What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
January 2024
January 31st, 2024
This is my last post of January, and I cleared three games last month- Time Gal, About An Elf, and Planetarian- which was fine! None of them were very long, and that's fine, too. Next month, I am going to try to clear four.
Last night, though, I didn't really get to feeling better after posting, so I played Panzer Dragoon Mini for about 10 minutes and got so bored I abandoned games entirely. Instead, I got a good amount of crafts done.
January 30th, 2024
This is a super late post, but I'm feeling super down today. I got home from work and didn't even have enough energy to eat for a couple hours, which hasn't happened for a while, but at 9 or so I got enough pep to microwave some Bibigo dumplings and eat something. I'm still kind of blah, but posting here has already started to give me a little more energy.
Yesterday, I was having a weird game day. One of my work friends lent me a copy of Panzer Dragoon today, which I knew was happening in advance, so I thought it would be funny to play Panzer Dragoon Mini, the Game Gear entry in the series, as "preparation." I still think that, in concept, it's a little funny, but it's such a boring little game! I got through two levels and felt somewhat crushed that I was only a third of the way through. Usually I can find something to like in most games, and I do think the digitized sprites in this are charming, but it was not very fun. Anyway, I'll almost definitely play it again out of misguided determination.
The other game I played yesterday, Elevator Hitch, was more engaging. I've gotten a bad computer-usability issue sorted, so I went to itch.io and downloaded a few visual novels to play through. This one is about guys on an elevator that's not taking them anywhere good, and I got them horribly killed a few times last night. The little word doc I'm keeping says I got four endings, and if I can't get up enough enthusiasm to do anything else tonight, I'll probably try for at least one more ending in this.
I am done posting, and am going to try to cheer up enough to sit on the floor buried in cute fleece blankets to try playing real Panzer Dragoon. If I can't, though, that will be ok!
January 29th, 2024
I did more crafts than anything yesterday, but did play a bit of video games before bed. My main goal was to clear the next set of missions in the Fashion Dreamer event, which I was able to do pretty easily. It netted me a new photo frame, and I think this event will have two more of them.
Right before going to sleep, I also used Nintendo Switch Online to play a little Game Boy Tetris. I hadn't played Tetris for an extremely long time, so I was pretty happy with topping out at about 95 lines.
January 28th, 2024
I half-attentively played a lot of games yesterday, so I actually get to do a good post now.
The most interesting thing, for me, at least, was Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1: Amuro Namie. I recently found a super cheap JP Sega Saturn, but didn't want to write about it in case it didn't work! Yesterday, I got a few games I'd ordered for it off of eBay, though, and was able to play a bit.
When I was first getting into stuff from Japan, way back in junior high, Amuro Namie was one of the first J-pop artists I really got fixated on, and I had an online ordered CD of Break the Rules that I played so often I wore out the clear plastic slipcover it was over-packaged in. Then, when I was living in Japan, she was doing her retirement tour, which resparked my interest. I got her 3-disc greatest hits album at 7-11 with a little tote bag and a clear file, and ran around used shops grabbing her entire back catalog dirt cheap. It was fun, and I've certainly gotten 300 yen worth of plays out of my copy of Concentration 20.
Because of all that nonsense, I'd wanted to play her Saturn game for a long time, so it was the first thing I ordered when I scored the console. It's barely a game, but I wasn't disappointed at all. There's a karaoke mode, a mode to dress her up and watch her slightly off-putting CG model dance- both limited to two songs- and some minigames named for bad puns based on her song titles. It's aesthetically excellent, though- weird fonts, flashing lights, bright candy colors, and way too much stuff moving on screen at once. It looks like a Lisa Frank designed motion capture demo and it makes me extremely happy. It will 100% pop up here again, as a bonkers way to play memory match feels like a top level "I can't get to sleep!" game.
At night, I was both extremely tired and totally unable to sleep, so my Switch got some playtime. I went through quite a few levels of Kirby's Adventure and kind of arbitrarily stopped. I think I'm pretty close to the end.
I got back to the current event in Fashion Dreamer, too, and crossed its halfway point. The Lunar New Year photo frame I unlocked is really nice, but I was too lazy to make my character a good new outfit for it! It's not going anywhere now that I have it, though, so that's not so bad.
From there, Love Colors is what finally got me ready to sleep. I am thankful for very boring games.
January 27th, 2024
I just played Love Colors again last night. It's not very exciting! In lieu of games, though, I did feel pretty good about my Japanese language study time. Right now, I'm very slowly plodding through a kids' novel, but I'm really happy that I don't have to look a ton of stuff up. Small progress is still good progress!
January 26th, 2024
My sleepiness had not subsided yesterday, and I had an early doctor's appointment this morning, so last night, I just played a few more rounds of Love Colors. I'm not tackling it in a very organized fashion, but there's not enough to it to worry about that.
January 25th, 2024
Yesterday, I was so tired it was difficult to function. I dozed off at a work happy hour, while drinking a diet coke, no less, and came home to stay up too late staring slack jawed at Youtube. When it came to actual bedtime, though, I couldn't sleep, so I went through my no-effort-to-play Switch games and found Love Colors, a game that I'd gotten in a "relaxing games" bundle a while back. It's basically a pixel by pixel color by number, like the "cross stitching" apps on phones, but it was pleasant and satisfying, and it helped me relax enough to get to sleep. It was what I needed.
January 24th, 2024
Last night, I was so tired that I voluntairly only played two levels of Peggle. Since I'm taking a way earlier start today than usual, today won't likely be better.
January 23rd, 2024
I met my goal and was able to get out of bed, get my office lunch ready, and post before work! I only played Pikuniku last night, though, so it won't be the longest post. I made it a bit further in the story and did a platforming challenge sidequest in a labyrinth of vengeful toast, which was a lot of fun. Aside from that, though, I didn't expect to be as curious about where the story is going as I am when I downloaded this! I'm looking forward to playing more.
January 22nd, 2024
Late last week, I got some new medicine to help with some problems I'd been having, which I am very grateful for. I feel alert for the first time in ages, which I took advantage of by reading, like, 500 pages of violent manga last night. However, everything I am taking is also making me massively sleepy, and the combo is leading to a voice in my head howling that I need to be asleep. Because of that, my posts might not be great for a few days.
Last night, though, I started Pikuniku on GamePass out of curiosity. It was strange and brightly colored, so I enjoyed it. Between this and Turnip Boy, I wonder if Microsoft is going to start specifically recommending cute critiques of capitalism.
I played a few more levels of Kirby's Adventure, too. It's still fun.
Before bed, I'll at least play Kirby's Adventure for a few minutes. Hopefully, I'll post before work instead of after tomorrow.
January 21st, 2024
Even though I was very tired yesterday, it ended up being busier than I expected! I did some real bowling, which meant I didn't have to play a workout game, and was just generally out and about.
Before I get into game stuff, though, I want to post about the book of the month over at Bookbug, a Neocities book club. This month's book was Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata, which I buzzed through pretty quickly. It's been a couple weeks since I finished it, but I wanted to think about it a bit before posting on it. Structurally, it felt kind of short story-ish to me, with a limit on subplots and a pretty foregrounded focus on self-acceptance versus the acceptance of society, which isn't a complaint at all.
A lot of my impressions of the book, though, came from the fact that I got a Thriftbooks copy loaded with notes from someone who judged the characters very harshly. Seeing a critique of the heroine's lack of emotion in sunny bright blue letters in the margins was kind of like having a Greek chorus with very cute handwriting standing in for the society she couldn't fit into. It was an interesting reading experience, and I think it highlighted the protagonist's bafflement at what people wanted from her. Of course, that means I'm judging the book on more than itself, but since I'm not being graded on this, I'm not going to worry too deeply about that.
Overall, I did think it was an interesting character study, and one that left me curious to read more of Sayaka Murata's work. It was cool that the heroine was outside of societal norms without inviting pity, and I felt like, at least in translation, the quick, unadorned style provided a very readable reflection of her inner voice. Reading this made me glad I jumped on the Bookbug bandwagon.
In terms of games, I didn't play a ton yesterday. On my XBox, I started Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, which I'd been looking forward to quite a bit. I'm not sure how I feel about the rougelike structure yet, but I was able to grind out enough upgrades to beat the first boss and get a bit more into the story. Also, I got to do graffiti with a big crayon, and that was good stuff.
After that, I did not want to play Fashion Dreamer, so I dug through the Nintendo Switch Online apps and ended up turning on Kirby's Adventure. This is a replay for me, and since I came to the NES really late, in the 00s, I think it might be the only game I've ever beaten on real NES hardware. It's really cute and pleasant to play, though, and the graphics are so bright for the console! Since it's a late release, it's not so strange that it's impressive, but I still love the look of it. I'll probably run through this pretty quickly.
This was a longer post than I expected to make, and today will be a little busy again. I'm sure I'll play something, though, and'll be back tomorrow either way.
January 20th, 2024
Yesterday, I spilled a drink on my work computer, destroying it not ten minutes after I'd logged on for the day. It wasn't my best moment, but I got a new one within a few hours.
In that waiting period, though, I finished Time Gal! The last chunk of the game really spiked the difficulty, with some button presses needing done the split second they appeared on screen, making memorization a necessity. The final boss was really underwhelming, too! After fighting several dinosaurs, a cyberpunk bike gang, and a couple wars, a guy in a chair just didn't cut it. Still, the easier final encounter was a relief after the rest of the final stretch, and I was glad to see the game's end. For me, this was a pretty enjoyable laserdisc game, and I'm excited to tackle the other two in the Taito LD Game Collection.
Just to stay active, I played a short workout in Fitness Circuit again, without skipping the stretches like I had the day before. It was fine!
Then, before bed, I played another set of missions in Fashion Dreamer's Dramatic Fair. I'd planned to play slightly longer, but some new medicines knocked me on my butt, so I did not.
January 19th, 2024
Despite the fact that I didn't work yesterday, I didn't play that many games. My brain was shot, and making puffy blankets and reading manga on my phone held a lot more appeal. While I was waiting for test results and doctor's office calls, though, I did play a lot of Fashion Dreamer. It was amazing for keeping my mind off of stuff, and I made decent progress in the current event. Making other players outfits was great for killing time.
I also did the smallest workout possible in Fitness Circuit, which wasn't nothing!
Since this is Friday, I'm thinking a bit about what I want to play this weekend. I'd kind of like to get back to Portal and Death Stranding, and maybe finish off Time Gal or Frog Detective, too. Who knows, though! Anything will be okay.
January 18th, 2024
Today's post is being made between doctors' appointments, as I consider the effect all of these medical expenses are going to have on my budget. That is ok, though!
Last night, I just kept on with the current event in Fashion Dreamer until I got a new pose as a prize. I also got a nifty plaid coat pattern from an NPC that was fun to recolor. When I am extremely sleepy, I am grateful for nothing games.
Tomorrow's post will have more to it, since I've gotta do something while waiting for calls and games aren't a bad way to fill that spot. I'm gonna play at least a round of some sort of fitness game, too.
January 17th, 2024
This is a quick, late post for today. I'm super sleepy and have a doctor's appointment in the morning, so I want to go to bed early.
A new event, the Dramatic Fair, started in Fashion Dreamer last night, so I played that for a while. For this event, I'm using my very pastel guy character, to mix up the clothes I'm dealing with.
I did a short workout in Fitness Boxing, too, just to not give up on being active. Tonight, it's tempting to somehow try to do even less.
Tomorrow's post is probably going to be pretty similar to this, but I am okay with that.
January 16th, 2024
I feel crummy today, and my browser crashed while I was typing a long version of this post. Here is a new short one.
Last night, I started Portal, off of a PS3 copy of The Orange Box, because my PS3 is in a cozier spot than my other systems. I don't know if anyone has heard this or not, but Portal is pretty good. This is my first playthrough because I'm on top of things.
I was tired yesterday, too, and told myself Fitness Circuit might help me feel more energetic. It didn't.
I also did a couple free workouts to help my achievement hunting in Fitness Boxing 2. That was actually fine, and since I did it right before bed, I could pass out immediately after.
It is a relief that today is almost over.
January 15th, 2024
I'm somewhat inexplicably under the less-than-excellent weather, so I don't think anything in this post will really get the attention it deserves. Yesterday afternoon, I finished off About An Elf and enjoyed the last chunk of it. The storytelling framing of it was interesting, and I liked how strange it was, too. Some of the battle prompts felt a bit too "guess what we're thinking" to me, but the gummy bears, which stood in for extra lives, were plentiful enough that it didn't matter.
Anyway, I think this was more of a visual novel than an RPG, but it's written down in my "oh no, I have way too many RPGs" notebook, so I'm crossing it off and counting it on that front. I think the game itself would approve of this.
As far as fitness games go, I switched things up a little and played Fitness Boxing 2 yesterday, since I'd played it in the past and knew it would do different stretches. The game was so rude about my skipping out on it for 2 years, though, asking me if I'd been sick and promising to go easy on me. At any rate, I'm on a quest to get all of the achievements in this game's menu, and am sure I can do it.
January 14th, 2024
The weather has not really improved in my location, so I played games a lot yesterday. My biggest game yesterday was Super Mario World, which I played bundled up in fleece blankets on my living room floor after hooking up my Super Famicom Classic. I started playing it to keep my hands busy while chatting with a friend, since I've played the first bit of the game a thousand times. Shockingly, though, I am better at video games than I was at age 6, so I got to the third world's castle, which I've never cleared before, and then went back to the first world to scum 50 lives. I'd forgotten how fun this game was.
Since it's super cold outside, I had to give up on Super Mario World before I was tired enough to sleep, since my nose was cold and it was irritating. From there, I kept going with About An Elf, and feel like I might be getting close to the end. That's fine, since I don't know that this game could sustain itself for a ton longer. I keep losing battles because I click on the yellow attack when the pre-battle hint shows me light, when the yellow one is for electric magic, but that is truly my own fault. Playing games after midnight has a certain risk level.
Despite my temptation not to wear myself out, I also buckled down and played Fitness Circuit again. It was still very difficult, but I feel like I can improve. Plus, I went to the outfit change menu and realized I could pick which legally distinct from Evangelion outfit I wanted on my trainer. I went with the not-at-all Kaworu set yesterday, because blue is nice and the pink not-at-all-Mari one had some weird design stuff going on in the boob area, but my amusement level that the game lets me do something with such a high dork-fluff-level right off the bat is very high.
I'm off to make a frozen pizza for the excuse to turn my oven on, and for anyone else caught in nasty weather, stay warm, or cool, depending on your location, and safe!
January 13th, 2024
I feel somewhat spacey today, so this probably won't be a great post. Yesterday, I was worried about some health stuff, especially the wait to get a specialist appointment, so I wanted to see if Switch fitness games might make me feel like I was doing something to counter that. I picked up Fitness Circuit from the eShop and promptly got destroyed. It was a lot of fun, and it had some goofy charm I'll get into later, but it was way more intense than I expected! That is completely ok for now, so I'll keep trying.
Well after that, I played quite a lot more of Death Stranding, too. It was my first big chunk of gameplay, and I got so nervous trying to navigate things when I got surrounded by BTs, or the game's monsters. I made poor Sam, the player character, scuttle around crouch-walking while holding his breath way longer than was necessary. It was fun, though- I'm hoping to make good headway in this over my glorious three day weekend.
Right before bed, I played a few more screens of About An Elf. I'm a little tempted to play a good chunk of this over the next few days, too.
The weather is really crummy, so I'll probably do more games this weekend than I normally would.
January 12th, 2024
I did not have a good yesterday, but I did manage to get over to a half-sold-out grocery store before the next round of snow hit. Other than that, I sat on the floor and played another hour or so worth of Death Stranding last night, which had some fairly crazy story developments. I didn't hit a ton of gameplay, but think I'm in for that on my next session.
I couldn't sleep when I got to bed, so I played Diabolic, a very cheap Switch RPG, for a few minutes. I need to level grind a bit in this, but didn't really want to, so I gave the stage I'm stuck on a few goes and shut it off.
January 11th, 2024
It's time for a quick post before work! Last night, I started Death Stranding, since it seemed like a good game to have going on a long weekend where going outside isn't recommended. I played the first 45 minutes or so and admire a game where it's as much of a pain to walk as it is in real life.
I played Fashion Dreamer quite a lot more, too, trying to farm character parts from NPCs. As far as this goes, though, I probably won't play too much more until another event starts. It feels kind of aimless otherwise.
January 10th, 2024
Last night, my apartment maintenance people were doing snowblowing at midnight, which resulted in me going "oh, one more level is fine!" over and over again in Peggle. I'm well into the second half of Adventure Mode now, and might not play tonight, just in an effort to avoid another late night from a lapse of judgement. It was really fun, though, and it's not like I was going to get to sleep that fast anyway.
Since the Fantasy Fair event officially ended in Fashion Dreamer yesterday, I turned that on to check for info on the next event. I played with the character and outfit creators for longer than I'd intended, but this, too, was enjoyable.
I'm really sleepy, so I don't know how much I'll play past what I already have tonight. With more rounds of snow ahead and a three day weekend in the mix, though, I'll make up for today's lost time handily.
January 9th, 2024
Today's post is late because I overslept and didn't want to rush with anything when I did get up. The snowstorm in my area meant I didn't have to go into the office today, so I had a fairly relaxing day and am enjoying some slow cooked lentil and potato curry for dinner. It's nice, and there's no office day tomorrow, either, so I shall continue to enjoy cozy clothes and nice food.
Last night's gaming was pretty laid back, too. I turned on my XBox to pick a Game Pass game to beat for the month and got all sparkly eyed at the sight of Peggle. I already played it years ago, off of a CD-Rom, but it's really fun and satisfying, so I'm playing it again! I only meant to play a couple levels last night but buzzed through ten before getting up off of the floor occurred to me. I've been itching to turn it back on all day.
Before bed, I played a little more of About An Elf to unwind, too. I'm fighting many ghosts in a kitchen now, which is very spooky, and some of the silly poems the game popped up on the screen made me laugh out loud. It was fun!
Tonight, I'm honestly more interested in crocheting a tiny dinosaur than gaming, but I'll see how things go.
January 8th, 2024
It's been a dumb last couple of days! I just got back from another blood test, there's going to be a winter storm tonight, and it took me two hours to open the hood on my car and refill the antifreeze yesterday. Because of that, I spent my game time yesterday messing with 80s arcade games rather than playing anything seriously.
Time Gal was the first of my games yesterday, and if my car had been less of a struggle, I would have buckled down and cleared it. As it is, I might try that tonight, just to have the game done with before the new event in Fashion Dreamer this week.
Later on, before bed, I played Outrun for a while on the easiest setting possible, enjoying a little cruise with cheery scenery and nice music. It is the perfect game to unwind with, even without ever using it to challenge myself.
January 7th, 2024
Yesterday, I cleared my first game of the year, which felt like an okay accomplishment! Planetarian was my first game down, though I questioned counting it. It's a visual novel with no choices, so truly, I was using my game time to scum more reading time. Though it feels non-committal to say so, it was fine. It maybe felt kind of manipulative, but the story moved along at a good enough clip that I never considered quitting. Besides that, in some of the action-y bits, I thought the use of storytelling mechanics only a game can do, like the joycon rumble, really did add to it. Even though I'm a little indifferent here, I'm itching to play a game that's essentially just a book again soon.
After that, I was trying to figure out if I'm just not feeling Ninja JaJaMaru: The Ninja Skill Book, or RPGs in general, so I turned on About An Elf, a game that I'd picked up cheap after seeing it on Youtube. It turned out to be more of a visual novel playing with RPG structures than an RPG, which was completely fine, and it prominently featured a cat, which was even better. I'm hoping to play more of this today.
Today might not be a big games day. I overslept, which was great, and I need to make a cake later, which is neutral. I'll play something, though, and be back tomorrow.
January 6th, 2024
Yesterday was not my favorite day, but I did get some games in. Yesterday was a work-from-home day, so during my last break, I snuck off to my room and played Time Gal a few minutes to try and wake up. It did not make me less sleepy, and my play was horrendous, but it was still fun.
Before bed, I also played a few rounds of Catlord, finally taking a look at the second stage and quickly unlocking the third, and final one. They were actually a little disappointing, maybe. The spooky theme is fine, but I felt like fighting skeletons and ghosts instead of just random animals, like at the game's start, lost a little charm. I just play this to fall asleep, though, so it's not a deal breaker.
January 5th, 2024
I was tired yesterday, so I spent about ten minutes playing Ninja JaJaMaru: The Ninja Skill Book. It's not nothing!
January 4th, 2024
I went to bed early last night because I had a morning blood test, but then panicked about needing to sleep well to get up early and only slept three hours. I should have posted here sooner, but I went back to bed after the appointment and failed to sleep for another two hours. Now, with a latte in hand and my laptop open, I am forced to tackle the day.
There's not a lot to say about my video game time yesterday, though. I played Ninja JaJaMaru: The Ninja Skill Book for about twenty minutes and went to bed once I got to a new town.
January 3rd, 2024
It's time for another fast post today! I was exhausted yesterday, so most of my game time was spent scumming for upgrades in Catlord. It was boring, but I needed something mindless to play, and this was perfect!
I also played a couple of credits in Time Gal, and made it way further than I expected to on one credit! I felt powerful.
January 2nd, 2024
My time management was poor this morning, so this is going to be a short post. I kept going for another hour in Ninja JaJaMaru: The Ninja Skill Book, and learned a spell to turn enemies into riceballs. This is my new favorite RPG status effect.
I played five credits in Time Gal yesterday, and did a lot better than I expected. It's an enjoyable grind so far.
In the interest of clearing games, I also went back to Planetarian, since there's no easier clear than a visual novel with no choices to be made. It's interesting, but I'm still not totally sure what I think of it.
January 1st, 2024
Happy New Year, everyone! I'm excited to be doing my first post of the year, and I have some very arbitrary gaming goals for 2024. My plan is to beat one game a month in each of the following categories: RPG, Game Pass, and Other Stuff. The key to pulling this off, I think, is going to be trying for a better attention span when I start a game and cleaning up my backlog of enjoyable games I started and abandoned. I'm not sure I'll make it, but it'll be fun to try! (I'm also going to try for watching 100 movies, which I did manage last year, and reading 100 novels, both of which should be easier.)
Even though I'll be doing some dropped game cleanup, I wanted to start the year with an RPG I thought might be short, just to get off on the right foot. Naturally, I went with Ninja JaJaMaru: The Ninja Skill Book, a newly localized Famicom RPG I picked up in a Switch eShop sale. It seems like a pretty blatant Dragon Quest ripoff so far, but I'm not so bothered by that. I'm curious to see how this one goes!
I played another 3 continues in Time Gal, too, and am enjoying getting better at the game bit by bit. After getting the same opening scene a few times in a row, I was surprised to see that it was actually randomized, but that's not much of a hurdle.
I also built another not-Lego building, which was intended to be a Pepsi store. It didn't come with any decals, though, so I slapped on some Urusei Yatsura stickers my friend sent me and rebranded it as the Lum store. I don't know what the purpose of it is, but clearly, it's the cornerstone of this somewhat shady community.
View More Posts >>
View the Game Index >>
