Marley comes around with the iPad

Mar: papá, can I get a new game?

Me: which one?

Mar: this one..

I download the game for her

Me: Marley, we need to go through the games you don’t play anymore and delete them so you have more sapace

Mar: showing me the iPad’s Home Screen with empty icon spaces , I still have a lot of space, see!

😂

Like all of us, I have my struggles with social media. The Facebooks, Instagrams, Twitter, and everything in between and/or related. A few years ago, I had it with Facebook, closed my account, and haven’t looked back ever since. I do still have my Instagram account though. Under the pretext that it is the less Facebooky way to keep in touch with friends. Which is utterly bullshit if you think about it, is still Facebook just with a different coat of paint. For the past few months, I have gone back and forth as to whether close it or keep it. I went through and unfollowed a bunch of accounts, just to keep it minimal and more manageable, that instant gratification has vanished. It didn’t fix the anxiety of having an Instagram account even by unfollowing others.

Today I have deleted the Instagram app off my device as an experiment, although, I kind of already know how’s going to end up. Like on other occasions I will find myself missing something to scroll through and will re-download the app.

Twitter, well, that is a different animal. I say to myself that I am okay with it. Twitter can be okay sometimes. I have been following a lot of accounts of pixel art artists, Indie games developers, and such. And so, most of my timeline is full of pixels and awesome art. But as we all know, doom scrolling is a thing. At some point, the pixels go away and all the shit that gives me anxiety or causes me to tighten and lock my jaw starts to pop-up. In other words, even Twitter is giving me anxiety nowadays, especially since the election. I thought it’d be all done after the election but as we all know, that is not the case.

I want to do the best I can to stay away from these two, although, I don’t think I will allow myself to delete all my Twitter apps off my phone, the same way I deleted the Instagram app.

This is an eternal struggle, and I hate it. I grew up not having any of these outlets and I was fine and happy. Ironically, as much anxiety these give me, wonder if I could be happy without them again…

Best console game:

Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation 4

In case you didn’t know I had played (and finished) this game, 4 times in a row. 😉

Nintendo Switch:

Streets of Rage 4

I love beat them ups, and I love the Rage series. This game was the perfect matchup between classic beat them up and modern.

Honorable mention: Y’s Origin

Album of the year:

EL ÚLTIMO TOUR DEL MUNDO by Bad Bunny

It was late in the year but I have listened to this album on repeat a lot

Movie of the year:

The Outpost (2020)

I feel like I didn’t watch too many new movies this year, for obvious reasons. The Outpost was a movie I was looking forward to seeing. Once I did I was taken into the story and the events. Many emotions arose from watching this movie and I enjoy it quite a lot.

Honorable mention: Mulan (2020)

That is all I can remember liking quite a lot this year.

This year was a thing, definitely a thing. We shall see how 2021 turns out to be.

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve turned on my Xbox One S. Yesterday I decided to fire it up and see what’s up. I kind of been meaning to, just because DOOM ETERNAL is now on GamePass so I wanted to check it out. To my surprise, I was offered their GamePass ultimate subscription, 3 months for ninety-nine cents. It was a very hard decision 😅.

I downloaded DOOM ETERNAL, STAR RENEGADES and STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER. Star renegades is a game I have in my Nintendo Switch’s wishlist. Almost every indie game I have on the switch is included with GamePass and still, I buy them for the Switch. I don’t know why but i prefer to play these on the Switch. Anyway, I downloaded on the Xbox as a trial, kind of thing, I have played about a good 10-15 minutes and I liked it. Doom, I played for like 10 minutes and uninstalled it, it just didn’t click, not sure why.

Today I spent a couple of hours with Star Wars and so far I am having a good time with it. Feel more like I am playing a game like Uncharted, which isn’t a bad thing to say. Not like I am a huge fan of the uncharted games but seems similar.

Oh and also downloaded NEED FOR SPEED HEAT, I’m a sucker for the need for speed games. I haven’t played yet, I just figured I will be playing Star Wars for a wee bit.

🎶When it’s over, That's the time I fall in love again🎶

A few day’s ago, I finished the vidjia game I was so into Ys Origin. Now what? What do I play? First world problems right. I dislike this feeling of, finishing something fun and what to do/play next. There are a few games out there on my wishlist plus all the ones in my backlog. Some of the ones in my backlog I might have played for a while but they didn’t click with me thus, why they’re still part of my backlog unfinished. I revisit them and see if I can click and play them. I remember this happening with ASTRAL CHAIN. It wasn’t until I revisited it that it clicked and boy did I have fun with it.

A few games on my radar at them moment are Morbid: The Seven Acolytes and Star Renegades both on the Switch. They both are indie games, rouge-like. They also look a little difficult and I have been watching YouTube videos on both of them to see how difficult they really are 😅

I don’t want to invest in a game that then I’ll be frustrated playing. Best example of that is Blasphemous, love the game, the lore and the art but man it frustrates the hell out of me. And yet, I do revisit and try again from time to time.

Also I would like to play AC Valhalla but, I don’t know I kinda want to play games on the switch for a bit.

These days I am less and less interested in what used to be my go-to and favorite thing, technology podcasts. I still do listen to a few, like The Rebound, it's a fun and festive one — to me at least. In the end technology podcasts just bored me to death.

What I have been listening to a lot of are music-related podcasts, video games, movies, history, monsters, and mythology. Legends of old and historical tales. Or simply people chatting about stuff, not necessarily technology or any topics specifically but cool stuff that I can relate to.

Mythology and monsters are something that really fascinates me. The fact that these tales of creatures are out there is very interesting to me, same with mythology in general. It is like part of me wishes these creatures and tales were true a hundred percent (some of them), that these beings existed or do exists still.

Podcast Roll

• Chente Ydrach
• Core Intuition
• Don’t Be Crazy
• The Geek Legacy Podcast
• Geek Legacy’s Pixelated Podcast
• Hemispheric Views
• Lex Fridman Podcast
• Lore
• Micro Monday
• Mythical Monsters
• Mythology
• The Nintendo Shack
• PAL KEYS
• Project Human
• Questlove Supreme
• The Liner Project
• The Rebound
• Reply All
• Resistance
• Song Explorer
• Switched on Pop
• Tales
• We Have Concerns

I finished Ys Origin on the Nintendo Switch and what a fantastic game. I gave my first impressions a little bit ago when I first started playing. At the time I was aware of the game having three playable characters, but what I didn’t know was how different each of their stories is. I thought it’d be simply different perspectives of the same story but ultimately the same. Boy was I wrong! There is real character development here, each have their own back story, motivations and struggles. Each character’s story feels like a different game entirely. With Toal’s being my favorite one of the three.

I really enjoyed playing Ys, having finished all three arcs, There’s still some replayability, other modes to play and a “ NewGame+” kind of system. You don’t keep upgrades and abilities but they give you extra ep points that you can use early in the game for some useful upgrades.

Thumbs up 👍🏼 for this game.

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 😎

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, thanks to the magic of “on this day” I was reminded of my “fitness” progress at the time. It made me sad in some way, since I haven’t been active as I was back then, at all. I have been trying. I do good for a day or two and then I’m back and being lazy.

Today, in the back of my head, I knew I wanted to start again — try this thing again. Also in the back my head, was the devil, as we say back home, el Diablo es puerco (the devil is a pig). I really didn’t want to do anything, that little devil was telling me to take a nap, play video games maybe. Still I dragged myself outside and went for a two mile run followed by a few assisted pull-ups (gotta build strength back up).

It felt good, as it always does, it’s just a matter of keeping at it. Ignore el Diablo 😈.

Diablo, que tú no puedes conmigo

— El Diablo by Ray Barreto

It has been a hot minute since the last time I posted about the contents of my backpack. So I thought I would write about it, today of all days.

I am still rocking the Everyday Backpack by Peak Design. It has been over a year now since I got it and I am still very happy with it. It feels good to finally get to use it again now that I am back in the office. Its configuration has changed a bit since last I had posted.

The default is basically three inside compartments, I only have two setup now. The bottom compartment holds my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III and the Olympus M.zuiko 45mm f 1.8 premium lens — always.

The top compartment holds, well, a bunch of stuff. Although I am yet to write much on it or at all, I carry a notebook with me at all times. Also in this compartment, you’ll find My Nintendo Switch and the Pro Controller, my work phone an iPhone 8, the iPad Pro 11” one or two spare face masks, an MK Scorpion Funko Pop figure, a pair of regular headphones for the Nintendo Switch, a pair of EarPods and my Powerbeats Pro. In addition to that, you might find some type of Tupperware constraining my breakfast for the day, usually oatmeal with peanut butter and a bit of brown sugar and a spoon.

On the top pocket, also located in the first-main compartment, I carry usually a small folding knife and my wallet.

On the sides of the backpack, in the inside pockets there are spaces for a lot of things but I usually just have pens, regular pens, and the Apple Pencil. Sometimes I may throw random things but I dot use these pockets as much. On the outside pockets of the backpack’s side, I usually stuck my coffee much in there as well as my key. On the other pocket, there’s usually a beanie hanging from it these days.

Love and Monsters

Dylan O’Brien stars in this thrilling adventure delivering epic action and laughs. After monsters take over the world, Joel (O’Brien, The Maze Runner) and the rest of humanity are forced to live underground. Believing he’s lost everyone he has ever loved, Joel finds his high school sweetheart Aimee (Jessica Henwick, “Game of Thrones”) living just 80 miles away. Facing unknown dangers that stand in his way, Joel must discover his inner hero as he makes the impossible journey across a monster-infested land to be with the girl of his dreams. Also starring Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Ariana Greenblatt (Avengers: Infinity War).

Stumble upon this today on zee Apple TV 📺, I am very curious about this one.

Them vidjia games, especially on this last generation of consoles, have some sort of photo mode. Where you can freeze a moment in time, manipulate it, and have a nice “screenshot” basically. I have never been to keen for this particular feature in games until, Ghost of Tsushima.

And here is why.

If you read this blog, you are well aware of my fascination – or obsession – with Ghost of Tsushima. Currently, I am in my third play-through of the game, anxiously awaiting for the upcoming update. The game’s gorgeous, a lot of times I find myself just wondering around and admiring the scenery. The developers of this game have put to much work and it looks so amazing that it would be a crime not to marvel at it. This has made me dabble a little bit into the photo mode. Especially when I saw what these guys on twitter, also known as “virtual photographers”, are doing with these pictures. They are amazing and they’ve inspired me to make my own “virtual pictures” of this game.

Here are some of my favorite images for Twitter user The Fourth Focus;

It is impressive the amount of things you can do on this photo mode.

Another guy that’s making amazing virtual photography on this game, is Bedan Kimeira.

As I had mentioned, these guys are inspiring me to try to do my own thing. I definitely have much more to explore to get as close as these images.

Here are a few I had taken myself.

Still not even close, in my opinion but it is a lot of fun taking these snapshots and play with the settings to get this outstanding images.

I have finished Ghost of Tsushima. Not only have I finished it, I platinum it, meaning I have completed everything in the game and there is nothing left to I do. Well, maybe to find a couple of clan banners and “Mongolian records” but that’s not fun 😅

I loved this game so much that just like any other game that I had gotten so into it as with this one, I want to replay them. Replay them over and over until I am sick of it. Like Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey, I have probably replayed those games at least 3 times. The only difference is that they either had New Game + and was able to replay with all my goodies or at least I could use armor or weapons I had purchased as extras. Also the DLC’s. Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t have NG+, at least not for now. I know many games out there don’t have it right at launch, they get updated later with.

So, I had two options, just keep playing, roaming around looking for trouble or restart the game and lose everything I have.

Last night it occurred to me. Why don’t I create a second PSN profile? And that’s what I did. I have created a new PSN account/user just to play Ghost of Tsushima as a new game without loosing what i have done on my main account!

I am pretty sure people do this all the time but for whatever reason it had never occurred to me to do so before.

For Tsushima!!!

CrossCode on the Nintendo Switch

A fast-paced combat system. 16-bit SNES-style graphics with butter-smooth physics. Engaging puzzle mechanics, served with a gripping sci-fi story. That’s CrossCode.

— Nintendo

This game caught my attention solely because of the, as the description says, its 16-bit SNES-style graphics. Like I have said many times before I am a sucker for pixel art¹ so I gravitate towards these type of games very easily. The game is also available on GamePass, as a Free-to-play type of deal. Then again, this game called to be played on the Nintendo Switch, to me.

This game makes me think of many other games. The world of this game is setup as an MMO game, the main character is an Avatar within this game although it doesn’t seems like there is a “typical real-user” behind the avatar. I am sure there’s more to this story and I have only scratched the surface with barely a little over 3-hours of gameplay at the time of me typing this.

The game reminds me a lot of .hack//G.U.. Kind of the same setting, MMO-RPG game. That and also, Zelda, you get a lot of similar dungeon settings and various puzzles with little or no enemies at all. Or, your “outdoorsy-like” dungeons where you get to fight monsters, collect items, talk to NPCs and level up. You also have your towns where you can get side quests (there are lots and lots of side quests and I say yes to everything), trade and buy items, etc.

So far I am very intrigued by the story and where it’s going. The main character and how she came about is very interesting to me. There’s definitely something going on in this “virtual-world” and I want to find out more about it. In other words, I am hooked.

The game play is not very complicated and so far its been a lot of fun. The old school pixelated art it’s fantastic and the control mechanics are pretty smooth. Although this game is, again, also free-to-play on GamePass, it is definitely one of those you’d rather have it on the go. Especially since you’d be doing a lot of “grinding” for items and level points to acquire more skills.

I think of this games as if an MMO-like RPG Game (.hack//G.U.was my example), Zelda and maybe even Diablo 3, had a baby.

My only thing with the game so far, and again, I have just played a merely 3-hours, is that the environments (the ones I’va played so far), sometimes, seem like there’s too much going on and you might miss a thing or two. But also, trying to figure out how to get to an item that’s is clearly out in the open can be a nice challenge. Me, personally, if I can’t figure it out right away I’ll probably just say meh and skip it. I am more about smacking the shiat out off some hedgehogs and leveling up 😜