PixlBit

Games Beaten

-Cat Quest III (Switch)

The cute graphics and simple action RPG gameplay, the appropriate but forgettable music and the pun-laden dialogue: Cat Quest III keeps what has made the series fun thus far and adds a pirate theme. So far, so good. But with that theme the devs give you a ship almost right away. I wouldn't call this an open world game but the ship opens the world up to you right away, if that difference makes sense. I feel, however, that doing that robs the game of its sense of direction and momentum. I felt aimless almost right away. Plus the world feels smaller when you can go anywhere right away. Still a fun game but doesn't reach the heights of CQ2.

-Undertale (Vita)

I came into Undertale knowing how much hype follows it around but having managed to avoid spoilers. I knew there were three routes through the game and that ideally you needed to play all three of them.

I played through it first as I would a normal RPG. I spared Papyrus but killed pretty much everyone else. I love that the battle system is so different from other games, though the interesting part basically boils down to how will the enemy attack and how will you dodge that. Toby Fox got really creative with that and constantly changed things up. Props where they're due. But your actions and equipment are very shallow.

Speaking of things done well, the music is excellent. I cannot overstate that. There is a reason Game Freak has tapped him to do some of their music.

I finished the neutral run of the game and got an ending. While I think the world and set up are very interesting (e.g., monster bodies are made of magic and so humans, even a child, are way stronger than them), the story was pretty ho-hum...BUT I know that I only got part of the story. I started again and played as a pacifist, not killing anything. That completely changes the battles, making them more like puzzles to solve. Cool. But the longer I played, retreading what I had done in my first run, the more disinterested I got in playing it. I eventually got so bored that the thought of continuing was a downer. I don't know what about the game makes me feel that way. Normally a good story can carry a lot for me but not here. So rather than force myself to keep going, I'm calling it beaten (I did see credits already, after all) and moving onto something else. There are tons more great games out there. I don't want to spend my limited time on something I am not enjoying.

Games Bought

April was another very light acquisition month for me. My only pick up was RoboCop: Rogue City (PS5), which was a PS+ game. Months like this ought to be a great chance to catch up on the ol' backlog but that was not April this year. Even though I have some beaten games listed above, almost all of the playing for those happened before April began. I have been very busy with something that will happen early in May and hopefully, after that has passed, I will get back to playing things again.

Games Being Played

-Zak & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii)

I have been slowly working my way through this zany puzzle game for a couple months but kept forgetting to mark down that I was playing it. I think I am getting close to the end of the game though.

-Picross S Namco Legendary Edition (Switch)

I have just two pages of regular puzzles left and I'm two thirds of the way through the second to last clip puzzle.

-Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak (Switch)

Our loadouts are becoming more important as we delve deeper into the Master Ranks.

-Destiny 2 (PS5)

Shootin' stuff!