This week outside of playing games I read a book I came across in my local public library that I didn't know about titled Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games. I've always been a big literary nerd of sorts I purposely bought a specific leatherback hard cover copy of The Count of Monte Cristo even so there being a book putting writers and video games together definitely had my attention. It's a collection of essays essentially and offers various perspectives and opinions of how games affected these writers. I really loved reading it and think anyone that is a fan of both reading and gaming would really enjoy it too. I know personally I was hooked right away with just the introduction in the book and had to make myself put it down so I could do my daily hour of playing the game I'm working on. Alright with that covered back to gaming talk.
Naturally Monday I resumed playing Genso Manege (pretend the e has an accent mark). I made it into the beginning of Chapter 6 and along the way there was some nice scenes and a cute event with the protagonist being able to see that her magic is coming along nicely but not enough at all yet for her goal. Chapter 5 ended with her getting some memories back but not enough to know why Hugo and Arnaud seem to keep making faces when they think about her past. I am curious to see what it is that has them so at odds since Arnaud doesn't like Hugo clearly and Hugo doesn't seem fond of her remembering the past telling her to not force herself. I'm glad she wants to remember though and can't wait to see just what happened. I have a feeling it had to do with the manege (again pretend the e has an accent) and trying to light it up perhaps at the very least I'm sure her magic was involved when she needed to keep it a secret though it isn't clear exactly why. I can only speculate though. At the very least I'm not bored anymore by the story and am finally interested in seeing the next part where I had been kind of just reading it blankly until today. I'm glad I kept playing or I guess reading further since the story is interesting now. This isn't a visual novel I see me replaying in the future once I complete it though based on my experience so far. I like the ones with more drama or romance at least happening. This is one is more casual which is good as a cozy kind of game perhaps but it's a bit too easy going for me I want there to be some kind of danger involved.
Tuesday I tried to make it to Chapter 8 but because of the flashback full explanation of the past and what happened which I have been vague enough with my thoughts to keep it a secret on here but I was totally right about what happened. I finally get what Arnaud's problem is too though they haven't said yet I'm almost certain I'm right but that will probably be in his route way down the line. Anyways the reveal shares something very sad to learn about and I finally am emotional about this game. I am full on hooked. So if you've been reading my thoughts and waiting on deciding on the game just bear in mind it will have a bit of a slow start before it finally gets good. Of course that might just be Hugo's route but I'll find out soon enough since I will keep playing. I am eager to find out what happens next and had to make myself put it down to get other things done, namely laundry. Thankfully tomorrow, I type on this each day as I go... anywho on Wednesday I have more time to play so I should be able to do both endings. So excited~
The first thing I got resuming the game on Wednesday was a very cute scene at the end of Chapter 7 that made me so happy. It was the sort of adorable thing I love to see in visual novels. There are a few glitches in getting the unlocked extras to work correctly and show the image and text but worked the second attempt each time at least. Hopefully a patch is released at some point but at least it does work if attempted again when it doesn't work right the first time. The Reve or dream ending isn't directly sad per say but it isn't necessarily good either even if the protagonist seems happy in her own way. It made me a bit sad that she accepts that outcome really. I had time to play more but I needed a break after that ending and had played longer than I normally do anyways. One of Hugo's CG is still missing so I'm not sure how to get it yet and hope it just shows up in another route. I guess I'll find out eventually or have to replay the whole route again... I'm hoping it's a being in another route situation honestly.
Thursday I started up the next route Serge, who is also available from the beginning but again going with the developer's recommended order of things according to otomekitten which is the site use for my visual novel guides if it's on there and this game is. I hope they do Despera Drops and Battlefield Waltz which come out in April... okay back on topic. The game obviously opens the same but time to make different choices and spend more time with Serge this time basically so we can get his route. The opening part is still kind of boring even with knowing how interesting things can be later so I just kind of blankly read for a while.
Friday I caught a cold because of course I did and didn't feel like being productive so I just aimlessly played a Jigsaw game via Steam on my computer and watched stuff. Saturday I mainly slept after taking over the counter medicine and my PlayStation Portal arrived at my door since I had pre-ordered midnight black version of it. I played with it a bit but didn't really do anything much besides mess around mindlessly with checking out my new handheld basically. Sunday I was feeling a bit better so I worked on a Sonic lego set that I will photo when I finish it. I made it about half through the set between resting and watching videos so I can get better.
Digitally on Switch I got some anime dance game called Anime Dance-Off: Around the World. I have no idea really what it is or anything but thought it looked cute and it was like $1.99 on sale so I got it. As for free games Epic Games Store had Garden Story which I downloaded I've been wanting to play this game for a while so it's definitely on my try to play it this year list now that I have it on my computer to play it. The Playstation Plus game catalog allowed me to add games with my subscription (I have the highest tier cause I'm always playing games) and while I'll probably eventually play the Star Wars Jedi Survivor that won't be anytime soon, I still need to play the other title after all, I definitely want to try to get around to Saga Frontier Remastered since I never played the original on PS1 (or PSOne as I call it).
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