Let's Play 2024 - Chrono Trigger

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Hey hey! I tried posting yesterday but was getting the 502 error, so here I am today, instead!

Re: Neverending story. Its, The book is nice. I'm reading a chapter every late-night. I remember loving the movie when I was a little tyke tho. Apparently there's a part 2 and 3. The first movie is only about the first 10 chapters of the book which's quite hefty. But that was the best part I think. It makes me wanna read the Chronicles of Narnia next.

The movie is fire, yo. I had a metal band back in high school called 'The Falcor Alliance,' actually. We even had a song called "Big Strong Hands" (although we never sung about The Neverending Story). The wolf scared the shit out of me when I was a kid -- Grok or whatever his name was. I watched the second movie, which was far less impressive than the first movie, and even watched the final third movie in which Falcor and the Childlike Empress come to our world (fun fact: that film also starred a young Jack Black as a leather jacket-wearing villain).

I'm curious what happens after Sebastian names the Childlike Empress! Is it different than the other movies? In the second movie Sebastian goes to Fantasia and teams up with Atreyu to stop some kind of memory-stealing witch, and all the while it's Sebastian's dad that's reading the book.

Man, I loved all those 1980's fantasy movies... The Neverending Story, Legend, Labyrinth, even Ralph Bakshi's Wizards...

Are your kids into fantasy books or novels? Or what kind of books do they like to read? Do they just like to hear dad tell his stories about RPGs before bedtime or during the dinnertable?

Haha, my daughter reads mostly nature-oriented books, although she loves the television show Hilda and has been reading the books for those. I've told her I'd pay her $50 if she read Howl's Moving Castle, which is one of my favorite fantasy novels, but she hasn't taken me up on it yet. Interestingly enough, I've also bribed her $50 if she beat's Chrono Trigger, haha...

We don't do bedtime stories much anymore, but I did tell them the story of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time over the course of a month or so. I've tried telling Chrono Trigger as a bedtime story and it didn't land like I'd hoped, haha...

Anyway, my Steam Deck came in the mail today so I'm going to try to get it up and running. I didn't play Chrono Trigger today, but over the past few days I visited Arris Dome and finished up the events here. I raced Johnny and went to Proto Dome to recruit Robo. I think I'll leave Lucca here and take Marle, so I have some healing abilities.

I remember the Guardian (and Pods) being the hardest boss at this point - far harder than Yakra or the Dragon Tank. Then, I remember it took me FOREVER to catch that pesky rat. Nowadays it's not hard, but back then it sure was. Also, the "pep talk" the party gives the people of Arris Dome always inspired me as a kid, haha... I remember I would move Crono around afterwards and make his head shake so it looked like he was talking, and I would sort of pretend like Crono was continuing the peptalk and promising to help. It's funny.

Tomorrow I'll probably try to tackle the Factory in it's entirely.

[Chris Cruz]

Hey, Boo-Boo --

     I actually just finished reading the book earlier this evening. The 3 movies pretty much depict most of what happens in the book though but it pretty much stops after the 2nd movie. The first movie was pretty much like the first 7-8 chapters about the wolf Gmork stalking Atreyu and the movie stops when Bastian names the Childlike Emperess "Moon Child". Though it's hard to make out in the movie without subtitles since I remember Bastian yelling it out the attic window and there's wind and rain everywhere. I don't think I ever heard what he said until I randomly watched the movie w/the closed-captioning on. I thought he yelled out his mom's name. shrug The 2nd movie is when Atreyu and Bastian kinda of a have their little tiff. I never got to watch the third movie though I remember hunting it down and I finally found it at Suncoast but my Mom wouldn't buy it for me, so I stormed off inside the mall where she'd have to go looking for me -- Haha!!! There was really no mention of Bastian's dad reading the NeverEnding Story in the book. I thought it was pretty good overall I'd love to have the movies.

So I went ahead and trod on and I made it to the Arris Dome. I figured I'm so close behind you I was gonna wait for your next update and catch up to where you is. I remember Lab 16 used to fuh-reak me out as a kid cause I really don't like abstract (like Yoshitaka Amano's artwork) blob strange creatures with no shapes especially that Mutant monster with the lips that sucks your HP. I remember the one thing on the internet that would freak me out were those so called supposed FBI pictures of Martians. Oh, my Lord... ! But yeah I'll be waitin' for ya.

I remember some other good movies were Masters of the Universe where they had to protect some sorta special "key" and it looked like some sorta musical instrument. I think it was He-Man or one of them, ... . And I really liked Clash of the Titans/And the Seven Voyages of Sinbad.

That's nice. My Dad's a simple Filipino guy and I remember we would all sit on the bed and he'd tell me stories of "the Hero" and how he had a sword and he would fight monsters and stuff. Super basic, super simple Filipino-isms which's probably why I like RPGs? shrug again

I'm super rejuvenated after the Christmas-New Years' Holidays that I'm back to just playing anything and everything I want to. Revelations Series Persona I sorta put on hold cause it's a high-difficulty game with all the high monster encounters rate and the lack of save points in dungeons so that's 'dere, I'm really into Yakuza 0 right now I want to date girls and do the telephone club/cabaret club it kinda reminds me of the "Party Line" in the US in like the 90s? lol LMAO But I remember on my last-first playthrough I couldn't do it cause my PS4 controller was a bit wonky so I'll have to try to fix that but I'm playing, going through the game again super slow and trying not to miss any substories and stuff. Kinda creeping around town and stuff. Lol I'm doing Secret of Mana I'll try to beat Tropicallo tonight. I know you're doing R and I'm on just regular ol' Star Ocean: The Second Story doing Rena's paths I really do love this game I told you I worked at Chipotle: Mexican Grill and I remember doing the Cooking and stuff to get me in the mood before work, at times, LOL... Also the game mechanics are really ...intricate?... in that there's hidden Emotional Points spread amongst your party members and the like affecting how they feel and therefore act in battle like who they choose to heal. So I really like how there's so much stuff to do in a PS1 game.

Oh, as I was playing CT earlier I was mulling to myself how... great!... SNES RPGs really were. I mean, they're not like some generic-ass Tetris from 1980 GameBoy green-grayscale screen they were pretty detailed and almost like works of art. What comes to mind the most is Final Fantasy VI and how on the SNES w/all the pixels it does kinda look like a Monet or something from far away like little dots but up close you can see it's almost like a delicate painting. I know a lot of RPG enthusiasts love oldschool classic RPGs for this reason too and plus we were all there as kids growing up. But yeah, ! Chrono Trigger definitely isn't a sleeper nor was it slept on I really came to appreciate how marvelous it is in today's age, I guess I never realized it back then when I was growing up.?

I know we both agreed that we were like Nintendo Kids growing up and never really checked out much of SEGA but you should maybe guguru (:Google) SEGA Genesis Classics for PS4 it has a bunch of the RPGs we missed-out-on like: Beyond Oasis, Phantasy Star and Shining Force. And you also can't go wrong with Sonic, and ToeJam and Earl. I remember I was the only kid that was into games like ToeJam & Earl and Earthworm Jim, for some reason my other friends weren't into platform-shooters whatever they're called but I loved it-them? There's also Golden Axe.

As for me I'm still doing the Survivor thing on the side. Just finished an episode of 15: China wee-in-the-late-night. I like how out of touch Survivor is, it's really into minority culture, and it's almost gotten a little "woke" in it's more-recent editions but the earlier seasons were really a hit in the house at least for me they got to go to such great places like Borneo, Thailand, China etc. For a White/Latino and; or Other like me it's almost like it beckons me sometimes you know I'm a total Asian Nerd Gamer and don't really follow sports or cars, I just like to game but Survivor really hooked me and it's really my only other hobby.

Anyway have a good night, Boo. I was thinking if you have any other book recommendations (I love Children's Fantasy Literature?) I'd be up to hearing them. I was thinking about watching To Kill a Mockingbird and reading the book after cause there's some things you CAN'T say on film, that just stays in the book. Hannibal Lecter's "Does it come out long, Clarice?" line comes to mind. But I was maybe thinking of reading The Chronicles of Narnia next? But I saw it's like a entire boxset but anyhoo that's fine I can just take it one book set at a time. I'm also kinda avoiding Harry Potter that shit is so big I think it's best to stay away from and save it for way later.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

This will be a short post, as I'm short on time for the next day or two, but...

The first movie was pretty much like the first 7-8 chapters about the wolf Gmork stalking Atreyu and the movie stops when Bastian names the Childlike Emperess "Moon Child". Though it's hard to make out in the movie without subtitles since I remember Bastian yelling it out the attic window and there's wind and rain everywhere.

SAME. I always thought he named her after his mom!!! I actually didn't know that he didn't until just now, so you taught me something new tonight! I liked the movie, maybe I should read the book soon. I think the original was in German or something.

I'm super rejuvenated after the Christmas-New Years' Holidays that I'm back to just playing anything and everything I want to.

Glad you're up and healthy and feeling rejuvenated! I need some of that optimism. Going back to work has been a grind, and after the past two weeks of nearly non-stop rain/sleet, 35 degrees F weather (just warm enough to not snow), and no sun, I'm feeling pretty beat down. I tend to get the winter blues and I've got them something bad right now, haha...

Revelations Series Persona I sorta put on hold cause it's a high-difficulty game with all the high monster encounters rate and the lack of save points in dungeons so that's 'dere, I'm really into Yakuza 0 right now I want to date girls and do the telephone club/cabaret club it kinda reminds me of the "Party Line" in the US in like the 90s? lol LMAO

That was my experience with the game. I would probably enjoy it more if I cheated with a trainer. In all honesty, I don't even remember that much about the game. It's been maybe 8 or 9 years since I tried playing it. I think I was wanting a very Japanese-oriented game and it was recommended.

You know what game was stellar and helped scratch that itch? Mother flippin' Yokai Watch. I heard it was great for a little slide of Japan, and boy was it. I love that series so much and wish they'd localize the fourth game (for the Switch). The others were on the 3DS.

But back to the Yakuza series - I actually downloaded it onto my Steamdeck. I want to finish Star Ocean First Departure R before I move on to anything else, then probably try to finish Final Fantasy XV... both of which are great games for the Steamdeck and run great. I downloaded them both but haven't gotten to try them yet.

So I went ahead and trod on and I made it to the Arris Dome. I figured I'm so close behind you I was gonna wait for your next update and catch up to where you is.

I played a little more yesterday and this morning, and I'm in the Factory now. I was leveling some before I turn the factory on and fight the bosses.

Alright man, I'm out for now. Catch you soon!

[Chris Cruz]

Hey, Boo-Boo. ---

     I crawled out of my bedroom to type this response up on the laptop in my living room. I'm just living-out-my-fantasy of the whole console RPG otaku thing, lol. ^_~V It sure is kinda pretty fun. I sleep the hot day away and I move arnd. at night when it's cooler. Plus with the timezone issue I'm also closer to Japan, so it's, like, cool!!! LOL.

Yeah, I think the orig was in German. I remember looking it up a long time ago. LOL

Ok, so pretty much yeah I went thru the Sewer Access to the other side of the continent(?) to the place where Death Peak and the Keeper's Dome is. I fought Krawlie which I don't think can even be considered a boss maybe a sub-boss? Definitely a lackey. I'm gonna go inside the Keeper's Dome which I think has some optional scenes IIRC and I'll backtrack and go into Arris Dome and go meet-up w/Johnny. So that's where I am rn I'll try to make it to the Factory where you're at. lol

So I've been concentrating on:
-Secret of Mana
-Star Ocean The Second Story non-R
-Yakuza 0

Secret of Mana I just beat the second boss in the Dwarf Village and I have a- like 5 weapons I need to level the skill up of on before I upgrade them, and I have to head to face Elinee the witch at the Haunted Forest cause of the girl's boyfriend, -Dyluck.

In Star Ocean, I'm grinding in the beginning to get the Bandit's Glove so I can start pickpocketing cause there's one key/rare accessory in the beginning called Mischief where you get a random item as you walk. It's also pretty fun doing this ea. & every time you go through the game. I'm curious if everything's pretty much the same in R.?

In Yakuza 0 I'm slowly going through the game and trying to do everything. I missed one bronze trophy already where you give a homeless guy a YEN 20,000 Gold Champagne and it's the second time I did this. Drats! Anyway I'm just trying to make it to Ch.(s) 5&7 where the telephone and cabaret clubs open and you can start dating girls. I neglected to do that in my first initial playthrough cause I just wanted to see the story and my PS4 controller was acting up. I messed w/the setting and I think it's just bec I had it on USB and not bluetooth? Maybe, who knows that could be it, we'll see?

I'm also playtesting a few other RPGs like I said like FFT, Thousand Arms, Shadow of the Colossus and the SEGA Genesis Classics Collection. Thousand Arms is super hard, I forgot. I just f*ck wit FFT whenever I feel like it, SotC I'm just taking suuuuuuuuuuper slowly. And I'm gonna play a lit'l Phantasy Star II in a lit'l bit.

Revelations Series Persona is pretty cool. I'm committed to going through it w/ea. one of the optional characters so I can at least call it complete and the Poker - Big and small is so much fun to fire up whenever I feel stressed out and I'm having racing thoughts. Its just a whatever game I can pop on and just relax. After I beat it this time again though, I'm probably gonna try to beat Persona 2 Eternal Punishment so I can get to the hard stuff like Persona 5 Royal. I heard Nocturne is a pretty good game too though albeit hard difficulty but I see all the SMT games as such cause they always have super strategic random battles where you have to memorize elemental absorption, reflect and ish like dat.

Anyway hope you're hangin' in there Boo. Keep on truckin'!

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Hey man!

I'm back at it! We've had a hectic few days, but at least it's almost the weekend! We have a three-day weekend, which will be much needed for everyone. I think we're going to hike this weekend. We definitely need to buy some groceries, so we'll be hitting up Costco and all the places, too.

I haven't played any Star Ocean the past few days, although I did finish the Factory. I will try to go through the Sewers and fight Krawlie tomorrow(-ish). I also downloaded Chrono Trigger on my Steam Deck, but I don't know how workable it will be, and I don't think I can get my save transferred off of my cell phone. Darn.

Ok, so pretty much yeah I went thru the Sewer Access to the other side of the continent(?) to the place where Death Peak and the Keeper's Dome is.

I wonder about Krawlie -- is he a Mystic that survived the Day of Lavos? Is he a monster that mutated because of Lavos, and gained intelligence? Or is he a human that was mutated into a beast? Obviously he can talk, and he's much more intelligent than most of the non-Mystic monsters encountered in the game.

I'm also playtesting a few other RPGs like I said like FFT, Thousand Arms, Shadow of the Colossus and the SEGA Genesis Classics Collection. Thousand Arms is super hard, I forgot. I just f*ck wit FFT whenever I feel like it, SotC I'm just taking suuuuuuuuuuper slowly. And I'm gonna play a lit'l Phantasy Star II in a lit'l bit.

Man, Shadow of Colossus is one of those games that I've never played but really want to. It's been on my radar since it first came out on the PS2 decades ago. I keep hoping that the Remake will end up on PC, but alas -- it has yet to happen. Since the last Sony platform I bought was the PS3 (which is now in storage), I don't see it happening any time soon. Let me know how it goes.

As for Thousand Arms, I think I told you about that one game that was on Kickstarter: Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness. It's by much of the same creative team as the original Thousand Arms. I've never played it, but I think the western aesthetic works really good for 1990's anime / video games. Trigun was an amazing anime series, and that sort of spaghetti western influence is just cool as fuck.

Alright, I'm off for tonight. It's late and I need to do a little bit of work to catch up. See ya later, homie!

[Redline57]

Where my seagulls at??

[Chris Cruz]

Right'chere.

Hey, Boo Boo. GOD!!! I've been waiting for that durn 502 Bad Gateway error to go away for like 3 hours now I've been really itching to post my thoughts is there any way to fix that?

Anyhoo- So in Chrono Trigger I'm in front of the Factory. I'll probably get it done later today sometime.

I actually wanted to touch-upon what you said earlier about feeling in the doldrums. So I've actually just been starting to feel better and it's because my Dad aksed me to start taking my medication again,-it didn't really start taking effect and making me feel good until like 1.5 months into it of taking it again but I just wanted to let you know that it at least is really helping me out. Usually when I don't take it, my psych says I have a 'chemical imbalance,' I'm really in my own head and think thoughts that annoy me and it really shows. But now I actually feel great, WONDERFUL. I'm starting to watch Survivor again on the daily and that's a good indication that I'm feeling better and more myself. My parents know I love that show.

But yeah, I finished up the Arris Dome and I went across Lab 32 or whatever summat and I stopped in front of the Factory. I watched all the scenes and was in awe that this's a game that came out in the 90s when I was a little kid I had no idea I was playing games such as like this! Really cool,-good stuff.

I'm've also gotten into my whole 'I want hella trophies' thing that I do and I decided to try to stick to the PS3. (You mentioned not going further than that.) It's still really popular here in The Philippines and people are still selling games for it on our Shopee app thought not anymore in-stores, not even PS4 either. I just wanna play a lotta RPGs and get as many trophies as I can and even try to Platinum some my paltry amount of Platinums is at a 1 - Thanks to Final Fantasy XV. For some reason, I'm so addicted to getting-and showing off my trophies I don't know WHY!!! Ever since the PS1 days "I've always wanted something/a recognition of some sort to show that you've done something" in an RPG. So this's me like salivating at whoever thought up Achievements.

I'm not as annoyed anymore when I'm doing my console RPG otaku thing, like I went back and tried VNs again (Hakuoki/steins;Gate) just cause they seem easy both to get trophies in, and in-general overall.

As for the PS4, the only thing that's even picqued my interest is Yakuza 0. I have Kiwami 1 but I actually liked Kamurocho when it was set in the 80s so I'm gonna try to concentrate on that. I'm only gonna fire up my PS4 whenever I have to doe. I'm gonna try to stay on PS3 for now until I just play all the games I want to.

I'm also going through Journey. It's a really interesting game, gorgeous, majestic. The shining sand is so cool. It seems like a game you just go through and experience with no boss battles and I like that. It's also one of 'those games' people say you HAVE to experience so I picked it up.

Usually my routine is I just watch a few episodes of Survivor when it's really quiet we have an inside joke that the T.V. is like "watching the fire" / or, "watching out for animals that're prevalent at nighttime" so I just do that while everyone's asleep. All the while drinking coffee and energy drinks laid up in bed. Then I wake up do my breakfast thing, kinda play a little more... Really good stuff. I'm really pulling for you as I could NEVER do the 9-5 thing, I'm so happy here getting out of a routined schedule and having it dictate my lifes but you're well got it better than me with a family and everything I'm just still doing the single guy/college/frat thing! Maybe I'll be 50-60 unmarried and still a Silver Fox! Haha take it easy Boo!!!!!

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

The dang 502 forum errors don't help. I really need to work with Zeality and Rasmus to fix that. Several times I've tried to log in to post, but can't and my response ends up getting delayed as a result.

Alright, first up -- Chrono Trigger. I've bum-rushed the rest of 2300ad and moved on. I did the sewers, visited Keeper Dome (I love the song here - one of my favorites, and I'd argue even better than Schala's theme), finished the Factory, visited the End of Time, and returned to 1000AD and am in front of Hekran's Cave.

Thinking through my memory bank, I remember I got this far that first weekend. I remember it being late Sunday night when I fought the R-series robots and I was dumbstruck by the attack. It really caught me off guard, for some reason, and was one of the more emotional elements in the entire game for me during that first playthrough. I remember it being late because we had church on Sunday and my mom kept telling me I needed to go to bed, and she ended up sitting up with me for a little while so I could finish the Factory.

I then went on to the End of Time and recall trying to figure out how to get around Spekko's room three times to learn magic. For some reason, I couldn't get it right. I also remember being confused by clockwise / counter-clockwise, but even when I asked my parents for help and learned it, it took quite a few times... I got so frustrated I rage quit, hahaha! I came back it later that day and didn't have a problem, though.

Man, this game really is superb and I'm tempted to jump over to play it on my new SteamDeck. I wonder if I can somehow move my save. I'm a bit OCD (not really, although I am particular) and I don't want to play on another person's save. Anyway, moving on...

I actually wanted to touch-upon what you said earlier about feeling in the doldrums. So I've actually just been starting to feel better and it's because my Dad aksed me to start taking my medication again,-it didn't really start taking effect and making me feel good until like 1.5 months into it of taking it again but I just wanted to let you know that it at least is really helping me out.

You've mentioned the need for medication before, but we've never really talked about it at length. I wasn't sure if it was depression or another condition. You don't have to disclose, of course, I've just never been sure what your battle has been. I've actually been on and off depression medications since my early 20's. I run 4 or 5 miles every day and that seems to be the sweet spot helping me keep me sane some days, haha...

I'm also going through Journey. It's a really interesting game, gorgeous, majestic. The shining sand is so cool. It seems like a game you just go through and experience with no boss battles and I like that. It's also one of 'those games' people say you HAVE to experience so I picked it up.

I've always wanted to play this game ever since it popped up on the PS3. How long does it normally take to the get to the center tower and finish the game? My daughter likes a game called Meadow that is somewhat similar, in that you play in a shared sandbox world with other players and can't communicate outside of emotes.

We're getting the first snow of the year right now, so we're going to get out in it. Hope you're having a solid day/evening/week!

[Chris Cruz]

Hey, Boo --
     I've been on a tear/-binge, lemme tell you!! Like staying up for 2 days gaming-like lol Oh, I think I got depressed when I was like 23 I remember the day I had just got let-go from my first job and was walking home and I saw a red line in the sky and all of a sudden everything started feeling weird and awkward to me all of a sudden. I had actually passed out right in front of my house and I remember cutting-in-and-out of blacking out but I somehow made it inside nobody was home and I struggled to make coffee in the kitchen wherein I passed out again and hit my head on the rice container my Mom keeps. I got up again drank coffee in my room and started working on my resume, went on the computer and then I went out... I kinda don't remember maybe to go see some friends. It was really weird. Ever since then real life has been kind of just strange and I chalked it up to just growing older and experiencing things different. I didn't start on my medication until I got home to The Philippines cause in my strange state I didn't trust disclosing my personal, innermost thoughts to American doctors -- something about them just creeps me out. Lol But my psychotherapist here is really great put me on something right away and about 2-3 years ago my depression went away due to exercise (I was really heavy at like 350 lbs), and now I just take it as "maintenance" and as a sleep aid.

I really don't think about it that much.

Ok, so I wanted to post and was hoping I would get another one in before you had posted again haha! I'm leveling up in the Factory I guess I'll just go ahead and finish it up and wait where you are, again for your next update.

Right now,-I've been cruising through some playtestings of mine. I really like Harvest Moon: Light of Hope for PS4 I figured it'll help me get in that state of mind of running a farm here and I'm already thinking of different types of seeds I can get, et cetra. I had just ordered some soil like loam foam soil or somethin' like dat?? It was between HM and Rune Factory and I ended up liking Harvest Moon better, it takes me back to the SNES days and the game. I was also recommended/suggested I try out Stardew Valley so once I finish this up I might go ahead and get it, or search around for some other HM games. Farmsimming is really addicting to me and you know me I have a addictive personality. I was also in a Discord chat for Survivor and the young kids said I should check out Undertale, -- Do you know anything about it?

Still doing Yakuza. I've kinda chilled out on playing PS1 RPGs only because like it's so old and I'm only being stubborn and wanted to go through all character branches so I can say I 100% completed it. :shrug I'm like that sometimes. Trophy-hunting is really addicting to me, actually.  I'm just playing the different mini-games in it and picking up trophies here-and-there. lol I need to get sommore PS4 RPGs actually but I'm trying to actually get gametime in on some PS3 ones.

I've kinda gone back to my Atelier kick I'm doing Atelier Escha & Logy right now. I'm gonna finish it up, then do Atelier Shallie and I'd have beat the 6 Atelier games for PS3. Then I can move on to Atelier Sophie on PS4. It's a really good franchise if you like items, inventory, crafting, alchemy. I didn't think I'd like it at first cause I never really liked that game mechanic before but I've grown really addicted to it. Plus the character sprites are really nice and the games thesselfs are really collectible. Atelier Rorona is the first game and it's a really good place to start out. The games go as far back on the PS1 as Mana Khemia or something along those lines if you wanna research.

Journey is really fun. I was reluctant to say it but it seems really Arabic or... can I say it but Muslim to me? The tapestries, shrouded faces, the lettering of the symbols seems really... just... like... that... ? It's pretty cool. It seems like one of those Shadow of the Colossus, ICO, The Last Guardian games. I really like those cause it has like 10-14 trophies overall and the game itself seems like it's like 5 hours and you can go through it a bunch of times and it's really fun. I might try to check out that Meadow game you said about lol. After this, I might go back and re-do ICO and just Platinum it and do all the trophies cause I think that'll'd be fun just staying up all night.

Alrite, Boo, -- I'm actually about to snap *hwarf* down some sushi and Burger King right now. 2 types of tempura sushi (one is like the inverted one), and like 2 burgers French frys. Reminds me of me in my late-teens we lived near the highway and of course there's just a street row of fast food joints and it takes 10 minutes to get there and back, plus a 7-11, if you're ever in Daly City, Ca. check out 88th street if you need In-N-Out if you're on a business trip or something. I'd come home late at night drunk/stoned out of my mind and just eat in my room in front of the computer like Carl's Jr. usually or something. And just go online, and pass out. Ahhh!!--Takes me back to my prime.

Ok see you Boo

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

2-3 years ago my depression went away due to exercise (I was really heavy at like 350 lbs), and now I just take it as "maintenance" and as a sleep aid.

Exercise really does to wonders for the body and mind. I run about every other day and do 4 or 5 miles at a 9:00-10:00 min-per-mile pace, and it does WONDERS. I struggle with depression (especially in the winter) and it's been a game changer. Even when I start having a dark spiral, a run can help me snap out of it pretty quickly - gotta get those endorphins and seratonin flowing!

Good on you for the weight loss and self-care!!! There's a lot of people who can't manage to find the drive and energy for it.

I'm leveling up in the Factory I guess I'll just go ahead and finish it up and wait where you are, again for your next update.

Take your time. I'm back in the work week, which means I'll be gaming much slower (if at all).

Farmsimming is really addicting to me and you know me I have a addictive personality.

I've never really been able to get into them. I tried one of the old Harvest Moon games so my wife would game with me, and neither one of really got into it. I've tried a few more since then, namely Yonder the Cloud-Catcher Chronicles. It was a little indie game and all the farming stuff was optional; I stuck to the exploration and questing. I know the Rune Factory series has a bit more of that, so that's a series I'd probably be more keen on.

I was also in a Discord chat for Survivor and the young kids said I should check out Undertale, -- Do you know anything about it?

It's on my backlog list, and I've heard nothing but good things about it, but unfortunately, I've never played it. If often gets compared to Mother 2 and Earthbound, which is a jRPG series I LOOOOOOVE, so that comparison is a high compliment. If you play it, let me know what you think!

I've kinda gone back to my Atelier kick I'm doing Atelier Escha & Logy right now. I'm gonna finish it up, then do Atelier Shallie and I'd have beat the 6 Atelier games for PS3. Then I can move on to Atelier Sophie on PS4. It's a really good franchise if you like items, inventory, crafting, alchemy. I didn't think I'd like it at first cause I never really liked that game mechanic before but I've grown really addicted to it. Plus the character sprites are really nice and the games thesselfs are really collectible. Atelier Rorona is the first game and it's a really good place to start out. The games go as far back on the PS1 as Mana Khemia or something along those lines if you wanna research.

I think we talked about this before, but this series really interests me. I like the art design and sort of Ghibli-esque slice of life element to it, but the games are ALWAYS so expensive. Even on digital sales, you're lucky if you can find them for under $35 or $40 bucks, so it's kept me away.

Alrite, Boo, -- I'm actually about to snap *hwarf* down some sushi and Burger King right now. 2 types of tempura sushi (one is like the inverted one), and like 2 burgers French frys.

Aaaaan now you're making me hungry, hahaha!

[Chris Cruz]

Hey-yo, Boo.

I'm at The End of Time. I was planning on going to the Prehistoric Age and grinding the Ruby equips but alas, I don't think the Gate is available yet so I'm forced to go the Present time period. Oh, well. I'm nervous of about Heckran cause the first time I had played I remembered getting stuck there for a week cause I was underleveled and I had no more items left stuck in the cave, so my little kid mind had to use strategy. It was Heck-tic! No pun intended. lol I'll remind myself to take my time then.

In regards to exercise I prefer doing my "Old Lady Exercises;" mostly stretches (it feels really good on the bed), sit-ups on the bed too if you remember that scene of Meryl in Metal Gear Solid doing crunches when she was imprisoned and you were in the vents. I dunno if it's because I'm such a big guy or I had just lost a good amount of weight but stretches help me tremendously to loosen up the humours, stretch out my tendons and muscles, cartilage I dunno. In college,-I lost so, SO much weight just doing yoga and being on a diet. I'm 6'3" (with shoes) and I got down to about 150. I had always thought I was flabby and overweight in HS (180 lbs. all four years) but everyone tells me they thought I was "tall and skinny." I guess it's all perception. I think as Americans we carry around a lot of fat reserves. shrug

I've been on this kick lately of saving up money only to buy games I'm particular about specifically good RPGs for PS4, so I decided to stick to my PS3 for now. I've been going through my games and getting trophies since I made a new PSN account. Been trying to go through the must-plays like The Last of Us and the Red Dead Redemption. I've beaten these games but I'm kinda just picking up the straggler trophies and making the most of my experience.

I beat Journey last night, and I spent this morning again just picking up trophies here-and-there. It makes me wanna boot up ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection (I wanted to tell you I get scared easily when it comes to video games I dunno if it's because I've been living off the grid and greatly understimulated but I don't like story-driven games that make my heart race or get me too excited) go through it again and pick up trophies and try to platinum. SotC on PS4+4K T.V. is SCARY!! Big LOL I decided to stick to the PS3 version and maybe stick to something safe when it comes to PS4/4KHD like easyplay- JRPGs and Yakuza.

Yeah I hear a lot about the Undertale/Earthbound comparisons which makes me wanna get it, for showe!!!

I got the Atelier games physical for a pretty good price here in The Philippines, it's definitely worth taking a look a lot of the characters and story sequences are kinda "girly" (but, I find most JRPGs are... already... to begin with) your wife might like it or maybe even your girls. I kinda just wanna finish up games 5 & 6 on PS3 then I can start with Atelier Sophie on PS4 which's I think the first game released for the console.

Rune Factory I find a little more Japanese-y compared to Harvest Moon which I find a little more appealing to American audiences cause the chars seem very "big, and cartoony" the game is beautiful though especially when you till the soil and make these perfect square patches. "Practice makes prefectures." It's really aesthetic and I like that a lot. I've made it to the first Summer and I'm going strong the story is pretty good it's about a island with a lighthouse and you have to restore light to it which's where the power of the island comes from, and nature seems to resonate with it. There's fishing, mines you can explore and a half-ass dating sim-esque game mechanic which's fine for me since a lot of my friends say they don't like dating sims too much like Thousand Arms.

Anyway yeah just back into the groove and been gaming non-stop. Been eating, and sleeping nicely and I seem to just plow through games during the day when I'm awake. Hope you're doing well, Boo-man, take care of yourself!

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Hey hey hey!

On the Trigger front, I ran through the Hekran Cave and have officially ended up back in 1000AD, and I've gone all the way to the Denadoro Mountains to find the Masamune. This dungeon is one of my favorites in the entire game; I love the innocent little Kilwala chilling at the summit looking at the mountains -- "Mountains're nice." I dunno why, but it's such a great scene and the ambiance is perfect.

I'm actually sick at home with covid and in quarantine. It's essentially the flu for me, symptoms-wise. I spent most of my day sleeping, but did sneak in some Chrono Trigger time. I also played Star Ocean First Departure R today and pretty much bum-rushed it to the ending and finished it. I was going to do the post-game dungeon, but I don't know if I have it in me. I always forget by how quick this game goes -- it's like 25 hours in and out. If you want to find all the PAs and level and get the best equipment, it can be a little longer, but it's not a long game by any means. It only took me like 4 or 5 months to beat, hahaha...

I also watched Rebel Moon today on Netflix. It was actually better than what I expected, although it was definitely a bunch of scifi tropes stapled together. Not bad by any means, but not great, either. Reviews made it sound like it was abysmal, though. I'm looking forward to the second one.

(I wanted to tell you I get scared easily when it comes to video games I dunno if it's because I've been living off the grid and greatly understimulated but I don't like story-driven games that make my heart race or get me too excited)

Oh man, I love me some good survival horror games. I just have to play them on easy mode, haha... I recently picked up Resident Evil: Village and want to play it. I've played every mainline game in the series and back in 2020 I played through all of them (although I skipped 4 and 5 has having played them recently). I need to pick up the Resident Evil 4 remake once the price tag goes down. I want to play the Dead Space remake, too, as that's one of my favorite horror series.

I got the Atelier games physical for a pretty good price here in The Philippines, it's definitely worth taking a look a lot of the characters and story sequences are kinda "girly" (but, I find most JRPGs are... already... to begin with) your wife might like it or maybe even your girls. I kinda just wanna finish up games 5 & 6 on PS3 then I can start with Atelier Sophie on PS4 which's I think the first game released for the console.

See, I don't mind if it's a bit more on the "girly" or softer side. I actually want a game that's a little more relaxed and not so story-driven, but still enough to keep me interested and driven to play the game. I've found that if a game can't keep me hooked with the story, I'll lose interest and not play for a week or two, and then I don't want to pick it back up at all. For example, Final Fantasy XV. I haven't played it in probably two months and even though I want to, there's a part of me who doesn't care. I'll pick it back up soon, though. I tried to get it to run on the SteamDeck, but it kept crashing for me. It's supposed to be playable, though.

Anyway, I'm peacing out. The Nyquil is kicking in and I'm fading fast.

[Chris Cruz]

Ah!--Boo, I've been itching to talk for some wired reason. On Chrono Trigger, I saw that the gate to 65,000,000 B.C. was open so I went there hoping to farm the Ruby equips but alas, Ayla has to meet you first so I went back to the End of Time with my tail between my legs. Oh, well. I'll probably run through the Heckran cave a little later today!

Oh, Boo I hope you're doing ok. I've been so careful not to catch Covid since I think it's such a stigma. Is it really still a "thing" over there? We've essentially forgotten about it here in The Philippines but it's probably due to it being mostly Asian people who actually like to take showers, make proper hygiene and use isopropanol rubbing alcohol and/or hand sanitizer before going out in public. An anecdote, I was actually in the Gaijinworks (formerly 'Working Designs') server, and the cats there were so wired about Covid. Essentially they had this front of being very "Murican" but they called Covid a hoax and didn't believe any of the media on it--I sat there thinking, Nahh, this's very real but they prided on being very Murican but they don't really believe and/or trust their own government and they had a Off Topic channel where they called U.S. news lies on a daily basis. I was there for 2 years and then left, but I can see why no one really likes the Prez. of Working Designs anymore, Victor Ireland, or many of its fans. (You guys are cool here though.) I think I'm very American and I just keep my head down, and work, and stick to my own lane--and I don't mind that the FBI is on my computer and I actually trust "Big Brother." They're mostly the anonies online and such, and I had a stalking scare where they would stalk my Face|Book so I essentially logged off that server I hope we never see each other again. It reminded me America(ns) are super like dis.

Ok, I actually have and have forgotten I have Star Ocean: First Departure R downloaded so I might try to pop it on today! I'm like 2 hours into the game and it's enticing you say it's pretty short!! Sad it's download-only and never got a physical release version.

Lol you're gonna laugh at me but I'm actually watching Laguna Beach: Season 3 on Netflix. It's fun watching rich kids and how much better they have it and how perfect their lifes are. It takes me back. I remember talking about the show with my guyfriends' girlfriends and they always thought there was something weird up with me!!! I actually loved the show mainly because I'm just up the state in San Francisco and they were in Southern California so it was kinda cool seeing my neighbors, and one of the stars of the show actually went to S.F. State. But yeah my guyfriends HAATED!! that I watched the show for some reason. =P

I'm actually very interested in Resident Evil, Silent Hill & Dead Space and I'll probably get around to playing them eventually, ...It's just that the lot of my friends that were into those games were so weird, and were seen as borderline creepy. So I kinda stay away from the games for some reason not to sound shallow or superficial or anything lol. I actually just got Resident Evil Origins so I can play RE1 if I want to. Like for example, my Dead Space friend I found online on a website called VampireFreaks in high school and he was on webcam with vampire make-up on and fangs. It was, HELLA scary!!! He was a really nice guy IRL though we hung out after HS and well-into college but it was crazy stumbling in on what he does online!!!! lol

Oh I try to advertise Atelier as much as I can to other gamers. I actually stumbled upon it just by happenstance on a whim back-in-like 2012-13 at GameStop I was harassing the employee about "cheap RPGs" and she recommended I play Atelier Rorona so I bought it. I didn't play it until I got here to The Philippines 7 years ago but boy, did I really like/enjoy it!!! Atelier Rorona is a really good starting place the "girly"-theme is pretty prominent in the first 3 games and they kinda trail off, and the alchemy mechanics are super simple in the first 3 games (there's 6 different titles on the PS3, plus "pro" versions) I noticed the alchemy gets more complicated as the series goes on but I totally don't get it half the time and just "mash" through it, lol!!! The first game is really simple though, and then 2 + 3 slightly up the difficulty. But I think you'll enjoy it a lot and maybe even your family!!!

As for me, I'm mostly doing Harvest Moon: Light of Hope I'm just mindlessly going through it most afternoons here and I kinda pop in something random like Red Dead Redemption or something. I ordered a lot of the must-play PS3 titles we all saw advertised at GameStop back-in-the-day like Mirror's Edge, Heavenly Sword, Beyond Two Souls, etc. I figured everyone's probably played these so they're probably good'uns... Like can't go wrong if it's super popular or just out-there. PS3 games are super cheap here like $3 American so I'm picking them up while they're hot.

[Chris Cruz]

[(Dbl. post.)]

Hey, Boo I hope you're feeling better. I was just thinking about the Compendium and what we're doing here. So, in Chrono Trigger I'm in the Heckran Cave. I was thinking about grinding a little bit but I thought about just heading for the boss. I noticed that Lucca's Fire Toss is almost magic-esque? so I was using that a lot in the caves. Medina Village is quite interesting how the mystics don't want to do business with you and even straight-up attack you! I was quite interested in the equips the store was dealing but they're quite overpriced!!! Shucks

Melchior cleaned me out of all my G but I've upgraded all the equips so far. I was thinking about grinding in the back cavern but it seems pretty straightforward.

As for my other dealings, -- I've got quite the routine-rhythm going on. I sleep pretty early now but I'm thinking about staying up late gaming if my energy output is still charged. I am pretty much on Harvest Moon: Light of Hope's face just going at it hecka hard... It's super addicting haha, and it's pretty mellow & chill so I get a lot of time alone to think to myself about... other RPGs I might want to play or just my lifes, in general. lol I'm mindlessly playing which's what I like doing I haven't really done that since the Dragon Quest games which're, upon reflecting, the specific type of RPG I really get involved with. Classic, traditional, turn-based,--They don't make too many of them-those anymore!!! I was thinking about interrupting my session I have going on and going-back to DQIX* and doing the epilogue which I haven't done yet, lol haha... I was also hoping that we'd get some sorta remaster for Dragon Quest VIII from the PS2 which I quite thoroughly enjoyed, stayed up til 7 A.M. some nights on that one... I know there's a bunch of DQ games on-for the DS but I was never really into portables back then- My friends even egged me on to get one for the plethora of RPGs that Nintendo finally put out but I was never interested. Maybe one day! Like the Ace Attorney games and such.

I got Beyond: Two Souls in today. It's hilarious, kinda reminds me of the Heavy Rain-type games,-pretty cool. I can could get into it in-between seshes. I also fired up a little bit of Assassin's Creed. I'm just doing a little each day on each game which's my strategy. It has no trophies which sucks but I see the AC franchise is pretty huge so maybe I can just beat the first game and go onto the next one. It seems the earlier-older PS3 games never got such achievements. Heavenly Sword has no trophies either which sucks. There's a couple of games I want to tackle but the "No trophies." thing makes me want to push it to last on the itinerary like: Eternal Sonata, Valkyria Chronicles. Meh *shrug* I'm a showoff

I was also kinda wanting to tackle a few RPGs that I'm not really THAT excited for to play but I wouldn't mind doing anyway like Tales of Symphonia or something. Anyway just wanted to update ya

Dragon Quest XI*

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Nice dude! I'm on the mend -- in fact, I'm back to work and the office tomorrow, so tonight will be a shorter post. I have interviews all day long - both for the leadership program I'm part of, as well as for the department (and I have an opening on my team I need to fill). It's going to be a loooooooong day!

My covid spell is over, and luckily, it doesn't appear anyone else in my house got it. I have the vaccine and got a booster in November/December, so I guess I must have gotten a fairly bad strain to have gotten as sick as I did. I mean, I wasn't as sick as I have been, but I was still knocked out of commission for about three days. Fever of up to 103, body aches, head aches, nausea and vomiting - the whole nine years. I did eat for or drink for three days, which didn't help, but I finally ate last night and today I've felt like a new man!

Oh, Boo I hope you're doing ok. I've been so careful not to catch Covid since I think it's such a stigma. Is it really still a "thing" over there? We've essentially forgotten about it here in The Philippines but it's probably due to it being mostly Asian people who actually like to take showers, make proper hygiene and use isopropanol rubbing alcohol and/or hand sanitizer before going out in public. An anecdote, I was actually in the Gaijinworks (formerly 'Working Designs') server, and the cats there were so wired about Covid.

As for your questions around covid, I mean, there are still some people who think it's all a scam or conspiracy theory. Those tend to be mostly right-wing, uber-conservative yokels, though. For most Americans, we look at it like we look at the flu - it's just another virus we have to contend with, and we'll have "seasons" where it's worse. Some will still wear a mask when going out when things get bad. I don't understand why some people are so anti-mask. Shoot, when I was in Japan people wore masks if they had so much as a sniffle. Not only does it help keep others from getting sick, but it helps me from spreading anything that I may be carrying. I view it as more altruistic than anything else.

It should also finally get above freezing tomorrow, so I expect much (if not all) the snow and ice will melt away. I'm ready -- we've been stuck in this house for a week! I only left on Wednesday for a minute to buy medicine, and the roads were horrible. We live in a rural area, so they don't really do anything to help the roads. Plus it's the SE United States, so they don't get snow that often and don't know what to do when it arrives.

I did pick up Harvestella recently. It's a Square Enix farming sim / RPG hybrid. I put a little bit of time in and showed my 12-year old; she didn't act that interested, haha... She really likes exploration games like Meadow right now, although she used to love a game called Slime Rancher. I got Slime Rancher 2 when it came out, but it was an early release title and very much incomplete, so it didn't hold her interest. Maybe she'll like it again, soon, who knows?

I'm actually very interested in Resident Evil, Silent Hill & Dead Space and I'll probably get around to playing them eventually, ...It's just that the lot of my friends that were into those games were so weird, and were seen as borderline creepy. So I kinda stay away from the games for some reason not to sound shallow or superficial or anything lol.

That's hilarious. I don't really talk about video games with anyone in my life outside of my one friend William, and he doesn't like the scary games. I like horror movies, too. I'm also well-adjusted, not weird, and the games don't impact my life outside of the times I'm playing them, hahaha... I don't do social media or other forums, either, so I don't know what people who play them are like!

Some days I actually think about giving up video games altogether. It's weird; I rarely have time to play them (especially the older my kids get) and I just don't enjoy them like I used to. If I play for more than about an hour at a time, I think of all the other IRL responsibilities I have to do and think about what I'm missing out on. I dunno, just thinking out loud.

An anecdote, I was actually in the Gaijinworks (formerly 'Working Designs') server, and the cats there were so wired about Covid. Essentially they had this front of being very "Murican" but they called Covid a hoax and didn't believe any of the media on it--I sat there thinking, Nahh, this's very real but they prided on being very Murican but they don't really believe and/or trust their own government and they had a Off Topic channel where they called U.S. news lies on a daily basis. I was there for 2 years and then left, but I can see why no one really likes the Prez. of Working Designs anymore, Victor Ireland, or many of its fans. (You guys are cool here though.)

That's sort of wild and disappointing that the forums had that sort of conspiracy theory bullshit culture. That's a small, but loud, segment of the American people. But about Victor Ireland -- what does he even do anymore? After Working Designs shut down, I feel like I haven't heard about him or Gaijinworks or anything anymore. Looking them up, the've helped published a few games in the mid-2010s but nothing in the past seven years or so. Arc the Lad and Summon Night games, mostly on the PSN. Sort of sad, because Working Design really was the GOAT back in the 1990s.

Anyway, I did play some Chrono Trigger, though. I beat Masa and Mune and got the broken sword. It's actually hilarious to me -- the design for the Masamune monster is hilarious. He's this huge muscle dude with a big mouth, small legs, and most of his moves are martial arts-oriented. Now I'm going to get to 65 million BC, but I'll wait before I do that. Once I get there I'll probably spent some time grinding in the Hunting Range to get trading supplies.