Thanks to the combined forces of Corona-chan, heavy rains locally, and a rapidly-dwindling work ethic, I have been getting some significant work done on pruning the backlog.

The most recent “big” game I’ve finished was Assassin’s Creed: Origins, which was an incredibly immersive experience that completely failed to stick the landing, to the point where I was very glad that there was an achievement that popped up to let me know that I’d finished the main story.  Still a very good game for the first 95%, though, and it means that I’ve finished every mainline AC game except Odyssey.  I may even be able to be completely caught up before AC: Vikings comes out in the fall.

Setting that aside, I’ve put about a dozen hours into Fire Emblem: Awakening so far, which I’m given to understand means that I have at least twice that to go.  Leaving TMS#FE aside, this is either my second or fourth Fire Emblem game, depending on how you count the paths in Fates, and it’s been a lot of fun so far.  Robin is kind of personality-free compared to Corrin from Fates, and Awakening has nowhere near the same waifu quotient, but the strategy gameplay is top-notch.

Looking back, I didn’t really understand the relationship system in Fates, and I’m not sure that any of my characters ever wound up married until I was playing the third game.  I’ve been focusing a little more on pairing characters up to boost their support ranks this time, and it has led to some really funny support conversations.

I am particularly fond of the way that Chrom expressed his undying love for Sumia.

Sadly, I missed my opportunity to recruit Tharja.  Since she features so prominently in TMS#FE, I assumed she was one of the main characters in Awakening and I was startled to find that she basically shows up in one battle and vanishes forever if you don’t recruit her at that point.

Anyway, it’s good times.  Now, if I can just get past the Chapter 12 battle that has me temporarily stymied…