SP is always your bottleneck since you have healing spells from the beginning (Morgana comes with Dia).

Which is why it gets easier later on to complete palaces in one go, some confidants will get you access to SP regen accessories and ways to create SP recovery items.

Wanted to do it all in one day, but don’t think it was possible.

It’s possible for certain palaces, but others have story-related moments where you’re forced to go back to the real world and come back again in another day.

I did all the palaces in P5R in the minimum amount of days (in other words, only went back midway if the story forced me), but it was more of a personal challenge since I was already familiar with the game due to me beating “vanilla” P5 in the past.

It’s honestly a major pain in the first couple palaces since you don’t have good options for refilling SP, and probably not worth it unless you want to challenge yourself, but became fairly easy to do on later ones.

Also worth mentioning that even if you’re aiming to max confidants taking an extra day in early palaces won’t really change much, the biggest time “optimizations” come from things in the real world.

@[email protected] I definitely recommend reading the first spoiler above. Missing that makes you lose a huge chunk of content, it’s bad enough that I always say “spoilers be damned” and tell that to any friend of mine that plays P5R.

You cannot complete all confidants

It’s definitely possible, I did it my first run through Royal with some time left over. But I agree that this game is better enjoyed if you don’t stress trying to get all confidants maxed.

The easiest option if you want to play MTG without the need to keep updating is to buy some Commander Preconstructed decks (ideally from the same set) and keep them unmodified.

These decks meant to be played against each other and usually well balanced. Just find a collection with aesthetics that appeal to you, get 3-4 and have fun. There’s the option of “in-universe” sets with classic MTG aethetics like Tarkir, Lorwyn or Bloomburrow, or “crossover” sets with popular IPs - they just released TMNT, and there’ll be Marvel and Startrek later this year.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that Commander by far the most popular way to play MTG - but also the most complex one.

It’s free-for-all multiplayer mode with politics, singleton 100-card decks and crazy interactions. If you have an MTG-playing friend they should be able to help you get started, but otherwise I’d suggest playing the free Magic Arena game which has some good tutorials, or look for Youtube videos - there’s a ton of content to help people get started.

Very little gaming time since since I’ve been busy with a Magic the Gathering project - building on a box of Premodern decks, a “nostalgia” format with only cards printed between 1995 and 2003.

I don’t have the time or interest to keep up with the crazy speed of MTG releases nowadays, so this type of format that doesn’t require updates suits me better. The idea is to have a bunch of decks ready and use it as a board game of sorts, just pick up a couple decks and play any time we feel like it.

Will still be working on this for a few more weeks, but now that I got the lists defined and I finished organizing which cards I own and which cards I need to buy/trade I should have more time for gaming again.

Playing Witch on the Holy Night!

Progressing through Chapter 8.

Playing Astalon: Tears of the Earth!

Current side-game. An old-school metroidvania with 3 different characters (the classic “warrior, mage, archer” trio), each with different strenghts, weaknesses, and traversal abilities. The map design is great with interesting puzzles, the challenge is “just right” so far and bosses are fun. I think the balance between characters is not great (mage seems way better than the other two), but that’s not a major issue.

However… the checkpoint system really sucks. Health recovery is very limited and anytime you die you go back to the entrance of the castle. Sure, there’s some fast travel spots and you unlock a ton of shortcuts so getting back to where you were before will be much faster than before, but these runbacks get tedious very quickly. I’d also like to add that the key required to use the fast travel is a missable item, which is just mean in a game with this design.

That’s a massive improvement in some games for those who play handheld. Probably should’ve been there from the start, but it’s good that Nintendo finally implemented it.

So, this is now in top five of the series?

I’d say it’s a contender for the #5 spot, but I’ll need to think about it a bit more. There’s a lot of competition for that slot. 🙂

Super Robot Wars Y is also done? No more DLCs?

Nothing announced but datamining from the PC version indicates we might get more DLCs later this year.

Finished Trails Beyond the Horizon!

That was one hell of an ending.

So good that it makes me move this game to the top tier of this series - but it also brings a big question of “will Falcom be able to put a worthy follow-up to this ending?”.

This game also adds a ton to the worldbuilding of the series, and I’m impressed that they managed to create a twist that not only solves some of my long-standing complaints but even turns them into clever foreshadowing.

Worldbuilding discussion

Two things that always bothered me in these games were the absurdly fast pace of technological advance, and the near-prophetic abilities some people have (like the plans of the Ouroboros Grandmaster). The time-travel and time-loop reveals fully explain this - we have both very advanced technology coming from the future, and people with memories from previous loops (Novartis is certainly one, won’t be surprised if Epstein and the Grandmaster are the same) that explains their ability to predict future events.

I’m now desperately wanting the next game on the series. There’s so, so many possibilities and questions going through my mind right now.

Ending and next game discussion

So, if I’m reading this correctly and the implication of the ending is that Agnès disappeared from the timeline due to her intervention with the Grand Reset. But doesn’t this completely change the timeline for the Daybreak games? Agnès bringing Van the quest to retrieve the Geneses was the start of the first two games, so what happens in a timeline where she isn’t present? Do the Geneses still exist? Does Van still somehow get all those people joining the Arkride Solutions Office?

Finally, I’m very happy we’re getting more of Risette’s backstory. She’s been one of my favorites since the first Daybreak game, so seeing her role grow in importance is fantastic.

Finished DLC 2 for Super Robot Wars Y!

Definitely not as good as the first DLC. It lacks the strong storyline combining the new series that made the previous batch shine, and doesn’t bring enough to the table to make up for that. At least while the new units are interesting individually.

One big highlight were the Koutetsu Jeeg animations, easily the best among new DLC units.

Playing Witch on the Holy Night!

With the two above done we go back to our regular programming.

From what I gather, this is Ys: Memories of Celceta. Originally released before Ys VIII, but the story follows right after Ys X. This version was released in Japan last year, now coming to the west.

It’s a remake of Ys IV, and this particular version was originally released for the PS Vita.

The Ys games are mostly self-contained, each telling one of the adventures of Adol Christin, based on a list of diaries/books he left behind.

There is a timeline but it doesn’t follow the game release order - X is a good example since it’s one of the earliest games in the chronology, taking place right after I and II.

I’m still thinking the finale chapter is the best Trails chapter to date, wire-to-wire. It was so good.

Finished this game yesterday and I agree, that was one hell of an ending. Really looking forward to the next game (whenever it comes).

Going to post a more complete review at the Nintendo community’s weekly discussion thread this friday.