Here, you'll find up to 20 of the most recent posts from the people who have the good taste to follow my blog. Only public results gleaned from the last 200 overall posts to HG Blogs will be displayed. If you see no results below, that means not a lot of people are following me, or my followers haven't been active in a long while, or they simply aren't sharing their posts.
 | 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)
| 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)
| Animal Crossing: Newer Horizons |
Gaming progress has been pretty limited for what games I did play, and more stuff has slipped through the cracks. I keep it on my list to remind myself.
COMPLETED
Nothing.
IN PROGRESS
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)
| Returned to the world of gainful employment. Money and Time have switched places, as they do. |
Started my new job this month. Gaming time predictably took a dive.
FINISHED
I finished nothing! I think partly because I wrapped up so many games in September, most of the below are new starts. And also the whole lack of time and being tired, thing. I was also planning to not have too many games going at once, but I got a bit carried away. Heh.
IN PROGRESS
Dragon Quest XI S (Switch)
| The end of my mid career retirement |
I'll probably never have another month of gaming like this. I'm starting a new job in early October, and lockdown is hopefully ending here not long after. So this month, I really went for it. Once I'm back at work, I hope to have far fewer games in progress at one time, since that approach led to me barely completing anything until early 2020 when unemployment stuck and I went on this wonderful journey (or Trails) of games. I knocked out so many RPGs, with a few other genres getting represented.
FINISHED
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch)
| Another month of lockdown gaming |
Finished three games this month, all Falcom.
FINISHED
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV (PS4)
I finished this in the first couple of days of August. It feels like a long time ago now, oddly. It has been a long month of lockdown. So, yeah, the first ending was kinda meh. But once you've seen that ending you can load up the game again and go into the "true ending" which was very satisfying in an end of a saga sort of way. I spent close to a year playing through the nine games in this series, and it was some of the best JRPG experiences I've ever had. It does mean I'm taking a break from the series until the next game is out in English, which is sometime in 2023.
Ys II (Steam)
 | My first new book in a very long time is available on Amazon, and you may not even have to pay to read it. |
This is a video game site, so I try not to post often about personal things unrelated, even though this is my blog. However, this is one of those times when I'm going to make an exception because how could I not?
As this post's title notes, I've published another book. The last time I did that was in the year 2000, when this site was much smaller and (as far as I can recall) I didn't know any of you who are likely to read this post today. A lot can change in over 20 years.
| Lockdown of Cold Steel. |
Another month. Sydney went back into lockdown in late June, and there is no sign of it ending soon. I had a job interview which seemed promising, which I'm hoping to hear back from soon. If I get that job, I'll probably be working from home in the beginning, which is the only thing likely to stop me playing games for several hours a day.
I don't think I've ever played one game/series with such a singular focus since I was a kid who only owned a handful of games. I may never be able to do this again.
FINISHED
Trails of Cold Steel III (PS4)
| I've followed the trail to azure, now I am back on the trail of cold steel. |
Another month of steady game progress, although some things are still getting left behind. This lets me at least keep track of the stuff I'm currently neglecting, at least.
FINISHED
Mass Effect 1 (PS4)
Finished Mass Effect. It's still a really great game due to the story and the characters, and although this version has seen some improvements, some existing issues remained. It really took me out of the game on multiple occasions when I go around opening containers and just getting mutliple guns thrown at me, then I keep bumping up against the inventory limit, so from time to time I just have to sell or gellify all my low level items. Inventory management was handled better in the two sequels, but it looks like they didn't bother fixing it for this.
| Reached Elysium just in time to return to Crossbell. |
Another month down.
FINISHED
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch)
I've clocked in at over 150 hours, and there are still things I haven't done. But I've beaten everything I can without grinding to unlock the last few rare blades in the damn gacha system (why...?). There is also some stuff that requires New Game Plus, but I'm not ready for that. But as it is, I finished all the available sidequests and finished the game itself. I'll go back and finish Torna eventually.
| How I resumed an RPG I started 3 years ago without restarting. |
Another month of gaming!
FINISHED
Persona 5: The Phantom Strikers (PS4)
This was a satisfying experience all around. It felt like a true and proper sequel to Persona 5, although since they worked on Royal at probably the same time, the additional content doesn't mesh as well. But that's okay. Some really awesome moments in the latter half of the game - some that fit right up there with moments from the original. I think I was about half way through by the end of March, and I knocked out the last section of the game today so it would count as an April finish, although there are still some post-game missions to do, and the remaining trophies don't look too difficult to obtain. But I'm counting this one as done since I beat the final boss and watched the end credits.
| I'm selling off most of my physical library of PS4 games, many of them unopened, and that starts... NOW! |
Recently, I moved from one apartment to another and the process made me realize I have way too much... stuff. A lot of that stuff, admittedly, is games. And I do like games. I like owning a lot of them physically, even. But I've realized I need to be more selective about what I buy and keep, and I've accepted that a lot of the great games in my collection would give greater joy to other collectors while I shuffle priorities. So I purchased a lot of digital versions of games I own, and I went a little nuts and now I need to sell some stuff in a hurry.
| You now have more time to snag PS3 and Vita games you may have missed, though PSP games are still hurtling toward their imminent demise. |
Today Sony made a proclamation and it was actually good news for a change. In a special announcement, Jim Ryan revealed the company has (mostly) reversed course on its recent decision to stop selling games from various older platforms on the PlayStation Store.
Currently, PlayStation 3, PSP and Vita games were set to disappear from the store on July 2nd (in the case of the first two) and August 27th (in the Vita's case). This has unexpectedly changed.
| Here's a look at what I have and what I consider the standout software on a number of platforms affected... |
I've already blogged about why I believe it is a shame the PlayStation 3, Vita and PSP software libraries will no longer be available for purchase after July 2nd (for PS3 and PSP) and August 27th (for Vita). I won't repeat all of that here. Instead, I thought it might be useful to outline some of the games you can still buy today through the ludicrously awkward PlayStation Store on your PS3 console that you won't be able to purchase after the above dates.
| Another solid month of gaming! |
Edit - a little early, but it's the afternoon of the 31st here and I don't imagine I'm going to finish another game today.
FINISHED
Ys I (PC)
| Escapism becomes more difficult than it needs to be when we don't fight to keep the doors accessible. |
On the NES, there is a game called Day Dreamin' Davey. It's about a young school lad who escapes into the worlds of his dreams and has adventures. I've played it before, and even recently added it to my collection. Someday, I'll probably play it a lot more. But my point in mentioning the game isn't to remind you that it exists. Rather, it's to say that if you changed the protagonist's name to Jason, it might well be a game about me.
| Actually still doing this. |
FINISHED
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC (Steam)
This one clocked in at around 85 hours (in game), though Steam says it's around 63 hours. An interesting side effect of Turbo mode is that it basically speeds up time. I was absolutely hooked on this, finishing it up pretty early in February. So much character development, and a very engaging story that pays off all the setup from this game and the previous title. As soon as I finished it, I launched right into the third game.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky The 3rd (Steam)
| Chipping away at that backlog |
Writing up my whole year of gaming progress for last year was a bit of a challenge (and there might've been some stuff I forgot), so I'mma try to do this monthly.
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FINISHED
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The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC (Steam)
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