Week of 24 Sep 2023
“That one doesn’t look so good.”
Achievements Earned In:
- Vampire Survivors
- Space Invaders: Infinity Gene
- State of Decay
I continued to play a lot of Vampire Survivors this week, because as my emotional dips low again, it’s just easier to game on something actually fun and mindless instead of the usual achievement hunting fare I play. Most of the completion is the same cycle, as you pick a character, survive until 30 minutes on a new level, grab any artifacts in them, and evolve some weapons. Rinse and repeat. But, that gameplay loop is so simple and addicting! I soon found which weapons I preferred, too. The evolved King Bible, evolved Garlic, evolved Silver Wind, and evolved Summon Night tend to make it all pretty easy so I prioritized those weapons (and the needed passive items) and really never had any trouble unlocking whatever achievement I was aiming for. I even managed to knock out one of the add-ons and reach the end of the base game, so I’m getting pretty close to done. Not sure what I’m gonna do afterward…
Achievements unlocked: 171 (+41) | Completion: 90%
Oh no… it’s right behind me, isn’t it?
With all but the final three achievements in Space Invaders: Infinity Gene unlocked, my goal was to get through that continue-less run at some point this week to start. Each attempt takes over an hour, so to keep my streak (and sanity) going I’d have to give it the ole college try 1-2 times every night then move to something else (namely Vampire Survivors) to end the evening. The real challenge comes down to the final two bosses: Squid on 5-4 and Vertebrae on 5-5. It can be difficult to properly time and dodge Squid’s delayed spike barrage, and often I’d lose two to three lives trying to take it out. Then, with Vertebrae, you’re never quite sure how the rotating “barriers” it puts up will spawn, and avoiding them with the odd perspective during the fight can be touchy. It’s a tough obstacle to the (pathetically easy) final boss, but I still broke against that wall the first three nights of the week. Tuesday was the worst, and I kept dying on stupid, easy-to-avoid obstacles. Even with a good strategy, some of the bosses can be a nuisance, like Unknown and Progressive UFO. But, after multiple attempts throughout the week and plenty of frustration, I finally reached the end boss on Wednesday and easily ended the run successfully, with only six deaths! This left getting through the 99-stage Challenge Mode, but with no consequences for continuing and nine lives to work with, I could just keep trying until I finished each stage before moving to the next. Good thing, too, because by the end you’re playing on the higher difficulties and every kill creates more projectiles for you to dodge. It can get pretty hectic. I actually switched to the Search weapon since I didn’t really care about dying anymore and preferred to deal out more damage to speed up the process. And with this completed on Thursday, it unlocked the final difficulty I needed, Nightmare, and just quickly wiping out the final boss one last time got me the completion!
Achievements unlocked: 12 (+3) | Completed
Gah, monotone attack!
It can be such a pain, but I thought for my next game I should focus on the bunch of non-backwards compatible games I started during Bingo. No capture button, I have to resync all my controllers and headsets… Annoying! But, I decided to go with State of Decay and so far I’m not a huge fan? I think it might be the age, but it just doesn’t feel very fun. It might also be the fact it’s an “XBLA” title, meaning the overall scale and vision probably had to be lessened to fit the specifications for that program. Whatever the case, me no like so far. I’m hoping that as I get more into the game it’ll click. I really didn’t get to play much and barely exited the tutorial, so I’m going with that logic for now.
Achievements unlocked: 4 (+3) | Completion: 9%
Highest ratio: 4.36
CONTINUE-FREE CLEAR (Space Invaders: Infinity Gene)
Lowest ratio: 1.01
I Can See My House From Here (State of Decay)
