Blowing-off some Steam...

I didn't buy anything during the latest Steam/GOG/Humble sales.

Almost worth it...

Finally found a Toad amiibo! Accessing extra content in Treasure Tracker should not have been that difficult :(

Also, found complete copies of Missile Command 3D and Ruiner Pinball for Jaguar!

Freedom Wars hasn't quite been doing it for me; such a slow start.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is pretty... And kinda fun... And awfully simplistic so far :(

Honestly, I haven't been playing or shopping much lately.

Kinda not.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse was great. Finished Killzone: Mercenary; it's gorgeous and also really fun and you should play it. Went back to Demon Gaze; too much mindless grind so far, but otherwise really cool. Hopped over to Freedom Wars... So weird; will report back.

P.S. Kirby's Dream Land 2 is kinda not a lot of fun.

What next?

Almost done Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, and it's just plain delightful; familiar but innovative, improving on many aspects of the series, and generally being the best Metroid-Light it can be. Looking forward to Half-Genie Hero, but kinda wishing it was portable.

Also, this guy at a flea market asked me for $80 for complete copies of Brain Dead 13 (v1.1) and Star Control II for 3DO because he had no idea... That's, like, $250 worth of stuff on a good day, but they weren't mint... I gave him $100.

Took me long enough...

Finished Risky's Revenge, and it was near-perfection. Every issue from the first game was addressed in the second. I found a couple of enemy designs to be problematic (the mermaids and skeletons slowed everything down to the point that it was better to just avoid them) and some of the fetch quests and story twists toward the end felt like filler (e.g. A coffee run!?), but it was still a good time. Just getting into Pirate's Curse now; so pretty!

This bodes well...

So I'm almost done Shantae, and it's great as long as I can play it on my 3DS and totally cheat by exploiting emulator savestates :\ Seriously, it's an incredible technical achievement with so much character... But so very, very broken from a design standpoint. It's like Metroid-light made stupidfrustratinghard to offset the lightness of the Metroidness.

I also got a little impatient and jumped-ahead to Risky's Revenge and Pirate's Curse to see what's up, and they seem to've fixed everything! Stoked.

Just terrible.

I picked-up a complete copy of Cave Story 3D because Cave Story is awesome and Cave Story 3D is kinda rare and sought-after. I'd heard mixed things about the 3DS remake, and... Well, they were being generous. That remake is offensive. I absolutely adore the original, and I guess 3D has some cool packaging, but yeah... No.

Convolution

Current plan:

1. Buy a New 3DS XL and a 32GB microSD card.
2. Transfer the contents of the 32GB SD card in my current 3DS XL to the New 3DS XL.
3. Put the 32GB SD card in my Wii U.
4. Transfer everything from my Wii to my Wii U.
5. Sell my 3DS XL with the originally-included 4GB SD card.
6. Use my Wii as a GameCube because cheap 480p.

Bouillabaisse

The nearly-five-year-old 64GB OCZ Vertex SSD in that Core i5 2500K system I mentioned a few posts back up-and-died yesterday; replaced it with a 128GB Samsung 840 EVO for $83... Amazing how prices have dropped.

Anyway, Shantae's labyrinths kick ass, but it's overworld seriously sucks; currently most excited about finding more baby warp squids so I can minimise dealing with that shit. I really hope the next two games have addressed this, 'cause they all look really pretty!

Also, Club Nintendo closeout! Gotta recommend Donkey Kong (Game Boy), EarthBound, Link's Awakening DX, Super Metroid and Yoshi's Island as must-play classics if you don't already have them. So far I've snagged Doc Louis's Punch-Out, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, and Minis on the Move with just over 500 coins left to blow.

Brutal!

Started playing the original Shantae in earnest and the difficulty curve is friggin' upside-down! The audiovisual design is absolutely gorgeous and the Metroid-style gameplay is solid, but the combat mechanics are problematic, to say the least... Can't wait to level-up some so I can actually enjoy what's on offer here and move-on in the series.

No, wait... Argh.

Azure Striker Gunvolt was totally my jam until it hit me with a mandatory boss-rush level... I hate that shit!

At least Super Mario 3D World and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker are downright delightful.

Wheee!

...But you know what is awesome on 3DS? Azure Striker Gunvolt! First Mega Man-style game I've been able to really get into since Rockman & Forte.

Argh.

Remember how I said Sonic Lost World on 3DS was swell? It's not. I was wrong. It blows. Hard. Like Sonic Adventure, certain styles of levels are fun... The other 75% of the game is painful.

You're kidding, right!?

Thought I was almost done Bravely Default, but it turns out I hafta play through it again... Not just a "new game+" kind of thing, but I actually hafta go redo a whole bunch of stuff; so I check an FAQ to see what other crap is in there, AND I HAFTA DO IT THREE MORE TIMES AFTER THAT!? FIVE FUCKING TIMES TO FINISH THE GAME! One of the most fun grinds I've experienced in years just stopped being fun, friends.

Anyway, Sonic Lost World on 3DS is pretty swell, Skullgirls is sweet (though not as polished as I expected), Shovel Knight is blowing me away (and I never really even liked Mega Man), and Super Time Force Ultra is kinda ridiculous.

Progress

Wrapped-up Legend of Grimrock II; game of the year, right there. Almost done with Bravely Default. Slogging through Metro 2033. Started Alien: Isolation; surprisingly rough around the edges (occasionally awful animation and scripting), but otherwise stunning in its presentation; into it.

Found a great deal on a brand new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon - Core i5-4300U, 4GB 1600MHz DDR3, 128GB SSD, 14.0" 1440p IPS multi-touch screen, and 64-bit Windows 8.1 Pro for $999; down from $1739... Mentioned it to my brother, an then my mom bought it for me... Holy crap.

Vaguely

Bought LEGO City Undercover and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for Wii U, and Freedom Wars for Vita... Haven't had the time to play any of them, or Alien: Isolation, yet :( Finished Crysis 3; it was okay. Metro 2033 got really boring by the time I reached the Nazis; hasn't gotten better. Legend of Grimrock II and Bravely Default are still awesome.

I'm really not enjoying Symantec Backup Exec 2014.

Recently swapped a bunch of parts from various computers to assemble the following three:

• Core i5 2500K
• Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 rev2.0
• 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 (dual channel)
• 1GB Radeon HD 5850
• 64GB OCZ Vertex SSD
• 1TB Seagate 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s HDD
• 64-Bit Windows 7 Ultimate

----------

• Core 2 Duo E6750
• ASUS P5K-E/WiFi-AP
• 4GB 800MHz DDR2 (dual channel)
• 320MB 550MHz GeForce 8800 GTS
• 160GB + 3x320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s HDDs
• 32-bit Windows Vista Business

----------

• Core 2 Duo E6750
• ASUS P5K
• 4GB 800MHz DDR2 (dual channel)
• 512MB Radeon HD 3870
• 250GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s HDD
• 32-bit Windows Vista Business

...And now I feel vaguely productive.

Deal or No Deal?

$330 for ~$550 worth of stuff (XBOX One, Assassin's Creed Black Flag and Unity, and a $50 gift card or another game) would be very tempting if I actually wanted either of those games on that platform... The PS4 deals are even less tempting :\

I did snag Alien: Isolation plus all seven pieces of DLC for $55 at the humble Store though, which is MUCH better than the $100, store-specific pre-order bullshit they tried at launch.

Finally moving forward with Crysis 3 and Metro 2033 again after getting snagged on some particularly tricky save-points... Bravely Default is still awesome, and Legend of Grimrock II is getting tougher... Or maybe I'm just not doing it right.

Also...

...I bought Bayonetta 2 the day it was released and nearly a week later, a boxed Dreamcast broadband adapter... And if I'm not playing Legend of Grimrock II at home, I'm playing Bravely Default on the go.

Can't Stop

Seriously, I can't stop playing Legend of Grimrock II. Everything else is on hold when I'm at home. It's a really, really good game.

Savings!

So I bought a brand-new, $560 MSRP, factory-overclocked (1006/1059MHz, up from 863/900MHz) GeForce GTX 780 for $340, and it included $150 of free games - Three Splinter Cell games (Double Agent, Conviction, and Blacklist) and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. I literally just saved $370, or ~52%, off retail.