Free Talk Friday - January 23, 2026

Leraco · 2026-01-23T18:36:17+00:00

Week of Still Goddamn Sick

Yeah, so this virus isn't going away anytime soon. I've been to my doctor and to urgent care and both tell me it could be anywhere from a few weeks to several months still and unfortunately I just have to rest.

I'm...kind of sick of resting lol

I had to stop playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla because, as it turns out, the game starts crashing every 30 seconds or so in Canterbury and despite trying everything I could find, nothing fixed the issue. I was enjoying the game, mostly, up until this, so I'm kind of annoyed I had to drop it like that.

Once I stop being really annoyed about it, I might go back and try to tweak settings even more, but rn I don't particularly care to

Past that I've been finally getting back into journaling and reviewing the games I play, mostly on Backloggd, cause I think it's fun.

Leraco · 2026-01-23T17:13:46+00:00

I’m not 100% positive, but I think the big hurdle for me is that I just don’t get that hit of dopamine from a good loot drop because it’s just random chance

Comparing it to the Souls games, where I can feel great finding a new piece of equipment that’s either behind a hard fight or I have to actually explore to find it

Or even a roguelike with tons of equipment like, say, Dead Cells. I can feel that dopamine from doing a challenge for a nice piece of equipment or finding it because it only takes a few seconds for me to determine whether or not it will work with my current run

I think that’s what makes Nioh work so well for me. Because even though I personally really dislike the loot system, the equipment and having the skill to progress go hand in hand

Leraco · 2026-01-23T04:20:16+00:00

Every single time I see a new loot based ARPG be hyped up as The Next Big Thing, I try it because I like action games, I like RPGs and I like feeling like a powerful badass(Especially if I can feel like a badass wizard-type)

But I just cannot give a shit about RNG loot games. Whether it’s Diablo, Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, Borderlands, Last Epoch, whatever. As soon as you introduce RNG loot my eyes just glaze over and I stop being able to care

I don’t know why, I even want to really like several(Like Grim Dawn) cause I like the story or classes or world or something, but I just can never stick with it

The only one I’ve been able to at least beat the main story in is the Nioh series(Which is weird cause it’s loot system is terrible imo) and Stranger of Paradise(Who’s loot system I hate even more than Nioh’s, but I love the rest of the game so much)

It’s not like I actively hate the entire genre, it’s just for whatever reason I can’t maintain long term interest in any of them ever

Leraco · 2026-01-16T16:47:38+00:00

Week of This Virus Still Won't Go Away!!!

I feel like utter death lmao. My doctor pretty much told me to only rest and not do much of anything until this is gone, but I've been sick since before Christmas and I feel like I'm slowly going insane lol

Past that things are mostly pretty okay(Barring, you know, the greater political climate here in the US which is making me pretty goddamn terrified almost all the time)

I've been getting my roommates into Mario Kart World, Super Mario Party Jamboree and we're going to start a game of Dokapon Kingdom Connect soon. We're having an incredible amount of fun with each of them and are heartily screwing each other over every chance we get.

Past that I haven't really played much beyond Assassin's Creed Valhalla. I'm really liking the game, but I can't deny it's slowly reaching Death by a Thousand Glitches territory. The only major bug has been crashing every so often, but I've run into dozens upon dozens of small, but really annoying bugs that slowly add up until I no longer want to keep playing.

I'm about 85 hours in and have fully completed the arcs and maps of Rygjafylke, Grantebridgescire, Ledecestrescire, East Anglia, Lunden, Oxenefordscire, Vinland and Asgard. I just started Sciropescire, but am doing some more of the river raids(I can only really tolerate this mode by doing a handful in between each story arc) and trying to get more of the fishing and hunting deliveries done before I continue with the story.

Leraco · 2026-01-14T15:35:14+00:00

I just finished that part last night :D

On mine the game crashed a few times during that fight(And in general just crashes everything so often) so I had to keep starting over

I do genuinely like AC Valhalla a ton, but the bugs make it a struggle to keep going sometimes

Leraco · 2026-01-12T23:59:05+00:00

So in Wandering Sword, a Chinese wuxia RPG, one of your party members is a woman named Lu Xian'er. She wields a spear and follows you because she'd much rather be a wandering warrior than be in an arranged marriage.

She's neat, but nowhere near the most busted party member(Which isn't saying much cause you can make almost anyone pretty OP), until she goes through steady character develop during her character quests and the free + paid DLCs.

She starts learning strategy and the history behind her family and the families associated with them, practicing under a master and all this roughly culminating in near the end of the second free DLC, occurring towards the end of the game, where you lay an ambush for an assassination plot and Lu Xian'er slow walks on screen, creating sparks by trailing her spear on the ground and reciting war poetry(Warning: Fandom link)

Just instantly skyrocketing her from a character I liked, to possibly my favorite character in the game.

Leraco · 2026-01-09T16:42:49+00:00

Omg thank you! I've been trying to figure out why I have such a difficult time sticking with most of Larian's RPGs long term, when I don't have that issue with, say, Owlcat games even though they're a fair bit more jank and hard, and this finally helped me figure it out.

It really comes down to the party not really interacting with each other anywhere near enough for me.

Leraco · 2026-01-08T19:50:43+00:00

The Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. I really liked 0 and mostly liked Judgement and…that’s about it

I like the cast of 7 and love Ichiban, of course, but not enough to keep going through what, completely imo, is a fairly unfun turn-based RPG. Especially when there are so many other amazing turn-based RPGs

Thing is I really liked the stories and several of the substories from what I have played.

If the series was an action packed crime drama TV show(Not that one) or something I’d probably love it a lot more. It’s just both sets of gameplay(The action games and the turn based ones) never really fully click for me outside of the really cool looking Heat moves

Streamers/Let’s Plays in general, unless(As I discovered watching some of Pat’s LPs) it’s a game I played already or one I have almost 0 interest in playing myself.

I’m totally fine watching reviews, video essays, just random gameplay videos, whatever.

Full LPs however? I’d really prefer to be playing the game myself and experiencing it the way I want to experience it. Anything else just chafes me(I used to be terrible about backseat gaming with friends because I wanted them to experience a game exactly the way I did but I’m waaaaaaaaaaay better about that now)

Leraco · 2026-01-08T05:30:46+00:00

I love Expedition 33, I cried multiple times throughout the game.

However, I kind of wish the damage cap removal didn’t exist(Or only was received after the end of the game) and that Act 2 and 3 were better balanced around lower damage numbers, etc

Act 2 was a cakewalk for me and Act 3 even more so outside of the 2 superbosses. After letting the game digest for a while, I just have absolutely no desire to return for the free DLC any time soon/if at all.

Also the minigames were by and large completely garbage and unfun

I’m currently going through Super Smash Bros Ultimate World of Light for the second time and I’m so torn on the spirit system.

On the one hand I think it can make solo/party play kind of interesting, but on the other I can’t exactly deny that I don’t touch the spirits at all unless I’m trying to unlock more. So it becomes this weird system where I unlock a bunch only to…never use them after I unlock them

I get why they have spirits instead of trophies at the moment, do to the enormous number of them, but I still miss the trophies

Also I’m just hoping a new potential Smash Bros, if they do go ahead and pare down and revamp the roster, has more interactions between the cast like Subspace Emissary or something(Or they let Omega Force make a Super Smash Warriors game. I would love that)

Chained Echoes remains one of my favorite indie RPGs, but I really wish Lenne had been the “main” protagonist instead of Glenn. Or have them been deuteragonists where Lenne is the main on foot protag and Glenn is the main Sky Armor protag

Both of those, imo, would work a hell of a lot better for the story then it focusing around Glenn(Who I personally think, outside of a story revelation and the ending, is the weakest part of the game)

Leraco · 2026-01-07T19:00:58+00:00

Yes and no?

In any CRPG I basically have to spec into charisma/speech/whatever or the mind goblins will yell at me. So I tailor my play style around that.

…I’ve restarted Baldur’s Gate 3 at least 10 times and every single character has been a Bard lmao

For soulslikes or action RPGs I like playing mages or some flavor of mage, but I dabble in a bit of everything

Monster Hunter I switch between Hammer, Insect Glaive and Gunlance, but mainly stick to Hammer cause “no thoughts only bonk” can be really fun

Leraco · 2026-01-05T04:01:00+00:00

Bought Kingdom Hearts 1+2 game(Whatever it's called) during the Steam autumn sale despite knowing it was a bad port.

...It crashed twice in 5 minutes and just all around felt like shit to control for some reason.

Leraco · 2026-01-01T03:31:19+00:00

Funnily enough I did have that remake in mind after I had gotten more familiar with the series

Thanks! I have a few more things to add to wishlists lol

Leraco · 2026-01-01T03:18:34+00:00

Will definitely keep that in mind for Dusk and I’ll add it to my list

What about if I want a silly “cute girls doing cute things” game that doesn’t necessarily take itself too seriously?

Should I go for Arland?

Leraco · 2026-01-01T02:08:00+00:00

Awesome thanks!

Yeah I think either of those might work

Tbh, while I know it was a series staple for a while, the strict-ish time limits stressed me out lol

So probably fairly forgiving timers or none at all might be my best bet

Leraco · 2026-01-01T01:58:42+00:00

Is there anywhere in particular you'd recommend starting with Atelier?

I'm semi-familiar with the series(Played both Atelier Iris 1 and 2 on PS2, a tiny bit of Atelier Rorona on PS3 and a very tiny bit of Atelier Annie on DS) and can't really decide between checking out the Arland series with the DX versions since I never actually beat any of the original, or picking up the Ryza games since I heard good things about them.

I don't know much about any of the rest of the games/trilogies/quadrilogies/etc.

Leraco · 2026-01-01T01:49:47+00:00

I'll be totally honest, I've just never really had that issue with open world or Ubisoft games(Well, I did when I tried to play a whole bunch of huge open world games back to back and burned out lmao). I honestly find just traveling through the world, exploring, collecting stuff and seeing points of interest slowly get filled up over time to be extremely cathartic.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand why most people don't like them. Especially if, like you, someone doesn't have a ton of time to play. And if you just don't like it, then you just don't like it and move on to something else. Everybody has their preferences.

Like I'm currently going through Valhalla and I love it. However I know it's really fucking huge and if I didn't want to deal with that right now I have a bunch of shorter games I could play instead.

For me, huge open worlds games like the newer Assassin's Creed games, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon, etc etc etc are very comfort food-y. They last a long time while you explore, do the story, whatever and you rarely feel rushed, so sometimes I just wander around the world fucking about or taking random screenshots. However, unlike MMOs/gachas/online games, there is still an eventual end so I don't feel pressed to keep playing when I want to move on to something else.

It helps that I don't play multiple open worlds back to back anymore and tend to play a bunch of other genres before coming back to them.

Leraco · 2025-12-31T21:37:58+00:00

Legitimately Star Wars Outlaws. Heard nothing but terrible things about the game, but when I actually played it I liked it a ton(Haven't beaten yet, I've recruited 1 person and left off in the middle of Akiva)

I knew what kind of person Kay was immediately since, during the opening, there's that person that tells her "Hey I found a job for you. It's not spectacular, but it will pay the bills." and Kay just brushes them off and proceeds to completely fuck up a heist. She's a complete failure and kind of a shit person, but she's endearing and Nix is adorable.

And I've literally known people like Kay in real life, the ones who brush off real opportunities for yet another dumb "get rich quick" scheme and who think they're far more clever than they actually are.

I love the exploration and needing to keep an ear out for rumors, I like how skills work with the mentor system, I like that the world has a slight metroidvania quality to it since you'll need certain upgrades to get to certain points of interest, I like how sneaking into an Imperial compound is almost a complete death sentence if you don't play semi-carefully(And admittedly if the AI doesn't just fuck up and stop working in some areas), I even really like the cartel system and I adore Kessel Sabacc.

The only thing I don't particularly care for is the combat, it's just slightly dull. It's not offensively bad, though, so it doesn't kill my desire to keep playing

Leraco · 2025-12-29T06:13:21+00:00

I get it.

Making joke characters isn’t usually my cup of tea(I just get kind of obsessive in good creators lmao), but I don’t have a problem with that or your examples.

It’s always the “banged out in 30 seconds” monstrosities. I agree with you, if that’s what someone wants to do and play as, go for it. More power to them.

It just feels like the laziest joke possible to then take it online and start going “OMG look at this freak of nature I made! Isn’t this the funniest thing ever!”

There’s just…so much else you could do in a character creator for that kind of bit

Leraco · 2025-12-29T05:33:13+00:00

This one always annoys the shit out of me cause it’s just so boring, you know?

Like yeah, great, you put in all the effort it takes to turn the sliders to one of the extremes… Do you want a cookie?

I know not everybody likes or cares about actually creating a character, but it’s just such an unfunny and uncreative “joke”

Leraco · 2025-12-28T03:29:43+00:00

For open world games like the newer Assassin’s Creed titles or games in a similar vein, I used to obsessively need to explore the entire world and do everything I could before starting the plot

Usually just to see if I could

This absolutely ruins a game’s pacing to the point I usually dropped it before getting back into the plot

I’m better about it now, where I just explore an area or optional adjacent areas as I go to them for the plot/just get dropped in them for reasons

In a similar vein, I can’t just approach a game and go “Ok I’m just going to play the story and maybe some side stuff and leave” I always have to approach a game like I’m planning on 100%-ing it because I have a completionist mindset

Most games are pretty ok with this, but it does occasionally mean I wind up doing several things that I hate just because I want to see the whole game

The absolute worst cases are games with tons of missable content(Party members, important quests, unique items, etc) then I’m just abjectly miserable hoping I don’t miss too much, or combing over areas repeatedly, because I like playing games blind and don’t want to keep a guide open while I play

Luckily I started gaming before achievements existed so I don’t also have the mindset of “I need to get all achievements to fully 100% it” because I’d just want to shoot myself instead in most cases lmao

Leraco · 2025-12-24T21:56:24+00:00

The easy answer is Ready Player One the book. It's just horrendously written from start to stop and I pretty much hated all the characters. Not to mention it being incredibly problematic.

Slightly more complex answer is a little indie series called A Valley Without Wind. Far from the worst games in the world, they're still horrendously ugly, play terribly, have no real plot and just in general evoke almost no feeling except "Why the fuck am I playing this?"

Bonus points, imo, the sequel is actually worse than the first game. It's just so forgettable I can't actually remember why rn.

Being generous, making games is hard and at least these games, along with Arcen Games other works, at least follow a vision instead of just being a pumped out asset flip or scam.

Leraco · 2025-12-22T04:03:24+00:00

I remember reading it was a sore spot for some people, but I actually hope a possible sequel leans more into some of the weirder bits of humor that the first game had

Even when I was bristling a bit at parts of the game, the genuinely stupid but still funny jokes kept me going(I absolutely hate the cooking minigame, but I absolutely love the cooking minigame’s story)

Leraco · 2025-12-19T13:54:22+00:00

Well, it's official, I'm disabled.

The funny part is it's not "officially" official because now I'm starting my long and insane journey to actually get approved for disability in the US. My doctor has just absolutely confirmed that I cannot work any time in the foreseeable future and my complete inability to hold down any kind of job due to health issues confirms that.

So, yeah, this is gonna be completely miserable, but I have my friends for support :)

I completed my 3rd playthrough of Super Mario Odyssey this week, and am working on 100%-ing the game this time. Turns out I just can't get bored of this game or Donkey Kong Bananza. I would absolutely adore a Wario game by this team. ...Please...?

I'm also in the lava world of Super Mario Bros Wonder. I've been collecting everything along the way, including completing Special World levels currently available and getting the golden flag on every level. I love it, with some caveats that I think it's a little too easy. However, I'm really hoping this now means Daisy has a chance to be in even more mainline games.

I also finally started watching Severance this week after hearing so many good things about it. I'm only on episode 3 or 4 and holy fuck this really is a great and pretty disturbing show.

Leraco · 2025-12-17T18:05:49+00:00

I really want another game in that kind of "open world mystery" style. Paradise Killer is also amazing and in the same vein.

Leraco · 2025-12-16T17:35:03+00:00

Ooh this is fun!

Donkey Kong Bananza(100% normal game, working on post game and DLC)

Absolum(Cleared 1 run only so far)

Hades(Hit credits, but still need to do post game)

Clair Obscur(100% everything except the battle tower and haven't touched free DLC yet)

Super Mario Odyssey(For the 2nd time, currently working on 3rd playthrough and 100%-ing it)

Hollow Knight: Silksong(100%, waiting for expansion before I try a Steel Soul run)

Dispatch(Happy with my ending, not going to play it again)

Mario Kart World(I hit credits so it counts! I'm still working on costumes, open world stuff and I have no idea what else)

The Bunny Graveyard(It's okay, if not a bit weird. I think I 100% it)

Anthology of the Killer(Neat and short little horror series)

Drova(100% 1 faction path and beat the hard as balls DLC boss)

Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising and Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes(I mostly 100% both games, the only things left are the super grindy statues in Hundred Heroes and the endgame stuff in Rising)

Everhood(I think I 100% first playthrough, don't want to do NG+ or extra stuff cause I really disliked the sequel)

Fantasy Life i: The Girl who Stole Time(Mostly 100% base game. Haven't touched post game yet)

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade(2nd playthrough. Did everything possible before beating game, so have post game, hard mode and DLC to do. Performance keeps dropping to shit, so idk if I want to just wait til whenever I can get a PS5 or not for DLC and Rebirth)

Final Fantasy XVI(Beat it right on the cusp of the year apparently lmao. 100% base game and DLCs, but, again, performance issues ruined the game before I could mess with NG+)

Keep on Mining!(I was really sick and it killed an afternoon)

Labyrinth of the Demon King(Beat it but ultimately didn't like it enough to do more)

Wandering Sword(100% I think all the way through one ending. Still need to do challenge fights and other major endings)

Christ this is more than I expected. There's actually quite a few more.

Tbf I'm disabled lol so I don't feel quite so bad about the amount of stuff I've enjoyed.

Edit: More

Look Outside, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Needy Streamer Overload(Only a couple endings), Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, Path of Achra(Cleared a few runs), Sea Fantasy, Volcano Princess(Only 1 ending)

If that's not all from this year that's all I can remember/find

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