#i still need to beat the final boss and 100% the game but I'm ready to see everything else

[nookisms]

Things that were in my brain since I finished the quest. More to follow.

[somethingwittyandweird]

It's that time again! What's your favorite game you played this year?

Hope you're ready for a response to rival last year's post. There are so many good games that I have so much yapping to do about. And, if I may say so, this year was an accomplished one: I made some notable progress putting long-standing backlog titles to rest, as well as some new games that won me instantly. So, let's dive in...

We started off VERY strong with converting one of last year's “I watched this game and it was cool” to “I played this game and it was cool”: Hi-Fi Rush. It absolutely captivated me throughout. It has everything- charm, style, writing and characters that are heartfelt, hilarious, and over the top all at once- and most of all it has an incredibly natural evolution of the high-style high-precision action genre into a rhythm-based brawler where the world moves to the beat. Do I even need to mention it has, not one, but two banger soundtracks? It's a game I look forward to replaying (a rare praise from me), and one I know I'll be in love with for a long time.

Around the same time I was working my way through Sea of Stars- I've talked more about that here but it also really had me engaged as a modern love letter back to the SNES JRPG era. Visually stunning, musically lovely, satisfying gameplay, and a story that I felt gave its well written characters the space they deserved.

Once those were out of the way, I had my mission for the rest of the year: get this backlog CLEARED. Throughout the year, I knocked out:

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia: a game beloved by many growing up that had passed me by. Experiencing it for myself years later, I could tell that I would have poured endless hours into this DS title as a kid, and even today I loved it enough to 100% its quests and Pokedex. Absolutely killer writing and fun gameplay that still holds up today. I am glad I played it as an older adult though for one reason: at this age I know how not to harm my DS’ screen when drawing endless loops.

NEO TWEWY: A sequel to a cult classic I never thought I'd see but I was so, so happy to see it come back. The new game massively shook up the gameplay (it had to, TWEWY for DS is very literally inimitable) but fully kept the spirit and updated it. As the OG wore its 2000s teen culture loud, this game carried the torch forward and gave us the same charm with modern Internet culture. It brought back old characters in excellent ways, added great new ones, had some of my favorite kind of time travel writing moments, and did it all with style, flair, and a rocking OST. In every way a worthy successor to the OG.

Indivisible: Another game I wrote about elsewhere, Lab Zero's sadly ill-fated entry into action platforming. As I said there, I'm glad I could give myself closure on it and I was glad to appreciate the parts of it that did clearly shine- the delicious visuals and combat gameplay. Hopeful to see where those devs end up and what they'll contribute their talent to now.

Triangle Strategy: In terms of strategy games this was a foray outside my usual Fire Emblem interest zone, but it is my friend’s favorite game of all time, so I had to give it a go. The differences took some adjusting, but I ended up enjoying my time with the game. Combat was engaging, visuals had me oohing and ahhing in places, I liked the characters (Julio and Jens my MVPs). But the standout was the story- as deep and politically thrilling as I was promised it would be. The narrative voting/negotiation system offered me some cool moments of choosing my path (or one time having it chosen for me) which culminated in a really really well set up three-way ending split; it wasn't just choosing a side but choosing an ideology, and the characters who wouldn't abide that choice felt completely justified in their refusal to follow you. I didn't get the golden route, but I may go back someday. Without a doubt my best narrative game of the year. (Plus, the final boss of the route I chose was really really tactically engaging and I loved it as much as i feared it.)

Along the way, a few non-backlog titles did sneak their way onto the list…

Case of the Golden Idol: a visually quirky detective narrative puzzle game that scratched the same deductive itch as Obra Dinn, I had a lot of fun deciphering its ersatz mystery. Each chapter is a death tableau and you use clues and logic to piece together who is who, what is what, and what has happened, with each scene leading to a bizarre overarching narrative that makes you want to keep going just to see how wild it gets.

Death’s Door: A little soulslite adventure title about a reaper crow working for Death and trying to straighten up some loose ends. The environments are really well modeled (though a map wouldn't have gone amiss) and the combat system had a satisfying loop with some unique twists. Its final boss impressed me by being a spectacle fight through multiple zones that showed off the boss’ powers thematically, let you learn what the boss was doing in each phase, and wasn't a drag to retry (the usual danger with set piece fights that keep shifting areas). 

Blasphemous: One of those “classics” of the modern indie metroidvania space, and one of the first to get overtly Soulsy with it, I finally got the chance to try it and it showed me just why it deserves its "classic" status. The writing was very Souls and the platforming very vania, both excelling in their own way. I really loved the sheer variety of collectibles, that's a strong point in my heart for any metroidvania. I absolutely adored the music, a masterwork of Spanish guitar tracks I still listen to. And visually the game’s strong Spanish Roman Catholic aesthetic absolutely oozed artistic passion, and it was clear that so much work went into its visuals… including the surprising amount of (well-animated) gore. Which leads me to…

Nine Sols: if I had a nickel for every soulslike metroidvania I played this year that turned out to be quite unexpectedly graphic, these would be my two nickels. But content warning aside, I can't sing Nine Sols’ praise enough. Its gameplay was thoroughly polished and at every turn designed to help you feel like a kickbutt martial artist warrior, running up walls and surviving lethal enemies with perfect parrying and a unique attack to give that iconic ‘dash past enemy, beat, they explode’ rhythm to the fights. Then it sells that mastery by making enemies increasingly lethal, requiring more and more skill, but the floor never ramped hard enough that I was frustrated (though the last two bosses had me baffled for a while). Exploration felt rewarding with a lot of cool and useful items to find, and seeing this game’s beautiful blend of "Taopunk" futuristic + traditional Oriental environmental designs was a treat unto itself. And lastly, there's a gripping story that unfolds as you get to know its characters- Yi, your mysterious protagonist, the friends he makes, and the enemies he ruthlessly cuts down.

Are we done yet? Almost, I promise. 

As of writing I'm in the middle of Echoes of Wisdom and Ghost Trick, so those, while both great titles, will I think be their own posts. All that's left then is to acknowledge the games I played that I didn't, or couldn't, “beat:” the multiplayer ones.

I played a bunch of MtG with my friends, and I played a lot of Civilization VI with other friends, and those both took up many happy hours. If this wasn't too long already I'd tell you about unstoppable bunnies and definitely not werewolves, or my friends and I allying to conquer the world. But I knew when I got my switch recap today that there's a clear standout in hour count alone: It's not a surprise to you or to me, it's Splatoon freshwater-freaking 3. 

How could I not give it the most love for this year where I fell harder into it than ever before? Where my elite Salmon Runner friend helped me climb to dizzying new heights of EVP rank 999? Where I appeared on so many friend’s multiplayer streams for Splatfests and Big Runs? Where I took it upon myself to fill out my weapon collection 100%? Where I did Side Order runs until I knew every floor by name? Every one of those things has given me a cherished memory… but none more cherished than attending an honest-to-goodness music festival in this game, with my friends, reminiscing on past triumphs, on the importance of living in the present, and with the thrill of looking to the future. I loved Splatoon 3, and with the Grand Festival, it felt like the game, the devs, and the community gave me that love right back. 

That, among all of these games’ memories and experiences, is the one I think I'll treasure longest.

Video games are cool. I'm so, so glad they're real.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

I forgot to screenshot the thank you for playing oops, but fuckin I beat After Alterna that lets you understand everything you need to know. Actually did true 100% completion this time as well btw unlike Splatoon 2 and Octo Expansion, so that's gaming.

Anyway, game good! Game really good. Kind of got a best of every world setup for the single player here - 2 felt a little too identical to 1 but Octo Expansion was a really good gameplay shakeup, although its contextualisation with the subway system wouldn't have supported a full game, so we basically take that gameplay and mission structure and combine it with the hubs of 1 and 2, although with a far more interactive setup. Alterna's islands for that matter are a lot more diagetic and convincing to explore than the hubs in 1 and 2 such that this is easily the most joy I've had in the between level stuffs across every single player mode so far. Especially because the whole place does also just look cool as hell.

And then once you get into the levels proper I think they're just all very good fun and smartly designed pretty much across the board, plus compared to Octo Expansion they have a lot more ideas and a more linear sense of progression so I would say missions get to be longer and better realised with difficulty that scales a lot better according to where you are in the game. Since I did do 100% completion I replayed a lot of levels but I think the hub world setup makes that notion feel less overwhelming in Octo Expansion and they generally do a different enough variety of weapons to where it's pretty worth revisiting the stage with it. Destroy the crates to match the structure with 3 separate weapons notwithstanding. Bosses are maybe slightly weaker than usual unfortunately - there are less of them and they're surprisingly simple as well, Big Man didn't feel like the pre-final final boss whatsoever. Final boss is an extremely fun setpiece although I cannot lie the music was surprisingly lame lol. The gameplay is also weaker than Octo Expansion's final boss imo but oh well, it was still pretty hype.

Also appreciate that they've got 0 withdrawals with the story presentation this time around. Never minded that the lore was something in the background for Splatoon 1 but 2 then Octo Expansion and now 3 really embracing it and going all in on what the fuck happened to humanity and where all these new lifeforms came from, that's good fun. And I was saying this in the Alterna is diagetic as hell bit anyway but the fuckin space station and rocket ships contextualise this story so much more than floating blocks and landmasses everywhere a la Splatoon 1 and 2's hubs.

Only other comment coming to mind to make right now is After Alterna itself. Yeah definitely the hardest singular level in any of the games so far, although Inner Agent 3 from Octo Expansion I would call a much harder stage, I still can't beat it. But I prefer the platforming and movement mechanics offered by this series, and so I prefer After Alterna anyway - it really does push your understanding of the mechanics and hazards and just your own raw skill a pretty satisfying amount. Didn't take me too long to beat it, even first tried a few segments - it's the Octoling onslaught at the end that pushed me the most but they're not too smart and I'd fully upgraded the skill tree such that I managed eventually. Kinda hope come Raiders that there's more similarly challenging or even harder movement based levels, cause it's an area that Splatoon genuinely really excels in.

Anyway I'll buy Side Order when I next get paid. And once that's done I will truly be ready for Raiders, which is a game I'm looking forward to even more having played everything I've played so far. Splatoon's pvp shooter gameplay is obviously its dominant cultural legacy because fucking duh it is the focus of the game but depending on what Side Order ends up being I'm looking forward to Nintendo expanding on the idea of what Splatoon and its gameplay can actually be.

[i-purple-you9598]

BTS · You Fall Asleep On Him ·

GIF’s aren´t mine, credits to the owner

KIM SEOKJIN

You were lying on the couch with your head resting on your boyfriend's lap while watching a movie in the living room. That afternoon you had an amazing time with Jin. A few hours before, you were leaving exhausted from work, your boss seemed to have a bad day and has spent his time embittering others.You just wanted to get home and relax all the weekend. When you opened the door you found your boyfriend in the kitchen cooking dinner. You approached him and hugged him from behind while you kissed his back.

“You know I love you right?”

“ I know babe”

He turned around to hug you tight “have a shower while I finish cooking, okay? And after dinner we can watch a movie if you want.” you nod in response.

And there you were, watching a movie with a blanket over you. You were focused on the film when you noticed that you were slowly closing your eyes until you completely fell asleep. After a few minutes Jin looked down because of your deep breathing and delicately pushed back some strands of hair that fell on your face, he smiled sweetly and kissed your forehead before taking you in his arms securely to bring you to your room.

MIN YOONGI / SUGA

With a coffee in your hand you head towards the “Genius Lab”, you haven’t seen Yoongi for a while, so you decided that after work/school you would visit him at the studio. As soon as you enter to the studio, he turns around to look at you while you get closer and you give him his favourite coffee with a smile plastered in your face.

“Thanks love” says with his gummy smile and giving you a chaste kiss on your lips as he made you sit on his lap. You surround his waist with your arms while laying your head in the space between his shoulder and neck.

“How much time would it take you to finish it?” you ask, curl up in against his body.

“I still have a little left, you can wait at home if you want, you must be tired” He looks you in the eyes while it caresses your cheek delicately. You shake your head "I'm a bit tired, but I'll wait until you finish."

He hugs you tighter against him (if that is possible) bringing his chair closer to the table to continue working with you still sitting on his lap. Time passed and because of the fatigue and your boyfriends body heat you ended up asleep hugging him.

One hour later Yoongi finished his work "Jagi, I've finished, we can go home" when he didn’t hear an answer, he knew you fell asleep on him. Yoongi gently carried you and laid you on the couch that was in the studio, took a blanket and laid down beside you covering both of you while he cuddled you. A few minutes later he fell asleep next to you.

J-HOPE

With Hoseok being on Tour, your daily routine was going to work and when your schedule was finished, going back home; that was your routine of the last few weeks. You miss him so much. When you arrived to your apartment, you took off your shoes and lay down on the sofa, you didn’t have any energy at all, you closed your eyes so you could rest a little before start cooking dinner. A phone-call made you open your eyes “<3 Hobi <3  calling…” you get up quickly with a bright smile appeared in your face before taking the call.

 “Hey Hobi, how are you?”  “I’m fine princess, a bit tired, but talking to you makes my day”  a slight blush appears on your cheeks as you laugh softly “I bet you're blushing, right now”  “I’m not!!” “I have known you for a while now to know when you're lying babe” a sigh comes from you “ I miss you so much Hobi, you can’t imagine how much I need you right now” you say as tears form in your eyes. “ Aww I miss you too…” stops talking when he hears your sobs “ No, no sweetheart don’t cry please” he begs you, trying to calm you down.

You hadn't noticed the noise the door had made when it closed “I can’t see you cry” says before hanging up the call. Your hands covered your face and soft sobs came from you without being able to control it. You perceive arms around your waist and firmly attract you towards his shaped chest.You didn’t need to look at who he was, you could recognize that touch anywhere. You hug him back tightly and bury your face in his chest.Puts both hands on your jaw and lifts your face sweetly “Hey princess I’m here okay? I'm here” cleans the tears that are falling down your cheeks. He looks into your eyes, no words were needed, he hugs you again, hugs you again without leaving a separation between you two, your face now buried in his neck.When he noticed that you had calmed down he looked at you, when he saw you asleep, a smile escaped his lips. “I won't leave you alone for so long, I promise” Whispers while caressing your cheek.

KIM NAMJOON

Definitely you will go crazy, all week studying but it seemed that the theory didn't want to enter your head, you were going to end up banging your head with the book to know if you are able to memorize something in that way.You sigh, tightly closing the textbook you had on the desk and start beating yourself lightly against it.

“If you continue doing that you’re going to hurt yourself”  

“I know Nam, but I’m getting stressed, I’m not able to memorize this, and the exam is tomorrow!”  you rub your temples trying to take the pressure off it.

“You need to relax baby, take a break it will help you” says getting behind your chair and massaging your back.

“ I can’t Joon, I don’t have time to rest, I need to pass this test” you say opening your textbook again. Nam worried about you, you rip the textbook from your hands and leave it on one of the highest shelves. “Kim Namjoon... ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!” you say shocked, you stand up of your chair and start jumping trying recovering your book.

“You’re overworking yourself Y/N, you need to rest, if you continue like this you will end up with a headache and tomorrow you won’t be able to concentrate 100% on the exam” he says seriously, staring as you sit on the edge of your bed. He sits on the bed with his back resting on the headboard, you approach him and lean your head on his chest while you hug him.

“You know everything, you have studied a lot, you only need rest a little okay?”  you hum in response closing your eyes as he caresses your hair. When you finally got asleep he kisses your forehead and covers you both with a quilt.

PARK JIMIN

“Y/N babe I’m Home” says with a tired voice. He has been rehearsing so much, all the boys are working so hard for the next comeback. You stay up late to be with him at least few minutes before going to sleep. He told you many times to not wait awake for him, because he didn’t know what time he would be back home, but that is a discussion he never won.

“Jiminie” you kissed his plum lips “ How were the rehearsals?”  you ask taking his sport bag of his hands and leaving it on the kitchen counter.

“They gone well, but right now I’m exhausted and with a terrible back ache” says hugging you from behind. “What?!, I’m going to prepare you a warm bath, wait a minute” you walk quickly to the bathroom Jimin following you. “Jagi, you don’t have to…” You open the hot water tap and wait for it to fill up. “Shut up, take out your shirt and shit here” pointing to the stool that is next to you.

“If you want to see me naked you only have to say it baby girl” stares at you  with a pervert look  whereas he takes off his shirt, you stared at his abs for a second, and you shake your head “Sit down please” you stand behind him and start massaging his back. Soft sighs come out his mouth. “If I’m hurting you tell me please” you said worried “It’s okey princess, you’re not hurting me” takes your hand and kisses your knuckles. “The water is ready, I’m gonna leave you alone so you can relax” he takes your hand interlacing your fingers “Take a bath with me please, you need to relax too” you nod with your head to start removing your clothes. 

So there you were, with your back pressed against his firm chest, your head on his shoulder and eyes closed. His arms around your waist as he kiss your temple, your breath become deeper, he looks at you with glowing eyes. He kiss your nose trying to wake you up, you open your eyes slowly “Baby, you have fallen asleep” you groan “Let’s go to bed”, he grabs a towel and surrounds you with it as soon as you get out of the bathtub. It takes you to the bed and covers you both  with the sheet, after a few minutes you fall deeply asleep.

Kim Taehyung / V

You and Tae have been in the train for a few hours. You two are heading to his parents house to finally meet them but due to the long ride Taehyung made you take the 8:30 A.M. train, meaning that you woke up pretty early in the morning after working late and it left you exhausted. Everything for you boyfriend though, you have want to meet his parents for awhile now so this was an opportunity that you couldn’t waste.

“Babe, Do you want something to eat? I’m going to buy a water bottle” Ask Tae standing up to go and find the lady with the trolley full of foods and drinks.

“Coffee. Lots of Coffee” You say trying not to yawn. Your boyfriend laughs while leaving and you take your phone out of your purse to check what time is it, but you end up checking everything but the time for the next five minutes until Taehyung appears next to you with two water bottles and a bag of fries. “You’re back” You say with tired enthusiasm grabbing the bag and opening it.

“Yep. And since we have a few hours of journey left why don’t we listen to some music?” He proposes opening his water bottle to take a ship.

“Yes please.” You agree unlocking your phone and opening your favorite playlist with one hand while you try to find Tae’s earphones in his jacket’s left pocket. When you do it Taehyung takes your phone and chooses a random song.

Soon after that you start to fall asleep between good music and food so you lay your head on your boyfriend's shoulder in order to be more comfortable and you notice how his body warmth is helping you fall completely asleep.

JEON JUNGKOOK 

It was a cold evening, Jungkook and you were playing video games in the dorm while sharing a fluffy blanket. You two were very close so you were pushing and laughing at each other in a very competitive way that the both of you were enjoying.

That was until you got tired and laid on his shoulder leaving the controller at one side.

Jungkook was so concentrated he didn’t even noticed you staring at him, he look so handsome that you couldn’t help but imagine your future with him. How could he be so perfect?

In the middle of your thoughts you wrapped yourself with the blanket as much as you could while also enjoying the smell of your boyfriend, and that helped you to feel more relaxed than before. Suddenly your eyes closed and started to dream about a BTS concert were you had a backstage ticket.

Funny is that Jungkook didn’t noticed you were sleeping until he started to feel thirsty and asked you several times you go grab a glass of water for him, but since you didn’t answer or move he looked at your direction and saved his game for later as fast as he could. Jungkook engulfed you both with the blanket and happily cuddled you since there was nothing better than having you in his arms. Not even a video game.

[dausy]

So it took me months but I finally beat God of War: Ragnarok. Not that it was difficult to play or anything its just that I kept having interruptions. My husband bought it for me right as we were getting ready to move. I hesitated starting it but then couldn't contain my excitement and then of course the move and the holidays and its hard to pick a hobby back up once you stop even if you enjoy said hobby.

I think because of all the stop-and-go nature of it probably affected my opinion of the game. I think it was a fine game but it wasn't an all-time favorite. What upsets me though is when they don't let you obtain 100% before a game ends. Like I get it "look you don't have to turn it off, there's still game left" but I want game left when I see credits roll. I lose interest. I still technically need to turn it back on because I believe theres at least one really sad cutscene that I'm missing. I don't know if I care about the end game bosses enough to try it. But I really appreciate the character that Kratos has turned into. I honestly don't even know how I managed to play the original GoW games, completely unbearable.

The next big game I think I'll play on console is probably the next Zelda game. I'll have to dig out our console Switch. The Switchey-Switch. Havent seen it since the move either. I've been playing my handheld one but I feel like Zelda should be on the big TV.

I'm not sure what else is coming out on the Playstation anytime soon tbh. Theres a new Final Fantasy at some point and a new Dragon Age? I'd really like a good classic RPG with an amazing story is what I want.

I've been playing Harvestella on my personal switch and the game would be so much better if I could skip cutscenes. Squareenix absolutely love their cutscenes but I don't have the patience to sit there for 15 minutes reading text everytime a character speaks. I need to skip through it all and just let me farm dude. If it wasn't for the obsessive completionism I probably would have dumped this game. I like how it lists out for me what to do. I want to finish my collection logs and food logs but it has some annoying downsides to me. I really want to skip and start Octopath Traveler.