“Crisis averted!” as they say in the business. My NNID recovered thanks to the fine folks at Nintendo. I was keen to keep my old 3DS as a backup, surely thinking that way incase anything went sour (which it most certainly did). It’s nice to have access to all my PicrossE games again, and in a way it’s even better that I get to play them all over as if it was a first time, and fresh fresh puzzles.

It’s a shame that friend code stuff wasn’t tied to the NNID as well, because it’s a bit of a drag to ask for all those friends to code with me again.

I tell you what though. After sending a considerable amount of time on an XL sized (new) 3DS, it’s hard to go back to the smaller original. It’s not just the screen-size itself, (Which is, by comparison… well, yow!) but the boxy design makes it feel old. Which is a weird thing to say, but I guess It just takes some getting used to again.

I sure do miss that eye tracking tech though.

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Puzzle and Dragons is a curious sort of game that is equal parts interesting and a little bit dumb. Sure, I can understand the addictive nature of the ‘match-3-and-up’ puzzle grid mixed with battle elements, but the game board feels flawed.

Perhaps it’s the size?

I’m still fairly early into the game, but I’m already riddled with frustration of not having anything to make a combo with, MOST of the time. I could see where people would be coming from if they were to say “Oh, well most of the time those combos are really just sheer luck.” That really shouldn’t be the case. To get a big combo, you should have accomplished that on your own, and not blindly move orbs into place and hope you get it.

Should I mention I’m playing the Mario version first?

It’s that tiny grievance that doesn’t necessarily stop me from playing, but it does slow down my need to. I guess I’m trying to grasp why it has such a popular base in Japan, but I also suppose it’s because it’s one of those free to play games that you can buy items to do more stuff?

I mean, I don’t know, but it’s clear that would definitely be an element missing from that game, if there ever was one.

Still, I be poking around the game ever so slowly, because I like me some puzzles. Though, it does give me an incredibly strange urge to play Gyromancer again.

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Witcher III continues to be an interesting experience that I feel sad about missing out on two other times before.

The combat is a bit tough when put into the perspective of the way I’ve been playing it. I lack the patience that it’s probably asking for, but I don’t have time to be methodical in most scenarios where I feel otherwise ganged up. Countering is actually easier than most seem to make it out to be (so I hear?), but I always come out of most fights always getting hit way more than I’d like.

The horse is a bit daft too, but I appreciate that it stays on the road and all I have to do is hold a button down. It let’s me choose the ride along option more than fast travel. More than often I always take the long way in a videogame whenever I feel immersed in a world.

The characters in this game so far, are absolutely fantastic and well realized. Each character on Geralt’s journey feels unique and not just a common voice on a different body. There’s so many creatures within this world that also get their momentary story beats and aren’t just quests that fill out on details afterwards (well they still do, Bestiary and all).

I know I’m under-utilizing a lot of what this game is offering me. There’s a whole world of crafting and alchemy that I’m too afraid to touch at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll come around. I’ve collected so many things for crafting materials, but I don’t think I have the right kind of schematics for things (and at least a couple of times now, I’ve acquired schematics for gear at times where it no longer mattered as I’ve long since found something better from a quest or a loot crate).

But I dig it, and will continue on. Although I really shouldn’t, I have plenty of school and work to do.

Also: its should be noted that Johnny the godling has been my favourite character so far.

"I really want to write more. Hell, I really want to write about games more. where the hell is the time going?