I think I’ll attempt to do this every Friday around about the time of those lazy hours that bring a sense of closure to each ‘normal’ working week. Hopefully, it will act as a reminder of the things I’ve thought about and discovered in the past however many days, due mostly to having more cause to explore, but also to relieve the need to vent things of note and keep them safe somewhere. To delve and then to delve further is my aim. That, and to cherish those freshly rooted artefacts – the ones that obviously I want to remember.
From Texas to Strange Texas, via London! Well, why not? I’ve been seeing a lot of people say how bizarre they’re finding The Real Texas when, in truth, it’s quite sensible. I mean, providing you let yourself just accept that Sam, your cowboy self, flies through a blue portal into ANOTHER DIMENSION! Yes, yes, it doesn’t explain itself and nor does it have to. It’s better that way. I’ve been enjoying the waddling walk, bopping along to the (FANTASTIC) soundtrack and exploring without too much consequence.
On that topic, it’s great that you don’t have to worry about your ammo count and that when you die you only lose 5% of your cash and then get reset to beginning of the area. It takes the stress out of just wandering around and plotting points on the map. It’s a breath of fresh air, actually. However, the controls! Ugh. Personally, I’m a WASD and mouse kind of guy when it comes to movement and combat. I can deal with just the mouse, or just the keyboard – not a problem. And props to Kittylambda for giving the choice of how you want to handle the controls. But for leaping llama’s sake, please ensure to offer the choice and then disable the one the player doesn’t want to use. I’ve been trying to shoot snakes and the various threats but often find that trying to aim with the right mouse button leads to moving towards it instead of aiming. ENNNRRRGGHHH!
My other gripe – which emerged in the game’s tutorial, but has since faded – is giving the player a choice to perform any action they type to an object, but it being VERY limited. It just seemed a bit pointless. If there’s only 5 ways of interacting with an object, let’s say, just give me a list to choose from. Why make the player type an action out, so as to imply there’s many verbs at their disposal, when in fact there is practically no room to experiment at all? Since I haven’t really used this feature in the rest of the game much, it hasn’t really bothered me, unless I am missing out on something completely amazing!
Other than that, it’s all been cotton candy, or gravy…yeah, I’m not cool.
Listen To This: Baths – Rain Smell
I can’t even begin to…hmmm. I’m a big fan of…well. Okay. This is the kind of music that entices reflection in me, looking back through memories, mostly. There’s quite a lot of emotion behind it, and as a listener you can feel that. It matters to me some. You may not like the fairly prominent fuzz/rain effect, but it gives it that raw sound, I think. As if you’re hearing through the noise (read: the misery in life) a beautiful song, both from the piano and the birds chirping. If you focus for long enough, you find you’re alone with that song, simple as it may be. But it’s a slight strain, perhaps because nothing can be pure in this world, perhaps not. But maybe.
Watch This: Monica Vitti: Il Deserto Rosso / Red Desert (“The Girl on the Beach”) Monologue
This whole film needs watching, but this monologue moment makes just as much sense as it does outside of the comfort of context as it does within it. Mainly because there isn’t so much of a narrative purpose, rather, Antonioni merely wanted to supply these mysterious mood-catching minutes. And they are mysterious. Though, it’s not something to ponder upon for too long; again it’s just about accepting the way it makes you feel and enjoying that. The basic but bold colours in these scenes really make me want to go there too.
Read This: This Perverse Sex RPG Is Stimulating, But Not In The Way That You’d Think
If you need something to make you feel a little uneasy about yourself, then go and play Polymorphous Perversity. Patricia gets the right reading of the game here, I think. Well I agree with it anyway. The game seems to be making a commentary on the pressure of having sex for, um, everyone? Mainly men, due to the avatar being a male and that the reason he has to have sex frequently being that his penis blows up in a bloody explosion otherwise. It makes the act of sex a necessity rather than a pleasure in any form – it’s impersonal.
I’m not surprised at her mentioning of rape due to the whole Tomb Raider thing, but I do find myself disagreeing with her when she says that the game may be excusing the act as just a natural urge. That’s a reading of it sure, but not one I would take personally. It actually feels horrible to me when playing it, all these women and sometimes men just asking you to have sex with them. That’s genuinely unnerving to me as a player. After a while, I really didn’t want to “fuck” these people at all, and was grimacing every time I had to, for survival’s sake. If that’s what is intended to be felt through the game design, then clap-clap.
Chris Priestman 