While we here at Operation Rainfall love covering the latest in gaming news and sharing our reviews of titles new and classic, we also just enjoy playing games in our downtime. So with that, sit back, relax, and check out what the oprainfall gaming crew have been up to this week!
It’s been a while, but after a rough couple months we’re back in the swing of things, and I’ve been pretty busy gaming, so I’ve lots to talk about!
First up, my sister and I finally finished the Quintet Trilogy, and that was a ton of fun! Getting to see the series evolve from Soul Blazer up through Illusion of Gaia and finally Terranigma was really neat, especially with the ways each game tackled the same themes but from different angles. Experiencing the gameplay evolution with each title – in good and bad ways – really demonstrated how even internal teams were still grappling with where they wanted the genre to go and how to best achieve a solid game experience. Terranigma especially was incredibly ambitious in its scope, and while it didn’t quite nail it, I can’t help but laud the attempt. Absolutely fantastic experience from start to finish.
After Terranigma, my sister and I jumped into the Sega Ages version of Phantasy Star. Despite Phantasy Star Online being one of my favorite games of all time, I’d never actually played the series proper, and the Sega Ages version has some quality of life features that made it a shoe-in for our joint play sessions. It still has its original godawful translation (as seen above), but the tweaks to combat and experience more than make up for the janky story. The automap feature alone is a lifesaver, as this game would be unplayable for me without it. There’s nothing actually wrong with the concept of needing to map out the dungeons yourself – especially in 1987, before so much of the industry had streamlined how RPGs look and play. But I do not have the patience or the time for that sort of minutiae anymore, especially when it brings nothing novel to the table. It’s already enough to have to fight with the cumbersome menu, I’m not pulling out graphing paper.
That being said, the game is a lot of fun. The dungeons are decently varied in length, and nothing will ever beat finding a cake shop deep within a cave. Dungeon diving for dungeon diving’s sake was the biggest draw to PSO, and seeing how it started is fascinating. I love seeing how games evolve over time, particularly within their own series, while still retaining the core concepts that make a series what it is. I do wish there was slightly more enemy variety, especially for bosses, but that’s a small quibble. The characters themselves are pretty flat archetypes, and the bad translation isn’t really doing them any favors, but there’s still charm to them. Having a cat in my party that can just wallop enemies is a joy. I highly approve.
Next up, I finally got around to starting Death Stranding (just in time for the sequel to drop!). It’s fascinating to me how relevant the game still is, narratively speaking. I wouldn’t say Hideo Kojima is clairvoyant, but he has a way of nailing the technological zeitgeist in ways I’ve only really seen from sci-fi authors like Philip K Dick or Isaac Asimov. He did it with Metal Gear Solid 2‘s exploration of artificial intelligence and the surveillance state, and he does it again here. Isolation, the reliance on go-betweens for our basic needs while we remain holed up in our homes, a general lack of interpersonal relationships … it all feels really of the time and relatable (ghostly creatures with umbilical cords notwithstanding). The characters are kind of ludicrous and over-the-top, but there’s earnestness there, too. Subtlety and sincerity don’t have to go hand-in-hand, and this game proves it. It’s also just an excellent example in taking a core gameplay concept and running with it to the extremes. I’ve had more fun just walking along the countryside or finding a bike and taking a ride than I have in a lot more action-oriented games in recent memory. There’s something to be said for the zen of it all. I’ve only made it about halfway across the country, so there’s plenty more for me to see and do, but I’m glad I finally got around to playing this one.
Lastly, I tried out the Nintendo Switch 2 demo for The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. The game caught my interest during the Nintendo Direct, so I was really happy to have a chance to actually get my hands on it and see what it has to offer.
Right off the bat, the game is gorgeous. I love this art direction, and the character designs themselves are also quite nice. During conversations you get some lovely character portraits which really help sell the story beats, as simple as they are. It’s reminiscent of Star Ocean 2R‘s presentation. The demo story itself is pretty simple: some mysterious ruins have been found in the monster-infested lands outside the human haven of Huther, and the adventurer Elliot – along with his fairy companion Faie – has been tasked with exploring them. From there you can explore a small chunk of the local region, including hidden caves and taking on trials to increase your life meter. Gameplay is very Zelda-inspired, with main and sub weapons and real-time combat. In the demo, Elliot can use a sword, bow and arrows, chain and sickle, bombs, and a shield. The sword is ideal for close combat and was my main weapon for the demo; bows can hit multiple enemies from a distance; the chain and sickle is great for crowd control and pulling distant enemies closer; bombs can be used to attack and destroy walls; and the shield blocks attacks. Swapping between these are the key to success while playing. Learning to time your blocks with the shield so you can stun enemies or knock their attacks back at them is particularly important, as it’s required for both demo boss encounters.
Elliot is pretty obviously a first-attempt at an action game, and it wears its Zelda and Ys inspirations on its sleeve, but it does bring some new ideas along with it. In particular I really liked the magicite system, which allows you to fuse magicite onto weapons to customize your gameplay experience. As you can see above, the Linked Arrows magicite adds a buff to your bow and arrows that delivers an extra attack to nearby enemies with every hit you land. Rubber Bomb adds a bounce whenever you throw your bombs so they travel farther. Unguarded Mayhem reduces your defense to increase your offense. You can gather magicite pieces from destroying pots, in chests, or defeating enemies, and then fuse them into full magicite. You can create different sets of magicite and swap between them as you play, so if you want a specific magicite setup for bosses compared to exploration, you can do that. It’s a simple concept with a lot of flexibility and I’m really excited to see how much more it expands when the full game launches in 2026. – Leah
What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!
