Something we all need right now

Well, it’s been awhile, hasn’t it? My apologies. The world has just gotten…well, to be a lot to bear, lately. I’d get home from work each day, look at social media, and just…not have the energy to want to do much of anything. The closer we get to the presidential election, the more heated and worrisome things have been getting. And oddly, it took the situation getting even worse for me to feel like getting back to this. Long story short, my workplace might’ve just gotten exposed to COVID today, and I need to do something positive to feel better. Which brings us to today’s word.

catharsis, noun – a therapeutic and/or cleansing release of emotions, often through art

Learned from: Katharsis (PC)

Developed by Metropolis

Published by Metropolis (1997)

Katharsis was a fairly unremarkable game, when you get down to it: a horizontal-scrolling shoot-’em-up, that was distributed via shareware, if memory serves. Its graphics were okay for a DOS game, with 3D backgrounds, and some decent particle effects, but the only thing that really sticks out in my memory is the name, misspelled and edgy though it is. I don’t even think I ever bought the full game–just played however many levels were included in the demo a few times, and then probably went back to Half-Life or something.

But it goes to show that even something small and unremarkable can have an impact on your life to some extent. And while it does feel good, getting back to updating this blog, I think I’m going to go find something more visceral to keep the catharsis going. See you again soon.

Horrible, yet inspirational in a way

Earlier this week, a regional landmark suffered a terrible blow. August had been a pretty dry month up until the end, and the sudden heavy rains we started getting caused the roof of a local theater to collapse. To add insult to injury, a section of the roof over the stage had actually been replaced, just a few years ago (that section stayed up). It’s a huge amount of damage to what had been a beautiful old building. And the real kicker? An initial investigation suggests that the rainwater pooled because the drainage channels had been blocked by pigeons, of all things. Freaking pigeons. That brings us to today’s word.

collet, noun – a flange designed to hold a gem

Learned from: Blasphemous (Switch, PC, Playstation 4, XBox One)

Developed by The Game Kitchen

Published by Team17 (2019)

There aren’t many “normal” items to find in Blasphemous, and the Dove Skull certainly doesn’t break that trend. The actual skull of a bird, described as being “drilled as a collet,” it’s a trinket you can equip to slightly bolster your defense. It’s slightly morbid, but compared to a lot of the items in the game, it’s not that bad.

I’m not going to go much in depth on the game today, because the damage to the Vista Theater is still so fresh in my mind. The photo below really illustrates how bad the situation is, but if you find yourself wanting to help, please consider making a donation to try and help them start putting the pieces back together. Thank you.

Finally, perhaps we can take something positive away from this. If something as common and unremarkable as pigeons can collapse a brick and mortar structure with their nests, maybe there’s a chance that normal folks like you and me can change the world on a large scale as well–just in a more positive context.

vista

Image credit to http://www.uppermichiganssource.com

We really are living in the end times

One of my favorite games of all time is Dokapon Kingdom: sort of like Mario Party crossed with an RPG. Billed as “the friendship destroying game,” it was released in 2008, and in the 12 years since, I’ve yet to introduce someone to it who hasn’t had a great time. And given that it’s been so long, I never thought we’d see a sequel…I was wrong, and I can only imagine that’s another sign that the world’s ending.

Last week, Dokapon UP! was announced for the PS4 and Switch, with a release date of December 10th in Japan (no Western release date yet, but I’ll import this game if I have to). For some reason, it’s a crossover title with Utawarerumono, a series I have virtually no knowledge of, but I’ll get acquainted, because I love Dokapon that much. So to celebrate, I wanted to go with one of the words that game has taught me.

kiviak, noun – a traditional food of the Inuits in Greenland, made from auks fermented in sealskin

Learned from: Dokapon Kingdom (Playstation 2, Wii)

Developed by Sting

Published by Sting, Atlus (2008)

Dokapon Kingdom is a game about earning as much wealth as you an, while screwing everyone else over. So, Monopoly, but actually fun. And like Monopoly, wealth isn’t just measured by raw money; property plays a big role, but so do things like side quests, and favors to the king. One of those types of favors is sending him food that you think he’d like–and the king hates kiviak. As luck would have it though, you can send gifts in the name of another player, meaning you can offload all the unpalatable tripe you want, and tank someone else’s value in the king’s eyes. The game is full of mechanics like that, but it’s all part of the fun. It’s no exaggeration when I saw Dokapon UP! is one of my most anticipated games, because this series deserves to continue.

Dokapon-UP_08-05-20

I have no idea who these characters from Utawarerumono are, but I’ll be spending the next few months learning.

The Truman Show

So, after digging through one of my notebooks, I realized I was wrong about two things in my last post: First, I did learn a word from Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Second, I’d already posted about the word “druthers.” Oops. So, to remedy both of those things, here’s today’s word:

capote, noun – a long, hooded coat or cloak. Particularly one used by a matador during a bullfight

Learned from: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (Playstation 2, and soon to be on the Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch)

Developed by Atlus

Published by Atlus, Ghostlight Studios (in Europe) (2003)

A running joke among the MegaTen community is that the Matador fight is where most newcomers to the series will throw up their hands and quit. I’ve never been entirely sure just why the series has had a skeletal bullfighter as a recurring (and iconic) enemy, but it’s just part of the charm.

But in all honesty, Nocturne (like many Megaten games) is not easy. I suppose that’s fitting, for a game that begins with the end of the world, and your character getting turned into a half-human, half-fiend hybrid, who has to survive all alone in the post-apocalyptic hellscape that follows. I could offer advice to make the journey easier–including the fight against the Matador–but A) I don’t want to spoil the experience for when the remaster comes out (because you really should play it), and B) I don’t know what Atlus is going to add/change. Because they always seem to tweak things to some extent when they re-release one of these.

capote

Go ahead and laugh. We’ll see if you’re still laughing after he’s wiped the floor with you for the tenth time, next year. The real Nocturne begins here.

Finally a little good news

Apologies for being away for so long. With my country apparently thinking COVID will go away if we pretend it doesn’t exist, unexpected home repairs, and oh yeah, my government throwing people into unmarked vans in a major city, I haven’t felt like I could be particularly entertaining lately. But today, Nintendo and Atlus dropped an update on Shin Megami Tensei V, and announced a remaster of SMT III: Nocturne, and as this is some of the only good news I’ve heard in awhile, I wanted to celebrate with getting back to this project. And while Nocturne itself didn’t teach me any words, other Shin Megami Tensei games did. So…

druthers, noun – one’s preferences or leanings regarding a subject

Learned from: Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon (Playstation 2)

Developed by Atlus

Published by Atlus (2008)

Nocturne is great, but my own personal druthers are that I’d prefer another entry in the Devil Summoner side series. Apart from titles that are a mouthful and a half, the games in this branch of the MegaTen universe are noteworthy for being action RPGs, and for their unique settings. If “druthers” sounds like it hasn’t been used much in the past century, then it’s somewhat fitting that these games are set in 1920s Japan. To the best of my knowledge, that’s a time and place that hasn’t really been explored by other games–especially not with the trademark occult/supernatural spin that the MegaTen games are known for. Exploring late Taisho-/early Showa-era Japan as what boils down to a paranormal cop, investigating a race of underground bug people, with a talking cat who used to be your human partner will either instantly tell you why Atlus is one of my favorite developers out there, or it will leave you very, very confused.

Maybe we’ll get lucky, and get remasters of these games somewhere down the line too. Because if you want to track down the original PS2 releases, be ready to shell out over $100 apiece. I hope the remaster of Nocturne sells well enough for Atlus to give the Devil Summoner titles another lease on life, because they really were great games.

Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!!

So, as you may know, today was Independence Day for those of us here in the United States. As you may also know, we…haven’t been doing the greatest at following simple instructions designed to keep ourselves alive. This combination brings us directly to today’s word.

lemming, noun – a small, Arctic rodent falsely made famous for the belief that they willingly run off of cliffs

Learned from: Lemmings (Genesis, Amiga, NES, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Game Gear, Atari Lynx, Sega Master System)

Developed by DMA Design

Published by Psygnosis (1991)

Video game developers seem to have a fondness for unusual animals, from echidnas, to bandicoots, to lemmings. I probably wasn’t the only kid whose first exposure to some of these critters was through games featuring them.

Lemmings is a puzzle game. You’re tasked with safely guiding a bunch of the titular creatures (depicted as green-haired humanoids in blue robes for some reason), across a series of hazards, by assigning them different tasks. The lemmings, themselves, have no sense of self-preservation, and will walk blindly into lava pits, spikes, acid pools, and many, many other deadly fates. It isn’t an easy task, and the fact that I was playing the Genesis version (with very sluggish controls in a real-time game) only made it harder. Still, it’s considered a classic for good reason, because it is a lot of fun. Certainly more fun than…

lemmings

This is an image taken today from a local beach. Half of these people are probably tourists, which means it’s anyone’s guess how many people they came into contact with, across how many states, before they got here. The faces of anyone close enough to be identified have been replaced with something more fitting.

Pluto is in marmalade: ill fortune!

I probably shouldn’t joke about this too loudly; given the propensity toward essential oils and goji berries that some people in my country have, I don’t want to give them ideas about regressing to Medieval “cures” for diseases. And this is related to today’s word, but first I’d like to apologize for being gone for so long. I was training someone in at work for a few weeks, and life in general had gotten more draining somehow. But I did find some time amidst all that to play a few games. Such as this one.

borage, noun – a flowering herb native to the Mediterranean; also known as starflower

Learned from: Astrologaster (PC, mobile)

Developed by Nyamnyam

Published by Nyamnyam (2019)

Astrologaster is sort of a fully-narrated choose your own adventure game. You play as “doctor” Simon Forman, a 16th-century astrologer who sets his sights on medicine after the stars tell him how to cure the plague (a cure he calls “strong water,” which includes, among other things, borage). The only problem is, he doesn’t have a medical license. Since posing as a doctor without a license is a crime in Elizabethan Londan, Simon sets out to acquire one the only way he knows how–not through study and scholarship, but through providing sound medical advice through astrology. What could possibly go wrong?

And it’s not just people’s health that you’ll be dealing with. You’ll also consult the stars to offer advice on investments, love affairs, and even military campaigns. Things can go horribly (and at times hilariously) awry, and you can intentionally sabotage people if you want, but it’ll make it harder to get the recommendations you need to get your license.

That is, of course, when Simon isn’t sabotaging himself. Without spoiling anything, I will say that he becomes a rather…unlikable character as the story goes on, doing things behind the scenes that the player (as far as I can tell) has no control over. This made it a bit of a chore to finish the game, in all honesty, because after awhile I wasn’t really sure I wanted to see him succeed. Still, there’s a colorful cast of characters, some solid voice acting, and writing that’s genuinely funny at times. If the overall premise sounds appealing, you’ll probably enjoy Astrologaster to some extent.

borage

Fun fact: While edible (and pretty), borage contains chemicals that may be carcinogenic. Not recommended for the treatment of plague.

Achievement unlocked

This past week has been an absolute nightmare. Not so much for me, specifically, but if you’re from the U.S., you know what I’m talking about. Hell, even if you’re not living here, you probably know, because chances are, your news outlets actually cover international stories. So much is just…wrong, lately, that I wanted to focus on a word from simpler times, before the riots, and hatred, and boastful “leaders” who can’t even show their faces in times of crisis. So, let’s visit a game full of bright colors, cheeky humor, and young girls who announce their plans to conquer the universe by way of an idol concert. All of which brings us to today’s word:

vainglory, noun – disproportionately high pride in one’s accomplishments

Learned from: Mugen Souls (Playstation 3)

Developed by Compile Heart

Published by NIS America (2012)

I initially picked up Mugen Souls more for the fact that I know one of the English voice actors, than anything else. It got fairly mediocre reviews from critics, and I wanted to support her work. And hey, maybe it would end up being an underappreciated gem. Well…the game isn’t bad, but it’s nothing really outstanding, either.

Mugen Souls puts you in the shoes of Chou-Chou a girl who wants to rule the universe through the power of moe. (Moe is a Japanese term that basically refers to things that people find cute, often when they’re not supposed to be.) Essentially, she wants to subjugate everyone by making them become infatuated with her. But not everybody likes bubbly, pink-haired girls, right? Not a problem! Chou-Chou has multiple personalities, each with its own quirk: masochistic, sadistic, ditzy, bipolar, etc. Each has its own attributes, and skills, and effectiveness against different enemies. It’s goofy, and saccharine, and really, really weird (you can make entire continents fall in love with you. Not the people–the landmasses themselves).

One of the passive skills Chou-Chou has is called vainglory (fittingly, in her “Ego” form). It offers various buffs to her attacks, as well as boosts a…certain type of experience/reward you get from battles. It’s kinda hard to explain, because while the game has a silly premise, the actual gameplay is surprisingly complex. There are literally hours‘ worth of tutorials, explaining all the various mechanics. And really, it was this Gordian knot of things to keep straight, along with the death of my original PS3, that kept me from finishing this game.

However, if you have a better stomach for exhaustive tutorials than I do, you might want to dig up a copy of this strange little game. It’s certainly a different sort of experience, and maybe it’ll be just the distraction you need in these trying times.

Chou-Chou

The many faces of Chou-Chou.

What’s in a name?

If you’re like me, the current state of things has you pretty frustrated. I considered a bunch of words that would reflect different aspects of the aggravation I’m feeling about how poorly people (in my country at least) are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, when I realized I could sum it all up in one. It’s not so much the word itself, but rather the game it’s from.

halitosis, noun – bad breath

Learned from: Aaargh! (Apple IIGS, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Arcade, Commodore 64, PC, ZX Spectrum)

Developed by Binary Design, Sculpted Software

Published by Arcadia Systems, Melbourne House (1988)

Aaargh! is an early attempt at portraying giant monster battles in a game. But in the absence of licensed properties like Godzilla, Ultraman, or King Kong, the developers had to make do with a generic giant lizard, and an “ogre” (which, for some reason, they actually drew as a cyclops). The two monsters were basically sprite swaps, since they each had the same moves, though the ogre certainly got the short end of the stick, thematically. Instead of the lizard’s actual fire breath, he was described as having “halitosis, which is so bad it sets things on fire.” And yes, I dug up the manual to find the exact wording, after twenty-odd years. I’m dedicated. 😉

The game itself was technically less about beating up the other monster, and more about finding the eggs of a giant bird, hidden in a primitive village before your opponent did. (The actual type of bird is another word I learned from this game, but that’s a post for another time.) It was…okay for what it was trying to do, but there are reasons it was overshadowed by Rampage, which came out a few years earlier and offered more robust gameplay. Plus, there’s that title…

aaargh

Aaargh! indeed.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

While my Pile of Shame (TM) still has a ton of games in it, I figured the quarantine was a good opportunity to tackle some of the longer ones–JRPGs, and such. Recently, I finished the first Trails in the Sky, and I see why the Legend of Heroes series (which includes the Sky trilogy, the Cold Steel quadrilogy, and two un-localized games in between them) is so highly regarded by fans. The plot is a slow burn until the final chapter, but once it kicks into high gear, it leads to one hell of a cliffhanger. Anyway, today’s word…

tourbillon, noun – a watch mechanism designed to mitigate gravity’s effect on the movement of the gears

Learned from: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (PSP, PC, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita)

Developed by Nihon Falcom

Published by XSeed Games (2011)

Literally meaning “whirlwind,” the use of “tourbillon” in Trails in the Sky was in a more mechanical sense. Much of the society in the game is based around technology derived from ancient artifacts (naturally). Called “orbments,” these devices combine clockwork mechanisms and elemental crystals to produce everything from street lights, to airships, to weapons. And as with all steampunk-ish technology, things can always be fine-tuned, hence the inclusion of tourbillons in some tech to make it more stable/accurate.

There’s actually quite a bit more depth behind the history of the orbments, as well as pretty much every aspect of the world in this series. Hell, even most of the individual townsfolk you run across have individual names, agendas, and dialog that’s more than “Welcome to <NAME OF TOWN>!” The sheer amount of text here can weigh things down a bit, but if you’re the sort of person who’d, say, read all the books in Skyrim, you’ll probably love getting immersed in the history of Liberl. Even if you don’t look through all the extra stuff, the tension and interplay between various factions of the military, the Bracer guild (sort of an international police/mercenary force), and the ruling family is plenty intriguing on its own.

tl;dr: If Trails in the Sky is any indication, this series is an underappreciated gem in the West. And all the games that have been translated into English are now available on Steam, so you don’t even have to be a weirdo who owns a PSP, like me, to enjoy them!

trails_in_the_sky

It’s also got quite the colorful cast of characters.