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After slogging through three levels, I have come to the conclusion that Silent Hill 3 is a dungeon crawler. ( I'm putting a spoiler cut in even though there aren't really any spoilers here, except for subway-related events )
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Clock Tower's getting a fan remake, I don't know if you've heard. Remothered, it's called. It seems to be going through another new iteration, which I hope is a needed course correction; the previous, more direct adaptation (screenshots here) gave me pause. Its ambition and production values were admirable, but its seemed bent on upstaging the pervasive creep of the original with rust, grime, and gore.
I'd misidentified "I'm Looking for Mary" as the main theme of Clock Tower - though a more elaborate version plays over the credits in the better endings, the real title screen is accompanied by nothing but the intonations of the titular timepiece. But it really is the main theme of the game in spirit, as it's the soundtrack to Clock Tower's most memorable moments - encountering an ominously steam-filled bathroom just after the lights have gone out and the heroine's friends have disappeared; unveiling a family secret in the most unlikely and forgotten of places; discovering a hidden entrance to a room that makes an already-mad mansion into something far, far more and worse. The track is sparse and short at thirty-five seconds (and loops in under ten), but it doesn't need to be anything more; it's meant to imitate the style of Goblin, the prog-rock band that scored Argento films like Suspiria, Tenebre, and Deep Red, and it does well even in its 16-bit, cartridge-based limitations to follow in those synthesized, creepy steps. It assembles itself from a swarm of notes that are discrete, high-pitched, yet methodical; the result is a composition that's tight and well-assembled but so pervasive that it's almost ambient rather than a main line. It lingers; it lets the tension build.
If you've played Clock Tower, think back to the moments listed: something isn't happening, but about to happen - or in the process of letting a revelation's full impact sink into the player's mind. Horror is seldom loud and clamorous, all shrieking and buckets of viscera. It's quiet. It lurks in the shadows. It might alert you to its presence, but it doesn't play its full hand until the very last moment - which will come at its complete leisure.
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I'd misidentified "I'm Looking for Mary" as the main theme of Clock Tower - though a more elaborate version plays over the credits in the better endings, the real title screen is accompanied by nothing but the intonations of the titular timepiece. But it really is the main theme of the game in spirit, as it's the soundtrack to Clock Tower's most memorable moments - encountering an ominously steam-filled bathroom just after the lights have gone out and the heroine's friends have disappeared; unveiling a family secret in the most unlikely and forgotten of places; discovering a hidden entrance to a room that makes an already-mad mansion into something far, far more and worse. The track is sparse and short at thirty-five seconds (and loops in under ten), but it doesn't need to be anything more; it's meant to imitate the style of Goblin, the prog-rock band that scored Argento films like Suspiria, Tenebre, and Deep Red, and it does well even in its 16-bit, cartridge-based limitations to follow in those synthesized, creepy steps. It assembles itself from a swarm of notes that are discrete, high-pitched, yet methodical; the result is a composition that's tight and well-assembled but so pervasive that it's almost ambient rather than a main line. It lingers; it lets the tension build.
If you've played Clock Tower, think back to the moments listed: something isn't happening, but about to happen - or in the process of letting a revelation's full impact sink into the player's mind. Horror is seldom loud and clamorous, all shrieking and buckets of viscera. It's quiet. It lurks in the shadows. It might alert you to its presence, but it doesn't play its full hand until the very last moment - which will come at its complete leisure.
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No one voted for Resident Evil?
Apr. 16th, 2012 09:12 pmAnother top 100 list: TimeOut London (don't click that link willy-nilly; it has massive photo spoilers) of the supposed-best horror films as voted on by a cadre of directors and artists. I don't know if I'd call myself a horror fan; it's depressing watching even a couple in a row. I see more horror than perhaps any other genre, though, so I have a better chance for a somewhat-respectable percentage-seen here than anywhere else.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have seen. (27/100; hmmm...)
2) Italicize those you intend to see.
3) Underline the movies you love, and strikeout the movies you saw but didn't like.
100. Come and See (1985), Elim Kirnov - This was horror? I recall from Ebert's Great Movies that it's a war story. Which is its own brand of horror, but still.
99. Braindead (1992), Peter Jackson
98. Flesh for Frankenstein (1973), Paul Morrissey
97. I Walked with a Zombie (1943), Jacques Tourneur
96. Cronos (1993), Guillermo del Toro - I recall catching the first part of it on afternoon TV but drifting off to something else after the first act. Del Toro doesn't wear well on me in general - I barely stayed awake in the theater during Hellboy II. That apparently means I missed the sight here of Ron Perlman playing an industrialist.
95. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Philip Kaufman
94. God Told Me To (1976), Larry Cohen
93. Threads (1984), Mick Jackson - For the early entries, I see we're going to have to wade through stuff that got like one vote from Guillermo del Toro or something.
92. Inferno (1980), Dario Argento - Oh, my GOD. Are you fucking drunk? I have a "dario argento" tag on the sidebar, and even I can't defend this movie. The only good parts of it are a) the appearance of Mater Lachrymarum and b) the big "shit's going down" climactic theme song.. And the ultimate protagonist-kinda being a complete doofus. (I'd add the first part of the final confrontation, the half-drunkenly, cosmically-unconcerned "it's happened before" bit, but it seems on a rewatch to have happened differently from how I apparently misremember, so.) If this is on here and Phenomena isn't, there will be all the table-flipping.
91. The Fog (1979), John Carpenter
90. Daughters of Darkness (1970), Harry Kümel
89. The Black Cat (1934), Edward G Ulmer
88. The Mist (2007), Frank Darabont
87. Martin (1976), George A Romero - Maybe not strong as "intend," but I like double-reading entertainments and am curious.
86. Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971), John D Hancock
85. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), John McNaughton
84. Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan, Revenge of the Vampire) (1960), Mario Bava - Man, that's one busy movie. I'd like to see a Bava just to see if his taste meshes with mine, but I sense he's less artistic and more about only the gore than Argento, and I've no idea where to start.
::reads description:: ...Not here, OK!
83. The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971), Robert Fuest
82. Re-Animator (1985), Stuart Gordon
81. Day of the Dead (1985), George A Romero
80. Hellraiser (1987), Clive Barker
79. Dead Ringers (1988), David Cronenberg
78. Society (1989), Brian Yuzna
77. Saló (1975), Pier Paolo Pasolini - "Look! Look! We're edgy!" Fuck you.
76. The Orphanage (2007), JA Bayona
75. Phantasm (1978), Don Coscarelli
74. Dracula (1958), Terence Fisher
73. Black Sabbath (1963), Mario Bava
72. 28 Days Later (2002), Danny Boyle
71. Pulse (Kairo) (2001), Kiyoshi Kurosawa - This isn't really a loooove, but I'm intrigued by its typically Japanese theme of losing humanity to technology. I need to see it again, I think.
70. Jacob's Ladder (1990), Adrian Lyne
69. Eraserhead (1977)
68. Wolf Creek (2005), Greg Mclean - ::rolls eyes::
67. Angel Heart (1987), Alan Parker - This is the one that got Lisa Bonet is trouble, right? I never knew it was horror.
66. The Vanishing (1988), George Sluizer
65. The Devil's Backbone (2001), Guillermo del Toro
64. Black Christmas (1974), Bob Clark - Maybe one of these days, just to see what certain parties have gone on about. The guy who directed this also did A Christmas Story, believe it or not.
63. The Sixth Sense (1999), M Night Shyamalan
62. Repulsion (1965), Roman Polanski
61. Ring (Ringu) (1998), Hideo Nakata - It was a mistake to so blatantly telegraph the big scene.
60. The Night of the Hunter (1955), Charles Laughton
59. The Silence of the Lambs (1990), Jonathan Demme - Again, not love, but, you know, respect. Odd that it's way down here.
58. Poltergeist (1982), Tobe Hooper - I'm not counting this as "seen" as I caught only one-third of it, but I tried to stay the course and just couldn't. You could do a lot with a family being haunted in their big Spielbergian suburban home, abut this is just so goofy and tension-free.
57. The Old Dark House (1932), James Whale
56. Kill, Baby… Kill! (aka Operazione Paura, Curse of the Dead), Mario Bava - Man, someone likes Bava. I can't say the titles are inspiring me thus far.
55. The Wicker Man (1973), Robin Hardy - Have this on DVD but haven't gotten around to it. Have seen the "NOT THE BEES!" one, though, unfortunately.
54. [Rec] (2007), Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza - Again, not love, but it was effective enough. I enjoy first-person shakycam horror when it's done well.
53. The Others (2001), Alejandro Amenábar - Meh. Nothing of note. I can't say I care for the ordering of the list thus far.
52. Night of the Demon (1957), Jacques Tourneur
51. Switchblade Romance (2003), Alexandre Aja - I haven't seen this, but I'll post this analysis of the reviled ending.
50. Vampyr (1932), Carl Theodor Dreyer
49. The Beyond (1981), Lucio Fulci
48. Kwaidan (1964), Masaki Kobayashi
47. Les Diaboliques (1955), Henri-Georges Clouzot
46. The Devils (1971), Ken Russell
45. Deep Red (1975), Dario Argento - Ahh, now we're gettin' somewhere. A warning: the newest DVD release - the one with the doll on the cover, the one with the big "UNCENSORED ENGLISH VERSION!!" label on the front - is indeed censored and cut. (The "uncensored" refers to the gore; no one cares if the story is cut, ha ha!) To get the complete version, you need to see one of the old Anchor Bay DVDs.
That said, I just can't watch any of the deaths in this movie. I have too much sympathy to be a real horror fan.
Also, WARNING: TimeOut's list spoils the end of the movie. Jerks!
44. Hour of the Wolf (1967), Ingmar Bergman
43. The Tenant (1976), Roman Polanski
42. Peeping Tom (1960), Michael Powell
41. The Evil Dead (1981), Sam Raimi
40. Carnival of Souls (1962), Herk Harvey
39. The Descent (2005), Neil Marshall
38. Possession (1981), Andrzej Zulawski - I think I might want to, though, reading the description.
37. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Don Siegel - I've seen bits and pieces of various Body Snatchers movies but not a whole one. I don't feel compelled to remedy this.
36. The Blair Witch Project (1999), Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
35. Dead of Night (1945), Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer
34. Eyes Without a Face (1959), Georges Franju
33. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Wes Craven
32. Cannibal Holocaust (1979), Ruggero Deodato - This trash this high up, over Blair Witch, Deep Red, Lambs? I should've been warned by Salo. If there's anything to this but gore, I'll eat my...nothing attached to me.
31. Martyrs (2008), Pascal Laugier
30. Frankenstein (1931), James Whale
29. Cat People (1942), Jacques Tourneur
28. Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson
27. Videodrome (1982), David Cronenberg
26. Bride of Frankenstein (1935), James Whale
25. The Changeling (1979), Peter Medak
24. The Birds (1963), Alfred Hitchcock - I want to see more Hitchcock but am having moral reservations after reading how abusive he was to his cast.
23. The Fly (1986), David Cronenberg
22. Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), FW Murnau
21. Freaks (1932), Tod Browning - Fuck, no. Don't need this in my head. It's loved just because it's pre-code.
20. The Omen (1976), Richard Donner
19. Evil Dead II (1987), Sam Raimi
18. Audition (1999), Takashi Miike
17. The Haunting (1963), Robert Wise
16. An American Werewolf in London (1981), John Landis
15. Carrie (1976), Brian De Palma
14. The Innocents (1961), Jack Clayton
13. Night of the Living Dead (1968), George A Romero
12. Don't Look Now (1973), Nicolas Roeg - I should've liked this more, given the psychological horror and mystery and Venice setting, but it failed to resonate with me.
11. Jaws (1975), Steven Spielberg
10. Dawn of the Dead (1978), George A Romero
9. Suspiria (1976), Dario Argento - I'm actually on the verge of striking this out; Suspiria's psychedelic but too ashcan in its characters. It did deliver on the "HELL IS BEHIND THAT DOOR" sequence, though.
8. Halloween (1978), John Carpenter
7. Rosemary's Baby (1968), Roman Polanski - I will strike this out, though, for reasons other than the obvious. A pregnant woman has deep cutting pains in her womb and doesn't think to go to the doctor? I'm sorry, there goes my suspension of belief. And the antagonists are just goofy. "Intelligent, subtle face of horror," hell.
6. The Thing (1982), John Carpenter
5. Alien (1979), Ridley Scott
4. Psycho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock
3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Tobe Hooper
2. The Shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick - I'd be remiss not to mention this intriguing seven-part essay on the true protagonist of the movie (spoilers from the start, naturally, and warning for some blame-the-victim stuff on domestic violence).
1. The Exorcist (1973), William Friedkin - YES. Father Karras is the Clarice of his film, the often-overlooked psychological soul of the movie. His emotional journey's the entire reason to see this. And "Tubular Bells," man.
.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have seen. (27/100; hmmm...)
2) Italicize those you intend to see.
3) Underline the movies you love, and strikeout the movies you saw but didn't like.
100. Come and See (1985), Elim Kirnov - This was horror? I recall from Ebert's Great Movies that it's a war story. Which is its own brand of horror, but still.
99. Braindead (1992), Peter Jackson
98. Flesh for Frankenstein (1973), Paul Morrissey
97. I Walked with a Zombie (1943), Jacques Tourneur
96. Cronos (1993), Guillermo del Toro - I recall catching the first part of it on afternoon TV but drifting off to something else after the first act. Del Toro doesn't wear well on me in general - I barely stayed awake in the theater during Hellboy II. That apparently means I missed the sight here of Ron Perlman playing an industrialist.
95. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Philip Kaufman
94. God Told Me To (1976), Larry Cohen
93. Threads (1984), Mick Jackson - For the early entries, I see we're going to have to wade through stuff that got like one vote from Guillermo del Toro or something.
91. The Fog (1979), John Carpenter
90. Daughters of Darkness (1970), Harry Kümel
89. The Black Cat (1934), Edward G Ulmer
88. The Mist (2007), Frank Darabont
87. Martin (1976), George A Romero - Maybe not strong as "intend," but I like double-reading entertainments and am curious.
86. Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971), John D Hancock
85. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), John McNaughton
84. Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan, Revenge of the Vampire) (1960), Mario Bava - Man, that's one busy movie. I'd like to see a Bava just to see if his taste meshes with mine, but I sense he's less artistic and more about only the gore than Argento, and I've no idea where to start.
::reads description:: ...Not here, OK!
83. The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971), Robert Fuest
82. Re-Animator (1985), Stuart Gordon
81. Day of the Dead (1985), George A Romero
80. Hellraiser (1987), Clive Barker
79. Dead Ringers (1988), David Cronenberg
78. Society (1989), Brian Yuzna
77. Saló (1975), Pier Paolo Pasolini - "Look! Look! We're edgy!" Fuck you.
76. The Orphanage (2007), JA Bayona
75. Phantasm (1978), Don Coscarelli
74. Dracula (1958), Terence Fisher
73. Black Sabbath (1963), Mario Bava
72. 28 Days Later (2002), Danny Boyle
71. Pulse (Kairo) (2001), Kiyoshi Kurosawa - This isn't really a loooove, but I'm intrigued by its typically Japanese theme of losing humanity to technology. I need to see it again, I think.
70. Jacob's Ladder (1990), Adrian Lyne
69. Eraserhead (1977)
68. Wolf Creek (2005), Greg Mclean - ::rolls eyes::
67. Angel Heart (1987), Alan Parker - This is the one that got Lisa Bonet is trouble, right? I never knew it was horror.
66. The Vanishing (1988), George Sluizer
65. The Devil's Backbone (2001), Guillermo del Toro
64. Black Christmas (1974), Bob Clark - Maybe one of these days, just to see what certain parties have gone on about. The guy who directed this also did A Christmas Story, believe it or not.
63. The Sixth Sense (1999), M Night Shyamalan
62. Repulsion (1965), Roman Polanski
61. Ring (Ringu) (1998), Hideo Nakata - It was a mistake to so blatantly telegraph the big scene.
60. The Night of the Hunter (1955), Charles Laughton
59. The Silence of the Lambs (1990), Jonathan Demme - Again, not love, but, you know, respect. Odd that it's way down here.
57. The Old Dark House (1932), James Whale
56. Kill, Baby… Kill! (aka Operazione Paura, Curse of the Dead), Mario Bava - Man, someone likes Bava. I can't say the titles are inspiring me thus far.
55. The Wicker Man (1973), Robin Hardy - Have this on DVD but haven't gotten around to it. Have seen the "NOT THE BEES!" one, though, unfortunately.
54. [Rec] (2007), Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza - Again, not love, but it was effective enough. I enjoy first-person shakycam horror when it's done well.
52. Night of the Demon (1957), Jacques Tourneur
51. Switchblade Romance (2003), Alexandre Aja - I haven't seen this, but I'll post this analysis of the reviled ending.
50. Vampyr (1932), Carl Theodor Dreyer
49. The Beyond (1981), Lucio Fulci
48. Kwaidan (1964), Masaki Kobayashi
47. Les Diaboliques (1955), Henri-Georges Clouzot
46. The Devils (1971), Ken Russell
45. Deep Red (1975), Dario Argento - Ahh, now we're gettin' somewhere. A warning: the newest DVD release - the one with the doll on the cover, the one with the big "UNCENSORED ENGLISH VERSION!!" label on the front - is indeed censored and cut. (The "uncensored" refers to the gore; no one cares if the story is cut, ha ha!) To get the complete version, you need to see one of the old Anchor Bay DVDs.
That said, I just can't watch any of the deaths in this movie. I have too much sympathy to be a real horror fan.
Also, WARNING: TimeOut's list spoils the end of the movie. Jerks!
44. Hour of the Wolf (1967), Ingmar Bergman
43. The Tenant (1976), Roman Polanski
42. Peeping Tom (1960), Michael Powell
41. The Evil Dead (1981), Sam Raimi
40. Carnival of Souls (1962), Herk Harvey
39. The Descent (2005), Neil Marshall
38. Possession (1981), Andrzej Zulawski - I think I might want to, though, reading the description.
37. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Don Siegel - I've seen bits and pieces of various Body Snatchers movies but not a whole one. I don't feel compelled to remedy this.
36. The Blair Witch Project (1999), Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
35. Dead of Night (1945), Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer
34. Eyes Without a Face (1959), Georges Franju
33. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Wes Craven
32. Cannibal Holocaust (1979), Ruggero Deodato - This trash this high up, over Blair Witch, Deep Red, Lambs? I should've been warned by Salo. If there's anything to this but gore, I'll eat my...nothing attached to me.
31. Martyrs (2008), Pascal Laugier
30. Frankenstein (1931), James Whale
29. Cat People (1942), Jacques Tourneur
28. Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson
27. Videodrome (1982), David Cronenberg
26. Bride of Frankenstein (1935), James Whale
25. The Changeling (1979), Peter Medak
24. The Birds (1963), Alfred Hitchcock - I want to see more Hitchcock but am having moral reservations after reading how abusive he was to his cast.
23. The Fly (1986), David Cronenberg
22. Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), FW Murnau
21. Freaks (1932), Tod Browning - Fuck, no. Don't need this in my head. It's loved just because it's pre-code.
20. The Omen (1976), Richard Donner
19. Evil Dead II (1987), Sam Raimi
18. Audition (1999), Takashi Miike
17. The Haunting (1963), Robert Wise
16. An American Werewolf in London (1981), John Landis
15. Carrie (1976), Brian De Palma
14. The Innocents (1961), Jack Clayton
13. Night of the Living Dead (1968), George A Romero
12. Don't Look Now (1973), Nicolas Roeg - I should've liked this more, given the psychological horror and mystery and Venice setting, but it failed to resonate with me.
11. Jaws (1975), Steven Spielberg
10. Dawn of the Dead (1978), George A Romero
9. Suspiria (1976), Dario Argento - I'm actually on the verge of striking this out; Suspiria's psychedelic but too ashcan in its characters. It did deliver on the "HELL IS BEHIND THAT DOOR" sequence, though.
8. Halloween (1978), John Carpenter
6. The Thing (1982), John Carpenter
5. Alien (1979), Ridley Scott
4. Psycho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock
3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Tobe Hooper
2. The Shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick - I'd be remiss not to mention this intriguing seven-part essay on the true protagonist of the movie (spoilers from the start, naturally, and warning for some blame-the-victim stuff on domestic violence).
1. The Exorcist (1973), William Friedkin - YES. Father Karras is the Clarice of his film, the often-overlooked psychological soul of the movie. His emotional journey's the entire reason to see this. And "Tubular Bells," man.
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Say something mean about a game you love
Oct. 25th, 2011 08:40 pmElite Beat Agents is in every other aspect a portrait of a perfect difficulty curve, but beating the last song on Hard (or whatever difficulty Chieftain represents) is freakin' impossible.
The NES port of Ultima: Exodus has significant grind problems and those 3-D dungeons that turn me off. Also: no real ending.
That Lamia fight in The Battle of Olympus is not only brutally unforgiving in the precision jumping it demands but is real offputting coming as it does near the very start of the game.
Castlevania III still has some of that typical Castlevania platforming while flying enemies are ducking & weaving at you, but that's a pretty weak complaint, as they're aggravating but not insurmountable. (Everyone in the thread from which I swiped this topic who picked CV3 mentions the stage where you have to climb up the falling blocks. That stage was neat! I liked that stage!)
Phantasy Star II: Chara balance could've been a little better, or at least character choice a little more crucial. Also, doing a no-Visiphone run would probably illustrate this, but having save points be so far between in Dezoris, particularly in the endgame, was perhaps not such a good idea.
I know Final Fantasy IV came at just the time the molds were being broken - heck, it broke a lot of them itself - but Rosa is a fairly insufferable Mean Girl of a damsel in distress. Also, I think I've fallen out of love with it a good deal. Time to try out the GBA version?
SFC Clock Tower has a heroine who's modeled on the lead in Phenomena and has her come across a refrigerator overrun witih insects and can't do anything but stick a can of bug spray in her hand.
Various Lunars: TSS has a muddy palette, no cohesion in its art design, and looks downright 8-bit at times; EB has stupid WD pop-culture/body-function jokes in particularly unfortunate places, like the climax of the Zophar fight; the three characters into whom Xenobia was split in SSS didn't have enough dimension (characterwise) to support the change; EBR has, as Akari Funato said, sucky drawing in its cinemas and a Ghaleon death scene with minute yet mood-breaking changes that make it inferior to the original; Strolling School has a mundane battle system; MSL's Blade isn't remotely necessary, the balance is tipped from "feel-good childhood memories" to "sugar-high kawaii escapades," and while it somehow didn't strike me when I initially saw it, that fingerpainting scene is really, really beyond the pale. Bonus Vheen Hikuusen complaint: the Guildmistress comes off as overridingly smug. (Though I've complained about this before.)
I imagine without a hint book that the instadeaths in King's Quest III that come from mistiming your absences in regard to Manannan's arrivals and departures could be really buzzkilling.
Deadly Premonition: I keep mentioning it, but man, that ending.
Super Mario Bros. 3 is too long to have no saving.
I can't really gainsay a single one of its accolades, but Chrono Trigger is kinda overpraised nowadays. Also, that "Marle & Lucca MST3K the other characters" ending is kind of an empty, missed opportunity. (My love for Chrono Trigger is like my hate for Phantasy Star III - dimmed by time. Perhaps I should rekindle the spark.)
The arcade Golden Axe is kinda short and lacks that fun pit stage. The lightning effects in the Sega Genesis Golden Axe aren't as rad as they are in the arcades, and the eagle's eye doesn't move. You also don't get the gutpunch opening of seeing Alex struck down firsthand.
Again has no replay value, and the Roger character is ill-considered.
In a similar vein, ever since someone pointed out that Brainless Randy in Illbleed's Killerman is an inadvertent-or-not parody of the mentally challenged, I've felt guilty about watching the segment and a little guilty about enjoying the game as a whole.
That tunnel maze in Myst is boring and aggravating.
If you are playing a Hunter in The Lord of the Rings Online, then everything - everything - is going to be your fault.
...I guess it is time-consuming to bomb every wall for heart containers in The Legend of Zelda?
If the shoulder buttons on your DS are worn down, you can't play Dialhex.
Big Bang Mini wears down your DS shoulder buttons.
.
The NES port of Ultima: Exodus has significant grind problems and those 3-D dungeons that turn me off. Also: no real ending.
That Lamia fight in The Battle of Olympus is not only brutally unforgiving in the precision jumping it demands but is real offputting coming as it does near the very start of the game.
Castlevania III still has some of that typical Castlevania platforming while flying enemies are ducking & weaving at you, but that's a pretty weak complaint, as they're aggravating but not insurmountable. (Everyone in the thread from which I swiped this topic who picked CV3 mentions the stage where you have to climb up the falling blocks. That stage was neat! I liked that stage!)
Phantasy Star II: Chara balance could've been a little better, or at least character choice a little more crucial. Also, doing a no-Visiphone run would probably illustrate this, but having save points be so far between in Dezoris, particularly in the endgame, was perhaps not such a good idea.
I know Final Fantasy IV came at just the time the molds were being broken - heck, it broke a lot of them itself - but Rosa is a fairly insufferable Mean Girl of a damsel in distress. Also, I think I've fallen out of love with it a good deal. Time to try out the GBA version?
SFC Clock Tower has a heroine who's modeled on the lead in Phenomena and has her come across a refrigerator overrun witih insects and can't do anything but stick a can of bug spray in her hand.
Various Lunars: TSS has a muddy palette, no cohesion in its art design, and looks downright 8-bit at times; EB has stupid WD pop-culture/body-function jokes in particularly unfortunate places, like the climax of the Zophar fight; the three characters into whom Xenobia was split in SSS didn't have enough dimension (characterwise) to support the change; EBR has, as Akari Funato said, sucky drawing in its cinemas and a Ghaleon death scene with minute yet mood-breaking changes that make it inferior to the original; Strolling School has a mundane battle system; MSL's Blade isn't remotely necessary, the balance is tipped from "feel-good childhood memories" to "sugar-high kawaii escapades," and while it somehow didn't strike me when I initially saw it, that fingerpainting scene is really, really beyond the pale. Bonus Vheen Hikuusen complaint: the Guildmistress comes off as overridingly smug. (Though I've complained about this before.)
I imagine without a hint book that the instadeaths in King's Quest III that come from mistiming your absences in regard to Manannan's arrivals and departures could be really buzzkilling.
Deadly Premonition: I keep mentioning it, but man, that ending.
Super Mario Bros. 3 is too long to have no saving.
I can't really gainsay a single one of its accolades, but Chrono Trigger is kinda overpraised nowadays. Also, that "Marle & Lucca MST3K the other characters" ending is kind of an empty, missed opportunity. (My love for Chrono Trigger is like my hate for Phantasy Star III - dimmed by time. Perhaps I should rekindle the spark.)
The arcade Golden Axe is kinda short and lacks that fun pit stage. The lightning effects in the Sega Genesis Golden Axe aren't as rad as they are in the arcades, and the eagle's eye doesn't move. You also don't get the gutpunch opening of seeing Alex struck down firsthand.
Again has no replay value, and the Roger character is ill-considered.
In a similar vein, ever since someone pointed out that Brainless Randy in Illbleed's Killerman is an inadvertent-or-not parody of the mentally challenged, I've felt guilty about watching the segment and a little guilty about enjoying the game as a whole.
That tunnel maze in Myst is boring and aggravating.
If you are playing a Hunter in The Lord of the Rings Online, then everything - everything - is going to be your fault.
...I guess it is time-consuming to bomb every wall for heart containers in The Legend of Zelda?
If the shoulder buttons on your DS are worn down, you can't play Dialhex.
Big Bang Mini wears down your DS shoulder buttons.
.
Alphabet meme, J
Sep. 30th, 2011 11:40 pmJulious, Angelique: - It took me a good long while to come around to Julious; he's an easy scapegoat in the Clavis/255 affair. Upon reflection, though, 255 acted reprehensibly; her first act upon being awarded the crown was to order Julious to put a knife in his best friend's heart, and she deprived Clavis of his only emotional support at the same time she did her love. Granted, things would've gone over better had he let Clavis down easy instead of his "YOU THOUGHTLESS TRAITOR" tack, but it's understandable for even the Guardian of Light to slip a bit in the pressure of this particular situation.
Jan van Ruthberg, Anumamundi - I like Jan less for his character than for the image he cuts: the quiet delicate holy man with well-kempt golden hair and robes of purest white and gold, with polished, sickly long nails as black as pitch. Jan's an intriguing character, though - he can commune with the dead; he has a fatalistic view of the afterlife and his place in it due to his crimes; he shows a tragically misplaced yet oddly logical loyalty to his crazed employer - yet the game doesn't really do much with him beyond putting him in a half-realized relationship with the greasy Dashwood. He's also stuck in the disturbing bleh of a dead-end plot that is the Hellfire Club. Another game would perhaps do better by him; if Mephisto can do a crossover...
J.D., Neo Angelique: - The thing with Neo Angelique is that it has some characters whose plotlines aren't quite done justice by neoromance constraints. J.D.'s a fresh-faced flip on an old trope: instead of a robot who's learning all about what you hu-mans call "love," J.D. knows all about love! He's a Terminator of love! His mission is to spread smiles to other people's faces! (He's also, for this genre, built like bricks.) Back in the days on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
angemedia before we really knew anything about Neo Angelique, I used to make fun of J.D. - he seemed to have no fans, and from what little I could tell, the sum total of his personality seemed to revolve around candy. Boy, was I wrong; he's one of my favorites now.
Jennifer, Clock Tower: Part of what makes Jennifer such an effective heroine for the first game is that the designers remembered to make her a good deal childlike - her soft taken-aback lurch of surprise; the wide-eyed, apprehensive-but-not-losing-it expression on her usual status portrait. It underlines Jennifer's vulnerability but doesn't oversell it.
I'm not that fond of CT2 Jen - her voice is too Chip 'n' Dale-meet-Disney-Princess - but her short li'l Don't Look Now trench seems an effective tip to her inspiration's killer fashion sense. (Those jumper straps on CT1 Jen's skirt have to go, though.)
Jennifer Corvino, Phenomena: Jennifer is the woman. Jennifer has it all going on - the bugokinesis; the Armani shirtdresses; the killer taglines ("Jennifer has a few million close friends. She's going to need them all."). One of my favorite moments is when shit's gone down and she's sitting pretty, and she allows herself this small smug, self-satisfied smile, as if thinking to herself, "yeah, I really am one BAMF." She revels in her accomplishments, doesn't take any guff, but is fiercely supportive of her friends - she's the rare prideful character that's not elitist.
.
Jan van Ruthberg, Anumamundi - I like Jan less for his character than for the image he cuts: the quiet delicate holy man with well-kempt golden hair and robes of purest white and gold, with polished, sickly long nails as black as pitch. Jan's an intriguing character, though - he can commune with the dead; he has a fatalistic view of the afterlife and his place in it due to his crimes; he shows a tragically misplaced yet oddly logical loyalty to his crazed employer - yet the game doesn't really do much with him beyond putting him in a half-realized relationship with the greasy Dashwood. He's also stuck in the disturbing bleh of a dead-end plot that is the Hellfire Club. Another game would perhaps do better by him; if Mephisto can do a crossover...
J.D., Neo Angelique: - The thing with Neo Angelique is that it has some characters whose plotlines aren't quite done justice by neoromance constraints. J.D.'s a fresh-faced flip on an old trope: instead of a robot who's learning all about what you hu-mans call "love," J.D. knows all about love! He's a Terminator of love! His mission is to spread smiles to other people's faces! (He's also, for this genre, built like bricks.) Back in the days on
angemedia before we really knew anything about Neo Angelique, I used to make fun of J.D. - he seemed to have no fans, and from what little I could tell, the sum total of his personality seemed to revolve around candy. Boy, was I wrong; he's one of my favorites now.Jennifer, Clock Tower: Part of what makes Jennifer such an effective heroine for the first game is that the designers remembered to make her a good deal childlike - her soft taken-aback lurch of surprise; the wide-eyed, apprehensive-but-not-losing-it expression on her usual status portrait. It underlines Jennifer's vulnerability but doesn't oversell it.
I'm not that fond of CT2 Jen - her voice is too Chip 'n' Dale-meet-Disney-Princess - but her short li'l Don't Look Now trench seems an effective tip to her inspiration's killer fashion sense. (Those jumper straps on CT1 Jen's skirt have to go, though.)
Jennifer Corvino, Phenomena: Jennifer is the woman. Jennifer has it all going on - the bugokinesis; the Armani shirtdresses; the killer taglines ("Jennifer has a few million close friends. She's going to need them all."). One of my favorite moments is when shit's gone down and she's sitting pretty, and she allows herself this small smug, self-satisfied smile, as if thinking to herself, "yeah, I really am one BAMF." She revels in her accomplishments, doesn't take any guff, but is fiercely supportive of her friends - she's the rare prideful character that's not elitist.
.
Alphabet Meme, C
Jun. 7th, 2011 11:12 amAs B is done but not typed up.
Clavis, Angelique: The definitive mental image of Clavis I have was, oddly enough, taken from this Clavis/Julious fic I read once, from a scene where, after a bit of dithering between he and Julious, he somewhat timidly but chivalrously disrobed, took the initiative, and advanced unclothed, that dark, all-enveloping curtain of hair moving with him as he walked, enveloping and...well, never revealing, actually. It was not only a striking physical image but aptly defined Clavis as an inwardly, quietly strong yet sadly vulnerable presence inherently loathe to self-disclosure. (Oh, dear, I've confessed to reading a slash fic and must therefore surrender my membership in the Serious Gamers club.)
Anyhow, it's tempting, and at least partially accurate, to mark the loss of Kaneto Shiozawa as Clavis as the start of Angelique going downhill. It's perhaps not true, wholly - Shiozawa passed away during the Trois era, which was the franchise's artistic peak. Yet Tanaka's Clavis, while not bad per se, is soft and "wet" in the Japanese sense, overtly emotional, without Shiozawa's sarcastic bite that came from a lifetime of bitter experiences. Shiozawa Clavis was the franchise's heart, and without him, a significant part of its specialness was lost.
(That said, I don't think we can write off seeing good things from Angelique again entirely. I'm typically dour about continuing a franchise past the creator's interest, and great things aren't coming from the LoveLove Tenshi social game, surely, but the Six Knights of Dark Love title is an intriguing idea that would never have been produced under the original regime. It's a cliche to say, and one often voiced by those who were never buying what a given work was selling in the first place, but the franchise did need handlers who'd be rough enough to break it a bit, instead of letting it be mummified in doilies.)
Celes, Final Fantasy VI: Celes is a drip. So is Terra, even more so, but we're not to the T's yet. Celes's whole character arc is "stop insisting on personal independence and be content as a helpless damsel in distress." The backlash to the mostly female party/awesomeness of Faris in FFV must've been huge, since it takes three whole installments for FF to stop treating its female characters like crud despite placing them in higher-profile roles. Though we're not yet up to pimping out the entire female cast with FF6, we do get an FF with females in the lead who are nonetheless so spineless they're invertebrates. Anna would laugh at them. So would Amy. Well, maybe not laugh at her, but at least express contempt in her general direction.
Celia Robinson, The Cat Who...: I don't dislike her, and she's good when well-used (as in her first appearance in Went into the Closet), but I've never really warmed to the idea of Celia as a full-fledged supporting character like Braun thinks I should have. She's a bit too thinly drawn for the series at its best, too fatuously jolly - she can be like an old joke told one too many times. The series, when it was getting on, often introduced new characters that were shallower shadows of ones previous, and even though Celia was introduced when the series was still in its prime, I can't help but think of her as a knockoff of the multifaceted Iris Cobb.
Cecil, Final Fantasy IV: Call it the Rayne effect: I like Cecil way better when the narrative's not pushing him at the expense of other characters. For Cecil, that's been ever since the recent FFIV resurgence, where Kain and Golbez are compelled to atone endlessly more for their envy of and desire to surpass King Harvey despite their perceived inferiority to him than for their actual misdeeds. (This has kind of wrecked Kain's character in the modern FFIV follow-ups, where he suffers thoroughly wretched fates and is smeared as weak-willed and incompetent, but After Years is kind of self-wrecking in the first place. Shame about Dissidia, however.)
If I ever do get Dissidia, though, I'm still playing Cecil first. (But only because I don't think you can play Kain first.)
(Also: that recent Trading Arts statuette of Cecil is lovely and insanely detailed for the price. It's a small comfort in the age of Square's great selling-out, but it's a joy finally to see quality character merchandise after such a long drought.)
Carlo, Deep Red: If I had a knowledge of Inform, IF mechanics, and actual willpower, I'd love to make a text adventure of Inferno and have Carlo as a secret character. I imagine his withering running commentary on events would be far more entertaining than that of the ever-outmatched Mark. (Such a reimagining would be the only way to get any good out of the miserable Inferno, anyway.) I've seen Deep Red once and didn't have an overly positive impression at the time (memory has been kinder), but I recall taking to Carlo the most out of the cast. For all his self-despise and cynical bile, he seems rather (half-drunkenly) avuncular to others. Life is shit, but Carlo doesn't hold it against you.
.
Clavis, Angelique: The definitive mental image of Clavis I have was, oddly enough, taken from this Clavis/Julious fic I read once, from a scene where, after a bit of dithering between he and Julious, he somewhat timidly but chivalrously disrobed, took the initiative, and advanced unclothed, that dark, all-enveloping curtain of hair moving with him as he walked, enveloping and...well, never revealing, actually. It was not only a striking physical image but aptly defined Clavis as an inwardly, quietly strong yet sadly vulnerable presence inherently loathe to self-disclosure. (Oh, dear, I've confessed to reading a slash fic and must therefore surrender my membership in the Serious Gamers club.)
Anyhow, it's tempting, and at least partially accurate, to mark the loss of Kaneto Shiozawa as Clavis as the start of Angelique going downhill. It's perhaps not true, wholly - Shiozawa passed away during the Trois era, which was the franchise's artistic peak. Yet Tanaka's Clavis, while not bad per se, is soft and "wet" in the Japanese sense, overtly emotional, without Shiozawa's sarcastic bite that came from a lifetime of bitter experiences. Shiozawa Clavis was the franchise's heart, and without him, a significant part of its specialness was lost.
(That said, I don't think we can write off seeing good things from Angelique again entirely. I'm typically dour about continuing a franchise past the creator's interest, and great things aren't coming from the LoveLove Tenshi social game, surely, but the Six Knights of Dark Love title is an intriguing idea that would never have been produced under the original regime. It's a cliche to say, and one often voiced by those who were never buying what a given work was selling in the first place, but the franchise did need handlers who'd be rough enough to break it a bit, instead of letting it be mummified in doilies.)
Celes, Final Fantasy VI: Celes is a drip. So is Terra, even more so, but we're not to the T's yet. Celes's whole character arc is "stop insisting on personal independence and be content as a helpless damsel in distress." The backlash to the mostly female party/awesomeness of Faris in FFV must've been huge, since it takes three whole installments for FF to stop treating its female characters like crud despite placing them in higher-profile roles. Though we're not yet up to pimping out the entire female cast with FF6, we do get an FF with females in the lead who are nonetheless so spineless they're invertebrates. Anna would laugh at them. So would Amy. Well, maybe not laugh at her, but at least express contempt in her general direction.
Celia Robinson, The Cat Who...: I don't dislike her, and she's good when well-used (as in her first appearance in Went into the Closet), but I've never really warmed to the idea of Celia as a full-fledged supporting character like Braun thinks I should have. She's a bit too thinly drawn for the series at its best, too fatuously jolly - she can be like an old joke told one too many times. The series, when it was getting on, often introduced new characters that were shallower shadows of ones previous, and even though Celia was introduced when the series was still in its prime, I can't help but think of her as a knockoff of the multifaceted Iris Cobb.
Cecil, Final Fantasy IV: Call it the Rayne effect: I like Cecil way better when the narrative's not pushing him at the expense of other characters. For Cecil, that's been ever since the recent FFIV resurgence, where Kain and Golbez are compelled to atone endlessly more for their envy of and desire to surpass King Harvey despite their perceived inferiority to him than for their actual misdeeds. (This has kind of wrecked Kain's character in the modern FFIV follow-ups, where he suffers thoroughly wretched fates and is smeared as weak-willed and incompetent, but After Years is kind of self-wrecking in the first place. Shame about Dissidia, however.)
If I ever do get Dissidia, though, I'm still playing Cecil first. (But only because I don't think you can play Kain first.)
(Also: that recent Trading Arts statuette of Cecil is lovely and insanely detailed for the price. It's a small comfort in the age of Square's great selling-out, but it's a joy finally to see quality character merchandise after such a long drought.)
Carlo, Deep Red: If I had a knowledge of Inform, IF mechanics, and actual willpower, I'd love to make a text adventure of Inferno and have Carlo as a secret character. I imagine his withering running commentary on events would be far more entertaining than that of the ever-outmatched Mark. (Such a reimagining would be the only way to get any good out of the miserable Inferno, anyway.) I've seen Deep Red once and didn't have an overly positive impression at the time (memory has been kinder), but I recall taking to Carlo the most out of the cast. For all his self-despise and cynical bile, he seems rather (half-drunkenly) avuncular to others. Life is shit, but Carlo doesn't hold it against you.
.
Gaming Table for One, Part Two
Mar. 2nd, 2011 08:23 pmName an obscure gem which you can recommend without reservation.
The Battle of Olympus was one of the first RPGs to realize a setting outside of generic medieval fantasyland successfully, thanks in no small part to the painstaking detail with which its Hellenic realm was rendered, right down to a world map composed of the actual ancient Greek prefectures and peripheries (Attica, Laconia). In an age where mythical references began and ended with Medusa, Olympus managed to include the Graeae, Talos, the Lion of Nemea, all illustrated in big, bold sprites - anticipating what creature will next make an appearance is a treat for any mythology buff. And the music is suitably classical but rousingly intrepid, boasting a couple of the sweetest sound effects I've heard to this day (the mournful ocarina, the truly radiant, celebrant Harp of Apollo).
And gameplay cooked - this was a challenge for the patient and shrewd, a largely defensive game about striking just the right balance between hectic action and biding one's time for the right strike. The game also had a remarkable talent for rendering true labyrinths in side-view 2D, even tackling a worthy rendition of the grandaddy of them all with a few helpful hints like color cues. Most take one look at Olympus's main character sprite, see that it's a side-scrolling adventure title, and dismiss it a Zelda II ripoff. It's not, and though I love Zelda II, Olympus has better production values, a more colorful and varied journey, and is made with more love. It remains one of the best Greek mythology-inspired games out there.
Name your most memorable convention experience.
I've never had a desire to go to a con, and I'm trying to pinpoint why that is. I suppose a part of it is practicality; I've never lived near a city large enough to be a convention hub, and I don't need to spend four figures on lodgings and airfare just for shopping and discussion I can already enjoy on the internet. Drilling down, though, I think the real aversion comes from how embarrassing most videogame marketing is, and how a gathering marketed to videogame fans would probably be exponentially more embarrassing.
Name one game that you would actually like to see remade. Bonus points for naming your dream director for this fantasy remake.
Despite the series' usual complement of stalkers, Clock Tower: The Struggle Within's most disturbing feature is its withdrawn schoolgirl heroine who hides a second, murderous personality. Witnessing trauma (in no short supply in a Clock Tower game) would cause the girl to retreat into her more violent persona, who had a considerably more aggressive survival instinct. The two characters would note different things in their environment; interacting with others as one personality could get you information while doing so as the other could get you killed. One might think the heroine's affliction a case of multiple personabilities, but the wreath of violet light that envelops her when the second persona manifests looks far from psychological in origin, and certain information uncovered regarding the heroine's birth might lead one to more supernatural conclusions.
No conclusions, however, were to be found in the actual game, which made an utter hash of its plotlines and left several dangling threads, including the personality issue, untied at its abrupt and nonsensical conclusion. I've always thought the two-personalities mechanic and the choices it forced on the player on how to approach other characters and search for information could work splendidly in a well-executed title. The switch between the genuinely gentle and rational heroine and her crude, cold-blooded alterego was genuinely creepy and intriguing, and a couple of the stalkers, here inspired by Japanese iconography instead of CT's usual Argento-'80's horror mishmash, deserved repurposing - the thin-lipped kimono-clad woman with deathly-pale skin and an ever-bitter smile; the dead-limbed, silent fellow in the hannya and blood-tinged lab coat, dragging a giant cleaver behind him.
(The story was made into a drama CD with the heroine narrating her own psychological crises; even without visuals, its Twilight Zone-theater take proved more effective than the game ever was.)
Name a great late-night gaming experience you have had.
Yeah, OK, this question doesn't translate over as well from "name a great late-night horror television experience you have had," but it triggers my memories of discovering Lufia and the Fortress of Doom during a late-night post-rental play session while the other residents of the house were off other places. The darkness, the solitude of the late hour, and being alone in the comforts of home fostered the sense that I was discovering a great little well-kept secret all on my own.
Name a character crossover that doesn’t exist but you wish did.
As expressed before, I wish "Tamashii no Kokuhaku" Ghaleon and Dain could interact with the surviving mazoku from "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku." I'd love to see Morris give Ghaleon grief for having Dain following him around.
.
The Battle of Olympus was one of the first RPGs to realize a setting outside of generic medieval fantasyland successfully, thanks in no small part to the painstaking detail with which its Hellenic realm was rendered, right down to a world map composed of the actual ancient Greek prefectures and peripheries (Attica, Laconia). In an age where mythical references began and ended with Medusa, Olympus managed to include the Graeae, Talos, the Lion of Nemea, all illustrated in big, bold sprites - anticipating what creature will next make an appearance is a treat for any mythology buff. And the music is suitably classical but rousingly intrepid, boasting a couple of the sweetest sound effects I've heard to this day (the mournful ocarina, the truly radiant, celebrant Harp of Apollo).
And gameplay cooked - this was a challenge for the patient and shrewd, a largely defensive game about striking just the right balance between hectic action and biding one's time for the right strike. The game also had a remarkable talent for rendering true labyrinths in side-view 2D, even tackling a worthy rendition of the grandaddy of them all with a few helpful hints like color cues. Most take one look at Olympus's main character sprite, see that it's a side-scrolling adventure title, and dismiss it a Zelda II ripoff. It's not, and though I love Zelda II, Olympus has better production values, a more colorful and varied journey, and is made with more love. It remains one of the best Greek mythology-inspired games out there.
Name your most memorable convention experience.
I've never had a desire to go to a con, and I'm trying to pinpoint why that is. I suppose a part of it is practicality; I've never lived near a city large enough to be a convention hub, and I don't need to spend four figures on lodgings and airfare just for shopping and discussion I can already enjoy on the internet. Drilling down, though, I think the real aversion comes from how embarrassing most videogame marketing is, and how a gathering marketed to videogame fans would probably be exponentially more embarrassing.
Name one game that you would actually like to see remade. Bonus points for naming your dream director for this fantasy remake.
Despite the series' usual complement of stalkers, Clock Tower: The Struggle Within's most disturbing feature is its withdrawn schoolgirl heroine who hides a second, murderous personality. Witnessing trauma (in no short supply in a Clock Tower game) would cause the girl to retreat into her more violent persona, who had a considerably more aggressive survival instinct. The two characters would note different things in their environment; interacting with others as one personality could get you information while doing so as the other could get you killed. One might think the heroine's affliction a case of multiple personabilities, but the wreath of violet light that envelops her when the second persona manifests looks far from psychological in origin, and certain information uncovered regarding the heroine's birth might lead one to more supernatural conclusions.
No conclusions, however, were to be found in the actual game, which made an utter hash of its plotlines and left several dangling threads, including the personality issue, untied at its abrupt and nonsensical conclusion. I've always thought the two-personalities mechanic and the choices it forced on the player on how to approach other characters and search for information could work splendidly in a well-executed title. The switch between the genuinely gentle and rational heroine and her crude, cold-blooded alterego was genuinely creepy and intriguing, and a couple of the stalkers, here inspired by Japanese iconography instead of CT's usual Argento-'80's horror mishmash, deserved repurposing - the thin-lipped kimono-clad woman with deathly-pale skin and an ever-bitter smile; the dead-limbed, silent fellow in the hannya and blood-tinged lab coat, dragging a giant cleaver behind him.
(The story was made into a drama CD with the heroine narrating her own psychological crises; even without visuals, its Twilight Zone-theater take proved more effective than the game ever was.)
Name a great late-night gaming experience you have had.
Yeah, OK, this question doesn't translate over as well from "name a great late-night horror television experience you have had," but it triggers my memories of discovering Lufia and the Fortress of Doom during a late-night post-rental play session while the other residents of the house were off other places. The darkness, the solitude of the late hour, and being alone in the comforts of home fostered the sense that I was discovering a great little well-kept secret all on my own.
Name a character crossover that doesn’t exist but you wish did.
As expressed before, I wish "Tamashii no Kokuhaku" Ghaleon and Dain could interact with the surviving mazoku from "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku." I'd love to see Morris give Ghaleon grief for having Dain following him around.
.
Writer's Block: Sheldon and Penny 4ever!
May. 12th, 2010 11:55 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
Fanfiction is like a Dario Argento movie. It's difficult to get into for some people because they're looking for a perfect, or at least completely professional, experience through and through, but meanwhile, you've got cheesy supporting actors speaking in overemoted dubbing and goreriffic death scenes that test the most jaded horror fan and distract from the narrative, and not everyone's going to stand for it. If you can't wait that out, though, you never get payoff's like Jennifer's ataraxian "I love you all" from Phenomena or the famed opening death scene from Suspiria.
While there are fanfiction authors talented enough to deliver those perfect experiences, I think you're more likely to be rewarded if you go in looking simply for perfect moments - bits that just *get* your favorite characters and universes worthy of adding to your personal canon.
Fanfiction is like a Dario Argento movie. It's difficult to get into for some people because they're looking for a perfect, or at least completely professional, experience through and through, but meanwhile, you've got cheesy supporting actors speaking in overemoted dubbing and goreriffic death scenes that test the most jaded horror fan and distract from the narrative, and not everyone's going to stand for it. If you can't wait that out, though, you never get payoff's like Jennifer's ataraxian "I love you all" from Phenomena or the famed opening death scene from Suspiria.
While there are fanfiction authors talented enough to deliver those perfect experiences, I think you're more likely to be rewarded if you go in looking simply for perfect moments - bits that just *get* your favorite characters and universes worthy of adding to your personal canon.
Cybele May of Candy Blog has created a meme-friendly list of 110 essential candies for candylovers. She encourages us to count how many we've tried, so I've done so below. (75/110)
1 70%+ Cacao Chocolate - Through Lindt, though I can't remember the exact percentage. It wasn't that strong for Lindt, though, as they have bars that go up to 95%, as I recall. At that point, isn't it just baking chocolate?
2 Aerated Chocolate - An Aero bar. Tastes like soft chalk.
3 Altoids
4 American-Style Hard Toffee
5 Anis de Flavigny - Looks intriguing, though.
6 Any Lolllipop Bigger than your Head
7 Atomic Fireballs
8 Black Sugar Candy - And I call myself a Nipponophile. Actually, no, I don't; I just study the language and some of the culture. Nipponophilia connotes a more Orientalist point of view.
9 British Toffee
10 C.Howard Violet Gum/Mints or Parma Violets - I wonder how a flower-flavored candy would taste but can't recall trying one.
11 Cadbury Creme Egg - Oh, come on; who hasn't.
12 Candy Buttons on Paper - Always used to get them from the pharmacy as a kid. The same company also made long strips of packets with mini-"ice cream cones" where the cone was authentic and the ice cream was some sort of dry marshmallow. I wish they still made those.
13 Candy Corn / Mellocremes - I'm partial to the harvest mix Brach's makes during Halloween that's gotten somewhat hard to find, the one with the black cats and cider jugs and crescent moons flavored maple and molasses and what's supposed to be banana but is actually some sort of marshmallow.
14 Carob
15 Cherry & Coconut - May says that this is a whole subgenre of candy, and I hope someone's gotten it right. Cherry Mashes are surprisingly tasteless, dry globs of mockolate.
16 Chocolate Coins - Again, who hasn't?
17 Chocolate Covered Cacao Nibs
18 Chocolate Covered Cherry Cordial - The chemistry behind the manufacture of these is interesting.
19 Chocolate Covered Dried Fruit (Raisins, Orange Peel, Apricot, Ginger, Fig)
20 Chocolate Covered Espresso Bean - I'm one of the few who hasn't tasted these, apparently.
21 Chocolate Covered Insects - I love Phenomena, but oh, hell, no. (Actually, Jennifer Corvino wouldn't approve of this treat, would she?)
22 Chocolate from at least 5 different countries - I guess; let's see - Hershey from U.S.; Cadbury's from the U.K.; Ritter from Germany; Lindt from Switzerland; and...hmm...well, I'm sure there's a fifth country of origin in my eating history somewhere.
23 Chocolate Fudge
24 Chocolate Truffle
25 Chupa Chups - I hate to add vacuities like "these are awesome," but there you go.
26 Circus Peanuts
27 Clear Sugar Hard Candy - No juntsuyu. And I call myself a Nipponophile. Wait...
28 Coconut Bar
29 Coffee Crisp
30 Coffee Rio / Coffee Nips
31 Cotton Candy
32 Crisped Rice in Milk Chocolate
33 Dragon's Beard Candy - This sounds awesome but, like other foods with "dragon" in their name ("dragonfruit"), is probably disappointing.
34 Dulce de Leche
35 Dulces de Calabasas
36 Durian Taffy or Hard Candy - "Durian is a fruit of Southeast Asia with a soft custardy center that taste like a combination of boiled onions and melon." Gee, and I thought the smell was the big turnoff.
37 Gianduia (Gianduja) - Despite what the commercials claim, Nutella, though delicious, is no breakfast food. How do you eat it, though? Not on bread, obviously. Not on salty crackers. Do you have to get some plain thin biscuits, like the Pockyesque Skinny Dippers snacks they had back in the '80's?
38 Ginger Chews
39 Goetze's Caramel Creams (Bullseyes)
40 Green Tea Candy
41 Gummi Bears - Get your gelatin-free gummy bears here. Life without Haribo is a dim prospect, though.
42 Halvah
43 Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses
44 Hot Tamales
45 Idaho Spud - Uniquely shaped or not, I'd disagree with this being an essential candy.
46 Jelly Babies
47 Jelly Beans
48 Jolly Rancher Hard Candies
49 Jordan Almonds
50 Kinder Surprise or Kinder Egg - Meh. The toys aren't that great.
51 Kit Kats from at least 3 countries - And I call myself - forget it.
52 Lemonheads
53 Licorice Allsorts
54 Licorice Pastels
55 LifeSavers
56 M&Ms / Smarties
57 Malted Milk Balls
58 Maple Sugar Candy - I'd disagree with the assertion that it's hard to find, but then again, I live in Maine. It's quite good - perhaps not as flavorful or rich as it should be, but still.
59 Marathon Bar or Curly Wurly
60 Mars Snickers - Mars bars are my favorite chocolate bar - they have such a clean taste.
61 Marshmallow
62 Marshmallow & Coconut Cup - Valomilk, MalloCups, Rocky Roads - all of these suck.
63 Marshmallow Peeps
64 Marzipan
65 Mentos
66 Mexican Mazapan
67 Mockolate - If you don't know what mockolate is, read May's site.
68 Morinaga HiCHEW - Not as many flavors as I'd like, though. I got a couple stale packages from a Asian foods shop in Montana located in a two-room house. They had stocked their "shelves" by dumping the HiCHEWs in a pile on the floor near the wall. Still unironically better than many shops in town.
69 Musk Sticks - What?
70 Necco Wafers
71 Nik-L-Nips or Wax Lips
72 Nougat & Nut Roll
73 Nougat de Montelimar or Torrone - Extraordinarily sweet, particularly for such a soft and light candy.
74 Panela, Panocha, Piloncillo and/or Jaggery
75 Pate de Fruits (fruit pate) - I think.
76 Peanut Butter Buckeyes - Skip these. The peanut butter inside is always so waxy.
77 Peanut Butter Crisp
78 Peanut Butter Molasses Chews
79 Pecan Pralines (New Orleans Style & Texas Chewy) - It strikes me how many of these regional U.S. candies I've had.
80 Peppermint Pattie
81 Pez
82 Pixy Stix or Lik m Aid
83 Pocket Coffee - The European foods deli near Waldoboro has these on the counter, yet I've never picked them up.
84 Pocky - And I call myself...wait.
85 Razzles - "First it’s candy, then it’s gum." Wait, what? "It’s never good in either form." Oh, OK.
86 Red Licorice - The more you savor it, the more fake and unappealing the flavor gets.
87 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
88 Ribbon Candy and/or Old Fashioned Candy Sticks - Comes as part of the grandparent package.
89 Rock Candy or Konpeito - I'm sure I've had rock candy, but not to eat.
Oh, konpeitou is that star-like candy! And the Sugar Plum Fairy is called the Konpeitou Fairy in Japan! Well, if you believe Wikipedia. ::checks:: OK, the info's good.
90 Root Beer Barrels - Any mention of root beer brings to mind Lore Sjoberg's contention (or, more properly, Lore Sjoberg's ex-girlfriend's contention) that root beer tastes just like toothpaste. He's right - once you hear it, you can't unhear it.
91 Salt Water Taffy (bonus if you saw it being pulled) - Yes, I did, but in Montana, not at seaside.
92 Salted Caramel - I'd very much like to try them, though.
93 Salted Licorice
94 Satellite Wafers (Flying Saucers)
95 Single Origin Chocolate
96 Smooth & Melty Mints - Remember mockolate above? These fatty, waxy things taste like they they should be mock-something.
97 Spice Gumdrops and/or Spearmint Leaves - These are an exception, but I usually can't stand sugar crystals on gel candy, particularly of the sour variety. It's such taste overkill and an unpleasant texture experience.
98 Sponge Candy
99 Starburst / Skittles
100 Swedish Fish - Dang, there was a whole aquarium-based array of Swedish Fish? At least I discovered that the brand has no gelatin and is safe for vegetarians.
101 SweeTarts or other sour compressed Dextrose - If primarily through bottom-of-the-bag trick-or-treat candy choices.
102 Tamarind Candy
103 Tootsie Pop
104 Turkish Delight - Not in the proper flavor of pistachio, florals, etc. I have had plenty of Aplets & Cotlets.
105 U-No
106 White Chocolate - This used to be my favorite chocolate as a child; a few years ago, I couldn't stand the flavor. Now I'm in the middle of the road.
107 White Rabbit - I have had the edible rice wrappers on another candy, though.
108 Wine Gums
109 Zero - I've had either the U-No or the Zero, and though I think it was the former, I can't recall which. Whichever it was had the exact texture of a chilled block of animal fat.
110 Zotz
1 70%+ Cacao Chocolate - Through Lindt, though I can't remember the exact percentage. It wasn't that strong for Lindt, though, as they have bars that go up to 95%, as I recall. At that point, isn't it just baking chocolate?
2 Aerated Chocolate - An Aero bar. Tastes like soft chalk.
3 Altoids
4 American-Style Hard Toffee
5 Anis de Flavigny - Looks intriguing, though.
6 Any Lolllipop Bigger than your Head
7 Atomic Fireballs
8 Black Sugar Candy - And I call myself a Nipponophile. Actually, no, I don't; I just study the language and some of the culture. Nipponophilia connotes a more Orientalist point of view.
9 British Toffee
10 C.Howard Violet Gum/Mints or Parma Violets - I wonder how a flower-flavored candy would taste but can't recall trying one.
11 Cadbury Creme Egg - Oh, come on; who hasn't.
12 Candy Buttons on Paper - Always used to get them from the pharmacy as a kid. The same company also made long strips of packets with mini-"ice cream cones" where the cone was authentic and the ice cream was some sort of dry marshmallow. I wish they still made those.
13 Candy Corn / Mellocremes - I'm partial to the harvest mix Brach's makes during Halloween that's gotten somewhat hard to find, the one with the black cats and cider jugs and crescent moons flavored maple and molasses and what's supposed to be banana but is actually some sort of marshmallow.
14 Carob
15 Cherry & Coconut - May says that this is a whole subgenre of candy, and I hope someone's gotten it right. Cherry Mashes are surprisingly tasteless, dry globs of mockolate.
16 Chocolate Coins - Again, who hasn't?
17 Chocolate Covered Cacao Nibs
18 Chocolate Covered Cherry Cordial - The chemistry behind the manufacture of these is interesting.
19 Chocolate Covered Dried Fruit (Raisins, Orange Peel, Apricot, Ginger, Fig)
20 Chocolate Covered Espresso Bean - I'm one of the few who hasn't tasted these, apparently.
21 Chocolate Covered Insects - I love Phenomena, but oh, hell, no. (Actually, Jennifer Corvino wouldn't approve of this treat, would she?)
22 Chocolate from at least 5 different countries - I guess; let's see - Hershey from U.S.; Cadbury's from the U.K.; Ritter from Germany; Lindt from Switzerland; and...hmm...well, I'm sure there's a fifth country of origin in my eating history somewhere.
23 Chocolate Fudge
24 Chocolate Truffle
25 Chupa Chups - I hate to add vacuities like "these are awesome," but there you go.
26 Circus Peanuts
27 Clear Sugar Hard Candy - No juntsuyu. And I call myself a Nipponophile. Wait...
28 Coconut Bar
29 Coffee Crisp
30 Coffee Rio / Coffee Nips
31 Cotton Candy
32 Crisped Rice in Milk Chocolate
33 Dragon's Beard Candy - This sounds awesome but, like other foods with "dragon" in their name ("dragonfruit"), is probably disappointing.
34 Dulce de Leche
35 Dulces de Calabasas
36 Durian Taffy or Hard Candy - "Durian is a fruit of Southeast Asia with a soft custardy center that taste like a combination of boiled onions and melon." Gee, and I thought the smell was the big turnoff.
37 Gianduia (Gianduja) - Despite what the commercials claim, Nutella, though delicious, is no breakfast food. How do you eat it, though? Not on bread, obviously. Not on salty crackers. Do you have to get some plain thin biscuits, like the Pockyesque Skinny Dippers snacks they had back in the '80's?
38 Ginger Chews
39 Goetze's Caramel Creams (Bullseyes)
40 Green Tea Candy
41 Gummi Bears - Get your gelatin-free gummy bears here. Life without Haribo is a dim prospect, though.
42 Halvah
43 Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses
44 Hot Tamales
45 Idaho Spud - Uniquely shaped or not, I'd disagree with this being an essential candy.
46 Jelly Babies
47 Jelly Beans
48 Jolly Rancher Hard Candies
49 Jordan Almonds
50 Kinder Surprise or Kinder Egg - Meh. The toys aren't that great.
51 Kit Kats from at least 3 countries - And I call myself - forget it.
52 Lemonheads
53 Licorice Allsorts
54 Licorice Pastels
55 LifeSavers
56 M&Ms / Smarties
57 Malted Milk Balls
58 Maple Sugar Candy - I'd disagree with the assertion that it's hard to find, but then again, I live in Maine. It's quite good - perhaps not as flavorful or rich as it should be, but still.
59 Marathon Bar or Curly Wurly
60 Mars Snickers - Mars bars are my favorite chocolate bar - they have such a clean taste.
61 Marshmallow
62 Marshmallow & Coconut Cup - Valomilk, MalloCups, Rocky Roads - all of these suck.
63 Marshmallow Peeps
64 Marzipan
65 Mentos
66 Mexican Mazapan
67 Mockolate - If you don't know what mockolate is, read May's site.
68 Morinaga HiCHEW - Not as many flavors as I'd like, though. I got a couple stale packages from a Asian foods shop in Montana located in a two-room house. They had stocked their "shelves" by dumping the HiCHEWs in a pile on the floor near the wall. Still unironically better than many shops in town.
69 Musk Sticks - What?
70 Necco Wafers
71 Nik-L-Nips or Wax Lips
72 Nougat & Nut Roll
73 Nougat de Montelimar or Torrone - Extraordinarily sweet, particularly for such a soft and light candy.
74 Panela, Panocha, Piloncillo and/or Jaggery
75 Pate de Fruits (fruit pate) - I think.
76 Peanut Butter Buckeyes - Skip these. The peanut butter inside is always so waxy.
77 Peanut Butter Crisp
78 Peanut Butter Molasses Chews
79 Pecan Pralines (New Orleans Style & Texas Chewy) - It strikes me how many of these regional U.S. candies I've had.
80 Peppermint Pattie
81 Pez
82 Pixy Stix or Lik m Aid
83 Pocket Coffee - The European foods deli near Waldoboro has these on the counter, yet I've never picked them up.
84 Pocky - And I call myself...wait.
85 Razzles - "First it’s candy, then it’s gum." Wait, what? "It’s never good in either form." Oh, OK.
86 Red Licorice - The more you savor it, the more fake and unappealing the flavor gets.
87 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
88 Ribbon Candy and/or Old Fashioned Candy Sticks - Comes as part of the grandparent package.
89 Rock Candy or Konpeito - I'm sure I've had rock candy, but not to eat.
Oh, konpeitou is that star-like candy! And the Sugar Plum Fairy is called the Konpeitou Fairy in Japan! Well, if you believe Wikipedia. ::checks:: OK, the info's good.
90 Root Beer Barrels - Any mention of root beer brings to mind Lore Sjoberg's contention (or, more properly, Lore Sjoberg's ex-girlfriend's contention) that root beer tastes just like toothpaste. He's right - once you hear it, you can't unhear it.
91 Salt Water Taffy (bonus if you saw it being pulled) - Yes, I did, but in Montana, not at seaside.
92 Salted Caramel - I'd very much like to try them, though.
93 Salted Licorice
94 Satellite Wafers (Flying Saucers)
95 Single Origin Chocolate
96 Smooth & Melty Mints - Remember mockolate above? These fatty, waxy things taste like they they should be mock-something.
97 Spice Gumdrops and/or Spearmint Leaves - These are an exception, but I usually can't stand sugar crystals on gel candy, particularly of the sour variety. It's such taste overkill and an unpleasant texture experience.
98 Sponge Candy
99 Starburst / Skittles
100 Swedish Fish - Dang, there was a whole aquarium-based array of Swedish Fish? At least I discovered that the brand has no gelatin and is safe for vegetarians.
101 SweeTarts or other sour compressed Dextrose - If primarily through bottom-of-the-bag trick-or-treat candy choices.
102 Tamarind Candy
103 Tootsie Pop
104 Turkish Delight - Not in the proper flavor of pistachio, florals, etc. I have had plenty of Aplets & Cotlets.
105 U-No
106 White Chocolate - This used to be my favorite chocolate as a child; a few years ago, I couldn't stand the flavor. Now I'm in the middle of the road.
107 White Rabbit - I have had the edible rice wrappers on another candy, though.
108 Wine Gums
109 Zero - I've had either the U-No or the Zero, and though I think it was the former, I can't recall which. Whichever it was had the exact texture of a chilled block of animal fat.
110 Zotz
