Heal the World

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

Despite being nominated for several categories at the 2023 The Game Awards, Spider-Man 2 did not manage to win any of the prestigious trophies. A fact that has been both lambasted and poked fun of on the internet. But when you consider the sheer quantity, as well as the quality, of games that came out, the fact Spider-Man 2 was even nominated is proof of its greatness. Especially when it was going up against heavy-weights Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Final Fantasy XVI, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros: Wonder.

2023, it should be noted, was a game of big releases.

Following on from several strategy role-playing games I was stuck playing, it was only in the latter half of the year I was able to play catch-up on many of the triple-A titles. Even now, though, I have yet to tackle Final Fantasy XVI, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2.

To be fair, I’ve bought all the titles. They are, unfortunately, just sitting around waiting for me to devote the necessary time to make the adventure worthwhile.

Once I do, of course, be sure to see posts pop up throughout the year. Even as I try to balance work, my writing hobbies, the books I read, shows I watch (at time of writing, I’ve gotten into Blue Eye Samurai), and whatever travel I also have planned. In fact, I should hopefully be publishing the sequel to Wild Child soon. After pounding out the chapters during a period where everything has gone back to normal, taking the time out to write a full-length novel is very time-consuming. Not to mention the editing I’m doing (which would probably be better if I had an actual editor and at least one beta reader) to polish up a few things.

In any case, the story of my journey with Spider-Man 2 began not when I popped the disc into my PlayStation 5. Nay, the story begins with the day I purchased the game at a store in the heart of Sydney CBD. I was catching up with a high school friend and had just seen a Facebook post about an exhibit in Barangaroo. After dinner, off we trotted – after much convincing on my part that a walk down to Barangaroo would be for the best – to take in the flipped truck suspended by spider webs and New York policemen milling about telling everyone within earshot that, “There was nothing to see here.” The trip, capped off with a photo of the truck, was made memorable when I muttered under my breath how the hired actors were pretending to be NPCs. Only, of course, to be remonstrated by my friend for saying such a thing.

And honestly, it it is true that I shouldn’t be calling the people I see only in passing as NPCs. After all, in their own mind, they’re the main character and I’m the NPC lurking in the background of their story. Which only serves to drive home the disconnection we have with the people around us or who might share the daily commute with us.

Still, what a thing to say to dismiss another person.

I’m reminded of a scene in the book Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, which my workplace bookclub read, where Sam called his best friend, Max, an NPC right to his face. I know Max didn’t take it to heart but what a cruel and heartless thing to say to someone who has supported you throughout your game developing journey and is then ruthlessly gunned down on the pretense he was you by angry gamers.

Anyways, back to Spider-Man 2. The game follows on from Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Ten months on from the last game, we see Peter Parker and Miles Morales working together to keep New York safe. And though the Avengers seem to exist in the world – what with Avenger Tower jutting up above the New York skyline – we never see these other superheroes once during the struggles Peter and Miles face. Nor do we see cameos from the likes of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist or Luke Cage.

Which is such a shame.

But it also highlights the problem of having so many comic-book superheroes call New York home.

Spider-Man 2 starts with Peter taking on a job as a physics teacher at Brooklyn Visions, the school Miles attends. As he’s teaching them about surface tension, Sandman attacks. Torn between his responsibilities as civilian Peter and that of Spider-Man, Peter joins up with Miles to take down Flint Marko in an epic showdown that saves the city. Unfortunately, due to dereliction of duty as a teacher, Peter is fired. A side-effect of being a superhero who keeps his identity hidden (although given how often his friends have since said his name during the game, I’m surprised it’s still a secret).

From there, the game introduces us to Kraven, a man who seeks his death in glorious combat with a mighty opponent. As such, he captures Mister Negative and Scorpion while the two were being transported from the Raft. He even administers a high dose of Lizard serum into Dr Curt Connors to face up against a worthwhile opponent.

It is only when Peter acquires the symbiote that excitement enters Kraven’s eyes. In the latter chapters, he fights against Peter and demands that our erstwhile hero stop holding back even showing off a battered Miles. Before Peter can kill him, Miles intervenes and Peter is then freed from the symbiote’s control.

Of course, Spider-Man 2 is not content to have Kraven as the big bad for this game. Oh no.

As many know, once you’ve introduced the symbiote, you’ve also introduced Venom. But instead of Eddie Brock taking on the mantle of our favourite anti-hero, it is instead Harry Osborn.

Though Harry was only mentioned briefly in the first game, in Spider-Man 2, Harry returns from a long sabbatical in Europe and supposedly cured from his terminal illness. Harry is introduced early, hiring Peter to work at his environmental technology startup called the Emily-May foundation where the pair can pursue their childhood dream of “healing the world.” Unfortunately, during the events of Spider-Man 2, with Peter taking on the symbiote, Harry’s health – both physical and mental – deteriorates. Desperate to return to a semblance of normality, Harry reclaims the symbiote and is then transformed into the Venom we all know and love.

He is later stopped by the combined efforts of Miles, Peter and MJ. The final battle leaves Harry comatose and our heroes shattered once again by the sacrifices they had to make in order to save the city they call home.

What I liked most about Spider-Man 2, however, as a criminology major in university, was its focus on rehabilitation. Many of the supervillains that Spider-Man fans have come to know and love have been reformed in some way or another. Be that Tombstone to Mysterio. Many of these villains have chosen to turn over a new leaf and assimilate back into society. The most tragic and most human is the story of Sandman. Threatened by Kraven’s hunters, fearing for his daughter and not being heard by those in power, he resorts to the only thing he knows in order to garner attention: attacking the city.

It is a tale as old as time.

And helps support the tenets of strain theory in crime sociology.

Of course, there are a myriad reasons why people turn to crime.

But these glimpses are so important to understand the complexities of why someone might resort to doing something illegal. And it’s a far better exploration of redemption than what Spider-Man: No Way Home attempted. As I’ve stated before, change takes time. While No Way Home plucked our villains during their final showdown with the various Spider-Man across the multiverse, Spider-Man 2 shows the results of Mysterio and Sandman having served their time and seeking to mend their ways.

This all culminates in the interactions with Mister Negative and Miles Morales. And while Miles cannot bring himself to forgive what Mister Negative did, he is able to move past the anger.

The other message in Spider-Man 2, of course, is that some burdens cannot be taken on alone. The tagline for the game is: ‘Be Greater. Together.’ Something I wish more people would take to heart. When a community comes together, there is so much more that can be done. Unfortunately, the Western world prefers to champion individualistic effort over those of a collective.

Capitalism seems to forget that if you don’t have your workers or people who can afford to purchase your goods, then what’s the whole point? And if you’re curious where this odd segue came from, I’m currently playing through Octopath Traveler 2 and Partitio’s story is very much of a big-hearted merchant who looks out for his town. His dream, funnily enough, is to destroy the devil known as poverty. Something our modern world still has not been able to solve (but could. If there was any profit to it. But who are we kidding? There isn’t.)

From a combat perspective, Spider-Man 2 changes things up a little by introducing a parry mechanism as well as a few other new abilities for the Spider-Men to enjoy. While this kept the game lively, it annoyed me that I needed a full Focus bar in order to heal. This was especially difficult in the latter boss battles against Scream and Venom. I’m not sure if the reason why I struggled through them was because I hadn’t topped up my Focus bars prior to the mission or if it was simply me not gelling with Peter’s abilities.

What I do know was that I hated how the attack you couldn’t dodge, but had to parry, was highlighted in red and that the unblockable attack was blue. Especially when the game had trained you early on with managing a perfect dodge when the spider sense was red. It also didn’t help that in the battles with Scream and Venom, these indicators didn’t last for very long and I couldn’t cancel an animation if I was already mid-dodge to parry an attack.

At least the checkpointing was generous!

As for other gameplay moments, I had to say the swinging was smooth as butter and the web wings added some great diversity to travel. Especially with the wind tunnels all around the city to help one get from Point A to Point B.

And because of these quality-of-life improvements, I didn’t feel like the new map, which now included Queens and Brooklyn, was that much larger than the original Spider-Man game or as time-consuming to get through like a map in the open-world Assassin’s Creed titles.

So, while Spider-Man 2 didn’t win at The Game Awards, it certainly won my heart as the second last game I played in the year 2023. And I’m certainly excited to see what Insomniac cooks up next, despite the hack. The studio is great at nailing story, gameplay and world while serving up side-dishes of heart. Best of all, it didn’t have me chasing after pigeons!

In a year teeming with big titles, Spider-Man 2 was everything I wanted in an open-world game without overstaying its welcome.

Thank you Insomniac and here’s hoping Spider-Man 3 brings on the Green Goblin in all his glory! Oh, and Silk. I’m curious to how they’ll insert that comic storyline into the game.

Isu Origins

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

The Assassin’s Creed games began with a simple story about erstwhile bartender Desmond Miles reliving the memories of his ancestor: Altair while being held by a sinister organisation known as Abstergo. Over the years, however, the franchise has grown, spawning spin-offs and trying new things by adding different features to spruce up the gameplay. Unfortunately, as the series has continued Assassin’s Creed has become far too convoluted for its own good. Heck, even Desmond was killed off before being replaced by Layla Hassasn. She too, however, was set aside at the end of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (a game, I should note, which took me about 150 hours to complete).

Enter Basim: an assassin from the ninth century, who also served a pivotal role in the aforementioned Assassin’s Creed title and introduced protagonist Eivor to the Hidden Ones. Basim, of course, is also the Isu Loki. The Isu, for those unfamiliar with the games, are an ancient and highly advanced species of humanoid beings that have taken on mythological connotations. They were the ones who created the Pieces of Eden, and were responsible for the creation of the humans. A cataclysmic event before written history wiped out many of them although some have survived. Including, of course, Loki after his consciousness was reborn.

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is a game that harks back to the Assassin’s Creed games of old. Instead of the open world role-playing games from the last three titles in the series, they have returned to a much more contained world. Mirage, it should be noted, is set before Valhalla. When we first meet the Isu Loki, he is naught but a street thief with no knowledge of his Isu heritage.

The Basim we meet is a man with a good heart and a strong sense of justice. Life on the streets of Baghdad is not easy. Doing odd jobs for the Hidden Ones has helped him feel like he’s contributing to his community but it’s not enough. Basim, we soon learn, wishes to join them. Something his lifelong friend, Nehal, disagrees with.

Still, Basim is a stumble young man. Sensing an opportunity to impress the Hidden Ones, he decides to break into the Winter Palace and steal whatever treasures the Hidden Ones have their eye on. Things go from bad to worse when after witnessing a meeting between members of The Order of the Ancients and the Caliph, he stumbles upon an ancient artefact. Upon activating it, he is discovered by the Caliph and kills the man in self-defence.

After a fraught escape, Basim is left with nowhere to turn to. Roshan takes him back to Alamut and serves as his assassin mentor.

So ends the action-packed prologue of Mirage.

It isn’t long before Basim is sent back to Baghad following a fellow assassin’s discovery and failure to track down the members of the Order of the Ancients that hold the city in their vice-like grip. And just like the earlier games, Basim must slowly track down clues around the city to deduce who each Order member is before assassinating them.

While there isn’t much variety in the type of missions, I still enjoyed my time exploring Baghdad and learning a variety of facts about the culture. After reading about the Silk Roads and how pivotal the Middle East was back in those days as a hub for trade. So much of the history during the early Middle Ages I used to know has been so centralised in Western Europe, it is refreshing to see how interconnected the world was outside of it. Yes, Western Europe might have seen economic, intellectual and cultural decline but this was not so for so many other countries and budding empires.

Honestly, the best part of the Assassin’s Creed games has been the opportunity to learn about history through a medium that is fun and engaging. I might not retain everything I’ve learned but for those similarly minded, it can spark curiosity about the world around them.

And given how little the Western world knows about Muslims and their history (as well as the trouble between Israel and Palestine), learning about these people is a great tool to understanding their perspective and to garner sympathy.

The Middle East has such a rich history that the Western world has ignored or taken advantage of. Were it not for how Western Europeans have exploited their land, and gone to war with them during the Crusades, the possibilities of what might have been achieved are endless.

Anyways, after identifying the Head of the Order, Basim confronts his mentor, Roshan, regarding who he is and of the secrets lying underneath Alamut. It later turns out, the Hidden Ones were guarding a ruin from the time of Those Who Came Before. It later turns out, the ruin was the prison where Loki was held. This is further emphasised by the nightmares our protagonist experienced throughout the game of a terrifying djinni.

Mirage ends with Basim embracing his identity as Loki despite Roshan’s attempts to get him to leave the past behind, thus providing some much needed backstory to the antagonist Eivor faced in Valhalla. Where Ubisoft goes next with this storyline is anyone’s guess given Loki’s immediate mission to find those who had wronged him in his past. But there is little doubt he would be an asset for the current iterations of the Assassins as they struggle against the modern-day version of The Order.

From a gameplay perspective, I liked how Mirage moved away from using R1 and R2 as the attack buttons and moving it back to square on my PlayStation controller. There is also a renewed focus back to stealth with Basim having many tools at his disposal to dispatch unsuspecting guards. Yes, they might be a little dimwitted as they lose their fellow guards to the wind but there’s something fun about taking them down. What I didn’t like, however, was the addition of a stamina bar and unblockable attacks which were denoted by enemies flashing red (this was particularly hard if one had just used eagle sense beforehand).

When did these games suddenly become like Dark Souls? Why is there a need for a stamina bar? I know, Ubisoft, that you don’t want players to wail on guards like they did in the open-world games but there are so many other options at your disposal than incorporating a stamina bar!

That aside, I did notice Basim’s freerunning parkour wasn’t as tight as I would like. There were several occasions where my erstwhile assassin would veer off to clamber up another object rather than the one I’d directed him to. Then, of course, there was his stubborn insistence to DIVE into the water rather than leap onto land even though the jump would barely be an inconvenience.

I was also irritated, for a few missions, with how quickly enemy guards could detect Basim. Perhaps this was my own inability to track down nearby enemies but let me just blame the game, okay?

These gripes aside, Mirage still remained an enjoyable game. Especially because it was a much smaller open world than the giants visited upon by Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. There was no swapping out of weapons or equipment based upon stats. Basim was equipped with sword, dagger and hidden blade only. The simplified skill tree and the focus on just one city was a breathe of fresh air considering the open-world exhaustion I’d faced although Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe does promise a return to it. Still, the concept behind it – that of the witch trails in the Holy Roman Empire – does tickle my fancy.

And while Mirage doesn’t break any new ground, I very much enjoyed the setting and the return to a simpler time when it came to gameplay. If there is a return to a bigger open-world, though, we’ll have to see if the story will be enough to pull me through as I’ve faced significant fatigue of overly long games that take me a month or two just to get through and add little to the world because they thought including frivolous points of interest was the best way to make the world interesting.

Ice to Meet You

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

After changing my preferences to women, it’s been much harder to meet new people. Unlike men, women are more secure about who they are. Or they just don’t use dating apps as religiously. In any case, my profile didn’t receive much in the ways of ‘likes’ and even when the two of us mutually decided to ‘match’ and chat, inevitably, they would stop responding after one or two exchanges. And given how ambivalent I am to the whole dating scene, when the conversations die off, I’m not all that ruffled. Instead, I just move on and try my luck elsewhere or sink a few more hours into a game.

In fact, in most conversations, I’m more reactive rather than proactive in my questioning. It’s hard for me to garner curiosity for someone I don’t really know. Especially because I’ve already learned from a young age not to dump on others about my niche interests. Or asking anything too nosy. Most of the time, these things come out in their own time. I’m a great listener, after all, and I tend to file away any and all scraps thrown my way.

Honestly, it’s just easier for everyone involved for me to sit back and observe the person opposite me as they rant and rave about what they like. But also, I just find it very hard to interrupt others.

Despite all this, I managed to have a meet-up with Eivor! That’s their codename because in one of their pictures they were dressed as a viking. Unlike all my other dates, this time I asked them for a meet-up (something I honestly hate doing), but considering she was the one who suggested adding each other first on Facebook Messenger (so she could send me pictures of her pets), I bucked up the courage to arrange a face-to-face meeting. After all, I’m an independent 31-year-old woman who don’t need no man!

[As an aside to all this, I’m still occasionally chatting with Dikottir. So, maybe I do still WANT a man? Who knows.]

And honestly, it was better that I took the initiative. Elsewise I might even now be waiting for someone to ask me out. Or to have someone reach out to me to invite me to an event.

It’s why I’ve bitten the bullet so many times in organising catch-ups with my work friends. For if not me, then who?

While books and video games are very important to me (and make any description of my weekends sound very boring – at least to me), but there’s something about maintaining my social connections that also resonates with me.I can’t live in my head forever. And being chronically online would also be terrible for my mental health. I mean, what if I fell in with the wrong crowd that enabled all my worst traits? Or who I could compare my self to and think: yes, I’m far more normal than they are and so my mental health isn’t flagging despite the fact I had a psychotic breakdown leading to hospitalisation for a week (if that’s sounding very specific, it’s because it is and that’s a whole other story to tell).

Anyways, long story short, Eivor and I had chatted for a while. I learned she was into sports and thought going on an ice-skating trip would be a bit different to all my usual first-dates at cafes. I arrived to the rink early. Unfortunately, Eivor was running a little late as she had chosen to save a little on money by doing an Uber Pool. But once she did arrive (and after I’d done a few rounds on the rink in the skates the Ice Zoo provided – which were more hockey skates than the blue skates usually handed out), we chatted as we circled the rink.

Mostly, it ended up as Eivor asking me more questions of me than I her. But given the amount of children celebrating their birthdays there, and the music, it wasn’t exactly the most conducive environment for a chat.

I learned she had a brother and was homeschooled. That she was often told she was quite ‘normal’ for not going through the usual curriculum when it came to learning but she was thankful her mother allowed to explore the subjects they were interested in. Including getting involved in a robotics competition run by Macquarie University. Something that sounded so cool to me and I hate myself for not asking more about it.

Unfortunately, being homeschooled meant she didn’t have an ATAR to allow her easy access into a degree. Eivor told me she had to sit for the SAT and when she was finally admitted into tertiary education, the one major difficulty she faced were standardised exams.

And honestly, so true! Standardised tests are the worst. They don’t even test anything practical about a subject – merely how well you might have crammed the information into your head the night before. It’s a complete and utter joke and doesn’t demonstrate one’s actual knowledge.

Once our ice-skating session was over (in which I embarrassed myself by trying to do my usual T-stop on the skates but being encumbered by a weighted penguin, resulting in me overbalancing and falling on the ice), we had a simple affair of chicken nuggets and chips at the cafe located at the rink. Although I did offer Eivor a ride to another suburb or a restaurant close by, she refused.

Which, honestly, is fair.

We were strangers and for all she knew, I COULD have been a serial killer (spoilers: I’m not. In fact, I’m always in fear of my own life when I go out on dates. Beyond that, she was taller than me and could probably deadlift me if she so chose.). It doesn’t help that so many of my friends have written into their wills that if they were to vanish under mysterious circumstances, I’d be to blame.

I should work on stamping out such baseless rumours. Permanently.

It wasn’t the best food to have. And it didn’t fill me up at all considering this was supposed to be lunch. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to pressure Eivor into anything and had let her take the lead. From there, we investigated the nearby antiques store. RIGHT as it began to sprinkle down heavy drops of RAIN!

Given I lived in one of the neighbouring suburbs, my mind instantly turned to the LAUNDRY I had painstakingly washed and hung out to dry (thankfully, it was still quite a warm day and when I got back home to check, they weren’t as wet as I thought despite the sudden sun shower).

Antique stores, it should be known, aren’t places I normally frequent. Yes, I visited Dirty Janes in Bowral during the light show back in June this year but old pieces of furniture isn’t something terribly enticing to someone like me. Probably because they aren’t exactly the ancient artefacts I would hope to find in an archaeological dig. The most interesting things I DID see were taxidermy animals and a few Chinese vases. Unfortunately, there were not enough weapons to catch my eye at the exhibit. Now, Dirty Janes had a veritable display of knives to peruse. As well as a few cases filled with butterflies that would have looked delightful.

And so ended my date with Eivor.

Throughout it all, there wasn’t much of a spark between us. Like many of the men, I wasn’t filled with any kind of lustful thoughts or a desire to know as much as I could about her. In fact, I think what I felt was a combination of anxiety (and wishing to impress) as well as mild disappointment.

I had been hoping to be wowed but Eivor was like any person I might walk by on my daily commute to the office. Any curiosity I had remained entirely detached like she was another face in a crowd of thousands.

Similarly, I didn’t feel like she was all that taken away by who I was. Some of that might be my below average self-worth, esteem and confidence talking but Eivor and I haven’t chatted much since the encounter out on the ice. In fact the conversation have all but dried up. So, I suppose it’s back to the drawing board for me.

It doesn’t help that I find it immensely boring to talk about myself. After all, there’s nothing truly exciting about my life (something I was warned not to say to strangers during a one-year-old’s birthday party. Of course, when you don’t know ANYONE at the birthday party and no-one extends a hand to chat with you – usually that’s me actually – it’s a difficult endeavour). But whenever I try to talk about a few of my passion projects, the conversation always seems to jump to another topic.

And given I’m more a Wednesday Addams wallflower than an Enid SInclair extrovert, it’ll probably keep on being the same old story every time.

In fact, I told one of my friends that I think a possible ideal partner for me would be to have an excitable golden retriever chasing after my grouchy cat arse.

But beggars can’t be choosers in the game of love. So, I guess we’ll simply have to see where the next step takes me. Or I can just be satisfied with being single. And honestly? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Preaching to the Chorus

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About three years ago, Troy Baker pitched the idea of a video game musical called Chorus. What struck me, beyond the fact it was asking for donations as it was a crowdfunded project, were the high profile voice actors taking part, the art style, the bringing on of composer Austin Wintory and that it was being developed by an Australian developer! Years later, there was almost no word or hint of the game and I feared the worst. For a good long while, I wondered if I had just imagined the game being announced. Until, of course, Summerfall Studios announced the upcoming release of Stray Gods in August 2023! Suddenly, we had a release date and songs to enjoy after years of what had felt like absolute silence.

Yes, Chorus had changed its name but it was still the same premise I was promised: an urban fantasy Greek-mythology inspired musical where I got to make decisions on where the songs went. Needless to say, I was excited!

Despite it releasing in August, I didn’t get to play the game until much later in 2023 when I finally got a bit of a breather between all my lengthy video games sucking up most of my time (and the fact I work full-time and commit to writing my stories and watching endless TV shows to be up-to-date on whatever is popular). Well, no. That’s a lie. I’ve put a few games on the back burner like Octopath Traveler II and Like a Dragon: Ishin! (they are totally going to be played soon, I promise!)

In any case, I purchased the game while it was on sale (a measly 20% or so) and then stepped into the shoes of Grace. And almost immediately connected with her feelings of being cast adrift. Like so many people who have graduated university, and who didn’t immediately apply for graduate programs, she’s a little lost and unsure of her direction in life. Enter Calliope.

After the two share a duet together, Grace returns to the apartment she shares with longtime best friend: Freddie. As she rests, there’s a knock on the door and lo! Calliope staggers through clutching a ghastly wound. With her last breath, she passes on her eidolon (the soul? and memories of an Idol) before dying in poor traumatised Grace’s arms.

As Grace, understandably, panics, at the sudden turn of events, Hermes steps through the front door and tells Grace she needs to meet the Chorus. Within moments, Grace is taken to an upscale office room where she is greeted by Apollo, Persephone, Aphrodite and Athena. Before Grace can get a word in edgewise, these Idols (as the Gods now call themselves – although it makes me wonder if other pantheons exist in this world created by Summerfall), decide to execute Grace for the crime of maybe-possibly killing Calliope. That is until Apollo protests.

And protest he must consider later plot points. Such as him divulging the prophecy leading to Calliope’s murder!

Honestly, so much of the story could have been resolved if Apollo stopped being a sad boy and actually used some brains to more cleverly resolve Grace’s predicament. Instead, we have Grace run around the city for a week in a bid to prove her innocence and figure out the truth behind Calliope’s death.

But what a wonderful week it was as several Idols help out, from the fast-talking Pan to the scary Medusa (with a very cute monster voice from Anjali Bhimani). But who can forget, and forgive me as a I fan myself and swoon over, the dommy mummy: Persephone. The design! The voice! The attitude? Gosh, I just wanted Persephone to step all over me. And considering the height difference she had over Grace?

Just…

I’m just going to die in a corner over here now.

Anyways, diversion aside, the plot was serviceable. It wasn’t the most mindblowing story to be told but I liked how it introduced us to many of the Greek Gods and mythological creatures hiding in America, whilst weaving it in the murder mystery plot at its core. While the game threw out new leads often, I didn’t ever feel an urgency to solve the crime or fear I’d not be able to figure out the murderer. Sherlock Holmes, this is not.

Rather, no matter which scenes you may wish to complete first (and I always went back to the Underworld to chat up Persephone), I feel like the end-point is almost always the same with our villain being unmasked as the smiling cookie-giver!

From a gameplay perspective, Stray Gods doesn’t offer much. It’s pretty much a visual novel where the player selects dialogue options or the next part of the song they wish to sing. There’s no walking around or exploring the wondrous set pieces you find yourself in. Nor is there any random clicking on background objects for some light commentary or to pocket away clues to be presented at some other time.

In fact, there’s no real animation to the game either. Most of the characters are stills, changing their posture as the dialogue or songs demand. Like flipping through a comic book or going from pane to pane.

But what does make Stray Gods stand out are the songs. Yes, there are some where I felt like it faltered: Asterion and Hecate’s song (with the volume turned way too low) and some of the weaker blue options in Challenging a Queen. To me, it just wasn’t as melodic as they could be and sounded a little jarring. Still, these were glossed over by several other standout songs like The Throne and the Ritual.

Speaking of The Ritual, while I did feel for Aphrodite, I didn’t much like her selfish actions of dying and passing her trauma onto another poor soul. Like, either go to therapy and work on your issues or just die permanently and stop inflicting someone else with your trauma! Forgetting is not the path forward. And maintaining the cycle of the next Aphrodite reawakening to your traumatic memories of the Second World War whilst your son, Eros, deals with the fallout is NOT healthy.

On a side note, I liked how the melody of Adrift was used in the background of the game and was also revisited during The Trial.

As for the actual singing, I’m still impressed by the singing of so many of the voice actors. I mean, I wasn’t surprised by Troy Baker considering he was a musician before he was a voice actor. And Felicia Day…well, considering I’d stumbled upon her back in her The Guild days, knew she could sing because of the songs she released. And the fact she appeared in Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion.

While I did like Laura Bailey, there were moments when I felt her vocals were just a little too raw and weren’t able to hit the notes as well as could be. No shade on Laura, though. I love Laura Bailey! And she had a tough task with so many variations to sing!

Still, I did like her rapping. MORE LAURA BAILEY RAPPING PLEASE! Especially in the Challenging a Queen song.

But I do wonder what Stray Gods might have been like if we had actual Broadway actors brought in for the singing with stronger vocals and/ or melodies.

But I must say, my absolute favourite singer was Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. How could I not? She voiced Persephone! And I so wanted to romance her!

In the end, though, I foiled my chances because I was trying to play in-character by asking myself ‘What would Grace do?’ in most situations, especially when she was down in the Underworld and was especially traumatised by her best friend’s death.

So, yes. I obviously brought Freddie back and the two ended up getting together in one of the more wholesome relationships there is in the game. Because, if you ask me, Pan? He just shows up out of the blue and is all sneaky-sneaky. A girl with her head on her shoulders wouldn’t immediately fall for him, even if his intentions were good.

And Apollo? I know my friend mrsarmageddon likes a ‘I-can-fix-him-sad-boy’ but he was too set in his ways and a little too unwilling to be of any proper assistance until all his secrets had been unveiled.

As for Persephone, she’s a very angry woman and also wouldn’t have been a healthy choice considering her romance with CALLIOPE in the past. Still, I couldn’t help but want her step on me.

I don’t know what that says about me. I’m probably secretly a sub/ omega who just wants someone to take care of me.

But let’s not dwell on what this revelation could be and instead talk about how Stray Gods pushed the gaming genre to try and be more inclusive in ways no-one had thought of before. Beyond that, I loved the characters. The narrative, while simplistic, was entertaining enough to pull me through my initial playthrough of six and a bit hours. So, it’s not even all that long. Which is perfect when you’re gainfully employed and have a ton of time-consuming hobbies.

The one major downside to me was the fact it didn’t have a chapter select after the first playthrough. If it did have it, allowing me to skip ahead to say ‘Act 3’ to redo my conversation with Persephone so I could romance her, or skip to certain songs so I could try out different combinations or variations, it would have heightened the gaming experience for me. Instead, Stray Gods forced me to play through the entire game again just for the occasional tweaks I wanted to do in my playthrough.

And now, during The Game Awards 2023, there’s been an announcement for ANOTHER musical game called Harmonium. And it features sign language! So, it’s definitely something I want to keep an eye on!

YES! TO MORE VIDEO GAME MUSICALS!

But also, don’t let it become too overly saturated. During the Game Awards, I couldn’t help but notice more Souls-like battle systems, using Japan as a setting (for Western developers) and more mechs/ robots.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and admire the Queen of the Underworld a little bit more. For perfectly REASONABLE purposes.

When the River Meets the Sea

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

I don’t tend to hype up books or signal boost ones I like too much but, as you, dear readers know, there is a series I’ve stumbled upon in recent years that I am most enthusiastic about. Why it isn’t a TikTok darling is a mystery to me. The cover is GORGEOUS, the plot a work of GENIUS and the characters are some of the most lovable I’ve ever set my mind’s eye on. Don’t even get me started on the world-building!

The work of fiction, of course, is none other than the Rook and the Rose trilogy by Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms. AKA M.A. Carrick – the pseudonym they chose to write under.

From the moment I cracked open the first book and stepped in the city of Nadezra, I was spellbound. Quickly, I came to love the world within those 600 or so pages. But if I have to shout out one character who resonated strongly with me, it would be Ren.

Hers is a story many may know. An orphan with no name trying to eke out a living in an unforgiving city.

While many fantasy authors these days tend to make their protagonists thieves or assassins or royalty in disguise, Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms went a different route. Yes, Ren is a thief and con artist but she isn’t a character living on the fringes of high society. Instead, she throws right into the political machinations of the gentry and find a way to put her name onto a noble family register. Along the way, she makes new allies, finds love and gets adopted into a loving family. And all through the use of her silver tongue and skill at pattern-reading.

As such, she’s a refreshing protagonist when so many are either hyper-sexualised (although she isn’t afraid to use her feminine wiles to her advantage) or turned into another stoic caricature of what people think a strong female protagonist has to be. In all honesty, it’s probably how she relies on her wit rather than brawn to win battles that won me over.

The city of Nadezra, too, is a the perfect microcosm of many issues our current world faces when it comes to the divide between ricfh and poor, white and black. True, the Vraszenians are more akin to gypsies rather than, say, African-Americans or Indigenous Australians but their struggle is similar. Nadezra, after all, is the holy city of the Vraszenians, conquered by the Liganti (a light-skinned race with many of their attitudes reflecting that of the Western European gentry although their names were very Italian-esque).

In the history of the world, it was the Tyrant King who first took control. Though he died centuries ago, the city of Nadezra, has, however, remained in the hands of the Liganti. Their control of the city remaining tight due to the influence of special medallions charged with the power of a Primordial.

While the third book in the trilogy, Labyrinth’s Heart, manages to resolve these issues by the end, I thought it poignant the authors made it clear the racism and institutionalised disadvantages the Vraszenians faced hadn’t completely vanished overnight. House Traementis, while being more open-minded to befriending Vraszenians and granting them contracts was still trying to unlearn many of the prejudices they held.

Still, the fact Ren is of mixed heritage and that she saved the city numerous times with Vraszenian, Liganti and mixed blood Nadezrans allies was an important step towards equality and making a fairer multicultural society.

It also helped this was a fictional fantasy novel where such problems can be more easily resolved. Nevertheless, I liked the inherent message within that diplomacy rather than violence is the key to navigating differences. Of course, for it to work, both parties need to approach the thorny issue of past grievances in good faith. Nothing would get done if people held onto old grudges instead of setting such things aside. That isn’t to say compensation shouldn’t be paid to those that have suffered.

I’m sure in the world of Nadezra, there is still many things that will need to be addressed but I’m also appreciate of the fact the conflict between the two races wasn’t so black and white. In fact, the extremists among the Vraszenians were also a threat Ren and her allies needed to manage.

But while racism and the impact of one’s cultural and socio-economic status play large roles in the narrative, I felt the crux of The Rook and the Rose trilogy, was the theme of family. If anything, given it’s a trilogy with three main characters it revolves around, I’d say it was a fitting theme given the Tricat numinatria represented family as well as the number three in the world’s lore.

And who would have thought this fantastic story would all come from the two authors playing a table-top role-playing game?

Certainly not me!

Which is why I would like like to see these books being boosted more on social media. Be it BookTube (thank you Reads with Rachel for showing off Mask of Mirrors) or Booktok. After all, can you imagine this wondrous and colourful world being turned into a TV adaption? Just the set dressing and costume design has me salivating given how much attention Alyc Helms has given.

Now that Shadow and Bone and its spinoff Six of Crows has been cancelled, what better faux European world to have fun in? When you also mix in the brooding Rook and the scheming Vargo, the cast of characters are set. The Rook and the Rose is one part Game of Thrones, one part Bridgerton high society (at least, I assume that’s what Bridgerton is all about. I’ve never watched it) and one part Lies of Locke Lamora/ Six of Crows. Viewers would get to see the inner workings of the nobles and how Ren manages to disrupt their very conservative views by showing off her arms without sleeves! And then, maybe in the same episode, we could see how the other side lives as Ren dons the disguise of a szorza to figure out why children are disappearing in the city.

Heck, you even have the terrifying zylzen to be your creepy CGI enemies Ren and her allies will have to do battle with!

And then in the second season, you get to enjoy a nice cruise on the river before the plot embroils us all into a secret cult!

It just makes sense!

Throw in the very liberal view when it comes to LGBTQI+ relationships and you have a WINNER!

Please, anyone, if you’re a TV producer, I’d really like to see the Rook and the Rose as a television series. Can you just IMAGINE the playground the writers could have with this world and setting? It’s CRIMINAL not to adapt it to the silver screen.

Anyways, that was my many cents take on a trilogy I stumbled upon at my local Kinokuniya and immediately fell in love with at the first sight of the cover. And while I’m sad Ren’s story has come to an end, I would like to dive back into the world Marie and Alyc have created to see what else the world has to offer.

Like Seteris!

Or whatever adventures Alsius might be having in the Realm of the Mind.

I’ll miss you, Mr Peabody.

Someone, anyone, please draw me a picture of a green spider wearing gloves. I beg of you!

L.A. Calling

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

From one red-head protagonist to another, I thought the brief lull during the holiday season (for games I was interested in anyways) would be the perfect opportunity to try out the Burning Shores DLC for Horizon: Forbidden West. After all, there was a reason why I kept the game despite finishing it after a hundred hour marathon of a month gaming last year. That reason, of course, was to ensure I knew the new story threads leading into the third game. But with the passing of Lance Reddick, it was also a chance to catch a glimpse of his last performance as Sylens – Aloy’s reluctant ally.

So, from the highs of the Star Wars universe, I plunged back down to a post-apocalyptic Earth where robot dinosaur roam and a rogue A.I. is hurtling back to destroy what remains of humanity. Good stuff!

Following on from the ending of Forbidden West, Burning Shores sees Aloy heading down to the ruins of Los Angeles after being notified by Sylens that Walter Londra, a member of Far Zenith, had headed there following his arrival on Earth. Aloy agrees to investigate and heads down the coast on the back of a Sunwing.

As she approaches the the remains of Los Angeles, Aloy is shot down by a drone tower. With the help of Seyka, a member of the Quen, they take down the machines in the area before heading to Fleet’s End: the settlement the Quen have made since floundering in Los Angeles after a typhoon.

It isn’t long before Aloy agrees to help the Quen out and find their missing people. And it certainly wasn’t very long before I was scrambling across the map of old Los Angeles to scrounge up collectibles and completing the scattered side quests and errands available on the map.

Could it have benefited with having a Tallneck to climb up? Yes, but given Aloy had flight on her side (granted soon after taking down the first drone tower), it wasn’t very long before I managed to explore most of the map and engaged with a few select new machines like the Bilegut and the Stingspawn.

From a narrative perspective, Burning Shores didn’t really add anything new to the overarching plot except another scavenger hunt across an open world for a weapon to take down Nemesis. Or, perhaps, the third game will truncate the search a little by focusing it once more in some area of the North Americas. Here’s hoping, though, the Horizon series takes our allies across the seas and try something a little more different from the remnants of the ol’ United States of America.

At the very least, though, Aloy walked away from the adventure with a new ally she was keen to work with. All throughout the DLC, Seyka stayed by Aloy’s side and proved to be an effective fighter. Was it any wonder she proved to be Aloy’s first actual love interest?

Both of them are capable warriors and hunters of machine. Both are practical problem-solvers, doing what needs to be done instead of fussing about if it’ll offend someone’s sensibilities. And both are driven.

I’m actually somewhat relieved Aloy didn’t try to push Seyka away. Although, it did take her a while to finally admit the impending threat that was Nemesis heading back towards Earth, keen to destroy the Earth. Still, Seyka had her own secrets when it came to her sister and her fears Kina had willingly joined up with Walter Londra (a fairly forgettable antagonist) who was willing to irradiate the surrounding land in order to escape back into space and be surrounded by a loving and brainwashed cadre of followers.

Combat-wise, Burning Shores added in a few new different skills to tackle on enemies. In the end, though, I found myself still relying on tried and true abilities. Given it had also been a year since I last played Forbidden West, my skills were also quite a bit rusty. So, I’m not ashamed to admit I did dumb the difficulty down just to ensure I could enjoy the story rather than struggle in a high-end area because I’d forgotten Aloy couldn’t parry attacks like Cal Kestis or that the way she normally tackled enemies was from afar with ranged attacks.

It was also a matter of relearning the status effects of the game, like drenched and frozen and shock and corrosion.

Targeting weak points also proved to be a trying affair after all the different games I’d played over the year. Especially given how the machines move and make it difficult to target the one spot that’ll do MASSIVE damage.

Or maybe I just need to ‘git gud’ as the pro gamers like to say.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Burning Shores. It was good to dive back into the Horizon universe and tackle on a map that wasn’t as large as the base game. It also helped there weren’t a ton of collectibles needed to be found and unearthed. So, my map wasn’t entirely pockmarked with ‘?’ to drive my curiosity and insatiable need to uncover every. Single. Point. Of. Interest.

Thank goodness for small mercies.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are huge open-world games where I need to collect a thousand and one items calling my name.

A New Hope

On By kyndaris1 Comment

As we all know, 2023 was a messy year in the history of the world. While I know humans are not liable to change just because time has ticked over to 2024, I cannot help but hope for a new beginning. Even as remnants of the past year remains with us.

Much like the games I’ve been playing in the lead-up to the holiday season. And the fact I schedule these posts up to 5 to 6 weeks in advance.

Still, I feel like the themes within Star Wars Jedi: Survivor are particularly apt for a year where we’ve seen the Voice Referendum fail and a renewal to the conflict on the West Bank between Israel and Hamas. As someone who has dabbled a little in reading the histories and likes to think they’re up to date on global events, it’s saddening to see ongoing cycles of hatred with no-one party wishing to break it. After all, the game itself sets itself on the story of Cal Kestis, one of very few survivors of the great Jedi purge after the end of the Clone Wars. Throughout the game, he must reckon with his own need for vengeance when it comes to the Empire and a betrayal near the end of the game, which hits closer to home with his found family.

But as most people know, an eye for an eye only serves to make the whole world blind. Blood begets blood and we are trapped in a vicious cycle of revenge.

Of course, the question arises: how can one forgive such heinous acts done against them by senseless violence and move on?

Although I would like to say I have the answers, I don’t. The entirety of human history is a back and forth of grievances, fuelled by fear, anger, hatred and greed.

And this is something the characters in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor are intimately familiar with.

The game itself starts a few years after the ending of the first in the series. Instead of being accompanied by Cere, Greez and Merrin, players find Cal Kestis running with a new group as he continues his work with Saw Gerrera to hurt the Empire in any way he can. His current mission? Stealing information held by a Senator on the planet of Coruscant.

Indeed, the very thing players see is the old Jedi Temple, taken over by the Empire. The very sight of it sets Cal’s teeth on edge.

But as with all things, the heist goes wrong and many of Cal’s friends are killed in the escape from Coruscant. Cal, the playable character, manages to make it to hyperspace before learning of a gyro malfunction. This leads him to crash land on Koboh where we soon learn Greez has set up his own cantina and is living a rustic life on an Outer Rim planet.

From an exciting beginning, the game meanders a little as it introduces new threats such as the Bedlam Raiders and their leader, Rayvis, before pivoting a little to some High Republic history with the likes of Dagan Gera. And while the Empire is an ever present threat to Cal and his crew in this far, far away galaxy, it felt mostly peripheral to a very contained story about finding the mystical planet Tanalor. In fact, I was surprised how much Cal didn’t seem to feel compelled to make contact with Saw again, or to take the fight back to the Empire except near the end when he stormed an Imperial base at Nova Garon.

In fact, so enraged is Cal by a betrayal close to him, he reaches out to the Dark Side of the Force for power. It is only when Merrin is there to calm him down that Cal relents and tries to take a step back from his destructive path.

While the Star Wars universe tends to make many things black and white, with Force wielders seemingly being corrupted as soon as they tap in these ‘dark side’ emotions, it should be noted that Cal being angry and hurt are valid. Just because he is a Jedi does not mean he can’t feel loss or a need for revenge.

And anger and pain and fear aren’t bad.

They simply make him human.

But the most important thing I found when I played through those last few hours was how Cal didn’t allow his need for revenge to consume him. With a little help from Merrin and the presence of Kata to steady him. So, instead of killing the man who had betrayed him and ripped away most of his found family, Cal offered Bode the chance to live.

Of course, this isn’t something most people can do when something horrifying rips their family apart. There’s trauma, there’s fear, there’s anger. It isn’t easy to let bygones be bygones when everything is so real and visceral and immediate.

True, Israel’s actions have only let to more civilian casualties and the loss of many innocents, but they’re only acting like a wounded and desperate beast after the events of October 7th when people were killed and hostages taken. And yes, the Palestinians also deserve their pound of flesh too after seeing children and loved ones die because of aerial bombardment as Israel attempts to smoke out Hamas.

Hopefully by the time this post goes up, a ceasefire has been declared. But the bigger question remains of how to settle the bad blood between these two peoples. Forgiveness is not an easy thing to grant when war crimes and other atrocities have been committed against each other.

And as other countries have shown, such humiliations can be century long grudges. Look no further than China as it tries to assert its dominance in the Pacific region.

From a gameplay perspective, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor presents more of the same but with a more additional flourishes. Since Cal has relearned many of his Force abilities like Force Jump, Force Pull and Force Push, Respawn Entertainment has introduced a few more things to play around with such as Force Lift and Force Slam. Even better, it also adds in new stances like dual wielding, blaster stance and even a crossguard lightsaber – ripped straight from the Sequel Trilogy.

These all add a bit more flavour to the game although I primarily stayed with the single blade as it was the most versatile. Now I need to remind myself to use more Force powers on the regular to deal with my enemies instead of simply toughing it out with only blade work.

Oh, but I cannot talk about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor without also talking about the jump in graphic fidelity when I played on my PlayStation 5. From the first cutscene to the very end, Jedi: Survivor was beautiful. True, sometimes the textures took a while to pop in even though I played the game six months after launch, but the panoramas I saw while gliding or just climbing up a mountain were a sight to behold.

Then, of course, there was the music as it took cues from the score of one John Williams. One tune that stuck with me throughout the game was the little ditty that played whenever I opened up a Stim chest. Instead of Star Wars, it almost had a Hogwarts ring to it. After all, John Williams was also the composer to the Harry Potter films. Is it any wonder some of the motifs and cues are shared?

In any case, after finishing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and nabbing the platinum trophy, I look forward to see what Respawn Entertainment will go next (even as I hope they’ll ditch the Dark Souls-esque nature of the meditation points and the loss of experience points should you fall in battle). It’ll also be interesting to see where Cal’s journey take him next. Especially as we head closer and closer to the events of the original trilogy where the Empire is defeated by upstart rebels.

Also, here’s hoping poor Cal gets to wear his lovable poncho again from the very start of the game instead of it being gated behind an annoying boss battle.

On that note, it is also my most heartfelt wish for the world to find some semblance of balance and peace. Change needs to happen. It is inevitable. Yet, sometimes it’s okay for it to take a bit longer to do so.

As long as it does.

The Never Changing Nature of Humanity and War

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

As another year ends, I look back over the major events that defined it and despair. Humanity seems desperate to repeat the same mistakes of old. Though there are moments when we shine, we are still motivated by greed, jealousy and pride. Look no further than the two wars currently being fought, the posturing in the Pacific and how little our world has done to combat climate change. Still, I suppose things could be worse. We might, after all, be suffering the effects of a nuclear winter (except no-one yet has the cajones to start such a huge chain reaction just yet).

But I digress.

January 2023 was a mess of events. Here in Australia, news of Pope Benedict passing away was only in headlines on New Year’s Day. Other notable deaths included George Pell (a cardinal who was sent to prison for child sexual abuse in 2019 but who had his convictions later quashed) and the former king of Greece. From there, the world spiralled with Europe enduring very warm temperatures for winter (turns out 2023 was the hottest year on record!), Jacinda Ardern resigned from being Prime Minister of New Zealand/ Aotearoa. In Brazil, Bolsonaro tried to pull a Trump by stoking a Capitol-riot-style insurrection. This was later met be counter protesters.

As the year progressed, Kevin McCarthy was elected as speaker to the House of Representatives after going through fifteen rounds of voting. He was later removed and later replaced by another Republican: Mike Johnson. News of his Kevin McCarthy’s unsuccessful bids were later drowned out by the shooting down of a Chinese air balloon. This led to several other unidentified objects to be shot down, which later turned out to be weather balloons set up by civilian scientists.

The United Kingdom enjoyed protests and strikes among public servants due to rising costs of living. Madrid protested their leftist government. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, resigned.

But in case the first quarter of the year wasn’t exciting enough, Mother Nature also wanted to have a little fun by sending a cyclone towards New Zealand (Aotearoa), with many residents suffering from flash-flooding. Oh, and there was an earthquake too!

An earthquake also hammered Turkiye and Syria. What’s particularly telling, though, was the fact most of the humanitarian aid was directed to and more focused on the citizens of Turkiye rather than Syria. It lefts thousands dead and millions were displaced. Thankfully, though, it didn’t much impact this blogger’s trip overseas as our tour stayed primarily in the western portion of Turkiye and din’t venture too far south.

From there, we saw the rise of the H5N1 avian flu, killing huge swathes of domestic and wild birds. The flu also had outbreaks in mink farms. So, although COVID-19 might be in the rearview mirror, there are plenty of new diseases ready to take its place! Like the zombie dear disease which as been spreading in Yellowstone! Essnetially, though, it’s a chronic wasting disease with symptoms such as drastic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and other neurological symptoms. While there are no current reported cases of this in humans, studies suggest it could pose a risk to anyone who eats meat from infected animals.

Of course, one should never forget that COVID-19 is still rampant around the world. We’ve all just comfortably shoved the little inconvenience to the back of our mind, even as it features as one of the core reasons for death.

Back home in Australia, permanent residency was being offered to many refugees who held temporary protection visas. There was also a resumption of assessments for asylum seeker sponsored visas where they would try to bring family members over.

Speaking of refugees (and jumping ahead a few months), there was a shipwreck off Greece carrying several hundred refugees and migrants. Most were fleeing conflicts in their countries. Of major note was the one in Sudan between the army and a paramilitary force. And when you have many countries refusing to take up migrants or helping out their fellow humans (looking at Tunisia cracking down on illegal immigrants), you end up with many a humanitarian crisis.

Further disasters abounded with a head-on crash in Greece leading to 57 being killed. China later had its own subway crash due to heavy snowfall causing carriages to detach. India, too, also had a train crash killing about 100 people.

Elsewhere, many other social media services began to emulate Elon Musk’s subscription services for Twitter X, allowing users to become ‘verified.’ The Silicon Valley bank collapsed, followed by Credit Suisse leading to a significant downturn on Wall Street as people panicked.

In happy news, Everything Everywhere All At Once won 7 Oscars. A victory, it seemed for so many people living in Asian diasporas across the Western world. Given that many Asians were attacked during the COVID-19 pandemic simply because of their appearance, the win of Everything Everywhere All At Once proved to be a pivotal moment for many.

As the year rolled on, the International Criminal Court issued out a arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. Trump was indicted for falsifying business records. He was even later arrested. But alas, nothing has seemed to stick and Trump has used many of the court cases brought against him to target those who would stand against him in his bid for the 2024 electoral campaign.

Following the death of Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II last year, King Charles III enjoyed a state coronation alongside his wife, Queen Camilla.

Other quick events: Joe Biden was forced to cancel a trip to Australia to deal with the US debt ceiling. There was the discovery of a Kenyan starvation cult. Tina Turner passed away. There was the destruction of a dam in southern Ukraine by Russian forces.

And in the news of cyber security, there was a hack of file-transfer program MoveIt, affecting many companies and governments. This was topped by a hack against Insomniac and the leaking of 1.6 TB of files showing games in development as well as the personal information of many employees.

As the northern hemisphere reached the summer, Canadia endured several severe wildfires that even affected the air quality in America. Silvio Berlusconi passed away and to cap it all off: five people were killed in an imploding submersible headed down towards the Titanic.

In other news, both domestic and international, corruption findings were noted of previous New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian. A teenage boy was shot dead in France leading to protests. Microsoft won a case against the FTC to delay a merge with Activision-Blizzard. SAF-AFRA began to strike alongside the writer’s guild regarding working conditions with the move to streaming and the threat of AI supplanting jobs.

With summer peaking and then waning, heatwaves continued to devastate America, Europe and Asia. There was the passing of a controversial bill in Israel limiting the power of the Supreme Court to overturn decisions made by government ministers. In Niger, the military staged a coup.

To put our thoughts at ease, people turned on their televisions and headed to stadiums to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Although Spain won, I’m happy to say Australia’s own team came in fourth with a strong showing and with much love showered on our Matildas.

To keep us on our toes, however, we also saw the death of Wagner Group leader in a plane crash: Yevgeny Prigozhin. There was chaos in New York when live-streamer Kai Cenat decided to host a Give Away event. In Africa, there was another coup. This time in Gabon. And in some positive news, India was the first country to land on the Moon’s south pole.

As the rest of the world headed towards winter, and Australia to summer, Mother Nature thought another earthquake would shake things up a little – killing thousands in Morocco. There was also an earthquake in Afghanistan, killing quite a number of citizens.

And just to fill out our assassination quota for the year, Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in Canada.

But in a move to surprise us all, and to raise the stakes in our very fragile ecosystem, Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October, killing a few thousand and taking hundreds hostage. Israel, of course, retaliated – vowing to crush Hamas. This has since led to Israel bombing the Gaza strip, killing many hundreds of people including children and a few of their own people in a desperate bid to stamp out Hamas.

While there was a brief ceasefire and a release of hostages, the situation is still quite dire for many Palestinians. And now Iran has taken a step, declaring they would close off the Mediterranean.

In Australia, we hosted a referendum for the Voice to Parliament. Unfortunately, it was a campaign filled with a lot of disinformation and misinformation. To my dismay, the Voice to Parliament failed, setting Australia back when it comes to acknowledging Indigenous voices.

As for those clamouring for a Treaty first, while I agree with you that a Treaty would be important, a Voice would have greatly paved the way. Even if it might not have been an immediate change or be the change everyone wanted, sometimes the best way to make things better is by taking small steps. True, it might not be what one hopes for but when it comes to swaying the minds of the public on key issues, governing a nation is a delicate balancing act. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET BUT DO NOT TRY TO HOLD THE PEOPLE/ BUDGET HOSTAGE. Public opinion IS important but relying solely on populism will get you nowhere and a country in shambles.

Australia also saw several bushfires in Queensland and norther New South Wales. We even had an Optus outage nation-wide, where many people had no internet or phone coverage. It proved, once again, the disadvantages of relying solely on technology and our phones for anything and everything.

And as we neared closer to Christmas and the New Year, Henry Kissinger passed away at the age of 100. In China, there were reports of another mysterious respiratory disease affecting children – with cases of pneumonia beginning to spike again. In north-east Myanmar, a temporary ceasefire was negotiated between the rebels and the military government. New Zealand also saw the rise of a new government (with Labour having been ousted in favour of the National Party). This set in motion a 100-day reform agenda seeking to unwind many of the policies designed to improve outcomes for Maori and Pasifika people, damaging race relations.

In India, after the firing of a smoke grenade in the halls of Parliament, more than half of the Opposition Members of Parliament were suspended in India. Back in America, Joe Biden pardoned thousands convicted of marijuana charges and there was also a mass shooting in Prague!

To round off the year, COP28 was held in Dubai for some inexplicable reason.

And as Santa touched down in Australia, many Australians have been struggling due to the large interest rate hikes and the increased cost of living. Rent, in particular, has proven difficult to overcome for many because of the high demand for housing. Some of it has been exacerbated by inflation but quite a bit of it has also been attributed to the changes in migration policies following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course, it’s not an Australian Christmas if we don’t have a cyclone tearing through northern Queensland in the week or two beforehand, leading to floods and the shutdown of Cairns airport.

So ends another rotation of the Earth around the sun. 2023 has had its highs and its many various lows. Yet although it was the hottest year recorded in living history, we are still here, ticking ever closer to midnight for when we destroy the Earth as we know it.

Actually, no. The Earth will be fine in the long run (unless we somehow destroy the core or the sun explodes). It’s us humans who will be wiped out from the planet, resetting civilisation as we know it. And I, for one, am eager for a reset though I doubt we will learn our lesson.

Of course, since I’m writing this post on Christmas Day (and listening to the 2023 Carols in the Domain), I can only hope there will be a light at the end of this very long tunnel we’ve found ourselves in. They do say it’s always darkest before the dawn. Here’s hoping there is a dawn for us all where collective governments can work together to make changes so we can continue thriving on this planet we call home.

Cubano Breaks

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After several unsuccessful chats with men on the app, I turned my Hinge preferences to women only. Dikottir and Game Master managed to sneak past the gate, wherein I went on a few extra dates with them but they have been the sole surviving men who have made it through my exacting requirements.

So saying, Game Master has somewhat dropped off in terms of conversation in recent weeks. Either because he forgot or he’s busy at work or he feels as if the chemistry has petered off and has moved on to someone else.

It…doesn’t really matter.

As for Dikottir, we still chat and he’s always eager to show off pictures of his pet dog. Of course, neither one of us are excellent conversationalists (and we may share personality traits that make it hard for us to be texting non-stop. Possibly because we’re both secure in who we are and don’t feel the need to constant bombard the other person? Who knows. I know there are days where I don’t feel like I have much to contribute to anything and would rather just sit and play video games/ stream a TV show on Netflix).

But while men tend to message almost near constantly, women, are a different beast altogether. Weeks might go from liking a photo before you receive a non-committal response and you don’t know if you ought to introduce yourself or just go into a tangent about a topic of interest.

It’s always a bit hard when I’m shy, both online and in person, when it comes to meeting new people. But once the conversation starts, I can become quite gregarious when the mood takes me. And confrontational too as happened during one of the dinner dating experiences where I met Hong Kong and Jordan.

Anyways, suffice it to say, it’s been hard trying to date women in comparison to men. Although, there have been a few I’ve managed to talk to now.

None of them, of course, being Rad from Good Game because, believe or not, I saw she had a profile on HINGE! And yes, I may have liked a photo in the hopes we could become friends. Alas.

Still, perhaps it’s for the best. How do you approach someone you’ve seen on the internet anyways? And it would just be too weird. Like suddenly realising Natalie Tran of communitychannel fame were to reach out to me and declare that we’re best buds. Of course, that hasn’t stopped me from hoping I’d bump into her on the streets of Sydney one of these days and either hugging her or giving her a chill fist-bump.

As you do.

In so saying, one of my friends who reads this blog has a sister who only knows of the Kyndaris represented here in these words. And it’s a little unnerving when I ponder the possibility of her ever meeting me in person because I’m certainly not as eloquent when speaking in person. Then there’s the fact of my appearance. Honestly, I’m just afraid I’d disappoint.

Anyways, dating!

So, although it’s nearly the end of the year on writing this post, I’ve not actually gone on any dates with women. Yes, we chat, but neither side is willing to take the plunge. And given the fact I’m more of a Wednesday rather than an Enid, it might take a very long time. Unless I gather up my courage and simply ask.

Unfortunately, though, my weekends have been quite packed with a lot of catch-ups with friends and (at time of writing) my poor grandmother was hospitalised after we went to check her failing eyesight at an ocular surgeon’s clinic. And no, it’s nothing serious and she’ll probably have been discharged when this post goes live, but it’s just another burden on me. Coupled with the fact my mum has absconded to China, it’s not been an easy few months.

On the plus side, it won’t be as weird if there IS a connection with a special someone and I decide to bring them back to my place? Not sure what we’d do, though. Maybe they can watch me play video games? Or we could just chat.

So, this isn’t a story about going on a date with someone. This, dear reader, is a story about NEARLY going on a date with someone.

But how can you NEARLY go out on a date with someone, I hear you ask? Quite simple!

In early October, after my road trip with a few friends down to the Southern Coast, I was texting a woman – let’s call her Senorita. We exchanged a chats about mythology, primarily in terms of Medusa and if Athena’s actions were right or not. But while she was of the view Athena turned the woman into a Gorgon in order to protect Medusa, I told Senorita it depends on which version of the myth you read as the legends have been retold over the centuries with a new bent.

Plus, if Athena truly wanted to protect Medusa, why give Perseus a mirror shield to help slay the poor woman afterwards? In any case, the Greek Gods were a contrary lot and trying to understand their motives is an exercise in futility.

From humble beginnings, Senorita then asked if I was more of an impulse-driven thrill seeker or someone who liked to plan things out. The answer, I’m sure, dear reader, you can figure out.

After I gave her my answer, she told me to live a little and then asked if I was free on the weekend.

Unfortunately, I was not as I was catching up with friends and needed some time out after going on a road trip and then getting a hair cut, and then driving all the way to Central Coast to show it off to a dear friend.

So, then, I posed the question if Senorita was free the next weekend. Her response? She was going camping. Which, honestly, was fair.

She did, however, tell me she was free on Friday.

I, however, told her I was going to meet work friends on Friday in Parramatta to check out a festival involving good food, music and entertainment. Senorita, for some unknown reason, latched onto the idea of meeting up afterwards. But by afterwards, she meant about 6 PM, only an hour after the festival would begin.

Given the time constraints, and the fact I’d already agreed ahead of time to meet my work friends, I replied it would be tight but I would see what I could do. I even informed her it might have to be after 6, and perhaps 7, if we wanted to grab dessert or something for a quick meet-up.

Senorita agreed.

On the day, I caught up with my work friends at 5 PM, right outside the train station before we headed further into the festival of ‘Parramatta Lanes.’ Along the way, we admired the stalls, checking to see what kind of foods were on offer. I, of course, showed off my new haircut to their utter amazement as they hadn’t expected such a dramatic change from me.

After heading down the main food street in Parramatta, we headed to the rooftop party at a local carpark. One foodtruck that caught our eye was Kurepu Crepes Harajuku, the most tiktoked crepe! Unfortunately, none of my work friends were eager to join the massive line.

Unsatisfied with the food options available, we headed to an actual restaurant. By then, it was 6 PM and I let Senorita know I was having dinner with my work friends. I even gave her the option of coming over to where we were eating: Coco Cubano or meeting up afterwards. For some reason, Senorita was reticent, telling me to enjoy dinner but not advising if we were going to meet up later.

By the time my work friends and I finished dinner, it was a few minutes after 7. Given I’d given Senorita that approximate timeframe, and with my work friends wishing to depart right afterwards, I messaged Senorita to see if they were keen for that meet-up.

As I walked to my car, I received no reply from the woman. By then, it had been a good thirty minutes since I’d sent her the message and I wasn’t keen on waiting around for someone who wouldn’t reply to me even though I had been giving her clear communication throughout the night, and she had tried to force a meet-up even after I’d told her I was meeting friends.

It wasn’t until I finally got home that I received a message from Senorita over Hinge telling me she didn’t think I’d be able to make it and that she agreed to go to a gig with a friend. She then told me we could reschedule the meet-up (which, honestly, should have happened beforehand with her realising I wasn’t going to ditch my friends over someone I’d only just chatted to on the internet). I wished her luck at the gig and she told me she would.

Since then, we haven’t chatted since although I was very tempted to unmatch her there and then.

What I got out of the entire experience was the temerity of some of the people on the Hinge app. Why force yourself into a night out when I was already seeing my work friends? And then later flake even though I had told you exactly where I was and the approximate time I’d finish?

Utterly no respect!

My eye was constantly on the time but I didn’t want to be rude to my work friends and brush them off.

In the end, though, if given the same choice, I’d pick my work friends every time over a woman like Senorita.

It also soon transpired that Senorita worked Sunday to Thursday. So, if you were available to meet on Friday, dear Senorita, why were you only camping for a day on Saturday? Is it even camping if you don’t do it overnight?

Anyways, it was good riddance to a time-waster.

I’m not sure if the other women I’m currently chatting to will burn me just as bad as Senorita, but it’s the risk one takes by putting oneself out there. At the very least, I’m getting to meet new people. And hey, if it doesn’t work out, I still have my fictional boyfriends/ girlfriends to keep me going. Along with my Squishmellow Snorlax.

Trapped in a Cycle

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

From the sunny tropical island of Koholint, I was thrust into the wet and dreary Pale City as I followed the theme of nightmares for month of October in the video games I played. But while Link’s Awakening had nightmares made manifest by a dream world, Little Nightmares II only featured nightmares in the title of the game. Still, the game, much likes it predecessor in the franchise, felt very much like playing through a waking nightmare. Especially as I explored a broken down society, with many of its denizens enraptures by the screen before them. Which, in and of itself, feels like a reflection of how current society is obsessed with their little pocket screens.

Although it was never explicitly stated, Little Nightmares II serves as a prequel to the first game in series. Just like the first game, Little Nightmares, it nails the atmosphere of what makes a good and proper horror game without relying solely on jump scares. As I played, there was always a sensation of impending doom and I was always fearful of what I might find around the corner. Coupled with the designs of the enemies, I certainly could not shake how unnerved I was throughout my time with the game. This was especialyl true during the mannequin level in the hospital and during the boss fight with the giant version of Six as she hovered protectively over a music box.

Speaking of music, it, too, played an important role in building atmosphere for the game. The soundtrack was eerily haunting with its use of piano and several key musical motifs. Of note, as well, was how the game also incorporated silence to help build tension. I know that I, not a heavy horror player, was on tenterhooks throughout the game as I crept through levels waiting for the sudden crescendos or the telltale notes to warn me of danger the next screen over.

The music, combined with the gameplay, left me with unease throughout my playthrough, which was perfect for the spooky season of October.Unlike most games I play, there is little Mono can do against his foes. Most of the time, he must run from whatever threat the game sees fit to throw at the player. Thankfully, there are moments can fight back providing a sense of empowerment that is usually lacking when running for one’s life. I, especially, liked being able to grab hold of an axe or a bat to whack people or kill a creepy crawly mannequin hand.

But the gameplay, it should be noted, was also what proved incredibly frustrating throughout my time with the game. Some of it was due to the timing when it came to Mono swinging his weapons. Other times, it was the finicky hit boxes or the narrow window players were given to escape a threat. True, it added to the growing panic and tension, but by the time I was redoing the same section for the umpteenth time, much of the horror had bled away and I was left more annoyed than scared.

Of course, since playing through Star Wars Jedi: Survivor‘s Force Tears, this is less of an issue now. If anyone was able to do those platforming ones first go, I tip my hat off to you.

From a story perspective, Little Nightmares II keeps it close the vest. After all, this is a game with no dialogue. Everything is told via the environment and through the occasional interactions between Mono and the girl he rescues, who is later revealed to be the protagonist of the first game: Six.

Going online, there are theories aplenty of why Mono is in the Palce City and how he got there. The most popular theory says Mono is trapped in a time loop with no memory of what happened before. After all, why dream of the door in the Signal Tower where his supposed future self, the Thin Man, resides behind? And also, why is there a TV right next to him in the forest clearing he starts the game in?

These are all pertinent questions that need answers to but the game doesn’t quite explain.

The theory also extends further to the Thin Man’s motivations and his actions throughout the game. This includes taking Six away rather than going for both her and Mono. Some have even speculated that the Thin Man was trying to save his younger self from the trauma of the inevitable betrayal from Six. One, sparked because Six saw Mono’s true face and realised he was the Thin Man all along – the one who had trapped her.

But I ask you: why then doesn’t the Thin Man just let them go? If Six betrays Mono because she was captured, then isn’t the way to break the loop be to not traumatise her in the first place?

If that were not the case, what else could motivate Six to leave behind? Especially given the fact she’d always been there to catch mono in the past.

Was she always evil then? And what of the Hunger that seemed to only come into play until the very end during the secret ending?

So many questions, so little answers. And now, Little Nightmares III has been announced!

While I’m curious to see how it will unfold, I’m still unsure if I’ll pick it up given it was advertised as a co-op game (albeit with online co-op functionality and can be played solo if so chose). Then again, I want to see how, or IF, it ties back to Six in any way shape or form. There’s still so much to be plumbed in this strange world the developers have created.

Even though it’s creepy and scary, Little Nightmares knew how to keep me hooked with the many mysteries it lay out. Here’s hoping the third game in the series doesn’t disappoint.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Little Nightmares II. As a short game, it was a fun dive into something a little different from the usual triple-A titles I normally play. And given I’d played the first game in the series, I was curious to see how the second one would unfold after reading all about it on the internet. I’m certainly going to put the soundtrack on just to give it a proper listen when I’ve the time.