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sonofkhaz · 4 years

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Musing: Pathologic 2

Pathologic 2 is what you get when Russian game developers down an entire bottle of Flintstone Vitamins with some Vodka while listening to Hardbass after being awake for 72 hours straight. It’s probably one of the best games I’ve played in terms of story-telling and themes.

It’s a great game, despite some mechanical issues. A few years ago, I got the original game off of GOG and only got about halfway through before giving up out of frustration and a little bit of boredom. The sequel fixed a lot of the problems the first game had. For starters, there’s a lot less walking back and forth; rather than having to literally walk around the whole town to check up on your patients to see how they’re doing, it now tells you at the end of each day if they’re okay, in danger of infection, or infected. It’s easier to track your character’s thoughts, the map now has markers, and you can sprint instead of walking (sprinting is now a feature, yes). You can use a ferry system to fast-travel around town at the cost of a coin called a Fingernail, and you can hold down CTRL to highlight points of interest and characters you can speak to.

Despite being praised in Russia and having very positive reviews (91% at the time of writing this) on Steam, the game didn’t get much traction upon its release in the west, with “game journalists”, a term I still don’t fully understand, comparing its difficulty to Dark Souls (yeah, some people still use Dark Souls as the litmus test for game difficulty) and claiming that it has Skyrim-inspired RPG elements. It’s as if “game journalists” have never played anything outside of Bioware games, Skyrim, Dark Souls and Pokemon.

Yeah...despite the fact that comparing a game like Pathologic 2 to something like Dark Souls or Skyrim is completely obtuse and ignorant, I think I understand where the frustration comes from, which I’ll get to later.

The game takes place in Town-On-Gorkhon, an isolated town in the steppes built upon contradictions. From a glance, the town might just look like your average early 20th century Russian town, but it’s inhabited by two groups of people: the Townsfolk, who are just becoming industrialized, and the Kinfolk, a group of Steppe nomads who hold veneration for bulls because they believe that the town rests on the back of a giant auroch, Mother Boddha. In addition, the latter group has a species of humanoids called Worms who water the ground with blood to grow plants, women called Herb Brides who dance in the steppes to make the twyre bloom, and other practices. Despite the contrasts, the two are not at complete odds at each other; rather, both cultures have meshed together.

In the first game, there were 3 different playable characters, but for now you’re only able to play as Artemy Burakh, the Haruspex. His father was a Kin doctor and his mother was a Townsfolk. After six years of medical school, Artemy is called back home by an urgent letter from his father, only to find out that he’s been murdered. See, a haruspex was someone in history who could divine the future from entrails; since Artemy is technically a surgeon who just returned to a town where cutting arteries, attacking someone with a knife, and digging holes in the ground are all considered taboo, he’s the primary suspect, so everyone hates his guts. People will initially refuse to trade with you, shopkeepers won’t sell their goods, and some people will try to attack you in the street. In the wake of this, a mysterious plague referred to only as the Sand Pest hits the town.

Pathologic 2 is like an adventure game and a “horror survival” tied into one. The imagery of the game goes from uncanny valley to flat out dark, with red pustules and moss-like substances growing on the buildings and streets of infected districts, infected townsfolk shuffling towards you to try and infect you, and plague clouds that manifest and chase you down the street. If you’re unfortunate to get infected with the plague, you hear voices in your head telling you, gently, to lay down and die so your suffering can cease. While you’re trying to find a cure and trying to save NPCs from the plague, you yourself are trying to survive.

Your overall survival is dependent on more than just your health bar. Sergei tries to shank you for your track suit and Semechki seeds, yeah, your health will go down if he manages to hit you. But then you have to factor in your hunger, exhaustion, immunity, and stamina/thirst. You’re hungry, so you eat some toast, but now your thirst meter is going up; while it’s not immediately detrimental, it affects the duration you’re able to sprint and fight. Your exhaustion meter is full, so you lay down to sleep for a few hours, but now your hunger is going back up and you’ve just spent precious hours that could have potentially have been used doing something else. Uh oh, you just got hit with a plague cloud and your immunity is dropping - do you use the immunity boosters/tinctures you were saving for patients to bring it back up, or are you going to take the risk and wait for it to slowly climb back to where it was?

Any time you die, your screen blacks out and you speak to Mark Immortell the Theatre Director, who gives you a tut-tut-tutting on dying and sends you back to your last save file with a penalty. Your maximum health/exhaustion meters are reduced, you get hungrier and more tired as time progresses, so on and so forth. These all stack, and they’re all permanent across all save files, so there’s no going back to scum save to prevent the penalties. If you die enough, you get visited by a friend who will offer to remove your current and future penalties forever...for a cost that you may not learn of until it’s too late to change your mind.

This ties back to my previous statement about how people were criticizing this game. A lot of survival games in modern gaming tend to be generous towards the player in terms of, well, survival - you have a meter that’s running low, or a supply that’s dwindling, so you stop whatever you’re doing to rectify the situation. Should you fail there’s usually an “out” by returning to a previous save. You can’t do this in Pathologic; one reason being mentioned in the previous paragraph. Another is the fact that time is always working against you - really, the only moment where time tends to stop moving is if you’re in a dream sequence or if you physically pause the game. The clock is always ticking so you need to frequently assess the efficiency of what you’re doing and if it will pay off in the long run. The game has a lot of choices, and not in Peter Molyneux’s Fable or Black and White perspectives of “choice”. The decisions can vary greatly. Let’s say that one of your friends needs a water barrel because they want to get water for the poor and impoverished in their district. Well meaning, but what if it infects the neighbors? The hospital needs the tinctures you need to boost the immunity of nameless patients; everyone will like you more if you carry the task out, and you’ll get paid the next day, but what if tomorrow means that half a dozen cast characters get infected and you don’t have the time to make more tinctures?

Critics of Pathologic 2 have bemoaned the fact that you can’t just walk around, immune to virtually anything and everything, and talk to the NPCs while freely exploring the town to learn more about the Sand Pest and the overall story. The desire to know more about the story is a fair point, but here’s where I see the problem: There’s a genre of story-driven adventure style games, usually referred to as “Walking Simulators”, that are typically praised and lauded by the “video games are art” crowd. Games like Dear Esther, Firewatch, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Gone Home are usually put in this category.

The difference between Pathologic 2 and those games is that the latter group takes a more “hands-off” approach in their storytelling. You don’t have a lot of interactivity or mechanics that directly tie into the games. The named NPCs you speak with in Pathologic 2 are fleshed out; it’s personal because Artemy Burakh has history with them, and the decisions that you make, or don’t make, will ultimately decide their survival. Many of them have multiple outcomes; you speak with them, see their angles, see what information they may be willing to give out or abstain from initially giving, so on and so forth. The game pushes you towards investing them emotionally. Not only are you trying to save them from the plague, but you’re trying to save yourself. You’re also trying not to starve, you’re also trying not to get infected. Rather than watching a sinking ship, you’re part of the crew trying to bail the water out and plug the hole.

Not all the mechanics are perfect. Guns and their ammo, while being extremely rare/expensive to find, have a tendency to jam up way too much and hitboxes can be choosy. Hand-to-hand combat can feel clunky, and the inventory can be a colossal pain in the ass to manage since the game does not auto-sort individual stacks and uses Diablo-style inventory management. However, I have very rarely seen things like these critiqued by the “video games are art” crowd; rather, they complain about the meter management. The problems of the town seem real because you’re in it as well. Without having to manage your meters, making sacrifices and decisions, it takes away the conditions that make moments in the game memorable.

Remember: Failure is a very real, understandable and relatable aspect of human life and society. There are times in life where you fail repeatedly before you see the light at the end of the tunnel and triumph. One of the marketing pitches of this game was, “You can’t save everybody”. For example, I spent three consecutive days treating Andrey Stamatin after he was afflicted with the Sand Pest, and it ultimately came to naught because he died anyway. Some of the game's most memorable moments and interesting dialogue come when you are unsuccessful, because the game knows that you’re going to fail at some points even when you try your best.

Overall, would I recommend Pathologic 2? Absolutely. Would I recommend it to someone who cares about story-driven games? Totally. Would I recommend it to people who have low frustration walls? No.

#pathologic 2 #pathologic #computer games #musing #long post

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view-from-over-the-controller · 2 years

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Assassin’s Creed Odyssey - Why I strongly suggest you should explore the absolute beauty of ancient Greece.

I had never played an Assassins Creed title before Odyssey. It was a franchise that somehow passed me by. I explored the wonders of Witcher 3 and have even hopped into Shadow of Mordor a game made in the mold of Assassins creed but never found a calling to the franchise as there were so many titles I found it to be intimidating. But then during my daily and weekly gaming ritual of listening to Kinda Funny Games Daily and the Kinda Funny Games cast, I began to hear a man some know well. A mysterious mad man of the internet of whom I have attained such recommendations as Journey, What Remains Of Edith Finch, Florence, and much more from start to mention Odyssey on the shows. This man was of course Kinda Funny's Greg Miller a man with great taste for emotional storytelling who somehow I trust to guide me in the direction of classics despite on occasion dressing up as Profession Mcgonigal and squealing Harry Potter point-based madness at his colleagues. Poor Kev and his poor ears.

Now before I digress into any more Kinda Funny based references, Greg’s Words about Odyssey over time really began to sink in and engage me. His mentioning playing as the female protagonist (which I love to do myself in titles) he had such an attachment to her as if talking about a close friend. This is how I would think about Geralt from the Witcher so my intrigue grew. But this grew the most when he explained about the exploration of the world and how beautiful it was, the repetitive but satisfying checklist-style gameplay, but also the more emotional moments in which he would often mention talking to his wife, Gen about the crazy diverse adventures from the night before as each little story had almost left a little mark on him as he went through it with Kassandra and how the world itself being in the amazing setting of ancient Greece gripped him far more than the sands of Egypt of Assassin’s Creed Origins. So before I even knew the joy of the checklists of the game, I crossed off one of my own in my mind as I listened to Greg talk about this game. Open world? TIck! Emotive storytelling? Tick! Super dope protagonist who you attach yourself to? Tick! Ancient Greece and all the beauty, mythology and magic that comes with it? TICK TICK TICK!!

So when I saw Odyssey for a ripe 16 smackers on the PlayStation store I could not resist!! Despite being halfway through Ghost of Tsushima. (Another beautiful game for another blog). I dived straight in. I was immediately thrust into a war, playing as the great Leonidas of Sparta and his 300 men surrounded by hordes of Persians. And with my Greek Nostalgia juices flowing the intro subsided and I was presented with the wonderful Kassandra.

Kassandra

What a fantastic character! It took about 10 or so minutes for me to warm to Kassandra. Her bullish but sarcastic demeanor made me smile and giggle with the dialogue choices but also feel instantly and effortlessly powerful.

Beyond this, there was a somewhat loving and caring undertone to her voice that also made her oh so endearing. There is depth given to her by her childhood, all be it a fire still ablaze from the trauma caused by Sparta's cruel rules, a set of skills learned from the attentive teachings of her parents, or a kindness and empathy found in most people who have seen the worst the world has to offer and lived to tell the tale. There are many facets to her character that make her so likable as with Geralt in the Witcher 3 you choose her dialogue options and therefore make her decisions which creates a bond with her.

You feel almost as one while still feeling like you are watching her story unfold. She is scary strong and powerful. Able to crush her foes with the coolest of finishers with swords spears or whatever you wish to use as your killing tool alongside the powers you can unlock like the forever epic “THIS IS SPARTA!” kick where you can yeet your enemies off of the castle walls when you are accidentally caught looking for the camp’s treasure on your wonderful to-do list and they land with a loud thud next to their dear friend and comrade who is looking the other way and therefore heard absolutely nothing, fuck yeah Assasin shit!

You can also customize her outfits, mix and match your new beautiful chest piece with some swanky shoes and greaves.

Trust me as light-hearted as this seems you will become quickly passionate about how fashionable, colour coordinated and badass your Kassandra looks. All of this makes for one of the most immersive but attaching experiences I've had in a video game in regards to its protagonist. She is a complete joy to play the entire time and trust me, you will fall in love! Unless you choose to play as her drop-dead gorgeous brother Alexios who is more popular, but I can't stress enough how amazing Kassandra is and she will stay with me forever as a fantastic gaming protagonist I wish everyone could experience.

The Missions and Activities

I won't stay here too long as the sheer amount of missions on this game makes the likes of Ghost of Tsushima look like a cute 2-hour experience as I'm sure there is easily over 500 hours of content in this game! But before I scare you off back into your burrow with a Shrek-like hand-painted wooden sign saying “I have not got 500 hours I am a gamer and have no time to fill my overgrowing backlog with that kind of time” please hear me out!!

Although there is almost too much to do you almost end up wanting to do too much as the missions and activities in this game gave me the greatest sense of achievement and made me smile far more often than silly fetch quests and checklists of encampments ought to.

First, I have to shout out the Syncronisation markers on the map not only do they offer a place to be able to fast travel back to, and in possibly the biggest gaming map I've ever seen they are needed but they offer a small moment to take in where you are as the camera zooms out to your eagle, Ikaros as he glides over you and amazing music plays, making every single one of these feel like such a breathtaking moment.

The missions from the main campaign are steeped in emotional storytelling about war and an evil Illuminati-like cult out to control the entirety of the Greek world for evil purposes but also about family and finding belonging while putting to bed demons and facing loss and pain.

The mini-missions offer great breaks from the main story which range from the heartwarming feelings of helping those in need to slaying epic beasts while also taking on encampments which are teeming with foes. Wonderful moreish checklists that include finding all the treasure, taking out captains, and finding ancient tablets that when completed feel so freaking good. Upon completion, the name of the place comes up in gold across the top of the screen as completed with yet another tick on the main map. My god, they are addictive.

All of this somehow has personality and offers interesting ways to explore newer areas you visit. I recently went to an island called Messara, the home to the Minotaur, and a small kid offered me a wonderful tour of the town showing me the broken Minotaur statue stating “Here is a lifesize replica of the Minotaur *real Minotaur size may vary*” these moments bring smiles to your face and this game literally has them around every corner! So just as Greg says, you will be filling the ears of your loved ones with these silly little adventures alongside an epic campaign. The missions and activities do not disappoint often garnering the attention of my girlfriend, Kayleigh as she plays her switch but can't help getting sucked into the narratives which is a true testament to how alluring they can be.

The world

Finally, I stop off at the world itself. Now I have played in such beautiful environments like the Last of us Part 2’s nature claimed cities, God Of War’s vibrant and endlessly gorgeous landscapes and Tsushima’s stunning falling leaves. But despite all this, I have regularly been finding myself asking the question “Is this the most beautiful gaming world I have ever seen?” This is no joke, from great mountains, green fields, lush streams, open oceans, sprawling cities lit by the sublime sunrises and sunsets but also the wondrous glow of moonlight and dark mysterious cave systems, this game offers probably the most diverse environments in any open-world game.

Its colour palette is so varied with the white pillars of political houses and places of worship which are doused in the popping blue of Athenian colours or the blood-red of the Spartans. Huge statues of gods and heroes scatter the landscapes begging to be climbed to get a greater view of the gorgeous places you are in. They stand with such magnitude I find myself often just stopping staring upward in awe head pinned back as if I were in a city watching Godzilla roll by.

Nature makes the world feel alive with bears, lions, deer, boar, and much more rushing between bushes as you ride by, down to the detail of butterflies taking flight as you walk through the bushes. I have stopped on so many occasions just to take in the beauty as during rain, sunsets or sunrises this game becomes like a painting. You just find yourself looking around being absolved in its beauty and art.

The Greek world has a wonder to it. A power and magic. Somewhere between reality and fiction and this game encapsulates the entirety of Greece and all it has to offer and it is so diverse. Different scenery and biomes make you constantly feel like you are playing out the greatest Greek fantasy. All be it walking the streets of a city, looking at the structures and statues expressing the best in human achievement or riding along mountains taking in the epic natural scenery.

This wonderfully constructed world has etched itself into my soul as one of the most breathtaking places to escape into and I cannot stress enough how worth playing this game is even if it is purely to sightsee and explore as it will take you by surprise no matter what level of epic you may have played before.

Did I get ya like Greg Got me?

I hope this makes you feel like you want to dip your toe into this game. Whether you are someone who played the original games and dropped off the franchise or are completely new to it, this game has so much to offer in regards to fun, sights, and storytelling. I am glad Greg mentioned this and I can't thank him enough for not only this but all the amazing experiences I've found through listening to him and the other guys and gals at Kinda Funny. This game will forever be with me for so many reasons and I hope that you can find the time to explore this amazing world also as it truly is an epic and boy is it cheap as chips everywhere you go these days so hey! In a world where there are so many fantastic open worlds you haven't played, just think about giving this one a try or if not add it to that big ol’ backlog, it really is worth it.

#assasinscreed #gaming #gamingblog kindafunny gamingcommunity

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aurimeanswind · 6 years

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Here comes the Storm—Sunday Chats (11-26-17)

Another week, another long time away from those sweet, good people who came to my house for ExtraLife. It’s definitely been the hardest adjustment period after a nice big fun-time event for me, and while I’m still bummed, I’m pushing through.

Game of the Year Season

So I said on a most recent podcast that we will not be doing our annual Game of the Year “Guest Top 10” podcasts, where I would go around, collect guests from different rabbit holes on the internet, and sit down with them for an hour-long chat to essentially interview them on their ten favorite video games from that year. I’ve decided against it, but I did imply that there may be something in its place. It’s still in the early stages of planning, so I haven’t said anything big on it yet, ad I’m trying to keep it pretty secret, so bear with me here.

If you have played any of these ten games, and would be interested in talking about them in a mostly positive manner, please reach out to me:

Breath of the Wild

Nier Automata

Hellblade

Mario Odyssey

Wolfenstein 2

Danganronpa V3

Persona 5

Edith Finch

Destiny 2

Resident Evil 7

Now reaching out to me doesn’t guarantee a spot on any to-be-announced project, but I want to start writing down names. Please reach out to me in whatever way you prefer and tell me what game you’ve played and would be interested in talking about. I’ll keep you posted as best I can.

Game of the Year is always a hectic time for me since it’s a lot of “oh god I need to finish this, this, and that,” but it’s also a time where a lot of great conversations start happening, and when those fun end-of-year announcements come billowing forth. I’m excited because of the conversations I get to listen in on, and possibly partake in, but I’m also hesitant since many of my choice favorite games will receive I’m sure the most scrutinous eye.

Regardless, if you’re the kind of person who gets vehemently upset when your favorite podcast or The Game Awards don’t pick your favorite game as Game of the Year, or RPG of the year, or whatever, my advice to you is: chill. I’ve been in your shoes before, and I know that frustration when the thing you love so much doesn’t get the recognition you think it deserves, but relax. One gaming site, or outlet, or awards show doesn’t reflect everyone unanimously, and just because someone liked one thing more than you did, or didn’t like something as much as you, doesn’t invalidate your feelings. Enjoy what you love.

Chase your bliss, as I sometimes say.

What’s on Tap:

Assassin’s Creed Origins

I finally finished this game!

Woof. It kind of drags at the end.

I’ll say this, I put over 100 hours into two excellent games this year, Persona 5 and Zelda, and they flew by. When I looked at my game counter on AC Origins, the 36 hours I put into it felt much longer at the end of it all.

I’m not saying it’s bad, but there was a point where I felt I had seen all I needed to see, and then there was six more hours of story missions, and I kind of just wanted it to be over.

When you’re in the thick of it, playing the game, it’s exceptionally fun.

I’m still really glad I played it. Bayek is one of my favorite characters from this year. Excellently done, and an Egyptian protagonists added to my list of favorite characters in games is pretty fucking rad I think.

What Remains of Edith Finch

I played through all of this this past week, in what was meant to be breakout sessions, but ended up being one big long session.

VERY GOOD. I loved the vignette style storytelling, I liked the premise, and above all, I loved exploring this big old house with tons of secrets in it.

It’s very much my jam, but the bond between mechanics and storytelling in this game is pretty excellent.

Assassin’s Creed 3

Sigh. Don’t ask.

Skyrim VR

My brother recently got a whole new setup for himself, including a 4K TV, a PS4 Pro, which I set up for him today, and a PlayStation VR. He went on vacation starting yesterday and gave me free reign to play around with it as I’d like.

All I really did was play the tutorial of Skyrim VR, which was... odd.

I don’t know how I feel about movement in that game, but generally I really liked seeing that game from a first person perspective, experiencing the different control sets.

I was sitting on the floor in front of the TV kind of just waving my arms around though, so it wasn’t what I’d call the full experience. Maybe with more time I’ll be able to come to an actual opinion.

I will say, holding my arms out stretched in either direction and blasting fire in one direction and lightening in the other was fucking sweet.

Questions

As always, if you’d like to ask your question and be a part of the Sunday Chats conversations, look for any of my tweets on Sundays with the hashtag #SundayChats and respond with your question!

Next week I will be asking a question, and I already have it in mind, so I won’t be taking questions next week. There seems to be some confusion on this, but just look for the tweet and I try and explain it there.

Goddammmit hahaha.

Okay. Well, I would probably do the L in my first name. Then I’m A Walrus Ex, which implies I am the ex-walrus, or ex-partner of someone, who just so happens to be a Walrus. Now, there is a lot of potential here if we dig a bit deeper. I could replace the “ill” in the part of my last name and be Alex One Walrus. Which you could then punctuate differently, like “Alex, One Walrus”. Hey, why not throw in a question mark there just for fun!

Alex, One Walrus? PLEASE?

Now I know that isn’t in the spirit of the question, you did specify, Steven, that I’d have to replace just one letter of my name, but if you’re gonna sit here and send me some weird questions I am about to say come into this play space and play with me.

Play with me - Griffin McElroy, 2017.

Boy does this thicken the plot up pretty well ey.

I mean I don’t think I’d want to kiss a minion, but if it was one of those princess and the frog situations, a classic pull, I know, I’d kiss a minion square on the lips to see if he or she turned into a beautiful princess or prince.

Think about it, if you were cursed to live in the body of a disgusting, banana yellow, horror side-show creature, straight out of American Horror Story, you’d want someone, anyone, to just come release you from that prison before you know, you get acclimated and start living that life the only way you can: one butt joke at a time.

Ups and downs, ya know? Easily the best weekend of my life happened in this year, ExtraLife 2017, which is both an accomplishment, a look back at the road I’ve taken, and (hopefully) a preview of the opportunity and accomplishment that is yet to come. It was incredible.

On the other side of that is the summer of this year, which saw my worst depression since I first had it in 2012. A lot of factors caused this, but it really put such a hold on some of the things I was working on.

2017 was also the year after launched Alex Talks, and in the calendar year of 2017, I’ve only put up one episode of it. I’ve barely worked on video at all this year, in fact. It’s a year I have to live in the shadow of that accomplishment.

It’s been a great year for video games, for media, and a terrible one for the world at large, for the rights of many people who don’t get any benefit of the doubt. One that has taught me a lot about the bad parts of empathy, and one that has really reformed my perspective.

There is another post for this, with a more complete thoughts, but:

it’s had its ups and downs.

I’m exceptionally lucky that I have friends who fit into all four houses, all of which I love.

I think the house stuff is played up in the book, and I bet if you asked JK today, she’d say she regrets making some of them as villainous as they appeared. But also that was reflective of ‘91-98 of Hogwarts, and in my heart of hearts, I believe things changed after the battle of ‘98.

(See: if you didn’t know how much of a Harry Potter nerd I was before, casual Sunday Chats reader, strap in)

Slytherin gets the worst rap. But tenaciousness and cunning and a sly nature don’t mean you’re a bad person. You’re the person that sticks up for your friend that doesn't stick up for themselves, and gets back. Hard. Maybe things get taken to far, but the Slytherin is the person that takes the action, that punches the Nazi, because they don’t fuck with that.

Hufflepuff gets a terrible reputation! Hufflepuff is great. One word: loyalty. Honor. Diggory told Harry how to get into the Egg in the 4th book because he had the honor to do so. Loyalty to the people you love. You care about. Honor to say what needs to be said. You’re not the leader, but you’re the person the leader trusts the most.

Ravenclaw. Cocky and over enthused. Often seen as a little haughty. But The thirst to seek knowledge is a gift and a curse, and those are the bad parts. What about the longing to teach, to challenge, to instill that knowledge in others? The Ravenclaw is the tactician, the hacker and the brains in the heist. They’re the Rise and the Futaba of the group, to use a Persona reference.

Gryffindor. Cockier, thick headed, stubborn, and not the least bit a little sensitive to their house being undercut, eh? But it’s because Gryffindor wants to be the best. They want to stare the dragon in the face. They want to lead the charge, the be the support beam for everyone, to be the one everyone turns to. They want to be brave, and that’s very important. The Gryffindor is also the person that punches the Nazi, because they don’t fuck with that either.

But take a step back. If you would rather sit and argue over whose house is the best, and believe that one is only full of bad people, and another isn’t, you missed the whole point of the books. You fucked up. Congrats.

It’s not about what divides us, it’s about those differences encouraging us to come together. A lesson that everyone should hold near and dear in their hearts today.

And...

Sigh.

I’ll admit this here. I’ve always proported to be a Ravenclaw, but I’ve taken the test that Pottermore, the most official source, put together, twice. Neither time was I sorted into Ravenclaw.

The first time? Gryffindor.

The second? Hufflepuff.

So take that what you will. Maybe I’m not a Ravenclaw after all.

Maybe I am a Hufflepuff. And all that shit everyone talked about Hufflepuff was about me. How does that make you feel, reader? Maybe have a bit of empathy for the ‘Puffs.

...

Or maybe I’d have asked the sorting hat to put me in Ravenclaw instead of either of them. That’s what I’d like to think.

It was good! It was very relaxed, I ate a responsible amount of food, got some good leftovers, and hopefully can make some good leftover turkey grilled cheese, because that shit is so good.

And I’m alright. I’m really tired. I feel you on the hard to think of good questions. Sunday Chats is always fun because it’s brain food for thought provoking stuff. It’s a lot of fun to throw together, and I try and have a good time with the questions.

But yes. Very tired. Very much enjoyed my day off today.

I have actually fallen off the bandwagon completely. But that’s normal for me. Anime is a thing that comes and goes in my heart. Regardless though, I want to catch up on MHA and maybe sit down and watch something good soon. I’m just... a bit drained of that anime optimism at the moment.

1. I don’t think they’re BS, honestly. I think you just have to take a step back and look at what they are: a bunch of outlets blindly voting things into categories, and then voting again on what they think should win. Each outlet no doubt respects their own deliberations far more, and that’s really how it should. But as a reflection of a bunch of blind votes? Man it’s just like Metacritic, it’s not 100% accurate nor should it be responsibly for some game developer’s “bonus”, but it’s a metric that we can use to gauge a wider audience.

I’m actually really interested in the conversation around PUBG for GOTY and how the Game Awards took that nomination themselves.

2. It’s going alright. There have been a lot more conversations because I’m trying to get the writing team really involved this year. Hopefully they can spearhead some written guest top 10s, in place of the podcasts. And obviously what I said above. Trying not to get too exhausted doing stuff on it this year though.

3. Hah! It’s not bad. i was annoyed at first because everyone did there “omg here is my 280 characters tweet” and that was just dumb. But it’s proven to be a much better way to get a complete thought into a tweet, with proper grammar at least. I’m curious what threads and stuff will look like with it going forward. Already seen some that I really liked.

4. Dressing, foooooor sure. Fuck stuffing.

Alex died peacefully under the weight of 120 people, crashing boxes down on him, as he quietly pleaded, “I’m just trying to help.”

Happy Thanksgiving Brandon!

Yeah I’ve definitely had great pockets of time. Honestly a lot of the events this year (PAX East, and ExtraLife), for the most part, have been really great. Things going off without a hitch. There are always issues, but sometimes it’s just water off the back.

But there have been times when I just take a couple days off and chill, and it’s just about getting lost in whatever you’re working on, or enjoying, or playing, and that’s the best for me. Some nice alone time. But I guess I can’t think of anything specific...

Hrm, I’ll get back to you if I do.

I nice wrapped burrito, because it has a good weight, it’s solid, and if you hit someone hard enough with it, it’ll explode food all over them.

It’s essentially the grenade of the food fight.

God this is such a good fucking question.

Like, think about the pizza slice, hot and fresh, just slapping up against someones fucking raw back, and slowly sliding down. Why a person, any person, wouldn’t be wearing a shirt in a food fight, well I don’t know.

But that image popped in my head.

And here we are Jon. Here we are.

Man found dead in his three story house, bags flooded all over the scene.

First responders, disgusted, harkened it back to the first murder in the movie “Se7en”. Kevin Spacey has not been seen since the incident.

Victims body exploded from within under the weight of, what the note adjacent to the body referred to as, “endless burritos. right here. why would I ever stop.”

Police are still investigating.

In short, you’d fucking know if they did Trevor.

I still haven’t really had the time to read as much as I’d like, I’ve actually been reading a lot of writing that has been sent to me, specifically for me to edit. Which is exciting! But it’s not exactly good to put on display here, per sé. But I’m working on stuff, and today is my 991st day of writing, if anyone was curious.

I plan on stopping writing everyday when I hit 1000, as I’ve said before, but we’ll see if I don’t pick it up again soon after.

Anyway, that’s a conversation for next week.

Until then,

keep it real.

#video games #gaming #sunday #sunday chats #assassin's creed origins #playstation 4 pro #food fight #game of the year #goty #the game awards

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