@grissallia@aus.social
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grissallia

@grissallia@aus.social

I’m just a girl, standing in front of the internet, asking it to love her.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

mattblaze, to random
@mattblaze@federate.social avatar

Watched the Steve Martin doc on AppleTV. I hadn't noticed before (this is my observation, not the film's) how much Andy Kaufman honed characters that seem at least inspired by Martin's early work. Both did "bombing comedian" characters; Martin's was a clueless blowhard, while Kaufman's was a clueless innocent.

Anyway, fascinating career (and life) arc.

grissallia,
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@mattblaze I saw that on the home screen the other day, sounds like I should add it to my watchlist.

I went through a special interest of American Late Night Talkshow Hosts, which somehow lead me to "Andy Kaufman Revealed".

https://www.qbd.com.au/andy-kaufman-revealed/bob-zmuda/9780091874070/

verge, to random
@verge@mastodon.social avatar

Tesla’s year-over-year sales dropped for the first time since 2020 https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/2/24118950/tesla-q1-2024-sales-decline-ev-competition-ford-gm

grissallia,
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@verge area business genius resolves supply and demand issues by reducing demand.

melissabeartrix, to random
@melissabeartrix@aus.social avatar

First reports said there were 6 ... Giggles

Hugz & xXx

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-02/nsw-sydney-cocaine-curl-curl-freshwater-beach/103656120

grissallia,
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@masterdon1312 @melissabeartrix

Looking forward to the Cocaine Bear sequel, Cocaine Pig.

grissallia, to random
@grissallia@aus.social avatar

Breaking a tooth isn't just for Christmas any more.

😭

grissallia,
@grissallia@aus.social avatar

@jo Tan was just "It's a holiday. Of course."

melissabeartrix, to random
@melissabeartrix@aus.social avatar

This is the documentary, that was made on me back in 2023 ... Hugz

Hugz & xXx

https://melissabeartrix.id.au/assets/video/doco_mel.mp4

grissallia,
@grissallia@aus.social avatar

@melissabeartrix oh Mel. I'm so sorry.😭

twipped, to random
@twipped@twipped.social avatar

@rick first impression from my first two hours in HFW: Oh my god why is there so much bruised male ego on display?! Every single one of her guy friends is like “you hurt me so badly by leaving before I could woo you.”

The sun king begging her to come be his consort, and she’s like 😬😬

grissallia,
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@twipped @rick I opened up the first game again last night for the first time in a year. I just want to sink into it and play it exclusively, and finally finish it (I’m like only two hours in!)

But I’m just struggling for brain space at the moment, and to lock into just one game.

jpm, to random
@jpm@aus.social avatar

PSA: if police are directing traffic across a closed (faulty) level crossing without a railway controller present, you absolutely should ignore the police and yell at them for endangering people.

This toot brought to you by the 3 level crossings in Melton that are currently closed due to an electrical fault, with police present telling people to cross the level crossing.

grissallia,
@grissallia@aus.social avatar

@jpm Please make sure to set your time machine controls appropriately.

grissallia, to gaming
@grissallia@aus.social avatar

I'm not one for "New Year's resolutions", but I am one for overly ambitious projects.

For 2023, Project365 is "One New Game Per Day".

Given that I have 634 unplayed games in my Steam account and {mumble} unredeemed bundle Steam keys, there's a reason my unplayed collection is tagged "Pile of Shame".

I'll pin this to my profile, and give a brief summary here each day (or x, if I miss x days due to work or stuff).

I'll play 15-30 minutes of (at least) one new game I've never played before (or played less than 15 minutes of). I'll give every game at least 15 minutes, even if I hate every minute of it.

I'm also open to suggestions; if you reply to this thread with a game, I'll schedule it, or tell you what I thought of it.

One of the things that's come up is that I have a bunch of games that I've played once, and not touched again.

Unplayed games:
Trying a game again:
Going live on Twitch:

I'll hashtag these with so you can mute it if you're not interested.

grissallia,
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March 14, 2024 - Day 439 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 474

Game: Wylde Flowers

Platform: Steam
Released: Sep 21, 2022
Installed: Dec 17, 2023
Unplayed: 88d (2m26d)
Playtime: 51m

Wylde Flowers is a 2.5D farming and life sim with a touch of magic. Literally.

You play as Tara Wylde, a woman who, having spent her childhood in the town of Fairhaven and moved to "the city", is now returning home to look after her grandmother.

As you explore the town of Fairhaven after arriving at the dock, you'll find the only flag flying over the mayor's office is a pride flag, and you know this is a queer little game.

As you meet the fine folks of Fairhaven, more than one mystery starts to unfold, and one of these is the discovery that your grandmother is a witch... as are you.

I actually knew something about the game before I started it; I knew it was from a Melbourne-based dev team.

It's why I was a bit taken aback when the entire voice cast appears to be American. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it was just a little unexpected.

It was getting very late when I departed Fairhaven, and I'm looking forward to going back.

Wylde Flowers is:

4: Good

grissallia,
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March 15, 2024 - Day 440 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 475

Game: Everhood

Platform: Steam
Released: Mar 4, 2021
Installed: Aug 4, 2022
Unplayed: 588d (1y7m11d)
Playtime: 18m

Everhood is a pixel-art adventure RPG rhythm game mashup.

While it's an incredibly self-aware game that revels in its own weirdness, it effectively gates that weirdness off by the use of the rhythm game sections.

To progress in the game, you need to beat various characters in rhythm games, a la Rock Band, Guitar Hero, or Beatstar.

With one slightly, and incredibly frustrating difference. Instead of having to hit the marks on the beat, each rhythm section gives you five columns where you need to dodge pulses coming from the boss of the moment.

Even on the easiest level, I found myself frantically mashing the arrow keys and dying continuously.

Which means restarting the battle. Over and over.

I finally quit in frustration after 15 minutes, just to find I'd only been playing for 10 minutes.

I went back into the game, and found that if I stayed in the centre column, and mashed the up button with just the right timing, and no dodge attempts, I could manage to beat the first rhythm game.

A few minutes later the second rhythm game sent me back to the escape key to quit out.

While it seems like a fun game is somewhere in Everhood, am I going to go back and try to find it?

1: Nope

#Everhood #PixelArt #RPG #Rhythm #Gaming #ProjectONG

grissallia,
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March 16, 2024 - Day 441 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 476

Game: When Ski Lifts Go Wrong

Platform: Steam
Released: Jan 24, 2019
Installed: Dec 21, 2022
Unplayed: 451d (1y2m24d)
Playtime: 45m

When Ski Lifts Go Wrong is a 3Dish physics puzzler set in a ski resort.

I like puzzle games, I like physics puzzlers, this should be a no-brainer, and for the most part it is.

I don't like to complain about a game without being able to specifically explain my frustration, but in this case, there's something that feels very inconsistent and counter-intuitive about the controls.

I find myself constantly having to stop and think about the controls, which takes me out of the zone that puzzle games normally put me in.

With a more intuitive control system, When Ski Lifts Go Wrong could be so much more than:

3: OK

grissallia,
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March 16, 2024 - Day 441 - Humble Choice Supplemental 1
Total NewPlays: 476

I didn't skip over reviewing the 3rd & 4th games in this month's Humble Bundle, I just decided not to add extra workload on what was already an incredibly exhausting week.

Game number three in the March Humble Choice Bundle is Saints Row, which I reviewed on December 31 - https://aus.social/@grissallia/111673354217261193

The short version, Saints Row seems:

4: Good

grissallia,
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March 16, 2024 - Day 441 - Humble Choice Supplemental 2
Total NewPlays: 476

Game number four in the March Humble Choice Bundle is Citizen Sleeper, which I reviewed on March 13, 2023 - https://aus.social/@grissallia/110019522873647327

In short, Citizen Sleeper is:

4: Good

grissallia,
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March 17, 2024 - Day 442 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 477

Game: A Musical Story

Platform: Steam
Released: Jan 24, 2019
Installed: Dec 26, 2022
Unplayed: 447d (1y2m20d)
Playtime: 28m

A Musical Story is part visual story-telling, part rhythm game.

I've never played anything quite like it.

There are no words, other than the opening menu. The entire story is told through vignetted painted memories of the lead character, a musician named Gabriel, and varying musical motifs.

There are only two keys used, but it requires perfect timing to follow Gabriel's musical odyssey through the 70's; it forced me to focus and feel the music, to find that part of me that used to stand on stage and find the zone.

A couple of times I just didn't hit any keys and let the music play over and over, because the music is gorgeous, and captures soul music of the 70's so well.

A Musical Story is:

4: Good

#AMusicalStory #Rhythm #Gaming #ProjectONG

grissallia,
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March 18, 2024 - Day 443 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 478

Game: Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition

Platform: Steam
Released: Oct 28, 2015
Installed: Mar 17, 2024
Unplayed: 1d
Playtime: 1h30m

Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition is an isometric RPG with turn-based combat. It was released by a little-known dev team based in Belgium (pardon my language) called Larian Studios.

Larian Studios released a small indie game last year that few people heard of called [checks notes]... "Baldur's Gate 3"

In all seriousness, though, it was my experience with BG3 that made me wishlist "Divinity: Original Sin - The Source Saga" soon after, which is a bundle of Divinity - Original Sin, Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition, and Divinity: Original Sin 2, which is currently on sale in the Steam Spring Sale for AUD$21.61. Given that it's normally $121.90, the 82% discount was impossible to turn down.

I installed D:OSEE, intending for it to be my game for the 17th, and I encountered something in a game that I've not experienced in years; it took me way back to my early days of gaming.

I started the game, and it hard-locked my PC. Instant crash, everything frozen. Two more attempts, same deal.

I raised a support ticket with Larian. Played A Musical Story instead.

When I woke up yesterday, my troubleshooting kicked in. Hard lock doesn't help much in terms of logs, but there's still some working assumptions I could try out, and it turned out that it's something to do with my monitor setup.

I'm running triple monitors. Main monitor is an AOC 34" Ultrawide, the LH monitor is an AOC 24" FHD, and the RH monitor is my old primary monitor, an AOC AGON 32" QHD.

It seems that as long as I only have one monitor active, D:OSEE will start OK. I'm still trying to nail it down, because it seemed yesterday that once I'd started it successfully and set the options in-game, it worked fine with all three monitors active, but last night I started it again, and another hard-lock.

I now have it set to "Fake Fullscreen" (other games call that Borderless Windowed), and will be running it again after I post this to check.

After all that, what about the gameplay?

It's a slow start, and it feels... slow. It's the story of a corrupted magical force named "The Source", and a two-character party of "Source Hunters", that are completely customisable before the campaign starts.

After 1.5 hours of gameplay, and clearing out what turned out to be a "tutorial" dungeon, I've just reached the first main questline. Still, for a 9 year old game, there are the hints of greatness that are found in BG3.

So far, other than the maddening crashing bug, and the game's apparent inability to display my actual resolution in the list instead of dingbats(!), Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition is:

4: Good

grissallia,
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March 19, 2024 - Day 444 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 479

Game: Final Fantasy XIII

Platform: Steam
Released: Oct 9, 2014
Installed: Jan 1, 2016
Unplayed: 3000d (8y2m18d)
Playtime: 19m

Final Fantasy XIII is third-person RPG set in a scifi/fantasy dystopia. I think.

I have an odd relationship with the Final Fantasy series. I did not come to it via console.

I came to it via World of Warcraft. Back in the day, when WoW was pretty much the only game in (my) town, I was part of a WoW guild with some workmates. Our east-coast guild merged with a west-coast guild that we raided with regularly, and we now kind of roam from game to game like a band of Ronin-nerds.

At some point, I got a free thirty days FF XIV game time card in a bundle, and decided to give FF XIV a go.

I didn't get it. It felt bizarre, a mash of things that didn't really seem to mesh., but I spent a month levelling a character before deciding not to subscribe. Then Square-Enix made it free to play to level 60. Unless you'd previously had a subscription (Allie wept).

I did end up playing again many years later, and it was this experience that I brought to Final Fantasy XIII.

FF XIV is a fairly typical third-person (MMO)RPG.

FF XIII... is not.

While it IS a third-person RPG, the battle mechanics are unlike anything I've experienced before. It uses an "auto-battle" system with no direct control of the character during fights.

The other thing that the Final Fantasy games have in common is... almost nothing.

While there are some games in the series that lead on from the previous game, it seems to be more of a "Part 2" than any direct continuity.

At least as far as I can work out.

Final Fantasy XIII is (at least I think... maybe?):

3: OK

grissallia,
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March 20, 2024 - Day 445 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 480

Game: Train Station Renovation

Platform: Steam
Released: Oct 1, 2020
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 47d (1m18d)
Playtime: 69m

Train Station Renovation is a first-person work simulator.

I find work simulators quite hit-and-miss on two axes.

The first is whether I'm interested in the underlying work. A couple of years ago I stumbled across House Flipper, when I was deep in a depressive episode.

It was an incredibly chill way to find focus, and presented me with a to-do list, and a sense of satisfaction moving in creating order out of chaos.

The second is the UI for achieving those goals. It needs to be intuitive, and essentially disappear, allowing me to get on with my to-do list.

Train Station Renovation aims at the first one, in bringing order out of chaos, but somehow fails miserably on the second one.

I found myself constantly tripping over myself with the UI, which took me out of the zone repeatedly.

The sense of satisfaction in finishing the station and handing it over was good, but the frustration involved in getting to that point with Train Station Renovation left me feeling pretty:

2: Meh

grissallia,
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March 21, 2024 - Day 446 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 481

Game: Dead In Vinland

Platform: Steam
Released: Apr 13, 2018
Installed: Jan 10, 2020
Unplayed: 1532d (4y2m11d)
Playtime: 103m

Dead In Vinland is a 2D resource management & survival game with some roguelike elements.

A Viking family barely escapes a raid on their village. Mum, dad, daughter, and mum's sister-in-law escape in the raider's boat, and find themselves shipwrecked on an island.

I played through one entire loop of the game, from landing on the island until one of the characters died.

Once on the island, you need to send out the characters to explore the island, build things, gather food & water, as well as managing their encampment, and upgrading it.

Each character has five categories to manage: Fatigue, illness, hunger, dehydration, and depression.

Occasionally the camp will be raided, which leads to a turn-based combat stage.

The dialogue is incredibly hit-and-miss, with the angsty Viking teenager being more like a 21st century teenager in the way she talks to the other characters.

The game ends if one of the character's five status meters hits 100%, and the teenager unalived herself when her depression unexpectedly spiked before I could find anything to try and offset it during exploration.

The gameplay loop was just enough to keep me going, but the narrative was so disheartening, that playthough of Dead In Vinland was enough to push me from "meh" to:

1: Nope

grissallia,
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March 22, 2024 - Day 447 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 482

Game: Braid

Platform: Steam
Released: Apr 11, 2009
Installed: Aug 6, 2011
Unplayed: 4612d (12y7m16d)
Playtime: 25m

Braid is a 2D platformer, with hand-painted artwork and an interesting time-reverse game mechanic.

Much like most arcade racers now, you can press a button on the controller to reverse time to just before you died, and try again.

The artwork is gorgeous, as is the music. However, I won't be continuing to play.

Braid is a game that turns 15 next month, and it's a little bit janky on newer hardware. That's fine though, because devs are releasing an anniversary edition next month that has an upgraded engine and brought the original artist back to update the artwork for the higher resolutions of modern systems.

However, even in its current state, Braid is:

4: Good

grissallia,
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March 23, 2024 - Day 448 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 483

Game: Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest

Platform: Steam
Released: Oct 14, 2020
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 50d (1m21d)
Playtime: 25m

Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest is a visual novel RPG, that is apparently based on a TTRPG called Werewolf: The Apocalypse

You play as an American student, Maia, who's travelled to a small village outside Białowieża Forest on the border of Poland and Belarus, to try and find an explanation of her family history, and the forest that haunts her dreams.

I'm not familiar with the source material at all, but as visual novels go, this feels like the closest I've gotten to the experience of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book since I was a kid.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest is:

3: OK

grissallia,
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March 24, 2024 - Day 449 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 484

Game: Draw Slasher

Platform: Steam
Released: Oct 13, 2016
Installed: Dec 14, 2019
Unplayed: 1562d (4y3m10d)
Playtime: 15m

Draw Slasher is a 2D mobile port of what basically seems to be Fruit Ninja, but with zombie monkey pirates. I guess it's technically a hack and slash.

The translation from mobile to desktop is passable, until I got to a point on the first boss where I unexpectedly had to slash a particular pattern in a particular order, or else the boss' health bumped back up and I had to wear him down again.

Except the game didn't acknowledge two out of three slashes. Every. Single. Time.

It wasn't a great game to begin with, lacking the style of Fruit Ninja, but I just intentionally died to the boss at the 15 minute mark.

Draw Slasher?:

1: Nope

grissallia,
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March 25, 2024 - Day 450 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 485

Game: Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 23, 2018
Installed: Dec 9, 2023
Unplayed: 107d (3m16d)
Playtime: 39m

Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island is a first-person (first-frog?) mystery adventure game.

It's very cute, quite amusing, and... short. It was all over and done, with 100% achievements, in under 40 minutes. The music is lovely, and I ended the game with a smile on my face.

There are two other Frog Detective games (so far?), and I have Frog Detective 2 in my library, ready to play.

Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island is:

4: Good

grissallia,
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March 26, 2024 - Day 451 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 486

Game: The Forest Quartet

Platform: Steam
Released: Dec 9, 2022
Installed: Mar 14, 2023
Unplayed: 378d (1y12d)
Playtime: 22m

The Forest Quartet is a third-person puzzle game that's part narrative adventure, part jazz-themed exploration of grief.

It tells the story of a quartet of jazz musicians whose lead vocalist, Nina, has passed away. You play as Nina, a spirit interacting with the physical world to reunite her former bandmates, and help them come to terms with her death.

It's a beautiful little game, and very moving.

The Forest Quartet is:

5: Excellent

grissallia,
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March 27, 2024 - Day 452 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 487

Game: If Found...

Platform: Steam
Released: May 20, 2020
Installed: Jul 27, 2022
Unplayed: 609d (1y8m)
Playtime: 24m

If Found... is a 2D hand-drawn visual novel, that's telling two seemingly disconnected stories.

One is the story of an astronaut, Cassiopeia, and her entry into a black hole.

The other is the story of Kasio, a young Irish trans woman in the 1990's, and the fallout of her coming out as trans.

The UI is unique in my experience; you only have an eraser. You move through the story, partly as presented in Kasio's journal, by erasing your way through Kasio's life, and experiencing different memories as you go.

Sci-fi? A trans woman's coming out story? It's very much right up my alley, thematically.

I just wish I enjoyed it. There's a story there I want to engage with, but I wonder if it's the autistic part of my brain that's just struggling to connect with the story of a early-20's trans woman in a queer share house in Dublin (I think?).

The metaphor inherent in the UI is lovely, but it starts to get frustrating after a while.

I appreciate the love that's gone into the story, but I just found myself struggling to remain engaged, and that's something I often experience with visual novel style games, so I found that particularly disappointing in this regard.

I wonder if it's the kind of game that I could play in a different context and would be more enjoyable (perhaps remote Steam on the iPad).

In the end, I would say that for me If Found... is:

3: OK

...

grissallia,
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March 28, 2024 - Day 453
March 29, 2024 - Day 454
March 30, 2024 - Day 455
March 31, 2024 - Day 456
April 1, 2024 - Day 457
April 2, 2024 - Day 458

No NewPlay Reviews

Total NewPlays: 487

It was at this point that circumstances finally forced me to take a break. I just couldn't do it any more.

When I started the project, it was about playing through my unplayed games. I've made a huge dent in the list, but added more, and it's been a pretty great experience.

However, it's become more and more like work, and I already HAVE a job.

When those two things conflict? Well... this happens.

The other thing that's occurred is that it's now taking away from my ability to settle in and enjoy the games I've reviewed.

I tried to settle in and play Horizon Zero Dawn last night. It had been a year since I'd played it.

I couldn't remember how to play it, and I couldn't settle in because in my head was the drumbeat "I have to write those reviews, I have to write those reviews, ihavetowritethosereviews" and I quit after 10 minutes.

I want to be able to have some fun again without feeling that self-imposed burden.

So I have a new plan... the April Humble Choice dropped on the 3rd, and that's going to take me to 495 games.

I'm going to go to 500 games, and then call it a day on this version of the project.

It's been a fun journey, and I've really appreciated the feedback, but I feel like right now I need to put a pin in it, and let it have an ending.

I still might do some reviews (I've got many months of pre-paid Humble Choice bundles to come), but I think I need to finally say goodbye to in this form.

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