Hmmm, where do I start?
On one hand, the SCOTUS narrowly recognized the fact that the Constitution exists by voting 5:4 that Trump's executive order declaring the Birthright Citizenship had been misinterpreted for the last 158 years, because he's a constitutional scholar, we all know him to be. On the other hand, the same SCOTUS upheld the transphobic laws in Idaho and West Virginia in a 6:3 vote, agreeing that trans athletes can only compete in sports related to the genitals they were born with. So, look forward to a rush by republicans to create their own Girls' Sports Certification businesses in the coming weeks. But why all the negativity? We're all profiting from this feces show, right? What is absolutely crazy, in the kind of way some Canadian comedians would appreciate, is how much bullshittery happened last month that I would probably run out of room, time, and energy to talk about video games. I had nearly forgotten that Trump tried to create a 1.776 billion dollar fund to pay back people he claimed were hurt by the government, but that only he would be the one to approve payments, which was just about a month ago. But we're not in the business of recapping a month's worth of political intrigue, so let's drop this in the cesspool that is currently the Reflecting Pool and move on with our thoughts.
A few days ago, on Monday, I believe, The Squire and I beat Donkey Kong Bananza, and by "beat," I mean we beat the final boss and saw credits roll. The Squire did want to start some of the post-game challenges because he's watched a lot of videos (before we nipped commentary videos in the bud) talking about the "Elder Rehearsals," but after Wednesday night and all of the annoyances that came with that ("The Nintendo people that made this level are not nice! They're not nice people, and they shouldn't make this level anymore! I gave them a second chance!!" The Squire yelled through tear-soaked eyes and grunts of frustration), we're likely going to be taking a break for a while.
I did buy Star Fox (StarFox ?) day one, which I know is out of the ordinary for me. I just got caught up in the updated look of the game, remembering how much fun I had with Star Fox 64, and the fact that most stores had it at $10 off if you pre-ordered. I've currently only played through three stages, and apart from the dialogue scenes between stages, there doesn't seem to be any fluff added to pad out the levels. The level where you defend Fichina from the first appearance of Star Wolf still takes about five minutes. It's quite refreshing to play a game where each level doesn't require a 45-minute time commitment. Plus, I'm only playing it at night after The Squire goes to bed since he likely has it in his head that the Switch 2 belongs to him.
Last week, I decided to bring in the Switch OLED to the office since it's only playing physical cartridges now, (see this slightly outdated post from a year ago), and I wanted to finally finish Triangle Strategy. I think I realized my biggest hangup with the game, if I haven't already mentioned it, is that the characters feel like they're in a YA novel, and there is absolutely zero chemistry between the main character, Serenoa, and his wife, Frederica. It's not that her character is badly written, as I find her backstory and the blind hate she and the Rosellans received from the ultra orthodoxy of the religious kingdom of Hyzante written so well that it elicits a physical and emotional response from me. Half the time, I forget that Serenoa and Frederica are married, as a lot of their interactions can be awkwardly characterized by the tap heard round the world (minus the flinch because Serenoa doesn't roll that way).
Speaking of lack of chemistry, I reached the point in Fire Emblem: Awakening where it's revealed who Chrom ends up marrying and having a kid with. Since I wasn't aware that the game was tracking who Chrom had the strongest relationship with up to that point by the number of interactions in battle, apart from the usual relationship rank, I was a bit taken aback when he revealed that he loved Sully. Unbeknownst to even myself, I had apparently been shipping (do kids still use that these days?) Chrom and Maribelle. It became my head canon that after a particularly long and arduous battle, Chrom and Sully, who had grown close over the ensuing weeks, slept together. Chrom does what he feels is the most honorable thing, à la Robb Stark, and marries Sully. I get it. It's dumb. And being a 46-year-old man, I'm not really interested/invested in a dating sim tactics game, which I already understand Fire Emblem to be. But that's not really my interest, and I felt like I lost a significant amount of interest in the game around that chapter; similar to how I lost interest in Mass Effect 2 when it felt like a sci-fi dating sim with combat added for flavor.
Lastly, the other game I've been playing on the Switch 2 (although originally released on the Switch 1, and see above for compatibility issues with the OLED) is Hades. I'm about 27 runs in, I've made it past the first mini-boss fight against the Minotaur in Elysium, and I'm having a great time. I'm constantly impressed with how the game feels alive in the character interactions, where one Olympian God will comment about Zagreus's recent conversation with another, or how Poseidon casually drops that Zagreus must have tried to escape Hades about 20 times by that point. I recall a Polygon video (before their sale and downfall to Valnet) about how not succeeding in Hades actually allows the player a better understanding of the personal dynamics of the characters and reveals more of the background story and characterization than if the player does everything right and manages to escape Hades after only a handful of runs/attempts. I've never experienced a game that operates in this way, and I'm finding that I really like it. I think y'all should keep your eyes on Supergiant Games; I think they're going to have a bright future.*
Briefly, since we're now entering the seventh paragraph of the Monthly Update of the Seventh Month, on the Steam Deck, I'm happily playing through Super Lesbian Animal RPG at night, although I think a few hours of my play time are from accidentally falling asleep and leaving the Steam Deck on. Conklederp and I are also playing 8:AM as a way to wind down with a dark and quiet game. I think we've currently made it up to just over 120 anomalies out of 164 found, and the last four times I've played, I've been kicked back to 12 AM after missing an anomaly. I don't know if the game counts the anomalies you've spotted if you don't make it to 8:00 AM, but I guess we'll see the next time I complete a full shift and my anomaly count is in the 150s.
I also picked up a handful of games during Steam's Summer Sale courtesy of Conklederp and Father's Day, so I plan on jumping into Red Dead Redemption once I'm finished with Super Lesbian Animal RPG.
~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
You'll Have to Find out the Hard Way
You'll Have to Find out the Hard Way
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