Aaron Bolner

…an astonishingly high percentage of the problems I have in the world would be solved if people were more apt to admit when they messed up.

YOU GUYS WANNA SEE SOMETHING CURSED???? HOW ABOUT NEON GENESIS LEHIGH VALLEY PHANTOMS HOCKEY?????

Wikipedia’s Extremely Serious diagram of how the children’s toy “Weeble” works, which helpfully and amusingly works in the toy’s slogan

“This means that when the Weeble is wobbled, as in position B…”

Super Mario Galaxy (replay from about 6 years ago) #rollcredits. It’s still a great game. Glad it’s back out there. All-timer of a soundtrack. Joy-Con 2 controls, detached from the system, were solid. Wish fire levels worked differently / were less punitive, but that’s a 3D Mario problem in general.

YouTube video by zabeon Super Mario Galaxy - Fire Mario and Ice Mario

Playing Mario Galaxy on Switch 2 and having a lovely time for the most part. Still don’t like 3D Mario fire levels, still don’t like the slippy blue grabby stars, but overall, good stuff. And the OST is wonderful.

Except for *this* aural abomination. What *is* this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqnq...

So DS9 was only a year or so off w/r/t the Bell Riots, huh

Library bookmobile had Mario Galaxy 1+2 *and* Once Upon a Katamari this week, so I’m set for a bit

I finished a book and I have Thoughts

Reading this book reinforced to me that I made the right decision dropping Irving after the final third of Twisted River. There were (very) occasional fun one-liners, but without the ability to discuss and share the experience with my wife, QE would have virtually no redeeming value to me.

Irving has always had a sprinkle of this, usually when a character goes on a political rant, but this story is full of characters who have the same linguistic tics and mannerisms, with the same vocabulary, regardless of their age, location, or family background.

Why does everyone of every orientation spend time musing about the bustlines of women from age 16 to 76?

The answer to most of these questions is one of the biggest problems with the book: most of the characters feel like they’re speaking in the author’s voice instead of their own.

And it can indeed be aimed at so many things in this book. Why are we revisiting the same John Irving Bingo touchstones? Why is the title character virtually invisible throughout the book? Why do the three Virtue Sisters constantly say the same thing, rephrasing them in different ways?

It is a followup to Cider House in the same way Final Fantasy Tactics is a followup to FFVII - you spend a little bit of time with some of the leads, then move on with why you’re actually here.

In the final chapter, I turned to my wife and began, “Why-“ She interrupted, “That’s a great question.”

The cover of Queen Esther by John Irving (2025).

#49: Queen Esther. This is being sold as a return to the world of “The Cider House Rules” - and indeed, that’s why I’m reading my first Irving since Last Night in Twisted River. This sales pitch, however, is a cynical attempt to sell more books.

Catan Norway, 860. Half-brothers Thorolf, Yngvi, and Digur h…

I wonder if it’s going to be based on the dark, gritty, Viking-era teenage survivalist novel www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...

of all the things that didn’t happen, that didn’t happen the most

I worked retail in the days of physical food stamps; worst I saw then was people having kids buy cheap candy with $1 stamps, and pocketing the change to use on cigarettes. I imagine it’s tougher to do even that level of nonsense now.

Cube from Live a Live. He is precious and I love him.

Name one other games writer who would remember and acknowledge the existence of Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night. I’ll wait. 👑

A Zero candy bar

A Zerg unit from the video game StarCraft

Zerg

The end of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, which used to read, “CONGRATULATIONS: This Game is Complete!”, echoing the usual victory screen’s “This Battle is Complete”

My crew of all Oracle/Mystics, all the time, because I am fundamentally broken and cannot play this game normally anymore

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles #rollcredits. I played it as we did in the old days, a single-class party with only its own abilities. Mystics served me well with only three speed bumps, one of which was entirely due to guest AI.

I have a lot of thoughts, but I need to collect them.

Black screen with the logos for Ivalice Chronicles and the original version of FFT, with the text “In honor of the original Final Fantasy Tactics team”

THIS GAME IS COMPLETE

Genuinely can’t remember the last time I put this much time into a game that wasn’t Animal Crossing or a casual puzzle game. This game is still REALLY good. I thought maybe I was elevating it unfairly based on nostalgia but no, this is still in my very top handful of games.

If you want more specifics on the available battles, check out the Battle List on GameFAQs for the PS1 version by Goryus. Many of them require entering maps from specific directions.

Final Fantasy Tactics battle scene showing 11 enemy monks

I've played well over 100 hours of Final Fantasy Tactics in my life (I know, rookie numbers) and this is the first time I've run into a roaming gang of earth monks!

It devolved into Ramza taking them out individually with double punches while my healer kept the two dying people alive enough.

Oh yeah, the Grog Hill Monks, that’s an infamous rare battle. I never sought it out, to my memory, but it’s an interesting one. The rare battle that I definitely have gone after multiple times is the Germinas Peak battle with a whole pile of Chemists/Mediators with juicy guns to be stolen.

The cover of Final Fantasy XV Dawn of the Future, including a receipt showing it was purchased at McLean and Eakin in Petoskey, MI

#48: FFXV Dawn of the Future. Found this on the used shelf on summer vacation. Enjoyed it greatly, especially the first section. If the story of FFXV had been half this good or comprehensible when I played it, I sure would have enjoyed it a lot more.

A Super Combo? Trying the Street Fighter II "Street Burgers" from McDonald's Japan Following on from the Neon Genesis Evangelion collaboration earlier this year, McDonald's Japan's latest pop culture tie-in is with Capcom's Street Fighter. Once again there were some fun commercials,...

Okay, I reviewed the Street Fighter burgers from McDonald’s Japan. Please have a read and justify the gastronomical damage I incurred!

postgamecontent.com/post/7984416...

Now in mid-chapter 4 I am confronted with obvious, raw numbers that are significantly higher than they used to be, most notably human mages with higher HP than the physical classes in the final dungeon had in original and WOTL.

There’s definitely been a readjustment of some of the raw numbers in FFT Ivalice Chronicles. Doing a run I’ve done multiple times between original and WOTL - all Mystics with only Mystic abilities/equipment - I started hitting speed bumps in mid to late chapter 3 that weren’t there before.

As for Orators:

- Guns!

- Invitation has a low chance to hit, but can turn the tide of a battle by permanently switching an enemy to your side

- 0 cast time Sleep attack

- 0 cast time -20 Brave/Faith attacks, helpful for nerfing enemy Monks/mages

Beyond that, their ability set has:

- Invigoration, an insanely fast casting time spell that drains 25% of the target’s max HP. Not super great against humans but an absolute wrecking ball against bosses

- Defense Up support ability

- Spells to silence, chicken, petrify, and put enemies to sleep