Project 1…almost done?

It has been a little while since I’ve shared a research update with everyone. During my last update, I was working on requesting generation of simulation files and working towards the full data use request with CERN. Thankfully, we’ve gotten past much of the hurdles.

Run 3 sample generation is moving forward and after giving an updated presentation internally I’ve put in the request for using the full data. Right now, it’s mostly a waiting game until all simulation files are made and we’re given the green light to set limits using full data.

In the meantime I’ve just been getting all our ducks in a row, so to speak. Performing fits for every year of Runs 2 and 3 of the LHC, and making preliminary limits for each year using small slices of data. Small is relative though, as before any selections we’re talking 100’s of millions of events all in all (the cuts bring it down to just hundreds of events). When I’m given the clear I’ll post something related to what I’ve been doing.

There isn’t too much to update on my hardware activities at FNAL, going is slow at present. However, next year does have some landmarks to look forward to.

Next semester is my last semester of classes, with only 1 class (Elementary Particle Physics). This class seems to me mostly review of QFT and filling in any gaps not covered from prior classes. Once I finish this class, I can start moving towards candidacy. After which I’m essentially halfway through my PhD! Exciting times.

Holidays Galore

Since my last update basically all the Holidays have passed us by too. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas just now. Lily and I rolled through Ohio for all of these. Nothing too crazy to report here, just fun times to be had with family and friends.

I hope everyone has had a great holiday season all things considered though. It’s been good for us.

Game Updates

As most should expect by now I have indeed gotten through plenty of games since my last post. In fact one could say the most ‘primary’ of my backlogs of games was completed since my last update. Priorities have changed a bit now.

I have essentially three sorts of lists now.

• Sequels to games I enjoyed
• Second chances to games I dropped
• PC specific backlog

These sort of backlogs just sort of happened after years of playing retro console games. For long series to break up monotony I ended up putting them to the side for a bit, so as to not feel trapped (Sorry, but I can’t play 3 Persona games back-to-back). There’s also a variety of games I dropped, with some possibility of having redeeming factors (although so far that has not been the case). The other elephant in the room is that much of my gaming backlogs thus far followed the evolution of console specific games, at some point this does sidestep PC gaming, so I’ve begun going down that rabbit hole.

All that being said let’s discuss the games I’ve played since. Admittedly, I can’t give strong recommendations for most of what I have to talk about this time.

Lost Judgement

Lost Judgement is a game that leaves me with a mixed impression. The first Judgement is narratively some of the best work RGG studio has put out and is world class writing and characterization. It also has great cinematography. Lost Judgement struggles to find good footing for much of its run. Many of the high points of praise I can levy for the first Judgement, its sequel fails to live up to. In fact the most noteable improvement is purely in combat gameplay.

Let’s talk the good before delving more into the bad. The concept that the narrative follows, bullying and failures of the legal system to judge criminal behavior, is novel and worth exploring; there is clearly a good theme to be expressed here. Jin Kuwana is a very interesting character, and there’s much analysis one can have there on the rights and wrongs of his worldview. We see a slight improvement in graphics in most aspects. The combat mechanics have been cleaned up quite a bit and the addition of a third combat system gives an answer for many of the circumstances from last game that were annoying. This game also introduces the punishing counter system that is perfected in later Yakuza games. A last statement of note is that the tailing minigame has been improved while also having its overuse dialed down from the first Judgement.

Unfortunately, I have a lot more criticism to deliver here. The elephant in the room is that the first Judgement is very much a character driven narrative, centered around Tak’s personal arc. The first game’s narrative was concluded so well that the second pales in comparison for much of the story. The lack of personal stakes for much of the game really hurts its narrative. The delivery of the plot is also of a lesser quality here as well. Rather than having fully rendered cinematic cutscenes, this game has an increased quantity of those lower budget or substory quality cutscenes for plot delivery. This makes it difficult to take it as seriously at times. There also seems to be some reuse of plot elements from the first Judgement for whatever reason, which makes it feel stale.

The delivery of side content in this game is also done in an awkward way. It’s easy to get locked into plot segments where you cannot engage in side content or time of day restrictions block you from engaging in a substory. Sometimes it feels like the game actively is designed to keep you from it at times. For that reason I hadn’t actually engaged very much with the school stories.

This was also one of the first RGG games to switch up traversal of the map. In this game they implement a skateboard for Tak to ride. However, it’s quite awkward to manuever and Tak seems to hop off of it if you blink too hard. Thankfully, they refined the traversal by Infinite Wealth with the segways.

The parkour system in this game is a waste of space being quite frank. It’s largely a half-assed minigame that just pads out game time. Also, I don’t think the solution to having less tailing missions is to just have a ton of chasing missions.

I can understand the changes they made to the VR ‘Mario Party-like’ minigame, but think them a bit harsh. It’s essentially not worth engaging in unless you’re doing everything in your power to get the unlimited free play pass.

Now, the combat is improved in the overall sense. However, I would argue that the additional fighting style largely trivializes much of the combat. To some degree the parry mechanic is essentially the same as putting the game on ‘easy’.

All things considered, it’s still an RGG game. It just doesn’t hit the same highs as much of their library. I’m giving it a 7/10.

Sea of Stars

This game had been a plan for me to play for quite awhile. It’s been recommended to me many times, and I wanted to like it. However, I was admittedly left wanting.

The initial impression is strong enough. The art and music are great, the combat starts out promising, and has a solid call to adventure. However, as the game goes on the leads feel rather barren; with Garl being the most likeable character. The mechanical character growth quickly stagnates and eventually combat feels very repetitive and stale.

The narrative is okay, but nothing revolutionary. I spent much of my time with this game being frustrated with Brugraves, Erlina, and Moraine as characters though. The dungeons in this game have good art and the general structure is okay. However, they’re normally short jaunts and loot isn’t really balanced in a satisfying way. There are a few interesting and fun boss fights, but they aren’t super common.

The best I can say is that it was an okay game, but isn’t exactly the spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger it’s hyped up to be. I would’ve liked it better if it was centered around the pirate crew. I’m giving it a 6.5/10

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

It had been quite since time since I played a R&C game and to be fair there was quite a gap between the last one and this. However, this was a refreshingly good and fun game.

One could worry that a modern Ratchet & Clank game would fall victim to modern sensibilities such as open-world games with microtransactions. However, this feels like return to form. This is super easy to pick up if you’ve ever played a Ratchet & Clank, it feels like you never left.

Everything that was good about the PS2 original, is still present here. The modern sensibilities are present in the artistry, presentation, and QoL improvements.

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it’s good fun and remembers what good gaming is all about. 8/10.

Observer

This was an interesting game. It’s best described as being as a cyberpunk thriller. You play as a washed out old detective trying to track down his son in a dystopian cyberpunk future. Artistry is good, the gameplay is so-so. The setting is interesting, with many things that’ll leave you thinking. However, I do think the ending was terrible.

The game spends 90% of its run propped up by a cybernetically enhanced detective system, just to eschew it in favor of traditional hide and run horror game mechanics at the very end. It also broaches the topic of human consciousness beyond physical form just to return to rogue AI plot tropes at the end.

There was much potential here, but it certainly wasn’t as good as a game like ‘SOMA’. 7/10

Ghost of Tsushima / Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

I admittedly dropped both of these games. I combined both of these as an attempt at expressing that these games were what pushed me over the line of open-world exhaustion. I have slightly different feelings overall with these games.

Ghost of Tsushima is a beautiful game, but doesn’t leave me feeling that it has much new or interesting to say that hasn’t been done to death. It’s a game best made for the super Kurosawa fans among you, but for a broader audience it loses its draw eventually.

For AC Valhalla, I admittedly just have hit the point of exhaustion and minimum interest in AC at this point.

This kind of game formula has just exhausted me too much to continue at this point.

Now let’s talk second chances/sequels.

Shin Megami Tensei II

Normally, one concerns themselves with being biased by nostalgia; the idea of a game (or anything) being better in your memory than reality. I gave this game a second chance, finished it even. In this case it is worse than I initially thought.

During my initial playtest of this game I arrived at the Factory region and upon being bombared by dungeons with too many rooms of pure darkness, I called it quits. This time I returned, and even completed the game. It gets so much worse.

For the unitiated, Shin Megami Tensei is part of the Megami Tensei parent series that is shared by Persona. SMT2 specifically is a sequel that follows the neutral ending of SMT1. It is set in a post apocalyptic setting hidden by a thinly veiled utopia.

What all of these games seem to share is the demon/angel recruiting for battles and some sort of alignment system. Put the most simply this game merely offers another chance at pushing the world into the endings of the first game.

The quality of the narrative is questionable at best in this game. It’s less so a coherent story and more a chain of things that just sort of happen. Interesting things happen and it all comes to a conclusion, but isn’t exactly cohesive. There are interesting characters but I wouldn’t say they are deeply explored or anything. Perhaps the most interesting exploration is the intersection of Shinto deities to the Christian religion in Japan; as well as the interpretation that Lucifer and Satan are separate beings with different goals and character.

The art is solid, but isn’t crazy good. Very clearly a lot of angels and demons follow a template. The music that there is rather good, but does get rather repetitive due to there not being a lot of tracks.

The real discussion to be had here is in the actual game design.

The worst aspect of this game is in the dungeon/world design. If you are not playing on an emulator, you will expect to go hours without a save point. In fact, there will be point where the safety of a save point is something the game takes away from you. Forcing you to engage in another hour or two until you find one.

The dungeons at times I do wonder if Satan himself designed. The rooms of darkness are just one aspect of horrible dungeon design. There is a set of shrine dungeons you are forced to get through. This includes dungeons filled with one-way walls, teleporters, and spinning treadmills.

The actual pacing of what angels/demons you can recruit for battles is also rather suspect. It is entirely likely that you can go half the game and not get a new attack buffing recruit. I was running Cait-Sith for quite awhile.

The alignment system as always is an interesting game feature, but horribly communicated in this game. The game does not readily communicate to you what changes your alignment towards Law or Chaos. It also does not give you labels or any indication of what karmic alignment different gear requires. You will end up getting dropped weapons and not knowing why you can’t equip it.

Once you do get a good party and gear setup, the combat itself isn’t too hard for much of the game….until the very end. This game’s idea of increasing boss difficulty is too increase the evasion rate. I watched as I missed 20 times in a row on the final boss purely for that reason. They also seem to be super aggresive towards buffing party members with instant death attacks targetted specifically at them as a priority.

Overall this game is a real piece of work. I do not recommend unless you have some sort of complex. 4/10.

Tales of Destiny II (Eternia)

Now, for the next second chance game; Tales of Eternia. I initially dropped this because my first impressions of the characters and the voice acting were pretty bad. So far it would seem my initial judgements should be trusted though.

The game has okay art, and is an improvement in combat over Tales of Destiny. It also has solid music. However, when one considers this came out after the likes of FF7, Xenogears, and Metal Gear Solid I can’t really excuse its lower quality.

My initial impression of the voice acting was pretty bad, however it gets much much worse the more you play. I continued playing hoping that the characters and story would get better. However, suffice to say it just…never happens.

The one saving grace I can give is that the worlds themselves are interesting. Dual world stories are usually fun, it’s just a shame none of the characters are all that interesting.

It is certainly one of the games of all time. Serviceable but can’t really think of why I’d recommend over literally anything else. 5/10.

Atelier Marie (PS2 Fan Translation)

I had been meaning to play some of the original Atelier games eventually. Especially given that I have enjoyed games like Atelier Iris, Mana Khemia, and the EXO-PICO games.

This was…alright? Atelier Marie is an exceptionally short and simple game. You play as an aspiring alchemist who is worst student at her school. The goal is simple, graduate in five years. The core game itself is literally make stuff, until you’ve hit some threshold to get an ending.

There are several endings each with different criteria. You can play this game in like a day so it’s not really bad for a replay. However, the differences between some endings doesn’t really make for the most value.

The music is solid, but the art is a very mixed bag. It uses a rough chibi art style with some anime portraits for cutscenes. Beyond the crafting gameplay the minigames are very much a mixed bag. For this reason I would vastly recommend the remake over the original.

All in all it’s an okay game. It didn’t do anything to make me actively dislike it. It’s not deep enough that I’d pay full price for the remake. The time limit may seem intimidating at first but it barely matters. 6/10

Currently Playing

Currently, I am playing a variety of games. I’m playing the first Ultima (1981) on Apple II as my retro PC play right now. I will have a lot of thoughts on that when I finish, it’s a very strange and ambitious game. The other games I’m playing around with are Final Fantasy II (the FF Origins version) and Dragon Quest 7 (PS1). I’m also considering trying out Fallout 76 more fully soon. Within the next month I will partially be derailed by the US release of Trails: Beyond the Horizon.

At present I’m streaming still, but two days a week on YouTube. Tuesdays are still Trails streams. However, Fridays are for Retro PC gaming.

Looking towards 2026

That about wraps it up for 2025. It’s been a pretty active year for me, but next year seems liable to be even moreso. We had a good run. Lots of research progress was made, plenty of fun was had, and I met some good goals by the end of the year. I’m ending the year under 200 lbs, and hit the goal of having a rainy day nest egg. After the Spring semester, I’ll be roughly halfway through my PhD (hard to believe I know).

The current outlook is that my current research project will be wrapping up (approximately) in the coming months. I’ll soon have to look towards figuring out my actual thesis project and doing candidacy. Fun times ahead indeed.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a happy new year!

Until next time, Rob