I’m off in the wilds of North Carolina, but I did bring the Switch 2. It’s family reunion time so Mario Kart World is getting the most screen time.

Mostly, we’re playing family board games: The Crew (cooperative trick taking) Green Team Wins (“trivia” game where the right answer is what the plurality of players selects) 13 Beavers (a push your luck game that seems like it was created just to hear seven year olds shout “dam”) Flip 7 (another Push Your Luck game that encourages card counting)

I went to see a minor league baseball game last night! That counts as gaming because I bought a replica jersey, I think.

I've started playing Rematch, a new small-sided PvP football game where you control one player on your 3v3/4v4/5v5 team (it's all players, no AI). It seems like something that could run on the Switch 2 in the future, but for now I am playing on PC.

I've been slowly playing through Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Slime Rancher 2 on the PS5 (enjoying both! FF7Rebirth is a very slow game at times though)

On Switch I've been playing a bit of Picross S4 whenever I get the chance. At some point I need to finish Steamworld Quest! But I've not had much spare time with several events on recently, and trying to raise a puppy.

Finished Deltarune on my $450 Deltarune machine. I don't know if I can handle waiting another decade for the full thing to be finished.

Storm knocked out my power yesterday (just got it back this morning), so I figured that at least until my batteries die, this is the time to start on that copy of Sea of Stars that's been sitting on my shelf after I bought it on sale last year. So far very impressed by it. Also nice that I can actually use handheld mode again with working JoyCons, my Switch 1 hadn't left the dock in years.

Here's an Under Night In-Birth II clip.

Relapsing back into Puyo Puyo Champions, again. My relationship with the game remains complicated, as does my sadness at feeling like queue times are getting slower and slower...

Also dusted off Splatoon 3 for the new Jet kit. There's gonna be a casual bracket at a convention I'm going to next weekend, so I gotta try and derust a bit.

Xenoblade X continued to take up all the time I spend gaming. Got a bit carried away with side stuff and reached Lv 40, currently inbetween Chapter 6 and 7.

Just got my Skell too, but I honestly don't like them much. Ground combat feels more dynamic, Skells don't level in any way and the hefty repair cost doesn't match my playstyle of stat checking every living thing I come across. Probably why I'm so overleveled.

Just like in the WiiU version, it will probably get relegated to cheesy grinding tactics, if necessary, and flying.

Still working on Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, this is taking longer than anticipated as I am not a fan of the chibi graphics. But I really want an Arceus for my Tera Raid arsenal in Violet, so I keep plugging away. I think I am closing in on my 5th badge now.

Playing a translated ROM of Mother 1 (Earthbound Beginnings) on my Famicom i got on a recent trip to Japan.

Really enjoying it so far, looking forward to continuing. It's clear this series was a big inspiration for Undertale

I'm in the last third of Kena. Nothing really changed, it's still a simple, beautiful game. Some of the optional trials are brutal, but I think I've completed them all. Now I have the main hub to clean up and then the game should be nearing its end!

Played more of Mario Kart World. The Knockout Races are a neat idea, but since you mostly race on the roads between the actual tracks, you're spending most of your time driving a straight line. It's not as interesting as it could be.

And with all of that 3-starred in 50CC to get a feel for the game, I finally started the Free Roam portion of the game. It's a lot of fun, but it desperately needs a map! You have an overview that shows you where the tracks are, but its missing every detail you could want. And on top of that, it only properly tracks one of the three tasks you are chasing in this mode. I can already see myself going through a list of rewards to reverse-engineer the last few coins/switches I missed somewhere!

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

I started a New Game + on Switch 2, and while it doesn’t have a resolution or graphical update (please, Nintendo), it now never has a frame dip so it does feel better to play.

This game is still probably my favorite of the last generation. I love these characters to death. It’s fun to see the story again from the start knowing where it’s going and to also to absolutely stomp everything because I started at level 88.

But yeah, the story is awesome, and it makes me have real feelings in a way basically no other game has done. So good.

Started playing Paranormasight on Switch yesterday. Maybe progress this weekend...

Slow week, wasn't very motivated for some reason. Otherwise I'd probably have finished both games below.

Playing Never 7: The End of Infinity (part of the Ever 17/Never 7 Double Pack)!

Followed the plan I mentioned last week - did a first "blind" run which got me the Yuka route, then found a nice guide to help me get the other routes.

I've cleared all the "main game" routes (Yuka, Haruka, Saki, Kurumi, Izumi "Cure" and Izumi), and completed the CG library. Only thing left now is the "Append Story", an extra option in the main menu that shows up after you clear Yuka's route, which appears to be her POV of the story.

Playing The Mummy Demastered!

Played less than 2h this week. Map is around 50%.

Game is mostly good, but has the annoying tendency (reminiscent of old-school Castlevanias) of having enemies positioned to "trip" you and make you fall down when you're doing plataforming sections. :/