'Dad, is that really how you have to turn off your laptop?' the eldest asked after seeing me 𝚜𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚌𝚝𝚕 𝚜𝚞𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍

Which are? Didn't get any snacks at all.

Drove south today to surprise the kids with an #Efteling visit. I wasn't sure about the drive after just getting diagnosed with #BPPV (vertigo), but everything went well and nothing beats those happy little faces. :ablobcatheartsqueeze:

Great album. I listen to this one and the Chrono Arrangement album (with Laura Shigihara vocals) quite often.

Anyway: www.whosampled.com/sample/23269...

In this week's #homeserver tweaks: I added a hardened SSH bastion for whenever Wireguarding home isn't an option and started tinkering with #Hugo to migrate my old WordPress instances to.

You know you reached a certain age when the first thing you do when launching #InDesign is turning on the *Classic* Essentials workspace.

Michel and Gueld!

Falcom 45th Anniversary illustration.

Wait they got Liam O'Brien to voice Weissmann in the dub? I must hear that performance

Spent the weekend digging through archives to further fill out the family tree. I found that adding photographs really adds something, it turns ancestors into people instead of just data entries. #genealogy

Traditional Dutch wind mill from below against a cloudy but sunny blue sky.

#Windmill De Valk in #Leiden .

gu4n's review of Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten | Backloggd <em>Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten</em> expands the world of <em>Utawarerumono</em> in a way that feels unnecessary on paper, but welcome in practice. It's a prequel to the <a rel='nofollow' target='_blank' href='https://backloggd.com/series/utawarerumono/'>existing trilogy</a>, exploring Oshtor's past before his rise to Imperial General of the Right of Yamato, a powerful empire inspired by regions surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk. Whereas previous titles blended lengthy visual novel segments with accessible strategy, this entry shifts fully into a turn-based RPG with sprawling fields and ample quests. It not only revisits a world fans have become intimately familiar with, it also expands the characters' backgrounds and lore.<br><br>The game retains what defines the series - nuanced character writing, strong musical direction, and distinctive artwork - but channels it succesfully through a different genre, a shift I personally prefer over the earlier strategy format. As much as I welcome its exploration of Oshtor, Mikazuchi and Munechika's backgrounds and contribution of the overarching lore, the story never quite reaches the emotional of political heights of its predecessors. The game is primarily for fans of the series; if you weren't invested in the world through the previous trilogy, the inoffensive but not particularly noteworthy combat system won't draw you in now. As a fan, I still loved every minute of my 37-hour playthrough, and I won’t make the mistake of overlooking <a rel='nofollow' target='_blank' href='https://backloggd.com/games/utawarerumono-past-and-present-rediscovered/'>its sequel</a> again.

I played, completed and quite unexpectedly really liked Monochrome Mobius, the fourth #Utawarerumono game.

https://backloggd.com/u/gu4n/review/4438080/

Prove You're Human (sunset visitor 斜陽過客, 2027)

gu4n's review of Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten | Backloggd <em>Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten</em> expands the world of <em>Utawarerumono</em> in a way that feels unnecessary on paper, but welcome in practice. It's a prequel to the <a rel='nofollow' target='_blank' href='https://backloggd.com/series/utawarerumono/'>existing trilogy</a>, exploring Oshtor's past before his rise to Imperial General of the Right of Yamato, a powerful empire inspired by regions surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk. Whereas previous titles blended lengthy visual novel segments with accessible strategy, this entry shifts fully into a turn-based RPG with sprawling fields and ample quests. It not only revisits a world fans have become intimately familiar with, it also expands the characters' backgrounds and lore.<br><br>The game retains what defines the series - nuanced character writing, strong musical direction, and distinctive artwork - but channels it succesfully through a different genre, a shift I personally prefer over the earlier strategy format. As much as I welcome its exploration of Oshtor, Mikazuchi and Munechika's backgrounds and contribution of the overarching lore, the story never quite reaches the emotional of political heights of its predecessors. The game is primarily for fans of the series; if you weren't invested in the world through the previous trilogy, the inoffensive but not particularly noteworthy combat system won't draw you in now. As a fan, I still loved every minute of my 37-hour playthrough, and I won’t make the mistake of overlooking <a rel='nofollow' target='_blank' href='https://backloggd.com/games/utawarerumono-past-and-present-rediscovered/'>its sequel</a> again.

I played, completed and quite unexpectedly really liked Monochrome Mobius, the fourth #Utawarerumono game.

backloggd.com/u/gu4n/revie...

*Coach removes mask* 'Twas I, Bob, all along!'

Watched #Gunbuster while rowing. Wasn't sure I'd like it in the beginning, but it kept getting better and better, and the last two episodes in particular were just *chef's kiss*

#AmWatching #Anime

'The kids are asleep, time for Pokémon,' the parents said.

Box of Moderoid model Argreion the Argent Knight from Trails of Cold Steel III. It's an elegant silver mecha with an enormous lance and silver/golden wings.

Found it at the Yodobashi in Osaka. They had Argreion as well, but Valimar alone was challenging enough to fit in the luggage.

Nice present! What made you decide to give her a Divine Knight model kit? Is she a fellow Trails enjoyer? Mech enthusiast?

Wish I could answer that but I literally have no prior experience with model kits, lol. Manual was straightforward and it was easy to put together, took about 2 hours.

Figurine of Valimar, a grey/black mecha holding a sword. It's standing on the instruction manual, reading 'Valimar, the Ashen Knight'.

Assembled the Moderoid model of Valimar my wife got me for our anniversary. This was my first time putting something like this together, had a lot of fun with it! :ablobcatattention:

gu4n's review of Pokémon Legends: Arceus | Backloggd <em>Pokémon Legends: Arceus</em> is an ambitious new spin on the series, taking inspiration from <em>Breath of the Wild</em> but replacing breakable weapons with expendable Pokémon instead. The game transports a modern-day Pokémon trainer to the region of Sinnoh in an era when the region was still called Hisui, different tribes worshipped the fourth-generation legendaries as 'the almighty Sinnoh' and PokéBalls were made of fruit and stone, and tasks the player with researching Pokémon and recording them in a paper Pokédex. You work your way through the different regions to collect materials, craft PokéBalls, sneak up on wild Pokémon to catch them and complete specific research tasks to climb the ranks of the Survey Corps of the Galaxy Expedition Team. It's a refreshing new take on the Pokémon formula while offering a first-hand look at what the world of Pokémon was like in earlier days.<br><br>Once you settle into the rhythm of exploring, crafting, catching, and ticking off tasks while filling out your Pokédex, Pokémon Legends: Arceus's core gameplay loop can be far more addictive than the traditional grind of wading through patches of grass and battle for experience points. Where the game fell flat for me, in addition to the widely discussed graphical fidelity, was its combat system in general, but in particular its introduction of the battle speed mechanic, a system I never fully understood throughout my journey in Hisui, leading me to brute-force the otherwise wonderfully challenging final battle using Grit items. Legends: Arceus is worth trying for every Pokémon fan, either for experiencing this experiment or for appreciating the classic systems in traditional mainline games. As someone who returned to the series with Pearl and will always cherish the fourth generation, I welcome Pokémon Legends: Arceus as the shake-up the series needed to renew my excitement for future mainline entries.

- Pokemon Legends: Arceus: https://backloggd.com/u/gu4n/review/4327775/

I'm considering using this format for book reviews, too, but my inexperience with book reviews makes it harder to start. :ablobcathappypaws:

gu4n's review of Sakura Taisen 2: Kimi, Shinitamou Koto Nakare | Backloggd Returning to the Flower Division of the Imperial Combat Revue in <em>Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die</em> felt like a reunion with friends I hadn't seen in too long. Set one year after the original game, the Flower Division once again defends its alternate 1920s steampunk Tokyo from a new enemy: the Black Demon Society. Much of the game revolves around keeping up the morale of the all-female theater troupe, now expanded with two new members, through conversations and time-limited answers. Although many of these conversations revolve around protagonist Ogami, the interaction between the troupe members feels natural and simply wandering the theater to see what everyone is up to is always a pleasure.<br><br>Where Sakura Wars 2 excels is in building on the solid foundation of its predecessor and giving the characters room to grow; I particularly enjoyed the evolution of Sumire and Kanna's bickering and Iris's attempts to befriend the emotionally distant Reni. Although the combat segments are a definite step forward compared to the original, the majority of the fights still offer little challenge and sitting through special attack with no means to skip through the animations can start to feel like a drag toward the end. That said, the game is the ideal sequel for those who enjoyed the character-driven story of the first game and were willing to put up with its combat segments. Your visit to the Grand Imperial Theater should be for the fantastic members of its troupe and not so much for their mech-piloting moonlighting.

After a <this long since NieR Automata released> year break, I'm trying to get back into reviewing games by reviving and revising my old blog's two-paragraph format. I post the reviews on Backloggd. So far, I wrote about:
- Sakura Wars 2: https://backloggd.com/u/gu4n/review/4318822/

Finished Pokémon Legends: Arceus (to Cresselia we kneel) and defrosted the freezer. And it's still only 10 in the morning! :blobcoffee:

#AmPlaying #Pokemon #Games

Screenshot of Sakura catching cherry blossom petals in Spring. Sakura has dark-blue hair tied in a red ribbon and wears a pink kimono.

Finished #SakuraWars 2! If I wasn't a fan already now I am. Absolute peak.

Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

Finished #TashaSuri 's The Oleander Sword. Loved it! Really looking forward to wrap up the Burning Kingdoms trilogy with The Lotus Empire very soon! :ablobcatheartsqueeze:

#AmReading #SFF #Books

Never mind, it's up now!

Oh, that was quick! Thanks for notifying me. Glad it's back up! 😊

Would citing the game itself help? Is there a seasoned Wikipedia editors who can help me out?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utawarerumono:_Mask...