@Pandoish

Just a little update on what I’ve been playing the last few weeks! I’ve kind have gone against my Pando Creed which was to NEVER START A GAME until I finish one, but I’ve got kind of a few on the go right now…

Death’s Door

I thought I’d have Death’s Door finished before I got into Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I was playing at a steady pace and I got pretty darn far! I was on a boss that was near the end and realized I needed to do some side stuff in order to make that particular fight more manageable. Unfortunately, I kept hitting walls with some of the side content and in a bout of frustration, I turned the game off and started up…

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising

This game is really a ton of fun! It’s really just a game about checking off checklists and it’s pretty darn straightforward, but I find the quiet, non-frantic story to be a pleasant experience. I like all the characters so far and it’s really just a joy to play. I honestly would have stuck to seeing it all the way through but my Xbox controller ran out of batteries and I was too lazy to go find new ones and a new game just showed up in the mail…

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

I was extremely excited for this game and even pre-ordered it which I rarely do for games. I’m really glad I didn’t watch a ton of the pre-release marketing and such, because the only stuff I knew about the game was the stuff that happens in the first 3 hours. After that? Hoo-wee it starts to take some turns I was not anticipating. I’m still very early on (if 7 hours can be super early on) and I’m REALLY INTO THIS GAME right now. Can’t wait to see what happens next!

So, while I’m definitely INTO XBC3 right now, I will definitely be getting back into Death’s Door and Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. I need to get a charging battery pack for my Xbox Series X controller…

Listen, when E3 announced it wasn’t going to be happening at all this year, digitally or otherwise, I wasn’t that surprised. I felt more shock when E3 was cancelled in 2020 (before the severity of Covid had really hit home) and that had felt like the beginning of the end – it was already mired in controversy and uncertainty that year. So as the news hit me initially, I thought “Yeah, that makes sense.”

The reality of NO E3 has started to hit a little more this week. Watching the Sony State of Play was great, don’t get me wrong, but I realized that was probably gonna be what all that Sony was going to show for the next few months. Microsoft/Bethesda have a showcase scheduled for around traditional E3 time (June 12th), but Nintendo hasn’t indicated whether they are gonna show anything or not. I used to love scheduling my E3 week around the press conferences and I don’t have that this year.

And it’s not even always about the games! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love a game reveal or two, but I loved when the industry got together. I love seeing folks I follow get all in the same room and create great content talking about awesome things. There was just an energy in the industry that always warmed your old Pando’s heart. I think I’m beginning to miss that most of all!

That all being said, it could be that E3 does come back again after everything, though I have a feeling it will be a very different kind of show if it does. And if it never does? I’ll always be grateful that I got to experience E3 at its height in 2009, as an attendee – an actual “dream come true”.

Nintendo held their first Indie World showcase of 2022 this last May 11th. I know a lot of people expressed “disappointment” with the line up, but I dunno! I think there was quite a few things that looked pretty cool. So I’m gonna devote today’s post to mentioning those!

Ooblets

Ooblets was originally only on the PC via the Epic Games store, but that changes later this year when it comes out on Xbox and Switch (and PC apart from EPIC). I’ve always wanted to play this game, it’s so cute and weird but I’m always bad about playing games on my PC for extended periods of time (apart from streaming). Now it’ll be on consoles, so HELLO!

ElecHead

A charming little puzzle platformer made by one guy. This game has already been out on Steam for a while, and it has very positive reviews. This seems like the perfect game to just sit back and relax in handheld mode and figure out some lil’ puzzles.

Wildfrost

I love me some deck builders and roguelikes and good art and town builders and this game sounds like all of that rolled into one. It’s one of the few *brand new* things that really stuck out to me and I’m really looking forward to checking it out.

Gunbrella

The art for this game looks so good! I was really intrigued by the writing and style of this game. This is definitely one I want to know what the reviews say (if it’s more than just “style”), but it really caught my eye at during the event. It’s from the Gato Robato devs but I haven’t played that game yet (it’s been in my wishlist for a long time though)!

We are OFK

I just like stories and choices and this game is really pretty. I’m definitely interested in checking it out.

Mini Motorways

I’ve actually played this game a lot (it’s been out on the Apple Arcade for over a year) and I think I’ll continue to play it there but if none of you have ever played this or Mini Metro, please do so – these are extremely relaxing and good puzzle games.

Cult of the Lamb

They showcased Cult of the Lamb last summer during another Indie World showcase and I was sold. I love things that are both cute AND maybe evil. I saw a quote that described the game as being like if an Animal Crossing villager went evil, and yeah, I’m here for that. Let’s go!

Other games I’m also very interested in…

Card Shark – cheat your way through cards with again, incredible hand-drawn art

Idol Manager – yeah, sure, I’ll play an anime idol-managing sim, yes plz.

One Shot: World Machine Addition – again, a game can sucker me in with just the right art and font – it also is a puzzle/adventure game which looks really unique

Cursed to Golf – I’M JUST A SUCKER FOR GOLF GAMES

And I think that’s about it from me here! There was a lot of things I thought looked cool but will definitely need to see how they are received once they are released! Have a great week everyone!

While the actual eShop isn’t shutting down itself quite yet, being able to put money into the service is coming to a close this month, on May 23rd. So even though the service lasts for almost another year, if you haven’t uploaded any funds, you’re not really going to be able to buy anything after this month.

So now I’ve been looking through the lists and decided I’d share with you all what I’m thinking of buying. I KNOW I won’t actually pick all of this stuff up or even HALF, but I like lists and talking about games so here we go!

• Golden Sun: The Lost Age
  I don’t have this game! I’m not sure how much the actual cart is going for right now, but I’m sure this will be the cheapest option going!
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
  If we are gonna play through every JRPG ever, we can’t ignore the Mario & Luigi games, and I never did get the GBA entry to this series. I should remedy that!
• Xenoblade Chronicles X
  They ARE going to rerelease this game right? Like, it’s not going to die on the Wii U right? I know I can probably find this physically for a decent price, but I’m just SO CERTAIN in my heart of hearts it’ll get a rerelease? RIGHT?
• Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation
  I actually don’t think I’ll end up getting this, but it’s still wild this is going to be gone forever and those extremely limited physical versions are going to be bajillions of dollars.
• Pocket Card Jockey
  A Game Freak solitaire horse racing game. It’s also super inexpensive and people love it so I probably should grab it.
• Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale
  This game looks really cute and super duper Pando. Seriously, look it up! I actually really hadn’t heard much about this game before, but reading into it, and seeing all the recommendations, I’m really sad I missed out on this one, and if I’m not careful – I might miss out on it FOREVER!!
• PUSHMO
  I’ve always seen and wanted these games but never picked them up for a myriad of reasons – I should probably make good on that now. They are stinkin’ cute.
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
  One of the few Zelda’s I’ve completely missed over the years, it looks so cute and I’ve only heard good things! That GBA service is coming out for the Switch…right???

I’m pretty sure there is a lot more I’m not even thinking of, but these are some of the highlights. I do have a robust physical collection of 3DS and Wii U titles so anything particularly noteworthy that’s missing on this list is probably because I have it already.

But boy howdy! There is some things I really would like to possess! These are mostly things I can’t get otherwise (I’ll choose physical most every day) or they might be great ways to get them cheap so I can play them on stream. Either way, I’m gonna have to decide something in the next few weeks!

Just some short little thoughts and updates on video games this week…

Tales of Arise

I think Tales of Arise is one of my favourite Tales games in a while. The last one I really remember loving quite this much was Vesperia, and I’ve played quite a few others since then. A lot has been said about the considerably darker tone but it’s still got a lot of light-hearted moments. I’m currently at about hour 25 and just met the 4th lord (after an extremely dramatic cutscene). Looking at the How Long to Beat, it seems the average main game + sidequests takes about 52ish hours to beat, so I’m guessing I’m about halfway. Really looking forward to seeing where this one goes!

Final Fantasy XIV

My FC (shoutout to Skynet on Ultros!) got a house and with it, I was able to grab my first apartment! I furnished the HECK out of that thing late one night. I literally went to the marketboard and searched “tonberries”, “moogles”, “cactuars”, “carbuncles”, and “chocobos” and spent over a million gil furnishing my new place in everything that is as cute as can be. I kind of love having this little FC house and a little nook to hang out in when I come and go in the game. It’s so fun!

GB/GBA games coming to Switch?

Everybody and their dog at this point knows about the leak that claims Nintendo is testing out GB/GBA emulation for the Switch. While you can’t expect anything that is leaked, no matter how legit, to come to fruition, I hope against hope that this is announced and released this year. I’d LOVE a way to play GBA games more easy-peasy (and wouldn’t this be a great way to give Mother 3 to the masses without spending too much $$$?). I’m NOT holding my breath but dangit, it would be really super cool – even to play Golden Sun: The Lost Age without having to go out and buy the cart somewhere (or pull my Wii U out from storage…that’d be so much work).

Anyway, that’s your Sunday evening Pando report. Have a great week everyone!

Returning to Final Fantasy VII is truly one of my favourite things.

Final Fantasy VII was my first Final Fantasy. One Halloween evening, my best friend (dressed as Princess Zelda) and me (dressed as James from Team Rocket) sat down and played FF7 until the Mythril Mines. We were madly in love with it but it wasn’t ours and we didn’t have a chance to return to it. For her birthday a few weeks later, she got Final Fantasy VIII and we played that together over the course of a year and we were OBESSESED. I’ll always say VIII was my first real foray into Final Fantasy but VII was technically the first!

A while later I’d get my first summer job at 15. With my first paycheque I bought: a 17″ Philips TV with built-in VCR (I still own this), a PS1, and a Greatest Hits copy of Final Fantasy VII. I also grabbed an off-brand memory card which would wipe my save twice before I went and bought an official PS1 memory card. While it’s the first Final Fantasy I owned and played by myself, I think IX is the first one I beat? Either way, my memories of this game are full of good nostalgia and warm thoughts.

This is all to say that coming back to Final Fantasy VII feels like wrapping myself in a warm blanket. I think VIII is my favourite but I love PLAYING VII more? The music! The pre-rendered backgrounds! The atmosphere! The really WEIRD and goofy elements that don’t really happen in the other games. It’s been so fun engaging with systems I’ve never really touched before either – like the Enemy Skill Materia. I don’t think I’ve ever ONCE casted the Manipulate spell before so that’s new! I think I’m gonna get all of Aeris’ limit breaks before she returns to the lifestream as well. And Ruby and Emerald’s days are coming to a CLOSE!

Mostly, this is just a post to gush about Final Fantasy VII and how I always come to appreciate it more each time I return to it. I know it’s very hyped – I know everyone and their dog loves this game. But I think it’s all for a very good reason – it really is something special!

There was no blog post last week – I was recovering from a 24 hour stream!

What was it like streaming for 24 hours? Honestly, it felt like a fever dream. There was something so wild about having people go to sleep and come back in the morning and mention things happening “yesterday” and I was like, “Oh right, that is not today for everyone anymore.”

I was truly blown away by the amount of support. I went into stream seriously thinking I was not going to be doing 24 hours. I was maybe going to stay up till 4am at the latest. But then we hit the 24 hour mark before I even finished the initial 8 I had set as our default. Maui wowee!! Again, thank you all so so so much.

In order to stay awake, I would change into the Gengar onesie just to have something happen that would keep me alert for a little bit longer. I’m not sure if anyone noticed during the Mario Party games, but I absolutely fell asleep on stream for a second here and there. I tried to hold off on drinking those Red Bulls for so long!

After stream, I slept for an hour and then managed to stay awake until 11pm that night. I then CRASHED for a good 12 hours. I was dead to the world.

It was such a fun experience and one I do NOT think I can do again anytime soon. But maybe in a year or so? Or maybe not. It was tough! What a wild time! Thanks again so much!

SquareEnix provided me with a key for Stranger of Paradise! I was so excited to play this on stream with everyone and explore what this game was all about!

I had originally played the demo and had gone through the first mission and major boss on the Action difficulty. As someone who doesn’t play a lot of Soulsbourne games (Hollow Knight being the closest), I definitely struggled through this first part of the game. But I was stubborn! I WOULD play through on the Action difficulty.

But when it got time to streaming it, I just didn’t like dying a million times on stream – on my own, that’s fine, but it feels bad on stream. So I opted to drop down to Story and man, this game immediately felt so different and good. It became much more of a hack & slash but it felt in LINE with the over-the-top nature of the game! Honestly, I’m really excited to play more!

I still find the story to be extremely bizarre and the cutscenes to feel like some strange fever dream, but really, I think that’s the charm! Thanks again SquareEnix for allowing me to experience this unique take on Final Fantasy.

I don’t have any real things to talk about this week, so here is a couple of things I’m thinking about:

It’s Snowing

Yep, yesterday was sunny and warm. Today it is snowing a lot. Typical SMARCH weather. I guess I’ll stay in today!

I Finished NEO: The World Ends With You

I think I ultimately liked it – I’m not sure how the performance was on the Switch vs. the PS4, but it’s something I’m curious about. It felt like things just took a little too long to load and kind of bogged down the overall experience for me. Still, the battles were fun, the story was intriguing, but I just had to mainline the bonus ending because I just wanted to be done at that point.

First Sponsored Stream Incoming

Next week, I’ll be streaming a little bit of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. This game is WEIRD, and I’m excited to see more of it and share it with you all. Square Enix gave me a key so that’s very super cool!

See this week on Twitch!

Nintendo announced the first 8 tracks that are going to be in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass (which launches this month). Of the 8, I’m really excited about Choco Mountain! It’s one of the most memorable N64 tracks to me and I hope it makes me want to eat chocolate when I play through it.

There is 3 Mario Kart Tour tracks here which, on one hand, I don’t really care about Tour and I don’t really want mobile tracks…but on the other hand – they are new to me, so it’ll be fun to check them out! The graphics on these tracks (all of them, not just the Tour ones) also look like a significant downgrade from the gorgeous lighting and ambience of the MK8 native tracks, but honestly, I’m just excited for more Mario Kart courses! Slap them in there, I don’t care, I get 48!!!

Variety is the spice of life, right? Anyway, I’m really looking forward to checking this out on March 18th (next Friday). Maybe we can play some Mario Kart on ye olde Twitch someday soon! Look forward to it!