Good luck in Elysium!

I've been playing Hades again in recent days. Still not sure if I can improve my relationship with Meg any further, as I legit haven't been able to gift her in probably half of my entire play time now (just finished run 113). Do I need to turn Extreme Measures off in order to interact more with just her in Tartarus to trigger new conversations? I've had at least Extreme Measures 1 on for the last 40, 50+ runs since it's an easy way to boost the heat level.

There's got to be a way since I'm missing the last Companion, which has to be a gift from her.

Also getting closer to buying most things from the contractor. There's only a handful of unique items (not different color or variant of another item) that I still need.

I’m wondering if maybe choosing Thanatos as your romance locks you out of getting Meg fully upgraded?

I finally beat Hades on try 22 but have lost to him again twice in a row.

I'm going to experiment a bit and see if I can trigger it. Going to do runs with Extreme Measures turned off. Could always use more Titan's Blood, but I have plenty of Ambrosia (not even sure I can gift it anymore) and Diamonds for awhile. There has to be a way to get the Companion from both her and Thanatos.

Did 3 runs tonight and got Alecto once and Tisiphone twice. The experiment will be ongoing for awhile, I believe.

Ugh. One of meg sisters killed me and then i killed the other one at the last run knly to die by burning myself because i was stupid? Fuck me.

Nintendo Direct just finished...

Very cool direct! The open world Kirby game has my interest, and I don’t remember seeing Triangle Strategy before but I love the art style. Was already sold on Metroid Dread and Splatoon 3, and am now extra double hyped. Dunno if I’ll pay for it right away, I need Paper Mario on there, but n64 and genesis games on switch = great news! And Bayonetta 3 lives!!!

Illumination’s Mario movie will probably stink, but I was cracking up at each announced voice actor. Worth it just for that!

Will admit the one extra meh part was Mario Party. Why can’t it just be Mario Party Ultimate? They were so close to getting it right!

Also, I traded in some stuff (old ps4 controller, Ratchet) for a bunch of psn credit and am planning on getting the Diablo 2 remake … But Kena: Bridge of Spirits looks great too! Reviews are calling it Pixar Zelda.

It is about time they did something with Kirby. I'm not a huge Kirby fan, but the new game did look good, so if reviews are there, I probably will be too.

Triangle Strategy was announced back in February I think. I've been interested in it, so will likely pick it up. Sort of hope they change the name, it was just the project's name, but I guess its straight to the point.

And yeah, I don't know why Mario Party is so hard to do... They more or less have the minigame part down (featuring games from all the past games), but totally failed with the boards. You know they could have included all the past Nintendo 64 boards if they wanted to, and would it have really taken that much more effort? Or if that was too much, even just including 1 or 2 boards from all the past games would have been good enough.

To add to the Super Mario Illumination movie... Nintendo is very protective of its characters. So knowing this, and knowing Miyamoto has been involved throughout all of its production, I'll remain hopeful for Super Mario. But yeah, it's going to be tough getting this decently right. Although I will say I thought a Super Mario Odyssey 2 or new Mario was about to be announced when Miyamoto came on screen (when did he last make an appearance on one??), so a bit disappointed it wasn't that.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits does look good. Looks inspirited by the action-adventure games in the GameCube/PS2 days. And even at their worst or unoriginal, they were usually still fun to play.

Voice of Cards: The Isle of Dragon Roars was the game I mentioned after the direct. I'll probably download the demo over the weekend and try it out.

Well, finslly managws to get to the elliseum boses and I almost best them but they were too much for me. Ugh.

My fave god has to be Poseidon. His blessings are so good.

Poseidon has by favorite cast (upgraded with the rupture effects and such, it can get crazy good in the last region), and one of my favored dashes.

I've done seven or eight runs since turning Extreme Measures off to see if interacting solo with Meg might trigger improving my relationship with her, but... I still haven't seen her! I've gotten Alecto five or six times, and Tisiphone the remaining two or three... I'll try a few more times, but if no luck, I'm just going back to meeting the necessary heat levels again to get the rare items.

Downloaded and played a couple hours of the Voice of Cards demo last night. It's certainly up my alley. I'm basically sold on it already, but want to finish the demo first before being certain. And the card game minigame within the game (in the town, or towns--just been to the one) is really fun and addictive itself! I would have probably bought a game just based on it for the right price, so it's very cool to have a fun, simple, yet just in-depth enough card game minigame to play between objectives or even on the main menu. The music in the game so far is also really, really good.

Poseidon’s is very useful. The only one I like better is the Zeus/Dionisys duo boon Lightning Fog.

I’m on a streak of four wins in a row now, and what I’ve discovered to be the most important boons by far are from Hermes. If I don’t have the extra dash, or the speed boost + shield after a dash perks then Hades just tears me apart with his cleave attacks.

Mau, you probably figured this out already, but ignore Theseus (shield and spear guy) in the first half of that fight. Bring that bull down as quick as possible!!

I laughed WAY too hard at these. I have to share them (2 and 3 are probably the best). They're like 7 years old, but still. Absolutely hilarious.

I wucj at Hades tho. I have the two bosses down witb ease but once i reach the third world i just flop. It makes me so mad. I can slay the snakw but i cant beat these stupid ass side characters? Fuck it

Elysium is the hardest part of the game. Eventually you figure it out though, just keep after those mofo skulls and don't let them respawn. And have some good range for the kamakaze cars.

I'm on 8 successful runs in a row, but having trouble getting the Thanatos trophy (you have to get +30% damage from his trinket, which means taking no damage in atleast 20 encounters!) I got the Hermes one on my first try, but only needed +20% for that. These trophies have made the double dip worth it by themselves cause I never really tried to play the game this way on Switch, aside from the my one speed run for bragging rights.

Avengers is coming to Game Pass tomorrow! I'll probably play it for an hour and delete it, like most Game Pass games (this is a story for another day though.) I've always wanted to try it, but the responses from fans was so off-putting that I couldn't bring myself to pay any money.

Lastly, early Metroid stuff is making it sound so damn appealing. Constant tension! Legit scary! I want it all! Unless reviews are meh, this is looking like a for-sure day one purchase, despite my backlog stack getting rather high.

I like how Hades gets you feeling good about your skill when you first beat Tartarus, and then clear Asphodel shortly after (maybe even the same or next run), and then it hits you with Elysium which becomes another wall that takes many attempts to crack.

My advice for Elysium is to utilize the traps there (the bombs, arrows, and spears) whenever you can. If you're struggling or just have a poor build going with your boons, they can really make a difference. Longer term, you'll mostly just need to try and try again, giving yourself extra buffs from the mirror and such in the process.

I bought Dicey Dungeons the other day. It's 66% off right now (just $5.09!). I've been interested in it ever since I bought Slay the Spire, but held off on it. It's fun. It's similar to Slay the Spire, although the deck-building and strategy is certainly not as deep, but still not too simplified. Each of the 6 characters (haven't unlocked the 6th yet though) all play VERY differently, so it gives reason to try and play them all. The music is also fun and catchy.

I also downloaded the demo for Triangle Strategy. It came out back in February, so it doesn't have all the feedback changes/updates Square has down to the game since (that they covered in the Nintendo Direct last week), but it's a lot of fun. Easy day-one (pre-order) purchase. It's going to be a pain waiting 5 months on it now!

The story is very Game of Thrones, and the gameplay is excellent. It takes all the best elements of other tactic games like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, X-Com, etc., and seems like they perfected the formula. Some attacks (such as fire spells) actively impact the field by burning it/catching it on fire (like houses) and will stay on the field for so many turns (the burning fixtures may remain the entire battle). Even the weather plays a role in how combat and the environment changes. I'm assuming if it's windy (the first battle in the demo is, taking place on a bridge) that arrows, for example, may not have as high of accuracy or range. And in rain, maybe fire spells are weaker and their field effects either don't take effect or expire early.

And the music is excellent from what's just in the demo (it's by the composer of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood!). Not to mention how amazing the 2D-HD graphical art style looks here (same team as Octopath Traveler). Definitely seems like you'd enjoy it, Flava'd, so I'd recommend trying out the demo.

I might try the demo but your description has already sold me on it. Seems like a winner.

Jan-March 2022 now has:

Triangle Strategy
Horizon 2
Elden Ring
Arceus
Dying Light 2
Midnight Suns

2022 itself has going to be super stacked. It'll more than make up for 2020/2021.

Where are you planning to buy Metroid Dread, by the way? Digital? There are three pre-order bonus promotions at the moment: Pin Set (GameStop), Decals (Best Buy), and Coffee Mug (Walmart). The pin set and decals are pretty common bonuses, but the coffee mug from Walmart is unique and looks really nice too.

Also, the last battle in the Triangle Strategy demo... I'm going to watch some gameplay videos tomorrow to see if anyone managed to beat it without any characters dying. I saved beforehand and am going to try it again myself, too. I spent a full hour on it and lost half my party.

I have like $80 in gamestop credit so most likely there lol.

Didn’t realize Triangle was gonna be full priced at $60! So maybe I should try the demo!

I finally stopped exploring / leveling up / fucking around in Breath of the Wild and went and slayed Ganon. 200+ hours I put into that game. I think I need to retire from videogames again.

Did you find all the Korok seeds?

Haha god no. I’m not that much of a completionist. In fact, after I beat Ganon, my “completion percentage” was at 49.78%. So I roamed around a little more and found 3 more Koroks to get past 50%.

I will say my path around the map using Hero’s Mode is pretty damn thorough. What an epic, and addictive, game.

It's one of the best ever for sure.

I've watched a few videos of people unboxing and showing off the new OLED Switch Model. Games were expected to look better in handheld mode, but they really look better. There's little/no reason to get one if you mostly play in docked mode or have an original model (2017/2018) Switch perhaps, but for primarily handheld players... it might be worth it. And it's certainly the top choice for someone in the market for their first Switch.

I have the second Switch (2019-), I think called A2, but my husband has the original one (A1) we got at launch. His battery life is noticeably less than mine (2-2.5 hours for some games) and he almost exclusively plays handheld, so we may look into getting the OLED for him down the road. (Assuming they don't require dedicating a day of camping out on websites to fight off bots while waiting for the few units a retailer may get every month or two like the Xbox S/X, PS5 still...)