I started blogging well over 15 years ago. This website was my income for a while. I met so many wonderful people. I was offered lots of lovely products and freelance work because of it. When covid hit I completely lost all momentum and I never really got it back.
Its still here, I still pay for hosting, but I hardly ever update it. I hardly keep up with social media. I’m not really the same person I was when I started this blog. So I don’t really know what to do with it. I love having a place to write my thoughts on things I care about, I like engaging with people about those things. Mostly it’s been video games discussion.
Recently, my theme I paid for seemingly stopped working and I probably could go and find out why but I just don’t have the energy to do so. Now I’m unsure if I want to try and rebuild it and retheme it, potentially even change domain and sort out redirects or do I just put in minimal effort and update it sporadically when I feel like it.
There are a lot of memories. A lot of friendships. A lot of my life went into this blog. But going back over so many past paid posts and I realise how inauthentic some of them have been. I started writing about single parenthood and my life after leaving a toxic relationship and living in a refuge. I needed an outlet. Now, I don’t write those things. I rarely write about family life anywhere. I still play video games and listen to music and like tattoos and love to read. I am trying to teach myself to draw. I occassionally upload raid content to YouTube.
Now its just as a blog kind of always was. An online journal. A place to share hobbies and interests. I am grateful for it but I don’t know what the future holds or what I’m holding on to having it here. Maybe I’ll feel inspired to do something with it but for now it’s just kind of a mess until I have the energy to fix it.
This was a long time coming. My first experience of savage raiding was in Endwalker and my experience taught me a lot about raiding and how to play a couple of jobs on an ‘okay I can clear savage’ level which really just made extremes and normal content a bit more straightforward for me. I was never able to finish a tier. Some of that was my own lack of skill, some of that was group dynamics and my complete rejection of raiding in party finder and some of it was just bad luck. However, at the launch of Dawntrail I was introduced to a new group who were currently farming the extremes and that lead me to joining them for learning and clearing an ultimate.
When the Cruiserweight tier was launched with FFXIV Patch 7.2 I was invited to join as a phys ranged player for the four savage fights and we cleared the first one really fast which gave me high hopes. M5S Dancing Green is a pretty nice start to savage. The fight is pretty fun, mechanics aren’t too challenging and clearing on, I think it was the second week, felt pretty nice.
I originally started the tier as a MCH because its my preferred phys ranged job but it was, as usual, neglected and had damage output reduced and it felt really rubbish to play as the raids went on. The damage check on M7S felt really tight and there were a few times when we had almost flawless runs with no deaths or damage downs. I switched to DNC which, was a steep learning curve, as I’d never played it other than levelling content before. The biggest adjustment was lining up buff windows as Dancer offers a lot more support than Machinist does (and should, Machinist SHOULD be a selfish DPS job but it doesn’t do enough to qualify as one, frustratingly) but I managed to learn it and we were able to clear.
M6S felt like its own entity with add phase and I struggled a lot with orientating myself to be thrown across the arena in the correct direction. We maybe needed a few Tank LB’s to survive. With that being said, despite my not great abilities people were pretty patient with me which I really appreciated.
Getting to clear M8S for the first time felt really good. The adrenaline was going hard and I was pretty focused and pretty stressed. Others had cleared it already and wanted the reclear and I was just so desperately wanting that first clear. To finally get it after many weeks of progression and practice felt really satisfying. I was feeling super burned out from raiding, my health has been pretty bad lately which has made it harder to stay focused for any period of time and I really felt like I was being a burden on the group and was so ready to say to clear with someone more competent than me as I just didn’t think I could. But I did. I’m never going to be the most optimal player, but I can clear content unrestricted, even if it takes me longer than others.
The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy has been a surprisingly enjoyable visual novel style game with tower defense combat to jump in and out of over the last couple of weeks. I’ve got around 60 hours of playtime with one full playthrough and I am currently making my way through NG+ to unlock some of the various endings and reveal more of the truth of what is going on.
I didn’t actively follow this game but instead saw a tweet from Sandfall Interactive (the team behind Expedition 33) recommending it and you know what seeing smaller developers recommending other smaller developers games is a pretty nice thing to do.
A note from Guillaume Broche, @SandfallGames Creative Director:
After your Expedition, check out The Hundred Line, another great turn-based RPG that was also released last week, and made with love by an awesome team.
— Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (@expedition33) April 30, 2025
So I looked into it a bit more and found out that The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy was a collaboration creation from two directors; one of which Kotaro Uchikoshi I was familiar with having played (two of) the Zero Escape games and AI: The Somnium Files. So from that, whilst this was an original IP I had some familiarity with the type of gameplay to expect. Being a fan of the Persona series and also having played 13 Sentinels visual novel style gameplay is something I’ve enjoyed a lot in the last couple of years mostly thanks to having some excellent recommendations to start in this genre with.
The Hundred Line takes place in an academy that you are tasked with defending from Invaders for the next 100 days. You play mostly as Takumi Sumino who has a very mundane life until one day he gets jump scared by a dog and it turns his life around. For the better, or worse? Well, it takes 100 (in game) days to really figure that out. The first full playthrough of The Hundred Line has you following a series of events in the Last Defense Academy alongside a group of unique characters who are there to fight alongside with you. At first, not everyone wants to fight, and its up to the protagonist to convince everyone to work together. This is dotted in with a mix of visual novel style cutscenes, bonding events to raise stats, exploration for materials to upgrade things like weapons or create gifts for your classmates and tower defense style battles where you defend the academy from an onslaught of invaders.
The game really opens up with the New Game+ feature which allows the player to use Chapter Select in order to alter decisions made for different outcomes. Each decision made slightly alters the timeline the player experiences and allows you to uncover mysteries and secrets. Supposedly the game has 100 endings but you’re not required to do all of them to find out the truth of what is going on. I believe there are achievements for around 20 unique endings. I intend to try and get as many of them as I possibly can.
The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy has been fun to play. It is quite gore-graphic with blood so that’s something to be aware of if you’re uncomfortable with that. The characters unlock hemoanima to access their powers which includes stabbing themselves and going into a blood cocoon before each fight so they can access their Class Weapons. Each character has unique abilities, some are great for support, others good for building up voltage (lets you access your superpower moves and buffs) and some make excellent tanks, alongside your heavy hitters. I found the combat engaging enough and subsequent playthroughs allow the player to skip battles they’ve already completed in alternative playthroughs of the game which does make getting a few routes easier than others. Each battle gives you rewards for upgrading your Class weapons and skills to make you stronger in combat or increase the amount of power ups and traps you can lay around the grid in each round.
My favourite character is Hiruko Shizuhara because she acts like a complete badass and has a massive axe to one shot enemies in combat. I found her one of the more intriguing characters for *story reasons* that I wont spoil and because there is still, even for me, some mystery there as I too am trying to avoid spoilers for potential endings and circumstances. Plenty of other characters have something interesting to add to the story. Some are, as can be expected with a large cast, more annoying than others.
Its a game I can see myself going in and out of still over the next few weeks as I navigate other paths and choices. Being a visual novel I find it easy to dip in and out of when I feel like it but the first playthrough really was pretty engaging enough to get me hooked in through those first 100 days. The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy is available to play on Switch and PC. I’ve been playing through Steam.
I first saw this game advertised as an upcoming release on Xbox Game Pass in March I think and was curious about it so went ahead to read more. It looked like the sort of thing I’d enjoy with an interesting narrative premise, a creative art style and one of my favourite things in video games; turn-based combat. I pre-installed it so that I could try on its release on 24th April and for the last couple of weeks I have been immersed in and captured by this wonderful game. Usual spoiler warnings, because it’s me, but I’ll refrain from talking about the main story plot other than the premise of the game.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has a beautiful art style throughout and is a true mix of light and dark in contrast, in narrative, in music and imagery. The story starts in Lumiere where you meet Gustave and his expeditioners who, in the last year of their lives, have decided to get together to journey to the Monolith to slay The Paintress who every year paints a number, and when she wakes, everyone of that age will die. The cycle repeats. You learn early in the game’s prologue that many expeditions have happened before to lay the trail for ‘those that come after’ knowing they might not make it back alive, but they have hope that one day, one expedition will succeed. You follow Gustave and his team along the continent on their journey through thematic dungeons with exceptional combat, music and a narrative that will pull on those heartstrings. The Monolith, which is frequently visible in the background throughout the game, providing that reminder that you really are up against everything.
I genuinely can not find a fault with Clair Obscur, it is everything I want to experience in a game. The writing is truly fantastic from the main plot itself to the subtle artistic references, the depth of each character and the lore of the world itself make it feel complete. After finishing the game’s main story, I felt fulfilled from the storytelling in a way where nothing was unexplained or left out and I still haven’t ventured much into the side content where I feel like there will be added context to learn.
The game completely deserves recognition of its own for being what it is but you can tell the creators have been inspired by outstanding RPGs. Literally feels like they have paved the way for Clair Obscur to shine, “…for those that come after” to quote something in the game itself. I am reminded throughout the game of Final Fantasy X which, as a teenager quite a few years ago, had such a huge effect on me. Before that game I had never played an RPG before so I didn’t know videogames could make me feel so much. I’ve always loved reading but being able to walk through a story and experience it in a more immersive way felt incredible to me and since then RPG’s have been what I have always preferred to play. Turn-based combat has also been preferable and why the older Final Fantasy games have remained some of my favourites.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has, for me, hit the balance between an emotionally driven story and engaging sidequests and combat. I have cried and laughed through many moments with these characters but most importantly I’ve had fun playing it and I’ve had conversations with others that have enjoyed the game just as much. Seeing it succeed is absolutely wonderful. I know it won’t be the ‘perfect’ game for everyone, that seems like honestly an impossible task, but it really does seem to get that balance right that has been missing in other, newer games, for a long time. It feels like the developers really wanted to create a passion project and just goes to show if you love what you’re working on it comes through. Also you can fight a Mime.
The game features many beautiful locations in the form of dungeons and plenty of exploration both in and out on the world map. However, due to some areas being locked by obstacles that you can’t overcome until you have progressed the main story, it doesn’t feel too large or overwhelming when you’re getting used to the game. Levelling characters comes from fighting hostile Nevrons and gaining experience. Combat can be personalised to each character from learning skills and equipping a mix of Pictos – additional attributes and bonus’ as well as spending Lumina points to get passive skills, buffs and do very big damage. Whilst learning to counter, dodge and parry is not exclusively necessary in combat, it does make combat more engaging, interesting and really satisfying when you counter. You can, for example, set party members up to gain health on a successful counter later in the game, or gain AP (which is spent on using skills during your character’s turn) on a successful dodge. This allows you to make some very fun builds for each character in your party.
Speaking of builds, which is something I am currently researching more now I am in endgame content and able to explore everything fully, each character has a unique way of playing which I find to be very fun. Maelle can swap stances for example, and each stance offers its own pros and cons. Offensive Stance, for example, does a lot more damage but ending your turn in that stance means you take a lot more damage. There is a real risk-reward system for each encounter and every player is viable for whatever encounter you have. The most common trait the characters share is building up their unique buff or stance to a big move for big damage. It makes it fun, engaging and kind of limitless with how strong you can build your party. I am really enjoying learning about this and exploring. So whilst levels certainly help, scaling your attributes with your weapon, learning the right skills and setting up Pictos can give you an edge against challenging enemies.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is worth playing whether you enjoy story based RPG’s or challenging and engaging combat because it has both and I really feel like it can offer something to the majority of people that like playing video games. The voice cast is also exceptional, and has done an amazing job at bringing these characters to life. The characters are relatable, have depth, are flawed but in a way that makes them feel human and real. These are people I can completely identify with from friends or even experiences in my own life. They have obvious strengths and weaknesses, insecurities and fears and that comes through because the writing has been done so well and because the actors that brought these characters to life did so in such a beautiful way. Spending time with them, getting to know them and experience exploring this wonderfully artistic world with them has been a joyful experience and a game I can see myself playing again over the years.
Not to mention, the creators behind Clair Obscur decided to make this game as affordable as possible for the player and priced it at around £45 which I think is perfectly reasonable for a game that has a solid amount of main story time, replayability with New Game Plus and a large amount of endgame side content. The 2 million+ purchases since its release (especially with a shadow-dropped remastered Elder Scrolls game) and strong reviews show me I’m not the only person that wanted something new. I will be very intrigued if they decide to create DLC and what the future holds for this developer.
Trails through Daybreak II finally got it’s English localised release on 14th February 2025 and since then I have been all consumed by the latest installment of the trails series. I’ll be honest and say this was far from my favourite game of the series but I enjoyed the experience nonetheless. There will be spoilers in this post, but I’ll try and stay relatively on topic. It took me 86 hours and 3 playthroughs to get the PS5 platinum trophy for Trails through Daybreak 2.
Maybe I’ll finish the nightmare playthrough for Trails through Daybreak I so I can get that last trophy but…eh
I play these games on easy mode, sometimes very easy, because I just want to enjoy the story but the combat was altered and quartz set ups were changed with both Daybreak games. The first one I paid absolutely no attention to what I was doing when it came to holo cores and quartz. I just didn’t change much and really had no idea how shard skills worked until I replayed Trails through Daybreak in anticipation for the 2nd game’s release. When I attempted to up the difficulty, I had a pretty difficult time with it until I read up on it. However, my ADHD brain really likes it when things are super easy and obvious. I did not find explanations in Trails through Daybreak easy and obvious especially when it came to trying to have a relatively optimized character builds.
When I played Trails into Reverie I found an amazingly helpful online resource full of character builds which helped me power through Nightmare difficulty in that game but with combat changes for Trails through Daybreak previous experience wasn’t that helpful. I like the way orbments are setup in both Daybreak games now I have somewhat of an understanding of how to get certain skills and found the things that worked best for me and tried to get those on as many characters as I could. I looked for Trails through Daybreak 2 character builds but struggled to find anything and so I thought perhaps I would write up a post about how I built my characters and how these got me through Nightmare difficulty.
The real enemy of the trails series; sweet stealers
There will be other players that no doubt have a better understanding than me and find Nightmare too easy I’m sure, but I am a self-proclaimed idiot and don’t usually find Nightmare mode in the Trails games easy. I find it pretty intimidating and honestly first play throughs of these games I’ve had trouble playing on ‘Normal’ difficulty. I like being completely overpowered and killing things very fast. I don’t mind grinding for levels if its possible to do, I like having the upper hand and I like feeling like I probably won’t die.
I completed Nightmare difficulty on my third playthrough of Trails through Daybreak 2 and this is what my characters looked like at the end of the game. My first playthrough I spent going through the story and experiencing everything as blind as I could and trying to take my time with things, the second playthrough I cleaned up achievements and finished the Marchen Garten additional floors and the 3rd playthrough I virtually skipped everything story related just for the final trophies for the platinum.
Characters I Used the Most
My ‘main’ team was Van as a sort of evasion tank and then Renne, Agnes and Shizuna for damage, Arts and healing. I used Risette a lot too when I could, or didn’t have the option of using the above four, but she was not really optimised. None of the characters were really and even my main four was only losely so because I get distracted and find setting up characters frustrating and tedious. So every other character was pretty much auto-equipped with quartz/gear. I did have everyone’s Onyx Steel weapons but not all of them were fully upgraded.
Van – Evasion Tank (kind of)
I didn’t really intend for Van to have such high evasion but he did so it worked well. For more challenging fights I just had Van stand sort of away from people and use coin bullets and then follow up after a high chain with Vandalise Raid S-Craft. I’d sometimes use a craft to impede an attack but he was there to draw emnity away from others mostly. His evasion was high enough that shielding him wasn’t really an issue because he dodged a lot of attacks. I mostly used Mare – Chaos for his holocore but ended the game with Lapis and didn’t notice much difference. If he had an AT Bonus for Zero Arts I tried to use the new Cetus Phantasma which is new for Trails through Daybreak II. Van’s quartz set up had him using Deadly Lance shard skill which was a follow up finisher for low HP enemies. His attacks would regularly cancel or delay enemies.
Renne – Because I Love Her
Renne was just my non-negotiable character. If I could have her in the party she was going to be there. She has great arts damage, I love her S-Craft ugrade, and used the ‘Hospitable Hostess’ craft for a stat boost as often as I could. She was mostly there for support but that doesn’t discount the damage she could do. I love her. I will always choose Renne. Renne would join in the Cetus Phantasma spam for high chain and high arts damage, had Guardian and Ark Feather/Judgement Feather to follow up with magic attacks.
Agnes – Arts Damage and Healing
Agnes S-Craft can get you out of a pinch, her shield/heal/regen regular crafts are excellent and she does great arts damage. I used Loray to increase arts power and reduce cast time. Her EP Regen craft helped keep her topped up. Basically, just use Cetus Phantasma on all your arts users for high chain and high damage then follow up with a big multihit S-Craft.
Shizuna – Strong, lots of delay, and because she was funny
Shizuna really was there because I am curious about her more than anything, her lines throughout both games were enjoyable and she’s pretty strong. She just kills things. She worked well as a balanced physical damage and arts user, I used her crafts a lot and just kept her doing damage. It was great having her as a playable character for longer in Trails through Daybreak 2.
