What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku (Switch)
January 18th, 2025
When I was playing Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku last night, I felt something pull in one of my wrists! It didn't hurt, but it felt strange enough that I think I'll break my streak and switch to a different workout game for the weekend. I did finish last night's session out, but it's best to be careful
As far as cat games go, I tried one called .cat Milk on my Switch last night. I didn't really enjoy what I played of it. It's a series of blade and spike laden platforming screens that require pixel perfection, and while some of the paths it expects you to take are clever, it's not very fun. I don't know that I'll go back to finish this.
My play session with Raging Blasters last night was fantastic, though! My guess about how I needed to approach the boss that was giving me trouble ended up being correct, and from there, I made it clear to the final boss! I was playing so late that I absolutely could not clear the game in my alloted continues, but I'm gonna try again today. I think I've got this!
January 17th, 2025
Last night, I did get a chance to play some games and relax, starting with another cat game. This one was called Romeow: in the cracked world, and it was a cute, but simple and short little spatial awareness puzzle. The cat you control goes up/down/left/right in relation to their own world, but it's presented to the player as jumbled panels on a screen. I'm not great at that kind of puzzle, but was able to clear this pretty fast and came away feeling relaxed. It was another sub-30 minute cat game, though. I'd be pleased to spend more time with these cats!
I got back into Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade, too, since another story event started. I'd love to get the SSR of Todo and Tall Idol Takada, but am not planning on doing it all in one shot like I did with the recent Nanami event. I played too hard then and briefly abandoned the whole game! This time, I'm taking it easy.
From there, I just did daily gaming. I did my 30 minutes of exercise in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, getting destroyed by a speedy rhythm game exercise on the highest difficult and then proceeding to really whine about it quite a lot.
I did 30 minutes of the caravan mode in Raging Blasters, too. I didn't think it would help me any, but I came away from it with some ideas about how to clear the boss that's giving me trouble. It's very shocking to think that I can get better at something with practice!
January 16th, 2025
Last night, I did not miraculously feel better after doing my post, so it was not a big gaming night. I'd done 20 minutes or so of walking at work, so I covered for my last 10 minutes of daily exercise with Fitness Boxing feat Hatsune Miku. It was fun last night, so I'm glad I didn't get so discouraged I dropped my streak.
As far as trying to improve at shmups goes, the blog post I was using as a guide recommended only playing 6 days a week. I decided on the fly last night that Wednesday was going to be my day off from them. I'll adjust later if I need to, but it does always seem to be my peak burnout day.
I did play 10 minutes or so of Dragon Wings before I went to sleep, though, letting myself get mercilessly battered by the in app ads. It was an adequate gaming experience.
For tonight, I'm off to relax and play so many games I curse myself when I sit down to post tomorrrow.
January 15th, 2025
Yesterday after doing my post here, my car battery died. I somewhat miraculously got everything lined up to work from home on and office day and get it towed, fixed, and walk back and forth to the garage during work breaks and lunch, so I didn't take a hit to my time off at all. It was so cold, though, and I got so tired. I am still not out of the hole I fell in yesterday.
The only evidence of this in my gaming is that I did 14 instead of 30 minutes of exercise gaming, keeping my streak in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku. I was really hard on myself about it, too. I got frustrated with myself for being "lazy" and put sparkly letter stickers in my planner for the day that spelled out "C-R-A-P" under my time spent exercising note. No one can be perfect, so it's fine that I did less than my goal for the day. It was still a bad vibe, though.
I did keep going with Raging Blasters last night, and managed to see stage 6! It was a big improvement from the night before that I was actually pretty happy about it. The stage 3 boss gave me a lot of trouble, though. I feel like I need to figure something out with it.
I played a few minutes of a mobile shmup called Dragon Wings, too. It was pretty low effort to play, but I maybe need that when I am tired and upset with myself.
Last of all, I let my barista get swarmed playing Sweet Survivors so I didn't have to play until the end of a run. From there, I went to sleep.
January 14th, 2025
The other day, when I said I wanted to get adequate at 2D shooters, or shmups, I was being serious. They have neat art and music, and I feel like I can do better than just credit scumming my way through arcade ones or dying in 30 seconds in Atari ones. Because of this dream, I did some googling yesterday and found a blog post on Catstronaut Loves Games about how the author worked to improve in the genre. I also watched a video on good shmups for beginners, mysteriously titled Best Shoot Em Ups for Beginners, and decided to go for it.
Even though I don't know how hardcore I want to be about this, I do want to be able to clear some of these games, so I ended up trying Raging Blasters last night because it was half off on Steam and had some very 90s looking anime girls. It wasn't very daunting on normal mode, and after half an hour or so, I was able to get to the third stage. I'll try again tonight and see if I can get to the fourth.
Other than that, I just did normal game stuff yesterday. I zoned out through 30 minutes of Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, reflecting heavily on how very long this 100% achievements run is going to take me.
I also tried to clear the base game's hard level in Sweet Survivors, having picked up the DLC. The new weapons and items do switch up the balance of the game, so I'm looking forward to figuring stuff out.
January 13th, 2025
Today's post is a quick one due to a general lack of focus! I didn't play anything super interesting yesterday, so I'm fine with this. I kept up my Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku habit, but was kind of zoned out as I played. I let unreasonable worry get to me, and it made playing less fun.
Much later in the day, I notched my 4th character clear in Sweet Survivors. I'm having enough fun with this that I'm considering grabbing some of the DLC. It would certainly make the path to 9999 tips in one shift a little more fun.
January 12th, 2025
I feel super overwhelmed and anxious ahead of a D&D session today, but if I can get this post done, that's one more thing I won't have to do after the game!
Yesterday, I had my Atari 7800+ up and running to try Megamania, which I'd recently picked up for 2 bucks at my neighborhood used game store. It took quite a lot of cleaning to get the cartridge going, but I was able to get it running and die quickly several times. I'm pretty awful at space shooters, but I feel like with a little bit of effort, maybe I could be slightly less than adequate at them.
Other than that, I just played more of the same. I got my 30 minutes done in Fitness Boxing feat Hatsune Miku. I didn't want to play at all yesterday, but the daily exercise tossed me good enough songs that I could hype myself up for it.
I cleared Sweet Survivors as a third barista, too. I'm trying to consider how I'll tackle the "get 9999 tips in one shift" achievement, since I'm currently getting about 6000 on a regular basis. Persistence might be the best answer here.
January 11th, 2025
Last night after posting, I worked more on my little Spy x Family paper theater than I played video games. I didn't make it a ton further, but any progress is nice to make! Layering up the tiny pieces of paper is relaxing, but I hit a couple of fiddly points last night.
I just kept on at the same games I've been working on the past few days from there. I cleared Sweet Survivors as a second barista, so overpowered that I barely had to move at all, and dozed off shortly afterwards again.
The daily workout generator in Fitness Boxing feat Hatsune Miku tossed me a rather brutal half-hour of punches, but I made it through decently. I hope it'll be more gentle with me today, though.
January 10th, 2025
My post is late tonight because I got too caught up in crafts after work! I got this super cute paper theater kit of Anya from Spy x Family for Christmas and finally got all my supplies in a row to give it a go tonight. So far, it's a little slow going, but massively satisfying. The place-and-glue process is super laid back and calming, and I can already tell that the level of detail is going to be crazy! I'm so excited to work more on this!
Ah, but this is a games blog, right? Last night, I buzzed through a Switch game called Find the Cat while I was making dinner. It was really simple, but charming. All you do in it is find the "different" cat on the screen with a fairly tight timer, but unlimited retries. A lot of the art in it had a nice, handmade feel, though, and it featured a great variety of cats. I enjoyed this one a lot.
I cleared my first "shift" in Sweet Survivors, too, but was too tired to test my technique with the next barista. From here, I think it should be easy-going, especially since I still have tons of upgrades to pick up.
I really overdid it with my daily half hour in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too. My confidence in my ability to do top difficulty exercises probably fed into my passing out midway through a game of Sweet Survivors, come to think of it. I actually had fun, though! It was nice.
January 9th, 2025
I am still not killin' it, but I persist in blogging.
Last night, I started significantly elevating my flurry of weapons in Sweet Survivors, with my barista surrounded by an unstoppable vortex of cucumbers and cat toys. This means I'm probably pretty close to being able to clear a shift, but it's still a very satisfying escalation.
I played another half an hour of Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too, and really did a great job of whining about it afterwards. It was fine, though.
I played Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade for a bit, too, focusing on character leveling. I've gotten a lot of nifty new SSRs lately, so I'm hoping to get them as strong as some of the characters I've had for quite a while.
January 8th, 2025
I struggled a little getting back into the swing of things yesterday, so I didn't play that many games. I did all 30 minutes of my daily exercise in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku again, but had a lot less "perfect" hits yesterday than usual. I am maybe feeling a little worn down.
I really started unlocking quite a lot in Sweet Survivors, though, so I played that more than I should have. Selecting it as one of my cat games has served me well so far.
January 7th, 2025
I'm back to work and posting during my lunch break today, which feels like a step forward! It's hard to stop coughing, but I feel better doing normal stuff.
Last night, I started playing Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, which is just a Yakuza game set in the Fist of the North Star universe. Well, it's kind of a weird alternate universe, but I made Kenshiro murder tons of people and also use his power to cure someone's back problems, so I'm good with that. I just started, so I don't have a ton to say about this yet, but I'm having a nice time so far.
I was too woozy to do my weekly to-do list updates in Spirit City: Lofi Sessions on Sunday, so I did that yesterday, with a full room remodel to boot. It wasn't so exciting, but it was pleasant and laid back.
All 30 of my exercise minutes were in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku yesterday, because I felt too lazy to set my Wii up. It was okay, but a little exhausting.
I played a couple of runs in Sweet Survivors before bed, too, unlocking a second barista and starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of waiting tables while I dodge the cats. I might be able to defeat this.
January 6th, 2025
I'm still under the weather, but did a telehealth appointment last night and am doing my very best to get back to normal! Yesterday, I did still keep up with my stupid fitness games, which felt good. I took the opportunity to play Walk It Out! while it was still daylight, taking in the crayon bright green grass and blue sky full of fluffy clouds. It's so cheerful and nice!
I did a 12 minute free workout in Fitness Boxing feat Hatsune Miku, too, getting quite a few achievements as a result. This was more due to some in game meters filling up than it was to any great effort on my part, but I'll take it!
I started in on Sweet Survivors, a game I'd picked up for 19 cents in the Switch eShop, as my next cat game, too. These Vampire Survivors-alikes certainly make me appreciate Vampire Survivors itself more than I did when I tried it out for myself. This is a cute imitator, though, and a heck of a lot better than Catlord was. It has permanent upgrades to help make progression seem a little more concrete, but the upgrades within runs are intact, too. It also forces you to fend off cats while standing still to brew and serve coffee, which is an unexpectedly intense wrinkle in the formula. So far, I don't know that I love this, but I'll stick with it at least a bit longer.
January 5th, 2025
Yesterday, I didn't start any new games, but I did finish Farm Kitten: Puzzle Pipes. The pipe puzzles in this game were just okay, and it took me a while to get used to the camera. I am very charmed that this was a game about doing farm work for the world's most demanding and oddly specific kitten, though. No people are in sight, but I got them a car, a house, a tractor, some utility buildings, and even their very own windmill! They're a great little CG bug-cat, and they deserved all of it. I hope that the little cutie was somehow a cog in an elaborate money laundering scheme.
With uncharacteristic determination, I also left Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade running for most of the morning and a good chunk of the afternoon, determined to get a good start on the long term goals in the current story event so I'd have a better chance at getting Nanami's new SSR in the long run. I then got him in my second pull of the day, gracelessly gloated about it to a family member I play with, and didn't touch the game for the rest of the day.
As for my ill-advised adventures in fitness gaming, I popped a bunch of Ricolas and pieced together 30 minutes of exercise in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku. In hindsight, it would have been a lot less effort to just do the longer daily workout session, but my brain wasn't there yesterday.
Though I considered starting a new cat game last night, I just ended up playing a bit of Hole io to put myself to sleep. It's a long grind, but the destruction makes me feel powerful.
January 4th, 2025
Much like a boss battle, my current cold has many stages, so I am bereft of pep today. I kept going with some game stuff yesterday, though. I did a longer workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, which actually gave me enough energy to press on for a couple more hours.
That didn't quite take a full half hour, though, so I played a couple of songs in Just Dance 2014 after that. I hadn't played any Just Dance games for a while, but I have somewhat conflicting feelings on them. They're fun, and I think they're a decent way to get a spot of exercise, but they also kind of barely feel like games to me. I'm not good enough to be confident in saying so, but the controls feel very loose and imprecise to me, and even with the "next move" bar at the bottom, I feel a bit like what you need to do isn't telegraphed well. I like pop music, though, and it's enjoyable to flail around like a dingbat. It's a good placeholder game.
I did a few more puzzles in Farm Kitten: Puzzle Pipes, too. I'd like to finish this tonight, but if I don't, that's fine, too.
January 3rd, 2025
I'm so sleepy today I almost forgot to post here today! I played some games yesterday, though. I did a couple exercises in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, long live my streak!
I played Walk It Out! more, and the little girl announcer in it was really rude that I played less time than I had the day before! I love this game, and it's really relaxing, but the announcer in it is so irritating! Being mean in a fitness game is not encouraging.
As for normal gaming, I started a new cat game called Farm Kitten: Puzzle Pipes. The kitten is pretty incidental to the game itself, but it's a decent little pipe connecting puzzle. I'm hoping to finish it in the next couple days!
January 2nd, 2025
I'm still under the weather today, and having some internet issues, too, so this is kind of a late post. I've slept a lot so far today! Yesterday, though, I played the first cat game of the year, 100 New Year Cats. Disappointingly, the title is a lie and this just featured more Christmas cats. For a "find 100 cats" game, though, this was fine. Being able to switch between color and lineart for the image was nice, helping me find the full set of cats pretty quickly. It was on the easier side for one of these, but not as low-effort as some have been. It got 2025's cat games off to an ok start.
I was pretty happy that even not feeling well, I managed 30 minutes in fitness video games last night. Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku was a bit much for me yesterday, but I managed 6 or 7 minutes before giving up.
I got the rest of my half hour done in the more easygoing Walk It Out on Wii, which only required me to walk in place. I tried to unlock a lot of music along the path last night, but want to try to find and unlock some of the time change options tonight. Since it's linked to real time and I tend to exercise at night, I don't get this game's island in the virtual sunlight that often! It'll be nice when I can.
Other than that, I just played mobile games. I cleared the map event I was working on in Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade and pulled the limited SSR that goes with the event with a free ticket. My gacha luck is so good in this that it makes me worry I will face a bad luck reckoning in a part of my life that actually matters.
I zoned out a lot with Love Rebirth, too, moving the story forward very incrementally while matching tons of stuff. It made for perfect head cold gaming.
January 1st, 2025
Happy New Year, everyone! I'm starting 2025 with a nasty head cold, but also with some enthusiasm. I want to play a lot of games with cats and keep up better with fitness games this year. I don't know how successful I'll be, especially with fitness games today, but it's worth a shot!
Yesterday, I was extremely tired, so I mostly played mobile games. Years ago, before starting this blog, I played Superstar JYP, a K-pop rhythm game, a bit. Last night, I was somewhat surprised to see the game series was still running and wanted to play a bit. I'm on an aespa kick right now, so I went with Superstar SMTown this time, but it's just the same game with a different tracklist. That's probably fine, and I imagine I'll chug along doing dailies for a little bit, get bored with it, and quit. Sometimes it's fun to peek in on a game like that.
Over in Love Rebirth, my protagonist got murdered last night and travelled back in time to her college days. Being the good sport that she is, she's still ok with spending hours matching tiles because her peers need tiny purple shorts. I'm glad I am not in grad school anymore because I would be very tempted to write a thesis on narrative dissonance in mobile games.
I started the current map event in Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade, too, but don't have a ton to say about it. It's still satisfying to clear all the little stages that pop up, but it's not different from past map events at all. It is gaming that is simply just there.
I did a daily workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too. I was a little distressed because I wasn't feeling well and it gave me an extremely difficult and tiring song exercise. I don't know if I have the power to keep my streak up in this today, with yesterday's experience in mind.
December 31st, 2024
My last post of 2024 is going to be a quick one, so I can get logged into work on time! I didn't play too much yesterday, so it's suitable. My biggest chunk of games yesterday went to Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade, since I put off Nobara's story event to the last minute and wanted to play it before it went away. There's a map event I put off too long, too, so I'm gonna see if I can tackle that one today!
I tried a heavy workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too, which took about half an hour. The exercises weren't any harder. It just took more time. It wasn't a terrible time, and I got a bit in the zone when it threw me a 9 minute exercise. I'll try this again!
Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve, everyone!
December 30th, 2024
It's not very exciting to post about, but I had a utility gaming Sunday yesterday. I did a lot of fitness game stuff, since I picked up the Wii balance board compatible Dance Dance Revolution and played it for quite a while. It bothered me some that it focuses so heavily on western top 40 over more standard DDR music, but it worked way better than I expected! There's maybe a few too many actions, but I had a lot of fun once I got into it. I was pretty awful at it, but I'll improve!
I did a single 9-minute workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too, since I didn't want to lose my streak in that. It was fine, but I maybe overdid it.
After getting overwhelmed and blowing off as much as possible last week, I did some weekly to-do list management in Spirit City: Lofi Sessions, too, getting a new pet and appreciating how much an actual mouse helped with managing and controlling this app.
I kept going in Love Rebirth, too, feeling slightly surprised at how long the dailies take to do in this game. It's fine that it's that way, but it would be a pretty big time sink to merge little items until I'd earned 450 coins every day. I don't think I care enough to play at that level.
December 29th, 2024
I was enjoying a nice Christmas yesterday, so I didn't do too much gamin'. I did pick up a new trashy mobile game, though, called Love Rebirth. I've been frustrated because Prison Noctis erased my progress and I can't get it back, so I wanted a new board-based merge game to kill a few minutes at a time. Love Rebirth looked similar, and it is, down to the artwork. It has a lot less suspiciously-AI-esque hands on the splash screens, so I'm guessing this is the game that got knocked off. I also like that the main character is somehow getting her wild, soapy revenge on her husband for sleeping with models by wearing ever-so-slightly mismatched outfits to galas and giving tons of people little pairs of purple hotpants. Plus, it has a more stable seeming account system. It's very silly, but it gets to stay on my tablet.
I also played Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku for a while, trying to keep my streak going. I only did one free workout and the five-minute stretching session, but that's definitely not nothing! It was okay.
December 28th, 2024
I'm doing a quick post before family Christmas stuff this morning! Last night was busy and I didn't play much. I kept up my streak in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, with a strangely relaxing 12-minute free exercise.
I played five rounds of Hole io before bed, too, deliberately limiting myself to see if I could get to sleep faster. I couldn't, but it's fine to try sometimes!
December 27th, 2024
It's time for a quick "lunch break" post today, as getting up to do things before work is outside my area of interest right now. I didn't play much of anything yesterday, but forced myself into a couple of very short free workouts in Fitness Boxing feat Hatsune Miku.
I played a little of Hole io, too, finding the pirate and mall levels to be very satisfying. The pirate level is maybe a little glitchy feeling, but the sense of being able to scale up in it is really great.
December 26th, 2024
I was back to work today, and really was dragging! I managed to get through the day and run some errands, though, and am totally ok to post now!
I played a lot of really light, casual games yesterday, the sort of stuff I could play while hanging out and talking. Maybe the least casual thing I played was the Genesis/Mega Drive port of Virtua Fighter 2. I decided that even as a strange and impressive version of Virtua Fighter 2, it wasn't as good as a fresh baked croissant. That's not usually a comparison people have to make, but if it comes up for you, too, I do definitely recommend shutting it off and eating the croissant.
Later on, I idly played quite a bit of Water Sort Quest, too. It wasn't as good as the version of Virtua Fighter 2 I'd had on earlier, but it was way easier to play while eating Chex Mix.
Everything else I did was more normal gaming after I got home. I played a little of Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, in an effort not to lose my streak, and did some successful achievement chasing.
I tried a mobile game called Picture Builder, too, where the goal is to put together little pixel art puzzles within a larger image. I liked the art and found it relaxing, so I'll probably play it again.
I did some grinding for gacha currency past just my dailies in Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade, too, and scored a 3rd copy of Nanami's SSR while I was at it. I know mobile RPGs like this are built to create a feeling of power, but it works and it's satisfying.
December 25th, 2024
Merry late Christmas, everyone! I didn't have my standard Christmas celebration today, but did spend a nice day hanging out with family. We had sushi, went to a movie, and mostly just relaxed. It was lovely!
Yesterday, though, I was still goin' through it, so I didn't play much interesting. I successfully forced myself to do another 12-minute exercise in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, which wasn't bad at all.
I played Farm Land in the background while I chatted with a friend for a few hours, too. This is such a low maintenance game that it was really perfect for this purpose. I made a lot of progress without getting anywhere at all, which would have been tedious if I'd been focusing. As background noise, though, it was as good as it is for getting to sleep.
December 24th, 2024
Last night, I picked up Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown to cheer myself up from having nothing specific wrong, which led to me getting way too into Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown. I'll have to do some game page organization later, since my normal "one screenshot per playthrough" will get a little ridiculous for what I intend to do here. That'll be fun, though.
Even though I didn't think I'd want to play for very long, I ended up doing five arcade ladder playthroughs last night. I haven't really played Virtua Fighter a ton overall, other than a spot of the 2D port of 2 to Genesis and VF4, back on PS2, but insofar as I have a character I use, I guess it's Pai. I started off with her and had a lovely little jaunt through the arcade mode, though Dural's bonus stage did me in.
I then, thinking it was rather fun, played through again with Pai in one of her super polygonal original game costumes. This gave me the impression that the game was rather easy.
From there, I picked Jeffry and got stomped into the ground hard for a bit. This led me to remember I really had played Virtua Fighter 4 quite a bit, and probably had some muscle memory that propelled me through the last two playthroughs. As it turned out, this game was not bafflingly easy.
My next choice was Goh, which wasn't as bad. He looks unwell and seems to have some attitude problems, but international fighting tournaments are probably hard on people. I don't handle stress well, either, so I can't judge him. He was zippy, though, and I felt like this playthrough went well.
I then ran through as Akira in his Tekken 7 costume, having a bit of a challenging time again. I've spent quite a bit more time with Tekken than Virtua Fighter, and the costumes here were close enough to trigger my brain to start hitting the Tekken button inputs by mistake! Akira's fighting style did not suit me that well, either. Also, as I realized after finally getting an unlikely win against Dural, it was 1:30 in the morning, which couldn't have been helpful. With that, I went to bed rather than running through the arcade ladder for a 6th time.
Other than that, I just did normal gaming for the day. I did a 12 minute exercise routine in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku to force myself to move.
I played a little more of Farm Land to avoid staring at a wall, too, but wasn't very interested in it yesterday.
December 23rd, 2024
For the past few days, I've been feeling so down that I'm sleeping too much and my head feels foggy. It's happened before, and I'll get over it! It doesn't make for awesome blogging, though.
I was able to get through another daily workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku. It was uneventful, but fine!
I tried another super cheap Switch game, too, this one being called Farm Land. It is a little more involved than Aquarium Land was, but I'm not sure if being more complicated makes it better. It's fine, though. These cheapie games are fine to space out and relax with.
Most of my game time yesterday was spent in Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade. I was really grinding out character levels, and managed to make some extra progress in the story levels, too. I was pretty happy with my own progress.
Today is a single work day in the midst of two sets of two days off, so I probably won't play much tonight. I'll have something to write about tomorrow, though.
December 22nd, 2024
Yesterday was a very low key gaming day. I did a daily workout in Fitness Boxing feat Hatsune Miku, which seemed like good progress.
I played Hole io for a bit before bed, too, and got quite a few things unlocked.
I also did some basic level grinding in Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade. I wasn't able to accomplish much, but that is totally ok in a mobile RPG!
December 21st, 2024
Going to Aldi the weekend before Christmas was a mistake, but I at least have plenty of groceries to show for my trouble.
Yesterday was not a very out of the ordinary gaming day for me. I decided I want to try and clear all the achievements in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, so I did a 12 minute exercise in that yesterday. I don't know how helpful that is, but it was at least a few minutes of not simply sitting around.
To balance that vague sense of productivity, I played two super short hidden object games on Steam. First, I went for Find All, which I'd gotten in a super cheap series bundle during the autumn sale. I liked this one! It was nice to find something other than cats, and staggering the list of things to find was not a bad way to give the game a feeling of progress. A lot of the objects were pretty well hidden, too. I'm looking forward to continuing this series!
I also ran through another freebie, 100 Ninja Cats. It was a bit too easy, and the cats looked weirdly melted in this one. I've played worse stuff for free, though.
Before bed, I tried Hole io, another of the 20 cent Switch games I'd picked up, too. I tried this on mobile years ago, and do think it's nice to see a totally offline version of a mobile game available! It's cool for game preservation. However, I also like unleashing mass destruction when I am half asleep, and this game also delivered on that front. It's a very bare bones time attack sort of game, with lots of stuff to unlock, but I like seeing how much stuff I can wreck in two minutes. I'll probably try to get all the base game unlockables knocked out in this over the next few days.
Lastly, as has been my habit as of late, I spent some time with Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade throughout the day. I finally unlocked Gojo from my free gacha pulls, but he's a bit of a disappointment! After the first few turns of a battle, he simply walks off. It's a funny gimmick, and my fights tend not to last that many turns at this point, but I can still see this getting frustrating down the line.
December 20th, 2024
Everything ended up being ok yesterday, but I still feel kind of down over work stuff. That's not really my job's fault, so I don't know what my problem is. I tried to get my energy back up with a little bit of Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku last night, though, and did have fun! The 12 to 15 minute long workouts are great for shutting my brain off.
I played a lot more of Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade than I should have, too, clearing out the map event that's about to end and earning enough currency for a couple gacha pulls. I'm making progress in the base game's story mode, too, so it gave me a good false sense of productivity. It's the best thing a free-to-play mobile game can provide.
December 9th, 2024
I had another utility gaming Sunday yesterday. My weekly upkeep in Spirit City: Lofi Sessions was pretty minimal, but I didn't do well at this last week! I felt too burnt out to turn it on for most of the week, which is kind of pathetic. It also led to my missing some of the smaller, less "weekly" tasks I needed to do that I would have seen on a paper to-do list, leading to my rushing to finish stuff on Friday and Saturday. Overall, it was fine, but I'm going to try to check in on my lists for at least five minutes a night this week. This isn't a cure-all, but I still think I can make it work.
I did a daily workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too, which was uneventful. I just felt like I needed to get up and move around a little.
As far as less purposeful gaming goes, I played another free hidden cats game, Hidden Winter Cats. It was the hidden object equivalent of the Waldo standing on the beach by himself, "Waldo's not even trying anymore!" joke from the Simpsons, so I found all 100 cats in less than 5 minutes. It wasn't a bad five minutes, but it was excessively slight.
I did some more cat themed casual gaming with Neko Pang, one of the Samsung instant play mobile games, before bed. I actually liked this one. It's just an obstacle-clearing match-3 game, but a very cute one. I did hit a difficulty spike before falling asleep, but I'm going to try and beat the stage that stopped me again today. This was definitely the better of my two throwaway game experiences yesterday.
December 7th, 2024
Last night, I decided it was time to finish Yuletide Legends: Who Framed Santa Claus, so I played it for nearly two hours until it was over. This was actually a fine little hidden object adventure game with a goofy story, but I just got tired of the Christmas theming as I played. Last night, I cleared out the main story and unlocked a bonus story, which took about an hour to get through and exposed the poor state of healthcare for gingerbread men. It was a nice, laid back time, but I'm glad I have it finished, too.
Other than that, I did a short workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, in which the opening stretched mysteriously stopped halfway through, dumping me into a normal workout. It was fine, and everything worked after that, but weird.
I kept up with Infinity Nikki, too, though I was really sleepy by the time I logged in. I pretty much just went to the stylist's guild to do a little story stuff and collected a bunch of flowers. It was fine!
December 2nd, 2024
I didn't feel great yesterday, so I just did utility-style gaming. I messed with Spirit City: Lofi Sessions quite a bit, redecorating my in-game room for Christmas and streamlining my to-do list by swapping a lot of my weekly tasks over into the daily habit tracker.
My muscles were kind of sore, so I played a daily, standard-length workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too. It was not fun and I wanted to quit mid-session, but it was good for me.
November 15th, 2024
Last night, I made myself play Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku to try and get myself to regain some energy. It didn't work, but it was somewhat fun. I don't feel great when I don't exercise, so I want to get back to playing fitness games.
I played a small hidden object game on Steam called Hidden Cats: Magic Forest for longer than I should have, too. It was relaxing and pretty, but the camera controls were so bad that I thought I was repeatedly getting stuck and crashing the game! I'm almost done with this, but after a few frustrating hours and reading some disheartening "sometimes the counters and hint buttons don't work" community posts on Steam, I don't know if it's worth the trouble.
I am very tired and don't want to get through today, but I have to. I wish the best of luck to all of you in your various endeavors today.
September 24th, 2024
Yesterday wasn't a big video games day for me. I played a 12 minute exercise in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku before work, which wasn't bad.
After work, I did have Wixoss Multiverse running for quite a while. I got a decent amount of level ups and made general progress, which was okay. It was a good thing to have on in the background.
I played Prison Noctis for a bit today, too, getting the truly bizarre pay-to-win screen I've included below. The slightly off translation and AI-seeming hands in this art really make it something special. I think my girl accessed the new merging screen that triggers this screen by finding a massive heroin stash, though, so maybe it's appropriate somehow.
September 23rd, 2024
I had to get up early for a blood test today, and, as always, I was unable to sleep because I knew I'd have to get up early. I am so sleepy it has become physically painful. It's okay, though. I've got this.
Yesterday, past my daily mobile game check-ins, I played a few Miku Exercise songs in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku. It was somewhat satisfying.
I kept going with Pocket Quest, too, and am having a pretty good time with it. It sounds like a backhanded compliment, and maybe it is, but this game was definitely worth 20 cents.
September 20th, 2024
Yesterday, I started to feel a little better than I had been after work, so I decided to "catch up" on the fitness games I hadn't been playing earlier in the week. This was a terrible idea, and by the end of it, I could barely function enough to brush my teeth. I did make it through, though, and am a bit proud of that. I started last night's mistake of a fitness journey with Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, where I got in a plain, low level daily workout. As far as things went, this was fine.
After a short break, I popped back over to my Switch to play a standard workout in Fitness Circuit, which makes me slightly miserable on a good day. By the end of the session last night, I was sweating so much my forehead burned, which I don't think is a great sign.
I was really bought into the idea of fully catching up on my workouts by then, though, and also pretty tired, so from there, I bounced to Fitness Boxing feat Hatsune Miku. I just did three song routines here, and it was easier to get through than Fitness Circuit. The songs were very high energy, though, and by the end of it, even though I made it through, my scores were not stunning. Still, I felt kind of accomplished by the end.
Apart from all that, I did spend some time level grinding away at Wixoss Multiverse, levelling up a bit without making much overarching progress. It was a pretty typical mobile game session.
September 15th, 2024
Last week, I was really feeling overwhelmed and under the weather, so I didn't finish my craft goals for the week. I made a run at clearing them yesterday, but decided it wasn't worth stressing myself out so much. I'll try again for next week, though!
I did play a lot of video games yesterday, though. I was in the mood to play something really dumb, so I started Oneechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad, on my XBox. I'd gotten this super cheap in a sale, and so far, it is very ridiculous and very satisfying. It bothers me that Aya, my zombie stabber, is wearing a boa into zones where zombies are on fire. It seems like a really unnecessary safety risk! I'm having a great time so far, though, and looking forward to more mindless slashing.
I also spent a lot of time in Wixoss Multiverse, where I'm trying to rebuild bits of my party. I am often losing matches due to being set on fire, so I have decided that rather than finding a way to guard against this, I just need all the girls on my team also setting my opponents on fire. Honestly, it's not going stunningly well so far, and at the moment, I feel I am grinding to make things slightly worse for myself. If this fails, though, I'll just think about other setups.
Before bed, I turned on Honkai Star Rail for the first time in a while, and promptly got lit on fire there, too. My RPG girls look very stylish, but they're way too flammable! For now, though, I have a new character I gacha'd that I want to level up, so I went back to try the Simulated Universe subquest to see if I could gather any materials there. After the boss set me on fire until I died, though, I shut the game off and went to sleep. I'll see what I can do about that today.
I did a daily workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too. No one was on fire in this game and honestly that's a little lame.
September 11th, 2024
Yesterday was a pretty low level gaming day for me. Aside from flying through daily logins in all my mobile games, I played a regular level daily workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku before my work shift. I switched my "exercise partner" to Luka, and felt like the game was doing a pretty good job at conveying different character personalities. Details like that make fitness games more interesting for me.
September 7th, 2024
I slept well last night, but feel kind of wiped out and disoriented this morning. I don't have much I have to get done today, so I guess that's fine. It would be nice to have a more functional brain, though.
Games-wise, I played a lot of Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku last night, which was a lot of fun. The rhythm game mode is integrated into the daily workouts, which is a nice way to mix things up. I ended up popping back in to play more and more of the rhythm game after my daily workout, though. It was fun!
Other than that, I just had a mobile game day. I did work on the current event in Magical Circle Guru-Guru: Stardust Adventure, but my progress is a little plodding so far. I might switch up my party some and see if that helps at all. My guess, though, is that refusing to pay in an event that seems very pay to win isn't going to work out for me in the end.
I did my weekly run at progress in Merge Pixel, too, and my numbers do seem to be going up at quite an impressive rate.
Today, I have no ambition, but do want to do crafts and play mobile games. I think I'll easily manage to live this extravagant dream.
September 6th, 2024
It's finally Friday, and even though it's been a short work week, I'm looking forward to having it over and done with tonight!
Yesterday, Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku came out in the US, so I was really excited to try it. There's a "Miku Exercise" mode that does a lot to bridge the gap between this as a fitness game series and a proper music game that seems very fun so far! Mostly, though, having more music and trainer options makes it easier to stick with these games and get exercise. It's a bit of a boring conclusion, maybe, but I'm happy for it.
Over in mobile game fluff land, I turned on Magical Circle Guru-Guru: Stardust Adventure last night to see that it's having a proper event. I only scratched the surface of the tasks for it last night, but I'm going to try to tackle it over the next week. It's going to involve copious amounts of level grinding.
I also left King of Prism Sparkling running for a lot of the day, speaking of level grinding. It's taking longer than expected to burn through the resources I've gathered, which is fine by me.
I messed around with Prison Noctis for a decent amount of time, too, meandering through a tile match puzzle before deciding that I'll have an easier time of it if I go grind for gems in the merge mode for a couple of days. This, too, feels like a boring conclusion.
Home >>
View Posts By Month >>
View the Game Index >>
