July 8 Azure Striker Gunvolt (3DS) N/A
July 12 3D Sonic The Hedgehog (3DS) N/A
July 14 Boxboy (3DS) N/A

Azure Striker Gunvolt I'm kind of mixed, I'm not really a Megaman person. I didn't mind it for the most part but those final boss fights annoyed me. Maybe it was me or how I played it but I thought it was a bit chaotic on screen, the Flashfield attack being the main cause. Issues: Already mentioned.

3D Sonic The Hedgehog It's funny, I tried playing the genesis version a year ago and I just wasn't feeling it but I didn't mind playing this. Having the spin dash does help. Issues: labyrinth, bonus stages, With some bosses if you die they won't give you any extra rings (meaning you have zero), and it has a lives system.

Boxboy I like it. The art is a bit basic but it's nice and very clean. I think it's a good game not too sure what else to say. Issues: I know that if you want hints you need to spend playcoins which I think is dumb because the 3DS handheld console not a freaking pedometer.

I have a lot of questions, but I'll keep it to a few!

What kind of game is it? What are its best and worst aspects? Why is it worth playing above other games on my 3DS and/or in my backlog?

Turn based JRPG

Best
Writing (Characters and Story) - This is all opinion: It's very charming and has a good amount of humor. Also it handles the serious moments well.
Gameplay - It does take a while for it to expand but even before that I never got bored when playing it.
Quality of life - There's a quicksave function, a x2 and x4 speedup for combat and an auto battle toggle which repeats the previous commands providing you have the SP.
I'm not the best person to judge OST, though it's regarded favorably by many.

Worst
-Issue for some not me: There's no voice acting.
-The last area has a difficulty spike to the point you want to avoid battles. The final boss is alright just getting there is the issue. The quicksave and soft reset help, there's a (stackable) skill you can buy which makes enemies less likely to notice you, and fleeing from battle is an option though it'll cost a party member some of their max HP (which will return to normal if you rest).

Note: There's no exp, no traditional levels, learning new attacks as well as health and SP growth is RNG based, with HP and SP being a potential reward from battle. For the sake of explaining mechanics.

Honestly I'm not too sure how to answer that, It's not like playing it is the difference between a fulfilling life and an unfulfilling life. I just really enjoyed playing it and hope you or someone else reading this takes me up on this recommendation and feels the same joy playing it as I did. I doubt I answered the question but that's the best I've got.

If you have any follow-up questions feel free. I can get into more detail of gameplay if you wish, since I kept it bare bones.

Edit: Apparently there's a demo. So if you want to try before you buy that's an option.

I'll recommend The Alliance Alive though it's digital only in PAL. If you have any questions about it I'll do what I can to answer.

Only one game but it was a good one.

June 18 The Alliance Alive (3DS) 29H 43M

I enjoyed it a lot, it made me smile a lot and it gave me so much joy. It has a good amount of customization with each weapon having different attacks and you can spend points on various skills also you unlock other gameplay related goodies later on. And this game has a lot of charm. Issues: May not be an issue on a New 3DS but I experienced a bit of frame rate issues in some battles and the overworld at times but it is a turn based JRPG so it's not like frame rate drops affects battle, The last area has a difficulty spike to the point it's ideal to make full use of quick save and soft reset.

What game would you like to get a remaster or remake?
If you could bring one gaming character or creature into the real world who/what would you choose?
Have you done a speedrun before? If so what game(s) did you run?
What is your favorite food to eat for dinner?

Ah, jeez, forgot to make the post this time. Thank you! I normally make the post when I upload the audio to YouTube, but I skipped that this time since most listeners seem to migrating to iTunes instead. I suppose I should post the question for all the regular listeners though: Does anyone prefer to listen on YouTube? Is it worth it to keep uploading them there or is everybody using iTunes to access it now?

Also, RE: save stating, I try not to save scum for the most part unless I'm really beating my head against a wall, but recently I've been using them far less frequently, often in situations where difficulty doesn't even come into play. For example, in my Circle of the Moon playthrough, I started putting a save state after cutscenes prior to boss fights so that if I died I wouldn't have to sit through them all over again. That sort of thing I feel absolutely no guilt about because there's no skill or pattern recognition there, it's just a test of the player's patience.

I think Oro makes a good point about how older games needed to be more difficult to disguise their length, and I'd add that many games in the early generations were also based off design philosophies from arcade games, which are practically designed to be unfair so they can eat your quarters. I used to think that modern games designed the same way were outdated, but I don't know if I feel that way anymore. It's just that form has kind of followed function in a sense. But I'm very sensitive about the boundary where games cross over from reasonable challenge to unnecessary impediment, and if I feel a game is not respecting my time by killing me over and over again, I won't hesitate to "cheat." If it's being unfair, I'll be equally unfair back.

*Raises hand as another Youtube listener*

May 12 The 3rd Birthday (PSP) 8H 54M Normal
May 28 Sonic Generations (3DS) N/A

The 3rd Birthday I might replay it sometime to see if ng+ gives me a better opinion but no weapon felt particularly good to me. Also late game it felt overdive kill beat high damage anti twisted weapons unless I stuffed up somewhere. Issues: Story is trash, camera can cause issues with some weapons since you want to get some distance and aim and Aya decides to turn the wrong way to aim, run faster Aya, and re rolling DNA chips so you actually level up a skill you want instead of at times leveling down both skills is a chore.

Sonic Generations I didn't enjoy the later levels much but I'm glad I had an alright time overall. Issues: I didn't find the racing boss battles enjoyable, for me modern Sonic running without boosting generally lead to "hey there's an enem-" *rings scattering noise*, and there's a lives system.

Apr 7 Deception 3 (PSX/PSP) 9H 44M
Apr 18 Ninja Five-0 (GBA/PSP) N/A Normal
Apr 23 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (DS/Emulation) N/A

Deception 3 Apparently the series is a niche but I'll happily be part of that niche. In terms of positives I don't know what to say really apart from that I like it. Issues: Hellknights are a stupidly tough enemy, and the camera could be better since it faces the direction you are which makes it difficult when you're trying to run from an enemy and spring a trap on them.

Ninja Five-0 I didn't enjoy the late game stages and I dislike that when you die you begin that stage again. I don't recall having any major issues about any of the bosses, not even the final boss. I enjoyed the early game so I might pick it up again at a later date for that if nothing else.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors Check out the Game of the Month thread, I figure there's no point repeating myself.

Ending wise I went Submarine, Knife, Axe, Safe (guide), Final (guide). I was thrilled with the safe ending because it gave me so much more character development and plot, since I was feeling a bit burned out after the previous three.
The game was engaging I'll give it that, quickest I beat a game with it's length in a long time. A few of my complaints are due to my personal taste not aligning with the genre('s) which apparently some issues are fixed in the collection. And I have a few unanswered questions and nitpicks that bother me. Back to positives, I enjoyed the last puzzle.

That looks like Rhapsody?

Indeed it is. Well done.

To commemorate my 1,000th post on this site:

The Dog Island. Also congrats with hitting 1,000 posts!

@NinjaRic & @FuzzyLapin

Mind if I ask which character was your favorite to play as?

Soma?

Violet Evergarden - I enjoyed it, well worth the wait. Now gotta wait for the OVA.
Asura Cryin - Only watched two episodes so far, and its giving a good first impression.
Black Rock Shooter OVA - I thought it was alright.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
For the next two years you could play five games and only those five games, what games would you choose?

Deception 3?

That's right.

Madagascar?

Yet another slow month.

Mar 8 Little Samson (NES/PSP) N/A (Easy)
Mar 19 Burnout Legends (PSP) (will add time later) Haven't touched crash mode but got the 75 gold medals from the normal mode, so define completed but it's good enough for me.

Burnout Legends I didn't mind it for the most part, it makes me want to play the PS2 era games since this was my first burnout game. But I did have a few problems which dampened my enjoyment of this game. A few issues I feel caused by being on the PSP though. One issue which was definitely on the games end that I'll mention are later pursuit missions are nonsense since you have a minute to get gold and it takes 20-30 seconds just to catch up.

Little Samson Tip: you can press start to change your character. I enjoyed this game, I think it's a fantastic NES game and a very good game in it's own right it, and I intend to play it again on normal some time. For the sake of mentioning it seems to have some branching paths so it has replay value not to mention it's one of these play on normal to fight the real final boss and get the true ending type of games. Issues: Some bosses can be a pain due to invincibility frames, and this game has a lives system but given the era it's to be expected.

Well done with the audio levels! *thumbs up*. Also I've been enjoying the interviews. Thanks as always.

Final Fantasy type 0. I winged it in japanese so I didn't know anything about the story or the characters but that ending hit me, between what was going on and the song (zero) it just got to me.

Enjoyed Ep 2, Thanks. Personally I'm fine with the length but I may be the minority. I personally skipped the intermission because I wanted to get back to the meat of things but that's just me and my taste. I didn't have any issues with this format though I think I preferred the "what have you been playing" then the Q&A. Also wondering if there's plans for a more video version with footage from the webcams or do you rather stick with audio only?