It’s been a good while since I braved Tartarus and the other circles of Hades. I still haven’t been able to get past the third boss battle, but the ever changing dungeons make it all the more entertaining. As a silver lining I did get a couple achievements/trophies tonight; one for getting a higher kill count than the hotness that is Thanatos, and calling for an Olympian aid in my time of need. I did two runs, both lasting around half an hour each. Had to stop after awhile to give my hand a break, lots of button work on a controller… One of these days I need to finish it, especially since the sequel is juuuust around the corner.
Indie
Ascension and Awakening
I was greeted to the sound of rain pitter pattering down when waking up today, and finding that the rain also helped me sleep in even further… Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the green tea I drank while listening to the raindrops and contemplating how to spend this rainy day, but I ended up not only settling on Aragami, but I finally beat it!
It felt satisfying to finally finish it after all this time, and now I can look forward to a bit of replay value! There are still multiple achievements for me to claim, but those can wait another day. I’m on vacation, and I crave more adventure! I’ll save the achievement hunting for another night where I only have time to mess around with it.
Since I enjoyed the first one so much – I figured I would spoil myself a bit and pick up the sequel/final installment in the series. It tells the tale of a completely different Aragami, who frees himself and discovers an entire community of fellow Aragami. I’ve only made it through the tutorial, but it does change quite a bit from the previous game. The game mechanics are a little more athletic, you can sword fight with enemies, whereas the original relied entirely on stealth. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how this one compares with the original.
Obtaining Clarity & Achievements
Had a relaxing session of Ori and the Blind forest on the couch this afternoon, made it to 63% completion! I cleared the fog from the misty woods and earned several achievements. There was some backtracking and map following for finding energy, ability and health cells. All the while sipping on cherry blossom green tea and snacking on a bit of Orange Mochi.
Of course, while lounging on the couch, my desktop was hard at work exporting the SFM project I worked on yesterday. I’ve been mentally going over how to animate the next scene, it’s a bit different from what I usually work on, but I have some ideas… either way it’ll be crazy.
I’ve Ascended (Finally Beat Toren!)
Four months into 2024 and I’ve finally completed another game in what feels like an ever growing collection of entertainment. After all these years I finally defeated the Dragon, conquered the overall clunkiness and ascended Toren with only one achievement to go back for on another day. It’s only a couple hours long, but if you’re thinking of getting it I recommend waiting for a sale. While the visuals are stunning, and the music is immersive as well as breathtaking, the controls were off putting enough for me to take long breaks until finally willing myself to sit down and finish it. I put up a short review on Steam for it if anyone wants to see another opinion cast into the ocean of mixed reviews.
If you do end up buying it I’d recommend it more as a Linux game than a Windows one. If you play under Windows the game has a nasty habit of not closing out the executable properly, but if you play it on Linux or Steam Deck it functions normally. A good reason to be dual-booting! 🙂 (Now if Linux could support my Sound Card properly that would be greaaaaaaat)
So far both games I’ve finished this year have been Indie games. I wonder what the third game I’ll finish this year will be… There’s a good chance it could be another indie game, but who knows? Maybe a triple-AAA game will slip in there somewhere.
Only time will tell.
Meditation & Hats
Decided to do some zenning on the couch tonight with some tea and good scenery. Covered a lot of ground, leveled my character and found more things than I could detail.
I journeyed between The Village and Fields mostly. Found some Spirit Mail to deliver, which helped purify and open more areas. To be honest it was hard for me to put the game down tonight because I couldn’t stop finding things. Kept finding hats, rots, even a couple of meditation spots and several chests. Even with the battles it was still very therapeutic gameplay. Enough that I can give it a rest, as well as myself.
Lovely Night
Tonight was a Race The Sun kind of night. I wanted to touch the clouds, but alas I was off by a few jumps. Also checked out Labyrinth Mode a bit, but mostly practiced Apocalypse Mode, then I finished it off by playing endless sunrise.. Fun Fact: If you park yourself in a sweet spot during flight you’ll go several levels without hitting a fucking thing. I literally put the controller down and the terrain refused to murder me. I’ll celebrate tomorrow night by playing something with a bit more story to it.
Fly Like An Eagle
For being a game about trying to go as long as you can without crashing into something it sure holds some surprises. I discovered this card world through one of the world portals.
Other than that I got a couple of achievements, and even made it to the highest level, which apparently is a rare achievement in itself… I’m guessing people got bored of the game after awhile. Eh, there’s just something about it that I like.
Since I made it to Level 25 the game rewarded me with a new level that can actually be finished! Whether or not I make it though is a story for another time. Of course, the game itself is far from over. I only have under half of the achievements, there will be more future visits.
You Can Almost Taste The Cherry Blossoms
There wasn’t much April Foolin’ for me to do today. It’s still my weekend, did a little more reorganizing and then spent some time on the couch enjoying some Aragami – seems like a perfect game to kick the month off with. Finished Chapter 10, only three more chapters remain before I can declare this one finished. Then I’ll return to it whenever I feel like plinking away at Achievements. I tried to start this off as a pacifist, but ended up getting bloodthirsty on a few levels. There are also some scrolls I missed earlier on, so this will definitely have some replay value for me.
This Game Is On Fire
It was another productive day. Got off work and continued spring cleaning the desk area, and then rewarded myself with a bit of Kena while enjoying the scent of cherry blossoms and sipping blueberry green tea on a comfortable spring evening. I only played for about an hour, but I covered quite a bit of ground. Found a few more Rot, cleansed a couple areas and explored new found territory with even more to uncover on a future session.
I was going to do some animating tonight, but after spending most of the day on my feet between work and tidying I opted to futz about instead. It’s my weekend now after all, and anything is possible… except finishing a game in March. Oh well, at least I had plenty of adventures along the way with plenty more on the horizon!
Keeping Spirits Up
Tonight’s Kena session was more therapeutic than I expected it to be. I only did the trials, but after beating up and shooting enough demons I got a cool outfit out of it! So far I’ve only cleared one out of the three requirements for the trial: no healing. Now I just need to finish the trial in under two minutes and clear it with zero damage. I came close on the latter, but failed towards the end when a demon biffed me into the ground.
The evening was better enhanced with proper mood lighting, and a new green cherry blossom tea! For being all natural it has a lovely sweetness. It’s very clean tasting, and a good mix of matcha and loose leaf. When I pour the tea it’s so green that it can even be seen in a black mug. I might have to use it as a base for milk tea some time! I also ordered a black cherry blossom to try on a day when I need the additional caffeine.
Hopefully this all clears my head. Every other night I keep having dreams about being late for work. I really need to get away for awhile.