Today's game is Castle Crashers. I had some friends somehow talk me into playing it, which is impressive as i am not a fan of Beat Em Ups usually.

Why? Well, mainly they just end up overwhelming me and i end up feeling like i just mash the attack button and hope for the best. It's a me issue for sure and no shade to these games, but it's also an issue i definitely encounter.

Surprisingly though i didn't feel a lot of that. A little? Maybe, but i do think playing with friends helped to take the metaphorical "heat" off my back with this and make it more enjoyable.

The humor i could take or leave in a few spots, but overall it's not too bad in that department, and the art style is kind of nice too which is good.

The soundtrack i ended up recognizing from other places. I assume it was a youtube video or something because i recognized one specific track and it was an interesting experience.

Anyways, despite my enjoyment, One of my friends ended up not so much. He dropped out and we all went with him to play with him next time he felt up for it. It wasn't a hard no, but yknow, only so much in small doses. Anyways, it was just another fun social detour before going back to Jedi Survivor (if the steam sale tomorrow doesn't add 50 million other things to my steam Library that is)

Today's game is Viva Pinata. I spent all day doing some prep for the 2 year anniversary, and after all that I decided what better to do with my time then kick back, relax, and sell some Pinatas.

I got a sour Shellybean on my Farm (?) today. Have to say, not a fan of the way it changes. I think it looked a lot cooler before hand but that's my personal opinion.

I also ended up growing an Apple Tree, and then another, and another. Before i knew it i had like 4 of them. Not sure what i'm going to do with them, i wonder if i can sell Apples though to make some money.

I always end up feeling bad about selling Pinatas so that might be an okay alternative.

I also got a pretztail today, which i assume is meant to be like a fox thing. I want to get another but need a rabbit for it to eat before i can do that, so that's next on my list.

Speaking of what i want to do, I also want too get a pond set up. I think having one around my garden will be nice. So i'll have to start setting up stuff for it.

Overall a nice little break from all the action games i've been playing lately. It gives me some room to breathe which is nice. I think tomorrow i'll go back to Jedi survivor.

Today’s game is some more Jedi Survivor. I made it out into the frontier, and I have to say I really like it. It’s giving almost western vibes at times. I also found the boglings I could pet, though I think they changed the models a little bit. I’m not sure how but it looks off to me. Not a deal breaker or anything, just an observation.

I also messed with the more in depth Lightsaber customization. I switched to the rough iron and made it aged. I felt it gave it a weathered look I really dig. There’s some bronzium on there too which is just because I like the color.

Now onto the main part I wanted to talk about though: The frontier. It’s a really cool idea, I love exploring it and how open it is. Something about it feels unique compared to the last game.

But my god does it have a lot of pop in. I don’t know if it’s my computer or what, but every once in a while I’ll notice a bush or something popping in.

I also found this guy who got stuck on some geometry and was spinning around.

I’m still really enjoying the game despite these flaws, but it’s definitely noticeable with the issues.

Anyways. I spent all day exploring the frontier basically before continuing the story and heading to the forest array. I’ve just entered the forest array and it looks gorgeous, so I’m excited to see the rest.

Today’s Game is Jedi Survivor. So fast after the first one? Yeah. Originally I didn’t plan on it, but I figured some stuff out and managed to get ahold of a copy. I figured if I ended up liking it then I could look into getting a copy of my own here in a few days with the steam sale. I’ll probably try and balance this with something else too as knowing me there’s a decent chance I’ll get burnt out back to back with nothing else.

I do have a few gripes only a few hours in. They’re small I think but still pretty major gripes. First off, the UI doesn’t get hidden in the photo mode when taking a photo. So like all but a few of my photos were ruined. Some I turned off the UI for but the others were botched. A few I got to crop though.

The other gripe I’m not really sure how to put into words, but Cal almost feels looser in the way he controls? The only way I can think to describe is like if you’ve ever played an Anime game made by Bandai Namco or something. There’s just something off about the way the characters control. It’s a lot more egregious in those games, but I’m getting just a little bit of that same feel here. Once I got used to it I kind of stopped noticing it though.

The game looks just as amazing as the first one. And it runs well on my rig at 1440p60fps (which checks out because that’s the target resolution of my card). I did want to tool around with stuff though (I can’t help myself but to mess with things), so I installed Optiscaler and FSR4 just to experiment with options. Honestly couldn’t tell a difference between native res and FSR 4 with the Highest Quality and Ray Tracing on, so I left it on for now.

I did notice Cal’s hair looks a little sloppy from a few angles but I think that’s just an engine thing as I noticed some of it in the first game too.

Today’s game is Silent Hill f. I buckled down today and went through the entire thing. I did lock myself accidentally into the true ending though. How did I do that? Well. I thought I had to do a run of the normal, good, and bad endings. Turns out though you just have to do 1 New Game+ run to get it. So I met the criteria that locks you in on accident and went through with it. Not too big of a deal, though I had wanted to do the bad endings first. I returned back to the save point right before though and continued my run through to get the bad ending. I thought I had the motivation to do it all from scratch, i did not though.

I don’t want to spoil too much of the true ending, though I appreciate it for recontextualizing things again. Especially because I believe I misunderstood the good ending a little bit. I’m glad I pushed through though and finally got it out of the way. It’s the kind of nuance I personally kind of expect from a Silent Hill game.

Anyways. I wanted to appreciate the landscape. Kind of round out the trilogy I have here since I finished it today. I mainly wanted to acknowledge the eerie beauty the Fog World(?) has. Especially when it’s covered in all this gore looking stuff and flowers. It’s weirdly beautiful.

The shrine area is also beautiful though. I love it when it has these blue lanterns up. It’s a really pretty sight. Something about it is calming to me.

To end things off, here’s a more sentimental shot that I feel is appropriate for this game. I wish I hadn’t dragged it out so long. I appreciate it, though it had its flaws sometimes such as the durability or the sprint at the end. But I loved my time with it. And at the very least it’s left me with an urge to play both Silent Hill 2 again (maybe the OG next time) and Alan Wake 2. I think I’ve just developed an addiction to survival horror.

Today's game is Silent Hill f again. I spent all day yesterday talking about why i'm playing this, so instead today i'lll talk about the game itself. Primarily my first point that springs to mind while playing this: I love the game, probably one of my favorite from that year, but it feels very "un-Silent Hill". I know i'm not the most credible to give that opinion as i've only played Silent Hill 2 and half of the First one, but i think it's the setting. It feels like they just drop the fog in and call it a Silent Hill game. I just want to reclarify though, this is not a knock against the game, i still majorly respect it.

The enemies do a good job though of just freaking me out, all the fleshy pulsating holes and stuff are unsettling, and these Scare Crows have me always on edge. I feel like the moment i turn around i'm gonna get jumped by one of them. Scary as fuck, remind me of the Mannequins from silent hill 2 except these ones love to play the long game.

I pushed on today and made it to the part where you go into the two wings of the building to unlock the door. I also collected some achievements. I'm using that as a benchmark to measure 100% for me, which is my goal. As i don't want to go out of my way to collect every little document. Suffice to say i have 13 achievements left and i should knock out all but the story ones in this playthrough as long as i play my cards right.

Today’s game is Silent Hill f. After finishing Fallen Order Yesterday, I went to pick something out of my library to play. And you know what I still haven’t finished (Besides the 80 Million other games I started and didn’t finish)? Silent Hill f. So I decided I’m going to pick it up, finish my playthrough of the bad ending, and then get the True Ending or whatever it’s called. Maybe get the last 3 achievements I missed too.

Since this is like my 5th playthrough, I’m using a Freecam to take photos this time. Along with ReShade to take some more artsy photos. I don’t intend on showing any of those here though. That feels disingenuous to my goal. Free can I give a pass though because it lets me look at things out of bounds and is more so a vehicle to commentary on the game, though I won’t promise I won’t accidentally mix a few of those photos in.

Like this for example:

::: spoiler Spoiler/mild gore(ish?) I found out when you go up to the mountain, you can see the silhouette of the first boss you fight dancing in the door. Looking inside… is a little more funny to see though.

:::

Another humorous thing I noticed is Fox Mask Guy out of bounds is insanely bright in some places.

Anyways. I plan to take this playthrough at the same pace I did the last one. I’ll try for one of the corridor sections a day until I reach the end. The combat is taking a bit of adjusting too after Fallen Order so it’s probably for the best so as to settle in too it

Today's game is Mario Kart 64. I originally intended some screenshots from Jedi Fallen order, i finished it up today. But i uninstalled the game and expected Compat Data to stay like it used too. I guess it doesn't anymore though? Which sucks really because I had some amazing pictures of the final boss. I even tried to use Photorec to recover it but it didn't work. Honestly that's on me. With the little time i had left though i figured, why not return too this and relax?

Anyways, Mario Kart 64. What's there's not much to say I haven't already said. You know what i do have to say though? I fell off this boardwalk for the first time ever and i have to say this Water-Fog thingy is mesmerizing. It's really pretty too see. I wish i had seen this earlier because honestly I love the way it looks.

I also ran a time trial on Choco Mountain. It's fun just seeing all the faces and stuff on the mountain and boulders. When i was little me and my sister made a game out of trying to count how many Boulder Faces we saw. As you can imagine, an honor system like that resulted in a lot of fights.

Anyways, consider this a brief interlude to whatever game comes next. I have a few ideas. A Mutual Friend has really been pushing me to try Persona 5. It doesn't seem like my kind of thing, but he said he'd lend me his copy so I'm thinking of relenting and giving it a try. I also want to do Middle Earth Shadow of War though so we'll see which one i pick.

Today’s game is some more Jedi Fallen Order. Someone suggested doing a Golden Eye 007 game for 700 days and damn do I wish I thought of that and did it before today’s post. Unfortunately though i did not.

Last time i mentioned how i feared Kashyyyk would be difficult. It was not. It was largely linear which I appreciate. I just had to go from Point A to Point B for the most part. There were a few sections I went back to but those weren’t too bad. It was really helpful to have the Big Ass Bird to help get down from the tree. Saved me a lot of time.

I went back to Illum to grab one last Echo I missed. The return trip was nice. Icey wastelands are legitimately a favorite of mine so getting to come back here was awesome.

Anyways. This has brought me full circle back to Bogano. Once I get the 100% here, im gonna finish up the story. I believe there’s one more planet after this. But I don’t believe with what I know about it there will be very much to do there. We’ll see though.

Today’s game is Viva Piñata. I spent all day collecting stuff in Jedi Fallen Order and I decided “you know what. This is what I need to relax”. Anyways. Here’s a bunny I collected today who went to sleep and helped me relax.

In other news, I bought a light, and for some reason my Piñatas keep lighting themselves on fire. I don’t know what their deal is. I’ll rush too put it out but by the time I get there it went out on its own. I swear though, these Piñatas have the survival instincts of a rock.

Anyways. Just a brief detour to relax after my latest “project” I dedicated myself too ? (Jedi Fallen Order). I find in times like this where I don’t have much else going on, hobbies like fully maxing out a game’s achievement really server to give me something to do when I grow tired of programming for a bit.

Today’s game is some more Jedi Fallen Order. I’ve been going around getting all the collectibles in Zeffo right now. All that’s left for me is the Tomb and I’ll be good to move onto the next planet.

Something about entering the starship really freaked me out. It’s a little one me for having a video expose on one of my favorite horror games on in the background (getting these collectibles got tedious), but something about exploring it feels uneasy. Following the trail of the Jedi Master and the Padawan and how it mimics Cal in a way was almost unsettling. I loved the section but damn am I also glad to be out of there.

I also found this visible seam where the world clips through. Not much here but I thought it was interesting.

Anyways. As I mentioned I went back to the tomb. After that I think the last big planet I have left to do is Kashyyyk. That world always confuses me so I’m expecting it to be particularly tedious. We’ll see though. It also feels a little more linear so maybe I’ll get lucky and it will be merciful.

Today's game is Jedi Fallen Order. I buckled in and plowed through it. I'm like 90% sure i'm near the end, but i've been going through getting the last collectibles i missed. Dathomir was a nightmare, which sucks because it was the first one i did. All the plants and stuff made it hard to navigate, plus i missed a secret spot. Luckily the Percentage tracker made it a little easier.

I have to say that Merrin right now is my favorite Non-Cal-character. I like her whole dynamic she had with Cal and all the Night sister stuff she has going on is cool too see.

Since i'm nearing the end i wanted to go back and try and recreate one of the earliest pictures i remember taking of this game with the Bogling. Way back when i first started.

I also did Oggdo Bogdo. I wanted the achievement for slicing his tongue off (which sounds more morbid now that i'm saying it out loud), but i didn't realize i had to force pull him when he tongue attacks me.

Anyways, i'm gonna try and power through getting all the collectibles before finishing the game. It's only 4 more Planets so i don't think it will be too hard, just tedious. We'll see though. I want to try and build up that kind of dedication.

Today’s game is Jedi Fallen Order again. I made it really far today. I have to suspect I’m close to the end with how far I am. Then again maybe this game is freakishly long.

I scaled the origin tree or whatever it’s called and saw this absolutely gorgeous bird-looking thing. I wish they were real as I absolutely want to pet one. The feathers look so damn soft. I like that it turned out to be friendly too. I absolutely did not want to have to fight this thing.

There was also this arena segment. Which I really loved. I honestly wish this was a little bit longer because I was enjoying myself here. Plus the music track that accompanied it was great.

I made it as far as the Ninth Sister fight, where I got stuck. I gave it a few honest tries and decided I’d approach it again tomorrow. From there I think I’ll stand a better chance.

Today’s game is Jedi Fallen Order. I finished Twilight Princess yesterday and after being left with that, the sword play reminded me this went unplayed. I struggle with souls likes, but I really like this game so I’ve dedicated myself to beating the story. I want to try and 100% it but I’m not going to promise myself that as I know I might struggle with it.

The progress I made was significantly hampered by the photo mode. Now that I’ve had proper training in using a camera I put some of that to use and took some pictures. It was fun. I think I prefer working with video games more than real life stuff just because it’s easier and also there’s some unique sights to see.

I made it as far as the large ship before turning it off. I think I’m going to lower the difficulty down to story. I wanted to challenge myself but I think I’m struggling too much. We’ll see more tomorrow though

Today’s game is Twilight Princess. I sat down and finished it all in one last sitting. I have to say. I was too rough on it I think. I still think I was fair in my criticism that it’s slow too start and it has some forgettable dungeons, but when people tell me it’s carried by its characters and writing I am inclined to agree. That was good. Especially seeing Midna’s character arc.

The sword play was excellent too. Definitely not the best. But it was still awesome to control and some of my favorite the franchise has had.

I do have to wonder if it was rushed towards the end of development. The dungeons for sure felt weirdly linear and small, and they didn’t utilize items nearly as much as I had liked. Most puzzles I felt boiled down to the claw shot. On top of that there were definitely a few parts when I felt like something was missing.

The final battle against Ganondorf was awesome though. It felt like a proper sequel to OoT’s battle. Though Zelda on horse back pissed me off because she had a clean line of sight so many times yet she did nothing. At one point me and Ganondorf were literally riding circles around each other.

The sword battle was awesome too though. Towards the end I used the fishing rod trick just to have some fun before the end. It’s funny seeing him get distracted like a cat or something.

Anyways. All in all I think I enjoyed it. It’s probably earned a spot as my 3rd favorite Zelda game, though it has left me wanting to replay OoT and Alan Wake 2. So maybe those will be coming back again at some point to satiate my desire.

Today’s game is Mario Kart Wii. Specifically Retro Rewind. After having my hard drive wiped on accident, I had a ton of my friends asking me to reinstall this. The download takes a while for me for some reason (downloads on GitHub take a while for me). Once it finished though I gave it a test to make sure everything works.

It’s nice to have an option that’s not bound to a Nintendo Console, though I don’t think I care for some of the interpretations of the retro courses. Like Wario Stadium got done dirty here I feel like. Legitimately I feel like the original was perfect. Something about every reimagining just feels off.

Same with Toad’s Turnpike. The Cars I think are going the wrong way and it feels more rural than what the original felt to me. And don’t even get me started on my opinion about MK8’s version. I am not a fan of the wall panels and the more open design.

That’s all Subjective opinions though. You know what I did like? N64 Rainbow road. I would have preferred 3 laps but 2 is a fine compromise. As long as it’s not the segmented race MK8 has. Graphically I felt it was decently faithful too.

Anyways. This was mainly for me to test it out to make sure everything works before playing with friends. Once i was sure it does I was content to let it be. I did a few Grand Prixs as well but I didn’t get any screenshots of those.

Today’s game is some more Twilight Princess. I did the Sky Temple today. It was pretty but man did it feel weird in some places. Like this area I found I could lower down into. It was a weird unsettling void.

Anyways. The boss fight was fun. Though I don’t feel like there was much that set it apart for me from the water temple fight. I think it’s because both of them have you grabbing onto the back with the hookshot and stabbing.

This game is also driving me nuts with how many rupees I find. I’ll see a chest on the map and take a detour only for it to be Rupees. Really driving me crazy.

It’s weird to think I made it this far. I assume I’m near the end of the game. Which is awesome to me. The furthest I’ve ever made it before is the gorons and now here I am. Right about to finish the game. I’ll try and do it tomorrow hopefully. I’m kind of excited to beat it.

Today’s game is Twilight Princess again. I went and did the owl statues, which honestly. It wasn’t too bad but I didn’t really care for it either. I feel like whenever Zelda games have these fetch quests I never really care for them. It was the same thing with Wind Waker’s triforce pieces.

I ended up making it to the sky temple though, and I think this dungeon is kind of cool. It’s awesome to have a dungeon that’s technically “populated” like this one. All the Ooco really make it feel a little more alive. I do have some questions about their interior design but besides that it’s awesome. Music is awesome. Design is awesome. And hopefully the puzzles are awesome.

All the Cats too are nice. Cats, if it isn’t obvious, are one of my favorite pets. So seeing them all here is nice. I liked the one playing with the yarn ball. It was batting it around in the background when I was talking to Impaz too.

Anyways. Tomorrow I’m gonna try and do the Sky temple in one sitting like I did the Temple of Time. I’m hoping it’s not as tedious as that one, but we’ll see.

Today’s game is Twilight Princess. I spent all my time playing today basically farming rupees. To buy the bridge. It saves SO MUCH TIME. Honestly I wish I had done this sooner. With the size of Hyrule field it really pays off.

That is my complaint about this game too. Hyrule field is too big and clunky for my taste. Plus it feels empty. Honestly it feels like it was designed around showing the Castle is a basically a Bass Pro shop now.

I need to figure out how to fix up this broken one too. I stood on the opposite side taking pot shots at those shadowy guys for fun. Definitely a way to let out stress. Those guys piss me off sometimes. It wore off though and I went to the abandoned village.

The whole shootout segment was kind of ruined by me not having any arrows. Because of that I had to run around and use my sword and other tools. Honestly it felt even more bad ass to me. I wish the hook shot could damage enemies though.

Anyways. That’s where I stopped. I didn’t want to start the dungeon with what little time I had left, so I stopped after getting the horse call. I think I’m close to the game. Which honestly, despite my bitching I actually liked it. Midna grew on me especially. It’s mostly the gameplay that bothers me.

Today’s game is Mario Kart 8. Today’s been a bit busy (hence the lateness). There’s been a bit of a celebratory event today I won’t get into. For the first time in a while though I didn’t have the time to sit down and pick something to play. Thankfully, I’m me. And even when I’m playing other games I still take screenshots.

Anyways. I mostly wanted to use today to thank everyone who provided me pointers and tips for 200cc the last time I played.

I would like to let you know the fruits of your labor have not gone to waste. I have even beaten my group’s reigning 200 CC champion (the gold Mario player). I even did it on Rainbow Road, which according to our Gold Mario Player is “the worst on 200cc”. Though I think he’s just been dramatic as honestly Rainbow road is easy on 200cc.

I mainly stuck to brake drifting around corners and it was easy.

200cc honestly has completely changed the game for me. 150 feels to slow and I take completely new routes now to accommodate for the added speed. It’s honestly awesome. I can’t believe I was so put off by it before.

Anyways, one last thing I was going to share is this awesome bomb throw I got. I was going to do it as a clip but I couldn’t censor my friend’s names. So here’s a screenshot. I ricocheted it off the canyon wall twice and managed to nail my friend with it.

Anyways. I just wanted to take it easy today and relax, so i went with this. Tomorrow it’s back to the currently regularly scheduled Twilight Princess.