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BALL x PIT (PC) by jp (Dec 21st, 2025 at 14:13:17) |
So, I finished it - and there's a new game +, but it is now starting to feel really grindy.
I'm a bit annoyed tbh, but I realize I'm being stupid here. So, there's a trophy for clearing all the levels for each character (1 trophy per character), and when I triggered the "true" end of the game (prior to whatever the true ending of new game + is), it reset the pit - and it takes a lot more clears to get the next level of the pit, which means that I sort of have to play the game all over again, grindier, just to get those trophies if I really want them. And I kind of do, and kind of don't, but I would if I could go back to the regular version - because then it's less of a grind and more like "mopping up".
I did unlock some crazy new ball evolutions that was fun! (according to the in-game encyclopedia, I've now done them all). I might play a bit more, but mostly for "mopping up" - there's some item evolutions I haven't figured out yet, but we'll see how much more patience I have.
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Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (PS4) by jp (Dec 21st, 2025 at 14:08:07) |
I've played about three hours at this point, probably in the middle of chapter 2 (I'll see if it's the middle or not because I've just landed in a new area - the valley of something-or-other).
I think that one of the things I've enjoyed most so far has to do with the fact that I played the first game a while ago and I don't remember much about the details, but that it's all slowly coming back, but as a sort of warm fuzzy memory. I need to check details, but the games are pretty different - the combat system here is active, not turn-based, but was the first game turn based? I don't recall, would have to check. But still, the general vibes and wonder of the world is still here in interesting ways. The colors, the art, etc. - BUT, you can tell that it is all now one step removed from the earlier Ghibli collaboration. The style is slightly different - not off, or bad - just different. You wander around an open-world area, avoiding monsters if you want to, picking up loot (shiny glinting sparkles to walk over), and meet interesting characters.
This time around there are "higgledies" - strange creatures that have some sort of elemental assocation, they're like spirits, but not really, they remind me of the Kodama (the little white creatures that rotated their heads) from Princess Mononoke, but also the fire sprite from Howl's Moving castle. They appear in combat and you can trigger them to help out. They can also (if you have the "right one") help with things in the environment - for now a buried clover leaf that, when activated, creates an updraft you can ride to a higher location.
It's all sweet, and nice, and interesting. So, I'll keep playing until it is no longer that.
The only thing that's surprised me negatively is that the camera distance seems weird. Some areas are thirdperson, but kind of close, and the camera moves really fast and I just seem to get a bit dizzy as I run to the next location (they're super linear, tbh). The overworld view seems really pulled back - I like being able to see the scope of the scenery (super cool), but sometimes wish I could bring the camera in closer? I think I might need to figure out if I should play a certain distance from the TV...
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Assassin's Creed Unity (PS4) by jp (Dec 20th, 2025 at 17:17:37) |
The weirdest thing happened when I booted this up to play last night.
There was already a saved game! In my name! About 7% through the game - so, not very long or very far, but I couldn't remember playing this at all! I thought perhaps a family member did? Nope they all said. The saved game was from 2019...so , not TOO old - as in, if it was me, surely I'd remember?
Oh well, no problem, I'll just start a new game.
You can't.
I couldn't find anywhere in the interface where you could start a new game, delete your saved file, nothing! I googled, and everyone was saying you had to turn offsyncing with Ubisoft's Origin - which won't work because I'm on PS4 AND, the saved file is in Sony's cloud saves... and I couldn't figure out how to delete a file from there either. You can only upload/download...which was really frustrating.
Oh well, let's just play one of the first missions - see how it goes..
And, it goes poorly - not gameplay-wjse it's just that the whole thing was pretty buggy - I saw characters doing weird things (floating in the air, etc.) but more importantly - significant mission triggers - didn't trigger! I continued, and eventually they worked out...so, I decided to just move on to the regular missions and just be ignorant of whatever story had happened...
So, I start an assassination mission - kill a guy inside Notre Dame - neat. It says there are different entryways, alternate missions you can do to make it easier and so on including a short scene with a priest who's locked out at the top and complains his keys have been stolen.
I wander around outside, getting the lay of the land, and notice there's a target - person with keys - so I steal the keys! Yay! Making progress - and then I realize I can pretty much climb up the walls of the cathedral, so I do.
And then I get to where the priest was complaining - and I use the keys to unlock one door. The other doesn't unlock - the priest just stands there - I go around unlock the door from the other side, and still no effect. Later on I die..so I start over, but this time my characters (Arno?) automatically unlocks a door and the priest goes like "thanks". Oh! But then, nothing else happens...and then some other part of the mission gets borked.
At that point I decide to bail, because this game is now old - I'm playing, I supposed, the version with all the patches and fixes...amd it's still THIS janky? Wow.
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Banner Saga Trilogy (PS4) by jp (Dec 6th, 2025 at 14:27:00) |
I started playing this back in October - maybe earlier? - and it was really confusing for me. Mostly I kept making mistakes I blame on the interface. For example, I'd select a character, move it, and then try to attack only to realize that I wasn't adjacent to the enemy like I thought. So, I'd miss a turn, my characters would die - but, I moved on. In the sense that I know this game is supposed to be sad, there's attrition, you make do an move on. But overall combat was really fiddly for me - I'd bungle selecting characters, and I wasn't really understanding the system.. does facing matter? are there attacks of opportunity if you move away, etc. These aren't dealbreakers for me, I was happy to try to learn and figure things out, and since you can't really save, it just continues - I though I'd just see how far I could get. Especially since it seems really brutal! I think the upgrade points are basically how you heal? Only two points at a time - so, it really is attritional. Or maybe I'm really misunderstanding the progression system.
I did think it was interesting to follow the different stories - I have a hard time following the names and whatnot, but just seeing there were two groups, different character abilities, and such seems interesting.
Then other stuff got in the way and I wasn't able to continue playing for a few weeks.
I just came back to it, and wow - still the same UI stuff and ugh. I just don't feel like it's worth it to continue playing (a drawer full of other PS4 games doesn't help). I wonder if the console version is just worse than sitting at a desk on a PC? As in, would I make as many mistakes if I was on mouse and keyboard with the screen much closer to my face?
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Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS) by jp (Dec 6th, 2025 at 12:20:24) |
There's quite a bit to do, but most of it has started to feel a bit shallow. The dungeon exploring was perhaps my favorite, there's lots of exploring to do which was fun, and it isn't that hard, and the companion helper was also a neat idea (to be honest though, I kept forgetting to "activate") - but overall I'm looking at the stack of DS games I still want to play (it's been getting quite a bit smaller, which is good -since the 3DS pile now looms) that I've decided to shelve this one.
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GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
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2312 registered gamers and 3329 games. 7863 GameLogs with 13347 journal entries. 5121 games are currently being played.
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Soul Calibur III (PS2) by Player 1 |
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most recent entry: Friday 19 January, 2007
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I haven't played this game in months, but I picked it up again for this gamelog assignment. I had forgotten how much fun it is. It took me awhile to familiarize myself with all the buttons and combos again, but once I got into the swing of things I was having lots of fun. I played with my old roommate, we use to have epic battles for hours, and made SCIII more fun by turning it into a drinking game. I started with my favorite character Cervantes, the dreaded ghost pirate. Cervantes is one of the best juggler characters. This means he comes from below with a lot of upper cut type moves that send your opponent up into the air. The downside is that he has very short range. But he has several moves to make up for this such as flying across the screen through the opponent like a bullet or by actually pulling out his gun and shooting them from across the screen. My friend started with Rock, a strong barbarian-like fighter with a huge hammer. Rock has a lot of high damaging moves and long range so you have to be careful as you approach, especially with Cervantes since he has very short range. The battles were pretty evenly matched. We used to both play we these two characters so much that we would have 5 or 6 guard impacts in a row because we could predict eachothers moves so well. Since it had been so long, we weren't that in synch so the battles went a lot quicker, but there were still some very close matches. I like the guard impact system because it allows you not only to defend but also gives you an advantage to attack. I had a really hard time getting any throws in because my opponent was able to anticipate all my attempts. In fighting games its fun to switch characters because when playing the same character your style tends to get repetitive and it becomes more difficult to come up with a new offense especially when your opponent is used to fighting you. I tried Taki next because I know a very powerful three move combo that is very difficult to execute but takes 75% of your opponents health. It involves using her explosion move to send your opponent flying into the air, then immediately you must use her jump move to make contact with them in the air, then immediately grab them for a devastating move. The timing is very difficult and very fast. Sometimes it can be very hard to set this up because most players dont get hit by her explosion, because it takes a few secs to work. Its fun to try and pull off, and very satisfying if you do, but spending too much time trying to send them up, leaves you vulnerable to your opponents attacks. Its best to try it when they are knocked down or approaching. But it helps to be familiar with Taki's other melee combos as well. I love the graphics on this game and the fighting and throwing animations are wonderful. They are creative, and very satisfying. I forgot how much I loved this game and it was fun to play again. What makes this game the most fun is playing with another person. Single player is all right, but its a lot more fun and challenging to play with another brain who has their own strategies and can adjust to your playing style. There is also a campaign mode in single player which isn't much fun, it simply involves moving tiny people on a battlefield, then fighting them in a typical match. There is an element of strategy to where you deploy your fighters, but it takes a long time and only the actual fighting is enjoyable. One of the best features of SC3 is the character maker. You can design your own character, and have a multitude of options to customize him, with more options available through the game store, where you spend money from single player. Its fun to fight against your own friends with your own custom character. These custom characters take the movesets of different already existing characters but they add a lot of fun to the game. This assignment reminded me how much I enjoyed this game and I will add it into my freetime again.
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