Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2026-03-05 10:48 am
rionaleonhart) wrote2026-03-05 10:48 am
Entry tags:
What Was Your Favourite Part About Cocaine?
Okay, I'm going to be very brave and make a post that's not about The Goes Wrong Show. Let's talk about videogames! You wouldn't know it from my determination to talk about Robert Grove five hundred percent of the time, but I have played a couple of interesting games lately.
The games in question are Silent Hill f and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. They're substantially different in gameplay and tone, but they're both on the theme of 'weird, intense, supernatural coming-of-age stories about young women'.
Silent Hill f:
- I was interested to see what a Silent Hill written by Ryukishi07 would be like, and I find myself unsurprised that it has extremely Higurashi vibes. You can't fool me; this is Hinamizawa!
- It's fascinating to see a Silent Hill game set in a small Japanese village, rather than the titular American town! In spite of the change of setting, I think Silent Hill f absolutely nails the Silent Hill atmosphere. Stunning visual design.
- It's also interesting to see a Silent Hill protagonist who has friends; that feels very unusual!
- One thing I appreciate about the 'small 1960s Japanese village' aspect: there are no large buildings. It's nice to play a Silent Hill game where the buildings are all of a comfortably navigable size, and I don't have to check the map constantly to see where everything is; it makes things a lot less stressful. I realise that Silent Hill is supposed to be stressful! But, as someone with very limited ability to handle horror, I appreciate anything that makes it more tolerable for me.
- I got the trophy 'No One Left Behind' for permakilling all the monsters in a certain area, and the ominous name instantly stressed me out. I was convinced the game was going to punish me for my bloodthirst! But no; it was just a trophy.
- It's really interesting to see a game that's so intensely about the experience of growing up as a girl, and how, as you visibly go from 'girl' to 'woman', other people's perception of you changes in a way that may not reflect how you feel about yourself. Really not the sort of theme I often see explored in games from big publishers!
- I was one hundred percent sure that Hinako's sister Junko did not exist. Given the theme of Hinako's resistance to growing up, I was convinced that Junko was an imaginary representation of the woman Hinako was trying not to become. But no; it turns out that Junko is, in fact, Hinako's sister. Sometimes a sister is just a sister, even in Silent Hill.
- I was very invested in enabling Hinako to escape being forced into marriage, and, er. Er. Well, I suppose the good news is that she managed not to get married. She did lose her mind and massacre a bunch of people at her wedding; she did do that. That's probably not ideal. But, hey, I suppose I got my wish!
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage:
- Most of the game takes place in flashback, but Swann is forty-three in the present-day storyline, making her the oldest female protagonist I've ever played as in a videogame. Videogames have a shortage of female protagonists in general, and a very severe shortage of female protagonists over thirty; the only other one I've encountered is Chloe of Uncharted: Lost Legacy. More of that, please, videogame developers!
- This game felt like a very authentic, loving depiction of a bunch of teenage weirdos being drawn together! I got pretty invested in the friendship between the girls.
- I attempted to romance Autumn but failed! It's possible to kiss her, apparently, but, alas, I did not manage it.
- You know, guys, if I attempted to place a curse on someone and a giant glowing sinkhole opened in the ground at the site of the curse, I probably wouldn't assume that the giant glowing sinkhole was benevolent. I wouldn't start sacrificing my possessions to it and asking it to grant my wishes. I think you're all putting a little too much faith in the giant glowing curse hole.
- It felt a little strange that the game forces you to participate in the vandalism of the shop towards the end! I'd been playing Swann very cautious - she refused to take part in the blood pact, she was typically silent when Corey was being aggressive - and her cheerful participation in the vandalism, without so much as raising an objection, really felt at odds with the character I'd been playing her as.
- In my ending, Autumn stayed at the reunion, but Nora left. I got very emotional at the shot of adult Swann and Autumn sitting on the picnic table, with the ghostly memories of teenage Nora and Kat beside them; I thought that was a lovely scene.
- To be honest, I think the game should have ended with that moment! As Tem commented, ending with a shot of Kat going 'oh, I'm still here in the Abyss' and Swann going after her really seemed to muddy the game's theme of coming to terms with losing people who helped to shape you. If Kat is gone, Kat should be gone!
Okay! That's your allotted entry about other things. Let's get back to working on my fifteenth Goes Wrong fic.
Apparently I posted fourteen Goes Wrong fics over the course of two months? Not counting the fifty-two Goes Wrong fills I wrote for the Three-Sentence Ficathon? I'm personally responsible for over 20% of the Chris Bean/Robert Grove fics on AO3. This might be the most severely and swiftly a fandom has ever eaten me.
I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to sustain my Goes Wrong illness, but I'm having a great time while it lasts!
The games in question are Silent Hill f and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. They're substantially different in gameplay and tone, but they're both on the theme of 'weird, intense, supernatural coming-of-age stories about young women'.
Silent Hill f:
- I was interested to see what a Silent Hill written by Ryukishi07 would be like, and I find myself unsurprised that it has extremely Higurashi vibes. You can't fool me; this is Hinamizawa!
- It's fascinating to see a Silent Hill game set in a small Japanese village, rather than the titular American town! In spite of the change of setting, I think Silent Hill f absolutely nails the Silent Hill atmosphere. Stunning visual design.
- It's also interesting to see a Silent Hill protagonist who has friends; that feels very unusual!
- One thing I appreciate about the 'small 1960s Japanese village' aspect: there are no large buildings. It's nice to play a Silent Hill game where the buildings are all of a comfortably navigable size, and I don't have to check the map constantly to see where everything is; it makes things a lot less stressful. I realise that Silent Hill is supposed to be stressful! But, as someone with very limited ability to handle horror, I appreciate anything that makes it more tolerable for me.
- I got the trophy 'No One Left Behind' for permakilling all the monsters in a certain area, and the ominous name instantly stressed me out. I was convinced the game was going to punish me for my bloodthirst! But no; it was just a trophy.
- It's really interesting to see a game that's so intensely about the experience of growing up as a girl, and how, as you visibly go from 'girl' to 'woman', other people's perception of you changes in a way that may not reflect how you feel about yourself. Really not the sort of theme I often see explored in games from big publishers!
- I was one hundred percent sure that Hinako's sister Junko did not exist. Given the theme of Hinako's resistance to growing up, I was convinced that Junko was an imaginary representation of the woman Hinako was trying not to become. But no; it turns out that Junko is, in fact, Hinako's sister. Sometimes a sister is just a sister, even in Silent Hill.
- I was very invested in enabling Hinako to escape being forced into marriage, and, er. Er. Well, I suppose the good news is that she managed not to get married. She did lose her mind and massacre a bunch of people at her wedding; she did do that. That's probably not ideal. But, hey, I suppose I got my wish!
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage:
- Most of the game takes place in flashback, but Swann is forty-three in the present-day storyline, making her the oldest female protagonist I've ever played as in a videogame. Videogames have a shortage of female protagonists in general, and a very severe shortage of female protagonists over thirty; the only other one I've encountered is Chloe of Uncharted: Lost Legacy. More of that, please, videogame developers!
- This game felt like a very authentic, loving depiction of a bunch of teenage weirdos being drawn together! I got pretty invested in the friendship between the girls.
- I attempted to romance Autumn but failed! It's possible to kiss her, apparently, but, alas, I did not manage it.
- You know, guys, if I attempted to place a curse on someone and a giant glowing sinkhole opened in the ground at the site of the curse, I probably wouldn't assume that the giant glowing sinkhole was benevolent. I wouldn't start sacrificing my possessions to it and asking it to grant my wishes. I think you're all putting a little too much faith in the giant glowing curse hole.
- It felt a little strange that the game forces you to participate in the vandalism of the shop towards the end! I'd been playing Swann very cautious - she refused to take part in the blood pact, she was typically silent when Corey was being aggressive - and her cheerful participation in the vandalism, without so much as raising an objection, really felt at odds with the character I'd been playing her as.
- In my ending, Autumn stayed at the reunion, but Nora left. I got very emotional at the shot of adult Swann and Autumn sitting on the picnic table, with the ghostly memories of teenage Nora and Kat beside them; I thought that was a lovely scene.
- To be honest, I think the game should have ended with that moment! As Tem commented, ending with a shot of Kat going 'oh, I'm still here in the Abyss' and Swann going after her really seemed to muddy the game's theme of coming to terms with losing people who helped to shape you. If Kat is gone, Kat should be gone!
Okay! That's your allotted entry about other things. Let's get back to working on my fifteenth Goes Wrong fic.
Apparently I posted fourteen Goes Wrong fics over the course of two months? Not counting the fifty-two Goes Wrong fills I wrote for the Three-Sentence Ficathon? I'm personally responsible for over 20% of the Chris Bean/Robert Grove fics on AO3. This might be the most severely and swiftly a fandom has ever eaten me.
I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to sustain my Goes Wrong illness, but I'm having a great time while it lasts!
no subject
Yeah, normally the game is not about people who have healthy social relationships.
Kind of a mixed result there, yeah.
Really loving your enthusiasm!
no subject
Very true! Although, to be fair, I'm not sure how healthy her friendships are. One of her friends is trying to manipulate her with drugs, and the others kind of seem to hate her, although I'm not sure how much of that is real and how much is in Hinako's head.
Really loving your enthusiasm!
Thank you! ♥
no subject
Mostly just wanted to comment and say I've been amused how much Goes Wrong has eaten your brain, and glad that it has been an inspiration and fun for you.
no subject
I really wasn't prepared for these silly plays to seize me by the throat like this! I've lost over ten AO3 subscribers since I got into the Goes Wrong series, and I absolutely cannot blame them. I'm sorry, guys, but I have to follow my heart!
no subject