So, I was getting really behind on a bunch of stuff, including the past few week's play logs and the August Monthly Roundup, so I've ultimately decided to just skip all of that stuff for the sake of not completely drowning myself in things to do.

I'm also gonna try to make the play logs more succinct from here on out, as I was definitely getting a bit carried away with how much I was writing.

With all that out of the way, let's go to the chart!

• Ordered by first play of the week.
• All Switch/Switch 2 play data on my console is sourced from the Nintendo Store mobile app.

Only a handful of titles to touch on this week, as I've been a bit more laser focused lately. Tears of the Kingdom and Fortune's Weave are the two games I'm really focusing on right now, as both are pretty big games. I snuck in a little bit of Fortnite, a game I don't typically play, due to a certain collab dropping last week, but other than that, I'm focused on those two juggernauts.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (NS2)

• Played on Mon and Wed for an approx. total of ~6 hrs

Over the past few weeks, while I haven't been keeping up with my play logs, I've been playing a ton of Tears of the Kingdom again. I had pretty much finished up everything I wanted to in all the other games I had actively been playing, so, with the larger than usual gap between new releases before Fire Emblem came out this past week, I finally got back to Tears and have been doing a lot in it.

Most of my activity in the game over the past handful of weeks has been localized in the Akkala region, located in the northeastern-most area of the map, and has involved visiting Tarrey Town, grabbing the Travel Medallion from the tech lab, clearing out a bunch of shrines, exploring the depths, tackling side quests, etc. Thing is, though, despite spending a lot of time in the Akkala area, there's still a ton left that I want to do. I've started keeping a checklist of objectives to help me to more easily track the things I've accomplished and still want to accomplish, and currently it looks like this:

This is mostly all stuff in Akkala, and there's a good amount here. So, yeah, I'll probably be hanging around that area for a bit still before heading south to Lanaryu and Zora's Domain to tackle the third dungeon.

A couple specific things I do want to call attention to: the primary side quest in Tarrey Town ended up hitting really close to home for me in my current stage of life, and managed to jerk a tear or two from me before it was said and done. That means I can now definitively add Tears of the Kingdom to the list of games that have made me cry.

Speaking of Tarrey Town, I can't believe this game has a house-building side objective that I'm only just now finding out about over three years after the game came out. It's nothing super extraordinary, but it's a really neat application of Ultrahand, what with how you modularly stick the rooms together however you like, and it's also a really cool way of following up on the house you helped build for Link in Hateno Village back in Breath of the Wild. Feels like a logical evolution of that idea that plays perfectly into Tears's central mechanic. I like it a lot!

Here's a look at my house by the way:

While my playthrough of Tears of the Kingdom has dragged on for far longer than I would've liked, I'm still continuing to have a great time with it even three plus years after release. I have no idea how much longer it'll take me to beat it, but I'm clearly in no hurry. I'm still taking the time to soak everything about the game in and really enjoy it. It's just that I keep ending up taking months-long breaks from it, which is why it is taking me this long to get through the game.

Once I do finally get through it, I figure it'll be simultaneously a huge weight off my shoulder, and the bittersweet end of an era.

Fortnite (NS2)

• Played on Thurs, Fri, and Sat for an approx. total of ~15-20 mins

So, I'd say I like Fortnite. It's not a game I regularly play, but every time I do play it, I have a good time with it. I also can't help but respect just how massive the game has grown, with all the games within the game it offers, tools for players to make their own games, and the frankly ridiculous amount of crossover skins and content it has accumulated over the past 8 or so years.

And that brings me to the reason for my latest visit to the game. If you take a look around my blog, you'll quickly find that I'm a massive Kingdom Hearts fan. It's really the only non-Nintendo series I've done in-depth coverage of on this blog so far. So when Kingdom Hearts content arrived in Fortnite, you know I had to check it out.

I ended up buying the Sora skin bundle, which also included a Kingdom Key pickaxe and 'back bling' cosmetic, as well as a Keyblade Flourish emote. I also bought the Jam Track 'The Other Promise', which I have playing in the menus.

I only played a couple matches, but I gotta say, I'm really impressed with how good the Sora skin looks during gameplay. It is really funny to see him wielding guns, but when you consider how many different worlds Sora has been thrown into in his own series, he strangely doesn't feel too out of place here. Also, not to brag, but I had a match with 5 eliminations and a 9th place finish. Not bad I'd say for someone who doesn't play Fortnite often.

I've also gotta shout out the special Kingdom Key weapon you can acquire in the Battle Royale, which is super fun to use. Charging forwards with it by using it in mid-air and charging up a powerful Thundaga attack felt super satisfying.

All in all, I think the whole Gaming Legends theme Fortnite has going on for its current season is super cool, and is clearly doing a great job driving engagement with how it's got people like me who don't usually play and talk about Fortnite, well, playing and talking about Fortnite. I think it's super neat!

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave (NS2, New Release)

• Played on Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun for an approx. total of ~7 hrs

And finally, we've got the big new release from last week, and the first new first-party Nintendo game in nearly two whole months! Sure, it's not that long of a gap, but with how frequently games were coming out before that gap, it definitely felt like way longer, at least to me.

That being said, this is a really interesting one for me, as it marks my first foray into a franchise that for the longest time has represented my biggest blind spot in terms of Nintendo's IP catalog. I've always respected Fire Emblem as an outsider looking in, and while I've always intended to give it a try, it's simply never been a top priority for me whenever the opportunities to jump in have come around.

Even my decision to pick up Fortune's Weave was at the eleventh hour, as I didn't make up my mind until the end of last month, and it took a pre-order discount on Amazon for the physical copy to convince me to take the leap.

And now that I'm about 7 hours in? Boy am I glad I did.

I'm still early in the game, but it's left a very strong first impression. The story, world, and characters have me hooked and invested in what's going to happen next, and the gameplay's been really fun. While tactical combat is still the bread and butter, and I've been having a great time with it so far, I also really appreciate the amount of gameplay variety on offer, with dungeon crawling segments and turn-based battles to mix things up.

I plan to go further into my early thoughts on the game in a full 'first impressions' post, but so far, I'm having a great time with Fortune's Weave!

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And that should do it for this week's play log! A shorter one, as there were less games to cover than usual. I'm also trying to be more concise with these, as the length had been spiraling out of control, quite honestly.

I imagine these will continue to be fairly short for the foreseeable future, as I continue to primarily focus on Tears of the Kingdom and Fortune's Weave as the primary games that I am actively playing. Though, we are getting to the point where releases are going to start picking up. Between the Kingdom Hearts Collection and Switch Sports Resort next month and, of course, the Ocarina of Time remake, I should have plenty to keep me busy through the remainder of the year.

Before I close, here's my goals for the week:

• Trim the Current TotK Checklist Down By About Half
• Play Through the End of Chapter 4 in Cai's Path in Fortune's Weave
• Start a Second Characters Path in Fortune's Weave

Not sure how realistic it'll be to hit all of these, but if I maximize the free time I have over the next week, I don't think it's too unreasonable to hit them all. I just gotta keep making meaningful progress in both games, as they're both absolutely massive. Just keep chipping away, little by little...

Until next week, happy gaming!