The Backlog Check-in Vol. 388: 6/7/25: Stellar Blade PC Edition

[argyle]

Games added: Yurukill (ps4), Potionomics, Panic in Sweets Land, Raiden III X Mikado MANIAX, Bear & Breakfast, SaGa Scarlet Grace (all switch), Mario Kart World (switch 2)

Last week: Finished Little Misforturne, played Expedition 33, Fantasy Life I, Mario Kart World

This week: Same, probably

Tam found Little Misfortune last week while she was looking through our digital games for something to play while I was at work. She messaged me & said it reminded her a lot of Fran Bow, so I explained to her why that was. She finished it, then I fired it up and played through it. Short but excellent game, thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope that team is working on something new, their games are very unique.

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 40 (this number is kinda pointless when I have so many PS+ games and whatnot, so this is the last time you'll see it)


I have had a tough time tearing myself away from Ghost on PS5. Such a fun game. I'll be wrapping up the main game in the next few days then moving on to Iki stuff.

[isthatallyougot]

Tam found Little Misfortune last week while she was looking through our digital games for something to play while I was at work. She messaged me & said it reminded her a lot of Fran Bow, so I explained to her why that was. She finished it, then I fired it up and played through it. Short but excellent game, thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope that team is working on something new, their games are very unique.

Yeah, I really enjoyed that other Killmonday joint as well. It was a notch below FB, but still a good 4/5 for me. So much personality in those titles. Perfect for any who are experiencing AAA fatigue imho.

Current backlog: 40 (this number is kinda pointless when I have so many PS+ games and whatnot, so this is the last time you'll see it)

Ha, yeah, most of you guys are so consistent with your post format. I don't know how to do that, lol. But surely the idea of keeping track of a number in the "backlog" is kind of pointless, for me at least. I just play whatever tickles my fancy and let the numbers do whatever they do.

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I'm still playing OOTP ceaselessly and as lost as can be in my own fiction. My starting center fielder got hurt and I called up a guy from AAA who seemed like he was truly ready to step in and perform and he has been DYNAMITE! So good, in fact, that I reevaluated my roster and moved on from the guy who got hurt after he healed in order to get some bullpen help. I didn't necessarily want to lose him, but when you've got a logjam at a position and a full 40-man, sometimes tough choices must be made. He's found a new home with a good team, so everyone's happy.

I'm also about 30 hours into Inferno Climber and haven't even beaten the second boss. I found the door, but don't have the key to unlock it. Really a fun and quirky Souls-like that makes no effort to hold your hand.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Octopath Traveler II

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 40 games

I am on the last few side quests for Octopath Traveler II! Most of my team is level 80+, so hopefully I can beat these last bosses by overpowering them.

[canedaddy]

I'm still playing OOTP ceaselessly and as lost as can be in my own fiction. My starting center fielder got hurt and I called up a guy from AAA who seemed like he was truly ready to step in and perform and he has been DYNAMITE! So good, in fact, that I reevaluated my roster and moved on from the guy who got hurt after he healed in order to get some bullpen help. I didn't necessarily want to lose him, but when you've got a logjam at a position and a full 40-man, sometimes tough choices must be made. He's found a new home with a good team, so everyone's happy.

That's a very frustrating aspect of real baseball... those decisions about who to keep and who to deal, and how that plays out. Often brutally for a team like the Orioles trying to build a champion in a megabucks division.

I am on the last few side quests for Octopath Traveler II! Most of my team is level 80+, so hopefully I can beat these last bosses by overpowering them.

I believe in you! I couldn't recall how my time with the game ended so I looked it up:

I finally finished Octopath over the weekend after 100+ hours. That last boss fight was crushing me until I learned the advantage of having a Chubby Cait in hand. I had caught one earlier but butchered it for meat. Took a while but caught another and then beat the game.

There's an optional FINAL final boss that is absolutely ridiculous. I'm pretty overleveled (all eight characters in the 80s) and have done everything else in the game, but even playing intelligently (attacking its weaknesses, using buffs the right way, etc.) I didn't take a single hit point off that SOB in two tries. I see some approaches online that list specific builds and actions for each of the eight characters, but screw that nonsense. So no Octopath platinum for Cane.

I know you will do that and make me feel like a pathetic weakling! Onward, machine!

[isthatallyougot]

That's a very frustrating aspect of real baseball... those decisions about who to keep and who to deal, and how that plays out. Often brutally for a team like the Orioles trying to build a champion in a megabucks division.

Yeah, no doubt! I really feel for the O's, Jays and Rays in the East. It's surely the most brutal division over the long haul. It's part of the reason I have really admired the Rays relatively recent successes. Sure that haven't won it all yet, but playing on their budget, with the lack of fan support in *that* stadium, which got even worse (but at least it's outdoors) after being forced to play in a spring facility, ironically and cruelly, the Yankees spring home, lol, and being under constant threat of relocation, yet they somehow put together competitive to good teams oftentimes. They're a real development powerhouse, which is how you have to compete nowadays if you're smaller market / under funded. The "money ball" secrets and all those analytics are no longer a real edge since everyone knows the secret sauce, but if you can scout well and develop players - your own or those you bring in, you can be a quality organization even if you don't have bottomless coffers. It would be sweet, sweet victory if they managed to win the East while playing in the Yankees spring home, lol. It will be a tall task, especially with Judge playing like a truly generational player right now. And your O's managed to somehow mess up the pieces of a good thing. They didn't invest in pitching sufficiently when they should have, and they've suffered some other player regression and losses that have undermined their hopes. They looked as if they could be the class of the East for the foreseeable future a couple of years ago, but now...not.



But they still have some young talent that is developing, and you're always a free agent or two and some player surges away from being right there. Every spring, hope lives!

Don't get me rambling about baseball, or I'll never shut up, ha!