Beaten

Final Fantasy XV – read about it here.

Yakuza 3 – read about it here.

Chrono Trigger – I’ve been building a save file on the DS port of this game since it was released more than a decade ago. I’ve seen roughly half the endings on this save. If I was truly determined to complete the save file, then I would have done it already. But when the mood strikes me to play Chrono Trigger, which the mood does fairly frequently, I have lately tried to get another ending filled in and get my save that much closer to being complete. Of course, sometimes you just want to play the game the right way, no New Game + or any of that, and I’ve done that a few times. But I have my first file, and I keep playing at it. At some point I am going to do the new stuff added to the port that I was warned off of all those years ago and never truly investigated for myself. Chrono Trigger is among the best games ever made, and it remains unsurpassed 25 years after it was first released.

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies & Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice – read about them here. (and here and here)

Ongoing

Rune Factory 4 – This was the game I intended to fill my 3DS time with after beating some other games. And I did play it. Some. About a week of game time. I really like the idea of Rune Factory; I like it more, it seems, than actually playing it. This game seems to do just about everything right, the combat is relatively fluid, the farming stuff is intuitive, and the game manages to mix the two almost seamlessly. I just can’t get into a comfortable playing rhythm. I am still intending to keep playing this game, but I think it is going to be sporadic. That is, unless it really grabs me and I get pulled in. That has happened before. But this is feeling like it might be the last game standing in my 3DS backlog.

River King: A Wonderful Journey – The problem I am having with this game is that I am just not the habit of turning on my PS3. It just feels foreign these days. And the hour or two I spent with River King do not do a lot to make me want to stick with it. The game is fine, if a little bit slight.

The Alliance Alive – On paper, this game is everything I want out of a video game. A colorful cast. Directed by the creator of Suikoden. An interesting world. It does have some SaGa-like elements, and those have never been good. I am saving a full explanation of that for when I finish this. But I gave it barely four hours when it was released and kind of forgot about. Its efforts to be old school make it kind of not fun to play at times, but as I get further into it, I am at about fifteen hours now, its charms become more apparent. I expect to be finished with it in a week or so and will have a full write up then.

Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers – I put another hour or two into this. It is not a great game for easing the player back in after a long break. This is a twenty year old game and while there are some acknowledgements of modern quality of life improvements, this still largely plays like a 20 year old game. I need time to acclimate myself to that, and I am not really feeling SMT right now.

Double Dragon and Kuni-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle – I am still kind of sampling these games instead of really digging into them. I don’t know that I will do much more. The Kunio sports games are made for sampling, though they often hide surprising depth. Renegade is just not good, and there is no reason to play it. If all this bundle turns out to be a place for me to play River City Ransom, I still think it was worth the money.

Dragon Quest XI – I made a little progress, but this game got sidetracked by Yakuza 3 and then Final Fantasy XV. I am getting back into it, though Final Fantasy VII Remake is on the horizon and likely to sidetrack it again. The plot is kind of revealing itself, finally, 30 hours in. I have pretty much the whole cast together finally. It really feels like I am about out of the introductory phase of the game and hitting the real meat. Luckily, Dragon Quest games are pretty episodic, so picking it up after a break is not really a problem.

Upcoming

Final Fantasy VII: Remake – I am shocked at how excited I am for this game. I was never the biggest fan of FFVII. I was super excited about it when it came out, but I didn’t really get to play it (other than a few hours with the PC version) for almost a decade after its release. I like it, but it is not one of my favorites in the series. Apparently though, I have a lot of nostalgia for this game, because seeing trailers for this game has me really excited. I am ready to go.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 – With being stuck at home I have a lot more time for video games. I picked this up on a sale, but I have never really had the time to play it. While I will have to get through FFVII and probably DQXI, this is next on the list.

Legend of Legacy – With me actually kind of getting into The Alliance Alive, I intend to get back to its spiritual predecessor soon. I did not connect with this game about five years ago. I am not sure I will connect with it going back to it. I do not like a lot of its character progression systems. I do like the aesthetics, so I will give it another go. Plus, I am straight running out of 3DS games.