July 2023 Entry:
July was an odd stream month. Let's see what else happened.
MISC=========================
- The power went out (07.02). It happened after dinner. The power did come back on an hour before the restoration estimate in the linked image. I was worried it would be out all night and that sleep would have been tough.
- I caught Money In The Bank a couple days later (07.03). Had to ask a friend if I could hop on their streaming service to watch it since it's no longer part of the package we have here. Fun show. MITB matches are always unpredictable. I'm glad neither of them actually cashed in that night since I like the overlooking doom of a cash-in happening anytime.
- So I spent some money on Crush Crush (07.04-07.06). Up until this point, I never did unless it was something extra I had received like a gift card. This time I still equated it to being extra from the last Twitch payout. Other than getting the last paid DLC girls, Darya was amazing with all the diamonds she gave for each level up. She even said at one point "I bet you feel better about spending actual money" or something like that. Made sure to put the diamonds to use with boosting all jobs. Then I made sure to max out my boost and wow did the bars and numbers skyrocket. The next morning, I woke up to all jobs and hobbies maxed out. Then it was about maxing out any other girl and attaining a few more to the point that I saw credits roll legit. Now I'm not actually done as there is an alternate ending, more girls, and achievements. It is unfortunate that now it's all about the diamonds and those come slow for free. I might buy some more at some point, but now there's not much to look forward to, especially since any limited time events have been for pin-up images and not LTE girls.
- Coco Lee passed away (07.05). I had not kept up with her career for the last few decades, but the news still hurt. She might have been the first Chinese singer I knew of thanks to friends that introduced me to her. Listening to her songs after all this time brought back some memories. You will be missed.
- Ring Fit Adventure update; level 400 (07.06). Still hoping to see credits roll a third time before the year is over.
- Watched Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers (07.06). Rescue Rangers was one of my favorite cartoons growing up so I had this movie on my radar. It was enjoyable. When I initially heard the comparisons to Roger Rabbit, I wasn't sure (as that is my favorite movie), but they did a really good job. All the references and familiar characters from so many genres was amazing. Definitely recommend it.
- Had issues sleeping multiple times this month (07.11, 07.29). Both had me up at around 3AM and not being able to fall back asleep. So I just continued the days as normal and slept early. But those days felt long and my eyes were stinging. A nap would have been nice, but I couldn't make it happen either time.
- Bought the Super Mario Oreos (07.11). I activated my free month of Prime for it, ha. I like Oreos in general so I liked these cookies. It sucked not get every character, but I guess that's reason to buy another pack somewhere down the road.
- I didn't realize I reactivated my Prime around Prime month. In doing so, I saw a good deal on AirPods (07.13). I'd been wanting them for a while since my phone doesn't take wired headphones. I could have used them the past few years when I was taking my parents around for appointments. But I never felt like spending so much on them. 30% off was a good number so I got them. Tested them out for instances I thought I could use them.
- The new Mario Kart 8 DLC was released (07.14). My favorite tracks from each cup are; Feather Cup - Daisy Cruiser and Cherry Cup - Sunset Wilds. As of typing this (08.13), I have yet to play Mirror and 200CC for these tracks.
- I had a couple of fake numbers text me (07.17). I do what I normally do with those as far as responses. But during those exchanges, I decided to look back on texts from those I don't talk to anymore (and also other fake numbers, yes I keep them, ha). It's very interesting to see how those conversations went as well as the frequency of any type of exchange.
- Bought some chips while I still had Prime (07.18). I did need more snacks after the Oreos were done. These were good in general. Overall, didn't see the hype in them being mini. As of typing this (08.13), I've eaten all except the ranch Doritios (only a little bit left in the can).
- Celeste (Deluxe Edition) (07.21)
- Invincible season 2 got announced along with the special episode for Atom Eve (07.22). Thanks to having Prime (again), I watched it the next day. So good. Really graphic and tragic, but a good origin story for her.
- I went through my memory box (07.22). It had been a while, but I was specifically looking for a CD from the Korean music contest. I didn't find the one I wanted, which was the demo track with no vocals. I probably gave it back to them after they gave it to me the first day to use to make lyrics to. What I have is the finished track on CD signed by the producer. But I also sorted through a few things and made space for things to be packed in the box. I found old writings, old music sheets, old photos, etc. The one thing I saw was an interview I did with a friend for (I think) a sociology class from about 20 years ago. I recall that the class was to interview someone they knew not born in the US. I took a photo of the first page and sent it to that friend. She vaguely remembers it, but not all the questions or answers she provided. Got a good laugh out of it.
- Ran a test stream in preparation for stream 1000 (07.26). Thankfully I did because there were a few technical hiccups. Granted some of those were user errors, but they were all worked out. The one thing I said was "why do the few test streams I do attract more viewers than normal streams?" I always label test streams and going live notifications simply as "TEST" to further punctuate things. It's probably curiosity. But it's also one of those things that I don't need 10+ people testing out things and trying to engage in conversation as if it was a normal stream. I just needed 1-2 people to help me figure things out.
- I accidentally deleted drafts in my email (07.26). I have been using email drafts as a simple updatable format and as a way to copy and paste things easily. Some were recordkeeping drafts to reference in case I forgot. There was one for rankings of games, reminders to myself for future posts, and even one for dreams. I was actually trying to delete stuff in my spam folder and I always delete all at once. But I didn't realize I was in my drafts and it happened. I was shocked once I realized what was going on and immediately searched online to see if there was a way to recover things. Unfortunately, any method wasn't going to work for me and that bummed me out. I did recreate a few of the drafts, but I know the one about dreams and a few recordkeeping drafts are gone forever.
- Watched the movie Soul (07.29). I had heard good stuff about it, but I wasn't too into it. It wasn't bad by any means, but I did find myself zoning out a few times. If it were only the human stuff throughout, I think I would have liked it more.
- The speedrun records (on console) for Ravva and the Cyclops Curse have now been mine for a year (07.29).
- NXT's The Great American Bash was great (07.30). It made me wish I drove a few hours to be there in person. Cheers to all the performers.
- Rest in peace, Paul Reubens (07.31).
- Did a lot on the last day of the month (07.31). Watched the Cody Rhodes documentary, watched the MiSaMo Masterpiece showcase, Bearverly was glitching out on Crush Crush (ha), and I sent in an application for Escapology. I had been spending the prior days adding to my resume as I had not updated it since HER. It took a bit for me to recall all of the things I did for that company. Possibly didn't even put everything, but it was a lot. Find out how that went in the next blog entry.
GAMES=========================
- Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective was wonderful to replay (07.01-07.02). I played the original on the DS and had some mixed feelings over it, but still enjoyed it overall. I have a better appreciation of the game now. Other than the power going out towards the end of the finale, this was a great way to start the month.
- Demo Showcase 111 (07.04)
- Earthworm Jim was our Genesis NSO game of the month (07.05). It wasn't as great as I remembered. It really was the bungee boss fight that got me too. We were on the third round of it for over an hour and I caved and used the cheat codes to continue. And we only found out later that the levels were not labeled in order so I actually skipped a whole world. But by then I was ready to move on.
- Cyber Protocol Prologue was our free-to-play game of the month (07.07). Part of me kind of knew beforehand that there was a possibility that it was going to be short and it was. 10 levels that we went through twice within an hour. So the backup plan was to add another free-to-play game and chose the last game added to that list; Pinball FX. How different was it from Pinball FX3 (viewer's choice from 2022)? Not much. It did offer different board themes, but the only one of the three free tables was different. And it plays the same so there wasn't much I had not already experienced. Not necessarily bad, but still.
- Cris Tales was our next and last RPG of the month (07.09-07.10). This was a favorite from a previous Demo Showcase and I actually got a new physical copy for $5. What was originally going to be 3 streams ended up as 2 because I didn't want to play it anymore. Glitches, difficulty spike, and lack of polish all around. I even used a duplication glitch just so money wouldn't be an issue, but that only went so far in making the game go smoother. The final straw was not being able to continue a tutorial for a new character twice. The tutorial required needing mana. But anytime I got a new party member, I gave them new/better gear. And for some reason, one of the accessories removed mana even though it wasn't supposed to. So the first time in that tutorial, I understood what was going on, but just thought it sucked that I couldn't use items to give that character mana to continue the tutorial. My second attempt after reloading the save, I still gave the new gear, but used a consumable so they had enough mana. But I didn't know that the tutorial still required more and I couldn't continue. That's when I lost any motivation to continue. Chat also looked up patch notes at my request and it sucked to learn how much plagued this game. It was very disappointing and a lackluster way to end playing one RPG a month. If anything, I'm glad I only spent $5 on it.
- Kuru Kuru Kururin was beaten off-stream (07.11). This was originally going to be the first GBA NSO game played on stream. I've known of it and the Gamecube version because of Game Informer so it's been on my radar. It's difficult for sure, but I like the mechanics.
- Adventures of Chris was added to the schedule after Cris Tales prematurely ended (07.12). It was the favorite from Demo Showcase 70. It was a relaxing platformer that only asked for precision a few times. And you can tackle any level in any order so it's kind of an open world game. The humor was top notch too. I'm glad we added this in.
- Melatonin was the final Community Challenge that was reached (07.13). I knew about it prior and I do like me a good rhythm game. There were only a few times that it was difficult, but it was very chill. I do wish more people showed up and enjoyed the tunes. But that is kind of how it's been for any Viewer's Choice or Community Challenge; low turnout despite it being voted on or if the channel point wall was reached.
- Spiritfarer was wonderful (07.15-07.20). Not only is the game gorgeous and there's no way to lose, it's relaxing and doesn't pressure you to do anything. The stories that each spirit you meet is relatable and sad. This was originally going to be 4 streams long, but it ended up being 5. I could have finished it in 4 especially since we didn't 100% it, but I didn't know until after the fact that I could trigger the ending. I was stressed about that, but it did allow me to enjoy more of the game. The main reason I wanted to finish it on the 19th was because that was the day my last living grandparent passed away 9 years ago. I really wanted to have credits roll on that day. But I still mentioned at the end of the stream that the whole series of Spiritfarer was dedicated to her and why.
There was also another dedication with me wearing HER shirts throughout the streams. My grandmother passed away the week I was supposed to have my interview with them. It was a few weeks later that I thought to see if the opportunity was still there because I felt I needed something to change at that time. And then I was with the company for 6 years.
- Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap was the GBA NSO game of the month (07.23-07.24). Shorter than I remember. I initially carved out 3 streams for it, but I only needed 2. Could have dragged it out to 3, but that would have been a lot of kinstone fusions and figurine collecting. It was only my second time playing the game and it was awesome.
- Finding Paradise is the sequel to To The Moon (07.27). When I learned that fact, I scheduled it to be played on the 2 year anniversary of playing To The Moon. Storywise, great. The last sections of dialogue got me choked up. And I didn't know supershigi also did a song for the game. Funny thing is I have heard her perform it so many times on her streams, but never realized it was for Finding Paradise (even though there's text that says if she's playing a song from a game). The downside was the glitches. Not as bad as Cris Tales, but enough to make me worry I might not finish this game either. To The Moon had a few itself, but this one seemed to have amplified those and had more. I don't recommend playing it, but I do recommend watching it.
- SIDE POCKET was our SNES NSO game of the month (07.30). What I wanted was a chill billiards game to relax with. I didn't get that. The game itself isn't bad, but being limited to X amount of shots really took down the fun. I understood it for trick/bonus shots, but not for the main game of 8-ball. Couldn't even play 9-ball solo (only VS). It would have been nice play normal billiards against the CPU, but no. No CPU at all. I couldn't even figure out how to drag it out because I wasn't able to get passed the second level even with save states. Oh well. This bookend was reflective of a lot of shenanigans that happened to the stream schedule this month.
ETC=========================
- MISAMO - Do not touch (MV)
- ITZY - BET ON ME (MV)
- ITZY - KILL MY DOUBT (album spoiler)
- ITZY - None of my Business (MV)
- ITZY - CAKE (MV)
KILL MY DOUBT might be my favorite ITZY album. That album spoiler probably helped, but that in itself is so damn good. BET ON ME was so different from their normal stuff that it was surprising. None of my Business is super chill and I want one of their sports jerseys if they ever sell them. CAKE took some time for me to get into. Like most main tracks from artists, it's the performances that sell me rather than the music video. Over time, I found myself learning the majority of the CAKE choreography. And while Ryujin has always been my favorite, I really liked her a lot during their promotion period.
That's a wrap on July 2023. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
