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!

I’d like to downvote, but you are unfortunately correct.

Had the Framily over, so electronic entertainment was reserved for the kids. Lots of Kirby and Smash happening on the television while I snuck away to play board games with some of the adults.

I played Cabo, the card game where you are trying to get the lowest score before going out, but you can’t see your opponents’ cards, so it’s tough! Managed third place! Out of three…

Played Maglev Metro, a railway/subway pickup and deliver game about shuttling robots to where they needed to go around Berlin. This is my second time playing this game I’ve owned for nearly ten years. It has a lot of little rules that led to me and my companion taking “oh, I cheated” turns undoing actions. When I think about the Switch 2’s price per hour I’ll be playing it, these $60+ board game purchases look insane.

Played Clank: Catacombs again and still was unable to escape to the surface! Second place, though! And the one person who did escape earned a distant third. I can’t wait to bring that one out again!

I did get in a lot of Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent yesterday and this morning. I finally finished a post-game dungeon to grind for material! But I’m still too afraid to continue with the main story after getting walloped last time (in 2024). Maybe when summer vacation arrives…

You are playing it right! I love when I finally decide to get off my butt and continue with the story, but it tells me I need to do something else first. It creates a real feel of the flow of time.

Also, I just stepped into Calderos for the first time after chapter eight. It’s a really scary place (for me), so I saved it for last. However, my Calderos percentage dwarfs my Sylvalum explore percent. They are both really scary for me, even in the forties.

I don’t understand your comment. Are you suggesting I should stay home because everything the Switch 2 has shown you has been disappointing?

Let me try your logic: you should camp out for a Switch 2 because I’m excited!

I get that not everyone is excited for a sequel system that is a massive pile of money. I also get that piracy talk is a lot of commenters’ only interest. I’m excited and enthusiastic. Why not make your own comment chain instead of jumping on one that clearly has a different vibe than you are going for?

Also, can you explain the Switcheroo joke? It’s like the idea of a bait and switch, right? I’m trying to figure out what you felt you were promised that now leaves you feeling like this is a switcheroo.

I’m so excited for camping out! From camping for the Wii with my future wife to the Wii U and Switch with a great friend, I’ve created some great memories along the way.

Switch battery aside, multiplayer in line should be a hoot! I wonder if I should bring a projector to cast onto a wall!

Today’s board gaming:

Planet Unknown, a medium weight terraforming game where you place tetraminos (and two, three, and five piece tiles as well) to build out an unknown planet for colonization. I managed a second place on the basic game and I’m looking forward to trying it again one day.

Countdown 3-2-1!, a card game similar to Cabo where you are trying to have the lowest hand possible. I’d happily play it again, but I’d rather play Cabo.

Formula D, the racing game that has so many little fiddly rules, we have to relearn stuff every time we play. We actually played a multi-lap race (on the Austin track) for the first time today and I managed a first place and third place finish with my two cars! We discussed what the best racing board game is and all agreed that having a series of plays for a “season” of the game would make any of the games better.

Dumping miranium into Arms Manufacturers is the only use I have for it. As for developing new equipment, most of the time I use my rewards from online squad play to buy stuff like the telethia hearts (or whatever) that I need for new equipment.

I’ve been playing Octopath Traveler champions of the Continent and its bizarre crossover with Bravely Second (the sequel to Bravely Default). I’d forgotten how weird Magnolia is as a character. In the Japanese, she has a wild, X-Men-style Rogue accent instead of an over-the-top French accent. Still avoiding the main story for no real reason.

Speaking of avoiding the main story, I just finished Chapter 8 in Xenoblade Chronicles X. It struck me as I was playing that this game is not as good as Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Then I realized again that this game is ten years older, so that’s okay. I’m enjoying the game, but I don’t think my feelings 60 hours in (with more logged in the Wii U edition) will be anything close to my first ten hours with whatever they do next.

Sorry to lead with the negative. I’m lucky enough to go play board games again today, so I’ll reply with this week’s plays. Happy gaming, all!

Board games! Now you’ve got me talking!

I recommend Unlock. (Look for Unlock! Heroic Adventures) It is a set of cooperative escape rooms in a box without any scary stuff.

I also recommend Meeple Circus. It is a dexterity-based stacking game where you are part of a circus running your own act and trying to put on a better show than the rest of the table.

There was this awesome cooperative programming game called Leap Day from SpryFox. You would login and set up your automated citizens, collecting items, combining items, items with people in neighboring sections to defeat a boss in the middle, but the boss could only be completed by using items from your neighbors. Over time you would gain money for items you brought back to your base and every minute the day on it would resent and everyone go out and collect the same items again. You would have to build and rebuild your area to make enough factories to develop what you needed. I don’t think I’m it justice. I miss it all the time.

My favorite part of finishing a chapter in Xenoblade Chronicles X is how your view of just about everything seems to shift after whatever twist gets thrown at you. I’m finished with Chapter 6, too, but my levels aren’t high enough to get Skell licenses for a full party yet. That’ll be soon. (I spend too much time on side quests, too)

I finished all of the character stories for the 135 characters I’ve unlocked in Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent! I’m still delaying on the main storyline (about three chapters from the end, I think), so I’m goofing off in Side Solista, the OT2 story they brought into the game. This mobile game is one of those where a character writes you a letter every day you play with a little login bonus. I just passed 880 days playing! Most days are just log in and do a battle for some in game currency. Gosh, I’d love it if they “completed” this game and put a full, non-pay version out. I’m thinking like that Mega Man X Dive game where a mobile game closed down and they converted it to a full console experience. But they’d have to do that after the game ends, and I don’t want that, either. Shucks.

I’m headed to a friend’s house to play some board games. I’m going to push for Castles of Mad King Ludwig, but I’m betting I’ll get out-voted. I’m sure I’ll play something fun.