Granblue Fantasy

Pokemon is so strange. I enjoyed ZA. It's a fun game, I found the Pokemon and characters charming, and I appreciate that they mixed up the combat. But this is the biggest IP in the world, so why does every game they put out feel half-baked? 3/5 It's a fun 20-30 hours if you like Pokemon.

I find it really interesting that I grew up with a ton of "magical school" and "battle academy" media, and now I've read three new(ish) "magical university" novels in two months. I assume it's because a bunch of readers of similar media grew up and relate to college more now. And like, same.

Finished The Will of the Many. Islington's debut, the Licanius Trilogy, was excellently plotted, but suffered from only having 2 chars I cared about. This 1st person PoV actually made that a strength, the side characters are stronger, and the plot is still great. Ending hooked me for the sequel. 4/5

Just finished 'Of Blood and Fire'. All the reviews said it felt like Eragon, and they were absolutely right, to the point where it almost felt *too* similar. It had some rough edges, as expected for an indie debut, but was still enjoyable overall since I love dragons. 3/5, I may read the 2nd.

I still have 5 days until I get my Switch 2 and Pokemon ZA. Maybe I'll finally beat Octopath Traveler 2 while I wait?

Just beat Ghost of Yotei. Pretty fun game! The environments were gorgeous, the story was nice, and the tropes were on point. I loved how well it nailed the vibe, and I think it improved on Tsushima's gameplay and open world. 4/5

Finished Babel and I'm a little torn. I liked each aspect of it (characters, themes, message, etc), but something just felt a little detached? It had strong scenes, but sometimes it felt more like a well-cited essay on colonialism: worth reading, but hard to feel immersed by. 3/5? Maybe 4?

I don't generally like this type of open-world style game, but Ghost of Yotei is so full of samurai tropes that I'm actually loving it.

Furi is such a good game. Banger music, immaculate vibes, stellar combat, and you can knock it out in an afternoon. 5/5

Oh shoot, Ghost of Yotei came out today? And the Steam fall sale is going on? The new DOOM is $20 off? Uh, I'm not actually sure what to play next. I still want to replay Furi and finally finish Octopath II too.

The more swords I hang on the wall, the more it feels like home.

Hit credits in Hades 2 this morning. I felt like the ending didn't land quite as well, but overall, it was even more fun to play than the first game. 5/5 Great game.

The Dissolution of Time is ready. Death to Chronos.

Finally beat the upper route's final boss! "Heal 2 per hit when below 40" saved me so hard. Thank you Ares.

What do you *mean* the cloak has guided missiles!?!?

Was stuck without my phone for almost 8 hours, so I read Hellbent in one sitting. It's been about a year since I read the first book, but I think I liked this one more. Maybe it was just the magic being more immediate, or the pacing, or Alex having a goal from page 1? Either way, it worked. 4/5

Around 8 hours into Hades and got my first Chronos kill! Very fun game. Definitely feels like it'll be fighting E33 for GOTY for me.

We in it \o/

These just arrived! I'll probably never play the actual tabletop game, but having them as a Stormlight lorebook/artbook is super sick.

Beat Nioh 2 just in time, fun game. I think the combat and story are both better than Nioh 1, but the mission structure, and the fact that the story takes place over 50+ years, makes it feel disjointed and hard to get invested in. I bounced off it back when it came out, but I'm glad I came back. 3/5

~10% into Babel, by RF Kuang, and I'm realizing... is Robin not only an immigrant in 1800s England, but a gay immigrant in 1800s England? I'm so worried for this poor boy.

Just got the first ending in Silksong. I considered getting the "true" end, but then I looked up what Act III entails and it's... a lot. So I'll end it here for now. I really enjoyed Mt Fay and the bosses (esp clockwork dancers), but the game was overall more frustrating than HK. 3 or 4/5? Idk

Trying to put together an mtg cube for the first time and I got to the point where I just need to cut 70 cards to be done. Anyway, after cutting about 51 cards, I'm happy to report I only need to cut about 87 more.

Yo wait, release date for Hades 2? I wasn't expecting it so soon, that's great

New Fire Emblem? Nice

Okay, the runback for Last Judge is straight up not okay. Who approved this? Lol

I appreciate that Silksong is a little more linear than HK, I'm getting lost less often, but it's definitely harder. Why do so many things do 2 dmg? lmao

You can sprint!? Could you sprint in Hollow Knight too!? Was I a fool that while time!?

Now to start Silksong.

Beat 1000xResist yesterday. Very good story; highly recommend it if you're okay with visual novels. Plus, it's only ~10hrs long. I give 4/5.

A little over halfway through 1000 x Resist and really liking it. Very interesting concept with some heartfelt execution connecting the sci-fi premise to the parents' story of living through the HK protests.

And there's the Abyss ending! Tough, but satisfying final boss. Hollow Knight is a bit too sprawling for my tastes, I hate backtracking and scouring the map, but I enjoyed it overall. I'd still recommend it to anyone who can put up with it being occasionally frustrating. 4/5?

The [redacted]? A chump. The [redacted]? Oh boy, this is going to take a while.

After dying like 10 times in the White Palace, I finally realized I could just use the hiveblood charm. Sometimes, I forget there are more charms than Mark of Pride and Quick Nail.

Man, I played Furi back in 2016, and i remember really enjoying it, but it's been like 9 years. Maybe that justifies a replay...

My biggest issue with Hollow Knight is how I start not knowing about something, so I look it up, only to learn it's on the other side of the map, and then halfway there I learn the path I was taking is blocked and I have to run back and go a different way and now it's been half an hour.

After getting bodied by Sentinel Hornet for 2 hours I finally accepted that 5 masks and 4 charm notches might not have been enough. Apparently I missed like 90% of the available upgrades lmao.

I guess I'm playing Hollow Knight next. Now, do I start a new file, or try to continue where I got lost...

P5R. I enjoyed my time with it, especially the characters and confidants. If it were 30hrs it'd be fantastic, but it drags so long that some characters feel flanderized by the end. Why is everyone, especially the writers, so mean to Ryuuji? By my scoring system, I think that's a 3/5. Glad I played.

Almost 90 hours, but we made it to the credits \o/

We're deep into Royal now bois!

So Silksong comes out in 2 weeks? Maybe i should finally finish Hollow Knight... I tried like 2 years ago, but stopped when I got hopelessly lost after the mantis lords

7th Palace down! And I've hit max confidant rank on everyone that isn't story locked, so that's nice.

Otakon was a lot of fun this year. Spent way too much on merch and art though, lol. I don't even know where im going to hang like half these prints.

6th Palace done! That was pretty neat! I enjoyed the way it resolved the "in medias res" teaser from the start. The set-up was well-forshadowed, though i was a bit surprised at how the "betrayal" bit was played so straightforwardly.

Tfw you die 20 minutes into a bossfight... We got him on the runback though; 5th Palace cleared! I think I'd rate the Palaces 4 > 1 > 2 > 3 > 5 so far?

>A 12-year-old gives Joker tips on how to play an arcade shooter >Sae: "WheRE DiD yOU LEaRn to HAndLE a GUn!? wHO tAUgHt YOu!?"

Just finished 'In the Shadow of Lightning'. I actually enjoyed the book a lot, but it felt closer to a clunky debut novel than McClellan's previous series. The romance was a bit too stiff and convenient, places were too close together, and events just kinda happened. The glass magic was fun tho. 4/5

Last week I read The Hexologists. I enjoyed Bancroft's debut 'Senlin Ascends' back when it first came out, but while I liked this book's main couple, the world's remnants of whimsy, and the final act, it just didn't land as well as I wanted it to. Still, a solid fantasy-punk-adjacent mystery. 3/5