Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7975Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:27:08 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7975&iddiary=13510https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7995Heard about this one recently and got stuck playing the demo on itch (though it's also available on Steam) for a few hours until I got to the final (demo) ending! It's an incremental game with some interesting things going on - you have a bat and smash bottles, but you have a limited time to do so (in seconds, like max 25 or so after all the upgrades?). When time runs out you can go again or go to the shop to buy upgrades. As expected you want to get more money from smashing bottles and there's ways to do that - spawn golden bottles, champagne bottles (when they smash the corks fly out and can smash other things), and even molotov cocktails (that explode, smashing other things). There's a few things I thought where nice/clever: a. The game has two distinct phases (once you unlock molotovs, everything changes, really) - the "you smash" and the "maximize money in the time allowed". In the latter, the game mostly plays itself as the molotovs keep everything getting smashed. b. The "you smash" has rotating bottles, and since the smashing can take a few hits, there's some interest in smashing champagne such that the cork flies in a certain direction for more damage. c. The champagne corks are pretty clever - since it gives you a reason to, in the short time you have to smash, choose what to smash a little more carefully. Go for golden or champagne hoping for a productive chain reaction? Of course there's also a prestige/reset mechanic - from which you can lock a separate bat that smashes. I'm curious how far things will go once the full game is out - and what the nature of the upgrades will be. I'm really hoping for more variety in the experience beyond the simple "number go up" - in that sense the molotovs seem like they're capping the experience in a detrimental way (even as they were super fun to smash when I first unlocked them.Sat, 30 May 2026 18:16:28 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7995&iddiary=13509https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7994Still playing! It has an interesting structure in terms of its levels and such - the core metaphor is that you're going deeper into the planet with each level, and they're both thematic and numbered. I got to a point where there's a bifurcation - go right into what I thought was "jungle land" or left into "snow land". I went right did a few more levels, cleared the boss (it was plant/poison land) and in order to continue going deeper I was then told to go back to "snow land"! There's a fast travel/teleport system involving giant worms that can move your around, so it was easy enough to do this, but I was surprised to learn that the fork was just a "choose what order to do these" situation... and also, the entire "fork" makes little sense thematically so I'm curious to see how it's explained and communicated in the interface - will it look like a fork in the "hole" going into the planet's core? The titular ability (bananza mode!) was a bit underwhelming - you turn into a bigger DK and can now punch things you couldn't before - it lasts a limited amount of time. But, I've since unlocked a new one - DK-bird - where you can glide around (and after paying to unlock) and drop an egg on enemies. The gilding around was important/necessary in the plant/poison levels, and I'm expecting it to be similarly required in the snowy ones. We'll see!Sat, 30 May 2026 18:07:32 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7994&iddiary=13508https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7985I got to that point where I hit a monster/boss that just wasn't that much fun, and then I got a bit lost in terms of where to continue making progress, and the backtracking started to get a bit tiresome...as I explored and searched for different paths. So, time to bail!Mon, 27 Apr 2026 22:04:52 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7985&iddiary=13505https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7993Can you believe that I capped out on character level? I hit level 24, with plenty of game to go (I checked a guide, though I had reached the last 20% or so) and that's it. No more levels. It was a bit of a disappointment to be honest, and I also started to tire of having to backtrack all over the place to talk to different characters and so on. It was fun, and surprising to me in many ways, it's an action RPG with real-time combat, but no real challenge or interest in the combat - limited items and gear, no significant shopping or upgrading...there's boss fights (which are much harder than the regular game), but there wasn't much there to continue to keep my interest. So, I've decided to bail. I did also spend some time on the Wikipedia page and it looks like the game has been re-released a million times across different formats, and rebundled with new content, and stuff touched up and more. I'm kind of surprised because I wasn't all that impressed to be fair. As in, the game was fun and I enjoyed it for a bit, but I'm not entirely sure that it merits THAT much attention in the re-releases? Maybe I'm missing something and this game really resonated strongly with lots of people?Mon, 27 Apr 2026 22:03:27 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7993&iddiary=13504https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7993I need to look up more info on this. I had assumed it was a bundle of the two first Ys games, but upon starting the first one (Book I), the 3D graphics make it seem like it's a newer game? So I'm really curious what the backstory here is... It started out pretty frustrating - because I wandered into a field outside of town and died immediately. I had to start over which was a drag - lots of text to skip past, and died again! Sigh. I eventually figured out how to save your game, which helped. So, I decided to then book it, dodge enemies and made it to a city! Here I bought a sword and some armor...and figured I wouldn't die again immediately but I did! It turns out I hadn't figured out how to equip the items and that solved EVERYTHING. I've been playing since, and the game's quite interesting in its camera perspective - it's a very unusual sort of 3D isometric view, but it's not at an angle, but rather it's sort of straight? (like vertical/top to bottom). It's a weird perspective because there's lots that gets occluded (if you walk down towards a wall, the wall blocks you from seeing what's close to it when you come from the top part of the scree). I mean, it makes sense spatially, but it's a weird perspective in a game - you also cannot rotate the camera AFAIK.Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:06:39 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7993&iddiary=13503https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7919I'm still "playing" - I stopped going for the competitive ladder mostly because I was playing the same deck all the time, didn't have the cards for a new competitive deck and...well, it's gotten a bit boring. That being said, the collecting part is still fun and there's a new set coming out so we'll see how excited I get. I've been opening packs from older sets hoping to finish sets from which I'm still missing a bunch of cards. No real luck so far. Sigh.Sun, 26 Apr 2026 09:59:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7919&iddiary=13502https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7991I've since played some 15 runs or so, I seem to get farther than ever on every other one or so. There's some cool and interesting things here, but also the randomness of the rogue aspects both works and doesn't. I've decided to stop playing mostly because it's getting a bit tiresome when you have to go over the same things such that it starts to feel like busywork. For example, talking to the guy at the bar in the first area always nets you a rice ball (yay!), but it's a bit of a drag to have to go through all the conversation and such over, and over again. Perhaps the feature I've come to appreciate the most is a shack that has different "puzzle" levels for you to solve - you're supposed to do them one at a time (smart design choice, because you get a reward from each) and each time you do one you get reset to level 1 with no items, you also lose any progress you may have made (including items) inside each puzzle. But, you get a reward when you complete them successfully. The puzzle levels are smart because they act as a tutorial of sorts, but because you only really want to do them one at a time, it's a slow burn tutorial that shows you the diversity of items and what they can do. I've done 12 or so...with more than half left to go. Some might require using a certain staff, or require you move around diagonally. Stuff like that. So, I've had to use items I hadn't considered before (I tend to be a cheapskate when it comes to items, use only in emergencies!) and now I know how they work without having to "waste" them while adventuring. Once unlocked, companions might appear in later areas - and join your team! I made some progress with a 2nd one (I wonder if you can have more than one?) and I think it's neat how they operate semi-independently. They'll sometimes run off chasing a monster. I haven't quite grasped how their health works because they'll sometimes disappear (dead?) and I lose them for the rest of the adventure which is a bit of a shame. In all, it's been fun to explore and playthrough. Runs are longer than I'd like and how that I unlocked the special jar that lets you combine items...I REALLY get the feeling that the game wants you to meta-strategize to cheese. In other words, play lots of runs to boost items to then combine them, and do this over and over again until you feel confident you can go. Which is interesting, and risky. Finally, at this point I'm also missing out on a neat feature wherein other players can "rescue" you if/when you die. But it's a connectivity thing - other people need to play and you can help each other out that way. At this point, since the game is way old, it's like there's zero change of that working for me... which makes me a bit sad, right? I mean, playing this with some friends would be really neat in that context.Sun, 26 Apr 2026 09:51:07 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7991&iddiary=13501https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7991It seems strange to note how this game is pretty old, but it's a rogue-like, and it was old, and series, even before the semi-recent rise in popularity of rogue-like games. It's hard, and you have to start over, and you can't really be careless (I've died in the first area), but there are some systems in place that seem to work as a meta-progression of sorts? For example, there's a woman I ran into who made me blind! She did it again! (on a different run), and on a 3rd run she was in a town being accosted by some NPCs (angry because she's been blinding them). So, I stepped in, and she joined my party! I have no idea what'll happen next, because I got pretty far and then died - and when I came back she was gone! Do I need to get blinded three times again? Will she show up and join in the village later? I have no idea! It also seems like I should be "cheesing" some parts? So, there's a storage system where you can leave items behind. When you die you lose everything you were carrying, so it's a way to leave stuff for "future you" - but you can also run backwards! (to previous areas) Oh, and you can also - if you get the cash, upgrade items at a smithy! So, I could do a run, upgrade an item, then run back, drop it off for future me, do the same, upgrade, run back, etc. The thought makes me kind of tired to think about it, but doable? There's always the risk you'll die and lose everything of course! So far I'm having fun, but we'll see how long my patience lasts...Sun, 19 Apr 2026 15:10:00 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7991&iddiary=13500https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7989This was sort of what I was expecting, but also not. I mean, I knew this wasn't farmville style farming, but I wasn't expecting as much technical detail as I found. Different machines, different phases, needing the right equipment, etc. It's pretty interesting and I was most surprised that you can (and probably should) hire people (NPCs) to do a lot of the "menial" labor - here mostly driving your machine down the field to either harvest, plow, etc. You kind of need to do this to save time, because with, say, three fields to work on you need to be moving from one to the next. What I was most surprised by is that there's a whole town with locations you need to (slowly, AFAIK) travel between to deliver your crops (and buy stuff you need)! Driving my FIAT tractor at 25 mph down a lane, waiting for a train to pass, and trundling on, was not something I imagined would be important to this kind of game. To be fair, there's a lot MORE to it that I have not experienced (livestock) and I stopped playing before delivering my first harvest - and I'll blame the tutorial here because it absolutely fell apart. I think I figured out a bunch of things, but this is definitely the sort of game you need to be reading guides/the manual/etc. in order to get the most of it?Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:38:00 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7989&iddiary=13498