Yet another stream-of-consciousness: Introversion

A state of being, but not being too much or near much.

I get to stay home and play games and read books and watch movies guilt free? Sweet!

                If we are talking in extremes then it is time for us to talk in bubbles. People exist in bubbles, and these bubbles vary in size and the general volume of things they encompass. An extrovert’s bubble is a rather large thing, encompassing quite a bit of space and possibly even encompassing other human beings within it, making it the extrovert’s state of being, but when the time comes for the extrovert to take a step back, clear her/his mind or just be refreshed, he/she will generally step out of the large bubble and go into the vast nothingness for a breather. An introvert’s bubble is rather small, you could call it a personal size, generally encompassing little beyond themselves and their core activities/passions and when the time comes for the introvert to take a step back, clear her/his mind or just be refreshed, he/she will generally step out of their personal bubble and go where things are voluminous.

Psychorner: A Slice of Dreariness

An unsavoury saviour.

Makoto Shinkai sure has a way of making dreary scenes look incredible. 

                There are many dreary things in this world, some big and some small. Ones of the small kind are the kind that get swept under the rug in terms of memorability and overall personal contentment. Why? Because they’re little things that end up being ‘a given’ in our minds, deservedly so because having a shower shouldn’t be something you consider a personal achievement. The bigger dreary things in life are the things we complain about, things that take up a chunk of time and effort and are also generally unavoidable, usually coming in the form of a ‘commitment’ or that contract to harvest the souls of the restless. Look at your daily life and you will surely find several activities that fall bang perfectly in this category: a commute, long work hours, compulsory attendance, cleaning your room/house/cow, wrestling invading bears, wrestling invading beers, purely tedious work and so on. If there’s something in common in between the things sequentially mentioned above in a string of words known as a sentence, it’s that these are all things we generally dislike doing, and what is another way to say ‘dislike doing’? ‘Dread doing’.

Let's Breakdown: Half-Life 2 [part 4 - Highway 17]

Vroom Vroom (it’s a car this time)

The main menu continues to keep you drawn in.

                Ah, Highway 17, my (personal) favourite chapter of the game because of its atmosphere and general ‘feel’, and that’s not taking into account the more enjoyable, open gameplay and numerous moments. In a sense it’s the game’s first chapter in which you are truly isolated, save for brief interactions with other Resistance members at the start and a little way in, otherwise it’s just you, your (well, Alyx’s) scout car, the antlions and a whole lot of combine. The coastline is long, barren and littered with antlion-repelling devices, which are essentially tall devices that constantly strike the earth, releasing tremors that repel the antlions. The coastline is also littered with Resistance bases be they abandoned or taken over, abandoned (or now infested) houses of citizens who lived along the coast and various temporary Combine bases

I just watched... Spirited Away

Strike three, for Miyazaki.

Late Post, originally written a while ago. 

                What is with this world and the number three? Why is the number three used as a number to define, decide and contain so many things? Trilogies are the most common format, forming a mass equivalent to forty-two blue whales if you try to somehow calculate the masses of forms of media. What is this fixation with the number three?

                Perhaps the easiest assumption to make is that it is smallest number with a ‘central’ value, since it is the smallest odd number which lets it form a ‘typical’ arc of Introduction – Build up – Climax that is usually how so many stories enjoy progressing, as it is the most basic and the easiest to digest format, and one that is rather ‘self-serving’ in many ways.

I just played... Shovel Knight

Let’s platform like it’s 1987.

                Nostalgia is an interesting thing and it’s the kind of thing we humans assume a lot of wrong things about. Is nostalgia a good thing? Is nostalgia a bad thing? Do we love something old because of the tertiary memories that accompany it? Do we love something because it harks back to things you truly liked? Do we love something because it harks back to things that aren’t done anymore? Nostalgia is a tricky little bugger, one that can often be responsible for the unnecessary clouding of our judgement and be responsible for the full blown love or hate for something.

Let's Breakdown: Half-Life 2 [part 3 - We don't go to Ravenholm]

To go where people don’t go anymore.

                We don’t go to Ravenholm

Atmosphere is one of the most important and one of the most underestimated parts of a game. A great atmosphere can do a LOT for a game – improve its gameplay, make it more memorable, give it a greater sense of identity and so on. I’ve spoken about the game’s excellent atmosphere and Ravenholm shows us one of the game’s other elements, the variety in atmosphere which is consistent yet changes things up rather often.

I just played... Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Half dreary, half lively.

                Franchises have one thing common to all of them: they are all gripping in the darkness of a milking abyss, gasping for a breath of fresh air, a breath that is unlikely to ever arrive as taking a whiff of a fresh batch of air is something those on the higher chairs will generally not want to risk stepping down for. It’s no surprise that most franchise products have a tendency to develop a sense of staleness, sterility and all-round dullness – all owing to an adamant desire to not think out of the box.

Let's Breakdown: Half-Life 2 [part 2 - Water Hazard and Black Mesa East]

Vroom Vroom

                Water Hazard

                                Water Hazard starts with an example of a staple feature of the Half-Life series - little 'moments' in the game that the player can interact with, moments that are somewhat picturesque and set themselves up from a bit of a distance. In this case the 'moment' is the brief encounter with the abandoned (err... infested) Resistance station in the little house just a little out of the way.

Psychorner: 'Happiness'

The quotation marks are very important.

See, I went through all the effort of drawing this.

Disclaimer: These are my personal views, I am not a philosopher, this is pure philosofapping, I love talking to people and I love coffee (so, if you want to discuss this feel free to take me for coffee- please, I really want coffee).

                If I were to summarize my current state in life I’d say that I’m currently meandering about like Goku on Snake-way, in the fact that I have a pretty clear and dainty idea of where I have to go but have no clue about how I’m going to get there, how long it’s going to take or how many exotic snake-women I’m going to meet along the way. One of the things my current lifestyle propagates are meaningless contemplations regarding life, the universe and all that jazz, though I suppose I might feel bad for those who studied philosophy considering the fact that I can take a drunken morning off to ponderously ponder things in life – like the principles and ethics behind cheese – and can call myself a ‘philosopher’ based off the fact that I just think random thoughts a lot and then try to articulate it in a way to create the illusion of ‘making sense’ and then try to put it down in word so that it all comes across as some really deep train of thought and not as something I thought about while I try to summarize my current state in life.

Let's Breakdown: Half-Life 2 [part 1 - Point Insertion, A Red Letter Day and Route Kanal]

Wake up and smell the ashes.

                What is this?

                You see, naming things is not one of my talents, which is why I’ve decided to give this a nice and simple name ‘Let’s Breakdown’, which isn’t an invitation to dance but an attempt by me to breakdown and analyse various videogames. Why? Think of it as me doing a bit of my bits as an aspiring game designer… that and I rather enjoy playing games analytically, it can be fun to examine the gears and cogs that make everything work, as well the various obstructions and chinks that hold things back.

Psychorner : Addictions

Of man and things.

                What are ‘addictions’? Well I suppose I’d say they seem like rather nasty things. Why? Well because they are ‘a dick’. Haha, get it? I’m sorry, please lower your gun.

I just played... Dark Souls 2

Never have I felt so Hollow (haha, get it?)

A new world to explore (and die in)

                Have you ever fallen for someone? Become so mindlessly engrossed in another human being that he/she begins to dominate all the thoughts in your mind, become such an omniscient presence in the canvas of your mind that you begin to feel like he/she is like an infection scouring your brain? Furthermore, have you ever wanted to just say something, perhaps blurt out your feelings, so bad that you felt a little pin oscillating in your heart, constantly pricking it?

What is Gaming?

 (This article is a Stream of Consciousness, which means that I took a topic, formulated a thought or three and just wrote out whatever came to my mind – which means that you can expect a fair share of typos, syntax errors and logical errors in the entire thing – I’m not a spontaneously bright person after all.)

The nature of the beast and other randomised contemplations.

SupergiantGames' two games: Bastion and Transistor are examples of story+gameplay done right. 

                I love games. I love games enough that I wouldn’t make a saucy ‘I’d marry it if it was a person’ remark because it’s fucking stupid. But the point being is that I love games.

I just watched... Ghost in the Shell

 Existential Breasts.

                I have existential issues. I found that out when I was having a pretty good time one day and then suddenly the words “THIS TOO WILL PASS” resounded in my mind. Now, of course, that is a line to get out of those times when you’re feeling overly angst-y and melancholic about something that isn’t really even something to be melancholic because you have to just walk it off like a human being and not whine about it and feel that every sad song is about you, you self-absorbed miserable prick, but it’s also a line that you can apply to anything in life. Got a Dog? That too will pass. Thoroughly enjoying a new book, game or whatever? That too will pass. Finally whitened your teeth? That too will pass. I suppose an inevitable reality of our life is that everything ‘passes’, which is probably why we say that someone ‘passes away’ though I tend to prefer the more eloquent ‘existence terminated’ and when I’m feeling brash and rebellious I tend to prefer ‘died’.

I just played... Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

 Featuring more cuts than a movie by an OCD crew.

                I seem to be making a lot of confessions these days, mostly to myself and the wall that I seem to enjoy talking to so much, and I’m continuing the trend here. I have never played a Metal Gear game before, is my confession, and Metal Gear Rising is my first Metal Gear game. And having the boxes stacked as such is much like confessing your love to your school crush on the day of her funeral.

I just played... Transistor

 A sword that is not a sword, with an awesome voice.

                I seem to be following my trend of existential sci-fi even when I don’t go around looking to do so. I am an existential person but I do like to go about occasionally experiencing something rather life-affirming, though a whole lot of the life affirming works plaguing me these days makes me want to do a root canal on myself using a buzz saw, but I suppose I can’t help the world. As the world buckles and heaves out yet another vampire-teenager-supernatural oestrogen centric work, I do turn around and enjoy showing these sci-fi works a fair bit more love, though I’d probably withhold on showing them such love considering that it is not love they are looking for.

I just watched... Bladerunner

 In the future: Indiana Jones became a bounty hunter after tiring of being President

                I find myself reaching a conclusion: Harrison Ford doesn’t play characters, he’s just himself in all the movies that he seems to find himself in. Let’s take a look at all his most iconic roles through adjective-based inquiries. Are they smug? Rogues? Sly? Non-Paragons? Of questionable base morality? Not quite the lover of rules? Now, which role am I talking about? Solo? Jones? How about all? Despite all this I find it amusing how he manages to still fit the role well… or does the role fit him? Oh dear the paradoxes.

I just watched... Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

 And I’m writing this after a long, drawn-out battle with a cockroach… which the cockroach won.

                Like a high school girl at her prom I have a confession to make: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which I don’t have a proper short-form for since just calling it ‘Nausicaa’ is going to lead to all kinds of confusion that isn’t going to end well for you, is the second Ghibli and Miyazaki movie I have watched, with the other one being Princess Mononoke. And if I were to summarise my opinion of Princess Mononoke in a single frenzied word it’d be ‘wowzers’. Yes, I enjoyed the movie that much that I had to go beyond the reach of English language and draw out a word from the shadowy nether-reaches to summarise how much I loved it. Needless to say that my expectations rose as quickly as a man leaping to his death from atop the Eiffel tower, in reverse, and sped up 5x times. And thus I went to see the studio and Miyazaki’s first movie with lofty expectations: and spoiler-alert, I now have a man-crush on two Miyazakis.

I just played... Bioshock Infinite

In this reality, much wasted potential.

                I find pineapples rather interesting. How externally they are coarse and sharp, capable of leaving you with cuts to rival that of your average depressed teenager’s wrists; but the inside is something else, soft, sweet and delicious, with only a tinge of prickly fibre to remind you of its exterior. What does this have to do with Bioshock Infinite? Nothing, I just wanted to talk about pineapples for a moment.

I just watched... Baccano!

Yavar Ahmad enjoys talking a lot and writing a lot, without really using his mind.

Italian for 'ruckus' or 'chaos' 

                All in all, I’d have to say that Baccano! is the single most enjoyable thing I have ever experienced, and this enjoyment is boosted even further by the fact that it’s pretty damn re-watchable. It might not be the most incredibly dramatic and hair-in-your-pants-erect suspenseful, but it’s a ridiculously good watch worthy of the time of anyone ready to stomach the violence and capable of not taking an all-scouring eyeglass of extreme seriousness over everything in existence.

I just watched... Pulp Fiction

A ballad of foot massages, metric systems and other stuff.

                Tarantino has always been in a bit of an odd spot for me. If were to spontaneously materialise a list of things that, by all means, I should have experienced because they seem right up my alley then Tarantino would be up on that list, alongside things like Platinum Games and Monty Python. But now, thanks to the perchance of fate I have been able to finally watch Pulp Fiction, which many claim is his magnum opus. Of course, I don’t know if I can agree or disagree with that considering the fact that I just mentioned that is the fact that I haven’t really seen his other movies, with the only other Tarantino movie I’ve seen being Inglorious Basterds, I can’t really pass judgement whether it is HIS magnum opus.

I just watched... Mushishi

How often have you seen human creativity blossom?

                Episodic series are always an oddity when it comes to your personal motivation to watch it. Your mind has a tendency to frolic between extreme motivation to watch another episode and nil motivation to watch anything at all, like a frog hopping around on a pogo stick while overdosing on sugary treats. See, episodic series are akin to movies in the fact that they tend to start off and stop, just like a movie, but in every episode. This leads to a curiously strong dosage of excessive start and stop, as it occurs in every single episode owing to each one holding its own independent story.

I just watched... Grave of the Fireflies

Home Sweet Home

                Now I’m not a very metaphysical man, but if I were to get down and biblical I’d say that I really like the concept of the Seven Sins. Not because of what they are, but because of what they represent in mankind. You see, the catch of the Sins, is that yes, they are sins, but an inescapable truth is that all humans bear the Sins in some shape or form, which places our existence into a somewhat paradoxical plane as we try to avoid the Sins while being unable to change the fact that the Sins exist within us, that we are the Sins.

I am playing... Dark Souls 2 - Impressions thus far

I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so pleased and disappointed by something at the same time.

Still used to this.

                I’ve always been a cynic about many things, but I’m also an optimist about many things. This has always left in a bit of a conundrum about many things, like if something tragic happens I don’t know if I should stand sullenly in a corner going “I knew things weren’t going to end well” or to go on a march declaring “We shall overcome.” I suppose in reality I’m the kind of person who believes that ultimately we are all going to go up in flames and slowly be reduced to ash, but it’ll be more interesting to burn while dancing rather than sitting sullenly in a corner going “I knew this was all going to happen” while my spleen spontaneously combusts.

I just watched... Pan's Labyrinth

Some things say more than they say.

                Guillermo del Toro originally put himself on my small map of ‘directors whose movies I’ve really got to watch because their movies are interesting, innovative or just plain good, especially when compared to the typical standard of most movies which are like articles which are incapable of keeping a logical word count for each sentence in order to keep them from getting out of hand and making readers lose all semblances of sanity and devolve into dictionary and prime grammar hungering zombies’, which aren’t as great in number as I might hope.

I just played... Path of Exile

Of sprawling forests, sprawling caves, sprawling dungeons and sprawling ability trees.

Always online can be annoying, but it's a fair trade off for the fact that the game is free.

                Path of Exile is a strange game that seems to defy all conventions of existing. Yes, it’s a free to play game, in the truest sense, akin to Valve’s Dota 2. The only difference here is that ‘Valve’ is a company automatically synonymous with several beloved titles, great love for quality and lots and lots of money. On the other hands ‘Grinding Gear Games’ is a company that is a bit of a blank slate and one that’ll make you think of the numerous RPGs in which you, well… grinded for gear. Which is a bit of a nice move since Path of Exile is modelled after Diablo and Diablo 2, both games in which grinding for great gear and hunting for epic loot formed an important part of the experience.

I just watched... Kino's Journey

Have you ever wanted to just take your sentient motorbike and go on a journey?

                Kino’s Journey is definitely an odd show, but what’s not odd about it is that it can easily, truly be defined as a ‘philosophical’ series. And the issue with anything ‘philosophical’ is that it immediately falls into one of two categories: pretentious or non-pretentious. It’s very easy for a story to swing a big question around itself, like a briefcase filled with smaller briefcases filled with dead whales, to the extent that the story begins to, like a briefcase filled with smaller briefcases filled with dead whales, repel you.

I just watched... Battle Royale

Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder why there aren’t more movies involving children killing children.

                Well, perhaps the above statement is a bit of a paradox because of the bit of a paradox that intermingles with the kind of movies that have children spill the blood of other children, and that’s the fact that there movies typically cannot be seen by children because they are possibly too graphic and ‘traumatic’ for children. So that bit of a paradox exists in the fact that the very actors acting in the film, present in all the scenes with blood and murder and the blood of children and the murder of children, isn’t legally able to actually see the movie. A bit of a conundrum, really.

The Sunday Hardcore #2 - Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

Sometimes, you just learn how bad you actually are at a game. 

And so it begins.

"What is this series?" you ask with sly little smile on your lips.

I answer:

This is a weekly series in which I take a game and attempt a hardcore run of it.

I just watched... Le Chevalier D'eon

Cross-dressing, zombies and weird magic – can the French get any more Japanese than this?

                If I were to make a list of TV series I want to see in the foreseeable future before the dolphins decide to take over, one of the things I’d put in the list alongside ‘Requiems for Sean Bean’ would be a full-blown production-values-high-as-hell adaptation of Le Chevalier D’eon. One with luscious sets, monumental locations, great actors, great CG, multiple languages and an ironed out plot.

I just played... DmC: Devil May Cry

Hey guys, do you see the parallels here? DO YOU SEEEEEE THEM?

Yup.

                The media uses it influence to paint the protagonist as a diabolic figure to be feared and loathed, an energy drink is actually a kind of demonic poison to turn humans to cattle and the world actually runs on capitalism. DmC: Devil May Cry tries to be political, and it definitely isn’t subtle about it, and prefers to shove everything in your face and then rub it around a little.

The Sunday Hardcore #1 - Torchlight 2

I really need some coffee next time.

And so it begins.

"What is this series?" you ask with that cute twinkle in your squeaky eyes.

I answer:

This is a weekly series in which I take a game and attempt a hardcore run of it.

I just played... Devil May Cry 4

GotY 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 – Amnesiac Gamers Association 

I have a technique to help you enjoy Devil May Cry 4 to its maximum potential, with the following steps:  

I just played... Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition

Hell hath no fury like a d20 scorned.

Unfortunately, this Jon doesn't have a cat. 

                To be fair, the above statement is a bit of a lie since the game differs from its predecessor in the luck dependence department. In the first game a lucky roll was often what separated your Halfling thief from nimbly sidestepping an enemy swing and getting blown up into pretty little red chunks; this isn’t necessarily the case this time around because the higher levels translate into relatively consistent chances to hit and get hit.