rionaleonhart | Entries tagged with transistor

I can't believe I'm about to say this, because I hate it when games go 'oh, hey, here's some more story if you pay extra,' but the epilogue of Red Dead Redemption II should have been DLC. There was no reason for that to be part of the main game. I finished the game, I was exhausted but satisfied, I was ready for the credits to roll and let me reflect on things, and instead the game went 'NOW HERE ARE SEVERAL MORE HOURS OF GAME.' Red Dead Redemption II is very much a game that doesn't understand the concept of 'too much of a good thing'.

There were a few things I enjoyed in the epilogue, though, even if I'd have sacrificed it for the sake of a better wrap-up point.

( Spoilers for the entirety of Red Dead Redemption II. )

So I've now truly finished Red Dead Redemption II! It's a hell of a thing. I don't think it's a good game, exactly - the gameplay alternates between 'bizarre pointless tedium' and 'shooting segments that are near-impossible unless you exploit auto-aim' - but I think I love it? It's a strange, elaborate, beautiful, immersive, tedious, inexplicable experience. I don't understand half the decisions that were made in this game's development, but I found it very absorbing.

My incredibly slow playthrough of Transistor also continues! (I can only play it when a particular friend visits, hence the huge gaps between sessions.) I'd completely forgotten how combat worked and I was consequently disastrous. The 'running out of health means you temporarily lose abilities' concept is interesting, but it does ultimately mean that the game punishes you for being bad at it by becoming harder.

I still really enjoy the relationship between Red and her sword, though, and I love the game's sense of style.

At one point Red used a powerful move, and the sword seemed pretty shaken by it. 'Could you do that again?' he asked. 'Is my sword turned on by how good I am at killing things?' I asked. (Given his reaction the next time I used that move, I am confident in saying that the answer is 'yes'.)

There's a beach ball in this game, and it has a 'TIMES BOUNCED' counter next to it, and when I visit the beach area I can never resist bouncing it around for ages and watching the counter go up. I think by now it's at something like 234 bounces. YES, SWORD, I KNOW WE'VE GOT IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT TOO.

I'm going to be very disappointed in this fandom if it isn't full of weird fanfiction about Red banging the sword.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/478726.html

Q: Riona, do you really have time to write mini-reviews of every game you've ever played?
A: I absolutely don't.
Q: And yet.
A: And yet!

Some of these are more just reminiscences than reviews, but I've said at least a line or two about every game. Possibly. I've almost certainly forgotten about some.

For the most part these are listed alphabetically, so you can easily track down any games you're interested in, but games in a series are listed together, so, for example, 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, Virtue's Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma are all under Z for Zero Escape, and World of Final Fantasy comes under F. I've put a (LP) next to games I've only experienced through Let's Plays. Flash games, text adventures and electronic versions of card, tile or board games are not included.

Games I first played after originally posting this entry are marked with an asterisk.

( Thoughts on every game I've ever played, or close enough. )

I'm glad I've put this very important and necessary entry into the waiting world.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/469022.html

On Saturday, I attended a party at someone's house. There were some guests I knew, many I didn't; everyone was around the kitchen area. At one point I had to go up to the bathroom to change my sanitary towel, and then I realised there was no bin in the bathroom.

Who doesn't have a bin in their bathroom?

So I had to wrap up my used sanitary towel, put it in my bag and return to the party.

There was a bin in the kitchen. I eyed it longingly. But it was surrounded by PARTY GUESTS I DIDN'T KNOW, and I found myself reluctant to go up and throw a sanitary towel into the kitchen bin in front of a load of strangers. So I just stood there, paralysed by indecision, with this stupid thing still in my shoulder bag.

This may be the most Peep Show thing that has ever happened to me.

('What happened?' a friend of mine asked me, because it was apparently evident from my expression the moment I re-entered the party that all was not well. They were very amused by my hushed, desperate answer.)

In the end, I cunningly concealed it within a paper plate and threw that away. Nobody suspected a thing.

The Wind Singer, I discovered on my reread, is the origin of a scene that's haunted me since childhood. An infinite number of murderous teenagers are marching along, singing a cheerful song about killing. They want to murder people, but all of civilisation is on the other side of an enormous chasm. There is no bridge across the chasm. Their strategy for crossing is this: they march over the edge, and they fall, and they die, and eventually enough corpses will pile up at the bottom of the gorge for the next fallers to land safely on the corpse pile and walk across.

Did I read anything as a child that wasn't horrifying? I feel that this book and Animorphs probably had a big influence on my alarming taste in fiction.

The Wind Singer also gave me unhealthily codependent sibling protagonists long before I got into Supernatural. 'My brother's been brainwashed into being one of the murderous teenagers! I could run, but I think I'd prefer to just let him murder me.'

I played a little more Transistor at last! I've forgiven Red's sword for secretly being a person trapped in a sword and I'm 'shipping him with Red again. Her sword admires her so much! It's really charming!

There's a lot of really nice detail in this game. And the visuals are so stylish. And the music is great.

I think my favourite part is when the sword is in a bad way, and Red can't speak to reassure him, so instead she finds a computer terminal and types messages to him.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/443364.html

Why have I created an online quiz that helps you decide which Linkin Park song to listen to? Good question. I don't know. The latest in my increasingly laboured series of excuses to talk non-stop about Linkin Park's music, I suppose. But here it is, in any case.

I made this and then went, 'Wow, what a colossal waste of time, I can't believe I spent five hours on this,' and a few hours later I went, 'God, I've got Chester's acoustic "Let Down" stuck in my head and for some reason it's emotionally devastating me. I need to listen to something to drive it out, but I don't know what! If only I had some sort of guide to - HOLD ON.' (It took me to 'Forgotten'. Always a good choice.)

It's not a definitive guide; it's missing some absolute classics ('Somewhere I Belong' is the worst omission). But it's got a reasonable selection: about forty songs (not counting joke songs), at least five from each studio album. Very useful if you know enough about Linkin Park to go 'I want a Chester song' or 'I want a Mike song' but somehow not enough to go 'I want this song specifically'. I'll be honest: this is absolutely pointless. But it was fun to work on. My favourite question is 'How much do you want to feel Chester hates you? [a lot/incandescently]'

In other news, I played a bit of Transistor recently, although I don't know when or if I'll have the opportunity to continue. 'Why does my sword have an opinion on food?' I asked at one point, puzzled. I was happily 'shipping the main character with her sword, but I 'shipped them substantially less after I realised the sword was actually a person, rather than just being a talking sword. That's much less fun. I did appreciate the inclusion of a 'hum a tune' button, though (even if nothing will ever beat the 'tell a terrible joke' button in The Last of Us: Left Behind).

Finished the first series of Pretty Little Liars! It is still delightfully silly. At moments I've found myself slightly 'shipping Hanna and Emily. To be honest, at moments I've found myself slightly 'shipping all four of them. They should all make out. And then A should use that for blackmail purposes, obviously.

I'm so sad that this is never going to happen.

Ezra has transferred schools, so he's no longer Aria's teacher and their relationship is now legitimate. I really hope it comes out at some point that they were involved while he was teaching her. What's the point of including a teacher-and-student romance plotline if you never get the enormous scandal of it coming to light? 'OH NO, ARIA'S JEALOUS' seems to be the only Ezra/Aria plotline we ever get, and 'OH NO, YOU'RE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE NOW' would be much more fun.

Crossposts: http://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/435971.html

Trabia Garden

Entries tagged with transistor

You're About To Have Some Bad Luck With Getting Punched In The Face.

Procrastination Simulator.

It's Like A Whirlwind Inside Of My Head.

Don't Want To Be Led Down The Same Old Road.

Profile