Underneath my yellow skin

Tag Archives: backlog

Demoing to my heart’s content, part two

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I’m back to chat more about Steam demos. I’m so pleased that the vast majority of indie games have demos these days. I wrote yesterday about a word game I really liked called Rita (Spork Tank), and I’m back with a few more I played today. And yesterday. There are a few games I didn’t like, but that was because of controls. One was an old game that is highly thought of in the cozy genre, apparently. It controls horribly, and you have to manually save at the lightposts (I think that’s what it was?), which, no. That’s not happening. I am not about a game that makes me lose progress if I don’t manually save because my memory is shite. Also, in this day and age, that’s just silly. Yes, this was a remake/remaster of an older game, and I get that they probably wanted to keep the old-timey feel to it, but progress is a good thing. We don’t have to have terrible controls and manual saving just because we had to have both in the past.

Let’s talk about the first game I really dug. It’s called Creature Kitchen (The Rat Zone), and at first, I was trepidatious beacuse it’s first person. I get nauseous from playing first-person games, but for whatever reason, the negative effect from this game is minimal. I think it might be because the game is not very realistic so my brain isn’t mistaking it for real. It has the look of an ald horror game, and I’m expceting it to get creepy.

I didn’t know much about it before I tried the demo except it’s very positively reviewed. And it’s about cooking? Maybe? And there’s a raccoon in it (it’s on their store page). That’s all, but I was eager to try it out because I like cooking games and raccoons are cute. You can fight me on that last fact all you want, but it’s just the truth.

There’s minimal tutorializing, but it wasn’t very hard to figure out what to do. F is for flashlight because it always is in games like this. I do like that I didn’t need batteries for it. I hate having to find batteries for flashlights in games like this, and I will quit immediately if it’s required. Anything where I have to keep an eye on something’s time is a game that will stress me the fuck out.

I don’t play these kinds of games to be stressed, even though many of them have stressful elements. There is a point when I rebel and quit the game altogether.

In the house, there is a note. I studiously ignore it as I explore the house. I know the game wants me to read the note, but it’s not the boss of me!

The main gist of the game is that you have to find recipes, and then you make the recipes. They are very simple and the game mechanics are pretty crude. I’m fine with that except the frying pan because you have to flip the egg and have it land back in the pan. I have zero depth perception so I can’t get it to fall into the pan properly. Fortunately, I can just keep doing it because the pantry has endless supplies.


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Demo(lition) derby and what’s good

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One thing about Summer Game Fest is that it has a ton of different smaller fests in which I can see so many new games. And, if they’re indie games, they will almost always be guaranteed to have demos. I love that about indie games, though I worry that it’s a burden to the indie devs. The bonus to me is that I get to try a whole bunch of games that I might not have paid attention to otherwise.

Do I need more games? Of course not. I have such a big Steam pile of shame, but as is the way with PC gaming, I keep adding more to the pile than I take away (by playing them). It’s too easy when there are so many steep sales. A content creator I once watched pretty regularly said, “If you hesitate to pay 99 cents for a game, you probably don’t want it at all.” I thought about it, and he was right.

Side note: I was talking about my wishlist in the Discord I’m in. I use it as a way just to remember games that catch my eye as I’m watching one of the umpteen fests going on. Look, they rattle of twenty to thirty games in a row and my memory is now shit. I’m not going to remember them past thirty seconds. Plus, wishlisting them helps the devs.

I tend to have a dozen or two demos installed at any one time. Then, they haunt me until I play them. By the way, I’m playing Dark Souls III (FromSoft) once again, and my god, I’m falling in love with it all over again. It was my favorite game before Elden Ring was released, which means it was my favorite for six years. Then, it slipped to being tied with Elden Ring for first. The more I played Elden Ring, though, the more it pulled slightly ahead.

I did a ranking of the From games. I gave Elden Ring a 9.75 (I think?) and Dark Souls III a 9.5. Now, though, I’m enjoying myself tremendously back in Dark Souls III. I found a new way to cheese a boss (from the Reddits), and while it took some time, it was loads of fun. It’s a boss who doesn’t aggro until you walk up to it. I’d known that you could use Pestilent Mist, a top-tier sorcery that eats away at humanity to cheese it. It takes 30 intelligence to use, though, so I don’t usually use it until the DLC at the earliest–or on NG+ and beyond.

What I discovered was that this boss was able to be poisoned. (He’s a giant skeleton, so why he’s  able to be poisoned, who knows?) There’s a pyromancy called Poison Mist (which in this game is purple. In Elden Ring, it’s green). I walked up to the boss and stopped short of the spot where I would prock him. Then, I just blew the mist on him (it’s a breath pyro) twice. I had to do it twice to prock the poison. Then, I would watch as his health was slowly ticked away. Each application took off almost a thousand health points. It took nine applications, which is strange because this boss is supposed to have 15,000 HP. (Added: I figured it out. The numbers were for each hit, and not additive. Meaning the last hit took off nearly a thouusand HP on its own, and the others did waht they did.)


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The next big thing (gamewise)

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In yesterday’s post, I intended to talk about what my next game might be. I veered wildly off into brand loyalty and how I don’t think I’ll be playing FromSoft games for much longer (and why I’m OK with that. Well, not ok, but resigned).

I’ve played several demos, and I immediately uninstalled several. Why? There are a variety of reasons. Some required twitch responses that I did not have. I was really sad about a few of them because I really dug the aesthetics, but I simply could not play the games.

Here are thirngs that will cause me to uninstall a game quickly.

1. Mini-games that make me do QTEs, any kind of ‘fill in the circle’ motion that has to be precise, and anything of that ilk. It seems to be something that more indie games are doing, sadly, much like parrying is king in most triple A action games.

Side note: I don’t know when it happened, but I flinch now whenever I hear the word ‘parry’ as the main combat in any game. I hate the word ‘soulslike’, too, because it usually means the game has taken my least-favorite aspect of From games and glorified them to kingdom come.

I know I have said this over and over again, but I’ll say it one more time. Most devs don’t give a shit about accessibility. Sadly, that includes many of the indie devs, too. I give them more benefit of the doubt–at least, the teams that are small, like 20 employees and under. They simply don’t have the resources to do everything that the bigger companies can do.

However. That doesn’t mean I actually want to play their games.

Side note: I didn’t realize the whole time I was playing The Spirit Lift (prettysmart games) that the game was first-person. I mean, I knew it was, but I did not have the negative reaction I normally have to first-person games. I mentioned it to Ian, and he said that in keeping with the ’90s feel to the game (no bobbing of the head, for example). In thinking of it, it made sense. The only time I got slightly nauseous was when I swung the camera around too quickly–and that was on me.

I cannot tell you how many times I have regretfully turned off a game because the first-person perspective made me sick to my stomach. Sadly, Blue Prince (Dogubomb Studios) was one of those games. Not only was it in first-person, it had a fish-eyed point of view that increase my nausea. The game didn’t have much to fiddle with, sadly. Yes, there was a FOV slider, but it didn’t do much. I played an hour at a time, gritting my teeth as I played. After three hours over two days, I gave  up. I really liked what I played, but I just could not do it.


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Why I don’t do brand loyalty

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I am at a loss as to what game to play next. This happens when I get obsessed with a game. In this case, The Spirit Lift (prettysmart games). I was obsessed with it, and I want to parse what kind of games sink their claws into me. I will break down the games into two different categories: FromSoft games and non-FromSoft games.

FromSoft games are in a league of their own. I have a longstanding rule that I do not preorder games. Except. FromSoft. If they put out a game, I’m buying it (if I can. Still bitter over Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, and now The Duskbloods on The Switch 2). I will say that my faith is a bit shaky with Nightreign and Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon coming out in the last few years and now The Duskbloods.

Side note: I don’t have loyalty to brands. Our relationships are purely transactional. As long as I enjoy/like/get use out of your product, I will buy it. If standards start slipping or I no longer like your product, I will no longer buy it. That’s pretty much it.

It’s the same with FromSoft. Well, not exactly the same. I had a much more emotional connection to the ‘product’, but….

I can feel the games going out of my reach. I have known since the DLC of Dark Souls III that there would be one day I could no longer play the games. My abilities were shit to begin with, and I struggled to complete Dark Souls (my first From game). It took me roughly 150 hours to finish it (with the DLC) for the first time. I had the Prepare to Die edition, which meant it was the whole game. I remember a games journalist casually saying there was no way anyone could take a over a hundred hours to finish the game (sans DLC). He was very much, “No one is different than I am. I am the gold standard for how to play Souls games”, but even so.

I almost quit once, and I did quit for a year another time. I struggled so hard. But I kept going back to it. Ornstein and Smough killed me over a hundred times. Well over. It took me roughly seven hours (one hour a day for seven days) to kill them. Why did I stick with it? I have no idea why.

The funny thing is that they didn’t make me quit; it was the Gaping Dragon, of all bosses. It’s not a particularly difficult boss, but it has a ton of health. It’s a very tedious boss if you don’t have at least a +5 weapon–which I did not. After spending a billion hours chipping away at its health (only a slight exaggeration), I got it down to one or two hits. I stepped back to avoid an attack and–stepped into nothing. There was an abyss I guess I didn’t see, and I died a most ignomious death.

I was furious. I was used to dying–good lord, I was used to dying. I mean, it’s in the name of the edition: Prepare to Die. But not to a fucking hole in the ground. I threw the controller and gave up the game on the spot. A year later, I picked it up again. Why? I’m not quite sure, but I think it had something to do with Scholar of the First Sin coming out.


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A confession about my backlog

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I want to talk more about demos/backlogs/piles of shame, etc. Why? Because I’m stridently ignoring the world around me and because why not? Here is my post from yesterday.

Every person who games, especially on the PC, has a vast backlog. We PC players jokingly call it our Steam pile of shame. I, myself, have hundreds of games I’ve bought on impulse because Steam makes it so easy. There’s always a sale. Currently, there is a Krafton Publisher Sale. I had no idea who the hell they were and took a quick glance at the list. I know two or three of the games, but don’t really have an interest in any of them.

Wholesome Games Direct was a few days ago (a week?) as was NextFest. Wait. That’s still going on now. I would not be surprised if there was a sale of some kind every day. Every time I pop over to Steam, which is once a week or so, there seems to be a sale going on. And, like most PC players, I will pick up any game that catches my eye as long as it’s under five/ten/twenty bucks (my threshhold is ten dollars). Is it on my wishlist? Maybe. Does it have to do with a cat? Probably. Will I buy several of them at the same time? Yep.

A content creator I used to watch said that if you don’t buy a game for a buck during a Steam sale, you probably are never going to buy that game (and should take it off your Wishlist). He was right about that, and yet, I still have about 200 games on my Wishlist.

Let’s be real. I should probably take off at least half those games because I will never buy them. And even if I do buy them, I will not play them. But for whatever reason, I insist on keeping them on my Wishlist. Well, I know why. It’s because I can’t be fucked to go through my list and weed out the games I no longer want.

Back to games I buy on impulse. I am someone who doees not usually buy games when they first come out*. I suppose this ties in with the fact that I’m not brand-loyal. Or with the fact that marketing doesn’t work as well on me as it does on most people. It’s really hard to sell me on something that I don’t want. And I’m prone to not wanting things more so than wanting them, so good luck on changing my mind.


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Tackling that Steam backlog one game at a time

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I’m trying to get through my Steam backlog and the countless quirky indie demos that I keep adding to my list of games to try. It doesn’t help that Steam always has some kind of sale, and right now, the sales going on are cozy games related. This is entirely my jam. Putting aside FromSoft games (with great difficulty), I have two other categories of games that I play. Roguelike/lites and cozy games. There is some crossover between the two categories, but not that much.

If you were to ask me my favorite games outside of From games, they would be:

1. Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
2. Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)
3. Cozy Grove (SpryFox)
4. Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! (David Galindo)
5. Hades (Supergiant Games)

The first two are in the right order, whereas the next three are pretty interchangeable. I really related to Mae, the main character of NitW, because she was a moody black cat (all the characters were animals) who, as the game went on, became more and more like me. Crushing self-esteem problems, severe mental health issues, and she was bisexual. The last one is something you can play through the game and never find out, depending on what the choices you make. I was so pleased when it was revealed because at that point in time (2017), there weren’t that many games with bisexual characters. Some with gay characters, but not bi.

That would be five indie games, four of which are considered cozy….well, three are for sure. The fourth (CSD!2!! is debatable) is a cooking sim, which you think should be chill, but isn’t. It’s highly addictive, though, and the reason I prefer this game to the original is because I can decorate my restaurants in addition to making recipes.

In the past few days, I have tried to sttorm through my Steam backlog/Steam demos. It’s an uphill battle, though, because I add demos to my Steam client as a way to remember games I might be interested in. I have almost two dozen demos on my Steam client, and I’ve deleted a few I’ve recently tried as well.

Here are a few things that will immediately turn me off a game–if it makes me motion sick; if it requires a dexterity that I don’t have; or if it has a confusing/lack of tutorial. I just played one that was a puzzle-solving game (putting shapes into a big rectangle squares marked off inside the rectangle), and it was cute, but too simple for me.

I know that my tastes are very weird and particular. Ian has said it’s hard to find games for me because I am so damn picky (he was more diplomatic about it, but that’s what it boils down to). That’s how I am with pop culture in general, by the way. I dislike more than I like to the point that I’m comfortable saying that I don’t like movies and TV shows in general. In other words, a TV show or movie is going to have to work hard to win me over.


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