Activities
Today
| Finished | ||
For me, September has been a month of playing together with my kid. My wife is building her carrier, so she's working, studying, and taking courses simultaneously while I am taking care of our child most of the time when I am not working myself. Naturally, we play a lot of different games, including video games. We managed to beat three in a row with lots of laughs, and I can safely say that I enjoyed all these games as much as she did.
Songbird Symphony is a game made by bird-lovers for bird-lovers (with little kids). Although it lacks some polish and the gameplay is tedious, we enjoyed its rhythm puzzles (tough ones), lighthearted story, and bird nerdiness. It was amusing to collect and identify different feathers and learn about bird species from the Southern Hemisphere even I, the bird nerd, had not heard of before. Quite educational!
Yoku's Island Express is a game we both enjoyed immensely. The kid-friendly gameplay, the art style, the pure concept (to mix Metroidvania with pinball is such an unusual idea!) - everything is superb. We fell in love with it and played it every evening together till the very end. It was such a big hit for my kid that she had tears when the game ended because she felt it was too short (and it was 12 hours, mind you, the longest game we have ever played to date).
Samorost 3 is...there are no words to describe how phenomenal the game really is. Especially its sound design. It is brilliant, magnificent, unparalleled art suited for all ages and every intellectual level, considering the availability of a cheat book (yeah, we used it more than once, lol). Another game I cannot recommend enough, which is something I can say about every Amanita Design game I have played.
| Acquisitions | ||
-
GRIME
-
Stirring Abyss
-
Duskers
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Samorost 3
I purchased some games again, so my backlog keeps growing up. This time nothing big - only a handful of decent indies, old and new, that I am looking forward to trying out.
Have a nice week! 😊
Third week of September
Once again an incredibly busy week so only 2 games done.
Completed games
Achievements: 50 of 50 (100%)
Review: Honestly a quiet enjoyable diorama building experience to enjoy after a long day where you just want to shut down your brain and just watch something but you still wanna do something with your hands. It is surprisingly cheap too. Works fine with Proton in windowed mode, but in fullscreen the game freaks out if you tab out and it makes it unplayable (but my setup is completely broken atm so it could be just me).
Achievements: 100 of 100 (100%)
Review: Another one of the 100 hidden games that just came out on the day I played it. This one was drawn by a new to the series artist and I am not a fan of the artstyle at all (still not as bad as the mushroom one). The game otherwise is still the same and still enjoyable, just less due to the art. Works just fine with Proton.
Yesterday
Ninglors Log 231
September Progress:
4
PPU monthly:
undone
September Additions:
14
Yearly HOG counter:
26
Completed Games:
We. The Revolution
Maelstrom: A Yaoi Visual Novel
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge
Won/Gifted Games:
Bought Games:
Played this week:
Cat Story ahead!
I still have no idea what kinda cat story to write, but… well cats are cats, right? So let’s see. Right. Did I tell you, how much Tizio dislikes that we are going atm every weekend to my parents. The moment I get the carrier out, he knows what’s going on. So either he’ll hide under my blanket (or somewhere) or he just anxiously waits for things to happen. Once I pick him up, he’ll cling to me and meow pretty pitifully. I mean, I’m not gonna set him down bc of that. Bc I really don’t wanna stay Friday and Saturday night at my place. So yeah, we’re doing that. I stuff him into the carrier, he’ll meow the whole way down. Like I’m living on the second floor, so meowing the whole way down. I kinda expect my neighbours coming out at some point and asking what’s going on. So far no one did that though. The moment we’re in the car he’s quiet. That wasn’t always that way, he used to meow a lot while driving. Not anymore. At least if the drive is only as long as it takes from my place to my parents. If it’s longer… well, lost, he’ll meow. Also I’m petting him if I can. At my parents he has to get out as fast as he possible can – faster than his human anyway. And yeah, Ameno will be at his tail and stuff.
You’d think he would be happy to go back to my place. But nope. Same thing on the way home. Maybe less meowing while carrying him up the stairs.
Anyway, funny thing happened this time. I normally put him down, open the front hatch, let him out and close it again. This time my mum let him out and didn’t close the thing, which I didn’t realize. So I opened the top part to put him back in and was all ready to go, when my mum said: “Nope, you can’t leave yet”, and pointed at the cat running away. Bc he tried pushing the front door and it obv opened. So yeah, had to catch him again, put him back in and go. I bet he was twice as pissed as normal by that xD
So much from me :)
Have a lovely week!
Queen Ninglor
Played on SteamI like this game a lot! Art style is great, music is complementary to the gameplay, environmental story telling is good. Overall a pretty relaxing game, but really short, so full price maybe not worth it, unless you like it a lot like me and just play it sometimes to relax.
Sep 18 2021
#131
September 19, 2021
A good game, but pretty short! Puzzles aren't that challenging, gameplay isn't difficult, environmental story telling is pretty good. Overall it's a game worth playing.
Joined the site a week or so ago... a lot of sorting left to do, I just cant find the time to do it!
Sep 17 2021
#130
September 17, 2021
Weekly Games #159
Chibi Wars
0.0 hours, no achievements
Swords of Edo
0.0 hours, no achievements
So I didn’t do any new games this weak, I got a bunch of new ones planned but this week I just took time to be in my comfort zone with games I’ve done before. I’m happy with my reviews for them all and it was nice giving some of them a proper go like space pilgrim which is normally just meh in my eyes. Kinda did an annoying amount though, I prefer to keep my things at 10 a page but we got 11 here. It’s like barely over but I also didn’t want to move the 2 comics into its own section like I’d normally choose to do purely because it seems weird to do that.
Sep 16 2021
August 2021 Update
Next update (works only on profile page)
Control Ultimate Edition (Q3 2020) ⭐️⭐⭐⭐⭐
Action
22,5h hours | Not reported by Epic
- good graphic
- really nice environmental destruction
- nice balance between exploration and shooting
- nerdy jokes :blobevil:
- interesting setting
The bad
- textures can takes ages to load on boards or posters but not general environment
- enemies have average AI
- fact that nothing is really anchored to the floor makes even big object have funky physic when we're just walking next to them. Toilet that gets ripped out just because we walked into it? No problem!
Conclusion:
I really did enjoy it. It's not a masterpiece but it is a solid mix of combat and exploration that builds story from bits of audio logs and notes scattered around.
Story:
Gameplay:
| 💸 Microtranzactions | None | 🏆 Achievements | Not possible to check |
| 📊 Performance | Wors very well. No frame drops or stuttering. | 💾 Save system | One automatic save. But it's frequent enough to not make game annoying. Game is mostly linear with no choices so there is no need to reload previous save. |
| 🌍 Map | Map can be confusing as they tried to show 3D structure as a plain map. There are no "map layers" we can change in order to see different floors in a multi-layer location. Everything is smashed on one layer which means we can randomly end in a dead end instead of staircase etc. |
| 🎮 Controls | Controls are fluid and responsive. We can run, evade, jump, hover, shot and throw object at enemies. |
| 📇 Inventory | Very basic. Game has 2 weapon slots and 5 weapons in total, so we need to decide which one we want to use. Upgrades in inventory can be easily sorted by name, type or rarity which makes it easy to find upgrade for a weapon. There is a limit to how much we can carry which requires us to destroy junk upgrades quite often. |
| 🏹 Weapons | Our weapon is one of the paranormal objects belonging to the agency. Shapeshifting gun that can act as handgun, mini gun, sniper, shotgun and rocket launcher. At first only handgun is available and other forms are unlocked along the way. I was using sniper and handgun. Variety is not huge but each weapon operates bit differently and have their own specific upgrades. Weapon don't have ammo and instead operates on cool down, like guns in first Mass Effect. |
| 🕵️♀️ Abilities | We start as normal human and unlock paranormal abilities along the way. Telekinetic, levitation, shield, mind control. Levitation helps reach higher spaces and some side objectives, mind control is good to use enemies as target shields to divert fire away from us. I never used shield apart from tutorial. Telekinetic throws are used in combat to throw pieces of concrete and environment to damage enemies. Pretty much nothing in this game is attached to the floor so we can even use toilet to attack enemies. |
| 🤖 Companion and enemy AI | There are no companions. And enemy AI has average enemy. Game relies on throwing piles of enemies on us, instead having them attack in smart way. They will not run around corner, they can't throw grenades, they will sometimes aim on the ground. The only thing they can do is try to position themselves towards us and take a shot. When we use mind control it's obvious they take a sec to re-configure their target priorities, as they will stare on us and then do sharp turn and start to walk in straight line to nearest enemy. They don't take cover effectively. |
| 🥊 Combat | Combat is effective, flashy and dynamic. We need to constantly switch between using weapon and telekinetic throws as weapon ammo is pitiful and cool down is long. Enemies are bit on the dumb site and game "compensate" for it by making us really weak. At first we can die from taking few shots. We also need to be on the move constantly as enemies can spawn behind us. They are summoned from thin air by hiss so no place on the level during the fight is save. Not to mention invisible enemies that kill us in two hits. |
Technicalities:
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - Voice acting is good, same as combat noises. Music is forgettable
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - Didn't encourage any
Frostpunk (Q2 2018) ⭐️⭐⭐⭐⭐
RTS,
City
Builder
16,5h hours | Not reported by Epic
- well balanced
- two different approaches in story to take
- nice setting
- works well on really old PCs
The bad
- feels like one trick pony - I lost interest after first scenario is beaten as everything is scripted and predictable
- ending could show more consequences of our actions
Conclusion:
Well made RTS game with a bit of Papers Please vibe. Game goal is to manage colony in the middle of the arctic, by having to make tough decisions of how to keep people alive. Sadly it looks like there is only one proper way to develop the technology, as some ways to extract resources are noticeably more efficient than others.
Story:
Gameplay:
| 💸 Microtranzactions | None | 🏆 Achievements | Not visible on Epic |
| 📊 Performance | Really nice, worked well on 2 core Athlon CPU :D | 💾 Save system | Unlimited number of manual slots + auto save |
| 🌍 Map | Overworld map is nice and detailed. It's easy to find new locations, know how long it will take to reach some place etc. |
| 🎮 Controls | Mostly with mouse. In spots with a lot of buildings it's easy to click on one (and open up context menu) instead of move camera around. |
| 🕵️♀️ Upgrades | There is moderately complex technology tree where we use coal / wood / metal etc. to upgrade steam generator, resource gathering, housing, doctors, exploration etc. Upgrades are crucial as with time weather gets colder and colder and it's not possible to keep people alive without better infrastructure. |
| 🤖 Companion and enemy AI | People in the town have decent AI. They don't get stuck in objects, find their way to the workplace easily and have simple need system that works well and its not overly complicated. They need to be kept warm and fed. If they are cold (at workplace or home) they will get sick and need to see doctor. If they are unhappy distress will rise, and if it's not lowered then people will take over the power. There is also hope which shows how optimistic people are. |
Technicalities:
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - There is not much music, it's mostly ambient sounds of snow, blizzards, working machines etc. There is no voice acting
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - I didn't encourage any
The Journey Down: Chapter Three (Q3 2017) ⭐️⭐☆☆☆
Point
&
Click
3,7h hours | No achievements
- story is explained and there are no loose ends
The bad
- game is sub par to previous in the series
- backgrounds are blurry
- animations are of average quality
- whole game feels rushed
- puzzles are really easy
- some graphical issues
Conclusion:
This is end of this trilogy, and it's not a good game. Bare bone puzzles, bad animations and not really interesting ending. Maybe play if you want to know end of the story but surely don't play as only game in this series.
Story:
Gameplay:
| 💸 Microtranzactions | None | 🏆 Achievements | N/A |
| 📊 Performance | No issues | 💾 Save system | One automatic save |
| 🎮 Controls | Game is controlled with a mouse like all Point&Click games. Only problem is that characters don't really run fast when you double click somewhere and screen skipping by double clicking on the edge is not really fast. |
| 📇 Inventory | Just a menu at the bottom of screen that shows object we hold. It's possible to combine objects but not really to dismantle them to extract specific parts. |
| 🤖 Companion and enemy AI | There are no enemies. And companions just stand in the distance without doing anything. |
Technicalities:
Music - ⭐️☆☆ - Just few basic sounds played on repeat
Bugs - ⭐️⭐☆ - There are some graphical glitches but nothing game breaking
- visuals?
The bad
- awful optimization that made it unplayable
Conclusion:
Awful stuttering on low/medium settings. It would require more digging into modders-discovered optimizations than it's worth due to time limit of subscription I had. I literally couldn't get past tutorial due to how stuttery and lagging it was. "Spend more time to fix it!" is not an excuse for devs to release game in this state and keep selling without fixing it.
Technicalities:
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - ???
Bugs - ☆☆☆ - Sorry, but this game was unplayable on R5 3600 and RX 5600. And many people have worse PCs than this. First game that I tried that didn't want to even work with stable frame rate at low graphic settings
- good reproduction of the internet from 90s
- pizza song
The bad
- there is no proper tutorial and I had to use guides to see what I need to do next
Conclusion:
I expected this to be a bit like Orwell, but due to the setting it's not. Looks like there is some "entity vs system" going on but I didn't get past beginning of the game. But it does look interesting. Only that not for me. Game shows flashy surprise images which may be bad for people with epilepsy. Or just like me who is startled easily. We are tasked with moderating Hypnospace - it's like VR game where people can make their own websites, business etc. Gave me a feeling of teens strapped for whole days to VR, living their "better" lives in a virtual world. But monopoly don't like competition so we, as Hypnospace mods, need to look for people that use "unauthorized payment methods", "misuse intellectual properties", "harass others" etc. Obviously it's only harassment if corporation board decides so. Just like it was not a problem to have hate raids on Twitch until it started to be more public.
Technicalities:
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - Bare bone but I guess fitting to the era?
Bugs - ⭐️⭐☆ - Didn't see any
Side note
It’s boggling my mind how entitled people are here. Feels like we have entirely different work culture in Poland.
✔ Arguing that they came to work before 8pm, started to actually work at 8:20pm, but their overtime should count from 8pm
✔ Being late each 2nd / 3rd day and think that it’s all right
✔ Shouting on Supervisors / Production Managers when they pointed out error, and walk away with no consequences. Even have audacity to apply for Team Leader position
✔ Team Leader that is Union Representative and “Advice” their pals what to say to avoid consequences of their bad work
I mean… I knew public sector is not amazing but what I see here in Health Sector in UK is ridiculous. How can you have someone being late few times per week, not following breaks, doing 50% of average norm, complaining on everyone (while not following instructions on their own)? And this kind of parasites are defended by unions. It’s literally not possible to throw someone like that out. And they wonder why NHS is in such awful shape.
I’m against working conditions like in Amazon, so having unions that can oppose it is good thing. But NHS Unions are some freak-show degenerate I can’t even start to think about it without getting annoyed D:
I used icons from this page, to show gaming platform in my post:
https://icons8.com/icons