Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8014Finished playing this last night and I've been chewing on my overall impressions. First thing is, obviously, that I really enjoyed it and I thought it was something quite special how the different missions had their own unique "thing" while all being fully coherent with each other, the game's world, the story, etc. Ok, the time-travel mission might be a bit of a stretch - because you're only able to play around with the mechanic of flitting between past/present in that one mission and never again...but still. The other thing I really appreciated is how this also applies to enemies and what they do and so on. I vaguely recall from the first game that as new enemies were introduced, they were then THERE for the rest of the game (mostly) - so, the difficulty did sort of go up (even as things got easier because you had more/better powers/abilities). Here I was worried that the clockwork soldiers would then appear everywhere - but they didn't. Or that the witches would show up all the time after being introduced, and they didn't. They appeared when it made sense for them, and this helped keep things interesting and fresh rather than "incremental" if that makes sense. I did find myself leaning into the same modus operandi as I went about playing the game - lots of blinking around to takeout enemies and for the most part I was pretty cheap when it came to using ammo and equipment. Because the game explicitly encourages you to lean into its' two main flavors (violence vs non-violence) - I felt that I had to commit to one. Sure, I could play differently each mission and sort of flip flop, but then I think I'd be excluding myself from both of the end-game trophies? (I decided to do the non-killing option for the main targets on all the missions, but I assumed that the end trophy would be binary - if either killed them all or did not kill them all, kill some but not others would have NOT resulted in either trophy, but maybe I was wrong). I noticed a new menu option - for a New Game + and I now wonder if that's what I should experiment with next? I did spend about 30 hours just completing this one - and it's probable that the more violent mode is just faster. But, will I still have to scrounge around scavenging in new game+? That's what took a lot of time on the clock, and I don't think it even counts all the times I just let myself get killed because I inadvertently killed someone without meaning to. The game's help tips - that appear during loading screens and you can switch between - are encouraging of the player to experiment, try stuff out, and so on - but I always felt cautious about doing that (and I'm not going to try the "never spotted"/full stealth mode of play either) and I've been wondering how they could have encouraged repeat play while still preserving the "this was your campaign"? (while playing it, rather than as an after-you've-beat-it option. I think I can now go back and do any mission, but I would have liked to have tried some earlier ones in that way so long as they weren't "wasted time" for the purposes of end-game trophies. I guess this makes it all seem like end-game trophies can be a real bad idea for some types of games? (because they force your players to "pick a side" and commit to it, when you want them to experiment and mess around - even finding mixed-modes in between.) I never put points on lots of abilities simply because I knew they were "violent abilities" and so why bother if I would never use them. Similarly with the item upgrades - I spent so much money on the upgrades, for no good reason knowing that I wouldn't be doing any shooting...Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:17:20 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8014&iddiary=13542https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8014Finished the Dust District - and yes, it took me a while because I discovered a (to me) fun new ending. Since I've been trying to play non-violently, I've been focused on trying NOT to kill the main characters - just render them unconscious. The setup for the Dust District is that your trying to get into this house with a crazy puzzle lock. There are two factions in the area and if you deliver the leader of one to the other, the other will help you out. Well, I solved the puzzle - so I could have moved on to the house, but I thought I'd take out both leaders! And then I came upon this additional plot to send some people hidden in these crates - and I got a new objective, pack up the leaders of each faction instead! I thought this was pretty fun and funny...so I did that. Now, this area wasn't small - and I was taking a long time, but it turns out the house is another level entirely! So, not like the Clockwork mansion where you make your way through other parts of the city with the mansion at the end. Here, the house is another level entirely. I'll see if I can finish that one some time soonish!Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:35:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8014&iddiary=13537https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8017I've really been enjoying this - I had even played the demo (finished it, in the sense of unlocking everything there was to see, unless there was some secret stuff?). It's basically an idle game about smashing bottles...so, lots of chaos on the screen. What I've found most interesting are two things: a. There are two ways to play the game, and they're interleaved to an extent. There's an "active" mode - where you do smashing until a timer runs out, then spend what you earned on upgrades, rinse and repeat. The other mode is a more standard idle mode, where most of the smashin is automatic and you sort of let it run and buy upgrades as they become available. However, the upgrade tree in the idle mode has elements you need to unlock in the active mode, which I thought was kind of interesting. b. Most idle games have a meta loop that's the "prestige reset" - for some games, it's a way to extend the gameplay experience. In my mind, when it takes a really long time to get to the prestige update, then it's sort of like "you beat the game but can continue playing if you want". But this game has a really tight/short prestige upgrade loop - so, you do it a lot and it helps charge up the regular update loop. This felt new/fresh to me, and it was fun to have toflip between upgrading on the regular tree and deciding when to reset and upgrade the prestige side of things. At this point I'm in the final final(?) grind - which feels a lot longer than everything else so far, but we'll see. I'm not expecting much more from this point, so I might just bail? I mean, I think I've seen what's most interesting about this design...Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:30:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8017&iddiary=13536https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8015Despite the long hours I've put in already, the game feels a lot less like a sequel and a lot more like...an add-on. Which feels like a mean thing to say, but still... The first, I don't know how many hours, was basically playing the same characters as the first game. It's possible, actually probable, that there are some new cards and that the numbers might be a little different and that sort of thing. But, it feels like the same game in the fundamentals. That would be the summary of my experience until I unlocked everything. And now, with more hours in and that sort of thing, I still feel like it's not quite a sequel even if the experience does feel somewhat different - mostly from some of the new (to me?) artifacts and how they interact. I'll be fair, the new characters are fun and different and I've enjoyed messing around with them...but the game still feels the same? And this isn't a bad thing - I mean, I really enjoyed playing the first one for sure.... I guess there's no reason to go back to it at this point?Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:46:33 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8015&iddiary=13533https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8015This is probably the most I've ever played a game in early access. Kind of embarrassing really, but I don't think I've been playing it all THAT much? When I first started, I wanted to complete a run with each of the main characters, especially as I unlocked them. And since then I'll occasionally play a daily run. Those have been fun, and my success rate seems pretty high?Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:24:27 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8015&iddiary=13532https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8014I've been sitting on this one for what seems like forever - more like five years - and I've enjoyed getting back in the world of Dunwall, though this game takes place in other locations too, as I soon came to know. I'm playing it on the PS4, and you would think this would be bad/awkward given how old the game is (10 years!), but the art direction is so good (IMO) that, other than long loading times, it really does hold up. As I write this I realize I need better language for this - the idea that it's great and timeless regardless of the technological foundation underneath it. I mean, I don't think people watch Disney's Snow White and say "oh, it really holds up". I was surprised, going in, that I had to pick a character for the rest of the game and I wonder what will happen once I beat it. Will I then be able to pick levels to play from a menu, with either character available to me? Or will this be a "play the entire game all over" kind of situation? I don't really want to play it all over again, mostly due to other games I'd rather get to, but we'll see. I guess ideally I'd like to try a few levels just to see how different the characters are? So far my only real gameplay-related disappointment has been that I misunderstood the structure of the game. The first "real" level was one that had lots of thing to find/pick up - and I assumed that most would only be accessible once I had acquired a few powers and abilities. For example, there was a rune in the water next to the boat where you start, I went for it and died to some carnivorous fish. Oh, I'll try again later when I can turn into a fish (I though), or when I can attack them (maybe I could already, I realize in hindsight). No worries, I'll come back to this later. And, there was no later. So I missed that - and many others as well. People who say the Clockwork Mansion was an amazing level are correct. It is. Very interesting and clever and, I'm sure, I technical nightmare to put together and test. I wonder if there are any GDC talks or such about it? I need to make a mental note to look around. Anyways, I'm currently in the Dust District - interesting because there's a sandstorm that blows in periodically, giving you a chance to sneak past or silently take out enemies. I've been trying to be silent - rendering enemies unconscious - with the occasional "oopsie", and I've had mixed success. This mostly means that it's been taking me forever to make much progress. So, I wonder if I played more shooty-killy, could I then get back and re-play sneaky-sneaky?Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:07:28 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=8014&iddiary=13531https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7997Last time I was in Japan (this year!) I didn't really have a list of games I wanted to find, but while there I was tempted, so I pulled a short list together of oddities/indie games - plus this title. It's a pinball game, and I've always liked videogame pinball games, so I thought I'd try to find it. I had no luck at all (and I tried in LOTS of places). I was able to find all the other indie games...which was nice, but this one was no luck. Once back in the US I was talking to a colleague and I mentioned this game - and he said something about the developers (or was it the publisher) sort of being in trouble and that their games were now getting attention in the collector market and that if I was interested I should pick it up sooner rather than later. So, I bought a copy (the US release) on ebay and here we are. The game is kind of weird - not in the "ooh, it's a bit perky/risqué".. I assumed that from the series (senran kagura games), but weird in that there aren't that many tables to play (only 2!, but there are variations which aren't that interesting either) - but you play horizontally and it's kind of hard to see what's going on. It really made me want to play it vertically. I've been playing the story - getting to the end with all the characters, which isn't that much fun. I mean the table play is fine and I've enjoyed that, just that it's a bit of a grind to get to the end with each character. All of this in hopes that I will unlock something fun? THere's a creepy "spray water on characters" voyeur mode - and the characters get naked (but PG - everything is covered up by hands and the right camera angles), but it gets old really fast (not that it was that interesting to begin with). The table physics feel a bit too floaty, but it's ok - and there's an interesting scoring/goal system. You have to meet certain goals in order to advance to a mini-pinball game, once you clear that you can beat the level and then move on. The end credits are also pinball...and there's lots of "smacking" the characters (who lie about inside the table play areas) with the pinball. The ending are the worst in this sense, since you're literally targetting their bosoms/read ends with the pinball...or sometimes smacking them with the paddles. Still all PG...so, weird?Thu, 13 Aug 2026 20:18:02 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7997&iddiary=13513https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7915I've played this a few times in the last week - and I had not played in a long time. I was surprisingly better at the game since I last played? I just have a recollection of getting really lost and unable to get back to the pod/ship and that being very frustrating, but now...it was fine?! I was playing with my kids though, who are much better at it than I and now where to go and do stuff, so I think that really helped. Also, I've been unlocking things and I think I finally am able to play all the different types of missions. Some are more fun than others, for sure. The most recent one I unlocked was sort of a heist mission...sort of. Really it was about wrecking another dwarven mining company's stuff - but it ended with a major boss fight that was pretty fun.Thu, 13 Aug 2026 20:02:56 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7915&iddiary=13512https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7994Had to stop playing because I had to return the game and Switch 2 as I changed jobs. Sigh. Was fun while it lasted!Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:57:47 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7994&iddiary=13511https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7996I started playing this a while ago now - in June. I'm only posting now because...well, the site was undergoing major maintenance. But, it's back now! So, I picked this game up earlier this year on a trip to Finland. I had no idea it existed, the metacritic score seemed decent enough, and I have a soft spot for Lodoss War since I first watched (some of it) way back in the 90s. (and watched the entire thing a few years ago). I always liked the idea/knowledge (which may not be true?) that the anime was essentially someone's D&D campaign. So, sort of like fan fiction that later gets published, but this one became an anime. I should probably look up more info so really know the history...but whatever. Generally I'm not a huge metroidvania fan, mostly because I sometimes tire of the backtracking, but also they are often harder than I'm willing to practice/train for. So, I play until I hit a wall, give it a few goes, and then move on. This has not happened yet - which has surprised me! Though to be fair, I haven't played in 6 weeks or so, so who knows what will happen when I get back to it. I think I'm about 1/3 of the way in, reaching chapter 3? And, going from memory, I think I got to a point where was feeling lost and not sure where to go next. So, not the "ugh, this boss is too hard for me", but rather - "where am I supposed to go next?". I'm actually enjoying how complicated the game feels like it is, with how much progress I'm able to make. THere's two energy systems you charge up, and you really want to be maxxed out, but you have to swap between them - and there's sometimes attacks that come in one energy type (and charge you up instead of hurting you). So, it has a mechanic I'm familiar with from 2D shooters! I'm not really following the story all that much and it's been a while so I don't remember the NPC/non-party characters, but it seems like the whole thing is going in the direction of "this was all a dream". There is an inventory system, but I haven't engaged with it much, and I seem to have interesting weapons to use so the shops have been a waste of time in that sense? Maybe it's too early for now...Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:10:31 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7996&iddiary=13510