It's been a while since I've done one of these. Every time I say I'm going to spend more time on this site and try to be more social online, I end up getting too involved with some lousy game and stubbornly refusing to stop until it's done.

I recently bought Puppet Combo's horror game bundle on Itch.io, and I hope to start playing through some of their stuff. They still don't have The Night Ripper available, which is like Lucio Fulci's film The New York Ripper, reimagined as a PS2 survival-horror game. I also bought physical copies of Total Overdose and God of War: Chains of Olympus from a local used game store called Fun & Games. It's a pretty neat place, brimming with old stuff from pretty much every platform (they even have Atari 2600 games). I've picked up quite a few things from them, to my wife's chagrin. I think she doesn't mind that we don't spend a huge amount there, as all of the games are dirt cheap, at least.

As for progress since my last gaming post:

Blue Dragon (X360)
I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I beat this one. My god, it's so thoroughly bland that I almost couldn't do it. The finale was pretty awesome, though. The final few battles oozed just enough melodrama and great music to make it almost worthwhile. Still, the game is pretty dull and I'm glad to be done with it.

Riviera: The Promised Land (PSP)
Plowed through this as well, as you could probably surmise by my review. It's actually a good game; better than the other Dept. Heaven title I played, Yggdra Union. It didn't take me too long to get through it, either. I'm just miffed I can't backtrack and check out some of the content I missed. I really don't feel like replaying this game.

Monument Valley (AND)
I bought and played through this puzzle adventure. I'm undecided if I'll review it, though. It's a pretty straightforward game, where each level is broken into several environments that are quite literally puzzles. You can move them around, slide pieces this way and that, maneuver the protagonist to press buttons or interact in various other ways... It's somewhat artsy, sure, but definitely engaging.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PS3)
Complete, and thank goodness. I wasn't into this one, really. I got kind of addicted to loot-questing, as I always do. However, I grew really tired of the game because it all felt so run of the mill. You talk to people across a map, you receive quests, you button mash things to death, you eventually go to a dungeon and fight a boss, then turn in your results to the quest giver. I got so tired of this process that I just pushed through the last few sections, ignoring all side quests and gunning straight for the final dungeon. There, I struggled with the first two of the final bosses, before pretty much ripping the final boss herself a new one.

Phantasy Star III (GEN via PS3)
WTF did they do?!

I started this game and it doesn't feel like a Phantasy Star title. It's more like an average 16-bit JPRG with minor PS trappings. I don't want to come out and say that the battles are too easy, but they're mindless in comparison to previous games. And why does this one feel so medieval in comparison to the sci-fi them of the previous two? On top of that, the dungeons I've visited thus far are boring and unimaginative. The only thing this game has going for it is the Generations system, which allows you to pass on your quest to different successors, all depending on who you marry. You start as one character, but end the campaign as one of his grandsons. There are four paths total, and crazy me will probably set up backup files so I can play through all of the different paths. I better not regret this decision...

Beetlejuice (NES)
There isn't a whole lot I want to say about this game, except that it makes me want to go back in time and prevent the NES from being released.