Still Pokemon Red. I’m beginning to regret my choices. The choice to include Blue-exclusives, and trade evolutions, because PKHex makes it so easy to do. The choice to try to keep a selection of various typings caught up in level, so I’d have some decent coverage versus brute forcing.
Having the trio of starters. I think I’ve grown to hate Bulbasaur, at this point. Every time I go to drop him into my party, all I can remember is “Not very effective”, over and over again. Well into the 20s, still taking 2-3 Vine Whips to take out a level 6 Kakuna.
Slowly grinding my way through a Pokemon Red Professor Oaks Challenge(Yay, switch-training Magikarp…), and when my brains to the point of melting from that, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Kitsune Bladebound Magus, happily traipsing her fluffy way down wherever Desna may guide her.
May the Gods have mercy on the crusade she’s going to lead.
Just so you know, if it’s been awhile, Crate came in and did a pretty big overhaul on Grim Dawn, and are prepping for the “final” expansion that’s supposed to come sometime this year.
Dodge roll mechanic, potions are now a recharge resource versus pickups that take item space, the next expansion is adding potion customization, prettied up the old world to be more in-line with the quality the previous two expansions brought, tons of little tweaks.
It’s not exactly a “whole new game” experience, but it’s much more smoothed out!
Jauwn is a treat, and he makes such cool intros. He adds a nice perspective to the crypto games market. Open about his views on what it’s used for, but still willing to give it an honest try and look at it as a game alongside everything else.
Out of nowhere, I had the sudden urge to play New Vegas again, so that’s been taking up my time. Been enjoying a more Vanilla+ playthrough, just the patches to help it run better. And Someguys quest mods, but they fit right in to me. Still haven’t made my way onto The Strip, though I’ve cleared Boone’s quest and I’m working on Veronica’s(with E-DE in tow, of course).
It’s been awhile for me, been a nice revisit. Just taking my time, and really enjoying all the little rediscoveries I’ve been making.
“Horror” is easy. Dim lighting, spooky creature, feelings of powerlessness(such as limited view, limited to no combat capabilities, restrictions like a stamina meter, the like).
GOOD horror is hard. Good horror is the kind that sticks around with you, leaves you feeling uneasy even after the end. That takes talent, creativity, and genuinely, a bit of bravery. It takes understanding what makes us feel afraid. Facing your own fears, making them a reality, distorting that reality into how it makes you feel.
Silent Hill, at least the first three, are exemplary for this, in my opinion. They explore the fear, but also the sadness, the anger, the confusion. Everything fear brings with it. It molds itself around the characters, letting us experience those emotions as they do. They can be genuinely visually unsettling, then swing the psychological side of things right at you.
Hell, you can even have that and hit a bit of a power fantasy. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth manages to have early moments where the tension keeps rising because you are basically powerless to stand and fight, to manning the guns later on.
Not everyone has the spark for good horror. It’s not a bad thing, just means it’s not your strength.
My first round of Tetris was on an old DMG my late stepfather owned. It was my first time even handling one of those old bricks, but I cherished it. I don’t know what in my young brain it hit, but something just felt right. That thing got lost somewhere in packing up the house after his passing, probably still had that exact cart slotted.
I don’t think I played it for years after that, until I got my OG Xbox, with the double pack Clone Wars/Tetris Worlds. If I wasn’t running around being a squeaker on Counter-Strike or MechWarrior, I was playing Tetris. Weekends spent gripping the Duke, trying to get as far as I could.
The soundtrack, art direction, color palette, and gameplay all come together in a relaxing loop. I have spent hours just drifting along spot to spot, taking care of the spirits in my care until their times came to depart, and still go back to it when I just want to have some time to relax.
As a warning, the game does deal with some emotional tones, so there’s a bit of melancholy mixed in. My wife and I both had times where we teared up because it felt like saying goodbye to someone again. It’s handled well, though. Really gives the feeling of everything being put to rest, and there’s still everything they taught you right there as a reminder of the effect they had.