The Gardens Between Playthrough on Virtual Bastion

The Gardens Between tells the bittersweet story of two friends, Arina and Frendt, who find themselves on a series of islands representing their memories where time can flow in both directions.

Video from YouTube User: Virtual Bastion

Bravely Default 2: Demo Review

Although I am indeed an RPG fan, I feel like there’s just so many RPG’s out there that one would really need to catch my eye in order to entice me to buy it.  One such series that I’ve always passed over was Bravely Default, which, aside from having a rather odd name, didn’t appear to be much different from other RPG’s I’ve already played.  But when I discovered a demo for Bravely Default 2 from 2021, I thought it couldn’t hurt to give it a try, considering money wasn’t involved.  The demo has a five-hour time limit and takes place during part of Chapter 1: Chasing Mirages.  It would seem our four heroes, who are already nicely leveled up, are searching for the stolen Water Crystal in the desert kingdom of Savalon.

The Duck Dreams of Ghosts and Sewing Boxes

The night of February 9, I had a spooky dream that took place in the rental in which we’re currently living.  My parents and I were brushing our teeth in the kitchen, which is partially separated from the living room by a wall.  I heard this loud “whooshing” noise in the living room, but when I peeked in, I saw nothing out of the ordinary.  After a few more moments, I heard another noise that sounded like something metallic being messed with.  So I returned to the living room and really started to investigate.

Arise: A Simple Story – Demo Review

Arise: A Simple Story is a casual puzzle game about losing the love of one’s life.  The game begins with the death of your own character, and as the demo progresses, you find these statues that seem to be telling the story of how the protagonist and his future wife grew up together.  Gameplay involves manipulating time to change your environment, such as melting the snow to raise and lower the ocean level, moving around giant bugs upon which you can ride, or tilting the flowers as they follow the sun across the sky.

Aspire: Ina’s Tale Playthrough on Virtual Bastion

Today, we’re starting an obscure puzzle-platformer called Aspire: Ina’s Tale, in which Ina wakes up from her slumber and finds herself inside the Tower.  Now she must find a way to escape, and in the process, learn the reason behind her imprisonment.

Video from YouTube User: Virtual Bastion

Jelly Belly Odyssey

I’ve never been the biggest fan of beans of any kind.  And that includes the legume-shaped candy, jelly beans.  Nevertheless, I recently became rather curious to have a Jelly Belly taste test, since out of all the jelly beans in the world, Jelly Belly was the only brand that had a few flavors that I could tolerate.  So we bought a regular bag, a bag of kid-favorites, and an Easter bag filled with several flavors of “sparkling” varieties, which came with a sparkly sheen for added attractiveness.  Mother Duck and I took turns picking which bean to try next, and the whole process started out promising enough, as these little candies had surprisingly accurate flavors.  We were quite impressed…until the appealing varieties began to wane, and we started to encounter beans that were less friendly to our taste buds….

Age of Calamity: Demo Review

Having invested many hours into the original Hyrule Warriors on the Wii U, I thought it would be interesting to try the demo for the next entry in The Legend of Zelda spin-off of Dynasty Warriors, Age of Calamity on the Switch.  Unlike the original, which had a story that stood apart from the rest of the Zelda franchise, Age of Calamity is a prequel set 100 years before Breath of the Wild.

The Duck Dreams of Racecars and Secret Rooms

The nights of March 9 and 10, I had a few more weird dreams that I’d like to recount for all of you.  My dreams on March 9 began with me being a racecar driver, of all things.  In this world, we could die and still come right back to life, just like in video games.  I was one of the best drivers around, and I was winning my current race.  Midway through the race, the top two drivers had to take this odd break where we’d try to get hit by these slow-moving cannonballs or something?  They wouldn’t injure us or anything, but getting hit by them earned you some sort of advantage.  I got hit by the cannonballs before the other driver, but then I was informed that once we experience our first death (which had apparently happened to me at some point), we are disqualified from racing for the rest of our existence.  I was a bit confused by this rule because, again, people in this world could die multiple times, so I didn’t understand why it should be an issue.

Yoku’s Island Express: A Pinball-Metroidvania Adventure

Yoku’s Island Express is an interesting combination of pinball and Metroidvania, and it’s one of those weird ideas that works way better than I ever would have expected.  You play as a dung beetle named Yoku, who was just recently hired as the new postmaster of Mokumana Island. The game features a very pleasant art style and some pretty chill music that won’t distract you from the pinball segments.  I will just go ahead and admit that the story isn’t great and features a twist that’s…kind of stupid.  But this isn’t exactly a game anyone’s playing for the story, but rather, that strange pinball-Metroidvania hybrid style of gameplay that makes Yoku’s Island so unique.

Pokken Tournament DX: Demo Review

I don’t think I’ve played a Pokemon game since the Nintendo 64 and GameBoy Color era.  That finally changed when I tried the demo for Pokken Tournament DX, a Tekken-inspired Pokemon fighting game originally released on the Wii U and later re-released on the Switch.