Tantai Jin Apologist

100% Bricked!

2025-12-13T23:03:03Z

100% completed Lego Horizon Adventures & got the platinum trophy. Loved it. I think my favourite part was probably Teersa. All the voice actors were clearly having a blast, but her character in HZD was basically a background character who was barely in it & she clearly relished the opportunity to go a little nuts ("TEERSA SMASH!" lol). It did get a little grindy when it came to levelling up all the characters for the final trophy, but that's kind of on me. The intention is probably that you'll unlock it gradually by occasionally dipping in & playing a bit here & there. Even with the restriction that I have less than a month to do this before my PS+ expires (I'll likely buy it properly, but who knows when that will happen) it's doable. But I know me & if I put it down I will get distracted & not pick it back up (case in point: I still have not got around to replaying Horizzon Forbidden West for NG+).

I can particularly see this as a good purchase on the Switch. It'd be perfect for picking up & playing on the go. Fun & engaging, but not something where I'd feel frustrated at being interrupted because my bus arrived or I got called in for my appointment or whatever.

Next up: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

EDIT: Bailed on Ratchet & Clank a few minutes in. This game is just not for me.

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Fun with bricks

2025-12-11T23:08:21Z

Finished Lego Horizon Adventures (the story at least - I still have a bunch of stuff to do for 100% completion) & absolutely loved it. Silly goofy charming fun & that had me laughing pretty much constantly. I enjoyed seeing how it remixed elements & characters from the game.

I am tired, but I forgot the Game Awards were tonight. So I guess I'm staying up to watch that instead of going to bed heh.

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Sword of the Sea

2025-12-10T19:50:55Z

This game is probably great if you've either never played Journey, or have played it but found it too boring. I am not one of those people.

This just takes one of the most beautiful & chill games ever & complicate it by adding pointless nonsense to it, reusing enough of the design elements to be a constant reminder of something better.

On the plus side, I guess at least I haven't lost money trying it out. Lego Horizon Adventures is one of the monthly games, so I was going to reactivate PS+ for one month to give it a go, because I like the Horizon games but have no interest in Lego games. If I like it, I'll buy it after cancelling the subscription, & if I don't, then at least I'm only out £7 rather than £30+. Then I got a £10 voucher for PSN, & Sword of the Sea was on my wishlist because of the Journey association, so decided to go up a tier & get PS+ Extra instead of just Essential, so I could try that too, essentially for only 99p. Looking through the available games, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is on there too. Funnily enough that one was on my wishlist but I recently took it off since it had been sitting on there for years & I hadn't got around to buying it, so clearly I wasn't that interested. So I can try that one & see if it's for me.

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Good Day!

2025-12-06T21:56:06Z

I now have a Switch! Yes, a Switch 1. I'd been toying with the idea of getting one for a while, but knew that prices on the secondhand market would inevitably drop once the Switch 2 was released & a bunch of people sold their old consoles & flooded the market. So I waited. Now it's been months & I figure prices are as low as they're going to get. I did briefly consider aiming higher & buying a Switch 2. But eh. It's more money, & sure it's more powerful, but I'm mainly looking at it to play fun indie games on the go, & also try some Nintendo exclusives while I'm at it (first console I owned was a PS2 & I've stuck with Playstation ever since, & before that the kids I hung out with were all Team Sega. So aside from briefly checking out the Wii before deciding it wasn't for me, I'm a complete Nintendo newbie). I already have a PS5. Buying a Switch 2 would be like owning a Ferrari, going to buy a bicycle for chill rides around town, & deciding to get a souped-up bike that goes faster. Like that's cool & all, but it's not what I'm here for. Maybe I'll get a Switch 2 in a few years when prices come down a little, if I enjoy my experience with the Switch.

I did get an OLED though. I also picked up Breath of the Wild to play on it.

In even better news, on the way to buy my new(ish) console, I ran into my friend Tina, who announced that she'd had her last chemo session (fingers crossed, touching wood, pending a confirmation check-up in a few months) & is (hopefully!!!!) cancer-free. So we're meeting up for coffee next week to celebrate that.

Also... WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THE THAT THE SOUND AT THE START OF SWITCH ADS WAS ACTUALLY THE SOUND THE CONTROLLERS MAKE WHEN YOU SLIDE THEM ON??? I thought that was just a random sound effect they added as a kind of jingle.

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Lost Soul Aside - demo impressions

2025-08-30T15:15:59Z

So, I played the demo &... *sigh*. I've been waiting for this one for years. Out of this new wave of big Chinese games, this was the one I was really excited for, as the combat in the gameplay they were showing off was pretty shameless in how much it was inspired by Devil May Cry, & as a longtime enjoyer of that series, I was absolutely down for another game offering that type of stylish action. (There were also comparisons being made with Final Fantasy, but I'm not familiar enough with that series to comment on any gameplay similarities there might be.) But taking heavy inspiration from something else is risky - if it's good then it's an easy sell ('if you like x then you'll love y!'), but it does mean that any deficiencies are noticeable, & wow does this game have plenty of those.

The demo offers 3 modes, combat, boss challenge, & adventure, & I went with the 3rd to get a general sense of the game. First off, the dialogue I was launched into seemed to have been written by someone who had never had any conversations in their life. I don't want to make accusations of AI but... well. Exploration seemed fine, though I didn't get too far before having enough, though the camera bugged me & I got mildly nauseous (in the game's defence I am really sensitive to that sort of thing & IIRC there were options to adjust camera sensitivity in the settings. If I'd been enjoying the game otherwise I'd have probably made adjustments & tried again).

Combat was just bad all round. I had no real idea what I was doing so I was basically button mashing to figure out what worked, but I wasn't getting a sense that I was doing anything (someone on youtube said it 'feels like you're whacking enemies with a wiffle bat' which tracks with my experience & sums it up well). Topped off with how it wasn't clear when enemies died. Like I was fighting & then suddenly it was over & I was really confused.

Also whose idea was it to make R3 the lock-on button? Really awkward to press while you're busy fighting for your damn life without accidentally shifting the camera. There was no option to change this.

Do not recommend this.

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Bound

2025-08-18T18:50:12Z

( let's dance )

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Horizon Zero Dawn Scenery (Part 2)

2025-06-29T18:39:47Z

( natural wonders )

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Horizon Zero Dawn scenery (part 1)

2025-06-27T19:28:28Z

( Ruination )

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Horizon Zero Dawn - Purple

2025-06-24T18:46:29Z

( Glowing )

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Horizon Zero Dawn - Tallneck

2025-06-21T18:00:33Z

( tall boy )

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Horizon Zero Dawn - Aloy

2025-06-18T17:44:33Z

( warrior queen )

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Horizon Zero Dawn - on the Shaman's Path

2025-06-14T19:05:26Z

( a spiritual journey )

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Horizon Zero Dawn - black & white

2025-06-11T20:18:30Z

Finally getting around to posting some of the many photos I took in this game.

( if its in b&w it's automatically art )

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Summer Games Fest reaction so far

2025-06-06T22:04:25Z

So bloody sick of grimdark soulslike games holy shit. The aesthetic is always the same. The combat is always the same.

Also the audio on most of these trailers is so badly mixed I can barely make out dialogue, let alone what's being said

I don't know if I'll make it through the whole thing. I'm generally forgiving when it comes to games showcases as I understand not everything is for me & am capable of being happy for other people, & sometimes it's okay for smaller showcases to be more lowkey. But this is giving nowt & it's supposed to be a big blowout. I'm so bored.

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State of Play

2025-06-04T22:26:25Z

Absolutely down for a new Lumines game! Especially with a Tetris Effect flavour. Also intrigued by Hirogami - its giving me Tearaway vibes. Sword of the Sea aka Totally Not A Journey Sequel Honest got an August 19th release date, & Ghost of Yotei has a gameplay deep dive coming next month. More Astro Bot challenge levels, which I'm sure will be great as soon as the game drops to an affordable price.

Also that official PlayStation fight stick looks cool.

Cool that Myst & Riven are showing up in the classics catalogue but I ain't paying for PS+, when I have them on my damn phone. Though I assume they'll be purchasable separately so that might be cool if they don't overcharge.

Love that Pragmata ended its trailer with a post-it note saying "it's real". They have definitely heard all the people going 'hey remember that trailer for that weird Capcom game that showed up in that one showcase years ago that felt more like a concept than a game, is that even a real game that's happening?'

That was it for me, but it was pretty packed & there were a bunch of games that I know others are excited for, & I'm happy for them. Some really wild concepts in there - wtf is even going on in Romeo is a Dead Man & Sea Remnants (I think - couldn't read the title on that one)? - & it's always nice to see games trying something different.

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thispatternismine @ 2025-05-29T21:33:00

2025-06-01T20:50:11Z

So I've double-finished Horizon Zero Dawn. That is, I completed it, & then completed it again on New Game+. Had a great time. Both playthroughs were on story mode. Honestly, most of the NG+ playthrough it did feel a little too easy now that I was practiced at the game & the sorts of things it wanted me to do, & with all the weapons & outfits unlocked & maxed out. But there were difficultly spikes even then where I'd be swarmed by a bunch of the trickier machines at once & it could get frustrating, & I still sucked at aiming, though I could see some improvement (though I'm mainly blaming the fact that the reticule was impossible to see & there was nowhere in the settings to change that, so I often couldn't see exactly where I was aiming). Might maybe try another playthrough on easy or normal at some point, see how it goes, but I'm in no hurry & I need to take a break from the game for a bit & get other things done).

I've taken a load of photos (like I've got nearly 200 sitting in a folder that I need to go through (& that's not counting trophy screenshots & ones I made of tutorial screens for my own reference) & will post them at some point.

Should probably make an Aloy icon as well. Because I love her.

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thispatternismine @ 2025-04-30T01:32:00

2025-04-30T01:14:12Z

My life is basically just Horizon Zero Dawn right now. Any spare time I've had in the last 2 weeks, that's what I've been up to.

I thought I'd give it a shot & get it out of my backlog, where it's sitting been for years, after being reminded by the PS5 remastered version. It occurred to me that it may have been an unwise purchase, considering I suck at both archery & stealth (which the game heavily involves) & I also have completionist/trophy hunter tendencies that could turn a more open-structured game into a series of step-by-step instructions. Plus crafting can feel like work when you're constantly juggling resources & barely managing (already get enough of that IRL).

So instead I decided take a more laidback approach. I set it to story mode & eschewed the guides in favour of simply exploring & figuring stuff out myself. Admittedly it works out as a strange definition of 'laidback', since I explore every little thing & do every random side quest & errand & farm resources. It's been working out pretty great. For instance, I found out you're meant to revisit the ruins as an adult buy literally stumbling into them while wandering around & seeing there were new areas you could open up, which felt way more fun than simply checking a guide that said to do that & then doing that. Even the crafting has been fun, because story mode means less pressure & I'm just using what I've gathered to make things.

(Technically I am checking guides for some collectables, but only because pretty early on I unlocked the maps to find a bunch of collectables, & while they're clearly marked, some of them - mainly the vantage points - are a nightmare figuring out how to get at, & it's frustrating knowing something is right there but in order to actually reach it you have to approach from a particular direction & turn the camera to a particular angle & if the stars are in alignment you can see the handholds to climb up... So having a couple of guides to the flowers, vantages, figures, & vessels saves me some frustration when I can't figure it out.)

I've got 61 hours of playtime & am pretty sure I'm ridiculously over-levelled, but I'm not even halfway through the main story.

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The Fucky Squire

2025-03-27T00:34:04Z

Decided to give The Plucky Squire a shot, because it had been sitting on my wishlist a while & was on sale. Wow. What a mistake.

At first it was small frustrations. Like the fact that the core concept of it being a playable storybook whare the pages turned, & you could leave the book to do things was, while interesting, made for a lot of stop-start-stop-start cutscenes & gameplay was a slog in places (move Item A, leave book, pick up Item B, re-enter book through different portal, put down Item B, pick up Item C, carry it elsewhere onto page & put it down in correct place to remove obstacle to get key, leave portal & go back to... etc etc). Also you have 2 other characters tagging along with you who do nothing, who follow so closely that they get in the damn way constantly. Like damn back off & give me some space! There's also a section where you get a bow to use, & aiming is ass, but it's a short section. Also the bits in 3D, where you leave the book to do some platforming, have a camera that is a nightmare. There was also a bug that completely blocked progression at one point (was completely unable to leave the page I was on, & for some reason the character could only face left), though thankfully quitting & restarting fixed that. But there were some charming moments, some funny jokes & references, & by Chapter 6, with its metal music theme & aesthetic, it was growing on me.

And then the game throws you a rhythm minigame out of nowhere, using a character who has not been playable until now & has simply tagged along on the adventure, without telling you what you need to do. And while it was easy enough to figure out that there were only 2 buttons that did anything, & they both did the same thing (smashing a projectile thrown at you), it didn't seem to be having any effect. Smashing the things did nothing to the enemy's health bar, & enough hit me that I died quickly (couldn't see the path of most of them as they were thrown so high they went offscreen), so I must be doing something wrong, surely? Bearing in mind that otherwise, the game is stupidly easy. There's an invincibility mode where you get unlimited lives (which the game does not penalise you for using), sections featuring a new mechanic will have a little box telling you the relevant controls (sometimes that'll still display even on subsequent uses) & puzzle sections have an NPC sitting around who will give you hints for solving it (& really calling them 'hints' is an understatement). So this was an insane difficulty spike.

The first encounter is skippable, but the second is a boss fight, & the option to skip was greyed out. And it was worse because some of the projectiles this time were snakes that clung on to your weapon before being flung off, pretty much guaranteeing you'd be hit by the next projectile. Checked out a youtube vid & apparently there's meant to be a sort of halo around the pots being flung at you, that'll flash at the moment you're supposed to hit it, but I didn't get that. I tried quitting & restarting, but it made no difference.

Uninstalled the broken piece of shit. The fact that this got a nomination in the Indie Games category at The Game Awards, but Thank Goodness You're Here! didn't is an insult.

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State of Play

2025-02-12T23:24:28Z

So that was pretty good, I thought. A whole 45 minutes too.

Highlights were Lost Soul Aside has been on my radar for a while & continues to look good. Excited to get a release date. May 30th - only a few months to wait! :D Onimusha: Way of the Sword is looking very cool, & I'm liking the glimpses we got of the protagonist's personality. Like, that he actually has one. No taciturn lone swordsman here. And the Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny remaster looks fine. Not enthusiastic I know, but I never played this one so there's no nostalgia here for me to get super hyped. Will likely pick it up when it comes out though. Dreams of Another looks super bizarre & interesting. And artistic third person shooter with a painted art style where you create stuff by shooting it? I am intrigued. Tides of Annihilation has a cool mix of fantasy elements & post apocalyptic setting, with maybe a dash of DMC in the gameplay. I'll need to see more before I get fully interested though.

There were a few others showed off that looked interesting, but I get the feeling they won't be for me. Darwin's Paradox looks cute but that is clearly a fiddly platformer that will frustrate me. The Midnight Walk has a cool style but I don't do well with first person games (I know it's in VR also but I don't have a headset anymore & not gonna pick one up just for this sorry lol). Blue Prince, mentioned in the PS+ section, looks like an interesting puzzle game but also first person. Hell is Us has interesting vibes but I'm not sure about anything else.

There was plenty of other stuff there that I'm not into, but I know others are hyped for & I'm happy for them.

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Ugh

2025-01-08T22:22:31Z

Signed up to a challenge to write 250,000 words in 2025, & so far it's been a washout. I managed something in the first few days, even if it wasn't much, & was hoping to get into a steady groove. But I've been feeling like absolute crap for the last week & not exactly in the mood to write. I have the immune system of a tank so rarely get ill, so whenever I do feel really bad I know it must hit hard. It's not covid though. The only symptoms I have for that are the generic, vague ones that it shares with every other illness out there (oh, you have a cold? a cough? cant sleep (no shit you're not gonna sleep well like this)? Any time I've had so much as a sniffle the last few years I was running a covid test, & every single time its come up negative, even the one time I felt sure I had it & ran the test again the next day to be sure. And that was when I had a whole stack of tests (because I went in for one pack & the pharmacist pushed another on me because there were 2 packs of tests left in the box so giving me both meant he could get rid of the empty box). I am not wasting my time.

I have been doing my best to kill two birds with one stone though. If all I'm gonna be doing is vegging out under a blanket I may as well spend the time doing something that would otherwise distract me from writing. I stalled on Sackboy: A Big Adventure months ago because while I love the idea of platformers, in practice they are frustrating as fuck, especially boss fights. But it turns out there's an infinite lives setting. I've turned that on & now I'm actually able to make progress & the game is now both significantly more fun during the boss fights & the trickier platforming sections. Amazing how much better things are when you don't have to replay the whole bloody level because you took more than 3 hits.

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DMC5: Vergil Jumping Again

2024-08-22T16:14:51Z

( pretty lights )

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DMC5: Yet More Vergil Jumping

2024-08-19T18:04:03Z

( jesus christ pose )

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DMC5: More Vergil Jumping

2024-08-15T17:05:18Z

( jump! )

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DMC5: Vergil Jumping

2024-08-13T19:20:30Z

( jump, vergil, jump )

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Powerwash Simulator - Muckingham Files 4

2024-08-08T16:05:06Z

( resemblance to any real people, living or dead, is COMPLETELY coincidental, honest )

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