It's one of history's most interesting CRPGs.
You play the Nameless One, who can't remember who he is (how convenient) and who can't seem to die permanently (how convenient!). In this grim but fascinating world, you can recruit a truly motley crew of companions: talking skull; thieving tiefling; a githzerai fallen from faith; sophisticated succubus; burning pyromaniac.
Icewind Dale is sold on the Switch in a two-game bundle with Planescape: Torment. I had played it on release in 2000, so this was another nostalgia ride.
It's a close cousin of Baldur's Gate and made by the same developer. The difference is that Icewind Dale is a combat-focused dungeon crawler. It's light on storytelling/dialogue and uses blank-slate party members (no personalities, back stories, romance, etc). This makes BG the preferred game for more players, but IWD has its strengths: beautiful environments and music, more interesting combat scenarios, and better character portraits.
I lost momentum and didn't finish this playthrough when I started feeling ill from morning sickness last November.
Dungeon Village helped me get back into gaming months later. It's light and kinda brainless.
Dungeon Village helped me get back into gaming months later. It's light and kinda brainless.
This particular mobile game from Kairosoft is about building up a town to attract adventurers and sending them on quests.
I don't remember what got me into a mood for Final Fantasy after that. But getting Final Fantasy IV, the Pixel Remaster version, was a great decision.
The Pixel Remaster is an excellent version of FFIV. In-built cheats make this tough 1991 game very accessible to modern players. I made use of the extra XP cheat after reaching the game's final map, where enemies were much tougher.
Our little one enjoyed watching me play, and she wasn't scared of the 2D pixel monsters.
Then I felt a hankering to relive Final Fantasy IX, which is still the most charming FF game I've played.
Unfortunately, I didn't go far with this replay. Battle animations are excruciatingly slow, and if you speed them up with the speed cheat, they're too fast. I also got distracted by our new emulation device, an Anbernic RG35XX-H (which we bought for retro gaming).
But I don't feel bad about abandoning FFIX. There are serious rumors of a remake, though I don't know if our Switch will support it. The game could really use a graphical upgrade.
The current Switch remaster has decent-looking characters but totally aged backgrounds from nearly 25 years ago. A huge pity, because the backgrounds still looked beautiful to me even 10 years back. (Note: the PC version can be enhanced with a fan-made mod called Moguri, which features new hand-drawn backgrounds.)
I picked up another charming game--or rather, DLC. Eastward has a standalone DLC called Octopia. Surprisingly, unlike the base game (which is an action-adventure), this DLC is a combat-less farming sim!
I don't write for Ladiesgamers anymore now, but I did contribute a mini-review of Octopia.
Octopia really cheered me up on gloomy days. My favorite thing in the game is cooking and inviting guests for dinner. The coolest thing about cooking is making dishes from my home country, which I've never encountered in another game.
When my mood for RPGs passed, I wanted to play a turn-based strategy game. After struggling with the original Final Fantasy Tactics on our Anbernic emulator, I figured a modern title would be less painful.
Tactics Ogre: Reborn, a remake of games that inspired FF Tactics, was a good choice for something modern. But being unusually picky and impatient this year (a pregnancy thing, maybe), I got bored of it and kept thinking fondly of Triangle Strategy instead.
Our little one enjoyed watching me play, and she wasn't scared of the 2D pixel monsters.
Then I felt a hankering to relive Final Fantasy IX, which is still the most charming FF game I've played.
Unfortunately, I didn't go far with this replay. Battle animations are excruciatingly slow, and if you speed them up with the speed cheat, they're too fast. I also got distracted by our new emulation device, an Anbernic RG35XX-H (which we bought for retro gaming).
But I don't feel bad about abandoning FFIX. There are serious rumors of a remake, though I don't know if our Switch will support it. The game could really use a graphical upgrade.
The current Switch remaster has decent-looking characters but totally aged backgrounds from nearly 25 years ago. A huge pity, because the backgrounds still looked beautiful to me even 10 years back. (Note: the PC version can be enhanced with a fan-made mod called Moguri, which features new hand-drawn backgrounds.)
I picked up another charming game--or rather, DLC. Eastward has a standalone DLC called Octopia. Surprisingly, unlike the base game (which is an action-adventure), this DLC is a combat-less farming sim!
I don't write for Ladiesgamers anymore now, but I did contribute a mini-review of Octopia.
Octopia really cheered me up on gloomy days. My favorite thing in the game is cooking and inviting guests for dinner. The coolest thing about cooking is making dishes from my home country, which I've never encountered in another game.
When my mood for RPGs passed, I wanted to play a turn-based strategy game. After struggling with the original Final Fantasy Tactics on our Anbernic emulator, I figured a modern title would be less painful.
Tactics Ogre: Reborn, a remake of games that inspired FF Tactics, was a good choice for something modern. But being unusually picky and impatient this year (a pregnancy thing, maybe), I got bored of it and kept thinking fondly of Triangle Strategy instead.
While Tactics Ogre: Reborn has superior dialogue and voice-acting, I think Triangle Strategy is the better game overall.
But I didn't want to replay Triangle Strategy. I went for something faster-paced: Into the Breach, an old favorite. Playing ITB always makes me stay up past 1:00am. Its missions are short but so addictive.
The game received a major update since I last played it, so I had fun with new types of enemies, pilot skills, environmental features, and mission objectives.
After beating the game twice more (and losing twice more), I put it aside for a breather. Considered revisiting another good turn-based strategy, the Banner Saga series.
But instead, now I'm replaying the ultimate relaxation game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Well, it could be the ultimate relaxation game. But the way I play it can be a little obsessive and intense (e.g. shake all the trees!!).
I've started a new island, so there's a lot to catch up with. Starting from scratch isn't fun in some ways (e.g. less tools, less money), but I do like house-building from ground zero. My current one-room house has a Moroccan tile floor, a fancy rattan bed, an exercise bike, and two potted plants. It's nice to try brand new decor!