The Rules

He starts with five rules for this exercise. The more detailed explanations can be found in his post.

1. The consequence for playing a sixth title? Playing anything outside of your pre-selected five titles will result in any gaming device you touch spontaneously combusting. (I mean, not truly, this is a thought-experiment!)
2. Selections aren’t limited to a certain platform.
3. All DLC for a given game is fine and included within your pick, including unreleased DLC at the time of your selection.
4. Mods and total conversions are okay.
5. Each entry in a series of games is considered an individual selection.

My Five Games

Honestly, right now I’m only playing two games regularly, and before picking up FFXIV I was only playing one game regularly. But because I can be fickle in my game choices, I will pick a few outside of my current main two as flex options for myself.

Dead by Daylight

At the current moment I’m not playing as much as I had been due to FFXIV currently being the poster child (I really want to experience stuff before Endwalker and try to catch up!), but it’s a game I’ve been playing consistently for the past year, I guess?

Back when DBD released, it was something I never thought I would actually play. But watching some streamers I enjoy play the game made me interested in trying it out.

Needless to say, I instantly became hooked. Pun intended.

But truly, it helped to re-awaken my interest in horror entertainment (novels, movies, etc.) that I lost long ago, and gave me a vast array of diverse content creators to follow on Twitch.

Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV)

The current favor child. I’m loving the heck out of it right now.

But I am not fooled into thinking that I will stick with it for forever. I never do seem to stick with MMOs consistently. I flit around them constantly.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

While not a staple, this one is on the list because I use it as a way to have date nights with one of my besties. It would obviously need to be on the list so that I could spend quality time with her.

I still have a lot to do and unlock, and I enjoy hunting the collectibles. So it’s a good all-around choice if I need something to do.

Stardew Valley

While I am not currently as into it as I was earlier this year, it’s a game I spent a lot of time in when I finally got to try it out and play it the way I wanted to.

There’s still a lot for me to finish in this one as well, so I wouldn’t mind playing more of it at all!

Code: Realize – Wintertide Memories

Otome (and dating sim) games are some of my absolute favorite. I received this one as a gift and have yet to play it.

So I could put in about twenty more hours into the franchise to complete all the storylines, see all the CGs, and unlock all the achievements!

It’d take up at least a month’s worth of gaming time, and give me the flex to play something different.

This is post 20/31 for Blaugust You can find out more and sign up over at Belghast’s post!

I set up some May goals that seemed like I would manage most of them. I didn’t manage many, however, due to changes in the world and my own changes in game interests.

• Inventory Management (ESO) Check!
• Pick up the last items I need for learning crafting traits (ESO)
• Do a few quests in Grahtwood (ESO)

I worked through my inventory management and tackled that, but I also realized that ESO really isn’t what I’m enjoying right now, as much as I may want to. So I’ll likely be putting ESO goals on the back burner for now, even if I do happen to log in and play some this month.

• Finish Phoenix Wright: Justice for All (Visual Novel)
• Play Muse Dash (Community Game-Along) Check!

I played quite a bit of Muse Dash, and have enjoyed myself greatly. However, I never did write about my thoughts on the game for the Community Game-Along. I’m not currently playing Muse Dash, but I do still have it installed because I will never say no to a game that works out well for depression days, or nights when I just need to unwind with mindless entertainment. I don’t think I’m going to participate in the Community Game-Along this month, as it’s JRPGJuly, and I don’t have the mental bandwidth to pick up an RPG right now (unless FFXIV counts!).

As for Phoenix Wright? Well, I saw that all of the games are available as a bundle on Steam, and well. I unfortunately missed the sale for the bundle. However, since I now know they’re on Steam, I’d rather play them there for ease-of-play, if I’m being honest. So I’m holding out for another sale on the series. For now, however, it’s coming off of my goals list.

• Complete Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 of Sunstone (Comics)
• Complete The Lesser Kindred (Reading) Check!
• Start Redeeming the Lost (Reading) Check!
• Complete one of the two books I am reading for my business (Reading)

I have yet to pick up anymore Sunstone, but I flew through both The Lesser Kindred and Redeeming the Lost. Business books got nowhere, but I think that’s partly because I didn’t call out which one I wanted to focus on, and partly due to the world environment making things feel pointless.

• Complete Season 5 of Star Wars: Clone Wars Check!
• Complete Season 10 of Stargate SG-1 Check!
• Complete Season 3 of Stargate Atlantis Check!

I finished both season 5 and 6 of Star Wars: Clone Wars, but I’ve yet to start season 7, which I addressed briefly in my last post. I also completed season 10 of Stargate SG-1, the two Stargate movies, as well as seasons 3 and 4 of Stargate Atlantis. I am looking forward to finishing Atlantis out, but I also don’t want it to end. Overall, I didn’t do too badly on my goals over the two months I worked on them.

July Goals

• WHM to 45 (FFXIV)
• Complete MSQ through level 45 (FFXIV)
• Complete How I Made $10K as a PSO (Reading/Business)
• Complete Don’t Keep Your Day Job (Reading/Business)
• Get halfway through A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (Reading)
• Complete Sunstone Vol. 2 (Comics)
• Complete Warrior Nun (TV)
• Complete Season 7 of Star Wars: Clone Wars (TV)
• Complete Season 5 of Stargate Atlantis (TV)
• Start Season 1 of Stargate Universe (TV)

Rambling Redshirt mentioned in one of his recent posts that he’s been experiencing some difficulty differentiating between weekends and weekdays. I’ve been feeling much the same, to be honest. The routines are much the same, and the content differs, but only slightly. My weekdays are busy with meetings and day job tasks, adult entertainment tasks, and blogging. But my weekends are much the same, minus the meetings.

Therefore, as of this past weekend, I’ve decided to start a new thing. Mainly because I’ve just been burnt out on life. I took Saturday completely for myself, as much as I struggled with doing so. And honestly, having a day entirely to myself, unplanned, where I give myself permission to do whatever I want, and give myself time off from even doing chores actually helped quite a bit. I even did dishes out of a desire to do them instead of “Ugh, they’re piling up, I should do them”.

While it has yet to completely solve my burnout, I’m looking forward to doing much the same this coming Saturday. I’m also looking forward to the week I took off work at the start of June because I’m just struggling with functioning and need time to relax, and finish cleaning/setting up my apartment (almost two years after moving in at this point).

Planner Addict

I may be turning into that person who’s obsessed with planning. I mean, I’ve kind of always been, this is no surprise, to be honest, but it’s the fact that I’m loving all the stickers and designing in my Happy Planner that’s surprising to me. This past weekend I ordered weekly sticker packs for the month of June, and I’m dying to get them in and use them. Some of them are printables, so Ainyan kindly offered her printer and Silhouette to cut them. I’ll need to go over and help Manthing choose which files to print and cut for June, but I may have him print an extra set of weekly pages so I can do some designing prior to June.

YouTube Thoughts

I’ve been having the YouTube itch, again. Specifically this weekend. It was strong at the start of the year because I can’t get back into streaming just yet due to lack of time. But then life happened and my desire flamed out a bit. The flame is back, and I’ve been trying to decide what to do with my channel. At first, I thought about splitting it up into multiple channels like a lot of guides and how-to videos have said to do… but that’s not what I want to do. It doesn’t feel like the correct choice, or the right path to take. I’ve been trying to get better about listening to my gut on even the simple/less important decisions in my life, so I’m going to go against all advice out there and do my own thing.

I’m passionate about a lot, and breaking up those passions into separate channels feels more like a chore than doing YouTube for what it should be—something to enjoy. Therefore, hopefully in the near future, I’ll be starting to put more Let’s Play videos up, as well as some vlogs and plan with me videos where I share my stickers and such.

Clone Wars

I watched some Clone Wars this weekend, as well. I’m so close to finishing season five! I’m in a weird place with watching anything recently, opting for YouTube binges (typically of planners and soap) instead. So it felt good to get back to watching a few episodes. It’s been exciting to watch, but almost bittersweet because I know I’m essentially two seasons (or about 20-something episodes) from finishing it once I’m done with this season.

Monster Prom

This weekend, however, was dedicated mostly to Monster Prom! I played so much Monster Prom. So much. So very much. Hours upon hours. It was so much damn fun. Even when I was getting rejected for dates, it was fun. I played a bunch of it online with Manthing as well. I know I was playing it with the intention of just the hearts and didn’t think about what areas on campus gave which stats (and how they might apply to securing a date). Once we figured that out, it made things go much smoother (as did finding a few guides to use when we felt stuck after our first few runs).

I honestly don’t know what to say about the game at the moment, other than I absolutely love it and that I have never laughed so hard at a game before. While playing with Manthing, I was romancing Damien, and ended up sitting at the lunch table with the Coach and Scott. I set off some fireworks to make them go away, and the reaction from coach, was, well… a picture is worth a thousand words. I think Manthing secretly got annoyed that I couldn’t stop laughing for about five minutes straight. I was laughing so hard that no sound was coming out at one point.

I am looking forward to playing more of this with Manthing on date night tomorrow, and maybe hopefully some more this weekend. I also plan to play some myself once I’m done with a big project milestone for day job this week. That’s my motivation: dating Monsters.

At the end of last year, Krikket of Nerd Girl Thoughts put together a list of ten games she wanted to tackle in 2020. I stumbled my way onto this post when she updated how she’s been doing with her endeavor in a blog post during Blapril, and I liked the idea, so I thought I’d try to come up with a shorter list of my own five to six games I’d love to knock off of my to-be-played list (or rather, technically, my massive Steam library) before the end of this year.

This might be a bit difficult, however, because I can be quite an achievement hoarder if I’m enjoying a game. I also play a lot of games with multiple endings/paths (*cough*otome*cough*), so I spend a lot of time going down those rabbit holes, as well. So this could go one of two ways: smoothly and carefree, or never actually finishing anything. I am shamelessly yoinking Krikket’s idea of both checking the average time to beat (I’m using a scale of “completion to full achievements”), and noting how much she spent on the game and when she obtained it.

I’m going to try to be flexible with myself, and see how I’m feeling once I come to what folks would call the “end” of the games, and evaluate if I’d like to explore more of it, or if I can put it down and call it a day. So then, what games do I choose to check off this year…

My Games to Tackle in 2020

I hope your feed reader can handle tables, because it was the easiest way for me to organize everything and get the images to work correctly (all my HTML-for-fun in middle and high school has paid off in life). If not, you may need to click through to the post itself.

	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All Time to beat: 18-21 hours // Purchased late 2007 for $24.99 Okay, this might be a tad “cheaty” since I’m already working my way through it, but I’ve had the dang thing since it came out on the DS in America and I’d really like to tackle it. As I mentioned in another post, I’m using a guide to work my way through it, and I don’t think I’ll be doing anything completionist with it, mainly because the DS version doesn’t have any achievements to go with it.
	Sweet Fuse: At Your Side Time to beat: 9-25 hours // Purchased September 2016 for $9.99 This one might also be a bit “cheaty” since I’ve already played some of the routes. I’m on my way to completionist this one (as I do with most otome), and I’d like to finally finish it.
	Life is Strange (Episodes 2-5) Time to beat: 14-18 hours // Purchased Ep.1 December 2015 for $2.49, Gifted Ep. 2-5 in 2018 This is yet another game that I’m only partially through. I played episode 1 on Twitch in 2018, but never played any more after that (mainly due to jerks in chat trying to spoil). I’d very much like to finish it, and I’ve been thinking of putting the playthroughs on YouTube. I’m not sure yet whether I will just finish the story or completionist it.
	The Longest Journey Time to beat: 17-21 hours // Purchased January 2016 for approx $4.99 I love Funcom games. They’re just so good with narrative, regardless of what they’re doing. So I’d very much like to start the Dreamfall Trilogy, finally! I contemplated adding the other two games (Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, and Dreamfall Chapters) to my list, but I don’t think I will quite yet. Maybe I’ll make them stretch goals, or prioritize the games to play with The Longest Journey last for the year so I can jump into the other two after this one is finished.
	OZMAFIA!! Time to beat: 22-40 hours // Purchased April 2016 for $29.74 I was adamant that I needed this game when it came out on Steam, so I picked it up… and then never played it. I do know why I never did (ex), but I’m going to rectify that now, and finally tackle it this year! It’s an otome, so I’ll completionist it. I have to—there’s CGs to collect, achievements to earn, and stories to unlock!
	Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Time to beat: 29-46 hours // Purchased February 2015 in the Star Wars Humble Bundle ($12.00) Gosh, I picked this bundle up five years ago, and while I don’t know that I’ll ever play all of the games it included, I have been told time and again that this (and KotOR 2) are worth my time. I’ve been in a Star Wars kick as of late, working my way through the movie/tv chronology, so I figured why not finally give this a whirl. Will I completionist it? Not entirely sure, yet. I’ll need to see what I think of the game, first.

Stretch Goals

Assuming I work my way through all of these since they fall within the 18-40 hour range, I’d like to complete the following games.

	Dreamfall: The Longest Journey Time to beat: 12-14 hours // Purchased June 2018 for approx $7.29 Like I mentioned on Longest Journey, I’d very much like to complete the trilogy. Therefore I’m listing it out as a stretch goal!
	Dreamfall Chapters: The Final Cut Edition Time to beat: 21-37 hours // Purchased June 2018 for approx $7.29 Again, I’d very much like to finish the trilogy once I’ve started it!
	Amnesia: Memories Time to beat: 7-34 hours // Purchased December 2015 for approx $5.95 This is another otome I’ve been sitting on for a very long time, and I’d very much like to finally work my way through it. Plus I hear it’s kind of creepy, too, which I enjoy! I will do a completionist run, of course.

This is post 31/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

At the end of April, MagiWasTaken of Indiecator tagged me in the Quantic Foundry Gamer Motivation Profile. A lot of folks in the blogosphere have tackled it much faster than I have, so I figured it was about time to hop to it! The premise is to complete the Gamer Motivation Profile over on Quantic Foundry, and then answer some questions about your results. Without further ado, here’s mine.

The Questions

What are your results? Share your link, headline, and the graphs you received.

My gamer motivation profile is “Calm, Spontaneous, Completionist, Independent, Deeply Immersed, and Creative”. Well that’s a mouthful. As Magi called out, Naithan posted a more in-depth document from Quantic Foundry that helped to explain the wording they chose. Of course, I couldn’t find it on the Quantic Foundry site easily, so I’ve linked to Naithan’s comment on Frostilyte’s post. As someone who loves this kind of psych stuff, it was an interesting read. According to that document, my headline (paraphrased from their bullet points and tables throughout) could be deciphered as

• Calm: Enjoys turn-based combat, games that can be paused, games that are relaxed and predictable, and low visual stimulation. (e.g.: Sid Meyer’s Civ, Myst)
• Spontaneous: Enjoys reactive gameplay with low cognitive loads and short time horizons. (e.g.: The Sims)
• Completionist: Wants to get all collectibles, complete all missions.
• Independent: Enjoys single-player games and soloable quests. Likes to be in full control. (e.g.: Lego Harry Potter, Hatoful Boyfriend)
• Deeply Immersed: Enjoys being someone else, somewhere else. Enjoys elaborate plots, and interesting characters.
• Creative: Enjoys expression and customization. Wants to explore, tinker, and experiment.

I included some of what I thought were applicable games from when I could pull examples from a chart, and I feel like they’re mostly accurate, but I think I’m supposed to discuss that on a different question.

How do you feel about your survey results?

I feel like they’re mostly accurate, but I am unsure how I scored so low on Social? I get that I’m not a Competitive person, but I also don’t understand why I only scored 48% on Community. Community in gaming is really the main thing that keeps me playing MMOs. And if there isn’t a thriving community, or many friends I can flock to that play it, then I am generally disinterested in it. I mean, for goodness sake, I ran a yearly festival in WildStar when it was around. If that isn’t high community I don’t know what is!

Which categories are the most and least accurate?

It seems I may have answered this a bit in the prior question. Least accurate definitely has to be Social for me. Most accurate is Immersion/Completion for sure.

Are there any major exceptions to your typical gaming motivations?

If I am interpreting this question correctly, it is asking what differs from my profile in the exceptions. With that, I’d have to say… some of the games they list for “calm”. You would think I’d like the Civ games. I honestly wish I did. But to me, they feel much more RTS-based/paced than I would like. And RTS and my anxiety do not get along. I mean, I haven’t tried playing the Civ games since I started my meds for anxiety/depression, though, so maybe with some time they’ll be more up my alley?

Do any of these motivations carry over to your non-gaming life? If so, how?

Oh, immersion for sure. I participate in LARPs. I love TTRPGs when I can get in on them. And I adore reading fantasy and sci-fi of all sorts. I like involved characters. I like unique stories. GIVE ME NARRATIVE.

Which games (in your experience) best satisfy your gaming motivations?

Narration-heavy games, especially dating sims/visual novels are typically my go-to. High-narrative games like Life is Strange also fall into my list. I think if I could find the time to dedicate to story-rich RPGs I’d play a bit more of them, but then they also fall into the highly-active games which don’t always suit me (which is accurate to my gaming profile).

How do the games above compare to the “suggested games” list from the questionnaire’s follow-up page?

According to the niche list, it’s mostly visual novel type games, or Animal Crossing. I don’t have a Switch so I’ve yet to actually play Animal Crossing (and it was never a game I got invested in as a kid because we had limited video game time, even on our handhelds), but I have been rabidly refreshing stock on Switches so I can play Animal Crossing. So I’d say it’s fairly accurate. It threw in some phone games on my list, which are not typically my cup of tea. I don’t care to do much on my phone, to be honest. It also included games like Sims 4 (which I do play, but have to be in the mood), and story-rich RPGs (Dragon Age) which I’ve mentioned I’ve wanted to get into, but I think I need to be in the right mindset to do so.

This is post 28/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

What is the one thing you’re most proud of?

This one is difficult to answer, because there’s a lot in my life I’m proud of accomplishing or doing. I think right now, I’m most proud of how much effort I’m trying to put into making my side business my main business. I’m sure the answer to this question would change depending on when you asked this.

What is the perfect snack for a video game binge?

Okay, this might be weird, but I really love eating toasted cinnamon swirl bread with butter. You know the Peperidge Farms kind? I don’t know why, but it’s my favorite thing to eat when I’m gaming.

Who is your favorite villain in a video game and why?

Hm, in a video game? Okay, I think I’m going to have to go with my murder husbando from Hatoful Boyfriend. I love you, Shuu Iwamine. Why is he my favorite? Well. If you know me, I love the play dating sims, specifically those geared towards the female audience (also referred to as an otome). This game was my gateway into the genre (though to be honest it is more of a visual novel wrapped up in the skin of an otome). I picked up Hatoful Boyfriend for cheap when Belghast and the gang were playing it for Aggrochat, and well, it turns out my favorite love interest was extremely… deranged, let’s say.

For what it’s worth, I unintentionally picked the murder husbando again in Code: Realize (I do my first play-throughs blind!), so I’m thinking I have a trend, here. I’m looking forward to seeing if I pick up any other murder husbandos in other otome once I get to playing some more again.

Do you think there are other life forms in space?

Even before the US Government released UFO footage, I believed.

What is your favorite thing to do to kill time?

Favorite thing, or the one I do most often? Most often, I end up opening up Twitter and scrolling. My favorite thing would probably be reading, though.

What is the one video game world you would love to visit?

I feel like I’ve answered this one before. (Indeed I have!) But, it’s Nexus!

If you were crafting a playlist what would be the first five songs?

I listen to a lot of different types of music, but I’m very much into Symphonic Metal and 2000/2010s Romanian House as a whole, so it would probably revolve mainly around those two. Let’s see, what would my first five songs be…

This is post 27/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

I set myself what I thought were some pretty reasonable goals for April. How did I do? Fair to middling.

• Inventory Management (ESO)
• Pick up the last items I need for learning crafting traits (ESO)
• Figure out where I left off in questing (ESO)
• Complete current event quest (ESO)

I didn’t even touch ESO. I realized that I had missed my opportunity to get the boxes for the month, and I was so angry with myself that I’ve done nothing but make sure the game is updated. I’m going to give myself some time to get back into it this month outside of just logging in for daily rewards, so I’m going to copy these goals into May. Except I think I’m out of luck with the anniversary event quest, so I’ll be knocking that off the list. I did figure out I was in Grahtwood, though, so that’s something!

• Start and complete Ace Attorney (Community Game-Along/Visual Novel)
• Complete current route in Sweet Fuse (Otome)

I started Phoenix Wright, but I haven’t finished it yet. So that’s going to continue onto my goals for this month. I didn’t even touch my Vita this month. I think I am going to need to set myself to completing one game per month if it is not on the computer to give myself more time to experience things at my own pace. Stretch goal for May, however, if I finish Phoenix in decent time is to complete the route in Sweet Fuse, but I won’t be putting it on my goals list.

• Complete five of the six Sunstone Volumes currently available in book format (Comics)
• Complete Song in the Silence (Reading)
• Complete one of the two books I am reading for my business (Reading)

Reading was interesting this month. It felt good to get back to something that I’ve loved so much prior in my life. Towards the end of April I did fall off the bandwagon of reading every night, which did contribute some to only reading one Sunstone volume, so I’m going to try to get back to that. I found that on nights I read before bed, I slept better overall. I did complete Song in the Silence and I’m currently 39% though the second book in the series, The Lesser Kindred. Knowing that I’ve gobbled up a novel and a half this month (almost 600 pages!), I’m going to update my pleasure-reading goals, some for May.

I also have to note that I’m kind of excited to be reading a series that I both know, and don’t. I’ve finally hit a point in the second book where I’m not necessarily remembering everything that’s going on, which means I’m finally getting to a point in the series that I’ve never made it past before. (CW: ABUSE – My ex was jealous that my best friend (then male-identifying) purchased me the third book in the trilogy, so he’d be emotionally abusive about reading, which is one of the big reasons I, well, stopped.)

I have yet to finish either book I’m reading for business, but I’ve been trying to catch-up on some admin things with my business, and get ahead with other admin things, so I unfortunately put reading and professional development on the back burner. They’re also not necessarily books that are a good relax-before-bed option, as they’re very much geared towards, well, improving my business.

• Complete Season 9 of Stargate SG-1 Check!
• Complete Season 4 of Star Wars: Clone Wars Check!

I gobbled up a bunch of Stargate, and am tip-toeing into the next season of Clone Wars, so these will continue for goals in May as well! However, I’m going to need to carefully choose my Stargate goals, as I’ve hit a point in the chronology where I do a lot of jumping between series.

May Goals

• Inventory Management (ESO)
• Pick up the last items I need for learning crafting traits (ESO)
• Do a few quests in Grahtwood (ESO)
• Finish Phoenix Wright: Justice for All (Visual Novel)
• Play Muse Dash (Community Game-Along)
• Complete Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 of Sunstone (Comics)
• Complete The Lesser Kindred (Reading)
• Start Redeeming the Lost (Reading)
• Complete one of the two books I am reading for my business (Reading)
• Complete Season 5 of Star Wars: Clone Wars
• Complete Season 10 of Stargate SG-1
• Complete Season 3 of Stargate Atlantis

This is post 24/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

At the start of the month I outlined wanting to get back into participating as a part of the Community Game-Along. This month was CapcoMonth, where you play a game that Capcom has made. I ended up picking out a Phoenix Wright game that was sitting on my gaming shelf. I didn’t realize at the time that it was actually a sequel game. Regardless, I’ve been enjoying myself in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All.

My Thoughts

Oh man, the number of times I have started and never finished this game (I purchased it on a whim when it came out on DS in the US) is extreme. I’m not sure how many trials there are in the game, but I’d never made it much past the nurse/doctor malpractice start where the victim dies. I’m finally working my way through it, and while I’m enjoying myself, I am reminded why I’ve never finished the game to begin with.

Logically, I understand why things are wrong, or what’s going on in the story and what reasoning I should be presenting, or questioning. But I struggle with deciding which items to present, or when to present them. Or even when to precisely know when to push a little extra when cross-examining a witness.

So, since I’m enjoying myself, and I very much want to finally knock the game off of my backlog (it’ll have been THIRTEEN STINKING YEARS it’s taken me to finish the damned thing), I’ve decided that I’m not going to beat myself up for using a walkthrough guide when I need it. In some folks eyes, would this make it a fact I never beat the game? Probably. But I’m at a point in my life where I do things because I want to enjoy them, and most of the time others’ opinions on how things sHoUlD bE dOnE!11! just don’t matter to me much anymore. If that means I use a walkthrough to finish a game I’m enjoying, so be it. There are worse things in the world than using a walkthrough guide, okay?

Of course, I’m not yet done with the game, but I’m enjoying the Psyche-Lock mechanic, and the extra layer it brings to the table. I figure I’ll keep it on my nerding goals list for this coming month so I can knock it out and finally enjoy what folks have said is an entertaining series.

This is post 23/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

Apparently, when I picked up the COVID bundle (mainly for some comics), I also received a free month of Humble Choice. I got the email, and decided to redeem it and see what it was all about. I picked up:

• Gris: This was on my wishlist, but was one I decided not to pick up during the LudoNarraCon sale, so I obviously had to pick it up from Humble Choice.
• Hitman 2: I’ve wanted to try out the series eventually, and it was there, so I figured might as well get it.
• This is the Police 2: This is not up my alley at all, but it was on Manthing’s wishlist, so I gifted it to him.
• Opus Magnum: Another one not particularly up my alley, so I gifted it to another friend who had it on their wishlist.
• Truberbrook: It looks interesting, and it seems to be an alternate reality type of story, which I generally enjoy.
• The Bard’s Tale IV: This was another game that looks interesting to try, though at first it didn’t seem like something that would be up my alley. I think that since it’s turn-based rather than real-time, that will assist in my enjoyment of it.
• Driftland: Another one I had no interest in (RTS really isn’t my thing), but it was on yet another friend’s wishlist, so I gifted it to them as well.
• Molek-Syntez: Another one I could care less about, but I knew my best friend would enjoy it. So off it went to them!

I still haven’t decided what to use my last choice on. None of them thrill me. So I might just keep it at hand and spoil yet another friend or such later on with a final choice from April’s choices. So, did this free month sell me on picking up Humble Choice every month? Probably not, unless I can see choices ahead of time, even when I’m not subscribed (which it seems like I can do, as Humble lists them out on their blog). I may pick up a month here and there if enough of the games interest me, but I see it being something that rarely happens.

Square Enix Collective Bundle

I also pulled the trigger on picking up the Humble Square Enix Collective Bundle, which includes

• Oh My Godheads: I’m not particularly interested in this one, so I’ll probably add it to my spreadsheet of codes I won’t redeem for a giveaway somewhere at some point.
• Goetia: This one looked intriguing!
• Octahedron: I won’t play platformers, and the lighting from the trailer hurt my head, so I know I wouldn’t last very long in the game. I do enjoy the soundtrack, but again, this will end up in my spreadsheet of codes.
• Deadbeat Heroes: Nope, not my thing, to the spreadsheet it goes.
• The Turing Test: Yes! Yes yes yes! Oh my, yes! I’m looking forward to playing this one!
• Forgotton Anne: Okay, I know I just said I won’t play platformers… but this is really just an anime with visual novel and light platformer elements so I’m willing to give it a shot.
• Fear Effect Sedna: I’m intrigued and will try it, but I’m sure I’ll suck because I’m terrible at stealth mechanics.
• Black the Fall: Described as a game where you “take your shot at overthrowing a Communist State inspired by real world events”. Which is why I probably won’t touch the game, to be honest. The closer something is to real life, I’m not interested in it right now.
• Children of the Zodiarcs: The premise of the game is interesting, and I’ll give it a try, but I’m not sure how much I’ll actually play the game.
• Boundless: I will probably never open this game up, let alone redeem it.
• Tokyo Dark: YES! Anime cut scenes, visual novel, what looks like actually good localization, horror genre, and puzzles? SOLD! To be fair, I mainly got the bundle for this game alone.
• Battalion 1944: Yet another game that will go into the spreadsheet.

Are you digging any of the Humble bundles lately? I also picked up the Johnathan Hickman bundle when it was released, myself.

This is post 21/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

As I was catching up on others’ blogs, I stumbled upon Krikket’s posts about LudoNarraCon. LudoNarraCon? So I went to their website. They define themselves as,

… [A] digital convention celebrating narrative video games, hosted on Steam. An initiative of indie label Fellow Traveller, it aims to create a platform to showcase and celebrate interesting and innovative narrative games, replicating as many of the aspects and benefits of the physical convention experience as possible within a digital format.

Okay, how did I not know this was a thing until today?! Story-driven narrative games are my JAM! I’m glad I caught Krikket’s posts about it so I could make the most of the sale before it was over (most are still on sale, and demos are available through May 2 or 3, but knowing me, I’d forget all about it if I didn’t pick things up right now).

Goodies

So, I caved and picked up a few games and added quite a few more to my Wishlist.

Detective Grimoire: I picked this one up because it was cheap, but also looks to be a prequel of sorts to Tangle Tower, which I absolutely added to my wishlist.

Unheard: I’m typically not one for cop games, but this struck me as more detective-based than cop-based, so I picked it up, and am looking forward to trying it out.

Whispering Willows: The art style is what caught me on this one, to be honest. Though I’m also a sucker for horror games and female protagonists, so I figured why not pick it up on the cheap.

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy!: I had already added Nelly Cootalot to my cart when I stumbled on this one, and thought it was only proper to pick up the prequel. If it spawned a second game, then it had to be worth picking up the original.

Kind Words: I will never say no to games that play to my desire to cheer others up. And this game is specifically about, well, restoring our faith in humanity by being kind to strangers. I very much had to pick it up. Besides, the lo-fi seems to be pretty good, and I adore some lo-fi to help me concentrate but not fall asleep.

Monster Prom: Second Term: I’ve yet to actually play through Monster Prom (sorry, Bel, it’s just been sitting there after you gifted it to me. ), but I absolutely know it’s a game that I will enjoy. So I went ahead and picked up the expac for it. Maybe I’ll make it one of the games I try to dive into during May.

Elsinore: When Steam sales happen, and I plan to purchase more than a single game, I have a rule for myself: No games over $10 on sale. This was the one game I had to make an exception for. While Hamlet is not my overall favorite Shakespeare play (that honor would go to Taming of the Shrew), I very much enjoy it. I also love that Ophelia is POC. Time loop is also a genre that is of interest to me, so I very much had to break my rule to pick this one up.

Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet: Silly puns, pirates, female protagonist, and Tom Baker? SOLD! Actually, the trailer was what sold me on this to begin with. It was spectacular, and absolutely worth the laughs even if you don’t pick up the game.

Later Daters: Dating sim where you’re in an older-folks home. DONE. PURCHASED. If you know anything about me, you know dating sims/otome are quite possibly (okay, okay, they are) my number one favorite genre of games. So this was a no-brainer to pick up!

The World Next Door: I’ve been in a bit of a match-three rut since it gives me time to just… turn my mind off. I thought the art style for this one was interesting, and I won’t say no to some story mixed into my match-three, so I figured why not give it a try. Plus the art style drew me in, as did Krikket’s thoughts on her time in the game.

This is post 19/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.