I installed the Demo for Tales of Arise, mostly to see what its vibe would look like in 4k, and I can tell you that in the fifteen minutes I played it the vibe was very good. I decided that, purely as a matter of considered chastity, I would save myself for Deathloop - a game that, even in the best case scenario, involves playing the same areas over and over again until they are utterly known to you from every angle. I've been impressed with how fresh they've managed to keep it given that, and I've also spent a lot of time hunting down other players, but I don't think I can do that and effectively grind a JRPG. Even if the vibe is very good in 4k.

Gabe is nuts about it; one of the ways you can tell is that it ended up in the strip. It seems like most people who start into it get sucked in. I've tried a couple times to get back into the swing of a longer-form game like this, I like to see a bar go up like anybody else. Or... maybe I thought I did. I certainly did at one point. As soon as they show me a bar now my eyes narrow.

Almost all of my time is invested in Run or Round based games now; individual sessions might be short, but I just do more of them. My go-to games right now are Storybook Brawl (Deckbuilder Auto-Chess) and the beta for Hero Realms (PvP Deckbuilder). I don't even care if I lose a game like this, which is good for me, because that happens. Every round of either of these is just a chance to play around with a huge lattice of cascading variables. I can get "good" at them later. Right now, I just want to throw a bunch of alien wings or fronds or whatever into a big pot and see what happens.

(CW)TB out.