Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Demo (Switch 1)

 

Here we go again!

Well, they are (or have as of release) remaking Dragon Quest VII, this time for modern console, including Switch and Switch 2. I've only played the first remake for the 3DS (Damn, almost 10 years ago... I'm getting old) and I recall that being a great time, although a bit long, but I've heard everyone else speaking about finish some of the early games like in 25 hours where I spend 100 hours so I might just be really slow. There's some buzz about changes like the casino being gone since that would net it an immediate 18 rating and that they changed how the class system works. 

The demo then, it starts from the beginning and ends before you can get to the second island, which feels like a logical end point. You get to try out some of the combat, how the story progression works and still leaves you with the mystery of why the world is what it is and leaves you on a cliff hanger. Pretty wise move. I don't recall how the 3DS version began, but I suspect that they threw in a battle a bit earlier with some spirits just so that people would get faster to a fight cause that is both a praise and complaint I've heard about the game, taking to long to get to the meat of the game with something like running around on fetch quest for 2 hours while other finds it interesting. I can find it rather ballsy.

Nothing much else to say. Beside the set up I provided for the 3DS version the first island's story is about a village of cowardly men where all women have been kidnapped and you try to figure it out. You met the warrior woman Maeve that was the younger sister of the town hero that was left to die hoping the townspeople would come and save him as he led the charge alone against the monsters of the island, but they didn't due to cowardice. And in turn Maeve turned into a vengeful spirit, but pretty much turns around when she helps this little kid that tried to protect his father. I guess feeling sympathy for him since he did pretty much what she did. And as the party storm the enemy the kid rallies the townspeople so that they actually show up for the final confrontation. It's short, it's sweet, it's a tear jerker... a great short story with tragedy. And that is what I recall from playing it all those years ago. As of writing it should arrive in four days. Can't wait.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch 2)

 

SAMUS! SAMUS! SAMUS!

Finally, a new Switch 2 game that I got on card for the console. Otherwise it has only been Switch 1 copies, and that's kinda interesting for a console where I prefer getting the older games. Apparently Nintendo as of writing in december 2025 is making some other game cards so that other companies actually put the f***ing game on the card to save on damn space. Hell I've ordered a Mario Kart physical copy just save in on 20 GB! Anyway, new Metroid Prime game. The remasters of 2 and 3 never appeared so wonder what happened to them. It clearly was a troubled production on this game so I wonder if they put all them to get this game out instead of giving us the other games on one console (or they thought it was better to use them on the GameCube Online thing in the future, who knows). Anyway again, back to the game.

Samus is sent to a research station that is under attack from the pirate leader Sylux that you encountered in Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS. They apparently found an ancient artifact and during the scuffle it activates teleporting Samus, some of the federation soldiers and equipment to an unknown planet, Viewrose. Traveling around you first rescue Mac, an engineer that helps you during the adventure with technical stuff. You also discovered that the planet used to hold an intelligent race of people that are no more due to the Great Tragedy, but they reward you with psychic powers to help you on your adventure.

During the adventure you meet more Federation soldiers, Sarge and Armstrong, the sniper Tokabi and a combat robot named V. They pretty much help you on each area and then they all come together for the final area where they seem to be lost until you finish up and it turns out they all survived. Your goal on the planet is to get 5 keys in order to open the central tower in the desert to get to a teleporter and get out. You also finds a motorbike to ride around in the desert collecting green crystals, finding upgrades and fight the same kind of enemies that roams the desert. After getting a mech for the robot to shatter the shield around the tower you head in and get attacked by Sylux... and here I got blasted away. I played it on normal until this fight, but I got blasted several times over... and it's not really me that get blasted. The Federation Troopers? They join you for this fight, but with that comes the fact that if they die, you lose.

And worst part is? Sylax have attacks that cover most of the arena at once, nuking them. You can heal them, but when 4 of the team is down and you can only heal one at a time and he nukes them again, you die. So I lowered difficulty to just get it over with. Of course that made me miss out on getting the hard mode, but I have a suspicion that I won't be playing that any time soon. Overall, it was a decent challenge up until the end. The only time I looked something up was where to find the final piece of the mech in the jungle and the treasure bots that makes the map show where upgrades are. Best new thing for the prime games ever. And I don't get why it took them this long since the 2D games with maps have had markers on it since the SNES. 

Apparently it's a bit of online chatter about this game, but I found it enjoyable enough. 

Dragon Quest II (Dragon Quest I+II 2d-HD) (Switch)

Time for a new (old) adventure!

Well, it was just continue with the second game. Still have PTSD for the end-game with the kamikaze monkeys. The story is pretty much the same with some exceptions. For example, you get a fourth party member, the princess of Cannock. She first helps you looking for the prince of Cannock that elevated the early games and then when he gets poisoned she joins again, and more permanently after that, making the rest of the game a bit easier with another character carrying things and using magic. They also added an underwater section with mermaids and hidden depths. Hadn't I played it I wouldn't have noticed that all that was an add-on for the remake since it fits right in the world... granted, Dragon Quest-games tends to be rather easy to do this with since eventhough each game has an overarching story, it has a lot of small moments.

Is there more? Yes, they tie all three games together here, referencing each other and explaining better the relationship between, Hargon, the Dragonlord and Rubiss. There's also a hint of another adventure after beating Hargon. But to get that you gotta defeat the boss Octavian or whatever it's name was which roam the ocean in the ghost ship and let me tell you, that's a bitch to fight. Negating magic and attacks, healing a high rate every turn and dealing a lot of damage. I tried several times and then gave up... I could of course have used the lower setting to finish it off, should have thought about that before. Don't know if it's the big bad from the third game, but I'm quite content. And I got other games to play so I better get a move on.

So overall, it's a fun game, get a lot of backtracking and such to get every treasure chest after each key upgrade so I would have preferred a guide to diminish the amount of hours. But it's fun just roaming around, but after seeing the same towns and dungeons for the third game they can get a little stale, especially when there's a lot of empty treasure chests that I opened in the earlier games. As I saw someone writing, probably contender for the best upgrade on any game. Even the kamikaze monkeys aren't that problematic anymore. And 7 is on it's way as well, and then 12... wonder if we will see 4,5,6,8 and 9 as well. Although to much time seems to go RPG.

A DnD Tale: Tomb of Annihilation - The Wheel of Choices (13)

 

Level 5!

So our heroes have now reached the fifth level of the temple. They hear the sound of moving metals and cogs all while grey slime oozes out over the walls and floors. They find a passageway that leads to a dead end that they search for a secret door to get into a new corridor. They head down and sees words written in blood on the ceiling, "Awaken Napaka". They recall that it is the name of the dead Omuan queen they found on the floor above. They find a statue with three arms asking for jewels that they in their greed won't give. They find a keyhole in one of the reliefs that they use the key they found with the queen. It leads to a crawlway that leads to another room with a gigantic Stone Juggernaut. They search around and find a shelf with a ruby they grab. Freya even climbs atop it and tries to awaken it with their two staffs. As she hit it it crumbles to dust leaving only stone and rubble.  

Back to the corridor they try to put the ruby in the hands of the statue, but nothing happens. I kinda wished they actually put three jewels in the hands to see them crushed and the reward is destroyed ruby. The go to the other end of the corridor and finds a room with some compost and greenery. Another room with grey ooze and then they find yet another room with some controls with a blue and red button, a golden star-lever and red and blue dials. The first thing they do is pull the golden lever that begins spewing more ooze into the floor that Hope have to disarm. Then they push and pull the blue controls. They hear rumbling and heads out and see that they are closed off from the rotating rooms. 

So they pretty quickly figures out how the rooms work so they start fiddle with the red controls. They turn the dial and suddenly is talked through a telepathic link with an unknown creature. It pretty much warns them from interrupting the arrival of the god of destruction. They push the red button and are locked in for an hour. They head back to the staircase and get to a pier with two boats and a wrench to get a cage into the water. Hope controls the winch while Freya gets in the cage and snaps up three crabs while the voice talks with her. They get out and rows around the lake and gets back to the door than now speaks and asks a riddle that they answer with feeding it with a crab. Now they begin thinking about the rotating room puzzles. They end up with Destinova staying with the controls and speaking with them through the voice that speaks with them. The others head for the middle room and it rotates, releasing poisonous gas in the room and then three shambling mounds awaken and attacks them. It gets intense since the mounds gobbles up our heroes from time to time and Hope is as low as 7 HP after some attacks, but when they begin to fall off it gets easier. Hope a smudge irritated that they had resistance to fire for being walking grass. 

After the battle they enter the room at the top, finding a dead body from the company of the yellow banner that carried 6 jewels and a magic sword (which they don't know what it does, since it basically only allow them to speak draconian). We end the session here, No healing yet so we will see if we are as broken as last time. 

Dragon Quest I 2D-HD (Dragon Quest I+II 2d-HD) (Switch)

 

The beginning... and end?

And here the sequel... original... whatever it is, Dragon Quest I, but now in 2D-HD. I was a bit worried about playing this game again since it would be going back in progress compared to Dragon Quest III when you go solo against the dragonlord. But it worked rather well. Could be due to me using the qualities of life they added to the game, like allowing you to see hidden areas and chests on the maps so that it would cut down on running around. Yeah, searching every part of the world for some hidden area and then not be able to see it, but have to find it again afterward with improved abilities was a hassle. Much easier this way,

Took me around 24 hours and the story is basically the same. The evil dragonlord have kidnapped the princess of Tentagel so a scion of Erdrick appears and rescue her, defeat the dragonlord and brings peace to the land before leaving an settle a new kingdom for himself and his princess. I say basically since they've added a lot of cut-scenes. We get to see the princess fight of the dragonlord with the help of Rubiss and that the dragonlord kidnapped her to get the sphere of light that was given to Erdrick and then the king of Tentagel. You have actual characters like the three soldiers that hunt for the princess that you rescue, Robbin 'ood, Zalen the descendent of Galen the Bard and an adventuring party that you compete with in the beginning. So it actually feels like a post-Dragon Quest III-game. They've even added the mini-medals.

So it feels like a modern game. I will say that if I replay the series it won't be the old games I got since the game feels so much easier to play. And since they feel like a coherent story it is better to play III-I-II it seems and they even mention things after III like Erdricks longing to return home, but not being able to. Characters he meet on his journey that affected this game and so on. It feels like it should. Some people will probably complain that it feels bloated compared to the original with all side-quest and going back and forth on the map compared to the circle around on the original I believe, but since that was single enemy encounters this feels a bit more dynamic with several enemies at once. And you got Golden Golems, Metal Slimes and Liquid Metal Slimes that fastens the grinding process a lot. Especially when you get the metal boomerang for 38 Mini-Medal right before entering the Dragonlords keep where Liquid Metal Slimes can appear, meaning I got something like 3 levels right before fighting the dragonlord facing him at level 47. He was no pushover either, I had to rematch him 4 times before beating him. At least gather all of Erdricks equipment changed the look of the hero while equipped.

What I gather, beating the final boss and saving pretty much only opens up two more hidden areas so that you can find the final two Mini-Medals. No other post-game, but the hero spoke at least. Got all monsters, missed 10 things to get, but the 100 000 gold in my bank account will probably clear that if I was so inclined. So that leaves the second game.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2) (Switch)

 

All in time for the Galaxy-movie!

I continued with the sequel that I haven't finished on the Wii. It originally came out in 2010 which means it probably was the last game I got as a student at university, meaning I was rather depressed so didn't feel like playing anything... and then four years unemployment followed. Recalling this I actually got the version with a DVD on how to play the game. Sadly the package it all came in had been destroyed by water or corroded electronics. Great I put it on since now I can actually see that the graphics are much better on the Switch version. On the other hand the game crashed on me on the very second level so it might not be as stable.

So the story is basically a retelling on the first Galaxy-game with Bowser attacking Toad Town and getting Princess Peach, but instead of being picked up by the Cosmic Comet, you instead meet a Luma called Lubba that travels around space. It takes the shape of Mario's face for some reason. Some people on the internet speculate that had the game been released today it would just have been DLC for the original game and I can see that. Some stages are lifted directly from the first game, but Thwomps Fortress from Super Mario 64 showed up and that was nice. 

Changes to gameplay is that now, as you can see on the cover, you also can get Yoshi with you. He eat stuff and can use the flutter jump as well as using his tongue to platform even higher. In that way it feel a bit like Super Mario World with the first stage being in front of Yoshi's house and he being out. You used the wii remote pointer, but the Switch make you use the gyrocontrols instead. Seen as one of the reason why it wasn't on the All-Star 3D Collection, but since it works rather well here that can't be it. 

So did I 100%? Not as of writing, I ended up with 120 star and activated the green prankster comets that put in another 120 stars to collect which double the stars for each stage. Mostly they are hidden around the levels so you gotta find them. Not that hard since they give away the sound of a shimmering star when you get near so as long as you hear that you can deduce where they are. I got stuck at the third green star at the digging level in the first world where I found it, but couldn't get how to get to it. After some tries I gave up for another time. This is written right before Halloween 2025 which means I have four day weekend to look forward to, but Dragon Quest 1+2 comes this Friday or something like that which means the weekend is scheduled for that. 

Super Mario Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2) (Switch)

 

Lost in Space... again!

Well, I guess I'm part of the problem when I got this duology since I've already got the first game for Switch, and finished it 100% at it as well. I guess they fixed some graphics and added some story book pages, otherwise it's pretty much the same game. Used the pro-controller for this and it worked rather well. I guess this is pretty much the only way to play this game now if you didn't get a copy of Super Mario 3D-All Star (which I did). 

I finished it at 60 stars and continued a bit, but I realized pretty quickly why it was a bit of a bother to 100% it. So I haven't unlocked Super Luigi Galaxy, but I already have the picture to prove I finished that one as well on my Switch so I don't feel the need to finish it. I'm more worried by Super Mario Galaxy 2 which I haven't finished so sometime would be the first.

Things I can say is that I hate the bouncing power up, I can't get it to work all the time and I don't know why. 

A DnD Tale: Tomb of Annihilation - The Death of Many (12)

 

Time to join them.

So it was a while. We couldn't get a game going in september 2025 so it was October instead. And it continued from the room with all the statues. How was they gonna leave the room? There was three runes of teleportation and of course they couldn't go into the same rune, they instead split up. Freya went into the western rune and ended up at the room with the destroyed mirror. Immeral went into the northern rune and ended up at the same place, but caught in a magical explosion due to the malfunctioning rune. Hope and Destinova went into the southern one and was polymorphed into quippers, some kind of fish. The others put them into vessels of water to carry them to the other companions. None can help them since they are warriors. Instead Immeral uses the last two charges of the ring with stored spells that have the dispel spell stored.

Returning to humanoid shape they head to the final rooms of the fourth floor. They enter the corridor and ends up at a door with a riddle above the door. They are supposed to feed the serpent statues blood to allow the ghouls hidden in the wall to open the door. They don't get it so go into the corridor leading to a treasure chest just standing in the opening. They see a room beyond it, but the treasure chest is more important. Of course Hope unlocks it and open it and a boulder starts rolling from above the stairs. They run into the room and the floor below them crashes down. Hope and Freya is able to catch the edge while the others fall into the acid pit trap. Biff Longsteel dies immediately and dissolves into the acid. The others are damaged, but with the help of Freya and Hope that climbs up and get the rope to get the others out of the pit. Freya heals them with a mass cure wounds.

The others check the room and finds a sarcophagus that changes colors every 6th seconds. It has a keyhole so Hope returns to the broken chest and finds an invisible key. Doesn't help them so they look into the mural above the room. Freya touch the mural and ends up in a magical maze which opens the secret rooms with 10 skeleton minotaurs out for blood. Since they all are up on the stairs Hope, Immeral and the woman warrior blocks the stairs so that Destinova can fry them with fireball. Zaal the minotaur enters the maze to help Freya. Freya is able to find a gold key after something like three rounds and returns to the sarcophagus with skeletons all around, but just the next round they all been defeated. They wait for Zaal to find another key until he gets the purple one and returns as well. Immeral gets the gold key and uses it as it turns gold, unlocking and opening it. He's granted the power smell precious metals and gems for three days (they don't know how long, just that he can) and is branded with a demon head on the chest. 

He also picks up the robe with the slime pouring out of the pockets and gets possessed by Unkh. They also find a passage from one of the hidden rooms and find a clock that they open and grabs the jewel at the tip of the pendulum. Of course not later than that it strikes which ages Freya and the warrior woman 10 years. After getting the jewel it stops and they realizes that it's the Navel of the Moon that the tabaxi searched for. They head back to the door they couldn't open and after a bit more searching they find the blood and get Zaal and Freya to give enough blood to open the doors. There they see the murals that the blind dwarfs are painting about the things happening in the dungeon, one doing the leader of the Yellow Banner while the others are busy with our own adventures, being attacked by the beholder, being crushed by the chest and so on. They notice the throne and the scepter. They don't touch it, but finds a hidden door toward another sarcophagus with a sun revolving around it. They open it and finds the queen Napaka that oversaw the destruction of Omu. They just steals from her and then finds the scepter which they switch with the one at the throne. Nothing happens so they take both scepters which unleashes the necrotic gas that kills Zaal. The warrior woman stays with her queen and our heroes continues on and find yet another hidden door that leads to a staircase down to level 5. We end here since everyones getting tired and sleeps to heal up. 

Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter (Switch/Switch 2)

 

Wonder what skies have to do with anything since you walk most of the time.

I've heard about the Trails-series for a long time since I played Ys, being part of the Legend of Heroes-series that appears to be Falcoms biggest series beside Ys. The one thing everyone said was that it was a fantastic to get into, but there was 13 games in the series and where do you start on a game series that started out on the PSP? Well, you wait for a remake on the newest consoles of the first game of course. 

As usual I got it for the Switch since then you at least saved on the space on the console, and then just upgraded to the Switch 2. Apparently they are gonna update it to 1.05 any day forward, but I already cleared the game so some of the things I won't be seeing I guess. Story is that the country of Liberl was attacked by it's neighbor the Empire, but after 100 day was freed due to Colonel Cassius Bright who devised the plan to repel the invasion. He then joined the mercenary group the Bracers and trains his daughter Estelle. 5 years after the battle he finds a boy Joshua he brings home and adopts and 5 years after that the kids are doing their Bracer entrance exams and then starts doing jobs while Cassius leaves. An airliner is attacked by air pirates and the Bright kids gets involved since Cassius was on the liner.

From there they travel all around Liberl uncovering a conspiracy from within the Royal military of Liberl to seize power by brainwashing certain targets, for example the air pirates, a mayor here and several military commanders. You also meet several other Bracers that help you on your journey like Zin the Unmovable, Scharezard the whip-wielding drunkard, Agate the red-headed swordsman, Tita the genius, Olivier the imperial minstrel and Kloe the schoolgirl. You also meets people like the reporter and photographer of Liberl News that gives you hints on the overall story or Professor Alba getting in trouble all the time at the towers scattered across the land. 

It's a bit slow in the beginning since it took something like 10 hours leaving the first town, but when it gets going it gets going. The story always calls back with persons reappearing in a chapter after the one they introduced and you also gets some in between stories between chapters keeping the mystery pulling you along. Spoilers ahead, but nothing is what it seems and the bad guy is actually someone you can understand. His reasons for doing what he does is logical, and then in the credits pretty much it turns out someone was pulling his strings. Which I didn't see coming. The story is also interesting in that it has a female main character. Estelle is the main character and seems to be in the following two games as well and that is rather fun since she is a fun character to follow. Her goofiness and naive nature make sit fun to watch her collide with others or such things. Funny how no one talked about the woke agenda in this game with the other main character Joshua dresses up in a dress and maid outfit. One character even talks about bringing down the patriarchy. Damn posers in the gaming community.

Graphics are fine, but I noticed a flicker one time, but that was it. Music is alright and you have good voice actors like Matthew Mercer and the guy voicing Doggi and Doug. Interestingly enough the voice lines are kinda inconsistent. There are scenes when when side characters have a voiced line, but the main guys aren't voiced. Maybe it has to do with actions that affects the scene so they didn't voice them, but it feels kinda weird. The second game is on the way and I might have to get my hand on the other games in the series.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World (Switch 2)

 

It's Kirby... in 3D!

Well, the games don't really rain over the Switch 2 at the moment so I decided to get Kirby and the Forgotten Lands since I didn't get it for the original Switch and everyone was raving about this game when it came out. I also tried to play the NES games and such that I have for the Wii U, but I got stuck there and then the game come out. Kirby is minding his own business when a vortex appear above Popstar and drag him and the waddle-dees into it. He appears on a new world which looks a lot like our earth where he meet a flying critter called Elfilin that tags along on the adventure as the waddle-dees get kidnapped by some beasts.

Rescuing the waddle-dees allows them to gather in this town area where they set up a smith, shops and so on depending on how many you rescue. You fight through several different worlds collecting blue-prints to upgrade your copy-abilities that you collected from the enemies as well as gold and stars that you need for the upgrade. Each level have several objectives that gives you more waddle-dees and if you are thorough you can pretty much get them in one go. At the end of the levels there are bosses and they also have objectives, but they tend to be more of the variety use this ability to do this which means repalying the bosses a bunch of times. 

I'm not that thorough but I got something like 250 waddle-dees at the end out of 300 I guess. In the final stages Elfilin gets kidnapped by a brainwashed King Dedede and after Kirby beats him up ends up in a laboratory where a giant lionman have taken Elfilin in order to merge it with an dimensional hopping entity that the assumed humans captured and then experimented on to leave the planet. So the entity have controlled all the beasts and use waddle-dees to power the whole laboratory for some reason. Still, 4 or something bossfights later Kirby absorbs a truck and like Optimus Prime blasts right into this lovecraftian entity. F***ING AWESOME!

Dramatic Reenactment!

Credits roll and then you get the vision of the lionman trapped in some dimensional rift. You get back and then I finished up the new added stuff for the Switch 2 version, saving the starries to send out an evil space heart, but it fails and I fight the boss again much harder this time. This fight made me lower the difficulty to just be over it. The starries are on some of the levels that changes the level a bit with different plattforming. Anyway, credits roll and then I go and do the lionman quest. In yet another dimension you have to run through gauntles of all levels in each stage to gather the soul fragments of the lionman. Lucky enough Elfilin tells you if you get all the souls in each part so you can find them before going forward and lock you out of the stage so I did all that in one go. After gathering all souls you get a figure and then fight lionman again and the entity that possessed him again and then credits roll for a third time. 

It was a fun game. If I want I can 100 % it, but some of the challenges just feels to much to gather the waddle-dees (the starries I believe would be easier since there is no bosses to fight). There's also figurines to gather but I'm rather tired of those things after Minish Cap. Especially since I gathered most of the rewards is more figurines. That or I can probably gamble on the figurines machines. 

Dragonsbane: Betrayal (Drakar och Demoner: Sveket)

And now it's snakes, wonder what the third book cover will be.

Well, I had to read the continuation, only took me a year. I read the first two chapters and just had to stop since Tamea did the most stupid thing ever and I just couldn't handle it. Verven and Gizma have been doing some shady things to provoke fights to get money from people. This time it goes awry and they are set upon by the city guard and Tamea can't help herself by showing them Verven's gold coin, you know, the greedy corrupt guards that have no qualms taking from the people that we where shown earlier in the chapter? I just tapped out from reading it that time. I could also have been that I got some games worth playing that just took my interest as well, but it took some time getting back, and then I read the rest in two evenings.

The most interesting question on everyone's mind, how was the writing? Much better, there was only one instance in the whole book with an english word, "sorry". The rest perfect. So story after the early debacle is that they are helped out of the prison the guards threw them in by a duck crime lord that task Gizma with bringing her the head of Tamea's mother. She was last seen in the forest of Verven's elven clan. They go there and not to be killed they have to kill the elf-ear hunter in the tower out in sea. They get there and it turns out that the orc shaman living there isn't an ear hunter, but Verven's true father  which unravels all the lies his mother told him about his birth and such. His father seems to kill himself in realisation that his love he waited 18 years for wanted to kill him. They return to the elves and all hell breaks loose since it turns out Tamea's mother is still alive, but the Verven's mother tried to kill her son since the union of an orc and elf is the chosen one to begin the end of the world as he is destined to awaken the sleeping dragon and when that happens the demons will awake as well.

Well, they escape and the hunt is on. I really like the book. A lot happens in 200 pages and it goes by fast. Lucky the third book will be released in September 2025 (August 2025 as of writing). Kirby the Forgotten Land for Switch 2 will be out in a week so we will see if I'm in a reading mood or if that will have to wait until next year when the signs align and the window of opportunity for reading opens up again.

The Adventure of Elliot: The Millennium Tales Debut Demo (Switch 2)

Not another fairy game!

Watched the July 2025 Nintendo Partner Showcase direct and as most people it wasn't that much to write home about, but they at least announced a demo for a new game from SquareEnix in the 2D-HD engine. So I got it and since there wasn't any other games at the moment in the wait for the Kirby game. So I started playing it and it has some similarities to games like the Mana-series with different weapons... no co-op though. Story is that this kingdom is protected by a barrier from monsters and some new ruins have been discovered so the king ask the adventurer Elliot to investigate the ruins together with his fairy companion (which after playing Bravely Default sends out some different warnings than maybe the creators anticipated... or I don't know really). So you go out and fight monsters till you reach a dungeon where you fight a boss and suddenly you stand before the Door of Time.

Now, what is the Door of Time (besides being named after the door of Time in Ocarina of Time)? Don't know, the game didn't tell me about it before but the fairy wonders if this is the Door of Time and Elliot seems to know what that entails. And after entering the demo ends. I'm driven more by story than gameplay loops, so I can't say that this demo did it for me, since I don't know what I should care about in this game. No one has told me what the importance of the ruins is, or the Door of Time. In the wilds there was no one to talk to except the fairy and they never commented anything important.

We will see if I get it, but since it's SquareEnix I assume a Game Key Card from the get go and since the storage is limited it might be digital and a sale before getting it. It looks great though and I like 2D action adventure games. I didn't find the scythe so wonder if that will effect anything.

Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2)

 

The Journey to the Center of the Earth!

Well, it took the postal service a week to get it to my home. It arrived Friday the week after it was supposed to come out. Took me 2 weekends and two hours per day during the week, but now again I have a 100 % cleared games on the Switch 2 (no, don't look at my stack of unfinished or even played Switch 1 games). The game begins on Ingot Island where DK is mining for Golden Bananas until a meteor-looking thing crashes on the island dragging it into the depths of the earth. There he meets a talking crystal person that tries to escape from the Void Company CEO... Void Kong and his two henchmen. First time I've seen evil Kongs in a DK game, but since Metroid have already put in evil Chozos I'm already comfortable with the idea. The crystal person turns out to be Pauline that was kidnapped for her singing voice after you release her from the crystal. You meet different races on your way to the center of the earth in search of the Banandium Root for a way to get home and stop Void Kongs plans.

It's a rather fun game. You break most things and collect golden bananas in order to upgrade your abilities and then you collect gold to buy stuff and banadium chips to use to get more golden bananas or later musical discs. There are a couple of animal elders that allow you to use the Banaza that transform you into different animals, like snake, zebra, elephant, ostrich... and a gorilla. Gorilla form feels a bit weird since you already are a Kong, maybe I thought it would be a rhino as a callback to Rambi, but since there is a layer where you ride on Rambi they maybe thought it was enough. 

The final stretch of the games just ramps up the intensity. You have defeated Void Kong's henchmen and duke it out with the CEO himself, beat him and suddenly King K. Rool appears, beats up Void and get the Root for himself. That came by surprise. I gather that Cranky might imply him during the talks with him, but I didn't get it until he showed up. And now Kremlings appears and buzzaw bees so suddenly it feels like a Country game again. You corner K. Rool at the center of the earth and defeats him and your wish is about to get you back and credits roll, and it's the Kredits from Donkey Kong Country so you know the fight ain't over. K. Rool follows you with his barrel jet packs and you have to occupy him until you can reach the surface. You get to New Donk City where Pauline lives, K. Rool steals the root again and you have to platform to the boxing ring from Donkey Kong 64 and beat him again. Took me three tries, but I did it. Credits roll again and DK returns to Ingot Island while Pauline stays in NDC. 

After the credits you start at Ingot island again and reunite with Pauline that needs help finding a song she can sing. So you meet the elders again and do their rehearsal which is a gauntlet of platform challanges for each Bananza that forces you to use every power (and hopefully you upgraded every Bananza to the full). Zebra was the worst with the timed I thought, but then elephant wanted me to lure monsters into different areas to change shape and so on. After I remember to use the snake's time stop ability that one wasn't that hard. And after all that you have the Harmoneel. A true test of skills since you had to do it all in one go which I learned when I died on the very last stretch. After getting enough resources and changing outfits I went in again and cleared it. Rewarded with yet another credit scene, but I'm a bit disappointed since I thought I could get to New Donk City and just wander around, but no such luck. After that I cleared out the fossil to get every costume since you just could buy maps for those (and bananas as well, but those could be hard to get). 

So overall it was fun platformer. Some people complained that the ending was a bit to long, and if I had played it at the middle of the night before work and just wanna go to bed I might have felt the same, but instead I did it in the early afternoon so to me it was a great escalation. And here comes a reason why I prefer the Mario team to do these games, the bosses have pretty much a cycle of three which means that I can memorize the sequence within reason. Maybe the fact I played through 4 Donkey Kong Country games before I didn't have that hard of a time. Something I noticed though is that if this was Journey through the Center of the Earth and Mario Odyssey would be Around the World in 80 Days, I assume the devlopers at Nintendo seems to be on a Jules Verne binge. Gotta finish the collection of books I have at the night stand before Star Fox returns as a Captain Nemo rip-off... oh wait, that was Steel Diver for the 3DS. (And to be clear, this was written before the Star Fox game for Switch 2 was announced.)

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch)

 

And the monkey business returns.

Well, I still haven't gotten Banaza and it's been a week now. At least I had time to play through Donkey Kong Coutry Returns for the first time. I got it for the Wii, 3DS and Switch, but this is the first time I finish it. I think I played through the first two worlds on the Wii, but got stuck on the boss and then gave up. It wasn't that hard when I played it now, but that could be the Modern Mode cause I was ready to give up at some times.

Story is that one day the DK Island volcano explodes and unleashes the Tiki Tribe that begins hypnotize the animals and stealing Donkey's banans. Together with Diddy they set out to get them back and beat up the Tiki's. 8 worlds later you defeat the big boss of the Tiki and everything's great again, except it reveals the Golden Temple, yet another stage. I can't take it anymore and I really hope the new game comes tomorrow. 

I might sound irritated, but I spent 10 minutes on the final hit on the boss and I think levels like the barreljets and rickety rides just is infuriating. I used up something like 30-40 lives on two stages each trying to get through. Glad I got enough Banana coins to just buy more extra lives without problems. It was a struggle for me, and I can't see myself 100 % cause some of the feats to get some of the collectibles are beyond my abilities. I had a hard enough time getting how Rambi and the barreljets worked so I probably had more problem than necessary. Lucky I got the instruction manual from the Wii-version. Remember when games had physical manuals in the box? I do miss those.

Overall I can see the charm of it if you like 2D plattformers, which I do to a degree, but maybe not in 30 degrees Celsius on the first week back at my job after vacation. And a non-functioning postal service for the game I'm actually interested in playing. I find it interesting though that the game had really long load times, especially since I played it on Switch 2 since I thought the console would cut some of these, but maybe there needs to be an update for it first. Another thing I'be been thinking about it that compared to say Super Mario, Donkey Kong very often disrupts the flow in a level. Super Mario feels really great when you just enter the flow and can rush past stage after stage since it just clicks. Maybe I don't know the levels enough or the mechanics, but I just doesn't get that feeling over the game, since when it seems I'm on my way breaking the code, the game changes up and slows down the gameplay, either with the rickety rides or barreljets or something like the barrels that spin... or the bonus stages that constantly take you away from the main game. 

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Wii U)

 

Shouldn't it be Tripple Trouble?

Well, had to continue and Bananza didn't come to me on the Monday after release so I had one more evening. Didn't feel it as much in this game. On one hand from start to finish it is very close to the second game, but there is a lot more stuff to do, getting items to trade to find your way to the Secret Area and such compared to the second game where you just needed the money to pay. But at the same time it was straightforward. 

Story is that Donkey and Diddy disappeared in this new area so Dixie sets of to find them. Funky Kong gives you vehicles to traverse the area and Dixie Kong's cousin Kiddy Kong joins her. He's a stand in for Donkey. I liked the gameplay in the second game better for some reason. Maybe due to the things they tried was a bit more obnoxious like the area where you constantly gets shoot at or an area where you swim in poison water where your controls are reversed. I also feels that the stages from Donkey Kong Land 3 is rather different which also maybe gives me a pushback (or maybe since I played that game legit on my Game Boy Pocket I replayed the stages so much that it felt like they where more stages).

Maybe I'm fatigued after playing the whole series during a weekend or maybe that review in Super Play was right, it's not that good of a series. Or the fact that temperatures are reaching 30 degrees C might effect my enjoyment of the game.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Wii U)

 

The Revenge of King K. Rool.

Continued playing the second game. Basically Donkey Kong's been kidnapped by King K. Rool so Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie Kong sets out to save him. Cranky and Funky returns with them and some new Kongs like Wrinkly and Swanky. Pretty much returning animal buddies like Rambi, Enquarde, Sqwakes and new ones like the spider and snake. And I enjoy this game much more than the first game.

I think because they made it somewhat easier (still hard levels and such), but other things that helped the enjoyment. For one, every animal buddy can attack, compared to the ostrich in the first game. They made it more obvious where secrets are, both in the levels like with banana arrows or letters indicating what ability to use or hints you can get from Cranky. The bonus stage also had a title card for what you where supposed to do so it wasn't that obtuse. This allowed me get over 60 % this time around and my lives was at a full 99 (well, using the restore point I saved up on unnecessary deaths and such, but compare it to the first game when I only ended the game with something around 50 lives, you where supposed to grind for life I assume). 

On the other hand, since I've played Donkey Kong Land 2 a lot and actually finished that one I might have already learned some of the patterns it wasn't completely new to me. Don't like that you have to pay to save at certain points. Always made me stingy with the collectibles. It could also be that the duo Dixie and Diddy actually plays better. You switch characters with select this time around and can join up for some special move with A if both are in the party. 

So this is clearly a better sequel. Or it can be that I haven't gotten to play these games as much compared to the first one and I'm not good at the first one, meaning I never get past it. But we know that can't be the case.

Donkey Kong Country (Wii U)

Time for some monkey buisness!

I was gonna play Donkey Kong Bananza during my final weekend of my vacation, but yet again the postal services have betrayed me. So it will probably come when I started work again. Thanks for that. So what can I do to occupy myself these last days? Well, I got the whole Country-series on Wii U so that could be something. I got the game on GBA, Wii Virtual Console, 3DS, Wii U and SNES Mini and technically I got the Donkey Kong Land as well, but this is the first time I actually finish it for the first time. Only around 50 % since I haven't gotten all secrets and so on and I won't get them since I really don't like the game.

Story is that King K. Rool and his kremlings have stolen Donkey Kong's banana hoard so DK and Diddy sets out to get them back. Kranky Kong, Funky Kong and Candy Kong sets out to help our primate friends as they traverse all over DK Island in search for the golden bananas. It's rather hard and maybe why I don't like it. To often there is a new gimmick for the stage and you basically have to memorize the stages in order to get past them. I remember reading a review of... maybe the GBA game for the Swedish magazine Super Play where the reviewer apologized for ever thinking this game was good so it might have colored my perception as well. 

I got past the game mostly by abusing the save state function on the Wii U and in total the gameplay ended on less than 2 hours, but I assume that it maybe would have been a couple hours added since I restarted all the time. To finish it legit? Who knows how many hours I had to spend on it. Now, if I was a kid and played it as intended on SNES I might have forced myself to learn the patterns and such and have a completely different appreciation of the game. 

But to be more positive, it looks good with the graphics and the music is really good, but it plays a bit bad in my opinion. And the game is a bit evil with enemy placement, for example there is a couple of stages where before clearing a jump from moving platforms there is a big muscle guy you only can defeat with Donkey Kong since Diddy is to small, if you hit them as Diddy, they push you back into the pit, game over. And the bosses takes a lot of beating and with only two hits it's a question of pattern recognition. So you see, I'm not that impressed by the game.

Mario Kart World (Switch 2)

 

This will not help with the tour.

So like everyone else there is basically one new game for the Switch 2 at launch and as stated, I got it at the launch bundle with my Switch 2. And it's Mario Kart. I drove through the coursers and unlocked the final Grand Prix with Rainbow Road in it. I gathered it was an unlockable course since Mario Kart needs a Rainbow Road as the final. 

Overall, it's Mario Kart and it looks and sound great. I'm not a competitive player or plays online so I don't get as much out of it. My first Mario Kart was Mario Kart 64 and I think the most enjoyment was playing with friends and my sisters. Took years until I managed to unlock mirror mode since we played it more as battle mode or two. Dubble Dash for the GameCube was better that way since we could all four play in the Grand Prix. But what I did when I played on my own was driving around the coursers looking around. The train level I followed the tracks into the tunnel or found Peaches castle at the Mario Circuit level so when this game introduced the Free Roam mode, I would have loved it as a kid. I even got vibes of Diddy Kong Racing and the adventure mode. You got to collect Peach coins, ?-panels and find missions to solve. Meanwhile you can find food that unlocks new costumes for your characters. 

As a kid I would have loved it, as an adult that have a gigantic backlog it's busy work I don't really feel like going through. Meanwhile there isn't anything else to play beside older games and such so what else are you gonna do. I got it was a mirror mode you can unlock as well, but then you have to collect ten off everything in free roam and then beat all coursers in 150cc I think. Maybe I will someday, but we will see. A thing I would have wished they added from Diddy Kong Racing was a plane mode to fly around the stages instead of just gliding. 

Online I gather there is some controversy regarding the intermission tracks, instead of standard 3 laps coursers they put in Intermission tracks where you travel around the world. In one way it showcases the free roam mode, but I get it for those that want to learn the coursers since you need the repeating tracks to do it since the tracks gets long in intermission mode. Especially irritated for people was that there was a workaround, but after a patch people couldn't get past that in the same way I gathered. I can understand peoples irritation over it and maybe this is one of the times when Nintendo maybe should give the people what they want? Then on the other hand, people doesn't always know what they want or what they need? Then again I don't really care since I don't play online.

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) (Wii U)

 

All Aboard the Crazy Train!

Thought about playing this after Phantom Hourglass, but other things got in the way and after playing through it again I can say I don't very much like the DS gameplay. Spirit Tracks is a direct sequel to Phantom Hourglass that followed Wind Waker. Story is that after getting his engineer degree to pilot a train, Zelda ask Link to take her to the Spirit Tower to investigate the disappearance of the spirit tracks across the land. Turns out that the chancellor Cole is a demon in disguise that kidnaps Zelda's body to use it for a vessel of the Demon King Malladus (meaning no Ganon in this story). Zelda's spirit follows Link around and after getting to the Spirit Tower they meet Anjean, a lokomo. Apparently the lokomos aided the spirits before the hylians arrived and trapped Malladus by using the Spirit Tracks, but after they eroded away the Chancellor saw his chance to release Malladus. So you set out to restore the spirit tracks by traversing the spirit tower itself and then finding the temples scattered around the land. 

This is the second time I play through it which makes it one of the Zelda games I've played the least. It came out in 2009 and I didn't finish it until I got a 3DS in 2011. Playing it again there is some really fun puzzles and it follows the Zelda-formula. I won't deny that it's quite interesting how they use all of the DS functions, you control Link with the stylus, you gotta use the microphone to play the pan pipes and tell this little girl if she is plain or cute... I don't have the heart to tell her she's plain so it was cute every time I interacted with her. But the stylus shows some real problems since it doesn't always correlate to what I try to do. The pan pipes is a nightmare to try to get working at times, especially the restoration song you need to time trice over each time. And it's even in the final battle with Malladus which makes it one of the harder parts. And the attacks with the stylus get's a bit weird at times when I don't draw the sword or when I try to roll but swing instead and so on. I prefer a normal control scheme thank you very much.

Also, like Phantom Hourglass you follow a set route, of course diminished in this game since you are restricted to the tracks that exists compared to the ocean, but no time limit in the main hub. Overall travel feels so slow compared to a traditional Zelda. There are teleportation points, but you have to pass through them and they are point A to point B. Wished the flute have had some teleportation songs like in the earlier games, but I assume that would be a problem with the transportation quests. Overall, it will probably still be one of the lesser played games in the series just by that. The Save Point on the Wii U at least helps with the minigames and traveling with people or transporting cargo.

On the other hand, music is a bit more distinct than Phantom Hourglass and I do like pan flute music after watching Mysterious Cities of Gold and listening to the Golden Sun Soundtrack.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD (Switch 2)

 

Love in the Crossfire!

I thought I had written about the original game since it came out in 2014, but apparently I didn't began writing my synopsis on finished game until half a year later in 2014 so I never did it. The closest when I was writing about the follow up demo for the second game, Bravely Second. Still haven't finished that main game so might continue with that, but that will be a while since the first game has a tendency to overstay it's welcome. And I had hoped just writing about the differences from the 3DS version and skip the story and such. 

So basically the story is that the great chasm swallows Norende, the pastoral town where Tiz Arrior lives together with his brother. His brother dies in the Chasm and Tiz wakes up in the nearby capital being saved from drowning in a river. He returns to the Chasm and meet Agnes Oblige, the vestal of Wind that looks into the Chasm together with Airy the Cryst-Fairy. They are being hunted by the Eternian forces that are intent on destroying any believers of the Crystal followers. They meet with Ringabel that have lost his memory and joins them after following instructions in his journal. They also meet Edea Lee, daughter of the Grand Marshal of Eternia that switches side after the cruelty shown by the Eternian forces. Together they travel to the four crystals to awaken them and banish the darkness.

The story is pretty much callbacks to Final Fantasy I-V. The order of the crystals is reversed from Final Fantasy I with wind, water, fire and earth. The class system is brought over from Final Fantasy III and V. Braev the Templar looks a bit like paladin Cecil (and Artemis looks like his dark knight version, but that looks like all dark knights in the series) from Final Fantasy IV. The other classes looks a bit like other classes from the games. The magic system is basically the same as Final Fantasy and so on. The biggest difference being the summons that are unique and looks like modern things like planes and trains, but stylised to look like summons so like the plane looks like a bird and so on. Had they done them like in Final Fantasy with Raruh, Bahamut and so on togheter with Moogles and Chocobos it would be the continued series if they hadn't done VI and so on. 

So you get the crystals awakened, fight the asterisk bearers to get the classes and some story bits. Each country is being undermined by the Eternians in different ways so you have to clean it up. You also meet the Sage Yulyana that helps you and then Lester the vampire. After defeating them all and fixing the crystals a pillar of light appears that you enter, Artemis Dim, the dark knight follows you and after defeating him his face is revealed showing Ringabels face and then you are transported back to the beginning of the game. The game is in a time loop like the original Final Fantasy as well. SO you fight the bosses again to awaken the crystals and get more story bits. You do this five times and is in one way kinda admirable for them to stick to it, but it gets repetitious since the dialog repeats as well, making you wonder do they remember what happens between each jump? Especially when the game pretty much spells out the plot for you, Airy is a lying fairy (which at the reveal shows up on the title screen as well). She pushes our heroes to go through this since she is in actuality a demon from the abyss that helps her lord Ouroboros to connect 10 000 worlds to release Ourobors from his prison and invade the celestial realm. I got it and the numbers on her wings showing how many there is left is kinda neat when you notice it, but the characters didn't seem to get it.

You defeat Airy and then fights Ouroboros on a stage that looks like the battle with Chaos from Final Fantasy I and he begins destroying world after world (if you where a bit more social on the 3DS or Switch I have the feeling they would have named the worlds after that compared to "Someone World". Our heroes almost gives up, but then heroes from other worlds helps out (named after my AI buddies since I'm a very anti-social person). Our heroes stand up for a final battle and the background have my mii in the background (Ouroboros hints that a celestial is in Tiz and on the 3DS they used the camera to show the players face making it kinda obvious that the celestial realm is our own). You defeat Ouroboros, everyone returns to their own world (meaning Ringabel went back to the world prior to the starting world).

It's a fun game, but the endgame really drags. In both versions I maxed all jobs and levels. It doesn't make you overpowered, you still need to figure out how to break the game and I don't know if I did it on normal on the 3DS, but I got to the final subplot battles in chapter 8 and tried to go directly to Airy but got beat up so bad. That's when I needed a break with Minish Cap, but after that I just lowered the difficulty to easy and ran through the game as quickly I could. On the 3DS I spent over 100 hours and on this I was something like 90 hours and it's to much. The classic games take something like 20-30 hours and at the 40 hour mark you enter the pillar of light for the first time and would have been better if you maybe had done 2 passes, but no, 5.

What did they add then? Since it's a launch game for the Switch 2 they added things to show the systems functions. They added two minigames that is mouse based. One is a rhythm game and the other is a game where you pilot the airship. By playing you unlock entries in the journal about people you meet and you also get flower points which you can use to get equipments and items. Played mostly Love on the Battlefield-theme, and by looking at the whole Linked Horizon concert the sound was taken from I learned that Motoi Sakuraba was the man playing the synths, you know, the Golden Sun music guy. Best song ever! I spent a couple of hours playing the rhythm game with the song the singer sings. It's rather good so that wasn't a problem, but I thought I could get several ribbons so I grinded up to over 150 points and turned out I could only got 1 of them from the store. There is another in the game, but that was the moment my carefully thought out plan went away and I stuck with easy mode instead. Still, I got a silver sword as fast I got to the mini games and that was useful at the very next part of the game since it was great against undead that was all over the next area. 

So, buy it if you are interested. I got it as a game key card and I wonder if it will be the only one I got like this. As I said, haven't finished the direct sequel and haven't started Bravely Default 2 either even though I have it for Switch. Will take some time before I play it though. The new Donkey Kong game comes out next week (in 2025 when I write this) so I will play something short in between.