November Update

Four games this month!

18-1. A game that features multiple genres, or is a mashup of different genres: Raji: An Ancient Epic ✅ Completed Nov 19th
Platforming, action, adventure

38. A game with a subtitle: Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical ✅Completed Nov 12th

49. A game listed on the HLTB stats page, or the stats page filtered for a single platform: Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble ✅Completed Nov 5th
#50 on the worse rated Game Boy Color page (at the time of completion, at least)

04. An ancient game (released 30+ years ago): Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
✅Completed Nov 19th
Released January 25th, 1994

35/50 Challenge, 3/9 alternative. Still have yet to be unable to fit a game to a category.
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I nominate Metaphor: ReFantazio
(big suprise, said the folks on the Discord).

Klifur (HLTB | itch.io)
NEET Girl Date Night (HLTB | itch.io)

October Update

Only got two this month, but one was a long time coming.

32. A game that starts with the same first letter as in your username Eyewear Cleaner 2077 ✅Completed Oct 8th
There doesn't seem to be many games that start with E, so I specifically looked for one in my backlog and found an itch.io game.

02. An old game (released 10+ years ago): Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King ✅Completed Oct 17th
Released 2005. I was hoping this would fit in the 50+ hours category, but it didn't take that long because I used cheats. 🤷Perhaps Metaphor: ReFantazio will fit into that category if I complete it this year, which seems unlikely.

32/50 Challenge, 2/9 alternative. Still have yet to be unable to fit a game to a category.

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Site Update:

Submissions
- Start Date field is now available under Current Progress, not set by default.
- Has Omit/Today like Completion Date
- Changed design of Date entry on mobile.

Quick Add / Games List
- Start Date will now appear on details expansion.
- New Days Taken stat on details expansion.

Future update will include Game List filters for Start Date and using "Days Taken" on your stats page.

Nice!

Please add Start Date to the csv export when you get a chance. 🙏

I forgot to mention a few things:

I recently discovered the ebook management software, calibre. https://calibre-ebook.com/

It's such a great software to keep track of my ebooks and send them to my kindle (including automatically converting etc.). It has all features I'd want but is still very easy to handle. It's free of charge and open source.
Just a recommendation in case someone else is looking for a software like this. I discovered it by looking for a way to send pdf-format books to my kindle (which is very old, like one of the first models I'm sure, and does not accept pdf).
Sorry to post a few links recently (I still ain't a bot).

Also I want to quickly rant about my headphones (I guess the type is called in-ear headphones). I had headphones before that would sometimes have trouble to connect via bluetooth, these are the opposite. They randomly connect, even when inside their box. I have two pairs of headphones and when my phone is connected with the second type (over-head headphones?) it happens very often - like multiple times a day and at absolutely random times - that the in-ear headphones connect ALSO, without any interaction of mine. And then all audio goes to the in-ear headphones. Super fun when I'm in an important call with a client and suddenly stop hearing them, calling "are you still there" until I realise what happened and start running through my house to find the fricking in-ear headphones (or disconnect them through phone settings). Makes me look very professional to the client, I'm sure.

Also they somehow, I'm not even sure how but there must be a (non-labeled, not easily visible) button on them, to start the Audible app on my phone. Start Audible! Not wake it up or something but literally start an app on my phone that's not currently running and get it to start playing the current audio book. I have so often had to rewind my audio books because I realised that my headphones had randomly and unnoticed by me started the playback god-knows-when and played for god-knows-how-long. What a crap load of a feature. Who comes up with that? I have to clip/bookmark my books now every single time I stop listening.

Also, in less ranty news, I've finished Galaxy in Flames yesterday and am starting Spear of the Emperor by Dembski-Bowden.

My AirPods have been acting the exact opposite. I will connect them to my iPhone or my Apple TV, have them in my ear, and then I will literally barely touch somewhere on my laptop, (running Windows, with its lid often closed) and it will disconnect and then 5 seconds later reconnect from and to my iPhone/Apple TV. Since I want to have my AirPods be usable on my laptop, as well as a bunch of other devices that aren't helping this issue, I am hesitant to unpair them from all the non-Apple devices, but I might have to.

Calibre is great. Was a bit intimadating at first but I can use it for ediing metadata for my books and sending to my server.

I have been reading a lot more than gaming lately and my TSG stats prove that.

Mainly reading light novels. Making the next book in the Monogatari series (original publication order) my every 2nd to 3rd book. Currently on Hanamongatari and I am so excited to have my favorite character, Suruga Kanbaru, be the narrator.

September Update

Big gaming month after a bunch of smaller months

07. A game you got for free: Texting the Awkward Ace Guy You've Had a Crush on Since High School ✅Completed Sept 2nd. Is free on itch.io. I recommend playing the much more fleshed out, non game-jam version that is also on itch.io and I don't believe is free though.

17. A game that is themed around dogs or cats: Cat Quest ✅ Completed Sept 9th. Perfect fit.

27. A game that was adapted from another medium (book, movie, etc.) or a game that has been adapted into another medium Astro Boy: Omega Factor✅ Completed Sept 5th
Not sure if Omega Factor was a specific adaptation, but Astro Boy is created by the OG of manga, Osamu Tezuka.

35. A game containing a real or fictional religion: Flowers: Le Volume Sur Printemps
✅Completed Sept. 12th
Takes place in a Christan boarding school, with a lot of religious themes.

39. A game that surprised you: Chants of Sennaar ✅ Completed Sept 18th
It surprised me in that, despite being somewhat a fan of linguistics, a game about decrypting these made-up languages would be so much fun and not really that tedious. Also surprised me in how much I was able to understand without guides, though eventually I did need them as there were some very obscure puzzles.

18-2. A VN or text-based game: Let's Watch Steamboat Willie ✅ Completed Sept. 30th
Despite being my 10th VN completed in 2024, this is the first I couldn't find other categories for, and I knew I would get to it eventually.

(Updating post as I forgot I completed this in September):
33-1. A “threequel” (third part of a series): Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations ✅Completed Sept 2nd

30/50 Challenge, 2/9 alternative

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A bit late on this, but after starting September strong with 4 completions in 5 days, I wanted to get my single August completion on the board.

48. A game that has been a HLTB Game of the Month: Valiant Hearts: The Great War ✅Completed Aug 5th

As of August 31st:
24/50 Challenge, 1/9 alternative

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Completed 2 games in July thanks to itchmas

30. A game with a diverse cast: Yurivania 2: Josette's Quest ✅Completed July 8th. Lots of queer characters of different species.

16. A game from a genre you don't usually play Folder Dungeon✅ Completed July 2nd. Roguelike.

23/50 Challenge, 1/9 alternative

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I nominate Persona 4 Golden.

June Update

Thought I had finally get that month without a completed game, but despite playing an average of less than a half hour a day, ended up completing 2 games this month.

03. A really old game (released 20+ years ago): Virtua Fighter 2 ✅ Got to credits on June 26th. Game released December of 1995.

09-1. A remake or remaster of a game: 8-Bit Adv Steins;Gate ✅ Completed on June 27th. Technically a demake, but an official one.

21/50 Challenge, 1/9 alternative
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I nominate:
Texting the Awkward Ace Guy You've Had a Crush on Since High School (HLTB | itch)

Yurivania 1: Uhaul of the Night (HLTB | itch)

May Update
Yet another slow gaming month😔. 2 completions.

20-2. A game set in the far future: Telocation: Gemini ✅ Completed May 18th
"you control a crashlanded space cadet that befriends a robot and who work together to gather gems and escape the planet"
Sounds like the far future to me

44-2. A game that you have beaten before and are replaying: Hatoful Boyfriend ✅Completed May 29th
Only completed one route on my first playthrough, which really was such a small part of the VN. Completed the main story this time, though still not every route.

19/50 Challenge, 1/9 alternative

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The alias for Quintessential Quintuplets ∬: Summer Memories indicates the two games in the series are the same. The localization will have a double pack on eShop but Steam has them seperated:

The Quintessential Quintuplets - Memories of a Quintessential Summer
The Quintessential Quintuplets - Five Memories Spent With You


Also, for this 3DS game only released in Japan, Assassination Classroom, there are two games according to Wikipedia:
Assassination Classroom: Grand Siege on Koro-sensei (Ansatsu Kyōshitsu: Koro-sensei Dai Hōimō (Japanese: 暗殺教室 殺せんせー大包囲網!!)
and
Assassination Classroom: Assassin Training Plan

April

Another slow gaming month, but 4 games completed thanks to some 3DS action and a couple of itch games at the end of the month.

21. A game with a female protagonist: Children of Silentown ✅ Completed Apr 2nd

34. A bright and cheerful game: Kira Kira Pop Princess ✅Completed Apr 3rd


Veeery bright and cheerful!

14-3. A game whose title starts with a number: Nine Hole Ninja ✅Completed Apr 21st
Didn't even realize this fit the category, which I didn't think I'd be able to complete, when I started it. If you got the Palestine Aid itch bundle and want an easy completion, play this.

25-2. A game whose protagonist you would want to be friends with: Our Cinderella ✅Completed April 21st
A shut-in ace game developer who talks dirty with his friends online.

18/50 Completed
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I nominate Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

I only got my 3DS a week ago, but it does appear I have some Mario Kart 7 ghost data and uploaded it. Curious how something like that could be used once preserved.

Also, Universal Updater errored out attempting to download both the .cia and the .3ds, but I was able to sideload the homebrew with FBI.

Slow month, only completed 1 game in March.

11. A collection of games ✅ WarioWare Gold Completed March 27th

Got my first handheld between the Game Boy Pocket I had as a kid and the Switch, in the 3DS, of which I of course wanted to homebrew. Ended up having a lot more fun than I expected in WarioWare Gold given minigames are not completly my thing.

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For Fools Choice I nominate Virtual Boy Wario Land.

Think it would be good to experience this with the group now that there is an emulator on the 3DS that I’ve heard does the platform justice (though you could emulate it on a PC too).

For GotM I nominate Children of Silentown.
I believe this was in a bundle recently.

February

Slowest gaming month in a long time, just over an hour of gaming a day on average. Still managed 4 completions, though.

08. A game you've been wishing and waiting for. The Invincible✅Completed Feb 1st
Played the demo on Steam and immediately put it on my wish list, though did wait for a sale.

06. A quick completion (less than an hour). My Brother Ate My Pudding ✅Completed Feb 29th in just under an hour.

13. A game whose title could describe your life Cocoon ✅ Completed Feb 2nd
Because of how much I sleep

36. A game that heavily features either fire or ice. Arise: A Simple Story ✅ Completed Feb 20th
Level where you control the ice melting and a level or two with fire

Up to 13/50 challenges.

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Little early, but there are only 29 days this month, so I will nominate Persona 3 Reload.

It's on Game Pass, if ya got that.

Just a thought...

Should "Amazon Prime" be listed under the Subscription group for game storefronts?

There's already the "Amazon Game App" which is the delivery method, but the only games I have on there are games that I received from my Amazon Prime subscription, so I wonder if it would be more appropriate to have the subscription available, to keep it in line with other storefronts (eg the difference between Playstation Store and PS+).

Amazon Prime is what you need to get the games, however, I think as the games are yours to keep once you claim them, it makes sense to call it Amazon Games. As opposed to PS Plus which is required to be active to play the game.

This does get a bit hairy as the Xbox Games w/ Gold games that were for the original Xbox or 360 are yours to keep, but the One and Series require an active Xbox Console Core or Utimate subscription.

Glad to see some improvements to the csv export. I would like to renew my request for the collection export to include ranking order.

And I agree with ThyReen. I just added one of the puzzles included with Apple News+, which I wouldn't classify as Apple Arcade or App Store but does not have enough games to constitute really suggesting to the site. I would say the same for some of the other video streaming services that are adding games like Crunchyroll (which has around 7 games I think) and it would be great to add some manual storefronts and perhaps platforms. Data gathered by what people add could potentially be used to decide what new storefronts and platforms get added for everyone.

I was waiting for the EA App change, personally. Might have to make some changes to my spreadsheet a bit for the change but I am all for it.

January

Felt like a slow month but ended up with 9 completions, all of which found home in a category.

01. A new game (released within the past year):✅ Apple News+ Crossword Mini
Endless but Completed (a couple of puzzles) on Jan 25th.
Released with iOS 17 on September 18, 2023.
Got maybe my 5th free trial to Apple News+ and decided to try this simple crossword on my Mac.

10. A game with 6+ endings: First Kiss at a Spooky Soiree ✅ Completed Jan 13th

22. A game without any humans: Princess Puffin and the Spider Invasion ✅ Completed Jan 13th
Moths vs spiders. Didn't see any humans.

23. A game where you play as a robot or an alien: TetrEscape ✅Completed Jan 15th.
I don't think it's specifically mentioned that you play as a robot, but you're definitely a robot pushing around Tetris pieces.

33-2. A spin-off game: Persona 5 Tactica ✅ Completed Jan 11th

43. A game that one of your favorite artists worked on: Starry Flowers ✅ Completed Jan 24th
Created by NomnomnNami who has created a bunch of queer VNs and adventure games that I really love. 2 other games completed this month were by her.

44-1. A game you previously retired or put on hold: SeaBed✅ Completed Jan 4th.
Placed on hold a long time ago when I realized I lost track of the story. Paid a lot more attention this time but still was a bit confused

47. A game that had its HLTB times on a purple/red/gray background at the time you started playing it. Chemically Bonded✅ Completed Jan 16th
Some people might have a hard time with this category, but I bet half of my backlog fits this, with all the itch and other obscure games.

50. A game chosen by the HLTB randomizer: Thirsty Suitors✅ Completed Jan 30th
Got lucky with this one, the 3rd time I hit the randomizer, with the first 2 being games I would not want/be able to complete, a game I was already playing popped up.

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