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A Restless Truth - Freya Marske
The Knowledge - Martha Grimes
The Old Success - Martha Grimes**
Witch King - Martha Wells
Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree
Translation State - Ann Leckie
Bookshops & Bonedust - Travis Baldree

* While this annual post usually covers all media, I didn't watch any TV or movies, and I didn't listen to any scripted podcasts.

** I did not like this book and will provide a trigger warning here:
Show trigger warning Warning: Child death. Contains a detailed point-of-view account of a father returning home to find his toddler drowned in a bathtub.
flamebyrd: (Default)
This has been a very busy year and I don't have a lot to log, but I don't want to break my streak of posting these! I missed my usual December 31 date so I'll probably backdate this entry after a week or so.

Books
Suradanna and the Sea - Rebecca Fraimow
A Marvellous Light - Freya Marske
A Master of Djinn - P. Djèlí Clark
The Library Book - Susan Orlean
The Affair of the Mysterious Letter - Alexis Hall
False Value - Ben Aaronovitch (Audiobook)
What Abigail did that Summer - Ben Aaronovitch (Audiobook)

Games
Moonglow Bay (2021)
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Links go to my Dreamwidth post about the work.

Books
New Times, New Hell - 林知落
Winter's Orbit - Everina Maxwell
The King's Avatar - Butterfly Blue
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 - P. Djèlí Clark
A Dead Djinn in Cairo - P. Djèlí Clark
Any Way the Wind Blows - Rainbow Rowell
Copper Coins - Musuli
One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston
Fugitive Telemetry - Martha Wells
First-Class Lawyer - Musuli [in progress]

Games
Ikenfell (2021)
Donut County (2018)
Tetris Effect (2018)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale (2021)
Mini Metro (2015)
Unpacking (2021)

TV
The King's Avatar (2019) [in progress]

Music
Tetris Effect Original Soundtrack
Ikenfell (Original Game Soundtrack)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Original Soundtrack)
Moonglow Bay (Original Soundtrack)
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Still playing:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo Switch)
A bunch of my friends have reset their game and started over anew, but I'm still too attached to my current island to do that.

This is definitely the longest I've played any Animal Crossing game, and I believe the first time ever that I've caught all of the fish and bugs. I'm not going to say I've played every day, but the longest I've ever gone between playing was 2 weeks - and I caught up by time travelling through a day at a time so I didn't miss any individual day in-game.

I'm currently redesigning the rear half of my island, including the residential part, so that's fun (sarcasm). I recently dumped a bunch of fossils in front of my museum, which turned out to be right under the flight path and it looks awesome. Also, I finally gave in and added a second player to the island so I could pass some of the seasonal furniture taking up space in my storage to their houses.

Fossils: 74/74
Bugs: 80/80
Fish: 80/80
Sea creatures: 40/40
Art: ????

Spiritfarer (Various platforms):
My issues with connecting with the story did not improve over time, but I enjoyed the gameplay enough to finish it. I haven't quite hit 100% completion yet (still have to catch some more fish) but I've completed the story and found all the hidden objects.

Recently completed:

Donut County (Various platforms)
This was available on XBox Game Pass for PC, so I downloaded and it played it through from start to finish over a couple of nights (it's short). It's like Katamari Damarcy if the people the tiny prince rolls up in his ball called him out afterwards to say "WTF, why did you do that?". Cute story, fun gameplay that I didn't find especially challenging (with two exceptions). The only skill it requires is puzzle solving and the ability to move a cursor, except for the final boss battle which needs some quick movement and coordination.

Up next:

If I keep my XBox Game Pass subscription I might try out Octopath Traveler or Undertale. Otherwise, I bought Final Fantasy IX for Switch a while back and I'd like to pick that up again.
flamebyrd: A witch and a bard. The bard is saying "Is the world really ending??" (apocalypse)
Ikenfell is a "turn-based tactical RPG about a group of troublesome magic students", available on PC/Playstation/Xbox/Switch and largely developed by one person (Chevy Ray Johnston). I played it on PC via the Xbox GamePass.

I enjoyed it a lot, even though I had to use the difficulty settings in order to make the battle system tolerable. The plot is very linear, which for me is a selling point (no pesky decisions to make!), and went in some unexpected directions. There are lots of queer and non-binary characters, and their identities are not treated as plot points. The save points are adorable sleeping kitties. The soundtrack is by aivi & surasshu who are apparently best known for creating the soundtrack for Steven Universe.

The general pattern of the game is: You are given a place to go to chase down a plot point. You walk through a dungeon to get there, fighting monsters, solving puzzles and hunting out secret extra items. You fight a boss battle (or two). You are given another place to go. Repeat.

Skills required:
Timing (adjustable, can be disabled)
Tactical combat decisions (can enable an instant-win option)
Puzzle-solving (logic, observation, timing)

Content warnings:
Can be enabled in-game! Spoilers )

More thoughts under the cut (Spoiler-lite) )

Actual spoilers go here )

But like I said above, I genuinely enjoyed it despite its annoyances. Solid use of my 22+ hours.
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Not an especially productive year, but this list is definitely longer than last year's.

Edit: Just corrected the subject line from 2021 to 2020, marking probably the first time in life I've ever written the new year instead of the old year (and not the other way around).

Books
魔道祖师 | Mo Dao Zu Shi | The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation - 墨香铜臭 | Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
人渣反派自救系统 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - 墨香铜臭 | Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
重生之朗朗星空 | Rebirth of a Movie Star - j112233
梦溪石 | Peerless - Meng Xi Shi
网恋翻车指南 | Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating - 酱子贝
Network Effect - Martha Wells
Edge of Nowhere - Felicia Davin
The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins (audio, read by Phoebe Judge)
The Leavenworth Case - Anna Katharine Green (audio, read by Phoebe Judge)
The Place Between - Kit Oliver
Red, White and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall
The Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
Conventionally Yours - Annabeth Albert
The Princess and the Fangirl - Ashley Poston

Comics/Manga/Graphic Novels
Tonari no Robot - Nishi Uko

Video Games
Completed games (to the end credits, not necessarily 100%) are marked with *
Stardew Valley*
Child of Light*
Animal Crossing: New Horizons*[1]
Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice*
Katamari Damarcy Reroll
Spiritfarer

Movies
封神榜 | League of Gods (2016)

TV
(At what point do I admit that I don't watch scripted serialised video content anymore and remove this heading from the list?)

Audio
(I only list narrative audio here)
The Far Meridian - Seasons 1 & 2

Music
Child of Light (OST) - Beatrice Martin / Coeur de Pirate

Live Events
Ha. Ha. Ha.

Recorded Theatre and Opera
Aida (Met Opera, 1984)
Hamlet (Globe)
Rigoletto (Met Opera, 2016?)
Jesus Christ Superstar (2012?)
Cats (1997)


[1]: Hey, it has end credits!
flamebyrd: A screenshot of Madeline from the game Celeste. The text reads "This may have been a mistake." (mistake)
I picked up Child of Light for free from the Ubisoft store a few weeks ago, and I just finished it last night on April 20.

Story: Fairytale-inspired portal fantasy
Graphics: Beautiful 2.5D watercolour-style art
Gameplay: RPG with platformer elements, 2 difficulty settings

In short: I finished this game, so it was clearly fun and absorbing enough to keep me occupied, but I don't recommend it as a cheerful isolation distraction.

More details below the cut. )
flamebyrd: (Default)
Yes, it's only been a week. Don't expect this to last.

Books
Artemis - Andy Weir

Next
The Stone Sky (Broken Earth #3) - N. K. Jemisin

Television
Agatha Christie's Poirot 4x03-5x03

Audio ie. Podcasts
(I'm only including narrative podcasts in here.)
The Adventure Zone 1-8
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