Are we f$%kin' there yet? (or, more thoughts on Dragon Quest VII after spending 40-plus hours with the 3DS remake)

When I last wrote about my on-again, off-again playthrough of Dragon Quest VII, I'd just passed the 20-hour mark of my journey.

In the comments section of that post, I mentioned that I wouldn't publish any additional impressions of the 3DS remake of Square Enix's classic RPG until I hit the 40-hour threshold. Well, I did just that--over a week ago. I'm now a smidge north of 50 hours.

Have I enjoyed Dragon Quest VII more in the last 30 hours than I did during the first 20? I'd say that's a fair assessment. Now, I'm not head over heels in love with this sprawling adventure or anything like that, but I am liking it a lot more than I did previously.

I'm not entirely sure why that is, either. After all, it's not like the never-ending conveyor belt of vignettes that make up Dragon Quest VII has stopped or even slowed down in the last 10 or so hours of my playthrough. And it's not like they've become a lot more interesting than they were earlier. Hell, I still think the first vignette you encounter in the game is its best--and by quite a margin.

That's not to say none of those that follow in its footsteps are memorable. A good handful are surprisingly intriguing, like the one involving a town where its citizens and livestock have switched places, or the one involving a burg that's stuck in a time loop.

Others, though, are little more than variations on a theme--or at least that's how they seem to me. Admittedly, this could be due to the fact that almost every new village or town looks eerily like the last one. Of course, that's what happens when you populate each locale with churches, inns, shops and homes made of the same cookie-cutter designs. (Sadly, the people who live and work in those buildings also barely change from place to place, although there are occasional exceptions.)

All that said, I basically came to peace with all of these niggles in the last 10 or so hours of my Dragon Quest VII playthrough and I now have hope I'll see its end credits sometime soon.

Don't take this to mean I'm going to jump into the soon-to-be-released 3DS port of Dragon Quest VIII as soon as it arrives on my doorstep later this month (or, more likely, sometime next month). Despite my change of heart regarding Dragon Quest VII, I'm feeling pretty burned out on Dragon Quest at the moment. Plus, I'd really like to spend some time in the coming weeks with games that don't take tens of hours to complete, and I'd also really like to play games on other systems--like the Vita, the original PlayStation and even the WonderSwan--in that time.

First, though, I actually have to beat Dragon Quest VII. While I work on that, are any of you still working you way through its extensive adventure? If so, what's your opinion on the experience?

Seven 'old' games I'm planning to play at some point in 2017

Late last year, I published a trio of posts about the many Japanese and North American 3DS and Vita games I'm planning to play sometime in 2017.

(This post covers the 3DS games I'm itching to experience, while this post and this post cover the Vita games on my "play as soon as possible in the next 12 months" list.)

Despite my current living situation, I'm also hoping to play a number of "old" games next year. Here are the ones I'd like to tackle first:

Clock Tower (WonderSwan)--Why would I play the WonderSwan port of Human Entertainment's first Clock Tower game when I could play the Super Famicom or PlayStation versions instead? Because I want to show my new-ish WonderSwan Color system some love, for starters. Also, I can't help but think that playing this game in black and white could be kind of cool--not to mention surprisingly atmospheric. If only experiencing Clock Tower on a fairly small screen would make Scissorman's appearances a bit less terrifying.

Last Window (DS)--After ignoring it for ages, I finally played through--and thoroughly enjoyed--Cing's Hotel Dusk in 2015. (You can read some of my thoughts on it in this "A Decade of DS" post.) I have a hard time believing this sequel from 2010 will be anywhere near as captivating as the original, but I'd love for my skepticism to be proven unwarranted. Regardless, it'll be really nice to hold my DS Lite--or, you know, my go-to 3DS--sideways like a book again.

London Seirei Tantei-Dan (PlayStation)--A Japanese RPG set in Victorian England that's full of lovely sprite art and turn-based battles? Where do I sign up? Also, why did it take me until late 2016 to track down a copy of such a game? I've yet to even stick my London Seirei Tantei-Dan disc into my trusty PSone system, of course, but I'm determined to rectify that in the coming months. I'm also determined to publish a post about this game's magnificent packaging, by the way, so be on the lookout for it if that sort of thing is your cup of tea.

Metroid II (GameBoy)--I'm one of those weird folks who loved both Metroid and Super Metroid as a teen but then never played another Metroid game. I'm not kidding here--no Metroid: Fusion, no Metroid: Zero Mission, no Metroid Prime and, yes, no Metroid II. That last game is the most appealing to me, and everyone knows how much I adore the GameBoy, so I'm going to do my best to jump back on the Metroid bandwagon (if such a thing still exists after Nintendo's attempts to kill the series) with it in 2017.

Mother (Famicom)--I actually put a few hours into this game a couple of years ago. For whatever reason, though, I walked away from it after that--despite the fact I was really enjoying its rather antiquated (especially in comparison to follow-up EarthBound) adventure. I'd prefer to give it a second chance by buying and playing EarthBound Beginnings on my 3DS (ahem, Nintendo), but since that's unlikely to be an option, I guess I'll either put the Mother cart I bought ages ago to use or, you know, plug the old EarthBound Zero ROM into my emulator of choice.

Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom)--You'd think someone who absolutely loves the second Seiken Densetsu game, released in North America as Secret of Mana, would've played the third by now. Well, you'd be wrong. I find Seiken Densetsu 3's graphics mesmerizing, though, so look for me to finally put it through its paces by the end of this year. (I'd like to do the same to the similarly gorgeous Legend of Mana, to be perfectly honest, but that may be a stretch given everything else on my plate.)

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS)--When Atlus announced this 3DS  port of it Japanese Sega Saturn game from 1997, I told anyone who would listen that I'd buy it as soon as it hit store shelves in my neck of the woods. Nearly four years later, I've still yet to follow through on that affirmation. Copies of Soul Hackers are pretty cheap these days, though, so I'll do what I can to add one to my pile of 3DS cartridges before this time in 2018.

Are you planning to play any particular "old" games this year? If so, which ones?

My 3DS Play Time stats for 2016

Before I checked my 3DS Play Time stats for 2016--so I could write this post, of course--I was pretty sure I'd spent far less time playing games on Nintendo's current handheld than I had in 2015.

Imagine my surprise, then, when it became clear the reverse was true. In fact, I spent exactly 39 hours with my most-played 3DS game (The Legend of Legacy) last year. This year? I spent nearly 60 hours with my most-played 3DS game--Pocket Card Jockey.

And not only that, but I spent just over 50 hours with Dragon Quest VII and a smidgen under 40 hours with both Nintendo's StreetPass Mii Plaza titles (Monster Manor, mostly) and Yo-Kai Watch.

Will Pokémon Moon, above, make an appearance in the 2017 
version of this post? I have no idea, but I hope so!

Overall, I devoted 253 hours to 3DS games in 2016. Here's a breakdown of how much time I put into the 10 most-played:

1. Pocket Card Jockey--59:41
2. Dragon Quest VII--51:23
3. StreetPass Mii Plaza--39:25
4. Yo-Kai Watch--38:31
5. Nintendo Badge Arcade--13:34
6. Pocket Card Jockey demo--5:41
7. Witch & Hero II--4:37
8. Rusty's Real Deal Baseball--3:51
9. Final Fantasy Explorers--2:58
10. Bravely Second demo--2:58

If you'd like to see how this year's list stacks up against last year's, check out my "3DS (and DS) Play Time stats for 2015" write-up.

Also, please share your 2016 3DS Play Time stats with me (and others) in the comments section of this post. It'd be fun to compare notes about this sort of thing, don't you think?

My most popular posts of 2016

I know this is a pretty self-serving write-up, but I'm publishing it anyway in the hopes it'll make folks aware of some interesting posts they missed earlier in the year.

Which posts, you ask? The ones on this blog that earned the most views in 2016, that's which ones.

Oh, and I've decided to put them in alphabetical order rather than in order of most views to least--in case anyone's curious.

CIB Sunday: World’s Longest 5 Minutes Limited Edition (Vita)

Five overlooked Japanese GameBoy games you need to play as soon as possible

Five overlooked Japanese PlayStation games you need to play as soon as possible

Four reasons I'm planning to nab one of those adorable Nintendo Classic Mini: NES consoles once November rolls around

How to succeed in Pocket Card Jockey without really trying (or, here's what you need to do if you suck at this quirky 3DS eShop title)

Let's chat about Zero Time Dilemma's cover art

Manual Stimulation (KiKi KaiKai, PC Engine)

Nu-Bo, Nuubou, Noobow, New--oh, whatever...

Six 3DS games I'm looking forward to playing at some point in 2016

Some of my favorite SNES games in honor of the system's 25th anniversary

I'm planning to publish follow-ups to a few of the above in 2017, by the way. Can you guess which ones?

Other than that, thank you for viewing these and all of my other blog posts so many times this past year. I greatly appreciate it, as always.

Six games I bought and regrettably failed to play in 2016

I bought a good number of games this past year. Although I played as many as I could, the majority were lucky to leave their packaging for more than a couple of minutes.

I wish I'd spent quality time with all of them over the last 12 months, of course, but the following six are most responsible for my current pangs of regret.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D (3DS)--I only bought this game a few weeks ago, so I probably shouldn't feel bad that I've failed to play it. Regardless, I do. Who can blame me, though? After all, this 3DS remake of the Tose-developed and Enix-published GameBoy Color cart of the same name (well, without the 3D part) is as bright and colorful as can be. Also, the monster recruiting, fighting and breeding that are at the center of Terry's Wonderland look and sound like a lot of fun. Bonus: the game's now fully playable in English, as the screenshot above showcases. Learn more about and download the required patch here.

Grand Knights History (PSP)--I'm pretty sure my eyes popped out of my head when I first caught a glimpse of this game back in 2010 or 2011. Which should be completely understandable, as Grand Knights History is drop-dead gorgeous just like every other game Vanillaware's ever made. The thing is, the initial enthusiasm I felt for this PSP game quickly faded into the ether when I read that connecting to Japanese servers (apparently a near-impossibility for people in other countries) was a must. Apparently that's not entirely the case, though, so now I'm back to desperately wanting to play this tantalizing RPG.

htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary (Vita)--I've long been a sucker for games with unique art styles, and this Nippon Ichi Software-made title fits that bill and then some. Unfortunately, I've heard that htoL#NiQ's gameplay isn't quite as enjoyable as its graphics. That isn't why I failed to play it this year, however, No, that would be because I basically ignored all of my Vita cartridges (and digital titles) in 2016. Thankfully, I plan to give those games--and my pink-and-white Vita--lots of love in 2017. Don't worry, I fully intend to let you know what I think of The Firefly Diary's dark adventure after I've plugged away at it for a bit.

Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji (DS)--Full disclosure: I have no real experience with the Chibi-Robo! series. My goal is to rectify that sometime next year by playing as much of the Japan-only Happy Richie Oosouji as I can handle. Accomplishing that should be a lot easier than it would've been if I'd picked up a copy of the game on or around its 2009 release, as a patch that translates its text into English hit the Internet in May.

Tomato Adventure (GameBoy Advance)--Speaking of English translation patches, it's a crying shame no one has created one for this Japan-only game. Why? It was developed by the wizards at AlphaDream, best known for Nintendo's long-running Mario & Luigi RPG series, for starters. Also, it's beyond adorable, as the screenshot above proves. Thankfully, it seemingly was aimed at youngsters, so I'm hoping I'll be able to understand enough of its text to make my way through it in 2017.

Xi Little (WonderSwan)--If Xi doesn't mean anything to you, maybe Devil Dice does? That's what the first Xi game (for the original PlayStation) was called when it was brought to North America in 1998. (Oddly, the second Xi title was renamed Bombastic when it made the same trek a few years later.) Anyway, the plan is to pop this sucker--and all of the other WonderSwan cartridges I've acquired in recent years--into the translucent black WonderSwan Color system I bought late last year as soon as possible in the new year.

How about all of you? Which games did you buy and then fail to play this year?