Juha-Matti Santala
Community Builder. Dreamer. Adventurer.

Blog posts in category “Gaming sub blog”

These are the articles from my /gaming sub blog about video games.

  • Sep 25th, 2022
    I didn't realize I liked auto save this much, until I didn't have it

    In these many years of games auto saving, I had forgotten how great that feature is until I played Knights of the Old Republic and lost hours of game play – twice.

  • Jan 22nd, 2022
    Building a tea empire - Stardew Valley Year 1

    Did you know that Tea Saplings make quite a lot of money in Stardew Valley? And that you can access them on the first week of the game and craft them from very accessible materials, enabling you to create a tea empire to finance your farm life? Let me show how it's done.

  • Aug 8th, 2021
    The best way to play Pokemon TCG

    Pokemon TCG is a game with tons of interesting cards and possible combinations but main competitive formats are bit stale. Gym Leader Challenge brings new life into the game.

  • Apr 17th, 2021
    I really liked Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

    I skipped some of the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance Zelda games when they came out but visited my childhood this week by playing The Minish Cap which was amazing.

  • Mar 6th, 2021
    How Hitman movies failed to take full advantage of the material

    Hitman franchise [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman_(franchise)] has been a fan favorite for two decades already and that popularity has made it a lucrative target for making licensed movies. There are in fact two Hollywood movies made based on Hitman games: Hitman [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465494/] from 2007 and Hitman: Agent 47 [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2679042/] from 2015. I did enjoy the movies and I've watched both a few times but unfortunately they are not fully realizing thei

  • Feb 6th, 2021
    A few words about achievements

    Achievements can enhance the video game experience but very rarely they do. Some games have none while some go the other extreme with a lot of ones that don't make any sense.

  • Jan 1st, 2021
    Revisiting my 15 influential games list from 2010

    Facebook Memories reminded me that in fall of 2010, I made a list of 15 influential games. Today, I'm revisiting that list 10 years later and see what has changed and what has stayed the same with me and with the gaming industry.

  • Dec 12th, 2020
    Are all difficulties similar?

    One of my pet peeves in gaming is how difficult games are and even more importantly, how is that difficulty made happen. I'd argue that two games can be equally difficult but in very different ways and in this article I wanna explore a few approaches to difficulty.

  • Nov 20th, 2020
    Hollow Knight caught me in its nest

    I'm not a fan of metroidvania games. The basic building blocks of those games are ones that I don't enjoy but somehow still Hollow Knight has kept me playing and returning back to Hallownest time after time again.