Messages

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Off Topic / Re: Music thread

« on: January 06, 2026, 10:32:29 am »

Previous Annual Listening Stats: 2024

Favorite Albums Released in 2025
Out of the 50 albums released in 2025 that I listened to last year, I have four marked as being regarded as something of a favorite.

Billy Woods - Golliwog | May 9, 2025
Tatsuro Murakami - Mita Koyama-cho | May 23, 2025
Tyler, the Creator - Don't Tap the Glass | July 21, 2025
Joey Valence & Brae - Hyperyouth | August 15, 2025

For context, I listened to 897 total albums last year with 48 marked as favorites. As always, I'm generally open to all sorts of genres and welcome suggestions. Here are some listening stats for those 48 favorites:

Nationalities
?: 1
CA: 2
FR: 2
JP: 16
NL: 1
RU: 2
UK: 4
US: 20

Decades
?: 2
1950s: 1
1960s: 2
1970s: 4
1980s: 13
1990s: 3
2000s: 9
2010s: 5
2020s: 9

And lastly, I listened to music this past year from 31 different countries: AT, AU, AZ, BE, BR, CA, CH, CN, CO, DE, EE, ES, FR, GH, IS, JP, KR, MX, NL, NO, PO, PR, RU, SE, SI, TW, TZ, UK, US, VN, ZA

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General / Re: Intro thread

« on: January 06, 2026, 09:26:45 am »

Hello. I've been thinking about joining for a while now, as all the video game forums I used to visit have died off.

Do you plan to use the forums only, or the site's collection feature too? Regardless, welcome!

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General / Re: Your collection in 5-years from now

« on: January 06, 2026, 09:24:08 am »

Realistically, I will probably have another thousand or so games.

No clue what my count was back then but I'm sure way more than a thousand more games

In case you're curious, your Collection total was 3,665 on July 2, 2016. Meanwhile, your Collection total was 7,403 on May 16, 2021. So your Collection total doubled in that time.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: January 05, 2026, 12:10:22 pm »

01. Cozy || PC || 01.04.2026



While looking for a short game in my itch.io backlog to play, Cozy caught my attention. I don't exactly remember how I originally came across it, but I imagine it was from a while back when searching for free point-and-click games, or free horror games, or perhaps games with both genre tag descriptors.

Nevertheless, the game offers a casual point-and-click puzzle adventure experience that doesn't take long to complete, and its winter setting was a perfect complement to this time of year. When the game begins, the player-character has just driven into the wintry woods to check on their uncle, as he lives in isolation. When we finally reach his home, however, things are clearly awry; so, we as the player are required to interact with the environment to solve simple puzzles by using and combining found items to make progress toward continuing our search and then, later, escape the woods using our vehicle. Throughout the game, players will navigate a handful of rooms each with their own items to collect or to utilize in a specific order. And like in typical point-and-click adventure fashion, brief narration toward the actions being made or being attempted are present, alongside enough text relating to failed solutions that's engaging enough that will temporarily baffle players.

Despite its name, Cozy maintains an off-putting atmosphere that becomes more impressive as players venture further inside the uncle's cabin and the sun sets and then disappears to bring nightfall. To my surprise, the game actually managed to incite a sense of fear within me, though there is one trite implementation of a jumpscare midway through the playthrough, which is a tool I almost always find to be reductive toward crafting any meaningful horror. Regardless, the horror ambiance is subtle until it's all of a sudden not, which was unnerving. However, I didn't find the final moment before the game's end credits to be successful, as it botched the emotional turmoil that had just been elevated to a peak to instead deliver a lackluster concluding visual.

Overall, Cozy is an okay horror experience to pass a short fifteen minutes or so. It's not particularly original, but it manages to provide a thoughtful implementation of an interactive short horror story effectively.

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General / Re: A Year in Review - 2025

« on: January 04, 2026, 03:38:39 pm »

Previous Year in Review Summaries: 2023, 2024

Favorite 2025 Release: Mario Kart World
To my surprise, Mario Kart World was a lot of fun. I've experienced the Mario Kart franchise to some degree over the years, but I've never once been particularly interested or captivated by them, whereas I felt quite engrossed with this specific title for some time despite being limited to single-player play. The act of being able to explore so freely throughout the game's interconnected world and finding hidden collectibles and besting challenges brings this spin-off racing game much closer to the main series's (particularly its 3D titles) roots.

Least Favorite 2025 Release: Formless Star
Fortunately, none of the eight games I played (only seven to completion) in 2025 are bad games, so awarding Formless Star to this slot is being done simply by it being the weakest among the options. Formless Star is a simple game that sets out what it wants to achieve, but I find the games it competes against for this slot to be more engaging.

Favorite Game Played in 2025: Cuphead
After several years of having the means to play through Cuphead and simply not doing it, I decided to finally play through it this year. And after much anticipation, I wasn't let down by it in any significant way. As a shoot-'em-up focusing on two different sub-genres (run and gun and horizontally scrolling) which I'm considerably inexperienced in both, Cuphead tested my ability as someone who plays games alongside my patience in failure, which the latter came often. Several bosses in particular were exceptionally challenging to me, but the game is designed in such a way that every failure feels deserved, and the relationship between failure and accomplishment is well-balanced. Once finally being able to overcome these challenges, there was always a great sense of accomplishment felt. One day I'll get around to buying the physical copy of the game which includes the DLC and be challenges all over again.

Least Favorite Game Played in 2025: Chibi-Robo! Photo Finder
Despite it being infamous for being a bad game, I decided to briefly try out Chibi-Robo! Photo Finder. Not only is the gameplay loop incredibly dull, but the 3DS system's hardware limitations regarding its built-in camera significantly worsens an already bad gaming experience.

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2025: A Dark Room
By sheer chance, I discovered A Dark Room and became totally engrossed by it. Despite the game's limited text-based presentation and slow build-up, it really felt like the exact game I needed to play in that moment. I spent nearly all day playing it which, looking back, feels like the longest I've played a game in one single sitting in so many years.

Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2025: Sharing
It may be strange to list something like this, but I'm really glad I reached out to telly to lend out several Silent Hill games. Even when gaming was more of an in-person activity years ago, it was a rather solitary experience for me during that time. I never had anyone to talk to about games, and I certainly wasn't playing games with others or lending or borrowing them. So this small act felt nostalgic in a way for something I've never really experienced before, and it gave the opportunity for my collection to be something more for a while.

Of the games I played throughout 2025, here are some other personal categories:

Best Art Direction: Sable
Best Handheld: OlliOlli
Best Narrative: Lisa: Definitive Edition
Best Score and Music: Lisa: Definitive Edition
Best Storytelling: P.T.
Best World Design: Mario Kart World
Most Challenging: Cuphead
Most Innovative: Balatro
Most Thought-Provoking: Silent Hill 2 (2024)
Newest Game Played: Silent Hill f (September 25, 2025)
Oldest Game Played: Super Mario Kart (September 1, 1992)

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: January 02, 2026, 08:30:21 pm »

1. Spyro the Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy)

If you ever do get around to playing Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon, I think you'll find them to be substantially better than the debut title, though they may still not be games you'll enjoy.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: January 02, 2026, 08:24:52 pm »

130. Celeste (Switch)

I've been going back-and-forth for a while about whether I'll ever want to get around to playing Celeste since I'm not really one to play platformers much anymore, but I think you've managed to keep it on my backlog without the issue of it being removed before I ever try it out.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: January 02, 2026, 08:17:25 pm »

Top 5 Best Games Finished in 2025
2. 2064: Read Only Memories
3. Silent Hill 3
5. Silent Hill f

Top 5 Worst Games Finished in 2025
1. Silent Hill Homecoming
2. Silent Hill Downpour
4. Read Only Memoires: Neurodiver

It's always upsetting when a series with such grand highs manages to produce polarizing lows.

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News / Re: Find out how many items you have created!

« on: December 30, 2025, 09:12:43 am »

I mostly added German variants as well. Always wondered how many I did by now.

For you, your current entry submission total is 273, and the first entry you submitted is Battle Chasers: Nightwar [DE].

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News / Re: Find out how many items you have created!

« on: December 29, 2025, 09:48:30 am »

Have I cracked 100 yet? 

You absolutely have. Your current entry submission total is 377, and the first entry you submitted is Hyperdunk.

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News / Re: Find out how many items you have created!

« on: December 28, 2025, 11:34:57 am »

It's been a few years since anyone's unlocked this topic, so I'll leave it open once more for about a week. With that said, if anyone is curious what their to-date database entry creation total is, they can request that information, and I'll report it.

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Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Developer/Publisher Requests

« on: December 28, 2025, 10:25:49 am »

Publisher: Tron Eletrônica Ltda.

Because of the ongoing Developer and Publisher field encoding errors, the above option currently appears as Tron Eletrônica.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: December 27, 2025, 11:54:19 am »

Previous 52 Game Challenges: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

01. Cozy || PC || 01.04.26

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: December 24, 2025, 09:22:25 am »

I also really enjoyed that my SS had a theme with their selections- the plan was to find a game from my list whose title starts with a letter in my name- nick.

n- nicktoons
i- IGPX
c- Carol's Sudoku
K- Konami Kids Playground- Frogger

Very clever!

I enjoy seeing some focused thought on the gifts being chosen this year!

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General / Re: Gaming/Collecting Goals for 2026

« on: December 21, 2025, 03:23:18 pm »

It's not that I've grown tired of playing games, but I've been investing my free time in other activities lately that I don't think will change.

I think it's perfectly normal and healthy to change things up when it comes to hobbies, and also to take as long of a break as you need to from a specific one if you're feeling burnt out or just feel your interest slipping.

That's cool you've got into DnD so much. I used to play it a lot back in the early 2000s back around the time third edition was released. I had two friends in particular who I used to play with and we had a blast playing all weekend. I can't remember why I ever got out of it, but it's something I've considered jumping into from time to time. I sort of feel like I already have too many hobbies and interests to add another, but who knows.

I definitely agree. But for me in this moment in particular, it's really just about not having the amount of time to divide to all my active interests and not about becoming disillusioned or anything with video games. A group activity like D&D will inevitably take priority over singular activities (or it should, anyway.)

I've only played for a few years now with my only experience in 5e, though I still very much feel like a beginner since my group isn't able to play regularly. So far, we've had two periods of 3–4 months without playing on account of conflicting schedules. Right now, the group is only myself and three players, but we're divided between west coast, east coast, and two players in Japan, so obviously there is far less available time for us all to meet. Maybe in time we'll recruit someone else or one of the few who've had to break from the group will return. Even if that'd only increase scheduling challenges, I think having more players would be worth it. I had never really considered DMing before, but the previous DM reached out to me hoping I would since they're wanting to be a player again. Really, I never thought I'd ever even play D&D at all, but being invited to play makes it easier than finding the motivation to find or build a group yourself. Hopefully DMing works out and I grow more comfortable in the role so preparing for sessions comes easier than how it's felt so far.