Icic! Honestly though they should iron those wrinkles sooner than later, because the series has been in this spotty place for quite a while lol

Honestly, considering it's one of the best selling franchises in the world, the prices for second hand pokémon cartidges are downright ridiculous considering there are likely millions in circulation as we speak. i know nintendo doesnt have any incentive to do so but it would be insane if they did reprints for those games or porting them to modern platforms if they don't want piracy so bad (but i know it is just a fever dream atp lol. i just want normal prices for second hand stuff once again... fuck scalpers)

I see... I did know about the whole deal of TPC, but I thought it was more of a thing of "they have to release a game every tot years in order to sell new critters". (Or so I've read in some online discussions)

I don't think going multiplatform will ever be in the cards, because I'm sure Nintendo isn't letting go of the Pokémon brand anytime soon. Plus, I doubt this will help on the dev time front, because all of a sudden GF would have to learn to port for multiple platforms and, considering SV's state at launch (and that was developed for one console! One!) that may be the worse decision.

I frankly would bet more on Nintendo buying out GF, all considering, because it is simply the more realistic option. I'm not sure though if GF as a company would like to retain its independence for reasons, and frankly I do not care about that enough to look its company culture up right now, admittedly.

It definitely is in a weird series. As I mentioned before, it feels like the main series games as just being made in order to justify the existence of and sell the new Monsters of the Week although introducing new Pokémon every gen ended up backfiring on them horribly (that whole Dex cut drama still makes me shiver).

But you're right! It is good media preservation is a thing so we can play the older games. I have long sold my physicals (biggest regret of my entire life, they had the case and booklets and everything save for HeartGold, which I got second hand). I think I spent almost 1000 across the main series on multiple playthroughs on Gen 4 and 5, so I'm not too worried about those being too stale for me lol

The input you provided was perfect, actually! It's wonderful each and every time to see / hear someone talk at length about a series they love greatly :D! Reading through your thoughts helped me consider the range of FF entries I'd be interested to give a try first, and even drove my curiosity further to wanting to dive deeper into the series. As of right now, I'm deciding on either 'FF I & II: Dawn of Souls' or 'FFVI Pixel Remaster' being the next entries I wish to play. I don't believe I've mentioned this yet, but I took to soft-modding my DSi XL a few months ago - so it'll be no problem either giving the 3D remakes of FFIII and FFIV a shot when time permits! Thanks very much again for sharing your thoughts / experiences with the Final Fantasy series, it is absolutely appreciated! ^_^

I hadn't heard about that particular translation for EarthBound Beginnings, so it was cool to learn that from you as well! All of those QoL additions sound so handy for making the game that much more approachable, especially the bits about the Easy Ring giving the player more experience and reducing enemy encounters. When the time comes that I'm feeling inclined to revisit EBB, I'll be sure to look into it!

I'm not sure if there's even enough fan demand for new Ranger games admittedly... Maybe Conquest or the older console spin-offs could work better? I personally feel it's bare minimum only with Pokémon, other Nintendo 1st party games I don't see them being treated so poorly x0

Personally I think Legends is the kind of series that they made to appeal to a slightly older demographic, so I could see a decent amount of sales going forward if they keep the momentum going and polish it more. Speaking of buying new games, since I share a Switch with my little brother I've been formally forbidden to buy the Switch Pokémon entries lolol. I think if they go back with SW/SH's style with the graphic polish of let's go and sv, bw and sm's story quality it could be a major hit. But considering the sales numbers I don't think they'll go above bare minimum for the main series going forward...

Not a problem. Life tends to get more than a little busy sometimes, and all that. Just glad to be checking in and saying hello! ^_^

Nice!! Both to XI S being your first DQ game, and that you managed to snag a copy for a great deal! I'm happy to hear that you're already having a ton of fun with the game.
Reading your progress note, I see you now have Erik in your party. He's one of my favorite characters in the entire game, both from a gameplay and writing perspective. Honestly though I could say the same thing for pretty much the entire playable cast, they're all excellent! Here's to the rest of your DQXI journey ahead, may it continue to be an exciting ride!!

I feel you. Unfortunately, it's that familiar case of 'so many games, too little time' (), but hopefully you are able to squeeze some time to get back to those two particular titles. EarthBound Beginnings I vividly remember being brutal at times (*Duncan's Factory flashbacks*), but it was a fun game overall!

Speaking of Final Fantasy, I had such an incredible time playing through FFVII. It has now gotten me interested in checking out more of the series to see what I've been missing out on all this time! I've always heard high praise for the older mainline titles, especially in the case for both FFVI and FFIX. I recall that you're well-versed with the series, do you have any specific recommendation(s) to check out first?
Wishing you the best with your playthrough of FFIII as well!

Heyo! Hoping all's been well since our previous chat early on this year (). I see that you have just started up playing Dragon Quest XI. That's great to see!! Apologies if I'm not remembering correctly (writing this as I'm about to head to sleep, lol), but is this your first time playing through the series? If so, then you're definitely in for a treat with this game!
It being my gateway into this fantastic franchise, DQXI holds an immensely special place in my heart (). I sincerely hope you enjoy an unforgettable journey across the world of Erdrea!!

I'm reminded by the way how I only got around to finishing DQXI's main story back in '22 (first started in 2019), and even today have yet to see what's in store for the post-game content.
My backlog is overloaded as it is with numerous unfinished RPGs but still, I should get around to that sometime!

I spent nearly all of Lockdown playing DQXI... I do have fond memories of it.

The Pixel Remasters are definitely what got me to finally go through the First and Third FFs, despite owning I & II on PSP. IV I think I'll probably play on PS1 and revisit V through the PR and just play VI through my SNES classic. I'm more of an FF girl than a Dragon Quest fan these days, but I do want to revisit the OG DQ trilogy one day, perhaps when I get a replacement SNES and a DQIII repro cart.

Exactly. The world itself has so much potential and the previous spin-off games have demonstrated them excellently! It is a shame they've been stuck on the safer titles for a good while, so Legends has been definitely a breath of fresh air in that respect. I'm really looking forward to the Kalos title, hopefully it will supplement XY's story in a good way. Wonder if they'll pull the "protagonist from the original game gets transported to another time by a higher being" again (doubt so)?

For Ranger is gonna be difficult because it relied on the touch screen and stylus... Sure, the Switch has a touch screen alright, but I'm not sure how reliable it even is considering so few games use it as far as I've seen... Unless they are gonna use the sticks on the joycons or something
I recall they did a remake for the Rescue Team games, no? I'm not sure how well it was received, but I thought the art style was pretty adorable and fit the game quite nicely. So yeah, I'd honestly be down for something like that!

I might have to, yeah, but maybe sooner than expected since Visions of Mana on PS4 was quietly canceled and I don't particularly want a PS5 at the moment (but I'll probably get a used one for GTA VI, lol). I'll get back to Castlevania Bloodlines on Expert at some point too as well as Chrono Cross on Switch. I also really should go through Final Fantasy II at some point too lol.

HeartGold, definitely! The overworld environments look so colourful and pretty, and the following Pokémon sprites are just adorable! As for B2W2, if you are someone who enjoys multiple novel game modes I'd say you're in on a ride! The movie maker mode is definitely one of my favourites in the series. Speaking about Legends Arceus, I saw some clips for the gameplay--I think this kind of game is what the series sorely needed in this period of time. I know that the main series is the main money maker, but I wouldn't mind more spin-off games that aren't, y'know, gachas. I miss the golden age of Pokémon Ranger and Mystery Dungeon...

For real! I'm not so sure about the possibility of an AA7 ever cropping up in the future, but if it does, I personally hope they'll overhaul the cast of characters somehow!

And, oh, HeartGold! It is easily one of the prettier games of the DS era both in Pokémon and the DS library overall! Black and White are surely the kind of titles that either don't like or love outright. I personally prefer the sequels because there's just so much stuff to do there! And oh, don't worry about not playing platinum 😭 I haven't even got the chance to play much of anything outside the DS/3DS entries, so you're good

Yeaaaaaaaaah, the last time I played EarthBound was in 2016? I'm revisiting it for the 30th anniversary this year. I genuinely missed how charming the writing is in this lol. As for EarthBound Beginnings? I'm not sure if I could play that without losing my mind, haha. I do however, love the vocal album that was released in the 80's.

No problem for the add, thank you for the message!
What Pokémon games do you want to replay? As for Dragon Quest, the series is definitely a gem, and I cannot recommend it enough!

And haha! Ace Attorney deserves a hall of fame title when it comes to character writing and voice if I dare say so!

DDLC was really good! Thought I had already beaten the game, but apparently not, so it was nice to see the proper end

Good morning to everyone except the Sanctuary Bosses

Okay, so, I can't be the only one who looks at the new site update and feels a certain sense of dread, right? I really appreciate all the work it takes for a solo dev to maintain a site like The Backloggery, but the update just feels... well, not good.

Other than the menus being clunk and bland, and the profile customization being absolutely neutered compared to what it is now, the removal of certain platforms (namely the digital-only platforms, like Virtual Console and __Ware) just feels unnecessary. It's simply text in a menu that would use the icons and assets already in the site itself, and its removal takes away a certain sense of nuance and choice when it comes to how to sort your own games. The actual filter option to show what format your game is in is a very useful feature, but I would sacrifice it in a heartbeat to keep the current platforms. It just feels like an unnecessary limitation thrown onto the user, all while making the site less intuitive to use than the current layout, taking away a lot of what made this place feel unique and gave it character, and overhauling systems that didn't feel like they needed to be overhauled?

Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to go anywhere, but just from the testing site I can feel my user experience turning far more negative... I just don't understand why this had to be. Rant over, I just hope the dev sees people requesting/discussing things like this and provides more options for the future. May we all share many more years backlogging together

Re-organizing platform entries is indeed a hassle. Hell, I'm still not done with mine and yet I've already given up. I just hope that the PC Downloads entries when translated to the new site will have them auto-marked as digital since my use of PC Downloads was to denote their entries as games that were freewares.

EDIT: Lately, I've been deep within the world of Fallout 76, but I have been trying to take periodic breaks to play other games and to also remember my dailies in Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. The two separate times I dive back into Genshin and Star Rail to do a random 10x wish/warp and I get Arlecchino and Robin respectively first try.

Reorganizing my Backloggery to account for the site update's removal of digital platforms is incredibly annoying and disappointing, but also an excuse to just organize something, which is fun.

Poke around the store and find out. :P

I find some games on PS3's PS Store, too, that I haven't seen in the past and makes me wanna buy 'em. Though currently, I'm exploring Appalachia (Fallout 76) instead of enjoying other games. Sucked right back into Bethesda's games again. :O