djcev.com

Continuing Arx Fatalis (2002, PC) today at https://twitch.tv/andreaen.

This session we investigate the death of Falan Orbiplanax. #streaming

SNES Shadowrun randomizer today at https://twitch.tv/andreaen.

Maybe I can complete another one of these in one session? Hard to say. I'm excited to see any new changes to the randomizer since I last played. #streaming

I'm starting a game of Arx Fatalis (2002, PC) this morning over at https://twitch.tv/andreaen.

I've never played Arx Fatalis before & have been looking forward to it. I'm told it has very good goblins. #streaming

Finished Valkyrie Profile today. I had a real hard time learning the game (especially the battle system) but once I did I enjoyed it a lot.

Appreciated the unique (and very sad) story, the beautiful background art and character design and sprite animations, the great music (though some of it does wear on me after a few hours), and the rewarding battle system built on button combos (almost like a fighting game).

There were a couple things I disliked about the game. Things I wish I knew beforehand. First is that it's on a time limit. It's possible to mess up your pace by re-entering dungeons to grind XP. Second is that there are some impossibly well-hidden items in the game. Things that you'd need a hundred hours or a knowledgeable friend or a FAQ to find. I know that isn't unusual in RPGs but for some reason I wasn't expecting it this time. (I started checking a guide when stuck at around 10 hours in).

Anyway. Valkyrie Profile was fun & I'm glad I played it. I think I'd enjoy a second playthrough more and so someday I may do that.

I'm picking up Valkyrie Profile (2000, PSX) again today over at https://twitch.tv/andreaen.

Doing the end of chapter 7 and then chapter 8. Very near the end of the game.

Today I figured out how to compile the Quake 3 gamecode and add debug prints to it. (Turns out it's easy, the gamecode is part of the ioquake3 distribution & the console print function is Com_Printf).

Now I can investigate the specific values being passed around in the player movement functions. (First thing I did was look at what PM_CmdScale is doing).

I am surprisingly excited to watch other people play the new Dragon Age game. Like there's a new season of an old fantasy melodrama that I'd enjoyed years ago but had forgotten about.

Had a good run through VtMB this year. My gangrel OLL (unfortunately named by way of keyboard mashing) managed to defeat both Ming Xiao and LaCroix's sheriff without too much trouble. (Having a flamethrower and fortitude 5 helps a lot). Bloodlines is a lot of fun to stream.

I was taking pictures of fish (in the game) and thought to take one of OLL before I put the game away until next Halloween. (A silly thing to do, the picture, as VtMB doesn't have visual character customization, but I felt like doing it anyway.)

#streaming Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines tonight at https://twitch.tv/andreaen.

Part 4: the Society of Leopold and (hopefully) the end. Will try to finish the game this session.

CW: Horror movie talk, spoilers, The Spiral (1998)

Just watched The Spiral (1998, directed by George Lida) for the first time. It's a direct sequel to Ring (1998), one of two, the other being Ring 2.

Surprising! More of a strange medical thriller than a horror film.

I've read that this film is a closer adaptation of the source novel(s) (in this case the novel "Spiral" AKA "Rasen") and it certainly feels that way. It feels somewhat cut down or condensed from a larger story.

The new complications to the Ring curse were kind of cool and make sense to me as Ando's (our protagonist, a medical doctor) understanding of the problem. It does cross the line into showing too much, though, IMO, and so scenes that should have been scary didn't work for me.

Two things did work for me however. 1: the emphasis on trauma (Ando at the loss of his son, Mai at the loss of Ryuji). I found that moving and believable. 2: the unreliability of Ando's perspective.

Unfortunately the vibe and atmosphere of the movie is mostly... I'll say much less interesting than that of Ring. The sense of doom and the pressure of a time limit are both largely gone. I also found it to be less interesting visually though I'm not sure I could explain why.

It presents a number of ideas that are fun to think about, to consider the implications of, and for that it was worth watching.

I dunno. On the whole: seems OK, fun to think about, I'm glad I watched it. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.

Ending was pretty wacky.

#streaming Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines in a few minutes at https://twitch.tv/andreaen.

Today we meet Gary Golden and start the Chinatown hub.

#streaming Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (2004, PC) again tonight at https://twitch.tv/andreaen. Just now starting the downtown hub area.

(This is around where the game starts to get gory / nasty so if you're sensitive to that or to early 2000s edginess then maybe skip this one).

I think my Halloween viewing this year will be Ring, Spiral, Ring 2, and Ring Zero. They're all on Tubi right now (at least for me in the US) and I haven't seen past the first film.

I've heard good things about Ring 2.

I'm starting my yearly playthrough of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (2004, PC) tonight over at https://twitch.tv/andreaen.

Playing the unofficial patch (ver 11.5) in Wine (whatever version of Wine Debian ships).

Clive Barker's Undying is good! I really enjoyed it. Loved the creature design and sound design. Some great levels and striking imagery / set pieces too. Most of the game takes place in a giant spooky mansion and those levels in particular were done well.

The game gets very dark and nasty at a couple points (thinking of some scenes in Oneiros) which is what I was hoping for. It was very clearly written by Barker.

Gameplay was interesting - there were more puzzles than I expected and many of the monsters required unique strategies. I think the game did a reasonable job hinting at what to do but I did have to look up a few things in a guide.

It was a fun time & I'm glad I played it this month leading up to Halloween.