The Backlog Check-in Vol. 385: 5/17/25: Fantasy Life i: The Girl who Steals Time / Deliever At All Cost Edition

[argyle]

Games added: Floppy Knights, Castlevania Dominus Collection

Last week: Finished Revenge of the Savage Planet, played a little Tomba! & started Expedition 33

This week: Looks like I'm going to be focussing on Expedition 33

Revenge of the Savage Planet was great, chef's kiss. A colorful, funny, fun action/adventure game. Perfect progression, never frustrating, just absolutely a blast to play. This series is highly recommended - this dev needs some love. I played it off of Gamepass, but I'll be picking it up at some point.

I've only played through the prologue & part of act 1 of E33, but so far it is VERY impressive. Production values are top-notch - absolutely gorgeous game, and incredible music. Story hooks you almost instantly - it's very bleak, sort of has FFX vibes. An actual turn-based combat system with some timed button presses for blocking / parrying thrown in for good measure. Again, very early in so can't say too much substantial yet, but incredible first impression. Was hard to turn it off last night, and I'm looking forward to playing some more.

Fantasy Life i is a new Level-5 joint, so I'm curious about that. And Deliver At All Cost looks like madness in the best possible way.

EDIT: To echo what izzy said last week, I'm getting kinda worried about Phase. Hope he's ok...

[isthatallyougot]

EDIT: To echo what izzy said last week, I'm getting kinda worried about Phase. Hope he's ok...

Yeah, hope he's alright. Clearly he has been struggling so if his time has come, hopefully there's peace. Maybe he's just taking some time away while he deals with his health...hopefully.

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I'm still playing OOTP - I probably don't need to mention that for the foreseeable future, lol.

I'm also almost 15 hours into Inferno Climber, and I have to say that this may be a hidden gem, for me at least. It's very true to the Souls-like essence, even if appearances would make you think otherwise. It took me 15 hours to both find and dispatch the first boss, something that has only been done by 7.8% of players according to Steam Achievements. As usual, I try not to use any guides, and I haven't here - although there may not even be one for this, ha. But the world is pretty big and fun to explore, but in true Souls-fashion, there is that sense of incremental progress as you learn hard lessons from your mistakes, mistakes that can be very punishing. It has its own differences from Souls, visuals aside, but it's very much in the same spirit. The camera could use some work, and there are some other minor niggles, but I'm really enjoying this one. It's apparently very obscure, and I imagine it sold next to nothing, but if you like this genre, there's plenty to enjoy here. It's made by Arc of Guilty Gear fame, so they've surely got some coding chops. Anyway, consider it if you enjoy this type of game and maybe have a little forgiveness for some rough edges and can enjoy a less serious form of imagery and tone with the same challenging core.

I've also been going back to Ion Fury and working on a second run from time to time. That game is 1's and 0's crack! So fun!

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Octopath Traveler II

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 40 games

More Octopath Traveler II last week - closing in on the end of the chapter 3s for everyone.

I will reiterate what others have said...hope Phase is doing ok.

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Journey to the Savage Planet

Finished: JttSP

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 42


I was out of town for a few days but did get enough gaming time lately to beat Journey to the Savage Planet. Another great argyle recommendation... his description above for the sequel applies to this one too. They pulled the game off PS+ Extra right before I finished it, but I immediately bought it to wrap it up. Only $7.49, I believe... well worth it! I beat the last boss and got the credits, but I'm going to stick with it a little while longer to collect all the flora and fauna, fuel sources, etc. (I'm not going for the platinum... it requires a speed run through the game, not my cup o' tea.)

Afterward, I'm pretty sure I'm going to play the new PS+ Extra entry Sand Land. I've had my eye on that one for a while.

Praying for Phase. I know he was really struggling... hope he just decided to take a short break from here.

[crimson_tide]

Here's to hoping our man Phase is just taking a break, I didn't realize he'd been gone for a minute.

I beat a game this year! I finished FF1 pixel remaster. That last boss was a jerk. But I will likely continue down this path and make Final Fantasy my play through a series. I only ever actually beat FF6 from the 8 and 16 bit days. I also never actually beat 8, 9, 10 or 12 (got really far in all of them though). Also, **** it, I am doing X-2 and the 13 trilogy because I just like those games. I imagine that off and on, this endeavor might take a couple years. At least one if I am doing it on commute and 30-60 minute chunks before bed. But I will save my process and reviews for the game club thread. Later friends!