I picked up the DS2 design works and some BB comics. Unlike the trashfire that are the Dark Souls comics, I've heard good things about the BB ones. I hope Elden Ring looks as good as the awesome concept art From Software artists produce. Shit's gorgeous.

All right people, have your fun.

Having done shopping for my grandma for years now, I am so sick of buying carbonated water and so much fruit and bread that it rots in the fridge. It's such a waste on every level. Really makes me want to move out so I can keep a clean fridge for myself.

I wanna play more of Tales of Innocence. The game seems good, but Iria scares me. Also, whoopee 1000 posts.

As a break from my neverending JRPG binge, I decided to watch Golden Boy. As far as sex comedies go, it was pretty refreshing. Unlike modern shows of this ilk, it's surprisingly mature in both its theming and just how saucy it gets. I recommend it!

I don't wanna play Tales of the Tempest anymore. The game is bad and Rubia scares me.

A friend of mine showed up to deliver belated birthday and Christmas gifts. While I only sorta like Evil Twin, I felt I had to get a physical copy for the manual. Manuals usually contain extra story tidbits and this one is no different. It's pretty neat!

After a haphazard nostalgia trip, I was reminded that U.B.O.S was a thing. Going by the first episode and my memories, it seems to be a decent enough show. But good lord did they rip off Harry Potter super hard!

I finished my game of the year blog. I bet you can't guess what won.

Merry Christmas, Destructoid! Stay weird!

Pros of suffering a temporary power outage: The router reset and returned my internet speeds to acceptable levels. Cons: I lost about 30 minutes of progress in Tales of Graces. Feels like a fair trade all things considered.

I bring you the song of my people.

In lieu of those fancy Switch summaries I'll instead gloat over the fact that I've beaten 6 Tales of games this year! Might hit 7 if I hurry. Only 4 (or maybe 6) games to go before I can tell you all which are the best and the worst!

I'm conditioned to think that the PS4 only gets a handful of games per year. But it gets a lot of indie games too. Like this rad-looking juiced up PS1 action RPG Final Fantasy Castlevania-esque mess! I feel kind of compelled to try it.

RIP in peace, Gamestop. You really should have tried to sell me weeb PS4 games for less than your obscene prices. Still, thanks for the metric fuckton of PS2, PSP and PS3 games you provided me with. I'll treasure them always and never trade them in.

For once, an ad told me about something interesting. I know one of the devs were sad about being restricted to digital, so this is great news! I'm tempted to double dip just to support the games and free more of my game collection from PSN.

So, Tales of Vesperia had Lunar Phase and style switching and now I see that Tales of Graces has Rainstorm, charged fist attacks and an actual parry move. Bless you, DMC-fan over at Bandai Namco, you're doing the world a service.

Sā anata kara Merī Kurisumasu, Watashi kara Merī Kurisumasu, Santa Kurōsu izu, Kamingu tu taun

I haven't read a book in forever, but I recently finished Ender's Game. Really good book with its share of gut punches. The exploration of military life, internet trolling and how child geniuses act around regular people really hooked me.

All right, one Destiny 2 strike worth of Stadia later and I am ready to offer my judgement. More details in the comments, but as someone who didn't pay for the thing at all, it's:

The evil has entered our home. I fear for my internet connection and the sanctity of our wooden walls. Send thoughts and prayers. Or maybe a Switch. That's quirky enough to capture my father's interest over a Stadia, right?

My dad bought into the Stadia. I tried to stop him. Tried to tell him that it was doomed to fail. But no, the allure of a new toy was too grand. Don't let your family buy into the Stadia. Educate them on its faults and make them listen.

WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME THAT THERE WAS A HAMMY OPERA VERSION OF DEVIL TRIGGER WITH ALTERNATE LYRICS?! THIS THE BEST, BUT ALSO THE WORST!

Tales of Graces is really nice so far. Having an extended prequel chapter with the party as kids is adorable. I'm glad the series is living up to the expectations I had of it going into my mad marathon. Good JRPGs deserve to be played.

I played through A Story About My Uncle. It has neat 1st-person platforming, but the actual story told wasn't to my liking. The script is just a bit off (using specific gameplay terms, changing tenses) and I'm not sure what the point of it is.

OnRush is pretty baller and seemingly solves the standard issues in racing games by inventing racing modes that allow players who fall behind to teleport back into the action. A shame then that it's styled entirely after Fortnite and its monetization!

This was lunch today. Bread is bread, right?

BANG BANG BANG

With Kiwami 2 done, I have now played 3 Yakuza games this year, proving that it can in fact be done with minimal loss of sanity. Now if everyone could please ignore the fact that they've released another one and remastered two others, that'd be great.

Nioh 2 beta defeated! While the new stuff is cool, it really feels like more of the same. Which includes some really mean balancing decisions. I think the beta was extra evil, since it's a midgame level and you don't get any skill points to start with.