Author: Halsdoll

DS3: Wrapping Up

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My journey is coming to an end. I defeated the final boss (Lord of Cinder). Also, I have defeated Slave Knight Gael, the final boss of the Ring City DLC. The lore is very interesting, so I decided to go on a 2nd journey to unlock ‘The Usurpation of Fire’ ending. There are three endings total, and I have already seen two of them. One was from my old playthrough.

In my previous blog post, I said I would discuss the Painted World of Ariandel lore (particularly Sister Friede) but by doing so, you must have some knowledge of the Painted World of Ariamis in Anor Londo, where you face Priscilla in DS1. The painted world in DS3 is linked to the Hollow realm of Londo. Similarly, Sister Friede is like Pricilla except harder. She represents death. So just imagine a cold world without warmth. It’s not very pleasant. I personally did not enjoy the snow area, and it wasn’t because I hate the level design, it’s because the bright light from the snow hurts my eyes!

It’s not bad. At least there are flowers.

Anyway, Sister Friede is one of the maidens of the Primordial Serpent and one of the sisters (Yuria and Lillian) who founded the Sable Church. The Sable Church offers salvation to the hollows who led unsavory lives. And what does hollow mean? It is when the undead eventually lose their minds. Just like Sirri’s grandfather, who became a madman. Another important point is that Sister Friede is ashen like the player. Her duty was to link the fire to prevent the world from dying; however, she chose rot over flames along with Father Ariandel. In other words, they want the Painted World of Ariandel to rot. If you have played Demon’s Souls, does she remind you of Maiden Astraea, a pure soul that turned to an Archdemon because God was cruel for abandoning the Valley of Defilement and its inhabitants to wither and die? It’s female compassion backfired, but oddly maternal. Can a good mother ever abandon her children, even if they are monsters? So, when a player defeated Sister Friede, the painted world became engulfed in flames for the better. The action I took as an intrusive player messed with my conscience a bit because I empathized with Sister Friede’s decision to choose rot over flames, but I also know it’s not right to choose death. What she wanted was a world that rot away eternally. Is that what you call peace for the hollows? It kind of sound like hell to me. In her circumstances, compassion was her weakness, and therefore, she was no champion of life at all.

Dragon Path Gesture emote after defeating sister friede
Sorry, Sister Friede, for burning your sanctuary.

Instead, a “cold, dark and very gentle place” might be better. And that where the Ring City fits in, which is different from the hollow realm of Londor and which I won’t go into detail. I do want to mention that I really like Yuria and Sister Friede as characters but I don’t agree with their worldview–the hollow way is not the right way. I guess that is why I like Sirris of the Sunless Realms and Shira, Knight of Filianore. I rather live in a world full of warmth than a cold, sad one even if I am bound to selfless duty. What can you gain from a selfish world?

Painter sitting on a chair getting ready to paint
A “cold dark and very gentle place” for the hollows I suppose.

There are some Elden Ring references I noticed in DS3, which led me to believe this game is a prequel to Elden Ring. In Elden Ring, rot is the cycle of birth and decay–like how flowers bloom then wilt. Whereas flames, it’s light, the source of life. We are dealing with polytheism with a mixture of animalism here. It just shows how complex the narrative is in the game, leaving room for a lot of interpretation. But I can theorize that the story of DS3 is about allowing the fire to fade for a new world order. So everything in the game is mournfully sad. Apart from the theme, I feel sympathy for these NPCs and may have to go back and explore their questlines. I accidentally killed Ringfinger Leonhard, who has a sad story. Well, everyone in the game is sad and broken.

Meditating in the storm. It shall pass.

I am not sure if I want to platinum the game. For your money’s worth, this game is timeless, on par with classic books. Unfortunately, not everyone will ever get to experience the story because it’s a challenging game that requires some dedication. Maybe one day, FromSoftware will make a Dark Souls novel? I heard there is an Elden Ring movie in the making. I am not sure how effective the story will be, though. Video games as a medium for storytelling are a unique and one-of-a-kind experience. It just makes the story so much more personal and definitely more rewarding to get through. I must confess that this game is so hopelessly dark. The next game I am going to play is definitely something lighter and cheerful. Hmm… or maybe I will go back and reread Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a book that reminds me that adults have it backward when it comes to living.

DS3: Thoughts on Sister Friede

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Before I start the boss fight with Sister Friede in the Painted World of Ariandel, I want to mention the bosses I defeated previously. These include Dragondslayer Armor, Oceriros the Consume King, Champion Gundyr, Ancient Wyvern, Lothric, Younger Prince, and the Nameless King. I did this before starting this DLC because I was no match for Sister Friede at level 45. I suppose there is a reason why players can access the DLC midway through the game. It was placed at the Cleansing Chapel Bonfire, which I still do not understand. I do, however, think there is a flaw in this edition. I cannot summon Slave Knight Gael (will do a separate post on story) during the boss fight. I have already summoned him for the battle with Prince Demon and progressed his questline. So, if you are playing this edition, I suggest you skip the DLCs. Return when you are at a higher level. Make sure to play the DLCs in order. It will save you time because the extra help from Slave Knight Gael is greatly appreciated. Of course, you can summon help if you play online. However, I couldn’t do that because I don’t have a PlayStation Plus subscription.

Oh boy, like Prince Lothric and Nameless King, those boss fights took me several runs. Sister Friede was the cherry on top!  I guess never underestimate the power of the cold nun.

Sister Friede walking coldly
Is that Priscilla Scythe from Dark Souls? I love Priscilla!!! (phase 1)

The first phase was fine. The second phase was easy. The third phase was the most difficult. You can summon Slave Knight Gael. However, he will only appear during the second phase of the boss fight. As I mentioned earlier, you can summon him if you have not defeated Prince Demon in The Dreg Heap. I wasted so many embers because I kept running out of estus flasks in the third phase. In the end, like always, skill helped me beat the boss. I knew its pattern and dodged like crazy. I am not going to lie. It feels so rewarding when I beat her. I have been trying for several days! Of course, I do feel shame for invading her world. She did politely ask me to return to where I came from. But I am just so curious. A world without flames? What sort of world is that? Death? The curious cat in me has to know!

Sister Friede getting angry
My curiosity pisses Father Ariandel off… (phase 2)
Instantly got killed by Blackflame Sister Friede side swipe
The image is a bit dark, but there were several moments like this when I almost killed her, but she got to me first (phase 3).

I won’t talk about the strategy on how I won the battle in detail. There are some good ones on YouTube: Gentle Needle and Loreena are ones that stood out to me the most. It was hard to avoid her when she goes into invisible mode. She swipes you with her scythe, taking a big chunk of your HP. What I did differently from other players was preventing her from going into invisible mode. I blast her with the Great Soul Spell before she even gets to disappear. Doing this helps conserve estus flasks for the final round. She was so quick and fearsome in the final round. My heart was pounding!

Lastly, I will mention the optional boss: The Champion’s Gravetender and Gravetender Greatwolf. This post is mainly about Sister Friede. The boss fight took me a few tries, but it wasn’t too difficult. By defeating it, you will unlock Undead Match. Perhaps this is where ‘PVP creed’ came from, where players are not allowed to use estus flasks during a duel. I like how the developer added this gaming mechanic. If players want to do PVP, there is a section for that. This is because not everyone wants to duel. Not everyone wants to fight to the death.

I burned the Painted World. Now all I have left is the final boss and the Ring City DLC. But first, I stop to smell the flowers before I go on a killing spree.

stopping to smell the flowers

Hunchback of Notre-Dame, the Collapsed Sanctuary

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All of the characters except for Master Pierre Gringoire met their tragic end because of love. Quasimodo died from a broken heart when he failed to protect La Esmeralda who was the only person who showed him genuine kindness when he needed most; La Esmeralda died for loving the false savior, the King’s Archer Phoebus de Châteaupers who could care less if she died in captivity for being framed as his murderer; Captain Phoebus died (mentally) when he got married because that means no more night out at the brothel;  the recluse from the rat-hole died from trying to protect her daughter from being captured by the King’s guards; and lastly, the Archdeacon Claude Frollo died under God’s will for he was a priest who can never pursue La Esmeralda like a normal man. Only Gringoire, the poet, escaped death because he found love in stones:

First, I love women, then animals. Now I love stones. They are quite as amusing as women and animals and less treacherous.

-Gringoire (p.477)

I find that quote quite amusing because there is some truth to it, although I would have crossed out the ‘women’ part in the quote and inserted ‘men’ instead. Joke aside. In literature, we call characters like Gringoire, a comic relief because the subject of this story is quite serious. I don’t think I would like the book as much if Gringoire had not made me laugh. He was the only character I felt safe around La Esmeralda, because he wasn’t interested in deflowering her. But why is this important? No pun intended, because no one wants to get screwed! Indeed, she did get trapped in a web like a fly:

“A bewildered fly, which was seeking the March sun, flung itself through the net and became entangled there. On the agitation of his web, the enormous spider made an abrupt move from his central cell, then one bound rushed upon the fly, which he folded together with his fore antennae, while his hideous proboscis dug into the victim’s head (p.338)”

This passage is about La Esmeralda. She was like the bewildered fly trapped in a big spider web (Notre-Dame) and was later sentenced to death by the King (the big spider) because he is the protector of Notre-Dame. The King under God’s absolute authority was too deaf and blind to grant clemency to La Esmeralda, who was accused of murdering Captain Phoebus (he wasn’t even dead, btw). And Archdeacon Frollo allowed fate to take its course by not saving La Esmeralda when she rejected his love. If he cannot have her, then no one can. That was his logic (p.574). Do you see why I said jokingly that men are treacherous? How could she love an assassin who forces her to follow him and make him her master, her savior? We cannot force people to be with us. That’s imprisonment.

Minus the love drama, the book is about how human thoughts and beliefs change the structure of society over time.   The invention of the printing press killed the architecture because each book is each person’s thoughts and when you add them all up together, it’s bigger than one architecture that represented millions of people (p.227). That is how the architecture loses its authoritative voice in the society. That is why Victor Hugo the author, introduces the reader to the Feast of Fools in the first chapter to forewarn the reader on what is yet to come by making a mockery out of the elected Pope by having him switch places with Quasimodo, the hunchback, one-eyed, deaf bellringer of Notre-Dame. He may be a “one-eyed man [but he] is far less complete than a blind man. He knows what he lacks (p.66), unlike the Pope, the King, and the rest of the aristocrats. Because “[without clemency,] they are but blind men groping after God in the dark (p.540).”  It made sense to me why La Esmeralda and her goat were mocking the captain of the city’s pistoleers and the king’s procurator in the ecclesiastical court during their street performance in the earlier part of the book. These high officials don’t provide justice; they are just aristocratic clowns on public display. Not only did she captivate the crowd, but she also bewitched the Archdeacon to the point that he attempted to kidnap her with Quasimodo so that she would stop polluting his mind with impure thoughts with the little pout she always made. The truth is something within her has awakened his soul. Was it love, or was it the eternal life he was searching for that he couldn’t find it in science or alchemy? In the end, it was the vagabonds and Quasimodo who tried to save Esmeralda from the power grip of evil men. They were the real savior. The introduction of the Feast of Fools was indeed a mockery of the failed belief system in Paris during 1482.

For my final thoughts, out of all the characters, I pitied Archdeacon Frollo the most even though Quasimodo is just as unfortunate. Being a learned man had turned him into a rigid priest and a very sad one (p.194). When you are always seeking knowledge, you leave yourself with no room to connect with other humans. It’s a lonely place to feel like you are above everyone. Lastly, I find the passage about writers are the new masons (p.230) quite interesting. What would Victor Hugo think about the internet?! He would say the programmers are the new writers! You see, the “Architecture is the great book of humanity, the principal expression of man in his different stages of development, either as a force or as an intelligence (p.216).” When the printing press came into existence in the mid-1400s, humans transferred their beliefs from stones to books, and so the architectures no longer have the tyrannical authority over society’s beliefs; it became art or a symbol of the past, just like Notre-Dame of Paris. Now books are becoming a symbol of the past as digital contents are more popular among the mass. The human mind is indeed the architecture of humanity. So yeah, “All civilization begins in theocracy and ends in democracy (p.218).”

Note:  I read the unabridged version published by Fingerprint. Also, the featured image for the blog post is by AI. Pardon me if it looks kind of odd. I believe it’s because it lacks a human soul.

DS3: Strategy and Lore on Aldrich, Devourer of Gods

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Disclaimer: Contains Spoilers

Approaching the Cathedral of the Deep
Pathway to the Cathedral of the Deep

When I was working my way towards the Road of Sacrifice from the Undead Settlements, I was anticipating meeting Aldrich, the Saint of the Deep, also known as the Devourer of Gods. He is notorious for eating people (the undead) and, even more daringly, eating gods for pleasure in the most gruesome ways. And he doesn’t do it alone. He shares his joy with other twisted souls, “imbibing the final shudders of life while luxuriating in his victim’s screams (description from Aldrich’s Ruby).” So, when I reached the Pathway to the Cathedral of the Deep after defeating Sage Crystal, I thought I was getting closer. Oh no, I still had a way to go. I had to face the lesser twisted souls: Deacons of Cathedral of Deep, the Abyss Watcher, High Lord Wolnir, Old Demon King, Pontiff Sulyvahn, and Yhorm the Giant. Defeating Aldrich was the climax of the game. Like Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough from Dark Souls, the boss fight was difficult. It took me the entire day, after several runs, to finally beat a 5-minute battle. For one, I play as a sorcerer, and the boss was resistant to magic. So, what did I do? I switched to melee. Leveled up my endurance twice. Infused my hand axe weapon +6 to lightning effect because lightning is one of its weaknesses. Switched out sorcery’s rings for Chloranthy Ring, Estus Ring, Life Ring, and Dark Stoneplate Ring. For armor, I wore something light with high magic defense. I even allocated all of the Estus flasks (healing potion) to HP. Normally, I leave some for FP since I use magic spells. What I found comical was that I forgot to upgrade the healing potency of the Estus flask! It could have saved me time from trying to defeat the boss if I had upgraded it from +2 to +8, so I wouldn’t have to consume so many Estus flasks. Oopsie, that was a bit of a noob move! But in the end, it was the strategy that helped me defeat the boss.

Upon entering the boss fight, I ran towards it before it could blast its magic beam and perform its piercing rain arrow shots because it’s bad news for us players who do range attacks. The boss’s AoE is deadly. But what helped me in this battle was knowing exactly where it would spawn. For instance, if it is in the bottom left corner of the room, it will reappear in the upper right corner of the room, but it doesn’t always happen. I think I got lucky. Also, knowing when to reserve stamina (since running and hitting used up stamina) helped me defeat the boss. I let the stamina bar refill by not running toward the direction of the boss until it reappeared so that I could dodge and attack its tail as quickly as possible. Speed and damage are what it will take to defeat Aldrich. For better visualization, I include a video clip of my boss fight.

After defeating Aldrich, I learned that he had no fear of devouring the gods himself when he started ruminating about the fading of the fire. He envisioned the coming age of the deep sea (item description from Soul of Aldrich). It made me wonder why the fire was fading in the first place. And why was I transported back to the High Wall of Lothric to face the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, who happens to be the distant daughter of Pontiff Sulyvahn? Let’s backtrack a little bit here: Pontiff Sulyvahn is one of the earlier twisted souls I had to defeat. He is one of Aldrich’s cronies. He “imprisoned a god of the old royalty in the abandoned cathedral to be fed to [Aldrich] the devourer (item description from Souls of Pontiff Sulyvanh).” I must admit that I am a bit frightened. It sounds like they had a logistic, criminal system in place there. Do you know the saying “Wolves in sheep’s clothing”? That is exactly what Aldrich is, a supposedly upright lord with a dark appetite.

Dancer of the Boreal Valley, another twisted soul

Once I defeated the Dancer, I unlocked an area called Lothric Castle. It seems like she was either guarding or holding Prince Lothric hostage because I was asked by the High Priestess Emma of High Wall Lothric, in her last breath, to save Prince Lothric’s soul. She told me to tell Prince Lothric “that he must be. A Lord…” She didn’t get to finish her sentence, so I can only speculate that he must be the Lord of Cinder. And you are probably wondering like me…what is the significance of being the Lord of Cinder? Why is it important to the story? It has to do with the linking of the flames, the source of life, which is also the source of corruption. But that is just my educated guess for now, from all the sources I gathered in the game so far. Who knows what my conclusion is? So stay tuned, I still have more bosses to defeat and uncover their lore!

Rambling about Dark Souls III (The Fire Fades Edition)

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As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I decided to replay Dark Souls III, but I did not mention of all the games in the series why I chose the third installment, which happens to be my least favorite (at the time). The reason is that it’s the finale of the Dark Souls series; I would like to finally piece the story together and give it another chance. Plus the Fire Fades Edition include the DLCs, which will sate my “dark souls-craving fix” since I have not played the DLCs! And I must confess, 27 hours of trial and error, I am enjoying it more than I did back in 2016 when I first played it. Apart from the interesting NPCs’ questlines, the looting and exploring are one of my favorite things about the Souls game (If interested, you can read more about my thoughts I wrote a few years ago: Dark Souls: Exploring Is an Achievement).

So far, I have completed Cemetery Ash, Firelink Shrine, High Wall of Lothric, Undead and Settlement, Road of Sacrifice, Cathedral of the Deep. However, I decided it’s best to restart the game. I was not aware that giving the Pale Tongue to Rosaria (Mother of Rebirth) would cancel Sirris, The Sunless Realm questline, who happens to be the most interesting character that I feel most connected to. I don’t know why. Maybe I admire a woman in armor who has a purpose (This sounds like a potential topic for a blog post). I remember liking Selen Vinland from Demon Souls (PS3 version) too.

Selen Vinland (image credits: Fandom)

By now, you might speculate that it is one of my favorite video game franchises. I have so much to say about it. And no, I don’t like it because it’s difficult. Quite the contrary, it’s a fairly challenging game, which involves strategy. When I realized the flow of Dark Souls III (memorizing enemy positions and level layouts), it took me about 9 hours to reach the part where I had to restart the game (Cathedral of the Deep). I knew what I was going into, thus making the experience seamless. This game was always meant to be played multiple times. You will fail, and that is all right because there are multiple ways to meet your objectives. You will begin to see patterns. You will learn how to dodge. You will utilize the items in the game to survive. Most of all, you need to have good reflexes, and incredible amount of patience. I think it’s a fair game once you know its rhythm.

From the time I started drafting this blog post, I defeated the Deacons of Cathedral of Deep boss, the Abyss Watcher, and High Lord Wolnir. It took me about 24 hours compared to my first playthrough which I was doing horribly because I spent hours trying to hop into the Butcher’s cage to get to an area that allowed players to join the Mound Makers Covenant. I couldn’t initiate the sequence because I entered the boss fight with Curse-rotted Greatwood before speaking to the NPC located below the area of the boss fight. Pretty much starting the battle caused the ground to collapse and kill the NPC. It was so worth it to restart the game because my first playthrough was a bad run. If you follow the natural flow of the game, progressively you will get better at navigating its world. In addition, the guides available on the internet help, if you use it as a reference.

Apart from the gameplay, one thing I love about souls games is that it feels as if I am playing inside a fantasy book. Like reading a book, I became self-aware of my own actions. I remember after beating Dark Souls II (my favorite out of the series), I felt odd sitting on a throne. I started my character as a fairytale-like human, but it ended up looking like a monster.

I beat DS2
I claimed the Throne of Want. Now what?

The realization of losing sight of humanity made me more humane in real life. A game that does that is not all that bad despite its dark theme. If you think about it, that’s why it’s called Dark Souls.

Reflecting on Souls Games

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I have been daydreaming about Elden Ring (2022). Reminiscing about the adventure, the looting, and the side quests. The land in between is beautifully brutal. Then I remember writing a blog post about Malenia which I gave her a nickname: the Beautiful Rotten Flower. I was so consumed by finding ways to defeat her that, for a while, all I could think about was Malenia. I remember after beating the game, I felt drained. So when Shadow of the Edtree was released last year, I didn’t feel inclined to purchase the DLC. I am still on the fence about buying it because these games are becoming increasingly designed for cooperative play, which is a turn-off for me.

I remember my experience with Dark Souls III (2016).  It is a pretty game but I didn’t like how fast the enemies were and there were more of them compared to Demon Souls (2009) Dark Souls (2011) and Dark Souls II (2014). All the later editions seem to gear toward the “git gud” PVP crowd, and that is just not my forte. I remember playing Bloodborne (2015) and some invader got mad at me for using healing potions. This person was expecting me to follow some PVP creed that I was not aware of. I just laughed it off. The person invaded my world and was expecting me to play by some external rules? That sounds so ridiculous. I was always more interested in the creative design than the social aspect of the game anyway. That’s why I am so grateful that you can play Souls games in offline mode on the console version (I am not sure about PC).  If you were to ask me, my least favorite thing about the Souls game is the invasion. I don’t think I have ever invaded anyone’s world or voluntarily helped anyone defeat enemies. Well, there was one time I was automatically summoned to someone’s world in Dark Souls II because I was in The Way of the Blue Covenant. It’s an interesting gaming mechanic, and I learned that not everyone is an uncivilized brute.

Honestly, I miss the quietness of the earlier Souls games.  That is part of the reason why I have been hesitant with FromSoftware’s latest installment Elden Ring Nightreign, which I heard is designed for cooperative play. Finding the right skillful people to play with feels too daunting. That’s why I shy away from multiplayer games and lean towards games like Dragon’s Dogma (2012). The pawn system fixes that issue. You can use other players’ pawns to assist you without having the actual player control the pawn in real-time. It’s an ingenious idea for those who want to play multiplayer games but don’t always have the time to find the right people to play with. Even if you do have the right people to play with, we all have lives and different schedules outside of gaming. As I am writing this, now I am curious about Dragon’s Dogma II.

Writing down my thoughts made me realize…oh why don’t I just give Dragon’s Dogma II a try despite the negative reviews? After all, I am an atypical gamer. So this game may be the antidote that will cure my adventure ailment. In the meantime, I am replaying Dark Souls III because I’m looking forward to capturing pictures without the HUD. It’s the beautiful flowers in the game that captivate me. A mixture of adventure and flowers is exactly what I need.

Looking at the beautiful moon
My playthrough in 2016

Making a Checklist for Books & Games

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Have you ever had a hard time deciding whether you like something or not? I have had many experiences playing games and reading books. Sometimes I cannot pinpoint why I don’t enjoy something as much as I should. So, I like to write out my thoughts in the form of a review. Unfortunately, these days, I don’t have that luxury anymore. The truth is, my work (apart from my health) has been so demanding that all of my hobbies were at a standstill. It’s already close to the middle of the year. I have only completed three games: Spirit of the North, developed by Infuse Studio; Xanadu Next, developed by Nihon Falcom; and the Bookwalker, developed by Do My Best. No time for mental health and recreation is not good. So here I am back with one of my favorite pastime activities: making a list. I have always found it therapeutic to make a list of books and games because it helps me clear my mind and stay focused.

Out of the three games I’ve played this year, the one I enjoyed the most is Xanadu Next. The game design is superb, however, the game is buggy. I had to restart a boss fight three times! If you enjoy a soul-like game, then this game is a treat. Well, I believe this game came before the souls franchise. Playing this game made me realized how much I enjoy treasure hunting, good level design and challenging games.

Bride wearing black vein
The Black Bride from Xanadu Next

Which brings me to the next game I will be playing. Spontaneously, I decided I needed something more relaxing and casual. I dipped my foot into Skyrim Definitive Edition and Oblivion Remastered because I want to transport myself into a fantasy world that’s not too brutal. So far, I have been enjoying these two games. Then I realized I have Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which I started last year, but never completed. At the time, anything that required a big time investment, I shied away. Now that things are settling down a bit, I can sit down and relax with a good RPG. Recruiting heroes is fun. But so far, I enjoy the cooking challenge the most and have found collecting recipes to be just as fun as recruiting interesting characters. This game is my ideal game of what I call relaxing.

Currently, I don’t have a recipe that will beat my opponent. His ramen is delicious.

As for my reading list, I only have a handful of unread books. I created a list of books I would eventually love to read, but do not have a set time to complete them. If you are reading for pleasure, why set a goal? These pastime activities should be a form of relaxation. I have been quite satisfied with what I have read so far. I completed Beast Warriors  Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. Currently reading The Hunch Back of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. I enjoy the books mainly for their beautiful metaphors.

When I was researching ways to organize my reading and gaming list, I came across other apps and sites that help with just that, but I adore my blog. Why abandon it for something else like Notion? I can simply use WordPress tools to organize a list and create a separate page for my blog so I can go back to check off my reading list. Notion, Steam, Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, and Google have a good section for reviewing items, but I think I am perfectly fine with my scattered notes and images here on this blog until WordPress decides to shut down.

So, do you have a way of organizing your books and games or other media you consume? I am extremely curious. Perhaps you can share 1 or 2 tips.

Credits: the images on this blog post are taken from Xanadu Next and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

The BookWalker Game Review (PC)

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I finished the Bookwalker, developed by Do My Best, and published by tinybuild. It’s a narrative, point-and-click game. I would only recommend it to those who want to play something light. Play it for the art, the sound, or for the puns. That was the only thing that kept me going because there was nothing mind-boggling about the plot. It tells the story of a writer experiencing some severe form of writer’s block. Having to write what the publisher wants you to write is imprisonment.

Etienne Quist, the protagonist, is arrested by the Writer Police Department. To remove his writer’s block, he has to undergo a job where he dives into books, stealing unique items to write off his sentences. There are 6 books (chapters) in total minus the epilogue. They don’t take very long to complete. My favorite books were the last two: Timeless Mansion and The Heart of Sand.

Regarding gameplay, it reminds me of mini-quests where the player completes tasks in each book. That part I like. I didn’t like the random battle occurrence. For instance, in the first book, a spider crawled out of nowhere and I had to fight it. Like the character in the game…I wonder what was the purpose of the spider.

It’s an ink eater…[you shudder] they’re found in books, but they’re not part of the plot.

First battle encounter scene

I suppose gamers are used to killing things that if there’s no battle then it’s not a real game. Now that I think of JRPGs, I often kill cute animals without any real reason. At least, this game tried to put things into context, but like many players, I did find the battle system out of place. So, I wonder what the developer’s intentions were when developing the game.  I feel like the game was more about self-expression against the business practice of publishing works that have been done over and over.

Nowadays every jackass with some cash wants to recreate something.

I can sense the frustration…

This is just one quote. There were several more. If you are an elitist indie gamer, or an elitist game developer, then you might find yourself nodding with the game’s message: Yeah, the new generation of writers lacks originality, and the audiences who choose to escape into fantasy books stopped living in reality. I just wanted to argue: What’s the purpose of entertainment if you cannot offer an escape? The game would have been decent if it removed those writer’s inner monologues. It makes the writer of the game sounds like an arrogant, pompous. Why should we play games that insult the audience?

a desk with and opened notebook and crumbled paper.
Writing for an audience is challenging…

For my final thoughts, as an artistic form of expression, it’s a pretty atmospheric game with a great soundtrack, but it is too short. As I mentioned earlier, one of my favorite books in the game was The Heart of Sand because I thought the stage level was interesting. I was expecting the game to pick up after going through several bland stage levels, listening to the characters bashing booksellers, fantasy readers, writers, and the entire entertainment industry for robbing creativity out of creative individuals. Overall, The Bookwalker could have meant more to me if only it was a good game. I suppose Do My Best gets a cookie for trying to be clever with the book metaphor.

Death Mark 2 Review: “Eww, Eww, Eww!” 

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The monsters are grotesque, and the artwork is enthralling. But the impression I had of this game after obtaining the true ending (happy ending) was eww, eww, eww! I would love this game if I had the brain of an insect. That statement alone should pique your curiosity enough to pick it up because I will not spoil the story for those interested in playing the game. Let’s say the plot is creatively perverted, and I don’t even know if that’s a compliment!

Departed approaching
It’s trying to bite

In terms of gameplay, for a visual novel, it’s kind of out of the ordinary to level up your skills so you can take more damage from your opponent (spirits).  It seems like the developer put the gaming mechanics because it makes it more “gamey”. You can also collect lost souls which come in the form of a decaying tooth.

tooth of the departed
I suppose a tooth tells a story

You use the tooth to trade for charms to level up your spiritual gifts which help you reduce the damage taken during the Suspensive Act which relies heavily on deduction and memorization. However, the logic behind the amount of damage did not make any sense to me as to whether I made the right choice or not.  You see, to survive a confrontation with the spirit, you need to pick the right action based on the evidence you gather during your investigation. Each choice has a percentage success rate. So even if you ignored the story, you can still guess at the expense of your health points.  For example, let’s say selection A has a 77 % success rate, you know it’s likely the right answer compared to selection B which has a percentage rate of 52%. But of course, if you keep guessing wrong, you will die. Another important point distinguishing the gameplay from its predecessors is that it’s a harem game. The unnatural way the underage school girls gave attention to the protagonist made the experience cringey, but it’s not a bad thing because there is a creative logic behind it.

This brings me to the topic of the title itself: Death Mark 2 (2024). The title is misleading and a bit of a false advertisement. 1) Death Mark 2 is not nearly as good as its predecessors and 2) this is the third installment from the franchise.  It’s just my speculation, but I think the publisher thought the first game was more well-received than Spirit Hunter NG (2019), so they decided to bring back the old cast from the first game without giving them any real depth other than saying to the fans, “Do you remember me?” From a creative perspective, bringing back characters from the first game for the sake of making a reentry seems like lazy game design to me. Don’t get me wrong, there is still some real talent in the development of the game (i.e. art direction), but the overall package of the game was missing substance. I suppose this is a type of game you play for the artwork and the bizarre story. The artworks were so grotesque that I could not avert my eyes away from the screen.

Departed and the protagonist
girl with scissors coming from the inside out
Decent game, but you have to have the mind of an insect to truly love it.
So over the top

For my final thoughts, I still recommend this game even though it is my least favorite from the franchise. The political ideology toward women remains the same: when facing adversity, strong female characters such as Ms. Sakamoto, the Chief of Academic Affairs, are proven to be the weaker vessel. I find that quite disappointing.

Tales of Symphonia Review

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“”As long as you have the will, you can study anywhere.” -Raine

What seems like a fun kid’s game is actually more than meets the eye.  Tales of Symphonia asked some big questions. So big that it cannot contain in a classroom. After all, I was warned by the mysterious character Kratos that assisting the Chosen One is no school field trip!

kratos with a smirk on his face
Kratos looking serious

Indeed, the plot was hardly meant for kids. Why do we have to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of society? Don’t all life forms have the right to live? Why do we discriminate those who are different from us? So, when the game indirectly asked me, “Don’t you sometimes think that what we’re doing is meaningless?” The answer is absolutely no.

I felt like I was part of the conversation.

You have to be a bit of a genius to like this sort of game because geniuses like to think outside the box. Simply put, this game was quite clever.

Genis’ wisdom

I wish I had the time and energy to give a thorough and detailed review because I enjoyed it that much. I highly recommend this game if you are a JRPG fan who appreciate wholesome humor. I know I laughed a lot. I will leave you folks with one of my favorite scenes in the game. Enjoy!

P.S.

I might make more gaming related videos and short blog posts like this. It’s kind of fun and to the point.