Happy Backloggiversary bud!

Whatever you are doing and wherever you are, I hope you and your family are doing well!

Yo! Just wanted to check on you and make sure you're doing well! I've been browsing your youtube channel lately, it's really cool to see games on CRTs, I was surprised by just how much better they look than on new hardware. It's been a wild thing to wrap my head around. I love the added detail of the displays you feature for the games you're playing, too. It's the little stuff that goes a long way!

Hey man, hope you're doing well! I'm sorry for such a long gap between my previous reply and now! I think last time we talked I was asking you about getting into Resident Evil, which I'm planning to do very soon since it's October and I'm wanting to play something "horror". Usually I play a Castlevania game around this time but I've actually been watching the anime of that which has been amazing so far. So I'm thinking I'll play Deadly Silence like you suggested to start off with.

Also I'm glad you enjoyed the Julius fight in Aria of Sorrow! That's easily my favorite boss in the game and is in my top bosses in the whole series too honestly. Speaking of Castlevania though I also would like to try and finish Bloodlines this year. I've given it a few attempts playing as Eric but never could finish the 4th stage, but it has been a while since I've given it another go so maybe things will be easier this time.

Oh my god, the Holy Candle doesn't actually heal her? Jeez, that's mean. I completely understand the mentality you had towards her, what else can you really do? I know few escort characters are as easy to handle as someone like Ashely from Resident Evil 4, but even so../

The only Shadow Man I'm familiar with is the character from Mega Man 3 (and some of the Battle Network games), but based on what you described, yeah, that game doesn't sound like a good time. Thank you for the heads-up!

When I say Samus Returns is hard from incompetence, I don't mean it's overly punishing. With how generous the checkpointing is, it's mostly just a war of attrition. The main issues with SR are that the game progresses at a snail's pace, has you go through the same environment for 80% of the game, making it hard to feel like progress is being made at all. On top of that, it gives you a counter system that can handle only one enemy at a time, despite multiple enemies being able to dogpile you, and said system requires you to stop in place to use it. It's so much stop, counter, attack, move forward, stop, counter, attack, move forward, and it causes the game to move at an agonizing crawl.

Samus Returns is not bullshit hard like Haunted Castle, it's mind-numbingly dull and pace-breaking. The main challenge of Samus Returns is having enough stamina to pay attention to the game for more than brief periods at a time, while everything deals 10 million damage to you for most of the journey. I can beat most 2D Metroid games in around 4-6 hours, while Samus Returns took 12 if that tells you just how much of a slog it was. The game's soundtrack isn't even catchy or memorable until you reach the new final boss fight (THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST IN METROID 2'S STORY, ESPECIALLY AT THE VERY END). It's just insult to injury.

Yo! Castlevania 64! I have almost no knowledge of that game beyond it having Skeletons on motorcycles, which brings a smile to my face to see your new profile pic of that very enemy! I've heard some mixed opinions on that entry, but I hope you have a good time with it, or at the very least find something to like about it! Good luck and have fun!

Congrats on beating Snatcher! I'm glad you had a great time with that one! I actually had no idea there was another game or that it was a turn-based RPG! That was surprising to hear about.

DEFINITELY play Dread later rather than sooner. I love the game to death, but it's easily the hardest Metroid title, aside from Samus Returns, though SR was hard due to incompetence rather than anything actually designed well. Again, skip Samus Returns. AM2R is the definitive way to play Metroid 2. I was also late to Super Metroid, so you're not alone on that. I didn't get the chance to play it until a few years ago. The controls are a little dated, though they give you the ability to customize them (something Dread oddly lacks, I couldn't tell you why). Super's mostly about absorbing the atmosphere and the environment your first time through, and I have to say, it does a great job! Not my favorite Metroid game, but definitely up there on my list of favorites!

Breath of the Wild was pretty great! I'm hoping the sequel does fix some of the game's shortcomings, like how Shrines start becoming less and less like a reward the further you get, though the game's designed in such a way that you can tackle the final boss whenever you want, so once you feel you've had your fill of the game, you can just head straight up to Hyrule Castle and take on Ganon! Heck, you can head there as soon as you start the game if you so desire! The game upgrades enemies the more you play, so they're probably still perfectly reasonable to fight at the beginning, too!

Good luck with Silent Hill 4, btw! I know the limited inventory isn't well regarded by many and having to bring an escort along's also not great. I think you can at least heal said escort by having her stay near a holy candle, though, so that's at least good. Just keep in mind they are limited in supply and you'll want some for your room as well every so often! Don't worry, you'll know when to use them in the room!

Poor guy's stuck in the wall

Why are you standing there video-taping him and not helping him

Oooooh Silent Hill 4; my favorite right after the second one! It's flawed but I found it to be absolutely terrifying in so many aspects and the lore around the game was great!
Glad you get to play it in the best technical conditions too

Thank you, man! Your support is always appreciated! I hope you know I'm here for you, too! I'm feeling better lately as I thankfully got a short vacation to take a mental break. I hope you're doing well, too!

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying Snatcher so much! The game's voice acting is pretty good for the era, too, which you have to thank for Konami actually letting the VAs do their work in the same room together, so the dialogue was able to be handled like actual conversations instead of actors having to guess how someone might respond to something. For the era, it was pretty progressive for video games!

Heck yeah! Mastering Metroid Dread felt darn good! I managed to get every end screen in the game, which is my first time doing so for any Metroid game! I've been a Metroid fan for years, though I've always enjoyed the atmosphere of the games too much to want to speedrun them, but I loved the movement of Dread so much that I couldn't help myself. I heavily enjoyed my time with it!

Sorry for the late reply, I've had a lot going on lately. Man, Astroneer sounds like a darn good time if you've sunk almost 300 hours into it! I'd love to give it a shot with you sometime, that sounds great! Thank you for the offer!

Yo, Snatcher! That one's a classic! The opening theme still sticks with me and is a total joy to listen to! Be sure to try the Neo Kobe Pizza sometime, the cutscene involving it is a gem.

That's nice to hear! I also love it when games allow you to overcome challenges in multiple ways by using creativity. I wish I could convince my friends to get back to it so we could beat the game

Oh, and since you've mentioned buying Astroneer for your daughter, it came to my mind: have you thought about playing Dragon Quest Builders 2 with her? It's a bit more complex than Astroneer, but I suppose it might be a stellar game to play together with children.