Trying to hide the fact that even this "casual" blog post has been in WIP limbo for the better part of a month edition
new year, more writing
I wrote Part 2 of the DOOM Grand Tour and a recommendation for Spirit City: Lofi Sessions recently, check them out.
The DOOM story delves into the first few Top 100 WADs of All Time from Doomworld.
As for Spirit City, it's a chill desktop companion style game that does some really cool and commendable things in its customization options and design that make it a great little game even after all the achievements are collected.
Two disparate directions... pick your poison.
Postscript: while this blog was WIP, I also wrote a piece on the 2013 indie game Shelter. If you enjoy atmospheric experience-focused games, you might be interested in this one.
returning to anime on the slow-burn
You know how I mentioned trying to watch more anime in the new year? Here's where we are on that.
Initial D - Fourth Stage (2004)
It's pretty obvious I like cars. So of course I like the car anime!
Initial D is a recent-ish favorite of mine since I marathoned First Stage (1998) and Second Stage (1999) a few years back. The franchise's consistency gives it a comfort-food quality where I know I can also pull up the next episode of Initial D and have a good time watching deliberately-paced character drama punctuated by duels between cool JDM classics.
I'm currently in the middle of 2004's Fourth Stage and it's more of the same good stuff, with some notable jumps forward in the progression of the characters' lives. They continue to develop as characters and as people in their world, with graduations, jobs, and all the assorted stuff that comes with it. Main character Takumi is still aloof and spacey, but his apathy towards racing has been replaced with a burgeoning fascination that's wonderful to see develop slowly over the last few seasons of the show.
This isn't one of those "bro just get through the first ten seasons and I promise it gets really good" situations. The Initial D anime is awesome from Episode 1 of First Stage. But be prepared for a show that's just as much about living life outside the driver's seat as it is about blasting eurobeat while bombing down the touge past midnight. Initial D's introspection is rarely captured in the memes, gifs, and video clips, but it's an essential part of it, and an aspect that I've grown to love as much as its battles.
I'm taking a while to get through Fourth Stage, in stark contrast to how I swallowed the first two seasons whole over the course of just a few weeks. Writing about it here is just my way of telling it that I haven't forgotten about it, I'm just enjoying the ride.
Footnote: I've also watched the 2005 Hong Kong live-action film simply titled Initial D. It's sort of an anomaly but I kind of love it. Give it a watch if you're craving something cheesy yet heartfelt.
Slayers (1995)
One more anime I'm right in the middle of is 1995's Slayers! The gradual expansion of the world and characters in equal measure is what keeps me coming back, and the near-zero investment I had on Episode 1 has thankfully given way to the simple joy of watching the main cast of characters, protagonist and antagonist, butt heads constantly. The world is a fun take on fantasy that will regularly drop hints of more depth and intrigue just out of eyesight, and makes me wonder how much is fleshed out versus left to the imagination in the original light novels by Kanzaka Hajime. For comparison, the Overlord light novels by Maruyama Kugane would detail practically every element that would be an offhand reference in the anime adaptations. A double-edged sword when the level of detail in the light novels makes them feel like a 50:50 mix of narrative and lorebook.
Anyway, back to Slayers. It's good fun, and refreshing to follow main character Lina Inverse and supporting protagonist Gourry Gabriev as proactive, skilled, and confident leads. They're not perfect, and in fact their flaws make them all the more entertaining to watch, but it's nice when the story takes plenty of moments to show off these characters as being capable.
My thoughts on Slayers (1995) are still forming but suffice to say I'm enjoying it so far.
of course I can't quit video games cold turkey
I do want to play fewer games this year so I can recover some time for my other hobbies.
However,
Balatro
Balatro's a funny one. I'm still wrestling with the game as I figure out how to enjoy it. It's equal parts learning what the game demands of me, and finding ways the game is flexible in providing the parts I find fun. I have enough thoughts on Balatro that I'd like to write something dedicated about it in the future, but might need some time and a few more hours in it to ensure my takeaways aren't premature.
At the moment, ten hours in, I have White Stake clears on the Red, Blue, and Yellow decks. My goal is to clear Green and Black Decks on White Stake for the new deck unlocks, and then return to the earlier decks on harder stakes. For those unfamiliar with Balatro this sounds like gibberish: in short, I'm trying to unlock more of the content before honing in on a specific build/path and pushing for higher difficulty.
Balatro isn't quite what I'd call "roguelite" in the traditional sense because you carry over practically nothing from your prior run except for content unlocks. And that exception is a huge one. Difficulty on a fresh save versus a well-worn one can vary wildly, and with the added element of having more game experience under your belt, early Balatro and mid- to late-Balatro are wholly different games.
Early and late game being almost completely unrecognizable from each other... Huh, I could have sworn I said the same thing about-
Vampire Survivors
I can finally count myself among the ranks of Vampire Survivors fans. I'm having lots of fun with the game now, and clearing a basic run on Library even on Hyper Mode is trivial at default 0% curse. This time around, though, it's just as much thanks to the permanent progression upgrades as it is game knowledge.
Vampire Survivors became more and more enjoyable as I figured out the kind of game it wanted to be. You can't use the right stick to aim spells like you can in HoloCure, and your decisions per each level-up aren't as expansive or nuanced as in Hunchback's Dungeon (although that gap is seeming to narrow...). But what you get in return is uninterrupted simplicity, and that's practically evergreen.
Also, some of the item names and references are surprisingly silly. Torrona's Box is a case of Italian torrone, which in addition to Spinach, Garlic, and big square slice of tiramisu cake granting Revival called Tirajisú, makes some of the Vampire Survivors item lineup rather yummy indeed.
what's next?
A couple things as my pile of in-progress or "want-to-do" projects grows despite my desperate efforts to prevent it.
era of chill
The Spirit City piece was originally intended to be the first chapter of a post on chill idle games, with Chillquarium, Rusty's Retirement, and SPACEPLAN as the other discussed entries. The four-game mega-feature shrank to a doubleheader on Spirit City and Chillquaruim only, before finally shrinking down to a much more manageable dedicated piece on Spirit City as I realize that I had more and more things about that game in particular I wanted to talk about.
Chillquarium would be next up on the list of games that I have plenty of thoughts on and still fit the feel of "chill." I am still working towards 100% achievements but it's a slow process. As for the other two games mentioned: those two might be the most fitting for a multi-game piece, since I don't have nearly as extensive opinions on these. I just think they're neat games.
aiming for less perfectionism
You have heard the spiel a million times so I'll spare you the standard-issue speech. The purpose of this blog has always been to let me talk about things I'm enthusiastic about while letting me refine my writing. I've prioritized the latter too much at the sacrifice of opportunities to fulfill the former.
The mantra of just get it published will continue until the post frequency improves.
more experimentation
Without severely inflating the amount of tags this blog has, I want to try out new kinds of posts for scenarios when I don't necessarily want to write an expansive franchise retrospective or rave recommendation of something I love. I have a few ideas, so sit tight while I test some of them out.