As someone who has always liked the concept of studying the civilisations of the past, I often wonder how future archaeologists will come to see the 21st century. Would we be seen as technophiles with unfettered hubris who sleepwalked the world to its downfall? Or will our stories vanish up into the intangible Cloud – with the only remains of who we might have been merely the physical artefacts of our time?
If so, how will they understand the evolution of our languages? Will the memes we’ve shared become the basis of their society or will they deem the slang we use in our everyday life meaningless gobbledegook?
I mean, let’s be honest, our habit of initialising actual sentences are difficult even for someone in this era to decipher. Sure, you have the ones most commonly used: wyd, idgaf or iykyk, but I have to wonder what a future linguist will make of the below: dypynitgof!
For those who know the phrase I just put down, props to you. It will certainly live on in internet history for a good long while.
Still, why are there so many initialisms floating out on the internet?
They aren’t even acronyms (or TAEA for short!)
Sometimes, though, it feels like I’m living in a real world Clockwork Orange with how new fads and memes spring into existence. I certainly don’t know what skibidi rizz means. or what the designation of sigma means in a relationship though I have stumbled upon such words because I’m a chronically online Millennial seeking to be in touch with the wider societal zeitgeist.
But it’s all so tiring!
And most, if not all, don’t make a lick of sense (I also refuse to Google their meanings. It’s certainly a rabbit hole I don’t wish to go down. I’ve seen so many things and not all of them have made my life better.
Of course, it helps I’m not the only who is lost when interacting with the younger generations. Although, poor Sorrengail has more Gen Z staff at her workplace than I. Worse, she made the terrible error of mixing Gen Alpha lingo when she was trying to connect with her work minions. I, on the other hand, simply learn from my exposure to the occasional YouTube shorts and Meta reels I decide to watch (TikTok is not on my phone. Thank goodness for that!).
Then, of course, slang is mixed in with shorthand, thus furthering my frustrations when it comes to clearcut communication. I’ve seen them in emails, messages on teams, rants on Reddit…
It is maddening!
And people also have no idea how to spell! Even published authors or writers for video games will occasionally confuse ‘lead’ with ‘led.’ In conversation, people will use ‘should of’ instead of ‘should have.’ Or, just to show my age, or, at least, my curmudgeon elitism, terrible grammar. Even though English might be their first, and only, language!
Let it be known that I am one of those ‘annoying’ texters who use proper spelling and punctuation in all my texts. In fact, I am physically incapable of doing anything less! To use text shorthand in any shape or form is actually painful. I have to use more brainpower to type incorrectly!
Which, honestly, feels very ironic.
Then, of course, there’s the prolific use of emojis! Back in my MSN Messenger days, I’d use a few like XD, 😀 or 😦 but using them as a replacement of actual sentences? Blasphemy!
I still don’t understand how people can use them as their sole means of communications. When I use them, it’s a means to express tone. Otherwise, people may misinterpret a sentence I send through as a form of aggression or disapproval (unless, of course, they know me very well). Although, admittedly, my use of emojis is quite boomer-esque. Or so I feel. And which my friends may attest.
Don’t get me started on stickers!
Still, it’s also important to realise language is ever changing. It is not static. Etymology is the very STUDY of how words have changed throughout history. For example, excitement used to mean emotional agitation and arousal. It was a synonym to being nervous and anxious. Nowadays, though, excitement usually has positive connotations.
A hundred years from now, maybe it’ll mean something completely different (if we live long enough to see it). In fact, we might have other words rising in favour as an alternative!
With language, nearly anything is possible.
What was once old can be new again!
Then, of course, there’s the whole concept of ‘coining’ new words to better express ourselves! Shakespeare, it is said, invented over 1,700 new words!
In other news, I composed a faux email for a presentation at work, throwing in as many Gen Z slang that I could. Adopting an ‘influencer’ voice, I read it aloud to all present on the Microsoft Teams meeting. Some praised it. Others abhorred it. But, no cap, I think I impressed many with how I skillfully managed it all!
Not to mention the variation of Do You Hear The People Sing I sang at the very end (without the support of my colleagues – still a bit miffed about this as it’s meant to be sung as part of a chorus) to further sell how our work team is a great area that many should join.
But in all honesty, can we stop trying to make skibidi or fanum tax a thing?
I know I said I was annoyed by ‘fam’ and ‘squad’ and ‘shooketh’ before. But MY GOODNESS, THINGS HAVE GOTTEN OUT OF CONTROL!
And don’t get me started on people using incorrect ‘Alpha’ and ‘Beta’ and ‘Sigma’ designations to describe people. It’s just as bad, if not worse, than distilling people to their biological parts!
Before too long, REAL humans will start growling. Or their noses will become so sharp they can sniff out the scent of pine or a thunderstorm.
If I have to read female, male and mates one more time…
But before I sign off, though, let it be known that language is important. And while I do bemoan how FAR language has fallen, the way governments or people try to control it, is what we should be more careful of. That insidious infiltration of how we all talk, or the limitations of what words we use, can lead down the slippery slope of a dystopian nightmare. Yes, I may have namedropped A Clockwork Orange but the reality of 1984 and A Brave New World also come to mind.
These are not the worlds we want to live in. So, go forth Gen Z and Gen Alpha and invent new words as you go along.
Growing up, I’ve always hated how toys were divided between boys and girls. Especially given the limited number of things that were acceptable for girls to play with while boys would have multiple aisles filled with fun things like Lego, science experiments and action figures. Even back then, I hadn’t much liked how interests could be so rigidly divded.
Nor did I like being relegated to wearing frumpy school dresses when part of the uniform was a shirt and shorts. In fact, it was a point of contention back in primary school with my mother. During one of the school photos, she had demanded I wear the dress rather than what I was comfortable with.
It should come as no surprise that I was considered a ‘tomboy’ in school.
But though films and movies would have you believe I’d finally figure out the secrets of make-up and try to dress to impress in order to snag myself a man by the time I hit university, this never happened. Putting on make-up forever remains a mystery. Yes, I understand it’s socially expected that I be patting on a layer of foundation and giving my lips a touch of rouge, but it just feels completely antithetical to who I am as a person.
Why are women expected to powder themselves up to appeal to the not as fair sex? Why do we need to shave our legs and armpits? More than that, why was it fine for me to run around shirtless when I was a child but not socially acceptable now that my mammary glands have developed?
If women can’t free the nip, and it’s considered crass if the nodules can be seen through the shirt, then I’m voting for men to do the same. I don’t need to men nips peeking through their thin shirts. Nor do I want to see their rolls of fat as they take their shirts off during a run. Especially if women can’t do the same without it being seen as unseemly.
As the years have gone by and new labels have appeared, I did wonder if my antipathy towards gender stereotypes painted me as non-binary. I, certainly, wasn’t the image of the typical woman with typical feminine interests and hobbies. But the more I thought on why such a label was required, the more I pushed against it.
The whole idea of the divide between ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ simply didn’t make sense. And by choosing to be non-binary, I was also conforming to the idea that because I wasn’t feminine enough, I had to straddle the line between the two. Even though I’d come to terms with the fact I’d never have a flat enough chest, and suffer through monthly bouts of menstruating (I also wanted to be taller and skinnier, but let’s not go into beauty standards on this post).
Why couldn’t I be who I was – a woman who liked video games, books and horses?
And though the idea of whether I might be trans did cross my mind, the years of being mistaken for a boy because of my unisex name further solidified my gender identity for me – but also because I didn’t have significant body dysmorphia leading me to severe distress in terms of the body I had (although being more athletic and capable of doing backflips would have been a bonus. Unfortunately, I don’t think science is at the stage to give me the ideal body I want). Besides, I can’t have been the only one who has wondered what it might be like to be the opposite sex and the advantages that come with it.
On the other hand, biology is a strange beast. Yes, there are certain markers to differentiate males and females of a species, but none of it is universal. Female hyenas, after all, have more testosterone than their male counterparts. Male birds are more flamboyantly coloured to attract a mate.
Then, of course, if you throw in intersex individuals, the whole dichotomy between man and woman collapses in its entirety. After all, where do you put intersex people if the system is binary in nature?
From a dating perspective, meeting and chatting with people who have transitioned has certainly opened my eyes to a few things. And it’s definitely been a different experience to dating cisgendered men and women.
While I have yet to actually go on a date with a trans woman, some of our chats have been quite productive as we strive to seek a connection on shared interests. True, one stopped chatting when Starfield released and pivoted their focus on the latest release from Bethesda, but the other was enthusiastic about pursuing new skills and hobbies.
Neither one of them led me to suspect this was all a means to ‘threaten’ or ‘undermine’ women. They were people simply living their lives in a way that best suited them.
And both of them were much easier to chat with than the trans man I did actually meet up with two weeks ago as of time of writing. For the sake of simplicity, though, I’ll codename them Tip Top (because they’re as bland as white bread).
From the outset, Tip Top was a difficult person to converse with. They seemed to have an obsession with pushing aside any type of heteronormative narrative when it came to how relationships formed – while still falling within the traps of what differentiates romance from friendship. They also liked to unnecessarily explain or clarify things. For example: danmei novels, which are essentially BL (boys love) by another name.
Then, of course, there was the way they pushed aside their cultural and ethnic heritage. While I understood they had issues with their family (something they implied in relation to their transition), it bothered me to no end how they also rejected almost anything relating to, as they described it, ‘Western pop culture.’ Which was one of the reasons why they disliked trivia or word-association board games.
It was a difficult thing to process. Especially given my two loves: Disney and the written word. I’m a veritable thesaurus with how much I read (and write)! To have someone target the very things I love in the first meeting, well, it dismayed me. A lot.
But it also made me wonder how much Tip Top actually engaged with the wider world.
As I’ve shown in my travel posts, I love engaging with the various cultures across the world. Truth, as is almost always the case, is stranger than fiction. The events that have shaped the trajectory of the world is fascinating. And seeing the world through the eyes of different people was the EXACT reason I fell in love with reading in the first place.
Given the limited time we have in the world, and the fixed perspective we have, it is eye-opening for me to see how others might interpret the world. So, knowing that Tip Top purposely closed themselves off, was a difficult pill to swallow.
Although, I can’t say I was surprised.
In the past, I’ve known other people who, like Tip Top, seemed to have lived sheltered lives or who show no curiosity about the world they live in. All of their focus is turned inward, with many of their views coming off as narrow-minded. Especially when they espouse dogma they’ve, no doubt, taken from people around them rather than develop their own views.
It can even make them seem self-centred and entitled.
Perhaps, it was as Tip Top said, that they didn’t have many friends in high school. And hadn’t been keen to connect with anyone because they were only living ‘half a life.’ And yet, I’m sure there are certainly a lot of trans people out there who still managed to be socially engaging with those around them prior to taking hormones and/ or surgery.
In the end, our conversations stuttered over Sunday brunch as Tip Top only seemed interested in asking me shallow questions and then refusing to truly engage with any of my answers. Whereas I tried to coax out more about who they were as a person, focusing on what they said their hobbies were on their profile. A part of it, I felt, was their struggle with expressing their thoughts. For example, when I asked them to elaborate about a visual novel they were playing, they tried to hedge around many of the details. Even when I said I was fine about spoilers.
So many little things irked me about Tip Top.
Worse, I couldn’t shake the similarities I found between them and a person I used to know, who, in a last update, identifies as a Caucasian man. While I can accept the fact they’re trans (I introduced them to the concept of possibly being non-binary when we previously griped about the woes of being a woman), I take umbrage on the fact they’re trying to claim an alternate racial identity. Especially as they were born, and look, East Asian.
But I digress.
This is about Tip Top and our rather lacklustre meet-up.
After we visited the bakery, for them to pick up a hojicha latte (although they were lactose-intolerant and also suffered a mild aversion to gluten), we walked around a nearby park before I bid them farewell.
It wasn’t the worst meet up I’d been on but it certainly wasn’t a good one either. And it makes me exhausted thinking about trawling through the disappointments to reach the diamond I’m hoping for. There is something to be said about being single. And yet, the more I age, and the more my friends go their separate ways, the more alone I’m starting to feel.
Back in the olden days, games were simpler affairs. Instead of realistic high definition graphics, developers relied on pixel art styles to portray the setting and characters. It wasn’t the most amazing thing to look at but it was astonishing for their time. Nor were games incredibly complex in terms of gameplay. In those days, it was hard for developers in 3D and have competing objectives for the player to keep in mind.
Instead, many early games were in the vein of point-and-click adventure games. And none were as renowned as The Secret of Monkey Island by Lucasfilm Games.
This was the game which introduced us to beloved character Guybrush Threepwood as he journeyed across the islands of the Caribbean in order to make a name for himself as a pirate. Along the way, he made both friends and enemies, as well as fell in love with Governor Elaine Marley.
Over the years, several sequels came out. Often, Guybrush would do battle with his arch nemesis, LeChuck, before saving the day. And in 2009, it all came to an end with Tales of Monkey Island.
That is, of course, until 2022 where Return to Monkey Island, came roaring onto all available consoles as well as the PC. What made it special, though, was that it was the first Monkey Island game by series creator, Ron Gilbert, since Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. So, of course I booted it up after two years of having it sit in my Steam library.
I’m anything if not consistent when it comes to the backlog of games I have waiting to be played!
Return to Monkey Island starts off with Boybrush Threepwood and his friend, Chuckie, playing at an amusement park and re-enacting Guybrush’s previous adventures. For a while, they amuse themselves with scurvy dogs and by pretending an elderly couple also at the park are their parents. It isn’t long before Boybrush finds his father and prompts Guybrush to recount the tale of when he found the secret of Monkey Island – a sticking point of the first game.
The game then pivots to Guybrush in the past. Wishing to be the first person to discover the secret, Guybrush has travelled back to Melee Island in order to gather a crew and ship. With his usual suave, he approaches the Pirate Leaders – only to discover they are no longer the three men he knew in the first two games. Instead, they’ve been replaced with a new trio of dark magic users: Madison, Lila and Trent.
These new Pirate Leaders refuse to help. Undeterred, Guybrush finds another way to find a crew and ship to get to Monkey Island before LeChuck. To do so, he disguises himself as a zombie and is hired onto LeChuck’s ship as a swabbie.
Yet though Guybrush manages to steal the map to the secret, he is soon discovered to be an impostor when he accidentally removes the magical eyepatch he was wearing to serve as his disguise. Infuriated by the deception, LeChuck duels Guybrush on the bow of the ship. A duel which Guybrush loses and he plummets down into the sea.
Of course, given how close the ship was to Monkey Island and Guybrush’s ability to hold his breath for ten eight minutes, he is able to walk the rest of the way to shore. Following the map he stole from LeChuck, Guybrush falls into a trap set by the Pirate Leaders who reveal they had the real map. Unfortunately, the map is magically encrypted and they need LeChuck’s catchphrase, his theme song and his favourite food to unlock it. All, of which, fall onto Guybrush’s shoulder to obtain.
But obtain them he does – unlocking the map and revealing to all present that the secret of Monkey Island is at the International House of Mojo back on Melee Island.
It isn’t long before Guybrush is betrayed and is left at the bottom of a cliff. Elaine, however, comes to his rescue and they escape the island by rebuilding Guybrush’s old ship: the Sea Monkey.
Despite all these setbacks, Guybrush is the first to arrive back at Melee Island where he finds the secret locked inside a safe requiring five golden keys to open. He sets out across the Caribbean, visiting Brrr Muda and Terror Island along the way, before returning to the International House of Mojo to unlock the chest.
After opening the safe, Guybrush finds another locked chest inside. Before he can open it though, LeChuck steals the chest and takes it back to Monkey Island, where, in order to open it, a ritual is needed. Guybrush and Elaine follow. After descending down into the depths, following the footsteps of LeChuck, Guybrush emerges into a theme park recreation of Melee Island. After opening the chest, he is gifted with a novelty T-shirt.
Like many of point-and-click adventure games from yesteryear, there is a strong focus on humour. The story is silly and ridiculous, though the writing remains sharp as ever in its witty social commentary. One that stood out to me was Elaine’s campaign to end scurvy and how sailors on a plague ship refused to believe in science – preferring instead Saleman Stan’s flyer with its half-truths and blatant lies before they would consider getting the necessary Vitamin C from limes to combat the disease.
It was an apt metaphor for COVID.
Perhaps if there is another deadly illness travelling across the globe, we’ll need to peddle masks and vaccine as if we’re snake oil merchants. It might actually let the dunderheads in the world finally try it. Especially when all the difficult science jargon has been removed!
That aside, I feel like the story could have gone to greater lengths if it so chose. Yet, on the other hand, I can see why Ron Gilbert went the route he did. After hyping up the secret of Money Island, it was easier to pull the rug out from underneath Boybrush, as well as the players, as whatever it truly was would have never lived up to the standards we’d all made up in our heads.
So, in keeping with tradition, and with its unique style of comedy, Return to Monkey Islandhad to make the ‘secret’ less than ideal.
Methinks, though, that Guybrush hasn’t truly mastered the art of good storytelling and still needs to work on how to end his fanciful tales of adventure. Yes, he joined the Chums and was able to impress the old Pirate Leaders, but he still has far to go if he wants to be a storyteller worth any salt.
From a gameplay perspective, Return to Monkey Island returns to its roots as a point-and-click adventure where solutions aren’t always as simple as they seem and logic is oft thrown out the window. Other times, the item Guybrush needs to advance is tucked away in a different part of the world and the player is forced to backtrack because it wasn’t evident from the first one would need it.
Return to Monkey Island does furnish players with a hint book, however. One that provides valuable hints should they get stuck.
Of course, if you aren’t playing on ‘Hard Mode’ and you do use the hint book in any capacity, people on the internet will decry you for cheating and not playing the game as intended.
But what a stranger on the internet doesn’t know won’t hurt them. Nor should one feel obligated to only ever play a game the ‘correct’ way.
If you want to play the game on casual mode and rely on the hint book if you’re unsure how to proceed, my advice is: GO FOR IT! After all, the time you have on the world is limited. Getting stuck on a puzzle in a video game needn’t be the be-all and end-all when it comes to one’s satisfaction in life.
Overall, I enjoyed my adventure with Return to Monkey Island. After I surprised myself with how long I spent with Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, it was nice to play a relatively short game without high stakes. Especially when so many video games are keen to take up all of one’s time in a never-ending cycle of live service. Similarly, the vibrant art style and fun story provided some much needed levity from the direction of many dour and serious video games.
So, dear readers, if you’re looking for something a little old-school and provides a rollicking adventure through the Caribbean island, look no further than Return to Monkey Island!
In life, there are two known inevitabilities. Taxes. And death. Yet, although the life we lead is fleeting, it is often opined by the poets that it is this very much ephemeral nature of our existence that makes life worth living. After all, without the threat of death looming over us, how can we appreciate the wider world we find ourselves in? Or the beauty of love that blossoms between two like-minded souls?
We year because we know it will eventually vanish from our grasps.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden puts the players in the shoes of two banishers: Ruaidhrigh “Red” mac Raith and Antea Duarte. As the two set about breaking the curse surrounding the town of New Eden, they are caught up in a tale of despair and retribution. One they slowly piece together piecemeal as they help out the survivors set up in their individual encampments after the initial failure to banish the Nightmare of Deborah Comenius.
Through this medium, the game is able to explore themes of love, grief and justice. All the while delving into, and challenging, the societal beliefs of the late 1600s. More importantly, it tackled the concepts of the occult with rituals used by banishers, demonologists and witches alike – something I’ve always found fascinating even though in our modern world such things are, more often than not, dismissed out of hand.
Here, in Banishers, magic is real and ghosts exist.
Witches too. Although they aren’t agents of the Devil as the Puritan townspeople believe, but people who live with nature and understand the nature of the world around them. Nor do they have animal familiars. A missed opportunity if ever there was one.
The games tarts with our banishers arriving in New England upon the request of their good friend: Charles Davenport. Their first order of business is to find him and gain an understanding of the situation they’ve been called in to solve. But when they arrive at the inn, Charles is missing. Instead, they are greeted by the Governor, Fairefax Haskell, Captain Pennington and the hunter: Thickskin. It is here that they learn their good friend was killed by the Nightmare. Undaunted, Antea and Red meet with Charles’ late wife to learn more. When they do, they realise she is haunted by their friend.
After finding Charles’ tie, and talk to him about his reasons for staying, Red chooses to ascend their friend. After all, the banisher’s code has always been: death to the dead and life to the living. For Charles to stay, he would need to feed off his wife. And though his desire to remain is to protect his wife, to do so would only only serve to put her in danger.
Once they learn more about the Nightmare and allow Charles to pass over, Antea and Red spend a night at the school house. Red wakes and finds Antea missing. Fearing his lover and fellow Banisher has gone to take on the Nightmare on her lonesome, he heads to the meeting house.
Unfortunately, it turns out to be a trap. Red is overwhelmed by the Nightmare. But before it manages to kill him, Antea comes to the rescue. In so doing, though, Antea is killed and Red is thrown off the cliff.
After he is rescued by a witch called Seeker, Red breaks down. However, his grief is short when Antea’s ghost appears before him and two choices are presented to the player: Antea can ascend or she can be resurrected through the use of a dark ritual involving human sacrifice. No matter which choice Red goes with, however, the pair realise they need to return to New Eden and recover Antea’s body as it is her tie to the living world.
And so, they journey back across the Dark Woods, the Mire Marshes, Mount Pleasant and the Harrows to return to the town where they lost everything. Along the way, they meet the townspeople of New Eden who had fled and aid them in destroying fragments of the ghost terrorising them for the crimes they committed against her.
Overall, I have to say I enjoyed the story of Banishers. The horror of what played out to condemn an innocent school teacher still makes my blood boil. But it was the quiet moments that stood out to me such as the fact Deborah was in a same-sex relationship with Kate, the outright despair she felt when nobody would stand up and speak on her behalf, and the fear of death in her final moments. All of this was juxtaposed with Antea and Red’s relationship as they tried to find a means to put an end to the curse and deal with the impacts of human choices.
And because of this, they made Deborah a sympathetic antagonist. She was no mustache-twirling villain. Just a woman who was targeted based on prejudice and fear. The strawman effigy needed to alleviate the struggles of a budding town when it was struck down by disease.
Haskell failed in his role of being an impartial mediator, condemning Deborah even though he would have preferred to offer her mercy. Kate was scared about coming out and putting herself in the crosshairs. But Pennington was the one who accused her of being a witch because he simply could not face the fact his daughter, Grace, wanted to dabble in magic (possibly a metaphor for coming out as trans?). And honestly, my greatest contempt is for him and how he tried to oppress his daughter’s means of self-expression.
Had he not been so caught up in Puritan beliefs, he would not have denounced Deborah and imprisoned an innocent woman because he couldn’t accept the person his daughter was.
Online, I’ve also seen people question Deborah’s desire for retribution and if it matches the crimes committed against her. Though I would say ‘no,’ I’d also say that the spirit which had latched onto her continued to feed on her anger and she wasn’t exactly in her right state of mind. As Antea often said, ghosts who lingered could forget themselves, their memories fading until they were driven solely by a single emotion when attacking the living.
Neither, of course, are good. Or healthy for that matter. Look no further than The Count of Monte Cristo, who spent decades plotting out his revenge against the people who wronged him. But it is also important to realise that Deborah’s anger came from both the injustice of her death and the grief of Kate stepping away when she needed her the most.
In fact, the whole game is about letting go.
Whether that’s allowing Antea to ascend, to the ghosts who haunt their respective persons for either perceived slights or because of the love they have.
Admittedly, I did enjoy many of the haunting cases as they provided additional context for the world of Banishers. Even if, of course, most of the townsfolk were Puritans wishing to explore the new world.
Although, I do puzzle why so many of the ghosts who ended up haunting their fellow survivors managed to die in the days or week after Red managed to lift the curse in an area. Yes, I know sepsis can kill a person quite quick, but Ann Wings didn’t seem very sick before we went down into the mines but as soon as we emerged, she’d somehow died of disease. Then, of course, in the Harrows, you had someone drink themselves to death and another who poisoned himself in quick succession.
From a gameplay perspective Banishers is quite simple. There’s a light and heavy attack, which are mapped to the shoulder buttons of the PlayStation 5. Square is for healing, circle is dodge and X allows Red to unleash a powerful Banish attack. Triangle, on the other hand, will allow you to shift into Antea who is able to deal spirit damage through her punches. As the game continues, she unlocks various ‘Manifestations’ which help unlock parts of the map and also serve as power abilities to unleash in the midst of battle.
Unfortunately, the gameplay loop was fairly simple through the game and I never felt like I had to deviate much from my tried and true formula of dodging away from enemies before counter-attacking them with a flurry of blows.
My main issue was the camera and how Red was trapped with strafing side to side. In the early game, this was difficult to navigate when fighting multiple enemies at the same time but after I’d slowly unlearned the Final FantasyXVI key bindings and finally was doing what I wanted instead of hitting the wrong button, the game got easier.
Like the game that came before it, Ghost Trick, Banishers sees you trying to solve the mystery. Whereas Ghost Trick was primarily focused on Sissel’s journey of self-discovery, Banishers has Red decide the best path forward to resolve each case – whether that be blaming the human, ascending the ghost or banishing them back into the Void. But while Ghost Trick was a game filled with levity and hijinks, Banishers is rooted in the reality of the world we live in and the prejudices inherent of being human. Especially when we only have a limited understanding of the world around us and don’t seek to expand our knowledge of how it works, or the history that has led us to where we are now.
It is often said that those who choose to ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
Of course, there are also those who incorrectly put things from the past up onto a pedestal and hope to emulate what they believe was the pinnacle of civilisation. All the while ignoring the inconvenient truths and realities of the time for their own sanitised version of it.
Most first dates, or meet-ups as I like to call them (especially with a stranger), that I’ve gone to have involved lunch or coffee at a local cafe. Thankfully, in the city of Sydney, there are plenty of cafes (of varying quality) one can visit. And all of them come with a decent brunch menu (though some will close by 2:30 or 3 PM at the latest). Enter Edition Roasters. While it has a few branches in and around the CBD (Australian shorthand for Central Business District), my date and I picked the one in Darling Quater.
But I’ve jumped forward to our date and failed to introduce the person behind it all!
Although I’ve gone on a date before with a woman, Eivor, which didn’t end up as well as I had hoped, I wasn’t quite willing to quite throw in the towel. After all, how many dates have I gone with men? And while the men in my life have failed to make my heart flutter, who was to say I wasn’t an asexual lesbian?
Especially with the so-called ‘squishes’/ brief flirtations of attraction I’ve had with a few women I’ve met over the years? THough now that I think on it, do fictional men count in terms of romantic attraction? Am I still clutching at straws?
No, I couldn’t yet label myself as aromantic just yet!
I mean, Dikottir isn’t bad! It’s just…I don’t feel a sense of romantic attraction to him. Even though we’ve gone on five dates and have technically ‘known’ each other for a year now.
Alas, I have once more been distracted. Where was I? Ah yes, my so-called ‘date.’ So, yes, this trip out to Edition Roasters was my second meet-up with a woman.
From the very start on Hinge, we struck up a conversation on musicals including one that has yet to grace the stage – Epic: The Troy Saga by Jorge Rivera-Herrans. As a frequenter of Tiktok, she had heard the songs being performed whilst I had the good fortune for my Spotify shuffle list to insert a few of the songs whenever I chose to listen to songs from musicals.
Though not a frequent replier, we were both able to share our passion for musicals and also touched a little on their second passion: fanfiction. Given the obsession of my fellow classmates back in Year 8 and 9 for all things anime, and to stretch our writing skills, I was no stranger to fanfiction.
Back in my heyday, I used to frequent ones for Kingdom Hearts, Naruto, Shugo Chara! Even now, trying to ween myself off fanfiction, I still can’t quite kick the bucket as I continue to lurk among the Harry Potter fandom, while occasionally experimenting with Far Cry 5 (yes, I’m a gosh darn sinner), She-Ra and a host of Disney ones as well.
It was because of her heartfelt passion for Epic, and how we did initially chat about mythology, that I’ve given my date the code name: Athena. Unlike Eivor before her, she was keen to arrange a meet-up sooner rather than later. So, after some discussion – with a variety of choice between multiple places to eat at – we finally settled on Darling Square.
I was the first to arrive. Shivering in the cold Australian winter, I put my name down on the paper sheet out front and waited for our number to be called out. Athena joined me shortly afterwards and we chatted a little about our week and our lives. Before too long, our number was called and we were directed to a table out in the wind (perhaps not the best choice but given how busy the place was, it made nabbing a table easier). Despite not having much sun, there was a heater purposely positioned close by to offer some warmth. Although, if I’m being honest, it was the hot chocolate I ordered, more than anything else, which served to defrost me.
Then it was time for the main meal. Athena ordered a miso salmon ochazuke after crunching the numbers on online reviews regarding the cafe’s signature dishes, while I settled for a miso wagyu bolognese. As we ate, we talked a little of the work we did, our family composition, and the reason why we were dating. We even reminisced on many a bad date we’ve had – with her recounting one where the man hailed Hitler.
And though this is the second time someone I know has gone on a date with a seeming Nazi sympathiser, it’s a bit strange that it’s happened twice. I honestly have to wonder if they went on the date with the same man.
After lunch, we walked around Darling Harbour before heading up towards Town Hall station. It was, in my eyes, a wonderful day out. While I wouldn’t have called it love at first sight, I certainly didn’t feel as intimidated as my meet-up with Eivor at the ice-rink. Nor did I feel like Athena fail to meet the expectations I’d set up in my head.
I wouldn’t say we clicked immediately but it definitely felt like we had a strong connection and understanding of the other.
Now, I wouldn’t call that love but I’d say it went far more swimmingly than I’d feared. Yes, I was probably still putting up a front, but I didn’t feel either one of us dominated the conversation. It flowed well, like having a good deep and meaningful natter with a good friend (rather than an acquaintance).
Is this a good sign?
But Athena did say to hit her up for another outing.
The only problem, of course, is that I’m not so much a foodie as someone who simply tags along and enjoys the food on offer (as long as it’s not spicy). Does make me wonder if the two are related, though…
Are all asexuals bad with spice? Or is it just me with a low tolerance for both? Probably just me. And the smut fanfictions I read simply represents my ability to enjoy wasabi (to a degree). It’s not the perfect analogy but I’ll have to make do. This is, after all, coming down from spending an entire Saturday out and about at the Sydney Manga and Anime Show (SMASH!) and then finishing off all the chores I needed to do in preparation for the week ahead.
Give a 31, who will be 32 when this post goes up, woman a break! It ain’t easy trying to juggle care for an elderly grandparent, work, hobbies, dating and what else when it comes to the adulting life. It’s not like there’s a manual!
As someone who aspires to become an author that will someday get on a Best Selling List somewhere in the world, I read a lot of books. While it’s not on the level of professional BookTok-ers or those running BookTube channels, I like to think I get through a decent portion of them during the year. Especially when my books of choice are usually 600-page minimum behemoths. AFter all, with the rising cost of books (they’re about $24 now in Australia for a standard paperback), I need to ensure I’m getting my money’s worth!
However, ever since I joined the bookclub at my workplace, I’ve been exposed to genres and books I might not have usually thought twice on. Surprisingly, most of them have been much shorter than the books I usually devour.
But the most recent book we’ve picked is Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes. And, quite frankly, I’ve mixed feelings about the book. Spoilers ahead for anyone who might want to read this book in the future.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to spy thrillers. Hell, back in 2013, I even bought I Am Pilgrim after seeing the title being advertised nearly everywhere in the London Underground while I was there third-wheeling my friend and her then-boyfriend’s relationship (you know you’re close if you can get away with hijacking a trip overseas to see a significant other).
Did I love it? Not…exactly.
Still, I gave it a reasonable 3 out of 5 stars!
Year of the Locust, on the other hand, is a rough 2.5 stars (rounded down on Goodreads in this instance).
And I know you must be asking me why. After all, it’s a 600-page behemoth. So, it would be in my usual wheelhouse of books I’d like to savour in just shy of a month.
Unfortunately, while I find the writing and sentence structure decent, my main issue are the characters and the surfeit of plot. This is no A Court of Silver Flames where Nesta and Cassian spin plates in the House of the Wind (and by that I mean the training, the bloody 10,000 step staircase and all the unnecessary sexy times), and the plot, when it is remembered, is scattered unevenly throughout before it all gets rushed through in the last few chapters.
No, no. Year of the Locust suffers from what I like to call the Scarlet Nexus issue. It’s where the writers (or writer in this case), think any and all ideas are great and insert it into the story as some sort of twist. And in Year of the Locust, the second half has this in spades: space spores which fast-track human into evolving a white carapace, giving them a ‘ridgeback,’ and heightening their aggression; an experimental cloaking technology affixed to a submarine that somehow makes it travel through time.
Like, why? Why couldn’t this be a separate story entirely?
Also, did you have to power up your villain into some video game bullet sponge? Uncharted 2: Honour Among Thieves this is not. But if you blink, the difference between Zoran Lazarevic and Kazinsky are almost non-existent.
Perhaps my gut instinct at the start of the book should have warned me that Year of the Locust would not go the way I thought it would. Especially as it opened with a completely different adventure with Ridley Kane going up against the Magus (which would later be revisited again in Part 3 – most likely to pad the book out because it added little substance to the whole Ridley and Kazinsky dynamic in any shape or form) to highlight a secret technique the dastardly spy would use against our protagonist, one he would repeat in the final few chapters against Kazinsky.
Another thing that rubbed me wrong was how often Ridley, as he recounts the story sometime in the future, would tell the reader how deadly all his foes were. All the while underselling his abilities as a Denied Access Area spy. Rather, our protagonist is just an ordinary guy who once wished to be part of a submarine crew and has mastery of multiple languages like Russian and Arabic.
The other parts I felt added little to the actual plot were the foreshadowing dreams Ridley has, and which many of the supporting cast attribute to PTSD. Why can’t intuition just be that? Did Ridley truly have to emphasise he could hear ‘gunshots from the future?’ It’s not as if he was ever shown to be clairvoyant about other things in his life.
Oh, and don’t get me started on how much of the book ‘tells’ the backstory of all of its characters rather than simply ‘showing’ it. Did we need to have several chapters dedicated to Kazinsky talking about his childhood of hunting for mammoth tusks? How did it add to his characterisation? Did Ridley really have to exclaim to the rest of the CIA that Kazinsky was expositing to hammer the exact same point home to the reader?
By the time I reached the end, I was praying for the story to end. Especially when typical tropes began being pulled out: like Ridley refusing to go back in time and only did so when his wife (when did he and Rebecca even get married again?) died in his arms. The writing truly could be seen on the wall.
Also, how did the spores manage to travel around the world? How much was on some asteroid ore? And if they could become airborne, why couldn’t people get infected after Devil’s Night?
All I can say after reading the book was that the author definitely needed an editor. One who wasn’t afraid to tell the author to kill his darlings if he wanted to write something that might not have been a complete mess. Or, at the very least, split the plot in half and write them separately with different characters. There was absolutely no need to mush two disparate ideas into one book. Especially given how strange the tonal change would be.
Do I regret that I read this book? A little. There are a million other choices sitting on my bookshelves. And yet, I also think it’s important to read books one might not always enjoy. After all, such things help widen one’s understanding of taste. If you’re lucky, though, you might just find a new genre you’d fall in love with. Or a new favourite author.
While I know some might argue there isn’t enough time in our very short life spans to read books you don’t like, it’s hard to distinguish what you do and don’t like without experimenting a little. If one reads only the classics, thinking they ought to like them because of how they’ve managed to stand the test of time, it may deter them from books entirely. Especially if the writing might be too pretentious or too dry.
Besides, what someone else might like but I might detest is all very subjective. There are many people online who have elevated Sarah J Maas to such heights I’d not be able to reach while leaving other authors, who might be just as good, in the dust.
In any case, I know for certain Year of the Locust isn’t quite the novel I expected. While there are some reviewers on Goodreads who love the rollercoaster ride they were presented with, it is this humble blogger’s opinion that the story would have been better split into two separate novels. Coupled with a good editor who wasn’t afraid to leave certain threads on the cutting room floor, those two separate stories would have been more tightly written and given Terry Hayes the springboard to leap into a wholly different genre.
After a pointy-haired attorney made his mark on history, a slicked back blond hair man in a red suit, and wearing a pair of funky sunglasses, took centre stage. First released on the Nintendo DS, it wasn’t until the game saw a release on the Switch that I bought it and gave it a bit of a whirl. And my, what a journey it was! From a dancing desk lamp called Ray to a meteorite fragment that can give untold powers who die within its aura, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective was a marvel.
True, it might have been a commercial failure but it has since amassed a cult following.
And, more importantly, it was designed and directed by the great Shu Takumi. The mastermind behind the Ace Attorney series. And known for giving us such memorable characters like Missile the Dog, Will Powers and Lotta Hart. In Ghost Trick, we encounter a similar roster, from Inspector Cabanela to Guardian of the Park, and Emma (the wife of the Justice Minister).
Ghost Trick begins with the death of your character. Although, the how and the why remain a mystery. Worse, you don’t even know who you are. Only that you were killed. Fortunately, a fellow spirit, possessing a desk lamp, is able to provide some guidance into what it means to be dead. As well as the associated powers derived from it. The so called ‘ghost tricks’ for which the game is named.
Armed with this knowledge, the player character saves the life of a young detective named Lynne by going back in time to four minutes before her death. When Detective Lynne picks up the junkyard phone following the change to her fate, the player character travels down through the telephone lines into a luxurious room where two men, with a shade of blue to their skin, discuss the botched assassination job for Lynne. Before then, revealing the player character’s name: Sissel.
Despite now knowing their name, Sissel still hasn’t quite regained their memory. Desperate to figure out why he was killed and who he was in life, Sissel decides to work in tandem with Lynne. Along the way, he saves her from death multiple times and encounters several other characters including Missile the Dog, Kamila and Detective Jowd.
Soon, he is able to piece together the disparate connections between the people he encounters, such as Detective Jowd taking the fall for the death of his wife: Alma. As well as the case Lynne was investigating the night she turned up at the junkyard to supposedly question Sissel.
But what might have been a simple mystery later turns out to be remarkably complex revenge plot from a person known only as ‘The Manipulator.’ And in Chapter 15, after springing Detective Jowd from prison and then saving the lives of both the Pidgeon Man Superintendent and Inspector Cabanela, Sissel learns the dead body he thought was his actually belonged to the main villain pulling the strings: Yomiel.
Ten years ago, Yomiel was struck from behind by a meteorite and killed. The radiation from the meteorite, however, would give him powers to manipulate living bodies. Additionally, it meant his body could not die – forever regenerating to the moment before his actual death.
Unfortunately for Yomiel, he wasn’t quite able to master his powers initially. Coupled with the initial amnesia that comes from being dead, he was not able to initially possess his own corpse. When he finally was able to return to it, and those he loved, he loses the love of his life. All because he was falsely suspected for leaking national secrets.
With no future ahead for him, but unable to die, Yomiel soon hatches a plan to sell the secret behind his powers for the promise of a life he can live in a foreign nation. However, it isn’t long before Yomiel is betrayed by those very same allies near the very end of the game, leading to one last time jump from Sissel.
Though the plot was a wild rollercoaster (considering all of it was in the span of a single night), I enjoyed my time with Ghost Trick. Much of it was derived from the range of kooky characters Sissel encountered on his quest to regain his memory. But I also liked how much Sissel’s own motivations mirrored my own as I, too, was curious to figure out who he was and what his story might have been.
But what stuck out to me was how much the story was aided by the help of the gameplay. Especially with Sissel’s ability to manipulate objects around him – almost like a poltergeist would. While I did find it occasionally limiting (due to the restriction of Sissel’s reach and forced only into ‘cores’), the puzzles were a unique aspect to the game. After all, it’s not every day that I have to try experimenting with unconventional objects around me to save the life of another. For example, knocking down a donut and then hitting it with a door in order for a dog to chase it under the sofa.
The swapping, too, of objects with similar shapes also came in handy in the last few stages although I felt those puzzles were a little more obtuse (but perhaps it was more me trying to understand the timing for when I would need to actually possess another object in order to reach the core I wanted to manipulate).
In any case, I am mightily ashamed I slept on this game when it first came out back in 2011. However, given I was still only in university and didn’t actually have a job, I suppose I can forgive myself for overlooking it. For now.
Still, while I would love for many of these games to have actual voice acting, I still love putting on the voices for the various characters. Although, I must admit, it can be hard to find the exact one I’m hoping for as there isn’t much context on what their accent ought to be. Or how old they are until much later in the dialogue (looking at you, Ray!)
I must say, my Cabanela had a strange southern accent whereas Missile was an excitable high-pitch impression of what a Pomeranian would sound like. And don’t even get me started on my stoner surfer dude for Guardian of the Park.
Whether or not these are the correct voices for the characters, I don’t know. But I must say I had fun doing them. If only for my own entertainment.
More than all of that, though, I liked all the subtle hints to Sissel’s true identity. Including his inability to read and the fact he didn’t recognise a slew of common things most humans would know. Even if they had amnesia.
So, dear reader, if you are looking for a game that’s a little bit different from the norm, look no further to Ghost Trick, which will see you jumping across telephone lines and helping out a range of various characters in different forms of distress. The story is a wild ride, but at least it’s well plotted and makes narrative sense. Unlike Scarlet Nexus or the current book (as of time of writing) that I’m reading for book club: Year of the Locust.
Besides, who doesn’t love a dancing twerking desk lamp?
After traversing the ins and outs of Valisthea for quite a few weeks, I thought it would be best to play something short and sweet. Especially something more experimental than traditional video games. And though I bought this last year on Steam (frankly, I have far too many games on Steam and not all of them are as recent as 2022), Pentiment has seen a recent release on PlayStation 5. A decision Microsoft made before it shut down several studios and then tried to Jedi mind-trick the audience by providing one of their most impressive game showcases at their presentation following Summer Game Fest.
There are two things I want to say following the smorgasbord of games on offer: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks absolutely fascinating and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. And two: thank goodness Obsidian Entertainment has not yet been shut down. Their work with Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds have been some of my favourites and I keep hoping they’ll upend Besthesda with their superior writing and lovable characters.
But, this post isn’t about Obsidian Entertainment. Rather, it’s about their game styled as a point-and-click 2D adventure called Pentiment. With its unique art style and historical setting of 16th century Upper Bavaria, the game immediately stood out to me as something special. Especially as it contained mystery components!
Placed in the shoes of one Andreas Maler, a journeyman artist, Pentiment follows the story of him and the town of Tassing over the course of 25 years. During each act, the player must help solve the murder that occurs. The first is Baron Lorenz Rothvogel, a longtime benefactor of Kiersau but who harbours divisive views that go against Christian beliefs of the abbey. The second is that of Otto, the leader of a brewing rebellion due to heavy taxation.
And while Claus is not immediately killed when he is attacked in the privacy of his home, there is a certain tension there where Magdalene (the protagonist for the third act following a huge fire at the end of Act 2) must contend with caring for her father, finishing off the mural for the council meeting hall and trying her best to keep the printing press in her home running. What I appreciated the most, though, was Magdalene’s chat with Brigita during the first half of Act III.
As someone who has had to care for a loved one following something a terrifying health scare, I appreciate it when people not only ask if my family member is all right but also enquire as to my wellbeing. There were moments during that week where I felt very overwhelmed. Knowing people cared – not just about my grandmother but for me too – truly helped me get through a difficult time.
What stood out to me as I navigated the town of Tassing and interacted with its characters, were the themes the game wasn’t afraid to explore. Be they religion and the authority bestowed on the church from local lords to the plight of the peasants struggling to put food on the table. The game was also quick to put me on the back foot by showing two sides of each story when it came to the possible suspects (though it never confirms which, if any, of the suspects was truly guilty).
More often than not, I was led mostly by my gut (and who I felt acted most like an arsehole). And while the internet deemed Lucky the most guilty when it came to the death of the Baron, I still find it hard to fathom the means by which Lucky would have been able to sneak in the abbey to do the deed and then sneak back out. True, he has the strength and the motivation but there was a storm!
And while the archdeacon condemned Prior Ferenc after I’d presented most of the evidence, it does still puzzle me that Ferenc scribbled a note in his book prior to the Baron’s death – implying he would have buried his ritualistic tools beforehand (the supposed murder weapon following an inspection).
Of course, there is a possibility the actual murderer was none of the actual suspects. The inability to properly investigate and gather evidence meant players are forced to make decisions that they feel would most benefit the town and its people.
As for Otto, I discounted most of the suspects as the motives for Martin and Hannah were fairly dubious at best. Brother Guy appeared the most guilty, especially as he tried to insert himself into the investigation and point out how it was impossible for one of the monks to have murdered Otto.
But the reveal of the Thread-Puller right at the end was a surprise for me. Especially as there were other ways Father Thomas could have gone about hiding the town’s history if he felt it was too scandalous. There was no need to leave such a trail of destruction, including inciting a revolt among the peasants, simply to keep the secret that the Saints worshipped by the town were actually depictions of Roman Gods.
Given my love for mythology, I’ve seen how the Gods of many different pantheons have been changed and adapted to reflect the culture or times they are needed. The Greek and Roman deities, after all, have almost a one-to-one equivalent. Stories, too, about the heroes of the past have been used by other religions and cultures to explain elements of their own mythology.
And while hindsight, along with agnostic and atheist beliefs, have allowed us to take a step back to study religion from a distance, I think it’s important to realise this was not always the case. This was 16th century Bavaria, after all. Christianity was everything to most people in Europe.
Although, I must say, while Father Thomas was worried people would learn that the statue of Saint Moritz was actually Mars Pater and Saint Satia was actually Diana, I was more intrigued by the painting of Mithras. It was never fully touched upon but I just knew I had seen the God slaughtering a bull somewhere before.
Lo and behold: Mithraism.
Suppose it explains why the old Roman temple was named the Mithraeum. Too bad the cult of Mithraism wasn’t fully explored in the game. It would have been more interesting if there was some additional exploration of these other more occult practices beyond what Prior Ferenc was up to, and the strange ritual Guy tried to enact.
Overall, I have to say Pentiment held my interest for a goodly while and made me ponder the choices I’d made. It also humanised many of the characters, giving me a glimpse into what life might have been like back in the 16th century – and given me a greater appreciation of how far humanity has come from those feudal times (although, let’s be honest, we’re still trapped in very tribal mindsets that’s been fanned by the internet). Life might have been hard as a peasant, or for the normal tradesperson during this period, but somehow Tassing was able to make do.
Time to see how Ghost Trick plays out!
On a completely unrelated note: I AM SO EXCITED FOR ACE ATTORNEY INVESTIGATIONS COLLECTION! Finally, I can play the second game of Miles’ spin-off games.
The Ace Attorney franchise is finally getting the revitalisation it deserves and I hope there will be more to come. Especially with Mr Backstory himself, Apollo Justice. Or, heck, with another starry-eyed defence attorney in the land of Japanifornia.
Living in New South Wales, public holidays are few and far between with only 11 official days. That being said, not all of them lead to long weekends. And after the Monarch’s birthday in June, we poor Sydneysiders must need wait until Labour Day in October before partaking of another extended rest. It’s outrageous, I tell you! Atrocious!
Still, in the spirit of adventure and wishing to relive our halcyon days in the sun, me and a few of my friends headed down to Wollongong to enjoy the salty sea air and swan around their city centre, which is but a stone’s throw away from the major hustle and bustle that is Sydney. The only major city one really needs to visit when on the east coast of Australia.
Melbourne, who?
I jest. Melbourne is a perfectly fine city to visit or live. It’s just…you know, not Sydney.
Although, it should not be noted that a day trip out to Wollongong was not what I’d initially dreamt up for the long weekend. Oh no. Rather, I’d hoped to road trip to the capital of Australia, Canberra, to catch a performance of RENT. The addition of more people to my travel plans, however, scuppered the idea.
What we got instead was a fancy day out with good food and even better company. It involved lounging at a cafe as we devoured a huge breakfast, watched as a car in front of us mount the central curb before swerving across multiple lanes and tailgating the cars in front of it, and also testing our abilities with a devious escape.
A worthy consolation prize, if I do say so myself.
Better than that, we didn’t have any time to pay a visit to Shellharbour, where I would have relived the trauma of my many date fails (he was an earnest young man but not, perhaps, what I was seeking in a life partner).
Our small group of adults of mostly over-30s did stumble upon a protest to Free Palestine, however. By then, it was nearing 4 PM. Why it was so late in the afternoon remained a mystery. But the slogans were, admittedly catchy, and it was far better than the preaching we encountered earlier about how we ought to read the Bible lest we burn in Hell. Even some Mormons passing by were caught in the crosshairs.
As for the reason why, I couldn’t say. But perhaps different evangelical groups feel like only their own beliefs are true? And all others are corruptions that don’t adhere to the correct teachings?
These mild gripes aside, our day trip down to Wollongong was pretty much a success. Even the planning was an exciting endeavour in and of itself. Although, it must be said, trying to negotiate with friends to agree on a date, an activity and location can be like trying to wrangle kittens. It took no small effort to work around people’s different schedules and plans.
And while I would have preferred a slightly more challenging escape room than the one we got, it was, in hindsight, for the best. The escape room was at the Breakout Bar, next to Wollongong Central. It was themed with clockwork gears on the ceiling and tables with the entrances to the escape rooms looking like heavy thick-set lead doors. Arriving early, we were given a brief overview of the escape room and the narrative tying all five of them together.
Once we had reviewed the story, we stored our belongings in the locker, plonked on some steampunk-esque goggles and time travelled all the way to Medieval England on a quest to return Excalibur to the stone it had been lodged in.
Although the escape room was one of the easiest available, our group still struggled to solve some of the puzzles. Of note were the unintuitive nature of the nail tower as it was unclear if the key to a nearby bird cage had been released. This was primarily due to the hidden compartment having to be pulled out manually and there was no audio cue to tell us we had succeeded. Quite a lot of precious time was lost where we tried to find a way to open the hidden compartment through other means (as we thought it was activated by magnets).
One other puzzle stumped us terribly too.
Even when we asked for the easy hint, we were left scratching our heads until we looked at the opposite wall.
If ever I should complain about other people being obtuse, I ought to remind myself that I failed to see a huge red and black shield on a wall (although, to be fair, in our group of five, four pairs of eyes also failed to spot it as well).
Still, we managed to escape the room. With time to spare!
Overall, I’d say the escape room was a success in how it got us all to collaborate with its many puzzles. All of us got to contribute our expertise, allowing us to return Excalibur to its rightful place and head back into Professor B’s time machine in order to search for his beloved in another time period.
And while Wollongong is certainly no sprawling Sydney, I like to think we enjoyed our time there: from soaking up the sun at Coniston Dog Beach and contributing to a driftwood hut, to nabbing free chips at Grill’d, having a dessert break at Kurtosh, or buying a couple more books to add to my ever growing collection.
Perhaps next we visit the Illawara region, me and my group of friends can look to a few coastal hikes or perhaps take a gander up on the treetops.
If heading south isn’t an option, we can always go horseback trail riding instead!
Australia may not be as vibrant as other countries, but there are many a hidden gem for both locals and tourists to discover. After taking some time to explore the main thoroughfare of Wollongong, I can say there’s plenty to do and see in the small coastal city that’s only an hour away. An absolute steal considering how far other locations can be in the great big giant country I call home.
Where to start with Final Fantasy XVI? The game first released in June 2023, right on the heals of Diablo IV. Already drowning in games, I put it on the back burner until some time I could actually sink in the prerequisite hours needed to see it to completion. All the while, the friends around me were singing the game’s praises for how dark and gritty the storyline was. Was it any wonder I stumbled upon the odd spoiler or two?
Not that I care about spoilers.
Just because I know something will happen doesn’t mean I know how it exactly plays out. It’s far more interesting for me to see how the writers navigate the characters from plot point A to plot point B and then later D.
Enter the slower half of 2024. Although there was still a plethora of games I needed to get through, I was able to finally sit down and play through Final Fantasy XVI. And all before bleachpanda was able to do the same with Final Fantasy XV. Heck, I still think she’s midway through her replay of Final Fantasy XIII because she’s been sidetracked by her endless number of otomes. A fact I was unable to escape during our trip abroad in Japan.
Final Fantasy XVI (or FF16 for short) puts players in the shoes of one Clive Rosfield, eldest son of the Rosfield family who rule over the Duchy of Rosaria. Despite being the firstborn child, Clive is not to inherit the Ducal throne. Rather, the honour would go to his brother, Joshua, as he was the one to awaken as the Dominant for the Phoenix. Though such situations could lead to enmity between family members, there is no bad blood between the brothers. Clive is satisfied to be Joshua’s shield, vowing to protect his younger brother by any means at his disposal.
Everything changes at Phoenix Gate.
Betrayed by their allies, the Ducal forces are destroyed by agents from Sanbreque. During the attack, Joshua primes as Phoenix. Losing control of his Eikon, he wreaks havoc on both allies and enemies until a second Dominant of Fire emerges in the confusion and seemingly kills the phoenix. In the aftermath, Clive is found alive by the Sanbreque forces, as well as his mother. Instead of being executed, he is branded as a bearer and forced to fight on the front lines for the next thirteen years.
Sent on a mission to kill Shiva’s dominant, Clive and his assassin allies skirt along the battlefield before finding an opportune moment to attack. Before Clive lands the killing blow, Clive recognises as his old childhood friend, Jill. After slaying his previous compatriots, Clive, with the help of deus ex machina, Cidolfus Telamon and a suddenly adult Torgal (who had just been a pup – how is that a dog/wolf can live to thirteen and still seem like a puppy? Also, did Cid never name the dog/wolf he found? They’ve been together for quite a while) escape. Still intent on finding the person who had killed his brother, Clive isn’t initially interested in joining Cid’s cause although he is sympathetic as a whole to the plight of the Bearers.
Cid, of course, helps our erstwhile hero. It isn’t long before Clive later learns the truth: that the second Eikon on that fateful day was Ifrit and that he is the Dominant. Broken by the revelation, Clive is barely hanging onto his sanity. Until he hears word of a Dominant of Fire still very much alive. He figures: if his brother is dead and he is the second Dominant of Fire, who is this third figure?
Wishing to uncover the truth, Clive and Jill travel to Rosaria and down into the depths of Phoenix Gate. There, they learn some truths. Filled with new resolve, Clive and Jill decide to join in Cid’s quest to atone for the sins they had committed by freeing Bearers from their oppression. They do this by destroying the Mothercrystals, and by wiping out magic, so that all can live and die by their own choice.
Together, they infiltrate Sanbreque’s capital, Oriflamme, and manage to destroy the Mothercrystal. Within the crystal, however, is a being called Ultima. Ultima manages to mortally wound Cid before attempting to possess Clive. Joshua, revealing he managed to survive the events of Phoenix Gate, interrupts and manages to trap the being within himself.
Five years pass before Clive resumes his quest to destroy the Mothercrystals. Systematically, he manages to take them and the Eikons guiding them down – absorbing their powers along the way. Why can Clive take the powers of others? Why, he is Mythos, a vessel for Ultima to inhabit in order to cast a spell to resurrect the remnants of his race. Even if humans are completely wiped out.
We soon learn that it was Ultima, through Barnabas – the King of Waloed – who managed to orchestrate the political unrest plaguing the world of Valisthea. In so doing, he kept them focused not on the plight of the world but rather their own squabbles for diminishing resources. Much like in Game of Thrones, for which FF16 takes inspiration, many of the leaders of the various nations are focused more on collating power than the imminent threat of the Blight.
FF16 culminates in a final battle atop Origin with Ultima – first as a three-pronged attack with Bahamut, Phoenix and Ifrit, before Clive takes on Ultima solo in the heart of the final Mothercrystal where he demonstrates the strength of his will due to the bonds he shares with his friends.
Honestly, if there were three themes FF16 wanted to get across, they were: oppression, climate change and friendship.
But while the oppression could be solved by simply taking away the very reason why the Bearers were special (ala the Mutants from the X-men series), the modern day ramifications are vastly different. If we could simply fix the quirk of fate of being born a certain race by removing magic, things would be much simpler. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution for the cycles of hatred that has been left to ferment for centuries. Nor can we make all people equal by destroying some gemstones.
Imagine the power to make everyone, oh, I don’t know, white, simply because there was a crystal plonked in the desert?
The bigger message, though, I felt FF16 was telling, was that of climate change. I feel like it was summed up best in a quote from Joshua as he opined to the heavens with his guardian, Jote, beside him: A blessing that leads to damnation or freedom that leads to deprivation. It seems especially poignant considering how our modern day world is so dependent on so many comforts like electricity. And while we are taking steps to move away from our reliance on fossil fuels, the companies behind them would rather we all swelter in a bleak future than admit the inconvenient truth that continual use of something so readily apparent will only lead to our destruction.
It is the hubris of man to think that ‘we’ won’t be affected, or think too closely on the short term rather than the future.
Ultima, too, could be likened to capitalist corporations who care little for the workers slaving away to assist in the company’s goals. To him, humans are disposable. That they have freewill is the greatest sin because they are no longer subservient subjects willing to sacrifice themselves for his benefit (and yes, I know Ultima probably isn’t a him per se but I’m simply using the pronoun as an easy shorthand).
In the end, Ultima is a cruel god. One Clive must need take down if there is any hope in saving the world.
And he manages to do so.
These themes are further explored in the two DLC fort he game: Echoesof the Fallen and The Rising Tide. As it took me quite a while to actually get started, I was able to play through both of them before I finally gave Ultima his comeuppance with a deft punch to the face. An ending that was more humorous than cathartic.
It is my humble opinion that the game’s focus on ‘dark and gritty’ somewhat took away from what could have been an even better game. Much like Forspoken, I felt the game was under-saturated. There could have been more contrast and a bit more colour to the world. I would have also liked to have heard a completed Chocobo theme melody.
In the pursuit of trying to be a ‘serious’ game, FF16 also failed to insert in any meaningful minigames that could alleviate the doom and gloom of the plot.
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the story. But most Final Fantasy games are pretty dark if you consider their actual ramifications: from Final Fantasy VI to Final Fantasy XIII. That doesn’t preclude them from having their lighter moments to add some much needed levity. Although, Gav is quite able to do it pretty well. A solid character that Gav.
Speaking of characters, I loved the cast of FF16, although I did find the chemistry between Jill and Clive a little stilted. I was much more invested in the romance between Dion and Terence (although I wouldn’t have minded some Dion and Joshua, or Joshua and Mid. Heck, even Clive and Cid would have been pretty steamy). But my absolute favourite character would have to go to Torgal. Our frostwolf with magical abilities and can live up to, at least, 18.
Although, he doesn’t hold a candle to Ambrosia. How old can chocobos get up to anyway? Enquiring minds need to know.
Oh, and uncle Byron Rosfield is GREAT too. He’s so unserious! And the way Clive managed to convince his uncle who he was!
Combat-wise, FF16 shines. While Clive can party up with the other characters, they simply feel like tag-alongs with Clive doing most of the heavy lifting. At least they can’t get knocked out (which is a definite plus)! But what I liked most about the combat was how it was tied into the story.
New abilities Clive obtains are linked to the Eikons he absorbs. And they all play differently. While Titan is focused on defence, Bahamut is all about charging up that Megaflare to do extensive area-of-effect damage. Shiva, meanwhile, has the ability to freeze enemies – giving Clive some breathing room to think before Phoenix sees him rushing in to deliver the final blow.
In the end, I ended up with a loadout that made use of Ramuh’s Judgement, Garuda’s ability to quickly whittle down the stagger gauge and Titan’s block ability to keep both myself alive while also dealing as much damage as I could possibly. Perhaps I should have traded in Odin’s Zantetsuken for more carnage but a lot of the story boss battles also traded normal blow-by-blow battles with more cinematic clashes. Something that was quite awe-inspiring when it came to the fight with Titan and Bahamut but could not find the same heights in later boss battles with Ultima and Odin.
Overall, my time with FF16 was astounding. Yes, some of the cutscenes were a little longer than necessary as they talked about politics, but I didn’t mind given it’s one of my favourite genres to read. And I also appreciated how early Ultima made his appearance. This was no final boss skulking in the shadows that jumped out right at the end without any explanation (well, he kinda was but I’ll give the writers of FF16 a pass on that). The message, too, the game is trying to convey is relevant and current.
And I can’t forget the accents!
I love me the various different UK accents! Xenoblade did it and now Final Fantasy is jumping on the trend!
Should a Final Fantasy XVII ever come out, I’d be interested to see the direction of where Square-Enix takes their next entry. I’m sure it’ll revolve around taking down a God somehow (it almost always is) and our protagonist will pull through with the power of FRIENDSHIP! But it’s the setting that I’m much more excited to see and explore.
I’ve certainly enjoyed this diversion into high fantasy with elements of political struggle. And honestly? I’d like to see more. Suppose that’s why Final Fantasy Tactics tickled my fancy and why I’m hoping for more from the DioField Chronicle. Certainly, I want to know more about the Continent – the other piece of Valisthea that was never explored and where Harpocrates III, Charon and a few other characters hailed from.
If ever there should be a spin-off, I would be very glad to see what else the world of Valisthea has to offer. Or even how our characters navigate the new world they find themselves in.
There are, after all, so many unanswered questions. Like, if Clive did resurrect Joshua in the end, how did he reach shore without possibly drowning? He wasn’t on the beach with Clive as his big brother turned to stone.
Or, how old can Torgal get? How do the people adapt to the sudden loss of magic?
Are there still monsters?
Does Gav take on the mantle of ‘Cid the Outlaw?’ Do the people in the Hideaway stop hiding and actually lead the people to a brighter tomorrow with their technology? Will Mid ever get her flying machine to work?
So many questions, so little time.
Before I go, though, dear reader, I’d like to leave off with another quote from the game. One that I think speaks to many: People need dreams to chase, especially in a world like this one.
