Ys Origin on the Nintendo Switch

Enter the World of Ys and discover one of the greatest japanese A-RPG of all time.

If I got my facts correctly, this game had been around since 2006 when it originally released, or 2012 when it was initially localised.It is an action-RPG, think of games like Diablo and or Zelda.

I got this game back in October when released and it wasn’t until these past week when I finally got around it. Blame Ghost of Tsushima and Hades. I am somewhat familiar with the Y’s series of games. Possibly my first Y’s game experience was on the PlayStation 2, I think.

When this one was announced I was already sold. I am a sucker for retro style pixel art action-RPG’s and even more so for dungeon crawlers, which is the vibe this game gave me.

So far I got about 13 to 15 hours into this game and I am having a really good time. You start with two playable characters, each with unique skillsets and powers. Actually, there are three different characters but if I remember correctly you need to finish the game with the firs at two in order to unlock the third. The setting is simple, demons are attacking Y’s, there are these twin goddesses that protect Y’s and they have disappeared in this tower and it’s your mission to find them and rescue them.

And of course, there more to it. The entire game is you in this tower going up from floor to floor

The game is not too difficult, although, I am playing on the easiest setting. I am not for a challenge, I am for a good time and the story. Still the more you progress some enemies get a little challenging to beat. Boss fights are fun, they all have an exploit, it’s just a matter of finding it, and once you do, it’s... not quite a peace of cake but neither frustrating.

So far I am really invested in these characters and the story so far. Like in games like Diablo, there is some grinding, mostly in order to level-up and acquiring gems for upgrades but I think you can get by without too much grinding.

I love the pixel art and the music it’s amazing. I am definitely a fan of this game.

If you are into action-RPG’s, dungeon crawlers and pixels, I highly endorse this game 😎

11.5% ABV by Heretic Brewing Company Monster

Rating: B+

Notes: it is very sweet.

Monster Cookie is an 11.5% abv chocolate chip cookie Barleywine made with real chocolate chip cookies. This brew is a collab with True Symmetry Brewing. It has a strong, complex malt flavor beautifully balanced by the aromatic hops and with a mellow alcohol warming. The mouthfeel is luscious and the chocolate chip cookies play beautifully with the malt. It finishes dry and crisp without any cloyingly sweet aftertaste.

There is this email app going around called Hey and apparently all the cool kids like it. I mean, when it was first revealed I liked what I saw too. What I saw. I signed up for the trial, a 14 day one and here’s what happened.

This is how I use email. I scroll, delete, delete, open, read then delete, close the app — done. I feel like I do email like it’s 1998. Unless I am job hunting, I could basically care less about my emails. I don’t use folders. I don’t have special rules. About 95% of my email is non-actionable. Privacy? Well, I had stopped using google for all my personal email. I have been relying on my iCloud email, my .me address and I think I trust Apple a but better too. Anyway, I pretty much don’t depend at all from my email. The only email inbox that really matters, is the one at work and I don’t handle work on my phone.

So why I am still wanting to use Hey. A domain, something like gabz@hey.como looks and sounds cool. I like the icon(s) and the interface. But the idea of buying and interface and icons for 99.00 USDs, again, based on what I saw and not from what I need it’s bonkers. I like shinny things and Hey, to me, it is my kind of shinny 😁

At the end, is probably FOMO. When I had the trial I probably opened the application once. Never got any emails to it. Maybe also something to do that those 14 days were pretty hectic and had no time to play with the app. Not the app’s fault I think. I am sure the people that pay for it and use it, they do find value in it. All that being said, I do wish they had a monthly subscription option, that way I could play with it more and who knows, maybe I’d like it so much and stick with it forever and ever.

Micro.feelings

I am truly enjoying the Micro.blog experience, and the community. But I’m not going to lie, sometimes I find myself missing Wordpress for some reason. I’m thinking because I had this Ulysses/Wordpress blogging workflow. With Mb is a litttle bit different when it comes to me composing and posting. Is this a thing? Would I be able to overcome it and not look back to WP?

Well, it certainly didn't take me two years to realize this, perhaps a month or two after this post was posted. Yes, I was able, I have never looked back to WP ever since. I am happy with my current blogging platform. As far as my posting workflow. iA Writer got their game together, Drafts has always been a good option as well. I would love to get back with Ulysses full-force but not until they get their shit together and give me the ability to post to Micro.blog 😤

Today I went for a walk, just like friend of the blog Maique 😄. Except that for me wasn’t on the street but rather more “outdoorsy” — more wilderness.

I went to the foothills, something I have been craving on doing for quite sometime. I would dare to say it has been over a year since I last hiked the foothills. I really needed it, my mind and soul needed it. Went to my favorite spot, Military Reserve, is the ones I am most familiar with and know pretty well. Even then, at one point I double-guessed myself to whether I was lost or not, but I wasn’t. I still knew my way around.

I was having fun, like I’ve said, it had been a while and I was happy to be back on the foothills, until. Besides me, there are a few folks on mountain bikes. I think I encountered a total of six bikers. The rule around here is that they make space for me not me for them, but still, I always walk on the side of the trail and if I see someone coming towards me, I step outside of the trail to let them pass. And they are always very nice about it, say good-morning and thank you. It is sometimes hard to see when they are coming behind me though, I do try to stay alert the best I can in case i need to steep out of the trail.

One lady comes from behind, I noticed her when she was very close, but I still had enough time to notice and step away from the trail, and she yells Thank you. A few minutes later, another lady on a bike, I noticed her and stepped away from the trail, but she was still coming too fast. She realized that and she stills try to move to the oposite side of the trail from where I was. Unfortunately she lost control of the bike a little bit and she fell from the bike. I felt so bad, so so bad. I asked her if she was okay, she seemed to have hit hard the ground with her knee. I stayed right with her, she asks for my hand and helped her to get on her feet. She walked, trying to shake it off, holding my hand, obviously in pain. She walks, stands up for a bit, turns out the forms lady that passed me by a few minutes earlier was her daughter but at this point she was far away. She asures me that she’ll be fine and decides to get on her bike and kept riding way. I never saw either of them through the reminder of my hike.

By then I had about a mile or so left, that last mile was not as fun. All I could think of was the lady that fell from her bike. Questioning myself if that could have gone differently. What’s it my fault? What if I was further away from the trail? Was she’s going to be okay? Also kept looking behind me more often than looking forward.

I do hope she’s okay.

Besides that incident, it was fun. I think.

There is one iOS 14 feature that I have been enjoying quite a lot lately and that is the infinite mode in Apple Music, or the music player rather. I like how I’d be listening to an album or maybe just a single and the same type of music keeps playing after the fact. Instead of me remembering to either have another album or song on the queue or even create a station, it does it for me.

Today I am on a 90’s R&B vibe! 😎

Over the weekend my lady and I were having a small talk about the current status of our devices. We both have the iPhone 11, and we have both come to the conclusion, that we have grown to dislike the size of it. Well, she always disliked the latest sizes, ever since the iPhone 6. I was pretty content or got used to the size of the iPhone X. When I ordered the 11, I had totally either dismissed or forgot about the — slightly— bigger size of the 11 compared to the X. Yes, it probably makes reading and typing much better but, well we hate the size. It is hard to use one-handed and we are always afraid of dropping it.

This is why the moment we get a chance, we will be upgrading to the iPhone 12 mini (or the iPhone adorable as I call it). We are currently under Verizon’s upgrade program, which means we have had to have paid 50% of our current device before we are allowed to upgrade, which would be in March 2021. We could upgrade earlier, just need to pay enough to make it 50%, which it’s actually not that much, so we might not wait until then.