Obduction is weird imo because on the one hand it’s probably the best game Cyan made in years and it’s more expensive and fully realized than I’d have expected but on the other hand it’s almost absurdly circumscribed as “Cyan game” in a way that could only have happened in the Kickstarter era and didn’t really lead to anything else and is hardly as good as their best work despite not being bad— it’s basically comparable to Torment Marinara, a game that I liked but arguably should not have existed for how arbitrary its design goals were
7 Likes
seaman update 2
31/10/25
the grubman has turned into a mothman with very beautifully textured fuzzy thorax, wings and antennae, in addition to the usual human face. i only have one bc i fed the other caterpillar to the seamen already, breadcrumbs being low, so i’m already a little apprehensive about figuring how how the lifecycle of the bugs work… the seamen respond to halloween by saying “i see you’re wearing your costume. very scary.” when i say “i see you are too” they say “you know it” very suavely and swim away.
01/11/25
seaman asks a lot of very intensive questions about my family’s birthdays that makes it seem like he’s about to steal my credit card details. at the end he says “my knowledge of your family grows ever more complete…” he’s also very pleased to point out that my partner and dad have the same zodiac sign. i like that whenever he scores a point he gives this big shit eating grin. it feels like very sophisticated game design insight to have made a talking virtual pet be annoying and inscrutable on purpose, rather than constantly trying to be your friend.
02/11/25
when i logged in today he said “is your husband in the room..? come closer…” and asked me if i was having an affair. when i said no he said “well, it’s good noone is getting hurt” then scowled and shot poop at the camera. seaman craves drama, but i can’t help but feel it would be a very bad idea for anyone to use him as a confidant in this way. imagine finding out something was going on bc one day your partner’s seaman was like “so, about your affair…” or “is your husband gone yet? we’ll talk later.” i did remember reading he has lines abt bill clinton but i’m unsure what triggers them.
food is getting low, one of the eggs turned out to be a spider with a creepy skull face. i’m trying to go back to breadcrumbs for a while to let the caterpillars grow.
am i getting closer to whatever kind of content led to the dreamcast ad abt wanting to fuck a fish… who can say
03/11/25
the seamen are quite amiable today, they both grew a set of flippers that they use to do a dorky dance inside the tank. it’s pretty cute. he asked if i liked myself and if i was artistic and then said “ahh.. i like a woman with a skilled hand.” he also talked about seeing yourself on film and how the camera adds 10lbs. i got more caterpillar eggs.
04/11/25
more grubs at last… he ate one and said “oooh i’m a fat boy.” not very talkative today otherwise.
05/11/25
today both of the seamen had sex, as unpleasantly announced by one of them announcing “let’s see a love machine in action” and then mounting the other. after some pulsing loads being transferred from one to the other via their head tentacle the top one then rolled over and died and floated to the top of the tank. and the remaining seaman was just like “so… do you have a mac, or a pc?”
06/11/25
leonard nimoy in the loading screen delivers a sombre eulogy for the dead seaman, announcing “he spent his last energy ensuring the continuation of his species… i’m sure he had no regrets”. he also encouraged me to get seaman to push a big rock in his tank. if you grab the rock seaman will talk to you about it but first makes you solve an annoying riddle, like “if a man types 60 words a minute for 7 hours a day 300 days a year what does he get” (“carpal tunnel”). once you get the trick answers its not so bad although there’s also the parser to contend with. anyway i did answer one and got him to push the rock, which he does in an oddly cute animation where he stands up on his little flippers.
i like this illustration from the jp guide:
after pushing it he announced he was tired and started quizzing me for thoughts on the machine age to come.
07/11/25
more rock pushing. he asked if i like emails and said “those ‘emoticons’ can’t be expressed in words… smileyyyy.” lots more talk about computers, from the optimistic perspective of a 90s dreamcast creature. i tried not to demoralize him on this.
random dialogue as i try words he might react to: “do you like america?” “yeah, right… as if. ha ha ha.”
08/11/25
taking pity on my dumb ass, seaman asked me an easy one today (“how many legs does an octopus have?”). it then played a scene where he pushed the rock again, which this time made most of the water drain out of the tank (?). seaman now lives inside a little puddle and is too busy flopping to get out to have much conversation.
09/11/25
leonard nimoy says seaman is with child… when i logged in i asked “are you pregnant” and he responded “should i be?” and then continued trying to flop out of the tank. eventually after encouraging him (“you are handsome” “i like you” “good work”) he made it out of the puddle and crawled groaning onto the land… after a while of straining he pumped out 6 new little eggs and then said “that was fun. i’ll call you” and died. the new eggs have little seaman faces dimly visible within. unsure whether this resets them to baby stage or if the personality lives on, i guess i’ll see…??
either way RIP seaman. i’ll never forget your beautiful smile.
32 Likes
This owns thank you for this.
4 Likes
I’ve played a few hours of Diablo IV via PS+ and I’m not sure yet how I feel about it, I just have scattered thoughts.
- I’m playing standard difficulty and mostly absolutely ripping through all enemies (playing as a Druid, most of my points have been put into the skill that imbues my melee attacks with lightning that chains between the baddies,). I barely need to bother thinking about combat rn, just wade in and sweep the DeePS, as they say. I don’t even know if cranking up the difficulty would make this more engaging. Like I guess I couldn’t be so careless, but so what?
- That opening cinematic is pretty rad kudos to whoever storyboarded it.
- A lot more fetch questing and talking to villagers than I was expecting, this is my first Diablo game I’m playing in earnest and I guess I figured it would be pure dungeon crawling.
- The equipment is all pretty boring stuff so far
- Some of the environments are cool, at least the interiors. This big snowy overworld is pretty bland.
- I do appreciate that I replenish my mana by fighting instead of (well at least so far) juggling mana potions or relying on pick-ups.
So yeah I guess this is alright? I’ll keep playing and see if I get bored.
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I definitely found that playing on the highest difficulty it would let me was the only way to get enough friction to be interesting, but then again I quit halfway through the regular campaign so maybe I’m not the best thermometer
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I decided to try Bomberman Jetters since its (I think) the only Bomberman I haven’t played.
Its not amazing. Feels like it should be on N64.
Its not even like aesthetically special, though I enjoy the anime cut scenes.
Rotating the camera with the shoulders on game-cube sure is a choice.
Discovered the analog stick on my blue used Hori Mini Ps3 controller is totally cactus. Bummer.
1 Like
Stray Children just got me to enjoy playing it a lot more by forceably locking me out of being a total completionist when I unwittingly saved after a point of no return. I guess I learned nothing from playing Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland… (100% gives you a worse ending)
Part of me is still worried I’ll be cheated out of a proper ending. This is what a lifetime of videogames does to you, kids! 
9 Likes
I played some games! Streams of consciousness ensued.
ROAD RASH II
SHORT VERSION: Still an adrenaline rush with fun 90s 'tude, blasting down roads and swinging chains at people is a blast… when the technical limitations of the Genesis aren’t holding this game back, plus not being able to see obstacles due to the camera angle and hills. No amount of ointment could fix the rash that left on me!
LONG VERSION:
For me, Road Rash on 32-bit systems was where it was at (Road Rash 64 was also great), but the 16-bit predecessors were still fun.
The big thing with this installment is a two-player mode, which I don’t care about because I have no friends. Other improvements are more varied environments, nitros on some bikes, and a new chain weapon. Otherwise, it’s basically just the first game but more.
Tracks again tend to feel samey, with the new environments helping with that a bit. You’ll have to keep buying new bikes to keep up with opponents, which can lead to a little grinding for money if you don’t always come first (this is true of all Road Rash games). Combat is again a bit of a gimmick, as you’re better off just avoiding conflict… but on the other hand, attacking people with chains is fun.
The major problems I had with the last one are the same here… the game struggles when too much is on screen and/or when you’re going too fast, which often leads to questionable/frustrating collisions since your controls become less responsive, and you/obstacles/opponents start warping about a little and sometimes a car will suddenly appear in front of you. Basically, it starts to not to feel as good to play.
Secondly, due to the low camera angle and constant hills, you’ll often slam into obstacles you had no way of knowing are there unless you memorised the course, especially in later levels when you’re at super high speeds.
Still, it gives a good adrenaline rush and is fun, when it isn’t being janky. Eventually the problems made it more tedious than fun and I shelved it.
SALLY FACE
SHORT VERSION: A fantastic metal as fuck adventure game about saving the world from demons… except it’s incredibly easy to literally miss half of the story. That gave me a Sally Sad Face.
LONG VERSION: Pretty much an interactive edgy teen goth comic (think Jhonen Vasquez), Sally Face is about a boy with a disfigured face who, with the help of his friends, tries to prevent a demonic cult destroying the world.
We got cults! We got demons! We got aliens! We got ghosts! We got gritty murders! We got black magic! We got metal! We got romance! We got everything!
The story is full of twists and turns, and managed to captivate me the entire time. Yes, it can feel a bit too Hot Topic or whatever, but I don’t care, I loved it.
It’s full of likable characters (in addition to vile evil ones), treats Sal’s disfigurement (and other people’s disabilities) with respect, has lots of positive don’t-judge-a-book moments, good queer representation, and really I just loved the (admittedly often nasty and tragic) story. There were some elements I didn’t like, but on the whole I thought it was a wild, run ride.
BUT… and this is a huge but… the game can be incredibly frustrating to play. It’s basically an adventure game, with lots of going back and forth collecting and using items, talking to people, and figuring out what to do next. Sometimes it gets more creative with the puzzles and tasks, like playing little Game Boy inspired games, or using the power of rock and roll to battle demons with a simple rhythm game.
The problem is that it’s SO, SO easy to miss HUGE amounts of each of the five episodes by missing a puzzle, or doing something too early (even though logically it’s what you would do next).
When I started the second episode, I had a bunch of friends I didn’t meet, and the game kept referencing things I didn’t experience like befriending a ghost. This kept happening throughout the entire game and it was incredibly frustrating, and significantly weakened the story. When I finished, I ended up just reading the wiki to see all the stuff I missed, and it turned out to be a shitload.
Additionally, though most puzzles were logical and fun, there were also some really obtuse and frustrating ones. A lot of these blocked the “optional” story, though again, I missed a lot of stuff by just doing what I logically thought I should do next. You can literally miss so much by just going in the wrong door at the wrong time, with no warning, and you wont know until it’s too late.
This lead to another problem of making me constantly second-guess myself… “did I miss anything? Surely I can do something with this…” and making me waste time on things which turned out to be nothing.
It’s such a damn shame, because I love so much about this game. But making it so easy to miss CRUCIAL plot elements that keep coming up despite not experiencing them is a huge flaw. If it was just extra lore or something, it wouldn’t be so bad. But this is like, the main story.
Despite that… I loved the game enough to recommend it still, but just be wary that you may miss a lot of story if you don’t play it perfectly.
ADVENTURES OF LOLO 2
More of the same but harder, and not necessarily more fun. Cute enough for what it is, but I don’t have the patience for this kind of old school action-puzzler anymore. Especially one that occasionally demands pixel perfect timing! The lives system is very pointless and just wastes time, too.
I’m sure there will be people who love it, though! I’m just not one of them.
DIGGER T ROCK
SHORT VERSION: This game is a Digger T. Crock! This city can STAY lost! A puzzle-platformer with some interesting ideas and nice graphics, but is an absolutely chore to play due to trial-and-error, limited resources, unresponsive controls, and annoying, constantly respawning enemies.
LONG VERSION:
I remember wanting this game so much when I was a kid because I loved the Saturday morning cartoon style coverart, but I’m glad I never got it because this game blows.
It’s a puzzle-platformer where you explore levels, trying to find the right pillar to push down to open the exit, and then race down to it before it closes. Of course, you want to collect as much treasure as you can before leaving, too.
There are some Boulderdash mechanics in that you have to dig through dirt sometimes, and boulders can fall down, and there is also resource management… you’ll need TNT to blow up walls, ladders to avoid fall damage, etc.
So far, it sounds like an interesting little game! Unfortunately, it suffers from extremely clunky, unresponsive controls. Enemies also constantly respawn and hound you, and often they would respawn right on top of me. Fighting them with the unresponsive controls just added to the frustration, and trying to set dynamite or whatever while surrounded by 20 mosquitos sucked.
There is also a huge amount of trial and error, with you having to map out the levels and knowing when to use resources since they are so limited… the game has lots of blind falls, but you don’t want to use ladders willy nilly because you only have a limited number. In fact, the last level is impossible if you don’t have enough resources left over from previous levels since there are none located on the level itself. I suspect this is the case because there are only 8 levels (and they get hard right after the first one) and they needed to pad out the playing time. Oh, there are also secret warps you’ll have to find to get around the levels.
It DOES look nice, with good animation on Digger and the enemies, and the music is good too. But playing this game is an absolute chore. If you must play it, I’d recommend it in Rare Replay with rewind because life is too short.
MARIO GALAXY 2
SHORT VERSION: Mechanically stronger and more action-orientated than the first game, it obviously doesn’t feel as fresh and lacks some of the mystique the first had, Mario Galaxy 2 is still a solid, fun 3D platformer that is not quite like anything else… apart from the first game.
LONG VERSION:
I used to think this was the better of the two Galaxy games, but now I’m not sure.
It’s definitely more streamlined and focused this time around, with a map instead of an odd hub (though all the levels in each area are still unrelated to each other), and the levels are much more straightforward, usually focused around a certain mechanic or idea… much more obstacle based than the first, which tended to have more open, relaxed areas… or at least, more spaces to give players a breather.
In fact, this whole game feels more action-focused than the first, and less “cosy” or whatever. It’s also more creative, and has less repetition than the first game which tended to re-use mechanics a whole lot. But I don’t know, I think I like the vibe of the first one more these days? They’re both a good time, though!
There is still a lot of motion controls in this one, which is disappointing, but it works well enough. Yoshi was horrible to control at first, but when I realised I can reset the cursor, he was a breeze and I was licking all over the place.
Also, I’m not sure if this is a new bug to the Switch 2 version, but sometimes Mario will just start running around in a circle apropos of nothing, and it drove me NUTS, especially during moments that needed precision movement… and there are lot of those moments in this game! Horrible, horrible bug.
Also, most Prankster comets are just “what if this level was more annoying?”
Didn’t bother going for the second lot of stars, definitely had my fill after the first run. Mainly because I was sour after some of the more frustrating stars.
The new storybook is kinda depressing! I liked it.
But yeah! Doesn’t feel as… magical? or something as the first game, but mechanically is stronger. Both a good time in their own ways!
KAO THE KANGRAOO
SHORT VERSION: As generic as a 3D platformer can be, this is decent enough but is hardly a knockout.
LONG VERSION:
I felt like playing a generic 3D platformer, so picked this up when it was on sale, and boy howdy did it fit the bill!
A reboot of a series I never played, levels are very much a-to-b with some secrets to get side-tracked by, and combat is mostly in the style of a very simple beat’em up. There are some light puzzles here and there to break up the platforming, and plenty of abilities to find/use to spice things up a little.
It plays fine enough aside from an over-use of tiny platforms, a difficulty in gauging distance, Kao feeling just a little too heavy, and not being able to make fine adjustments when in the air… all these problems combined can make some annoying bits, but for the most part this was pretty breezy.
There are also hub areas to explore, a billion collectables to find, and direct-to-dvd quality cutscenes to tell the generic story. It all has a bit of a cheap look to it, and the character designs don’t help.
Oh, another complaint is that some levels go on for way too long. OH, also the camera isn’t as flexible as it should be.
There IS a level dedicated to durians, so that’s cool. Except we don’t have those in Australia. Apart from some of the animals, there is nothing Australian about this world at all, actually!!
So yeah, a generic 3D platformer that was fun enough until I decided I had my fill and shelved it. Could do better, could do worse.
DUSK
SHORT VERSION: A badass time, if you like 90s-era shooters, I can’t recommend this one enough. Dusk leaves the rest in the dust!
LONG VERSION: By far my favourite of the so-called boomer shooters I’ve played, this game rocks!
The first episode is like a tribute to both Quake and the Build games Blood and Redneck Rampage, with the player mostly running around a backwoods town, exploring run-down buildings, fields, and such as you kill cultists and monsters.
This episode is really solid, but the game doesn’t come into it’s own until the second which consists of abstract industrial nightmares, which are fascinating to explore, and consist of many really fun, interesting battle scenarios.
The third episode brings everything together brilliantly, with a whole bunch of surreal levels which are an absolute blast to work through, plus it has some great storytelling-through-level-design. Also has a bunch of interesting mechanics that make things even more wild, like shifting gravity.
There are some problems I had with it, which are as follows:
- Having no autosave when you start a new level screwed me over when I accidentally soft-locked myself with an ill-timed save.
- Having the penultimate level being a big arena battle is a but of an anti-climax after all the weirdness. Could have made it at least a bit more interesting!
- Most enemies don’t react to being shot, which both significantly weakens the gunfeel, and also communicates less information to the player.
- Just a littttttle too stingy on ammo.
Has a great Quake-era grungy aesthetic, cool soundtrack, and a fun selection of weapons, foes, and great variety of levels. Game also has a good sense of dark humour.
If you like 90s-era shooters, this is one I definitely recommend!
19 Likes
I will take this opportunity to plug my thread about Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2
12 Likes
I haven’t played Galaxy 2 on Switch, but are you sure this isn’t just the dreaded joycon drift?
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I don’t think so, plus we played it on the Switch 2 which allegedly eliminated the drift
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Ace Combat. I fly da plane. I shoot da missles
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N’s Zorua in Pokemon White 2 is now a level 77 Zoroark. I am going to raise it to level 100 until I can solo the elite 4 plus the champion with it, then beat N himself with it, then transfer it back to White and beat the elite 4 plus Champion there, then transfer it forward to Pokemon Ultra Moon and beat every criminal organization in the entire game series up to that point with just that Zoroark if possible. I am doing this partly because of the cuteness of using N’s own Zorua as my only pokemon against him, and partly because I am just extremely annoyed at literally having to raise pokemon to the 80s levels to complete the post game content. If I have to do that, I might as well just raise one pokemon to level 100. Also god help me, I can’t stop. I should have known playing this much Pokemon would not set me free but make me an addict.
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I had this happen frequently in Galaxy 1 and I hated it. Game already has weird controls and camera stuff to contend with, but eating shit because Mario decides to run in tiny circles over and over again made me quit for the day more than a few times.
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Played Dispatch (up to ep 6/8)
Game’s got good incidental details, like Chase got a nicer dog bed for my dog than I do because he loves my dog more.
There’s some drama around the villain team trying to guess your identity but it’s a choice that doesn’t yet seem to have many repercussions. I suspect the devs expect you to open up and I feel like I am having a freakish playthrough without even trying. Behold:
I can’t remember how many episodic releases just made everything ahead of time and then released them weekly when that trend was dying out. The only other game I can think of recently that did was We are OFK (blech). The rhythm of an episode is nice. Two rounds in the dispatch system are bookended by intro and outro with an interlude in the middle.
There’s some weird time compression going on with the narrative. The drama of the workplace suggests each episode is a subsequent day but the mecha man rebuilding project is presumably taking weeks if not more.
Cool bit when you’re landed in the infirmary and Blonde Blazer takes the first half of your shift. You enter into the shift with people already returning from missions mid-conversation.
They are ratcheting up the stakes for the final two episodes that drop tomorrow. The character who had death flags all over finally drowns in them but it’s good. It’s always the most expensive actor who dies in videogames. Having played through six episodes now I do think they could probably ease off on the toilet humour/sexual putdowns. Sometimes they are well-written, but it feels like the writers grasp for them too often and it dilutes things a little but I’m still enjoying a lot of it.
7 Likes
yeah it’s weird how juvenile the material insists on being with the production this credible in every other respect? I know nothing about critical role but I assume that’s kind of table stakes for this sort of “well written but outwardly accessible nerd culture appeal” and I think it is like, just on the side of not being distracting, like an 80th percentile Kevin Smith script
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knuckled down and finished the last 2 puzzles in part 3 of Bonfire Peaks: Lost Memories. I thought I didn’t have it in me to build some elevation contraptions but it took 10 minutes
uninstalled, straight into Katamari Reroll
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My secret shame
Aliens: Fire Team Elite
Join me Insert Credit Select Button
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I fucking love how if you ever step away from Deadlock for longer than 30 days you lose your sea legs
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Ninja Blade ends with you climbing out of your dad’s mouth.
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