The Cracked Mug v 2.0

[erikavonkaiser]

I have SUCH a resistance to, like --

I'm enjoying Shadowbringers (FF14 expac) but the reaction to that from people who are into the games is usually to point out that Shadowbringers is darker than the previous expansions, in a way that implies that's a core trait that makes it better. That may or may not be true, but I've discovered that anyone pointing that out really activates the "okay no :|" parts of my brain and makes me wanna dig my feet in and be difficult. I think it's just the inherent and open suggestion that a darker story is a better or more interesting story, which I do fundamentally disagree with, and I think oversimplifies why Shadowbringers maybe shines over previous expansions.

things do not magically become better because there are The Horrors, there is a bit more that goes into it than that imho

Anyways, this is just me whining and also reminding myself not to be a butthead about things that are not worth being a butthead over, i.e. semantics and my own personal feelings about storytelling

[erikavonkaiser]

I think my thesis statement is "darker" is an oversimplification and what people probably really like is "complexity" or "meaningful stakes"

[erikavonkaiser]

My toxic D&D trait is I do not have the patience for people who constantly check for traps

[erikavonkaiser]

Vampire Hunter D Volume 7: Mysterious Journey to the North Sea - Part One by Hideyuki Kikuchi
Five spooky sea monster stars

This is the first two-parter! I kept forgetting that, because my main criticism was going to be that the cast was bloated, but as it approached the end I remembered that didn't matter as much. I would say the cast list could still use some cleaning up, but we'll see how I feel after part two.

This one was really good overall, though! I adored the setting so much I'll definitely steal it for something (this takes place in old vampire hunting/pleasure grounds, so it's a big set of mansions and open woods/sea filled with monsters they engineered to hunt for sport). It was nice, also, to have a full suite of villains that weren't just, uhhhhh, rape-y???? Is the only way to put it???? The main conflict is over a specific item that a damsel-in-distress (who is actually not unduly in-distress, just out of her league in a reasonable way) has, and the main group of villains after it really only care about that item. One, even, squares up to D and once he realizes that D has the thing vs. the lady, clarifies that he will leave her unharmed as he is here to Conduct Business, not cause chaotic damage. I continue to hate that one of my markers for quality is that women are not abused unnecessarily but HERE WE FIND OURSELVES

Anyways I feel like the villains act reasonably, which is always a plus.

We also get to see D lie for I think the first time! A character early on dies in a very horrific and painful way that disfigures her, and when he speaks to her sister he says that she died peacefully and, additionally in a D first, describes the physical appearance of another person; he specifies she "looked lovely," as her sister mourns not being able to see and bury her body. It was an interesting insight into him that we don't usually get! He's not someone I would describe as generally sentimental or emotional, and can genuinely be very cold, but he is not without heart.

I love him he's such a fukken complicated weirdo

Ordered from most to least-liked, and I am forcing myself not to give commentary on my decisions:

Vampire Hunter D Volume 5: The Stuff of Dreams
Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D Volume 7: Mysterious Journey to the North Sea - Part One
Vampire Hunter D Volume 4: Tale of the Dead Town
Vampire Hunter D Volume 3: Demon Deathchase
Vampire Hunter D Volume 6: Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane
Vampire Hunter D Volume 2: Raiser of Gales

#books2023

[erikavonkaiser]

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[erikavonkaiser]

I was looking back at my June + late May posts here and man I've been having kind of a time of it lately, huh???

[erikavonkaiser]

Writing in the mornings is going pretty good! It'll take a solid week or so before I can verify whether it's a sustainable routine, since all routines have novelty on their side for the first couple of days which kinda skews the data. But so far it seems to be doing what I needed! Today I even got a little out of wack because I woke up late (work yesterday was, oof), but I just did my thirty minutes of writing later in the morning and it still worked out. All of this is also serving the vital function that I'm thinking about my writing daily, which is important for me to keep interested and keep momentum. A lot of times when I'm not writing it's not even for a specific reason (like bad brain or too busy or whatever), it's just that I'm not thinking about it and I'm not doing it. Gotta actually prioritize the things you wanna prioritize, and all.

Re: work/oof, it has been busy and yesterday we were extremely short-staffed. Today we're better staffed, although it's still a holiday weekend so it depends entirely on how Chicago behaves. We'll see! It's my Wednesday equivalent, so we're getting there. Tomorrow I should probably get groceries and do some pre-weekend prep, since I am already anticipating I will be in dire need of no-thoughts-head-empty recovery time once I hit my Saturday.

Okay! It's already almost 1 PM so let me finish getting ready for work and take Baby on her walk.

[erikavonkaiser]

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[erikavonkaiser]

Weekend! I made it!

My Switch arrived yesterday while I was at work, so since we were slow I used my lunch hour (which I never normally take and know I should) to drive back home and go get it. I got the initial set-up done and downloaded a few games; right now just XCOM and Ni No Kuni, since they were on sale and I know I'll play them a lot. Once I sit and have coffeedrank for a bit I'll crack back into it and figure out how to set it up to work with my television. I also have a carrying/protective case to put on it, and I wanna test if a spare controller I have will connect before I go shopping for third party controllers. The Nintendo one is ......... bad. Excited to finally have a Switch, though!

okay lemme sit and chill and maybe look up places online to buy used games that aren't GameStop, who I refuse to ever give money to because they're bad and they should feel bad

[erikavonkaiser]

I have played SO MUCH Cult of the Lamb today

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A++ game so far though, makes brain go brrr and is the only roguelike I've ever played that I do not find more punishing than rewarding. This is definitely by design, since it eschews the all-or-nothing mentality of a true roguelike to give you more wiggle room. Most of that wiggle room is because you have cultists and a base that need tending in-between missions, so you can't be gone for five thousand years on an eternal misery quest.

("get gud" sweatlord games and roguelikes do not activate any part of me that craves triumph, they just make me feel bad about myself; Hades is a prime example of this, I really wanted to love that game but I just felt dogshit awful while playing it to the point that I stopped and won't ever pick up Hades 2)

Anyways! Switch is obviously a hit and I was excited to confirm I already had a spare controller that works wirelessly with it. So I think I'm good on accessories for the moment! I do still want to research somewhere to buy used games online, since I'm a pleb and prefer to own physical copies of most things, but for now I have Cult of the Lamb and Ni No Kuni to doot around with. I also did take @mek's advice and perused the stuff that was on super-duper sale and grabbed a little post-apocalyptic indie game for $2. I would be more specific than that but my Switch is in the living room and I do not want to move, something about -- lmao nevermind it literally was the first hit when I Googled "boat post-apocalyptic game." It's called FAR: Lone Sails and looked like it was worth $2! I'll give it a try at some point.

Unfortunately my body is weak and I've been staring at screens for most of the day so I'm going to walk Baby Dog and give my eyes a rest. After that I'll probably return to screens, if I'm honest, although I may flop and watch YouTube or do some dailies in FF14. Today was my rest day and while I did accomplish chores + exercise + groceries, I have spent the rest of it recovering from working an entire holiday weekend as a death investigator in Chicago. #noragrets