On the site, a new Boss Barrel Radio episode is available. I highly recommend giving it a shot. About 19 minutes in Jamie breaks into very impressive singing. Gene, Collin and myself finally found the time when all of us were free, not playing D&D, and ready to party on the new BBGM podcast. On the second episode we talk over some winter music, which was harder to find than I thought. Also, we had such good gags going on when we were listening to the music, I decided to keep it in instead of laying a clean music track over. If this is no good, let me know and we will go back to the original way.
I finally got the Star Wars: The Old Republic Online video up. Gene and I goof around with the character creator, get consumed by the dark side, and, of course, "Do it!" We also recorded a Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner video. Less of a game and more of us watching anime. And there is nothing wrong with that, I say as I am listening to old Gundam intro music. Finally, Gene and I managed to eek out a video of us playing Papers, Please very poorly. Blame it on the alcohol or maybe because it's a little too reminiscent of the occasionally tedious jobs we normally have to work.
Stardew Valley has been eating up almost all of my gaming time. A visually simple but system rich farming/relationship game most easily comparable to Harvest Moon. What makes it so addictive though is how robust each system is and how almost any of them can be discarded for greater interest in another. For example, if you don't like the rut of daily crop tending, go fish, or go hunt monsters and minerals in the mines. Everything is viable and therefor it makes exploring all the game has to offer very rewarding. In between getting my farming and courting on, I managed to check out the Final Fantasy XV Platinum (Tech) Demo. I know I'm usually very skeptical about game release dates, but I would be extremely surprised if Final Fantasy XV came out on the Sept 30 2016 in full as promised during their Uncovered Event. Lots of talk about the "Chapter One" in the Game Informer interview video that came out after the event. So yeah, calling it.
Last week, my Friday was spent doing something I've never done before...playing Sega Bass Fishing on the Dreamcast, drinking beer, and blasting so so great country music from tens of years ago. I don't know what it is about fishing that has really grabbed a hold of me lately. I think by watching a full hour of competition fishing on ESPN17 a few weeks ago altered my brain chemistry. Oh my good! Final Fantasy XV has a fishing mini game in it too. Shit...
I've cooled quite a lot of Fire Emblem Fates. I've picked it up a few times, got half way through a battle and turned it off. Not sure exactly why it couldn't hold my interest until the end. The Division also failed to captivate me. Shooting and looting is almost always something I can get into, turn my brain off, and have a good time with for a long time. The Division went cold quickly, and I think I know why. The shooting isn't great and neither are the MMO lite abilities. I never felt like what I was working towards next mattered. I suspect that like Watch_Dogs, this Ubisoft game will be quickly forgotten by year's end.
Keep an eye out for a Stardew Valley video, new BBR, and more links and pictures in this post. I'm getting sleepy and this J-Pop is not refueling my energy bar.