nintendowife

[nintendowife]

I've found my new favorite NPC backstory in Octopath Traveler II.

Ambitious Youth Age: 19 Details: A young boy who loves to sing and is determined to do so professionally. Unfortunately, he is both absolutely dreadful at singing and blissfully unaware of that fact. The people in his village, too kind to burden his innocent optimism with the truth, can only listen and weep.

Later on (after finishing a quest where I encouraged him to leave his home village and pursue his dreams), I met him in a big bustling city!

Ambitious Youth: "Hey there! My road to stardom's going just as planned! Every time I sing, everyone around me bursts into tears!"

#octopath traveler ii #octopath traveler #nintendo switch

[nintendowife]

Shep in the office: "Do you know who ate my sandwich? I put it in the fridge with a note that said it was mine, but it's still gone. If that doesn't prove the corporate world is a cutthroat place, nothing will, baaa man."

#animal crossing: happy home designer #achhd #animal crossing #happy home designer #nintendo 3ds

[nintendowife]

My blog Nintendowife turned 10 years today!

My first post ever was on April 12th 2014 about my town's latest public work project in Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

My top 5 most popular posts through the ages

August 09 2018 - I got a New Nintendo 2DS XL Animal Crossing Edition yesterday!

2. June 09 2014 - We got this cute Animal Crossing: New Leaf artbook last week.

3. May 07 2017 - Client brief vs client budget.

4. July 04 2021 - Bayonetta’s Sunday dresses (Bayonetta 2).

5. March 18 2023 - Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya is heading to Nintendo Switch in the near future.

I'm hoping to be a part of this fantastic community for the next 10 years!

#10 year tumblrversary #tumblr milestone #animal crossing #bayonetta 2 #bayonetta #touhou mystia's izakaya #touhou #touhou project #touhou series

[nintendowife]

I realized I've forgotten to post my favorite part of Frog Detective 3.

Wendy: "We are proud to offer our customers a satisfaction guarantee on all purchases." Detective: "What is a satisfaction guarantee?" Wendy: "We can guarantee that you will be either satisfied or dissatisfied with your purchase." Detective: "What happens if I'm dissatisfied?" Wendy: "That falls within our satisfaction guarantee." Detective: "So I can get a refund?" Wendy: "The satisfaction guarantee only guarantees a range of satisfaction from dissatisfied to satisfied. If your feeling towards the product doesn't fall within that range, you are entitled to a refund." Detective: "That clears it up, thanks."

#frog detective 3: corruption at cowboy county #frog detective 3 #frog detective #pc

[nintendowife]

Dialogue gems in Piofiore: Episodio 1926. Yang is still my main source of entertainment in the game.

Gilbert to Henri about spending time with Lili: "You've at least kissed her, right?" Henri: "..." Gilbert: "Henri... H-How have you... How have you resisted all this time...?" Dante: "Aren't you two living in the same hotel room...?" Nicola: "Well... Henri is a mature adult." Yang: "I see... He is a eunuch."

#piofiore: episodio 1926 #piofiore #otome game #visual novel #nintendo switch

[nintendowife]

I finished Piofiore: Episodio 1926 on Nintendo Switch a while ago. I enjoyed it a lot and it might be the best otome game I've played so far. There's a beefy amount of content in Episodio 1926 - I reached 100% completion in 70 hours. There's 6 love interest routes, each with two endings. In addition there's an "Alternativa" story route.

In this sequel we return to the city of Burlone, Italy. The game continues from the events of Piofiore: Fated Memories. The three competing mafia families Falzone, Visconti and Lao-Shu still hold control in the city but are facing an uncertain future due to political developments in the country. A religious relic has been stolen and the mafia families must join forces to fight a common threat. The protagonist Lili has a special role in the events as many parties' interests relate to her. This time you can freely choose from a menu which character's route you want to start playing (with exception of one that unlocks only after playing through the Alternativa story).

The story was pretty good and as a whole I liked it more than the first game. Episodio 1926 had its share of sleep inducing routes but some were really good. Nicola's and Orlok's routes with great story/lore portions rose above the others in my eyes. I recall Gilbert's route had some good stuff too. There was a decent amount of historical references and a lot of nice action scenes too.

I especially enjoyed the parts with depictions of violence and murder - which I assume is usually not the reason someone would pick a game of this genre. If you're into that kind of content too, Piofiore is a nice pick. At times it felt like the flow of the story/dialogue was interrupted with "Aria" (flashbacks from the prior game) and "Meanwhile" stories too frequently.

The dialogue was written nicely and I enjoyed the exchanges between the competing mafiosos. They're sort of friends, yet enemies and it creates some delightful dynamics and humor. However, there was one specific part in dialogue that felt out of place: Dante being worried that they possibly couldn't violate on someone's human rights. It made him look like a hypocrite - I've seen what happens in the Falzone basement. Henri's route had some really ridiculous dialogue that made me and my husband laugh in disbelief. Henri apparently thinks he's hung like an elephant.

The characters got a lot more depth in the sequel and Nicola ended up surprising me. I didn't care for him much in the previous game but here he got to shine. His actions really highlighted his intelligence and I liked his playful, mischievous attitude. In that regard he is similar to Yang who likes to rile up others for his entertainment. Yang is still Yang (thankfully) but he was a lot more docile here. Still an entertaining character and my favorite out of the love interests. Gilbert was my husband's favorite. Lili is still a kind-hearted damsel in distress but she's got the smarts to navigate difficult situations. She overcomes her fears and is ready to act to defend herself and the people she cares for.

What comes to side characters, there are plenty of new ones along with returning characters. They help build the lore and world by expanding on past and current events. Emilio's motives and backstory was a very welcome addition to the game as he was a mystery that intriqued me already in the first game. I liked all of the character designs and Lan ended up being my favorite side character with her energetic attitude. There was one particularly funny/good moment where Lili was upset with Yang and Lan got upset on her behalf too and encouraged Lili to display her irritation and act on it. That actually led to a heartfelt scene with some nice character development as well.

The Japanese voice acting for the characters is top notch and helps flesh out the characters' personalities. Emilio's and Yuan's voices annoyed my husband, haha. Gilbert's "yo Dante!" will forever live in our heads. Unfortunately the protagonist Lili is not voiced.

Music is mainly the same as in the first game. It would have been nice to get more new music but at least the tracks are pleasant and fit the events.

The game's visuals are a treat. From the beautifully crafted user interface to backgrounds and character portraits. Sadly there's no portrait for Lili when she talks. The CG illustrations are some of the best in the market. What really delighted me was the effort they've put into designing the clothing, jewelry and hair. We get to see Lili sporting various kinds of attire with incredible detail and her hairstyle varies too.

There is one thing that bothers me in the artist's style however: Lili's comically large eyes didn't quite fit the art style in my opinion.

I was pretty happy with the localization of the game. Now I don't know enough Japanese to judge the accuracy of the translation and I'm not a native English speaker but the text seemed well-written. Not much typos or errors. I remember a few occasions where a word or two were missing but luckily it didn't affect my ability to understand the gist of the sentences.

The biggest offender in the game was poor contrast. There were these memoir parts called "Aria" occurring throughout the game where white text was displayed on top of a background image without a dialogue box. It made it nigh impossible to read parts of the text when the text appeared on top of white/light parts of the image. Another pet peeve of mine was that the sequel continues with the grave sin of talking about food and never showing it. I just love looking at masterfully drawn food in games and not getting any of that left me sour.

I had such a good time with the game that I double-dipped on physical copies of both Piofiore: Fated Memories and Piofiore: Episodio 1926 after playing through the digital versions. I adored the characters and their interactions and I especially enjoyed the darker parts that helped with worldbuilding. Now that I've finished both games I feel slightly melancholic due to having to say goodbye to the characters. If that is not a sign of a good game, I don't know what is.

I think my husband became a Piofiore fan as well! He was partially watching me play through both games. During my Episodio 1926 playthrough he was inspired to start a new game in Rimworld where he created the Piofiore main characters and assigned suitable traits for each.

If they ever decided to make a third game in the Piofiore series, I'd buy it in a heartbeat! If Piofiore caught your interest, I recommend playing Piofiore: Fated Memories first, even though it's the weaker game out of the two.

#piofiore: episodio 1926 #piofiore #otome game #visual novel #nintendo switch

[nintendowife]

Utakata no Uchronia (2024)

I don't know anything about this game, except that the artist is the same as in Piofiore. I'd like to see this get a localization in English at some point. Trailer for Utakata no Uchronia in YouTube.

#utakata no uchronia #piofiore #otome game #visual novel #nintendo switch

[nintendowife]

I 100% completed Piofiore: Episodio 1926 and I'm feeling a bit melancholic. I think I'm going to miss all those characters now that I've finished both Piofiore games and there is no announcement of further sequels.

I enjoyed this sequel much more than the first game. The characters got more depth and there were plenty of new interesting side characters. And Yang was still Yang (thankfully) - even though his route wasn't that interesting in this game compared to some other routes. I was most impressed with Nicola in the sequel. He and Yang were clearly the most intelligent ones out of the love interests. I'll try to write some of my thoughts about the game at a later time.

#piofiore: episodio 1926 #piofiore #otome game #visual novel #nintendo switch

[nintendowife]

I finished Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on PS2 a week ago. I remember being stuck in The Pain boss fight and dropping the game 19 years ago. Now I came back with a vengeance and managed to beat the game!

The controls are pretty clunky and unintuitive so no wonder I didn't have the patience back in the day. Not sure if the problem was my controller or the game, but nearly half of the time the guns didn't start firing until it was too late. I still didn't have the patience for a stealthy approach as you can see from my result screen.

The game was well worth experiencing until the end as the story and characters were good (I especially liked The Boss). The cutscenes were at a tolerable length and there wasn't an excess amount of acronyms thrown around. Music was great as expected from a Metal Gear Solid game.

The original PlayStation 2 release of MGS3 has a pretty nice instruction booklet with character illustrations and even a short comic to introduce the main game mechanics. I miss the days when physical manuals were a thing.

#metal gear solid 3 #mgs3 #metal gear solid #metal gear #ps2

[nintendowife]

All this time I thought Story of Seasons was a wholesome cozy game series. Now I found out there's cockfighting. This is a collage puzzle titled "Cluck-Cluck Clash" from Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons. I am shocked.

#piczle cross: story of seasons #story of seasons #sos #harvest moon #bokujou monogatari #pc

[nintendowife]

Last weekend marked 1300 days of Jump Rope Challenge on Nintendo Switch. Result for the last 100 day cycle was 117231 jumps.

I've already started the next cycle. Lately I've been a bit busy at work so it's easy to forget to take a break to exercise (I work from home). So mostly I've been jumping in the evening after work. I should aim to do the jumping during the day as now I've been sitting still for long periods of time and it's probably not very healthy. At least I typically go out for a walk with my husband around 3 PM whenever possible and continue working after that.

#jump rope challenge #nintendo switch

[nintendowife]

I finished Project Zero on PlayStation 2 after 20 years! Feels good to finally see how the game ends. I had retired the game back in the day when I couldn't beat a ghost on the 3rd night as I didn't dare to use more powerful film in fear of running out of resources.

Now this weekend I decided to continue from where I had left off. My husband helped by looking at a walkthrough guide to tell me which rooms to go to in Himuro mansion. I was nervous I would run out of healing items as I had to use a couple of sacred waters in some third night boss fights. Luckily I made it through and Kirie was surprisingly easy to defeat. I didn't leave anything up to chance and used the most powerful film to make sure she's (twice) dead!

#project zero #fatal frame #ps2

[nintendowife]

Lan is my favorite side character in Piofiore. Here she teaches Lili self-defense.

Lan brought me out onto the rooftop to teach me self-defense, just as she had promised. Lan: "Just watch what I do and copy me. First, get into a defensive position! Look here. Both hands out in front, bend your knees, then take a quick step forward. Then, run behind your target...! And you break his spine, like this!" Liliana: "..." Fei: "Lan... That's not self-defense... It's murder."

#piofiore: episodio 1926 #piofiore #otome game #visual novel #nintendo switch

[nintendowife]

My husband bought Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley for PC and gifted a copy to our former colleague as well. The deluxe edition included a digital artbook and soundtrack. Here's a few sample pages of the artbook.

Husbando started playing the game already and the Finnish localization is quite good! It feels a bit funny to play a game in our native language. Time to take Nuuskamuikkunen back to Muumilaakso and help Nipsu escape a hämähäkki!

#snufkin: melody of moominvalley #artbook #pc

[nintendowife]

Ayesha Altugle & Nio Altugle (Atelier Ayesha) — Logix Ficsario & Escha Malier (Atelier Escha & Logy) — Shallistera Argo & Shallotte Elminus (Atelier Shallie)

#atelier ayesha #atelier escha & logy #atelier shallie #atelier series

[nintendowife]

Piofiore: Episodio 1926 has been quite the entertaining game. I couldn't help but chuckle at this exchange between the guys.

Yang to Lili: "And if you so wish, I can offer you the privilege of sleeping in my room." Orlok: "Yang... Don't make her feel uncomfortable." Yang: "Good grief... You are a thorn in my side, Disciple. Tell me what part of her appears uncomfortable." Orlok: "What part...? All of her..." Yang: "I only saw restrained excitement in her expression." Nicola: "I think your eyes are going bad, Yang."

#piofiore: episodio 1926 #piofiore #otome game #visual novel #nintendo switch

[nintendowife]

Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, you're in for a treat! Both Snake Rattle 'n' Roll and Blast Corps are such fun and unique games. Here's a showcase of my physical copies of the original NES and N64 releases.

The Snake Rattle 'n' Roll case has seen its better days. The top flap has been taped together with transparent magic tape. The instruction booklet looks a bit beaten up as well but all pages are still intact. I used to play the game a lot together with my friend when I was at their house. Unfortunately he passed away due to his severe heart disease when he was 13 years old.

Blast Corps I got together with a secondhand Nintendo 64 console and while the case looks a bit nasty with ripped price stickers and some dirt spots, the instruction booklet is in excellent condition. I finished Blast Corps in 2020 after being stuck in a level about 20 years prior. Time to get moving!

#snake rattle 'n' roll #blast corps #nes #nintendo 64 #n64