Here, you'll find up to 20 of the most recent posts from the people I follow. Only public results gleaned from the last 200 overall posts to HG Blogs will be displayed. If you see no results below, that means I'm not following a lot of people, or the people I'm following haven't been active in a long while, or they simply aren't sharing their posts.
 | The $80 price tag for premium games on the shiny new hardware does not have folks feeling delighted. |
Nintendo today revealed a lot of the most pertinent details about its upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 console and a few launch games. One thing it didn’t touch on was the price for the hardware and its first games, which launch on June 5. However, respected game influencer Geoff Keighley quickly tweeted on X to let fans know they should expect to pay $449 for the hardware itself, and $80 for digital games. That sounds like a lot, especially for the games, but shouldn’t we have seen this coming?
 | Happy New Ys! |
I didn't write up any summaries for the games I played or finished in 2023. I probably didn't finish many, truth be told. I remember a 120 hour block of Trails into Reverie dominating the middle of the year. This year, I felt like I was back on track - the trade off that I watch a lot less TV and use that time to play games instead.
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus (Switch)
 | No self-control, as ever. |
So, even though I'm playing a few other games and even really enjoying at least one of them, I kind of figured that it wouldn't take long for me to snap up and start Shadow of the Erdtree when it came out, considering how Elden Ring was the sort of experience I've always dreamed about experiencing in gaming.
And so, it began yesterday and today was the day where I just sort of ignored those other games I'm playing -- even Assassin's Creed IV, which I love and am in like the 11th of 13 or so chapters -- and devoted 5-6 hours to Shadows.
| Some people feel differently about Zelda than I do. They are wrong and I am right. |
I have no way of knowing what the person next to me is thinking, and I can’t possibly hope to know every thought and preference of a stranger I meet online. Even my own tastes and preferences change over time. With that said, I’m pretty sure I’ve never met someone who played and really liked the original Zelda games but thinks that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom “isn’t a real Zelda game.”
Please don’t roll your eyes!
 | Robocop, Sonic, Palworld, Tomb Raider |
RoboCop: Rogue City
I'm a massive fan of this license. Peter Weller being back to voice Murphy is great, and so is the usage of the score during shootouts and dramatic moments. I played through immediately on release, and since then there has been an update adding a New Game Plus mode. Definitely looking forward to going back as a more invincible version of RoboCop.
Sonic Superstars
Not bad at all! A very fun game for 2D Sonic fans. I would have preferred sprite graphics, but the level design is fun. So is the boss design, though it seems most commenters strongly disagree with me. I was at a game convention where Sega had a booth for this one and got a free Sonic Superstars file holder! Sick.
Palworld
| A funny thing happens when you buy almost no video games for a few years... |
I like video games, but I've not done a great job lately of buying the ones I want. Going back several years, I've told myself, "I'll get that eventually," and then I haven't. The trend kicked in hard in August of 2020, when I made a conscious effort to focus more on writing my fiction, but the neglect had already started ahead of that.
Anyway, I've now fallen WAY behind. So I decided to make a new wish list, which I'd not done in a long while, and I limited myself to 52 titles (one for each week in a year) that I'm most irritated about not yet acquiring. Here it is:
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key (Switch)
Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream (Switch)
Bayonetta 3 (Switch)
Blue Reflection: Second Light (PS4)
Bravely Default II (Switch)
| Loaded with new games, since I've finished most everything I was doing back whenever I last did this. |
Things I'm playing at the moment. In alphabetical order.
Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection: So, when PlayStation Now and Plus merged, one of Sony's selling points was that Ubisoft was moving a huge portion of their library over to it. Included in this eventually was virtually the entire AC series. The first game never came over and Valhalla was there initially, but got removed. Hopefully, the rest of its 3950720394 games that all have come out in roughly a decade remain there for the foreseeable future because I'm really digging the experience.
| Probably the last of this style of post. Not sure how I'll track it next year. |
COMPLETED
Man, only completed two games in this quarter, and then became unfocused and kept adding games...
13 Sentinels Aegis Rim (PS4)
| I have so many games in my library at this point that it feels like a total waste to not play them at least occasionally. Yesterday, I did! |
Ever have one of those random days where you just feel like playing old video games? I have them periodically, but usually I don’t act on the impulse because I have other things on my agenda. Yesterday, I ignored my other agenda and got down to some gaming. I thought maybe I would play and review a game, but none of yesterday’s sessions reached the point where a review is imminent. So instead, I’ll talk about them here.
First up, I had been wanting to finally play the first Shantae game for a long while. I’d purchased every game in the series (and even backed one of them thanks to a Kickstarter campaign) when my finances were in a better place. The series is so clearly up my alley, and yesterday was my moment to finally dip my toes in that water. I… wish it had gone better.
| Jerec buys a PS5, loses 2 months of his life to another Xenoblade game, and returns to Monkey Island |
It's hard to believe that three months has gone by since my last update. In that time, I bought a PlayStation 5. I now have all the current gaming systems (for the first time in about a decade, as I skipped the Xbox One last gen).
FINISHED
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch)
I started this game on release date, and pretty much played nothing else for 125 hours until this game was beaten. This was an absolutely incredible game. I love the characters, the journey they take together, and the way the circumstances of the world are revealed was just amazing. Eunie is the best character. Loved the battle system, the music. I did leave a few side quests unfinished, but I'll be dropping back into this later when the Expansion Pass is finished.
| Since it's been something like four months |
I do suck at things like blogging.
Elden Ring continues to be the late-spring, all-summer project. Up to about 170 hours into its world and still loving it -- even if the voices in my head are telling me to get to the end of it, damnit! Took advantage of the patch 1.06 addition of an NPC to invade in order to get to Mohgwyn Palace without doing online invasions or finding the teleporter in the Consecrated Snowfield. There, I'm close to the fight with Mohg and have done everything in that blood-covered place other than this one blood lake area with a bunch of those damn giant bird monsters. Main reason I didn't go there was because after beating a bunch of enemies, I found out this place is level-grinding heaven and I didn't want to risk losing all my runes.
| I just thought I'd give you all my take on the impending 3DS/Wii U eShop closure, since no one asked... |
Over the years, I have made very clear my passion for Nintendo games. The NES didn’t introduce me to the medium, but it came close. Mario Bros. was the first game to truly capture my imagination and make me the gamer I am today, before I had even heard of Nintendo. My obsession with the media has expanded to include games on all sorts of consoles, from Sega and Microsoft and Sony, but I always pay slightly closer attention to the big ‘N.’ Which is why it always bugs me when I find myself at a virtual precipice, looking over a kingdom’s worth of games that are about to disappear from the marketplace in one huge event.
| Because doing this every month was getting pointless. |
I noticed with my March update that it was very similar to my February update, and I didn't finish any games. And also at that point, I think I was about 75% of the blog posts on the front page. I decided dropping back to every three months might be better. Game progress is still fairly slow, but that's to be expected.
FINISHED
Muv Luv Unlimited (Vita)
I cleared this sometime in early April. Progress through the primary route was erratic, but once I got to a certain point I just kept going. Fortunately for this one, the other endings really only diverged late in the story so it didn't take much time to wrap everything up. I've got another Muv Luv VN but I think it'll be a while before I tackle that. I have to keep to my one VN at a time rule.
| I've just published the first entry in a new series that I think some of you might like. |
I don't post often here about my fiction because I'm mostly here to talk about video games, but sometimes I make an exception. Today is one of those days, as I've just released the first book in a new urban fantasy series for which I have high hopes.
Death and the Shifter introduces Molly Coyle, a young private investigator working in Salem, Oregon who recently died but now has been revived as a reaper who works for Azrael, an angel of death. Alongside her trusty talking feline companion, Fuzzy, she must hunt down and execute various deserving targets. Her first potential victim is a wolf shifter. But as you might expect, things don't exactly go as planned.
| Hunting down that ring. |
Let's see. There was the attempt at Nioh which is on hiatus. I'd say potentially permanent hiatus, if not for the fact I've purchased its DLC and that means it's a bit too much money invested for me to just give up. I loved it initially, but as time went on, I found it to be repetitive with a lot of side quest missions that just weren't fun at all. I didn't like how, every time you went to a new land, you had to start collecting Kodama again in order to heal more that 3 times for free before needing to burn through your stock. The boss fights tended to annoy me -- I think the last handful I fought (Giant Toad, Ogress and Okatsu) were all road blocks for some time (at least the first two; Okatsu wasn't that bad) and whatshisname in the burning building level was no better. I love FRO
| A new console enters the ring! |
I didn't finish anything this month. I wasn't sure I'd even continue this monthly write-up as my focus was more split than ever. I bought an Xbox Series X this month, with a subscription to Gamepass. I've been sampling some stuff here and there. Not going to feel pressured to finish anything on Gamepass unless it really does resonate with me though. I loaded up my 360 for one last time to put all my save files in the cloud so I could get them on the Series X. The Xbox 360 is now retired, back in its box. It might prompt me to finish off some of the old 360 games I abandoned back then. Maybe.
IN PROGRESS
Triangle Strategy (Switch)
| Visual Novels, Fire Emblem, and Ys - Oh my! |
FINISHED
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (3DS)
This, I admit, took me a lot longer than it should've. And because this was marketed as three games, I get to mark my completion of one of the story paths as a game completion. I'll be back to play Conquest and Revelation in the future sometime. I don't have much to say on this. The story is pretty forgettable, but the combat is *chef kiss*
Ys: Oath in Felghana (Steam)
| Still doing this! |
This was a pretty good month for game progress. I had the first week off, and I'm getting used to my new job so I'm not coming home so tired as often.
FINISHED
Mass Effect 3 (PS4)
 | A few reasons why |
Just wanted to make a small, quick post about it in case anyone is confused.
Quick, short reasons why:
-I've had the name since the very, VERY early 00s on various sites, message boards, and online gaming accounts, but I just got tired of using it. Also, from my experience, it's very easy for people to make fun of the name when they see it for the first time. ("Hey, it's Pizza Hut!" "Oh, hey dickbutt!")
| Managed to keep this up for a whole year! |
I've managed to keep this up for a year. I think this is about the extent I feel like writing about games these days. I have actually tried writing some reviews this year, and in an ideal world I would review every game I finished or played a lot of, but I guess that aspect of games writing doesn't interest me so much anymore. I end the year employed, and I feel lucky to have a good job particularly with this antiwork movement going on. I'm on leave right now from Christmas (back to work January 10th), so December saw a little more activity.
FINISHED
Imposter Factory (Steam)
|
© 1998-2025 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. |