CAG Niche Backloggers Anonymous (Monster Hunter World!) [February]

I decided to use one of my saves near the end of my first playthrough to gather more personas for the compendium trophy. I figured in my New Game+ I would need to either grind experience or grind money to get the high level personas. I'd rather not become super powerful from grinding.

When I first beat the game I was at level 75. When I re-beat the game with the added personas I was at level 89. Grinding levels near the end of the game is pretty easy up to level 88. It only becomes a pain after that because every ambush results in an instant win.

I forgot how powerful some of the high level personas are. I forgot about the skills that halve the cost of HP and SP skills.

 
Missed Max confidants by just one on my no guide original game. Gamer Kid was all ready to give me that 10 too. Oh well *shrugs*. If only I would have started my temperance and fortune abuse at level 7 rather than waiting till level 10 (just overlooked them). 

Also, didnt realize how powerful despair-all with aliment boost could be. The last (?) dungeon has so far been trivial. Poor Thor and Dionysus!

 
I played a bit of Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess. I picked up a used copy at Gamestop cheap with a kongregate coupon. Setting up a combo on the grid is enjoyable.

And I watched Persona 5: The Day Breakers. It would have been okay to watch it before playing the game, but I wanted to be introduced to everything through the game.

 
I'm still working on Persona 5. Well I guess its more like I'm taking a break since I really don't want to finish it.

One of the main reasons I haven't had a poll for June yet, but I don't want to be selfish so June is up for other games as well. The other big reason being that not a lot of big niche games are coming out, at least none I am aware of, maybe Tekken 7 or Guilty Gear Rev 2. And with E3 and stuff soon, I don't know if we are gonna get a big game like P5 for everyone to focus on again.

But it is the backlog group, so suggestions for backlog games are welcomed, and maybe we can find one everyone wants to play. I'm thinking either Nier: Automata or Gravity Rush Remastered for me.

 
For me I've either recently started or want to play more: Trails of Cold Steel, Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart, The Last Story (Wii), Nier: Automata.

 
A new expansion for FF14 comes out in June so I'm getting ready for that. I'll probably be busy June and July with that game. Anyone else play FF14?

 
I've been working on my backlog since I finished P5. Nothing coming out that interests me too much until FF XII remaster. Really looking forward to that.

I'm over halfway thru Trails of Cold Steel 1, and slowly working my way to try and finish it within the next couple of weeks. Its not quite as interesting as Trails in the Sky story-wise, and the pace seems very slow, but its pretty solid. 

 
Gershomcz said:
A new expansion for FF14 comes out in June so I'm getting ready for that. I'll probably be busy June and July with that game. Anyone else play FF14?
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My wife and I play on and off. We have the expansion pre-ordered, but I'm not positive I'm keeping it. With my backlog how it is, and all the games still coming out, I'm not sure I want to pay a subscription for a game right now.

I'm still going through P5 and BotW, and I'm picking up Nier this week, so those are what I'll be playing this month.
 
BlackRockWaifu said:
I'm still working on Persona 5. Well I guess its more like I'm taking a break since I really don't want to finish it.
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I'm curious, why don't you want to finish it?

I kind of feel like once you have beaten it already, it gets to be a chore on the second playthrough. But it opens possibilities to take different paths that you didn't take the first time around. And you also notice more things that you didn't notice the first time you played.

 
Tora Chan said:
I'm curious, why don't you want to finish it?
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Mainly because I was so emotionally invested in it, beating it feels kinda like having to move away from home or something, or moving to another city. Usually for long JRPGs like this, I end up missing the characters and story a lot, and think about the game even when I play something else. It's kind of childish I admit, but I tend to easily get immersed in stuff, even movies and TV shows.

Well I did finally beat it though! And just like I felt when I beat Persona 3, it kinda feels like a part of me has gone missing. Like a bit of me has no purpose now. It's kinda depressing too, and I actually really like the ending, so it wasn't that which made me sad but having to say good bye to the game.

I do felt the ending dragged on a bit though, especially after the final boss. It reminded me of the extended DVD version of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, if anyone else remembers that movie. Where after the final fight and the ring scene, they went home and there was an hour and thirty minutes left in the movie. Literally every Hobbit got their happy ending, the elves and dwarves all got their endings, Gandalf had to shake everyone's hand individually, etc. Seems like they were going for a way to tie all loose ends and it worked for the most part. But those final cutscenes were awesome, a terrific way to end the story and I got no complaints. Lots of surprises too which were nice.

One thing though is that the credits song didn't impress me too much, where as the Persona 3 one gave me goosebumps. Also never beat Persona 4's true ending, but that credits song is also terrific. So this song I felt didn't live up to the hype.

 
Also umm... what the hell!???

WKcat5W.jpg


Okay... I don't want to think too far into this but... it does resemble something of a phallic nature, does it not? Throbbing...? King...? Desire...? Irritable...? Tentacles...!? Oh yeah, and I think it's also strong against physical attacks... who would've thought...

I don't want to say it but... here it goes... looks like a Penis-headed Xenomorph.

Edit: Now that I think about it, they should've made it level 69 too just for the giggles. And give it a move that causes charm, like Marin Karin or something. 

 
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BlackRockWaifu said:
I do felt the ending dragged on a bit though, especially after the final boss. It reminded me of the extended DVD version of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, if anyone else remembers that movie. Where after the final fight and the ring scene, they went home and there was an hour and thirty minutes left in the movie.
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lol you've obviously never read the books. The ring was destroyed early in book 6 (second half of Return of the King). So basically, 40% of Return of the King is supposed to be the aftermath.

Edit: SMT has tons of sexual monsters of that nature. Male and female alike.

 
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BlackRockWaifu said:
Mainly because I was so emotionally invested in it, beating it feels kinda like having to move away from home or something, or moving to another city. Usually for long JRPGs like this, I end up missing the characters and story a lot, and think about the game even when I play something else. It's kind of childish I admit, but I tend to easily get immersed in stuff, even movies and TV shows.

Well I did finally beat it though! And just like I felt when I beat Persona 3, it kinda feels like a part of me has gone missing. Like a bit of me has no purpose now. It's kinda depressing too, and I actually really like the ending, so it wasn't that which made me sad but having to say good bye to the game.

I do felt the ending dragged on a bit though, especially after the final boss. It reminded me of the extended DVD version of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, if anyone else remembers that movie. Where after the final fight and the ring scene, they went home and there was an hour and thirty minutes left in the movie. Literally every Hobbit got their happy ending, the elves and dwarves all got their endings, Gandalf had to shake everyone's hand individually, etc. Seems like they were going for a way to tie all loose ends and it worked for the most part. But those final cutscenes were awesome, a terrific way to end the story and I got no complaints. Lots of surprises too which were nice.

One thing though is that the credits song didn't impress me too much, where as the Persona 3 one gave me goosebumps. Also never beat Persona 4's true ending, but that credits song is also terrific. So this song I felt didn't live up to the hype.
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Yeah I can completely relate to the feeling of "loss" after beating JRPGs. They are so well written and have such great characters and character development that you actually care and feel attached to them even after you turn the console off. I still feel goosebumps when I hear the song for saving Nanako in P4G...

Its crazy that games can be so powerful and have use feeling some type of way about a bunch of pixels lol

 
I did nothing for a week after I finished p5. Then I started a second playthrough lol
I haven't played in about a week though.
 
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elessar123 said:
lol you've obviously never read the books. The ring was destroyed early in book 6 (second half of Return of the King). So basically, 40% of Return of the King is supposed to be the aftermath.
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You caught me there, never read any of the books besides The Hobbit for high school. To be fair, it was only in the extended director's cut, I think the theater version was much shorter. Either way, it was strange for audiences in the theater, and I think its similar in P5 where I was kind of expecting a super twist in the end, but mainly waiting for it to end.

There was a little tiny part where I think they might be alluding to a spin-off with Sojiro.

Where you could choose to hand over your journal to him, and in one of the last cutscenes, he takes it out and seems like he was gonna read it or something. I was thinking he would discover more about the metaverse and what happened, maybe setting up for a new villain? I'm probably thinking too hard into it though, but that scene seemed really suspicious to me.

Tora Chan said:
Yeah I can completely relate to the feeling of "loss" after beating JRPGs. They are so well written and have such great characters and character development that you actually care and feel attached to them even after you turn the console off. I still feel goosebumps when I hear the song for saving Nanako in P4G...

Its crazy that games can be so powerful and have use feeling some type of way about a bunch of pixels lol
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Yeah, I think video games are the best medium to cause this feeling too. The feeling of connecting with the characters/story and not wanting to let go. Same happened for me with Nier and Horizon.

Not that other things like movies, books, TV shows don't cause this feeling, but with games we actually play the character and make decisions through the protagonist. That way the bonds we make feel closer to home, and it's more immersive. Like I love the movie Forrest Gump, but at no point do I feel like Tom Hanks in that movie and bond with Jenny and Bubba. Or the Harry Potter books, I don't think I'm stepping in the shoes of Harry and make bonds with Ron and Hermione. But in P5, especially with naming your character, I do feel I'm in the shoes of the protagonist. Just my 2 cents. Imagine playing it with VR and 1st person...

 
BlackRockWaifu said:
Not that other things like movies, books, TV shows don't cause this feeling, but with games we actually play the character and make decisions through the protagonist. That way the bonds we make feel closer to home, and it's more immersive. Like I love the movie Forrest Gump, but at no point do I feel like Tom Hanks in that movie and bond with Jenny and Bubba. Or the Harry Potter books, I don't think I'm stepping in the shoes of Harry and make bonds with Ron and Hermione. But in P5, especially with naming your character, I do feel I'm in the shoes of the protagonist. Just my 2 cents. Imagine playing it with VR and 1st person...
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That's just cuz you're a weeb.

 
BlackRockWaifu said:
You caught me there, never read any of the books besides The Hobbit for high school. To be fair, it was only in the extended director's cut, I think the theater version was much shorter. Either way, it was strange for audiences in the theater, and I think its similar in P5 where I was kind of expecting a super twist in the end, but mainly waiting for it to end.
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Yea, I know why they did it for the movies. The books wouldn't be that spectacular without a lot of cinematic changes. Magic isn't exactly strong in Tolkien's world. Weapons that glow in the presence of enemy is like a rare artifact, and lighting pine cones while wearing one of the Elven ring of fire was a major magic feat.

So the ending of RotK was basically uniting the two kingdoms of man, and showing that the 4 hobbits have grown on their adventures (including physically, for Merry and Pippin cause of the Ent draught). Not very good cinematically. Though they took out the Scouring of the Shire, which would have been ok for film, probably.

 
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BlackRockWaifu said:
Not that other things like movies, books, TV shows don't cause this feeling, but with games we actually play the character and make decisions through the protagonist. That way the bonds we make feel closer to home, and it's more immersive. Like I love the movie Forrest Gump, but at no point do I feel like Tom Hanks in that movie and bond with Jenny and Bubba. Or the Harry Potter books, I don't think I'm stepping in the shoes of Harry and make bonds with Ron and Hermione. But in P5, especially with naming your character, I do feel I'm in the shoes of the protagonist. Just my 2 cents. Imagine playing it with VR and 1st person...
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The one 'advantage' that I give to books over movies, even though the story is created by someone else, the "world" is created solely by your mind. To keep it in the P5 vein, each person's cognition affects how they view the book. Maybe in your vision of the world, people are mostly thin, in my vision, they may have darker skin tone, and in still another's they all speak with a slight accent. That can make a book's world even more personal than a video game where you make (limited) choices.

But for me, the feeling of 'loss' on completing a video game is less because of a "blank slate" character, and is more caused by the more "fully realized" characters. I had a similar feeling leaving P4G as I did ending GTA IV. Why? Because the side characters felt connected to the main character due to the writing.

I cant really comment on the LotR talk. My Dad used to try and get me to listen to audio tapes of the books when I was a child. I watched the first movie and was bored to tears as it just felt too long....then it ended at cliffhanger. I never read or watched anything else.

Dad used to call me "hobbit" though.

 
I didn't watch past the first movie either. The books are great, but definitely not as exciting as Harry Potter and all the newer young adult fantasy titles. But it's still a classic. I actually hated the last half of RotK when I first read it, because it was a lot of nothingness. I was older (obviously) when I read it again, and it became my favorite part.

Elessar was taken from RotK, so... I'm obviously biased.

 
A couple of things I've been meaning to say/ask about P5.

This scene gave me chills when I first saw it. It's towards the end of the game. It keeps being hinted throughout Gamer King's storyline, but it's a really cool moment when you see it mentioned like this.

lye7qVP.jpg

Also, I'm starting to have Persona 5 withdrawal symptoms. No game I try to play really gives me that motivation to continue playing it and I want to go back to Persona. So I've never watched the Persona 5 anime, that supposed to be a prequel I think. Anyone watch it before? Is it good? I think it might help alleviate the P5 itches a bit.

Also, anyone else get the feeling that Akechi has the hots for the Protagonist? I saw someone mentioned it somewhere, and has been thinking about it since. Not like there's anything wrong with that, but just curious if it's actually hinted by the game or something people want to see so they just stretched it out.

 
I think the Persona 5 anime is one of the Mementos sidequests, but just a little bit more in-depth. It's short and alright. I think I'd enjoy it more after playing the game rather than before, personally.

 
BlackRockWaifu said:
Also, anyone else get the feeling that Akechi has the hots for the Protagonist? I saw someone mentioned it somewhere, and has been thinking about it since. Not like there's anything wrong with that, but just curious if it's actually hinted by the game or something people want to see so they just stretched it out.
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With the amount of Doujinshi that depict a romantic relationship between Joker & Akechi, I would say many people feel the same way.

*spoilers*

But seriously, when I reached the end of the game, it did seem like Akechi at least highly respected Joker; you could even go on to say that he admired Joker to some extent; now if that is romantic or not, I'm not sure... the game never clearly depicted which "team" Akechi plays for. I felt that part of Akechi regretted his predicament and wished that things were different so he could be partners or have some other form of a closer relationship with Joker.

The game isn't subtle about it either. From the first time Joker & Akechi interact at the field trip to the news place, Akechi is intrigued by Joker and even tells him that he wishes to speak on future occasions. And when he joins your party, he seems to pay the most attention to you instead of the others, almost as if its only you two doing work and no one else. I don't even think he commented on the abilities of another party member to be honest. Pair that with his frequent visits to Leblanc, running up on you at the train station, etc. I'd say there is definitely a connection.

Oh and P.S., due to his working with Shido's bitch ass, Akechi had to know about Joker's criminal record by the hands of Shido's false accusation. I would believe that Akechi, with how much he hated his father, felt some sort of sympathy for Joker because of what happened. Granted, he still sets you up, but he could've felt a little bad because Shido screwed you over. Just my 2 cents :)

 
BlackRockWaifu said:
A couple of things I've been meaning to say/ask about P5.

This scene gave me chills when I first saw it. It's towards the end of the game. It keeps being hinted throughout Gamer King's storyline, but it's a really cool moment when you see it mentioned like this.
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I agree. I LOVED the way they showed your impact in the lives of your social links, and how they did their parts to show how special you are to them. Made doing the social links worth it.

And who could dislike Shinya? That's one cool little mofo

 
I'm gonna update the Hall of Fame for Persona 5, so who here beat the game/got the platinum for it?

I read back a couple of posts, and for those who beat it I got: Tora Chan, Elessar123, BlackRockWaifu, Hostyl1, Godofwar7, Thatguy1513, Krymner, Pheria, Deadofnight, Draekon.

Here's a few who haven't given an update yet since they last played: Draco259, Nitrosmob, Sirpikaz, Gershomcz, Umbry, Commodore Wheeler, Evrae.

Anyone else I missed? Let me know!

 
I'm still playing, we had what, two overwatch events during this? ugh. I just hit 9/4, I'm what, halfway? lets see if I can muscle this out this month.

 
I would definitely advise you 3 to be aware of the spoilers in this thread. Since most of us have been talking about it pretty openly recently. But keep up the hard work! I guarantee you, the ending will be sooooo worth it!

sirpikaz said:
I'm still playing, we had what, two overwatch events during this? ugh. I just hit 9/4, I'm what, halfway? lets see if I can muscle this out this month.
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Yeah 2 OW events, and pretty good ones too. I think you're a little pass halfway, I rather use the # of hours played, as long as you haven't idled too much, to determine where you are right now. So keep in mind, once you hit the 3 digit mark of hours played, you should be close to finishing it.

Gershomcz said:
I haven't played P5 in weeks. Been busy getting ready for FF14 expansion.
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Yeah, I had to take several breaks, but eventually got through it. I think its better this way, it's great to take a break from that game seeing how long and repetitive it can be, and P5 itself can serve as a break from other games.

draco259 said:
Finally got back to it after the OW event. Haven't quite beat it yet, but I should soon.
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Nice! I see you working hard on it almost everyday! You should be close, and it'll be worth it in the end, trust me.

 
 thanks for the warning will not read thread.... powering through all my built up requests so i can power through the next part of the story.....

 
BlackRockWaifu said:
Nice! I see you working hard on it almost everyday! You should be close, and it'll be worth it in the end, trust me.
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Yeah, I know I'm getting pretty close to the end. I don't want to think about that though.....I'm just going to keep telling myself that it won't end...
 
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draco259 said:
Yeah, I know I'm getting pretty close to the end. I don't want to think about that though.....I'm just going to keep telling myself that it won't end...
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There may come a time when you actually feel like you got this wish! :rofl:

BTW: Will there be a poll for July (as June is over half over)?

 
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Sorry guys, I've been out of the loop for a while.

We're definitely gonna switch things up next month! So vote/suggest games again! We're using the same suggestion format, 1 game = 3 votes, 2 games = 2 votes each, 3 games = 1 vote each. 

I haven't thought about what games to play next month yet exactly. I'm still on that Tekken 7 train. I might resume Nier: Automata though, or even play the original Nier. 

 
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Cool, new game for July then.

Looking thru my backlog, nothing really jumped out at me, so I'll just throw out these suggestions:

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

Final Fantasy Type-0

 
I don't know what to play either, but visitors + comic con = portable for me, for sure. None of them strong wants, so I'll just vote for 3 to get them on the board.

Ever Oasis

Operation Abyss

Stranger of Sword City

 
Votes tallied up.

There's two systems I kind of want to implement but might be a bit complicated. Wanted to get some opinions on it first.

So I noticed that a few of us, myself included, sometimes have no idea what game we actually want to play next month and throw in a couple of games we might play just for the heck of it. I feel like it might take the spotlight away from games that people actually will play and already are playing/planning to play. I thought having weighted votes would help, and it did a bit, but maybe these systems will help more.

If two people both vote for a single game only, an extra vote is counted. Each additional person who votes for only that one game is an extra vote, so 4 votes. Maybe a bit too complicated?

If someone is already playing that game in anticipation of next month, the votes are doubled. This might not work very well though, depending on how long the game is to beat?

 
Eh... I don't really get it but I believe in you BRW. I still need to finish Catherine, yakuza 5 and fire emblem echoes. I probably won't play any of them next month, but... well voting is important... And stuff...
 
For next month I nominate:

Ico
Corpse Party
Record of Agarest War

All games I picked up from PSN sales.

I just started my second Persona 5 playthrough this past weekend with New Game+. It's going to be my trophy run, but I'm not going to focus in on playing it. I bought the Dancing All Night and Catherine costume packs, and Makoto's PS4 theme.

I also started playing Killzone: Shadow Fall, and I went back to Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit. I hope to have Killzone finished by the end of the month. Bon Appetit I just play one girl's story mode every other day or so. I'll go for it's platinum. After some practice on a suggested song I already picked up the game's hardest trophy.

 
Then I'll put in a single vote for Corpse Party. I started that game years ago and at least cleared the first whole story area.  Then in the second area I got stuck on a puzzle and died several times. I get creeped out by the (unskippable) audio death scenes so doing that multiple times in a row broke me and I put it down and haven't touched it since.  Perhaps if it's a community thing, I can power through it.

Plus it's portable so that should work for elessar.

 
Personally I think I'll be trying to tackle some rhythm games somewhat soon, I've just been too lazy to run an optical audio rather than use HDMI ARC for lag. I don't think they work well for something like this since there isn't really a story to talk about as a group, so I'll throw out a few others:

Pokemon Sun/Moon (not very 'niche', I guess. My original plan was to wait for a Switch port but that's taking a while)

Samurai Warriors 4

Senran Kagura Estival Versus

 
hostyl1 said:
Then I'll put in a single vote for Corpse Party. I started that game years ago and at least cleared the first whole story area. Then in the second area I got stuck on a puzzle and died several times. I get creeped out by the (unskippable) audio death scenes so doing that multiple times in a row broke me and I put it down and haven't touched it since. Perhaps if it's a community thing, I can power through it.

Plus it's portable so that should work for elessar.
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I was actually going to put Corpse Party, but I wasn't sure who had it, and which one to put. There's 2 on the PSP and one on the Vita (I just bought a used Vita one this past weekend, but I don't know if they need to be played in order). So I opted for a second dungeon crawler instead.

Pheria said:
Personally I think I'll be trying to tackle some rhythm games somewhat soon, I've just been too lazy to run an optical audio rather than use HDMI ARC for lag. I don't think they work well for something like this since there isn't really a story to talk about as a group, so I'll throw out a few others:
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No, but we could do daily/weekly top scores on a specific song.

 
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Tallied up all the votes. It seems to be very spread out, most games with only 1 vote. Corpse party in the lead with 4, Yakuza 0 2nd with 3. It seems after Persona 5, everyone is a bit open to anything and are branching out.

It leads me to think, what if instead of picking a single game for the month, we picked a series or a genre or a system?

For instance, if we nominate Neptunia U, instead of just that game for the month, we do the entire Neptunia series and any game from that franchise.

Or, if we do it by genre, like someone mentioned they wanted to play a rhythm game. Instead of just picking Project Diva X for the month, we do all Japanese Rhythm games like DJ Max and IA/VT.

Or, if we do it by system, it would be all PS4/PS3/Vita/etc. games. That one might be a bit much though.

There's also one more thing where we could do it by type. Like some games are Sci-fi, others are fantasy. If we do Sci-fi, it doesn't have to be the same genre, like Steins;Gate and Nier: Automata both are Sci-fi but have completely different gameplay.

We can also do it by developer/publisher, but this one might be a bit weird, since the games wouldn't exactly be related in a way that could tie into conversations.

Anyone have any other ideas? Or want any of the ones listed? It seems if it's spread out so much, we wouldn't get a lot of people able to participate, and most people seem to want to play their own choices already. A wider category is more enticing, allow people to switch games midway, and more people can join up for the month. Downside is the more open the category is, the harder it is to have a central and relatable conversation. I'll have to drop the Wall of Fame, or at least rethink it.

 
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Yeah, that's kinda the problem with backlogs, you don't know where people's heads are. It's actually more simple with a tentpole release like Persona 5. We've been looking forward to it so long, it simply trumped all backlogs. I'm down for whatever though.

 
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