Discussion What are you currently playing? (Week 22 of 2025)

[Cacher]

New week, new thread! What are you playing?

I dug out my physical copy of Yumina the Ethereal and installed it on Steam Deck. It's made by the same guy behind Aselia the Eternal.


Played it years ago. It was really fun but the game crashed in dungeon on Win 10. Back then I searched for a solution but no dice. Abandoned it shortly afterwards. Now I realize that it probably needs DXVK to run on modern windows. Anyway, now I am running it through Lutris on the deck. Haven't gotten to the dungeons yet, hopefully it will be alright.

 

[Parsnip]

Been playing more Atelier Ryza 2. Hard to say exactly how far I'm in, I think I'm in the 3rd ruin , or was it 4th. I guess 4th if you count the first one that's left unfinished in the beginning.

Also I guess I just started playing HoMM3 again.

 

[Ascheroth]

Played through the new Star Rail story, which is now the halfway point of this arc and the first really big climactic showdown - and it was amazing. Jaw on the floor type of stuff.

Beyond that I've been continuing with Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. I think this is the first one since Kingdom Hearts 2 that I just really, really vibe with straight away. Only "issue" I had with is that I had to defeat my inner min-maxer/completionist to not even try when I saw that the mons you can create have Ranks - and using more mats = higher ranks, but obviously significantly more grind. So instead of striving for all S-Ranks I've set aiming for C-Rank as my base and go from there.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Finished my second and third playthrough of Trials of Mana (NG+ and 3x expirience was a godsend) I've seen all the main stories and I'm done with the game.
Also a bit of Street fighter 6.
Now to find what to play next

 

[Durante]

Aselia the Eternal is of my list of things to play eventually (and has been on that list for, I don't know, a decade? more?)

I'm still playing The Hundred Line. There are some absolutely infuriating small implementation things in this, but the overall meta-story progression, when it happens, is still very interesting, and it continues to have some fun writing.

People say the game needed an editor (as in, a book editor, not a map editor ), but I'm not even sure about that. Some of the length and meandering stuff is necessary for the overall meta-story. I think it mostly just needs better execution of a few features. Like the game gives you the opportunity to skip battles similar to ones that you've already completed, but then makes you sit through their setup animations anyway. Or it lets you skip cinematics, but only after holding a button, and not automatically for repeated stuff. Or it lets you fast forward, but only through text and not repetitive animation sequences.

Fixing just those three things would probably shave off an hour or more from a complete playthrough (and an utterly useless hour at that). And doing all of it should be no more than a week's development work, really.

 

[Cacher]

Aselia the Eternal is of my list of things to play eventually (and has been on that list for, I don't know, a decade? more?)

I will probably play it one day. Apparently it has a cult following in Japan, and I heard the creator wants to make a third installment but he struggles to find funding.

 

[Kvik]

Entering the final year in Atelier Escha & Logy. Luckily, I don't have to do the ultimate gear grind this time around, since it's already mostly done in the first play through. There's still several friendship events to go through, including the DX edition super bosses, but I should be able to finish it this weekend.

Hopefully I can finish with AIR re-read this week too. I have to say, Prototype has done well with this port. The assets are only in 720p, but I think someone in Key fan Discord mentioned that the source assets are available for this game. Unsure how true that is, but I feel if there's upscaling, they've done a better job with it compared with the backgrounds in Kanon. AIR doesn't have many backgrounds that are densely populated with characters to begin with.

 

[Mivey]

Still playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. About half way through the Gizeh area. There's something about MachineGames design that pulls me in and makes playing this so fun. A lot of the game is kinda repetitive, but at least so far it hasn't lost its charm yet. I think it's the im-simy elements that keep making it so fulfilling to me.

Also making a bit of progress with Clair Obscur. Making my way through Act 2. It's neat how the map opens up and you get a better sense of this strange world. I can see how the lack of world building could annoy some, but the mysterious and not fully explained world is actually a key part of the story, where our heroes understand just as little about the true nature of their world. This is made even more interesting Act 2, with the addition of a certain character to the roster. That said, while the story and presentation of the game (both visual and musical) is great, the combat is kinda getting boring. The huge focus on parry/dodge makes combat super uninteresting, and it has that old JRPG problem of too many repetitive battles. I think adding positioning would have helped a lot. Maybe something Sandfall can look at for their next game.

 

[didamangi]

Finished Chapter 17/22 of Doom TDA. Having good fun but not as much as Eternal. It's a lot easier than eternal on nightmare that's for sure. Also the music is massive downgrade without Mick. It's just there in the bg. Can't remember a single noteworthy track in my head. There's a no slowmo mod that looks pretty fun for 2nd playthroughs but I prefer if they put it in the game officially. Should be a an option from the start really.

After TDA I'll continue my Expedition 33 playthrough which is still in Act 2.

 

[Stevey]

Been playing Doom The Dark Ages, as it came free with my GPU.
Not completely sold on it yet, think 2016 is my favourite of the recent trilogy so far. However, I am only about 25% through this one so that might change.

Also grinding my way through V Rising.

 

[QFNS]

Been catching up on some Classic gaming by playing through a brief campaign in Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Good times.

About to go on vacation for a bit else I would probably be starting Expedition 33 now.

 

[Cacher]

I did dungeon crawling in Yumina for a few hours. Ran absolutely perfect. No crash.

 

[Arc]

It's more of the same but that isn't a bad thing.

 

[STHX]

Downloaded, installed, started, played, fully finished and uninstalled Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Battle Destiny Remastered. A neat distraction, but the remaster can't shake its origin as a low budget Vita game. Well, one more completed Gundam game on Steam for me