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One Day: Two Games Beaten

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, High Scores/Accomplishments, Portal with tags on November 11, 2023 by slateman

In the spring of 2012, I beat Portal and Portal 2 on subsequent days (I had been working on them simultaneously, on PC and Playstation 3. When I moved to Sweden in late 2016, I earned a pair of platinum trophies in the same day: Zero Time Dilemma at midnight and Far Cry: Primal in the afternoon. None of these accomplishments are particularly noteworthy outside of fond memories, but today I’m adding another to that list: completing both Dark Souls III and Super Mario Bros. Wonder within about an hour of one another.

I endeavor to post my thoughts on these achievements separately, but hey, I figured it was noteworthy enough to make a post about. My hernia surgery is set for Monday and as I am all-but-incapacitated, why not play some games! Unfortunately, I’m still two days away from surgery and I’ve completed two titles already. I’ll have to see what’s on sale during my post-op downtime.

Dark Souls 3: Thoroughly Enjoying!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Bloodborne, Games on October 22, 2023 by slateman

I played Demon’s Souls when it appeared on PS+ ages ago and didn’t warm up to its difficulty and when Bloodborne came out, I felt the same. However, eventually, I returned to the latter title and it changed my gaming life forever. Afterwards, I dipped my toes in to Dark Souls Remastered and Dark Souls 3, never finishing either. A few weeks ago, I thought I should revisit the third entry into the renowned franchise, but I didn’t particularly wanted to pay the price tag right now. Also, Super Mario Wonder was coming out in a few days!

At the used bookstore two weekends ago, I found a budget bin full of games. Most were Xbox 360 and PS3 titles with a smattering of Wii games. Amidst the stack of DVD cases was one blue one: Dark Souls 3! For $4! Thus, I’ve sunk two dozen hours into the game in two weeks and am thoroughly enjoying it! I benefit from years of guides and videos and wikis.

Now, Super Mario Bros. Wonder just came out and so far…I like it. Today, however, I spent most of my gaming time playing Dark Souls 3. I think that says a lot. Anyhow, just some snapshots for now. See if I actually end up beating this game!

Bloodborne Revisited 2023

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Bloodborne, Games on September 17, 2023 by slateman

While I bailed on Bloodborne in 2015, when I revisited in 2018, I became infatuated. Over the course of several months, I dissected the game, devouring the lore, defeating every boss, chalice dungeon and completing the DLC. After platinuming the title, I did a NG+ run before moving on to other games.

Though I’d revisited several times in the years since, I never completed a run, eventually bailing at the Rom and Forbidden Woods segmets, not altogether surprising. This past week, I dove back in, not having much else to play.

Now, rewind 18 months or so to another From Software game: Elden Ring. After that magnificent experience ended, I found myself strugglig to find a follow-up that inspired me as much. Barring God Of War and Resident Evil 4, few games have really drawn me in as much. In fact, despite decades of gaming, I just haven’t been as drawn to games since Elden Ring.

So, as I returned to Bloodborne mid-game, I found myself struggling. I couldn’t dodge as easily. I died repeatedly (quelle surprise!) But then…IT happened. Again. I defeated Micolash. My son wanted to see Darkbeast Paarl – and I defeated him on the first try. I started reading about the lore and the items. Do I have three umbilical cords? This music is so haunting and spectacular! With my PS5, I can capture in 4K, can I get a good snap of the Gehrman fight? Should I clean up some of those optional bosses?

And it hit me. This is still my favorite game of all time. I debated this fact over the past few years. I mean, Super Mario Bros. 3 was my #1 for decades. But as I explored through this nightmarish world, I paused to absorb the views, I observed the grotesque enemies, I turned up the music. This game is simply fantastic and though it’s far less accessible than SMB3, it remains the greatest game ever made.

Resident Evil 4 Remake Results

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, High Scores/Accomplishments, Resident Evil on April 30, 2023 by slateman

After the high-quality renditions of Resident Evil 2 and RE3, the inevitable question posed was whether or not RE4 needed the facelift. Any doubts have been banished after Capcom knocked it out of the park…again! This new from-the-ground-up remake modernized what needed it, kept what worked and slathered it all in polish. The game is fantastic, and while I don’t post on this blog much, I wanted to share my remake results.

Run #1 was my fun, check everywhere, explore and enjoy playthrough.
My second game was the ‘get the infinite rocket launcher and collect everything’ run.
Finally, my easy-mode, rocket launcher speed-run trimmed my time from almost 20 hours to 3:20.

Capcom knows what they’re doing. Will Street Fighter 6 launch with such quality? All signs point to yes!!!

Oh, with this, I’ve updated my game-completion lists and my RE Rankings.

The Best Of 2022: My Lists

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Lists, Music, Personal on January 1, 2023 by slateman

Following tradition, my list of albums of the year have been posted, with Denmark scoring the highest honors for the first time in several decades. For this blog, however, I’m just going to post some lists.

Best Songs:
1) Svartsot: Rottefængeren
2) Andy Gillion: Game Over
3) Soilwork: Övergivenheten
4) The Halo Effect: Shadowminds
5) White Ward: Leviathan

Best Albums:
12) Ghost: Impera
11) Amorphis: Halo
10) Megadeth: The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!
9) Hällas: Isle Of Wisdom
8) Amon Amarth: The Great Heathen Army
7) White Ward: False Light
6) Arch Enemy: Deceivers
5) Saor: Origins
4) The Halo Effect: Days Of The Lost
3) Soilwork: Övergivenheten
2) Andy Gillion: Arcade Metal
1) Svartsot: Kumbl

Best Videogames:
#3: God Of War: Ragnarök
#2: Vampire Survivors
#1: Elden Ring

Best TV Shows:
#9: The Bear (S1)
#8: Murderville (S1)
#7: The Patient (S1)
#6: Dead To Me (S3*)
#5: Bridgerton (S2)
#4: Ozark (S4*)
#3: Stranger Things (S4)
#2: The White Lotus (S2)
#1: Severance (S1)

My Accomplishments:
3×3 Record: 26.46
6×6 Record: 11:11.38
Megaminx Record: 4:16.92
Regular Astrominx: Solved!

Gaming In 2022

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Lists on October 1, 2022 by slateman

For me, 2022 has been a strange year for gaming. The shining highlight, Elden Ring, was a perfect 10 in my eyes and after dumping 100+ hours into it, I walked away, looking forward to my next gaming experience. Unfortunately, nothing since has lived up and very few things have really even caught my fascination. I grabbed Horizon: Forbidden West but after a half-dozen hours, I simply didn’t care and had no real desire to play more. Far Cry 6 was meh. I beat Deathloop and Death’s Door – both pretty cool titles and I signed up for the new Playstation Plus which gave me access to scores of games, though I’ve hardly spent much time on any. Through the service I did get platinum trophies in Intelligent Qube and later Minit – the latter of which was honestly a fantastic experience.

I finally installed The Last Of Us Part II and its obnoxious 200Gb SSD requirement and the game was tremendous. It looks fantastic and the gameplay improved on the first entry in almost every way. However, it was another game to which, upon completing, I knew I’d never return. I purchased Modern Warfare for cheap and after the same hard-drive space demands, I swiftly deleted the game, likely never to revisit.

While I was utterly fascinated with Kingdom: Two Crowns for a week, I fell off and Shovel Knight Dig, while great, didn’t lure me to return after completing it. The one other title in 2022 which is worth mentioning is Vampire Survivors – another 10/10 game. Its bare-bones visuals aside, I was captivated throughout the summer, learning weapon combos, slaying tens of thousands of enemies inn the game that made me feel more OP than almost any before it. I could’ve sworn I posted pics/review of this game – I guess not!

For the remainder of the year, my big game is the obvious: God Of War: Ragnarök. The last was my Game Of The Year 2018. That vs. Elden Ring. Gonna be hard to beat, honestly.

Beaten

  • Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare
  • Elden Ring
  • Intelligent Qube (PS1)
  • Minit
  • Shovel Knight Dig
  • Vampire Survivors

Played a lot of

  • Horizon Forbidden West
  • KeyWe
  • Kingdom: Two Crowns
  • PGA Tour 2K21
  • Returnal

2023 looks promising with Capcom’s Street Fighter VI and Resident Evil 4 leading my must-have list alongside PSVR2. All will likely land around the same time, unfortunately. Diablo IV is on the list too.

Another New Megaminx Record! WOW!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on July 2, 2022 by slateman

As stated previously, I’m loving my new magnetic Megaminx and this morning, a quiet Saturday with a sleeping puppy by my feet, I figured I’d do a quick speedrun. It was about 1:10 before I got my first two layers done – mostly par for the course – but my middle edges/corner matching was pretty solid. This puzzle’s bright faces make it easy to identify and so for the first time, I’ve been looking ahead. A quick slip-up on my penultimate layer and some fidgeting permuting centers (my weakest step) made things a bit slow, but I’ve become much more adept at orienting corners and placing them. The end result? A staggering one-minute improvement and a mind-boggling 4:16 solve! I was blown away!

New Megaminx Record!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on July 1, 2022 by slateman

I was really impressed with my latest Megaminx record – getting my time down to 7:21 and then an even 6:00. In light of having this kick-ass new Gan 3×3, I realized just how good a magnetic speed cube can be. Next up really should be a 2×2 or a Pyraminx, but neither are really FUN puzzles. The Megaminx, however, it an entertaining solve and with that, my order was set: YJ YuHu V2M. I lubed it up and immediately noticed just how fast and precise it was. One sub-seven-minute solve (would’ve been my record just a few months ago) was followed by a slamming sub-5:30! I was impressed by just how good this puzzle was! One more sub-6 and then I got a 5:18! FORTY seconds faster than my old record!

That evening, I revisited the puzzle, getting several close times (in the 5:20 – 5:30 range). Whether a sub-five-minute solve is possible, I’m not sure, but this puzzle is simply wonderful and it’s still just so much fun revisiting things like this and breaking records. Of course, I’m probably getting close to my limits on them all, but at 46 years old, I’m still enjoying it! So psyched!

THREE New Cubing Records: May 2022!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on June 24, 2022 by slateman


The end of the school year, covid, surgeries and home renovations delayed this post, but it’s an exciting one, if I might say so myself. Moving backwards, in late April a student in my Spanish 2 class (one with a PB of around 17 seconds) brought in her Gan 3×3. Over the past 11 years of cubing, I’ve regularly updated my main – maybe once every other year or so, but my record has stood since barely dropping a half a second from it in May of 2018. This new puzzle was unlike any other I’d tried before. The magnets were snappy, turns felt super responsive and it glided like butter. I was on a mission.

Upon purchasing a Gan 356M, their middle-of-the-line budget model, I realized it was just way too loose. I should’ve opted for the model with extra GES nuts to help with tension, but I already felt badly spending $30 on another 3×3!!! When I got the cube finally tensioned how I wanted it, I couldn’t believe just how wonderfully it turned. This is the best puzzle I’ve ever owned. To put things in perspective, I had accomplished three sub-30 second times in my prior decade of cubing. I accomplished the feat six times in a week with my Gan 356. My first, an astonishing 28.6 seconds shaved almost half a second off my time. I was elated. I saw it coming. My record broken – for the fourth time in a row in the month of May!

However, that wasn’t all. Two days later, I utterly shattered my record, trimming two full seconds off! The solve was magical. Three of the four cross whites already done so I could start planning my corners ahead, something I NEVER can do. Three middle layers were super fast and I could see ahead as I placed those pieces swiftly. On the top layer, I had an L and then had to swap two corners. This left me with a fully-solved yellow face. A quick three-cycle solved the puzzle in the fastest time EVER! 26.46 seconds! While I was at it, I broke all my average records: Averages of 3/5/12/50/100 all were decimated, with my average-of-3 being sub-30!

Unfortunately, future solves revealed that without a very lucky skip, I will never match or best that time. If I can’t get the second layer done by 15-17 seconds, it’s not even worth finishing. Once you hit that stage, a lot of the fun is sucked out of speedsolving. I’ve dabbled in F2L, but without memorizing all new algorithms, I don’t see it ever happening. With my 4×4 and 5×5 records at incredible times and with good cubes alongside of them, I genuinely wonder if my days of timing myself are over.

But then I wondered if I could give the Megaminx another swing. Upon getting a new puzzle for Christmas (which itself resulted in breaking a decade-old record), I figured why not try again? Solve #1 was close to the 7:21 record from January and solve #2 was…just remarkable! 6:00.77! I trimmed my record by 80 seconds!!! I got a lucky last layer and just missed a sub-6 by three-quarters of a second!

I’m happy these old bones still have some speed in them. Three records in one month – not bad for a 46-year-old!!!

The New Playstation Plus: Perspective From A Loyal Customer

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games on May 17, 2022 by slateman

I’m a dedicated Sony faithful who has owned every Playstation platform in the past 25+ years: five consoles and two handhelds and even some duplicates. While I’ve owned almost every other console in the last three decades as well, Microsoft’s recent offerings haven’t joined my collection. Despite this, there’s simply no disputing the quality and value of the Redmond-based company’s Game Pass. One day, whenever the Series X graces my collection, I look forward to subscribing and diving into its vast archives.

However, this generation, like the last, I opted for Sony over Microsoft – with no regrets, mind you – and so the upgraded Playstation Plus is something I’ve had my eyes on for quite some time. Much of the dialogue of the new Playstation Plus has been around its comparison to Game Pass. I’d like to discuss its value *without* comparing – by simply contrasting it to the current PS+ subscription.

For the past decade, I’ve paid $60/yr (used to be $50, no?) for the standard “free” games, online play, etc. I fully plan on continuing that trend, with my subscription extending already into 2023. Some shitty months (or sequences of months) aside, I love the service and I’m happy with my subscription.

So, while the new base-level PS+ is identical to the existing service, the real question is whether the upgraded models are worth the added bucks: $40 for Extra or $60 for Premium. Since I’m already paying my $60 – and do so on an annual basis – that’s the real question. Is the added $40/$60 worth it??? I’m not talking about monthly prices – it’s all or nothing, baby.

Now that Sony has started rolling out a quick list of titles, it’s time to look at what that value truly is.

The second tier, Extra, offers ~400 PS4/PS5 games for $40. Since I never got around to playing Returnal or Miles Morales, the subscription is likely worth it right off the bat. As a pretty dedicated gamer, I’ve played most of the games I’ve wanted to play this past decade. Virtually every offering shown in the abbreviated list is already on my have played list. But for a pair of games and the promise of others? I’d say it’s likely worth $40, though the full game list will really be the deciding factor. In lulls of new titles, diving back into an older one here or there is probably worth the $3.33/month. I think it’s worth at least the first year of subscription. Then again, I am a Sony fanboy after all. :D

The top tier, titled Premium, presents an additional ~350 legacy games for another 20 bones. That’s not bad at all – IF you really will download/play PS1/PS2/PSP games and stream PS3 games. i own all those platforms and can emulate the entire lot of them. However, I much prefer playing on console than on PC. With ~350 games on 4 platforms, there is sure to be something I’d be glad to revisit. The sneak-peek list of titles so far was underwhelming. On the flipside, that there are save states and rewind features may very well make these games worthwhile in the end. Add to the fact that prior purchases from the PSP/PS3 days will be honored, and it could be worth it.

The ‘end-of-the-day’ view of this really lies in that $40/$20 split. Worst case? I continue with the $60/yr sub that I have had for a decade. I’m happy with this sub and I rarely pay a full $60, to be honest. No – it’s not a Game Pass killer. That’s OK. No, it’s not for everyone – and that’s OK! However, while the initial lists of 60 PS4/PS5 games isn’t too convincing, I’d say one or two games would be enough for the $40 upgrade. Let us not forget that there are more than 300 games not already announced. As for the Premium tier, a $20 bill nets me 350 titles: 28 announced on legacy platforms and another 30 on the PS3. To be honest, I really don’t know if anything on here will truly tickle my fancy, but I’m also a sucker for this shit and I’ll likely drop twenty more just to revel in some nostalgia.

Were it a decade ago, in 2012, I may not have opted in. But at the tender age of 46, I’m the prime candidate for such a service and for a few bones, I think I just may opt in – at least for the first year!!!

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