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!

I acquired a copy of Space Invaders for Atari 2600 today, and have been playing a bit. It's a good version of Space Invaders — certainly very addictive! — but the thing I find amusing about it is that it has a hundred and twelve different game modes.

For those unfamiliar with the Atari 2600, the limitations of the console meant that most games didn't have the kind of "main menu" we tend to expect from a game today. Instead, different ways to play were stored as different "game numbers" that changes the rules of play somewhat.

For example, in Space Invaders, you have versions where it plays normally, where the shields move, where the enemy missiles move more erratically and where the aliens are invisible except for a moment after you hit them. Then you have more versions where there are combinations of those variables. And then, in the case of Space Invaders, there are all those versions all over again for two players playing together. Two players alternating turns. Two players sharing control of a single ship. Two players taking it in turns to fire a single shot from the same ship. And so on.

In total, there are, as noted above, 112 different combinations of all these factors available on that one cartridge — which, as you can imagine, made for wonderful marketing back in the day. Imagine picking up a game box for the Atari 2600 that proudly boasted, as it did, "112 Video Games". All of which are Space Invaders.

Usually, in order to access one of these specific modes of play, you press the "Game Select" switch on the 2600 repeatedly until the number of the game you want appears on screen. Atari was clearly aware that 112 variations would present a bit of a problem to some people, so they actually implemented a system where you could skip through the numbers more quickly by pressing the Game Select and Game Reset buttons at the same time — the latter, when pressed by itself, normally begins a game.

Me? I like Game 1. Although I did come perilously close to maxing out the score at 9999 earlier, so perhaps I need to graduate to something a bit more challenging!

I have a big ol' backlog of visual novels, and playing through a few short ones recently (that you'll be reading about shortly on MoeGamer!) has got me in the mood to enjoy some more. So I'm going to try and reinvent my bedtime routine a bit — and incorporate what I do there with what I write about alongside the main Cover Game/MegaFeature stuff on MoeGamer.

For starters, I have a bunch of Switch visual novels that have been sitting around waiting for me to engage with for a while — including some classics like Little Busters and Yu-No as well as the recently Limited Runned Nurse Love Obsession double-pack of yuri funtimes. Beyond that, I want to look into getting a tablet that I can stream stuff from my PC to. I like playing visual novels on the big screen, but practically speaking, when I'm up and about I tend to find myself playing games with more "active engagement". Bedtime, meanwhile, is a fine time to read — so rather than watching the same old YouTube videos or whatever, I figured I may as well make a start on some of these things cluttering up my backlog.

The question is… where to start? I have quite a selection to choose from, and I don't really want to pick something that incorporates too many in the way of "adventure game" elements, so I suspect something like AI: The Somnium Files is probably out from what little I know of it. I reckon either the aforementioned Little Busters or the two Nurse Love Obsession games are probably as good a place as any to get started,so you know what? I'm going to go and start reading right now.

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend! Tomorrow is another drab, dull Monday, but we'll get through it with the power of friendship or something. That or I'll sleep until midday having pretended to do something useful that took up all morning. Err, forget I said that.

My Dad isn't a gamer, although he was the one who brought a lot of the Atari computers and their games into our household. One piece of software — which he insists "isn't a game" — that he was always very attached to, though, was Flight Simulator, originally in the form of subLOGIC's Flight Simulator II for Atari 8-bit and Atari ST, then later through various incarnations of Microsoft Flight Simulator from version 4.0 onwards on DOS and Windows PCs.

I wouldn't say I got super into Flight Simulator as a kid, but my Dad did take the time to teach me how to fly the virtual Cessna and Learjet in the Atari ST version. As a result, I grew up with actually a rather solid understanding of how a real plane handles, even if I couldn't tell you a lot about the actual science behind it.

"Flying the aeroplane", as my Dad referred to settling down for an evening of taking on some real-time flights in various version of Flight Simulator, was thus something I became very accustomed to as a kid. My Dad clearly enjoyed it both as an opportunity to sit down, relax and do something he liked, but it's also an educational experience, since the whole thing is not only built on a realistic flight model, it also incorporates realistic navigation aids, instrument flight rules and all manner of other good stuff.

I've been following the development of the upcoming brand new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator on and off for a little while. This is actually the first new Flight Simulator release since 2006 — although that previous installment, Flight Simulator X, did get a major overhaul to release on Steam back in 2014 — and it looks like it has the potential to be pretty spectacular.

It's also noteworthy because the market for flight sims on PC is nowhere near as visible as it used to be — back in the late '90s and early '00s, flight sims were the de facto showcase pieces for a new PC, whereas now it tends to be first-person shooters and open-world games. That said, enthusiasts have been quietly continuing to do their thing away from the eyes of the general public for a while, and besides Flight Simulator X, there are also numerous other titles such as Prepar3D and X-Plane out there doing something similar.

The other day, I caught the tail end of the Steam sale, and happened to see the Steam version of Flight Simulator X for a fiver. I haven't bought a PC game for ages, as you all know I'm much more of a fan of collecting, so tend to favour console games. But Flight Simulator X is a uniquely PC experience — even if the new version is also eventually coming to Xbox One — so I let that "unwritten rule" slide this time, especially for a fiver.

I haven't spent a lot of time with Flight Simulator X as yet, but the little time I have spent with it has brought back some fond memories of spending time with my Dad in front of the Atari ST and later, our MS-DOS and Windows 95/98 PCs, learning to "fly". And besides that, it turns out that yes, indeed, he was right; it is an excellent way to just sit down, chill out, relax and leave your worries behind for a little while. (Until you crash. But if you're doing it right that doesn't happen.)

I preordered the 10-disc physical version of the new Flight Simulator yesterday. While I don't have any fancy joysticks, throttle controllers and all that gubbins, I can see myself enjoying an occasional flit through the skies when I just fancy a bit of quiet time to myself — and to be honest, since I grew up using the numeric keypad controls on the Atari ST version of Flight Simulator II, controlling the experience with the keyboard is absolutely the most nostalgic way to play for me!

In the meantime, I'll be occasionally enjoying Flight Simulator X for the odd flight here and there. And I look forward to showing my Dad the new version when my parents are next able to come visit me amid the chaos of the world today!