Played a bit of Natsu-mon last night and shed an unexpected tear because of the music in the intro movie(@treefroggy if you ever play it you will know for sure)
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I think I know which part you were at when you wrote this.
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lady e. what a world class boss fight.
this game is a total hold three day bender of an experience.
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Absolutely. And yeah, Lady Ethereal is not just a high point for Nine Sols, but a high water mark for video game bosses, period.
The industry should take note of this little Taiwanese metroidvania.
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I love search action games but I’ve been avoiding nine sols because I don’t have another very hard game in me any time soon after the Elden Ring dlc
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this is close to how i felt about the game, though i think i liked it a bit more than you. i got to the moon. i too was disappointed that the game mechanics felt shallow, and while i liked the charm and atmosphere, i wasn’t really incentivized to fully explore the different character relationships. it felt too obtuse to do so when i didn’t have any curiosity about the characters.
there’s a type of contemporary dialogue style that i notice mostly in games but it’s prevalent in other media as well. characters will say things that are both non sequitur and abrupt, as if the surreality of the dialogue is meant to do the work of actual character development and emotional resonance. i’m not saying that approach to art can’t work, but i’ve yet to see it done well and before the green moon is another example of that.
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I absolutely feel you on this. It makes me think of another annoying dialog thing I’ve noticed, though it may not be as pernicious as this: characters using social media-tinged, selfcare-ish terms and cliches. I watched my partner play the intro of Cassette Beasts and when the tutorial character finished their big explanation they say something like “Sorry to infodump on you!!” and we rolled our eyes so hard we died.
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for some reason i can only really do the souls thing with cute animals?
i think it helps that this is specifically aping sekiro which is the only fromsoft game i’ve completed, of the several i’ve played.
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I like that. I’ll eventually get to it. I’m just going to wait until it’s on sale and I’ve put some distance between me and a Elden Ring.
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the new “official” version of doom is really good. you can finally play a good version of doom without having to go on github, or tell someone who hasn’t played doom to play it without making them open github, or play deathmatch with your friends without having to explain the differences between ZDaemon and Zandronum and Odamex. the integrated wad browser is super cool too, though it is immediately full of people submitting stuff they didn’t make. oh, well. you can play Absolute Life Transformation on an unmodded PS4 now - i think that’s worth it
everyone on the insert credit dot com forums specifically should play ALT imo
liz ryerson wrote about it here if you want someone else’s imo
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what’s that? Natsume Monsters?
It’s the new Boku No Natsuyasumi!
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It’s by spike chunsoft, interesting.
I wonder if that low camera angle was for cinematic effect or if you’re locked into that view to emphasize being a small child.
did they give the kid angry eyebrows only for the US version? 
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Been playing Dr. Robotnik’s Ring Racers and slowly getting better. I still have a lot of cups to do in single player, which on the one hand is good because I keep seeing new stuff but on the other hand, there are so many tracks to learn that it feels daunting. Every time I play online people are way better, sure, but I get the feeling they know how to take every turn and I simply don’t!
That being said, as someone who basically has only played Mario Kart, this game is something else. I really wish there were more online players! Check the manual and some videos to see if the game is for you - it’s not lying about being very technical.
https://www.kartkrew.org/
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How I play The Sims 4 in 2024:
- Make a single person
- Pick traits and aspirations focused on maxing out skills
- Buy serviceable 1 bedroom house
- Buy whatever home decor I need to work on skills and nothing else
- Have small circle of friends to hang out with, often while working on skills (e.g., “let’s play chess together!” or “hang out and chat while I program!”)
- Use career to accrue money or provide incentives for building skills
- Eventually foster an attraction and romantic relationship to one of the circle of friends
- In late adulthood, finally invite said person to move in and have a science baby
- Help baby grow into interesting person without forcing them to be skill hound if they go in different direction
- Let the consequent generational drift determine the next approach to gameplay
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I just finished my first run of Void Stranger. It’s okay.
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No Man’s Sky, again. I was a bit of a loss on what game I wanted to play next, could not make up my mind going through a pretty long list and the more I thought about what I felt like playing the more this fit. Something with a bit of exploration, bit of relaxing, bit of building and at a pace that I could handle, where I could jump in and out whenever I wanted. It feels like an MMO without being an MMO but it is one, kinda.
And WOW they changed it a lot since I last played it! It’s even more beautiful, has some amazing QoL changes that I really like, the worlds seem more alive than ever before and the worms are even bigger. Even though I have been through it once before plus a lot of the extras they added, I stopped playing just before the Expeditions update (damn children coming along and ruining stuff) so this is basically a new game for me, just with the same tutorial.
I’m sure I’ll play other games in 2024, for now I think I’ll be enjoying the universe in a spaceship. With a gun. If anyone does play, look me up. My username is quite imaginative…
Also Bluey The Video Game - which I’ll write more about in ICjr. As a parent it’s awesome, as a fan of Bluey it’s awesome and as a gamer it’s a good job I’m a parent and a fan of Bluey. It does have one thing that every parent needs to show their children though!
Edit: To put in the link to my/our review of the game.
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I’ve been playing Helldivers 2 with a couple of friends on sunday evenings for a while now and it really can be a lot of fun. And while some people like to say loudly that Arrowhead are “doing live service games right”, it doesn’t change my opinion on live services games much unfortunately. I feel like the need to keep such a game adequately and constantly monetized over a longer period of time ultimately leads to decisions that are in favor of the company making money and harming the players’ fun.
I don’t really see how one would unlock all those warbonds just with the premium currency that you can get in game. After about 30 hours of casual play once a week with friends I’m slowly closing in on getting enough currency to unlock the privilege to grind for items in that warbond. I can’t help but feel that that’s pretty unfun - even if I’d pay to get these warbonds unlocked earlier it’s quite grindy.
At that point I’d rather pay a subscription fee and get a progression that feels less like a job than have this weird model in which you can pay to grind more, faster. What’s generally pretty positive is that you can still have fun without those unlocks so for now we’ll keep playing it.
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