My plan to indulge in a little light reading thanks to visual novels before going to sleep has proven to be a good one so far. I'm enjoying Nurse Love Addiction a great deal and, as I suspected there would be, there's a lot more substance to the narrative and characterisation than the rather whimsical title might suggest.

I will, of course, write about it in detail on MoeGamer when I've finished it — depending on how divergent the routes/endings are, there may be several articles in it — but for now, suffice to say that it combines a pleasant bit of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things with some surprisingly harrowing real-world considerations. This isn't a sanitised, super cute and/or pervy look at being a nurse; this is about the real things that trainee nurses have to learn to deal with — and how people sometimes get things wrong.

I can understand why this title is well-regarded now, and why it ended up with a packaged release for Switch via Limited Run Games. I'm also very glad that I picked it up, particularly since the package — which is named Nurse Love Obsession — also includes the other game in the series, Nurse Love Syndrome. (Technically Nurse Love Syndrome came first back in the PSP days, but I believe Nurse Love Addiction was released in the West first — plus the two are mostly unrelated aside from the subject matter, from what I understand.)

It's often quite a while between visual novels for me, but any time I actively engage with one I'm reminded what a thoroughly pleasant sense of closeness and intimacy they provide with their cast of characters — even in titles that aren't relationship-centric or which don't feature sexual content. The core cast of four young women in Nurse Love Addiction are a close-knit bunch, and by riding along with protagonist Asuka (and making occasional decisions on her behalf) you get a real sense of how fondly they regard each other. More than that, you feel included. It's nice.

Anyway, with another week over, I'm off to go read a chapter or two before sleeping. Andie's got some friends coming over for a barbecue tomorrow, so I'll need to conserve some mental energy for having three-dimensional people in the near vicinity.

Hope you've all had a good week. Take care of yourselves in these difficult times!

Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy is taking a little longer than anticipated! I was hoping I might be able to have the whole thing polished off by tomorrow, but I've still got a bit of a way to go in Raze's route, then the "Extra" route at the end for the "true" ending. Rather than doing something silly like staying up super-late several nights in a row, though, I'm going to take my time over it and when it's done, it's done. It's not like I'm on a deadline or anything, and I have something worthwhile to write about it tomorrow anyway, even if it's not the analysis of Raze's complete narrative I was hoping to do.

It seems I was somewhat mistaken in my initial assessment of Atelier games being "generally quite short" (i.e. about 20 hours, which is short for an RPG). I'm now pushing 60 hours in Mana Khemia 2; the first Mana Khemia was about 45 hours, and Atelier Iris 3 was 50 hours or so. At least I know the Arland games, which are coming up after Mana Khemia 2 is done and dusted, actually are fairly short because they're intended to be replayed a few times!

I am absolutely loving my time with the series, though, and I'm glad I set off on this bizarre journey to cover all of them — well, all the Western-released ones, anyway. It's fascinating to see the series evolve over time as Gust experiments with various mechanics and structures. They're an iterative developer; they build on things that work, and cast aside stuff that didn't work. But, importantly, they have the confidence to try things, which is pretty damned impressive when they're pushing these games out on an annual basis.

It will be interesting to see how Atelier Lulua fits into all this. I'll be covering that as part of the Arland games rather than in release order; for those unfamiliar with the series, Lulua was a fourth part to the Arland "trilogy" that was released considerably later than the other three parts. I'm anticipating that there will be some substantial mechanical differences, but it will be good to experience the story while the previous three Arland games are fresh in my mind.

Anyway, that's all stuff to worry about soon! Tomorrow I'll be writing about Mana Khemia 2's excellent New Game Plus mode, then banging out the last few chapters and the Extra mode next week. I've got videos to record over the weekend, and a barbecue to consume, too. Busy busy busy!

The "real world" feels increasingly distant with every passing day. I'm finding it harder and harder to care about the day job, because every day it feels a little less real, a little less important. This is probably not a great state to be in, but I also doubt I'm alone in feeling like this right now.

Still, at least I've been getting things done. The Atelier feature is going well, today's article about Steam and visual novels was very well received, and outside of my continuing dissatisfaction with my "professional" life, things are all right, I guess.

I've been enjoying collecting Xbox 360 and PS3 games lately, since as I've said recently, they are ridiculously cheap right now. It's payday on Friday, so I will probably nip to town over the weekend and come back with another armful of goodies to add to the shelves.

Right now I'm enjoying Test Drive Unlimited, as I talked a bit about on the podcast, and I also made a start on Warriors Orochi 2 today. It's essentially Warriors Orochi: Xtreme Legends, but I'm happy with that! There are some interesting new progression mechanics and a bunch of new characters, so I'm looking forward to exploring it in more detail. In the absence of Warriors Wednesday, I'll certainly write about the experience!

Bit disjointed tonight I know, but it's late; Mana Khemia 2 kept me up! I should probably sleep now though. Thank you as always for indulging me!

Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy has one of the most enjoyable New Game Plus modes I've played through for a while, because it finds a good balance between letting you carry stuff over and still providing some meaningful things to do. Plus Ulrika and Raze's storylines are completely different from one another, so you really are getting two games in one here (plus the extra bit at the end when you've done them both).

For the uninitiated, Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy allows you to carry over all your recipes, items, records of things you've previously crafted and money to a new playthrough, but character progression is reset. Or rather, since you're playing a completely different set of characters when you do your second playthrough, they simply start from scratch.

There's a key difference, though. As you'll know if you read my feature on the game's progression mechanics, Mana Khemia 2, like its predecessor, doesn't use a standard "XP and levels" system. Instead, you unlock "cards" in a character's "Grow Book" by crafting items, then use AP earned through combat (and through a couple of other means) to unlock abilities on those cards — these can either be stat boosts, specific skills or improvements to innate abilities.

Because the New Game Plus mode carries over all your recipes and a record of what you crafted in your first playthrough, you'll find most of the cards are unlocked at the start of your second run, meaning you just need to get some AP in your pocket to buff up your stats quite significantly. And, chances are, you'll have some good armour left over from that first playthrough, too — though you'll still have to craft weapons for each of the characters, since those are unique to each individual.

In other words, the New Game Plus still provides meaningful things for you to do, but demands less of your time. It also provides a few nice little bonuses along the way, too, such as an NPC that allows you to change the battle music (including selecting tracks from the first Mana Khemia if you so desire) and a shop that allows you to spend AP on fruit that permanently increases stats if you do ever find yourself maxed out progression-wise.

I'm pretty sure this has been my favourite Atelier game so far, which is why it's such a crying shame it never came to Europe. I'm glad I got a copy when I did, though; as PS2 drifts further into the world of "retro", prices are creeping up!

Earlier today, I read a thing about Ghost of Tsushima by someone who obviously doesn't play any games outside of the triple-A sector, and I found it quite eye-opening how differently this person feels about gaming than I do. It's Paul "Mr Biffo" Rose's piece that he published today: https://www.digitiser2000.com/main-page/review-ghost-of-tsushima-ps4 

I'm not saying Biffo's wrong or anything, I hasten to add — having not played Ghost of Tsushima, I can't comment beyond that — but I just find it interesting how differently people can feel about what is ostensibly the same medium when coming at it from completely different ends of the spectrum.

I guess it's the same with any creative medium. Consider music, for example; there are people who are passionately into pop, rock, reggae, hip-hop and all manner of other subdivisions. When you get into "classical" music, you have people who are especially interested in the Baroque period, the Classical period, the Romantic period, 20th century experimental work and all manner of other things. There's no real reason why gaming shouldn't be the same way.

I suppose the closest comparison would probably be film, in that film is a medium where we also have the distinction between big-budget blockbusters designed to make lots of money, and small-scale artistic endeavours made to fulfil a creator's need to create. And, of course, everything in between.

It's easy to get a bit frustrated when you read or hear things from people who are outside your particular "area" of the medium you're interested in, but it's always important to remember that one man's trash is another man's treasure and all that. I have precisely zero desire to play The Last of Us Part II, for example, while the piece I referred to here at the start made out it was an unprecedented masterpiece of storytelling.

Coming from the other angle, I've found Mana Khemia 2 to be one of the most fascinating games I've played in a long time from a narrative perspective, but I'm probably not going to get someone who focuses exclusively on the big releases of the hour to jump on board with a PS2 game from 2009. (Although I would hope that they'd at least consider reading my coverage of it!)

Anyway, I don't really have a point other than acknowledging that we should all think about where our own priorities lie, and consider that not everyone's priorities are the same. In fact, it's more interesting that way; I've talked a lot previously about how I don't really enjoy engaging with negativity, so in a way it was refreshing to read something that heaped so much praise on the current big games — as well as offering some sensible criticism where appropriate.

New podcast in the can today! It should be with you on Monday. This time around, besides the usual news and "what we've been playing" talk, we talk a bit about one of our favourite developers: Inti Creates. Chris knows a bit more about their earlier years than I do — particularly the Mega Man Zero and ZX games, while as you may recall I've done extensive features on GalGun Double Peace, GalGun 2 and various other games from this excellent developer in the past.

As is my usual routine on a "podcast weekend", I've spent the evening recording footage for the games we talked about that I have easy access too, and it's reminded me quite how astonishingly good many of their games are. I'm especially enamoured with Mighty Gunvolt Burst, which is an absolutely masterful piece of platforming joy, and I'm intrigued to spend some more time with Dragon Marked for Death in the near future. Then of course there's the aforementioned Gal*Gun games, which have always been a delight; I hope we get more of those in the future!

It was a really enjoyable podcast, so thanks as always to my good friend Chris for providing some good company and conversation, and I hope you all enjoy our ranting and raving about the things we love when the episode releases on Monday!

After beating Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy earlier, I decided to chill out for the rest of the evening with some Test Drive Unlimited. I'll be writing about this in detail on MoeGamer sometime soon, but I wanted to talk about one specific aspect that I've found especially appealing.

Test Drive Unlimited, if you're unfamiliar, is a 2006 open-world driving game in which the core appeal is the fact that you can buy and drive a wide variety of cool cars from many different manufacturers. The Test Drive series' unique selling point since its inception on 16-bit home computers has always been the fact it makes a real effort to make you feel like you're really sitting in these luxurious vehicles — and ever since I played Test Drive 2: The Duel on Atari ST, I found myself wishing that I didn't have to worry about actual racing, and could instead just drive around a world and explore it.

Of course, I also recognised that the technology of the time probably wasn't up to the job. Test Drive 3: The Passion made a brave attempt, but was ultimately a bit of a mess. Test Drive Unlimited, however, which came out some sixteen years later, absolutely nails what I always wanted from the series: while there are races and other events in which to compete, you can also just drive around and enjoy yourself. In fact, in order to unlock all the game's content, you'll need to do that. Unlocking the ability to purchase and ride motorbikes, for example, is dependent on you having driven to each and every of the car dealerships in the game, and the only way to find the events in which to compete and earn money for your car collecting addiction is to, you guessed it, drive around.

There is a fast travel system, where you can instantly warp to anywhere you've previously visited, but in order to unlock somewhere for fast travel, you need to drive there first. And doing so is a lot of fun; this evening, I did little more than drive around the game's virtual recreation of O'ahu to take a grand tour of the car dealerships, but I really enjoyed the experience. The varied scenery, the different road systems, the unique challenges that flinging a Lotus Esprit around these roads presented with me as I explored.

While I did have a "goal" in mind while playing tonight, I've had quite a few sessions where I've done nothing more than just drive, because it's enjoyable to do so. And sometimes it's lovely to have a game like that; a game where what you do doesn't really matter, but it's fun to engage with regardless. If you're in need of a good way to relax and unwind, I recommend finding a game that works like this for you!

I've been unable to work the day job today for reasons I won't go into for now, so I've been able to do a bit of catching up on Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy. If things are still tits-up tomorrow morning, I'll hopefully be able to finish off my Ulrika playthrough and be able to write about it. Then Raze's playthrough should go a whole lot faster with all the New Game+ carry-overs. Hopefully!

I'm really loving this one. Ulrika is one of my favourite Atelier protagonists to date because she just captures that teenage spirit perfectly. She flipflops between being aggressively rebellious and full of determination — and it's interesting watching her personal journey over the course of the year in which the story unfolds. She definitely enjoys some personal growth along the way, and it's been a real pleasure to stand alongside her while it's been happening.

This sort of experience is why I love the games I do — be they RPGs, strange hybrids like the later Atelier games or pure visual novels. There's just something about the level of intimacy you feel with characters in these games that I rarely find in cinematic-style Western games. I'm not entirely sure of the exact reason for this — art style is definitely a part of it, but there's definitely something about the writing, too. Perhaps it's the fact that dialogue in RPGs and VNs is, unsurprisingly, written more like text in a book, whereas cinematic-style games are, equally unsurprisingly, composed like a movie.

There's probably something to ponder a little deeper there at some point. Suffice to say for now that with the end of Ulrika's route looming ahead of me, I'm starting to get that feeling I get with games I really love — a feeling that I don't want to leave these characters behind, because they've become "friends".

All the Atelier games I've played so far have been very good for this, but I feel like the two Mana Khemia games have been particularly special in this regard. It's probably the more intimate, constant setting of the school that helps; there's a sense that you really are living a life alongside these characters, rather than going on a journey with them. You get to admire them at their most mundane as well as their most ridiculous, and that allows you to develop a feeling of attachment to their more relatable qualities.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. It's twenty past one in the morning and I should probably sleep. It'd be a bad idea to read a chapter or two of Nurse Love Addiction before I sleep, wouldn't it…?

I've been enjoying Nurse Love Addiction so far. As I noted a few days back, I've been trying to make some time for some "bedtime reading" in the form of visual novels, and thought I'd start with this one thanks to its recent Limited Run Games release on Switch.

I'm too early to write anything too substantial on the subject, but so far it seems like a thoroughly charming yuri story with a small cast and some absolutely wonderful artwork; the sort of imagery that, if you have the slightest hint of synaesthesia in your brain (as I suspect I do) will fill your mouth with a "rich" flavour.

The story concerns the antics of student nurse Asuka, who came to nursing school in order to "follow a star" she believes she saw in childhood. Her younger sister also came with her — she's the more responsible one — and the story so far has concerned Asuka's attempts to settle in to the course and overcome her rather low self-confidence and self-esteem issues.

It's been a very pleasant time so far. From what I understand — without details or spoilers — I believe things get a little "odd" later on, but I don't know how. For now, there's been a really nice mix of characters, a relatable protagonist and an interesting story that has set up all sorts of interesting threads to poke at in the coming chapters.

Also Asami Imai is in it, and she's one of my favourite seiyuu, so there's that too. The temptation to follow her character's "route" first is enormous… but then all the other characters are adorable in their own ways too… oh, decisions, decisions!

Watch me end up with a Bad End now… at least I've saved at all the decision points!

I have difficulty thinking of the HD consoles (and the Wii) as "retro", but I feel like we're fast approaching the time where these devices have the requisite nostalgia value needed to be considered thus.

I've been playing a bit of Test Drive Unlimited for the last couple of days, because I felt like a nice summery driving game, and that game most definitely qualifies. I was a little surprised to note that it carries a copyright date of 2006, which is fourteen years ago.

Of course, there are plenty of ways in which that game looks a bit dated — most notably the character models… and the fact that the online servers haven't been… err… online for the last eight years — but I'm having a lot of fun playing it, and having a hard time thinking of it as an "old game".

And yet, it's three years older than the Western release of Mana Khemia 2, which I'm currently playing through for the Atelier MegaFeature on MoeGamer. PlayStation 2 is, I think most people would agree, definitely retro — and so going purely on "time" alone, Xbox 360 must surely be thus, too.

Ultimately it doesn't really matter, of course. It's just an interesting thing to ponder. People getting nostalgic for the first generation of HD consoles in the same way that us slightly older folk are nostalgic for 8- and 16-bit pixel art feels like a bit of a milestone for gaming.

If nothing else, it does mean that Xbox 360 and PS3 games are absolutely cheap as chips right now, so if you haven't been down to your local used game emporium lately, I can highly recommend going down there with a big bag to pick up all of those games you didn't want to spend £40 on fifteen years ago… because most of them are now between 50p and £3. That's certainly what I'm going to be doing to celebrate this month's payday!