Pretty glad I skipped the current gen consoles - my last one was an Xbox one S. Still have it around to play DVDs and blu ray lol. Steam deck has been the best gaming purchase and I don’t see myself going back.

It’s a fun game with some nice visuals but for whatever reason I lose interest fairly quickly. Like it’s a nice little Saturday afternoon game - I’ll have some fun with it and then move on to the next thing. Worth the $5 or so it goes on sale for quite frequently

Baldur’s gate 3 for me, easiest difficulty so I can play out the power fantasy and enjoy the story

I mean I suck at the game and play on the lowest difficulty, I just think the story is awesome. I’m the wrong person to ask lol

I just bought Balatro on Fanatical which came with a free game voucher so I picked up Grip: Combat Racing asking with it. Both really fun games.

Tempted to get FF7 remake but I need to put in more time with a Baldur’s gate 3 before buying another big game

Yup you nailed it, think classic top down Zelda but with more fast paced bump combat/hack n slash combat depending on which game you’re playing, and less puzzles. Don’t be ashamed to use a walkthrough for Ys 1 and 2 as they are originally made in the late 80s/early 90s and have some obscure elements to them (find a boss before getting x item and you will get one shotted/ won’t be able to damage him, etc)

Check out the Ys series on PSP and Vita, they are some of the best games I’ve played through on my Vita. Digitalemelas.com has a lot of really good info on it.

Also obligatory Persona 4 Golden

Steam but mainly because I have a steam deck so ease of use.

Loop Hero

Hades

Persona 4 or 5

If durability is a concern with the switch I’d definitely recommend you play docked with a pro controller or 8bitdo controller as your joycons will start to drift - happened to me about 1.5 to 2 years into owning mine.

I haven’t owned a PlayStation since PS3 but it sounds like PS5 is a solid choice for you

Lately it’s been Persona 4 Golden on the Vita and Zelda ToTK.

Zelda because you can change your play style easily, sometimes I just want to build stuff, other times I want to explore the map, fight monsters, or do side quests. Sometimes I’ll sit there and spend a bunch of time preparing meals for a future play sessions.

Persona 4 I keep coming back to for the story and overall experience - music, voice acting, and even just navigating menus is so stylistic and top notch. I started my playthrough in 2019 though and am barely picking it back up.

On days I have more energy I’ve been playing Freedom Planet 2 for some action platforming as well.

Just want to drop this excellent resource here on everything Ys: https://www.digitalemelas.com

Ys 8 is a great entry point which got me hooked on the series. Each game is self-contained, however Ys 9 does reference previous games more as an easter egg/fan service than actually affecting enjoyment of the story.

I remember the one with gorillas throwing explosive bananas at each other