Lym

... because summer decided to show up after all and it's entirely too hot and I moved around entirely too much and now I don't want to do anything but slowly melt into my keyboard.

• I'm playing Ori and the Blind Forest again! I'm not sure when I started my original playthrough but it was a couple months before the "definitive edition" came out, with its new areas and skills and difficulty settings and stuff. And since I could upgrade for a fraction of the original price, I figured, hey, might as well. And I love this game so much. It's beautiful, of course, and I find myself staring at the environment a lot, or just listening to the music.
  But I also love how it plays; the controls are super responsive and despite me not being amazing at platformers/metroidvaias/etc. I really like the challenge level? (I'm playing on Normal) Being able to set my own save points helps keep the frustration down, and I still remember my original reaction to the Ginso Tree escape sequence. That's where a lot of people quit, apparently, but between the surprisingly calming music and the sheer fluidity of Ori's movements, I spent the entire time being very relaxed. It's such a well-designed thing? You get a new skill halfway up the tree, and the game makes sure you get plenty of practice with it, and then it throws you into the escape sequence where you need to use what you've just learned or die. And I did die! repeatedly! But I had a lot of fun dong it, and that's not always a given with me and games. Well, now on this new save in the new version of the game, I'm approaching the top of the tree again and I can't wait to do it all over again.
  And really, why wouldn't I enjoy playing as an ambiguously-gendered adorable leaf spirit of light and cuteness?


• I'm also back to Stardew Valley, although I'm not quite sure how long I'll stick with it. There's a grindiness to it that can be relaxing or it can lead to me going "wait, why am I even doing this? There's more fun stuff to do than repeating these farming/mining/etc. actions over and over!" It doesn't help that I sort of... ignore the villagers... With my favourites, I'll talk to them when I run into them but since they all have their own schedules that I don't really want to keep track of and I can't be bothered to track them down either, well... I'm apparently that weird farming neighbour who wanders off towards the mines in the middle of a conversation and who hangs out with spirits and their cat. <.< I'm probably missing a lot of cutscenes because I'm not really raising people's affection levels but oh well.


• I've just started Tales of Zestiria! Seriously, I'm not even out of the prologue yet but it seems adorable. I like the three characters introduced so far (Sorey, Mikleo and Alisha) and have been honing my button mashing skills on some prickleboars. Why are they so cute... But anyway, it's been a while since I played a Tales of game so I hope I'll get a chance to properly dive in soon. (It's the kind of game where I prefer to play uninterrupted for an hour or two at least, which isn't always possible.)


• I'm also apparently playing my first-ever Hidden Object game? I've been curious about the genre for a while but never really got around to it. I'm enjoying Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride so far, even though the occasional cgi models (which are already not the prettiest) clash pretty badly with the really nicely-drawn backgrounds. also, why does the protagonist of medieval fairytale land wear pink nailpolish? Shallowness aside ;) I've already fond out that I'm... possibly not very good at finding hidden objects. I also want to make friends with the bear who kidnapped the protagonist's twin sister because of course I do. I'll have to find it first though! It, and more hidden object puzzles, of which there are surprisingly few compared to the other point&click puzzles. That surprised me.


• still slooooowly making my way through Bravely Default. Maybe this would go quicker if I didn't only play it for an hour or two every month. <.<