Don't apologise - I'm awful at replying to people and anyway, I'm pretty busy this week and unlikely to be able to get stuck into any proper testing until Friday at the earliest so there really is no rush. I was just anxious that I was already too late for alpha testing, but if it's gonna go on for a while yet then yeah no rush.
I do get that about wanting to play games away from the PC, especially when you primarily work on your PC. It's hard to break away from that association that PC = Work. It's why I've always preferred consoles over PC gaming, as a console is JUST for games (well, mostly, I do sometimes use it for Netflix, but still). On a PC there are countless things you can do besides gaming, so it's easier to get distracted and not be able to totally zone out and get stuck into a game.
A lot of emulators actually run great on any bog-standard smartphone, which is an option if you want to game away from PC, although it has a similar problem of being easily distracted - often, rather than gaming, I mindless scroll on my phone and waste hours - its weird, I love gaming, but often I lack the drive and motivation to actually sit down and get started in a game, and do nothing but game for a couple of hours.
But anyway, recently I've struggled to find the time/motivation to sit down and play a console game (I was playing FFVII Remake on PS5 but haven't touched it in weeks), but gaming on my mobile has helped me squeeze in chunks of gaming here and there, as it's much more pick-up-and-play.
I downloaded a GBA emulator, the beautifully named "Pizza Boy GBA Basic", as it was as far as I could see the only GBA emulator on the Google Play Store that was both 1) Free and 2) not riddled with ads. It does have a paid version "Pizza Boy GBA Pro" but I can't even think what that upgrade would include, since Basic seems to do everything it needs to do, with no ads.
I'm loving this emulator, and despite not liking mobile games or mobile controls generally, the controls are instantly familiar and easy to use. When in portrait, the button layout is exactly like I'm holding an original Game Boy, so it was really comfortable to play.
I've been playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - I love the original Tactics (well, War of the Lions to be specific), never played its sequels, and I want to tick off all, or as many as I can, of the Final Fantasy games I've never played (I've completed all the numbered entries except 11 and 14, so I'm moving on to sequels and spin-offs).
It's been great fun, and the portability means I've made much more progress than if it was on a home console or PC. It's not as good as the first Tactics - far sillier - but fun nonetheless. And I think I enjoy the job and ability system more in this game than in the first. Think I'm approaching the end now and I'm already thinking about what I may play next on this emulator.
I'm itching to play through the early Final Fantasies again, and it occurred to me that all the FFs 1-6, excluding 3, have a GBA port, so this would be a great way to play them.
I do get that about wanting to play games away from the PC, especially when you primarily work on your PC. It's hard to break away from that association that PC = Work. It's why I've always preferred consoles over PC gaming, as a console is JUST for games (well, mostly, I do sometimes use it for Netflix, but still). On a PC there are countless things you can do besides gaming, so it's easier to get distracted and not be able to totally zone out and get stuck into a game.
A lot of emulators actually run great on any bog-standard smartphone, which is an option if you want to game away from PC, although it has a similar problem of being easily distracted - often, rather than gaming, I mindless scroll on my phone and waste hours - its weird, I love gaming, but often I lack the drive and motivation to actually sit down and get started in a game, and do nothing but game for a couple of hours.
But anyway, recently I've struggled to find the time/motivation to sit down and play a console game (I was playing FFVII Remake on PS5 but haven't touched it in weeks), but gaming on my mobile has helped me squeeze in chunks of gaming here and there, as it's much more pick-up-and-play.
I downloaded a GBA emulator, the beautifully named "Pizza Boy GBA Basic", as it was as far as I could see the only GBA emulator on the Google Play Store that was both 1) Free and 2) not riddled with ads. It does have a paid version "Pizza Boy GBA Pro" but I can't even think what that upgrade would include, since Basic seems to do everything it needs to do, with no ads.
I'm loving this emulator, and despite not liking mobile games or mobile controls generally, the controls are instantly familiar and easy to use. When in portrait, the button layout is exactly like I'm holding an original Game Boy, so it was really comfortable to play.
I've been playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - I love the original Tactics (well, War of the Lions to be specific), never played its sequels, and I want to tick off all, or as many as I can, of the Final Fantasy games I've never played (I've completed all the numbered entries except 11 and 14, so I'm moving on to sequels and spin-offs).
It's been great fun, and the portability means I've made much more progress than if it was on a home console or PC. It's not as good as the first Tactics - far sillier - but fun nonetheless. And I think I enjoy the job and ability system more in this game than in the first. Think I'm approaching the end now and I'm already thinking about what I may play next on this emulator.
I'm itching to play through the early Final Fantasies again, and it occurred to me that all the FFs 1-6, excluding 3, have a GBA port, so this would be a great way to play them.