The first eight days of 2015 have been a bit tumultuous for me, I've got to say, but thankfully that hasn't kept me from putting a good amount of time into the handful of games that are named in the header above.
(I've also been working on
my weeklong not-quite-playthrough of Okamiden, of course, but you'll have to wait until Monday to read my thoughts on it.)
Anyway, as is par for the course for these "Shall We Do It?" posts, here are a few impressions of the titles that have hogged my attention since the holiday season came to an end.
Coming Out on Top (Mac)--For the longest time, this gay dating sim completely avoided pinging my radar. Eventually, though, I noticed that its
official NeoGAF thread was getting a lot of action (pun intended) and so decided to see what was causing all the hubbub.
Two playthroughs later, and I can report, without hesitation, that
Coming Out on Top is a blast if you're into visual novels that drop you into the trousers of a cute college boy and then let you, well, get into the trousers (eventually, at least--assuming you do and say the right things) of other cute guys.
As is typical of the genre, you're probably going to have to turn to some sort of walkthrough if you want to nab some of these studs, but if you can get over that hump you'll likely get a kick out of it.
A couple of highlights for me so far: the ability to modify, on the fly, the facial and body hair of each of your potential paramours; the amusing and clever writing; and the surprisingly effective sex scenes.
Fantasy Life (3DS)--Last time I published one of these posts, I mentioned that I'd finished this RPG's main story. In the ensuing two or so weeks, I've chiseled away at its post-game adventure, the bulk of which takes place in a unique locale called "Origin Island."
That journey got off to a rather bumpy start, I'm sad to report, thanks to the fact that
Fantasy Life's overt chattiness continues well into its bonus content. Once I finished skipping through all of that blather, though, it wasn't long before I was back to giddily bashing baddies with the best greatsword I could get my hands on (or make myself, as a blacksmith).
The DLC pack adds a bunch of new areas, enemies, materials and even pets to the proceedings, by the way, so it's well worth buying if you enjoyed the main campaign.
I've now spent just over 90 hours with the game, in case you're wondering, which means I've put more than 15 hours into the add-on content alone. Not bad for $9, if you ask me.
Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (3DS)--Although I got this controversial cart for Christmas, I failed to get past its title screen until yesterday. I've only devoted about two hours to it since then, but even that brief foray was enough to make me wonder if maybe this game isn't as bad as it's been made out to be (by my
Nichiest Podcast Ever cohort,
shidoshi, among many others).
The Lost Valley certainly looks better than I was expecting it to based on screenshots, though that doesn't mean I consider it to be a visual standout among 3DS titles. I'm also finding its gameplay to be acceptably entertaining this far, so it'll be interesting if that holds true after I've devoted a bit more time to it (which I'm planning to do tonight and this weekend) or if my attention and affection will deteriorate to some degree.
Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 3 (3DS)--Sadly, I've barely given this
Rocket Slime sequel any love in the last week or so, although I made some good progress on it early on in the new year. I'm now out on the open seas, tracking down new lands to explore and taking on any and all enemy ships that attempt to trip me up along the way.
That's one of the few ways in which
Slime MoriMori 3 differs from its predecessor (the game known outside of Japan as
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime), by the way; rather than offering players more of the fairly infrequent tank-on-tank battles that were present in the series' second game, this third title ups the ante and not only increases their number (and switches them from tanks to ships, obviously) but also makes them more random, which I have found to be a welcome addition to the
Slime MoriMori formula.
Another nice change of pace: it's possible to alter and upgrade your ship this time around, although I've yet to acquire the materials needed to accomplish that feat (or if I have, I've failed to figure out how to make use of them).
Although I've got plenty of other games on my plate at the moment, I'm going to do what I can to make sure
Slime MoriMori 3 retains a spot on it for some time to come, as it's nearly as enticing as the DS title that came before it and that ended up being one of my all-time favorite games for the system.
See also: previous 'Shall We Do It?' posts
