Some year we're havin' eh? Yeah, The Blight is still 'pon The Land and yours truly dubbed a worker of the most essential service has been feverishly working ever since. Amidst the madness and chaos, I do have respites to provide you with insights into my musing on topics not worth the full breadth of an article and such a respite of my duties as both patriarch and servant yields me a most fortuitous opportunity to share with you such insights, shall we begin?
I'm a johnny-come-lately to almost anything cool, with the exception of movies and TV shows, I'm always a day late and a dollar short and usually by the time I get around to the cool thing everyone else has been there, got the T-shirt, took all the photos and shook hands with all the right people, left and cleaned up afterward. I could list them off, Inglip, The Holder Series, the Holder Series Revival (which crashed and burned) CAW feds...although I've been on the ground floor of Battle Rap and was THE FIRST people to make reviewing Battle Rap a thing, YES, BEFORE Unbiased Reviews, I had to take the video down due to Copyright but I pioneered that genre of video. Anyway, my accolades aside, one of the things I'm late to is ARGs. If you don't know what an ARG is, you can find the definition HERE.
All that aside there is a current ARG running that has caught my attention "I Am Sophie". "I Am Sophie" is hard to explain, but what starts as a harsh parody of Youtube Influencer culture (ie, largely upper-class females who do make-up tutorials and inspirational videos) quickly turns into a horrifying study of greed, envy, and hatred that only gets weirder with each moment. The only thing that's escaping me is the actual game aspect of it. I'm failing to see how players interact with the story, now to be fair I haven't played "I Am Sophie", I simply watched a review about the series and that's what it feels like, a web series with a rabbit hole attached that viewers can fall down if they so choose. And there's nothing wrong with that but calling it an ARG is...well...dishonest, at least in my opinion. If there really isn't a game aspect.
I take my understanding of ARGs from NINs "Year Zero" where players who followed all the clues were eventually treated to a free NIN concert. But that requires work from the player and pay off at the end and that's something I'm not seeing from "I Am Sophie", now understand again I am not "playing" "I Am Sophie", merely watching reviews BUT the reviews don't reveal any clue aspect of the game where players have to dig and uncover exclusive content, all the content seems readily available on Youtube, Twitter, and Instagram. Whoever is in control of "I Am Sophie" I'm hoping they create some interaction because at the moment this is just a VERY interesting and well-done web series. Whoever is in charge over there they obviously have a decent enough budget to afford a private jet and a mansion as shooting locations, but they obviously have the money to build in some kind of interaction. I'll be keeping abreast of this as it continues.
Getting back to something that I've been interested in but unable to get into is visual novels. Of course "Doki Doki Literature Club" is one of the most notorious visual novels (haven't played that either) and "The Letter", a J-Horror visual novel has had my interest (have yet to watch a full playthrough) visual novels are once again becoming an interest of mine. I've downloaded Visual Novel Maker in the hopes of cracking it open and seeing if I can create one and possibly releasing it on this blog, although don't expect anything for a long time, friends, but time has gotten away from me as being an "essential worker", a father and living in a crowded house has devoured most of my time to devote to hobbies.
Which brings me to what I've been doing is keeping busy, and with what...I honestly don't know. I've been mostly just playing video games as they're the easiest thing to do that doesn't require much, set up, brainpower, or effort. What I've mostly been doing is playing GTA: Vice City now available on the PS4 via download and enjoying "Dragonball Xenoverse 2's" Figure Battles and the new update (which is bullsh*t, and I'll explain why) but I haven't engaged in anything that requires actual brain power or effort. I've taken on a few projects that are still in research and development but my lack of time and trying to find time to be a dad and a husband with my work schedule (I work mornings, 4am for a full 8, 5 days a week) and amidst a crowded house where neither of us has a personal space, it's just difficult to figure out a time. It's a juggling act.
Since we're on the topic (kinda) of video games, let's talk about the recent (although not so recent now) update to DBXV2 that allows you to play as Chronoa The Supreme Kai Of Time, it's bullsh*t. When this event began you basically had to win a tournament in order to unlock her, now this tournament is an online event which means it's sporadic and temporary and furthermore, the tournament isn't even a tournament, the preliminary match is supposed to be a Battle Royale BUT it's actually a 1 vs 5 where all 5 opponents attack one at a time but not each other. So you're struggling to fight and you cannot access healing items or anything else and these guys have full health that varies, so someone might have more health and thus require more time than others. Not to mention while you're struggling against one person and go to hit'em with oh say a Final Flash or something, everyone will get in the way of your target and block thus no one takes any damage. It's absolute bullsh*t.
I haven't checked when the event begins again but I'm already miffed at this point because if you're going to add a new feature to a game but then make the unlocking mechanism temporary then why add it in the first place? So let's say I miss all the dates in which this tournament takes place, does that mean despite getting the update I don't get all the comes with it? OR do I simply have to wait for them to become purchasable? If so then why bother with the tournament if they're going to be available for purchase in the future anyway? For as much as I love "Dragonball Xenoverse 2," it's RIDDLED with problems, the random drops from Parallel Quests (which should be effort based, meaning if you get an S you unlock a few things and if you get a Z you unlock everything, which would force players to complete all the hidden objectives and make them feel like they accomplished something rather than beating the quest only to come out with outfit pieces....ugh) and a few other issues but this takes the cake.
Granted all of what I said on the matter in terms of whether or not Chronoa will be purchasable in the future is all speculation but I'm still not happy with the idea that I have to compete in a temporary NONtournament to unlock something when she should have been provided as an additional download...same way Fujin, Sheeva and Shang Tsung were with "Mortal Kombat 11". Ugh! I've lamented the current state of video games now providing DLCs instead of in-game unlockables as a reward, and I understand why that's a thing but if you're going to have players cough up money for additional game content, let it be massive stuff rather than a handful of characters and better equipment. "Dragonball Xenoverse 2" provided you with additional story content, new Parallel Quests, and characters, "Mortal Kombat 11" gave you 4 characters and a new story mode, THAT'S A DLC worth the price!
Since we're on the topic of DLCs, games, and "Mortal Kombat 11", let's talk about that new Kombat Pack, shall we? So Mileena is back and good gravy they messed her up BIG TIME! How in the world did they manage to make Mileena (of all people) look ugly?! How?! I know what you're all thinkin' "Mileena's always been ugly, she's got sharp teeth..." blah, blah, blah. Mileena was supposed to look monstrous, not ugly. And between her, Kitana and Jade, Mileena has always been the better looking of the trio (yeah, I said it!) In the "MK9", she looked pretty much Tarkatan, aside for a few tweaks but she was still decent. In "MKX" it looked as if she was going through some sort of evolution, where her Edenian DNA was finally kicking in and managed to make her look less Tarkatan and more Edenian.
Now she looks more Asian (which is weird but fine, weird because neither Kitana nor Mileena are stated to have been Asian considering neither of them are Human and if Kitana looks Asian how come Sindel doesn't?) but now she's back to having her Glasgow smile and with the shape of her head and everything she just looks more reptilian and unappealing, which makes me sad.
Glad to see Rain back but his return really means nothing in the grand scheme of things because as I've stated in a previous article HERE, the story has been rebooted. I was hoping Rain would get some shine as a big bad or sub-boss or something that would showcase his ambitions of claiming his godhood but alas, that time may never come. And stranger still Rambo has joined the "Mortal Kombat" universe, we're gotten Freddy Kruger, Jason, The Predator, Leather Face, A Xenomorph, The Terminator, Spawn, Robocop (was Sting not available?), and now freakin' Rambo? "Mortal Kombat" is quickly becoming adult "Super Smash Bros." with all the fantasy matches one could come up with. Sadly, Freddy and Jason were not available at the same time but still having Rambo face-off against The Terminator is pretty awesome. However, still, a strange choice for the franchise as The "First Blood" Series is far from supernatural or sci-fi, and while one could argue that Leather Face isn't supernatural, his appeal as a horror icon and his almost unstoppable demeanor fits him nicely into that category. It'll be interesting to see how Rambo fits in.
Closing on the topic of "Mortal Kombat", there is a modded version of "Mortal Kombat" probably fused with Mugen, a downloadable fighting game that features characters from any and all franchisees, called "Mortal Kombat New Era" or "Chaotic", either way, it has many new additions to the franchise that I've been saying it'd like to see in "Mortal Kombat", for example, they have a Shadow Priest (as you recall, they're apparently the ultimate badasses) named Rook who has his own unique move set and power moves and Oniro, a character from the short-lived animated series "Defenders Of The Realm" who was The Grand Master Of The Lin Kuei. If I were a "Mortal Kombat" developer I'd be watching this very closely because these are characters that are established in some way in The "Mortal Kombat" Universe and giving them some attention might not be a bad idea, and speaking of ideas, this is giving me an idea of my own (I'm seeing a "What If...? article in my future). But we'll see. Until then I'll enjoy the creativity fans have put into this little gem.
Since we're on the topic of games and creativity, I'm back at The TTRPG game, I'm currently playing "City Of Mist" with my wife and nieces. "City Of Mist" is a TTRPG that can take place in nearly any era, the main gist is you play as a regular person who has a legend brewing inside them, you have access to their powers but you are not that legend. I'm really enjoying being a DM. Being someone such as myself, (someone who can't stop telling stories) having people interact with a story you created is interesting and fun and I can see why TTRPGs having such a huge following. One issue I have with TTRPGs and that is the world-building provided for you in the books. I certainly understand the world having established races and classes and functions on maybe even specific locales and maybe even a few key people that exist but once those people are established beings, how much control does the DM have over said being? "City Of Mist" offers a few characters but I take them as suggestions more than canonized characters but should I?
The same goes for "Blue Rose" that book is filled with characters but do I use any of these characters? I know in "Dungeons and Dragons" Tiamat is a huge deal but does she have to be? Must I use Tiamat as The Ultimate Evil? Am I as a DM allowed to create a being much stronger than Tiamat? How badly will that alter the fundamentals of the game if I were to change that? I'm not saying I will (I don't play DnD) just asking because as a DM and a storyteller in my own right, I like to build from scratch whilst using the world provided for me as a kind of framework, if that makes sense.
Just a few more things to get outta the way, I like many others from my era who are fans of anime and writers used to dabble in Fan Fiction. Yes, just about every writer has an old shame they'd like to hide and among most writers of my era, it's fan fiction. I consider fan fiction to be a low form of art or an example of a lack of creativity on the part of the writer. I feel the same way about art as I constantly run into people who are only good at drawing other people's characters but have no original characters of their own...which is extremely puzzling in my opinion. The reason I'm against fan fiction is that the effort ultimately yields no reward, case in point I once read an amazing 13 part Poke'mon fanfic that was jaw-droppingly brilliant...but...it'll never be, I mean it'll never become canon within the Poke'Mon universe, it'll never become a movie or a What If story, it'll merely exist as the brainchild of a Poke'Mon fan. And it could have been an amazing story in its own right had it not been a fanfic.
The lowest form of low, however, even within the fanfic world is self-insert fan fiction (which again, I am guilty of) where the author inserts themselves as a character. This self-insertion gave rise to the Mary Sue/Gary Stu Trope. Authors will place themselves in a situation where they become friends or romantically involved with a character and it just comes off as cringe-inducing. But I'm not writing this to bash fan fiction, in fact, I'm writing this to praise a fanfic that has all of these tropes and yet still somehow manages to be good. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fanfic so by nature it's completely discarded as canon or anything more than wish fulfillment but Man is it good. I'm talking about Instagram artist Jourd4n's comic "One Hundred and Four" a "One Punch Man" fanfic comic that features the writer in question, Jourdan forming a relationship with Terrible Tornado or Tatsumaki, her actual name.
I don't know if it's because it's a comic and not written or because the artwork is very good, or because it's very down to Earth but all I know is I love it and as much as I loathe fanfiction I can't help but applaud this guy for writing and drawing a fanfic in which he gets to meet and date his waifu. If only I had the skills back in the day, me and Sailor Mars would've been discussing her music career over rice and noodles on a date...what...she was my first waifu, shut up! Anyways, do check it out.
I'm certain I've expressed on this blog is that I'm a HUGE James Bond fan (the films, not the novels...I never read the novels) and something I'm surprised to discover is that there is a huge Youtube subculture built around making James Bond themes. As a kid, I have LONG since thought James Bond themes were basically its own genre of music. It's kinda hard to describe but it's one of those you'll know it when you hear it kinda deals. There have been a great many James Bond theme and a LOT of bad ones (specifically the ones in The Brosnan Era...looking at you "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The World Is Not Enough"...those songs were awful) and some great ones, but what you might not know about are the rejected ones. I came to know about these from "Spectre's" rejected theme performed by Radiohead (which while a good song, was not a James Bond theme). From looking into rejected James Bond themes I've found a little subculture of people who make James Bond themes. This makes me really happy and is something worth checking out if you're interested.
Since we're on the topic of music there is a Youtube channel that does Medieval instrumental versions of popular songs and it is pretty incredible. I love me some medieval music, give me all the lutes and flutes you can. This is one of those I didn't know this existed and now that I do I wanna see what else is out there. I have no clue how I found this channel but low and behold I found it and now I'm interested to see where this takes me. I have so much more to blab about, my recent purchase of gender-bended Michael Myers statue (whom I dub Michelle Myers), I don't buy baubles often but I couldn't take my eyes off her.
I plan to purchase a Harley Quinn and a Himiko Toga somewhere in the future, not to mention a King Ghidora but we'll see. Anyways, thanks for enduring this long Strange Log. Here's a GIF that's basically a summary of my week, except substitute Friday and Saturday for Monday and Tuesday and bingo! Catch ya'll later!
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