Mera'din

5.) Little Orpheus Got this one on a sale because I liked most of Chinese Room's other games so figured I might as well play it at some point. Not bad for what started as an episodic mobile game. Not much to it for gameplay (though more than Chinese Room had done up to that point), but the story was at least entertaining. Mostly just dumb, silly fun in the style of an old pulp serial adventure thing. The only real annoying thing with the game is that they add in collectibles to the levels AFTER you do them, and it wasn't so interesting that I want to replay it a 2nd time. Feels like that was a half baked idea to try and push a little re-playability or something. Regardless, probably not worth the $12 or so it normally is, but definitely didn't regret getting it for $3-$4 it had been on sale.

Guess their marketing worked. XD Yeah, Little Goody Two Shoes definitely looks like a more fleshed out experience. Seemed more like a full on RPG from the stuff I had seen when it released. I spent extra time last night getting (most) of the other endings as well. Glad they have the extra room where you can select how each chapter ended and start from any chapter, though I was tempted to do a full new playthrough since it seems like there are some small changes to things in New Game+ as well as some extra other content. Definitely seems like the 3rd Normal ending (getting all the Regalia set and getting to the mirror first at the end) is the ending that links to the other game, which makes sense since it seems to be the "best" ending. They all add a little bit/reveal parts of the story though it seems like. The extra ending added with New Game+ was also intriguing and I'm wondering if it will have anything to do with the overall story or something they do in the future with it. Really interested to see if Little Goody Two Shoes explains more of what happened. Overall, the game was pretty impressive for something that was made in RPG Maker (have only ever seen pretty mediocre stuff previously). I'm probably going to try to finish up some other half-finished stuff clogging up my backlog before I dive into the other game, but I'm looking forward to it.

4.) Pocket Mirror ~ GoldenerTraum This is one I had started a while ago but had kind of fell of of playing when other stuff came out. Interesting little 2D gothic/psychological horror game. Doesn't give you a lot of info to work with and kind of have to stumble through figuring stuff out. Interesting story overall, but a little predictable. Nice variety to the endings and some decent replay value. I had actually picked this one up due to another game, Little Goody Two Shoes, releasing as it looked really interesting, but this one is part of the same series and released first (even though I think Little Goody Two Shoes is actually a prequel to it). It sounded interesting as well so decided to give it a go. All around solid experience. Glad I gave it a shot.

3.) Copycat Short game, relatively interesting concept, but the execution fell kind of flat. Basically a cat walking simulator with some mild timed button press gameplay and a semi-depressing story (of the stereotypical indie game variety). I see what it was going for, but it didn't really pan out on the emotional front. It got close, but it was too predictable, or too bewildering in turns to really land on its feet (pun intended). Didn't hate it, but it also doesn't stand out compared to similar games.

2.) Vampire Therapist The game was pretty well written and some of the characters were really interesting, but it became apparently pretty quickly that this... basically wasn't a game. The premise is you're a 200-something year old vampire who was turned during the old west and has recently arrived in Europe at the behest of a much older vampire because he wishes to become a therapist to help other vampires come to terms with their existence as he has managed to do. The older vampire has been experimenting with much the same thing himself and offers to train him. The game feels relatively educational and deals with real 'cognitive distortions' and how to spot them and you meet with a handful of clients and try to help them through their problems. The issue comes in to play in that if you pick the WRONG distortion, there's no negative effect for it. The ancient vampire is basically in the wings and uses his power to basically halt time and telepathically tell you that you done fucked up and you get to try again until you get it right. And that's it. For the whole game. The game goes on to add more distortions and has you pick the best ones for each session but this aspect never changes at which point you're basically just reading a literal visual novel. Even the end when it seems like there might finally be a consequence to not picking right, there isn't. It does the same thing. 😩 Unfortunate as, like I said, there are some interesting subplots going on in the game and the characters were fun. There's room for a sequel that could do something different as well, but it would have been a much more interesting game if it were... well... a game.

Animal Well and TUNIC both seemed interesting. Need to get them at some point when I knock down my backlog a bit.

Last year was a weirdly low count for me, having only completed 9 new games. I was imbedded in a handful of live service things and I have a decent number of games I've started but haven't completed due to lack of time and sheer volume of stuff releasing that I had to prioritize in some way. It also doesn't help that I played a lot of 100+ hour RPG type things, so I expect better numbers this year. Starting it off with one I was trying to finish before the end of the year, but missed the mark by a couple days due to work. Previous year list: 1.) Indiana Jones and the Great Circle I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. The trailers looked interesting and since it was on Game Pass, I decided to run with it after I finished the new Dragon Age game. It ended up being a really solid experience. It really feels like playing through an Indiana Jones movie, from punching Nazis to Troy Baker's absolutely uncanny voice work that had even the creative director didn't realize he wasn't listening to the sample audio of Harrison Ford when they were going through auditions. The writing, the story beats, all of it makes it feel like the sort of Indiana Jones sequel that people actually wanted. Even the side quests tied back to the main plot and didn't feel tacked on to waste time (though some of the collecting stuff did lean that way). The best way I've seen it described is that if you follow the main story path, it's like watching an Indiana Jones movie. If you do all the side quests with it, its like watching the Director's Cut of the same movie with all the deleted scenes worked back in. On the mechanics side, it was a solid experience as well. Stealth actually felt rewarding, and even if you were spotted it didn't instantly alert every enemy in the area. You could take an enemy out after seeing you before they could alert others in the area. Even if you didn't get to them in time, they'd shout and it would generally only alert enemies in the immediate vicinity. Wait too long, or if guns get involved, then you'd have a bigger mess on your hands though. The combat is a bit clunky, but as I got used to the mechanics for the fist fighting, I felt better about it. I rarely, if ever, used a gun as it seemed like the worst approach in most situations. The game was also much longer than I thought it would be. Part of why I picked it for my last game of the year is I figured it would be a quick 15-20 hour campaign sort of action-adventure game and though it maybe could have been (probably closer to 30 for me), getting sucked into all the side stuff turned it into a roughly 60-hour thing. Some of the areas are stronger than others (running around Vatican City, the first part of the game, being the highlight IMO), but all of them have some interesting things going on. The only thing that felt awkward there was it felt like they went out of their way to hit as many biomes as possible. XD Overall, this was a hell of an experience. It seems to be doing well too, which is good to hear. I'd be more than happy to play another one of these if this level of care and detail continues to be taken.

8.) Dragon Age: The Veilguard I honestly really enjoyed this game. I was skeptical early on because some of the dialogue is... questionable, but the overall story was really good and I loved the companions and their personal stories. There were some great story beats and they really went above and beyond answering most of the lingering questions from previous games while setting up for some interesting stuff that could still come if/when they do another. Getting filled in on a lot of the deep backstory type stuff was something I wasn't expecting too so that was a hell of a lore dump. The combat was a lot more fun that I thought it would be from what I had seen/read before the game came out, and though there is more I wish they would have done with it, this ended up being a LOT better than I was worried it would be after Bioware's last couple games. Basically, as a fan of the series since its inception, I have to say that some of the stuff they missed on stood out pretty starkly and where they had to cut corners stood out quite a bit and you could almost feel where they pivoted on design or story elements part way through development, but the stuff they did right made up for that pretty soundly. I was really happy with it overall. 9.) Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Purgatory Visual novel w/ some RPG elements. It is a sequel to WtA: Heart of the Forest, and though it felt shorter than its predecessor, it was still pretty enjoyable. Not the best of its kind I've played by any stretch, and the ending felt really rushed and abrupt but it seems like it has decent replay value which is always nice. I think I liked the first one more overall, but I still enjoyed this one as well.

7.) Vampire: The Masquerade - Reckoning of New York 3rd in a series of visual novels that have been pretty good overall, if a bit light on choice. This particular entry exceeded the original, but doesn't quite compare to the 2nd one, I think. Really like the characters and the updated visuals in it but the story left a bit to be desired with the way it was set up. I still really enjoyed it, but was hoping for a bit more after the 2nd game.

6.) Werewolf: The Apocalypse - The Book of Hungry Names Bound and determined to at least hit 10 by the end of the year. >_o This is one of the 'interactive novel' style titles that has been getting put out for the World of Darkness games. Despite the simplistic appearance though they're mostly really great. This one especially is hands down the best one I've seen. Probably had to sink a solid 40 hours into it to get through it once, though I'm not the fastest reader. There's so much to it I think I'd be hard pressed to see everything in it even with multiple play throughs and the story was a lot of fun. Vampire: The Masquerade has always been my go-to with WoD stuff, but this one really made me appreciate Werewolf a lot more.

5.) Persona 3: Reload I'd watched the anime for this one previously but never played the original. I really enjoyed 4 and 5 so figured I'd give it a go. I only know a little about the original version, but as far as I can tell, they did a lot of upgrading to it to make it feel more like Persona 5. Overall it was a solid story and interesting characters and I had fun with it for the most part though it did feel like it was dragging on by the end, at least in part because there's too much shit coming out that I want to play and don't have NEARLY enough time for most of it (as is apparent by my abysmally low finished game count this year). Don't have a whole lot else to say about this one. I liked some of the character scenes, but I think I preferred the overall stories for 4 and 5 more.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice definitely felt like they had 2 movies that they decided to smash into 1. Like, it wasn't even a matter of them not having quite enough story for either. Those were two potentially full length movies that could have each been solid in their own right and they just went 'fuck it' and squished them both into one 2 hour movie. X_x

Went to the theatre a couple times this weekend. Saw Trap which was pretty solid. It was an interesting movie overall and Josh Hartnett did a hell of an acting job in it. Movie was better than I was expecting overall. Also saw Borderlands. The reviews are pretty much nailing it. It was not a great movie. Not even sure I'd call it a good movie. Most of the casting choices felt odd, the movie thought it was way funnier than it actually was, and the story felt awkward. I don't even know much about Borderlands and I could tell they royally fucked with things for what seemed like no particularly good reason. Whoever wrote this also felt like they had a passing familiarity with most of the characters, at best. I recall there were some hiccups with production that involved whoever was writing it originally having their name dropped off the credits, and reshoots being done a couple years after it actually wrapped filming by a different director, so I'm guessing all of that is related. XD I went in with pretty low expectations, so it didn't disappoint per se, but it certainly didn't feel like it was even trying to do more than that either.

Just watched it earlier. What a fantastic movie. So many little details and fun cameos (both character and actor-wise). I really hope Disney/Marvel were taking notes with how big it seems like this movie is going to be considering it appears to be smashing more than a few records with no signs of stopping. It managed to reference a lot of active MCU concepts without getting bogged down by them, and that's something they seem to need to relearn based on some of their more recent films.

I backed a Kickstarter for a bunch of minis for the Stormlight Archive book series and also want to paint some of the ones from the board games I have, but haven't had the confidence to really dig in yet. I got a big batch of them primed, but haven't managed to pull the trigger on actually starting the painting. I'll eventually have watched enough YouTube tutorials that I'll finally get fed up and dive in. XD