What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?

Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge (Switch)

June 18th, 2024

Last night, I finished off the story in Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, and wasn't dissatisfied with it. For now, though, I think I'm going to set it aside and call it good. It had a lot of slowdown and was getting a little buggy on Switch, with the final cutscene having the "congrats, it's time for free play mode" box pop up too soon alongside a text box seeming to sneak in out of order. It's very charming, and I like the environmentalist themes, so I wouldn't mind going back and getting 100% of the frog collection someday. For now, though, the slowdown is bugging me too much to be a completionist. I'll keep an eye on it and see if it gets patched.

I also did my daily workout game during a work break, going back to plain Fitness Boxing 2 to avoid fussing with the extra stuff in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star under a time limit. It gave me the toughest daily workout I've done in one of these games yet, so I regretted my choice. It did, however, leave me feel like I was floating through support calls for the rest of my shift after that, which was an okay frame of mind.

June 17th, 2024

It's super hot where I am today, but I don't have any dread about the approaching work day, so I'll take it.

My game stuff wasn't out of the ordinary at all yesterday. I put some more time into Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge before bed, while my apartment cooled down, and think I'm getting close to the end of the main game. I unlocked a beautiful new area, and built it up through the game's quest ladder, met lots of cute new frogs, and got a weird glitch where I accidentally erased a bunch of ponds in said new area trying to solve it. It wasn't too irritating, though since a game reset solved everything and let me open the menus again.

I also did my daily missions in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, which was daunting in summer heat on a day where I didn't feel so great. I made it through, and am happy I did, but was not thrilled to see "defeat 45 outlaws" pop up on my list.

June 16th, 2024

I just had a long-ish internet outage end, which wasn't so bad. When it started last night, I ended up playing Psycho Soldier, an arcade game with an early appearance from now-from-King of Fighters Athena. I'd actually played this before, back when it was a PSP Minis title, and didn't like it very well then. Now that I'm a bit better at games, I grabbed the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection off my shelf to give it another shot. I still didn't like it very well! The 4-tiers of platforms you bounce between don't work well with the agility a horizontal shooter requires, I feel like, and Athena getting killed in one hit makes this feel like a nasty, quarter munching slog. It is very cute, with some neat mecha-dragon-in-hell boss designs to boot, and Athena's song is impressive for the game's age! I don't hate this. It's maybe just not my jam.

Other than that, I was just playing my normal stuff for the day. I did my daily missions and then some in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, and felt pretty good after that.

I put a couple hours into Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, too, still mostly working within the Australian zone. It gave me a photo mission where the game doesn't seem to recognize that I'm getting both furniture items and the frog I need within my shop, which is a little frustrating. It's still so new, though, that maybe a bug fix is on the way. I do wish I'd gotten a better screenshot last night, though. I think the one I did get was accidental, since I was kind of sleepy and not really thinking about it.

June 15th, 2024

My allergies are so nasty today that I can barely keep my eyes open to do this post. It's not a treat! I've already made a salad for a cookout later, though, and done some studying, too. Maybe today won't be too bad!

I started the Australian frog habitat rehabilitation in Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, and felt like it added a pleasant "make money in this area to spend it in that one" balancing act in the game. Making and selling items does kind of take the focus off the cute frog buddies, but that's not terrible.

I did my daily missions in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, too, which was fun. Yesterday's set ended up being a lot lighter than the day before had been, but that was fine.

I ran Merge Pixel for a few hours, too, and did make some actual progress. I probably won't do much with it for the next couple of days, since I'm more worried about staying awake than productivity for now.

June 14th, 2024

I have today off work to go see a comedian later, so I'm currently trying to brush away my workweek stress! I did make my "cross 20 things off my to-do list" goal yesterday, mostly knocking off cleaning and housekeeping tasks. Today, I'm going to tackle some of the craft and hobby ones, which, naturally, is much more fun. I'd like to make a dent in my Japanese study ones, too. I haven't ever finished the list in the two months I've been doing it, but it's ok to have a direction to take things.

Anyway, last night, I cleared the first boss fight in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star. It was very satisfying to punch a guy a lot, and the life bars and over the top special attacks were honestly all very motivating. It actually wore me out a bit, too, which I think is a good sign for a workout game.

I played quite a bit of Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, too, ticking off the goals the game gave me and making cute little frog friends. I shut it off to sleep right when it unlocked a wetland to rehab in Australia, which was an interesting twist, but I'll see what that's all about soon.

While I was trying to get stuff done, I had Merge Pixel running, too, clearing the screen every time I met a goal. I felt like I actually made a small dent in it, but it's still pure numbers-go-up nonsense.

June 11th, 2024

This morning, I couldn't get up and get going very easily, and I felt like this was a blow from which I would never recover. In fact, I did recover. I don't post about it specifically on here so much, but earlier this year I got diagnosed with Graves Disease on top of depression/anxiety, and all that on top of PCOS, and I'm so mean to myself about it! Basically, none of this gets in the way of anything, other than my just feeling very sleepy very often. This morning, though, I got up in time to go to work, but not to post before leaving, and I was so mad at myself! It was a really unreasonable feeling, which I realized a little later.

I'm here now, though, and it's not even that strange for me to post at night. I also have nearly nothing to report.

I finally finished the "play all songs on Fast speed" in Fitness Boxing 2, though, and felt so accomplished! It was more an achievement based in persistence than skill, but I was still pleased with myself.

After that, I kept going with Kamaeru, too, but didn't really feel like I got anywhere. That might just be how this game is, though.

Tonight, I'm more excited to sleep than to play a lot of games, but I picked up Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star and a couple other games in the current Switch sale, and am off to do some punchin' as soon as I'm done here. I'm more excited than I should be about it, but it's nice to have fun!

June 10th, 2024

It's Monday, but even so, I only have a four day work week ahead, which is nice. I had a lot of bad dreams last night and am super sleepy now, but I've got this!

Yesterday, I wanted something ultra-peaceful to play, so I picked up a new indie game, Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge. It feels more like a mobile game that's been made more playable for console than anything, and the controls feel a little funky on Switch. The little frogs you try to attract to the wetlands are so cute, though, and balancing the area you build up for biodiversity is an interesting idea. I'll probably keep going with this tonight.

I kept my streak going in Fitness Boxing 2, too, and should be positioned to get a couple more achievements out of the way tonight. I'm so excited to have the "play every song on fast" achievement done with that I'm eagerly anticipating tonight's play session.