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.

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.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Wii U)

 

The smallest of Links.

Thought I had written about this game, but apparently not. Been playing Bravely Default for the Switch 2, but just don't feel like finishing the end game and everyone that have played it knows what it is. So I watched Game Grumps playing the Minish Cap so just felt that it would be a nice break. Originally for the GBA and made by Capcom that also did the Oracle-games. I got it for the GBA, the 3DS ambassador program and the Wii U that I played here. Seems like I hadn't finished it before since the only save on the console was from even before Link leaves Hyrule town with the princess. Probably was bored at the time.

Story is that Link is the grandson to the smith and it's the Picori Festival when Hyrule celebrates the picori, pretty much gnomes that are really small and lives in peoples houses or in the forest. At the price ceremony the winner Vaati goes haywire and turns Zelda to stone, breaks the picori blade and releases evil upon the world. Link gets the mission to find the picori since he is a child and they only show themselves to children. On his way through the Minish Woods he finds a talking hat that is being attacked. He helps it and it tells him that he is Ezlo, a minish sage that was turned into a hat by his apprentice Vaati that stole the minish cap from Ezlo and intended to rule the world. So Ezlo joins Link and this is the origin of Link's green hat.

You need to find the four elements and fix the broken picori blade. Ezlo helps you by being able to shrink yourself to minish height. It is a fun concept especially when they take normal enemies and turn them into bosses, because now they are massive. The picori blade then turns into the four-sword that was introduced in the side-quest for the Link to the Past remake for the GBA (where Vaati also was the end boss). So it's a lot of origins here.

I finished it before, but the memory was that it was hard to fight the end boss. And it is, but I guess 20 years of video games actually improved my thinking. I never 100 % it though and as I played it I began to see why. You have the kinstone fusions where you fuse kinstones with people that you get in chest, or get from grass or enemies and so on. Which is fun since you get chests or enemies or open paths and so on. But several of the fusions are random, and people can be really picky on if they want to due a fusion or not. I actually was able to get all those, but the last one was a pain. Apparently a deku scrub that had it. And then it was the figurines. You collect shells (which I assume is a nod back to Link's Awakening) that you can gamble to get figurines of characters or enemies. There is 136 total and I got to something like 100, and I got that by abusing the save state while playing the rupee game to max the winnings. Maybe I should have bought more shells than kinstones. Too late now. And you need to get all figurines if you want to get all heart pieces. God dammit.

Overall, a fun game and I like the concept of the minish and such (having watched Gnomes as a kid). End boss was hard though and took me a minute to remember how to beat Vaati and there is three phases of the boss. Don't like that, especially when I'm forced to fight off 3 darknuts under a time limit. And then I spent 2 hours to get enough rupees to buy the shells to gamble on the figurens. All to get the final heart piece and 3 chests with 200 rupees each... what am I supposed to spend it on, the game is over?

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition (PC) (GOG.com)

 

What do you know about voodoo?

Got this together with Legacy of Time and I had to take the bullet some time so why not now right when I was all in on Sierra Adventure games anyway? So I began playing. First of, the game felt a bit off. The character models in 3D is a bit wonky and Gabriel had this black shadow over his arm and Mosley looks a bit odd and so on. Nothing much really. I maybe prefer the pixel art over 3D so that can be part of it. And then the voices. Better be careful here. They are clearer this time around with better technology and such, but I prefer the original voice cast. You can't really beat Mark Hamill, Tim Curry, Michael Dorn and so on. The new cast isn't bad, but I just prefer the original. Some side characters like madam Lorelai and Markus sounds better in this version though.  Music is also in the same category. It sounds better for the most part, but I noticed in the dream sequence for every day doesn't reaches the same frantic chaos than the original. Don't know why, but it also diminishes my experience.

Now, to the game itself and the differences. Basically the same game for the most part. Investigate the voodoo murders for inspiration to your book and suddenly you uncover a shadowy voodoo cult that is after you and your family heritage as a shadow hunter. They made the game linear so that certain areas is locked out until certain days. Meaning I can't clear most of the points on day one, but have to wait. This also causes some troubles when they keep to the script. For example, Magentia Moonbeam you are recommended by Dr John in the original game and she mentions that the doctor called on your behalf, but in this game I picked her adress up by a flyer, but she still heard from Dr. John I was coming over. Now, maybe Dr. John figured out I was on my way, but still. 

They also added puzzles like a machine at Moonbeam that you have to solve in order to get the code and they changed the police station encounter so instead of getting the officers go out for a snack you sneak in by the windows, triggering a scene that was described in the novelization. A great scene, it was creepier in the book since here it seemed the zombified police found out about you while in the book they where just stationary until someone entered the station. Still, a great addition. Mostly the new puzzles stumped me the most, especially when they added them to already established puzzle, like needing to find another 20 dollars to get the animal mask or finding the key to the crypt drawer (mind you, after finding the puzzle it was rather easy). Not bad really, more to do, but it breaks the game logic when Mosley somehow figured out the skull puzzle and hid himself in the drawer. 

Now, I couldn't actually finish the game due to graphical glitches. First of, the Rada Drums was weird, but since I already knew what it says from earlier play I could brute force it, but there is a new puzzle in Rittersburg when you have to fix a shield and the graphics are so distorted that the panels changes every time I move them, and there doesn't seem to be anyway to get past it. I tried different graphical settings and compatibility versions, but no, same result what ever I do. Of course it's the damn library that screwed me over on the original game as well before ScummVM. So I can't continue. I even went so far that I charted out one version I could see on the web and tried my hand on that, didn't work since it seems that the shield is randomized... damn you game! I assume it might be the graphics card I have since it was mentioned that you should due some trickery with the ones you have... but it looks like I don't have one of the usual graphics cards so I'm stuck at the moment. So I replayed the original game instead, I also missed meeting the fortune teller the second day when she was possessed by the spirit so I was already on my way to a non-100% run. This is why I prefer consoles, do you have the hardware and software it's supposed to work. Hate computers. And of course I still wasn't able to 100% when I ended 3 points away from a full score and I have no idea what I missed (maybe showing Hartridge the voodoo murder photo is some of the points).

Doesn't look like this for me! And it's not really a hard puzzle if you can see! I even looked for a step-by-step guide to see if I could bypass it that way but the guide just mocked me for not being able to finish the puzzle! Could have told me it's randomized instead for wasting my time.

The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time (PC) (GOG.com)

 

Took a long time get past this scene.

Well, I seem to have been trapped into a computer game revival at the moment. I'm still playing through Quest for Glory V, but I got the itch to play Legacy of Time again, even though I had some problems getting it started last time. Well, this time I got it from GOG.com and... it didn't start. After some tinkering I got the game to start and show the intro scene and I got to when the actual game starts and... my cursor didn't show up. Back to the drawing board, did it again and now it didn't start again. I got my hands on some external things to fix the files, but that didn't work either (which also was a pain to get my hands of since the computer erased the files as soon as I got them). In the end I fixed it by lower the resolution and then I tinkered a bit again and didn't even have to do that. Still, cursor now leaves a trail over the screen and I can't see Arthur or the items I have selected at the screen, but the game works and I could complete it without problem. At least no disc swapping. 

Still a great game, if a bit easy now that I've played it so much that I know the puzzles by heart. I still learn a couple of things that I missed as a kid, the siddah for example was a reincarnation of the last siddah that couldn't reach Nirvana due to pride. I also tried to see how free I was about finding different disguises. The only one that forces you to get one I would assume is Shangra-La since you need the pilgrim. I also got the feeling that each artifact was closer to two of the six elements described in the game (earth, wind, water, fire, space and time) which I thought would mean water and earth Atlantis, fire and air El Dorado which left time and space for Shangra-La, but El Dorado pretty much used all four elements in protecting the artifact as well as a irrigation system that gives water to the top of the mountains. And the monks have their steam tunnels and such which is the only highly advanced thing they show I assume (beside the staircase or the ability of transmutation. 

Still, I hope they add the game to ScummVM some day since I would love for the graphical problems to be solved and I'm a bit spoiled by the ease of use for that program. Still, took me something like 5-6 hours and I recall that it took me a year to solve as a kid. I must have been a really stupid kid... or the fact I didn't know what they talked about might not have helped. Probably the scary steam tunnels that did the most, even though you probably get the map early and it shows where you are. Tried to play the game with information from the game and El Dorado and Shangra-La is rather straight forward, but Atlantis I had to make at least one leap. After getting into the temple with the gold medallion I got a bit stuck in thought, I thought there would have been a mentioned of the water effect and the need to visit the windmill, but no. I had to go there since it was one of the few locations I had (and that I need to get there to get into the tunnel in order to find the artifact).

Still, looks great (besides the glitches), might need a bit of clean up. Music is great. This might explain why I like the FMV games I've played, they are really focusing on atmosphere. Gabriel Knight 2, Phantasmagoria 1 and this really feels atmospheric, the first in their horror theme and this in mystery. The actors works great, but they are hindered a bit about the blue or green screen work. 

Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness - Enhanced Edition (PC) - Magus Awekens

 

Feed Me Seymore!

Well, went out with the fourth and furthest game I've played in the series. I got the Enhanced Edition for this as well. It added another hour of narration from John Rhys-Davies as the narrator and added in the 9th wraith from the Bargov Crypt that was dummied out of the game, probably due to time (said enemy only have 1 HP so is a bit of a pushover and you don't get anything so it doesn't add much). As usual for these play throughs it was trying to go only on information I knew, but solving the Squid stone I think the only information you get is from Davy after you been put under a geas to get the rituals meaning the final three days of the game. At least the game acknowledge different routes. For example the Leshy's riddles, being a magic user I could bypass the whole rhyming scheme and talk to Bonehead to learn that it is Baba Yaga, but the Leshy tries to shame me for not validating the fact.

Quod Erat Demonstrandum... I have no shame.

Still, a great game to play through with the voices and such. The add-libs or what ever from the three townspeople are a joy to listen too, and actually a bit more funny than the text as written. John Rhys-Davies is great as the narrator. Some blemishes like Magda that have two voices or when John Rhys-Davies have to step in for some reason like with Funny Bones in one scene. And that Igor's fate is spoiled by the voice over by the three locals in their introduction. But overall a great voice cast, I can still mimic parts of Boris speech pattern.

Now, last time I had a bit of problems with bugs and whatnot. In ScummVM I couldn't get past the Squid Stone on my way out of the Dark Ones Cave for the first time so I used DosBox to get it working. This time ScummVM actually runs really great. No problems with the Chernoevoy in Swamp or such things. I encountered another crash though when I left the Rusalka one time, but that seemed to have been a coincidence. There was another more fatal problem though, each time I entered a screen with a Wraith Mound the game crashed instantly. And that is a problem since I was running out on funds. Looking around for a solution on the internet I found out that you can get money from a lantern in Erana's Garden for free so I got that which forced me to avoid meeting the wraiths in the forest. Now, before the wizard seemed to be have been the most bugged out class of them all, but now it was to my advantage, since I tried it with fighter and couldn't get past the wraith either. And to get the final Ritual you have to find it in a Wraith mound, except for the Wizard who has to get Erana's staff and fight the fairies for it. Praise be the wizards. 

I tried playing the vanilla version instead of Enhanced Edition and it still crashes for me there, both with wizard, fighter and thief. But, the Floppy DOS-version works... don't no why since it's the same files, but it works. A pity the save files aren't shared between version so I can't play it with voices, change over to DOS-version to fight the Wraiths and then turn it back. Cause if I continue with the replaying as the other classes during this summer, I probably have play the DOS-version from the beginning. It might also be that the latest update of ScummVM broke something and will be fixed in the future (maybe I have to even make a complaint myself since I see no one else do it and it is listed as excellent on their compability chart). 

Well, did some digging and the fact is that the Floppy version wasn't the same files, it was something I got from another source, which made me think a bit. Was it the GOG files I've had on my computer, or was it files from somewhere else? Well it turned out to be from somewhere else. I got the GOG version installed and checked, that worked so I grabbed those files and put them in the map for ScummVM and after some back and forth I finally got it all to work, Enhanced Edition and normal version both. Sadly my Magus files where corrupted, but the save for V was saved I hoped.

Still a great game, but I hate the combat, which also makes a remark I saw someone make that 1 & 2 you max out your stats, 3 you do the best you can and 4 you just do whatever. I can really see it. Max Mana, Magic and Intelligence and the only spell that maxed out was flame dart. Ended the game also with 5 points missing. Have no clue what that could have been, or if I rushed the dreams of Erana or readings from Magda. Hopefully I can get 5 working so we finally can see something new. And what do you know, it doesn't work. Well I be... time to look for some launchers or patches that can get it working.

Quest for Glory III: Wages of War (PC) - Enhanced Edition - Magus Awakening

 

The Sacrifice for the Gaming Gods!

Continued directly with the next game. This time I played the Enhanced Edition (which means a fan made patch was applied to try to fix things that wasn't working and bringing back things that was left on the cutting floor). Now, I'm not that familiar with this game since I've only played through it once before so I can't really say what is different other than a scene with Uhura in the Simbani village after the failed Peace Conference and that the meerbat you can get the glowing eye from is gone for mages and thieves since they are supposed to get it from the statue in the Lost City. And you actually can train magic in your room in Tarna, but if you do your honor takes a real hit so be prepared to spend a lot of commons on the drummer in the market.

Overall the game felt better paced than last time I played and I can't say if it was due to me actually following the story or that the patch fixed the order a bit. I somehow was able to max out Strength and magic as the only major attributes. Magic I was able to get flame dart and force bolt to max. This time the game didn't majorly bug out on me, don't know if luck or that the patch and ScummVM have ironed them out, but leaving the giant tree I noticed I just walked across the screen. Same thing happened back at the Inn, and I actually got stuck in a loop where I tried to leave but Magus went back into the Inn. I was able to get out by going through the other door. 

Replaying it... I feel this is probably the weakest of the four I've played. Very much walking back and forth and the game feels a bit empty. I gathered 20 dino horns, but they where totally worthless for me. I could at least have sold them to someone? As I said last time, Tarna felt very small and it just shows again since it only took me one day too play through it. I can see that it was made in haste to cover a stopgap between Trails by Fire and Shadows of Darkness, that once again is teased at the end of the game. 

Quest for Glory 2: Trails By Fire (EGA) - The Grind of Magus

 

Dawn of yet another adventure!

Continued onward with the second game, also playing the EGA-version. Gotta say, the map for Shapier I had printed out looked awful so I had to write the names beside the printed names to know what the streets was called. And I have a terrible hand-writing. Anyway, I can safely say that when the first game is a matter of preference between VGA and EGA, the VGA-version of the second game is obviously better. I expected stuff I thought was part of the original game like the acrobat or finding the Poet in a plaza and returning his purse, but I guess it was only the VGA-version (I've later checked and no, they are in the game, the acrobat you need acrobatics and the poet in the plaza I just missed). And since it can allow you to use both parser and point-and-click the grinding for future wizards should go faster. It allows it to be more stuff to do and train your skills a bit easier. But I gotta assume it's easier to become a paladin in the EGA-version since I did become it without reaching max score and using the X-ray glasses while helping... hrm, maybe I should keep quiet about that.

Well, I maxed out magic and enhanced it with a wish up to 250 so I'm prepared for the next adventure. Dodge, Weapon skill, Intelligence and Agility was maxed out for 200 and I used the second wish to get Strength to around 195 so I can get the stamina and health high enough. Magic skills was harder. I probably began grinding them to late and should have bought more mana pills earlier, but I maxed Flame Dart, Force Bolt and Open. Fetch something around 179 and Detect Magic around 187. Most other spells around 100 (from the last game) and the new spell Reversal was around 63 while Levitate around 44. Had problems finding a place to cast the spells, but when I realized I could stand in the streets it went better. Wish I had thought of standing outside Aziza from the beginning instead of W.I.T. 

The parser makes the game immersive as the first game, but due to the need to "greet", "thank" and "Say goodbye" to grind on the communication and honor skills it was a bit irritating since I didn't always knew if I did it correctly. Much easier in the VGA-version since you have options. Also since they expected you to tell things I was a bit more lost and I didn't realize I could ask about rumors or news until a week in the game. It's obviously better than the original, but makes it harder for me. And sitting and typing out the wishes for the ring djinn was absolut hell since "wish transport" or "wish iblis" didn't work and I swear I wrote "wish for transport to iblis", but it didn't take the first time and it made it hard to understand what I was doing wrong. 

I won't say it was a bad idea playing the original version, it's still a great game, but I might go forward with only the VGA-remake from now on (unless I want a fighter-paladin on the first try compared to the VGA:s near-impossible list. It's also fun to look at the ending when they hype Quest for Glory III: Shadows of Darkness which is the fourth game in the series. Especially since that version getting added to ScummVM making it so easy just let the saves lie in the same place and no care in the world. 

Overall, if I'm gonna compare the first two games, the game has at least more instances of music, but the time limit is a bit annoying at times. Nothing obviously bad, but still. Still, the endgame feels more epic than storming the brigands fortress. Stopping the summoning of Iblis feels threatening and the much better music drives it home.

Quest for Glory 1: So You Want To Be A Hero? (EGA) (Computer) - Return of Magus

 

You again?

So, I finally got my hand on Quest for Glory V, but now I lost the save so what do I do? Well, it's been a couple of years... wow, 9 years? Really? So better start over and technically, my characters wasn't named Magus at the time, so let's fix that. How do I make it new? I play the original EGA-version, meaning I gotta type everything,,, how fun!

Same game so there's noting to comment there. I would say I think grinding with the magic user goes faster in this version sine type "cast #spell name" and then enter and bring up the spell again with space bar. Emptying the mana pool goes in seconds. So I actually maxed out all statistics beside strength that ended at 99... which I think also effected Health to stay at 99. 

So, the difference between EGA and VGA, besides the graphics and how you play the game. The EGA version forces you to interact with it on more levels. In the VGA all dialog is in a dialog tree which you have access to from start to finish, I can ask the Sheriff most of the things to get all points from dialog options. The EGA version on the other hand forced me to write down namnes and interesting things on paper beside me. I also kept a paper for writing what I got score for, enabling me to backtrack if I died without saving and writing a map (which I probably should do for all games anyway from Sierra). I also have all manuals in a binder together with other Sierra things like copy protection things so I might make the summer 2025 like a Sierra-summer.

I haven't played games like this since I played through Myst something like 20-25 years ago, pen and paper heightens it all. Could I have finished this as a kid? Probably not, I would probably have been afraid to enter the forest. It was kinda fun putting up a small TV-screen, connect it to the computer and keyboard and mouse. The mouse for this version is kinda pointless, the only thing I used it for was Mage's Maze (which I won on the first try... after restarting and reading the instructions on how it worked... it counts!). And another thing, the battles look better in the EGA-version, maybe doesn't play better, but getting the monsters and enemies front first in detail looks amazing. They are basically spam attack or flame dart until I decided to grind out certain spells like Zap and Dazzle. Also, music is very sparsely used, only having it at the intro, Erana's Peace, Kobold's Cave, Baba Yaga's place, the whole Brigands hideout and all battle scenes. Not much sound either, but checking on the VGA-version the instant you start there is a theme in the town and sounds from Otto's yo-yo. Music was more impactful  in EGA, especially when I accidentally pushed Ctrl-U and disabled all music and it took me a minute to get it back on.

Took me a weekend from Friday evening to Sunday evening. Helped that I knew what to do. I tried to play is straight, but I jumped finding the Baronet and went to overhear  the meeting between Brutus and Bruno since I didn't recall how to know about it until it just popped up that there was a supposed to be a note in the tavern, but as the magic user I don't really have a reason to be there than to drink ale or being robbed or killed. Nothing points me there and when I recalled it, it was to late. Probably the thing that missed me the last 8 points before hitting 500. Overall, games still fun and imaginative. Some things doesn't add up, like the Kobold fight. Apparently the optimal thing to do for the magic user is kill it with magic before it can do the same, but getting the key dismisses the kobold and you can get it as a magic user by using Fetch if your skill is high enough. Normally, using the non-killing solution usually give more points in Sierra's games, but not here funny enough. Instead MAGIC DUEL TO THE DEATH! OH YEAH! I forgot it was here. How fun.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES Classic Edition)

Always loved this sword.

So I'm waiting on Dragon Quest III: 2D-HD Remake to be released in November 2024 so I prefer playing shorter easier games and the NES is perfect for it so played through Zelda II again on the NES Classic Edition. So long I got a save state function I can fix it meaning the last versions I have on the Wii Virtual Console and Zelda Game & Watch I probably won't be able to finish. I can probably get to the great palace, but since extra lives don't stack I've have a hard time both getting there as well as getting through the palace with the jumping chozo warriors they seem to populate the palace with. And the damn Thunderbird ain't no pushover either.

Up until that point it's a great game, the only other faults of the game would be finding the hidden town and realizing the flute open the way to the hidden palace. Otherwise everything works rather well. Went and got the magic jar and the first heart container as well as the jump spell without the candle, being the only sequence break I could do. It's a very linear game really since there's hardly any point going different palaces since you need the things in them up until the next palace, and going in there to snatch items and go to a different palace feels rather redundant.

I still find the game fun to play, but get a guide with maps for palace 4-6 and the great palace. I finished the game below 6 hours and with only 007 continues. Fun number, but I find the time interesting since I feel like as a kid I could spend 5 hours before even entering the first palace.

Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharao (Switch)

 

First proper Tintin Adventure!

Saw the teaser for this game on a Nintendo Direct and just had to get it, you know how much I like Tintin. I preordered the Limited Edition and then just waited. Took forever for them to release it on the Switch, so much that the physical was delayed for me since it couldn't be shipped until a couple of days after it was supposed to arrive. And in the meantime I heard some not good news about it. Apparently a mobile game they spruced up and upon release on consoles before the Switch it didn't work properly all the time. So I had lowered expectation going in.

Putting it in the first thing I hear is the theme from the 90's animated series and I just have a big smile on my face. And then the game starts, and it's album accurate in that it begins on the cruise as Tintin chase after a papyrus that this Egyptologist lost. And they just threw you out there without explaining the controls for the Quick-Time Events. And they just went on and on. I was not happy. Bad impression. It gets better after you left the ship escaping the Duponts and all that. The tomb of Kih-Oskh was a real highlight with just great amount of puzzles. A bit many stealth sequences overall that can go on my nerves followed by chase scenes in the rest of the game. Story is that on a cruise toward Shanghai Tintin gets roped into looking for a lost tomb of the pharao Kih-Oskh which turns out to be the headquarters for an opium smuggling operation. Tintin follows the lead toward India and helps a Maharadja stop the smugglers from extorting his people. All the while Tintin is hunted by the Duponts since the smugglers have implicated him as an opium dealer.

Overall a mixed bag. I enjoy it since it Tintin, but if I didn't know anything about it, it would have made for a irritating game to play through, and I wonder if some of the things you were supposed to do only works by reading the comics first. At times though it feel better paced out story wise since I can see and get the hints of the different smugglers. Mostly since we have more time with them. Graphics wise, they look like what they should look like, but I can see that the game hardly can work at times, throwing in textures a bit to late, first scene with Snowy really didn't work. Also, Tintin looks rather worse than other characters, Rastapopoulos probably looks the best for some reason. The game also crashed on me once while playing and the last Snowy sequence was a nightmare in trying to find your way around a mountain getting the final stone to push. Maybe they will follow it up with Blue Lotus, but I can understand if there's no follow up on this series. 

Link's Awakening (Game & Watch: Legend of Zelda)

 

I hate nightmares that repeats!

Had some craving for some Zelda before Echoes of Wisdom is released 1-2 month from when I write this. And why not try out the Gameboy version which I haven't played before. And it make this post goes around rather fast since the story is the same and gameplay as  well, well maybe not for the Switch remake since they fixed a lot of the problems with the game from a modern standpoint.

I gotta say, it feels rather weird to go back to a version with lacks the color dungeon or even something in the area where you either get Dampés dungeon creation or the Photographer Mouse in the DX version. And once again I'm reminded that the photographer mouse actually enhanced the relationship with Link and Marin with the mountain climbing and watching from the plateau near the beach as he took pictures of them. 

At least I found all heart pieces, some are really well hidden I must say cause I have found them from time to time, but I can never remember them. At the same time the game also wants you to take it slow, especially when you have the BowWow or the flying rooster. The BowWow actually tells you about buried seashells and at the end I realized I missed a staircase beyond some holes you need to fly too. Which when I look it up I write all the time playing this game, a pity I never learn.

The final difference I noticed is that Marin flies around with wings at the The End screen which was a bit cute. Probably like the DX and onward ending screen better. Now, would I ever play it again? No, the 3DS screen or using my original DX copy on the Retron-5 is bigger and has the color additions makes the games better, and the Switch is the best way to play it when you can't stand the constant switching of items (plus extra health things). 

Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch)

 

Lily the Flower Knight

Another game I started and quit and then returned on. Played the first dungeon when I started it and then stopped for a time. Don't know why and I came back to it during midsummer 2024 and then finished it up during my vacation that same year. It's basically a Zelda game, get these things from these dungeons and get items to use to solve puzzles and such. 

Story is that grandpa is telling a story to his grandkids. One named Lily which is also the name of the protagonist. She's a new recruit of the Orchid Kingdom, but during the ceremony the king is put to sleep by a powerful spell from the king's evil brother, the Wizard Crocus. So you have to get out and find ingredients that are hidden in the three dungeons. After getting the three ingredients a small cutscene that is actually rather good. Crocus arrives and sends in his minions of orcs in order to kill the sleeping king. The guards try to stop them, but in the last minute Lily arrives and gives the ingredients to the helpers that awaken the king so that he can drive out the orcs. I think it works really well with the commentary from the children since it feels really important. 

After that Lily's sword gets upgraded and it's out to the Wastelands in order to fight Crocus in his fortress. After getting through the dungeon there is a final battle with Crocus which gets rather easy when you used the lightning spell or at least it felt easy with that. Lily returns to the castle, gets a ring and the story is over as the kids goes to bed. You can start the game again and finish up the last things you didn't do. Like finding all heart pieces or energy crystals. I guess the ring also works as an instant teleporter. 

It was alright, some of the puzzles like the singing stone went out a bit too much and the bosses feels a bit long like. Kinda fun when the children complain at times and change story, like the puzzle to get to a treasure chest or if there are a ninja or a pirate as a boss. There is a sequel, but I haven't gotten it as of writing. We'll see if I does. I got so many games to play through. Nice graphics, good music. 

Ocean's Heart (Switch)

 

Looks like the opening to Breath of the Wild

Midsummer 2024 have passed and right before I got this game on a sale. I saved it to my Wishlist thinking it was part of the Oceanhorn games, which wasn't the case. I mean, it had a blue clothed blond hero in a legend of Zelda template off a game with Ocean in the name? It wasn't, but it was a fine game. It start on an island where your character train to be a volounter navy soldier to protect the islands from pirates by her father. Pirates attack and kidnaps Hazel, an herb collector so your father follows so after a couple of months you set out yourself to find your father and Hazel.

So you travel the islands looking for pirates uncovering the story that Blackbeard the pirate is looking for the Ocean's Heart, a magical artefact belonging to Sea King who was destroyed using it since it could cause the destruction of the world. You follow clues until you find Hazel that helps you find the Sea King's Sword that can dispel curses and so on. Then you follow Blackbeard to the ancient palace where you defeat the guardian, get the heart, but Blackbeard steals it and you kill him, destroy the heart and reunites with your dad and Hazel back home.

Simple story, most gameplay is finding items and upgrades that allows you to explore more. Game looks a lot like A Link the Past. With more pirates. Only took a weekend to play through. Not that hard, but some parts of the game design irks me the wrong way. Mostly is that a lot of the dungeons forced me to go back and forth since a key opened an area here, but only brought me to another key that opened a door on the other side of the map. Take Zelda games, I feel the dungeons tend to flow so they brought you back to where you needed the item you get to continue forward. Also, the game gets some real slowdowns at times and when it goes away the main character speed up dramatically (or so it feels). 

Overall, nice enough game.

Dragon Quest Treasure (Switch)

 

We're gonna have a land of our own, Plutonia!

While writing this it's Monday after the news broke that Akira Toriyama had passed away so I obviously went into some kind of Dragon Quest mode. I thought of replaying XI again, but in 2D the whole way, but I didn't feel for putting in another 100 hours. I got Dragon Quest Monster for the Switch, but then I recalled I had Dragon Quest Treasure which I started when I got it back in 2022, but dropped off after something like 17 hours into the game. So 5 hours later I was finished with the main quest and could call it quits.

Story is a prequel to XI where Erik (the thief from XI) and his sister Mia as kids rescues some strange animals the pirate vikings captured, a flying pig and a flying cat. They show them an island where two daggers exist, the siblings take one dagger each and with it they can understand the creatures that wants the siblings help in order to find the 7 stones so that they can be un-cursed by the gods and return to heaven.

So you begin by finding an abandoned train station that you fix and with the train it take you to the railway headquarters in the middle between the floating islands. You name your island and I chose Plutonia like the song from Albert Bouchards album Imaginos II. Then it's off finding treasures, fight monster, recruit monsters, restore more train stations and find more islands to travel to in search of the seven treasures of the old dragons. There's gangs of treasure hunters fighting you at every turn, big monsters, deep dungeons and an evil pirate captain that stand in your ways. And the treasure you find is all connected to the history of Dragon Quest, either items from the games, characters from the game or things like playing cards from our world. 

It was a fun game really, more hack'n'slash than an rpg, but it works. Still, after getting 4 of the main treasures I just tuned out. The grind got to me. Going place to place wouldn't be so bad if you didn't constantly got a warning after a set amount of time about another rival gang that you either have to fight off or get back to the base so that you can dump your treasures into the vault. But that still isn't enough since then your base can be attacked so you have to fight off the invaders. I just want to explore the islands and take my time! So I probably got a bit burned out. So two years later I just went straight for the final quests to get the 3 remaining treasures and then fought off the pirate captain and watched the credits and then started up the post game and just saved before calling it quits.

It was kinda sad seeing the credits since not only had Toriyama passed away, but this was apparently the last game that the composer Koichi Sugiyama worked on as well. No in memory off in the credits if I didn't miss it. Maybe that is saved for Dragon Quest XII or the remake of Dragon Quest III. A fun distraction and only took me 22 hours as a whole to finish, not 100 %, but I can't be bothered with that. Other games to play.

Finding Paradise (Switch)

Flying high again!

So finally played the sequel to the game "To the Moon". I got more emotional responses out of this one, maybe due to the story resonating more with me than the first game. Same set up as the last one, Eve and Neil is on another mission for the Sigmund Foundation to fulfil a contract. This time it's a Colin Reeds, an aviator that seemed to live happily with wife and kid that you gotta improve his life right before death.

You enter his mind, but instead of linear backtracking you spiral from the most recent memories to the oldest and continuing to the middle of them. You see how his wife kinda is against the idea, but he still insist on getting this service and as you get the oldest memories you see the girl Faye he seems to be friends with. Or rather his only friend. They go to school, they practice instruments in the forrest and she pushes him to go and get flying lessons so he can become a pilot. Meanwhile, after a certain point she disappears. So it seems to open up for that she died or something, but the twist is actually that she is just a part of his imagination that disappeared some time after he meet his wife.

Now, Faye seems to take control of the simulation as she tries to get rid of the scientist in order to preserve herself as well as Colins memories. So after a large episode of fighting Faye in different events Neil, once again, actually comes up with the solution in letting Faye take control and just add a meeting with them again at the end of his life, everything else equal. 

Outside of this you get more about Neil's strange behaviour. It still flashes red at times, but it's explained he takes some pills for some strange reason. He also have tinkered with the mind reading machine and is actually causing some of the problems. He is also discovered by another technician and her and her companion joins him in the end as he work on some secret project that hints that he saved Faye inside the machine and is gonna use her for some reason.

Overall, the story is great. But there is bugs that irritates me to no end. I've had to restart at several times just to get out of soft-locked things and I even had to go into handheld mode in order to get out of certain areas for some reason. It got irritating, lucky the autosave and such allowed me to continue without losing any progress. Almost 5 hours of gameplay so perfect for a lazy Sunday. Apparently I learnt that there is two side stories to this, one is referenced here and the other something like a sequel. Both games isn't on console (and the referenced one came out back in 2024 so it might never be, especially how they say that some stories aren't mean to be told). 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)

 

Da-Dadada-Da-Dada!

The latest Zelda-adventures 6 years after Breath of the Wild and long hyped game. A massive game with hundreds of hours to get into the game, I finished it after 180 hours and I still had things to do afterwards. The game begins with Link and Zelda exploring under Hyrule Castle finding murals depicting the founding of the kingdom and the war against the Demon King 10 000 years ago. In the depths they find a skeleton being held back by a hand as it seemed to sap the life out of the skeleton, but as they approaches the hand falls off and the skeleton begins moving talking to our heroes. Turns out it is Ganondorf, the Demon King that was sealed 10 000 years ago by Rauru, the first king of Hyrule and one of the Zonai. He causes the Upheaval where islands in the skies begins falling upon the land, Hyrule Castle is lifted up into the sky and all weapons are degraded by something called the Gloom and the Master Sword shatters and Links arm is corrupted. As Zelda falls off a cliff he leaps after her but before reaching her she disappears and Link is saved by the arm that grabs on to him and seemingly teleports him away. And here I think there is a time skip for an unknown amount of days... maybe months? As Link awakes yet again in a chamber, but now with longer hair and his arm replaced with the one that saved him. Belonging to Rauru it begins teaching Link how to traverse the lands with new abilities. Gone are Bomb, Glacias and Magnesis, instead we get Ultra Hand that works like Magnesis, but you can attach things together, then there is Ascend that allows you to swim through roofs (or ceilings) which is instead for Ravali's Gail. There's Recall witch allows you to turn back time for certain objects and Fuse that allows you to add things to weapons and shields to counter the Gloom-effects on weapons. And then things that unlock later like Camera and Quick Build. You get through four shrines across the the islands in the sky and then jumps back to Hyrule.

More tutorials follows, several people have began building up Hyrule town as a base of observations and monster controls lead by Purah that sets you on the quest to look into wether phenomenas near Rito, Gorons, Zora and the Gerudo. Before leaving you meet Josha and Robbie (Josha being a new Sheika scientist, and the new child genius since Purah have aged herself up to look something like a 20 year old). They began looking into the chasm that have appeared and leads into the dephts, a dark underworld where you gotta find lightroots to bring light to the underworld (and each lightroot corresponds to one of the shrines on the overworld so finding one can help you find the one in the other map. At least the quest tells you there is ruins and abandond mines below, mostly allowing you to mine zonite, a new material that powers your batteries mostly. Of course the gloom effect is the limiting factor since if you get hurt by monsters with gloom they not only give your damage, they also blocks the hearts so you can't regain health until you get into sunlight (either from leaving, standing under a lightroot or eating meals that undoes the damage, preferable sundilions). 

The game is actually pushing you to do the four phenomenas first, then Hyrule Castle where you follow an illusion of Zelda that makes yo fight Phantom Ganons together with the sages you rescued. Here they reveal that Ganondorf hides beneath the Castle in the depths, but you are encouraged to find the fifth sage and the Master Sword that disappeared after clearing the tutorial area. The search for the fifth sage should lead you to Kakiriko village where you have ring ruins that tells you to go to the Faron Woods where you help some researchers and unlock an island cluster above that was hidden in a storm cloud that shows you a mask that takes you to the depths and a factory that puts together a robot vehicle with the conscious of the sage of Spirit, Mineru that was the sister of Rauru. After that travel across the world to find the dragons tears that lies in glyphs that looks like the Nascau lines in South America. The tears tells the story from Zelda's view as she apparently travelled back 10 000 years to meet Rarau and Sonia, the first king and queen of Hyrule. Apparently she awoke as the sage of time and she watched Ganondorf appearing and getting a secret stone that turned him into the Demon King and the final battle between him and the six sages and Rarau which ends with Rarau sacrificing himself to block Ganondorf for 10 000 years until the start of the game when Zelda and Link found them. And Zelda took her secret stone and the part of the Master Sword, that was sent back in time too Zelda as well, and turned herself into a dragon with the Master Sword on her forehead and dropped the tears across the lands. So now you gotta fly up to the sky, land on the light dragon and pull the Master Sword from the Dragons forehead. Amazing! Now, eating the tear and becoming a dragon I believe is actually a Chinese folk tale about a rice farmer that finds a pearl one day and to keep it from the tax collector eats it and that turns him into a dragon since it apparently was a dragon pearl. Neat how small factoids from my childhood comes back like this.

Now, did I do that in intended order? No, I first traveled the land to get the lookout-towers so I had the map, then taking so many shrines as possible to max stamina as fast as possible and then I just happened to get through the storm cloud to get to the mask, but was blocked since you needed more hearts, but that was quickly solved and then I got to the Spirit temple with the construct, but got beaten up by the boss so I began doing the tears collecting and it just happened to lead to the Master Sword. Then I started the weather phenomena. The first being the Rito wear a snow storm have taken hold so you gotta find a flying ship by jumping on other flying ships together with the Rito child to the Rito that helped you with the divine beast in the last game. On the ship you then had to fight a flying monster by diving through his weak points. Great first boss, and you don't need any weapons at all. Then I went to Gerudo where a sandstorm have taken the whole desert and Gibdos walked around. Got help from the chieftain and found a temple where we fought the Queen Gibdo by firing arrows at heras Riju summoned lightning. Then to Death Mountain and the Gorons that have been brainwashed by some rock food. You save Yunobo from the last game and uses his help to fight a monster in the volcano and then jump into the depths where you find the Gorons ancient city and has to fight a Gohma encased in rock. Then over to the Zora where the water is contaminated by sludge so you and Sidon finds a water temple in the sky and fights the most irritating bosses of them all that jumps around in mud. Hate him. After that lighting up the depths and after that trying to find the sage's will so I could level up the sages and mostly finishing side quest like finding every cave and the wells and the clothes. With something like 5 caves and 8 wells left I just went for the end. 

First jumping into the chasm beneath the castle and finding the cravece that lead to the area where you began, and then jumps to a tree where you fight of legions of monster together with the sages and then the battle against Ganondorf in two phases that ends with Ganondorf eating his secret stone and turning himself to a dark dragon and grabs you in his mouth. Zelda the light dragons appears and attacks him so he drops you and then you have to jump and land on the dragon to destroy all weak points and in the end push the master sword through his secret stone on his forehead (that seems to become a Zelda tradition). Zelda is turned back into... human? Hylian form? And as they fall down to Hyrule Link grabs her (which is a call back to the beginning where he missed her) and both lands in a lake. All sages gather, swear loyalty to Zelda and Mineru finally leaves. The End! Probably the most epic end for any Zelda game.

Amazing game, I spent closer to 200 hours and I still haven't done everything, but I begin to feel fatigue. I also might be getting the guide before finishing up since it's a bit hard finding the last caves and such and even if I could use the internet is a bit spotty at the moment. For example the easiest way to find caves is to find Koltin (Kilton's brother that wants the bubbelgem that you get from the shining monsters in every cave) and he tells you where there is a cave within specific areas where you find him. Now, I don't think all places where he is have been found yet since it's rather impossible to google up a list on them. And it can be irritating finding them. Same as the wells. Think I found every major settlement and some of the ruins so there gotta be some weird lonely well in the wild... doesn't help that the only help I get is "use the sensor", a pity it doesn't work across the country. A couple of amazing moments like getting the Master Sword, fighting the first boss and Ganondorf (all three phases). The depths are interesting and in the beginning the claustrophobic darkness makes it the place to explore and most akin to Breath of the Wild feeling of finding a tower for the first time. That is the problem with reusing the same map, but since they added caves and such there is things to discover at familiar places. And the new monsters are a breath of fresh air, like likes and Gleeoks are back, new monsters like horrorblin and Gloom Hands... especially the Gloom Hands. First encounter was in a cave where I just found a lot of illuminous stones and suddenly I see this patch of gloom coming toward me and several hands appear. First instinct is taking a photo, but they don't register and then it was just run and lucky enough I spotted a shrine so I got there and did that, saving me from the hands. 

Overall, would I play this over Breath of the Wild?  I don't know. In the beginning I thought all the stuff would make me not being able to handle it another time, but at the end after everything why not? Still hate we only have one save file (I know about different accounts, but I want just one since it track my time). A bit hard in the beginning getting used to the loss of elemental arrows since you now have to use add ons, and you have to do it for every arrows. The same with losing elemental weapons, but the fusing gets rid of that. Graphics looks the same like last time and it works and music is good, enjoyed the creepy music in the beginning, the boss music at the Wind temple and the final approach at the end game was really good and then the Gleeok battle theme. Best new songs I've heard in the game. Got some bonuses for carrying over the save file so all my horses followed and several people recognised me and hey my house in Hateno is still there... wait, where is my weapons stand? Wait, why is everyone talking about Zelda's house? She stole my house? Is nothing sacred?

To the Moon (Switch)

Fly me to the Moon!

Another game picked up on the Switch, To the Moon was a indie title that was released back in 2011 and what I've heard before playing one of those games with strong narrative that makes you feel things. Making you more human as is. And I enjoyed it for what it was, especially that it only took something like 4 hours and finished in an afternoon. Fills out the blog as well as diminish the back log.

So the story is that two doctors, Eva and Neil, from the Sigmund Foundation is going to help Johnny Whys with his final wish as he lies dying in his home. They use some sci-fi technology that allows them to enter his memories and trying to travel back in his memories to the earliest possible moment in order to implant the desire to make the wish a reality, at least in his dreams as he is dying. And that wish is to go to the moon.

Problem is, Johnny don't know why he wants to go to the moon, just that he wants to. His wife died two years prior and he lives like a recluse together with his housekeeper and her two children. So while Johnny lies dying you enters his memories and, like in the Christopher Nolan movie Memento, goes backward bit by bit. You see his final moments with his wife and her obsession with origami bunnies, how she has a terminal disease, but she wants them to put their savings in building their house near this lighthouse and restore it. Their friendships, Johnny reading Animorphs and his mother calling him Joey, how she was diagnosed with some kind of autism, when they got married, how they met and dated, until the earliest memories that seems to be blocked out.

Not being able to do that the doctors go ahead and instil a desire to go to the moon... but nothing changes. Whatever they do, the outcome in his dreams is still the same. They abort for the night and the next morning HQ have delved up medical reports that Johnny been given Beta Blockers that have affected his memory, and knowing this they devise a plan to bypass that and delve deeper into Johnny's memories. And what they find is that Johnny had a twin brother named Joey that his mother run over by accident. Which explains the beta blockers. And before that his first meeting with his future wife at a carnival where he gave her a platypus doll he won and she carried with her all through her life and where they promised each other that if they ever got lost, they will meet each other on the moon. And he doesn't remember it.

Now, the doctors piece this together and you get a clash of ideas. Eva decides that to fulfill their contract with their client they have to send him to the moon, regardless the consequences and Neil realises that it can only mean to erase River, the wife, from Johnny's memories so that he will join Nasa and therefore go to the moon. Here is actually an interesting character development I feel between Eva and Neil. The impression I got was that Neil was the immature goofball that didn't care really whatever happened, but here he felt that it was too far to get rid of River so you ended up with Neil at the end (or it could be that I choose Eva in the beginning and their roles reverse if you go at it the other way, but I got other games to play even if it only is 4 hours). Neil can't stop Eva and she brings back Joey in his memories and moves River out of their school. And it leads to Nasa... and River ending up as another astronaut candidate and from their they travel to the moon and then their life still ends up like in the real world, but better... and then Johnny dies.

I saw it coming, but there was something missing. People described it as emotional feels and I got a feeling when I pieced it together (beside thinking that the bunnies was a reference to the lunar bunnies in japanese folklore I heard was a part of the inspiration for lunar bunnies in Final Fantasy IV), but it didn't push me over the edge. I wanna cry damn it. It could be personal stuff that makes me more angry than sad. There is a sequel rather recently released I gather, will probably pick that up one day. There was one thing that triggered me. During the morning Neil acted weird by first telling the housekeeper he had to take a leak and as he bumped into Eva needed to feed his digital pet... why give to different lies and act all suspicious? Doesn't help that in the ending you see Neil in the "real world" get the same red flashes that indicated Johnny was a bout to die, he takes something and he continues and that's the end.

Worth it for a playthrough, great graphics and music. Maybe wished for a fast run button since it took some time walking around that felt a bit unnecessary, but maybe it builds atmosphere?

Metroid Prime (Wii)

Deja Vu

I've just been to this place before

Higher on the street and I know it's my time to go

Well, I couldn't stop playing Metroid Prime so after getting a serious beating from Meta-Ridley in hard mode I went back to my Wii version that I hadn't finished before and played through it from start to finish. Kinda easy when you learned every trick there is after three playthroughs before it. A bit harder to get used to the control though. And I don't know about it. Some say it's the best way to play, but too often for my liking I felt the controls not doing what I wanted to do. The camera controls especially. And then we haven't talked about the range of the sensors. I had to move the sensor bar in order to get a comfortable playing seating and I still wound up putting my legs in way of the sensors moving around. 

Still, I got it around 8 hours and that included scanning everything to get the 100 % logs. So practice makes perfect. Forgot to mention the logs last time as well. Quite groundbreaking for the series cause it gave the series some much needed world building. You have the pirate logs from the space pirates that tells heir scientific studies on the planet and their weapon development to try to take over the galaxy as well as stop Samus Aran aka the Hunter. Those are the most interesting when they begin to panic about Samus appearing on the planet and hunting them. Then is the chozo that tells of their settling of Tallon IV and the disaster with the meteor strike that poisoned the planet and let Metroid Prime almost loose on them. There is also small bits here and there that isn't saved for easy reading, but it works, as well as leaving hints here and there.

A difference with other versions is also the fact that you get credits for different things, like beating a boss or finding an artefact. You then use them buying concept art, music or special things, like the Fusion suit. Won't use it since I feel the remastered edges out with it's ease of pick up and play as well as saving in on using AA-batteries. That and I already got all credits for that game. Funny how they use different triggers for getting the soundtracks and galleries. Sadly, can't get everything since they obviously had to incorporate a system of friend vouchers to get some of them, and since you can't log onto the internet from the wii system when they closed that down it's locked away for ever, unless they put them in the rereleases. 

I went back and finished off the final stretch of the Switch remaster on hard mode. Meta-Ridley being the worst one where patience is more important as well as a trained trigger finger. I hope they don't put the last things behind finishing the hard mode on the rerelease of Prime 2 that surely be coming. I couldn't beat normal on the Gamecube, so will be interesting how far I can get on the Wii version. 

Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)

 

A fresh coat of paint.

Had to continue the GameCube remasters for the Switch and had to get the physical version of Metroid Prime (so waited like 2 weeks compared to everyone else) and finished it off in a weekend. The remastered version of Metroid Prime as we await news for the fourth game in the series that have had no news since they showed the original screen with the number 4. Metroid Prime starts with Samus Aran investigating a distress signal around the planet Tallon IV where she finds a derelict space pirate ship and traveling through it learns about how the space pirates investigates the nearby planet and as the ship is beginning to explode she discovers Meta-Ridley traveling towards the planet so she has to follow.

While landing she gets signal from some chozo ruins that tells the history of how the chozo settled on Tallon IV and meet there end as a meteor struck unleashing the poison phazon that mutated the wildlife. Now the space pirates look for a way to unlock the impact crater the chozo locked away with 12 artefacts that lies scattered across the planet (or at least the areas you visit in this game). Travel across the planet getting items to enhance your armour and be able to travel to even more places and find the 12 artefacts and destroy the titular Metroid Prime at the centre of the impact crater. Game is hardest in the beginning when you have no weapons or reserves, but after the first missiles and energy tanks the game is rather easy (if you continue finding the upgrades in decent intervals) until Omega Pirate where the last bosses will be a bit troublesome (that of course until I met him in Hard Mode and learned that Power Bombs are the way to easily trigger the vulnerability phase). Meta-Ridley being the worst after that, the third phase when he goes on a rampage is more about avoiding damage until you can hit him. Metroid Primes first phase become easy when I began using the special beam weapons to deal max damage. 

I got the original back in the days for the GameCube (still got it as well as the Wii version) after getting into Metroid with Fusion as it was released before Prime in Europe. Watched a lot of the previews and got really into it, which makes it even sadder that this yet once again a game I took several years to finish, especially when I finished it in 15 hours this week as the first playthrough, and played through a second time during the same weekend (ended just below 8 hours) and the third run on Hard Mode ended around 8-9 hours. It could be due to the new controls which works fantastic, although some parts like morph ball jump is x while normal jump is b (doesn't help that I learned the ball jump at the end of my first playthrough while trying to get every item and looking at a video) and changing weapon needs to get used to (it was mapped to the c-stick in the original so a bit easier to change in the middle of battle). 

Overall, the game is great and the remaster is definitely worth it and shows what Tales of Symphonia should at least have been. There is something for the atmosphere to walk around on the planet alone, reading the lore of the chozo or the logs of the space pirates, especially when they begin panicking about Samus being on their tail. Taking your time and trying to get around on your own in the first playthrough is amazing. I would recommend though to have a spreadsheet that you can input every item and lore piece so that you can keep track on what you have got if you wanna look up what you missed. I missed two items (I think I know where one is, but the other is a complete mystery and I still checked every area again). I recommend the one I found here.

Hope we get the other two as well, especially since I never finished them, 2 especially since it was really atmospheric but the last boss is tough as nail. One minor nitpick is that they didn't add the fusion suit... or it's still there, you can't just get it. It was in the original and the Wii version, why not keep it? Some speculate it will be added later, maybe with the release of Metroid Fusion for the NSO. There is also a casual mode which I don't remember from the original (and looking at my original save, it was not mentioned there), great for a newcomer. They got rid of a couple of beehives that made it easier to get around and you take less damage and enemies dies easier. Got through Hard Mode as the last mode and got all extras. Just from the beginning I can say I had a lot easier time to fight the Hive Totem on the remastered version than the original in Hard mode. One thing in comparison with the 2D game I missed is the map function to mark where there is power-ups for a more easy time in backtracking.