This was exactly my take but I got a bit further than you.
It is fun he talks to his hand.
4 Likes
I have been playing American Truck Simulator, running jobs around WA and OR. I consider it a shallow, limited supplement to my driving education as I prep to drive a bunch on this trip and eventually get my license. Itâs kind of a fun game! And a little pretty too.
the only game thus far to make me wish I had a ultrawide resolution
13 Likes
Demon Lord Reincarnation (PC)
Explored the SE of floor 2, had overlooked a door there before. : P One whopper of a fight after Iâd forgotten to rest and went in with half SP, SP makes a huge diff! Think Iâve got the 8th (âultimateâ or whateveR) skill for each party member now, big damage on ems. ^ _^^
Finding the hidden door to get to the last area of floor 2 was like some âwhen the thrush knocksâ The Hobbit stuff except I guess with all dank and glowy-eyed undead knights and stuff instead of cute little birds.
2 Likes
got some survey after a round of mw2 asking me how I felt about the TTK (Time to Kill). meaning was I being served bodies quickly enough, was my murder lust satiated etc. What do you think dummies, my position on the scoreboard is my opinion. it feels great when I win and bad when I lose.
8 Likes
hit the difficulty spike minotaur first boss in a 3ds rpg today⌠crimson shroud, not smt iv. i think this game might be great? a lot of meaty systems to chew on (at least hypothetically) and a really admirable design sensibility and style. weâll see how it goes.
iâm also really enamored of the first few hours of opoona, playing the relocalized patch. pure bedtime comfort food full of loving detail and gentle humor in a toyetic space modernist world. wii-as-dreamcast!
12 Likes
After 3 years, the vampire in the mines is dead.
6 Likes
Ghostwire: Tokyo (PS5) - pretty boring, ultimately. the detail is nice, and the vibes are decent, and you can explore a bit of nicely-rendered-but-empty tokyo. the combat is not good, though. everything is clunky and strange. the english VO is pretty obnoxiously bad. the japanese VO is better, but not like, outstanding or anything. everyone sounds kinda like they have somewhere more important to be - an infectious feeling when it comes to this game
3 Likes
Continuing thoughts on Echo the queer furry horror visual novel.
The next time around I went through TJ the Lynxâs route. The original core of the game was Carl the Ram, Leo the Wolf, and TJ. There were always supposed to be fiveâŚromanceable? Interactable? Characters.
The order to do them in is a subject of a lot of debate, officially TJ is the last because it does end on a note of finality that I think the others lack. And says something very specific about the story. But this is complicated by the fact that since the other two routes (Jenna and Flynn) literally came out later, itâs impossible to not have them be reactions to the first batch more or less. Including this one.
They were also written by different people under the guidence of the original author. So the story is basically what it was supposed to be, but the voice shifts a little after. More on that in my next post when I actually talk about the first of those two, however!
So in some ways, TJ is the likeâŚcanonical ending of a story without one. Itâs the emotional final note Iâm getting in the middle. But also it isnât because the work doesnât end here.
The perils of nonlinear development I guess.
Spoilers, and if youâre thinking of playing the game for the love of god donât read this one more than the others Iâve posted so far:
The biggest twist is that in a lot of ways this isnât the TJ route. This one is the Chase, the viewpoint character, route. TJ doesnât actually have much going on! Heâs a nice progressive Christian Lynx! Heâs really sweet! He might be gay but if he is itâs not for Chase! And Chase has an on and off again obsession with him! And itâs pretty clear why this one is last, and itâs not because it explains arguably the true central mystery the entire game has been circling around, but itâs sort of an anti-punchline. After the other routes Iâve played so far have Chase engage in relationships with the lead characters in each, usually with R-Rated sex stuff, this one has none. Chase completely loses grip with reality and sees a relationship where there isnât one at all.
And one other thing that I wonât out and out say but shouldnât be too hard to suss out. Itâs a pretty straightforward subversion of VN conventions, but also of the gameâs structure up until this point.
And again, the reason this works and isnât some BioShock gotcha is because itâs all used for character development. It also doesnât feel likeâŚa pure fuck you for liking the rest of the game. It feels more likeâŚwellâŚa really sad final note in the sad story of Echo. But again, it isnât, and hasnât actually explained the other central mystery of the game.
One thing thatâs underscored three routes in though? Echo is sooooo comfortable with not spelling out every character trait, every detail, every aspect of their lives. Itâs comfortable with inferring, comfortable with you putting the pieces together, trusting you can see the interior lives of these people more than the emotional conversations they have. Conversations that nevertheless, shed light on what they do in the other routes.
I really, really, really get why Echo has the reputation it does. Itâs one of those Actually Art games.
6 Likes
Demon Lord Reincarnation (PC)
I felt I had to check its permanence so I missed petting the bunny. = o (Called âVorpal Bunnyâ in the Javardry source art).
Iâd got so into getting to the last unseen part of floor 2 that I forgot Iâd found the ladder down to floor 3 hours ago in another corner of the dungeon; sâthen it was the long loop around yet again to go down once I finally completed exploring floor 2. But hey, got the map for it done!
Party HP levels are getting quite large (nearly 600 for the dwarf); enemies for the most part just canât do enough damage for long enough to threaten me even in a three-stage battle,
unless I go into it already weakenedâwhich can happen if you donât have any nearby small enclosed area that allows you to rest without getting ambushed. There were plenty of those in most of floor 2 and now I find myself getting annoyed if Iâm in part of a dungeon that doesnât have a nice resting area nearby, but I suppose those safe-zone-strewn areas in 2 were just there to soften me up.
If youâre threatened though you just run from the combat, which you can always do in the first round; the only risk is waiting until later in a battle, when rather bizarrely you canât run if your leader is incapacitatedâwhich happens all the time in this game, the lowliest goblin can put anyone to sleep a single Sleeping Powder attackâbasically the only time other than a boss battle when itâs theoretically possible to suffer an inescapable party wipe.
Oh also I did a full-figure recreation of the bunny in simulated DLR filters, from the Javardry public domain source art ( ă¨ă复 - pixiv ):
7 Likes
Far Cry 6 (PS5) - so, so, so much better than i ever expected it to be. now, donât get too carried away. this is still fundamentally a far cry game - in fact itâs very similar to all the other far cry games since 3. but the execution is vastly improved
when the worst things i can say about a far cry game off top are âit is way too longâ and âa majority of my deaths were from fall damageâ, well⌠iâm surprised. my expectations were very low coming in!
the writing somehow hasnât shit itself yet and iâm closely approaching the end now, having explored all the islands and exhausted effectively every operation, sidequest, and treasure hunt on the map thus far
there are memorable characters! in a far cry game! what a concept.
5 Likes
and no a character doesnât count if you just remember how bad they suck
4 Likes
NEW 1CC!!
Quick summary of this game: when you send attack lines by chaining, a different fixed pattern is sent per character, like a certain other game series. The player-character sends the opponent straight vertical pairs of coins, PLUS items, while the final boss sends only disconnected single coins and NO items. Thus, the only real way to win is to send 8 lines pretty much immediately, then IMMEDIATELY follow up with another 2 or 3.
18 Likes
Taisen Puzzle-Dama is worth copying if you ask me.
3 Likes
opoona update: this game is exactly the feeling of being lost in ikea as a small child. 10/10
24 Likes
never played opoona but i heard this song years ago on a vgm playlist and itâs a fave
7 Likes
opoona has a lot of cool music, the change at 1:19 is nice
6 Likes
current relationship with phone games not about horses:
Honkai Star Rail: âplayingâ the game by going up to a thing I need to farm, putting the game on autobattle and then doing something else
Genshin Impact: I got these two feathers with identical 3-line starts on the substats and leveled both of them up to +4 and they both rolled the same amount of flat DEF and it was at that point that I remembered that video games are bad
Snowbreak: okay this is a new game (a week old) and itâs a game about sad girls with guns shooting things and itâs not Nikke. notably itâs actually a third person shooter and isnât about staring at asses. it plays like a phone game version of SAO Fatal Bullet, therefore I think itâs good, an opinion Iâm sure Iâll discard when some bullshit comes up (the absolutely insane hitbox on one enemyâs attack got me pretty close)
Nikke: they gave away a small child for the 6 month anniversary and my response was to break my ipad in half and burn it and go home and take a long, cold shower
conclusion: phone games are bad?
7 Likes
i played about 6 minutes of tokyo extreme racer on the gba before losing my first race.
1 Like
finished the 2 puzzles remaining in Bonfire Peaks. I immediately went to the DLC to see if parts 2 or 3 have release dates yet (no)
definitely the most story-driven of Corey Martinâs games, still the ambiguous melancholic ennui. a pleasant 30 hours being baffled by boxes with gentle minimal music
3 Likes