Messages

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: January 01, 2026, 05:12:45 pm »

Happy New Year, everyone! Let's do it!

1. Mega Man X7

I went through this game multiple times back when it was initially released in 2003 because I was a poor college student and didn't have many other options. It was bad then. Now, I had a video guide AND the Brady official guide next to me when I did this random replay. It's still bad. Why did I think it wouldn't be? I dunno. Maybe some of 2025 was still lingering in the background. Oh well. First is the worst. Get it out of the way.

2. Astro Bot - platinum'd

I technically finished this before the new year, but I'm marking it complete now because I got all of the additions from the Gacha Machine now. Man oh man. What a game this was. I loved every second of it. Seeing the celebrated history of Sony's gaming franchises (and many third party ones) getting their flowers with the various Bots was lovely. Of course, the game itself played like a dream and looked gorgeous. The physics were magnificent. I can't recommend this game enough to all types of gamers. Favorite deep cut Bots were: Arc the Lad, Mad Maestro, Chrono Cross, and The Legend of Dragoon.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: December 27, 2025, 09:39:21 pm »

I also really enjoyed that my SS had a theme with their selections- the plan was to find a game from my list whose title starts with a letter in my name- nick.

n- nicktoons
i- IGPX
c- Carol's Sudoku
K- Konami Kids Playground- Frogger

Very clever!

Glad we had another successful year!

I'm glad you liked! I had a lot of fun buying for you. The PlayStation 2 is my favorite console of all time and combining that with the theme with your name was great.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: December 27, 2025, 09:37:33 pm »

I posted my full list on the first page. It includes dropped titles and demos.

It was a tough year. Thanks the gods for gaming!

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: December 27, 2025, 02:31:34 pm »

I'll be there!

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: December 26, 2025, 01:06:48 pm »

82. Mega Man X4 - X

I went this long without finishing my favorite Mega Man without X? Shame on me. I had an hour or so to kill on Christmas Eve so I decided to pop this in my Switch 2 and do the things. It was fun as always.

83. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered - platinum'd
The journey towards 150 platinum trophies continues with this misunderstood entry in the famous series. I don't care what anyone says: I love this game: story, characters, villains,experimental the gameplay was with the GFs, the Junctions, the Drawing, the weapon crafting, and more. I love how it takes place in a setting that looks very much like our own world. I love all the plot reveals, the music that comes with them, and the way it utilizes the best card mini-game in the franchise to totally bust the game wide open. If you know what you're doing, then it doesn't take long to turn Squall (and Quistis) into a dynamic duo. My final party was Squall, Quistis (best character/girl/waifu/whatever) and Irvine. Aside from the ridiculous Obel Lake sidequest, I had a ton of fun getting this platinum. The final dungeon is worthy of its own side story.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: December 23, 2025, 10:47:41 am »

81. Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge

Water's Edge gave me a watershed moment: I finished my first PC game. Ever. One of my friends that likes to watch me game and vice versa suggested that we play this. She used to play a ton of these back in the day, and she said that since I like mysteries, visual novels, puzzles, and Japan, then I might like this. I'll start with the bad: the control scheme. Point and click adventures of this era are pretty awful and I don't know how people had the patience for them. This isn't just limited to navigation. Simply interacting with things requires certain steps that make zero sense. You're forced to listen to others state everything from start to finish - you can't skip dialogue. I may write a review that lists all of my issues because they really stacked up. Also, this game is supposed to be for a younger crowd but I don't see how in the hell folks finished some of these puzzles without guidance. There's one near the end of the game where you're supposed to cut ropes before a timer runs out or poor Nancy drowns. Seriously! Home-girl gets killed in this "for kids game." On the other hand, I loved the Kyoto setting, and getting to use the JR system was fun and nostalgic since I've been to Kyoto. The non-guide puzzles were super clever, and the story was entertaining thanks to the phoned-in (but racially problematic) voice-acting. Some of the puzzles allowed me to flex my knowledge over the Japanese language. I think the best part of the game was that it was another fun, comical, bonding moment with a friend. I doubt I'll play more in the series but hey, I gave something completely new a shot and that counts for something!

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General / Re: Gaming/Collecting Goals for 2026

« on: December 22, 2025, 11:49:04 am »

I think my only gaming goal is to get make either FF Tactics or SaGa Frontier my 150th platinum. I'm not sure which one yet, but either one will be exciting. I've been enjoying planning out which games I'll be playing en route, too.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: December 16, 2025, 11:59:15 am »

After an incredibly busy week, I've finally been able to start catching up with things. I'm glad that there were some who were able to get together for a group meetup and unbox what was available at the time, and what's better is that everyone so far has enjoyed their gifts! In particular, I'm glad I gifted the Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack to kashell, which I'm sure will get much enjoyment whether it's on display or being played during a car ride.

And if I'm understanding some of the many rules to phonetic linguistics, then I think my username would be transcribed as /'da:bi/ or DAH-bee, with an extended vowel a sound.

Thanks again! Funnily enough, before we started recording, I mentioned that I started a replay of Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. The timing was perfect.

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General / Re: A Year in Review - 2025

« on: December 16, 2025, 10:02:28 am »

Favorite 2025 Release: Lots of good stuff was released this year, which was surprising. I have to give it to Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles.

Least Favorite 2025 Release: I should have known better. Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army.

Favorite Game Played in 2025: As if there was any doubt: Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles.

Least Favorite Game Played in 2025: I dropped a lot of games this year, all of which were released in 2025. The one that takes the cake is still Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army.

Sleeper Hit of 2025: It wasn't released in 2025, but I did finish Reynatis at the start of the year. Fun sleeper hit for those that like the niche RPGs like me.

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2025: Learning the truth about Maelle in Clair Obscur. She was my favorite character since the game opened up.

Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2025: The collecting has gone down substantially over the years, but I have to give a shout out to dhaabi for gifting me with the Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack. I love having it displayed.

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General / A Year in Review - 2025

« on: December 15, 2025, 12:30:43 pm »

Let's do a recap and roundup for the year, shall we?

Categories:

Favorite 2025 Release: What's your favorite game that you played released this year?

Least Favorite 2025 Release: On the opposite end, what's your least favorite game released this year?

Favorite Game Played in 2025: What game this year earns your spot for best game ever?

Least Favorite Game Played in 2025: What's your least favorite game that you played this year?

Sleeper Hit of 2025: If you have one, what's your personal sleeper hit for 2025?

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2025: What moment in a game you played this sticks in your head the strongest? Was it something awesome? Something tragic? Something completely over the top? Keep spoilers to a minimum or mark them if you can.

Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2025: Share a story about a cool find from this year!

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 12, 2025, 02:55:44 pm »

A new Mega Man -

(YAY!)

- coming in 2027

(...oh)

Jokes aside, it looks a lot like Mega Man 11, which is my least favorite in the entire franchise. So, my excitement for this is pretty bottom of the barrel. I feel like some sort of new X would have been more well-received.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: December 11, 2025, 10:10:20 am »

80. The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch

I have no idea what compelled me to not only get a functioning PSP, but to go through this game that I dropped years ago. I dropped it for good reason: this game, much like A Tear of Vermilion, is bad. What gets me is that it looks like it could be good. The ingredients are there. The presentation is classic and crisp. The gameplay features tried-and-true combat and development. But it just doesn't work. It's dull. The translation is horrible. The story, while interesting from a high level, is hard to take seriously because of said translation. I laughed when a boss' last word was, "Whuuff". Even the bond between Chris and Jurio and their coming of age is hard to take seriously. Then there's the pacing. This is a short game that feels like a long game. Progress is tricky too because you have to talk to one person or stand in one area (mercifully marked by a red exclamation point) to move things along. I'm all about giving the PSP some love but it seems like each time I do, I get let down.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: December 11, 2025, 07:55:10 am »

It was great hanging out last night! For those that don't watch, dhaabi was my gifter and he was extra awesome. I was given 13 Sentinels on Switch, the entire .hack//SIGN series on DVD, and probably my favorite gift of all is the gorgeous soundtrack to Final Fantasy VIII from DigiCube.

Very thankful, and very happy that I was able to get back into participating this year.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: December 10, 2025, 07:23:04 am »

We're looking at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Central.

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General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: December 09, 2025, 07:35:09 am »

I've been selling stuff on eBay since 2006 and I've dealt with some real pieces of work over the years. My worst experience was actually as a buyer. I bought a game from someone, can't even remember which game it was, that was shipped in a Pop Tart box and surprise, it arrived damaged. I left negative feedback (I probably should have reached out to them first, but whatever), and they sent me a message threatening me with physical violence if I didn't change or remove the feedback. Of course I reported them and their 1000+ feedback account got banned. They then proceeded to make new accounts just so they could continue to harass me and even began buying items I would post and then never paying for them. This went on for several months. Ebay was incredibly unhelpful in all this and just did wack a mole with banning their new accounts. I essentially had to take a long break from ebay and began just ignoring their messages. Several months later I went to post some items to sell and they had finally cooled off.


Not nearly that bad, but most recently I had a guy give me Neutral feedback (at least it wasn't negative) because the item he bought wasn't as "New" as he wanted it to be even though the item was...brand new. I wish I were kidding. I guarantee it was because he planned on sending it off to be graded and was mad he couldn't get like a 90+ condition rating or whatever. Modern Pokemon card people are insane.

Are people still game grading? Isn't that supposed to be just one giant farce?

Anyways - interesting stories you've got. Really, nothing surprises me anymore. Threatening with violence is probably the most extreme thing I've heard (and I know that there are some lunatics out there) but he was just being a poor sport.