Blogging the experience of gameplayhttp://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=http://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7962Kicking myself for not writing an entry when I was playing this 6 months ago. I am cleaning up my wishlist, backlog, and etc., and the FEELING I get when I see Silksong "in progress" is anxiety. I had jotted a few notes in December, as follows: "It’s true, Silksong is hard. Like, really, frustratingly hard. Like punishingly difficult. I hit a wall at the end of Act 1 trying to beat the Last Judge. The game likes to place benches far away from boss fights, such that retrying boss fights involves slogging back through tough platforming and other sections of the map." I did kill the Last Judge and complete Act 1. I remember that took a very long time, and that after the Last Judge, I died a few more times and, probably, with shaking hands and rapid heartbeat, said, "I can't do this anymore." Actually, it may have been in one of those rooms with waves of enemies. This innovation is new and unwelcome to Silksong, rooms that lock upon entering and spill several waves of challenging enemies at you. Yeah, I think that is what got me, just being pummeled over and over in one of those rooms, getting tired of exploring the maze-like map, tired of dying, tired of corpse runs, just exhausted. The game became a chore. Besides that, I loved it, haha. I was definitely into it for a while. It was sublime until it wasn't. dkirschnerWed, 13 May 2026 14:58:07 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7962&iddiary=13507http://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7992I meant to quickly beat this back in April so I could have a "completion" for the month, but I got really busy after spending barely an hour one afternoon with Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, a bizarre little twin-stick shooter about a turnip...who robs a bank. The game builds off previous games in the series, which I have never played, in which Turnip Boy commits tax evasion and, according to this game at least, seems to have started a war. Work has slowed down for the first time in nearly two months, and while I wait for my next contract to begin, I figured I'd knock this out. The whole game is silly. The world is populated by sentient fruits and vegetables. You are employed by a pickle / mafia gang leader to rob a bank of a garlic bulb / bad guy / killed your dad. You have a base, where you can get new weapon loadouts by bringing weapons from the bank (always try to return with something new or high-powered!), purchase progression items from the "dark web," and upgrade stuff at another vendor. You go on "runs" to the bank, which are timed (starts at 2 or 3 minutes, goes up to 5 or 6 with upgrades). Runs are over when you die or when you exit the bank. Die and you lose half the cash you accumulated in the run. Survive and you are handsomely rewarded. Upgrade stuff. Go back to the bank. It's a roguelite too. The bank has a specific layout of rooms, but you'll encounter some randomized areas too, and enemies and treasure are somewhat randomized. Throughout the bank are tons of NPCs with little fetch quests that usually reward you with pictures (fun/ny to look at) or hats (fun/ny to equip). A blueberry might want you to find its wedding ring, a lime wants you to get divorce papers from her lemon husband, a scientist pineapple wants you to find a philosopher mango and ask it an ethical question about experimenting on fruits, etc. I had some good laughs. In each corner of the bank is a boss. Boss fights were fun, but the most challenging were early on. Once you start upgrading stats, the game becomes easy. It definitely ends up being an "upgrade everything and go nuts on all the enemies!" type game, experience being overpowered. I haven't played a twin-stick shooter in a while, and while this wasn't revolutionary or anything, it was fun and scratched the itch. I gotta get back to Divinity: Original Sin 2. I might have some extra time till my next gig, so maybe I can boot it up, remember what I was doing, and make some progress this week. dkirschnerTue, 12 May 2026 17:20:35 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7992&iddiary=13506http://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!jpMon, 27 Apr 2026 22:04:52 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7985&iddiary=13505http://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?jpMon, 27 Apr 2026 22:03:27 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7993&iddiary=13504http://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.jpSun, 26 Apr 2026 10:06:39 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7993&iddiary=13503http://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.jpSun, 26 Apr 2026 09:59:12 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7919&iddiary=13502http://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.jpSun, 26 Apr 2026 09:51:07 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7991&iddiary=13501http://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...jpSun, 19 Apr 2026 15:10:00 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7991&iddiary=13500http://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7990Just a quick mid-point update for this one. Or, at least I think I'm around midpoint (40 hours, chapter 7, Costa del Sol). I forgot to add this a month ago when I began. FF VII Rebirth improves on Remake in every way. It's bigger, funnier, more polished, has better pacing, and has way more systems. It even has a charming kind of open world (initially to my chagrin, as I had just come off an open-world game and chose this specifically because I thought it wasn't open-world). Remake irritated me a bit because a lot of the new story, deeper character exploration, and overly long dungeons felt like padding. I don't find that here. All the main quest beats have been interesting so far, streamlined--no slogging it through the sewers this time. I suppose you could say that the open world is padding, but Ubisoft this is not. There are standard tasks and challenges in each of the game's zones, but this is carefully designed such that everything provides a reward and works toward something greater, namely, Chadley's research. But, this is how you level up your party more, get summons, find recipes, discover rare shops and items, and so on, and it is a joy to explore the world. The side quests are also FAR more interesting and usually multi-step. I am doing one right now where Yuffie accidentally cloned an NPC in Costa del Sol. The NPC is this surfer dude bro who bought an old inn and is renovating it. So there are all these "bros" who recognize that they are bro-clones and are gathering supplies to improve the inn. You find some items for them (which involves finding and getting to the tops of ziplines), clear out some monsters, then find a unique recipe to craft a part they need. The NPC clones are funny and their asks are varied. Another one I recently did involves one of the many great mini-games, challenging gym rats to a sit-up competition (after clearing out some monsters for them). I have yet to beat the hardest sit-up challenge. It's 90 seconds of repeating a button pattern with increasing speed and precision, and I haven't made it to 30 seconds before messing up. It seems like you have to do it perfectly to win on hard. I am finding Rebirth to be so CHARMING. It's funny. It's quirky. I am smiling a lot while playing. OH, and there is a card game, which is strategic and fun. Final Fantasy card games are always solid. The only thing I dislike is how complicated the combat is. I have six characters right now (three in a party), each with a different play style and unique moves. Cloud is a melee fighter and can switch stances from "regular" to a slow and powerful one. Barrett is a ranged fighter and has an overcharge ability that builds up. Aerith has "wards" she can cast on the ground that give different buffs, as well as a little familiar she can summon. Etc., etc. Then, of course, they have weapon abilities and all the spells from materia. And there are like partner abilities (synergies). Skill trees. Blocking and countering mechanics. Air and ground combat. Summoning. Limit breaks. Special synergy abilities. And you can manually use each characters' abilities and control any of them, too. It's too much for me to keep track of! Combat is fun, but feels chaotic. That's it for now. Looking forward to seeing where the story takes me, remembering nostalgic bits, and continuing to learn the combat. dkirschnerMon, 13 Apr 2026 09:37:34 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7990&iddiary=13499http://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?jpSun, 05 Apr 2026 14:38:00 UTChttp://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7989&iddiary=13498