Today’s game is some more 007 First Light. I sunk all my free time today into beating this one. Maybe more time than I should have. I was just really hooked though and wanted to make it to the end.

I liked Greenway and Jame’s bond. It felt like he provided a parental figure to James, and in a way a friend. I like how they chose to have him grow with James and become close to him.

I also liked the Mega Complex that Webb Industries has. I love big ass mega complex’s like this. From just an appreciation view they’re really cool to see and look around.

I would like to go back and 100% it, or at least 100% it as far as Steam is concerned. I find that’s a good way to really experience everything without going crazy and burning myself out. So I might give that a try. Or maybe I’ll move straight too Uncharted 4.

Today’s game is some more 007 First Light. Made it all the way to the museum segment. I’m really liking it so far. I noticed in the chapter list I’m close to the end. Which I kind of like. I feel like the nine chapters are the perfect length. It helps keep them from dragging out too long.

While going through the boat town, I saw the Jaguar in a light beam. The way it was set up I really thought we were gonna have to make a getaway in that. It was almost disappointing it didn’t get used for that. Still. I really liked the boat segment. I know I keep saying it but it gives me major Uncharted 4 vibes.

Anyways. Tomorrow maybe I’ll finish up the game. I’m really enjoying it and considering 100% it. I feel the same kind of affection I felt for Uncharted and Alan Wake 2 for it where I’m just quite not ready to let it go. Of course, not to the same degree as Alan Wake 2 (legitimately that game haunts my every waking moment). But still. I’m not quite ready to go I don’t think.

Today’s game is 007 First Light. I had been holding out on this game because it had Denuevo. But I saw it was on sale and decided to do a double check. I guess they removed it back in July. I still wasn’t assured thought so I did some stuff and got ahold of a copy to test it out first before dipping into the 45$ it would cost me.

My first impressions are? Well first: Fuck this game is pretty. Midway through chapter 3 I suddenly got performance issues but in chapter 1 it was pretty and running well

My second impression is Holy shit this game is buggy. I haven’t played anything quite so buggy in recent times I think. It’s so fucking lucky I like the gameplay.

I will relent. Maybe there’s something going on with the way I’m playing and maybe there’s something else going on with Proton. But damn. So many issues. I’ve gotten:

• Clipped into the ground
• locked in the watch overlay
• locked in the watch overlay again
• thrown through a wall mid fight and fallen into the void.

It is only those 4, in the first 4ish chapters. But damn. When it bugged out it bugged out hard.

Now for the actually interesting part in my opinion. This game scratches all the right itches I had for a new Uncharted game. Like literally the only thing it’s missing is Nathan Drake. And he’s in retirement so fair enough.

But that opening had me nostalgic for the opening of Uncharted 4 all over again. And the combat and action pieces. It just gets me all hooked in the same way Uncharted did.

I was initially hesitant to play this because that’s a 50 Gb download on my slow ass internet, and I have almost no run in with the James Bond franchise. Literally the only other experience I have is Golden Eye 007 for the N64. Besides that, I know he likes martinis and women, and he has a laser wrist watch thing. That’s it. Despite the technical issues I might track down a used copy or just buy it on discount because I’m really enjoying it.

Today’s game is Pokemon Soul Silver. I went ahead and knocked out Cerulean City Gym today. It took way longer than I thought I would.

Mainly it was the quest to hunt down the part. But the quest did let me discover Pokemon have unique interactions when they’re following you depending on the location. Like here my Gardevoir is running along side the pool. It makes me wish we got this feature back in later games because this is really cool having a “companion” Pokemon.

I found a Snorlax over by Lavender town. I went looking for the Flute but couldn’t find it. Some NPCs made reference to a Flute radio signal, but a lady said I need a upgrade to my phone thing to get it. So I guess one of my goals is to hunt that down so I can catch a snorlax.

Anyways, after tracking down Misty. I beat her. I just want to say that I’m a big fan of HGSS Misty’s design. Like from a legit design perspective. I really dig the whole “Swim coach” vibe she has going on. I like it a lot more than her Gen 1 style.

Regardless, after that I’m gonna head over to Brock I think and deck him. I think it should be easy relatively. After that I’ll go knock out the next one, whoever that is

Today’s game is Outward. I got a friend to buy it for me to try it with him, so I gave it a try. When he first asked me to play it I honestly didn’t expect it to be 50 GB of free space. Crazy how a game can occupy that much space. I thought it’d be a tiny little 5 GB game. But nope. It’s like 10x that.

On first impressions it gives major walking sim meets MMO vibes. Not in a bad way, but I guess the best comparison would be Lord of the Rings. It’s a lot of Walking and Plot with combat interspersed throughout in the wilderness.

One place we came upon was this big ass purple mountain which was cool. I asked my friend what the equivalent of Mordor was as a joke and he said it was this place. I’m not sure if he was fucking with me or serious. But it’ll be interesting to see if he was serious.

We ended up getting knocked out, but instead of dying we got rescued by this wood looking guy. It was cool. I like when games have alternative death systems like this. It makes for an interesting mechanic.

We ended up joining the Blue Chamber Collective, mostly because they were the first faction we saw, but also because they seemed chill. The walk to Berg was a bit of a haul, and we didn’t really want to make it again, so Berg was where we decided to stay.

Once we joined we got 3 days of down time so that gave us a perfect stopping point. My friend was asking me to play again tomorrow so I guess we’ll see if that will happen. I was liking it so far even if it was hard to follow. So I’m excited to play again.

Today’s game is Pokemon Soul Silver. I finally picked it back up again to try and make a dent in Kanto. So far I’ve gone and tackled the first 2 gyms.

One thing I really appreciate about the game is they give the Gym Leader’s new designs. It’s definitely cool to see the design change in a way that it feels like time has passed.

I do find that the Gyms here, and too an extent the Gyms in Johto, go really fast. Like, in the span of 20 minutes I had cleared 2 gyms.

I did struggle a little bit with Sabrina so that could have been shorter though.

Speaking of struggling with Sabrina. She pulled so many damn revives out during our fight. It felt like every time I kicked her Alakazam down to 10% health, she’d whip a revive out and undo all my work. Eventually I finally got her sorted though.

I wasn’t really paying attention to her dialog after because I got caught up with something. But my next goal is to figure out where to go next. I’m thinking of popping over to Lavender town if I can though regardless, I like it there.

Today’s game is Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave. I picked up a physical copy used from my local area and have been playing it all day. Especially handy because I went to a Party and while everyone else was passed out I got to sit by myself and play.

Fire Emblem has kind of always been a special franchise for me. Winter of 2021 I was in a rough spot and bought my 3DS and modded it. At that time Fire Emblem was that weird franchise in Smash with all the sword guys. I had decided to try Fire Emblem Fates, it resonated with me in a way that I don’t think many games have since.

Anyways. I was surprised when I found out they were already making a DLC. It kind of has my hopes high this game will hit the same for me as Fates once did. The soundtrack alone is already really good and I like it. That’s pretty standard for Fire Emblem for me though.

So far I’ve found the gameplay to be really enjoyable. I decided to play in Hard Mode for a challenge. I’m thinking of lowering it though because I’ve gotten stuck on this bit with the braziers. I know the logic behind it. But I just can’t seem to get it right. I’m 4 attempts in so maybe attempt 5 will be the go.

So far Leda has been my favorite character. I find her story interesting and the whole musician thing is cool. I like these support classes, though I am used to them just giving other units another turn.

Tomorrow I’ll give it another go. I don’t want to lower the difficulty but I may have too just to pass this roadblock.

Today is some more black flag resynced. I went and did one of the wrecks today. I was short on time and just wanted to swim around a little bit. I missed the underwater segments a lot. They were always so stress inducing.

I like the color palette down here a lot though. I’d look for an image from the older one to compare it too but I’m in a bit of a time crunch right now.

They have whales swimming around down here which is cool. I’m sure they were in the original too. But still. Super cool getting to look at them.

Backtracking a little, Before I entered the wreck I stopped to eat some Clam Chowder. While I was idling I got a show of two ships battling it out. I love how the game has other people engage in skirmishes. It’s cool, it makes the world feel more lived in and it’s a feature of the original I liked.

Afterwards I found this unmarked island with a guy who bought things for Animal Bones. It seems like this is where the novelty cheats were relegated, because I could buy the Skeleton crew here which is cool. It’s nice to have it as an option without saving being turned off. Though I do miss the old cheats. Those were cool.

In all my excitement I kind of realized I forgot about Pokemon Soul Silver though. So tomorrow I think I’ll move to that and finish that up. I can’t imagine Kanto is super long.

Today’s game is Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. I picked this up when it was on sale recently since I was going to head to Black Flag anyways and I’ve been playing through it all day. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to play this or the original. Still aren’t.

They honestly feel like two different games sometimes, just with a shared story and naval combat.

One thing I don’t really care for is how Edward I always feels like has this god damn smirk on his face. And he feels way quippier and like he’s always gotta narrate things. On the one hand I could see it being an intentional choice for narrative reasons. On the other hand… I could totally see it just being Ubisoft.

After tinkering with the graphics though it looks pretty. Really pretty. Honestly if they had given it the oblivion remastered treatment I think I would be way happier. Still happy with it. Just I could be even happier.

That kind of brings me to the combat though, it’s the RPG combat. Which in my opinion if you like it, you like it. If you don’t you don’t. It’s not like this thing killed my family. I will complain though that for a game all about parkour, it just doesn’t feel right. Especially having the freerun be anything except a trigger. That’s just not right. I’m starting to think I should just accept that era is gone though, even if it does make me a little worried about the AC 1 remake.

I’m currently at the point where you’re hunting for medicine, so decently far. I just wanted to get my first impressions down today. I was kind of critical but I do really like it. I feel like it’s an alternative experience compared to the original. Both have their own merits.

Today’s game is Halo 2. I’m not sure why. I just didn’t really know what to do with myself this evening and the best conclusion I could come to was “Let’s play Halo 2”. No friends this time. Just me. I decided to play solo on Normal and just take a look at all the signs. Like this one on the wall saying (I assume) no littering and no dogs. Ever since playing Portal 2 I’ve kind of been stopping to look at the signs in games. It’s fun.

I played the fan favorites playlist. Which is my favorite because I love the Scarab Fight. Ended up kicking some serious ass on there with a sniper rifle and battle rifle. Felt like The Master Chief. Which is impressive because usually I feel like I’m floundering when it comes to that battle.

Ended up following the playlist through to Delta Halo. Unlike the last one I am kind of mixed about this one. I’m not sure. I think I just don’t vibe with the huge warm grassy area aesthetic here. Besides that I feel like I’d like it.

Ended up getting stuck on the tank after getting determined to charge it on foot. At one point I actually got the tank but got rammed by a Banshee. At that point I decided a break was needed and stopped for the day. Love Halo 2 but very much felt kind of lost on what to do today so just finding something to do with myself felt good. Halo is always great for that.

Today’s game is Halo 3. I saw that Project Reclaimer came out and decided to try it. I think the big thing I wanted to try was the 128 player lobbies. Anything else and I think I’d just stick to MCC.

Anyways. It was really fun. Like TF2 fun. I do think the lack of moderation was bad, because I saw a fuckton of slurs, racism, and all sorts of other things. But if I ignored that it was cool. Definitely gave me a perspective of a 360 era lobby.

I really like the ability to drive large ships. Honestly the part that stuck with me the most. Being able to climb in with 2 other people and fly to the combat site was cool. There was one point my ship got shot down and we crashed to the ground and I had barely escaped somehow. I felt like I was in a real live war zone which was cool.

Anyways, I tried 128 player infection too. That was cool. Albeit a bit broken. It ended up just being everyone lined up against a wall and shooting down the zombies as they slowly chipped away at the players. Cool experience. I think it would be a bit boring to play over and over again.

Honestly, I liked this. Though personally for me most the fun is playing Halo 3 with my friends, so that makes the MCC the best place for me to play because most my friends are stuck on console and it’s just more accessible I feel like. Still. Trying this was cool.

It inspired me to try making my own personal project too. I want to try making a “short movie” with my forge footage. I think it’d be fun trying to film something with such limited control. It’s why the resolution is so weird on some of these. I filmed in IMAX resolution and I’m planning to crop it. Not sure I’ll actually share it but I thought it’d be a fun project.

Today’s game is some more Portal 2. I stayed up later than usual tonight and finished up the Single player. It was nice going back through Portal 2 because it’s one of those games that hits well at the ending no matter how many times I play it. Listening to Cara Mia Addio at the end made me cry a little. Part nostalgia (Portal 2 is one of those games that have been with me a long time) and also just it’s really moving to me.

One thing I noticed this go around, is that I like all the signs in the game. Just stopping and reading it is super amusing. There were a bunch I really liked. But my two standouts were the one above and this one:

I think going back through Old Aperture has also given me a new appreciation for it. It was one of my least favorite parts of the game. but just slowing down and going through it with the aesthetic and the music and the SFX? I definitely like it a lot more.

Anyways. I’ll be sticking with this a little bit longer. I have a few achievements left before 100%ing it. And since it’s not a lot of work I figured I’d do it. And plus I’d like to go through the Co-op again with friends, or, well. One friend though if somehow someone coughed up a 4 player mod for the game all these years later that would be cool. No idea how the puzzles would work though