nose, handshake emoji, eyes, bottom text: leaking

I have been sick since thursday, which I think is a result of couple of factors: consumption of food and bevarages of questionable quality (met some friends at a local pub) and people generally catching colds around this time. I got literally no sleep during the bedtime hours between wednesday and thursday, and I developed a headache and a cold soon after.  

Literally me fr

All of these things which influenced me to do a very wise decision: Instead of resting I'm gonna play a video game. Specifically Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Even though I told myself I would play Hollow Knight as the next game to give myself some break from the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games. 

But it has been a while since I played a game to begin with, and I've heard that this was a relatively short game so I could finish it by the weekend. 

One thing I was worried about with this game is the developers major problem with Refusing To Let Kiryu Go. Up until this point he's had, what, 4 games where the end is "This Is Kiryu's Last Story" and then follow it up again by picking his arc by straws just to have him do something, often at the expense of other characters. I groaned loudly when he made a sudden comeback in the middle of Y:LAD and stuck around for a while. And now he gets his own game as the sole protagonist. Again. Yippie. 

So with that pessimism addressed; LADG:TMWEHN is really good and has an absolutely fantastic ending. It works as a second/third/fourth attempt to do Kiryu's story right. There's a lot of rethreads but they've been repackaged to make the story better overall. Also the ending turned me into a sobbing mess. Which I haven't felt for any piece of media in Years, so that's gotta count for something.

The new gadget mechanic for the combat is a welcomed addition and it is really fun to pull gang of people with the Not Spider Man Web Shooter Metal String Watch and dashing around with the goofy jet shoes. 

 I'm so used to the games being from a different time period in terms of technology that I did a double take when I did a substory that revolves around a guy using Not ChatGPT as his dating guide, hilarity ensues. It does feel strange that the games have now reached the moderna contemporary period instnead of catching up 30 years of technological development. Rombas aren't that quirky anymore, it's AI time now, fuckers. 

Who needs an hour long youtube video about the dangers of ai chatbot when I have a japanese video game from late 2023 telling the same thing with (slightly) less insanity 

In the end the game turned out to be a really positive surprise, almost frustratingly so. Like "Oh, they still got it" kind of way. I don't know how well regarded the Majima spin-off and Infinite Wealth are (latter of which this game has a demo of, and the ending does feature Kiryu with his godawful haircut from Inifinite Wealth, ugh), but it did make me feel a bit more hopeful about playing those games. That being said my main frustration with Y:LAD was the game got really tedious to play in the last quarter, and it is in a different game genre than Name, so I'll see.

why

Until then though, I played maybe 15 minutes of Hollow Knight so I will finally get around the indie darling I should have gotten around to ages ago, I finally find out why his night is hollow.