schneefink | Entries tagged with phoenotopia awakening

Catching up on reviews, games (other than Minecraft) edition:

I played almost twenty hours of Vampire Survivors in a little over a week in January. It was good flashy fun requiring very little brain power, cut into convenient time periods of up to half an hour or even shorter, and pretty soon I discovered and/or unlocked a new upgrade/weapon/character/stage/etc. almost every run which made me want to keep playing. I had 50% of achievements when I suddenly lost interest for no particular reason. No regrets though. I've thought about giving it another try once or twice but I think I would rather play Hades again.

I wrote that and then thought "you know what," and played my first round of Hades since June 2022 (I was surprised it had been that long!) On zero heat because it's been so long, and it was very noticeable that I was out of practice, but I still did fine. I met Than and Patroclus, I used Zag shield with a nice Flood Shot-centered build, and I even got a fishing spot on the surface but did not manage a perfect catch. One day I will complete the codex.
That was fun, but I don't think I'll go back to playing Hades a lot, I'm still happy with Minecraft as my current distraction game. Very much looking forward to Hades II though!

Speaking of games I haven't played in a while, I played Afterimage in spring of last year. I posted about it in June, played for a few more days and then stopped. ( Notes from back then. ) I still planned to go back to it for a while because I heard that there is another section to play with Renee and that you only get the full plot if you complete NG+, but I haven't yet and I'm not sure if I will. In the meantime a new game-mode, a boss rush, and a new playable character have also been released, those could be fun to check out maybe but it's not high on my list of things to play.

I've been vaguely considering playing Phoenotopia: Awakening again because I'm only missing a single achievement, "Speed Runner," and it would be very nice to get to 100%. And it's a very good game that I'd enjoy playing again, except I'd definitely have to play it twice because I'm not going to get the speed runner badge when playing for the first time after such a long break. (Also, annoyingly, I didn't find a good guide for the speed runner achievement only, just for doing speed runner + zero trial (no upgrades) at the same time, and I already did the zero trial so I can make speed runner easier for myself.) One day.

Since the pandemic some important financial deadlines were pushed from September to December. It was definitely necessary at the time, since everyone was so busy with subsidies etc. that the September deadline was impossible, but I really hope that they'll change it back next year because having the busiest time of the year in December and especially between Christmas and New Year's is not fun. At least we have plenty of chocolate.

I got a fantastic Yuletide fic! Learning to Fly, Phoenotopia Awakening (gen, post-canon, 6k.) I'm especially honored that the author checked out the game because of my prompts. I'm not sure how well the story works without canon knowledge, you're definitely not going to get many of the jokes, but I'm still going to try and give a brief summary of what I think is necessary to understand it because it's a great fic and deserves more comments.

Spoiler for the entire PHOA game:

Most of the people of Gail's village were kidnapped by aliens. On her journey to find them again she meets Bart, a member of the Stellanites, humans who left Earth during the apocalypse a few centuries ago and joined the Galactic Federation. (Bart is still on his space ship, they can only talk through a golem head Gail found and carries around with her.) She also meets and frees Leo, a human prince who was kidnapped and probably tortured by alien mercenaries, and meets Lisa again, her best friend who avoided being kidnapped because she'd moved elsewhere. Bart warns them that the Astral Empire is planning to attack Earth and directs Gail to find a lost mythical weapon to defend the planet. Gail finds out that the "weapons" are actually genetically engineered super soldiers, called Phoenixes, that were put into hibernation after they played a part in the apocalypse, and also that Gail herself is a Phoenix. The first Phoenix the Stellanites manage to wake up is later called Zero by Bart, and he helps them defeat some alien mercenaries, called kobolds, that were also after the weapon. We find out that the Phoenixes help Earth repel the attack by the Astral Empire, but the Empire is still a threat, and Gail still plans to find her friends and family again.

I haven't had time to go through much of the collection yet, much less comment, but both fics for Steerswoman and Elemental Logic are great.

Hi! Thank you very much for writing a story for me! :D

( General likes and dislikes )

( Phoenotopia: Awakening )

( Dice Disasters )

( Tales of the Otori )

As a reward after my exams were over, only a little over a month after getting to 100% in Phoenotopia: Awakening, I started my attempt to get the Zero Trial achievement: finishing the game without any health or stamina upgrades or combat accessibility options. Quite a big change, since the first time I played with all the combat perks. But I did it!

( How it went )

It took me almost 21 hours (according to Steam; about 16 hours in-game) to get the Zero Trial achievement. I have all badges except Speed Runner now, and I will definitely attempt that soon, but I think I will watch a few speedruns first to plan my route. Maybe I will even try and practice the Ouroboros Skip first, not sure yet, but probably not because it's not necessary.
And maybe in-between I will play a few more rounds of Hades, idk. For many reasons I currently need plenty of escapism.

Exams are done! Two went okay, one less so (typical case of sitting down after handing in my exam and immediately realizing the stupid major mistake I made) but whatever. I'm tired.

As a reward I finally started the Phoenotopia Awakening Zero Trial playthrough I've been planning for a while. Definitely tricky! Stupid vultures. But doable.

I also finally finished up my second PHOA fic:

Neighbors Say We're Trouble
3k, gen, post-game
Summary: ( not sure that is even understandable as spoilers but jic )

I was going through the lyrics of "Rise Like a Phoenix" and when I saw this line I immediately knew what fic it had to be. It turned out a bit darker than I initially expected but I still like it.
Next, probably "Who Can This Person Be" or the Zero-wakes-up fic. (It started out as Zero&Bart friendship and then grew. Same with the Gail-trains fic that spawned a Gail&Bart friendship sidestory.)

I think my phone might have just died >.< It doesn't react to anything I do anymore. Last time that happened (a day before my vacation!) it only lasted about half an hour, it's been much longer by now. …I really should have bought a new phone weeks ago. It's only a few years old but wifi doesn't work anymore and it has no space for anything. But then I have to figure out which one and how to transfer everything that's on my old phone and all those annoying things *whine*
Still better than a phone that randomly dies, however. Uuugh. Fingers crossed it'll somehow restore itself miraculously overnight, I guess. I'm just glad I keep a paper calendar.
ETA: It worked. I should still get a new phone though...

In more fun news, I finally completed Phoenotopia: Awakening at 100%.

( More PHOA, with some Bloodstained in-between )

I thought about replaying it immediately and trying for the Zero Trial achievement, but I think I will wait a few months so I have time to forget a few of the puzzles/secrets. Next… Originally I wanted to play Outer Wilds next, but after playing PHOA and Aria of Sorrow and Hollow Knight and Bloodstained and the Ori games and Yoku's Island I'm still in the mood for more metroidvanias. Hmm.
(Although it just occurs to me that I can't even buy a new game as long as my phone doesn't work *sighs*)

Phoenotopia: Awakening is a fantastic game that I absolutely loved. It's a beautiful exploration adventure game with puzzles, action, and platforming elements. Or, quoting one review:

"Adventure, exploration, side-quests upon side-quests, upgradable tools and weapons, flute-playing, platforming, collectibles, hair-dying, puzzle-solving, fishing, upgradable songs (not joking), bat-swinging, boss fights, countless varieties of food, cooking, teleporting, attack-charging, dashing, leaping, swimming (eventually), and so so much more wrapped up in absolutely gorgeous pixel art both background and foreground and music that can haunt, relax, tense up, and enlighten the mood whenever required." (emkaylucky on Steam)

Missing from that list: there's a sidequest where you collect chickens - I'm sorry, perro – from all over the map, and you can pet cats. There's even an achievement for it!

Check out the trailer:

Watch on YouTube

( More details on why exactly it's so great etc. )

If this sounds in any way up your alley, there's a demo of the first "chapter" of the story on Steam that you can check out. D, who likes to explore everything she can, played the demo for over four hours, but it could also be finished in less than half the time.

I knew I wanted to write fic for Phoenotopia: Awakening before I had even finished the game, and then when I did even more so.

bethefirst was the perfect motivation to write something soon.

Go About Your Business, Act As If You're Free
2.1k, gen, post-canon
Summary: Lisa has a few questions for Bart about Gail.
Canon Knowledge Required: I don't think it makes sense without canon knowledge. I probably wrote this for an audience of one and that's okay. And this is made of spoilers so if there's any chance that I could persuade you to give the game a try definitely don't read this.

Notes: I have so many post-canon thoughts and feelings and ideas – I crammed (maybe too) many in this fic and I want to write several more. The title isn't a perfect fit, but I decided on it after realizing that the series name for all my PHOA fic should be "Rise Like a PHOENIX."

I also finally made myself an icon for the occasion. It's not great but I'll find a better one later.
ETA: Now with improved icon.

I had a very low energy week. Work was okay but studying/anything else is not going that well. Hopefully I will settle into a rhythm soon. I really need to force myself to go to bed earlier.

( More Phoenotopia: Awakening )

Sidenote, this is now finally my second-most played game, overtaking Hollow Knight.

Have I mentioned recently how much I enjoy this game? I finally made it to the credits!
Detailed notes under the cut; I will make a mostly spoiler-free promo post eventually but rn I am too busy playing the game.

( I understand the title of the game now )

All in all I played for a little over 55 hours and got to 58% completion. Not sure I will get to 100% but there are several things I still want to discover/see, so I'm definitely not finished playing yet!

I still love playing Phoenotopia Awakening. I'm glad the game is so long! After about 45 hours I think I might be ~80% done with the main plot? This next area looks like it could be the last. Not sure I trust that though, could be more, could be less. But even if I'm close to the end of the main story, thankfully there's still a lot of optional content to explore.

One reason I am looking forward to being finished is that when D and I play the same game but that game that has a lot of nonlinear content it gets very tricky to talk about it because we never know if the other has discovered this particular thing yet ^^ D is writing a very pretty "game journal" with notes on all regions, puzzles, collectibles etc. (using about half a dozen different inks) and I look forward to being able to read it. I was too lazy for that, so I just have a bunch of notes for puzzles scattered on my desk and wrote a paragraph on what I approximately did every day.

( Details and many spoilers )

The March deadline at work finally passed *flops over* I'm so glad I'm on vacation next week because my head is empty.

I didn't have that much time for it, but I'm still having so much fun playing Phoenotopia Awakening. I finished what could probably count as part two (and I could go to the next area, but decided to leave that for after my vacation), and I managed to get DD to play it too which makes it even better. I'm not even done yet and I'm already strongly considering it as a Yuletide fandom.

( Progress )

This week DD and I finally finished watching the live-action Hikaru no Go and overall I enjoyed it a lot. ( Spoilers )

I'm not sure I'll check out the manga or anime, but maybe one day. I am curious what they changed!

I was thinking about which of my many new charity bundle games to play, but then instead I bought another game that I saw was on sale: Phoenotopia Awakening. I've played for six hours now and it's a delight. The colors, the exploration, the puzzles and quests… ( Spoilers )