I planned to finish Xanadu Next yesterday, but the last dungeon is way too big and there is a monster that has a skill that levels down the hero. Which is just a pure crap. First it's not a curse that can be nullified, it's a permanent punishment and it takes forever to level up.
To borrow Dark Souls' nomenclature: Git gud.
But seriously, Castle Strangerock is probably one of the best dungeon design Falcom has ever conceived outside Brandish series, perhaps. I hope you're leveling up the guardians sufficiently since the last boss is rather tough.
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I didn't end up finishing FFXII nor buying either Catherine Classic or Tales of Vesperia.
Currently I'm playing through
Shin Megami Tensei IV, and
Valkyria Chronicles 4. SMT IV feels kind of a weird game to me. Apart from the SMT mechanics I'm already familiar with, it didn't evoke the same sense of hopelessness I found in SMT Nocturne. The game is also a handheld game, so I didn't feel the same sense of scale I get from Nocturne's level design. Compounded with the visual novel-styled storytelling which I feel like a regression from the in-game cutscenes we had in Nocturne. Nevertheless, the QoL stuff I found like Demon Compedium search function is a welcome addition, and the story is interesting enough so far.
I'm only at the second mission of VC4 and the game feels instantly familiar, since the original VC is one of my favourite SRPGs. Apart from the fact that the game runs like a dream at 150% IR scale, it took all the good stuff from the first game and expand upon it. I bought all the DLCs too so I'll be plenty occupied from the next few weeks.