[Game Journal] Tales of the Arcaneum (updated)

Arcaneum · Jun 14, 2025

Tales of the Arcaneum

Transcending history, and the world...
a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold...

Chapter 18

WE GAMIN'

So I took a step away from PC and blasted through some games with my free time!

Archipelago

I have been playing so much on Archipelago, it's been a little crazy. In terms of games completed:

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Pokémon Emerald x 4
Pokémon Red
Pokémon FRLG
Final Fantasy XII
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Golden Sun: The Lost Age

And more on the horizon! The craziest part has been taking part in one on the main Discord server for Archipelago, which hosted 3,000 games. It has been pretty slow, but it actually worked out really well as it meant I could fit it in around everything else. Pokémon Red in particular was really fun - I actually took this from someone else and they had entrance warps on, so having to try to navigate that was a fun challenge!

PokéCommunity Game Along - Unfinished Business

May's theme was all about completing a game you had started but never beaten before. My choice was Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for the PlayStation. I remember playing this over and over on demo discs and the such, only ever really playing the first level.

Firstly, this was such a nice and refreshing change to my last few Game-Along games. Short and sweet! I actually played most of this in one sitting, and had a fun time! A lot of the platforming was quite easy, but there were some puzzles/moments that did require a little thinking. The last level in particular was quite fun - a series of challenging puzzles unlocking several gates before being able to make it to the final boss.

Also the music was amazing and I kinda liked the 2.5D aspect it had. There were a lot of elements that required interacting outside of the sidescrolling you were doing in the game. A fun experience overall, but I will say that I don't think I really need to be playing it again.

General catch-up

I've been dabbling in some other things too! Here are some.

Tiny Rogues: After SEVERAL hours of playing this, I have finally managed to 100% it! Had a blast all the way up until the last achievement, which involved getting over 10 Luck in a run and GOD it's so hard to do. I'll detail more about this game as I'm playing it for this month's Game-Along!

Age of Empires 2: So this was something I played once in a blue moon, as I play it exclusively with my friends. However we've been catching up a lot more frequently, so I thought it was time to start putting this in here! This has definitely been a very hard learning curve and I'm far from what I used to be, but it's been fun nevertheless!

And that's it for now! Will try to update more as things change!

Current Event Progress:

PokéCommunity Game-Along
January - Free Choice
Tales of Graces F (Remastered) - Completed
February - Trust Issues
Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You - Completed
March - Conundrums
Bust-a-Move 2 - Completed
April - Hack and Slash
Dynasty Warriors 5 - Completed
May - Unfinished Business
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - Completed
June - Going Rogue
Tiny Rogues - In Progress

Games completed/in progress this year
Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You - Completed
Tales of Graces F (Remastered) - Completed
Disgaea 5 - Completed
Monster Hunter Wilds - Completed
Bust-a-Move 2 - Completed
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (Archipelago) - Completed x2
Final Fantasy XII (Archipelago) - Completed x2
Final Fantasy VIII (Randomiser) - In Progress
Tales of Symphonia - In Progress
Tales of Vesperia - In Progress
Wip3out: Special Edition - In Progress
Dynasty Warriors 5 - Completed
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - Completed
Final Fantasy VI (A Brave New World) - In Progress
Risk of Rain Returns (Archipelago) - Completed
Sonic 1 (Archipelago) - Completed
Pokémon Black 2 - Completed
Pokémon Emerald (Archipelago) - Completed x4
Pokémon Red (Archipelago) - Completed
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (Archipelago) - Completed
Tiny Rogues - Completed