It’s still Xenoblade, unsurprisingly. I’m now on the way to Prison Island, which’ll hopefully energize some of the stagnating plots with the High Entia (or at least, I remember it doing that last time). It’s been interesting going into a groove of plot progression to grinding to plot progression; it’s nice having a…

Very tired from writing up stuff on the Smash Direct, but Xenoblade Chronicles continues to delight. There’s a lot of grinding going on everywhere I turn, but I do really like how the materials I need to repair Colony 6 have been with me basically the whole time I’ve been off exploring various untamed lands. It’s like…

This week, I produced two things of note. I was in a two and a half hour livestream discussion of the latest purported Smash Bros. Ultimate leak (and while I’ve linked to it, don’t click it) that was, I’ll confess, psychologically and emotionally exhausting. It’s been really sad seeing people tearing each other apart…

I’ll admit, my relationship with Xenoblade X was incredibly antagonistic. I couldn’t understand most of the gameplay mechanics - hell, I couldn’t even read them due to how small the game’s text was - and very quickly felt overwhelmed by the game. Within a few hours, you have so many characters to play, all of whom…

I don’t know if that is a feature they added to the 3DS version, but on the Wii almost all the quests just get automatically completed once you’ve done what they needed (so once you collect the X numbers of things, they just automatically leave your inventory and the quest is over). The only ones that don’t do that…

Well, I finally decided on what my next game project is now that Prey is all taken care of, though I’ll be playing other games along with it. And that’s because the game is Xenoblade Chronicles, the absolutely massive, 100+ (150+?) hour MMO-inspired sandbox JRPG that pushed the Nintendo Wii well past its technical…

I’ve actually been really interested in this one, despite having never had any interest in playing Mario Party since I’ve been a “conscious” player of games (which was around the time the second one came out, and before a long history of playing Nintendo especially. It’s a big blind spot for me). I mean, I actually…

So my trip went smoothly, and though I didn’t get a lot of time in for playing, it was the first time I really used my Switch outside my home. And it was fun! Playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the small screen definitely isn’t as nice as on a TV, but it was fun (I should also note that outside of a bit of Mario + Rabbids,…

Frostpunk sounds really cool and fascinating! I’ll be sure to check it out when my political outlook isn’t seeing a constant fiery hellscape.

The Zelda article has been released! I probably will go back at least a bit to this Ocarina of Time run I did for research (though I’m gonna skip Ganon’s Tower), but I’m glad I managed to get to the point where the game clicked for me again. Really, just being adult Link helped. The Water Temple remains something I…

Congratulations on the move, Chum! I’m also a bit happy that I can contribute to this thread, thanks to checking off The Sexy Brutale. I found the ending to be both compelling and, in some ways, just a bit “easy.” I guess. Though the secret “demonic” ending (that’s not it’s name; I just don’t know else to keep it from…

Okay, let me think. On Friday, after the last WAYPTW, I decided to up and finish The Sexy Brutale. It was a lovely, lovely game with an admittedly alright finale. But that’s okay! I’m totally cool with its Gothic yet jazzy vibe, and it’s hard to think of another game with which to follow it up (probably Prey, the game…

Well, it’s not as though it’s surprising The Sexy Brutale is right up my alley, and t’s for the most part a really good, solid experience. The game’s mansion is this wonderful paean to unrestrained, grotesque decadence, a combination of cultural styles and tastes I’ve gotten nowhere near to catching in total. Most of…

So in the past two weeks (as I eschewed commenting in the last article / thread due to fatigue and game related ennui), I managed to actually really push through in Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance! It’s still the weakest of the IGAvanias I’ve played by far, but actually getting the chance to really explore the…

Truthfully, my playing has been very haphazard this week. I did maybe two thirds of the second Life is Strange episode in two sessions, and otherwise have made a second attempt with Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (and yes, pretty much entirely due to the Smash Bros. news from last week). The former is good, and…

While I was always wanting to do it, on Friday morning I decided to what little remained in Ōkami - though I did use strategy guides by that point and enlisted my dad to beat the super-unfair final Blockhead guard. I’ve spilled so much digital ink on this game, between my article from last year and all my posts here,…

I actually finished this one again on Friday - the first time not on my original PS2 disk. It’s an absolutely wonderful game, and though I’m been openly biased on saying this, I think many (though not all) of its faults have merit. The story is meandering, but it gives the game this really neat sensation of being on a…

Now onto the post I’d originally prepared. As with last week, some spoilers for Ōkami again. The biggest of them are all in the paragraph right after this, and their severity does steadily drop before the last one (which isn’t about the game at all).

I wrote a long thing about Ōkami in preparation for the post. I’ll post it later, because I feel a strong need to write a bit about how this site has affected me. I also tried to post this earlier, but Kinja simply refused to accept it’s posting. If the earlier one somehow comes up, I’ll flag it for deletion.

As much as I dearly love puns, that sadly wasn’t me - I was barely conscious when writing that comment. I’m looking forward to your thoughts on the game as well It’s for the best you skipped it; it’s a discussion of themes more than plot points, but those themes are better approached firsthand - especially since it’s…