What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
Model Kits and More
September 22nd, 2024
I am having an extremely difficult time the last few days and have no idea why! I'm trying to get back on track today, with some grocery shopping and meal prep to follow this post, but it feels super challenging.
None of what I'm posting about here is too bad, though. I built a tiny not-Lego of a computer while watching Youtube yesterday morning, and was very satisfied with how cute and 90s it is. The tiny bits might make it hard to display, since I have too many cheapo tables with lattice tops, but I'll figure that out.
I was a little too tired to do much gaming yesterday. I did play an hour or so of Wixoss Multiverse. This week's special character is really good, and I'd love to be lucky enough to gacha her, but don't think that's gonna happen. I'll play through her weekly missions, though, and see if I get anywhere.
I tried one of the Switch games I bought for 20 cents a few months back, too, called Pocket Quest. It's a pretty basic match-3 RPG, but I'm happy with that for now. Casual games are valuable in times of inexplicable tiredness.
September 21st, 2024
I got a late call at work last night and had some noisy apartment building drama after that, so today, I'm too fried to even touch my coffee. I might go back to sleep after posting here, but'll at least take it easy if I don't.
I did build a little not-Lego set last night, of Anya from Spy x Family hanging out by a building facade. I like both parts of this set, but am a little confused by it as a whole. The character figure is cute, but it seems like a really plain main model choice. I'll put the building facade up on my Lego shopping street, though, and keep Anya out for future crimes against IP.
Yesterday was a total wash in terms of gaming, though. I played Diamond Painting ASMR a little right before bed, to knock myself out, but wasn't particularly engaged with it.
I don't know that today is going to be a better day, but it should at least be a less stressful one.
July 21st, 2024
Today's post is kind of late, but that's just because I'm sleepy and trying to push through getting stuff done in a very scattered way. I went to a drive-in theater to see Twisters last night, which was extremely fun, but it was hard to sleep afterwards! It was worth it, though, and Sundays don't need to be high productivity.
Yesterday, rather than playing a lot of games, I messed with building toys and built an Entry Grade V Gundam model and a Nanoblock Gardevoir. They're friends now. I was actually kind of impressed by the entry grade Gundam. The snap together plastic serving for color changes rather than stickers was satisfying, and gives it a clean look. With Gardevoir, I am impressed by the level of detail with this kit, but I also think her arms will fall off if I so much as sneeze within ten feet of her. Nanoblocks have their drawbacks.
I played about fifteen minutes of Disney Illusion Island, too. It was fun, but not enough time to make any real progress.
July 14th, 2024
I'm really spacy this morning, but handling my Sunday morning to-do list organization well as I drink a latte and stare blankly at various notebooks and my computer screen. Last week, I kind of blew it with my weekly goals, but maybe I'll do better this week.
Yesterday wasn't bad, though. I'd gotten reminded to play some of the Anapurna games I had stashed in my backlog by reading the quarterly game report over on Skep's Neocities page, which is why I played Florence on Friday. Yesterday, I tackled Sayonara Wild Hearts, which had been in my Switch library maybe for five years. It was really excellent! I see people talk about the story and storytelling most often, which is totally fair, but also think it should be noted how much of the gameplay felt like Sonic, but only the good, loop-de-loop go-fast parts. Since the gameplay gets discussed less, I thought maybe that part of it wouldn't be as notable. It's so fun, though! Also, I feel like this should be pre-installed on every OLED Switch to show off how good the screen's contrast is.
Even though I'm marking this as cleared, I'll probably come back to it for some of the score challenges in the near future.
I built a little Nanoblock of My Melody, too, which was fun. She feels a little unsturdy, though. Her giant head is far too tall!
Before bed, I made some more progress in The Mysterious Care of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, too, which is really going off the rails in some delightful days. Last night, I hit some good old fashioned 19th century security cameras and color photography, including a lovely image of Mr. Hyde fleeing through a field of flowers in what seemed to be broad daylight, and also got to find objects in a botanical garden's dinosaur statue area, which I guess has gotta be a common feature of botanical gardens. This game is so goofy, and I'm really pleased with myself for having picked it up a few months back.
June 25th, 2024
I went to bed early last night and, thankfully, am feeling somewhat back to normal today. I spent so much of yesterday really spacing out that I almost felt guilty about it!
Because of that, I ended up taking it pretty easy with games yesterday. I ended up picking up Fashion Dreamer, to play this month's event before it's too late, and spent too much time messing with a new character to make any headway in the event itself. I'll do more of this today.
I defeated the second boss in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, too, but have to save up in-game currency to actually unlock him as a trainer. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but I wanted to see his unlockable outfits right away and was slightly disappointed that I could not
In non-gaming activities that I still post about here, I built a Nanoblock of Cinnamoroll, too. This is my third block set for Cinnamoroll, and is my least favorite. It's not bad, but the face doesn't have a "Sanrio look" to me at all. The eyes are maybe too lively. It's interesting to see different approaches to the same character, though, and this won't be the last Cinnamoroll I tackle.
I'm still kind of sleepy today, so I probably won't accomplish much. That is okay. I don't have to.
June 24th, 2024
I just got back from a weekend of food, shopping, and hanging out in the Chicago suburbs, and am a bit of a zombie after doing a long drive early this morning. It was fun, though, and a nice way to spend a summer weekend. I don't have work again until Wednesday, so I'm just going to kick back for a bit.
Yesterday, I was too busy to do a lot of gaming, but I built this little Nanoblock from a Spy x Family blind bag. I got it at Miniso, which I'm somewhat relieved has no locations where I live, and it's supposed to be Damien, one of Anya's classmates. It looks a little generic, but the school uniform is on point enough I can put him with some of my other knick-knacks and identify him. I do like how charmingly tiny this Nanoblock is, though, and am excited to build a couple of Sanrio ones I grabbed in the same size. Right now, he's over on my craft table in a gacha machine bubble before he goes on display.
I was set on keeping my exercise game run going yesterday, too, so I did do a couple of free workouts in Fitness Boxing 2. It worked pretty well with other people's music blasting, so I might experiment with that on my own. As fun as this game is, I'm not a fan of the midi versions of pop songs it uses for workouts, so switching it up could be really nice.
June 19th, 2024
After some errands a bit late last night, I built the first Lego I'd done for a while, and it was an honest-to-God brand name one, too. I'd been at Target to pick up a lawn chair for an outdoor concert next week and picked up the little five dollar Animal Crossing set, Maple's Pumpkin Garden. It's really cute, and I love the little villager minifig! It was less than 30 pieces, though, so it did seem very small for the cost. Still, it looks great up with all my little storefronts!
From there, I wanted to start a new, relatively quick game before bed, so I decided to do an all-characters run in SNK Gals' Fighter. I played this on original hardware maybe 20 years ago, and the Switch controls aren't as good at all as the Neo Geo Pocket Color joystick, but that's pretty forgivable, considering how good the NGPC was. This is still super fun. I started with Mai, and should unlock all the "secret" characters naturally as I go. I'm looking forward to this journey of headkicking!
For my daily workout game, I just did another daily workout in Fitness Boxing 2 to keep things simple. Poor Karen hasn't gotten to change her outfit in days, but her tracksuit at least looks comfy.
May 19th, 2024
I wasn't my most interested in games yesterday, but I did get on a "making stuff" kick. There's some pretty utilitarian crochet unpictured, but I built this little Tepig model, because I love snapping the easy Pokemon kits together, and a not-lego fruit shop. Tepig longs for fruit, but alas, they are too large for any of these bits and bites to be filling!
Games-wise, my game buying freeze is forcing me to reach back into shovelware I bought in the past, rather than scouring the Switch eShop for new garbage to buy. Last night, this led me to Bucket Crusher, one of my fifty 20 cent pickups from the April Qubic Games sale. My idea when I threw that ten dollars to the wind was that, if I played each 20 cent game for 20 minutes, I'd at least get some interesting posts out of it. I've already breezed past that with Bucket Crusher, which is a fine knock-things-down-until-I-fall-asleep game. It does bother me that the structures you knock down are just pixels rather than having physics to them, meaning you can take a stripe out of the middle and the top doesn't collapse. It's still kind of satisfying, though. I will come back to this.
My Merge Pixel saga continued, too, but I did not make a lot of progress because I didn't care enough to run it for a lot of the day. I'll keep going today, since it feels momentous to be over the halfway line.
May 13th, 2024
I was knockout level sleepy yesterday, but still tried to do quite a lot. My biggest accomplishment was a Wal-Mart run, where I picked up a super cute Brickcraft tape deck, in neons with some MTV branding. Some of the non-Legos I've had feel a little funky to build, like they take too much effort to snap together. This was really nice and click-y, though, and I was so pleased that the little tape fits in the deck for display! For less than five dollars, I was pleased with this.
Games-wise, I didn't do anything too exciting. I think I have a consistent path through the second level of Altered Beast now, since I was getting to level 3 with a lot less effort last night. I'd still like to be taking less damage in level 2, but I will get there.
I did some free exercises in Fitness Boxing 2 as well, pushing myself over the 51% of in game achievements earned line. The second half is going to be super time consuming, though. It looks like it requires 100 exercises with each trainer. Since I do 2-4 a day, that will take a bit.
I kept Merge Pixel running, too, but thanks to daily login bonuses, had a major progress bump. I suspect that I'll be stalled out a bit on that front today, while my per-second earnings catch up to the upgrades I can afford.
May 12th, 2024
I didn't feel my best yesterday, and my efforts to take it easy ended in my having a lot of stuff to post about here. Right after making yesterday's post, I bounced over to my XBox and finished off Adios, which only took 20 or so minutes. I felt like the Cooking Simulator style controls on the last bit kind of undercut the seriousness of the game's tone. I'm done now, though, and am glad I took the time to play this.
For the first time in a while, I did a couple off brand Lego kits, too. Both of these are from FiveBelow, and ignoring the scale issues, I think they make a cute pair. The flower shop had a misprint in the instructions, so I was glad this was simple enough to reverse engineer from the box photos. The Hello Kitty ice cream truck was ok all around, though, and I think the block colors are really good.
From there, a friend mentioned Altered Beast, and since I'd never messed with that much before, I got my Genesis Mini out and played it quite a lot. I definitely feel like I can beat it, especially if I crank up my lives and HP on the secret options menu. I'm pretty terrible at it, though, so it might take a while. Right now, I'm at the point where the first level is pretty breezy, but the second boss's patterns are still eluding me.
I also let Merge Pixel run for a while, and am documenting it here just to see how long clearing it will take.
April 29th, 2024
I took it super easy yesterday, so my biggest accomplishment was building these little block kits of Hello Kitty and Pom Pom Purin. I've made the whole set now, and am slightly distressed that the Little Twin Stars weren't included! Still, I'm happy with these. They came out looking like cute little robots.
My only game, though, was a bit of Love Colors before bed. I somehow managed to play a lot without accomplishing much of anything, but that was kind of impressive in and of itself.
April 28th, 2024
I am shocked that I actually met a timed gaming goal, but last night, I managed to clear Pikuniku before it leaves GamePass! I really enjoyed this game. The roly-poly movement was fun, and felt pretty good, and there was maybe only one jump that really sucked in the entire game. Even that was towards the end. Plus, it was funny, and I could make my character wear a flower hat. In the end, I didn't find all the collectibles, so I might pick this up for a replay on my Switch. For now, though, I'm pleased.
Most of my yesterday, though, was spent on crafts and building stuff. I finished off a cross stitch I'd had sitting for quite a while, too, and might show that off when the whole set is done. For now, though, here is a little fashion boutique I built for my block city street, resting upon a granny square dishcloth I made while worried about the weather.
I played a couple of adventure mode stages in Hyrule Warriors before bed, too. The "beat the right enemy" quiz stage was a slight pain, especially when the moblins piled up on each other, but overall, this was light and relaxing fantasy violence.
April 27th, 2024
Yesterday, my focus was shot, which actually left me with quite a lot to post about here. Maybe the most unique part of it was that I dug around on itch.io for a bit after work to find a short visual novel to buzz through. I ended up going with Calling Card, a very short and nice kinetic novel (which means no choices) told over phones. It had the vibe of a little manga one-shot, extremely good color choices, and very realistically utilized profanity. This and Donut County both used the way people communicate over text to pretty good effect, so it was interesting to be playing them back to back. It was maybe only ten minutes, but I'm glad I played it.
I finished a Gunpla I'd set aside for months, too, this one being the SD Aerial. There was nothing really wrong with this kit, but the stickers were driving me crazy and my hands are shaking too much to do a lot of detailing by hand. The end result is pretty nice, though, and it's a relief to have it done.
As far as my more standard daily gaming goes, I finished this month's event in Fashion Dreamer, which I dragged out for way too long. The new photo frames have been really nice this time, and I'm sure I'll use them in the future, but I was unenthusiastic this month.
I continued the main story mode in Hyrule Warriors, too, and was extremely charmed by Linkle and her cucco army! If I'd seen this part of the proceedings on Wii U, I would have picked this game back up for Switch much faster than I actually did. I'm considering making her my main for Adventure Mode just out of the knowledge that she commands the chickens.
April 22nd, 2024
I'm heading into a week with a strange setup today, and I can't decide if I should feel extra motivated at work today, having tomorrow off, or not motivated at all. I'll see how it shakes out!
Last night, I picked up a Pokemon model kit, this time of Zekrom, that I'd gotten frustrated with before. It had seemed to me that the pieces didn't fit, and I was going to give it up for lost. When I got to work on it for the second time, though, I had no problems at all. I wonder what my problem was? Past problems aside, I'm glad to have this done and know that the kit wasn't busted. It's so strange, though.
I kept plugging away at Fashion Dreamer's monthly event, too, but got waylaid by one of the in-game events where an NPC goes to your showroom. It's cute when it does that, and gives the game an extra flash of personality.
Today, I'm hoping for at least a mildly productive Monday.
April 20th, 2024
Last night, I hit a major logic gap in the design of my little city not-Legos. Why would a designer worry enough about retaliation from Fanta to put a Fento sign on their fake store, which is honestly way more unfortunate in today's society, but then straight up just use the McDonalds golden arches on the next building in the line? I respect it, and put tiny McDonalds on display next to my KFE, to make the chicken (?) establishment look even shadier. Still, it seems so strange! This delighted me.
I took longer than I expected to build the two little storefronts, though, so from there, I just did some offline outfit grinding in Fashion Dreamer for some quick, relaxing before-bed gaming. Today, I'll get back to the monthly event.
April 19th, 2024
I really overslept today, so this is going to be a quick post. I cleared Donut County last night, though, and it was really delightful! The complexity curve of the puzzles was really natural, and I thought the last area and final boss were a very good cap on the whole game. I'm glad I finally stopped stashing it and played it. Now, I just have to bring myself to do the same for poor Sayonara Wild Hearts.
I also built this copyright safe not-a-Uniqlo for my little block city street last night. I think HSANHE is the block brand, from the instructions, but I really liked this one. It's so cool how you can see all the tiny, abstract mannequins and clothing racks through the clear front doors.
April 16th, 2024
Today, I've got a blood test in the morning, and severe storms are expected to hit this afternoon, so I'm looking forward to the day being over.
Last night, though, I built this extremely cute Amy Rose Nanoblock. It looks almost like a figure that hasn't loaded into this dimension yet, and the slight unreality of that makes me happy.
Amy took most of my evening to build, so I just played a small bit of Fashion Dreamer before bed, inching forward in the current online event.
April 15th, 2024
Trouble sleeping and unjustified stress were bothering me yesterday, so I didn't accomplish much. Before bed, I played Lil Monster for a while and had some game mechanic breakthroughs. First, every time you reclear a league, you get the same prize, so I'll be able to spam the C League to get the double-powered attack gem until I max it out in my deck. Second, your character's affection stat controls its speed in battle, meaning that if it's at 100%, you can sometimes attack three times for every turn the opponent gets. Neither of these facts makes the game less grindy, but they do let me target my grind a bit better.
I also built this little not-lego bookstore that strikes me as fine, I guess. The street lamp out front has a charming, old fashioned look, but I felt like this one maybe had too many stickers.
April 14th, 2024
I spent a lot of time yesterday messing around with this site, trying to get things set up for a future site section, which was fun. Since I just use this site for daily writing, it doesn't need to be fancy, but it's still fun to play.
Other than that, I didn't do a ton other than zone out yesterday. I finished an LOZ ice cream truck block set that had been plaguing me last night. LOZ kits are extremely fiddly to build, which can cause trouble with some hand tremor issues I've got. It's kind of worth it, though! Everything I've done from them is so charming and filled with little details, so I feel kind of accomplished when I finish one.
I also continued level grinding NPC relationships for character parts in Fashion Dreamer last night, again getting fed up with how plain the "type B" clothes are. I almost have a full fruit bunny outfit pattern for my current girl character, though, so I'll bounce back to the event soon.
April 12th, 2024
This week, I've been trying to brute force having good days by just telling myself I'm going to have them, and for the most part, it's worked. Trying to have a good attitude doesn't do a ton for health, but I'm certainly feeling a little less whiny on that front.
Yesterday, because it seemed cute to try, I built three not-Lego block flowers from a dollar bin at Target and jammed them in one of my King of Fighters soda cans for display. The flowers themselves were kind of crummy to build, and don't hold together well, but I like the end effect. It's clunky and cheerful.
I made better efforts at this month's Fashion Dreamer event than I had last night, too, and had a decent time wandering around and doing my little missions.
I spent way more time with Palworld, though, testing the limits of what materials I can carry and accidentally slaughtering a poor little chicken that wandered onto my base. I thought it was mine, and attacked instead of picking it up! It was a grand tragedy. I did manage to craft my new outfit, too, and am pleased that it is cute and makes it harder to freeze to death.
April 6th, 2024
It took hours of level grinding, but I cleared the lowest level set of arena matches in Lil Monster last night. From here, I think my next step is going to be more grinding, across the same single screens where I summon my own opponents. This game is pretty tedious, and I really went off on it last night. Plus, I lost a couple of story battles in random spots and can't get them back to try again! I'm weirdly determined to press on, though, in part because my monster friend is an excellent little cat. For today, I think I have a way to stack my attack deck with some better moves ahead of the next tournament. It just takes more grinding.
I also built another little off-brand Lego flower, but this one kind of sucked to snap together! I like the color, but I don't feel like the pieces connected well. It wasn't too bad, though, and it's cute.
April 5th, 2024
I'm doing a quick post during a break from work today because Target pharmacy lost my insurance information and trying to avoid paying 100+ dollars for a prescription made things too eventful this morning! Everything worked out, and the pharmacy staff was super nice, but it did not take away from my general feeling that I'm not doing so hot lately.
Last night, though, I built a cute little flowerpot off-brand Lego to try to relax. This one was almost definitely from AliExpress, and I'm super fond of it! It was easy, but still looks decently impressive.
I kept playing Lil Monster, too, but only did level grinding and some experiments with monster summoning. Tonight, I'm hoping to get levelled enough to win the C League at the battle arena.
April 3rd, 2024
I'm doing a super quick post before work today, after not wanting to get out of bed and some computer troubles. I built two mecha models yesterday, both from the 30 Minute Missions line. I didn't plan to build two, but after doing one, I determined it would be really cool for it to have another robot to fight, so I went for it.
I also played Princess Peach: Showtime! a bit more, trying out a few more of her role transformations and overall just having a nice time.
April 2nd, 2024
Today is my birthday, so I am posting as I drink my free Starbucks and worry about a surprise apartment inspection tomorrow. The inside of my head is not as fun as I try to make it look here!
Yesterday was fun, though. My family bought me a sushi dinner, and I went to see Late Night With the Devil, which was a fun high concept horror movie. It had some great 70s style "technical difficulties" TV station screens.
I felt like I needed to get a lot done, though, so I did a couple of Sanrio off-brand Legos in the midst of all that. The top one, a Hello Kitty pool set, was actually a lot more detailed than I expected, and had a couple fiddly bits I had trouble snapping together. It came out well, though, I think. The second one, My Melody, was pretty straightforward, but cute. The colors in these photos are a little yellowish, since it's been gloomy out and I used artificial light to get them, but the pink blocks in the My Melody set were the perfect shade.
Game-wise, I played Princess Peach: Showtime! the most, clearing out the Swordfighter levels and going back for 100% of the collectibles in the first of them. I was a little disappointed to have such a fun ability set off the board so quickly, but the designers had to use something to illustrate the setup.
I also tried Roller Katz BF Episode 1, an indie platformer I'd picked up on sale in the Switch eShop. I'm not sure about the character designs, and I did a bit of clipping through stuff in my few minutes playing, but making my character flip around against the bright blue, filled with fluffy clouds sky was a defininte pleasure. It's interesting to see what individuals are making with the tools to make 3D platformers at their disposal.
March 30th, 2024
Being awake is posing a major challenge today, but I've stopped accidentally throwing pieces of my coffee machine across the room and gotten set up for today's post.
My top accomplishment yesterday was building this extravagant, two-story brick model of a KFE, no relation to KFC. I loved how needlessly complicated the architecture was here, and also like that the KFE, no relation to KFC, has a lil' hamburger sign. It's perfect if someone starts asking the wrong questions.
I kept on with An NPC's Odyssey, too, finding some of the RPG-centric jokes genuinely cute and wondering if the translators knew what some of the slang they were using meant in others. I think I'll try to finish this today, just to get one last game cleared for March.
March 27th, 2024
My energy is still bottomed out, so this is just a mirror of yesterday's post. I built this little flower block kit and was actually pretty pleased with it. These floral kits have such lovely petal designs!
I fought a few of the trainers outside of Eterna Forest in Pokemon Shining Pearl, too.
March 26th, 2024
I was really gloomy and low on energy yesterday, so I built this little off-brand Lego drink shop to try and give myself a sense of accomplishment.
I also did some level grinding in Pokemon Shining Pearl because it didn't take any brainpower.
March 24th, 2024
Yesterday was a pretty calm Saturday. I'm still on my Lego kick, so I built a little flowerpot yesterday. I think this kit was from AliExpress, but am not 100% sure on that. It's been in my stash for a while. I was so pleased with the colors, though, and the round bits on the petals make this one so cute! Blocks are good.
I played Pokemon Shining Pearl before dark, too, but landed in the game's sunset timeframe. It was really pretty, so I don't regret that, and I cleared a skirmish against Team Galactic in a wind-based power plant. A lady straight up handed me a Mew for having played Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee, though, so that kind of overshadowed everything else I did.
I also turned on my XBox to browse GamePass and downloaded The Quarry, wanting to play a newer FMV game to see how things have evolved since the 1980s. The answer is "a lot," but having a down arrow pop up on screen as my player character runs towards a hanging branch still awakens the Dragon's Lair poisoned sparkles in my heart. It also, so far, has taught me how irritating it is for video game characters to walk up and down stairs at the same speed real people would. I'm still super excited to play more of this today, though. It's cool to see the start of a genre and where it's ended up today right next to each other.
March 23rd, 2024
I'm very brick-focused right now, so I worked on lego stuff again last night. I have a bigger, name-brand Lego set I'm chipping away at, but my finish for last night was this fantastic off-brand diner from Five Below. (It's maybe dangerous to have a shop selling cheap toys so close to where I buy groceries. The little utensils and skillet were so bespoke they came on a model runner, and I like the design vibe of the signage stickers on this one, too. I'm really happy with it, especially for the price.
Games-wise, I put my almost-Waldo quest on hold to finish the current event in Fashion Dreamer. I had a lot of fun with it this month, and felt like the developers had really improved a lot of the tedium of the monthly events. I'll be looking forward to the next one.
From there, I got back to my very slow playthrough of Pokemon Shining Pearl, too, clearing exactly one very small route. I want to play a bit during daylight today or tomorrow, since my normal gaming habits don't mesh well with this game's day/night cycle.
March 22nd, 2024
There's a snowstorm this morning, which maybe surprises me more than it should. It makes me glad I'm well set up to have an indoors day.
Yesterday, I got feeling really down at work, so I went to Five Below after my shift ended to buy some off brand legos. I came right back and built a new Cinnamoroll, the one on the left in the photo below, immediately. I hadn't built anything for a few months, so I forgot how fun it is! I'm hoping to crack into my stash of Legos, on and off brand, and model kits this weekend.
As far as game go, I popped into offline mode on Fashion Dreamer again to continue on my almost-Waldo kick. The faux leather pants really made this outfit for me. I'm proud of myself.
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.
December 31st, 2023
It's my last post of 2023, and I actually cleared a game last night! To be fair, it's not a very impressive one, but I turned on my PS4 to do a replay of Space Ace last night. I wanted to play it again just as a point of comparison to Time Gal, since the sci-fi trappings are superficially similar. The protagonist's laser gun lighting up when you have to shoot in each game is less superficially similar, but I'm not sure how else such a limited format could get that across.
For readers who have never played a laserdisc game, it's kind of like running through 15 minutes solid of quick time events superimposed over a cartoon. Modern ports have button prompts on the screen, which I think is particularly helpful with some of the direction/perspective issues in Space Ace specifically, but in their original formats, you had to watch super closely to see something flash on the screen, then push the corresponding button- either your attack button, or the direction of the flashing object.
I totally understand why these games are not held in high regard today. Especially in their original formats, they're pretty miserable to play, and as a home gamer, I can't imagine how mad I would have been spending actual quarters on them. While the modern button prompts help, they can make these games a little too easy, which I am fine with, but can also see as a problem. (Time Gal has an interesting way around this I'll talk about in a later post.)
Despite those pretty valid problems, I think laserdisc games are an extremely interesting way to make games feel more "cinematic" within the limitations of 1980s tech. Even in the 90s, I remember being amazed at the thought of "playing a cartoon" when I first played Dragon's Lair and Space Ace on the 3DO, even though I never saw past the second screen on either. This is not a thought I have ever gotten past, even in the midst of my most controller-throwing-rage at these games, so I'm willing to cut them a lot of slack.
All that aside, I've played Space Ace a few times before, always on an easier mode to preserve my sanity. That being surprised, I was really surprised I managed to clear it in one sitting last night! I think it's an aesthetically cool game, but it moves so fast that some of the button press timings come off feeling extremely unfair. My last playthrough, I used saves to scum through it over three nights, which was kind of what I expected to end up doing here. That didn't happen, though, so I felt somewhat good about myself. It helps that the final boss has somewhat generous timing compared to the rest of the game, but that's fine. I took a path where I didn't get to see the nifty rollerskating scene, though, so I might replay it again fairly soon.
I played Time Gal for a few credits, too, and am starting to get a feel for it.
After gaming time was over, I built a tiny LOZ sweets shop, too. Microblocks are a challenge, and this design was perhaps a bit overcomplicated, so the friend I was chatting with as I worked on this heard many complaints. It came out so cute, though! My tiny bootleg Lego city is coming along nicely.
For today, I am not sure what I'll do, but I do have another bootleg lego building half-finished on my craft table. Once I get that done, I'll figure everything else out!
December 18th, 2023
I only have to make it through one more five day week before things get easy for a while, and I'm sure I can do it.
Last night, I tried Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics for the Game Boy Advance, because sometimes I make sideways choices. It was actually fine. The presentation felt a little bare bones and budget-ish, but I kind of liked the battles. It's not awful. I made it through the first section, and'll probably play more tonight.
I also built a little non-lego blocks kit from Five Below of a convenience store. It's really fun to build little storefronts, so please expect more of these in the future. Right now, it's up with the flower shop I built a while back. I'll get a group photo after a few more.
December 17th, 2023
Yesterday was a very lovely family Christmas, and I was gifted many lovely building toys. Right now, I feel super motivated to do legos and models, so they may have an outsized presence here for a while. Last night, I tackled a Nanoblock of Cinnamoroll, a Sanrio character that, like most Sanrio characters, I am quite fond of. This was my first Nanoblock, and I was pretty impressed with it! They were decently generous with extra parts, and the blocks clicking together had a good feeling. It's so cute, too!
On an inside-baseball kind of note, pertaining to Neocities, I found a book club on here, Bookbug, and thought it might be cool to join. I'm not sure yet if I have the wherewithal to buzz through a re-read of Crime and Punishment to jump in for this month, but I'll give it a shot- I've got a couple weeks! For next month, though, the book is Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, so I got a copy on Thriftbooks to hop in and join the fun.
As you may have guessed from the rest of this post, however, my gaming for last night sucked. I played Fashion Dreamer for about 10 minutes and passed out. All things considered, that was perfect.
December 7th, 2023
I'm doing a late lunch break post today because I couldn't sleep at night and slept too much in the morning. Yesterday sucked, though, so that is ok!
Last night, to cheer up, I built a tiny Mega Blocks Togepi I'd picked up while grabbing my prescriptions at Target. It has more blocks going on inside the egg than I'd expected, but was cute and easy. I'm pleased with it.
I pressed on with Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee, too, fighting the trainers south of Lavender Town on the fishing path.
November 18th, 2023
Last night I spent a couple of hours building a really neat not-Lego set of a Famicom! It was really tempting to post the whole barrage of photos I sent a friend, gushing about how cute it was and how cool some of the little details were, but I'm sticking with one. It's in front of my real Famicom Mini here, just as a comparison shot. While I was building it, I felt like it was really crazy that there are people able to conceptualize how the different shapes of blocks can come together to build something so detailed.
I also kept plugging along in Fashion Dreamer, but wasn't interested in playing it for all that long. I'm still levelling up, though, so 'twas not in vain.
October 16th, 2023
I was painfully tired for most of yesterday, so I ended up playing A Castle Full of Cats a lot. I beat the final boss before dinner, after maybe two hours of gameplay, but haven't cleared all the rooms yet. I'll go and do that over the next couple of nights.
I played another few levels of Kirby's Dream Land 3, too, clearing the first world.
Before bed, I also did this quick build Pokemon model kit of Eevee, for a boosted sense of accomplishment. It was overly easy, maybe, but so cute! Right now, it's on the bookshelf by my desk, dozing away. For barely any effort, this is one of my favorites I've done lately.
October 15th, 2023
As far as clearing the games I've got goes, last night was counterproductive. I was chatting with one of my friends about game sales, and ended up downloading a couple of three dollar games for Switch, Super Kiwi 64 and A Castle Full of Cats. I actually started playing A Castle Full of Cats before I went to sleep. It's a hidden object game where cats are hidden around some lineart, with a cute Castlevania riff as the setup. What I played last night was pretty easy, but it was level one of a casual game, so that's no dealbreaker.
I also built another Pokemon model last night, with Reshiram being my latest victim. The pearl-ish plastic on this one looks really nice, and only the wings had the strange "why won't these pieces snap together?" feeling I've been having with these Pokemon kits overall. Zekrom is over on my shelf, so I'll get to that fairly soon, too.
Today probably won't be a big games day. I want to tidy up, finish some craft projects I started during the week, and figure out my meal planning for next week. I'm sure I'll play something, though! I feel a bit set on finishing some of the smaller games I have around, so I'll see how that goes.
October 10th, 2023
I still feel really out of sorts and nervous today, so this won't be a very big post. I played Calico some more to relax last night, and it was an okay temporary solution. The cooking mechanics, where you become small and toss stuff into a cauldron, are cute, so my game time last night was centered on making cookies.
I made even more Halloween event headway in Pikmin Bloom yesterday, too, but am going to focus on just boosting my steps for the week rather than clearing event goals for today. I don't want to worry about setting up flower planting paths on my office breaks.
I couldn't get myself to go to bed without "finishing something" last night, either, so I built this quick Ali Express building block plant. It was a blind bag item when I ordered it, so the coffee cup flowerpot being labeled for October meant that I did want to build it this month. It was easy to build, and I think it looks decent, if not a bit mysterious.
October 9th, 2023
Today's post is extremely late, but I'm heart-poundingly anxious tonight and have no idea why. I ended up driving out to Wal-Mart when I was originally going to post, running some errands I originally meant to do Wednesday, and then got home and whipped up a cranberry orange muffin mix for some quick bread, which is in the oven now. Ultimately, none of this is helpful, but I'm gonna have muffin bread in 36 minutes, so it's not a net loss either.
Yesterday, I really played Pikmin Bloom a lot, getting through quite a few of the Halloween missions. I didn't get any new treat Pikmin, but I did get a couple more jack-o-lantern ones. They're not shiny and new, but they'll help quite a lot in mushroom battles.
I have a weird "I have to get things done!" feeling right now, too, so I built a little not-Lego kit I'd gotten at Five Below, of a Hello Kitty themed bubble tea shop. I actually really liked this kit. It was easy to build without being too simple, and I love Sanrio garbage, so the Hello Kitty-ness of it all really puts this over the top for me. I am delighted by it.
I don't know how much I'm going to play anything tonight, but I'm definitely going to throw some game on to try to stop panicking. Wish me luck!
October 8th, 2023
This is a late post, but that's because I've been having a very laid back day. I went to lunch with family, picked up a couple groceries, got some chicken thighs and peppers in my slow cooker, and even took a walk to get some frozen yogurt. It's been nice!
Yesterday, I did end up getting the chance to play quite a bit of Pikmin Bloom, getting a good start on the Halloween event and growing multiple special outfit Pikmin. The French fries on pictured below isn't a Halloween one. I just think it's cute.
I also built another model kit I had over on my shelf- a double pack of Pokemon models featuring Charizard and Dragonite! These were quite a bit easier than I expected, and I think they came out to be really nice, too. At worst, I feel like Charizard's main body was a little tough to snap together, but even that wasn't so bad. I liked building these, and they'll be cute bookshelf buddies.
October 2nd, 2023
Today was ok, but I crashed extremely hard after work and a trip out to Dollar General. I'm excited to show off the model kit I finished yesterday, though! Most of this was actually finished on Saturday- I just snapped her foot together on Sunday morning- but I built a really nifty Figurise Standard of Miorine from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. I'd had this for a while and was worried I'd screw up and ruin her, but even with a bit of my own amaturish detailing, I think she came out well! I'll have to build Suletta to match sooner rather than later.
I played Disney Tsum Tsum a bit yesterday, too, clearing the first mission bingo card.
There was a bit more that I wanted to play, but my PS3 and I had a strong disagreement. Hopefully, I'll stay awake long enough to reconcile with it tonight.
September 23rd, 2023
I've been doing a lot of bill-paying and dishwashing style crud this morning, but want to get this done for the day before I eat lunch. It's goal setting!
Yesterday, though, I was more in "brick mode" than "game mode," so I ran through a few AliExpress level definitely-not-lego-sets I had around. The first one I did was this Chocobo (I think it was labelled Chicken Rider or something like that) that's honestly a bit troubled. The pose I photographed it in is about the only one where it can stand, because it has tiny chicken legs and a big, heavy, plastic brick body. I like the design, but it's so unsturdy! It's kind of what I get for picking up a blatant bootleg, though, so I'm more amused than mad.
The other two I did, later in the day, had stronger legal standing and better designs, too. The flower shop is one that I'd had sitting around for ages, and I was pretty impressed by it. From the back, there's even a tiny cash register inside, and it was neat to affix the decals to the facade blocks. I was dead tired, so I opened the unlabeled bag for the succulent behind it thinking it would be another of the little shops I have stashed. It was not, but it's neat anyway.
Gaming-wise, I did play some Disney Tsum Tsum yesterday, and probably will again today.
I have a big bootleg not-Lego set I want to try, and am considering giving it its own page, since I think it'll take a good while to finish. I will decide when I get into it.
August 27th, 2023
My energy is extremely low today, and even though I've been up for a while, I keep trying to procrastinate at doing this post. That's okay, though. My only plan for the day is to take a small trip for a movie quite a lot later, so I don't have to worry about much.
I got back into Idol Land PriPara yesterday and was pleasantly surprised that I could get some decent coords for my character without paying real money. The load times for everything were still atrocious, but a little lower than they had been on Friday. This is still more of a curiosity than anything for me.
I went back to the sticker book in Disney Tsum Tsum, too, and actually had a decent time playing. I want to clear the second card today. Rumor has it I've already been playing this when I should have been writing this post instead, but I'm not sure that can be substantiated easily.
I made another Pokemon model kit while I was talking to a friend last night, too. Lugia was today's choice, and even though I'm decently happy with the end result, I don't feel like the pieces snapped together as well as they should have with this kit. It was kind of irritating.
August 19th, 2023
Yesterday ended up being really bad, with some overtime I definitely was not down for, so I tried to enjoy stuff outside of that. During one of my breaks, I built another of the easy Pokemon model kits, with Mimikyu being yesterday's friend. This, too, came out so cute! I've been really happy with all of these so far.
After work, I got some Arby's fishsticks and went to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem to clear my head, like the fine wine sipping sophisticate that I am. It actually did help a lot, but when I got home, I was set on playing something more involved than Disney Tsum Tsum for the evening. Instead, I turned on my XBox and used Game Pass to play Bejeweled 2. It was maybe a lateral move.
I'm a little down that the weekend will only be two days, but I will make the most of it.
August 17th, 2023
I'm still solidly not having a good time, so it's another short post today. I played Dungeon Village 2 for a few minutes last night, while I tried to do some other stuff.
I built a couple of super easy Pokemon model kits, too, which was the highlight of my day. Skorbunny came out so cute!
August 13th, 2023
Yesterday ended up being a pretty calm day, but I just didn't have the vibe to play games very much. I cooked, chatted with friends, and built a Gundam, which'll be at the bottom of the post. As far as games went, though, I just played Calm Colors for a few minutes to try and hush my brain up and go to sleep. It was as slow and uneventful as ever, making it perfect to end the day.
Like I mentioned in the last paragraph, I also finished another Gundam yesterday, which I'd been letting drag on in the background for weeks. This one is the Beguir-Beu, one of the Witch From Mercury kits, and I think it came out really impressive. The weapons are really crazy- I love the color scheme on the bayonets, and the wire/stand set up for the attack pods is crazy! When I finished snapping this together, I was really satisfied.
Unfortunately, this kit is a little too weighed down with all of the neat weapons to stand easily, so I'll need to get an action base. That is okay, though.
I want to try to do panel lining on my next kit, so please look forward to this disaster.
August 8th, 2023
I got destroyed yesterday, and am still really under the weather today, so this'll be a short post. I played Dungeon Village 2 a bit more while doing crafts last night. I didn't make any real progress, but still chipped away at my five star village rating.
To decompress after work, I built a cute little model of Kirby, too! I used the blue in the eyes, mouth, and cheeks for some paint testing, and learned how not to use a flourescent Gundam Marker. Still, I'm really satisfied with the cuteness level here.
I didn't play any long set aside games last night because I was too tired. Tonight might not be any better.
August 6th, 2023
This is a pretty big post today, but I don't know that anything in it is super interesting. Somewhat counterintuitively, though, I want to start today's post by showing off a really neat Pokemon model kit I built last night! The instructions were kind of strange, saving the stickers for the end. Since I'd been forewarned about that in an Amazon review, though, it ended up not being so much of a hassle for me. I really like how this Ho-Oh came out, though, and it was a nice, quick build! It won't be the last Pokemon model to show up here by a longshot.
I'm not sure where to start with the games I played yesterday, so I guess I'll take the easy route and go in chronological order. I picked up Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 on PS4 yesterday, because screw my game clearing goals, it was inexpensive and I'd wanted it for quite a while. (Those are still in play for full priced games, for now.) I only intended to play for a few minutes, but I did end up sitting on the floor with it for a decent amount of time. It was super easy to get back into, even if this wasn't ever a series I was very good at, and I felt fancy using a revert in Pro Skater 1 levels. The manual didn't feel as out of place, even though I know that was introduced in 2. Maybe it was folded in for the XBox version of 2 with a bunch of the first game's levels thrown in? I'm not sure, but it doesn't matter much. This got off to a fun start.
After that, I played Disney Tsum Tsum for a while, since my game co-conspirator messaged me about a way she was getting wild amounts of coins per round. I gave it a shot, and couldn't hit the same heights she sent screenshots of, but am also flat out not as good at the game. For me, though, I was still racking up some pretty wild payouts, so it was satisfying. She also let me know that this month's event is short and low effort, so I think I'll see if I can clear it, dull theming or not. I cleared the easy stage last night.
Finally, for my "long lost game" of the night, I played a bit of Wario's Woods at 2:00 AM. I can't instantly jump in and out of Wario's Woods like I can a lot of other puzzle games. The mechanics are fun once I get going, but they're not very intuitive, and are maybe a little complicated, too. That late at night, I wasn't putting a ton of effort into it, but I might pick it back up when I'm more awake soon.
July 20th, 2023
Today is a short post because I didn't want to get up and there was some diverting texting drama when I did. Last night, I played Disney Tsum Tsum a lot when I failed to relax enough to go to sleep. The title screen is maybe a bad screenshot of the day, but I wanted it for myself as a color guide, to use with a Tsum Tsum crochet book.
I built another model last night, too, the Arsene Gundam X from the SD World Heroes series. It's very cute, maybe one of my favorites so far! I got it in the mail and built it the same day.
July 15th, 2023
It's the weekend now, but I still have some antsy vibes overhang from the previous week. That is okay, though. This will be a relaxing, laid back weekend.
Last night, I ended up spending way more time finishing up the King of Fighters: A New Beginning manga than playing games, sitting in my office chair, drinking a fancy little sparkling strawberry juice, and shotgunning the last three volumes. It was fun, and better than I expected, with some fun character stuff and nifty art, too! It was actually worth the effort I went to in finding decently cheap physical copies of the whole thing.
I did play some games, though, giving all three of the files I'm juggling in Soul Calibur 6's Libra of Soul mode a battle.
I played the Game Gear version of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine off of the Sonic Origins Plus disc for a few minutes, too. It felt harder than the Genesis version, but I could have just been tired.
Since I couldn't sleep, I also finished up an easy little model kit, a VF-31E Siegfried from Macross Delta. I'd screwed one of these up badly when I first bought them, due to trouble with the stickers, so I've had three of them stashed for years, somewhat afraid to build them. I'm happy with this, so I'll move forward with the other two now.
July 4th, 2023
Today's post is kind of late because I overslept and woke up with an awful allergy attack! I'm feeling somewhat better now, since I sat and drank fancy coffee and played Disney Tsum Tsum until my allergy medicine kicked in.
Speaking of Disney Tsum Tsum, yesterday was an unlimted play day, to get the 9th anniversary event proper started. I got a message from another player about it and, since I was feeling somewhat worried about my productivity, pushed it off a bit to do other stuff. She mentioned that the event was "slow moving," though, when talking about taking advantage of the free play day, so I decided to check it out and see if I could get a head start. "Slow moving" was a really polite understatement! The prizes are decent, but the point totals for each challenge cleared are miserably low, so it's a bit of a slog. I only played for an hour or so because the challenges themselves were so easy I got a bit bored. With play limits intact, though, I don't think this'll be so bad. I sometimes think that energy limits are a big help in masking repetitive gameplay on some mobile titles.
Before bed, I played some PowerWash Simulator, too. I'd been trying to save it for when I felt stressed out at night, but truthfully, I enjoy this game when I'm feeling okay, too. I got about another 15% of the playground cleaned and finished up the surprisingly impressive Stegoslide.
Yesterday, though, I was trying to accomplish non-game things, whether they were important or not, and I finished off a dishcloth (not pictured here) and tow model kits! First, I cleared the SD version of the MSN-O4 Sazabi and learned a lot about how not to paint a Gundam. I really messed up the knees! I was overall ok with it, but wish I'd been a little smarter about dodging a couple of the stickers.
I also finished a kit I'd had on my shelf for a couple years, of the girl version of the Master from Fate/Grand Order. I used to play that for periods of a few weeks at a time, then abandon it for months, then pick it back up again. Its been a couple years since my last play, but I'm still pretty happy with this model.
Today, I want to do some more crafty stuff and maybe get angry at Kid Icarus, too, after a friend's casual mention of it. I'll have to decide if I want to torture myself like that later.
June 18th, 2023
I'm doing my Sunday morning post right now with a very scattered brain. Since getting this started, I've done some online shopping, paid my internet bill, and bandaged a (very minor!) foot injury. It's not unproductive, but it doesn't reflect great focus, either.
Yesterday was an excellent games day, though! Right after posting here, I sat down for a couple hours to clear Sonic Colors Ultimate. On my post comments a few days ago, fellow Neocities webmaster Anonicus had mentioned the game having some glitches. Reading that, I was somewhat disappointed that I hadn't really seen many glitches. The other night, though, when I was fighting the final boss for the Asteroid Coaster world, one of the boss's attacks would fill Sonic's path up with asteroids, all of which were unavoidable and lodged into the ground. I quit while I was trying to deal with that, mildly infuriated and sure that the boss battle was an impossible task.
That, of course, was a glitch, and when I turned it on Saturday morning, the asteroids were up in the air where they belonged, perfectly avoidable. The final stretch of this game was actually really fun, with a very satisfying Eggman boss, and extremely, comically long end credits. The game even gave me a trophy for getting through the credits! All that being said, I don't really intend to go back and 100% this. It was uneven, and I just have other stuff I'd rather play. I liked it way better than I expected I would from my first couple play sessions, though, and that's nice!
Plus, now I've got a game clear on the board for my "clear 10 games goal" I started about a month ago! I preordered Sonic Origins Plus way before setting this goal, and it'll supposedly show up at the end of next week, so I'm wondering if I'll be able to add any Game Gear games to that total.
My other big goal cleared yesterday was getting through the conversation I was stuck in over in Dragon Quest X Offline! Once I finished that, I saved my game and hit some random battles, finally reaching the good stuff. By good stuff, of course, I mean skill trees. I'm looking forward to playing this more today, even if I'll largely just be aimlessly messsing around.
Way later, I also decided that I wanted to pick up another PS4 game to clear and landed on Soul Calibur VI, the normal choice for 2023. I had a file started from before I started this site, but it had been so long since I played that I decided to just start from scratch. Here, I figure that I'll count this as a clear if I beat both the standard and create-a-character story modes, the latter of which I was playing with last night.
I also built another Gunpla yesterday, this time tackling a Uniqlo branded RX-78 that I got free with a couple of T-shirt. I don't think I'd ever built a proper HG Gunpla before, so I had to go over to the craft store and get an X-acto knife to clear some of the pesky plastic nubs that kept it from snapping together properly. While working on this, I definitely gained good EXP.
Today, I hope to be only slightly less useless than I was yesterday, and wish all of you lovely Sundays (or Mondays, depending on your time zone), too.
June 17th, 2023
It's so nice that it's the weekend! I'm not very ambitious today, but I did start a non-games page today, to post some of my poorly built Gunpla and models from other franchises. Right now, I'm trying to build through the stash of cheap kits I've gathered, so yesterday I started things off easy with a cute little Justi'gGuy, as I love the little bears. The eyes and nose are painted on, so I got the colors I wanted, but the rest is just stickers.
In actual games, I played another two levels of Sonic Colors Ultimate last night, leaving me at a boss that was pretty infuriating. After I'm done posting today, I'm probably going to turn on my PS4 to hurl profanity at little Sonic again, as it is obviously the character's fault that I am bad at the game.
I also gave the conversation I'm stuck in over in Dragon Quest X Offline another go. I made progress, but was a little too tired at the end of the workweek for kanji study, so I didn't finish. Hopefully, I'll get this over with today or tomorrow!
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