Still working on Bloodborne and am having a pretty good time. My local library happened to have the strategy guide available so I checked it out and have kind of been retroactively checking to see what I missed in a given area when I move onto a new one. I’m at Mergo’s Wet Nurse and somehow I completely missed the Forsaken Cainhurst Castle and Upper Cathedral Ward, so it looks like I have some stuff to catch up on before I tackle her. I was also pretty surprised to see that Mergo is, at least by percentage of the guide remaining, towards the end of the game. I thought that couldn’t be right and checked to see how much time I’ve put into Bloodborne and I’m at about 25 hours, which is way more than I was expecting. Not sure where I’m going with this, but that feels like some sort of testament to how fun the game is when you get so lost in the game and your concept of time just dissapears.

broke: I use Arch, btw

woke: I use CachyOS, btw

sincerely, someone who uses CachyOS, btw

I’ve been making progress on my first playthrough of Bloodborne and am at the Witch of Hemwick. Aside from hearing so much general praise for the game over the years, I’ve gone in blind and it’s been a real treat. If the quality of the game remains constant, I can see this easily becoming my favorite From Software game, and probably one of my favorite games in general.

Alright I stuck with it and just beat Ornstein and Smough on my third or fourth try, feeling pretty good! I now see why people speak of them so fondly, pretty decent boss fight.

I just wrapped up my first NG+ run of Elden Ring, which also included my first playthrough of Shadow of the Erdtree. I enjoy the base game quite a bit, and while I think it loses a bit of steam during the last third or so of the game (in regards to the environments; the bosses are cool), I intend to do a second NG+ playthrough to try to get the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending as well as the legendary achievements. I’m not an achievement hunter or anything, but 100%ing Elden Ring sounds like a fun goal to have. It’s a toss up if I’ll revisit Shadow of the Erdtree, because I’m pretty neutral on it.

In the meantime, I’ve returned to my first save file of Dark Souls that I put down at Sen’s Fortress a year or so ago. I just wasn’t having it, but this time everything clicked, the snake dudes caused me no trouble, and I made it to Anor Londo. But now I’m dealing with the AL archers and they are a real pain. I wouldn’t be surprised if I put it down again and revisit it at the end of 2026.

Chugging along through NG+ in Elden Ring. Just beat the Fire Giant and am messing around in the sewers of Leyndell before I

I’m pretty sure I’m over leveled because things haven’t really been that challenging until maybe around the Mountaintops of the Giants, but the novelty of laying a beat down on everything that caused me grief during my first playthrough has yet to wear off.