Week of 07 Apr 2024
“Time has passed. And time is a thief.”
Achievements Earned In:
- Just Dance
- A Little to the Left
- Lil Gator Game
- Amnesia: Rebirth
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD
After playing on and off for months, I finally earned the final achievement in Just Dance on Sunday. Not because it was hard or anything; this was actually the easiest of any of these games. I just have had zero motivation to dance around or workout in any way. The final achievement is only for playing through 100 songs, so if I were playing regularly like I used to I would have gotten it ages ago! But, whatever, got it now. And I’ll still keep playing this since it’s a fun way to workout, and I’m not sure if Ubisoft is ever planning on releasing another game.
Achievements unlocked: 14 (+1) | Completed
Still playing a little A Little to the Left here and there. Now that I’m home I’m back to mostly doing the Daily Tidy only, though I’ll still try to inch through the story mode, too.
Achievements unlocked: 25 (+2) | Completion: 45%
As I said last entry, Lil Gator Game is so chill and fun to play. This week I really got into the game, which is all about finding some fellow kids and completing a task for them so they’ll come play fantasy games with you to impress your big sis. See, she’s become an adult and lame and is putting her schoolwork over playing with little kids. The tasks you complete for the kids ranges from playing a game they wanna play, to fetching something they want, to performing a trick or something. It’s all very simple and nothing requires much in the way of skill. For the full completion, you have to befriend every kid, grab all confetti, and “kill” every monster on the island. The nice thing is once you beat the storyline one of your friends will start marking the closest thing you still need to do. This makes the final mop-up real speedy, and then I was done! I highly recommend this one.
Achievements unlocked: 22 (+20) | Completed
You fool, you’re firing the wrong way! The enemy is there!
From the new list of games leaving Game Pass, I decided to start Amnesia: Rebirth on Monday. I’ve avoided the games in this series because it’s just the flagship walking simulator and super creepy. Well, this one didn’t seem too bad so I jumped in to get the completion. It’s really not that bad, only in a handful of sections are you even in danger of being hunted by one of the series’ Harvesters (in this game referred to as “ghouls” by the protagonist and her companions). This is good because the game is plenty spooky anyway, and these stress me out so much! This completion mainly requires three things: finish the game getting “killed” as little as possible, grab all the collectibles (crewmember bios and encapsulated memories), and finish the game in less than 2:15. I ran my first playthrough trying to follow a guide over on Neoseeker that turned out to be not so great, and missed a few of the crewmember profiles I needed. Not only that, some of the directions it gave me weren’t right and I had to figure out some things myself. Heck, there’s a huge section called the Hunting Grounds where the guide essentially told me to “get through it”. Like, THANKS. But I managed to successfully navigate this first playthrough without suffering a “death” enough to get the achievement for doing so, then replayed the ending twice more to get all three endings.
With that out of the way, it was time for the speedrun. Most of the game is fairly linear, so I only really needed to have the puzzle solutions in front of me. The key to having this achievement be quite easy is to use a glitch found in the Alchemist’s Laboratory to carry two key items through a puzzle and instead of having to venture out to find the leyden jars to power a teleporter, you already have them! This cuts out a huge couple sections of the game and is obviously very beneficial to speed running. There are other tricks you can use, but that’s overkill. Nailed that in the first try, so it was one final quick run through the game solely for the collectibles. I had been operating under the impression there was a chapter select, but, no. The other nice addition to the game is an “Adventure” difficulty, which removes any difficulty: the dark won’t scare you to death, the few monsters there are will only jostle you a little, and the brightness is cranked up a good bit. All-in-all, this wasn’t too bad! The worst part just how much the protagonist, Tasi, is just…the worst.
Achievements unlocked: 41 (+41) | Completed
I’m about to do horrid things to you for an achievement. Sorry.
Oh boy, time to finally get around to the game I was most worried about from TA Bingo: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD. When I played a little for that event, I just did not like it. And I also barely remember what I did. So, when I loaded it up on Friday I just went ahead and started fresh from the beginning. And… I hate this game. Like, not even because it’s a poor shell of what people consider a “Metroidvania”, but because it’s just not fun. It’s very straightforward, very bland, and feels like some half-baked fan-made Castlevania project. Ugh, it makes me so angry. Anyway, as for the game and completion, it’s all pretty straightforward. There are three playable characters, each with their own sections of the castle to explore, and set of upgrades to collect. Getting them all will get the 100% achievement for each, but none of these are very hidden or creatively placed. Hey, is that a high up place and I don’t have double jump? Man, I bet something is up there! But the main story isn’t the concern. No, I’m mostly concerned about having to clear the Boss Rush mode on Hardcore-difficulty. There are only six bosses to face, but, man, the characters in this game take SO much damage, even on Normal. And there are no upgrades for strength or defense or any of that. Another lame departure from the series. I don’t know, maybe it’ll grow on me as I enter the final section of my first playthrough, but I’m not optimistic…
Achievements unlocked: 10 (+9) | Completion: 45%
DON’T TOUCH MY BALLS, ALUCARD!!!
