Crow the BOOLET

I've been playing a lot of games lately to clean up the backlog. Mostly games I've been meaning to play/complete. Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness So I've been meaning to revisit this game for the longest time since its one of the few Pokemon games I haven't completed yet, mostly because I rented it once when I was way younger. I'll get the good out of the way first. I really like the Pokemon selection this time around; It has a lot of my favorites like Sharpedo and Houndoom, especially early on. However there's too many Pokemon I really ended up liking that I constantly changed my team around. I will say Breloom is the best Pokemon for catching things since it comes with False Swipe and Stun Spore when its purified and it can learn Spore which is better but that's late game and you'll be stuck with Shroomish until then. I wouldn't really use Breloom otherwise but its been a staple because of its utility. I did end up grinding for a Tyranitar and welp it was worth it since it has Dragon Dance on it and it hits like a truck either way. I'm nearly done with the game but it feels kind of short. I will say they made the purification process a lot easier and better since you don't have to manage your team constantly to make sure it gets purified. My biggest gripe however is the story or the lack of one. It kind of plays second fiddle to everything else but its not as involved as you'd think. Case in point, the major antagonist actually appears in a very early scene before completely disappearing entirely until it was time for him to say "oh right it was me all along!" It just goes all over the place unfortunately. Some characters I actually didn't like, for example Jovi and Chobin, the former constantly taking credit for things you did early on and the latter for not getting a hint that you're not a burgler and the same person that keeps visiting the lab. I guess I'm really in more for the gameplay than the story at this point, mostly because I can see where its going. Its an alright game, not the best Pokemon spin off but it does decently well at least. Atelier Meruru This is a game that I bought on a whim so many years ago because I wanted to experience more of the Atelier series. I picked up Meruru mostly because of the cute title character. What makes the Atelier series different from other JRPGs is that you're not a badass with a giant sword trying to save the world but a naive, every day girl who does requests and tasks for the people within a certain period of time. In a way you're playing as the shopkeeper NPCs for other JRPGs. Meruru does have a goal in mind and that's for Princess Meruru to make her kingdom expand within 3 years time by using alchemy. I really like this setup because it gives you a goal to meet overtime. I have been getting into it again since I decided to sit down and play the game seriously. I think I do waste a ton of time making more items and gathering items than doing requests, since I tend to do things backwards due to my lack of foresight. I did noticed that I did fall into cutscene hell a lot making me wonder if its worse than Pokemon Sun and Moon in that regard. I know its a JRPG which means its more story driven but I feel like I'm stopped every time I need to do something for story, especially when it was something important. Overall though its a fun, colorful adventure. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes I got this for the No More Heroes 3 hype and for the fact it was on sale for 20 bucks and it was 20 bucks well spent. I just started this game up and well I've been having a blast. It did change most of the series combat to be more simple but I'm fine with the change since I dig the simple combat they have going on here. I was actually a little worried that the top down camera wasn't going to sit well with me but it ended up working for me. I do like the meta humor they have going on; It gets to the point where Travis knows that he's in a video game and it pisses off Bad Man, mostly because he's not being taken seriously. I did noticed they put in a lot of indie games as t shirts you can get in game, so yes I have Travis running around with a big pigeon in a heart thanks to the Hatoful Boyfriend representation. I did just start this game though, only beating the first in-game game so there's more for me to see but I'm glad NMH is still going strong.