In the fist half of 2025 I...
Played: Creaks (2020); Obduction (2017); Scar of the Doll (1998; 2017); The
Caribbean Sail (2017); Eric the Unready (1993); Stars Die (2020); Cocoon
(2023); Darius Cozmic Collection (2021); G-Darius HD (2022); Guardian Force -
Saturn Tribute (1998; 2022); Assetto Corsa (2014); Steel Empire (1992,
2018); Rolling Gunner (2018); Shooting Game KARI (1997; 2022); Strikers
1945 (1995, 2020); Zero Gunner 2- (2001, 2020); Drainus (2022); RIDE 4 (2020), The Sea Will Claim Everything (2016),
Raioh (2023), Raindrop Sprinters (2023), Dragon Ruins II (2025); The
King's Dilemma (2023), Shenmue (1999, 2018), Radiant Silvergun (1998,
2023), ESCHATOS (2015); Super Star Shooter (19??, 2025); Magic: the Gathering Arena (2018)
Got: The Sea Will Claim Everything (2016); Thaumistry: In Charm's Way (2017), Dragon Ruins II (2025), Raioh (2023), Raindrop Sprinters (2023), RIDE 4 (2020), ESCHATOS (2015), Super Star Shooter (19??, 2025)
Favourite: Creaks, Obduction, Eric the Unready, Assetto Corsa, TRIZEAL Remix, Drainus, Raindrop Sprinters, Dragon Ruins II, Shenmue, Arena.
Comment:While the year started with a lot of enthusiasm for games, it has become quite a chore from April onwards. There's a good mix of quality between adventure games and shooting games, as well as between games I had never played and replays. In terms of memories I guess there was a big helping of shooting games. In the end it's hard to prioritize some over the others. The thrill is always based on sentinment, the feeling of something new and twitchy. I still have a quite a few still installed and ready to be primed - in a way, perfect "games", that I can play in small bursts again and again. As for adventures, I still think of Obduction. It's really that good and I'm glad I finally played it. Having replayed it numerous times but not in the last few years, I really enjoyed replaying Shenmue, especially in Japanese text. For the first time, after 25 years, it felt a bit aged, but in other aspects it still holds up and embarasses modern games. I still have to knuckle down and replay Shenmue II. A word as well, for the relatively few games bought, for my standards. I welcome this change and as things are I am currently looking forward to only 5 other games (barring some unexpected unnanounced treat), and who knows if by the time they come out they'll be as good as promised... (they're mostly shooting/arcade/retro games anyway). Over the next 6 months I hope to keep playing moderately. Keep exploring shooting games, finally beat Disco Elysium and replay Shenmue II.
Read: Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation; História de
Portugal em Datas; Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty; The Dreamcast
Encyclopedia, The Dictionary of Imaginary Places (1980, 1999); Teddy Boys: Post-War
Britain and the First Youth Revolution (2024); SEGA CD Summer (2022);
GameCube Anthology (2018); Alan Partridge: Every Ruddy Word (2013), Memoirs Of A Mangy Lover, Groucho & Me, The Groucho Letters, The
Essential Groucho; Terry Jones' Barbarians: An Alternative Roman
History; Terry Jones' Medieval Lives; Valis, The Game Players of Titan,
Solar Lottery, We Can Build You, Lies, Inc., The Man in the High Castle;
The Factory; Tremor; Go Set a Watchman, The Shards, Eurotrash, James, Headshot, The Hole, The Vulnerables, The
North Light, All Fours, A Little Life, Asa: The Girl Who Turned into a
Pair of Chopsticks, The Night of Baba Yaga, The Archive of Feelings, The
Rain Before it Falls, Let me Tell You What I Mean, Gifted, The Factory
(re-read), Butter, Cement Garden, First Love, Last Rites, Weasels in the
Attic, Eastbound, Einstein's Monsters, Cal, The Bear and the Paving
Stone, The
Premonition, Ballad of a Small Player, Heartwood, Under the Eye of Big
Bird, The Pole, Flesh, Outline, Diary of the Void, Eastbound, The Violet
Hour, The Dream Hotel, Perfection, The Guest, The Horse, You Dreamed of
Empires, Every Day is For the Thief, Amsterdam, The Woman in the Purple
Skirt, This is Amiko, do you Copy?, By The Sea, Topeka School, On the
Calculation of Volume I and II, The Extinction of Irena Rey, Slow Boat,
My Friends, Open City, Nipponia Nippon, The Physics of Sorrow, Mecca,
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, F, Normal
People, Kitchen, Dark Like Under, The Night Watchman, Shuggie Bain,
Memory Piece, Never Let Me Go, Come and Get It, Intermezzo, Martyr!,
Weather, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, Tell Me
Everything, Belly Up, The People in the Trees, To Paradise, The Heart in
Winter, Orfeo, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Goldfinch, The Girls, You
Should Have Left
Got: Dreamcast Encyclopedia, GameCube Anthology, Blackadder: The Whole Damn
Dynasty, Alan Partridge: Every Ruddy Word, Teddy Boys by Max Decharné, Memoirs Of A Mangy Lover; Terry Jones' Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History; Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, To Paradise; The American; The Factory; Motorcycles: Taschen; Classic
Cars; The Shards; Go Set a Watchman; Tremor; James; Eurotrash; A Little
Life; All Fours; The Hole; Intermezzo, Headshot, The Hole, The North Light, The Vulnerables, Weasels in the
Attic, F, Ballad of a Small Player, Goldfinch, Orfeo, Outline, Diary of
the Void, Eastbound, Topeka School, Heart in Winter, Asa: The Girl Who
Turned into a Pair of Chopsticks, The Night of Baba Yaga, The Archive of
Feelings, Gifted, The Rain Before it Falls, Let me Tell You What I
Mean, Martyr!, Weather, The People in the Trees, Belly Up, If Nobody
Speaks of Remarkable Things, Tell Me Everything, On the Calculation of
Volume I and II, The Night Watchman, Heartwood, The Violet Hour, The
Dream Hotel, Under the Eye of Big Bird, Flesh, Perfection, Mecca,
Butter, Dark Like Under, The Extinction of Irena Rey, The Guest, Come
and Get It, My Friends, The Physics of Sorrow, Memory Piece, The Horse,
Never Let Me Go, Normal People, The Bear and the Paving Stone, The
Premonition, The Pole, The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, Shuggie Bain, Open
City, You Dreamed of Empires, Every Day is For the Thief, Amsterdam, The
Woman in the Purple Skirt, This is Amiko, do you Copy?, Nipponia Nippon, Kitchen, Slow Boat, The Girls, You Should Have Left, Tyll, The Director, Orfeo #21-25
Favourite: Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty, SEGA CD Summer, The Factory, Groucho & Me, The Shards, Eurotrash, Headshot, A Little Life, Butter, Diary of the Void, The Guest, Ballad of a Small Player, The Pole, F, Weather, Belly Up, The Girls
Comment: My goal to reduce spending on books backfired extraordinarily. In a way, I did reduce spending on history and gaming books, which are often extortionary. On the other hand I discovered the mass paperback novel and from March onwards I went on a huge binge. Fair to say, I hadn't read novels with such passion in a very long time (decades even). As things are there was a lot of dross too and, due to the reading fever, a lot of scanning and fast reading or some which I just couldn't get into. I don't regret this change although I wish I would have been a little bit more selective and less impulsive. There were some extraordinary books though, from the mind-alteringly sick The Shards and A Little Life, to a slew of japanese-authored novels (of which Butter, Diary of the Void and The Factory were true highlights), to discovering wonderful authors like Daniel Kehlmann (F), Emma Cline (The Guest, The Girls) and Rita Bullwinkel (Headshot, Belly Up). Due to the huge number of new books I haven't re-read much, apart from the always re-readable Groucho. Going forward I hope to not get any new books up until the end of the year as I have more than enough to re-read. Hopefully nothing extraordinary will come out in the meantime that I really must get.
Listened to (new): Porridge Radio, Michael Hurley, Molly Tuttle, JP Harris,
Muireann Bradley, The Petersens, Jake Vaadeland, Beloe Zlato, Joe
Wunderle, The Earls of Leicester, Hayden Pedigo, Willi Carlisle, Lucy
Rose, The Castellows, La LOM
Got:Rose City Band - Sol Y Sombra
Favourite (new): Michael Hurley, JP Harris, Jake Vaadeland, La LOM
Comment: Well, it took over a year but I finally got back into music. I was quite dreading opening YouTube to see the hundreds of clips I had waiting for me. In the end I managed to catch up to everything in about a week. As things stand I didn't really purchase new music, although my Bandcamp collection is needing some fresh tunes in it as I've listened to everything on it hundreds of times while driving, by now. Surprisingly there wasn't that much new artists to be found, although there are a few new albums incoming (Big Thief, Anna Tivel, Molly Tuttle). Over the past month listening to music has become my main past-time and I expect it to continue so during the next few months. I would like to find some more, newer, fresher artists.
Final thoughts: These were quite a hectic 6 months. I started heavy on gaming, then progressed to an incredible novel reading fever and, after 15 months, finally get back to listening to music (thankfully never stopped playing music). Mentally, listening to music is perhaps the most taxing. Perhaps not mentally but rather emotionally. Reading tires you out more but you can just start skipping pages. Gaming, I guess, adds nothing but wasting time and quick thrills. Sometimes necessary but not fundamental. Up until the end of the year I hope to keep controlling my budget - I'm quite overdrafted on books but have a healthy margin on games. In the end it will hopefully balance itself out. The hot summer months are upon us and that means being too sweaty to play guitar, unfortunately. On the other hand, there'll be at least 3 weeks of holidays to binge through all of this. Writing, as well, went downhill as I lost motivation to keep at it. I'm not looking forward to go again into it but hopefully the once a month recap with some comments, at least. See you there.
