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dentalrecordsmusic · 4 years

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Album Review: No Momentum - “everything's whatever”

Words by Ari Jindracek

I became acquainted with No Momentum at Sled Fest, as I did with many bands, and after seeing them live, the chance to check out their first full-length LP was one I knew I had to jump on. I left Mount Prospect that night with their CD in my bag, though various holiday circumstances meant I couldn't actually check it out until January, and the second I listened, I was in. The more I listen, the more in I get. No Momentum feel like the sort of band that would result if you took topics that the DIY scene spends a lot of time on, like love, nostalgia, and modern Internet culture, chopped up a weird and sometimes distressing therapy session, and shoved everything into a food processor with early Fall Out Boy. That's a bad metaphor for a good band, but you might get my point: there's a bit of old, a lot of new, and the result is wholly terrific.

The first few seconds of “yr telescope” feel like a cool day in a small park in the middle of the city, soothing but with a sense of modernity still there. This impression goes away as soon as it came and I must admit the transition into the more bouncy, vocally-fried song was jarring. The lyrics take a backseat, for me, to the rhythm which singer Will Bowman spits them out; if I brought this song to my sophomore year class on prosody (look it up), my professor would probably listen to “I’m not defined by rhymes or lines,” look at the class, and say something in his deeply profound voice about how he thought it was cool as hell. It feels like every word of this song falls perfectly into its right place, a perfectly-played game of musical Tetris. I long for a return to the serene beginning just so it doesn’t seem like such a one-off, but this song latched in my brain and I think of it sometimes, unprompted, on walks to the train, wishing I could listen to it on my phone.

The way “gts” starts steeply contrasts the way “yr telescope” does, opening with harsh, metallic, picky noises that make my teeth itch before opening into the guitar-backed vocals, and sliding into a bouncy rhythm like water off an umbrella. The vocals lapse into traditional nasally emo, into a rasping, into screaming. The range of sonic texture in this song alone is stunning and makes me think about how some hardcore bands have separate people giving clean vocals and screamed vocals, unable or willing to cover all that territory. A lot is going on in “gts”, so much that I feel like it slipped off my brain on the first few listens. The first half of the lyrics are grounded in simple reality (“You’re probably used to it by now / you’ve probably got your script out” reminds me of that now-dead meme about the “I’m at capacity” text script. I’m on Twitter a lot, sue me.), then after a beachy instrumental interlude, the song collapses into murderous imagery, ending with what seems to be the death of the listener at the hands of the speaker. The first line, “my brain feels like it’s overloading”, is right. I’m not mad about it, but feel like I’m missing something between verses.

“not my home” grabs my attention almost immediately with the way “dot dot dot” smartly multitasks, working on the levels of both lyric and catchy, pop-punky sound effect. This song feels colossal, partially because the two before it are so short, a billowing blanket castle that takes up half the house. The line “you said this body’s not my home anymore” is the most powerful of the song to me, though I’m not sure if it hits for me, a transgender person, for the same reasons it might hit for the band. The song feels like it comes in waves--soft-loud, gentle-fast. Every time I get used to the sound I’m hearing, it flips again. In the end, the slow rhythm underneath the tragic-sounding apologies gives way, almost naturally, to the more intense moment that follows, which slows down again as the song fades out. The beginning of “painted yellow lines” feels like it follows naturally, in much the same way. Again, the cadence of the lyrics in this song grabs my attention. The vocals feel like a rhythm instrument in their own right for the way they seem to be hammered out, exactly on every beat. This song was the first one that outright surprised me with how good it was. The lyrics read as a simple but painful testament to mental illness and intrusive thoughts; “who’s to say some painted yellow lines can quell impulse / but that’s not me, no that’s the disease” and “maybe I’m damaged goods but I’m good” both hit me hard. The former feels very visual, an image of an image in someone’s head of steering their car out of its proper lane, crashing headfirst into traffic; the latter, an almost-too-easy denial of the very distressing feelings that might make one want to steer into traffic. I love the ghostly effect of the effect-riddled vocals behind the guitar solo, and the thick bass in the breakdown right before the end of the song makes me think of it as a headbanging moment.

The beginning of “chill’d,” the first single off the album and first half of “chill’d / passenger,” echoes that of “gts” but feels more suspenseful, from the chords and growly bass to the little triplets. This effect dissolves when the vocals start, much like it does in “yr telescope.” The band does echo this in the chorus, though, which I’m grateful for. My primary thought about “chill’d / passenger” is that it feels like two songs--and not like one two-part song, as I would have expected by the two-part title. Both are remarkable, don’t get me wrong. “chill’d” is high-energy with remarkable drum fills and one of those bridges I love that slows down before picking itself back up. After a second of tuning, “chill’d” lapses into the much slower “passenger,” which glitters like black ice under streetlights. The breakdown of the song, screams of “what are you scared of?” is raw and stunning. My main problem is that these two halves don’t feel like they cohere, which is sad because they’re both such brilliant halves! The feel of the two songs, however, both lyrically and musically, is just too different for me to connect them as one and the same without a little more transition work than those quiet seconds that it takes to twist up one or two guitar strings. There are smoother transitions on the album between songs that are listed separately. I think picking “chill’d” as a single independent of its mate was a good choice--it’s a lot more fun and less gut-wrenching. Honestly, if my only problem with a song is the transition between it and the next song, even if they’re both the same track, that’s pretty high praise.

My first impression of the second single “my dad invented punk and he’s gonna cancel your band” is obviously tied to the title, because I judge a book by its cover more than I should. It’s a good impression--feels very mid-2000s--and it doesn’t let me down. The opening guitar grit feels familiar at this point, a thread woven through earlier songs. Bassist Dan Watkins’s part feels extra distinctive, partially because the guitar largely drops out at the end of the first verse to give the bassline extra room, but also because it drives the song as it crashes forward through the brush. Lyrically, I love “deify me, crucify me” as a couplet, and as a quick summary of the way cancel culture works in the music world we all live in: musicians and their work are so important we end up idolizing them, until they step over a line, at which point the scene, metaphorically, cuts their heads off. The ending is abrupt--like the end of a smaller band’s career if they cross that line--and I wish I had some more of it to sink my teeth into, but I also have no problem with the song slamming the brakes in a way oddly similar to how it started.

“orange julius erving” kicks off with that scratchy guitar sound that seems to be a No Momentum signature sound over lush rhythms. I feel like I could listen to the drums at the very beginning on their own and they’d feel like a song in their own right. The subject matter feels very domestic, in great contrast to the very-online subject of the previous song: brushing teeth, kitchen towels, and love for someone with the sort of deathwish that makes someone crash their car into a wall. The guitar solo slots in perfectly after the second verse and I love the way it feels so tonally clear. The slow tremolo at the end of this solo creates a great springboard for launching into the final sequence of screaming, loving but brutal to feel.

The song “yes, momentum”, obviously named with tongue in cheek, is also very aptly named: it builds from the wash of sound in the first few notes, into a first voice sung normally, into a slower bridge, into a final minute of screaming. Even in the slower verse, the line “sit on my hands and scream too loud” indicates what is to come, and Marty Headley on drums keeps the energy up even as the instrumentals fade out. The whole effect of this build feels like I’m trying to walk down a steep hill--tentative, then walking, then running due to the buildup of, well, momentum. The end of the song after “the buck stops now” feels right, because if the song had kept going any more, it seemed like it would spin itself out and wreck on the side of the road, so great was the force behind it.

"donettes" is a great example of a type of song I-- probably wrongly, let's be real -- refer to as "grand emo ballads.” Out of my top five songs of all time, I would classify three under this heading. That is to say, "donettes" falls into my favorite flavor of song: characterized by slow-tempo instrumentals that take up a lot of real estate in a long song full of lyrics that contain significant emotional depth. Think of the richness of the instrumentals here, paced much slower than almost anything else on the album so far but pulling just as much attention in as the killer songs earlier on. The drumming in the final two minutes is phenomenal. The lyrics, though there aren't as many of them as one might expect from a song almost six minutes long, hit me like bricks every now and then. “What made you think that you could outrun time?” got me immediately, as did the slow, heartfelt rendition of, “tell me what you want, what you really really want.” The imagery in the last verse is vivid for how grounded it is, all sugar sweet and nostalgic.

There is a rawness in the love there, shown in the desperation of the vocals, the cries of the guitar. It all comes together into pretty much my platonic ideal of a slow song by a fast band. The album's title track follows, another slowed-down closer. "everything’s whatever" begins with a doubled guitar that isn't present elsewhere, probably because No Momentum only has one guitarist. It takes more than a minute and a half for the rhythm section to come in, and the first time they take the foreground is more than halfway through. Most of the song has a sonic feel like a gray-skied day by the shore of a lake. Lyrically, there is apathy and neutrality showing in lines like “I’m waiting for some things to fall together so I can start living.” It's very relatable but there is a distinct undercurrent of forcing it--there is more emotion under the facade. “Can’t seem to stop the room from spinning” feels like the beginning of the cracking of that facade to me, a crack that leads to a crumbling in the last full minute; after that, there are explicit mentions of pretending regularly, subtext fully made text. In the end, the song gets musically much harder, more wrenching, and you can tell that the end is nigh. It feels like light is slipping out through the places where the mask of not caring has worn thin.

While working on this review, I found myself wanting to listen to everything’s whatever more than just when I was at home with my good headphones on, flipping through MP3s, with my orange CD player waiting for when I needed it. No Momentum at times remind me of some of my favorite bands. Sure, there are a few blemishes on the album, but the sheer caliber of the work means I am all too willing to ignore those little scrapes and stage-dive into a crowd about it instead. No Momentum’s work is going to make it into my rotation, absolutely, and when they blow up and start headlining national tours, you can catch me in the pit.

everything’s whatever was released today, 2/14. You can listen to the album here on Bandcamp and be sure to catch up with No Momentum on all of their social media.

Ari Jindracek wants some powdered sugar donuts now. Ari doesn’t even like powdered sugar donuts. You can find Ari on Twitter.

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Subscribe to the DRM YouTube channel.

#no momentum #everything's whatever #everythings whatever #punk #punk rock #emo #emo punk #poughkeepsie #poughkeepsie new york #new york #indie #indie rock

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crasherfly · 3 years

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I thought I’d have something important to talk about today...

About 30 minutes into my therapy appointment I had run out of things to talk about. I had done my best to summon...something...anything...to the surface.

But I had nothing. I got nothing for this space either.

I’m doin’ fine. Like, I’m not any worse than normal or anything. I just...am having kinda a blank week/month. It happens.

I’m trying to get back into running now that the gym is closed. It’s hell. I miss my weights. I know I’m going to be okay. It’s just going to take some time to really get my head around this. There are bigger problems in the world than my personal fitness and self-image. I have better safeguards in place for myself, emotionally, so I know I’ll come out of this better than I did during the the start of the pandemic. I’m taking this as an opportunity to improve and come out stronger in a different way.

I’m still sober. Haven’t decided if I’ll have a beer or two for Thanksgiving. I didn’t give this much thought when I started. But now I’m here. I guess I’ll have more thoughts when and if I end this streak. I wouldn’t say that it’s been a lifechanging experience, but it’s been good to break routines and try something new.

Haven’t done much else beyond the usual gaming and other nonsense. More on that below. :)

Aight let’s talk about games.

I picked up a new TV this week at Best Buy! I’m uh, like, a third of the way ready for the new generation! If it’s a bad tv, please don’t @ me. We got the one that made the most sense for us.

Now just gotta find a Series X and a Yamaha receiver that can do 4k. Simple. Right? RIGHT?

Had sorta a light week for games. I worked a lot on DND stuff this week- more on that below, or, if you’re especially curious, you can find my DND blog HERE.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4)

I’m not sure what prompted me to get back to the world of Red Dead Redemption 2. I had no prior inkling that there would be anything newsworthy happening in RDR2- but of course, we now know that soon Red Dead Online will be a stand-alone game of its own, the single player campaign relegated to the backseat as an add-on feature.

I first spent time with the single player world. Needless to say, spoilers to follow here, so if you’re still behind on this game’s story- well, read no further.

Still with me? Great. Okay, so it’s no shock that Arthur dies at the end of RDR2. It had to happen. It’s a damn shame because i found him infinitely more relatable than John Marston of the original game, but to each their own.

Arthur dies and you go through a kind of reset where you take over the story, such as what’s left of it, as John Martson. It’s a bit of a momentum killer, from a power curve point of view, but from a narrative view- it’s necessary. The ending to the main “campaign” is pretty good. You get revenge and the story wraps up nicely in anticipation for the the start of the game that...released a generation ago.

I...okay, I’m not getting into this here. This isn’t about my thoughts on the campaign, which I swear are mostly positive! (I actually think RDR2′s story is far and away superior to the first game’s, and it’s not a close contest, prequel issues aside) This is about why I came back to RDR2.

I guess I needed a big, immersive game world to get lost in for a while. And RDR2 certainly offers that. It doesn’t quite have the variety of its big brother, Grand Theft Auto 5. And it isn’t nearly as spontaneous as say, Yakuza 0. But it is still very, very big and chock full of narrative secrets. So much so that I found myself surprised by how much game was still there after the final credits rolled.

I took my hand at bounty hunting, bought a few new pieces of equipment I hadn’t seen before, and trolled around towns as a downtrodden, violence prone John Marston. I found some new secrets I hadn’t seen before, including a couple of cinematic moments with characters from the previous story. It was fun! I killed probably...5-7 hours just trolling around the virtual West.

I will say it got a little tiring hearing everyone I met tell me how great a guy the previously killed protagonist was. Like. I know he was great! I played as him! I wish I still was! Ah well.

This experience has me thinking about how...SERIOUSLY...we analyzed RDR2 when it first came out. Like, the discourse surrounding this game’s narrative experience was freaking BREATHLESS. But I think something that got lost in all that talk about the story- and more importantly- the culture of the studio behind it- is just how incredible the world they built really is.

The world the devs for RDR2 built is simply...massive. Massive to the point that it might actually be unknowable. The only scale I can think to compare it is that of the Bethesda RPGs, and even then, that feels like a rough comparison.

Of course, size isn’t everything. They have to populate the world too, and again, they manage to do so with striking detail. Every city, town and settlement feels real. I mean, I still remember the first time I rode into Valentine and was struck in the face by the sheer choreography of it all. It actually made me want to make my character WALK instead of run, ‘cuz I didn’t want to break the immersion of the moment. That’s the arresting power of this game world.

Rockstar announced that the RDO experience will live on for at least the foreseeable future. There’s going to be plenty more written about the culture of Rockstar and the indulgent microtransactions that their games are trending toward. I’ll leave that to the journalists.

But as a player? I’m glad the game world will continue to find life. It’s too massive, too finely crafted to merely be discarded by something as arbitrary as the passage of gaming “generations”, if that’s even really a thing anymore.

I have more thoughts specifically on playing Red Dead Online, but I’ll have to save them as this is already running long as it is. I also don’t think my thoughts are terrible revealing. You know what RDO is gonna be when you log in, and for the most part, that’s what you get. I think it has fewer problems than GTAO, but it is still a tightly controlled experience- likely by design.

Muse Dash (PC)

Muse Dash is a rhythm game where you tap a combination of 2-3 keys on your keyboard to the beat of a catch J-Pop song. Your character, or muse, on screen, dispatches foes who serve as visual cues for your keystrokes. You must string together as many perfect sequences as possible. There’s a combo meter and HP system in there too, if you’re into that kind of thing.

I first encountered Muse Dash on V-tuber Gawr Gura’s livestream. Unfortunately, the video appears to be missing from her archive now. I was struck by how much its short, energetic tracks reminded me of a different rhythm gaming experience- Dance Dance Revolution.

Fun fact- I used to be a DDR FIEND back in my high school days. Had my own mat and everything. I even used a barstool for extra support so I could hit those really intense combos.

*sigh* To be young and able to play DDR without risking a heart attack...

Anyway, suffice to say Muse Dash caught my eye. An endless supply of J-pop tracks, cute anime visuals, and some low-key rhythm gameplay? Tag me in!

It’s made for a good, chill change of pace. The price of entry is low...like, five bucks on steam? And you can purchase more songs if you’re into that. I recommend it!

Dungeons and Dragons: Ghosts of Saltmarsh

As I said above, most of my freetime last week went into prepping for my local DND group’s campaign set in the world of Saltmarsh.

If you really want to hear a play-by-play, I’ve linked my related blog above.

Overall? I really enjoy the world of Saltmarsh. It’s spooky and moody. There’s pirates, but there’s also no shortage of sea monsters, ghosts, cultists and even vampires to keep you busy. It has strong Dark Shadows feels, where many of its included modules feel reliant dramatic tension and investigation ahead of a dramatic showdown with a big, bad monster of the week.

I still have a lot more prep to do, but at least for the moment, I can take a breath and ease up. The first session went well and the players seem curious. I hope that keeps up as we really start to dig in to the world itself. I’ve never run a full city before, and finding ways to insert all the separate modules as plothooks has been a challenge unto itself. I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes!

Anime

I haven’t watched much lately, and that admittedly sucks. I tend to go in phases, and lately, my time just hasn’t been going to anime the way it has in other seasons.

I’m still very into Jujutsu Kaisen and am tracking with the season ending to Fire Force. I’m avoiding season 2 of Re:Zero like the plague, partially because I need to wait until the full season is done so I don’t have to torture myself by waiting week to week, and partially because I just know season 2 is going to absolutely destroy me in ways I’m not sure I can fundamentally handle right now.

I keep meaning to go through my queues and create a proper watchlist across VRV, Crunchyroll and Funimation. Maybe I’ll do that later tonight.

That’s all for this week! Hope everyone has a good and safe Thanksgiving.

Haven’t played anything on multiplayer for a while now. As always, if you have a specific game you’d like to play online, my DM’s are open. Please feel free to send me an invite <3

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drkandraz · 6 years

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Professor vs Lawyer vs Bear: An Analysis of Narrative Puzzle Games

Note: For what I mean by aesthetics, you can check out my FAQ page here. For what “ludic” means, use Google.

Narrative puzzle games are and always have been a rare breed. Yet they perfectly encompass the ludic aesthetic of mystery, a very prevalent aesthetic in other mediums. They deliberately deliver on the holmesian feeling of cracking a case wide open unlike any other genre. However, as I pondered the rarity of such games, I noticed the subtler mechanical differences in the genre’s three largest representatives: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Professor Layton and Danganronpa. In a large sense, they all seem identical in style at first. Yet taking a more in depth look at the mechanics, the three games deliver largely different experiences based on the themes they encompass. Strangely, the games seem to spell it out for us in some oft repeated mottos: “To turn this case around,” “This reminds me of a puzzle” and “Thrills, chills, kills!”

The Professor Layton games were originally made with the puzzles in mind; the story came later on. Therefore, the games have a traditionally dissected structure: the narrative component, and the gameplay component. The Professor Layton games are usually played for their IQ test-like puzzles, which are discovered randomly when talking to some characters or when advancing through the story. The narrative has, since the beginning, taken a backseat to the gameplay. As such, the story could be a simple saturday morning-style cartoon plot, following a holmesian figure through a fascinating mystery, while the player solved puzzles. The Layton games take the player along for the ride rather than let him be a part of the story. However, as they went on, the puzzles tied more into the story and the game could finally be called a Narrative Puzzle game.

Layton’s approach to puzzles is a lot more ham-handed than its brothers, not trying to tie them into the story or characters whenever it is not necessary. But because they are smaller in scope, they are accompanied by the need to utilise more direct deductive and inductive thinking rather than thinking by contradiction, which are more prevalent in the other two games. Unlike the other games, Layton never cares about how you arrived at a conclusion more than it cares about the conclusion itself.

Layton never aims to have that big cathartic holmesian moment, rather opting for smaller puzzles and having the larger mystery be solved by the titular character as a cutscene-type reward. That aesthetic is never aimed at throughout the series as a ludic component, but only as a narrative one, expressed through the language of film rather than game.

In the Ace Attorney series you play as a lawyer (mainly Phoenix Wright), where the main mechanic of the game is catching contradictions in witnesses’ testimonies. There is no time limit for these, only a health penalty for failing to catch the contradiction. This mechanic is complemented by investigation segments, which serve to make the player understand the case before the trial. Phoenix’s bluffing has become a running joke in the series because it is a common writing tool to guide the player’s abductive reasoning (which is not as commonly used as deduction or induction). Therefore, the Ace Attorney series encompasses the basest definition of the Narrative Puzzle game. It interweaves the plot and gameplay beautifully in order to deliver its big detective story climax, making the player feel like the Great Detective himself.

Its mechanics try to deliver on the themes of conviction and trust between lawyer and client, as well as the importance of dialectics. To do this, it is patient, with penalties to incentivise the player to be patient and thoughtful, while its visual and audio design deliver on the feeling of excitement necessary from a mystery story (Consequently, Pursuit~Cornered has become one of the most iconic video game tracks of all time). To sum up, what Ace Attorney wants to be first and foremost is fun to play.

On the other hand, Danganronpa is a game that wants you to be constantly uncomfortable. It is a game about high school students that are “Ultimates” in their fields being forced into a killing game seemingly coordonated by a robotic black and white teddy bear that claims all it wants is...Despair (And yes, it is just as all out bonkers as you imagine it to be). After each killing, the participants are forced to take part in a Class Trial in which they have to find the killer to survive.

The game takes a lot of its mechanics from Ace Attorney, but adds its own twisted style to the proceedings: the testimonies are now all the students hurling theories, deductions and swears at each other on a time limit and the contradiction is not punctuated by an objection, but by a bullet blowing apart the words. However, HP (or rather, credibility) reaching 0 is usually accompanied by a simple “Try again?” prompt, because strangely, the game wants you to succeed. Usually at the end of the trial, you have to play a rhythm mini-game in which you argue with a participant who is desperately denying every accusation thrown their way. The feeling of unease is only made deeper by the bonds you are able to make with the other students during the free time events, who are always liable to be murdered or become murderers during the killing game. In the end, Danganronpa is a game that wants you to feel fundamentally uneasy and distrustful of everything around you, that hits you when you’re the most relaxed. It is a game whose themes of Hope and Despair come through beautifully within the mechanics themselves.

To be perfectly candid, after so much thought and consideration, I am starting to question whether all of these games belong under one umbrella. All of these subtle differences in mechanical design change the feel of the games tremendously and manage to deliver on very diverse aesthetics of gameplay, from simple fun to complete despair all on the backdrop of mystery, puzzle solving and complex plots. This is a genre brimming with storytelling potential and I am awaiting more and more quality from it in the future.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #danganronpa #professor layton #monokuma #game design #gaming #visual novels #nintendo+ds #playstation vita #essay #narrative puzzle games #mechanics #analysis

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snowtoroislord · 7 years

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List 93: Top Ten Anime I want to make a Game for

I love video games. I would easily say it is my favorite hobby I do. Usually it takes a backseat nowadays to me doing other things in my life but it is truly the one I find the most passion in. That got me to thinking what anime would I want to turn into games? I started visualizing genres and unique ways to turn them into games and my imagination went wild with the idea. It really was one of the most fun ideas I’ve come up with in a while. I ordered these in less of quality and more of how proud I was of each idea I came up with for them. I also put genre and studio making it to make it really feel more alive to me. Game on!

10: Kids on the Slope

Genre: Rhythm Company: Nintendo

This was a given with the show in question. I sat for a while thinking over whether it or Your Lie in April deserved this spot and settled on Kids for a few reasons. I figured a time piece of music would be very neat to see in gaming. We always get certain series or styles but never one time period aside from like when Rockband did stuff for Kiss. You can play one of 4 instruments: piano, drums, trumpet, and double bass. The music selection would all be songs from the anime and time period. A jazz based rhythm game made by men in Nintendo who grew up in that time period. The would for sure connect with the title and bring out the music quality to the highest standard.

9: Gurren Lagann

Genre: Mech Open World Adventure Company: Monolith Soft

This one would have you building your own mech form the start and working through the story of Gurren Lagann with it as a part of Team Dai Gurren. Once the 7 year gap happens you would have tons of side quests and ways to upgrade and remodel your mech while taking on tons of challenges. Monolith loves mechs to death so I figure who better to display Mechs at the most over the top in gaming form. References to other famous Mech anime would be nice too as a way to make it feel special. Unlockable mechs for certain Gundams and the Evas from Neon Genesis would be a true delight.

8: Rurouni Kenshin

Genre: Action Company: Rocksteady Studios

Following the story of Kenshin beat for beat is what I want here. The game would be split into 3 parts. The first would be a section in Tokyo where basic missions and gameplay is taught while getting through the start of the story. Then you would get to Kyoto and have a much larger area to see and the story would build up to the Shishio arc. Then you would end off with Kenshin’s backstory and Enishi’s arc with a Tokyo filled with tons more to do. You would have also side unlockable stories playable with Sanosuke, Yahiko, Kaoru, and Saito. I chose Rocksteady for it’s great open world design, and combat flow in the Batman games. I think bringing that to a Kenshin game would be fantastic. Mix their love to drop hidden facts about the city and characters with obtainable secrets and this game would be a love letter to Kenshin fans. Telling the story from start to finish and constantly giving you new abilities as you work through the story.

7:Kill la Kill

Genre: Beat’em Up Company: Platinum Games

Name a company that makes better crazy action games then Platinum? With Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising alone I’m convinced they could make a wonderful adaptation of the Kill la Kill world and make the action feel like the anime did. I’m undecided if I want the actual story to be the focus or just let them make an original plot within the world. I’d rather like to play Ryuko though and kick ass with my scissor blades. So I think I lean more towards that for sure.

6:Fullmetal Alchemist

Genre: Action Adventure Company: Bandai Namco

Haha Looks like I forgot to type something here the first time!

FMA’s game would follow the story of the series of course(brotherhood), and you would play everyone from Ed to Mustang to Winry. Varieties of gameplay styles and modes to keep it fresh while hitting the player hard with the feels of the story itself. It would hit all the marks and try to be a little bit of everything just like the actual series. Bandai makes tons of great titles like the Tales series so I trust them to figure out a way to make it all come to life with a perfect equivalent exchange.

5: Fate Series

Genre: Open World Action-RPG Company: From Software

Fate is a pretty dark world and the set up of the Holy Grail War is fantastic. Give players the option to choose from almost a hundred options of heroes of the past, present, and future and let them take part in the war. Letting you improve as you battle and explore trying to find intel on the other competitors would allow you a ton of freedom while playing. Mix all the options and each playthrough would be unique as well. I think a risk/reward battle system like From Software is known for would work here. You are rewarded for being more risky but at the same time show all your skills and you could be at a disadvantage when trying to fight future heroes. I think it would be a very challenging battle of wits and reflexes at least.

4: Kuroko no Basuke

Genre: Sports Company: 2K Games

Anyone remember NBA Jam and NBA Showtime? The hilarious bombastic basketball video games that would let you dunk from almost anywhere on the court. Imagine the basically superpower of the Kuroko cast in video game glory. Let people play through the story or exhibition matches and let them go crazy with every character’s special traits. Heck you could even make a few fake new character with weird abilities just to spice it up a bit. I’ll let a sports series expert handle this one and make it crazy as can be.

3: Magic Kaito

Genre: Heist Stealth Company: Level-5

With Persona 5 on the cusp on being released world wide it made me think, why not a Kaito game in a similar vein? You could play through a multitude of scenarios made for the game including all sorts of characters from Aoko to Conan. Be Kaito Kid and use what the game gives you to make it through the police, other adversaries, and of course Conan again to best them all as the phantom thief! I think this game would be full of laughs and creative level design open to player to explore. Think like a funny Hitman game, where you steal instead of kill. Any fan would be in for a treat and I think Level-5 has a huge track record that would reassure me.

2: Spice & Wolf

Genre: Economics/Dating Sim Company: MPS Labs

From the creators of Civ. I want a fantastic simulation title. You play through the world of Spice & Wolf as Kraft Lawrence and try to get Holo to her home. The game would have travel segments like Oregon trail, a romance meter to build with Holo, and a very complex world economics system to learn and master. If you are able to be the best at all of them you will get the best and true ending of the game. Anything from death to Holo leaving you can happen, its up to you to master the market and your heart to get the true end!

1: The Girl Who Leapt Through TIme

Genre: Choice Based Adventure Company: Naughty Dog

So, I was thinking lets have a new character that you play in the same world as the Girl Who Leapt Through Time. You are given 100 jumps to make. And the game takes place over the course of 3 months. So around 90 days. Every day you play through like a simulation game building relationships, leveling up certain personality and knowledge stats and overall learning about the world. At any time over the 3 months you can jump back in time after completing any new task. Which ones are important and which ones are truly unimportant in the grand scheme? Maybe they are all important. Work your way to a happy ending and not the bad one you see in your dreams on day 1 of the story. It would make players really try their hardest to appreciate every little decision and I think I want the perfect graphics of realism from Naughty Dog and their little touches to make this a true classic through time.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any of the above pictures. The credit goes to the original creators of each and thus will be considered theirs. Enjoy the pics!

What anime would you make a game out of? I tried to use a variety of genres and ideas but I’m sure there are tons more out there! Tell me somewhere on the net!

See ya Space Corgis!

#anime #anime list #top ten #the girl who leapt through time #spice and wolf #magic kaito #kuroko no basket #fate series #fullmetal alchemist #kill la kill #rurouni kenshin #gurren lagann #kids on the slope #space corgis

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thefamilyineverknew · 6 years

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Turning 47: pt. IX

“Rocky Mountain Way”

21 May 2018

Monday morning at the Double Bar “L” farm and I am seeing my folks and aunt off. Before they go, my dad advises wisdom, should any meeting take place. “She probably has a lot more to risk than you, keep this in mind. Are you ready for this?”, he asks. I say that I am, and believe that I am.

One final farewell and my dad climbs into the minivan with my mom and aunt, and utters the phrase that has punctuated the beginning of all the road trips we had as a family, “We’re off like a herd of turtles!”, and they set off on their 12 hr journey back to their small town in Minnesota.

Traveling long distances by car is the way my family has always made their way to far-away destinations. The thought of flying to a place rarely, if ever, enters into the equation. Whether it is too extravagant, modern, or would relinquish the feeling of hands-on control, it is not something that they do. I have this same bug in my system. I love driving hours on end, marathon road trips, like the one I am on. Nature or nurture, I don’t know, but I love it. And for the month following my arrival back to Sweden, my dreams will consistently be of me in a car driving behind the wheel.

The drive ahead of me is not so long, 6-7 hrs, but promises to be dramatic, landscape-wise. But more on that later. For now, I say goodbye to my uncle John, thanking him for all the hospitality, food, and remembering to bring me a knife at meals (after living abroad, I am completely lost eating with solely a fork and fingers. Who knew?).

And I head out, off like a herd of turtles.

My plan is to be in Colorado until Sunday the 27th at the latest. That is the slimmest margin I can afford to return to Minnesota in time to catch my flight back to Göteborg on the 30th. This will give me a week to be in the vicinity should Arla be up to meet, a general sketch I describe to her via email. Whether or not she is game, I will be there. How could I not?

Man, is this part of the country, western Kansas, is beautiful to me. Flat forever on the horizon, semi-trucks barreling by, wide open skies, fields of grain extending as far as the eye can see; corn, wheat, soybeans, alfalfa, sunflowers, rows creating a visual rhythm as I zoom by, cruise control set to 75 mph. Having experienced it all from the backseat growing up makes being behind the wheel all the more enjoyable.

So what would it be like to meet my mother, my birth-mother? I have always pictured the emotion of it overwhelming me, with deep guttural yawps I had never heard before. Over the years here in Sweden, my mother-in-law (now ex-mother-in-law), Eva, has been bent on getting me on this television show, “Spårlöst” (means “without a trace”). The show’s premise is to follow and assist adoptees in Sweden search to find their families. Though I am touched that she would want this, I have absolutely no desire to make my meeting with these mysteries being unveiled a broadcast event. No way, no how. I can only imagine wailing uncontrollably like a buffoon on camera, and this is not how I wanted to be presented to the public. She would return to the idea again and again.

NOW, if a meeting were to happen, it would be in private and, hopefully, in the right conditions.

The only blood relatives I had ever met were my children, August and Esther. There are certain attributes and personality quirks, in both, that I can see come directly from me, (but then, from whom before? I wonder. How deep does this go?). August is lean and goofy, Esther is observant and hilarious. In fact, she is the most naturally funny person I’ve ever known. So quick witted. Years ago, shortly after their mother and I divorced, we were sitting at the dinner table, eating and talking, when August or I said something awkward that stopped the conversation. Esther looked up, as if toward a camera, and said, “We’ll be right back”, as if we were on air. She was 7. I must have laughed for 3 minutes straight. A real watershed moment. August and I share an interest in cars, though his far outpaces mine. We’ll be out and he’ll say, “Dad! Dad! Did you see that?” I’m like, “What?” “That! Over there! It’s a Mazda XBGDHTVFX-3! There are only TWO of those in Sweden! I can’t believe I’m seeing this!” I am excited for him to be starting auto mechanic school in the autumn. So, this is the extent to which I have been in touch with my bloodline, and whatever traits there might be in this shared DNA. What would await?

I cross the Kansas/Colorado state line. The landscape is exactly the same, flat, though a bit more arid and wild. I pull off to the first rest stop a couple miles in. It’s completely vacant; a perfect setting for a scene in a David Lynch production. I skype with Sara, my girlfriend back in Sweden, to just show her the area where I’m standing. Both the US and Colorado state flags are waving strong and proud in the gusting wind. It’s good to talk to her in this unassuming, nearly off-the-grid location. I am wishing she could be with me on this road trip. Skyping is the next best option. Thank you, internet.

I get back on the road, and will stay on this path for the next few hundred miles.

Musically, I alternate between my CD collection (thankfully brought a sleeve from home and purchased dozens at Goodwill back in Chicagoland), and the radio. Now, when you’re on the road, away from your local pre-set channels, you are at the mercy of the strength of the radio signal. You might find a station playing the perfect music or news, only to have it start to crack and fizzle as it loses it’s reach. Then you have to scan for another. I do like it, though, getting to know the culture of a given area via the radio options. During these stretches, one can reliably count on three radio flavors; Country, Christian, and Classic Rock. And you can find multiple versions of only these three, all within the same market. It started me sketching out a song in my head about this.

The miles wear on, the music plays at volume, and I’m singing along heading into the unknown. Then I see them; the Rocky Mountain range peeking up at the horizon. Faintly visible, just a touch of ultra-marine blue, added to copious amounts of white is how I would mix the paint. The feeling of seeing this has never changed since I was a kid, a feeling of power, possibility, adventure, and wonder. I have never gotten over it, and am exhilarated to know this, just this sight, still sends me. Every time I have been to Colorado, I am aware that this is where I came from (because that’s what the birth certificate says). And every time I think, I MUST have family here. This time I know for sure.

I stop to grab a bite to eat and check my messages and social. Arla has replied. She says that circumstances are such that we would not be able to meet this time, but that we most certainly will at some point in the future. Unfazed, I write back to say that there is no pressure, since the revelation of existence has already jumped us from 0-100, but that I will still be staying in Colorado this week if circumstances happen to change. I also emphasize that my being in the states is actually a rare event and that sometimes there is never a best time for things. Sent.

Sandwich and email finished, I celebrate with a strawberry shake and an extra shot of insulin.

See the transitions in landscape here>>>> https://youtu.be/q-eIu1qM2SE

You will pass the farm, Double Bar “L”, at 01:35. (Double Bar “L” is the family branding sign, used to brand livestock. It’s a capital L with two bars underneath. )

Below, you can see the Rockies come no into view.

#colorado #rocky mountains #journey #mountains

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mlpsimta · 6 years

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Simta’s best games that he played in 2017

2017 has finally ended. I truly hope that everyone had a wonderful 2017 and that 2018 will be even better for any of us. As for gaming 2017 was remarkable. It started off really strong with games like Gravity Rush 2, Yakuza 0, Resident Evil 7 in January and was followed up immediately by amazing titles such as Nier: Automata and Horizon Zero Dawn. The year even got better with Nintendo’s highly successful new console the Switch. With an amazingly drop fed release schedule and top of the line quality of games it became one of the most seeked out system. Of course thanks to some companies who just couldn’t resist to spread some bullshit over the last months of this year we got some let’s just say underwhelming and disappointing titles too.

But this day is not for those games! Today I only intend to talk about the best games that I have played in 2017. There’s only one caveat. Because of the incredibly huge amount of amazing games that came out last year I just simply wasn’t able to play with all of them. Of course those games that I missed will have their own list. There are going to be some older titles because as mentioned before and my line-up is about the best games that I have played in 2017. So even if a game came out in the ‘80s but I only played it for the first time only now, it will be on the list. Let’s get started and see: what were my top games that I’ve played last year.

Dark Souls 3

I am a huge Dark Souls fan. Anything that is closely Souls Like I am going to jump upon it, but when Dark Souls 3 first came out I intentionally didn’t bought it. Mainly because I was waiting to get the inevitable GOTY edition of the game so I can power through all of that the title can offer in one or more painful weeks without touching anything else. So after a year of going completely dark and avoiding anything that is Dark Souls 3 I jumped into it knowing nothing and let the game surprise me. And oh boy it had quite the surprises! The whole game was a wonderful journey and not just in-game wise. I don’t know if it makes any sense but traversing through Lotrich showed also how the series evolved since Demon’s Souls. Meeting the Not Maiden in Black in the Not Nexus, fighting against the undead on the High Wall of Lotric, going into the Catacombs to get murdered by skeletons and every area of the game had that nostalgic feeling of you have been there, you have seen this. But From Software not just simply recycled previous ideas and maps from their games but evolved them, and learned from them, so the next time you came across something similar it won’t just be bigger and flashier, but better and more challenging too! And that is true for the game mechanics even! Every swing with my trusty Broadsword felt so right, every fight and even the spell casting felt for some reason better. No more gimmicky mechanics, no more overpowered stat, every build is viable! So it is only up to you how you are going to try and beat the game. Dark Souls 3 in short was a collection from the best elements of the Souls series, from Demon’s Soul, to Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The dev team picked all the parts that stood out of, and cranked them to eleven. It was a nice way to say goodbye to the Dark Souls series and I just simply can’t wait what they are going to come up with next!

PRAISE THE ART

Doom

You know whenever I see some YouTubers or other gamers talking about how their first game was Mario, Zelda, Sonic or Dizzy, I always find it funny when my time comes to talk about it and my response is: Doom. Yep my first game that got me started was Doom. So after the lacklustre Doom 3 I just kept waiting for a true successor and finally a true heir came in 2016! This game embodies everything that a Doom game has to be. It’s fast phased, filled with action and the story takes a backseat, because it knows that we are here not the get lectured or have life changing experience. We are here because we want to shoot, punch, blow up, and tear apart everything that stand in our way. This game truly understands what made the first two Doom games special and doesn’t shy away about it. It knows what we want to see and delivers on it with high octane! And you know what is funny? That it is able to deliver bombastic action while having one of the best story and main protagonist that I have ever seen. Doom Guy doesn’t say a word nor does he need to. You completely understand him simply by his gestures! Spoilers are coming up about the story so if you haven’t played it than please do so it worth your time. The whole plot is simply about your bog standard big evil corporation wants to get its hand on new ways to generate power for humanity. Obviously the best decision is to go to hell and use its energy to do so. Than shit hits the fan and that is when Doom Guy comes and saves the day. It is just so funny to see how your ‘boss’ tells you that you shouldn’t break some machines as those provides the power for humanity, and Doom Guy just takes a second to think and punches it and destroys it! These kinds of actions show that he not just simply doesn’t give a single fuck, but show that he understands hell the best. It’s bad, you shouldn’t touch it, okay you did it I’ll fix it by murdering everything that is demonic. I could go on and on about the game but I think that I have already carried away, so I just stop and you should go and play it.

I forgot to press the screenshot button during the whole campaing... So have this.

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

What more I can say about this game that I have already did in a few weeks ago in my review? Momodora is a true Metroidvania in every way or form. You play as a priestess armed to teeth with a leaf and your duty is to lift the curse of a city. With tight controls and a surprisingly deep customizable fight styles thanks to the items you found through the game you are in for a nice ride. It has a beautiful pixelated art style and an atmosphere remembrance of Bloodborne and the challenge you would see in games like that. You ought to yourself to play this little gem.

Read my review: http://mlpsimta.tumblr.com/post/168403269727/simta-reviews-momodora-reverie-under-the

Simple and beautiful

Persona 5

This year’s best game without a doubt for me easily. The Persona series always has been close to my heart and now after years and years of waiting I was finally be able to play a new one! I got this game just before the spring break and I completely no lifed it during the vacation. After exactly 108 hours later that took me one and a half week to achieve, I was looking at the end credits with a huge smile on my face and tears in my eyes. The game has an amazing cast of characters who you are genuinely care for and root for. The best designed menu system and visuals that you have ever seen! No joke! I often founded myself just moving from menu options from menu options to see every little detail that was purred into it. Also the game has a wonderful soundtrack too. From calm and relaxing music that plays during rainy days, to rock that just bursts and makes you pumped up during a fight! It has everything for every occasion and all of just clicks together so well. Now add all of it to a classic JRPG fighting system and you end up with turn based game that never feels slow. With the music mixed in, every battle can turn into a rhythm game where you try to keep up with the music, and paired all of this with the visuals it just simply looks and sounds amazing. I have to say it makes me really sad that I simply not literature enough to be able to make coherent sentences. Every time when I think about this game is just overflow with emotions of how great of a game it is. I just hope that everyone will get a chance to play it even if you are not a fan of Japanese games you ought to yourself to try this game and see through it. Believe me you are going to experience something wonderful.

YOU NEVER SEE IT COMING!

Tearaway Unfolded

While Sony tries to forget the PS Vita there are still some truly amazing games on that little machine that are begging for attention just like this one. Once a PS Vita launch title it got re-released on the PS4 so it can be finally played by more than a handful of people. The whole world of Tearaway from the trees to the houses, the animals even the water, everything looks like that it was handmade only and just only using paper. But not just the visuals even the controls have a unique twist to them too. You can swipe left to right on the controller’s touchpad to make the wind blow in the world, or press it to make everything jump. I’m not really into controller gimmicks because most of the time they just get into the way and make everything less convenient, but in this game this is not the case. Every function feels very natural and good to use. You can seamlessly move around, do your stuff, and interact with the world via the touchpad without you having to stop for a second, which is crucial as you have to use the wind during a lot of jumping sections to make you reach further platforms. The whole world is just filled with joy and happiness and it is simply a fun adventure that you should try. If you are looking for a third person platformer and for some reason missed Tearaway I urge you to try this one as it is one of the best that the genre has.

Read my review: http://mlpsimta.tumblr.com/post/158588857952/simta-reviews-tearaway-unfolded

Simply adorable and lovable

Undertale

Undertale became a huge hit in 2016 and while I was interested in it I decided to skip it. For some reason there are some types of games that I just simply prefer on a handheld device. Luckily the game got released on the Vita so I immediately purchased it, and I have to say it is truly as good as everybody says. With the premise of you can spare or kill anyone that you come across in the game which ultimately decides how every character will interact with you and the narrative to. Undertale has much more tricks up its sleeves, a game that remembers every decision of yours and adapts to it and judges you for them. It can deliver one of the most heartbreaking scenes that I have ever had the chance to experience. A well thought out world filled it loveable characters and truly unique game mechanics Undertale is tale that you have to hear. Go and play it!

It is possible that you should play this game

Wolfeinstein: The New Order

Besides Doom the original Wolfeinstein 3D was among my first games that I played as a child. While it had some good games since 3D for some reason I never really cared about them and ended up missing all of them (I should really play Return to Castle and the 2009 one) but not this one. While the game is old enough that a sequel just got released this year I kept putting this one into my backlog as one day I’m going to finish it. Well this summer I had a week off after my exams so I download it and decided to finally finish it, and it was a blast to play! Surprisingly this game just like Doom has an amazing storyline with a colourful cast of characters -who are depending on what timeline you decided to pick- and bombastic action that even takes you to a Nazi Moon base. This is another game that understands why we love this series so much and expands it. From one scene where you are planning with the resistance to another where Blatzko is silently taking out guards while monologing about his past, to another where you dual wield two automatic shotguns and mowing down even more Nazis, this game delivers in every way. Let it be story, a very well and tastefully done romance, sneaking or balls to the wall action this game has it all. If you love a good story, choosing your own play style (sneaky or loud) or just simply want to shoot some nazi bastards this game have you covered.

BJ is back!

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Last year I got my very first home Nintendo console a Wii. The main reason for buying the system was to try and show my family that there are games that even they can enjoy. While the system didn’t become a huge hit, and I am still the only gamer in my household it is still used time to time for some good old fashioned Mario Kart and Wii Sports which I consider as a success. But when it is not party time the Wii become a Zelda machine for me. Besides Mari Kart and Wii Sports I got a copy of Twilight Princess for it and as someone who has never played any Zelda games before was very excited to see what is all the fuss about. While I haven’t finished the game as of writing this (I think I am close to the end) I have to admit this is a really good game, and it is not just because I love games that have motion control gimmicks in them, but it has an interesting story that I want to see through to the end, and some brilliant level design. Maybe it will sound odd but I felt like I was playing a Souls game during my adventure. While the combat is not as unforgiving for errors as a Souls game would be, but traversing Hyrule and especially the dungeons made them feel like you are playing a Souls game, as you not try to beat the enemies (they are not challenging the least) but as you try and beat the levels itself. Thinking about how to use every item in your arsenal, how to combine them and what to look after is really exciting and keeps you engaged. Also the boss fights are stunningly good! The feel when you finally got the key to the dungeon’s boss after figuring out every little puzzle and looked under every pot, you go and open the final door to reveal what is the last obstacle, and go against it is the same that I have whenever I beat a tough boss in a Souls game. Twilight Princess is another extremely well put together game with clever level and boss designs with motion controls that don’t get in your way. I hope that Nintendo will port it to the Switch.

Image from: http://en.stargame.com/201511/0536855363.html

Doki Doki Literature Club

Doki Doki Literature Club is your basic visual novel dating game that you have probably saw countless times already. You play as a shut-in guy whose childhood friend makes him join a Literature Club. From there you are going to meet with four (j̨̛̛̀ù͘͘͜s̕͠t̨̛̀͟͢ ̴̸̨̛͝M͡҉o̸̵n̵͟i̧̕͡k҉̷a̸̴) girls who ask you to stay and help them with the upcoming school festival while learning the ins and outs of poetry and writing. On the surface level this might sounds boring but as you are getting to know the girls better (p̸̨ĺ̵̶͘è̴́̕à̕҉͠s͘̕͜͟͠é̵͘ ̢͟l͜͠o̵͜҉̴v̨̕͏é̸̵͡ ̸̵̸̸ḿ̴̷̷͢e͞͏̛ ̡͠t̶͟͢͠o̸̧o̸̴̢) you realise that Sayori, Yuri and Natsuki have some real problem not just accepting the other members opinions and viewpoints but also themselves too. So from here your job is to not leave them hͣ͊͏̱̜̼̹͇͚̥̞a͛͊ͤͤͤͭ͛҉̸̛̤̤n̷̬ͭ͒̄̋̓͡g͚̦ͫ̇̈́ͭ̒̾͑̉i̢̪̩̖̣̼̝̤͋ͫͫ̋ͦ̇ͯn̨̙̼͍̬͎̩̮͖̿̔͟gͩ͛̈́̆͗̋ͩ̑͏̪̼̮̻̙͎, try and c̸̛͇̖͉̏͒͡ǘ͕̜̜̗̌̅̊̌̂̀ẗ̵̹̠͚̉̃ͩ͐ͫ̚͘ͅ corners in your life while not b̨͚̊̌͆̔͛̽͠͞ŗ͙̣͓̖̔̌̄̔ͪ̽͝ͅe̫̞̗̜ͩ̓͢a̷̵͉̩̱̽̈̅́͂͛ͅk̮͔͚̖ͣi͈̯̙̩̱͉̗̎̇ń̪̗̣͖̍̀͟g̦̬͇̻͉̦͆͊̒ͥ͌̀͝ ̵̳̖̲̦͙͎̣̀̎͞y̶̰͉̮̙͑̀͠ͅo̼̭͔ͥ̐̊u̴͖͇̭͔̬̯̞ͬ̊͆͒r̛̤̘̭̣̮̩̭̲̓́̎͐̈̈ͧ̍͜͝ ̰̻̞̪̫ͨ͂̀͛͒̄̅͡n̢̗̳͚̣̣̻͎͋̐͌̓ͫ͐́͟e͔̪̰̬͔̬̤͙͓͒͐͗́͒̄̅̎ͬcͭ̄̀ͧ̈̊́͘͏̗̪͙̣̯͙̞̟k̊̎̏҉̢͎̪̙̫̭̕ while helping them to make sure that not just the plans for the school festival but their lives too to get back on track. Doki Doki Literature Club while short is an amazing game that can delve into some truly horrific moments while you try and save each of the girls and unravel the mysteries behind their hatred.

What a cute and depressing game at the same time

Katawa Shoujo

This year I tried and played a few visual novels. This genre of gaming never really interested me as I found the concept of them is simply boring. How naive and stupid I was... Me! Who can love a well crafted story and characters enough to suffer through some janky game mechanics or grind countless of hours to make sure that I can see the best ending possible. So after some research and reading online what visual novel should I try out everybody pointed me towards this little free game. Just like in any other visual novel your main job is mainly consist of clicking next and reading while occasionally make a decision. Depending on your actions you can become closer friends to a girl or become her boyfriend, or achieve the opposite of it and you’ll start seeing her less and less again. As for the girls in the game I was surprised how well written they were! You see them how they interact with each other, how their own disability affects their relations, their everyday lives, and most importantly how they deal with them. And it is true for the main hero too! He who never had anything life threatening condition to care for suddenly finds itself in this new situation, and his journey is also remarkable. Seeing him interacting with the girls in the school as they teach him that just because he has a disability he shouldn’t let it get into him and he can still have a normal life. A truly beautiful game with important life lessons that everybody should at least give it a try.

Read my first impressions: http://mlpsimta.tumblr.com/post/156280048037/games-from-my-backlog-katawa-shoujo

I still love her

Splatoon 2

There’s gotta be a Switch title on the list. That little system became really popular and most wanted among gamers and rightfully so. While many people bought it to play the new Zelda (I really want to play it too) I was waiting how the system will hold its ground, but most importantly I wanted to see if Splatoon will be on it. Time moved on and summer came and with it Splatoon 2 hit the Switch. So in December when I was able to afford the console I bought a copy of it alongside my new console. Online shooters and any other kind of shooting games have been always amongst my favourite. So to see something vastly different that is not just simply about firing towards one and other got my attention. In most online shooters your only worth is mostly measured in K/D, but Splatoon 2 breaks away from that tradition by rewarding players the most who went after the objective. While players who prefer hunting down the opposite team’s members still will be appreciated as they make sure the keep the bad guys away while the rest of the team can peacefully paint the map. Just this little simple idea of using paint instead of bullets not only makes the game family friendly but opens up a lot of possibility game play wise. Painting the map not just gives you scores, but the more map you cover the faster your team will move around it. A simple but brilliant idea that turns every match into a game where map knowledge and controlling it is a must if you wish to succeed in the game. Not to mention playing for the objective also builds up your ultimate faster that lets you use powerful attacks that can turn even a losing match into a victory. A very fast phased, well balanced, fun game where you always have to keep your eyes open as in every minute the table can turn. Not to mention that all of this with regular free updates and events! So if you have a Switch and don’t have this game go and buy it! It’s well worth of your money. And for the others who already have I have a question for you: Are you a squid or a kid?

Why thank you Marie!

Stardew Valley

My go to comfort game of the last year. After a long day when I was really tired and I simply wanted to relax Stardew Valley was there for me on my Switch. A simple but somehow surprisingly deep game where your only job is run your own farm the best way you could. There’s just simply something calming for me to go over tiles and tiles watering the crops, cutting down some trees or mining, that helps soothe my nerves. While boring as it sounds wanting to see my farm grow and improve were rewarding enough that I truly felt some pride and accomplishment as I saw my homestead got bigger and better. You don’t also just improving your new home but your character too. On the first day maybe you get tired after watering a couple of plants, but as you go on and on you start to see how your avatar grows too. Simple task that were previously hard to do are becoming more and more easier, you learn new tricks how to make everything go smoother and easier as you start to understand the game mechanics and unlock new crafting recipes. I remember making my first sprinkler. I felt so proud that now I don’t have to manually water four tiles, only the remaining 100, because it was a long way to get there and quite expensive. But now half of my farm has a sprinkling system that saves me a lot of work and in so allows me spend more time with the villagers of Stardew Valley. Going into Stardew Valley you can find a lot of interesting people who occasionally ask you to deliver some farm product, and will offer their services for some of your money. Some will have a steady supply of seeds, some can patch you up, and others can build you new stuff and so on and so on. You truly feel like that you are part of a community, and as you start knowing the people better you understand them more and more and care for them. But not just plants can blossom in this game but friendships and loves too. You can get married and live together with your wife or husband (same sex marriage is completely OK!) and even can have kids too! There’s just simply so much more that I haven’t even see in this game that I can’t wait to go back and experience. If you are a fan of games like Harvest Moon, Terraria or Minecraft I urge you to check this one out and if you happen to have a Switch this game is perfect for it!

Me and best girl in the rain.

There you have it, the twelve games that I’ve played the most in 2017. Sadly a lot of games haven’t made into the list because of me not having the time to play them or the money to buy them.

If you are interested in what games I want to play that come out in 2017 here’s a quick list for you to see:

-Nier: Automata -The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild -Mario Odyssey -Gravity Rush 2 -Night in the Woods -Ladykiller in a Bind -Yakuza 0 -Horizon Zero Dawn -I am Setsuna -Nioh -Rain World -The Sexy Brutale -LawBreakers -Sonic Mania -Cuphead -A Hat in Time -Xenoblade Chronicles 2

As you can see the list of games that are waiting for me to buy them and play them is quite huge and I hope that I can cover some of them in this brand new year.

I hope that you are going to have a wonderful and successful 2018!

For closing I want to say thank you for your reading my post and of course have a great day!

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