What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
May 2023
May 31st, 2023
My last post of May is not an exciting one. I found out Lawn Mowing Simulator is leaving Game Pass before June, and I wanted to play it again before it left. No one was stopping me, so I did just that. I was able to relax enough to go to bed before I'd even finished the stage, so I turned it off halfway through, but in a good way. I might pick this up after my current game clear goal, or even before that if I can't find another game this effective at shutting my brain off.
May 30th, 2023
I got really determined to clear the first part of Dragon Quest X Offline yesterday, so I sat down for a bit over two hours to play/study. By the end of it, I had achieved my goal, but felt so overwhelmed that not only was I burned out on studying Japanese for the day, I had also perhaps forgotten a good chunk of English. Of course that wasn't true, but it was a unique feeling.
I also played maybe six or so more levels in Sonic Colors Ultimate, which is aesthetically neat, but still striking me as a bit blah.
May 29th, 2023
Today is my one-year on Neocities post, but it doesn't feel very special. I'm more surprised I haven't failed or given up at this than anything. I played a lot of games yesterday, though, so at least it won't be a tiny post.
My biggest goal for the day was to continue plugging away at Dragon Quest X Offline. I did okay at it, playing for about 90 minutes and making it through a decent chunk of character text. I feel like I understand what's going on and am making good progress, even though I'm at ten-plus hours for the prologue alone. That is okay, though! Playing a game in Japanese is difficult, and it's okay if I am not going very quickly at it.
I started a couple of new games while I was just messing around with stuff, too, the first of which was Sonic Colors Ultimate. I don't really have many thought on this so far. It's basically fun to play and there are a few too many cutscenes, but it doesn't seem all that interesting so far. That's probably kind of a harsh thing to say, since I did enjoy what I got through and'll definitely keep playing. It felt a bit "just kind of there," though, which is fine.
I tried Lawn Mowing Simulator on Game Pass, too, which I think'll fit well as a game that helps me go to sleep. I do kind of hate that I can't change the color of the business logo, or at least that I couldn't figure out how to do it. It's nice and mindless, though, and'll help take away the sting of not being able to play Calm Colors when I get stuck on a text wall in Dragon Quest and have to leave my Switch in standby.
Last, and perhaps also least, I've been doing daily logins on Disney Tsum Tsum to get the free gacha tickets and nabbed the month's special tsum, Luke Skywalker with a tiny lil' R2D2, with yesterday's. I played a few rounds to try the character out and, since it has double skills and takes up two tsums on the playfield, it levels up at double speed and cranks up the number of coins you can score per game. It is fantastically game breaking, and I'm looking forward to destroying some score records when I'm more in the mood to play again.
That's it for today, but here's to another year on Neocities! It's really fun to have a website here, and such a nice, helpful community! I'm of course looking forward to working on this site, but also to seeing all of the beautiful sites that more ambitious coders are making, too. Let's have another good year!
May 28th, 2023
Yesterday, the only game I played was Dragon Quest X Offline, but I made pretty good progress in crawling through text boxes and think I'll get to do some more gameplay today.
Games and crafts are my only big remaining plans for the day, since I've already been out to run errands, picking up such exciting things as toilet paper and dish soap. I'm kind of sleepy, and my allergies are still really wearing me down, but I think it'll be a good day.
May 27th, 2023
No one came back to fix my air conditioning yesterday, making the fact that it is a holiday weekend now seem mildly regrettable. It'll be okay, but last night, I had to run out to the store and pick up a big fan to try to compensate. It worked pretty well, but I'm bad enough at sleeping that "there is a barely detectable difference in my environmental conditions" meant that I barely slept at all. Tonight should be fine, though.
Last night, I ended up just playing more Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal since it was too tiring a day to play anything more intense. It is a very collectible-laden game, which is an odd feel for a Sonic game. The main platforming levels are sprawling and slightly mazelike, with 6 blueprints and 5 crystal shards to find in each of them. I actually like running around to gather them. After a couple hours of play, I unlocked the ability to have them pop up on my lower screen map, making the game feel more like a "how do I get there?" puzzle than an endless hunt. There's a player character swapping mechanic that, combined with the map based exploration, makes it feel a bit like an RPG concept pasted on top of a 2D platformer, which I don't dislike at all.
It has a lot of seams showing, though, the biggest of which is that it appears you can't finish the game without finding every last one of those blueprints and crystal shards. For me, an adult lady sitting down at her desk with a nice cup of herbal tea to do some slow paced exploring, that's fine, but I don't know that it's the right vibe for a Sonic game. I'm having a nice time, but I can also see it as relatively infuriating.
There's also a third collectible stacked on top of that, figurines from a gacha machine, that you can get by earning tokens. These don't seem to be required for anything, but I think they push it over the edge into too-much territory. You can get them by getting good clear times or ring counts in levels, or by stopping in daily and playing the head-empty-button-mashing minigame with Knuckles pictured below. It's not bad in and of itself, but putting a daily gate on earning so many of the tokens makes the gacha figures feel like blatant, unnecessary padding, and I'm not so motivated to track them down.
There's two other level types I'd like to write about, too, but since I'm about to hit both of them in one play session, I'll save it. This relatively minor game has inspired many thoughts for me.
May 26th, 2023
I had some relatively detailed stuff I wanted to say about Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, but was up last night with bad dreams and am dealing with a broken air conditioner today, so I am sleepy. I'm still enjoying this game, and talking about it in more detail will be just as good another day. If I can make it through today, I'm almost to a three-day weekend!
May 25th, 2023
It's another short post today, half so I can leave a little early and pick up a fast food breakfast before work, and half because my allergies are so wild that I woke up this morning with my eyes totally swollen shut! I don't love it. I played Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal some more last night, though, and felt really relaxed trying to figure out how to get to all of the squirreled away items that popped up on the map. If I have the energy, I want to play more tonight, at least as of now.
May 24th, 2023
I was tired last night, so I just played some single player Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine at the top speed to get in some practice for beating the game. I didn't do very well, but I could relax well enough that it wasn't too hard to sleep afterwards. I'm still pretty tired today, though.
May 23rd, 2023
Today is a pretty simple post, since I decided it was more important to eat a morning peanut butter and jelly sandwich than it was to make a good post here. I was pretty sleepy last night, so my first effort to gain further ground in Dragon Quest X Offline ended in an unplanned 45 minute nap. After regrouping, I set a timer and played for 20 more minutes of text box action, leaving off in the middle of a cutscene.
A couple hours later, I played a bit of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night before bed, a game that I've watched more than I've actually played. It was late, so a lot of my playtime was spent scumming EXP before a boss. Someday, I shall perhaps actually fight that boss.
May 22nd, 2023
I'm only doing an after work post today because Neocities was down this morning. Today was fine, though. Work was a little relentless, but not bad, and I ate a nice ham sandwich for dinner. I've had a lot of days that are a lot worse.
I did play a lot of games yesterday, with Dragon Quest X Offline being the game to which I dedicated the biggest chunk of time. I wanted to get into the gameplay proper, so I set timers and waded through text 30 minutes at a time, taking notes the whole way, with an end goal of playing for two hours. It felt somewhat hopeless at first, but in the second half of my challenge, I hit some turn based battles! I know this sounds small, and I've taken a pathetically long time to get here, but for me, it feels like a real study victory! I'm quite happy.
Pikmin Bloom took me a fair amount of time in the morning, too, since I had to take a few walks around the block to finish my 30,000 steps for the week. I thought this morning about trying to walk harder during the week to take less pressure off of Sunday, but without that, I just would have sat on my butt all day. I'll keep going along the same path for this week's Pikmin goal, too.
Right before bed, I played Sonic Frontiers for a few minutes, too, but quit because I wasn't having all that much fun. By then, I was really dead tired, so it was more on me than it was the game.
I'm going to try to play a little more Dragon Quext X Offline, and probably something less studious, later on this evening. I'll hopefully be able to make my next update in the morning!
May 21st, 2023
Yesterday ended up being a day where a lot was going on! I got lunch with my mom, went to both Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart, and spent a lot of the night online with friends, including a voice chat that went to 3:30 in the morning. It was a really excellent day, pounding headaches in the afternoon aside, and I'd be lucky for today to be half as fun.
That being said, I didn't really play any games, aside from two or three puzzles in Calm Colors before I went to sleep.
Today is off to an okay start. I've already paid bills, and am actually planning to play games with some spirit and dedication today. I have a bit of walking to do to clear my weekly 30,000 step goal in Pikmin Bloom, and I want to get going with some PS4 games so that I can see some screenshots my friend is going to send over. (I had an unexpectedly nasty medical bill this pay period, so it will do me good to play some games in my backlog.) There's some interesting stuff I downloaded over on Game Pass that I might take a quick look at, too. My main goal, though, is to make some real progress in Dragon Quest X Offline, which I should be able to do.
I'd also like to crochet a couple dishcloths, but in terms of this blog, that's neither here nor there.
May 20th, 2023
Last night, I got out of work on time and could go home, as the parking garage I was in only got partially barricaded for an event. Instead of playing games much, though, I ate baked goods and freezer food while watching Buster Keaton movies with family, which was a very nice way to end a fairly relentless week.
I did play WarioWare Inc., Mega Microgame$ for about five minutes just to wind down before going to sleep and did better than I expected. I might give the stage I'm on another try today.
Today, I feel so worn down that I had a small panic over misplacing my breakfast donut, so I don't know how much I'll be able to do or accomplish. I'll see, though!
May 19th, 2023
I worked late again last night, and there's a non-zero chance my car gets trapped in city parking until after midnight tonight. Last night, I played Calm Colors and it did not work to calm me down. I finished the stupid, horrible gingerbread man image, though.
May 18th, 2023
Last night I had a little more overtime, and am still behind on my tasks, so I overslept today and ate cheese for breakfast. If I can manage to go home on time tonight, that'll be more of a victory than anything, but getting caught up would be even better.
Anyway, game-wise, I played Super Mario Bros. 2 for a little bit before bed. I've been playing this game in one form or another since I was 6 years old, but have never beaten it, so it would be cool to do that now. I used to like it better than the other Marios just because you could play as the princess, but as an adult, I find it immensely satisfying to chuck big turnips at my enemies. Anyway, I beat the first world last night, feeling like a far better gamer than I was in grade school. I don't know if I'll play again tonight, but if I do, I'll buzz through world 2.
May 17th, 2023
There's still no relief from feeling run down, with allergies in the mix now, too. I only had to work 15 minutes late last night, rather than two and a half hours, but it still felt hard to cheer up afterwards. Things are too messy to call off today without making things worse for myself later, too, so I'm up and posting here before I head out.
I felt too tired to stand up and play Wii last night, so I ended up giving myself five continues to try and beat Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. I failed, as I thought would happen, but also got further than I expected. It was fun. Kirby's Avalanche is still my preferred Puyo Puyo reskin, as I really don't like the robot designs in this game much, but I don't have that one on hand.
May 16th, 2023
I'm still feeling really run down after yesterday, sleepy with a headache, but hopefully I won't have to work any, or at least as much overtime today. It was hard to sleep last night, too, but if I just spend enough days dead tired, I catch up with sleep eventually.
I did play Tron Evolution: Battle Grids again for a few minutes before bed. This is a Wii minigame collection, and I don't think it's bad for that at all. I've only touched a few of the minigames so far, and the lightcycles especially feel kind of clunky and disorienting. Last night, when I lost everything I tried, though, I got unceremoniously dumped back to the hub world. I'm betting I was hitting the wrong button or something, my brain being as mushy as it was, but I'll see if I was missing anything there in my next play session.
May 15th, 2023
This morning I had to go into work early for training, and had been so worried about sleeping the night before that I was barely able to sleep at all. I then got stuck in overtime at the literal last minute of my shift, forcing me into an 11-hour shift on no sleep. I am now so sleepy that I feel somewhat dizzy and disoriented, not to mention that I bought Little Caesars pizza on purpose! There's some game stuff I really want to write about, though, so I'm going to do my best here!
I did another couple runs in Sword of Fargoal yesterday, highlighting what's either an oddity of the game or the C64 Mini. Every time I reset the game, it "randomizes" the same way, so that my first go of a dungeon in a session will always have a character with 12 HP, 8 battle strength, and 1 healing potion. I should investigate if it keeps the second run the same each time, too, but for the fun of actually playing it, I ended up making a save state after losing my first run, to keep it rolling new characters to try.
I just genuinely struggled to open a Hi-Chew, so I'll keep tonight's writing about the other game I played, Tron Evolution: Battle Grids brief. I like Tron and the Wii motion controls in this don't feel too bad yet. I'll be more in depth about this after I get some sleep.
Good night, Neocities friends! Rest is important, and I hope you are all getting plenty of it.
May 14th, 2023
Yesterday was pretty busy, but, perhaps exacerbating that, I played Pikmin Bloom for hours, clearing May's Community Day! The only goal was to walk 10,000 steps, which I cleared by traversing strip malls and walking laps around my apartment complex. Since I was already out walking, though, I used the opportunity to clear a lot of the Sneaker Pikmin missions, too, making me feel like an ultra successful casual gamer.
In clearing my 10,000 steps yesterday, I also scored my 30,000 for the week, which I was slightly more excited about. I hadn't been able to pull that off since the weekly steps goal increased, but I feel like I can do it again next week, too.
I did play Pokemon GO a little, too, but it feels less goal oriented to me than Pikmin Bloom does, meaning I have less to say about it. It might be that I'm still just getting back into the game and figuring out what I need to be chasing down, but I definitely find it more cluttered and micro-transaction happy. My Woobat is super cute, though, which is worth a lot. The AR photo below is in the space right above my computer desk.
May 13th, 2023
Tomorrow, I'm probably going to do a pretty big post, since I'm trying to clear a Community Day event in Pikmin Bloom and think I have a shot at making the 10,000 step goal. I'm at 3,500 steps at 2:00pm, so I think I'm on an okay track.
Last night, though, I got it in my head that I needed to play something old, and ended up getting out my C64 Mini and playing Sword of Fargoal. This wasn't a game that I'd played before, and it seems to be a pretty basic, slow-paced roguelike. The random stats for the player character were already interesting after just a few rounds, though. I rolled 3HP for one run, which was atrocious, but I could also one hit kill most of the enemies I came across, until I was painfully slaughtered by goblins. In my attempts last night, I couldn't make it past the first floor, but it's a C64 RPG, so it's hard to be upset that it's pretty difficult. I want to play at least one more run today. Maybe I'll even get a non-terrible screenshot this time!
May 12th, 2023
This morning, I am having some minor, and eventually solvable, tech frustrations, so this is a no screenshots day. I did play Pokemon GO and Pikmin Bloom a bit yesterday, but not enough to really talk about. The main thing I played was the reboot of SSX, which was available through Game Pass. I don't know that an SSX game needs a story about how snowboarders are risking life and limb for their streaming careers, but things were different in 2012. It's pretty fun, if not a bit weird in how it balances "realistic" slopes and a ridiculous story, so I'll come back to this for sure. Again, I'm definitely using Game Pass to stay on the cutting edge of gaming.
May 11th, 2023
My only vibe this morning is morning sleepiness, so this won't be a fabulous post. I tried some of the battling stuff in Pokemon GO yesterday, only remembering how it actually worked at the last minute. I feel like if you don't play a mobile game for over three years, it should ask if you remember what you're doing. I did win, though, and wished I could get the Team Rocket rep's hair color for my own trainer.
I kept on with the event in Pikmin Bloom, too, but don't think I'll get far today. I'll keep my steps up, but need to plan ahead to plant 500 roses, since my petal supply is limited. I might try it on Saturday, when I have more bandwidth to mess around.
Tonight, I want to play a non-mobile game. Hopefully, it's an achievable goal.
May 10th, 2023
Yesterday, I spent my after work time making a pot of cabbage and bean soup while watching a movie, so this post is pretty similar to yesterday's. I couldn't really get connected to Pokemon GO during lunch yesterday, so most of my game time was at night. Most of that was spent messing with the character creator, which was somewhat fruitful. I feel like I should dig through my screenshots to pull up every version I've done of the same base characters sometimes, but that aside, I enjoyed my time harshly judging hair colors.
In Pikmin Bloom, I kept trucking along with the Sneaker Pikmin event. I think I'm about to hit a small road block, but also don't care all that much. I'll be happiest if I can hit the game's 30,000 step goal for the week. So far, I'm a little off track, but I might be able to make it up today.
May 9th, 2023
It's been less than 12 hours since my last post, but that's how it goes sometimes.
A combination of a new, in game event and being at my work office yesterday meant that I picked Pikmin Bloom up quite a few times. My office is downtown, so there's a lot of good spots to play Niantic games, and it's easy to idly score items just by taking a quick walk around the block. The sneaker Pikmin for the event are cute, too, so I'm somewhat motivated to make progress here.
Speaking of Niantic games, while I was working, one of my coworkers also mentioned that she'd been playing Pokemon GO in our chat, and I got really itchy to play again. I downloaded it and got everything back up and running over a break and my lunch, but since it's been a few years since I logged in, I'm slightly baffled by all the stuff going on in it. That's fine, though. I'll figure it out.
May 8th, 2023
Today was super busy, but it's still May 8th in my time zone, so I haven't missed this post yet! I had to go into the office for work due to internet problems, but it turned out being okay. I'd like to go in every day, to keep work out of my apartment and help with my general nervousness. Plus, I'd get my desk back to myself! I put in the request for that, and think it'll be okay. After work, my mom invited me over for a salmon and spinach dinner, which was amazing, and then I went to Wal-Mart to buy groceries, including the normal grocery of a 10 dollar set of all the Final Destination movies.
In short, even though I thought today would be awful, it was pretty great.
Yesterday, my internet got taken totally offline due to some storms, so I played a bit more stuff than usual. I think I spent the most time on Dragon Quest X Offline, and finally have the items I need to get out of the village in my next couple play sessions. I feel super smart and very studious.
From there, I watched some anime, and since my blu-ray player is my PS4, I ended up turning on Kandagawa Jet Girls, a game so easy that, despite forgetting the controls and briefly going backwards my first race back, I came in a breezy first. This is perhaps the first game to have ever seemed too easy to me, but I might make some more headway on it while it's fresh in my mind.
I wanted to go to bed from there, but ended up playing Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal dead tired due to some apartment noise and got lost in a level that even half asleep seemed too straightforward to be lost in. It was still fun, though.
Tomorrow's post will be pretty mobile game heavy. Either dread or look forward to it, depending on your personal preferences!
May 7th, 2023
I feel a lot better today than yesterday, with yesterday's grocery shopping having taken a wild amount of time and effort. The coleslaw that I make a lot has ramen noodles in it for crunch, and the flavor packet as part of the dressing, so I wanted to find a vegetarian ramen for one of the people who would be eating it. It's suddenly become very rare, though! I found the soy sauce flavor Maruchan at the fifth store I stopped at, but most places had cut back to chicken and beef only. Those flavors are fine, but once I finally found a better variety in the 33 cent brand, I stocked up on the chili and creamy chicken ramen packets, for my own fine dinners. It was quite a surprising problem to come across!
Anyway, game-wise, I wasn't very out of the ordinary yesterday. The main thing I played was Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, which I've discovered is going to make me find all of the collectibles hidden around the stages in order to let me access the last area. Right now, I'm still finding this pretty pleasant, so I don't know how irritating that'll be yet. As you find one type of the collectibles, though, some blueprints, it unlocks map markers to make finding stuff a bit easier. My guess is that this is going to be more time consuming than egregious.
I also did some NPC chatting in Dragon Quest X Offline, a task made challenging by the fact that I was playing after midnight and after a good chunk of time spent petting cats, to which I am allergic. (It was worth it and I'll do it again.) I also found an NPC that went on and on, both about the relative peace outside the village, the monsters outside it, and some controls. It was decent world building, and I'm glad I know how to run now, but he was the only character I talked to. Still, progress is progress and practice is practice!
Today, I'm hoping for a relaxing Sunday, and not a lot seems to be standing in the way.
May 6th, 2023
It's Saturday, but I'm feeling mega stressed this morning for no reason at all. Nothing is going on, and in fact, today will be fun, but this is how it goes sometimes.
I felt pretty wobble-brained last night, too, so I played Calm Colors on Switch to get myself better chilled out. It worked enough that I got to sleep, and I cleared a few of the easy and medium images. It was a nice game to turn on again.
My biggest game for yesterday, though, was Sonic at the Olympic Games, which I played through my work breaks and for quite a while at night. I got a little stuck on a hurdles level and shut it off for the night, but since it was well after midnight by then, it's probably better to think of that as "knowing when to quit" than "surrender."
I'm going to go get groceries to make some side dishes for a cookout tonight- coleslaw and beans & (vegan) weenies from me, and then I am going to make efforts to chill!
May 5th, 2023
My job is fairly relentless on Fridays, so I am writing this with apprehension towards the day ahead. If I anticipate the worst, though, it'll probably be better than I expect, so I have that going for me.
Last night, I played a few more levels of Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal and did find it pretty enjoyable. The race and tunnel levels had a better "Sonic feel" than the normal platforming and exploring levels, which was fun, but I don't feel like the normal levels are bad, either. I'll backtrack and see if I can pick up all the junk in them when I have all the characters. Knuckles should be the last one left to get, since I unlocked Sticks the Badger, who looks like a cat, last night. This game isn't an all time great so far, but it's interesting.
May 4th, 2023
It's a quick post today, due to some personal failures with organization and remembering I put bread in my toaster! Yesterday, my only game was Dragon Quest X Offline, where I just talked to NPCs as fodder for Japanese grammar and vocab notes. It was heartstopping excitement. I might get out of the first village soon, though.
May 3rd, 2023
Today is a glorious Wednesday off work! I made some cinnamon toast for breakfast, will go get a cinnamon coffee when I'm done posting here, and think I'm going to walk to the strip mall theater near me to see the Dungeons and Dragons movie this afternoon. It's not very productive, but I'm looking forward to my day.
After work last night, I considered the Sonic games I had stashed carefully and decided to give Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal a shot, just out of curiosity. I only played the first level so far, but had the impression that the levels feel super long and sprawling, with maybe a more deliberate pace than I expected. That's not really a bad thing, and I'll probably have a stronger opinion on it as I go. I know that's anticlimactic, but I only played for 20 minutes. I'll give it another shot today.
May 2nd, 2023
Yesterday was wild and unpleasant, with today's schedule set up to be slightly worse. I at least won't get the fun of my ISP going out throughout the entire Midwest today, but it is still enough that I am grateful to have tomorrow set up as a break day. I just need to make it through today first, but using an office day as an excuse for takeout lunch with friends 100% helps.
Part of my current gaming goal is to play through the pile of Sonic the Hedgehog games I've amassed and shall likely continue to gather, which should be really fun. I want to frontload each month with one, then keep playing the longer ones in the background. I'll pick one that I've got on my list to get started with tonight, if my overtime isn't too bad.
Yesterday, though, I went through three more levels in Sonic at the Olympic Games, which is more interesting than good. I did okay on the two trap shooting stages I hit, once I figured the controls back out, but then was completely baffled by diving. I got a bronze medal without really knowing what I was doing, which let me move forward, and called it a night.
May 1st, 2023
I'm kicking May off with a pretty inconsequential post. I finished the scratch card event in Disney Tsum Tsum yesterday, which gave me a fleeting sense of satisfaction.
I also picked Sonic at the Olympic Games back up after going to a late movie, and got to enjoy my favorite Olympic sport themed mini-game, lockpicking. As I reflected on the game's premise, the thought came into my head that maybe Sonic and his friends could partake in the 2020 Olympics proper because they are all immune to COVID, leaving the talking animals to do sports for the amusement of the humans trapped in isolation. It's altogether possible that nothing here is that deep.
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