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!
This week I started reading the newest BL game from parade, Lkyt, and I’m really enjoying it so far. Set in a medieval style fantasy world, the Shoreline Nation is the first (and really only) line of defense against demonic-like creatures called Hollows. These Hollows live in deep caves supposedly connected to the underworld, and they spread corruption and desolation to whatever they touch. The people of the Shoreline Nation have kept this threat at bay for generations, sparing the outside world the misfortune they suffer daily. Unfortunately, the Hollows are growing in number faster than the Shoreline Nation expected, and it seems as though the Dark Reign – an occurrence that happens every 1000 years or so when the Hollow threat grows so dire as to threaten the world – is underway. Tasuku is tasked with trying to stop this threat before it can advance further, and he’ll need the help of the Shoreline Nation’s prince Takeru, the Divine One Towa, Desert Kingdom outsider Yael, and his nation’s strongest warrior, Ango, if he has any hope of success. As far as the love interests go, I honestly like all of them, though I’m most partial to Takeru and Yael, since I like the stoic type and cynics the most. The character designs are gorgeous and the backgrounds are really well done, too. The voice acting here is also fantastic across the board and I sometimes just sit back and listen to the music on its own because it’s so good. I’ll have a much more thorough review up in the next couple weeks once I complete the game, but if you’re into dark fantasy BL, you can’t go wrong with this one.
We also got our hands on the physical Collector’s Edition for the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters this week, and what an absolutely gorgeous CE it is. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorites in recent memory. The presentation is spectacular, complete with lenticular slip cover for the game, a vinyl OST, sprite art book, and a custom box with every character on it. Square Enix actually went above and beyond for this one, which is nice considering the price, but also so many of their recent CEs have been lackluster in comparison. I haven’t had a chance to actually play any of the games yet (see above for why), but I did watch my husband play through some of FFI while I was working, and the quality of life additions added to the remaster are so good. I love the speed up options, the auto battle functions, the gil and experience modifiers, and the arranged soundtrack is probably one of the most beautiful versions of this music yet. While the modern font doesn’t bother me all that much, having the classic font as an option is very welcome. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to seeing these characters run diagonally, though! I’m itching to start my own game and relive these classics from my youth, so stay tuned for my thoughts on those playthroughs in the future! – Leah
I’ve been slacking on gaming these last few weeks, I’ve simply been watching shows more often and not in much of a mood to game. A few weeks ago I was actually starting to get the urge to go back to Atelier. I have three Atelier games I’m still in the middle of, Lydie and Suelle, Ryza 2 and Sophie 2. But then I found myself absorbed in another show and I kinda lost that urge. This past weekend however, I finally got back somewhat of a craving for alchemy and ended up picking back up Atelier Ryza 2. Now I’m realizing lately, I much prefer the alchemy system in the Mysterious series. I like unlocking new recipes simply from exploring and doing quests and whatnot. Atelier Ryza‘s way of doing it, where you have to go through a chain of crafting starter stuff to unlock the next recipe and so on, isn’t really my thing. When I first played the original Ryza game, I liked how the alchemy system felt similar to Mana Khemia’s, but then I played more Atelier games and now it’s not quite as fun. However, I do enjoy running around and exploring, plus I want to see where the story goes next. Now that Ryza 3 is out, I figured I should probably at least finish the second game finally and be prepared, before I go back to any other Atelier titles. But who knows, maybe I’ll end up switching between the three, I’m kind of bad at committing to one game lately.
Last night I finished up the mines in Ryza 2 and I’m now back in town, with the next round of character interactions and story scenes to go through. Before getting back into Atelier this weekend though, earlier in the week I slowly got back into the gaming grind, with something simpler. Since it seems like it may be slowly going out of print, I finally picked up a copy of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. I’m pretty terrible at traditional Mario, which 3D World has been reminding me of, but being a bit more of a modern title with some fun abilities, I’ve still managed to enjoy myself. I played some of the game solo and did a little bit of online multiplayer. I’m now officially at World 5. I also played some of the Bowser’s Fury half. So far I’ve lit up a good handful of lighthouses and turned giant to fight Bowser once. And while I was still waiting for Super Mario 3D World to arrive, I also played a smidgen of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe this past week. MK8D has failed to hook me like Mario Kart Wii did years ago, but I still enjoy playing it every once in a while. It’s one game I’m definitely glad I bought digitally, so I don’t have to switch out cartridges just to go through a circuit for 10 minutes or do a couple time trials. – Jenae
What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!
