A Tower & A Wheel

December 23rd, 2024

We took the bullet train west today. The trip was comfy as always and the clear skies provided wonderful views, including of Fuji.

As always we are ekiben on the train, and as always mine was the same as ever: a plain pork cutlet sandwich. It was delicious!

Our destination was the city of Nagoya. While less than a quarter the size of Tokyo, Nagoya is larger than any Australian city and almost every USA city. On trains we’d sped through it many times on the way to and from Kyoto or Osaka: it was time to stop and visit Nagoya itself!

Since we arrived after lunch todays plan was just to get the lay of the land (so to speak) so after dropping our stuff at the hotel we headed east two stops on a subway to visit Mirai Tower:

There’s a strip of parkland running vertically through the city, and this old TV tower has been standing there for 70 years. Apparently it was the first of its kind in Japan (Godzilla even destroyed it in his first ever film!) and even though it’s nostalgically short by todays standards (about 2/3rd the height of Sydney Tower) we had to go up for a look.

That’s the view looking west, with the skyscrapers in the distance being close to Nagoya Station (I’m on the 21st floor of one as I write this). The tower is old and the views aren’t great if you’ve been up taller towers, but it still has a quaint appeal.

One concession to modernity is that the tower sells padlocks for couples to clip onto the gates of the outdoor viewing platform. There were a great many attached – most seemingly very new – and I wonder how often they are removed? While you can attach them anywhere you like on the outside section, the biggest density was at an area which had been blessed by ‘The Bridal Mother’. Don’t ask me what that means 🙂

From atop the tower we saw this Ferris Wheel attached to a building, and since it was a short walk it became our next destination (although we of course had to detour into an impressive three-floor crane game center). The wheel is called the ‘Sky Boat’ and right now they’re having a collaboration with a K-pop band named NiziU.

I bought my ticket (only ¥600!) and when I got to the wheel I was asked which girl I wanted to ride with. Having never heard of the band I just took the next carriage which meant I experienced Sky Boat with Miihii!

This amounts to nothing really, although the carriage has a touchscreen in it on which you can watch a surprisingly large amount of NiziU music videos or recorded messages from the fans. The ride was smooth and slow and the views were fairly good for a wheel in the middle of a city, and I sat like a handsome gadabout in the company of the dulcet tunes of NiziU. (By the way, KLS hates Ferris Wheels so patiently waited below!)

That’s the view from the highest point of the wheel. You can see the Mirai Tower peeping above one of the buildings in the middle right.

For a country that doesn’t really celebrate Christmas, Japan loves Christmas displays. This monster tree is at the entrance of our hotel (which itself occupies 15 high floors of a skyscraper), and shops are full of all sorts of limited Christmas items as well, like this fetching black cat Santa outfit:

Or this pistachio tree-shaped mini cake KLS bought for dessert:

I’ll probably write more about Japanese Christmas in a few days…

I’ll end today with our hotel room view. At the bottom you can see the tracks of Nagoya Station, and every few minutes a bullet train speeds through. We’re over 20 stories up, and should have a beautiful sunset view if we’re in the room at the right time. The room is very comfortable and we’ll have fun in Nagoya these next few days 🙂

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Let’s All Go To Ikebukuro

December 22nd, 2024

As seems to have become tradition, we went to Ikebukuro today for shopping, Game Center’s and arcades. This is the sixth Japan trip in which day one has been spent at Ikebukuro, and as always it ended up being the right choice.

We are of course jetlagged and our food schedules are all messed up but we feel better than yesterday and I assume we’ll be mostly fine tomorrow.

That’s one of the limited Christmas drinks at Maccas (‘Double Choco Strawberry Frappe’). We ate in the Maccas in Sunshine City and even though Christmas here is hardly as big as in the west the entire mall was bonkers and it felt as if most of Tokyo had turned out to shop today! This was true for most of the shops we visited, and the lines at restaurants eventually became unreasonable, such as a three-hour wait at our local Kura Sushi.

Oh unlike last Christmas and when I was here in June, foreign tourists are conspicuous in their absence. Either my theory was correct (ask me!) or maybe they just don’t want to visit in winter?

We bought lots of stuff – stationary, cosmetics, candy, books etc – and as a result were laden with full bags all day. I still found time for some retro arcade gaming at Mikado, and I’ll say again if I lived in Tokyo I’d be visiting that place all the time.

Given we’d woken very early and set out hours before the shops even opened, it ended up being a very long day and by the time we dragged ourselves back to the hotel we were exhausted.

In fact even as I write I’m struggling to remain awake. But sleep is for the dead, since I’ve yet to sort and pack everything again so we can ship the suitcases to our final hotel as we travel away from Tokyo for the next week. Where will we go? Stay tuned…

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A Day Of Travel

December 21st, 2024

We’re in Japan. The trip was very long (~25 hours) and tiring and we’re both a bit ruined.

Almost eight hours of the trip was a layover in Detroit airport, and were it not for frozen coke mayhaps we wouldn’t have made it!

Don’t we look happy when we boarded the international flight? Fourteen hours later when we landed, all we felt was relief!

It was very late and we just went to a few shops near our hotel (which we’ve stayed at twice before). It’s in the Asakusa district which is full of restaurants, bars and entertainment venues and the above is a selection of a series of new signs on the street celebrating the vibe of this lively part of the city.

We’ve got an exciting vacation ahead of us. Stay tuned for details…

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Postcrossing Update

December 16th, 2024

It’s been over six months since my last Postcrossing update and this strange hobby has been progressing steadily. As of today I’ve sent 1436 postcards and received 1427, and my usage puts me in the top 3% of members based in the USA!

My current maximum is 37 simultaneous addresses and I’m sending/receiving an average of about 40 cards per month. This is time consuming and I’ve considered cutting back, but since I just renewed my PO Box (which is surprisingly expensive) I guess I’ll continue for at least another year.

As usual Germany dominates the top 10 of countries I have sent to…

…and received from. Since May I’ve sent almost 100 more postcards to German addresses alone!

There have been virtually no changes at the low ends of the country lists, with no new countries sending me cards and only a single new one – Uzbekistan – receiving a card from me (which took 82 days to arrive).

Of the 209 countries that currently have postcrossing members, I’ve sent to 63 of them and received from 65. The ‘rarest’ one I’ve got a card from is French Guiana (only 14 members) and the two I’d most like to – but likely never will – get cards from would be Vatican City (4 members) and Papua New Guinea (only 2 members).

Moving onto cards, the variety continues to run the gamut. I added to my bio that I like cheesy old tourist cards and have seen an uptick in them, such as those above. The Australia expo card (why do I not remember an expo in Brisbane in 1988?) was actually sent to me from Germany.

I get lots of animal cards as well, and since I say I like ‘unusual’ animals I occasionally get exactly that, such as the wonderful newt.

I also added that I like ‘fantasy’ cards which led to an uptick in spooky cards, especially witches! I’ve also received a few cool Asian dragon cards from China.

The card on the left, which is shown next to a standard postcard, is by far the largest I have yet received. There’s no explanation on the back of why she’s holding a tank, but since it’s from Belarus perhaps it’s some sort of nationalistic image? At any rate, a lovely card.

I also received a few ‘postcrossing meetup’ cards from Taiwan or China and once again they all were covered with cute stamps that seems to be what the postcrossing users in those countries use. Maybe I should look into getting one like this?

As always I love seeing all the stamps, although the UK and German ones remain marred to the ugly (anti forgery) QR codes.

One Indian postcard was sent using the above for postage, and one Chinese one was sent using just these:

They took up more than half of the back of the postcard, and they actually wrote my address on the other side.

The above are some cool German stamps I received this past six months. I know England had a few nice stamp series as well (including Dungeons & Dragons) alas no one used any on cards sent to me.

A selection of the shaped stamps on recent cards, and as usual Finland wins the contest on most unusual shape.

I particularly like the one in the left where the edge of the stamp is the edge of the ice the man is fishing off. Finland is very clever with their stamp design, and it seems every couple of months they release a new unusual stamp.

The above is the most notable card I received, not just these past six months but perhaps in all the six years I’ve been using Postcrossing! This is an original watercolour painting showing the view from the senders apartment in a Russian town! I praised this in my confirmation of receipt message and she responded saying it took her about half an hour and she tries to do one every week. I had read about users sending original art through the mail but this was the first time I was lucky enough to receive one so I feel very privileged. It’s lovely isn’t it?

In a few days we’re off again to Japan, and as always I look forward to sending the usual barrage of postcards. I hope you enjoy receiving mine when they arrive 🙂

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2024 In Games (Part 2)

December 10th, 2024

Once again I kept track of all the games I played this year, and here they all are. Virtually every one was on the Switch, and for those I played more than a single session, the duration played is listed after my comments.

Etrian Odyssey 1 (HD Remaster): I’ve beaten this game thrice before (on DS and 3DS) and had fun replaying this remake on easiest difficulty. Interesting to see how simple the systems were for this first game in an iconic series. (13 hours)

Star Ocean R: An immensely fun retro remake game with lovely graphics and a charming story, although it clearly rushes the ending. In typical Tri-Ace style, the postgame dungeon was great. (38)

Mon-Yu: Defeat Monsters And Gain Strong Weapons And Armor. You May Be Defeated, But Don’t Give Up. Become Stronger. I Believe There Will Be A Day When The Heroes Defeat The Devil King: A dungeon crawler in the Wizardry style with cute graphics and a lot of repeated assets. Initially seemed for a younger audience, but the brutal difficulty quickly changed my mind. A solid game, and fun while it lasted. (30)

Final Fantasy IV (Pixel Remaster): This was the first Final Fantasy game I ever played (over 30 years ago) and I’ve replayed it many times since. This version is wonderful, and another reason the pixel remasters are fantastic value. (16)

Dead Cells: Return To Castlevania: I ploughed through this DLC expansion and moved on since I’d played the hell out of the base game years ago. A top tier 2d action/platform roguelike. (8)

Undead Darlings: This visual novel / dungeon crawl hybrid had a decent story but the gameplay was slow and ponderous and it needed a few more design passes before release. I gave up after the second dungeon. (5)

Etrian Odyssey 2 (HD Remaster): A wonderful game with lots of depth, fun classes, expansive dungeons but a fiddly quest system. The remake graphics could have been prettier, but I enjoyed this wholeheartedly. (27)

SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble: A roguelike beat-em-up with popcorn enemies and unsatisfying fights. Should have been much better. (3)

Knight Witch: Some excellent ideas in this Metroidvania bullet hell game, but it needed another playability pass before release, since missing basics like fast travel make parts of it tedious. Bosses are overturned as well. (28)

Final Fantasy V (Pixel Remaster): Another iconic game in the series, and one I have dim memories of since it was never originally released in the USA. I loved the job system and the challenging and varied boss fights. Absolute enjoyment from start to end. (30)

Diofield Chronicle: The production qualities are top-notch, but excessive length exposes weakness of a fundamentally simple gameplay loop. Worth a play if you like tactical RPGs with insane and unpredictable stories. (35)

Wheel Of Fortune: A solid version of the TV quiz show, and fun in multiplayer.

Jeopardy: Another good version of the TV show, albeit potentially unfun since there’s little penalty for buzzing in instantly. The questions may also be a little easy. Wheel Of Fortune is the better game.

Demon Gaze Extra: Fun dungeon crawler with a charming story and even though I beat it on Vita years back I had fun replaying it. Drags a bit a couple of dozen hours in and balancing issues on a few RNG bosses should have been fixed in this remake. (35)

Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night: A top-tier Metroidvania, which ran surprisingly well on the Switch (considering a choppy launch). This was my second time playing it through, although I didn’t go insane for 100% this time. (21)

No Man’s Sky: The third – and best – of my playthroughs. Once again I just explored the universe randomly until I maxed out my ship and gear and even after 70 hours felt like I’d only dipped my toe into an ocean of content. A fantastic game. (70)

Unicorn Overlord: A masterpiece of design in every area, with beautiful graphics and sound, wonderful and immersive tactical gameplay, and the sort of story and characters Vanillaware has rightfully become famous for. A contender for one of the best strategy RPGs of all time. (45)

Dredge: Fascinating fishing game with a compelling Lovecraftian story. Wonderful setting with moody and effective graphics. I had loads of fun exploring the world, and the game was exactly the right length. Highly recommended. (10)

Fate/Extella Link: A bland musou game with unappealing character designs and combat very much in the shadow of betters in the genre (like the Zelda or Fire Emblem games). One for fans I suppose. (5)

Legends of Amberland: Loving homage to old school Might & Magic games that hit more than it missed. A fun, cozy rpg that didn’t outstay its welcome. (13)

Starsand: Atrocius controls, execrable story and no fun in the gameplay make this weird survival game one for the trash. (1)

Puzzle Bobble Everybubble!: A new version of Puzzle Bobble with an emphasis on multiplayer. Tight controls and simplistic but satisfying gameplay, but look elsewhere if you’re after a good single player mode. (2)

Titan Quest: A competent but unremarkable Diablo clone. Movement is a bit floaty and character development and gear seem to favor the late game which made normal mode a bit boring. Nice graphics in the switch and got better as it continued. I enjoyed it enough to eye the DLC… (35)

The Legend of Steel Empire: I beat this remake of a 1990s shooter on one credit on normal mode on my first play, obtaining 90% of the achievements. (0.5)

Ninja Jajamaru: The Great Yokai Battle: A fun challenge based platform game, with a few other modes on the cart as extras. Took me half an afternoon to beat everything, but I had a lot of fun, (3)

Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros: I took this 3DS game with me when I traveled mid year and got hooked on it again. The systems are archaic compared to the phone version but it still has a lot of appeal! (10)

Legacy of Ys Books I & II: Another replay, this time on the DS. Ys is always a fun retro RPG, albeit a bit frustrating in certain areas. (5)

Ring Fit Adventure: I returned for some more time with this exercise game and gained about 50 more levels and have almost beat the second loop through and yet there’s still more than half the items still to be found?!? A great rpg! (+15)

Fire Shark (Toaplan Arcade Garage): A dated but fun shooter, here perfectly emulated on the Switch. I bought this for the bonus game – Wardner – which I fondly remembered from my youth. (4)

ZeroFire (Toaplan Arcade Garage): Both games in this package are very dated and the default difficulties are insane, but it was fun playing through each in easy mode. Demons World, the extra game, seems almost impossible! As with the previous game there’s an incredible amount of bonus versions and extra content included. (3)

Talisman: A too-slow version of the board game, made worse with choice due to packing in every expansion. The real version is more fun. (1)

Metroid Prime Remastered: Engrossing and labyrinthine with good boss fights and wonderful exploration. I remembered nothing from playing two decades ago and enjoyed it as if it were my first time. (12)

Tiger Heli (Toaplan Arcade Garage): The weaker of the three ‘Arcade Garage’ complications I bought, since neither game on the cart really holds up. That said the nostalgia level was high. (1)

Phantasy Star 4: I’d been wanting to replay this for years, and found it was more vanilla than remembered. Combat is a bit bland compared to FF games, but the music and cutscenes are great. The translation is very dated, but I still enjoyed it to the end. (20)

Risen: Janky Elder Scrolls wannabe hampered by poor controls, lousy graphics and terrible combat. The quest/world design is oppressive and I played this one for longer than I should have. (5)

The Dragoness: Command Of The Flame: A competent Heroes of Might & Magic clone. I liked the challenges on each map, but not the time limits. It plays well and balance is good but it weakens in the endgame and ends up outstaying its welcome. (30)

Sol Cresta: A very late sequel to retro shooters Moon/Terra Cresta that adds all sorts of systems and features but doesn’t quite ‘click’ as I feel it could have. I beat it and moved on. (1)

Etrian Odyssey 3 (HD Remaster): The best of the three remakes with an incredible amount of content. Once again I enjoyed this as if I hadn’t already beaten it twice! (22)

Bloodstained Curse Of The Moon 2: A fun retro platform game spun off the game mentioned above. This was notably easier than the first one (I played last year) and I beat in under 90 minutes! (1.5)

Shining Force: Fun to replay this tactical RPG after 30+ years. Both deeper and more difficult than I remembered, especially in the final battles. This was the game I named my fanzine after! (20)

Nintendo World Championship NES Edition: A ridiculously addictive set of microgames built around speed running NES classics. I beat/unlocked everything and for one mission was ranked #1 in the world! (7)

Darksiders 3: A mostly successful God of War / Souls hybrid. Some wonky controls but the core gameplay was fun enough to overlook. (25)

Brigandine: A repetitive tactical fantasy war game with poor AI and mundane graphics (aside from extraordinary character portraits). No threat to fire emblem. (15)

Touhou Luna Nights: Short and sweet bullet-hell Metroidvania. Fun, but very linear and not as good as it’s made out to be. (5)

Vagante: Harder, uglier and less fun than Spelunky. An overly punishing roguelike that needed more playability and a better reward system. (1)

Class of Heroes: This Wizardry-like is almost a system without a game, and yet strangely compelling in its dastardly way. I got distracted and never returned. (5)

Tevi: Metroidvania with wonderful control and response, but a little linear and the map design is boring. Combat is fun but bosses were tedious damage sponges. I wish they’d license their engine to another studio to make an even better game! (25)

Metal Slug Attack Reloaded: Insanely addictive tower defense game (of sorts) that I played nonstop for days then had to delete to stop playing. In the end I beat every stage with an S rank and was happy to move on. Amazing value for $10. (20)

Into The Breach: Fun roguelike tactical game with small maps and interesting combat. It’s a bit unrewarding though, and I found it too repetitive after a while. (6)

Burnout Paradise Remastered: The same game I enjoyed 10+ years ago, but this remaster gives you the very best cars immediately which strips away all the challenge. I didn’t put much time into this one. (2)

DoDonPachi Dai Fakkatsu: Bullet hell majesty now on Switch. This is a perfect emulation of a punishing arcade classic. Came in a nice box set with a soundtrack and art book. (3)

DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jo Re:Incarnation: This installment of the series was released (in the arcades) before the above, but seems to be much more difficult. One day I’m going to dedicate myself to becoming an expert at this game! (3)

Fight Crab: The answer to the question “What if QWOP was a 3D fighting game about crustaceans?”. Humorously insane, but ultimately a near-unplayable joke game. (3)

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist Of The Mysterious Dream: A charming RPG with a well written story and very likeable characters. Kept me interested until the very end. One of my most enjoyed games of the year. (55)

Legend of Grimrock: KLS and I played this one together and had a wonderful time exploring every part of the dungeon and ultimately defeating the game after finding every secret. A loving homage to Eye Of The Beholder. (18)

Diablo 2: I couldn’t guess how many hundreds of hours I’ve spent on this game over the last two decades, but this year I racked up another six dozen beating hell with a lightning amazon. One of the best games of all time! (70)

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince: I had fun with this series years back on Game Boy, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this new version. It’s Pokémon meets Dragon Quest, and while a bit simple was never boring. (35)

Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon: I’ve always loved this oft-maligned GBA installment in the series, and despite having beaten it ten times in the past, bought the Switch collection and beat it again five more this year! Unlocking all five classes was as much fun as ever. (19)

The Mummy Demastered: Short and sweet Metroidvania weirdly based on that Mummy film from a few years back. Beat it in two sittings! (6)

Pretty Girls Game Collection 2: Probably objectively trashy collection of minigames but I enjoyed unlocking all the art and the mahjong solitaire game was genuinely well done! (15)

Titan Quest Atlantis and Ragnarok: Both DLCs went on sale around Thanksgiving, so I got them and played through again using a new character! This time I enjoyed the game even more than before, and maybe I’ll return again one day. (30)

Ys X: Nordics: I’m still playing this one, but so far I’m enjoying it quite a lot. Ten hours in and the story, combat and exploration have hooked me.

Puzzle & Dragons: As of this post, I’m at 4207 cumulative login days, which is 11.5 years. I’ve beaten every dungeon (and in fact usually do so the day they’re released) and have far more resources and characters than I’ll ever use, but I still play daily. This seems to be the game of my life. (Too much!)

This is a long list: 65 games played in 2024 totaling more 980+ hours (much more if you include Puzzdra). I was asked my favourite hobby the other day and I answered “I don’t know”. I wasn’t being evasive, it’s just that gaming is such a part of my life I often don’t even think of it as a hobby 🙂

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