I finally got the chance to finish 1000xResist. I originally bought it for the Nintendo Switch, but I couldn’t stand the poor performance. I initially figured it would’ve been okay, because indie games aren’t the most demanding when it comes to graphics. But the game ran so poorly on the Switch, it was adversely affecting my enjoyment of the game. 1000xResist isn’t a AAA production or anything like that, but it makes the most of what it can do. There are some absolutely gorgeous set pieces in the game… that the Switch completely marred with the low FPS and lack of decent anti-aliasing. So I waited and I waited. And finally, the game was ported to the PS5.

1000xResist has a dense story that I don’t exactly have the time to fully cover. I would need to go back and replay the game in order to take notes, reexamine certain pieces of dialogue, rethink certain scenes, etc. Almost everything can be recontextualize once you know what you know. Again, I don’t have the time nor the energy to do all of that. What I do want to talk about, however, is how much I related to the story as a second generation Asian American. Iris, the central figure of the narrative, is actually an Asian-Canadian, but I found it remarkable how so many of her memories with her mother resembled my own.

For instance, early on in the game, she remembers how she rode a bike, fell and hurt herself. Her mom immediately told her not to cry, because everyone was staring — how this embarrassed her as a mother. And as I was sitting here thinking, “Damn, that’s a memory right out of my childhood.” I remember roughing up my knee real bad as a kid just playing with my cousins. I was also immediately told not to cry because it wouldn’t solve anything. Then for good measure, I got spanked afterwards for hurting myself. I remember her words, too: “I spent nine months creating you, and this is the thanks I get?”

There’s another scene where Iris was trying to throw her own birthday party, and she’s being a bit of an annoying teenager. She wanted pizza, because that’s what her friends like. She’s trying to fit in, and other than Jiao, who was an immigrant from Hong Kong, her friends wouldn’t want noodles… probably. I get it. It can be hurtful when your child rejects the her culture and where she came from. But her dad wasn’t being the most gracious and understanding when he essentially guilt tripped her for not wanting to eat noodles. I remember getting the exact same guilt trip, because as a kid I liked cheeseburgers. What can I say? Kids love cheeseburgers. But immediately after finishing the game, I did go out and get myself a bowl of roasted duck leg and wonton noodles.

I see a lot of Iris’s parents in my mom. And in a way, Iris’s mother is right: kids don’t understand the sacrifices that their parents had to make in order to protect them. But being too much of a disciplinarian only pushes your children away. And if they end up having kids, there’s a good chance that the chain of abuse continues. My solution: I’m never going to have kids. I know I wouldn’t be a good father. Some people can break the chain of abuse, and I applaud them for that. But I’ve thought long and hard on what I want out of my life, and I’m content with my decision. There won’t be any Sean-clones running around.

I have a few gripes about the gameplay, which I won’t get into here. My biggest criticism is that the ending isn’t very satisfying. I just expected a grander conclusion considering how hard the characters fought for their freedom. I wanted to see what all the beloved characters were up to. Instead, I was only allowed to wander around an empty Orchard and pay my respects to characters long gone. It feels a bit hollow.

In other news, I finished the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D duology. It’s technically a trilogy with Dragon Quest III HD-2D, but that would’ve been too much value to put on one disc… probably. Anyways, the first game was personally a struggle to finish. There are a lot of things I love about JRPGs, and the game failed two of them. I like team-building, but DQ1 only has one character to play with. And I love a good story, which to be honest you’re not really expecting out of a game that originally came out on the NES. To be fair, we’re talking about DQ1. It’s the granddaddy of all JRPGs. It walked so that every future JRPGs would run. As a result, it deserves some grace… but again, that doesn’t mean I had fun playing it.

I especially found it both neat and ridiculous that you could take the princess with you all the way to the final boss. Y’see, she’s been captured, so you gotta save go save the princess, yadda yadda yadda. Beat the baddie, get the girl, then bring her back home. That’s what you’re expected to do. But the game actually gives you the option to continue the story with her in tow. And by tow, what I really mean is literally princess-carry the princess. See, I’m thinking, “Yo, she can now join in fights! Cool, I can get one more party member.” Nuh-uh. She doesn’t really join you. After a very late game event, she can do something once in a while. But for the vast majority of the second half of the game, the princess is just along for the ride… in your arms. When you go into dungeons, you hold a lamp in one hand. Yup, that’s right, you’ll still be carrying her in your other arm. It’s so fucking ridiculous. But again, it’s neat that this is even an option. I just wish she could fight with you.

Story-wise, DQ1 isn’t much to write home about. It’s a very basic game on all fronts. You have the blood of the hero running through your veins, so only you can save the world. The game even has you running into a hapless group of glory-seeking adventurers. They would also like to save the world, but it’s pointless. They’re not a part of the great Erdrick lineage! I’m not a huge fan of this particular type of hero mythos. I like to think anyone can change the world if they just put in some effort. Relying on a fated chosen one is a huge turn-off. Nevertheless, the game double down on how bittersweet the DQ3 ending was. The DQ3 hero and his companions saved two realms, but like his father, he couldn’t return home. I’m mostly torn up for the mother, since she had to lose both her husband and her son.

In terms of enjoyment, DQ2 is a huge step-up. We have four party members again! Fantastic! Dungeons are far more complex again! Yay! It still carries the same “chosen hero” bullcrap, but this is a Dragon Quest staple. No point dwelling on it too much. Now, I never played the original game. My understanding is that the remake adds an epilogue that was never in the base game. Even now, a week after I’ve finished the game, I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s not the conclusion I would’ve wanted, because 1) it almost feels fanfictiony and 2) it makes me think, “Yo, why couldn’t you have done this before?” But I’m far from a Dragon Quest expert, so I don’t want to go any further than that. Maybe there’s something that I’m missing, so I just can’t understand the ending fully.

Anyway, let’s get some minor stuff out of the way. I gave Digimon Story: Time Stranger what I think is a pretty fair shake. I played about eight hours. Unfortunately, the story didn’t grab me at all. I found it dreadfully boring. More importantly, I got the chance to evolve all of my Digimons, and I gotta say, virtually 90% of them got uglier. I know Pokemon leans on the cuter side of the spectrum, whereas Digimon leans on the cooler side of the spectrum. But I dunno, man, I think my Digimons are fugly, and I don’t know if I can finish the game with those monstrosities. We’ll see. I haven’t sold my copy, so I can always come back to it one day.

It’s just hard, y’know? Great games come out constantly these days. It’s difficult to justify going back to something that might end up being a thoroughly middling experience when I could try something new instead. Demonschool, an indie game that is coming out soon, is SMT inspired, so I definitely gotta check that out. Octopath Traveler 0 is coming out soon. The early part of 2026 has a slew of games on the docket. There’s a new game from the people being Raging Loop, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So yeah, I’m not closing the door on Digimon Story: Time Stranger entirely, but it has a lot of competition.

I’m currently going through Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road. I’m apathetic to soccer, but I do enjoy Level 5 games. I enjoyed the hell out of Fantasy Life i. It really helped me deal with the loss of my cat at the time. So far, Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road has been an uneven experience. There’s a story mode that plays out like your typical sports anime. I don’t have much to say on the actual story, because it’s pretty straightforward. I’m just glad that you can have girls on the team. But man, it literally took forever for the soccer JRPG to actually get to the soccer part.

In five hours of playtime, I literally only got to play one soccer match. Sure, you gotta get the down-in-the-dumps MC to embrace his love for the sport again. You then gotta find that star player with his unnatural talent, and convince him that there’s more to life than just being a delinquent! You then gotta recruit more members to join the team while fending off a rival sports club, the restrictive student council, and adults with nefarious motives. If you really have to include (ew) girls, then it has to be the school idol! It just has to! But those gripes aside, once the soccer part gets rolling, I’m having a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I have this gnawing suspicion that I would enjoy this even more if it was about baseball. Ah well.

One last thing: I pushed myself to fully platinum Silent Hill f. Loved the story even more with the additional endings, still hated the gameplay. But hey, the Lost in the Fog difficulty on NG+ was ironically easier than the initial hard mode playthrough on NG. There’s something perversely funny about how despite Hinako not wanting to conform to traditional Japanese femininity, her best option to combat the horrors that haunt her is to embrace the kitchen knife.