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.
 | Who knows what's next? It ain't lookin' pretty. |
It's been a while since I've been here, and I can firmly blame a(nother) medical issue for it. Nothing serious. Just an auto-immune reaction called urticaria that no one understands well enough to do anything other than throw pills at. I'm sure we all know the story of having to wait months to see a specialist. Be at ease: It's no better up here in Canada, though at the moment things are significantly worse in the US.
 | Yay me |
Outlast
First-person horror fare set in an asylum, except the protagonist actually has a solid reason to be there. So many cheaper games have you entering abandoned asylums just for the hell of it, which no one in their right mind would do. Then there's the movie SXTape... Anyway, what I like most about this one is the paranoia it builds. You never know if an approaching patient is going to attack you or just blather on about some random thing while leaving you alone. Hell, some of them even dispense a bit of backstory, so they can even prove beneficial.
Elliot Quest
| Some good, some not so much... |
Yes, I'm still chewing through that list of games I dropped a while back, plus some other stuff I've been checking out:
-Tembo the Badass Elephant
Just finished this one and typed up a rough draft for a review. It's good. Not amazing, but good...
-Ephemeral Fantasia
Groundhog Day meets Guitar Hero in JRPG form. So far, I'm not terribly impressed. I haven't gotten to the combat yet, but the guitar mini-game is confusing and overly complicated, exacerbated by a lousy tutorial. Meh.
-Overlord
| We'll see... |
What am I currently playing:
Iesabel
A not-Diablo game that is most certainly not Diablo. It's weird because this one scratches that particular itch, but does so in an irksome, ham-fisted manner. For instance, you have to occasionally go to great lengths to reposition yourself just to destroy a barrel. Targeting is wonky, walking is a slow process, and even the story is kinda weird. You start out as one of four chosen warriors foreseen by a shaman, but your carriage is destroyed en route and your partners are murdered. The shaman who foresaw your coming apparently didn't foresee this event and now believes you murdered your friends to swipe equipment off their corpses. Not exactly a Danny Torrence, this one...
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
 | 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)
| Out with the old and in with the old |
Burn in Hell, 2024. This was not my best year by a long shot, but even with divorce, financial woes, and depression, it still beats 2011 and 2016. However, those things pretty much dealt a blow to my free time and prevented me from getting as much gaming done as I wanted to. Lately, I've been making myself take it easy now and then, playing games and reading books as a means to better my mental health. It's been working, but we'll see how much I get done in 2025, assuming I get a much-needed, part-time, second job.
The Jury's Out:
Dimensity (PC)
| At least one of these should be unsurprising |
I have three reviews coming up!
Dig Dug II: Trouble in Paradise (NES) - We stopped digging and started cutting fault lines on islands. Oh, and there's a weird continue option!
Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (PC) - There appears to be a pattern here. Oh, and I've started FFVPR as well? Of course, as I've already played and reviewed IV. I couldn't wait.
Anodyne (PC) - Zelda with an extra helping of existential dread, and no, I don't mean Link's Awakening.
Others to follow, plus I still...STILL... plan to get around to finishing AlphaMurderthon. Divorce kinda put some breaks on that, but I feel like I'm back on track.
| You pick my next project! |
I have a butt ton of games in my Steam library. I remember purchasing most of them, but to be honest, I shotgun purchases and buy bundles so often that I don't recall getting my hands on a lot of them. It's time for you to determine: which one should I play and review next out of these eight choices?
Fortress of Hell - 2D RPG that looks like ass, but has a totally metal title.
Lost Sea - A cel-shaded action adventure game with perma-death. I don't know about this one...
Overhell - Delisted. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be or how it got there. Let's go?
PulseCharge - 2D platformer with trippy/nauseating colors. If I don't barf a rainbow, it wasn't trying hard enough.
| Yes, I'm still here |
Alright, things are getting figured out. I've gotten a lot done, but it cost me a bit of sanity and free time. However, I've gotten back into the swing by playing through Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster, which I will be reviewing soon.
Mwahahahahahahahah! [It's actually better than most versions of the game, which isn't saying much. It always was my least favorite main Final Fantasy entry. Oh well, it's still not as mouth-frothing as All the Bravest.]
| We notice broken things because of all that isn't. |
I couldn't not come back here. World culture is doing as it does, galvanizing into groups who are fixated on values, behaviors or needs. That's a little vague. I'll say this instead: We're forming two groups. Those give a toss about others and those who give a toss about themselves. It's sobering to read about JoeTheDestroyer's divorce. As a child - and adult - I grew up with that threat always looming over my head, and I am fortunate that after forty years the relationship of my parents has taken a healing turn.
| Please insert Life disc 2 |
I've taken some time away from this place, and now I feel the need to speak on it a little. Mostly, I need and outlet and maybe an attentive eye.
My wife and I weren't doing so good for the last several years. My dad and many close friends passed away between 2015 and 2021, tensions flared pretty much across the country in 2016, the pandemic hit in 2020, and I wasn't emotionally prepared for a lot of it. Losing my dad was made all the heavier by my refusal to engage my emotions because I needed to be emotionally stable for my mother, wife, and children. Not even a year later, a lost another friend to cancer, then my aunt, my cat, and several other good friends during the pandemic.
| Now I'm on Campfire. |
I just won't give up. Hey, wait. That's good news. Who says that we don't need editors? We do, of course, to learn from. They also have their pulse on things we don't get with our heads in the clouds and fingers on keys.
My Super Mario Wonder review is the product of some good feedback from a skilled, professional editor and Hemmingway - the web app. See, it turns out that post-graduate writing and the average reader don't mix. Better to save that for my school essays. Which, by the way, I'm about a little over a year from graduating. Yay! (I mean that.)
https://www.campfirewriting.com/explore/65c3d6746b28161300589ee3
 | 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
| Taking a short break |
Just letting everyone know I've got a lot going on in my life right now, so you're probably not going to see me super often over the next few weeks while I figure myself out.
But I shall return.🫡
| More Mega Man, another horror adventure, and a tour of some tropical islands (Not StarTropics, sadly...). |
Mega Man X4 (PlayStation)
Finished and reviewed. I restarted the game recently to see if I could finish it with Zero, and my mission was a success. This one is the best since X2. Sadly, the next two games are downhill. I'm not sure about the last two, but I haven't heard much good about them (although X8 does have a positive review on this site, so there's hope).
Mega Man X5 (PlayStation)
Finished and reviewed. Meh. Too many eggs in one basket, and level designs range from good to crap. It woud've been a better game if it weren't all over the place...
Mega Man X6 (PlayStation)
| A look back at this years time sinks... |
I've decided to start doing something different with my GIPTYTKA topics: introducing a “best in show” award (yeah, as if this is a dog show for video games) and an “epic” award that's not exactly a “second place,” but highlights a game that I found great that should still receive attention. Going back over the previous years' topics, here's what I've selected:
BIS 2022: Bayonetta 2
Epic 2022: Rise of the Third Power
BIS 2021: Mad Father Remake
Epic 2021: Wild Arms 3
BIS 2020: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Epic 2020: Ara Fell
BIS 2019: Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn
Epic 2019: Phantasy Star IV
This year's Epic and Best in Show will be presented after the list.
| Murderously! |
Here's where I'm at right now:
Some notes:
-1000 Heads Among the Trees replaced 2Dark for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I just don't feel like playing 2Dark. Not that I will never get around to it, but it just... I don't know... 1000 Heads is also unique enough that I felt it belong with this group of games.
-Downfall is somewhat of a placeholder that may be kicked out if I'm able to finish Dead Space 2 before next October. Currently, I only have about nine more reviews to hit, which means I'll have to play through nine more games.
-Football Game is another placeholder, but one that I feel fits here. Fran Bow, The Forest, and Final Doom remain potential usurpers.
| Five more titles have joined the frenzy |
Previously confirmed:
Absence (PC)
Blood Breed (Switch)
CALENDULA (PC)
The Note (PC)
Warships on the Halloween Night (PC)
And now:
Bloodwash (PC) - Part walking simulator, part '80s splatter movie throwback, all awesome. Who's murdering people at the 24-hour laundromat? Why it's... a naked masked person...
Doom II (Clasic) (Switch) - Do I really need to tell you what this is about? I'll at least mention that it comes with the original Doom II release, plus Master Levels in one handy package.
Garten of Banban (PC) - A first-person dealy where you inspect a sinister kindergarten to discover that you've wasted time playing a fraction of a full game, and you now need to buy all of the other portions separately to get any answers.
| The first five games revealed... |
Yes, I'm still eventually doing AlphaMurderthon.
Yes, I'm doing a separate OctJOEber this year.
No, I didn't do squat last year because I was busy with work. Unlike the previous year, I actually have some stuff played and reviewed and I will post it here come October. Here's what to expect so far:
Absence (PC)- You wake up in a bathroom in the middle of the woods and somehow end up in a sewer running away from a pre-made asset monster. The horror!
Blood Breed (Switch)- A marriage of PlayStation-era survival-horror and '80s VHS films where you outrun a masked killer, avoid his sadistic traps, and bump off the occasional minotaur.
| Now with more surreal RPGs |
I'm still here, I'm still writing. However, work is kicking my ass pretty soundly. I was able to get my crew's population up, only for it to dwindle again, which has led to the occasional 12- to 14-hour days and not a lot of energy for anything but light gaming and sleeping. And sometimes reading.
Where reading is concerned, I got through a handful of books recently:
|
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