Progress report: August ‘21 (a.k.a. The Prodigal Configuration of Being Returns!)
First off, I would like to say “it’s only natural that I haven’t played any Steam games for almost two months after completing so many free ones back in June, it balances itself out”, but really, I’ve got no excuse. If there is one thing that’s going to keep haunting me until the day I die, it’s my Steam backlog. …and my physical manga backlog, but we don’t talk about that one.
cue the Psycho shower scene BGM
Aaanyway, my one excuse is that as the holidays started, I naturally got into working on some anime watching challenges over on MyAnimeList (most specifically, ones that require you to watch one movie/OVA etc. for a set period of time), as I have done for the last… checks nervously …f-five years? Yeeah, that would be it. Then, since I had more free time, I started chatting with a friend over Discord… but since she’s US based, I have once again remembered I’ve got no self-control when it comes to talking to people and so I’ve been staying up until anywhere between 2 AM and 6 AM just about every night. I started playing a new mobile game since she recommended it, then I suggested streaming another game for her to play along with… and lordy-loo, now I’m here. To my defense, however, I have been putting some time into PlayStation games, completing a long list of four titles! (lol) Currently, the plan is to squeeze in some more playtime that requires and/or is more handy with a controller, since… aahhh, I don’t even want to think about it, but… now there’s less than three weeks left until I have to actually move out for uni… and I don’t dare to take even as little as the DS4, cause I don’t have $60 for another one in case something were to happen to it in transit. I will definitely take my Vita, though, having a case for it and everything.
Speaking of which, I feel it could be good to pose this here: I don’t plan on taking my TV and home consoles with me when I move, but people keep talking like I’m overreacting. Last time I checked, I was moving for university, not for fun. That, and I believe the room was too small to fit a TV. I’d like to know your thoughts and opinions.
And for the hardy ones, here’s what I assassinated in August:
-
Lozenge
-
Midnight Carnival
0.5 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Potatoe
0.0 hours playtime
no achievements
Lozenge - A nice, casual game that encourages logical thinking by having you fit an assortment of shapes into a limited space until… whenever you mess yourself up, essentially. I’ve only put almost 10 hours into it at this point, because my last achievement - scoring over ten thousand points in one game - was proving hard. Usually I’d finish a game around the five-six thousand mark, but recently I got down to it and managed to get it done. It’s an interesting little title, but I find the music annoying, the lack of an automatic game over inconvenient and the fact that some shapes don’t rotate in all possible directions infuriating, so take from that what you will.
Midnight Carnival - This game has been in Early Access ever since I could remember, which always made for the perfect excuse for me not to play it. Now that it’s been close to five years since its initial release, I figured I might as well get it out of the way. Mostly negative reviews, citing anywhere between 15 and 30 minutes of playtime… yeeeah, there was nothing good about it. It was made in my least favorite VN engine, it’s poorly written, it doesn’t even fullscreen properly. I want to say it’s an incel’s risky dream, considering the main character’s outlook on life… but then again, the story is just so bizarre I can’t say I gleaned anything from it. Naturally, I didn’t expect it to be finished, but then it cuts at the most random point in the story… truth be told, I was only glad it was over. Choosing different options didn’t really do much either, so hey, hi, hello, illusion of choice. I know I must have gotten this in some crappy bundle or as a random mystery key, but not even that makes it worth it. Hell, don’t even try it if it goes for free - the only way to win is not to play, as they say.
Potatoe - A gift from Ylthin, no less - thank you so much! Unfortunately, there isn’t much to talk about when it comes to Potatoe; it’s one simple maze obscured by darkness which has, uh… diodes? randomly spawn in different places for you to collect. No win-lose conditions, no time limit, nothing to really compete about in the multiplayer mode (yes, that exists). However, the reviews for it are very scathing and for what reason, I can’t understand - there have been far less playable games that Steam has seen, but Potatoe is not one of them. It’s more like mindless drivel to be put on for background noise, or if for any reason you want to pretend to be hypnotised by your computer screen. Nothing to recommend, but I’m not enough of an adult baby to cry about it (lol).
See you next month! :)
I wouldn’t take the TV, I think a handheld console would be fine though. If you are worried about it being broken during transit you could always just keep it on you. University can get pretty tough and having a couple games on hand to take a break would be good for stress relief. Congratulations on your assassinations btw, although they look like odd titles.
Yeah! My Vita always needed some love! …I mean, I feel that way about all my consoles, even though one game or ten, I’m still putting time into them.
And then I have my Steam backlog… which would last me about 10 years (and that’s assuming I could afford to complete a hundred games yearly, which I usually can’t!)
I’ll let you in on a secret - I wasn’t even planning on completing anything. I decided I was going to return in September, head hung low and all that. Then I needed something quick/short to play while I was waiting for something and I figured, why not try and fool around with Lozenge? I wasn’t expecting myself to get that last achievement, but then I unlocked it and said “heck it, might as well complete three games so it looks nice”. Didn’t have a lot of time until the end of the month though, so I settled for short stuff - I was going to finish Tell Me Why, but then I realized I won’t get it done in time - it’ll definitely show up in my September post, though :D
I’m pretty sure I’m going to never be able to complete my backlog because I’m always adding stuff to it, just lately I’ve been on a roll because I haven’t bought any bundles or wanted the monthlies. At least that means we can still be doing stuff and finding entertainment 10 years later.
Doing 100 games a year might be excessive, although I consider beating any of them a win in general. I think, at most, I’m going to cap out around 70 this year. I would like to complete 60 at the very least. I’ll hit 50 next month though, so I got that going for me.
Regardless, I’m glad you finished a couple of them, and I look forward to your next update. I’ve seen a lot of people play “Tell me Why” but atm I’m not sure if it’s something I should consider playing or not.
That’s a great way to think about it :) I should be internalizing that line of thought more, but for some reason I only keep feeling like the uncool kid - getting mad at myself for being late to games :/
Yeah, it’s always something ^^ Thanks for reading my posts <3
Then I can only hope my review of it won’t turn out to be word soup, but actually coherent stuff that can help you decide :)