So, this was initially started as a game blog to discuss and share my interests in gaming, but I do venture off into other fields every now and then. As you can see from the list below, my interest is primarily over video games, but this isn't to say that I don't find interest in other things, such as watching movies or television shows or in reading completed works by other people. Often, I don't see the ability to share what I think of the subject as fitting more than a paragraph or two, and that would make this seem like Tumblr or something else if I just did that repeatedly.
Games:
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Mixed-Up Mother Goose
Citizens of Earth
Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest
Chibi-Robo!
Lost Odyssey
Child of Light
Laura Bow: The Dagger of Amon Ra
Tales of Monkey Island, episodes 1 through 4
Dead Rising
Infinite Undiscovery
Broken Age
.hack
.hack//G.U.
The Blackwell Legacy
Blackwell Unbound
Blackwell Convergence
Blackwell Deception
Blackwell Epiphany
The Guided Fate Paradox
Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel
One Piece: Pirate Warriors (series)
Rule of Rose
Movies:
Big Hero 6
Writing:
The Demon Tower
Hanna's Departure
This list isn't actually something to brag about, because I've got plenty of games that I've yet to cover and I want to try and make the information a bit more diverse. That being said, it is rather hard to think of different things to venture into some times. This is more of an update than anything else, but I will at least make sure I keep back up on my idea of making this more frequent. I might need to flag that there will be spoilers somewhere in the common part of the page so I don't have to worry about writing it later.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Turn the Page: Lost Odyssey
Lost Odyssey, one of the exclusive games for the XBox 360, had this nifty little side feature called the Thousand Years of Dreams. I did a review for it for April 9th (see here), but I think this deserves a bit of a mention on its own.
Title: He Who Journeys Eternity: Lost Odyssey
Author: Kiyoshi Shigematsu
Let me just start by saying that many of these will tug at your heart, should you have one and can find the depth in the words. The stories were initially written in Japanese for the original release of the game, so Jay Rubin handled translating it for the localized release here in North America. I cannot speak of the quality of the original version, but there is emotion detailed in each of the stories, a moral to many in similar ways to Aesop's Fables. In fact, I think you would do well to read/hear the first: Hanna's Departure.
Video: https://youtu.be/ArPH1YGhV1g
Transcript:
~~
The family members have tears in their eyes when they welcome Kaim back to the inn from his long journey.
"Thank you so much for coming."
He understands the situation immediately.
The time for departure is drawing near.
Too soon, too soon.
But still, he knows, this day would have come sometime, and not in the distant future.
"I might never see you again," she said to him with a sad smile when he left on this journey, her smiling face almost transparent in its whiteness, so fragile—and therefore indescribably beautiful—as she lay in bed.
"May I see Hanna now?" he asks.
The innkeeper gives him a tiny nod and says, "I don't think she'll know who you are, though."
"She hasn't opened her eyes since last night," he warns Kaim. You can tell from the slight movement of her chest that she is clinging to a frail thread of life, but it could snap at any moment.
"It's such a shame. I know you made a special point to come here for her..."
Another tear glides down the wife's cheek.
"Never mind, it's fine." Kaim says.
He has been present at innumerable deaths, and his experience has taught him much.
Death takes away the power of speech first of all. Then the ability to see.
What remains alive to the very end, however, is the power to hear. Even though the person has lost consciousness, it is by no means unusual for the voices of the family to bring forth smiles or tears.
Kaim puts his arm around the woman's shoulder and says, "I have lots of travel stories to tell her. I've been looking forward to this my whole time on the road."
Instead of smiling, the woman releases another large tear and nods to Kaim, "And Hanna was so looking forward to hear your stories."
Her sobs almost drown out her words.
The innkeeper says, "I wish I could urge you to rest up from your travels before you see her, but..."
Kaim interrupts his apologies, "Of course I'll see her right away."
There is very little time left.
Hanna, the only daughter of the innkeeper and his wife, will probably breathe her last before the sun comes up.
Kaim lowers his pack to the floor and quietly opens the door to Hanna's room.
Hanna was frail from birth. Far from enjoying the opportunity to travel, she rarely left the town or even the neighborhood in which she was born and raised.
This child will probably not live to adulthood, the doctor told her parents.
This tiny girl, with extraordinarily beautiful doll-like features, the gods had dealt an all-too-sad destiny.
That they had allowed her to be born the only daughter of the keepers of a small inn by the highway was perhaps one small act of atonement for such iniquity.
Hanna was unable to go anywhere, but the guests who stayed at her parent’s inn would tell her stories of the countries and towns and landscapes and people that she would never know.
Whenever new guests arrived at the inn, Hanna would ask them,
"Where are you from?" "Where are you going?"
"Can you tell me a story?"
She would sit and listen to their stories with sparkling eyes, urging them on to new episodes with "And then? And then?" When they left the inn, she would beg them, "Please come back, and tell me lots and lots of stories about faraway countries!"
She would stand there waving until the person disappeared far down the highway, give one lonely sigh, and go back to bed.
Hanna is sound asleep.
No one else is in the room, perhaps an indication that she has long since passed the stage when the doctors can do anything for her.
Kaim sits down in the chair next to the bed and says with a smile.
"Hello, Hanna, I’m back."
She does not respond. Her little chest, still without the swelling of a grown woman, rises and falls almost imperceptibly.
"I went far across the ocean this time," he tells her. "The ocean on the side where the sun comes up. I took a boat from the harbor way way way far beyond the mountains you can see from this window, and I was on the sea from the time the moon was perfectly round till it got smaller and smaller then bigger and bigger until it was full again. There was nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see. Just the sea and the sky. Can you imagine it, Hanna? You’ve never seen the ocean, but I’m sure people have told you about it. It’s like a huge, big endless puddle."
Kaim chuckles to himself, and it seems to him that Hanna’s pale white cheek moves slightly.
She can hear him. Even if she cannot speak or see, her ears are still alive.
Believing and hoping this to be true, Kaim continues with the story of his travels.
He speaks no words of parting.
As always with Hanna, Kaim smiles with a special gentleness he has never shown to anyone else, and he goes on telling his tales with a bright voice, sometimes even accompanying his story with exaggerated gestures.
He tells her about the blue ocean.
He tells her about the blue sky.
He says nothing about the violent sea battle that stained the ocean red.
He never tells her about those things.
Hanna was still a tiny girl when Kaim first visited the inn.
When she asked him "Where are you from?" and "Will you tell me some stories?" with her childish pronunciation and innocent smile, Kaim felt soft glow in his chest.
At the time, he was returning from a battle.
More precisely, he had ended one battle and was on his way to the next.
His life consisted of traveling from one battlefield to another, and nothing about that has changed to this day.
He has taken the lives of countless enemy troops, and witnessed the deaths of countless comrades on the battlefield. Moreover, the only thing separating enemies from comrades is the slightest stroke of fortune. Had the gears of destiny turned in a slightly different way, his enemies would have been comrades and his comrades enemies, This is the fate of the mercenary.
He was spiritually worn down back then and feeling unbearably lonely. As a possessor of eternal life, Kaim had no fear of death, which was precisely why each of the soldier’s faces distorted in fear, and why each face of a man who died in agony was burned permanently into his brain.
Ordinarily, he would spend nights on the road drinking. Immersing himself in an alcoholic stupor—or pretending to. He was trying to make himself forget the unforgettable.
When, however, he saw Hanna’s smile and begged him for stories about his long journey, he felt a far warmer and deeper comfort then he could even obtain from liquor.
He told her many things...
About the beautiful flower he discovered on the battlefield.
About the bewitching beauty of the mist filling the forest the night before the final battle.
About the marvelous taste of the spring water in a ravine where he and his men had fled after losing the battle.
About a vast, bottomless blue sky he saw after battle.
He never told her anything sad. He kept his mouth shut about the human ugliness and stupidity he witnessed endlessly on the battlefield. He concealed his position as a mercenary for her, kept silent regarding his reasons for traveling constantly, and spoke only of things that were beautiful and sweet and lovely. He sees now that he told Hanna only beautiful stories of the road like this not so much out of concern for her purity, but for his own sake.
Staying in the inn where Hanna waited to see him turned out to be one of Kaim’s small pleasures in life. Telling her about the memories he brought back from his journeys, he felt some degree of salvation, however slight. Five years, ten years, his friendship with the girl continued. Little by little, she neared adulthood, which meant that, as the doctors had predicted, each day brought her that much closer to death.
And now, Kaim ends the last travel story he will share with her.
He can never see her again, can never tell her stories again.
Before dawn, when the darkness of night is at its deepest, long pauses enter into Hanna’s breathing.
The frail thread of her life is about to snap as Kaim and her parents watch over her.
The tiny light that has lodged in Kaim’s breast will be extinguished.
His lonely travels will begin again tomorrow—his long, long travels without end.
"You’ll be leaving on travels of your own soon, Hanna." Kaim tells her gently.
"You’ll be leaving for a world that no one knows, a world that has never entered into any of the stories you have heard so far. Finally, you will be able to leave your bed and walk anywhere you want to go. You’ll be free."
He wants her to know that death is not sorrow but a joy mixed with tears.
"It’s your turn now. Be sure and tell everyone about the memories of your journey."
Her parents will make that same journey someday. And someday Hanna will be able to meet all the guests she has known at the inn, far beyond the sky.
I, however, can never go there.
I can never escape this world.
I can never see you again.
"This is not goodbye. It’s just the start of your journey."
He speaks his final words to her.
"We’ll meet again."
His final lie to her.
Hanna makes her departure.
Her face is transfused with a tranquil smile as if she has just said,
"See you soon."
Her eyes will never open again. A single tear glides slowly down her cheek.
End
~~
Title: He Who Journeys Eternity: Lost Odyssey
Author: Kiyoshi Shigematsu
Let me just start by saying that many of these will tug at your heart, should you have one and can find the depth in the words. The stories were initially written in Japanese for the original release of the game, so Jay Rubin handled translating it for the localized release here in North America. I cannot speak of the quality of the original version, but there is emotion detailed in each of the stories, a moral to many in similar ways to Aesop's Fables. In fact, I think you would do well to read/hear the first: Hanna's Departure.
Video: https://youtu.be/ArPH1YGhV1g
Transcript:
~~
The family members have tears in their eyes when they welcome Kaim back to the inn from his long journey.
"Thank you so much for coming."
He understands the situation immediately.
The time for departure is drawing near.
Too soon, too soon.
But still, he knows, this day would have come sometime, and not in the distant future.
"I might never see you again," she said to him with a sad smile when he left on this journey, her smiling face almost transparent in its whiteness, so fragile—and therefore indescribably beautiful—as she lay in bed.
"May I see Hanna now?" he asks.
The innkeeper gives him a tiny nod and says, "I don't think she'll know who you are, though."
"She hasn't opened her eyes since last night," he warns Kaim. You can tell from the slight movement of her chest that she is clinging to a frail thread of life, but it could snap at any moment.
"It's such a shame. I know you made a special point to come here for her..."
Another tear glides down the wife's cheek.
"Never mind, it's fine." Kaim says.
He has been present at innumerable deaths, and his experience has taught him much.
Death takes away the power of speech first of all. Then the ability to see.
What remains alive to the very end, however, is the power to hear. Even though the person has lost consciousness, it is by no means unusual for the voices of the family to bring forth smiles or tears.
Kaim puts his arm around the woman's shoulder and says, "I have lots of travel stories to tell her. I've been looking forward to this my whole time on the road."
Instead of smiling, the woman releases another large tear and nods to Kaim, "And Hanna was so looking forward to hear your stories."
Her sobs almost drown out her words.
The innkeeper says, "I wish I could urge you to rest up from your travels before you see her, but..."
Kaim interrupts his apologies, "Of course I'll see her right away."
There is very little time left.
Hanna, the only daughter of the innkeeper and his wife, will probably breathe her last before the sun comes up.
Kaim lowers his pack to the floor and quietly opens the door to Hanna's room.
Hanna was frail from birth. Far from enjoying the opportunity to travel, she rarely left the town or even the neighborhood in which she was born and raised.
This child will probably not live to adulthood, the doctor told her parents.
This tiny girl, with extraordinarily beautiful doll-like features, the gods had dealt an all-too-sad destiny.
That they had allowed her to be born the only daughter of the keepers of a small inn by the highway was perhaps one small act of atonement for such iniquity.
Hanna was unable to go anywhere, but the guests who stayed at her parent’s inn would tell her stories of the countries and towns and landscapes and people that she would never know.
Whenever new guests arrived at the inn, Hanna would ask them,
"Where are you from?" "Where are you going?"
"Can you tell me a story?"
She would sit and listen to their stories with sparkling eyes, urging them on to new episodes with "And then? And then?" When they left the inn, she would beg them, "Please come back, and tell me lots and lots of stories about faraway countries!"
She would stand there waving until the person disappeared far down the highway, give one lonely sigh, and go back to bed.
Hanna is sound asleep.
No one else is in the room, perhaps an indication that she has long since passed the stage when the doctors can do anything for her.
Kaim sits down in the chair next to the bed and says with a smile.
"Hello, Hanna, I’m back."
She does not respond. Her little chest, still without the swelling of a grown woman, rises and falls almost imperceptibly.
"I went far across the ocean this time," he tells her. "The ocean on the side where the sun comes up. I took a boat from the harbor way way way far beyond the mountains you can see from this window, and I was on the sea from the time the moon was perfectly round till it got smaller and smaller then bigger and bigger until it was full again. There was nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see. Just the sea and the sky. Can you imagine it, Hanna? You’ve never seen the ocean, but I’m sure people have told you about it. It’s like a huge, big endless puddle."
Kaim chuckles to himself, and it seems to him that Hanna’s pale white cheek moves slightly.
She can hear him. Even if she cannot speak or see, her ears are still alive.
Believing and hoping this to be true, Kaim continues with the story of his travels.
He speaks no words of parting.
As always with Hanna, Kaim smiles with a special gentleness he has never shown to anyone else, and he goes on telling his tales with a bright voice, sometimes even accompanying his story with exaggerated gestures.
He tells her about the blue ocean.
He tells her about the blue sky.
He says nothing about the violent sea battle that stained the ocean red.
He never tells her about those things.
Hanna was still a tiny girl when Kaim first visited the inn.
When she asked him "Where are you from?" and "Will you tell me some stories?" with her childish pronunciation and innocent smile, Kaim felt soft glow in his chest.
At the time, he was returning from a battle.
More precisely, he had ended one battle and was on his way to the next.
His life consisted of traveling from one battlefield to another, and nothing about that has changed to this day.
He has taken the lives of countless enemy troops, and witnessed the deaths of countless comrades on the battlefield. Moreover, the only thing separating enemies from comrades is the slightest stroke of fortune. Had the gears of destiny turned in a slightly different way, his enemies would have been comrades and his comrades enemies, This is the fate of the mercenary.
He was spiritually worn down back then and feeling unbearably lonely. As a possessor of eternal life, Kaim had no fear of death, which was precisely why each of the soldier’s faces distorted in fear, and why each face of a man who died in agony was burned permanently into his brain.
Ordinarily, he would spend nights on the road drinking. Immersing himself in an alcoholic stupor—or pretending to. He was trying to make himself forget the unforgettable.
When, however, he saw Hanna’s smile and begged him for stories about his long journey, he felt a far warmer and deeper comfort then he could even obtain from liquor.
He told her many things...
About the beautiful flower he discovered on the battlefield.
About the bewitching beauty of the mist filling the forest the night before the final battle.
About the marvelous taste of the spring water in a ravine where he and his men had fled after losing the battle.
About a vast, bottomless blue sky he saw after battle.
He never told her anything sad. He kept his mouth shut about the human ugliness and stupidity he witnessed endlessly on the battlefield. He concealed his position as a mercenary for her, kept silent regarding his reasons for traveling constantly, and spoke only of things that were beautiful and sweet and lovely. He sees now that he told Hanna only beautiful stories of the road like this not so much out of concern for her purity, but for his own sake.
Staying in the inn where Hanna waited to see him turned out to be one of Kaim’s small pleasures in life. Telling her about the memories he brought back from his journeys, he felt some degree of salvation, however slight. Five years, ten years, his friendship with the girl continued. Little by little, she neared adulthood, which meant that, as the doctors had predicted, each day brought her that much closer to death.
And now, Kaim ends the last travel story he will share with her.
He can never see her again, can never tell her stories again.
Before dawn, when the darkness of night is at its deepest, long pauses enter into Hanna’s breathing.
The frail thread of her life is about to snap as Kaim and her parents watch over her.
The tiny light that has lodged in Kaim’s breast will be extinguished.
His lonely travels will begin again tomorrow—his long, long travels without end.
"You’ll be leaving on travels of your own soon, Hanna." Kaim tells her gently.
"You’ll be leaving for a world that no one knows, a world that has never entered into any of the stories you have heard so far. Finally, you will be able to leave your bed and walk anywhere you want to go. You’ll be free."
He wants her to know that death is not sorrow but a joy mixed with tears.
"It’s your turn now. Be sure and tell everyone about the memories of your journey."
Her parents will make that same journey someday. And someday Hanna will be able to meet all the guests she has known at the inn, far beyond the sky.
I, however, can never go there.
I can never escape this world.
I can never see you again.
"This is not goodbye. It’s just the start of your journey."
He speaks his final words to her.
"We’ll meet again."
His final lie to her.
Hanna makes her departure.
Her face is transfused with a tranquil smile as if she has just said,
"See you soon."
Her eyes will never open again. A single tear glides slowly down her cheek.
End
~~
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Press Start: September 2nd, 2015
Title: Rule of Rose
Released: 2006 (January 19th)
https://youtu.be/okABK7DS2aY
So, from the opening video, what would you say this game is about? Young love? A game about orphans trying to make do with what's around them to have a good time? What if I was to tell you that this game is about a girl's descent into a tragic time in her life, filled with nightmarish creatures that bark and lunge at you out for blood, and that who you think should be your friends are your worst enemies in all of this? That is, my friend, what Rule of Rose boils down to.
Story: Jennifer is a young adult traveling by bus at night to some unknown destination. Dozing off in the back, she is approached by a young boy asking her to read a story to her. The story seems incomplete, and when she looks back up for the boy, he's already dashed off the bus that has stopped. In chasing after the boy, she comes across an orphanage that seems empty and is left to investigate as her only ride has driven off without her. But there's more to the orphanage than cobwebs and shadows on this dark night, and Jennifer soon comes to realize this after meeting the building's denizens, masked with paper bags and holding strange ceremonies. They're just kids, but their intentions are far more sinister than you might think as they force Jennifer into a coffin and transport her away from the orphanage.
When she awakens, she finds herself in a zeppelin and finds a comrade in a dog she names Brown. The two of them have to stick together to fend off the pale imps that appear to stalk her through the halls and rooms of the zeppelin, all while adhering to the rules of the "Red Crayon Aristocracy" and uncovering tidbits of Jennifer's past. The game tries its hardest not to give you straight answers to anything that is going on, but Jennifer once dwelt within the walls of the orphanage with these same girls, being treated the exact same way, and it all comes down to her former interactions with the Princess of the Red Rose.
Gameplay: This game came out after Haunting Ground, so you might see some similarities to it in terms of gameplay. One thing that sets the two apart is that Jennifer, unlike Fiona, can equip weapons that she might find throughout the airship to protect herself against the hordes of imps that will come at her. These pale, sickly children with distorted facial features (or sometimes even animal qualities) will stop at hardly nothing to make sure Jennifer succumbs to despair, so sometimes it might be better to run through them. There's no real interface to obscure your view of the game, so you're left to wander in the shadows with Brown, searching for items using the dog's sense of smell. The game is stretched out through requiring the use of Brown to actually do anything in regards to story progression at times, such as finding one item to lead you to another.
Music: One of the haunting features of the game lies in the music. The song that plays during the opening, "A Love Suicide", is one such example trying to capture the time period while still lightly hinting at the story's idea. You won't get to hear much in regards to music while playing, though, other than when you come across a story event (such as fighting some of the special imps that come up), so don't get too used to the atmosphere brought out by the songs and listen more closely to any imps yelling out at you in the distance. You'll be making your home out of the airship, so you best learn as much as you can of the surroundings.
Overall: This game is one of the lesser known gems of the Playstation 2 era. If you like Silent Hill or other survival horror games, you would've done well to have checked this game out. It plays similar to Haunting Ground, as I stated before, but you have less to worry about the stalkers and more about surviving the implings that hop about and cling to you like little kids. If you successfully survive your stay within the airship and back on land in the orphanage, you're treated with a little closure, depending on the ending you get of course.
Released: 2006 (January 19th)
https://youtu.be/okABK7DS2aY
So, from the opening video, what would you say this game is about? Young love? A game about orphans trying to make do with what's around them to have a good time? What if I was to tell you that this game is about a girl's descent into a tragic time in her life, filled with nightmarish creatures that bark and lunge at you out for blood, and that who you think should be your friends are your worst enemies in all of this? That is, my friend, what Rule of Rose boils down to.
Story: Jennifer is a young adult traveling by bus at night to some unknown destination. Dozing off in the back, she is approached by a young boy asking her to read a story to her. The story seems incomplete, and when she looks back up for the boy, he's already dashed off the bus that has stopped. In chasing after the boy, she comes across an orphanage that seems empty and is left to investigate as her only ride has driven off without her. But there's more to the orphanage than cobwebs and shadows on this dark night, and Jennifer soon comes to realize this after meeting the building's denizens, masked with paper bags and holding strange ceremonies. They're just kids, but their intentions are far more sinister than you might think as they force Jennifer into a coffin and transport her away from the orphanage.
When she awakens, she finds herself in a zeppelin and finds a comrade in a dog she names Brown. The two of them have to stick together to fend off the pale imps that appear to stalk her through the halls and rooms of the zeppelin, all while adhering to the rules of the "Red Crayon Aristocracy" and uncovering tidbits of Jennifer's past. The game tries its hardest not to give you straight answers to anything that is going on, but Jennifer once dwelt within the walls of the orphanage with these same girls, being treated the exact same way, and it all comes down to her former interactions with the Princess of the Red Rose.
Gameplay: This game came out after Haunting Ground, so you might see some similarities to it in terms of gameplay. One thing that sets the two apart is that Jennifer, unlike Fiona, can equip weapons that she might find throughout the airship to protect herself against the hordes of imps that will come at her. These pale, sickly children with distorted facial features (or sometimes even animal qualities) will stop at hardly nothing to make sure Jennifer succumbs to despair, so sometimes it might be better to run through them. There's no real interface to obscure your view of the game, so you're left to wander in the shadows with Brown, searching for items using the dog's sense of smell. The game is stretched out through requiring the use of Brown to actually do anything in regards to story progression at times, such as finding one item to lead you to another.
Music: One of the haunting features of the game lies in the music. The song that plays during the opening, "A Love Suicide", is one such example trying to capture the time period while still lightly hinting at the story's idea. You won't get to hear much in regards to music while playing, though, other than when you come across a story event (such as fighting some of the special imps that come up), so don't get too used to the atmosphere brought out by the songs and listen more closely to any imps yelling out at you in the distance. You'll be making your home out of the airship, so you best learn as much as you can of the surroundings.
Overall: This game is one of the lesser known gems of the Playstation 2 era. If you like Silent Hill or other survival horror games, you would've done well to have checked this game out. It plays similar to Haunting Ground, as I stated before, but you have less to worry about the stalkers and more about surviving the implings that hop about and cling to you like little kids. If you successfully survive your stay within the airship and back on land in the orphanage, you're treated with a little closure, depending on the ending you get of course.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)