The Backlog Check-in Vol. 360: 11/23/24: MXGP 24 Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Second Life

Finished: Nothing

Playing: ?

Added: Nothing

Games releasing this week
By Grit Alone
Corepunk
Critter Cafe
Enigma of Fear
GigaBash - Ultraman: Rising
Glitch Hero
Hacked: The Streamer
Is This Game Trying to Kill Me?
Mindlock - The Apartment
MXGP 24
Neon Blood
New Arc Line
Nine Sols
Only Up: Lizards Must Fall
Platform 8
Raiden Nova
Ravenswatch
Riki 8Bit Game Collection
Riviera: The Promised Land
Sengoku Dynasty
Songbird
Starship Troopers: Continuum
30 Birds
Tokyo Psychodemic
Trombone Champ: Unflattened
Void Crew
Zero to Dance Hero

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Dragon Quest Builders 2

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 44


I'm breeding puppies in DQB2 in order to get the plat. Since it is a seemingly endless process, I picked up the Aquarium DLC -- which includes a FISHING MINIGAME -- to pass the time. This is what passes for a job for ol' Cane in later 2024.

[argyle]

Games added: Gibbon: Beyond the Trees, Milk Inside A Bag Of Milk Inside A Bag Of Milk and Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk - both were $2 Nintendo eShop sales

Last week: Finished nothing, played Vampire Survivors: Castlevania DLC, Maquette, Unicorn Overlord

This week: Same

I started playing Maquette because I needed a game to easily get my daily Gamepass achievement on. It's an Annapurna published puzzle game, and I've really enjoyed some of their others. Not this one. The puzzle aspect is...OK. The main problem is that it's tedious, it requires a lot of walking back & forth through dull static environments. Basically the main gimmick is there's a model in the center of the area, and anything you do to or in that model is reflected in the world around it. It's an interesting concept, just very tedious in practice. It might be more easy to stomach if it wasn't for the insipid story. It's about a relationship between two very annoying people, how it forms, how it falls apart. Your "reward" for completing a puzzle is another bit of story, but the story is SO BAD that it feels more like punishment than reward. I'm going to finish it, because I still need a couple more achievements this month but also because it's very short and I feel like I have to see the end of the stupidity at this point. Blech. If you want a REALLY GOOD Annapurna-published puzzler, play Gorogoa - not this crap.

I want to finish Unicorn Overlord before the end of the year. Don't let my ADD issues that have sidetracked me from it earlier this year be a poor reflection on the game, it's still my front-runner for GOTY. Just an absolutely perfect strat RPG.

[isthatallyougot]

I've already put 37 hours into Withering Rooms. Such an excellent convergence of so many things I love. The combat could be more fluid and there is a *lot* of it, so there is room for improvement. But the fact is that there are enough ways to tinker and build your character that it remains engaging, despite a bit of clunkiness. I've been holding off completing things as I've been doing side areas and a bit of grinding. It's one of those that I don't want to end, although I did catch a whiff of the notion that it has a unique New Game+. I've purposefully avoided spoilers and discussions, but I did somehow absorb that bit. So, I'm looking forward to finding out what that's all about once I finish this run.

So crim, did you just abandon the idea of your "let's all play a series" thang? I was looking forward to it. Stop being so busy with real life, sheesh!


Edit: Oh, I also recently passed a couple of kidney stones.



So after I had that truly nasty bug that I thought was going to kill me, I also started having severe...ahem...****SEVERE**** flank pain. I'm not the type to take pharmaceuticals of *any* kind (when I had my wisdom teeth out, the oral surgeon said that I WILL NEED the pain meds he prescribed, but I never took a single pill and never found myself to be in much pain with that), but I found myself browsing the pharmacy for some otc help before finally deciding to grit it out. The pain lasted another few days before I finally plopped out some shards. the actual releasing of the stones wasn't painful, but the build-up...



Never had a kidney stone before, but I surely hope that's the last.

[canedaddy]

I want to finish Unicorn Overlord before the end of the year. Don't let my ADD issues that have sidetracked me from it earlier this year be a poor reflection on the game, it's still my front-runner for GOTY. Just an absolutely perfect strat RPG.

I cannot wait to play that. And yet I have waited ... figured I'd wait to get it on PS5 (if I ever get one) for best performance. But maybe it doesn't matter in a game like that? Hmmm...

Oh, I also recently passed a couple of kidney stones.



So after I had that truly nasty bug that I thought was going to kill me, I also started having severe...ahem...****SEVERE**** flank pain. I'm not the type to take pharmaceuticals of *any* kind (when I had my wisdom teeth out, the oral surgeon said that I WILL NEED the pain meds he prescribed, but I never took a single pill and never found myself to be in much pain with that), but I found myself browsing the pharmacy for some otc help before finally deciding to grit it out. The pain lasted another few days before I finally plopped out some shards. the actual releasing of the stones wasn't painful, but the build-up...



Never had a kidney stone before, but I surely hope that's the last.

Oh man. I've had some serious physical pain (and other) in my life, but thankfully have avoided those. Glad that ... passed.

[argyle]

I want to finish Unicorn Overlord before the end of the year. Don't let my ADD issues that have sidetracked me from it earlier this year be a poor reflection on the game, it's still my front-runner for GOTY. Just an absolutely perfect strat RPG.

I cannot wait to play that. And yet I have waited ... figured I'd wait to get it on PS5 (if I ever get one) for best performance. But maybe it doesn't matter in a game like that? Hmmm...

It really doesn't. It's a 2D strat game, runs great on the Switch which means it would run at least as good on the PS4.

And Izzy, you've had a rough month or so! Glad everything came out alright. ...I'll see myself out.

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[isthatallyougot]

Thanks for the sympathy pains fellers. Yeah, it's been a rough few weeks. And that gif was something I thought of argyle because I found it funny that the moment of "release" wasn't painful at all for me - just the precursor to the "action" tore me up, ha. Poor Kramer.

Hope you all have a happy Turkey Day. I decided not to travel and see my family this holiday since my niece is getting married next year, so I'll just wait and see them all then. I usually try to see family once a year, but not this time. So I'll be doing the solo Thanksgiving this time. I will truly be thankful if the past couple physical traumas are the last I see for a while.

[crimson_tide]

Man, this aging thing can suck it, we're almost all in some kind of way ! My knee has been on a tear lately, I have been hobbling for weeks. Hope everyone recovers soon!

Played: Izzy. Friend. Comrade. I am trying so goddamn hard to advance in SMT3 and it won't let me! Now when I go to play it on steam deck, it demands a connection. On the subway. Which is just about the only time I get to play. It's been like this a couple weeks too. But imma keep trying. Fenix Rising keeps pulling the same nonsense. Most of my time has been in Hades and Crisis Core (which is just a bad console experience, it totally works on handheld but they should have dina A LOT more to make it work than just make it pretty).

Bought: the Civil...sorry, Sid Meier's Civilization humble bundle for $18. I have always been curious about them and this seemed like a good deal. Especially since I gave $2.50 to humble bundle, 34 cents to Take Two (they have GTA, they don't need more money) and the rest to charity. I would buy more stuff but now I have realized that the online gaming stores are just a chore to go through. If it's not on my wishlist, it is really hard to surface anything unless you know exactly what you are looking for. I guess the PC storefront honeymoon is over for me...

This week: I don't know. There's over a dozen people in the house until Monday because my wife loves to host so I will be on steam deck if I get to play much of anything since I don't have access to the PS4. It's probably going to be more Hades. I am probably going to cave and buy Shadow x Sonic Generations even though Sega didn't do nearly as much of a discount as I would have liked...

[argyle]

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