Today’s game is Portal 2 again. Made it all the way to old aperture and stopped today. Honestly got me thinking about Wheatley. I think yesterday I said he’s on a spectrum of loveable villains. Just a different Axis than Glados. Or at least I find him enjoyable.

Anyways. I was just thinking about him again. I almost wonder if we’ll ever see him again (outside of LEGO Dimensions of course). I do think Portal doesn’t really need another entry but it would be interesting to think about.

While doing the test chamber with the Lazers I also went out of my way to do it in the most impractical way possible. Anything but the right way. At least I don’t think this is the right way.

Anyways. I made it all the way to old aperture today. This game goes fast. I kind of like it though. It’s nice to have games I can tear through in like 4 days rather than a few weeks. I miss having games like that.

Anyways. I think I’ll go through the Multiplayer with my friend after the story. And by that I mean we’ll terrorize each other in whatever way we can for a few hours while stumbling our way through a level. My favorite way to play it.

Today’s game is Portal 2. In the background I finished up Assassin’s Creed 3 Remastered. Turns out I had missed an achievement about playing Fanorona and I’ve just been putting off beating that. I got that done though. And decided to swap it out with Portal 2. Make that my current “Project” game. There’s some challenges/achievements I’d like to do so I’m picking this up.

First thing I noticed, and I’m sure everyone always talks about this. But it’s how timeless the game feels. It’s one of those games that honestly I don’t feel like feels dated. I know it got a few updates here and there but honestly it plays so well and is so well written I feel like it could come out today and I wouldn’t bat an eye.

Second thing I noticed? There’s a companion cube with Cat ears in the game. I like cats. That’s all their really is too it. I just thought it was interesting and cute.

I like that we have more characters in this one to. That’s another aspect I like. I know it’s just one more character but just having Wheatley there I feel like helps balance things well between Glados and Chell, considering Chell doesn’t talk whatsoever. He’s like a whole other spectrum of likeable villains I feel like to Glados.

Anyways. This shouldn’t be a long play. It’s not a long game and I’ve played it like 5 times in the past. And considering my urge was to play this or replay Alan Wake 2 for the millionth time, this was probably the better choice in terms of uniqueness.

Today’s game is Sonic CD. I had intended on beating it today but one level of Metallic Madness gave me so much trouble that I just decided a break was needed. It’s funny in retrospect even if frustrating.

The first time I managed to clip into a box on accident somehow and got spat out at the bottom right before it crushed me. The second time I got hit by one of those exploding guys. Same thing for the 3rd. 4th I somehow clipped into the box again. 5th time I got to the end but saw a passage going left and got curious. I decided to follow it and it… spat me back out at the start. So I decided that was my cue to take a break.

Backtracking a little bit, I like the race against Metal Sonic. Now that shit was cool. I’m not sure I remember any other Sonic games having a head to head race like this. I know Mania had the one where you need to throw missiles at Robotnik but that’s less of a head to head race and more just a “maintain speed” thing I think. It reminds me though, I need to go back and finish Mania.

And despite it killing me a bunch, the mini mechanic was also kind of cool. I’m not sure what it did mechanically but it was cool. I wonder if it will be used again or not.

Tomorrow I’m gonna for sure finish Sonic CD (or play something else). But definitely needed a break after that frustrating level. Definitely a skill I wish I had learned earlier in life.

Today’s game is Divinity Original Sin. I’ve had this in my library for a while and decided to try it while I wait for my BG3 Group to get back together. I’ve heard it’s similar so I wanted to try it.

My first thoughts are I don’t really care for the male character design. This is definitely a personal thing, but I’ve never been a fan of the big broad male design. I will say though it gave me the urge to play Darksiders and I have that downloading now.

Besides that though I like it. I know it’s a lot more than this, but it feels like a very “diet” Baldur’s Gate 3. Mechanically I felt like I could easily flow between how the game’s work.

Anyways, When I got to the port city I pissed off this guy who’s boat was on fire by spraying it with water. He got pissed and threatened to call the guards. After though he thanked me. I have to assume the game bugged out. Besides that, I liked the aspect of the world capable of being interacted with like that.

I found this talking Clam too which I thought was funny. That’s kind of all. I think it’s a reference but I’m not sure to what.

I ended off the day by up breaking into a house I found and climbing into the basement. There’s a whole ass dungeon in here. I crawled my way through the floors and found my way in this cave. I saw an enemy down there though and decided that’s a later thing because I’m not sure I’m near the end.

Overall I’m liking it. I’m not sure it’s the “next” game I’m going to pick up though. Especially because I found out it’s like 60 Hours to complete. I might set this down and come back later because that’s not a level of dedication I expected.

Today’s game is some more Soul Silver. I went to the Safari Zone today. I kind of have a love hate relationship with this place. I love the idea. But doing it, god it’s frustrating. I do miss it though. I’d love to see it come back. Though I think the 3D era it’d be a lot less interesting. I could be proven entirely wrong though.

I also went slow to hunting. Honestly, for a 10% chance it was a nightmare to find. So fuck slow bro. Spent a good 30 Minutes just swimming around in the basement to find it.

I do love the transition art for the place though. Now that I think about it, is there any other Pokemon game that did the same thing? I’m not sure there is. Once again though. I could be wrong.

Anyways. After that I spent the rest of my time hunting Unown. I always forget about these guys. The only real memory I have of them growing up is seeing them in an episode of the DP Anime. Besides that though nothing. I always thought they were interesting though. I wish they had more relevance in the modern era. Not like lore stuff but just like some spooky ruins with some puzzles. Honestly it’s kind of what the modern games in general feel like. They, at least to me, feel less altered to a story and a journey, and more the meta and battle aspect. I suppose it isn’t a bad thing. I know lots of people that love those parts. Just a shame it hits different.

Anyways. Set myself up at the Safari zone to be ready to get the daytime Pokemon tomorrow. I’m close to getting what I can in Johto I think until the post game. Next I’ll have to head to Kanto.

today’s game is some more Pokemon Soul Silver. I haven’t played this in a bit because I switched it back to my DS to play on the go. At some point I misplaced it though and had a hard time finding it. Thankfully I found it again after getting paranoid it had gotten left out on the street or something.

Anyways. I found out I’ve been an idiot when it comes to the screenshots. I thought because I couldn’t view them in Gwenview there was something wrong. Because it just suddenly stopped working. I guess though at some point recently Gwenview just removed the ability to see some specific trait specific to the bmp files my DS makes.

Anyways. I was so overcome with joy that I found it and figured out how to fix the screenshots that I went back to filling out the Pokédex. For some reason furret isn’t in it despite for sure so I’ll have to catch one again I think.

I also went Arbok hunting. I think the catching part of Pokemon is my favorite. There’s something so calming about just going down the list and catching Pokemon. Though I do have a fondness for battling friends too. I can get into some destructive strategies and steam roll them.

Anyways. I mainly picked Pokemon today because I was overjoyed at finding my DS again. I think soon I need to settle on a big narrative game though. I’ve been between games too long.

Today’s game is Sonic CD. I’ve been playing some more and just really tearing through it. I made it all the way through to Stardust Speedway which has some sick ass music. I did get stuck at a part in section 2 though where it kept flinging sonic into a wall though. So I gave it a rest there.

Wacky Workbench was interesting and I had a lot of fun but it felt like the central idea was slowing down which I didn’t really care for. I’m fully willing to admit I may be missing something. But as it stands the best part for me was the music and the name.

The water level wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared. I mentioned last time the distaste for water levels because of Chemical plant zone. Thankfully here it’s not that bad. I managed too clear the boss fight in one go. It’s honestly my favorite water level so far. And it’s a big plus I didn’t struggle.

I ended by checking out Sonic for The Game Gear. I wanted to try it out, and damn it’s a cool novelty, but I’m so glad I didn’t have to grow up on that. I imaging the slowdowns are legit, but when I push down on the d-pad and press circle it freezes my game so I have no clue what’s going on there. It was interesting to see but I’m not sure I’ll ever play it again except if I suddenly feel an urge to challenge myself to play it.

Today’s game is Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. I tried to play some more today and made it halfway through the ship level (rough estimate). Honestly, compared to the light house, cargo ship opens way better for me. It gives me a nice clean opening to melee two guys and slink my way in.

I discovered also I could just tap the shoulder button and quick melee. I really should patch my controls and get a hang of them because they’re a mess right now and will probably cause me issues (this is foreshadowing that will be relevant later).

I got to crawl through vents, which is legitimately one of my favorite tropes in video games. There’s something that feels so awesome about crawling through them. That makes me think on a slightly unrelated tangent: I want a Halo map that’s just a bunch of vents. I think it would be cool. At least in theory.

I spent a while stumbling around in this cargo room after draining it. I kept under estimating jumps and hurting myself so that’s an issue.

This is where the foreshadowing comes in. The engine room is right after this and I’ve been struggling so hard with it. I looked at the community and saw a bunch of tips like wall hugging and stuff. No idea what that is, so that tells me I need to get the hang of my controls.

And that’s where I am right now. I’m stuck on the engine room and getting ready to study the controls and map them to my PS3 controller so I don’t have to sit up and play. Hopefully by next time I’ll get it ironed out.

Today’s game is Sonic CD. I picked this up on sale recently because despite being alive way after Sonic CD was released, I’ve had a huge soft spot for the old 2D Sonic games. I grew up with them because my dad grew up with them. Sonic 2 was always the one I played (Fuck Chemical Plant Zone), but CD was another one I had a few run ins with. Granted it was the mobile port and I always had sound off. But still. That’s like 70% of Sonic CD

One thing I didn’t realize, you know that creepy ass sound test thing that I imagine everyone has heard of by now? I didn’t realize that was the boss music. It unsettled me a little bit when I heard it start playing because of that. Overall though that’s just kind of a creepy ass track to use as a boss them. Like. Good track. But creepy choice.

Overall the soundtrack is really good. I don’t know if it’s any different on the Original release than the original. But it’s got this unique sound quality that really sets it out from the rest of the sonic games for me. I have to guess it’s the CD Part of Sonic CD doing the work there but who knows.

I made it to the second water level and it’s just as annoying as I remember. I think getting older I’ve got a better grasp on how to handle water levels. But man. I remember being young and being stressed out by those things.

I stopped at that point because I have things to do in the morning and unfortunately I can’t stay up all night playing Sonic the Hedgehog like I used too. Still. I want to finish this. Classify it under “Things I played when I was young and want to beat finally”

Today’s game is Spliner Cell Chaos Theory. Ages ago someone recommended it to me and I picked it up. I don’t remember who it was, but if you’re seeing this, seriously. Thank you. Legit one of the best purchases I’ve made in a while.

Honestly, playing this, I can tell what elements would later go into Assassin’s Creed, which is where I’m coming at it from. But also having played MGS3 earlier this year, I’m also viewing it from that lens.

I love how interactable the environment is. Like. Obviously it’s not some hyper interactive game. But like the generators? I can flip it off, which I assume leaves it open for enemies to turn it back on, or I can sabotage it which takes longer but gives me more darkness to work with.

My favorite instance of this is stabbing out the generator in the tent area in the first level, then when the guy comes to check it out I snaked around and took him out with a choke hold. It was incredibly satisfying to pull off.

The first level was the only one I did but it took me nearly an hour to finish, partly because I was figuring out controls but also I was trying to get a grasp on the stealth. I ended up getting the hang of it and getting out with only getting seen twice, which is a positive in my book.

Overall I’m really liking it. It’s aged in some ways but it’s still really good. I just need to get a grasp on the controls and then I’ll be good.

Today’s game is some more of the Cobblemon Server I set up for my friends. Today was the first day it was in actual “release”. I ended up finding a way to get both this and the Attack of The B-Team server to run on separate subdomains so I’m happy.

Honestly that’s what I love about having skills like that and being in that field. Like, I don’t really care if it’s profitable. But being able to make cool shit for me and my friends? It’s some of the best things I’ve ever done.

Anyways, I’ve set up camp in a deep set cave system and I’m doing like a whole board walk theme. I think it’s cool. It allows for some fun things with the water I think, plus I can pump it through with create, which is also on this modpack.

Anyways, you know what the worst part about Minecraft is? I feel like when I settle a base down, that’s when I find a cooler location. Like. I found this cool open valley. It would have been awesome to live in. Especially with the way I play? Lots of open space to mess with.

I managed to catch a Gyardos that spawned in to and have been using that to “bully” my friends. But not actually. I’ll just mess with them a little. It’s all in good fun.

On the subject of friends, I know I did a lot of complaining about modern Minecraft yesterday, but I’m glad I set this up for me and my friends. It’s nice to play with them, even if I find it overwhelming. And I think there’s still stuff here for me to enjoy so I’m happy. I ended up being up super late just playing with them. It was fun.

Today’s game is Minecraft. My friends asked have been wanting me to set up a Cobblemon server, which is what I’ve done. Went through the whole thing to set it up and I tested it while the chunks generated. All pretty good.

I feel a bit of disdain for this pack though I think. I’d be trading the Attack of The B-Team server for it and I love that server. And I think I just feel a general distaste for modern Minecraft. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it feels noisy? Like. Old Minecraft is this big empty room, and then modern Minecraft is this room that has a bunch of stuff strewn about and is already cluttered and overwhelming. And I’m sure nods aren’t helping

I know that description is probably a bit dramatic, and negative sounding. But I think it truly is down to personal preference for me. I don’t mean to come off like one is better than the other. Just that’s the best way I think I could describe it I suppose.

Anyways. I think I need to rework this pack. For some reason the end is in the sky so I need to figure out what the deal is there and why that’s going on. I asked my players for their opinions and they said they think it’s cool “world building”. I suspect they didn’t consider the aspect though that means there’s going to be a constant influx of Enderman and a dragon. Then again. Maybe being up tight about gameplay over aesthetics or whatever it is that they want is kind of a dick move. I may be managing it but they’ll be playing on it too so they should get a say.

I ended up setting up camp in this little fortress I found. I had the world pregenerating and it was starting to struggle so I gave it a rest there and will try it out tomorrow morning.

Today’s game is some more Baldur’s Gate 3. Me and my friends have been exploring the Underdark and ended up splitting up. Though. We did it in the worst way possible. We had our support members go on their own while Me (The Fighter) and The Barbarian went off our own way.

Me and the Barbarian ended up getting into a scuffle with some slavers after we stole a boat and rode it down the road. I was busy helping a Stone Mason with something, but when I got there my friend said the guy was trying to cane him. So of course I helped him. After we were done we chucked his body over the edge. I like that this game lets us do that. It really makes for a unique experience because the game really doesn’t have any bars saying “nope. I won’t let you do that”.

Meanwhile my other friends (I have been informed I used the template wrong, but I like the picture regardless) got into a skirmish with a turret after running to the tower because they were really excited to see something magical. Last I checked on them Laizel is dead and they’re getting pummeled to death and can’t get out. So, maybe we shouldn’t have split up.

Me and the Barbarian also went off on our own before that in order to hunt down the quest for the “Masterwork weapon”. Slayed two minatours. More actuately though they jumped to get to us and were both left with 5 HP. You won’t hear me complaining though. Basically free exp.

Next time we’re on I think I’ll try and finish up in the area me and the barbarian are in. And then if I can I’ll go help the other two so they don’t die. Also revive Laizel. That should probably be on the list.

Today’s game is Baldur’s Gate 3. I managed to get my friends together to keep playing and we went into the under dark. So far it has been hell. For example: These fuckass birds. I was stumbling around down there doing stealth and suddenly got spotted by one from the other side of a huge pit. And what does it do? It calls all its friends. And suddenly my entire party is swarmed by like 3 of these things and a random drow that seems to have an issue with us.

We had another friend that wanted to join our campaign but the 4 player limit stopped him. I tried getting a mod that raises the count to 8 to work, but I found out it’s crossplay is broken and in order to use it I need to switch to the Windows Build instead of the Native Linux one. So I gave up and we just started another save. He was asking pretty hard for mods, so I took the liberty of adding the gunslinger just for fun. I came up with this lady.

The mod is actually kind of broken because it just has a spell that chucks like 25 guns at you and they don’t need Ammo or anything. Because of that I try to stay mostly out of combat.

Anyways, going back to the main save. After killing those birds and then getting into a fight with some slavers further back. I went and made my way to the tree I was looking for. I went into sneak mode so I didn’t piss anyone off. Apparently though Shadowheart didn’t get the Memo and didn’t sneak. So she got seen. I didn’t though! I ended up just climbing onto this branch and playing with Photo Mode since the others were about to quit anyways. I like to imagine you can hear Shadowheart fighting for her life back there.

I also tried to get a party picture but couldn’t get the framing right and Baldur’s Gate 3’s photo mode for some reasons highlights things. So I took this and gave up for the night. I think I was onto some thing. I’m not sure what though

Today’s game is Pokemon Soul Silver. I’m about to take on the Pokemon League, but before I do I want to try and fill out the Johto Dex. I’d like to have to avoid doing return trips that way.

I had gotten the Master Ball and decided to use it on Lugia. I usually go without using it, but this time I wanted to try something different because I always end up with an extra Master Ball I don’t use. I’ll always try and save it for a bigger fish, and never end up using it.

Since I’m running all around the region I decided to check in on some of the NPCs. Lyra is one of the ones I checked on. Now that I’m thinking about it though what did she do? I know she went with us on our journey a few places but I don’t remember much beyond that.

Anyways, tomorrow I’m gonna try and fill out some more of that National Dex. I don’t think it will be too hard but we’ll see.

Today’s game is Baldur’s Gate 3. I finally reinstalled it so I could finish playing through it with friends. And when I say “Playing” I really mean finding any excuse I can to play with the Photo mode. Like legit this has got to be one of my favorites just for the ability to position them in the game world.

::: spoiler Tap for slight nudity :::

I’ve been having a lot of fun just making pictures with the characters in the game world. Like the one above with Zorvak the destroyer here thinking on a log

We were a friend short today so we went and did the witch instead. I tried to sneak in but they saw me and I got absolutely demolished. Honestly I like and dislike that. It enforces teamwork, but also I’m shit at teamwork and impatient, so it really is a challenge for me.

I ended up getting to control a whole second character all day which was fun. Tomorrow I return control but it was fun while it lasted. I think I’d like to try and play some more tomorrow so we can progress the main quest. I’ll have to see though.

Today’s game is Pokemon Soul Silver. I keep nearly typing platinum out of habit. I guess it’s become engrained in me. I also think a part of me wasn’t quite ready to leave it behind. I might make another stop there and go see some of the post game stuff. I’ve never messed with them and want too. I hear I can even get a house.

Anyways. I’m right before the last gym. Finishing up team rocket and about to head over now. It’s weird. I felt like this game went really fast. I know HGSS also have Gen 1 in it, so I wonder if the stories are shorter so there’s less of a grind to get to Kanto. Then again. It could be a placebo.

This ice gym kind of ticked me off with the last puzzle. After that I kind of needed to cool off. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad though after I solved it. I kept missing the correct order when sliding them, and I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to. I ended up getting it after some finagling.

Anyways. I left off stumbling into this art gallery place with all these paintings on the wall. I thought it was interesting and want to look more into it later. It feels too big to not be used for something.

Today’s game is Pokemon Soul Silver. I’ve been hunting Pokemon and clearing Gyms all day. I found out about the commemorative photo system and even nabbed a few today. That’s what I used for the main image.

I went ahead and stopped by the Lake of Rage and picked up the Shiny Gyrados. I love when the games do the whole “Free Shiny” thing. Obviously not in high numbers, but just 1 is really cool to see.

I also managed to catch Raikou. I had no idea you could get it this early. But I wandered into a route after sending it into wander mode and bumped into it. I somehow managed to catch it with the tools I had in hand which was great.

Last thing I did was deliver the Secret Potion to help the Amphros. Raised my Pokédex too a count of 50 and I think that’s a good days work. Next time around I hope to be at the Pokemon league with how fast I’m knocking out gyms.

Today’s game is Halo. I actually meant to get some proper gameplay screenshots today, but today was the day I did the “Group Photos” photo shoot I had wanted to do. And it actually took way longer than I had expected. It was like wrangling cats.

I took away their ability to kill each other, and you’d think that would stop them from finding joy in attacking each other. But I think my friends started finding more joy in being able to pummel each other without killing each other. I can’t say I didn’t find it funny though. Even after an hour, seeing one of them try and pummel the other was funny.

One of their favorite tricks they discovered was being able to toss a grav lift into the vehicle I had placed down as set dressing and flipped it over and over in the air. I guess a vehicle suspended by a grav lift doesn’t eject you because one of my friends was in the warthog at the time and was getting spun around and around.

Us messing around did produce some photos I like though. This is one of my “ReShade edits”. That being one with some ReShade filters to make some nice effects like Depth of Field and such, And I got this one I’m a fan of. I got it while one of my friends were trying to blast us with a Spartan Laser while I was trying to get a photo of us all together on the big fan on Last Resort.

Anyways, since this is what I’ve seent the last few hours doing, not only just wrangling my friends into position, but also taking the photos and editing the ReShade versions, I didn’t play much of anything else. So I guess today is more of a exercise in personal art rather than me discussing the game. Still. I suppose my friends, being part of the playerbase, are part of the game.

Today’s game is Soul Silver. I spent my time prepping making a checklist of just how many of each Pokemon I need to catch to make a living Johto Dex. So hopefully this time it’ll be a whole lot easier.

I went ahead and setup retroarch this time to play while I fix up my DS. So far it’s been smooth sailing. One complaint though.

Retroarch has been mangling some of my screenshots for some reason. This one came out upside down. But I had some come out completely black except for a purple bar. It’s really weird. I’m not sure what’s up.

Now to actually talk about the game? I have mixed feelings about Johto as a whole. I love the region’s layout. Except the National Park. But the Pokemon I’ve never been a fan of. It just kind of feels like more Gen 1 Pokemon. Which yeah. It’s a sequel to Gen 1 so it makes sense. But I’m not a big fan of Gen 1’s Pokemon either. Maybe Snorlax, Vaporeon, and Vulpix?

But the sprite work on Soul Silver is gorgeous. That’s my favorite part here. Gen 5 may have pretty animations but Soul Silver is really pretty to the eyes in a static way.

The screenshot got trashed as well but I also like that the Pokemart sign spins. It was a detail that admittedly makes me laugh a little. I don’t know why. I guess seeing something so city-like in a little country-like town is just funny to me.

I’m already 3 Gyms in. Tomorrow I’m gonna try and push for another 2. Maybe even 3. I shouldn’t need too search too hard for most the Pokemon relievingly. So it should be a short list to collect for the next few routes.