rogue legacy 2
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a marked improvement over the previous game in almost every way. the art style is fully realized thanks to super hi-res sprites. sill handles very well although pulling an about-face and swinging your weapon is kind of difficult due to an advanced walk-backward-while-swinging technique. this sometimes gets me in trouble and ends runs, which is frustrating considering how good every other aspect of the controls feel. the progression system is still the linear difficulty curve where you get "better" at the game when you put more time into it so you can get more resources so you can unlock additional abilities and better gear. there is no way a normal player can beat even the first boss without putting significant time into the game to power up the characters and heirs. this is not quite what i want out of a rogue-like (-lite?) but for some reason the combination of good game "feel", enhanced presentation, and meaningful iteration and expansion on ideas found in the first game is working for me

bravely default 2
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remembered i had a switch and an hdmi cord connected to the docking station. this has become my stationary bike game. i'm only a few hours in but the combat seems solid. the borrow/bank turn system is neat (this is my first bravely game) and is a genuinely innovative take on turn based jrpg battles. the battle gameplay loop as a whole reminds me a bit of persona where you can blow through mob battles in seconds if you know what you're doing but boss battles require a carefully considered approach as bosses are exponentially stronger than mobs. i think i like this kind of battle design in jrpgs, or at least prefer it to having to slog through slow random encounters and then blow through bosses like in some final fantasy games. the job system seems good but i can already see that grinding for job points to unlock new abilities is going to be a chore. imo this somewhat defeats the purpose of a job system and by extension experimenting with it but i also don't know how you let the player not become instantly overpowered without gating access to abilities. not really a fan of the presentation. i think this game is limited in this aspect due to its 3ds roots and being on the switch. i'd love to see non-chibi characters that animate well in this battle system

dragon quest builders 2
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free on game pass for the moment. i actually own this on ps4 but it's too clunky to be enjoyable due to the low frame rate and generally sub-par performance. on pc it's a zippy and rock-solid 60 fps. this helps tremendously when you're negotiating the finer points of placing items. i'm also in a unusual state of mind (for me) where i actually want to play a relaxing low-stakes game and this fits the bill perfectly. i'm historically awful at building stuff — why i generally stay away from the builder genre of games — but i'm going to try to plan things out and design buildings that aren't purely functional, going for more aesthetically pleasing creations. we'll see how that goes

street fighter v
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had to get a game that didn't end in "2" on this list. i can't play this game at the level i need to in order to be successful when i'm stressed out due to work or working towards relocating and looking for a new job. i have to pick and choose my spots. i used to have a rule where i would stop playing if i lost 3 matches in a row because i would just spiral out of control and go 1 for 10. i've reinstated it because trying to work through a losing streak is just not viable right now. the game is still a lot of fun when i'm playing well. i'm actually grinding out single hit (non-counter) confirms in training mode. it's taking a very long time to develop the muscle memory but there is incremental progress from week to week and i'm starting to incorporate them into matches, which is encouraging. i'm just a few solid win streaks from super diamond. master rank seems achievable if i grind ranked enough but i'm not sure i want to dedicate that much time to one game