As a backer, I wanted to try out Book of Travels while it was still in beta before it opened up as an Early Access release. What I wasn't expecting was that I'd play it for around 16 hours across 2 days.

Despite its very relaxing vibe (I haven't gotten into a single fight!), I find the focus on trade and exploration engrossing. Bartering without a standardized currency in an economy that actually makes you work for what you want sets up a satisfying adventure through goods and equipment, and every location is unique and home to people and events that appear at different times or even at random. It's a gentle play of meeting friendly folks throughout your travels, quietly watching for cryptic opportunities to be of service, and interacting with the environment in a way that feels more like special, bespoke experiences than quantitative busywork. That's all bathed in a disposition towards nature and practical mysticism due to the knots, teas, winds, forms, painterly art style, and emphasis on wandering. You spend a lot of time walking, not running—just Being in the world. The game mechanics incentivize watchful stillness.

I don't know how hard I want to burn with Book of Travels as it seems like it'd be best to savor it, but right now I suspect it's a game that will be a regular part of my life over the next few years at least, judging by the development plan.

I'm not a fan of most Jackbox party games that put players on the spot to invent funny things and vote for each other's contributions, but I do enjoy Blather 'Round. My friends and I often play that on Friday nights.

Master Lost Sector grind for Necrotic Grip because it should be good in the Hollowed Lair GM Nightfall with a bottom-tree Dawnblade build. Wish I had known that yesterday when the Legendary Lost Sector was on arms rotation because it would have been an easier farm. For around 15 runs I got nothing, and then I stopped skipping the champions that spawn midway through the boss's health and started going for Platinum; supposedly that doesn't make a difference, but after that I got both Nothing Manacles and Necrotic Grip in short order.

Iron Banner. Not so bad; it took me a few games to warm up, but once I did I think I actually managed a positive K/D. On several matches I performed very strongly during the first half but wound up unluckily running into bad situations repeatedly in the second half that brought me back down to just a decent overall efficiency. I had planned to use the Iron Banner quest grind as practice for Trials, but the madness of 6v6 doesn't feel applicable at all. I did sometimes fight more ferociously in the moment in ways that might transfer over, but for the most part it's just too chaotic to be seen as Trials training. One useful thing that came of it is that I brought out my god roll Main Ingredient and got good and used to it, so I have the option of using a fusion rifle instead of a shotgun in Trials. Shotgun users are almost always more competent and less confused in close quarters than I am, and I'm a mediocre sniper, so this mid-range option might help. It won't be the same as my Erentil was before the back-up plan perk was nerfed, but I'm optimistic about it. I should try to get better at charging it while airborne above doorways and while sliding around corners, though. The timing is tricky.

I also explored the Ruins of Wrath and discovered all of its secrets after fully upgrading the Wayfinder's Compass. The two ascendant mysteries in this Shattered Realm are especially fun.

Max power level on my Warlock, too, so I'm ready for Grandmaster Nightfalls next week.

I usually play through the weekly story quest very soon after weekly reset, but I had my hands full last week with end-of-month subscription service movie expirations, so I just got caught up today. Bungie has been killing it with their storytelling since the Season of Arrivals back in June 2020, and this week features a very important event that we've all been dreading as a certain someone learns about his past life from the worst possible person. The nice thing about taking so long to play it is that now I only have to wait a couple of days for the next weekly reset to continue the story.

Fashion competition with the clan. Good times.

I started in on Adventure mode and found it a much gentler way to approach the game. I also remapped my controls so that they made intuitive sense for a game that looks more like a Nintendo platformer than a fighter: B is jump, Y is attack, X is special, and pressing up on the stick no longer jumps. I'm still looking for a character to love, but I'm at least enjoying myself now.

Not actually my first time playing, but the game is on a friend's account (via Steam remote play), so I don't know how many sessions we've had or when. This is just the first time since I joined the site.

I'm not a big fan of this kind of party game that puts you on the spot to be creative and funny, but sometimes I do all right with this one and don't find it too stressful.

Mostly played Trials today. After really starting to feel like a solid performer last week, I'm really disappointed by the awful Trials Lab experimental control hybrid, especially on Wormhaven. It's not that I don't think the mode has potential or is worthy of respect, but I don't want to play it. The addition of an objective distracts my attention and creates uncertainty in my tactics and positioning, and it's famously hard to tell where enemies are or are going to be on this map. I had hoped to spend much of the weekend working to get many rolls of the adept Igneous Hammer, but if I can't go flawless first (and even the good players in my clan can't seem to help me manage it this week) then it's a non-starter. And it'll be two weeks before I can test my abilities in normal Trials again and continue to improve since next week is Iron Banner. Plus my hopes for progress towards the Flawless seal seem dashed for the moment. A substantial personal frustration.

Deep Stone Crypt and Vault of Glass with the clan. Working on raising my Warlock's power level in time for Grandmaster Nightfalls in a couple of weeks (Hunter is already at pinnacle cap, but options are good). A better Succession Re/Re roll with an expanded magazine would be nice, too.

Lots of technical problems (and a few mechanical ones) led to an exasperated kind of conviviality that was casual and fun; you can only get that good-humored sort of frustration with people who are used to playing together. One player finally got Eyes of Tomorrow; a couple others were strung along again by their goals. I helped someone new to VoG find the collectable crystals. Good times overall.

I just started the game up for about an hour to gain some basic familiarity before playing with friends, but I was quite flummoxed by the overwhelming menu options and systems. I haven't played Smash since it was the go-to in my high school's senior lounge twenty years ago, and Ultimate does a terrible job of onboarding new players who haven't kept up with every entry in the series. There's so much going on, and the only direction it seems to give you is to start with the ordinary 1v1 match mode, which teaches you nothing. I also found the controls bizarre. A couple of hours with helpful friends made me feel better, but only slightly. I was still rather down on the game until I saw an incredible Kirby's Dream Land scrolling stage.

I'll only be playing this with a group of friends that is more specific than my usual Friday-night multiplayer get-together, so sessions will be sporadic and it will likely remain under "currently playing" status for a long time.