faea gaming: January 2024
i played a lot of games this month considering how few i've really put time into. like half of these probably only lasted a couple of sessions
19 Games
Completed
I like it but I'm also super conflicted. Peaks in aesthetics, some incredible settings and the prerendered backgrounds probably make it one of my favourite looking games ever?? (lost my shit every time the game seamlessly transitioned into a cutscene.) Lots of charm from the stilted dialogue and all the shitty minigames there are. Otoh I liked the idea of the story and characters a lot more than I like them in motion, it's hard to explain why but I couldn't really get attached to all that much. Also the gameplay is like, servicable at best imo, but it was fun finding weird overpowered enemy skills and spamming them
I like it but I'm also super conflicted. Peaks in aesthetics, some incredible settings and the prerendered backgrounds probably make it one of my favourite looking games ever?? (lost my shit every time the game seamlessly transitioned into a cutscene.) Lots of charm from the stilted dialogue and all the shitty minigames there are. Otoh I liked the idea of the story and characters a lot more than I like them in motion, it's hard to explain why but I couldn't really get attached to all that much. Also the gameplay is like, servicable at best imo, but it was fun finding weird overpowered enemy skills and spamming them
Dropped
there's a moment in ainsel river main where you fight one of the rock-throwing naturalborns in a featureless room, walk past it and look down into an area from 20 hours ago where they used that exact same enemy in an actually interesting way. i think this sums up elden ring perfectly
there's a moment in ainsel river main where you fight one of the rock-throwing naturalborns in a featureless room, walk past it and look down into an area from 20 hours ago where they used that exact same enemy in an actually interesting way. i think this sums up elden ring perfectly
In Progress
I played like 20 minutes of this :( gotta get back to it, it seems really neat
I played like 20 minutes of this :( gotta get back to it, it seems really neat
Completed (review)
not much to say other than what the review does other than I had some slight gripes with how trial-and-error the harder levels become. considering the nature of the game though it's really not that big of a deal. this track goes hard. good game!!
not much to say other than what the review does other than I had some slight gripes with how trial-and-error the harder levels become. considering the nature of the game though it's really not that big of a deal. this track goes hard. good game!!
Completed
Much better for speedrunning so why cut the leaderboard? Main worlds are way too easy, abyss seemed tough but the 2 levels I did felt very samey and there was no music so I dropped off pretty fast. Like it's still fun but didn't grab me in the same way
Much better for speedrunning so why cut the leaderboard? Main worlds are way too easy, abyss seemed tough but the 2 levels I did felt very samey and there was no music so I dropped off pretty fast. Like it's still fun but didn't grab me in the same way
Shelved
wasn't hooked by much aside from the visuals. gameplay sections felt kinda whatever and the "Romantic Dates" felt a little too much like i was reading fire emblem supports. might give it another shot later, idk if im being a bit harsh
wasn't hooked by much aside from the visuals. gameplay sections felt kinda whatever and the "Romantic Dates" felt a little too much like i was reading fire emblem supports. might give it another shot later, idk if im being a bit harsh
In Progress
first hour or two was enchanting but kinda losing me as it goes, i'm very interested in exploring the family dynamic but i feel like i'm licking up scraps as i spend most of my playtime jumping up drawers and pushing things around so i can see toys say silly things. i got to a Big Moment and i think i've been taken so far out of it that i just didn't feel anything so i might not end up finishing
first hour or two was enchanting but kinda losing me as it goes, i'm very interested in exploring the family dynamic but i feel like i'm licking up scraps as i spend most of my playtime jumping up drawers and pushing things around so i can see toys say silly things. i got to a Big Moment and i think i've been taken so far out of it that i just didn't feel anything so i might not end up finishing
Completed (Review)
endgame tapers off a bit in how it turns into staff warfare (which is fun, but not nearly as much as the rest of the game) and ballista spam, but everything before ch21 is probably the best game ever. we did not deserve a game as good as the munster arc
endgame tapers off a bit in how it turns into staff warfare (which is fun, but not nearly as much as the rest of the game) and ballista spam, but everything before ch21 is probably the best game ever. we did not deserve a game as good as the munster arc
Completed (started like april last year idk)
so for some context i played through the whole game with peashooter (incl some hard mode bosses) but not for a 'challenge run', just because i find it way more comfy than all the other weapons. anyway i got hard walled by saltbaker and quit for ages. poked at it again recently, decided to bite the bullet and pick a new weapon (crackshot) and fuckin hell man he just went down effortlessly on my first go with it. didnt realise how much i was handicapping myself with peashooter lol
so for some context i played through the whole game with peashooter (incl some hard mode bosses) but not for a 'challenge run', just because i find it way more comfy than all the other weapons. anyway i got hard walled by saltbaker and quit for ages. poked at it again recently, decided to bite the bullet and pick a new weapon (crackshot) and fuckin hell man he just went down effortlessly on my first go with it. didnt realise how much i was handicapping myself with peashooter lol
Played
sadly feeling a bit disillusioned trying to beat bosses on expert with them either being way too easy or way too annoying
sadly feeling a bit disillusioned trying to beat bosses on expert with them either being way too easy or way too annoying
Completed
beautiful aesthetically, feels like playing through all the episodes of pokemon i watched as a kid. i love the contrast between the surface and the tunnels, and i thought the ending was particularly lovely. the gameplay is a little lacklustre, but probably because of the "kid's game" aim that also lets it wear the aesthetic of a saturday-morning cartoon so proudly, so it's hard to be too critical
beautiful aesthetically, feels like playing through all the episodes of pokemon i watched as a kid. i love the contrast between the surface and the tunnels, and i thought the ending was particularly lovely. the gameplay is a little lacklustre, but probably because of the "kid's game" aim that also lets it wear the aesthetic of a saturday-morning cartoon so proudly, so it's hard to be too critical
Completed (Two Memories)
some of the puzzles really shatter the pacing, particularly ones that expect you to use mechanics it doesn't even clue you in on the existence of. really curious if these are just remake-isms since stuff would've been changed a lot from the originals. story is rather sweet if a bit light, but i quite like ashley's bond with d. lovely soundtrack here
some of the puzzles really shatter the pacing, particularly ones that expect you to use mechanics it doesn't even clue you in on the existence of. really curious if these are just remake-isms since stuff would've been changed a lot from the originals. story is rather sweet if a bit light, but i quite like ashley's bond with d. lovely soundtrack here
Completed (Journey into Lost Memories)
ras "puzzles" were really annoying when they didnt work. i think the story here is a bit goofy at times but it enables a lot of impactul character moments. ashley's dad and his relationship w her feels stitched together from my friends and my own familial awkwardness. oddly i relate to both of em a lot. the memory sequence near the end was really strong i think. also there's an entire puzzle about figuring out wtf a floppy disk is and i think thats awesome
ultimately while i really like the subject matter here i feel like it pulls its punches just a little too much to resonate fully. really intrigued how the originals differ
ras "puzzles" were really annoying when they didnt work. i think the story here is a bit goofy at times but it enables a lot of impactul character moments. ashley's dad and his relationship w her feels stitched together from my friends and my own familial awkwardness. oddly i relate to both of em a lot. the memory sequence near the end was really strong i think. also there's an entire puzzle about figuring out wtf a floppy disk is and i think thats awesome
ultimately while i really like the subject matter here i feel like it pulls its punches just a little too much to resonate fully. really intrigued how the originals differ
Played
dont normally log stuff like this (well mainly cause i dont play them any more) but i got roped into reinstalling by a bunch of friends and it feels odd. it's fun! i'm having a lot of fun playing. but also woefully unfulfilling. like yeah these games are pretty much just a proxy for socialisation but whenever we aren't laughing about dumb shit i feel like im just flushing my hours down the toilet. (doesn't help that my stack hell i can hop off after a good and unconditionally fun session and still feel like it was a bit of a waste. like im well aware that this is junk food gaming but still it feels like, too much?
dont normally log stuff like this (well mainly cause i dont play them any more) but i got roped into reinstalling by a bunch of friends and it feels odd. it's fun! i'm having a lot of fun playing. but also woefully unfulfilling. like yeah these games are pretty much just a proxy for socialisation but whenever we aren't laughing about dumb shit i feel like im just flushing my hours down the toilet. (doesn't help that my stack hell i can hop off after a good and unconditionally fun session and still feel like it was a bit of a waste. like im well aware that this is junk food gaming but still it feels like, too much?
Dropped
it's not happening :(
coming back to this game halfway through having never finished it before REALLY sucks. constantly being thrown off by weird quirks or knowledge checks of specific interactions that there's no way i'd remember after a 3 month break. took 13 tries to stand in the right place for the song of healing to work in great bay, after a friend reminded me that it was even a thing because there's no way i'd have remembered myself. also being 3 months divorced from all the sidequest stuff has made me completely forget any of what's going on there, and that was the only bit i was really invested in to begin with
probably should have been telling that i didn't want to start again to begin with
it's not happening :(
coming back to this game halfway through having never finished it before REALLY sucks. constantly being thrown off by weird quirks or knowledge checks of specific interactions that there's no way i'd remember after a 3 month break. took 13 tries to stand in the right place for the song of healing to work in great bay, after a friend reminded me that it was even a thing because there's no way i'd have remembered myself. also being 3 months divorced from all the sidequest stuff has made me completely forget any of what's going on there, and that was the only bit i was really invested in to begin with
probably should have been telling that i didn't want to start again to begin with
In Progress
bk1 first impressions: combat is pretty slow and kinda hard to parse. dialogue seems a bit goofy (oh you stole from my dead friends right in front of me? yeah sure i'll immediately forget about that and tag along with you, why not). very fascinated by this all the same out of being an early monolithsoft rpg as well as being a deckbuilder that isn't a licensed game or a roguelike. i'll plod along slowly for the time being
bk1 first impressions: combat is pretty slow and kinda hard to parse. dialogue seems a bit goofy (oh you stole from my dead friends right in front of me? yeah sure i'll immediately forget about that and tag along with you, why not). very fascinated by this all the same out of being an early monolithsoft rpg as well as being a deckbuilder that isn't a licensed game or a roguelike. i'll plod along slowly for the time being
In Progress
Not far in yet, but so far it kinda just feels like a less enthusiastic version of *some* of the things that make Thracia good. I lost my progress of 1 chapter and it kind of killed my enthusiasm about playing (said chapter is boring as fuck which is par for the course for trs so far) so not sure if I'm ever actually getting back to this
Not far in yet, but so far it kinda just feels like a less enthusiastic version of *some* of the things that make Thracia good. I lost my progress of 1 chapter and it kind of killed my enthusiasm about playing (said chapter is boring as fuck which is par for the course for trs so far) so not sure if I'm ever actually getting back to this
Completed
depth perception challenge (impossible). it's good fun but i feel like the camera could really do with a lakitu or something at times. idk if hardened 3d platformer vets get on better but i literally can't move the camera around in the middle of platforming gauntlets, so a lot of them ended up with me trying to pre-emptively line up the camera at an angle that's the least bad for the whole thing, then stumbling through until i made it. grab it here
depth perception challenge (impossible). it's good fun but i feel like the camera could really do with a lakitu or something at times. idk if hardened 3d platformer vets get on better but i literally can't move the camera around in the middle of platforming gauntlets, so a lot of them ended up with me trying to pre-emptively line up the camera at an angle that's the least bad for the whole thing, then stumbling through until i made it. grab it here
In Progress
half the dialogue is angry men repeating what they've already said and the other half is angry men saying fuck (or fuuuuuuuck, if you're lucky). somehow i'm still enjoying this quite a bit
half the dialogue is angry men repeating what they've already said and the other half is angry men saying fuck (or fuuuuuuuck, if you're lucky). somehow i'm still enjoying this quite a bit