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The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 79 – 20/03/22 – 166 Days, 19 Minutes and 59 Seconds to go…
*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***
I didn’t expect a lot for Day 79, and that’s exactly what I got. Monty would be trapped in the room until almost midnight, so there wasn’t much time for anything other than setting my little buddy free…
Monty cut a pretty sympathetic figured when I returned to him; huddled in the fetal position, head cushioned on his arms and fast asleep, he looked every bit the innocent child he acted. He stirred as I entered and together we waited patiently for the clock to turn to 166:00:00:00, when I expected the door to appear…

The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 78 – 19/03/22 – 167 Days, 17 Hours, 13 Minutes and 24 Seconds to go…
After a frustrating and fruitless two day search for the hidden door, I was running out of ideas on how to move forwards. I was all about to start retreading old ground (again) when a chance observation led me to exactly the clue I needed… now, could I unravel the mystery and get inside?
I came [home] and found that Monty had ploughed through 22,393 pages of the Neverending Notebook and had seemingly done so without turning into a psychopath… π Lucky me! Having set a fire before I left last night (which I realise I forgot to mention in my last write up π ), and leaving Monty reading for a long while, I was amazed to see that nearly 40 days had fallen off the calendar! Holy crap! I better get a move on if I’m gonna find this door!

The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 77 – 18/03/22 – 205 Days, 6 Hours, 40 Minutes and 36 Seconds to go…
*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***
After falling asleep at the wheel and not achieving much yesterday, save crossing a few places off my hit list for the hidden door, Day 77 was much of the same. Monty and I began to scour the kingdom from top to toe in search of that pesky secret portal…
When I snatched up my Switch and met up with Monty, he was still working his way through the kingdom to wherever it was I asked him to go before passing out; he was currently down near the [crystal lake] and heading west. I said my hellos and had him head for higher ground and towards the [map of the kingdom] to further my latest (likely fruitless) idea concerning the door.

The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 76 – 16/03/22 – 205 Days, 18 Hours, 54 Minutes and 32 Seconds to go…
*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***
While I managed to get back on the horse and stay on it, I didn’t manage to check in on Monty until late and it wasn’t especially productive… in fact, I may have fallen asleep while we were searching for the hidden door…π
I rejoined Monty with him having long finished Nibelungenlied, and he didn’t especially offer me any review or insight to speak of upon my return π. We both knew what the agenda was for today, and every day until we were successful – find the hidden door that the [Face in the Wall] had told us about. While I didn’t think it was the most likely place for the door to be, I wanted to start out by checking the [crystal windows] – they weren’t far from [home] and it would be a quick one to check off the list.

The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 75 – 15/03/22 – 219 Days, 19 Hours, 43 Minutes and 37 Seconds to go…
*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***
Returning beneath the mountain with an agenda was refreshing – Monty and I had something to focus on and work towards rather than just ambling around without a clue. Little did we know that we’d make a huge discovery and it wouldn’t take us very long at all…
I came [home] and found Monty sitting idly in his chair, exactly where I’d left him – goofy grin and all. Right mate, let’s not mess about, eh? Get that fire going! Having lost a lot of time messing around over the last few days, I didn’t want to waste a minute more and so immediately asked Monty to sling some sulphur on the fire and see where it took us.

The Longing-ist Playthrough: Days 40-73 – 09/02/22 – 14/03/22
*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***
Ok, people – it’s terrible admission time. It’s been about a month since I set eyes on Monty and, truth be told – I feel pretty guilty about it π .
Between a flurry of PR reviews, a birthday and a whole lot of real life commitments, I didn’t have the time or energy to head down beneath the mountain, let alone chronicle the happenings. But I made a commitment to write about my time with Monty, and so I’ve dusted myself off and gotten back on the horse. I achieved very little between Days 40 and 73, so rather than plot a whole bunch of empty days, I’m going to clump everything into a single vague write up before jumping back on the daily stuff from now on – I promise.

Indie Spotlight: Random Potion / Ignis Universia: Awakening of the Erudite Empress

Weβre excited to bring you the first in a new series of features aimed at highlighting the impressive work of indie developers and the amazing games that are being crafted by small teams all around the world – welcome to VGamingNewsβ Indie Spotlight!
In our maiden feature we want to shine a deserving light on Random Potion, a small but talented team from Finland who are currently working to get funding for their stunning JRPG/visual novel, Ignis Universia: Awakening of the Erudite Empress!Β
Read OnThe Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 39 – 08/02/22 – 292 Days, 17 Hours, 15 Minutes and 37 Seconds to go…
*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***
Following my little ‘oopsie-daisy’ with the time yesterday, I certainly hoped that Day 39 would give me the chance to wait beneath the well in the daytime, in case the old man came to draw water. Little did I know that a last minute case of nerves flipped the script entirely…
I found Monty sleeping just beneath the surface again but I’d managed to time it right this time, and I could see bright sunshine beaming down on the grass above. I couldn’t deny that I was excited; I knew I could be within minutes of having Monty meet another living being for the first time since the King fell to into his slumber over a hundred days ago.

The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 38 – 07/02/22 – 293 Days, 9 Hours, 59 Minutes and 13 Seconds to go…
*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***
Okay… it’s embarrassing admission time. Day 38 was a busy one in real life and I completely forgot that I needed to check in on Monty during his daytime hours… When I turned on my Switch at almost midnight in ‘Drew-time’, I found my little buddy asleep and the world above asleep with him.
The trip home and back was just too long to make so late at night, so I backed away quietly and left Monty to sleep through this time… We’ll give this another go tomorrow… π

Continue reading: Day 39
The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 37 – 06/02/22 – 294 Days, 13 Hours, 10 Minutes and 21 Seconds to go…
*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***
Day 37 was to be an exciting day. To come within arms reach of the surface yesterday was exhilarating and I was itching to make it all the way outside this time, not to mention finally realising the long term goal of building a bed for Monty. With unfettered access to well and those living above, it was just a matter of patience until the next opportunity came… or so I thought…
Monty was up and about when I came [home], waiting at the desk for me to arrive. I glanced at the clock and was shocked to see that we’d broken the 300 day barrier – we were already over a quarter of the way there! π² With time clearly marching on, there was no time left to lose on our next endeavour… Let’s put the ‘bed’ in ‘bedrock’, baby! π₯³ So without any further ado, I hurried Monty down into the bedchamber and asked him to start building the bed.
