Home alone gaming

Long weekends while home alone are the best! You are going to find quite a lot of gaming was done this time around, however, I also catched up on quite a bit of manga, and went through some painful stuff at work, but nothing too bad.

🎨 I have completed and published my AdwaitaPod-based theme (with Arcticons) for the Innioasis Y1! Feel free to give it a download if you get the device, and check the original theme as well if you want to try it on an iPod or something.
💻 My coworker got a vacation on Friday and it was pain. Some critical machinery malfunctioned at the worst possible moment. I had to set up a plan B in case the automation/maintenance team couldn’t manage to repair it in time. I was on-call during Saturday too, thankfully things turned out fine.
🏠 I stayed home alone for pretty much the whole week. I survived thanks to the existence of cereal and buying lunch at my workplace, I spent most of my time early in the week working on my theme, then I played a bunch of videogames during the weekend.
🐕 My doggo still doesn’t want to use his front leg, I guess there was some nerve damage after all, he doesn’t seem to mind that much so, I’ll just try to get over it, I guess? I wonder if there’s some other therapy to try.
🛍️ El Buen Fin (The Good Weekend) is the mexican equivalent to Black Friday, and I fell for it. I acquired Crypt Custodian and Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake for Nintendo Switch. I also acquired Streets of Rage 4 Anniversary Edition, which arrived early in the week and I have already completed the campaign so that’s fine.
🍕 Went out for some pizzas on Sunday night with friends, it was pretty great and we got to drink some Horchata which is always a big plus.
🎵 Even if I don’t have a music/listening section, I think I can always say some album or song that is currently on my mind. Right now it would be: Daydream by Tatsuro Yamashita

Reading

When it comes to manga I am actually rather impressed with myself. After finishing Ariadne in the Blue Sky, I got to catch up on a lot of other stuff! Here’s it. When it comes to books, not that bad.

Exit Strategy - Up to chapter 4. There’s some characters that made a comeback and it’s been really interesting to watch it unfold. I hope to finish this book this week!
Blue Lock - Up to chapter 325. The match against Nigeria resulted in an absolute victory for the Japanese team. It was an absolutely bloodbath, but the next two matches looks like they’ll be a real challenge, France and England are next.
Chainsaw Man - Up to chapter 220. Crazy stuff is happening as always, for example, a whole city was turned into a weapon.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End - Up to chapter 142. Finally returned to Frieren, and I love these characters so much. The current arc is super stressful though, and the action is about to begin.
Sakamoto Days - Up to chapter 227. With Sakamoto out of commission, everyone tries to escape, and new enemies have showed up, crazy action sequences upcoming.

Gaming

This was definitely a week filled with gaming to the brim! I will even make the format a little different because I got a lot to say about a few of the titles here.

Completed

Streets of Rage 4

I didn’t expect this at all, but in a moment of weakness, I bought the physical Anniversary Edition of this game, and as soon as I put the cartridge on, we just couldn’t put it down.

An incredible soundtrack took over my speakers, and we just had to start it immmediately. I played it with my friends and completed the campaign in one sitting.

The simple combat, the animation, the artstyle, the excellent dynamic musical score. This game is probably the best the franchise has to offer, a glorious return to form for anyone who missed the franchise on the Sega Genesis.

Solo, I did a single run of the roguelike mode, and died on the first boss fight, and I decided to focus on other games for now. I can see myself returning to this plenty of times with friends.

Ongoing

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy

This game’s the reason my weeknotes are a day late, and the main thing that occupied my time. I started it and “finished” its story months ago. If you are curious, this is officially my most played game on my Nintendo Switch, and it has managed to hook me quite a bit. After beating the game once, the game allows you to play it a second time. However, this playthrough lets you make decisions throughout the story, creating deviations that amount to a total of one hundred endings. This mix between tactics RPG and visual novel is really cool.

This has been an extremely interesting choice from the developers, and it has allowed me to see how every character in the game reacts to the outcomes at hand. It’s fun, stressful, terrifying and exciting. So far, I have gone through 11 endings. Multiple writers were involved, some routes are shorter than others, some moments are samey, and others are absolutely insane. There’s a lot to like, and I absolutely love (most of) these characters. The game lets you skip battles you already played and return to previous branches at any point, it’s unbelievable.

Streets of Rage 2

After a 10 hour-long session of The Hundred Line, I felt like trying out something quick before going to sleep. Alas, Streets of Rage 2 seemed worth trying since I had recently fiddled with the first one and this one was considered the best of the franchise.

And well, yes, that music told me everything I needed to know. It was cleaner and more polished than the first one. I got to the 3rd stage in a few minutes and things were pretty cool, I must say that the second boss flying on a jetpack was very annoying though.

Others

CrossCode: I should have focused more on this one, if I’m honest, all I did this time was focus on getting leveled up equipment and progressing through the story. For now, I joined a guild, I unlocked my way to the dungeon, and now I just want to get a bit more XP before venturing inside!
Astro Boy: Omega Factor: I returned to this game after a break and it’s honestly just awesome plain fun. A beat’em up platformer that goes through lots of iconic moments of the franchise, fun stuff!
Monster Hunter Rise: To break things up I also progressed a bit on the high rank quests of this game, I went for a Rathian, defeated her, and called it a day.
Spelunky: After me and my friends beat Streets of Rage 4, we felt like trying something a little more chaotic for a bit, so we tried a couple runs of this game, and of course, failed miserably.
Slice & Dice: I hadn’t played this much but during a meet-up with other S&D friends we decided to do a race to see who could win a run first. I didn’t win, but trying was fun!

Around the Web

I read most of these earlier in the week and you can tell, lol.

Blogposts

A Morning of Physical Media - There’s just something about the physical interaction with stuff that is unmatched.
Learning Spanish Update - It’s weird to see La Rosa de Guadalupe mentioned in a blog I follow.
Input diet - yet another good post about media intake and managing that stuff.
Offline first? - Just being a little more offline, and interacting with less short/quick/easy stuff and replace it with meaningful things.
Why I Don’t Need a Steam Machine - Wouter has a big backlog, and so do I.
Self-Hosting for Everyone - Laura is a new discovery, and she is a self-hosting sicko, I have enjoyed her blogposts so far!
My Relationship with Stuff - Curating is better than hoarding, don’t just collect for the sake of it. Figure out what you actually want! I gotta remember this.

Videos

Mind if I complaing for 15 minutes? - I love JadenAnimations and this video is one that I’m sure many will find relatable (not me, I am glad I’ve avoided all that stuff).
Daft Punk Alive 2007 full concert - I had no idea this was a thing that existed, but I am extremely, extremely happy that it does. Just take a break from everything and experience this album as if it’s 2007.
Why I uninstalled ublock origin, this is WAY better! - This is an interesting plugin, although I don’t know if I’ll actually use it.