Indoor Stories

Winning Wonder

Astro Bot in September felt already like a magical end-of-year celebration, but the new Christmas level was a great reminder of it.

Help Me, Hawt Dawg Man!

I got super sick almost immediately after writing the previous entry, so these days I’ve mostly been feverishly playing old Pokémon games in bed. On Saturday, in a brief moment when I wasn’t being a crybaby, I also got to play through The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, which were indeed awesome.

I missed consoles. Now I only need my sense of smell back.

Christmas Cloud

After a month-long vacation in the U.S., full of family reunions and an awesome amount of New York exploration... we're back home! Val put up our Christmas tree in record time, and this Cloud amiibo she got me on the trip is like the perfect symbol of this year apparently coming to an end. The Year of VII for me, as it were.

More about the trip will no doubt come up in future entries here, but for now, it's time for Metaphor: ReFantazio bed.

P.S. Happy 30th birthday, dear PlayStation 1.

777-777-777

I picked The Red Strings Club as a small break from Metaphor: ReFantazio, but immediately got hooked by the dialogue, the cyberpunkness, and, curiously, a different take on those utopian society themes that are all over Metaphor itself. A real page-turner.

It was also encouraging to see in action some elements that feel similar to things I’ve been trying to pull off in a little RPG Maker prototype of mine. That thing I'm making is still pretty much a pile of nothing... but... at least it seems to be growing a little every day.

Deconstructeam’s message at the end credits was also kind of reassuring, and inspiring. More than ever now, I’m eager to play The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, one of Val’s favorites from last year.

P.S. A lot of interesting stuff to see on their itch page as well :'O

Manh'tn Bound

As the day to begin our U.S. trip gets closer, Val and I can barely contain the hype, and the Halloween spirit feels just about ready to take us over. With a promise to visit New York for the first time, and the fact that it's been a rainy week here in Córdoba, today I inevitably ended up replaying the rainiest entry in the Blackwell series of adventure games—almost as travel preparation.

By the end of Convergence, I added these places to our list of possible stops: the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse, the Gothic Bridge in Central Park... and the Joe-Gould-less Minetta Tavern.

Prologue to a Metaphor

An Atlus-made secondary world of fantasy happened, and it's just days away now: the completed Project Re Fantasy... what a gift.

Metaphor: ReFantazio’s demo was irresistible. I just put down my save file after a surprising number of hours with the new combat and plenty of sightseeing in Grand Trad, and now Metalsday Friday can’t come soon enough. My sense of wonder feels renewed and ready for adventuring; hopefully by now Val has already recovered from Persona 3 Reload being our February soundtrack, too (I’m joking, of course... there’s no end to Color Your Night).

Giving players the chance to take the prologue out of the way early was a fine idea. This Metaphor's going to just eat up time...

Ghostly Inventory

I saw some headlines about digital stores maybe having to stop using the term “Buy” in the future, and thinking about it sent me down a very familiar rabbit hole of our times.

I guess in the end... everything is just tears in the rain, really. But... a future with more backup and access options would be nice.

Golden Hour Episode

I had no idea that Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode was expected so soon, so playing the previous games back to back recently—with a bit of Quintessence: The Blighted Venom at the end—turned out to be a very happy coincidence.

But... what is happiness, really? Oh, boy… I don't know why I expected this one to be just full-on goofiness and celebration. I think I want to play it a second time, and that’s a good thing.

World in a Memory hits like a truck. And the beautiful XP-era mapping, once again... does too ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚.

Old Game, New Game

As an update to what I wrote last year about FC 24, I have to say that I ended up enjoying that game a lot. Mostly because it was a beautiful dream season in real life (from Jude’s preseason goal till the very end at Wembley), but also thanks to how much the game improved with the Operation Sports’ sliders. It was a great last dance for both Kroos and the old Bernabéu.

Now comes FC 25: with Bellingham on the cover, Zidane in the intro, and a new set of “Simulation” sliders that feel like a decent start for this season. Not to mention the chance for weird what-if Player Careers with Ronaldo, Beckham, and Zizou himself:

I don’t know—I’m happy. I'll keep trying to extend Modric's contract for as long as I can in Career Mode, and that would be enough.

It’s funny, but in my head there’s this very nostalgic association between FIFA 2005 and RPG Maker XP that’s kind of being mirrored today with FC 25 and RPG Maker MZ. And if I could speak to that adolescent self of mine, suffering the post-Makélélé era in front of the TV, I would definitely tease Lisboa 2014... and maybe I should tell him not to give up on spriting just yet.

P.S. Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode is out!

Harrowmont vs. Bhelen

A long time before the Underground, the Depths, and the Underdark... I first had to stumble around in the Deep Roads. This replay of Dragon Age: Origins has brought back everything: the multiple days of struggle in caves and tunnels, the non-stop combat, and how my 2009 computer was barely holding together during the whole dwarven plot.

But... it also reminded me of the lore, and why Orzammar has stayed on my mind for so long. And this time, with Shale!

P.S. I need to play this as a dwarf noble someday; perhaps that’ll make the coronation pick a little easier.

A Kid Again

Where did time go? Was Astro Bot a time vortex?

There is so much joy in this game. Among what felt like a thousand unexpected highlights, rapidly happening one after the other... maybe my strongest dork reaction came from the unexpected appearance of the McDohl bot, totally out of the blue, as in a first playthrough of Suikoden II. It felt like Christmas, a birthday present, and some sort of climax to many years of playing games.

From Years to Hours

I went back to the great Astro’s Playroom—first act of the PS5’s arrival in 2020. I still had a bunch of artefacts and puzzle pieces left to find, multiple speedrun levels to love, and some cameos I can now recognize. The PSP was the last thing I found, which felt right.

Nothing left now, but a small wait...

Old Strings

In 2023, playing the The Last of Us Part I with Val became one of the highlights of our gaming life together; powerful from start to finish, and just listening to The Path right now makes me want to go back and play it once again. Then, early this year, we follow it up with the remaster of Part II... which inevitably was a harder pill to swallow; just as brutal as it was at launch... and let’s not ever mention Ellie’s fingers to Val...

(>_<) (>_<)

For some reason, we went back to it this weekend—finally checked out the Lost Levels, and played a few runs of No Return. I think we’re both now wishing for some kind of Part III taking shape somewhere... if only for more Gustavo tracks in the repertoire.

PSI Hug

Loboto’s Labyrinth hits a little different when recovering from wisdom teeth extraction; and from there onwards... Psychonauts 2 still touches my heart like no other 3D platformer can.

All Ferelden’s a Stage

Good ol’ Dragon Age: Origins.

Looking at that map after leaving Lothering, with all the possible destinations sparkling with promises of fun dialogue trees and world reactivity... I love feeling intrigued by what each upcoming storyline teases, regardless of the order.

That said... Maker’s breath... Why did I go to Orzammar first on that original playthrough, fourteen years ago?

Rainy Week

I’ve noticed that every time there’s rain in a video game, I get super excited. Like recently, with a stormy moment during the Battle of Ostagar in Dragon Age: Origins—sadly too brief; or a few hours ago, with this New Donk City tempest.

Incidentally, there’s also rain outside today, and it seems that we’re going to get an all-around cloudy week over here.

Perfect for coffee, and dreaming up New York plans...

Weekend

My friend Alpho has claimed for years that Super Mario Odyssey is really the cure for depression. Today, I can at least confirm that it does help a lot as a distraction from the pain of a wisdom tooth deciding to break out of my jaw—on a weekend.

Ridiculously fun game... and third molars suck.

One Step Back

Marketing for Dragon Age: The Veilguard seems to be ramping up online, and the little I’ve seen of it has made me realize that the BioWare logo still holds some power over me; Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins... that’s a big chunk of my formative experiences with games.

After long playthroughs of the original Final Fantasy VII, and both Remake and Rebirth back to back, I’m ready for something different—and if I want deep dialogue options and tons of in-game books and codex entries to read in my RPG now, I guess I can’t go wrong with a return to the first Dragon Age, fourteen years since my awkward high-school-dropout self played it first.

I’m starting to remember bits and pieces of the world as I take my human noble into Ostagar, and I’ve always been intrigued by the positives I’ve read about Dragon Age II and Inquisition. Who knows, maybe I’ll find my way into The Veilguard eventually.

A new BioWare RPG...

EP33

We watched the surprise Psychodyssey episode over the weekend, and again I was reminded that Psychonauts 2 should have won everything the year it came out—on top of winning my heart and the hearts of many cool people. What a masterpiece.

As I groove to Vol. 2 of the soundtrack... I feel like... heck, I might as well be replaying it. And Grim Fandango too.

Bonus to Charisma

I wish there were a choice for young Chloe Price to permanently join the indoor kids’ table in the first episode of Before the Storm, and for the rest of the game to be just them overcoming inner and roleplaying demons with axes and magic.

Also... early 2010s nostalgia was very real, for both Val and me, as we played through the original Life Is Strange a few days ago:

In Open Worlds

The grasslands in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth weirdly remind me of Forza Horizon 4’s soon-to-be-sadly-delisted countryside; the environments in Shadow of the Erdtree, on the other hand, seem to exist somewhere between a painting and a poem.

Even though the opening hours of Rebirth already feel very different from Remake, my brain is still being wowed by the reimagining work. As for Elden Ring, I’ve decided to take everything very slowly, focusing mostly on exploring the map and picking up stuff—occasionally facing a new type monstrosity.

These are the days of fantasy.

The Notebook Mechanic

I can’t remember if the notebook from the first two Blackwell games is in the rest of the series, but I love it a lot. And a cool thing about starting a replay with dev commentaries on was finding out that the true origin of the mechanic is in 1999’s Discworld Noir.

It sounds like a pain to run on PC... but it’s on my list now.

Asheara

Vessel of Hatred is going to be the perfect reason to go back to questing in Sanctuary, eventually. But in the meantime... I just couldn’t resist the call of the canine companions.

Cool nod to old Kurast.

The Remake

I’ve never experienced anything quite like the jump from my first playthrough of the original Final Fantasy VII into the cinematic marvel that is Final Fantasy VII Remake. All in just a few hours—skipping the years between 1997 and 2020.

"...there ain’t no gettin’ offa this train we’re on," indeed.

GraphicsGale Days

Val and I finished watching Shirobako the other day—"It’s this year’s PsychOdyssey," we both thought.

The whole series was a great watch. Unexpectedly inspiring. It has left me thinking a lot about artwork, and the creation of graphic resources in general. Especially now that I’ve returned to what little I remember from my youthful "GraphicsGale days" and started learning about spriting and pixel art once again. I’m not great at it, but hopefully, one day it’ll turn into something I can be proud of

And speaking of art and things to be proud of... Val has officially started making her photography site! <3<3<3

. . .

Song-Stuck-in-My-Head Now: Cosmo Canyon Theme

BBC

I was waiting for Shadow of the Erdtree to unlock last night when I decided to give eFootball a 2,843rd chance. It’s still upsetting to see Konami’s gameplay stuck in a pack-opening nightmare, but it seems that now there are ways to actually renew expired contracts.

It was pretty cool to assemble this team back together.

Plus, an honorable member.

VII Time

Alright, alright... let’s see what this is all about.

Mr. Lord of Blood

I look like a child holding a baseball bat in this picture. And that’s... more or less how I feel returning to Elden Ring, two years after barely finishing the main campaign with a Longsword, a makeshift excuse of a build, and the mimic.

Avoiding Mohg (and Malenia) like the plague back then has now resulted in a sort of test to see if I should get Shadow of the Erdtree, or not. Do I deserve it? Would I enjoy it? Should I create a new save? Will I remember the buttons to call Torrent?

I need to refresh my memories of this game—I’ll start by watching my sister fight all the bossess with a poleblade.

P.S. Mohg’s dead, baby. Mohg’s dead.

Suddenly Gone To...

My Saturday plans in Kamurocho got destroyed—sometimes things can just keep getting better, and there is no such thing as too much Alan Wake. I’m feeling giddy and almost Rose-like as I wait for the expansion to finish downloading ʘ⁠‿⁠ʘ

And after that, well... it wouldn’t be a surprise if I end up on an overdue Twilight Zone spree.

Life is Magical and Full of Joy

Y nada más, y nada más... ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Quintessence Found

Having played all the "Sigmund Corp." games back-to-back (and... also... The Mirror Lied?), I found myself digging through the Internet Archive to find a download for Quintessence: The Blighted Venom. As of today, it’s still an unfinished project, but I don’t mind.

I’m too curious now.

The first chapter was very charming, and funny; and even though the music is, without a doubt, the biggest star of the game so far, there’s something really powerful in seeing XP’s graphics for me.

Now and Then

I was busy taking screenshots of a rainy Kamurocho in Kiwami, when suddenly I thought... "Is Quick Resume still running 0?"

Then I jumped back and forward in time.

Toni Kroos

I was so worried about Modric that I didn’t even consider the possibility of this being Kroos’ last season.

Time is so, so cruel. Dammit.

It feels like yesterday that I was crying like a baby in front of my CRT after Zizou’s farewell game... but that was 2006, and in the 18 years that have passed since then, I haven’t seen another Real Madrid legend retire at the club. For some reason or another, everyone always leaves and ends up saying goodbye elsewhere.

Well, not everyone! And it might sound silly, but today FC 24 got way more important to me—In the same way that PES 6 is.

¡Gracias, Toni!

Sigmund Sunday

Funky balloons led me back to RPG Maker, and from there, I ended up remembering Freebird Games; it’s been more than a decade since I played and lovedTo the Moon, but then... time flew by and I never got to play the sequels, or any of the older Kan Gao games.

I finished a replay today, coupled with the two excellent Sigmund minisodes, and also A Bird Story. Can’t wait for Val to play them too.

A cold and beautiful sunday, all-round.

El Bernabéu

It occurred to me that this year could last time that the old Bernabéu shows up in a new video game... so I went to sleep last night unhingedly imagining some sort of tribute to the Real Madrid players that became icons in my career saves—ever since becoming addicted to manager modes with PES 4 and FIFA 2004.

A list with this bunch, more or less:

• Antonio Rüdiger
• Arjen Robben
• Asier Illarramendi
• Aurélien Tchouaméni ★
• Brahim Díaz
• Casemiro ★
• Cicinho
• Cristiano Ronaldo ★
• Dani Carvajal ★
• Dani Ceballos
• David Beckham ★
• Eduardo Camavinga ★
• Esteban Granero
• Federico Valverde ★
• Ferland Mendy
• Fernando Gago
• Gareth Bale ★
• Guti ★
• Isco ★
• José Antonio Reyes
• Jude Bellingham ★
• Kaká ★
• Karim Benzema ★
• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
• Lassana Diarra
• Lucas Vázquez
• Luka Modrić ★
• Luís Figo
• Mahamadou Diarra
• Marcelo ★
• Marco Asensio
• Mesut Özil ★
• Michael Essien
• Pepe
• Rafael van der Vaart
• Raphaël Varane ★
• Raúl ★
• Ricardo Carvalho
• Roberto Carlos ★
• Rodrygo
• Ronaldo ★
• Rubén de la Red
• Ruud van Nistelrooy ★
• Santiago Solari
• Sergio Ramos ★
• Toni Kroos ★
• Vinícius Júnior ★
• Wesley Sneijder
• Xabi Alonso ★
• Zinedine Zidane ★★★

I would love to add Hierro ★, Makélélé ★ and Redondo ★; alas, I only had them on my sleepless Championship Manager days.

All this to say that I’m very nervous about today’s game.

. . .

P.S. ¡VAMOS!

The Last Stamp

Wish I had a picture with all 120 Eiyuden characters.

I mean, where’s Huang?!

My obsession with recruiting them all got a bit out of hand, I must admit. I put the blame on my "Gremio scar", still burning in the JRPG section of my soul. Someday... I want to just sit with guides of Suiko 1 and 2—maybe witness with my own eyes all that Clive business.

Well, war might be over now, but The Theater is well alive… and the stamp-loving section of my soul won’t rest until I see multiple stagings of the Rising story.

Blackwell, Always

First time writing twice on the same day, but I’ve just learned that today is the tenth anniversary of The Blackwell Epiphany! The final Blackwell game, and one of my favorite endings ever.

Oddly, these five games have been in my head for the past few YEARS days, as I think over the idea of a game I would like to make. I’ve been thinking of maybe replaying them all for a third time, not only because time with Rosa and Joey is always an awesome idea, but because this time I’ll be particularly interested in all the developer commentaries stuff.

Dave Gilbert is an inspiration.

Just as much as Ron Gilbert.

So much to play, and so much to do... but... I could start with a visit to The Blackwell Legacy. To keep the ghosts of the series at bay.

Project Re Fantasy

I’m hesitant to even look at more footage/gameplay of Atlus’ next RPG. This Soejima box art—with what looks like a sword-wielding ancestor of Makoto Yuki at the front—is really all I need to believe.

Perks of a Power Outage

No electricity, no Eiyuden.

In reality we were without power for only an hour or so, but it was more than enough for me to randomly pick up the Switch and play through a game that Val had bought yesterday on an indie sale. The game is called Florence, and it turned out to be a great reminder of my wish for smaller experiences; for games that feel like reading a short story, or watching a short film... mostly in between all of the gigantic RPGs that I so naturally favor.

Almost without text, and with gameplay mechanics that were both clever and beautiful, the story in Florence made time fly by.

. . .

P.S. Bellinghaaaaaaaaaam.

Time of Heroes

The backer code for Eiyuden Chronicle arrived last night. Not even an hour in, the music in the first town was so pretty it made me tear up a little—in part thinking of Muramaya’s fate, but also remembering how happy and excited the Kickstarter announcement made me in the middle of a now distant 2020.

They did it... Look at that World Map!

I can’t wait to start recruiting.

LocJAM 6

The weekend was cold, rainy, and awesome. One of the coolest parts was seeing Val participate in a localization jam for the first time ever. The game she translated was called Not Enough Time: a title that fit perfectly with how we spent the last few minutes before the jam’s deadline, frantically debugging syntax problems to make the game load. A classic game-dev story right there.

No hay tiempo is a point & click adventure with time travel puzzles, beautiful pixel-art and funny writing. Val’s rioplatense take for the dialogue only made me chuckle more.

Hat-trick in San Mamés

Jude’s celebration is in the game!

We might have not seen it in real life in a while, but I’m sure another streak will come soon. Bellinghamania will resume...

...hopefully Wednesday?

Balloons

160 stamps later... I’ve put Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising down.

There was a moment, halfway through a fetch quest, when something in those balloon reactions popping above the characters’ heads unlocked many fond memories for me. They reminded me of being fourteen years old, tinkering with RPG Maker 2000 and 2003; of being wide-eyed and dreaming big with the release of RPG Maker XP. I remembered making ugly sprites in a program called GraphicsGale, and falling in love with Suikoden II’s sprite sheets way before playing the game itself.

I think I’ll give RPG Maker MZ a closer look.

For old times sake.

A Day in the Nest

It was a beautiful indoorsy birthday yesterday; rainy, foggy, and we only briefly went outside to get coffee at a new coffee place. My favorite moment though, is probably somewhere between playing Haven with Val and munching the heart-shaped brownie she made.

I love her so much.

Every Day a Substory

I know the feeling, Kyriu. We might be one and the same by now.

Writing “substories” for Yakuza games has to be a super fun job. So far the ones in 0 are like a batshit crazy anthology of weirdness that I’m loving just as much as I love stamps. Haven’t laughed this much with a video game in a long, long time.

I’m surprisingly hooked on the whole Real Estate Royale thing and the idea of becoming The Ultimate Monopoly King of Kamurocho, but also craving for more of Majima’s storyline and Sotenbori’s nightlife aesthetics. Is the Cabaret Club Czar minigame going to be as addicting? Will it lead to more substories?

Say Yes to Stamps

We handed over the keys to our old apartment today, and it instantly felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Now there’s even a humongous long weekend incoming, almost a big quest reward for our troubles. Six free days for us to be still, and relax. For coffee, and video games.

As Val made her way back to Disco Elysium’s embrace, I took a look at the calendar and realized that it’s high time for me to start preparing for April’s biggest event: My birthday! The release of Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes! Yoshitaka Murayama final game; a dream of hundreds coming true.

I saved Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising for precisely this moment, and it turned out to be the perfect companion game for anxiety-packed days: It’s repetitive, simple, and whatever the opposite of “a slog” is. I’m enjoying its humor a lot, as well. I might even be as addicted to stamps as CJ herself at this point.

New Nevaeh is right. The world needs more stamp systems.

Dark Hour and a Half

If Makoto can speak on film, Link has no excuses.

Watching the first Persona 3 movie somehow reminded me of the beautiful Diablo 2 adaptations I used to dream about as a kid, starring a moody paladin as the protagonist. After all the time spent there, seeing the dorm lounge was of course super cool... and I do wish they’d kept that dim lighting in Reload.

First Night in Kamurocho

I promised Alpho that this was going to be the year, at last. I also promised him that I was going to start with Yakuza 0.

Well, here I am! Far from Iwatodai and Tatsumi Port Island, in a chaotic 80’s atmosphere full of blurry yellow lights that are clearly signaling we’re off to a great start.

Out of Tartarus

Finished Persona 3 Reload today... and I already miss it.

It took me a ridiculous amount of hours to reach the end of the game, but this story is one of those that will stay in my mind for a long while. Loved the use of so many Greek myth elements, and I found the whole journey inspiring. I look forward to whatever The Answer will add in September... and watching the movies!

Maybe a Kotone run in Persona 3 Portable someday?

SEES Ready

I’ve finally caught them all!

The party is looking sharp, now that Amada, Aragaki and scene-stealer Koromaru have joined. In terms of character design and personalities, this might well be my favorite main cast from the Persona games I’ve played. Maybe the fact that they all live together in the same dorm also gives them more of a found family feel. But same as with 4 and 5 before, surely I’m going to be all emotional once the end credits roll and it’s time to say goodbye.

Level 34

My December self was right.

February is flying by, and there’s still plenty of Daily Life and Tartarus in Persona 3 Reload. I’m definitely watching the movies once the game is over... hopefully before my 34th birthday.

P.S. Persona 3’s songs are already ingrained in Val’s brain, forever. Just as Persona 4’s are in Vic’s

Vivi and Edith

I played What Comes After and What Remains of Edith Finch over the weekend. Each in one sitting, and more or less on a whim. I... definitely did not expect them both to be the celebration of life-in-the-face-of-death that they ended up being.

First, I confirmed how much I like Mohammad Fahmi’s characters and dialogue; then... well, guess I had no clue of how freaking incredible Edith Finch was going to be. No clue at all.

I wish for more games to play like a short story, or a collection of short stories tied together.

I would love to make one.

The Scenario Writer

What on earth...

Yoshitaka Murayama has passed away.

I can’t believe its been three years since that super funny video pitch for the Eiyuden Chronicle campaign; three years of reading his Development Report emails. For this to happen so close to the game’s release feels cruel, and unfair.

Rest in peace, Murayama-sensei.

Want to be Close

Moving out of a safe place is always going to be a bit nerve wracking. But... facing the unknown with the person you love feels like having a whole new of kind of power-up against everything.

And we did it!

After five days of living in a summer version of Death Stranding, we have finally brought all the bags, boxes and furniture into the new apartment. First rainy day outside the window, and lots of decoration plans happening indoors.

Persona 3 Reload, in the meantime, is getting hard to put down.

4/6

First day on Persona 3 Reload’s calendar turned out to be my birthday! I missed the releases of Persona 3, Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, so this story feels like a gift to unwrap.

I’ll try to take my time with it.

February, Finally

After completing our Apartment Hunt quest in the last days of a packed January, and with Val’s birthday shining bright just around the corner, we decided to kick off February with a celebratory weekend gateway to the mountains!

...to a comfy cabin in the mountains, of course.

I believe it was a super happy birthday! And now that we’re back, older and wiser... I see us pretty ready to experience the real life version of Unpacking.

Coffee Places

I’ll never know someone who loves coffee shops more than Val. Discovering new ones in our city and making travel plans around them has basically become one of our main life missions. Even in games: just yesterday we spent a good amount of time walking around The Last of Us Part II’s Seattle, often doing virtual photography in the post-outbreak ruins of multiple coffee places.

So... it should not be surprising that Coffee Talk ended up being her first video game purchase ever.

Nor that its soundtrack is now on loop all day.

The game is wonderful, and for us one of its most special elements (aside from the constant rain) were the short stories that one of the characters writes and gets published in-game. We really loved those... so it was super heartbreaking to learn later that Mohammad Fahmi, the real writer of those stories and designer of the game itself, passed away in 2022. There was even a beautiful tribute for him in A Space for the Unbound that I’m just realizing...

I definitely want to play What Comes After soon. And as of today, After Love EP is one of my most anticipated games of the year.

Rent, Food and Heat

Papers, Please reappeared in my mind, so suddenly.

Maybe because we watched the Tetris movie, full of spies and soviet bureaucracy stuff; maybe it was all the paperwork that me and Val were busy gathering for the past few days, looking to rent our first place together. Whatever the reason, I remembered Papers, Please, and got stuck with the fact that I never got to finish it when I tried it in 2016, just a few months before immigrating myself out of my own ruinous government, and the multiple-year quest for residency that followed.

It’s been almost eight years since I packed and moved to Argentina. Feels strange to look back at my silly 26-year-old self, so far from the pandemic, totally ignorant of how to live in a country that has winters. I would have been so freaking lost without Vic.

I was also far from being able to afford a game console. Back then, things like Gone Home, Papers, Please and The Blackwell Legacy were making me realize that indie games for my PC existed.

Anyway...

There’s a big internet outage in our building again.

Third day without connection... but right now I can hear Val playing Disco Elysium on the Switch, and I couldn’t feel happier.

Good Bye, Geno!

Both Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario RPG have had some of the most beautiful ending sequences I’ve seen lately. One incredibly joyful, and the other a bit more bittersweet.

Here’s hoping this is not the last of Geno.

Dreams and Reality

We finished watching Bakuman last week. I had devoured the manga many years ago, and I wanted to share with Val some of that dreams-fueled determination I felt from its very first chapter.

Now she’s Nizuma Eiji’s number 1 fan.

Later I found that there’s a Bakuman video game for the DS; but… the cruel reality is that it’s only in japanese, with no translation in sight. Regardless, I had to try it on the 3DS, and Google Translate’s camera made the visual novel segments shockingly readable. Then I got to the actual manga-making mechanics of the game and all went to hell. Inking lines as Mashiro was super fun, but the plot creation minigame with Takagi was hard to understand. There’s even a moment, on this gamified creative process, when you get to go around the city looking for inspiration and stuff to use on the storyline you’re writing. At that moment I was 100% sure that I would love this game, if only I could understand it.

I managed to play all the way up to the first meeting with Hattori.

He gave my manuscript a 0 in story, and a 0 in art.

Guess this one will have to remain forever a dream.

Max Payne’s Ragnarok

I went all the way back on my Remedy Road, and played one of Vic’s favorites from our childhood.

The first Max Payne feels very nostalgic, very 2001, and is still surprisingly fun to play. Noir New York City atmosphere... Max’s heavy-on-the-metaphor monologues... The animation for reloading the dual berettas... There’s a lot to love here. It’s also cool to see Remedy already playing with storytelling and meta stuff, almost foreshadowing Alan Wake 2.

The graphic novel panels were a brilliant idea.

R.I.P. James McCaffrey.

Fan of the Adoring Fan

I have a “space-scoundrel” character in Starfield that’s taking things very, very slowly. Every now and then I start the game and continue my walk up and down New Atlantis for a few minutes, mostly talking to a few NPCS before I sign off.

But then yesterday... the freaking Adoring Fan made its entrance.

I haven’t connected with a Bethesda RPG in a long time, but the importance of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in my gaming life can’t be overstated. I need to give Starfield more time.

A Geno-Beam to the Heart

If Wonder was first, then Super Mario RPG had to be second. Just got Geno into the party and I already freaking love him. For a moment I could even imagine myself as a kid, trying to dress up as him; blue cape on my back and shooting beams out of my fingers.

He is that kind of cool.

So, even though SMRPG got way better now, I’ve been also trying to play some indies that have been on my list long enough for them to have already become classics. I went with Oxenfree and Her Story; I think this can illustrate my experience with both:

Summer

Año nuevo! A new chance to not succumb into the fear of missing out! Games-wise, life-wise and otherwise-wise.

The first couple of days were a bit bumpy at home, with an internet outage that hopefully got resolved today. But... in the meantime, I got to carry on with something that is slowly becoming a personal tradition: starting the year with a slice-of-aesthetically-wholesome-life game, abstaining from the stresses of combat and heavy puzzles. It started in 2022, blissfully delivering mail in Lake; then in 2023 the turn was for Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation. The Endless Seven-Day Journey. Now, for 2024, the chosen one was... Dordogne. A game that made me feel like I was living inside a French comic book.

Same as the other two games mentioned, Dordogne captures the feeling of long summer days away from the city, having few responsibilities and anxieties. We’re at the beginning of summer here in Argentina, but in regards to experiencing the outdoors... Dordogne definitely has the best version of it: idealized and in beautiful watercolor art. I loved the game, and in this entry I’ve left a couple of the poems you get to write for one of its most important activities: filling up a scrapbook with memories of the days passed. Kind of reminded me of this blog.

Here’s an outdoorsy Polaroid that Val took:

Good Times in Hyrule

This blog did not exist in May. Because of that, it has zero ramblings about Link humming Saria’s Song while cooking, or just how awesome Penn looks. However, I just couldn’t let 2023 end without mentioning The Legend. At least once.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom already feels very nostalgic to me. Thinking about all the fun things I did inside of Hyrule, sort of time-travels me back to the places me, Val and the Switch were outside of the game, in the coldest days of this last winter. The beauty of life and portable consoles, I guess.

How long will it be until another year with a new Zelda?

A Case of Spartan Rage

I did not expect to be back in the chains, just one year after Ragnarök. And I definitely did not expect to feel moved by a free roguelike DLC, of all things..

Last year, and in preparation for Ragnarök, I resurrected my PS3 and spent the entirety of July feverishly comboing through God of War, God of War II, God of War: Chains of Olympus, God of War III, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, God of War: Ascension and, to wrap things up norsely, a re-play of God of War (2018).

Except for some confusing puzzles here and there, and the accursed Trials of Archimedes, I enjoyed them all a lot.

Today, completing “The Work” questline in God of War: Valhalla has brought me an entirely different kind of satisfaction. A feeling that is, nevertheless, deeply connected to that brutal wrecking of the Greek world from the old games.

It was beautiful, enlightening... and super fun.

How is this free?

. . .

P.S. Thinking of old gods and free stuff has reminded me of two things: First, Hades II is in development; second, I should take a look at those Greek myth books that Wally lent me...

Sturgeon Day

Lil’ Val just catched our dinner for tonight. She’s going places!

Christmas Roll

Baldur’s Gate 3 has finally opened a door to a type of video game that I’ve been wanting to get into since I heard of Icewind Dale as a teenager, and Val’s christmas gift is the perfect totem to remember the obsession and my favourite game of the year. The amount of RPGs I want to play now is definitely not a lake, but an ocean.

Slice of Americana

Quite the change of scenery for the mind, to go from Bright Falls, Washington, to Providence Oaks, Oregon. One created in Finland and the other in the Netherlands, funnily enough.

Though Alan Wake’s ending still haunts me, I’m sort of resisting the urge to go back and start The Final Draft just now. I think I’ll save that replay for a rainy day. Instead, I’ve decided to fully embrace the red-and-green spirit and played Lake’s: Season’s Greetings—a Christmas special for one of my favorites “slice-of-life” games of recent years. At the same time, Val got to marathon her first winter in Stardew Valley, so the red-and-green spirit at home was definitely at its strongest.

At least gaming-wise. It’s getting warmer here, in the southern hemisphere. So far from Twin Peaks and "America’s Little Finland."

Dreaming of School Life

This promo image for an amusement park in Japan feels like a teaser for my life in February. Fingers crossed.

Wake & Wonder

Charm can come in many forms... and is the word that’s been coming to mind every time I’ve played either Alan Wake 2 or Super Mario Bros. Wonder these past few days. Who would have thought that Saga, Alan and Mario would work so well together?

Finishing chapters in Alan Wake leaves me not only with awesome songs to put on repeat and sing with my girlfriend, but also with a sense of tension in the body that reminds me a bit of when I marathoned The Last of Us Part II over a weekend.

Wish Mario was around then.

Remedy Road

My lucky win over The-Thing-That-Had-Been-Hartman closed the Alan Wake episode inside of Control; only The Foundation remains for Jesse Faden’s superb debut. It has made me even more eager to pick up the flashlight, and continue on this misty and winding road that so inevitably leads to... Night Springs Alan Wake 2

A weird survival-horror treat, soon to be handled with the lights on.

Community Sliders

Bellinghamania is fully underway, and not since Zizou was appointed manager in 2016 have I been this excited about the future of Real Madrid. I needed something from video games to carry me on this wave, but I was quickly reminded of a landscape that couldn’t be more horrifying:

1. PES is dead.
2. eFootball plays well, but the online mode it promotes is awful and boring to me. Master League is still missing in action
3. Football Manager is too dangerous of a drug. I should stay away.
4. FIFA FC 24 is... uh... well... the only choice, I guess.

The only current choice, that is. Sadly, it also feels odd to play, with players flying and skating across the pitch... weird physics, too many perfect first touches and insanely precise shot accuracy...

Unless... a small Christmas miracle.

. . .

P.S. We got our first Christmas tree today, and it was as magical as Jude Bellingham himself:

Remember the 76

A few days ago, Val got some time off from work, and I watched her play through the final stages of Unpacking. I loved how moving the ending was for us, and how beautifully it captured the idea of moving to a new place together. It also made me wish I had kept at least a couple of my gaming relics, and how wild it would be to see my old bootleg NES console again, paired with a Flintstones game that I rented so much my dad ended up buying it.

Nostalgia-wise, I have to be content with the ROM of 76-in-1 I found online, played with an Xbox controller. I had totally forgotten about Battle City, Urban Champion, Tennis... Mabby!

They were hard.

A Mario-Shaped Hole

Super Mario Bros. being the first thing I ever played is probably a good guess, but it is definitely hard to know for sure. In my 90s-kid memories of games, there’s a lot of jumping and falling to my death in those first two stages of the original World 1, but also some fragments of Pac-Man, Circus Charlie, Excitebike, Battle City, Ice Climber... an Atari game titled Keystone Kapers?

It’s impossible to know for sure, really, but in my heart, I believe Mario was the first one. Probably.

But! The year is 2023—I’m super old now and Super Mario Bros. Wonder and its wonderful Wonder Seeds are working on me as the best remedy for a heart that misses his comrades and adventures in Baldur’s Gate, still. The game feels fantastic, and surely will become the very first Mario I play to the end.

In a way, Wonder is my first Super Mario game.

One Step Forward

Games spent enough time in my head for the creation of this site to feel almost inevitable. Or maybe it has to do with the year ending?

In any case, here it is! I’m not entirely sure of what the goal for this rambling is, but for now I hope that someday it could be fun to look back at these thoughts and remember the good, the bad... and how breathtaking my first playthrough of Baldur’s Gates 3 was.