November 2025 Recap

On 12/01/2025 at 11:30 AM by daftman

Games Beaten

-Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

I knew Ys VIII first for its awesome soundtrack but the rest of the game is no slouch. The combat is fast and fluid and your AI-controlled party members are actually useful. On Normal difficulty the game is not hard, though I think the combat could become tedious if you just button mashed. The game does a great job developing its likable cast and keeping the narrative from becoming stagnant. The adventure feels a little long if you do nearly everything (like I did) but that’s a small complaint when it’s this fun to play.

Games Bought

I always thought I would enjoy Doom (PS4), the 2016 reimagining of the seminal FPS franchise. Surely, as the sequels came out, that first new Doom game would hit PS+ as a promotional thing, right? NOPE. So I finally buckled down and shelled out real money for it. $4 on sale. Outrageous! We also bought Hollow Knight: Silksong (Switch) for my son's birthday and we've both been playing that. As for PS+ I got Stray (PS5). I've heard this game is a little shallow once you get past the novelty of playing a cyberpunk cat game but it's cool to have.

Games Being Played

-Hollow Knight: Silksong (Switch)

Silksong is about what I expected from the follow up to Hollow Knight. There is just so much of it!

-River City Girls 2 (Switch)

My wife and I have continued to slowly make our way through this beat-'em-up RPG. Taken down several big story bosses!

-Earth Defense Force: World Brothers (Switch)

Monster Hunter Rise has finally been supplanted! We played an EDF game back on the PS3 (EDF 2025) but this one eschews a realistic art style for blocky voxels. Not sure how I feel about its overzealous attempts at humor but the gameplay is solid.

-Picross: Lord of the Nazarick (Switch)

Back to solving these puzzles!

-Destiny 2 (PS5)

On the cusp of finishing the Edge of Fate story campaign!

Cary Woodham

12/02/2025 at 10:09 AM

If you liked Ys 8, I suggest trying Ys 9 next! The locations and setting in Ys 8 are better, but in Ys 9, they streamlined a lot of the stuff they introduced in Ys 8, like the side missions. Plus Ys 9 has a likable cast of characters, too! I still like Ys 8 a little more, but Ys 9 is still fantastic.

Hey I thought of you the other day because Jupiter just released two new themed Picross S titles! One is a Capcom Classic Collection and the other is a SNK collection. I got the Capcom one because they're probably my third favorite video game company behind Namco and Nintendo. As you'd expect, the puzzles are pictures from games like the Mega Man series, Final Fight, Street Fighter, Trojan, Section Z, and many more. And there is classic Capcom music, too. Most of it is from Mega Man X, but there are others as well. I'll get the SNK PIcross game eventually, but right now I'm just going to enjoy the Capcom one until it gets too hard for my little brain!

daftman

12/02/2025 at 02:24 PM

I immediately hopped on the eShop and wishlisted those two new picross games! Thanks for the heads up. I enjoy simply completing picross puzzles but I really like when a game has a good theme, so these are welcome additions...though they are noticeably more expensive! I would go with Capcom first too, so I will probably get at least that one eventually.

PixlBit