What Are You Playing: 9 Years since the Last Dragon Age

[Wookieetank]

Started playing Wild Arms 1 with my daughter, and between her bedtime and busy schedule, got impatient with our progress, so I picked up playing Wild Arms: Alter Code F on the side for my Wild Arms fix. Plays a lot like Wild Arms 3.5, just without horseback combat (boo). Story wise Alter Code matches rather closely with WA1, with the big changes being the combat setup, tools used for solving puzzles (pulled some of the options in from WA3) and flipping the world map along the y-axis (which keeps exploring surprisingly fresh). Now I just want to replay the whole series once I'm done with Alter Code, but am sorely tempted to skip to WA3 (personal favorite), but WA2 is a strong entry too.

[warty goblin]

Finally wrapped up Chapter 4 of Knight's Tale today, that being the end of the main story, with chapter being the endgame stuff. I started this in early/mid February, and it took about 66 hours all told.

Of the various XCOMish things I've played, I'd rank this very near the top. The combat feels right for the setting, with the heavily armored characters in particular feeling tough in a way I don't think I've really encountered elsewhere in tactics games or RPGs. Plenty of games have tanky characters, but the armor system makes it feel like actual protection. I went Old Faith, which gave a very magic inflected playthrough by late game, and the combination of spells and knights in armor was extremely satisfying.

The other mechanical thing I thought worked extremely well was having unique characters in a loose class system. Because the skill tree for each character was unique, my roster got less homogeneous as the game went. This reduced tedium considerably, as I could switch out one Champion or Sage for another and it wasn't necessarily a downgrade so much as an alternative playtime.

I liked the story pretty well too. The cosmology of Avalon was generally vague, which might really irritate some, but I thought it was a solid high fantasy interpretation of an Otherworld, not really here or there. I could have done with more character interaction (if you can put Lancelot and Guinevere in a parry together they should really say something to each other!) but the core was a pretty clever inversion of the mythology. Probably annoying to purists (how exactly you can be a purist about what's basically a thousand year long unmanaged collaborative fan fiction project I don't know, but fans will get upset about such things) but a lot of fun for me to see various pieces of Brittish Isles folklore knitted together willy nilly.

Overall I'd highly recommend it if you like turn based games about hitting dudes with axes. I think I'll mess around a bit with the endgame stuff, but now it's time to Cyberpunk.

[Kardwill]

Then I got bored of FO4 and played Skyrim for like a day, before I got annoyed by it (I can't tell a follower that I'll think about making them Steward, then do it a day later?) and stopped that, too. So, I picked up Surviving Mars again to play way too late in the night. I am also annoyed by it. I may be getting depressed.

Maybe you need to shake things with other types of games? I know I burnt out of RPGs, 4X and Turn-based Strategy (my favorite genres) a few years ago. Playing them became something between a chore and a bad habit. I broke out of this funk by playing different kind of games that weren't my jam before, like action platformers, roguelites or beat them alls. Playing shorter games (around 10-30 hours start to finish) also helped break the tedium of those 100+hours monsters.

[Cespenar]

Honestly, there should be a law against 100+h RPGs. :p

No, but seriously.

Another thing I 'm liking about Yakuza Like a Dragon is that it looks like it wraps a pretty well rounded story (with combat paddings and all) under 40h. Would prefer even less but that's me.

[Anonymouswizard]

Ended up wanting to restart WotR to switch to a Dhampir Rogue, so I hoped over to Rogue Trader for a bit. Finally got my Psyker to the point I could select another power, and decied to go for Santic Powers over Telepathy or more minor Pyromancy stuff. So now I can buff Resolve and set things on fire, and honestly once I get an actual Psy Rating this combined with both Psyker and Officer loving that Willpower Bonus will become ridiculous.

Although I can see why people like Idira, that +1 Psy Rating is ridiculous in the first act. I might actually find a use for her if I can work out a late game build that exploits Psychic Phenomena, but that's for another playthrough. I'm still planning on throwing her into the first Black Ship I see.

[Erloas]

I've been playing a more diverse set of games than I have in a long time. Played Don't Starve Together with my wife for a while and recently moved on to Stardew Valley, neither of which are games I normally would have played.
Recently finished XCOM 2 for the first time, a genre totally in my wheelhouse, just hadn't gotten around to. Mixed in some Cities Skyline 2 too. And just started on Diablo 4 since it came to GamePass

[Anonymouswizard]

Taking a break from big RPGs with a trip to Stardew Valley. Started a new game and everything is going a lot faster than it used to. Currently the big bottleneck is saving up 4000 coins for a coop.

But it was when I was fishing in the river in my dungarees with my masculine haircut that I realised 'hang on, I've made a lesbian'. I guess it's time to shove flowers in Emily's face...

[NRSASD]

Playing some Rimworld these days, in light of the new expansion. Haven’t played since Ideology, so I was a bit surprised to discover that by the end of the first day, 2 of my 3 colonists were pregnant. We’re going for a boreal forest base that will hopefully blossom into a monster research facility, but currently the only monsters we contain are of the kindergarten variety.

[SerTabris]

Taking a break from big RPGs with a trip to Stardew Valley. Started a new game and everything is going a lot faster than it used to. Currently the big bottleneck is saving up 4000 coins for a coop.

But it was when I was fishing in the river in my dungarees with my masculine haircut that I realised 'hang on, I've made a lesbian'. I guess it's time to shove flowers in Emily's face...

Well, I'm sure she'll appreciate you not blatantly ignoring that you've clearly made a lesbian, unlike some video game developers I could mention...

[NeoVid]

A game I didn't even know about when it was originally released just rereleased: Gigantic: Rampage Edition. I got it because a good friend was a huge fan of it, and I support the trend of games being brought back from the dead. The servers were melting down on release day, but I kept playing anyway, and now I'm totally addicted. Gigantic is a super stylized capture-point hero shooter with one MOBA element: You can heavily customize your character's abilities over the course of a match. It's also got a totally unique win condition, or at least one I've never seen in my lifetime of gaming: The energy from the capture points is used to release your main base's Guardian to attack the enemy team's, and temporarily make it vulnerable to being attacked by your team. You also summon creatures on the capture points to hold them for you, which have their own array of special abilities, and can be upgraded if you're willing to sacrifice ultimate charge to do it... There's several layers of strategy in this game that I've never seen before!

Before you get to those layers of strategy, there's also a more straightforward mode, Rush, that new players have to start with. But, you get access to the real mode, Clash, at just player level 9, and doing all the tutorials gets you at least 4 account levels, so it's not any sort of punishing grind. Speaking of a lack of punishing grind, the game isn't F2P, so it doesn't need to drag the experience out to tempt you to buy (nonexistent) microtransactions! It released two days ago, I've played a fraction as much as the real fanatics, and I've already got all the heroes unlocked.

And despite how unique Gigantic feels, it's also helping me recapture the feeling I had playing my all-time favorite hero shooter, Super Monday Night Combat! I don't think I'll be able to put this one down for a while...

[warty goblin]

So my goal of playing through Cyberpunk has hit the slight snag that my guaranteed game time is 6 - 7 AM, and my just out of bed brain and reflexes are ill suited to a twitchy and narratively complex shooter RPG.

Therefore I've reverted to an odd combination of World of Warships, Pillars of Eternity and Age of Wonders 4. This madness works by playing WoW until I get bored (1 match), then I doodle in PoE until such time as the overwriting and general cRPGishness of it overcomes my genuine affection for the beautiful 3d/2d art design (10 minutes or so) and then my brain has rebooted enough for AoW 4.

My current run requires careful consideration. I'm doing a T5 world with a mega powerful demon prince, if you beat him you win. Most of the world is blasted lava plains. You cannot regenerate HP on the volcanic plains.

Fortunately I knew this, and planned appropriately. Because in the game's fiction you are a godlike extraplaner wizard king, I figured any godlike wizard king trying to conquer a demon prince's realm would come prepared, I metagamed like a munchkin and showed up with a tribe of primal orcs who worship a giant wolf spirit. Orcs are a pretty simple chouce, they're tough and hard hitting. The primal background is a bit odd seeming, but it lets you build a temple that converts surrounding terrain to whatever is favored by their patron spirit. The big wolf likes forest, so I'm planting more trees than an airline trying to greenwash their reputation. Including on the blasted volcanic plains. Now I can heal on my home turf.

Better yet, if I load up on nature tomes, my dudes get progressively more and more buffed in forests. I'm going to fill all my forests with fae mists, then fuse my orcs with trees, so they're stealthy and fast moving in forests. Basically I'm going to create hippy forest strongholds, then slowly expand outwards and crush old demon-boy.

[IthilanorStPete]

So my goal of playing through Cyberpunk has hit the slight snag that my guaranteed game time is 6 - 7 AM

I do not understand morning people.

Most of the world is blasted lava plains. You cannot regenerate HP on the volcanic plains. [...]

The big wolf likes forest, so I'm planting more trees than an airline trying to greenwash their reputation. Including on the blasted volcanic plains. Now I can heal on my home turf.

What I'm hearing is that you managed to embed a game of Terra Nil in AoW 4. That's delightful.

[Anonymouswizard]

And that's Act 1 of Rogue Trader finished again, but this time I'm far happier with my character. The boss fight was ridiculously easy this time round despite going in with two sanctioned Psykers, one specced into Pyromancy, because I'd built Abelard as an absolute tank who kept them locked into melee range. The trick really does seem to be 'don't let them use their heavy bolter'.

Now it's time to explore Footfall, and hopefully get Heinrix back at some point. His build might be a little all over the place but at least he doesn't randomly summon demons.

[LibraryOgre]

I had a wild hair to play Mass Effect: Andromeda, and I'm mostly enjoying it (and am still avoiding BG3, I know). There's a LOT of rough places, though... SAM interrupting things to tell you the temperature has changed. Triggers that trigger way late. Lots of story cross-linking that didn't happen. Your Dad's memories for some reason tied to random in-game objects that seem to exist? Maybe? instead of actual achievements beyond "chase the glowing ball." But, I still like it overall. I like the "create your Ryder" character system, and I even find the Nomad to be not-hugely-annoying to drive. The ability to change gears and boost really help it over the Mako.

[Ionathus]

I've gone back to Subnautica for a second playthrough while I drag my feet on getting a gaming PC put together.

The central experience (explore, gather, craft, explore further, gather more...) is just one of the best I've ever had. They do such a good job of laying out the breadcrumb trail for you.

I'm also making significantly greater use of the propulsion cannon tool this time around. Makes grabbing food fish a breeze, and it makes fending off Stalkers way, way more fun. It even works on Crashfish -- and let me tell you, picking up those little bomb bastards and chucking them across the map (instead of rolling my eyes and swimming away for the fortieth time) is the most satisfying upgrade in the world.

[Beelzebub1111]

I am playing a stalker for the first time in city of hearoes and once you get your assassination power it almost feels like cheating. You can just stealth past all the enemies straight to the boss, take three damage inspirations and one shot him with no retaliation. the only time it doesnt work is if there is a cutscene that makes him know where you are.

[LibraryOgre]

In ME: Andromeda, I have the Pull power, as my "primer". But, every time I do, I think of this comic.

https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-28

Spoiler

Show

LEGS: You've got the basics. Head back to the ground. We're walking.

TINO: But... I can fly!

LEGS: We all can. These are very expensive uniforms.

TINO: But... You can fly! Why would you walk anywhere?

LEGS: Do you know what we call flying soldiers on the battlefield?

TINO: Air support?

LEGS: Skeet.

[Anonymouswizard]

Still on Stardew Valley, and catching that bloody walleye is driving me insane. The rest of the night fishing bundle is already pretty difficult, but
1) the Walleye is only available for two hours a day, of which you lose one if you don't want to collapse from exhaustion
2) it's only available when it's rainy, and
3) it seems to be one of the annoying fish to catch which constantly shoots to the other end of the bar

While other fishing bundles are annoying with fish only being available in certain seasons this one drives me up the wall.

On the other hand already got Emily up to five hearts, sheep are a long way off but I've stumbled across a lot of jade.now I just need a silo for hay storage and a shed to stick a ton of preserves jars in. Then once sprinklers worth actually using unlock next Farming level I'll be able to start cranking out artisan goods, which is where the money is.

[Ionathus]

Still on Stardew Valley, and catching that bloody walleye is driving me insane. The rest of the night fishing bundle is already pretty difficult, but
1) the Walleye is only available for two hours a day, of which you lose one if you don't want to collapse from exhaustion
2) it's only available when it's rainy, and
3) it seems to be one of the annoying fish to catch which constantly shoots to the other end of the bar

While other fishing bundles are annoying with fish only being available in certain seasons this one drives me up the wall.

You have my sympathies. Fishing in Stardew pushes all of my buttons in the worst way -- there's no frustration like having the bar almost full and then getting juked by the fish.

Are you doing cork bobber and a fishing buff? I didn't catch on to foods that buff fishing until late in my playthrough, but they were a game changer for expanding that margin of error.

[Batcathat]

I kinda like the fishing mechanic itself, it's just frustrating enough that it feels good when you get the hang of it and/or catch some particularly tricky fish. That said, keeping track of which fish can be caught where and when is kind of a headache, even using the wiki (I would love to see some stats on how many people complete the fishing bundles using only in-game information).

[Cespenar]

I have reached nearly the end of the Ace Attorney-like-but-Chinese Murders on the Yangtze River, and I'm a bit impressed. There are as always, bit of logic leaps when it comes to some of the evidence orders, but all in all, it has quite meticulous and interesting cases. Definite suggestion from me for the Ace likers.

[Cygnia]

This week, Epic had The Big Con for free, a quirky point & click game set in the 90's about a teenager trying to steal enough money to save her mom's video store.

[Form]

I kinda like the fishing mechanic itself, it's just frustrating enough that it feels good when you get the hang of it and/or catch some particularly tricky fish. That said, keeping track of which fish can be caught where and when is kind of a headache, even using the wiki (I would love to see some stats on how many people complete the fishing bundles using only in-game information).

That wiki is a lifesaver. It's what I used when I went and caught all the fish.

At first I hated the fishing minigame, but I quickly got used to it when I actually started doing it to the point where it actually got fun. As long as you don't do it too much.

[warty goblin]

What I'm hearing is that you managed to embed a game of Terra Nil in AoW 4. That's delightful.

Something like that, although with a lot more orcs who are also trees.

Actually pulled off a win in that game this morning. It took a certain amount of cheese and touch of save scumming, but it worked out by the skin of my teeth. This, more than any AoW 4 match to date absolutely nailed the feel of a long and horrible war against overwhelming demonic odds. Seriously, this thing got epic. My provinces were repeatedly burned to the ground, my capital was besieged, and I actually lost my second city briefly to a combined assault of demonic orcs and I think demonic goatmen (there was a lot of very evil free cities all of whom completely hated me, I really could not keep track). I had to crash my entire economy and force march a hero stack straight across the map to save my capital, while my leader and the actual army battered down the demon prince's capital's walls. This took eight turns. Five turns in, he launched a sally that, although it banished him to the void, destroyed most of my attacking army. So I had to force march my auxiliary hero back across the map to get exhausted reinforcements in place in time for the walls to fall, by which time the damn demon prince had respawned. But he didn't have much of an army left after his breakout attempt, so I was able to beat him down in the end.

At this point AoW 4 has absolutely cemented itself as my favorite game to come out last year. It's just a perfect fantasy epic simulator. I just play with a strict restriction that I autoresolve most fights, and only don't autoresolve if my leader is involved. This keeps the game from taking 10,000 years.

[AlanBruce]

Just finished The Rising Tide DLC for FF16.

It’s been awhile since I played the main game, so I went in to my saved file in Final Fantasy Mode (Hard mode). I managed to get through the DLC fine. Not really stressing it…

And then I got to the DLC’s final boss.

Maybe it was the mode I was playing in. Or maybe I was rusty with Ifrit’s combos and mechanics, but I dare say that boss may be the hardest one in the entire game. Nonetheless, it was, like all boss fights in this game are: a brilliant spectacle. I still think the Bahamut fight is top tier, but this one gets really close.

[Grim Portent]

Been playing Rimworld, unmodded other than some UI stuff and a few cosmetic styles to try out the new Anomaly DLC, and recently wrapped up my first successful run through it.

Probably the most cinematic ending I've had to any colony in the game. Tooth and nail struggle to get to the finish, and the last colonist standing was the daughter of the last surviving member of the founding colonists, who was herself locked in a cryopod a literal second away from death. Bleeding, broken, on the brink of death. Lacey 'Madam' Lowe aged, 15, stared down the Void and we were triumphant. Many lives lost, many atrocities performed, but we did it.


Now to run at it with overpowered modded supersoldier vampires and armies of genetically engineered slave soldiers. My horrors shall be uncounted, my crimes beyond reckoning! Let the world weep tears of blood as I twist flesh and steel to make my armies.

If only colony manager was working though, I do feel a bit lost without it.

[Zevox]

After wrapping up Unicorn Overlord earlier this week (it's good, would recommend), I've been kind of bouncing between things, looking for something to play while waiting for Stellar Blade's release this coming Friday. Started a second run of Unicorn Overlord on a harder difficulty, but my interest sort of trailed off - there's only so much I can do to vary my teams up in the early period of that game, and the harder difficulty was mostly just making every fight last longer, not making them more fun. Tried starting a re-run of Mega Man 11, and a game of Age of Wonders 4, but wasn't really feeling those.

Then I looked through the current sale PSN is running and saw a Yu-gi-oh game on sale for $10: "Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution." And I've been on a bit of a Yu-gi-oh nostalgia kick of late, so after a little googling to see what people had to say about the game, I grabbed it.

Will say, I'm glad I got it that cheap, it's clearly a game with low production values; on the quite rare occasions it shows something other than static artwork of the characters or the fairly simply animations of the game board, it looks like something you could run on an N64. And it came out in 2019, apparently, so yeah. But it does have its merits - its main single-player mode sees you playing through most of the duels of the show... or each of the shows, apparently, as there's six different "series" to play through. I'd heard about GX being a thing after the original show finished, but I didn't know they'd kept making more after that, much less that many, so that was a surprise to me. I'm only familiar with the original show, and even that not the later seasons, so most of those will be new to me, but of course I've been playing the original show's duels first, and they're pretty accurate - as much so as is possible given the show never really followed the rules of the TCG, anyway. It does make some of them rather awkward at times given the crappy decks some of the characters play with, but that's part of the fun of using the story decks instead of your own (which you can do). It also lets you play each duel from both sides, playing the antagonist/loser of the duel once you've beaten it the regular way, which is a nice touch. (Often that's the harder way to play - beating Yugi with Kaiba in their first duel especially was rough, since aside from Yugi's traditional crummy monsters he always used, the designers gave him an actually pretty decent "stall and draw Exodia" deck.)

The game seems to have a ton of cards to collect, too. Playing through the original series' campaign unlocked me six different "booster" types to buy (with in-game currency they're being quite generous with, even when I re-play duels), each of which says it has 314 different cards to collect, and each other series has its own set of such booster packs to unlock. So, yeah, I'm sure I'll have way more options for making custom decks than I could ever know what to do with when this is all done. Aside from maybe trying to re-create the old deck I used while I was briefly into the TCG I don't know how much I'll try to do that though, I think playing through the story duels with the story decks is most of what I'm in this for.

Just finished The Rising Tide DLC for FF16.

It’s been awhile since I played the main game, so I went in to my saved file in Final Fantasy Mode (Hard mode). I managed to get through the DLC fine. Not really stressing it…

And then I got to the DLC’s final boss.

Maybe it was the mode I was playing in. Or maybe I was rusty with Ifrit’s combos and mechanics, but I dare say that boss may be the hardest one in the entire game. Nonetheless, it was, like all boss fights in this game are: a brilliant spectacle. I still think the Bahamut fight is top tier, but this one gets really close.

Sounds nice. I knew that had come out recently, but I've been hesitating on getting it due to the price point. I liked FF16, but I'm not so sure I want to spend nearly half the game's cost on a couple of extra DLC areas, even with Leviathan's moveset being added. Maybe when I see it on sale, or when I want to replay the game.

Personally my favorite boss from the game was Titan, but Bahamut was a close second. Helped that Titan's second phase reminded me a lot of a Bayonetta fight.

[AlanBruce]

After wrapping up Unicorn Overlord earlier this week (it's good, would recommend), I've been kind of bouncing between things, looking for something to play while waiting for Stellar Blade's release this coming Friday. Started a second run of Unicorn Overlord on a harder difficulty, but my interest sort of trailed off - there's only so much I can do to vary my teams up in the early period of that game, and the harder difficulty was mostly just making every fight last longer, not making them more fun. Tried starting a re-run of Mega Man 11, and a game of Age of Wonders 4, but wasn't really feeling those.

Then I looked through the current sale PSN is running and saw a Yu-gi-oh game on sale for $10: "Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution." And I've been on a bit of a Yu-gi-oh nostalgia kick of late, so after a little googling to see what people had to say about the game, I grabbed it.

Will say, I'm glad I got it that cheap, it's clearly a game with low production values; on the quite rare occasions it shows something other than static artwork of the characters or the fairly simply animations of the game board, it looks like something you could run on an N64. And it came out in 2019, apparently, so yeah. But it does have its merits - its main single-player mode sees you playing through most of the duels of the show... or each of the shows, apparently, as there's six different "series" to play through. I'd heard about GX being a thing after the original show finished, but I didn't know they'd kept making more after that, much less that many, so that was a surprise to me. I'm only familiar with the original show, and even that not the later seasons, so most of those will be new to me, but of course I've been playing the original show's duels first, and they're pretty accurate - as much so as is possible given the show never really followed the rules of the TCG, anyway. It does make some of them rather awkward at times given the crappy decks some of the characters play with, but that's part of the fun of using the story decks instead of your own (which you can do). It also lets you play each duel from both sides, playing the antagonist/loser of the duel once you've beaten it the regular way, which is a nice touch. (Often that's the harder way to play - beating Yugi with Kaiba in their first duel especially was rough, since aside from Yugi's traditional crummy monsters he always used, the designers gave him an actually pretty decent "stall and draw Exodia" deck.)

The game seems to have a ton of cards to collect, too. Playing through the original series' campaign unlocked me six different "booster" types to buy (with in-game currency they're being quite generous with, even when I re-play duels), each of which says it has 314 different cards to collect, and each other series has its own set of such booster packs to unlock. So, yeah, I'm sure I'll have way more options for making custom decks than I could ever know what to do with when this is all done. Aside from maybe trying to re-create the old deck I used while I was briefly into the TCG I don't know how much I'll try to do that though, I think playing through the story duels with the story decks is most of what I'm in this for.


Sounds nice. I knew that had come out recently, but I've been hesitating on getting it due to the price point. I liked FF16, but I'm not so sure I want to spend nearly half the game's cost on a couple of extra DLC areas, even with Leviathan's moveset being added. Maybe when I see it on sale, or when I want to replay the game.

Personally my favorite boss from the game was Titan, but Bahamut was a close second. Helped that Titan's second phase reminded me a lot of a Bayonetta fight.

You get roughly around 5 extra hours of gameplay. A new area to explore. New enemies and ten extra sidequests. I’m certain the price will drop in time, so it may be ideal to purchase it later if you want to see the conclusion to the story and the missing Eikon.

[WritersBlock]

Since it was on sale I picked up Fable Anniversary and now I wish they would bring Fable 3 back to the steam store, as well as Fable 2 (or add fable 2 if it was never on pc, not sure if that is the case or not.) And I wish every other area with enemies in this game did not have half a dozen npc's that stand around right next to you all the time and get in the way when you are trying to fight a gang of bandits or whatever else you may be facing, getting in the way and messing me up when I try to target an enemy.

Having to reload because I injured or killed an npc instead of an enemy because they wont run away and practically cling to you while you are trying to fight is not a good thing. Although they CAN be handy for drawing a trolls attacks away from you, so there is that at least.

Game does have quite a bit of charm and can really bring the funny when it wants to as well despite some issues the game does have. (Have no why idea why they delisted the third game however I would really like to play a pc version of it.)

[Rynjin]

After wrapping up Unicorn Overlord earlier this week (it's good, would recommend), I've been kind of bouncing between things, looking for something to play while waiting for Stellar Blade's release this coming Friday. Started a second run of Unicorn Overlord on a harder difficulty, but my interest sort of trailed off - there's only so much I can do to vary my teams up in the early period of that game, and the harder difficulty was mostly just making every fight last longer, not making them more fun. Tried starting a re-run of Mega Man 11, and a game of Age of Wonders 4, but wasn't really feeling those.

Then I looked through the current sale PSN is running and saw a Yu-gi-oh game on sale for $10: "Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution." And I've been on a bit of a Yu-gi-oh nostalgia kick of late, so after a little googling to see what people had to say about the game, I grabbed it.

Will say, I'm glad I got it that cheap, it's clearly a game with low production values; on the quite rare occasions it shows something other than static artwork of the characters or the fairly simply animations of the game board, it looks like something you could run on an N64. And it came out in 2019, apparently, so yeah. But it does have its merits - its main single-player mode sees you playing through most of the duels of the show... or each of the shows, apparently, as there's six different "series" to play through. I'd heard about GX being a thing after the original show finished, but I didn't know they'd kept making more after that, much less that many, so that was a surprise to me. I'm only familiar with the original show, and even that not the later seasons, so most of those will be new to me, but of course I've been playing the original show's duels first, and they're pretty accurate - as much so as is possible given the show never really followed the rules of the TCG, anyway. It does make some of them rather awkward at times given the crappy decks some of the characters play with, but that's part of the fun of using the story decks instead of your own (which you can do). It also lets you play each duel from both sides, playing the antagonist/loser of the duel once you've beaten it the regular way, which is a nice touch. (Often that's the harder way to play - beating Yugi with Kaiba in their first duel especially was rough, since aside from Yugi's traditional crummy monsters he always used, the designers gave him an actually pretty decent "stall and draw Exodia" deck.)

The game seems to have a ton of cards to collect, too. Playing through the original series' campaign unlocked me six different "booster" types to buy (with in-game currency they're being quite generous with, even when I re-play duels), each of which says it has 314 different cards to collect, and each other series has its own set of such booster packs to unlock. So, yeah, I'm sure I'll have way more options for making custom decks than I could ever know what to do with when this is all done. Aside from maybe trying to re-create the old deck I used while I was briefly into the TCG I don't know how much I'll try to do that though, I think playing through the story duels with the story decks is most of what I'm in this for.

If you're still having fun by the time you get through the Link era, might wanna hop into Master Duel (the modern card game simulator on Steam). I feel like you'd like playing Vanquish Souls; it's a deck inspired by Marvel vs Capcom-esque fighting games where you tag out fighters on the field for ones in your hand to combo their effects together and kill your opponent with "assists".