Play Want Bin Rwanda (PWBE 11 Dec 2023)

[Kendrick Kerwin Chua]

So do I need to travel first to Rwanda before coming to the UK? Or how
is that supposed to work now?

Play:
--=--

Lode Runner Legacy (PC) - Hey, I finally got it working correctly. All I
had to do was adjust the Windows settings to force it to use the more
advanced graphics card in the laptop, then configure the graphics
settings to limit the frame rate and use half of the maximum in the
variable rate settings. Simple. I don't know why they don't write out
that 25-step process for all their customers to take advantage of.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PS5) - I finished it
this weekend, a scant two weeks after receiving the discs. What a
phenomenal story it's telling, and it knows exactly what gaps in the
Yakuza 7 narrative are worth revisiting from a different point of view.
This is to say that you don't have that trope of Kiryu watching every
event from the other game whilst hiding in the shadows and influencing
the outcome, and even his most impactful appearance in the other game is
only barely mentioned here. The story at the end is a real gut-punch if

you've been following along since the beginning, but even if you haven't
the acting is superb and good enough to carry the scenes even without
the context. I have a handful of combat arena encounters to work through
still, but I'm finding this version of the side content much more
entertaining that it was in previous games for some reason. I think that
they were strongly motivated to get it right because it's such an
integral part of the main story, and it shows how much effort went into
making everything work just right. I think RGG Team is in fine hands
without founder Nagoshi at the helm, even though his influence is still
there in every frame.

Ace Combat 7 (PS4) - Wow, this is a really nice air combat sim. I know I
always say that about the air combat sims I buy and then play once, but
this is a cut above in terms of making you feel like a part of a big
military aircraft operation. If only I could quit crashing into things I
might find myself having a good time just watching all the action
happen.

Monark (PS4) - I bought this on Switch maybe a year ago and never gave
it a proper go, so after picking up the PS4 disc for ten bucks I decided
that I'd better try harder this time. It's another turn-based RPG set in
a Japanese high school where the students somehow have mystical powers
to interact with a secret occult world, but the gag this time is that
there doesn't seem to be a real world attached to it. All the children
(and a few beefy teachers) are all trapped in a school that seems to
randomly transport people in and out of fantasy combat scenarios. It's
oh so serious and up its own bagpipe chanter, but there's something here
that I want to explore further.

Tandem (PS4/Switch) - A nice little platform puzzle game, too clever by
half for me to give it any serious attention though. Two different
characters walk through the same scene but pulled by different gravity
and rules, so obstacles one can walk around are insurmountable high
walls to the other. One of the dozen-or-so games I picked up in the
Funstock Black Friday sale.

Gal Guardians (PS4/Switch) - Another Funstock joint, a Metroidvania
where you switch between two characters who specialise in either ranged
or melee attacks. It's charming and only a little pervy, as the creators
have hinted that it shares a continuity with the Gal Gun series. It's
really fun but I would struggle to call it memorable in any way, apart
from the care that they took to show every last enemy being cut neatly
into bloody sprite halves with your attacks.

Labyrinth of Zengetsu (PS4/Switch) - Of the remaining things I bought,
this is probably the one I'm most interested to revisit. One of the
things Japan did with the Wizardry series was improperly insert samurai
and ninja into a western fantasy setting, and that continued to happen
throughout the many clones that have popped up over time. So it's only
natural that eventually there would be a Wizardry clone that drops all
of the western design and architecture and is set solely in medieval
Japan. Zengetsu is that game, and it piles on the style by lovingly
rendering everything in a way that looks like brush art drawn with only
blank ink, an aesthetic justified by the story being told. I really need
to get a Switch save going, because Wizardry clones are most at home on
a handheld system.

Want:
--=--

Yakuza 8 - Or Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, as they have somewhat
awkwardly titled the thing. I'm honestly a little worried about whether
or not I'm going to have the proper amount of free time to dedicate to
this thing, because it's going to be the full-sized Yakuza and not the
little apertif that Gaiden was.

Bin:
-==-

Nothing gaming-related.

Expenditure:
-----=-----

Balance forward - $6,409

-KKC, who keeps staying up too late to play games.

[Russell Marks]

Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kend...@nospam.io-nyc> wrote:

> So do I need to travel first to Rwanda before coming to the UK? Or how
> is that supposed to work now?

We have reached the "attach rockets to the pig to ensure flight" stage
of this policy, I suspect. Which ensures spectacle if nothing else.

> Play:

Oekaki Puzzle (PS1) - a bit more of this, mostly back on the easier
puzzles again.

> Want:

Nothing.

> Bin:

My brain apparently being much too keen to internally sing the subject
line to the tune of "Delilah", like some ill-advised PWB version of
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

-Rus.

[John Dow]

Russell Marks <zgedneil@spam^H^H^H^Hgmail.com> wrote:
> Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kend...@nospam.io-nyc> wrote:
>
>> So do I need to travel first to Rwanda before coming to the UK? Or how
>> is that supposed to work now?
>
> We have reached the "attach rockets to the pig to ensure flight" stage
> of this policy, I suspect. Which ensures spectacle if nothing else.
>

We’re doing an excellent job of turning the whole country into a slow
motion Monty Python sketch.

In other sad news, I see Google have started phasing out Usenet support.
I’m wondering if it’s finally time to start peering with eternal September
as it looks like it might finally be going away :(

H

--
—
John Dow <j...@nelefa.org>
Zo is Wrong