I don’t know if I’ll be playing anything this weekend; we’re days away from my yearly board game convention, Dice Tower East! For five days next week, I’ll be checking board games out of their library, learning dozens of new (to me) rule sets, and easing my ten-year-old into his first gaming convention experience. If I get a chance, I’ll play my favorite game Fog of Love, but I’d need a babysitter to pull that one off.

If I manage to play something besides Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent, I’ll let y’all know.

I’m off in the wilds of North Carolina, but I did bring the Switch 2. It’s family reunion time so Mario Kart World is getting the most screen time.

Mostly, we’re playing family board games: The Crew (cooperative trick taking) Green Team Wins (“trivia” game where the right answer is what the plurality of players selects) 13 Beavers (a push your luck game that seems like it was created just to hear seven year olds shout “dam”) Flip 7 (another Push Your Luck game that encourages card counting)

I went to see a minor league baseball game last night! That counts as gaming because I bought a replica jersey, I think.

I love the Picross games!

I’m looking forward to (hopefully) the full FF7 trilogy on Switch 2, but for the life of me, I can’t memorize the naming scheme of the parts!

This looks really neat! It’s giving me Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles vibes.

Mario Kart World! A friend showed me his “walking into Super Nintendo World at Epic” video and I realized that what I’ve been calling Mario Kart 8 2 might be attached to a broader naming scheme. Isn’t the next Mario movie called Super Mario World? I ran my first 100 CC race and won by the skin of my teeth. I can’t imagine I’ll find much success in 150 CC.

I have not been back to Xenoblade Chronicles X this week. I finished the first part of chapter 13, but my first full week of summer vacation has been focused on the taxi dad game.

I have spared a lot of time for Picross S 8. It’s such a wonderful way to listen to podcasts for a person who can’t normally multitask. I’m more than half done, but the puzzles I could complete in five minutes or less are in the rear view mirror now.

I checked out Robotics;dash Elite form the library again and gave it about an hour. I LOVE Steins;gate, but it’s been hard getting into other visual novels in the Science Adventure Series. Maybe I’m just not in a reading mood lately.

I checked out It’s A Wonderful World from the library and played it with my older child. It was a little bland and I lost pretty badly (just like the first time I played). I bought a tetromino game called Square One. It was over so quickly and very theme-less. I liked it a little, but I won’t be able to get is to the table again soon, I bet.

Finally, the game getting the most play is Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent. It’s the third anniversary (or maybe 4th), so there’s a lot of new stuff around. I’m still dodging the story for other bits. As long as it’s fun, it’s fine.

I bought this at launch and didn’t open it because it is a game key instead of a game on a cartridge. I’m planning on returning it this weekend and buying it from the eShop when its time to play arrives.

I was so excited to see Urchin Underpass. It reminded me of the early days of Wii U!

It was never too frustrating to fail in multiplayer for me except for the cooperative modes. Salmon run was way too stressful for me because I felt like anytime I ended up with a sniper rifle, I was letting my team down.

In the normal matches, there’s almost always something to do. I hope you’ll give them a try and just ink what you can. Remember that ground is what scores points, not splats.

I said it out loud so that she would know I hadn’t let her win, but she doesn’t believe me. She’s not too shabby; in contrast, my kart skills are slightly more shabby.

Chapter 13 has multiple parts and I remember seeing it pop up as squad members reached the achievement. I don’t know where I heard it was the extra definitive edition stuff. Maybe from our other friend who plays the game (I can’t remember their username right now).

I was so busy I forgot to write!

After successfully camping Wednesday for a Switch 2, I went into school for the last day for teachers and played the board games Dwellings of Eldervale and Dominion.

For the weekend, I casually played Mario Kart World. I love how the races are not just laps around a track! The highlight was playing with my two children Friday on Knockout Mode and playing with the older kid and my wife on Sunday. (“You let me win” she kept saying as I found almost every way to fall off every track. My 3rd, 4th, 4th, 2nd was the best I could do!)

I also bought Picross S 8 and I just realized I am a little more than halfway finished. Those are the easier puzzles, though. Lots more podcast and zone out time ahead.

The biggest news is that I completed chapter 12 of Xenoblade Chronicles! From what I understand, this was about where the Wii U game ended? I also dove into chapter 13, act 1 because the story is too much to put down. I’m hoping I’ll wrap everything up before July so o can start my first physical Switch 2 game: Bravely Default Remaster.

I’m not the original poster, but I used to order everything from Target using their in-store card to take 5% off the price.

I’m looking forward to my last week with this year’s students (and then two days of classroom cleaning/board games) before picking up a Switch 2. No pre-order, just vibes as my friend and I camp out this Wednesday.

I haven’t touched chapter 12 of Xenoblade Chronicles X yet. School has been very busy, but I’m also tying up loose ends as I near the story’s end. I have been ignoring Lobster related missions since I feel like that mission is what made me quit the Wii U version.

I’ve been building up my armory in Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent. It’s as useful as filling out your mail order catalog I. Animal Crossing, but it is still a fulfilling time waster.

I played the board game Machi Koro 2 with both of my children. It was fun. I’m trying to help the younger one focus on learning new games since we’re going to a board game convention this summer. I’ve gotta build up his stamina!

On Wii U, I NEVER used consumables. I am so much happier that I use them now. I am saving myself so many trips to the barracks to claim my insurance on Skells!

Edit: got a few too many nows in that original post…

Finished my trading for the school year, so it has been a busy gaming weekend. Started Friday night with some Xenoblade Chronicles X. I finally passed level 50, so I treated myself to three new level 50 skells. I should probably watch some class videos to better understand the systems involved, but for now, I’m just finishing some affinity missions and basic missions before starting chapter 12. I was surprised by the chapter requirements:

I headed over to my friend’s place for board games yesterday. I played Jaipur which is most notable because I hadn’t played it since March 2nd, 2017 as my friend and I were waiting to buy the Nintendo Switch at a midnight launch. That was my first win of the day.

We played Penguin Party, a simple shedding game where placing penguins cards in a pyramid shape leads to more limited placement possibilities (ending with my elimination in all four rounds).

We broke out the massive game On Mars, spent a good hour learning it, another forty-five struggling to finish the first turn just to prove to ourselves that we understood the rules, then put it away since another player had arrived and On Mars only allowed for four players.

With five, we played The Crew, one of my recent favorites. It is a trick-taking game like Spades, but it is cooperative. Each round has missions (like one player can’t take any tricks or one player must take all of the threes in each suit by the end of the round). In all, we played sixteen rounds with ten wins, six losses. Hooray! (We discussed a new game that is out called “The Gang” where you are cooperatively playing Texas Hold-Em. I look forward to trying it one day, maybe at Dice Tower East this July).

We played Quacks of Quedlinburg, a bag-building, push your luck game. I played the most conservatively I’ve ever played in the game and got a well-deserved last place. I think that game is wonderful, too.

We ended the day with Cabo. I managed to pull off a final round Kamikaze, giving everyone fifty points and taking the win by forty-five in all. I may never play so lucky a game of Cabo again!

Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent has been draining my battery as usual. I spent four hours playing through story content this morning! I’m having a blast running into Octopath Traveler II characters and remembering why I prefer the mobile game (parties of eight make so much more sense in a game called Octopath!).

Ditto on the spoilers. I’m saving the post to come back and read it later.

I haven’t even bought Last Stand 100 Academy or whatever it’s called yet! This looks really neat. Kinda like a macro-WarioWare Danganronpa feel.

I played a lot of Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent this weekend. I was just on a roll with the new character Shana’s SP stock ability. It’s such a relief to not have to worry about resources between battles!

I got to play more Xenoblade Chronicles X with my wife this weekend. She doesn’t play, but she watches while knitting. When voice acting starts up, she’s listening for the story. We played this way with the Wii U, as well, but that was a decade and another house ago.

I got to play Clank: Catacombs with my oldest and his friend. I was crushed, even though I managed to escape. Just didn’t grab enough goodies in the depths!

We also played 7 Wonders and I was soundly defeated again. I can’t believe that game is nearly 20 years old!

I also lost in Smash Brothers. The only success I felt this weekend was taking my family to the batting cages. My oldest suggested it for his birthday. It’s out-of-character, but lots of fun!

My wife’s been away for most of the weekend in Mother’s Day celebrations, so I haven’t played much Xenoblade Chronicles X. It’s a lot more fun running around Mira when she’s watching.

I managed to gatcha the newest character for Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent. It only took me six hundred rubies! I feel good about that since I had given myself a 4500 rubies spend limit. I mostly leveled her up and utilized her SP stock ability to make more progress through optional dungeons. Having a replenishing stock of magic points certainly makes going all out easier!

I reinstalled Civilization VI to scratch that itch again. I’m neck deep in preparing my students for the Civics End-of-Course exam, so it’s easy to walk away. During summer, I might not be so lucky. I hope to be busy with Switch 2 in Summer, though. Last day for teachers is June 4th!

Speaking of Switch 2, I haven’t gotten my preorder link from the Nintendo Store yet. I checked with Costco. They have it in the system, but with no details, just a placeholder price of $10,000.

I try to always remember that beam wrecks mechs!

Also working on Xenoblade Chronicles X. I accepted an affinity mission for Phog and Frye that I can’t complete even though I am five levels above the recommendation. I hate the way inventory works on this game! I am getting wrecked by gravity attacks, but planning out ground gear just doesn’t work in my brain! Arg!

In Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent, I’m still chugging along, leveling up my party and exploring Solista. Found the underground tournaments and unlocked a new character, too! Hooray!