What I Played Today: September 11

Rune Factory 3

Finally beat that dumb bone dragon. Stupid bone dragon. Now I'm at the part where I would normally give up. BUT NOT TODAY!

What I Played Today: September 10

Rune Factory 3, Civilization V

I'm in the desert in Rune Factory 3, which is a boring part with a bunch of dumb fetch quests. Boo fetch quests.

Also, continue to do just what the hell ever in Civilization V, why are these games so long? And I'm still in third place behind Rome and Shaka. Why am I wasting all these hours in a game I might lose? Why am I playing video games at all? AHHHH!!!

What I Played Today: September 9

Rune Factory 3, Cook Serve Delicious

Just chugging the fuck along with Rune Factory 3. I was going to go on this long diatribe about how much I love Harvest Moon games, but you've heard it. Come on, you know. But I am determined to "finish" the main storyline of this game before Rune Factory 4 comes out, so I can finally say, after nearly ten years of playing these games, that I finally got married in a Harvest Moon game. LISTEN, I know there tons of other goals I could have, and the bragging rights here are pretty much non-existant, but I've gotta be who I be, right?

I also did a couple of days of high-speed cooking in Cool Serve Delicious. Pushing those buttons! Let's make some soup! Who wants a corndog? I might be going insane!

What I Played Today: Labor Day Weekend

Guild Wars 2, Reus, Civilization 5, Rune Factory 3

So I played a lot of games this weekend, all by myself, and that's fine, no really, it's fine. In Guild Wars, I went all out to make sure I finally got the monthly bonus, so that I would have all the laurels, buy myself a new cool ring or something. The world event is still stupid, and of course there's some dumb dungeon and I'm just going to skip it, maybe all that nonsense will go away today.

Also keep playing Reus, there's something about this game I like, even though some parts of the game are Be Roken. Such as the way that once a town gets to a certain level of greed, they will just start warring with literally everyone, for no reason whatsoever. Like, a new town will pop up on the planet, and these assholes will immediately stomp over there and destroy it. Goddamn ridiculous.

Also started a really long game of Civilization 5, playing as the Ottomans, and just started building cities everywhere. I've managed to carve out a huge swath of land for myself and I'm getting worried that Egypt is going to be very angry with me very shortly. We'll see how this goes.

And then I decided to start playing Rune Factory 3 again, for no reason! It was weird, just one minute I thought to myself, "Heh, that new Rune Factory is taking forever to be released. Hey, did I finish the one I have?" and the answer was OF COURSE I HAVEN'T, it's a Harvest Moon game, NOBODY finishes those. But...I started playing again, because I'm a bit of an idiot. Nine days in!

What I Played Today: November 25

Rune Factory 3

Lazy dumb hotel day, spent a lot of it playing Rune Factory 3. I have killed the bosses of the third dungeon, and have been told a plot point that seems monumentally stupid, but I'm ignoring it. I have decided to romance the fishing lady, who has a brother who gets ridiculously jealous. It's a little funny to watch, especially because the girl seems fairly interested in the main character and trying to play all innocent about it. But let's not talk about my fake love life, shall we?

What I Played Today: November 22

Rune Factory 3, Skyrim

I played a bit of Rune Factory today, just doing things, nothing important. I really don't get this stand-up routine subplot, mainly because I don't know much about Japanese stand-up. It just seems overly wacky, and not very funny. I kept restarting because I kept screwing up the events, at one point during the fishing festival just completely forgetting to do any fishing because I misunderstood the instructions. I also keep getting asked to do things that are wholely unreasonable, like, say, fixing an omelet, even though such an object was apparently far beyond my cooking skill. Stupid omelets.

Also went through the one dungeon in Skyrim, with about three healing potions. I still managed to survive, somehow, although the stupidest thing happened during the final boss fight. After losing once, I check the treasure chest left for me again, to find that there a mace enchanted with "undead will flee when hit." HM! I wonder what I'll have to fight here in a minute. OH RIGHT! So that was easy.

What I Played Today: November 13

Rune Factory 3, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade

Mostly farmed today! Tried to make some progress in Animal Parade, managed to make some apple pie, that was neat, but it's still taking a long time to get anywhere in this game, so I quit out of frustration.

Also played Rune Factory, which was about the same.

What I Played Today: November 12

Rune Factory 3, Rift, Wizorb, Sonic Generations, Space Channel Part 2

Lot today! First the ordinary stuff, played some Rune Factory, still plugging along. I got really distracted at one point when someone asked me to make some flounder sashimi, which was a lot harder than I though to acquire, and there's a weird thing where in the desert level, you can sand fish. There are fish in the sand. And this is normal. But eventually I said screw it and canceled that request and I'm back on track again.

In Rift, finally got enough special tokens or whatever to get my main an ash raptor. It looks like a dumb bird! Moving on!

I ended up taking a huge nap, and afterwards I felt like playing just anything else, so I tried Wizorb. Wizorb is basically Breakout, but with magic spells and old-timey graphics. I am really bad at Breakout. I kept losing the ball because I wouldn't prioritize keeping it in motion. So, at one point I restarted the game on easy, just so I would have a damn chance, and eventually got through the first world. Why these worlds need to be 12 levels long is beyond me. That's a long time without a break.

Also played the demo to Sonic Generations, which was on my Xbox for some reason. Lot of things happening for no clear reason. It was okay! Not perfect, but it was interesting looking at the two different gameplay styles between classic and current Sonic. I think I like current Sonic better, because it's a lot more visually interesting, constantly changing the camera angle. But it's a Sonic game, which you would have to be a fool to purchase, so I won't be playing anymore.

One more demo, Space Channel 5 Part 2. I remember hearing how absolutely fabulous Space Channel 5 is, but have never actually played it, so I booted this up, and it was pretty fun! It's a pretty simple rhytym matching game, but the aesthetic is fun and the music is great. I, in fact, got mad when the demo ended, because I wanted to play more. And then I went back to bed!

What I Played Today: November 11

Rune Factory 3

I'm back into a Rune Factory groove! I have managed to kill the bone dragon, finally, by remembering to bring assistance in the form of magic seeds, which I kinda forgot was a thing. But eventually it fell, and then I get shunted onto the next plot dungeon, Oddward Valley, which I'm not nearly strong enough to handle. I also finally figured out that each dungeon is perpetually in a different season, so that's why I can buy seeds of all seasons at any time. Good to know. Also, at one point, I get called on by one of the ladies to do a magazine survey that is just very leading questions to determine whether I might like her or not. It was a little silly.

What I Played Today: November 10

Rune Factory 3

I played a little bit of Rune Factory 3! This game has some interesting problems, it's plays its combat system pretty fast and loose, and it's easy to get killed when you aren't paying attention. I'm still trying to kill that damn bone dragon, and thought I was doing fine until I got backed into a corner and got killed. I also managed to kill myself while I was tilling my farm, I was really low on "rune points" or whatever they call stamina, but I figured I had some health so if that zeroed out, I can just take a few hits on health. NOPE! As soon as I hit zero stamina, my character spins out and he is unconscious. Well then.

What I Played Today: October 16

Memoir 44, Rune Factory 3

It turns out that a board game I've heard some good things about is now fully electric and free to play over Steam. So I downloaded that and played a few games. It's a pretty simple tactical game, in which you play a card from your hand to issue commands to a number of units. One thing I've noticed is how wide the power of the individual cards swing. There are cards that allow you to issue a command to a single unit on the left side of the field, and another that allows you to issue a command to all units in the center. That's a wide swing, and if I don't get the card I need to press on the front I need to, I'll lose. I still won every game, so that was great. Although their pricing structure is weird. You have a number of GI's, and each non-tutorial game costs from 3 to 5 GI's to play. Once you're out, you have to buy more. Now, GI's are cheap, like 4 cents a piece, but that's still really weird to be charged per play.

Also put in some more time with Rune Factory 3. I haven't advanced the plot at all, just doing some farming and helping out the people in town. At one point someone asked me to bring them one of the ingredients for poundcake. Now, I don't know how to make poundcake, and I don't know why she was being so tenative to tell me exactly what she needed, but I just guessed that you'd probably need flour, and I was right! So, thanks for that weird challenge, game.

What I Played Today: October 8

Rune Factory 3, Bastion, (disclosed)

A break from the usual nonsense, I spent the day hanging out in my living room, away from my damn computer, playing on my 3DS. I mostly played Rune Factory, planting some, talking some, and eventually going into the desert to visit the monsters. I don't know why everyone hates these monsters. They look pretty normal, they just have horns coming out of their head. Anyway, these guys need help with a giant skeleton dragon, which I'm not allowed to fight with actual weapons because I have to pretend to be a monster, and that jerk is hard! Couple things I do like: I have been able to purchase a lot of crafting stations, and in order to learn more recipes, you have to buy bread and eat it. Recipe bread! That just sounds ridiculous and I like it. Also, the characters still have a ton more personality than they do in other Harvest Moon games, which is kinda ridiculous, since Rune Factory games also have a lot more gameplay than Harvest Moon games too.

I also played like 15 minutes of Bastion, because I remembered I owned it. It's still Bastion! But I didn't get very far because I bored on it fairly quickly.

I also playtested a couple of games of something that I'm not explaining, because I'm still working on the rules and I'm not convinced that it's actually fun yet and that's all I'm saying.

What I Played Today: October 5

Rune Factory 3

I killed a raccoon who can apparently turn into the Hulk. It was weird. Through some general inpatience, I found out that it is really really easy to get ladies to fall in love with you in this game, but, you must also complete their quest line before they will consider marrying you, so that almost makes up for it. But I'm plugging away.

What I Played Today: October 4

Rune Factory 3, Portal 2

I went on an Amazon journey a week ago, and today the stuff I ordered finally got here! One of them is Animal Parade, you know all about that, and the other is Rune Factory 3, which, according to all the reviews, is the best game Natsume has ever done. It's alright! It gets you into it really quick (after some lady with a weird hat talks to you for what felt like hours) and it's fast, pretty loose, and quest-based, which is kinda nice. The game doesn't look very good, but it gets you into the thick of it really quickly, and does a fair better job of giving your fellow villagers more personality than you'd expect. Of course, half of them are lunatics, but at least they are something. So...I'm going try it! Who says I won't.

Also, the free "summer" DLC for Portal 2 is finally out, and it got played. It is tough! The story starts with GLaDOS saying that it has been 100,000 years since our robot buddies did whatever they did in the co-op campaign, and everything is just fine, she just wants to show off her new art exhibits. Naturally, that's not what's happening, but I won't be spoiling. We kept getting stuck every once in a while, because we were just not sure where to go. In one room, there was a puzzle piece that we thought would require two people, when it only needed one, so that slowed us down, and there was another white gel room, which I find more tedious than interesting. The last room we were in for I'm going to say half-an-hour, and managed to figure out a good half of it before we were in the final stretch and there were two more puzzles we had to figure out and we just had to call it. Oi.