August 2023 Entry:
As I was trying to recall what happened in August, I immediately thought of stuff from September, ha. Better write this out before I forget.
MISC=========================
- We've had a new fridge for a while. But since our old one's ice maker was broken, I totally forgot about that being an option. To my delight, I can make ice again, ha (08.01).
- Crazy Rich Asians was enjoyable (08.02). Always heard it was good and it did not disappoint.
- SummerSlam was a fun PLE (08.05). It is one of the big 4 so of course it was crammed with awesome matches.
- 25 streams remaining (08.11). Still my favorite suit I've ever worn.
- I started to compile clips for the final stream trailer, Trailer 1000 (08.11). Kind of already knew how I wanted to format it (same as previous, but how clips would be chosen). By the time I was done, there were only 4-5 clips left to collect from the last few streams that are planned. The unfortunate thing that happened was I noticed that the last 2 trailers used the same clip (MUSHA). Instead of a Genesis game, it was supposed to be an N64 clip. Decided to use that clip for the upcoming one rather than what would have been chosen.
- Hung out with TWICE friends NR and NE (08.12). Originally it was going to be a week later, but NR was free and NE was good to go after work. I thankfully had a short stream so it was all good. We had dinner at Jang Guem Korean Tofu & BBQ. Only downside was that the place was hot. The food was great and all were large portions. It was nice to have 2 screens playing different Kpop (performances and MVs). We caught up, had some laughs, and filled our bellies. Coincidentally, the last song we heard before we left was Feel Special, ha. We went a couple stores down for dessert at Somi Somi. I got an ah-boong with cookies 'n cream with the goldfish shaped waffle being coated on the inside with Nutella. It was really satisfying to eat. We split after. NR was my ride so he took me back and gave me an extra poster he got from the store; GOT The Beat. If it weren't them, TWICE, or ITZY, I would have turned it down. NR knew that I had taken my posters down, but thought that there was a high possibility I would like this because all my biases from those groups were in it. I haven't hung it up yet, but I know where and when.
- Several friends ended up calling me on this day (08.15). Not text, calls. It was nice. Each was a surprise. Got a few texts too, but it was nice hearing some voices that I haven't heard in months or years.
- Venom was alright (08.16). It's definitely a different take on Venom than I'm used to, but I liked it overall. I've been told the sequel isn't all that and I didn't even know it was already out, ha. If I have access to it, I'll give it a shot.
- Found an amazing amiibo seller on eBay (08.21). It was for Navirou and Cheval. I ended up winning the auction for Navirou and saved around 50% of what others were selling it for. But I didn't pay right away as I was trying to also get Cheval from the same person. I did reach out seeing if they would bundle them to save on shipping, but they had received an offer and decided to let the auction play out. They then asked if there was anything else I was looking for as they didn't list everything yet and I gave my list of what I was missing. They had almost everything, but I went with the Female Rider and Dark Hammer Slam Bowser. They were going to offer those to me with less shipping regardless if I won Cheval or not. They sent another message asking if I was a collector and we exchanged messages to know we both were. Shared stories etc. I didn't end up winning Cheval, but did get the other two the seller offered at the price set (again saved around 50% from what prices were going for). In the end, they were glad they were going to a legit collector, which made me feel validated. I ended up getting Cheval from another seller at $20 less (once again around 50% less of normal asking prices). And with these purchases, I saved a lot of money and finished the Skylanders Superchargers and Monster Hunter Stories Japanese exclusive sets completed.
- Went to Escapology to meet four future coworkers (who were just hired) and do a few of the rooms with them (08.22). All of them were young highschoolers or just graduated. We worked alright in the rooms together although we were definitely getting exhausted with each room we did. Initially we were told we were doing two, but ended up doing three (Lost City, Th3 C0d3, and Murder Mansion). We escaped all of them. My favorite of the three was Lost City, which we reset and ran through really fast a second time and reset again. While three of them went home after they were done, one was actually on duty. By the time we finished the third room, I decided to stay the rest of the shift to see how that went. Plus I got to see how the drive home at that time would be too since I'm going to be working nights again. Productive day.
- 20 streams remaining (08.24). Decided to add more photos as I keep counting down remaining streams. Going with every five until it's done. I knew I had more photos, but I had delved deep into the face captures my camcorder took. Have a ton.
- Rest In Peace; Terry Funk, Bray Wyatt, Bob Barker, and Arlene Sokin. Tough week as these happened almost day after day. Terry Funk was a legend. Bray...was still young. I'm older than him. That one was really tough and I shed some tears during the 10 bell salute and tribute videos. Bob Barker has been around all my life. I and many others can recall watching Price is Right on a sick day. And Arlene Sorkin, the original voice of Harley Quinn, is a voice I will never forget. Another one from Batman The Animated Series is unfortunately gone.
- 15 streams remaining (08.31). A CBAM photoshoot. Anyone remember CBAM? Out of all the photos, I had two I really liked. So I posted one on Twitter/X and the other on IG.
- Another internet outtage (08.31). Seems like a once a month occurrence. It went out around 1PM. The estimated recovery was around 3PM. I was able to still exercise and do other errands around that time. Checked in here and there to see if there was an update. Recovery time jumped to 5PM and then 6PM. And then it went to 10PM. I know that it can change on a whim, but if I knew it was going to be out for that long, I would have tried to go out and do something or tried to hang out with someone. But almost as soon as I posted about it, it was back, ha.
GAMES=========================
- The theme for August streams was Demo Showcase Favorites/Runners-Up. Outside of the first game, all other games for the theme are in chronological order.
- Tangle Tower was the final point-and-click to start the month (08.01). It was also the runner-up from Demo Showcase 53.The voice overs were fantastic and the story kept me intrigued. My guess on who done it was wrong, but I was satisfied with how things played out.
- Demo Showcase 112 was the last natural Demo Showcase (08.03). By that I mean it followed the formula, it wasn't altered, it was just the next set of demos in line. I did find it fitting that Sam & Max was the last one because it ended on one I knew I'd like and was ultimately my favorite.
- Ocathedron: Transfixed Edition was the favorite from Demo Showcase 11 (08.05). Very challenging platformer with really clever level design. Some parts were tougher than others and I sure as heck could not do any of the extra challenges. It's not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.
- Pixel Puzzle Makeout League was the favorite from Demo Showcase 69 (08.07-08.08). It was also the final official Viewer's Choice and they chose a good one. Sure, Picross is not normally my jam, but this game had options to make finishing puzzles doable regardless. The biggest surprise was the story. It's nuts no matter who you choose because you have to end up finishing everyone's path to see how things ultimately end. I didn't know you had to finish all of their paths so I had to fast forward through 2 of them and go a little over time on the second stream to see how it ended. Quite a twist. If you aren't into Picross, I think you can still watch the story.
- DRAGON BALL FIGHTERZ was the last game trial (08.09). I wasn't sure if I was going to get around it, but forced myself to play it whenever I had a chance. I ended up finishing one story arc and was hoping credits would roll. They didn't, which made sense as we only got part of the story. It's on my wish lists now. I wouldn't mind playing through the rest of the story mode.
- Gradius was the final NES NSO game of the month (08.10). Through some strange mishap, I did not mark this off as played on stream just like Excitebike. It was one of the few I played before I started streaming so it was nice to have this bookend that set of games for streams. Still tough, but a solid horizontal shooter.
- Aerials_Knight's Never Yield was the favorite from Demo Showcase 82 (08.12). While I enjoyed the game, it was a bit of a let down. If the jump in difficulty wasn't steep, I'd try more. But a few glitches made it not as fun. The music was the best part hands down.
- Game of Dragons was our last natural free-to-play game of the month (08.14). Going into this one, I could tell it might not vibe with me...and it didn't. Did it work, yeah. Was it fun, no. An hour later, I added Omega Strikers to the stream. Much like last time I added another free-to-play game, this came from the bottom of the list (the latest one added). I had heard good stuff about this one and was looking forward to trying it. And then it took over half an hour to get it going. I was stuck on the menu screen and then stuck on the tutorial for way too long. Spent time during those long periods of being stuck looking up articles in case others ran into similar issues. Also looked up videos to see how it was supposed to progress. Thankfully once I got beyond the tutorial, it was smooth sailing. Very fun 3v3 soccer action. Each character looked cool and played differently. Game of Dragons I don't recommend. Omega Strikers I recommend...just be warned about the possible initial starting issues.
- Beat Comix Zone off-stream (08.16). I get why people like the game, but I didn't have fun with it. They did some interesting things with the comic book theme. Felt like a lot of potential that probably would have been fleshed out in a sequel if that ever happened.
- Beat Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World off-stream as well (08.17). Never knew of the Luigi physics in this game, which added a new wrinkle to using him. Having a stats menu to keep track of everything was neat too. Other than that, it was good trying out this version of Super Mario World.
- Sky Racket was the favorite from Demo Showcase 95 (08.18). I did get a physical copy of this game. This was just as good as I remember. It is unfortunately one of those games where you need to get all achievements to unlock the true final stage and boss and that wasn't going to happen. I looked it up. Thankfully credits still rolled. Great mesh of a horizontal shooter and a breakout game. Bet it would be really fun playing co-op.
- Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was our final GameBoy game of the month (08.20). Played it only one time on the 3DS Virtual Console. Things were familiar, but I don't have a recollection of level design. But it still plays very well. There were secret stages I never knew of so we actually 100% completed it this time around.
- The Company Man was the favorite from Demo Showcase 106 (08.23). Great humor throughout the game. The action and platforming is simple. I did wish there was a bit of exploration like a Metroid game, but that's not what this was. Ended up 100% it, but the latter portion of the stream was playing the first level multiple times to get X amount of money to buy the final upgrades. Enjoyable, yes. Worth doing everything, maybe not.
- Letters - a written adventure was the favorite from Demo Showcase 107 and the final game for August's theme (08.25). Definitely enjoyed the multiple paths and the tons of replay value. Relatable themes, but nothing (that I felt) was too heavy. And there's no way to lose. If you make a mistake, try something else. If I were to wish for one extra thing it would have been voice overs. It's fine without it, but I think it would have been a nice touch.
- Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was our final N64 NSO game (08.27-08.30). It was also the last of one Zelda game a month for the last 3 months. So nostalgic. Last time I played any version of Ocarina was the 3DS version when it came out 10+ years ago. I definitely recalled a few things out of order and flat out forgot stuff. A few things were frustrating and I couldn't find everything within the time frame I gave myself (got all hearts, but missed 20 Skulltulas). I was actually really worried about playing this because of how it's important to a lot of people and was worried that I'd be told I was playing the wrong version or get heavily backseated (which I don't care for especially for a game I've played many times and have a strategy guide on me) etc. Thankfully that didn't happen. Cheers on the game still holding up.
ETC=========================
- SNSD - Lucky Like That (16th Anniversary Special Video)
- MISAMO - Do not touch (Choreography VIdeo (moving ver.)
- Jihyo - Killin' Me Good (MV)
- ITZY - CAKE (Stage Practice)
- HyoYeon - Picture (MV)
That's a wrap on August 2023. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
